Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook vol 101 2022

Invisible People. Untold Stories.

Lesser known stories of Dutchess County, New York.

Dutchess County Historical Society

2022 Yearbook ~ Volume 101

Bill Jeffway

Melodye Moore

William P. Tatum III, Ph.D. Editors

The Dutchess County Historical Society is a not-for-profit educational organization that collects, preserves, and interprets the history of Dutchess County, New York, from the period of the arrival of the first Indigenous Peoples until the present day.

DCHS Publications Committee:

Michael Boden, Ph.D., John Desmond, Eileen Hayden, Candace J. Lewis, Ph.D., Sheila Newman, Elizabeth Strauss and editors: Bill Jeffway, Melodye Moore, and William P. Tatum III Ph.D.

Editorial Review:

Connie Clark Boden and Michael Boden, Ph.D.

Dutchess County Historical Society

2022 Yearbook ~ Volume 101

Published annually since the 1914 issue

© Dutchess County Historical Society 2023

The Duchess County Historical Society Yearbook does not assume responsibility for statements of fact or opinion made by the authors.

Duchess County Historical Society

P.O. Box 88

Poughkeepsie, NY 12602 email: contact@dchsny.org

dchsny.org

Poughkeepsie Public Library District is proud of its longtime association with the Dutchess County Historical Society. Together we offer our community a selection of exciting avenues into our fascinating past.

Thanks for specific DCHS Yearbook support:

C D H

Martin & Eleanor Rubin Charwat

Roger & Alisan Donway

Ben & Eileen Hayden

M N P S

Melodye Moore & Lenny Miller

Jim & Margaret Nelson

Prime Retirement Asset Management

Elizabeth & Julian Strauss

In Memoriam

Ervin Hubbard III (1945 – 2021)

E.Stuart Hubbard died on November 19, 2021 at the age of 76.Born on July 10, 1945 in Poughkeepsie, New York, Stu, as he was known to most people, was the eldest child of the late Ervin Stuart Hubbard Jr. and Marguerite Berthiaume Hubbard. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Poughkeepsie, NY, and then entered the Seabees in 1965. He served two tours of duty in Vietnam where he helped build airports, bridges and housing. He was honorably discharged in 1968. In 1970 he received an Associate Degree in Applied Science from Dutchess Community College, and two years later in 1972 he graduated from Fairleigh Dickenson University in New Jersey with a Bachelor of Science Degree. He then established “Hubbard Custom Building and Repair.” When illness prevented him from continuing in the construction business, he became “Mr. Mom” for his two daughters, Suzanne and Sarah, while his wife Linda worked at IBM.

Stu was the fifth generation of the Hart-Hubbard family to grow up on the LaGrange property acquired in 1838 by Benjamin Hall Hart and his wife Elizabeth Nichols Hart. Generation after generation of Hart and Hubbard families considered “Heartsease” to be home, and the house became a repository of over 170 years of family photographs, documents, business records and family correspondence.

After the death of Stu’s mother in 2008, it fell to his wife Linda to organize and curate the massive collection. In 2012 Stu and Linda began the process of donating the collection to the Dutchess County Historical Society. Among the most important components of the collection were materials related to the nursery and apple orchards that were maintained by the family from 1838 – 1963. Perhaps the most significant gift was the paintings, drawings, correspondence, and memorabilia of Caroline Morgan Clowes (1838-1904), a niece of the original

owners, who herself came to live at “Heartsease.” Clowes was an accomplished artist whose painting “Cattle at the Brook” was exhibited at the 1876 Philadelpia Exposition. Over time, knowledge of her extraordinary talent faded away. Were it not for Stu and Linda, her paintings might have been lost as well. This coming November the Dutchess County Historical Society will proudly mount the first retrospective exhibit of life and paintings of Caroline M. Clowes.

The Hart-Hubbard Collection at the Dutchess County Historical Society is the largest and one of the most important collections owned by the Society. Each generation of the family took on the role of preserving the objects that tell the story of this extraordinary Dutchess County family. Stu and Linda’s decision to donate them to the Historical Society will ensure that the family’s legacy is not lost and that the collection will be forever available for study and interpretation. Their generosity will not be forgotten.

Stu is survived by wife Linda, their two daughters, Suzanne Hubbard Davis and her husband Mark, and Sarah Hubbard Maasik and her two children Taivo Ervin Maasik and Riho Magnus Maasik. “Heartsease” remains in family ownership.

A Quiet Storm Remembering

Stephanie Woods Mauri

by David Greenwood, Village of Millbrook & Town of Washington Historian

There was a seismic shift in the Dutchess County preservation community on October 17, 2022, following the unexpected death of Stephanie Mauri at age 86. “The consummate volunteer in the cause of historic preservation” is how architectural historian Neil Larson, who first met her shortly after joining the State Historic Preservation Office in 1980, remembers her. “A Quiet Storm” is how Carmen McGill, cofounder of Celebrating the African Spirit, describes her. For me she was a mentor, professional colleague, and dear friend with whom I shared a love of architecture, a commitment to preservation of the natural and built environment, and a passion for opera.

A lifelong learner, Stef entered Cornell University at age 16 to pursue architectural studies and later merited a Fulbright Scholarship to live in Italy with her husband Albert and son Ross, an experience which further honed her passion for architecture, history, art and music – especially opera – and the natural and built environment. She was a Hudson Valley resident for over 50 years, first in Highland and then in Hyde Park to which the family moved in the 1970s. She quickly became an integral part of the region’s historic community, including the Dutchess County Landmarks Association, which she chaired for a time, and the Dutchess County Historical Society, where she specialized in research and documentation.

She was, as Neil Larson observed, totally analog, spurning computers for paper records, to the consternation of some and the amusement of others. She liked her physical evidence physical, and was forever perusing papers, periodicals and other ephemera for information to copy and share with others with mutual interests. Bill Jeffway, Executive Director of the Dutchess County Historical Society, relayed that “Everyone I have spoken to who knew her, mentioned how Stephanie frequently

mailed them things. She’d send a newspaper clipping, a copy of something, a form to apply for something, or something with a note on it. At the county historical society, few people’s names show up as much as hers does, because she was so focused on documentation and documenting….” We still have on our kitchen table the last stack of clippings she mailed to us, for distribution to the Conservation Advisory Commission files and the Millbrook Historical Society archives, and for our own information and edification. Included in the packet was the gift of a t-shirt from Celebrating the African Spirit.

In the mid-1980’s, the Dutchess County Planning Department decided to use Community Development funds to undertake a county-wide survey of historic resources. Because of Stephanie’s architectural training, association with Landmarks, and working relationships with the people in the department, the county hired her to do the field work. Her method proved to be innovative, minimizing text and utilizing her visual organization and drawing skills through incorporating maps and images. Her approach rendered her work more accessible than customary forms and quickly became a template for others. She covered nearly every town in the county, compiling loose-leaf binders bursting with data on individual parcels, some of which have now been digitized for public access, enabling others to explore historical land attributes and usage, and to inform future assessment and development.

The Town of Washington’s Conservation Advisory Commission hired Stephanie to come into Town Hall once a week to carry on her research, update the files, and meet with residents eager to learn more about the evolution of their homes and properties. I worked with her in my capacities as CAC Chair and Town and Village Historian, and utilized her database in compiling an annual calendar of historic images, underwritten by the Bank of Millbrook.

Stephanie was interested in all aspects of local history, including some strands that had been overlooked or ignored in previous research. Carmen McGill credits her for being instrumental in establishing Celebrating the African Spirit, the organization that grew out of the Dutchess County Historical Society’s Black History Project Committee. “Her research

and sense of the importance of history and its accuracy were unparalleled,” she recalls; “she was so passionate, focused on the task at hand, and willing to share her newfound historical nuggets.” Carmen McGill was among those recipients who benefited from Stephanie’s prolific clipping services, citing copious news articles and information that Stef forwarded.

One of the last projects we worked on together was mentoring two young siblings who were researching the history of their family’s property in order to write a book. Stef was enchanted by their interest and enthusiasm, and was able to share with them documentation of former owners and changing property boundaries. The book – Tales of Winley Farm, by Carina and Max Mazzarelli, ages 12 and 9 respectively at the time of publication in 2021 – acknowledged Stef as the person who had done the original research on the property 34 years earlier and thanked her for her current help.

As Neil Larson said so simply and eloquently, “I’ll remember her and miss her.” We all will. But we can honor her legacy by carrying on those things she valued so highly:

Explore local history with careful research and precise documentation.

Protect and preserve our historic structures and landscapes.

Celebrate beauty, in music, art and the human spirit.

Reach out to others with kindness and caring.

Letter from the Editors

The pursuit of historical truth is certainly not a new concept.

Vassar Professor Lucy Salmon spoke regularly about the topic over a century ago, saying it was a historian’s most important job. She put it beautifully saying, “[Each] new day may enable us to readjust our vision, to see the past in a truer perspective, to clear away the mists that have obscured the truth.”

DCHS recognizes the importance of such pursuits each year with its annual Helen Wilkinson Reynolds Award for someone who is “an exemplar of the necessary and accurate pursuit of historical truth, representing the spirit of Helen Wilkinson Reynolds.”

For the Forum section, the editors of the DCHS 2022 Yearbook, volume 101, took inspiration from this tradition of the pursuit of historical truth, and one DCHS Yearbook article in particular. “Invisible People, Untold Stories: A Historical Overview of the Black Community in Poughkeepsie,” was authored by Lawrence H. Mamiya and Lorraine M. Roberts and published in the 1987 DCHS Yearbook.

The work quickly became a highly referenced, landmark article. We have taken the liberty of extending the concept to the entire county, and to other groups such as the history of immigrants and women.

DCHS is pleased to now offer DCHS Yearbook Encore Editions, such as the one published in 2022 that pulls together all the articles published by DCHS since 1914 related to local Black History (some 200 pages). In this way, we hope to start to address the issue raised by Mamiya and Roberts.

As is the custom in prior Yearbooks, the first half of the Yearbook is dedicated to this forum topic, while the second half is dedicated to general and various histories. We have added a “notes” section with some brief, but important highlights.

The explosion of other publishing channels like online books, websites, and social media (which we fully embrace) only makes us more certain that the longest-running historical journal in New York State deserves to continue with its annual publication. We are proud to add this contribution not for its length (although the 200 pages does push us over a total of twelve-thousand published DCHS Yearbook pages), but rather for the quality and discerning eye that the DCHS Yearbook brings – a sophisticated understanding of history expressed in a most accessible way.

Your membership, donations, and business sponsorships allow us to continue this great tradition.

Bill Jeffway Melodye Moore

William P. Tatum III, Ph.D

Call for Articles

Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook, vol. 102

The Dutchess County Historical Society (DCHS) has published the Yearbook, an annual journal of local history, since the organization’s founding in 1914. The focus on publishing is a distinct hallmark of DCHS, embraced since the society’s founding meeting at the Pleasant Valley Library in April 1914. Helen Wilkinson Reynolds, the greatest historian of Dutchess County and a founding member of the society, established “the pursuit of historical truth” as the publication’s central tenet. Reynolds’ partnership with professional photographer Margaret DeMott Brown set a high standard for documenting the local past through photographs as well as the written word.

DCHS seeks to promote and interpret local history through the publication of original research and case studies that address personalities, places, businesses, and events in and from Dutchess County, New York, as well as the county’s relationship to national and international events. The Yearbook features three sections: a forum of articles focused on a specific theme, general county history articles, and brief notes. Full articles should be approximately 2,500-5000 words in length, while notes should be around 800 words in length. The Dutchess County Historical Society Publications Committee actively solicits articles, essays, reports from the field, and case studies that support the historical society’s mission to procure, promote, and preserve the history of Dutchess County.

For the 2023 forum, DCHS seeks articles and notes focusing on farming, agriculture, gardening, open space protection, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, farm architecture, mills, forestry, and other topics related to the county’s rich agricultural past. As always, the DCHS Publications Committee welcomes submissions on all aspects of Dutchess County’s past for consideration.

Copyright will be shared between the Dutchess County Historical Society and the author(s). The author(s) may not re-issue the article within a year of the initial publication date, including posting the article on a webpage or social media site. DCHS requests that authors provide timely notification of any subsequent republication of pieces published in the Yearbook.

For a full set of submission guidelines or to submit a piece to the DCHS Publications Committee, please contact the editors by email at wtatum@dutchessny.gov or via mail at PO Box 88, Poughkeepsie, NY 12602.

F FORUM

Figure 4: A Black family in a horse and buggy. The caption reflects the Report’s moralistic tone – but also the attitude of white racial superiority prevalent during the Progressive period.

How a 1912 Millbrook Survey Helped Shape Perceptions of the Italian Immigrant Community

By Robert McHugh

In April of 1912, Reverend J. E. Lyall, the long-serving pastor of Millbrook’s Reformed congregation, invited members of the community to an “undenominational banquet” in his church’s parlor to discuss the “social, moral, and religious welfare” of the village.[1] Reverend Lyall had an agenda: he urged those in attendance to lend their support to the creation of a sociological study – The Millbrook Survey, or, as it is more commonly known today, The Lyall Report – detailing the conditions that existed in Millbrook and the surrounding Town of Washington in the early years of the new century. The report that emerged 11 months after this initial meeting, a 241-page document now in the archives of the Millbrook Historical Society, is a tremendously rich source of information about life in a small Dutchess County village at the apogee of the Progressive Era.

The survey comprises data on nearly every aspect of life imaginable: church attendance, water quality, education levels, occupations, arrests; whether people rented or owned their homes; what types of books they checked out from the library; and how and where they disposed of their sewage. Its author[2] then analyzed the information and made recommendations –26 of them – for how Millbrook could be reformed, how life in the community could be improved. In many ways the Lyall Report reflected the ambitions, the preoccupations, but also the prejudices and limitations of the Progressive Era. The following is an attempt to contextualize it within that pivotal period in American history.

The Progressive Era

“It is a progressive move, a step in advance, but we are living in a progressive age.” — The Lyall Report

Nineteen-twelve represented the peak of the Progressive Era. The presidential election that took place seven months after that initial meeting in Reverend Lyall’s church parlor pitted three major candidates, each seeking to outdo the others with his Progressive bona fides and aggressive plans for reform. The incumbent president, William Howard Taft, had used his time in office to accelerate the trustbusting that his predecessor – and now rival – Theodore Roosevelt had begun. The race’s ultimate winner, Woodrow Wilson[3], proposed dramatically empowering the federal government to curtail the excesses and ills of industrial capitalism. A fourth candidate, the socialist Eugene Debs, while not a Progressive in line with Taft, Roosevelt, and Wilson, advocated the most radical set of changes to the American economy. In short, there was not a conservative in the running. No one was arguing in favor of the status quo; all were eager to reform the country, often in significant ways.

Figures 1 and 2: These graphs (2 of 44) present survey information. Top: relative frequency of home ownership by profession. Inset: 50 percent of the community’s inhabitants are members of one of the churches.

This was the country’s mood at the moment when the Lyall Report was proposed, drafted, and presented to the community. And it is impossible to understand the Lyall Report – its heavily moralistic tone, its urgent calls for reform, but also its desire to forestall

more radical change, the kind of change represented at the national level by the socialist policies of Debs or in the local arena by political power falling into the hands of Millbrook’s Italian immigrant community – outside of this context. In fact, the report’s author situated it squarely within this milieu. “It is a progressive move, a step in advance,” the report announces. “[B] ut we are living in a progressive age.”[4]

Many of the hallmarks of the Progressive Era are abundantly present in the Lyall Report. There is the strong reform impulse, the desire for positive – but not radical – change, and also, and perhaps most frequent of all, the obsession with data and quantification. At the core of the Progressive Movement was a desire by reformers to study the world around them, to collect as much information as possible; this was a golden age for sociologists and statisticians. The historian Richard Hofstadter described the typical Progressive as hungry for knowledge – and eager to use that knowledge to impel change. “It is hardly an exaggeration,” he wrote in the 1950s, “to say that the Progressive mind was characteristically a journalistic mind…Before there could be action, there must be information and exhortation.”[5]

The Progressive need to collect[6] and quantify information is demonstrated by a few statistics related to the Lyall Report: there are in its 241 pages 54 tables of data and 44 graphs;[7] nearly one for every other page of text. Some of these tables and graphs present the information collected through the survey in a manner that makes it easier to digest; some seem more a reflection of the Progressive mania for data.

The Report also includes 22 photographs that show scenes from around the community, typically as a way to dramatically highlight problems like unsanitary living conditions or a lack of clean drinking water. This too was a common tactic of Progressive reformers. Jacob Riis’s How the Other Half Lives, published 23 years before the Lyall Report, was the first major work to effectively use photography to shock its readers into action by depicting the horrors of poverty. While the setting of the Lyall Report was very different from 1880s Manhattan, the technique was similar.

In addition to the use of graphs and photographs, the Lyall Report also routinely employs the moralistic tone common among many Progressive Era reformers. A sense of highminded, often paternalistic, judgement runs through much of the document. Several examples will serve to demonstrate this:

•On farm management: “The management of very few farms in the community is on an efficient basis. The large estates are managed to quite an extent by well trained men, but most of the other farms are not worked by men who know their business.”[8]

•On living conditions: “[T]here may be found many wretched hovels, some of which are unfit even for the shelter of beasts.”[9]

•On the village’s two pool rooms: “They are open on Sunday and there is not the slightest doubt but that gambling is carried on. The room on Church Street has an evening patronage of about fifty, nearly all American young men. The best that can be said of the rooms is that they are dens of vice where foul language is customary and fistic encounters not infrequent.”[10]

•In the caption under a photograph showing a Black family in a buggy: “Sometimes the thrifty-looking are shiftless.”[11]

Figure 3: A photograph from the Lyall Report of a garbage dump in the middle of the village. It is very much in the style of the earlier photographs of Jacob Riis.

The Men and Religion Forward Movement

If the Progressive Era is the broader context for the Lyall Report, there is also a narrower one. Very nearly the first words of the Report explain the project’s specific origins: “The Millbrook Survey was an outgrowth of the Men and Religion Forward Movement.”[12] This movement, which reached its peak in April 1912 at the very moment members of the community gathered in Reverend Lyall’s church parlor, proposed to reform Protestant Christianity. At its core was the conviction that Protestantism had become overly feminized by the early years of the twentieth century and that it needed to change if it were going to remain relevant to American men – and retain their allegiance. There were already, according to the movement’s leaders, three million men “missing” from the country’s churches.[13]

Figure 4: A Black family in a horse and buggy. The caption reflects the Report’s moralistic tone – but also the attitude of white racial superiority prevalent during the Progressive period.

Though the Men and Religion Forward Movement had begun in earnest only the previous year, it reflected longer term worries about the growing conflict between the emotionalism prevalent in Protestant churches and the manly ideal of the pragmatic, hardheaded businessman so common in American culture in the early 1900s. The movement was deeply misogynistic, predicated as it was on the belief of separate spheres for men and women and a future where one’s gender defined one’s character and potential. Fred Smith, the campaign’s most prominent public spokesperson, reflected this misogyny:

In greatest numbers the conspicuous poets, musicians, artists, politicians, merchants, generals, have been men. This seems to have been the wisdom of God, for about every departure from this rule has caused unhappy friction. I could write a volume upon the tragedies with which I am familiar concerning the homes of women who have felt it necessary to assume masculine functions… Whatever may be true in exceptional cases, the general fact remains that in a very real sense this is a man’s world.[14]

In spite, or perhaps because, of these attitudes, the Men and Religion Forward Movement was immensely popular. More than a million American men took part in at least one event associated with the movement in 1911 and 1912. A culminating rally filled Carnegie Hall in April 1912. Lending credibility to the campaign, some of the country’s most prominent political and business leaders publicly supported and funded it, including J. P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and three-time Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan.[15] Its leaders put up electric signs along Broadway and in Madison Square in New York City with the movement’s slogan, “Religion for Men. Men for Religion.” And they advertised on the sports pages of newspapers across the country, hoping there to reach a predominantly male audience.[16]

The Men and Religion Forward Movement had significant strength in Dutchess County. A number of meetings were held in Poughkeepsie, including one that drew nearly 400 men to the city’s YMCA hall in February 1912. In the event’s keynote address, a Professor M. A. Honline, described as a “Bible Study

expert,” castigated card-playing Sunday school teachers and asserted that movies do more to undermine morality than even alcohol, the Progressive Era’s favorite target.[17] “Say what you want about saloons,” he opined, “I believe the cheap theatres do more to corrupt youth than all the saloons combined.”[18]

While the movement’s agenda was far-reaching, and included a renewed commitment to evangelism and Bible study, it also specifically highlighted the importance of social work. Many local branches of the campaign formed Social Service Committees with the express intent of “conduct[ing] extensive surveys of local conditions”[19] in order to identify the areas where their energies should be focused. One Social Service Committee in South Bend, Indiana, undertook an investigation into the number of saloons, dance halls, theatres, burlesque shows, and their character; arrests and convictions of men, women, and children, for what causes under what conditions; detailed, definite statements as

Figure 5: A photograph that appeared in the Poughkeepsie Eagle in February 1912 showing a gathering of nearly 400 men attending a dinner in support of the Men and Religion Forward Movement at the city’s YMCA hall.

to water supply, sewerage, taxation; condition of bakeries and meat markets; the sanitary conditions of tenements, factories, restaurants, and hotels; an exhaustive inquiry concerning public schools, playgrounds, libraries…

With the exception of burlesque shows, which Millbrook sadly lacked in 1913, this could be a fairly accurate summation of the information collected in the Lyall Report. Millbrook was not alone in undertaking such a thoroughgoing examination of life in the community. It was perhaps unusual in such a small village, but the Report fits squarely into the larger national efforts of the Men and Religion Forward Movement.

The Italian Community

The Lyall Report includes frequent examples of the prejudices of its era. The mania with moralism that denigrated harmless activities like pool playing as evidence of a lack of Christian virtue and the conviction that the capabilities and talents of men and women were fundamentally different have already been addressed. Most disturbing of all was the pseudo-scientific belief in the natural superiority of some races and ethnicities and the inherent inferiority of others.

Throughout the Report, statistics are often broken down by racial category, of which there are three: white or American, Negro or colored, and Italian. It explicitly states that even those who immigrated from Italy and have since become American citizens will be classified as Italian – not American – for the purposes of the study. Although Italians represented only 15 percent of the community’s population in 1912[20], roughly one in seven inhabitants, much of the report dwells on their role in village.[21] While the language used in the report is careful and mostly avoids employing the worst ethnic and racial slurs of the era, the subtext for the survey’s decided interest in the Italian residents is unmistakable: white residents of Millbrook were concerned, perhaps even panicked, about how their community was being changed by the arrival of these newcomers.

Some of these fears revolved around a potential loss of power or control to the Italians. For example:

· In a discussion about the higher birthrates for Italian families: “[I]t is rapidly becoming a question of Americanizing the Italian, or we shall become Italianized.”[22]

· Expressing similar concerns about the relative size of Italian and “white” families: “It is only a question of time, apparently, when the Italians will control the village.”[23]

These attitudes were, of course, not unique to Millbrook; they reflect a common strain of thought in Progressive Era America. Although seemingly odd to modern sensibilities, it was typical in the early twentieth century to look upon immigrants from southern and eastern Europe as nonwhite, as members of separate racial categories. They were viewed not only with suspicion, but with disdain. This was the height of the eugenics movement in the United States and the belief that one’s character and intellectual capacity were determined by one’s race or ethnicity represented conventional thinking. Italians were seen as inferior to northern Europeans, who were sometimes referred to as Teutonic or Nordic. [24]

Figure 6: This graph shows the number of Italian children living in each house. Note that there is one house with 17 children in it. This information reflected the fears among native born residents that the higher birthrates among Italian families would lead to them losing control of the village.

Sociologist Edward Ross, who had introduced the term “race suicide” into debates over immigration policy in an attempt to convince native born Americans to keep less desirable groups out, lest they dilute the nation’s Anglo-Saxon stock, wrote a

series of works highly critical of Italian immigration. “That the Mediterranean people are morally below the races of northern Europe,” Ross asserted, “is as certain as any social fact.

Immigrants from southern Italy, “lack the conveniences for thinking.” Those from Naples[25] were “a degenerate class… infected with spiritual hookworm [who display] a distressing frequency of low foreheads, open mouths, weak chins, poor features, and backless heads.”[26] The attitude represented by Ross was, if not universally accepted, at least common, especially among Progressives who relied heavily on pseudoscientific, eugenics-inspired writings in forming their opinions of immigrants. This attitude is manifestly present in one seemingly odd statement in the Lyall Report that sums up its careful straddling of the line between the outright prejudice of the era and the desire to preserve a neighborly relationship with the Italians living in Millbrook: “Above the average Italian socially and intellectually, [the village’s Italians] have striven to keep undesirable fellow-countrymen away from Millbrook.”[27]

With few exceptions, Millbrook’s Italian residents lived on a single street, Alden Place. The Lyall Report has much to say about life there: the homes and apartments are crowded, sanitation is poor, children play in the street because of a lack of playgrounds. One of the more telling passages in the survey attempts to explain why Alden Place is home to so many of the village’s Italians and not merely describe the conditions there:

A considerable number [of Italians] would like to buy property in the village, but even when they offer cash, the Americans will rarely sell, for they are afraid that the Italians “will spoil that section of the town.” Most of the village property is thus barred from them by an unwritten law forbidding the sale of property to an Italian.[28]

Note the tone here, which acknowledges this reality, but seems slightly disapproving of it. The Report goes on to provide an explanation for why the village’s potential for growth has been checked.[29] It was not a product of happenstance:

Influenced to some extent by the Thorne family, who held land near Millbrook, other wealthy New Yorkers have purchased land near the village, until today it is almost completely surrounded by their holdings. Much of the incorporated village is also owned by them. Furthermore, at present all the available land within the village is owned by the realty company, which consists of these same wealthy estate holders. This company has fixed a limit as to whom land shall be sold, excluding all so-called “undesirable parties,” such as Italians and Americans who are not wanted. Restrictions have been made regarding size of lot, forcing a buyer to purchase a large lot without the privilege of breaking it up later; and buyers have also been compelled to build a house of not less than a certain value…The growth of the town in this way is being choked. It is said quietly that this “bottling” has been slyly and purposely done by the New York men, in order to “keep Millbrook always a pretty little country village, for their especial enjoyment, just as they have made an artificial pond or a game preserve.”[30]

Figure 7: A hand-drawn map showing the “Bottling” of Millbrook. This effect was created by the large estates surrounding the village that prevented its natural expansion and contributed to the overcrowding in areas like Alden Pace, where the Italian community was centered. The heart of the village is the area between the Golf Links and the Dietrich Estate, where Timothy Leary would spend time a few decades later.

Next to this, in the margin of Reverend Lyall’s personal copy of the report, the one in the archives of the Millbrook Historical Society, is a handwritten note: “This

paragraph is not with my permission, nor was I aware of its presence in the notes before the volume was bound. J. E. Lyall”. [31] Clearly this conclusion, penned by an outsider hired to draft the report, went beyond what the Reverend was comfortable attaching his imprimatur to.

Conclusion

The Lyall Report concludes with 26 specific recommendations for improving life in the community. Some of these proposals would likely be the same if a similar project were undertaken today in Millbrook:

“Improvement of…sidewalks within the village”

“Preservation of places of scenic beauty”

“Development of a recreational program”

Some are more reflective of the concerns of 1912:

“Sanitary control of manure piles in the village”[32]

“Campaign against the use of liquor by education and by the ballot”

“Sanitary regulation of the village’s milk supply”[33]

While these recommendations are listed in a form similar to what appears above, the question of what to do about the Italian community earns a more thorough analysis:

The survey emphasizes the growing importance on the Italians within the community. The Italians have hitherto been ignored, scorned and maligned, as a rule. Yet they are apparently to become a very powerful body, if not the controlling force in the village. Here presents a problem nothing less than the assimilation of the Italian population. There should be a carefully worked out plan, definite, simple, yet comprehensive, made with the help of the Italians themselves, for the development of the Italians of the community. This plan will embrace social, educational and religious features.[34]

One hundred and nine years after the Lyall Report, Millbrook is still home to many descendants of the Italian families referenced, but not named in it – Sepe, Ciferri, Velletri, Manzi, among others –but vanishingly few of the descendants of the large estate owners who had been so concerned with the newcomers’ arrival and what it would mean for their community.

[1]Lyall Report, 2.

[2]F. E. Shapleigh. He was the YMCA County Secretary of Eastern Delaware County.

[3]Wilson’s inaugural address is quoted in the report: “This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of humanity. Men’s hearts wait upon us; men’s lives hang in the balance; men’s hopes call upon us to say what we will do. Who shall live up to the great trust? Who dares fail to try?” Ibid, 191.

[4]Ibid, 188

[5]Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform: From Bryan to FDR, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955), pp. 186-187.

[6]Volunteers were recruited to administer multi-page questionnaires to members of the community, asking them all sorts of things: what magazines they read; what Church, if any, they belonged to; what level of education they had attained; where they acquired their drinking water. Although men were in charge of the committee that oversaw the report, the data collectors included both male and female volunteers and the Report includes this wonderfully telling line: “Eighteen men and two women were engaged in the survey in the open country, besides several wives of the men, in some cases doing the most of the work.”

[7]It is not without a sense of irony that I present these statistics; it is precisely what the committee responsible for the Lyall Report would have wanted in a report on the Report. Although perhaps creating a bar graph to present the statistics would be more in keeping with its preferences.

[8]Lyall Report, 20.

[9]Ibid, 39.

[10]Ibid, 175.

[11]Ibid, 83.

[12]Lyall Report, 2.

[13]Gail Bederman. “’The Women have had Charge of the Church Work Long Enough’: The Men and Religion Forward Movement of 1911-1912 and the Masculinization of Middle-Class Protestantism.” American Quarterly, (Sept. 1989), pp 432-435.

[14]Idib., 451.

[15]Ibid, 434.

[16]Ibid, 443-444.

[17] And a favorite target of the Lyall Report. Statistics cited in the report attribute most of the crimes that had occurred in recent years in the community to, at root, alcohol.

[18]“Opening Gun of Men and Religion Forward Movement 8-Day Campaign,” Poughkeepsie Eagle, February 27, 1912. Interestingly, the Lyall Report was not quite as harsh when it came to the moral suitability of films: “The motion picture theatre furnishes most of the theatrical entertainment of the community. It has an average patronage of 400 per week. The hall is fairly good. The films are of an average character.”

[19]Bederman, 449.

[20]Blacks represented a mere 4 percent and whites 81 percent.

[21]Forty-one percent of the village’s Italians were under age 10, but only 16 percent of whites were.

[22]Lyall Report, 33.

[23]Ibid, 48.

[24]Eugenicists explained away great figures from Italian history like Dante, Galileo, and Leonardo by saying that they were actually Nordic.

[25]Most Italians who had come to Millbrook were from Fondi, a town 76 miles northwest of Naples.

[26]Okrent, Daniel. The Guarded Gate. (New York, Scribner, 2019), pp. 188.

[27]Lyall Report 43.

[28]Ibid, 50.

[29]The village’s population hasn’t exceeded 1500 nor fallen below 1100 at any point in the past 100 years; it has been remarkably consistent. Rhinebeck’s population, by comparison, has varied from roughly 1400 to 3100 over that time.

[30]Lyall Report, 41, 43.

[31]Ibid, 43.

[32] Although there are a number of signs today discouraging dog owners from allowing their pets to defecate on lawns.

[33]Lyall Report, 210-211.

[34]Ibid, 196.

Manet Fowler Interviews. Gift of Bill Jeffway, 2021. DCHS Collections.

A Glimpse of Black Life in Beacon, April 1941

by Leonard Sparks

InApril 1941, Manet Helen Fowler (1916-2004) — later to become the first Black woman in the U.S. to earn a doctorate in cultural anthropology — visited Beacon and other Dutchess County communities to speak toAfricanAmerican residents about their views of the national defense (the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor in December, drawing the U.S. into World War II), race relations, migration and education, among other topics.

It’s unclear who commissioned the typed reports, or if they have ever been published, but in 2020 the Fowler family put them up for auction with Swann Galleries in New York City. Bill Jeffway, president of the Dutchess County Historical Society, paid $3,640 and donated the documents to the society. Below are excerpts from Fowler’s report from Beacon.*

*This excerpt originally appeared in “Always Present, Never Seen:ABlack History of the Highlands, in The Highlands Current, June 17, 2022.Areprintof the five-part series can be downloaded at highlandscurrent.org/black-history.

Three or four blocks from the [Baptist] church we met the first Negro we had then seen in town — Mr. F., the handyman, who was dressed in a fisherman’s hat, leather jacket and high boots, and who, after the “ground” was broken, talked willingly — on the street, in the rain — for more than half an hour. He is a tenant of Mr. and Mrs. A., living in a small shack in their backyard on Hudson Avenue, and he suggested that I contact them….

Mr. G. of the Beacon News was interviewed in his office. He was cordial, gracious and, though busy, typed out a list of “Negro” names who might be found helpful.

The first of these was that of Mr. and Mrs. W, of the Beacon Inn, described as a “restaurant,” where we might be able to have dinner and to gain other contacts. At this Inn (referred to by Beacon Negroes as a “saloon” or a “beer garden,” but never once as a restaurant!), we were finally served dinner, cooked to order, having interviews meanwhile with Mr. and Mrs. W, the former brickyard workers, the aqueduct worker and the itinerant Philadelphia mechanic-carpenter.

The Inn is on lower Beekman Street, the “Negro” street up from the Hudson River where a large number of colored people live and conduct their limited businesses. Rev. and Mrs. W. and Mrs. C live on this street, diagonally across from the Inn, and they were interviewed in their homes. Mr. and Mrs. J, who maintain well-appointed rooms for transients, gave their answers in their home, where we stayed overnight….

Mr. B, on leave from Fort Dix, [was interviewed] in the Congo Inn, the town’s other colored “saloon” “beer garden” “restaurant,” which, as one interviewee put it, “appeals to the younger crowd,” while the Beacon Inn is frequented by the older working class. Mr. and Mrs. T do not live on Beekman Street (those people who do have a complex about it, and feel that “the minute you say you live on Beekman Street in this town, you’re disgraced!”) but on Ferry Street, nearby; they were interviewed at home, after Mrs. C had invited us to Sunday morning breakfast.

In all cases, opinions were freely given, completely without reticence. Here there seemed little need to “feel the way” in view of being an “outsider.”… Perhaps it was because, of the interviewees, only Mrs. C. (and a few of the younger people of high school age) had been born in Beacon — gaining thereby the true in-group attitude. The others were immigrants, mostly from the South, who had been in the town a long time or short, but had, nevertheless, an objectivity which was colored in large part by a sense of affiliation “at home,” wherever that might be, but of transition-residence in Beacon. No matter. Even though most of the opinions drifted in the same direction, the people — all of them — talked… .

Superficially, race relations offer no problem (this, in fact, was the opinion of Mr. G. of The News, in regard to Beacon: “Everybody got along fine; relief authorities made joblessness impossible — Negroes, everybody, always worked”); Negro and white boys and girls attend school together — but after school, with or without graduation, the future for the Negro boys and girls is limited. They are not accepted for work in downtown factories except at Gloversville, a non-union furniture factory out from town, which employs about 40% Negro men. (Miss H., a very light Negro girl with hazel eyes, a high school student now, and intelligent, made application at the National Biscuit Co. but has never been called, and was never allowed to speak with anyone in greater authority than a secretary-receptionist.)

The difficult thing with this non-acceptance, Beacon Negroes think, is that it is so rarely explicit, but subtle. Applications are accepted for jobs, but no one is ever called, nor is the applicant told that no disposition of his case will be made because he is colored. Miss H. felt that much could be gained in at least an understanding on both sides, if the Negroes could sometimes gain an audience with a personnel manager, instead of a receptionist, who, she felt, will often block the way. Two other Negro women have worked in downtown factories, however, but the other Negros discount this as an achievement for the group proper — since, they say, “They were both so ‘pink’ nobody could tell the difference.”

As in Poughkeepsie, also, the housing situation is bad in Beacon, although recently there has been a sudden spurt of Negro homebuyers, mostly among Castle Point employees. Even so, on all streets — even Beekman — some whites live side by side with Negroes and, in some cases (varying, of course, with individual personalities), limited social relations are indulged. But among the Negroes themselves there is the old problem of disunity — stratification into brickyard and hospital worker classes; between church people and saloon people; between young people and old… .

As for the young people and the saloon, there are fewer other places for them to go. The Baptist Church has no Young People’s Forum, no clubs, little but a Young People’s Choir to sing hymns. Mr. and Mrs. A., from their meager funds, charter a bus each Sunday to gather young people for the Methodist Church Sunday School… .

In the town of Negroes, there are, therefore, the two churches, the two saloons, two barber-shop-beauty-parlor combinations, and one business headquarters, for a man who sells life insurance and exhibits colored educational films, for a New York company. At the moment, the young people are very anxious to have something in the nature of a Community Center, or clubhouse, or whatever — where they might meet and have meetings and programs of a progressive, civic nature… .

Economically, the Castle Point Hospital employees are the “upper class.” These live in nicer homes in town, if they do not occupy the attractive quarters furnished on the hospital grounds and many are now buying. One of the reasons for the inadequate Negro census figures for Beacon may lie in the fact that numbers of Negroes live “on their jobs,” as in the case of the Castle Point workers — numbering, according to vague estimates, almost “as many as 327 themselves.”

The now-unemployed brickyard workers are the Beacon Inn nucleus — working men who pick up what they can, and their wives or sweethearts, who work as domestics. In all cases the idea proposed by Mr. G. that “there was no Negro (or any!) unemployment in Beacon — in fact, “too much work” was greeted with much cynical levity from interviewees. “Jobs,” they answer, “but what kind of jobs?” Relief authorities encourage work, it is true, they say, but “you must take what you can get — and, for the Negro, that is always next to nothing!”

The case of Miss H. — who “cleans a large, 8-room house each Saturday for a white housewife at a $1 salary — excused because she is “a schoolgirl” is in point. Mrs. W., who works as the theatre attendant part-time now, was extremely bitter about

the housework situation, and has resolved that “working for Jews at the theatre is better; they don’t pay much, but at least they treat you right.”

At the time of the interviewing, some men were employed on the New York State aqueduct project, which was a union job requiring much standing in deep water and mud. Invariably, in regard to unions, there was much bitterness from the men, they are never called except for the dirtiest work, they are not allowed to join unions calling for skill: “Unions are controlled by Communists anyhow, Communists are white — no white man will give a Negro a job when he can give one to his own.” Although admitting that the best jobs open in Beacon to Negroes were the Castle Point Hospital jobs, the attitude of these laborers was that it was only because Castle Point is a tuberculosis hospital that Negroes form such a large percentage of the employees; orderlies and maids are Negroes and doctors and nurses white… .

[The uneven distribution of jobs] is continually resented. It should not be a surprise that this resentment is reflected in some quarters in a complete isolationist stand: “We got nothing from the last war — why fight in this one?” On the other hand, Mr. T., veteran of the last war, and now economically well-fixed, felt that “regardless of how we are treated in America, we are still citizens, and as citizens of this country, I think we should help if the rest do.”

The itinerant mechanic-carpenter from Philadelphia had traveled, after the last world war, in Europe, and had developed affection for the German people as a group. This man insisted that the greatest contribution the Negro in America could make to his own welfare was to stay out of this war, since he believed strongly that Negroes were being made victims of “propaganda” in regard to Germans. “Wherever an American or English white man had set foot in Europe, and I went there,” this man said, “I was discriminated against. But when I went to Germany, the Germans treated me just like any other man. Personally, I hope Hitler wins the war!”

This man, who served in the last war, felt that if Negroes did wish to participate in the defense industry, their only chance for equality would be if the government took over.

Another speaker believed that all anti-alien, anti-Red and anti-union drives would prove beneficial to Negro workers. “Whenever they throw out the foreigners, the Reds and the unions, there can’t help but be room for Negroes, for we are Americans, and so few of us are either Communist, or allowed in the good unions. CIO [the Congress of Industrial Organizations, a union open to Blacks] is helping some, but [Henry] Ford has been better to Negroes than most unions, regardless of what they say about him and Hitler.”

Depiction of Sarah Burthen (Pooley) by Shelly Niro, Turtle Clan, Bay of Quinte Mohawk, Six Nations Reserve. Courtesy of Andrew Hunter Private Collection.

I Know Not How Far Nor How Long: The "Unfreedom" of Sophia Burthen and Eli Brackenridge

By Andrew Hunter

A contemporary conversation with the formerly enslaved Sophia Burthen Pooley of 18th century Dutchess County

Note: Pooley's first-person narrative can be found in the book, The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada Related by Themselves, by Benjamin Drew, Jewett & Co., 1856 located at www.dchsny.org/pooley. Andrew Hunter is the author of It Was Dark in There All the Time: Sophia Burthen and the Legacy of Slavery in Canada located at

https://www.amazon.com/Was-Dark-There-All-Time/dp/1773102192

With finger pointed and eye levelled at the Pequod, the beggarlike stranger stood a moment, as if in a troubled reverie; then starting a little, turned and said: — “Ye’ve shipped, have ye? Names down on the papers? Well, well, what’s signed, is signed…” — Elijah, the prophet, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851)[1]

Children…operated between and around historical, conceptual, geographic and racialized boundaries of childhood and are therefore assumed to have disappeared from the historical record… African-Americans did have childhoods—and the existence of figurative and actual Black children challenges the ways that we conceptualize childhood, race and the archive. – Dr. Crystal Lynn Webster, Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood (2021)[2]

Dear Sophia,

“I’m writing to let you know that It Was Dark There All The Time: Sophia Burthen and the Legacy of Slavery in Canada,[3] the book I wrote for you, has been published and is making its way out into the world. I know that you will be particularly interested to hear that it has resonated with good people in Dutchess County, colleagues working at the Dutchess County Historical Society (DCHS), and scholars at Bard College (at Hyde Park). I’m sure you’ll be surprised to know that there is a deep commitment at this time to

exposing the heavy presence of slavery in Dutchess County, the Hudson Valley and New York State, and that much of this essential work is being led by Black scholars, students and community organizations. This fact echoes with the expanding ecosystem of generous scholarship happening in what my colleague and mentor Dr. Charmaine Nelson (of the Slavery North initiative at UMassAmherst, Massachusetts) terms “temperate zones,” meaning the northern regions of the Americas and Europe. Charmaine reminded me that “the history of slavery is ALL of our history, not only Black history,” and so those of us of whiteness have much work to do, and a profound weight to carry, in our supporting roles.

Another key figure in leading this work is Dr. Christy ClarkPujara of the University of Wisconsin-Madison (home to the Black Cultural Centre); her book Dark Work: The History of Slavery in Rhode Island[4] had a profound impact on my understanding of slavery as the economic foundation of the British Empire and the formation of the economy of the United States, and therefore your story. This is also true of Dr. Marenka Thompson-Odlum (of University of Glasgow and Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford) who revealed the networks of money linking Glasgow (with its “Sugar Barons” and “Tobacco Lords”) to the wider landscape of chattel slavery across the globe.

I began this text with a quote from Dr. Crystal Lynn Webster’s remarkable Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood, I say remarkable as it is a truly rare child-centered engagement with the lives of those held enslaved in the northeastern United States (New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania) emphasizing the perspective and agency of children. I am pleased that you now have a place within this expansive scholarship and public history. Your interview was a true gift placed into our collective futures, and as I’ve said elsewhere, with your gift comes an obligation to work to honour your gesture. Perhaps someone will be able to surface your lost sister, discover your deeper ancestry and the fate of your parents, Diana and Oliver Burthen?

I have been asked by the Dutchess County Historical Society (DCHS) in Poughkeepsie to write what is, in essence, a “new

chapter” or epilogue to It Was Dark There All The Time; a generous offer as it is helping me stay on this journey with you. I have also begun to map out a new book based on the life of Eli Brackenridge, the “5 year-old orphan Negro boy” whom I introduced briefly in your book. I’ve often wondered if you knew Eli? He was held in the same circle of wealth, privilege and whiteness as you were in Ancaster Township, Upper Canada, and his early life is directly linked to both Haudenosaunee/Kanien’kehá:ka/Mohawk leader Thayendanegea/Joseph Brant and Samuel Hatt (who you referred to as “the Englishman at Ancaster,” in your 1855 interview with Benjamin Drew), the men who kept you enslaved for three decades here in what is now Canada[5]. Eli is the embodiment of the Legacy of Slavery in Canada I refer to in the title of your book, and a significant witness to the sad truth that abolition and emancipation remain incomplete projects, as evidenced by the continuing presence of anti-Black racism here and the obvious biases against Black and Indigenous peoples defining our systems of so-called justice.

While this text is rooted in Dutchess County, where you were born, its grounded in a wider geography that is far more expansive than the strictly delineated boundaries of that colonized landscape. Those who came from Europe to settle the lands east of the Hudson River (or North River as you called it), occupied the traditional territories of the Wampanoag, then extended their reach in the years bracketing the America Revolution; many moved north (as you were forced to) on a Loyalist tide. They remained tethered to a worlding shaped over generations in Dutchess County, and carried this with them into the territories of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee. We cannot write or think of your birthplace in isolation, we must engage it in an expanded field.

James Baldwin spoke of the journey taking one into the unknown (of what you will learn, and where you may get to), and I see my journey as one of unknowing and unlearning, of redaction (not erasing, but putting into public knowledge) of all those “Names down on papers,” so that “what’s signed” might be rewritten. Samuel Hatt’s signature snakes across the bottom of a thin paper document that is Eli Brackenridge’s indenture; it is time to extract the venom from his mark.

venom (noun) – Feeling a need to see others suffer.[6]

On January 25th, 1810, Samuel Hatt (Justice of the Peace for Ancaster Township, British Militia commander, businessman, and owner of at least one enslaved person) gave his “consent” on an indenture between Jean Baptiste Rousseau and John Jackson, Ancaster township wardens, binding “Eli Brackenridge, a 5 year old ‘orphan Negro,’ as an apprentice to Elijah Secord, until he comes of age at 21.”[7] In her essential book The Journey from Tollgate to Parkway: African Canadians in Hamilton,[8] historian and curator Adrienne Shadd succinctly addressed the significance of the difference between Eli’s indenture, and that of a white child (Ann Thayer) also consented to by Hatt (seven years earlier, in1803):

The child was required to, “faithfully serve in all such lawful business as the said Eli Brackenridge shall be put unto by the command of his master, . . . and honestly and obediently in all things shall behave himself towards his said master and honestly and orderly towards the rest of the family . . . ” For his part, Elijah Secord promised to “get and allow unto the said Apprentice meat, drink, washing, lodging and all other things needful . . . for the Apprentice during the term aforesaid . . .” When the term of apprenticeship expired, Secord was also bound to give the young man a complete new suit of clothing, including a “coat, waistsash (sic), overhauls, hat, shoes, stockings, with suitable linen . . .” [9]

Shadd goes on to note that while the indenture of the white orphan Ann Thayer shared the above wording, it also included the following obligations, not required of Brackenridge’s master:

In addition, the indenture required that Templeton instruct the child in, “the craft, mastery and occupation of cooking, sewing, spining (sic) and such other qualifications . . . the indenture also specified that Templeton “at some convenient time within the term aforesaid shall cause the said Ann Thayer to be taught to read and write.” These indentures always mandated that

the apprentices be taught to read and write, . . . So why had Eli Breckenridge been denied this right? Was it because town officials felt that a Black child did not need to know how to read and write? . . . The fact that five-year-old Eli Brackenridge was denied his right to a basic education illustrates in stark terms the fundamental inequality of opportunity for Black children right from birth. This is echoed later in the century with the exclusion of Black children from schools that white children attended.[10]

Shadd refers to Samuel Hatt’s enslavement of Sophia, then states: “Obviously, the existence of slavery and the slave-owning class had a tremendous impact on the fate and circumstances of all Blacks, whether they were enslaved or not.” [11]

Dear Sophia,

What’s in a name? This is the title of the opening chapter of It Was Dark There All The Time, where I parse your names (Sophia, Burthen, and Pooley). I have taken the same approach as I begin to write of Eli. Like my surname, Hunter, Brackenridge is of Scottish origin. Both are prominent in Glasgow, Scotland (my paternal grandparents’ home) where variations of Brackenridge date back to the 1400s, and where there have been many Hunters. Eli is short for Elijah, meaning “My God is Yahweh” to Christians and Jews and “beautiful, smart, and loving” (as does your name) to Muslims. While my surname denotes an occupation, Brackenridge refers to place; it combines the old northern English words bracken and rigg (“ridge”) and has many spelling variants. The family crest features red and white roses (but oddly no bracken). Bracken is a fern, genus Pteridium (from pteron, meaning “feather wing”). It is thought to be carcinogenic and is considered a weed to be pulled up from areas of cultivation and piled up to define edges of fields. We are back to borders and margins formed of unwanted material. Eli, beautiful, smart, and loving, whose origin is the abandoned margin of a vast field that will continue to be fertilized and nurtured. The Scots brought their model of agriculture to the Americas.

Among the first United Empire Loyalists (or UELs, those who sided with the Crown during the American Revolution), was a Francis Brackenridge who settled in the Niagara area in Lincoln County in 1783. In 1824, however, he was “suspended” by an “order in council” from the official list of recognized UELs, according to the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada.[12] Where did the “orphan” Eli Brackenridge come from? Was he connected in some way to this family at Niagara, or members of their family who settled near Ancaster Township? Who was he orphaned from? Eli might have been born “free,” however, if he was the child of an enslaved woman in Upper Canada (born after 1793) he would be automatically placed into indenture until the age of at least 25. The age and duration stated on Eli’s indenture is consistent with this practice. Brackenridge is a thread to keep pulling on, as is another name written on Eli’s indenture: JeanBaptiste Rousseau.

Rousseau was born in Montréal in 1758 to a family engaged in the fur trade. He would become involved in many ventures upon settling in Ancaster Township, as a merchant, miller, administrator, and translator. Rousseau had very close ties to Thayendanegea/Joseph Brant, both business and personal. He acquired (with Richard Beasley, who came from Albany, New York, and James Wilson) significant Haudenosaunee acreage (around 4900 hectares), and married Thayendanegea/Joseph’s adopted daughter Margaret Clyne (or Klein). Margaret (a white woman) was born in 1759 in the Mohawk Valley near Canajoharie, New York, was captured, held captive, and brought to Upper Canada by Thayendanegea/Joseph, who then adopted her. She and Rousseau were married in Thayendanegea/Joseph’s home, and Sophia would have been present that day in Brant’s Town/Ford (or “Mohawk” as Sophia called the settlement) on the Grand River, Upper Canada. Having left New York following the American Revolution, Thayendanegea/Joseph and his followers settled on the Haldimand Tract in 1785 (land acquired by the British from the Anishinaabe/Mississauga in order to resettle the five nations of the decimated Longhouse, the traditional Haudenosaunee homelands that stretched across New York).

The five nations became the Six Nations when the Tuscarora came north from the Carolinas (having been driven from their homelands) and joined the Seneca. Instead of being married off to a wealthy friend as Margaret was, however, Sophia was sold into this same circle of local elites.

Rousseau had a son with Margaret whom he named Joseph Brant, born in 1799, and also an older daughter, Marie Reine, born in 1793. Marie Reine married Ancaster-born Elijah Matthew Secord, son of UEL John Secord of Westchester County, New York, and Susannah (née Wartman) of Niagara, who was born to German parents who came from Pennsylvania. Elijah Secord was also the second cousin of Laura Secord, famed British heroine during the War of 1812 (and known to most Canadians as the name on a brand of popular chocolates). In 1810, Elijah and Marie Reine acquired the labour of Eli Brackenridge, through documents signed by Marie Reine’s father, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau, along with Samuel Hatt, in which no obligations were stipulated to educate or train him for sixteen years. Imagine looking upon a five-year-old child and seeing him only as labour! While Eli appeared, at first, to vanish from documentation once in the Secord household, I find traces of the couple just five minutes from my parents’ home.

In St. Peter’s Cemetery, Hamilton, a tall white headstone stands against the west-side fence, its surface eroded. The name Secord can only be revealed by photographing, then heightening the contrast. Outside the cemetery, Mohawk Road continues west to Ancaster. First it passes Meadowlands (a typical “big box” commercial development) and highway 403 (heading south to Brantford, and north to Burlington and Toronto), then passes an affluent neighbourhood with streets named for the other five of the Six Nations (Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, Tuscarora) and ones named Hiawatha and Tomahawk — a strange reconstitution of the Longhouse, anchored by Rousseau Public School. Just past Lime Kiln Road, Mohawk Road becomes Rousseaux Street (the added “x” is common). If you turn down Lime Kiln Road to Legacy Lane, you’ll pass the Cooley-Hatt burying ground, formerly hidden on private land. Richard Hatt

(brother of Samuel) and his wife Mary (called Polly, née Cooley) are buried here, on what was once their family’s land. Samuel Hatt likely lived on or near this property when he first came from England, he may have lived here with his wife Margaret, and possibly Sophia Burthen.

Dear Sophia,

How strange it was to find these names, Polly and Cooley, carried by the wife of Richard Hatt. Polly, your married name, as spelled in the 1851 census of Peel Township, Canada West, and then Cooley, the surname of ill-fated Chloe Cooley, the enslaved woman who formerly enslaved New Yorker Peter Martin witnessed being bound and ferried across the Niagara River to be sold back into the United States by New York born UEL Adam Vrooman. Vrooman had purchased Cooley from fellow Loyalist Benjamin Hardison, who likely acquired her in the region, possibly on the New York side of the border near Fort Niagara, where Daniel Outwater and Simon Knox (or Noxon), the men who stole you and your sister from their Dutchess County kin Joseph Harris, sold you to Thayendanegea/Joseph Brant. Chloe Cooley’s sale across an international border triggered the passing of The 1793 Act to Limit Slavery in Upper Canada, an act that did little to change your status, or prevent you from being sold in Canada around 1806-07. Upper Canada’s Act was the type of “gradual emancipation” enacted in a number of norther states (Pennsylvania in 1780, Massachusetts in 1783, New York 1799/1817) that simply repositioned enslaved children into indenture, what Dr. Crystal Lynn Webster calls unfreedom:

“Through the process of emancipation in the North, which freed most African Americans after they were indentured and reached adulthood, Black children were subjected to new forms of unfreedom particular to their race, age and laboring status.”[13]

A child such as Eli would have shared a similar experience of unfreedom in Canada.

Preserved Cooley, father of Mary, is the only Cooley to appear on the list kept by the United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada. Born in New York City in 1750, Preserved was the son of David Cooley of Orange County, New York, and grandson of Daniel Cooley of Fairfield, Connecticut. Daniel Cooley had married twelve-year-old Jemima Griffen in 1718; she bore him five children before she died at age 23. She was thirteen when Preserved’s brother (and Mary’s uncle) Isaac was born in 1720. Preserved settled in Ancaster Township, while Isaac moved to Dutchess County, where he died in 1780 at Fishkill, Sophia’s birthplace. She could have crossed paths with him. As I’ve said often, here and there are not separate, they remain contiguous, at times continuous, flowing together, bleeding into each other, weaving such a tangled web of people, places, homes.

If we look at the etymology of such well-known words for “house” as French maison, Italian casa, and Russian dom, we will see that they once referred to covering and hiding somebody or something… The oldest recorded form of house is hus, with long u (long u is the vowel we hear in Modern Engl. too), and it seems to be related to the verb hide. – Anatoly Lieberman (University of Minnesota, The Oxford Etymologist. [14]

Hidden away, deep in the woods of Quinte West, Ontario, there is a dark brown/black two-storey house. This building has travelled over 155 miles (250 klms) from the site of a former settlement near Albion Falls, at the east end of the Hamilton “mountain” (actually an escarpment, part of the Niagara) where Mud Street now crosses the top of the Red Hill Expressway, just a short walk from the falls. The house was originally built in 1817 by Elijah and Mary Secord, part of the newly established community of Albion Mills, developed by UEL settler William Davis. Davis had received substantial compensation in money and land when he lost his plantation (and dozens of enslaved people) in Orange County, North Carolina; his large plantation

had been used by General Charles Lord Cornwallis as the base for British forces during their failed Race to the Dan (River) in the spring of 1781.[15] Davis also received ten-thousand pounds in compensation for hosting the army; the plantation was destroyed by Continental forces not long after he abandoned the property. Davis would meet John Graves Simcoe, future Governor of Upper Canada, on his flight north to Canada.

Harmony Hall (staffed by two enslaved men brought north with the Davis family) was the grand home of the Davis family at Albion Mills; the Secords were their neighbours. The final Cultural Heritage Resource Assessment Technical Report, completed prior to the construction of the Red Hill Expressway (City of Hamilton, 2003) offered this assessment of Davis’s settlement:

“Albion Mills, one of the earliest centres of settlement started as a mill site on the Big Creek on the escarpment edge. In the

Albion Falls near Albion Mills (late 19th century) Hamilton Public Library Special Collections

late 1820s, it comprised an extensive grist mill, a saw mill, a stone distillery, a distiller’s house, a blacksmith’s house and shop, an ashery, two houses for millers, three houses for tenants and labourers, one large house used as an inn, a merchant’s shop, a storehouse; a cooper’s shop, a waggon house, and a large two-storey dwelling house, with an extensive barn, stables, and a number of other outbuildings.”[16]

Despite all these essential amenities, this community failed to prosper, and nothing remains of the settlement today. In the 1980s, the Secord’s house, where indentured Eli would have lived until he “came of age” in 1826/27, was carefully dismantled in a lovingly ordered fashion, then precisely reconstructed, obscured in the woods near the Bay of Quinte.

The land around the Bay of Quinte is known as “Loyalist Country,” a region close to the Canada/U.S. border at the eastern end of Lake Ontario near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River where many UELs from Dutchess, Ulster and Westchester Counties, New York, relocated in the 1780s and 90s. The convenience of this area for UELs was made obvious in the decades between the American Revolution and the War of 1812; it allowed many to maintain their close ties with family and friends, as well as business and political contacts, south of the border, and it was not uncommon for UELs to play both sides to their advantage. Daniel Outwater, for example, received a land grant from the Crown in recognition of his loyalty; his widow Nelly (Neltje, née Harris) would later apply for a pension from the United States Army for her late husband’s services during the revolution in Dutchess County.

The Loyalist brand has long been highly valued by their descendants, similar to the descendants of Revolutionary and Civil war heroes in the United States. The UEL Association of Canada monitors and strictly controls its history, and the genealogies of its membership. They love the Union Jack, Britain and the Royal Family (even though many are descendants of

The former home of Elijah and Mary Secord (top: built 1817, photographed circa 1900 in its original location), relocated and reconstructed at Quinte West in the 1980s (bottom: photographed for The Globe & Mail, Home of the Week, August 2018).

Dutch settlers), and embrace and defend their traditions, dressing in period clothing and making pilgrimages to honoured heritage sites. They continue to invest in their creation myth, regardless of its accuracy. They often describe themselves as persecuted victims, as exemplified by the following propaganda on two of the five bronze plaques affixed to the City of Hamilton’s UEL monument:

Neither confiscation of their property, the pitiless persecution of their kinsmen in revolt, nor the calling chains of imprisonment could break their spirits, or divorce them from loyalty almost without parallel.

FOR THE UNITY OF EMPIRE:

The United Empire Loyalists believing that a monarchy was better than a republic and shrinking with abhorrence from a dismemberment of the Empire, were willing, rather than lose the one and endure the other, to bear with temporary injustice. Taking up arms for the King they passed through all the horrors of civil war and bore what was worse than death, the hatred of their fellow countrymen, and when the battle went against them, sought no compromise, but,

forsaking every possession excepting their honour, set their faces toward the wildernesses of British North America to begin amid untold hardships, life anew under the flag they revered.[17]

There is no mention of the enslaved people they brought north as chattel (encouraged by the Crown, and tax free), or the significant compensation they were granted. This monument still confidently embodies the lie/amnesia at the heart of Hamilton’s settler history. During the early stages of researching It Was Dark There All The Time, I reached out to the official UEL archives in Adolphustown (near Greater Napanee, on the Adolphus Reach of the Bay of Quinte) to inquire about a particular UEL family who had relocated to the Bay of Quinte area. They were the extended Harris/Outwater families from Fishkill, Dutchess County, who had owned Sophia and her family. In my inquiries, I related the story of Sophia Burthen. I have never received a response.

The reality is, that much of the story UEL associations and their members promote, is fiction, a sad truth considering how deeply embedded their biased version is in the teaching of Canadian history. While their tales emphasize the great sacrifices they made; the numerous texts on Hamilton’s UEL monument fail to mention the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, or any other Indigenous peoples who fought as allies of the British. There is a small plaque in a nearby garden, but it refers to the Haudenosaunee as the “Six Nation Indians” and also incorrectly states that they were fighting for the British (and not as allies fighting for their own independent community).

Dear Sophia,

The house at Quinte West is the physical embodiment of the Loyalist myth, a lovingly reconstructed domicile of white privilege, nestled in a crafted landscape, hidden from view on Indigenous land, only a short distance from Tyendinaga

Mohawk Territory, home to the descendants of Kanien’kehá:ka/ Mohawk peoples who chose to settle near Kingston (including Konwatsi’tsiaiénni/Molly Brant, Thayendanegea/Joseph’s older sister) instead of along the Grand River. In 2018, The Globe

Sidney March, United Empire Loyalist Monument , 1929, unveiled on Empire Day 1929, Hamilton, Ontario. bronze, approximately 2.5 m tall, photographed by the author.

& Mail newspaper described the Secord home as a “newly restored, centuries-old house (that) comes with a famous name attached.”[18] Eli Breckinridge’s absence from the restored narrative (little more than a heritage branding exercise), reminds me of the infamous enslaved child hidden in the shadows of the portrait of John Glassford and his family by Archibald McLauchlan, circa 1767, that I wrote about in It Was Dark There All The Time:

“Run Away Slave” advertisements for Tom from the New-York Gazette, Or, the Weekly Post-Boy, March 30, 1755; June 23, 1755; and December 13, 1756, all on page 3, collection of the New York Public Library. Original newspapers photographed by the author in 2019.

“John Glassford was a wealthy Glaswegian tobacco merchant. At the time this portrait was painted he was living in the Shawfield Mansion just off the Trongate in what is now Glassford Street. His wealth is demonstrated by the opulence of the house … and magnificence of the oil painting itself. There was another indicator of Glassford’s great wealth and status in the painting, which depicted a black manservant standing on the left behind Glassford. The employment of black pages and servants was very fashionable among rich Glaswegians, brought over from the slave-worked plantations of the American colonies and the West Indies. However,

the servant was subsequently painted out, perhaps due to anti-slavery sentiment in the 19th century.”[19]

Here, the phrase “employment of black pages and servants” conveniently obscures the enslaved status of the Black person, just as the absence of Eli in the Secord narrative obscures the truth of their privilege.

The home of the Dutchess County Historical Society is known as the Clinton House: “The stone house was built circa 1765 for Hugh Van Kleeck. It is now a state-owned historic building named in honor of George Clinton, the first governor of New York and former vice president of the United States.”[20] Within the story of Sophia Burthen, the Van Kleeck’s of Poughkeepsie are significant (variations of their name include Van Cleek and Van Kleek) as it was the series of fugitive slave advertisements (above) that provided the evidence I needed to confirm the identities of her (and her family’s) owners and kin:

“Between the early spring of 1755, and the winter of 1756–57, there were three advertisements placed in the New-York Gazette, Or, the Weekly Post-Boy for a man named Tom. Tom had ‘run away,’ and his owners — first ‘the Heirs of Barent Van Cleek, of Poughkeepsie,’ then ‘Joseph Harris, of Beekman’s Precinct, in Dutchess County’ — were anxious for his return. Tom was highly skilled, and he had left with much property. These very detailed ads tell us much about him and reveal much about the interconnected families who were searching for him. These related families were prominent in business (farming, trading, land speculation), the Dutch community, and the church, and they are directly linked to Sophia. Tom may, in fact, have been a relative of hers.”

The fugitive Tom, the “servant/page” of the Glassfords, the many unknown and unnamed enslaved persons brought as chattel into Canada, and the indentured Eli Breckenridge, haunt their respective houses; cast in shadow, hidden in back corners, shrouded in the collective ignorance and selective amnesia of whiteness. I know not for how long, Sophia said of being held,

bound and blind folded, with her unnamed lost sister, in the hold of a vessel where it was dark there all the time. Those of us of whiteness need to look much harder into the darkness Sophia spoke of. We need to Begin Again:

“Begin Again is shorthand for something (James) Baldwin commended to the country in the latter part of his career: that we re-examine the fundamental values and commitments that shape our self-understanding, and that we look back to those beginnings not to reaffirm . . . or to double down on myths that secure our innocence, but to see where we went wrong and how we might reimagine or recreate ourselves in light of who we initially set out to be. This requires an unflinching encounter with the lie at the heart of our history.”

-Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own (2020).[21]

[1]Melville, Herman, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. New York: Modern Library, 1926 [1851], page 93.

[2]Webster, Crystal Lynn, Beyond the Boundaries of Childhood: African American Children in the Antebellum North. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2021, 1-2.

[3]Hunter, Andrew, It Was Dark There All The Time: Sophia Burthen and the Legacy of Slavery in Canada. Fredericton, New Brunswick: Goose Lane Editions, 2022.

[4]Clark-Pujara, Christy, Dark Work: The History of Slavery in Rhode Island. New York: NYU Press, 2016.

[5]Clark-Pujara, Christy, Dark Work: The History of Slavery in Rhode Island. New York: NYU Press, 2016. Sophia Burthen’s interview appears on pages 192–95 of Benjamin Drew’s A North-Side View of Slavery.

The Refugee: or the Narratives of Fugitive Slaves in Canada. Related by Themselves, with an Account of the History and Condition of the Colored Population of Upper Canada (Boston: John P. Jewett and Company / Cleveland, OH: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington / New York: Sheldon, Lamport and Blakeman; London: Trübner, 1856). She appears as Sophia Pooley (her married name). I refer to her by her family name Burthen as her husband left her “for a white woman.” Her interview is the only known firstperson account of an individual held enslaved in Canada.

[6]Oxford English Dictionary, Canadian Edition

[7]From the “Scope and Content File Descriptions,” Archives of Ontario, F 493-1: Jean Baptiste Rousseau family personal and business correspondence.

[8]Shadd, Adrienne, The Journey from Tollgate to Parkway: African Canadians in Hamilton. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2010.

[9]Shadd, 50–51.

[10]Shadd, 52.

[11]Ibid

[12]“Loyalist Directory,” s.v. Francis Brackenridge, United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada website, http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Info/ detail.php?letter=b&line=512.

[13]Webster, 2

[14]Liberman, Anatoly, Our habitat: house, published in the series Word Origins and How We Know Them (January 21, 2015), OUPblog: Oxford University Press’s Academic Insights for the Thinking World, https://blog.oup. com/2015/01/house-word-origin-etymology/

[15]The Race to the Dan is seen by many historians as a critical turning point in the American Revolution, a strategic retreat by Continental General Nathanael Greene in 1781. Cornwallis surrendered his army at Yorktown later that year.

[16]The former home of Elijah and Mary Secord (top: built 1817, photographed circa 1900 in its original location), relocated and reconstructed at Quinte West in the 1980s (bottom: photographed for The Globe & Mail, Home of the Week, August 2018).

[17]Hamilton’s UEL Monument is located in Prince’s Square, at the front of an Ontario Provincial Court House, 50 Main Street East.

[18]The Globe & Mail, Home of the Week, August 2018

[19]https://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSE00539

[20]Ferro, John, Poughkeepsie boasts many examples of fine architecture. Poughkeepsie Journal, June 14, 2014.

[21]Glaude Jr., Eddie S., Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own. New York: Crown, 2020, 193–94.

Figure 3: Helena Bogardus’s testimony to Justice of the Peace Mathew DuBois, December 16, 1758, Ancient Document 3995, Courtesy of the Dutchess County Clerk’s Office

“Who upon her oath saith”: Recovering Women’s Experiences and Voices from Dutchess County’s Early Court Records

By William P. Tatum III, Ph.D.

On May 13, 1783, while the American Revolutionary War was still officially raging, Justice of the Peace John Bailey wrote out a mittimus writ consigning a woman to the county jail in Poughkeepsie. Constable Richard Warner had arrested Sarah

Figure 1: The mittimus writ ordering Sarah Bakehorn’s confinement in the Dutchess County Jail, May 13, 1783, Ancient Document 10354, Courtesy of the Dutchess County Clerk’s office.

Bakehorn, a spinster, for larceny. In his order, Bailey accused Bakehorn of “stealing a fowl commonly called a Duck,” an odd turn of phrase that might reflect some frustration with the entire affair. Bailey’s mittimus required the jailkeeper to confine Bakehorn until the next meeting of the General Sessions of the Peace, the county’s criminal court, at which time the judges would determine her fate. The back of the original document, which survives in the archives of the Dutchess County Clerk’s Office, provides a brief clue to her fate: on it is the abbreviated note “Disd by Procn,” which stands for “discharged by proclamation.” The note signifies that when Sarah Bakehorn’s case came before the court, no one stood up to prosecute her. At this juncture, she disappears from the known documentary record.[1]

Though leaving many questions unanswered, Sarah Bakehorn’s brief brush with the law offers one example of how court documents preserve the experiences of women from the county’s early years. Since the development of women’s history as a separate field began in the 1960s, locating source material on the female experience has been challenging. Sixty years of continuous effort by researchers has uncovered a wealth of journals, letters, articles, and other material generated by women in past eras. However, much of this material relates directly to elite women. The source base for much of women’s history, particularly for women of middling and lower social ranks, remains dependent upon documents generated by men. The mittimus writ for Sarah Bakehorn is a case in point: while it tells us she ran afoul of the law and proves her existence, the document does not provide historians with any insights into her worldview nor her motivation for the alleged theft. However, it is unlikely that we will ever uncover testimony in Bakehorn’s own hand, so without this record generated by and seen through a man’s perspective, we may never have known of Bakehorn’s existence at all.[2]

While historians have long appreciated the value of court records for developing a better understanding of women’s experiences in the past, these records remain under-utilized on

the local level.[3] Historians of Dutchess County have a uniquely accessible source within the archival context of New York State courtesy of the Ancient Documents Collection. Consisting of the filings and associated material from the Dutchess County Courts of Common Pleas (civil court) and General Sessions (criminal court) between 1721-1889, this collection offers a rich assemblage of material including many cases touching on women’s lives in the past. Thousands of pages of digitized material from this collection are now available online through the Ancient Documents Search Portal on the Dutchess County government website. Accessible for free via the internet, the portal offers researchers practically unlimited access to this deep well of primary source material.[4]

While court records tend to preserve information on the richest and poorest members of society, including many like Sarah Bakehorn who are otherwise invisible in the documentary record, issues of historical bias must nevertheless be considered. The primary challenge for historians lies in the difference between recovering women’s experiences and women’s voices from the past. Women did not serve as judges or lawyers during the eighteenth nor through most of the nineteenth century in New York.[5] As a result, the evidence preserved in court records has been filtered through some level of male perspective, and often elite male perspective, at the point of creation. This article will explore the varying levels to which women’s voices penetrated this intermediate level of interpretation to reach us today. From declarations and narrations submitted by male lawyers representing their female clients in court to depositions prepared by clerks recording the direct testimony of female witnesses, the records within the Dutchess County Ancient Documents Collection preserve vital data ranging along the spectrum between women’s experiences and their direct words.

In general, women’s voices shine through the clearest in those matters where their testimony was most essential to the successful prosecution of the case. In most of these instances, that sworn testimony came from women of the middling sort and lower classes, offering an especially important record in

light of the general absence of other writings from these sectors of society within the surviving manuscript material. High status women by and large appear in the court records as litigants represented by professional attorneys. Their ability to pay for a man to represent them within the male-dominated institution of the courts increased their chances of success in their suits while simultaneously distancing and obscuring their voices from the view of historians. Women of less elite status, in contrast, appear in the record as witnesses for legal actions initiated by men, most commonly as the result of prosecutions under the Poor Law. While lacking the agency and means to enter their own cases, the voices are preserved to varying levels of directness. The remainder of this article will present examples drawn from the Ancient Documents Collection, proceeding from the extreme of men representing women’s experiences to men recording women’s testimony. In each case, attention will focus on evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the material with respect to the information these sources offer on women’s lives.

Catheryna Brett

Few women achieved a status as elite as that of Catheryna Rombout Brett. Daughter of Francis Rombout, an early land patentee of Dutchess County, Catheryna married Royal Navy Lieutenant Roger Brett in 1703. When he drowned in 1718, Catheryna became sole proprietor of a massive estate centered on the modern city of Beacon. Until her death in 1764, Brett wielded tremendous influence in southern Dutchess County.

[6] She appears twice in the records of the Court of Common Pleas pursuing debts owed to her by tenant farmers occupying her lands. However, Madam Brett, as she is locally known to this day, did not enter these declarations herself: she retained the services of professional attorneys Henry Wileman and John Alsop to represent her and prosecute on her behalf. The documents that these men subsequently filed in the County Clerk’s Office are all written from Brett’s perspective, but the formulaic nature of these records raises serious questions over how directly they represent her actual voice.

In the first declaration, which Wileman presented during the October session of the Court of Common Pleas in 1734, Brett charged Jacob Musir with failing to deliver “Thirty two Scheples of good Merchantable Winter wheat” that he owed her as rent for his farm. As proof of her cause, Brett submitted the original agreement between her and Musir, written in Dutch and dated February 23, 1722.[7] The second case occurred four years later in 1738, when Brett once again entered a charge for non-payment of debt. She alleged, through her attorney John Alsop, that the defendant, Johannes Buys, owed her £24 of New York currency for failure to repay a £12 debt, though she did not specify the reason for the loan. As with Musir’s case, Brett produced the original bill from 1732 wherein Buys acknowledged the original debt and promised to pay the penal sum (£24) if he failed to repay the initial loan by December of that year.

While Brett probably relied upon her attorneys to prepare these documents, historians can nevertheless recover an echo of her sentiments in the ultimate disposition of these suits. Neither defendant entered a lawyer to proceed on his behalf, nor does it

Figure 2: The bond between Catheryna Brett and Jacob Musir documenting Musir’s rent obligations, February 22, 1722, Ancient Document 142C, Courtesy of the Dutchess County Clerk’s Office.

appear that Musir or Buys offered any form of defense against the charges. Brett requested that both declarations be filed de bene esse—temporarily and not to be acted upon by the courts until the defendants could secure someone to pledge bail for their future appearance.[8] From a distance of 280 years, it appears that Brett was providing both men with an opportunity to settle their debts outside of court. The absence of any further notations on either declaration suggests that Musir and Buys followed that course. Both cases offer vital examples of how an elite widow managed her estate business as an independent landowner.

Jane Hitchcock

Jane Hitchcock provides a second example of an elite woman employing the court system to settle a score. Like Bakehorn, the court record identified Hitchcock as a “spinster,” though in contrast to Bakehorn, Hitchcock was not on the wrong end of the law. While widows tend to be the best-known examples of women operating as independent entities in early New York law, spinsters of sufficient means could also initiate actions. Hitchcock clearly met that wealth criteria on some level, since she retained the services of attorney Theron Rudd to represent her at the January term of the Dutchess County Court of Common Pleas in 1806. In the declaration that Rudd entered on her behalf, Hitchcock related that on July 1, 1805, she had “agreed and undertaken and fruitfully promised” to marry one Robert Howe within the space of four months. Both were single residents of the county and the match seemed sufficiently sound to Hitchcock that she waited the promised four months, refusing “to contract matrimony with any other man,” which suggests that there may have been other offers coming her way. Despite reminding Howe of his promise numerous times, both parties remained single. Hitchcock claimed to the court that Howe’s failure to fulfill his marriage promise to her had cost Hitchcock $500, a significant sum for the period. The Court of Common Pleas minutes for January 1806 record Jane Hitchcock’s appearance in court, with the note that Robert Howe did not

appear and that a summary judgment would be issued against him if he did not appear and offer a defense subsequently. The reverse side of the single-page declaration only records that the document was filed on March 4, 1806, while the remaining court minutes for 1806 do not record any appearance by Robert Howe. It is likely that the case was either settled out of court, that Howe accepted the judgment against him, or that he fled the county.[9]

Hitchcock’s suit is an apt example of how court records can frustrate research as much as they open windows into otherwise lost eras of the past. From this single surviving data point, we learn that Jane Hitchcock was a mature woman of some means. The title of spinster indicates that she had progressed beyond the age by which contemporaries expected women to marry, a figure that modern scholars estimate fell around 22 years of age during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in America. [10] Her retention of Theron Rudd as her attorney indicates that she either had access to enough wealth or a sufficiently solid case to guarantee that his fees would be paid. In these circumstances, one would expect to see some other surviving documentation of her life and experience in Dutchess County: however, a thorough review of the standard reference literature and genealogical resources reveals nothing that can be reliably linked to her.[11] As with the example of Catheryna Brett, it is unlikely that Hitchcock prepared the narration herself, instead providing the relevant details to Rudd. While not preserving her voice in a direct manner, the declaration that Rudd entered on Hitchcock’s behalf nevertheless provides evidence of single, never-married women acting independently of male relations or guardians.

Zipporah Morgan

Zipporah Morgan provides the first example of a woman whose testimony was required for a case to proceed. On May 9, 1778, Morgan appeared before Justice of the Peace Ephraim Paine in Amenia Precinct to lodge an official complaint. According to the arrest warrant that Paine swore out that day, Francis Weeks

had “violently assaulted beaten and wounded” Morgan three days earlier. Paine’s order directed any constable of the county to seize Weeks and physically bring him to a justice of the peace, at which point Weeks would sign a recognizance (a type of bond) to guarantee his appearance at the next meeting of the county court. We know from a scribble on the reverse side of the warrant that a Constable Gillit physically took Weeks into custody, although he failed to note the date on which he arrested the alleged assaulter. On May 18th, Gillit brought Weeks before Roswell Hopkins, another justice of the peace in Amenia, to complete the paperwork guaranteeing that Weeks would appear in county court. Weeks signed a recognizance swearing that he would forfeit £20 of New York currency if he failed to appear at the next General Sessions of Dutchess County to answer “unto all Such matter as Shall be then and there objected against him by Zipporah Morgan…Concerning an Assault lately made upon her…by the Said Francis Weeks” along with other unspecified misdemeanors. On the reverse of the recognizance, a clerk noted that the obligation was continued until October 1778. The minutes of the Court of General Sessions for October 1778 record that Weeks failed to appear in court, as he had promised to do when signing his recognizance. The court ordered the document to be estreated: that is, for the officers of the county to secure the surety or bail money that had been promised to guarantee Weeks’s attendance.[12]

Unfortunately, no further surviving information regarding this case has been found to date, nor has other material emerged regarding Francis Weeks. It is possible that Zipporah Morgan was the daughter of Jonathan and Zipporah Morgan of Kent, Connecticut, whose birth on May 12, 1750, appears in the surviving town vital statistics.[13] The only additional surviving detail regarding her alleged attacker is Roswell Hopkins’s description of Weeks as a “surgeon” in the recognizance. Nevertheless, the arrest warrant and recognizance provide a record of the existence of both parties, along with a documented instance of a woman seeking legal action against a physical abuser.

Rachel Snyder

Perjury cases preserve an alternative form of women’s voices: the falsehoods they told to harm or protect others. One of the best examples in the Ancient Documents Collection is a grand jury indictment of Rachel Snyder in 1762. Meeting in Poughkeepsie on May 18th, the jurors considered testimony from Justice of the Peace James Smith of Charlotte Precinct regarding evidence that Snyder had given the previous winter. On December 16, 1761, Snyder had appeared before Smith to record a deposition regarding her father’s attempted assassination of Captain James Isaiah Ross. At an unspecified point prior to December 16th, Snyder had been visiting her father at his house when Captain Ross rode by. According to Snyder’s statement, John Houghteling had promptly “load[ed] his Gun with two Bulletts and said that he intended to shoot Capt. James Isaiah Ross” when Ross rode back along the same path. Snyder stated that her father and Ross “had Some dispute in Law” and that Snyder, her mother, and her brother Jacob had all attempted to reason with Houghteling. He laid in wait for Ross for two hours before giving up his attempted murder, at which point Snyder’s mother remarked that “God would not Suffer him to go through with his Intention.” In response, Houghteling declared that “the Devil told Said Ross that he was Waiting for him” and promised to shoot Ross at the next opportunity. Snyder further deposed that, according to her mother, Houghteling had gone out to wait for Ross one more time, swearing that “he wod no be obliged to pay no money to the said Ross for he would Shoot him.” However, when called before the grand jury to repeat her testimony, Snyder claimed that “she did not know anything set forth in her oath aforesaid nor ever knew or had heard anything Concerning the same...” The grand jury issued a true bill to try her for perjury before the Court of General Sessions.[14]

Although this indictment likely records Justice of the Peace James Smith reading Snyder’s earlier testimony to the court, the document nevertheless captures a closer rendition of an actual eighteenth-century Dutchess County woman’s voice than any

yet considered here. It is possible that in recording the initial deposition, Smith took some liberties of paraphrasing Snyder’s account of her father’s attempt at murder, but in order to be formally admissible as evidence, the deposition had to accurately reflect the gist of a witness’s statements. What led Snyder to inform on her father remains a mystery. The minutes for the Court of General Sessions for May 1762 record that she failed to appear to answer the charge and that her recognizance (which has not survived) was to be estreated. Her father, John Houghteling, appears in the same minutes with a continuance until the October 1762 session. At that meeting, Houghteling threw himself on the court’s mercy and received a fine of seventeen pounds, nine shillings, and six pence, which he paid in court. The incidental preservation of Snyder’s deposition, which is not known to have otherwise survived in its original form, opens a rare window into family dynamics in the mid-eighteenth century. From the entire family’s attempts to dissuade Houghteling from shooting Ross to Houghteling’s wife’s blunt statement on the planned attack going awry due to divine intervention to Houghteling’s absolute refusal to give up his designs and his clear hatred of Ross, this indictment preserves elements of lived experience that would otherwise be lost to time. This document should certainly make any historian pause to consider the human dramas that might have laid behind the thousands of pages of debt litigation preserved in this collection.[15]

Helena Bogardus

Those court records that most clearly capture the voices of early American women in Dutchess County were invariably involving the enforcement of Poor Law. Descended from a series of statutes passed between the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I of England, this law required local communities to care for certain classes of impoverished residents. Local elected officials titled “Overseers of the Poor” administered government-funded relief while simultaneously policing their communities to ensure that no unnecessary expenses fell upon public funds. Whenever

possible, the overseers of the poor would transfer costs for relief onto private individuals, requiring those residents to swear out bonds to indemnify the local government if they failed to properly provide for the specified impoverished person. One of the favorite targets for the overseers of the poor were the fathers of bastard children, whom the overseers would pursue in court to secure legally-mandated payments to support the bastard child and occasionally the mother.[16]

Helena Bogardus, a resident of Rombout Precinct in what is today the Fishkill area of Dutchess County, offers one example. In the spring of 1758, she began a physical relationship with Jacobus (otherwise called James) Philipse, also a resident of Rombout. Jacobus promised to marry Helena and even offered her a gold ring as a physical token of his love. By the summer, Helena was pregnant with Jacobus’s child, at which juncture their relationship took a sudden turn. By implication, Jacobus broke off relations some time before December, when Helena’s pregnancy became obvious. The overseers of the poor immediately went into action, bringing the case to the attention of the local justices of the peace and arranging for Jacobus Philipse to be bound over to appear in the Dutchess County Court of General Sessions at the next meeting, in May of 1759.[17]

While bastardy cases are significant for the study of local history in a number of ways, for the purposes of this article these cases are especially valuable because they preserve the most direct testimony of women found within the Ancient Documents Collection. Successful bastardy suits required depositions by a variety of witnesses, including the mother and anyone in her household who could corroborate her story. Due to the life patterns in Dutchess County during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many of the witness were other women. While the overseers of the poor and the justices of the peace who carried out these examinations did not record the wordfor-word testimony of the witnesses, the careful paraphrasing comes closest to preserving the actual voices of eighteenth and nineteenth century woman living in the county. Helena Bogardus’s case has preserved the testimony of four women:

Helena herself, her mother Catharina, her sister Catherine Wilson (who was married to John Wilson of Rombout Precinct), and Rachel Isabrantz, who resided in Catharina Bogardus’s house along with Helena.

Helena began the chain of testimony on December 16, 1758, in front of Mathew DuBois, one of the local justices of the peace. DuBois recorded Helena’s testimony in a remarkably poorly-spelled deposition, beginning with the statement that “ Jacobus Phillips had the Carnall knowledge of her body on her mothers bed some time in the and [sic, end] the last of guin [sic, June],” promising her marriage. Since that encounter, Helena had repeated the experience several times. At some juncture, she stated, “the said Jacobus Phillips begat her weth [sic, with] the bastard child of which she is now pregnant.” Helena further swore that Jacobus was the true father of the child and that she had not had relations with any other man during that time. On May 12, 1759, Helena recorded a second deposition in the presence of Mathew DuBois and John Bailey, both of the local justices of the peace for Rombout. Confirming her previous testimony, Helena added that Jacobus had begun visiting her “under Pretence of Courtship and that in the said Easter week the said Jacobus Philipse after reciprocal Promises of Marriage between him and the Examinant he desired liberty of the Examinant to ask her Mothers Consent to the Marriage.” Helena had asked him to delay the request, fearing it would appear indecent “to Marry so soon after her Father’s Death.” That concern did not, however, forestall her from agreeing to “let him have Carnal knowledge of her Body that in the latter Part of the Month of June on her Mother’s Bed.” Helena added that

Jacobus Philipse told her that his sister Catharina had a Gold Ring of his and told the Examinant to get it from her to keep it as a pledge of Marriage which the Examinant afterwards got from the said Catharina and wore it for several months till her pregnancy was Publickly discovered.[18]

The detail of the promise ring effectively ensured that the overseers of the poor would have a successful prosecution of

Philipse. For local historians, Helena’s testimony offers an insight into courtship practices, including the use of promise tokens, in colonial Dutchess County.

The testimony of the other three female witnesses supported Helena’s statements while adding significant details. Her mother Catharina, deposed on May 12, 1759, stated that Jacobus visited her daughter “very frequently at this Examinants House That the Examinant thought he Came to Court her Said Daughter for his

Figure 3: Helena Bogardus’s testimony to Justice of the Peace Mathew DuBois, December 16, 1758, Ancient Document 3995, Courtesy of the Dutchess County Clerk’s Office

Wife and never Suspected the Integrity of his Intentions.” When Helena’s pregnancy became obvious, Catharina said, she only ever identified Philipse as the father. Catharina

never Saw any other Man to visit her as a Sweet heart That her said Daughter wore a Gold Ring Some Considerable time during her pregnancy and before her pregnancy was Discovered And Afterwards the Jacobus Philipse pretended the Said Ring was his and Insisted to have it That her said Daughter Insisted he had Given the Ring to her as a pledge of Marriage but as said Philipse refused Marrying her said Daughter and there was a Considerable Alliance between the Examinants family and that of the said Jacobus’s father by two of the Examinants sons being married to two of the said Jacobus’s sisters the Examinant to prevent any further family Uneasiness Advised her Said Daughter to send the Ring back.[19]

Catherine Wilson testified that Philipse courted her sister and that “Sometime last fall her said Sister workt about a fortnight at the Examinants House and the Said Jacobus Philipse Came there to Visit her said sister very frequently and Almost always Carried her home And that no body to her knowledge came to See her the said Sister at her house or Elsewhere.” Rachel Isabrantz confirmed the previous testimony of Philipse’s courting behavior, including having seen Helena wearing a gold ring, though Rachel did not know the ring’s origin. Rachel added a character testimony for Helena, swearing that “she always Saw the Said Helena Bogardus behave Decent and well and that she is generally respected by all her Acquaintance & Neighbours.”[20] Through this testimony, doors are opened on female work patterns (Helena and Rachel’s stays in other households to labor), complicated inter-family relationships (multiple marriages between Bogardus and Philipse family members), and the overriding need to maintain a good reputation. The women’s testimony, along with other evidence, carried the day during the court term of May 1759, when Philipse’s lawyer attempted to quash the order in bastardy that established child support payments. The court found in favor of the overseers of the poor, requiring Jacobus Philipse to pay for his bastard son’s expenses.[21]

Though frequently dry and filled with seemingly endless repetitions of the same stilted legal phrases, court records preserve an essential record of daily life, often affording the only views we have of individuals who otherwise did not leave behind an enduring documentary record. Women of all stations were chief among these otherwise invisible residents of eighteenth and nineteenth century. From high status to low status, the records preserved in the Dutchess County Ancient Documents Collection afford us rare glimpses into special episodes of their lives, sometimes providing additional information that is applicable across a broader spectrum of experience. Unfortunately, none of these documents preserve actual word-for-word records of women’s voices. Those filings that come closest to fulfilling that goal were usually linked to cases where the evidence provided by women was essential to the successful execution of a lawsuit. While such cases occupied a relatively narrow bandwidth within the business of the county courts as a whole, almost exclusively relating to enforcement of the Poor Law, the documents surviving from them offer the broadest insights into women’s experiences in early Dutchess County. This article has reviewed a small sample of the types of court records and the variety of information they preserve. Researchers will find even greater detail online in the Ancient Documents Search Portal, the contents of which will continue to expand as the Dutchess County Clerk’s Office processes additional surviving records of the Dutchess County Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions.

[1] Ancient Document 10354, Dutchess County Ancient Documents Collection, Dutchess County Clerk’s Office, Poughkeepsie, NY.

[2]For an overview of the field of Women’s History, see Cornelia H. Dayton and Lisa Levenstein, “The Big Tent of U.S. Women’s and Gender History: A State of the Field,” The Journal of American History, Vol. 99, No. 3 (December 2012), pp 793-817.

[3]Classic studies that are still state-of-the field today for the study of women from the courts include Cornelia Hughes Dayton, Women before the Bar: Gender, Law, and Society in Connecticut, 1639-1789, Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1994; and Deborah A. Rosen, Courts and Commerce: Gender, Law and the Market Economy in Colonial New York, Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1997.

[4]The digitized portion of the Dutchess County Ancient Documents Collections may be accessed online at www.dutchessny.gov/ancientdocuments. Documents from that collection referred to in this article are available online and may be found by searching with the document number only in the online portal. The Ancient Documents Project is a continuing initiative of Dutchess County Clerk Bradford H. Kendall, funded with generous financial support from the New York State Archives Local Government Records Management Improvement Fund.

[5]Kate Stoneman became the first woman admitted to the New York Bar on May 20, 1886. “Kate Stoneman,” The Kate Stoneman Project, http:// katestonemanproject.org/katestonemen.shtml, accessed May 13, 2020.

[6]For an authoritative biography of Catheryna Rombout Brett, see Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook 1992.

[7] Ancient Document 143 (hereafter Anc Doc). Schepel is the Dutch word for bushel. Ancient Document 142C, which is written in Dutch, is probably the contract between Brett and Musir, entered into evidence with Brett’s initial filing.

[8]“DE BENE ESSE Definition & Legal Meaning,” The Law Dictionary, http:// thelawdictionary.org/de-bene-esse, accessed February 15, 2022.

[9]Declaration of Jane Hitchcock, January Term 1806, Anc Doc 44901; Dutchess County Court of Common Pleas Minutes for January Term 1806, Film 130, Dutchess County Clerk’s Office.

[10]Haines, M. R. 1996. “Long-Term Marriage Patterns in the United States from Colonial Times to the Present.” The History of the Family 1(1):15-39. Catherine Fitch and Steven Ruggles impugned Haines’s methodology in their later work, pointing towards a general scarcity of reliable sources from this early period, calling his conclusions on marriage age into question. Catherine Finch and Steven Ruggles, “Historical Trends in Marriage Formation: Perspectives on Marriage and Cohabitation,” in Ties that Bind: Perspectives on Marriage and Cohabitation, Linda Waite, Christine Bachrach, Michelle Hindin, Elizabeth Thomson, and Arland Thorton (eds.), Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruter, 2000, pgs 59-88.

[11]No records from Hitchcock or Howe appear in Poucher ’s Gravestones or in Helen Wilkinson Reynolds Marriages and Deaths. Searches of FamilySearch. org and Ancestry.com return hits from western New York: a tombstone for a Jane Hitchcock who died on October 18, 1862 in Tompkins County at 83 and probate

records for a Jane Hitchcock who died in 1864 and whose will was probated at the Cayuga County Court. In neither case does the surviving data tie these individuals to one another nor to Dutchess County.

[12] Anc Doc 9976 Arrest Warrant for Francis Weeks, Amenia, May 9, 1778; Anc Doc 9793 Recognizance for Francis Weeks, Amenia, May 18, 1778; Dutchess County Court of General Sessions Minutes for the Term of October 1778, Film 127, Dutchess County Clerk’s Office; “ESTREAT Definition and Legal Meaning,” The Law Dictionary, https://thelawdictionary.org/estreat/, accessed February 15, 2023.

[13]Index to the Kent Vital Records, Barbour Collection, Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT, copied by Francelia Johnson and accessed via Rootsweb, http://sites.rootsweb.com/~ctlitch2/towns/kent/kent-vr-p5.htm, accessed June 5, 2021.

[14] Anc Doc 6482 Indictment of Rachel Snyder for Perjury, May 18, 1762.

[15]Minutes of the Court of General Sessions for May 1762 and October 1762, Film 126, Dutchess County Clerk’s Office.

[16]For a broader background treatment of poor relief in early America, see Gabriel J. Loiacono, How Welfare Worked in the Early United States: Five Microhistories, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021; Walter I. Trattner, from Poor Law to Welfare State: A History of Social Welfare in America, Sixth Edition, New York, NY: The Free Press, 1999.

[17]Recognizance for Jacobus Philipse, December 22, 1758; Anc Doc 3994.

[18]Deposition of Helena Bogardus, December 16, 1758, Anc Doc 3995; Deposition of Helena Bogardus, May 12, 1758, Anc Doc 3996.

[19]Deposition of Catharina Bogardus, May 12, 1759, Anc Doc 3993.

[20]Deposition of Catharine Wilson, May 12, 1759, Anc Doc 3992; Deposition of Rachel Isabrantz, May 12, 1759, Anc Doc 3985

[21]Minutes of the Dutchess County Court of General Sessions, May Term 1759, Film 126, Dutchess County Clerk’s Office

H GENERAL HISTORY

Figure 10: Post card c. 1905 showing the Vassar (Brothers) Institute which is still in existence. It is now part of the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center. Author’s collection.

Life through the eyes of Annie Dall, Student 1884-1887

By Lawrence Laliberte

“This Institution was founded in 1848 and has ever since been maintained as a school of high character. It was long and favorably known as ‘The Poughkeepsie Collegiate Institute’ and subsequently as ‘Cook’s Collegiate Institute.’ With the beginning of the academic year, in 1884, it passed under the control of the present Principal, whose purpose it is to make the school so thorough in its instruction, and so wholesome in its influence, that it shall be worthy of the unreserved confidence of parents who wish their daughters taught sound learning, true accomplishment, and correct habits an principals.”

The above description is the first paragraph of a promotional book for the school published for the 1896-1897 school year and provided a great deal of background information, including lists of graduates, their year of graduation and their hometowns. It also listed the course of study for each year. The school provided education from kindergarten through the twelfth year in two separate sections. Our young lady, Annie Dall, was enrolled in the Academic section whose curriculum followed the below structure:

Academic Grade.

First Year – Arithmetic and English Grammar (complete); Physical Geography; Rhetoric and Composition; Physiology (half year); English History (half year); Latin, French or German; Reading, Writing, Spelling.

Second Year – Algebra; General History; Physics and Chemistry; Latin, French or German.

Third Year – Geometry; Astronomy (first half year); Botany

(second half year); American Literature; History of Art; Review of English Grammar with Principals of English Composition; Latin, French or German.

Fourth Year – English Literature; Geology (half year); Civil Government (half year); Mental Science; Moral Science; Review of Arithmetic; Latin, French or German (optional).

The promotional book goes on to state “While a certificate of the Principal will give admission to the freshmen class at Vassar, students are advised to take their entrance examinations at the College.”

The school was located 324-326 Mill Street on the SE corner of Mill and Catherine “on one of the finest residence streets of Poughkeepsie, and has enclosed grounds for the use and enjoyment of pupils. The main building is heated by steam and all rooms are lighted with gas.

Figure 1: Lyndon Hall School as it appeared in the 1896-1897 promotional book. Author’s collection.

The most careful attention has been given to sanitation. The plumbing is of the best, the supply of water is abundant, and the drainage and ventilation as nearly perfect as possible.”

The school was operated by Samuel Buck and his wife, Clara, and listed 12 teachers in the 1896-1897 booklet. The following excerpts are taken from 25 letters written by Annie Dall to her cousin Clara, not to be confused with the Clara who is the school operator’s wife. The correspondence did not include the envelopes, so the last name of Clara cannot be determined, but she apparently lived in Witson’s, just outside of Sing Sing. Annie Dall was from Sing Sing and her best friend, also a student in the same grade, was Grace Bayles, also from Sing Sing. If it were not for the listing of previous graduates, we never would have known her last name. The phrase “Grace and I…” appeared repeatedly. It appears they were inseparable.

Based on the letters, Annie returned to the school as a sophomore in 1884 and continued until January, 1887, which would be her senior year. Unfortunately, the letters stop in January of 1887, so we do not get to experience the joys of her graduation.

Because the material is diverse and encompasses three years, the material is presented in the form of topics and then listed chronologically with comment, where necessary, at the end. Some topics overlap because it was necessary to maintain context (i.e.: the dinner menu served during a trip to a student’s home in Millbrook). This narrative example could have been listed under “Daytrips or Food.” In the end, Annie became Mrs. W.W. Graham who resided in Sing Sing in 1896.

1.Classes and lectures

October 25, 1884

“I am getting along finely in Algebra. I had to learn those three rules in Multiplication by heart. I guess you will remember what rules I mean.”

March 10, 1885

“Since Miss Capron’s illness there has been quite a change in the classes. And my dear Miss Martin is going away tonight. She has been very sick too and the Doctor says it is like committing suicide for her to teach, consequently, she leaves this evening. They have a teacher to take her class. She is from Germany, and of course, only teaches French and German.”

“How are you getting along in music? I took a lesson this morning. I can play in four chords. Of course it sounds very simple to you, but to me four chords means a great deal, for I am naturally dumb, and then as I do not care much for music.” (Figure 2). “It makes me laugh when I think of the French and German teacher, she is such a homely woman and she combs her hair so comical.”

May 2, 1885

“I have my final examination in English history Monday. I do not expect to pass, as I have the different reigns all mixed up.”

October 3, 1885

“I commenced German this week. I think it is a very fascinating study, but quite difficult and Geometry grows harder and harder every day.”

October 25, 1885

“I am getting along finely in German and enjoy the study better and better every day. I wish you could study it.”

December 15, 1885

“We had an examination this morning on the second book in Geometry. I emptied all my brains on the examination paper and then did not succeed very well. I guess the cause was I had very few brains to empty out.”

“We are learning a poem in the German class. When I come home I will be able to recite three stanzas of it.”

“I have just returned from the annex, after drumming away

on the piano for a whole hour. I suppose you have several new pieces by this time. Clara, I do not think it is one bit fair for you to get so far ahead of me in Music. You must not learn so rapidly.”

“There were some educated horses went by this noon. Don’t you think that is quite wonderful? Just imagine horses demonstrating a proposition in Geometry.”

February 4, 1886

“The highest number of credits in Rhetoric examination was forty four and I got forty, only missing four questions. I am happy to think I passed. I took Music lesson yesterday and Prof. Putnam gave me a new piece. It is entitled “Evening Belle”. Of course I will take great pleasure in practicing it on account of the name.”

Figure 2: A view of the Music Room from the promotional book. Author’s collection.

March 9, 1886

“I commenced Chemistry this morning and like it very much. Mr. Buck tried two experiments.”

June 1, 1886

“I have had two of my examinations and am happy to say I was successful in both. I have one more on Friday and then my suffering will be at an end.”

September 21, 1886

“Our German teacher is a very learned man. He teaches in one of the Military schools.- Warring’s.” [This would have been C.B. Warring’s School for Boys at the corner of Mansion and Smith streets. It was established in 1862. The site is now occupied by Warring Elementary School. The other military school in the area was the Riverview Military Academy, established by Otis Bisbee in 1857. It was located at Pine and Jefferson Streets].

October 12, 1886

“I have just finished my abstract for Mental, and really there is not one bit of wit or originality left in me. I am actually growing thin, from study and carrying so much dignity with me!”

November 18, 1886

“I had to write an essay this week on the tragedy of Richard III.It was no small undertaking let me tell you. Doubtless you have been in the same boat yourself – not on Croton Lake, but at Ossining. We had a written review today on Shakespeare. The seniors have to write compositions every week.”

December 10, 1886

“We are anticipating a good and interesting lecture this morning at the Opera House.” (Figure 3). [Probably the Collingwood Opera House, now Bardavon Opera House. It opened in February, 1869].

“Compositions are getting harder and harder. My subject for next time is “Life before the deluge.”

2.Daily Regimen and rules

September 24, 1884

“You said you did not understand what I meant by ‘silent hour’. Well we are all in our rooms studying at that time, and if you make any noise or go out of your room you get a black mark for it. Sunday we have a silent hour two hours long from two to four then we have Sunday school. We have two study hours, one from five until six the other half past seven until half past eight, at half past nine the gas is put out.”

“When it rains, we do not have to go out of doors; but we go down in the gymnasium and one of the girls plays a march and we march around the room.”

October 2, 1884

“The other night I trimmed my bang, and cut it so short I have very hard work to curl it.”

December 14, 1884

“Miss Martin just came around and told the girls (Allie, Dollie and Grace, not me) they were making too much noise. Last Sunday evening Grace got sent to her room for making so much noise. You know I am a good girl and never get into any ecrapis! It is well to have good opinion of yourself for if you do not, others will not have it of you.”

Figure 3: The stage of the Collingwood Opera House as it may have looked to Annie Dall. January 23, 1887. Courtesy Bardavon collection.

“I wear my hair up a great deal now, the girls think I look ever so much better, they say I look like you.”

October 3, 1885

“I am reading a lovely book. The title is ‘Little Woman’. Every Friday evening after supper we have mending hour. Last night I mended a hole in my under vest, also one in my stocking. You see I as very industrious. While we are mending, one of the teachers reads to us. The book she is reading is called “Dread.” Two characters in it are George and Harry and one of the girls name is Ann. I came laughing aloud last night, as Grace would look at me and smile every time one of those names were mentioned.”

“While we were in study hour last Thursday evening the cat came in the room. Grace caught it and held it on her lap during the hour. I never wanted to laugh more, it looked so comical.”

October 25, 1885

“The girls are all playing Hide and Seek and instead of my playing this childish game, I will devote my time to something higher – writing to you.”

October 31, 1886

“We seniors do not have to walk in the line any afternoon and can go on Main St. twice a week without permission.”

November 18, 1886

“Last Saturday, four of us went out and were a little late so we found the side door locked and so had to go down the kitchen way. We heard Mr. Buck’s voice near us but he has not “lectured” us yet, so I think he does not regard it as serious.”

“There goes the line by my window. How thankful I am that I am a senior and do not have to walk in line. I must close as one of the girls is ready for me to go for a walk.”

3.Day Trips

January 27, 1885

“No doubt Mama has told you about our sleigh ride, but I will mention the fact that we went to Hyde Park. Dose not the word “Park” bring happy thoughts to you? I know it does to me.”

“One of the senior’s has invited me to go home with her come Friday night and stay until Monday. I asked Mrs. Buck if I might go, and she was delighted to think I had been invited, as they are such nice people. This young lady lives at Milton and we have to sail on the Hudson to get to her home. I am anticipating a very nice time.”

“Mr. Buck was going to take us coasting this afternoon, but it is raining now, so I suppose we will postpone our ride. It has been beautiful sleighing in Poughkeepsie for some time.”

October 25, 1885

“Mr. Buck took the girls to West Point last Saturday. They all went with the exception of five girls. I being one that remained here. I am sorry I did not go to West Point as those that did go had such a lovely time.”

March 9, 1886

“I went down to Anna’s last Friday and I had the best time I ever had. I will give you a short account of my visit. Friday evening she had a progressive euchre party. There were four prizes given and I received the one for the poorest lady player. Saturday morning Anna, her brother and myself played cards again. In the afternoon, he took us for a long drive. We went to Newburg and drove around Washington’s headquarters. It is on a hill and the view from it is perfectly magnificent. On our way back, we called at Anna’s Grandmothers and had a pleasant call. In the evening, we played cards and had a good time in general.”

January 9, 1887

“One week from Saturday, I think Libby Smith is going to take all the seniors and her roommate out to her home in Millbrook. A distance of fifteen miles there and back. Her mother will have a sweet time preparing the dinner as they are two in the family and when she takes ten from the school it will make quite a party.”

January 23, 1887

“I wrote to you, I think, telling about the picnic I anticipated yesterday. The sleigh was here about nine yesterday, and Mr. Buck kindly tucked us in. There were eight of us, all seniors, excepting Libbie, and her roommate. If you could have seen the long faces in the windows when we drove off, and every one saying “how I wish I were a senior.” “Mother Canfield” bundled me up so I could not breathe. I know I must have weighed two hundred and over. We arrived at her home about noon after a jolly ride out there, and not one bit cold. We had a lovely turkey dinner and the desert was fine. I suppose you think it is simple telling what we had to eat, but it did taste so good, after our long ride of fifteen miles. Libbie has an elegant home, and her people are lovely too. Her baby brother is too sweet for anything. He wanted to know where we got the cat tails on the sleigh –meaning the plumes. We left there about four o’clock and arrived here in the early part of the evening. We sang every hymn (?) imaginable, for instance ‘In the Gleaming,’ ‘My Bonnie lies over the ocean,’ ‘Take back the Heart,’ and all those dear national hymns such as you find in Sunday school books. I do not know when I have enjoyed a day as much as I did yesterday. We all feel the effects today and have terrific headaches.”

4.Etiquette

March 10, 1885

“Will Daboll has a cousin at “Vassar” and he wishes me to see her as he is going to send us a card of introduction. He wants me to make him a visit this summer.” Figure 4).

April 25, 1885

“…yesterday I went out to Vassar to see Will’s Cousin. I had to wait forty minutes before they could find her. You know it is such a large building and so many in it, that it takes a long while to find a person. Miss P____ is a lovely young lady and took me around the grounds. She is coming here soon. One of my teachers went with me as she has a friend out there.”

March 9, 1886

“Mr. Bates wants to exchange photographs, but I guess I will wait a while as I think we are “rushing business” as it is. I am in a handkerchief and out a fan, as he kept my fan to have it fixed.”

December 10. 1886

“Last Wednesday evening, S. Monteser gave a German lecture here. All the Warrings were here, but it is not much satisfaction as we cannot speak to them –only take a look.”

January 9, 1887

“George called last evening, but to my disappointment, “Papa Buck” would not let us see him. He said “if he allowed it in one case, he would have to allow it in another and we know so many town boys that it would never do.” My heart sit still _____ Grace and I mad, Mr. Buck sent George’s cards up to us, but that was a poor apology when he knew the original was down stairs. It must make a fellow feel pretty cheap to come here and call, and then see Mr. Buck instead of the ones they want to, and be greeted by Mr. Buck’s ‘No’.”

5.Food

September 24, 1884

“It is noon now and I am waiting patiently for my dinner. Oh! I am so hungry. By the odor that I smell, I think we are going to have cabbage for dinner.”

December 14, 1884

“We had ice cream for desert today and I ate so much I can scarcely write.”

January 27, 1885

“George brought us a box of candy, and it was astonishing to see how it disappeared when we got upstairs. There were fifty seven girls in our room, and my, oh my how the candy went.”

“Helen says there is no danger at boarding school of lying awake nights from eating apple sauce and bread.”

March 10, 1885

“There was another new teacher came last night and Clara, all our “great Night Feasts” have come to an end, for she rooms next to me.”

“Grace had a box of apples sent her from home and I tell you what, they are just immense (excuse the slang).”

April 25, 1885

“One of the girls (Katie Kreischer) just brought us some cake and I can not write any more with cake in front of me. So must close with love to all Whitson’s.”

May 2, 1885

“One day last week Maggie Humphrey was in our room and

Figure 4: A stereo view of Vassar College’s “Main” building as it may have appeared to Annie. Author’s collection.

we were all so very hungry. Grace went and asked Mrs. Buck if she could have some bread and butter, but instead of eating it in the kitchen, she brought it up, and, as you know we have a good supply of jelly on hand, Well, I tell you what, perhaps you think we did not relish that bread and jelly. When you are eating cake, smoked beef, eggs etc., just think of your poor ‘sister’.”

October 10, 1885

“The girls are waiting for me to help them make candy, so, I will have to bring this to a close.”

December 15, 1885

“Last night, we had oyster pie for supper and at eight o’clock I commenced to feel the effects of it. I had to be excused from study hour and when I reached my room, I caught Sam immediately. Well, perhaps you may have an idea that I was not sick. I do know how they fix oysters up here, but one thing, I do know, they do not agree with my constitution.”

February 4, 1886

“I have to sit at the head of the table. All the girls take turns. In the morning I have to dish the oat meal.”

6.Happenings

September 24, 1884

“Last night Grace and I had a trick played on us. Some of the girls made our bed into a Dutch bed.”

October 25, 1884

“We are very busy getting ready for next Friday evening, of course Mama told you we are going to have a “Mock Hop”. I am to take the part of Cinderella. I do not know how I shall dress yet. We are going to have Mrs. Jarleys wax works, Clara it is to be a grand affair for Prof. is going to have the floor of the gymnasium oiled where we will dance and have our refreshments.

“Did Mama receive a paper I sent with an account of that grand parade in? There is a parade goes by here about every week, in fact, about every night. Last night there was a St. John parade passed here and Clara, do you believe most everyone was drunk. They did not practice what they preached did they.”

“Last night, after nine o’clock, our attention was called to a fire. Prof. thought it was Vassar College. You can imagine it was a very large fire by that. One of the teachers was very much excited as she has a sister attending school there. [According to the Poughkeepsie Daily Eagle of Saturday, October 27, the fire was at the barn of a Mr. Moore, located at 121 Academy St.]. Lyndon Hall came near being burnt a few night since as this same teacher was out in the hall talking to one of the girls and said ‘ I guess I will go in my room for I see the gas is lit (you know we are not allowed to leave the gas burning when we leave the room). She went and found her lace curtains were all on fire, but she soon put it out. The curtain was very much damaged.”

January 25, 1885

“I wonder what Willie would say if he heard you sent me his photograph. By the way, is Will Graham’s picture wrong side out and bottom side up yet in my album?”

March 10, 1885

“Saturday afternoon there was a Missionary from Africa lectured here. She has been there for thirty years and she told us some very interesting things about the natives.”

April 25, 1885

“We have had very warm weather, one day it was 98o in my room and we had the blinds closed all day, and it was as cool in our room as we could make it.”

“Last evening, “Pumpkins” (the one I discussed with so much at Warring’s hop) went by, and he almost through his hat down in the street when he saw me. I bowed too, but could not help laughing.”

May 2, 1885

“There was a circus passed through the city today (it was not Barnum’s). Prof. Buck took all the girls that cared to go out to our singing teacher’s private singing rooms. We had a very good view of the circus, although it was not a very large one.”

“We had our last Musical we will have this year, last Friday. It was the best one we have had yet, but the day was stormy and we did not have a large audience as we expected. I was one of the ushers, and had the honor of ushering in Dr. Elmendorf, and Judge Elting, two noted men on Poughkeepsie. I will send you a program (Figure 5, next page).” [The circus was “American and Japanese Circus, Museum, Aquarium and Menagerie].

February. 4, 1886

“The other day Mr. Buck took us coasting. We had a large bob (sled) and it was great fun riding on that.”

October 25, 1885

“Those that did not go (to West Point) had their pictures taken. We had _____ in one we had on our aprons and _______ caps with brooms and dust pail in one hand. In another set, we were all “spooning” but that racket did not work as we all laughed before the pictures were taken in the sessions.”

January 7, 1886

“Wright, Grace and I went up in the cupula and we were writing our names. Grace and I undertook to write Helen’s name and he would not let us, he said “she was not there, and he did not want his name”. There was just room for three in this room. I do not know where I have had as much fun as I had yesterday. I am afraid Helen will be jealous, but Grace and I tried to take good care of him.”

March 9, 1886

“We are all anticipating a fine time this evening at Bisbee’s reception. I will finish this letter tomorrow and tell you what kind of a time I have tonight. Well, the long looked for “hop” came off last night and I agree with Mr. Bates in saying I had a heavenly time. I wish you could see my programme. It Mr. Bates, H. Bates, Mr. Bates, and so forth. I was with all the time excepting one set. We had to come ten minutes to twelve. I got very well acquainted with Harry No. 2 (I mean Bates).”

April 3, 1886

“…what a happy and lovely birthday I had. I never had so many tricks played on me before. …when I was sixteen. I feel very aged now that I have reached the age of seventeen.”

October 31, 1886

“Our ‘Mock hop’ (Figure 6), was a complete success. The gymnasium was trimmed beautifully, and all the costumes were very good. Grace was a Bisbee, and the suit was becoming of her, so much as sometimes I almost believed she was a real Bisbee. Your dress was just the thing, as no other girl had one like it.

There were fifty four at the hop, so you may imagine what a jolly time we had.”

November 18, 1886

“Tomorrow morning, we are to have our first senior reception, as one of the day seniors. We received our invitations this morning, and Mr. Buck kindly consented to our going. Probably we will wear morning dresses, but I would give “two cents” if my new dress was finished.”

“Last evening, all the music pupils went out to Vassar to a Musical entertainment, and the rest of us went to a lecture in the Baptist church. It was “An Evenings Ramble through Castles, Palaces, Cathedrals and Landscapes of the Old World” illustrated

with stereopticon views. It was well worth going to see, as it was an education in itself. Rev. Mac Arthur was a fine speaker, and the views were wonderfully brought out on the canvas. The lights were all turned out in the church and we sat next to the Bisbees, but it was too dark to see their charming faces very well.” [The Baptist Church was located two blocks West on Mill Street at the SE corner of New Market. It is now occupied by Changepoint Church].

December 10, 1886

“George, Harpee and myself were invited out last evening. We had a jolly good time and perhaps you would be interested to know something about our morning’s enjoyment. Miss Trowbridge invited two of the Bisbees in and a friend, so there were an even number, eight of us. I must tell you what an elegant dinner we had. First course, turkey, turnups, two kinds of potatos, onions, celery and cranberries. Second course, mince pie. Third course, two kinds of cream. Fourth course nuts and fruit. After dinner, we played cards, and George Trowbridge and I cheated worse than Harry and I, if you can imagine such a thing. After all our cheating, we were not successful. Mr. and Mrs. Buck warned us we must be back at nine o’clock and for fear we would forget it, Mr. Buck saw us to the door and said “Now don’t forget the time.” Well we did not forget the time, but the boys would not

Figure 5: The program for the event. Author’s collection.

start with us, so of course we were a little late. Each one of us had an escort home, but unbeknownst to our worthy Principal, in fact if he had been aware that “brass buttons and blue coats” were to grace the evening, I think he would have been slower to let us go.”

7.Letters and misc.

September 24, 1884

“They have changed the name of the school to Lyndon Hall. I like it much better don’t you? Be sure and direct my letters after this to Lyndon Hall.”

December 14, 1884

“You say you do not admire sealing wax on a letter. Well, it is all the style up here and all the girls have one, so I must have one too.”

.

January 27, 1885

“I undertook to write a letter on this paper, but what my pen caught and made spatter work. I hope you will excuse it, and consider every blot a kiss.” [The letters were written on five different varieties of paper that ranged from thin graph paper to a heavier, hard variety that did not take ink easily].

Figure 6: A page from 1889 dance book from that years “Mock hop” Showing the signatures of Mr. and Mrs. Buck. Author’s collection

March 10, 1885

“George Bell was up to Pokeepsie not long ago, and he intended to call and see Grace and I, but when he got in the city he forgot the name of the school. I am awful sorry.”

April 25, 1885

“...the day Grace and I came up here, when we went in the Sing Sing depot who should be in there but George Bell, he went up as far as Fishkill with us. Grace and I could not get seats together and George talked to me all the way up there. We invited him to call on us as he would spend that night in Poughkeepsie, so at eight o’clock he came and we got out of study hour. Before he came, Grace and I went down and told Mrs. Buck we were going to have a call that evening, and it would be all right as Mr. Bayles left us in George’s care, well he did, and we did not tell a story. George stayed one hour and a quarter, and the girls are only allowed to have a call from a gentleman one half hour, but Mrs. Buck told him we were such vary good girls that she would consent for me to have a call longer than other girls but could not allow him to stay any longer as the bell had rung for us to be in our rooms, when the bell rang George asked us what it was, but we said it wasn’t anything but a bell, and they rang every half hour. How the poor fellow blushed when she told him to go. I told him if he would call on me when I was home, he would not get sent away. The next morning he paraded by the school, and Grace and I were in our window. Grace had quite a conversation out of the window with him, which is strictly forbidden to attract attention from the windows”

“Mrs. Buck asked Grace and I if we had ever been introduced to Kathie’s brother, and we owned up to it and said “yes”. I think I told you how Kate introduced us out on the street. He attends school at Bisby’s.” (sic.)

“I hope this letter does not get opened in the Witsone (Whitson) post office and Mr. Stirling read it.” [The Whitson Post Office was established in March, 1882, and closed in July, 1897. Service was taken over by Briarcliff Manor, which is just south of Sing Sing].

May 2, 1885

“One of the girls was taken sick last January and went home the other day. She came back and now she wears a diamond ring. Of course you know what that means.”

October 3, 1885

“Do not forget to tell Mama that I want one of her pictures.”

October 25, 1885

“The girls are all playing Hide and Seek and instead of my playing this childish game, I will devote my time to something higher – writing to you.”

“Mrs. Buck invited us in her private parlor to sing “College Lounge” and then we went down to the P. O. after the mail.” [At this time, the Post Office (Figure 7) was located in the City Hall on Main Street. In 1886, a new Post Office/Government building would open on Market Street at the corner of Union Street].

November 18, 1886

“I see Harry Bates most every day. It is a wonder he don’t stop hinting and come right out and ask to come down to Witson’s next week.”

December 10, 1886

“Grace and I had our pictures taken together. They are very good of Grace, but miserable of me. Good reason why I am not good looking in the first place, and therefore cannot take a good picture.”

“I bought a box of paper for Will’s Christmas and I hope it will suit you, price $1.50.”

January 9, 1887

“Josie Tuthill gave Grace and I each a beautiful shell for our Christmas. How appropriate at least for Grace – “Shelly.”

“One of my school mates who was here the final year I was,

was married the other day. She makes the fourth one who has been married. Mrs. Buck read the account to us the other evening at tea, and ____ before we said “yes” to take up consideration that the account of the wedding would have to be read before the girls.”

8.Major Events

May 2, 1885

“One of the senior’s has invited me to go home with her come Friday night and stay until Monday. I asked Mrs. Buck if I might go, and she was delighted to think I had been invited, as they are such nice people. This young lady lives at Milton and we have to sail on the Hudson to get to her home. I am anticipating a very nice time. (Sophie D. Crook, class on 1885) Mrs. Buck said to tell Mamma I was going.”

9.On the Train

January 7, 1886

“I suppose Mama told you that Wright got left on the 9:02 but he did not on the 12:02. Grace and I came along but in Wilber’s care. He was very lively and kept us laughing all the way to Po’keepsie. When we got off the train Wilber said there was a girl looking at us as thou she knew us, and sure enough, it was Minnie Peck came on the same train and we did not know it. We introduced Wilber and asked him if he did not like the name Minnie. Wilber could only be with us ten minutes after we got to Po’keepsie, so when the train steamed off, Wilber had to go too.” [The 42-mile ride took 90 minutes from Sing Sing to Poughkeepsie (Figure 8), on the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad. Annie made many trips].

10.Out and About in Poughkeepsie

September 24, 1884

“Last Saturday Grace and I took a walk to Eastman’s Park; it is just lovely down there (Figure 9). Every Saturday the girls are allowed out for one hour without teachers. You can imagine how nice it seemed not to have a teacher watching.”

“About every time I have walked in the line it has been my luck to walk with a teacher.”

October 25, 1884

“…one of the teachers took the school down to Vassar Institute, (Figure 10) – not Vassar College, and one of the prettiest things that I saw in the Museum was two pickled babies. Just imagine they were two months old and not larger than a mouse. Please do not show this letter to anyone. I suppose I ought not to write such things in letters.”

March 10, 1885

“Saturday morning, I went to the skating rink, but not to skate. I saw a great many of the P.M.I. (Poughkeepsie Military Institute) boys that were here to hope, and the Major bowed to me. I think he is awful conceited for when he danced with me at the hop, he cut Mr. Warring on my program.”

Figure 7: A post card showing City Hall then also serving the Post Office. Author’s collection.

January 7, 1886

“Minnie, Grace and I put for Smith’s, (Figure 11 next page), as we thought it would be our last chance in some time. We insisted on getting some candy. (After getting off the train and returning to the school.)” [Smith Brothers Restaurant was located on Market Street across from the Court House. The restaurant was most noted for their cough drops].

January 7, 1886

“Grace and I thought we were never going to see Wright again, but just as we were in the midst of putting our room in order, the servant came up and informed us that Mr. (Wright) Barnum was downstairs. We went down and Wright asked us to go to Vassar College. “Me and My Wife” did not know what to do. We were afraid Mr. Buck would not let us go, but we asked him and upon my word, he said we could go. This was about two o’clock when we started and did not get back here until six. We had a splendid time out there. When we took the elevator to go up on the third floor at Vassar, there were ever so many white skirts and etc. went up with us. Poor Wright, he wanted to laugh, but did not dare to. Wright said he wished we three could stay out there until June. He even went so far as to try and persuade Grace and I to go to Ithaca with him. He came back to the school with us and we invited Mr. Buck in and he took Wright around this wonderful city. I think it was very kind of Mr. Buck. Wright called in the evening and brought us a lot of candy.”

March 9, 1886

“One day last week, Fraulein invited me to go to Smith’s. I was going out that afternoon as we went in company. While we were eating our refreshments, there were six Bisbee’s came in the restaurant. I know two them, but it did not do any good as they were not the right one.”

[Bisbee’s refers to students at the Riverview (Military) Academy, Otis Bisbee –Principal.]

June 1, 1886

“I went for a walk with Fraulein this afternoon and we landed at Smith’s. We also visited there yesterday. Smith’s is quite a resort now, these warm days. Po’keepsie is to be lighted with electric lights this morning. The gas is to be turned off in the streets. You will not know the city, as it is changed quite a little since you were up here.”

October 31, 1886

“Once, when Harry passed me if asked me if I had been up to the new bridge lately (Figure 12, next page). I never saw so many Bisbees out, as there were yesterday, the streets were just blue with them.” [The

Figure 8: The Poughkeepsie Railroad Station as it appeared in 1873. Author’s collection.

Figure 9: Post card view, c.1906, of the entrance to Eastman Park. Note the gas light fixtures near the pillars indicating that this photo was taken much earlier. Later views show electric lights with three globes. Author’s collection.

bridge reference is for the railroad bridge, which was under construction, across the Hudson. It opened in 1888 and is now the Walkway Over the Hudson.]

January 9, 1887

“We went coasting yesterday down to Springside [Residence of the late Matthew Vassar at the foot of Academy St. Hill.] and had a jolly time even if it was “awfully” cold. Mr. Buck had two bobs and that meant we could go down every time. For a wonder, I did not get very cold as I was bundled up so much. We had a lovely time Friday evening at the Opera House. The concert was given by the Boston Star Company, and indeed was very entertaining. I believe you have heard Miss Hilda Brown read, and you know what a fine elocutionist she is.”

January 23, 1887

“Effie Porteous took Grace, Sadie Loomis and myself for a sleigh ride. We were out to the Asylum, (Figure 13), my future home if I do not pass my examinations and found out we had but a very few minutes to get back to the school before study hour. We were late, and had to make an open confession to Mr. Buck. He was “sweet as a pickle, I mean as sugar, and forgave us, not even taking time to scold us.” [The Asylum referenced is the Hudson River State Hospital, which opened in 1871.]

Figure 10: Post card c. 1905 showing the Vassar (Brothers) Institute which is still in existence. It is now part of the Cunneen-Hackett Arts Center. Author’s collection.

January 28, 1885

“No doubt you have heard through Helen that I have been quite sick as I wrote to her and told her that I have had(seen) the Dr. every day since Saturday. He says I have the jaundice, well whatever it is I know I am very sick if you could only see me. I am just as yellow as an orange. I am very weak and the least little thing makes me so nervous, and just think what I did yesterday. I tried to have my examination in bed, it was a very hard examination and in the condition I was in, it just upset me. I cried just as hard as I possibly could, and I could not get my breath just then the Dr. came in, he is very comical and tried to make me laugh, but there was no laugh in me. My teachers came in and took the papers away from me, and said I could have another when I got well. If I could only sit up for a few hours.”

“There are three or four girls sick in bed and of course you have to wait your chance for anything you want.”

March 10, 1885

“Since I have been here I have been unwell every two weeks and I have left it so long that I have ruined my health to a certain degree. Yesterday, I was in terrible agony, and had to go to bed and get medicine from the doctor. He says I must not take any exercise when I am so, as going up and down stairs is very injurious. I told Mrs. Buck and she has excused me from walking

Figure 11: Post card showing the exterior and interior of Smith’s Restaurant. Author’s collection.

with the line. I am to walk for about five minutes in the yard. There are two of the girls in the same boat with me.”

April 25, 1885

“I have written (Mama) several times and asked her to send me a Cambric dress. I wanted it so I could take it to the dress maker’s yesterday, but she has not replied to any of my letters. I cannot write to her again until I hear where she is for I do not know where to address her letters. All the girls are getting new dresses, and, I have not had a new cambric in two years.”

October 10, 1885

“I am so happy to think I can come home next Friday, but please tell Mama she will have to write an excuse to Mrs. Buck. She can write one and enclose it in my letter. I thought I mentioned it to her.”

“They are very strict this year and we have to be very careful or we will get a mark, so if she wants me to come down, she will have to send a note to Mrs. Buck in my letter. I am just as homesick as I can be.”

March 9, 1886

“Grace went home last Friday and has not returned yet. No doubt you have seen her several times and if you see her again, just send her by express on the next train for I am very lonesome without my dear “wife”. I received

Figure 12: A view of the Poughkeepsie Railroad Bridge under construction. Annie would have se en the progress from the station during her many trips. Hudson Valley Railroad Society Collection.

a letter from George saying he was going to call last evening, but he did not put in his appearances , no doubt he will call this evening, but if he does, he will not see this “chicken” as I expect to be in Mr. Bate’s company [at] the time George will call.”

“George called last evening, as I expected, but alas! I did not have the pleasure of casting my green eyes on his beautiful countenance as I was in Harry’s company at the time he called.”

“As I was writing, Libbie came in and announced Mr. Bell was in the parlor, (Figure 14) and would like to see me. So I have seen the dear fellow after all. He looked very well. I guess he is enjoying good health.”

October 31, 1886

“Three of us had our pictures taken yesterday. I would send you one, but I only had one myself. We gave the extra one to Grace.”

12.The School

September 24, 1884

“I am just dead in love with the school, and all the teachers and scholars.”

October 2, 1884

“How do you like the name of the school? I think it is very pretty and so suitable too for there are so many halls in this building.”

Figure 13: Post card view of the Hudson River State Hospital. Author’s collection.

“Last night in study hour, we all were very much frightened by some of the ceiling falling down in the schoolroom.” (Figure 15).

March 10, 1885

“Last Sunday night, one of the girl’s beds broke down, so she came around and slept with Grace and I. Her roommate has been mad at her ever since, and they have had quite a time. I have slept three a bed up here, and I have come to the conclusion I do not like it very well.”

September 21, 1886

“There are only twelve in the class of ’87. I expected more, but illness and one thing and another has prevented them from returning. The school is very large, especially the boarding department. There are three girls coming today, and then, every room in the house will be filled. I think the whole school must number about two hundred.”

13.Worship

March 10, 1885

“As of course you know, I have never united with the church, but Clara, I feel that I have had a change of heart and I think that I am a Christian.”

“Last Sunday evening I thought it was my duty to make a prayer in prayer’s meeting. I was afraid that I could not without making a mistake, but I prayed for strength to do it, and somehow the words came right to me today. When I had nearly finished, my voice faltered, but I went through it all right. I have requested to lead the meeting some time, a week from Sunday. I believe, but I do not know whether I could as there is a great responsibility in selecting the verses.”

October 25, 1885

“I should have to have you come and then you will be here to see Annie Dall transfigured into a “Sister of Charity.” Mr. Buck is going to hear Moody and Sanky who are to be in Poughkeepsie all this week. Last evening we heard Mr. Bliss. He is associated with Moody and Sanky and is an evangelist preach(er).”

December 15, 1885

“Clara, you do not know how happy I was last Sunday evening as I walked down into the water. I was a little timid at first but the happy thought that I was following Christ in his own overcome the timidity. My dear you do not know how happy I would be if you would only take this step. I think I have heard you say you have met with a change of heart and, oh, if you would come out and openly declare for Christ, I know you would be much happier. I thought when I saw so many at the church, I never could arise and give my experience but I know Jesus was with me and give me grace to do it and Clara, he will be with you too, if you only will do the same for him. You may think you can be just as good a Christian without joining the church, but has given us such a few laws that I think we ought to be willing to obey this one important command.”

April 3, 1886

“I went to a supper in the Baptist church and I never had such a nice time in the church before. I was introduced to several young

Figure 14: The school’s parlor.

men and one of these walked home with me. When we were ready to start, he said he wanted to introduce his mother to me so I had the pleasure of meeting “Mrs.” He asked me to go for a ride, but I am afraid that would not be in accordance with the rules of Lyndon Hall. I can go to the Baptist church tomorrow morning as it is communion Sunday.”

“I am going to join Mr. Bucks’ Sunday school class. Grace and I have been promoted from the other one.”

Lyndon Hall remained in operation until 1909 when the Bucks retired after 25 years in operation. Sometime thereafter, the building became the Henrick Hudson Hotel, (Figure 16).

Figure 15: A typical class room at Lyndon Hall. Author’s collection.

Figure 16: The Lyndon Hall building after becoming the Henrick Hudson Hotel. Author’s collection.

They Were Passing the Time of Day: Railroad Laborers in Dutchess County

by John Desmond

When Henry David Thoreau lived at Walden Pond just outside Concord, Massachusetts, the tracks of the Fitchburg Railroad lay steps from his cabin. Thoreau occasionally rode a train from Concord into Cambridge to visit Harvard University, and he frequently walked the tracks into Concord to run errands. He became well-acquainted with the Fitchburg Railroad and especially with those who constructed and maintained it. In Walden, he acknowledges and compliments them:

We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us. Did you ever think what those sleepers are that underlie the railroad? Each one is a man, an Irishman, or a Yankee man. The rails are laid on them, and they are covered with sand, and the cars run smoothly over them. They are sound sleepers, I assure you. And every few years a new lot is laid down and run over; so that, if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden upon.[1]

Thoreau’s playful metaphor comparing the laborers who built and maintained the railroad to the “sleepers,” that is the wooden ties on which the iron, and later steel, rails rested and depended upon for stability, paradoxically suggests his more serious theme that the railroad exploited these laborers. His assertion is correct: these Yankee, Irish, and, later, Italian men were manipulated, taken advantage of, and ill-used by the railroads that employed them. Similar exploitation occurred here in Dutchess County in the mid-Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries.

In his work Dutchess County Railroads, William Mc Dermott identifies the sort of jobs the railroad offered in Dutchess County in the Nineteenth Century:

While most of the jobs were laboring jobs, especially during the construction phase, freight agents, conductors, and station

agents were among the “better” jobs. […] Laborers tended to be young, single men who often followed the laying down of the rails as it progressed north to Albany.[2 ]

To augment this view, in his narrative History of the New York and Harlem Railroad, E. Clarence Hyatt mentions “an interesting article headed ‘Reminiscences of Other Days’ and signed ‘A Veteran’ [that] was published in a newspaper at Chatham in 1888.” The “Reminiscences” article describes the sleeping conditions of laborers constructing the track of the New York and Harlem Railroad in 1848-49:

The inhabitants of the primitive and rural section between Dover Plains and Chatham were astonished to see many boarding houses (shanties) built of hemlock wood put up along the line of road, indicated by little, square, numbered stakes driven into the ground. These shanties accommodated from 25 to 50 Irish laborers, who used to work for 75 cents a day and their board. They used to sleep in bunks around the side of the room, and sometimes the shanty had a floor, but oftener the carpet was mother earth.[3]

Labor quarrels occurred at regular intervals. Dieter Friedrichsen chronicles one that arose while the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad was being built from Poughkeepsie to Pleasant Valley in 1869:

In July 1869, the progress of the work was seriously interrupted. Walter Welch, subcontractor, financial comptroller, and [Poughkeepsie resident] swindled the men in his employ and various persons in the city and country out of more than $20,000.00 ($410,948.73 in 2021) and then disappeared. Not receiving their pay, the Irish workers threatened to destroy the grading and stonework they had done near Pleasant Valley. They cooled down before initiating their threat when it became known that Col. Smithfield of Pine

Plains, one of Welch’s associates, also disappeared. Despite Sheriff Kenworthy’s best efforts, the laborers’ revolt went into high gear and one of them, Jack McDonald, seized a horse and wagon, belonging to Welch, and refused to give it up. Company D of the 21st Regiment, under the command of Capt. William Haubennestel, was called in to Poughkeepsie to quell the riot and restore order. The property was recovered, and McDonald and others were arrested. It was never established whether the payroll was ever recovered.[4]

The offence appears less to be the act of swindling and more the act of interrupting the track work and snatching a horse and wagon. The wronged and thus angry laborers were arrested; the contractors and the payroll may have disappeared unhindered. In The Great Railroad Revolution, Christian Wolmar reports that “[t]he withdrawal of labor was a powerful weapon, and threats to strike were seen almost a declaration of war. Strikes represented a real threat for companies with enormous fixed assets on which they needed to obtain a return in order to satisfy shareholders.”[5]

Were the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad not built, the money invested in it by the residents of Poughkeepsie, as well as the communities between Poughkeepsie and Pleasant Valley, would not result in a profit and would be lost. Thus, the strike had to be stifled, if not by the local police, then by the army.

Some railroad laborers chose not to follow “the laying down of the rails” but to settle down in communities near the tracks. Despite being manipulated, taken advantage of, and even illused by the railroads that employed them, some railroad laborers continued to work for the railroads in order to earn an income that would enable them to settle down, develop communities, and start families. McDermott points out that “[t]hose who chose to settle along the railroad route either continued as railroad laborers or picked up laboring jobs in iron mines or rock quarries or became farm laborers [or worked in] milk factories or creameries.”[6]

In Niwot Colorado: Birth of a Railroad Town, Anne Quinby Dyni describes the beginning of a settlement influenced by a railroad: “[f]ew records remain of those early buildings. [H]istoric photographs reveal stores and a few residences tucked among the trees. […] The stores were wooden or brick. […] [O]nly horse-drawn wagons and buggies travelled the roads[…].”[7]

Hopewell Junction is an example of a railroad settlement developed in the mid-1870s. The upper floors of the several shops along Railroad Avenue offered lodging for the single men working on the railroad. When single men married and started families, houses were built on the newly constructed streets surrounding the Hopewell Junction Depot. The depot itself turned out to be a meeting hall for the recent residents to discuss their newly created community. William N. Anthony published and edited The Hopewell Weekly News from January 5, 1899, to December 13, 1900. During the publication’s time, the Central New England extended its facilities at Hopewell Junction. Anthony described the impact the railroad laborers had on the hamlet in the January 5, 1900, edition of The Hopewell Weekly:

The men and horses necessary for the carrying on of the work have been boarded on the grounds and by people in and out of the village, this being a source of revenue that comes acceptable in the winter season. […] The construction of this big railroad yard naturally makes lively times in Hopewell Junction, and our merchants and others derive their share of the results of the improvement. The handling of so many cars here and the making up of trains when the yard is in full working order must necessarily make Hopewell Junction a more important railroad point than heretofore. All this requires more help, and probably a number of railroad men and their families may locate here.

Shortly after this passage, in the January 26, 1900, edition, Anthony encourages the laborers to make Hopewell Junction

their home as well as their work place:

It is reported that a number of houses are to be built in Hopewell Junction in the Spring (sic). Undoubtedly this report is true. That our village needs more dwellings and business places is an undeniable fact, and the sooner the work is commenced the better it will be. There is a healthy outlook for the growth of the village, and our citizens who have land and means will no doubt find it a good investment to build, at least a few houses. Everyone should take an interest in the general improvement. Make it a pleasant and healthful place of residence. [8]

[1]Thoreau, Henry. Walden. Ed. Jeffrey S. Cramer. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2004, 90.

[2]Mc Dermott, William P. Dutchess County Railroads. Clinton, New York: Town of Clinton Historical Society, 1996, 14.

[3]Hyatt, E. Clarence. History of the New York and Harlem Railroad. N.p. n.p. 1898. Web. 9 Nov. 2020, 17.

[4]Friedrichsen, Dieter. “The History of the Poughkeepsie and Eastern Railroad 1832-1937. Salt Point: n.p., 2015, 5.

[5]Wolman, Christian. The Great Railroad Revolution. 2012. New York: Public Affairs, 2013, 231.

[6]Mc Dermott . Dutchess County Railroads, 14-15.

[7]Dyni, Anne Quinby. Niwot Colorado: Birth of a Railroad Town. Charleston, S.C.: The History Press. 2011, 39-40.

[8] Anthony, William N. Hopewell Weekly News, The. 5 Jan.-25 May 1899.Hopewell Junction, N.Y. 1899-1900.

Figure 5a. 1LT David B. Sleight. (Photograph courtesy of the Dutchess County Historical Society)

Why Averasboro?

by Michael Boden, Ph.D.

Admittedly, when one thinks of the Civil War, Averasboro is not the first battle that comes to mind. The encounter was relatively inconclusive, fought as a preliminary episode to the much more significant and well-known Battle of Bentonville, and involved only portions of the theater’s major armies. But, for the 450 men of the 150th New York, the “Dutchess County Regiment,” under the leadership of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred B.Smith,[1] the fight was of tremendous significance. After the battle, veterans would write that Averasboro was “the longest, and in some respects, the hardest engagement our regiment was ever in.”[2] Coming from old hands of Gettysburg and the Atlanta Campaign, this expression possesses strong meaning. The Regimental history emphasized that “in history, it will not go down as a very important one [battle], but it was a very important one to Sherman’s Army.”[3] Given these sentiments expressed by the county’s participants, as well as the battlefield’s ease of access, Averasboro deserves study and attention.

Strategic and Operational Situation

By the time Sherman’s army rolled out of Savannah in January, 1865, following

Figure 1. Lieutenant Colonel Alfred B. Smith, Commander of the 150th NY at Averasboro (Photograph courtesy of the Dutchess County Historical Society, 150th NY Papers, Box 1)

the December, 1864, completion of the March to the Sea, the general sentiment among not just the men of the 150th, but of the entire Army, was cautiously optimistic. In a postwar manuscript, Jeremiah Collins of Company G wrote that “The Army as a whole felt that the close of the war was near, but they feared if Lee slipped away from Richmond and joined hands with Johnston that it would make it hard for us.”[4] Nevertheless, confidence was high; Sherman’s army could make a very compelling case that it was the “best” in the war at this time, the soldiers were experienced, and they were used to winning.

The Southern forces opposing Sherman, on the other hand, were far from assured by this point in the war. When Confederate General Joseph Johnston took command of the hodgepodge of military forces arrayed in the Carolinas on 22 February, he knew that chances of a military outcome favorable to the Confederacy were slim, and that his best hope was prolonging the conflict enough to achieve “fair terms of peace.” There were some in the Confederacy that spoke of grandiose schemes of uniting Johnston and Lee to strike a devastating blow against Sherman and then Grant, but Johnston realized these views were not based on military reality.[5]

The campaign that ensued was plagued by very poor weather from the outset. Sherman’s departure from Savannah, initially scheduled for 1 January, was not completed until the first few days of February due to some of the worst flooding the region had ever seen. His Army was divided into two wings, the Left, under Major General Henry W. Slocum, consisting of the XX and XIV Army Corps, and the Right, under Major General Oliver O. Howard, with the XV and XVII Corps. The 150th was assigned to Colonel William Hawley’s Second Brigade of Brigadier General Nathaniel J. Jackson’s First Division, in Major General Alpheus S.Williams’ XX Corps.

Sherman’s plan of advance was fairly straightforward: he was going to march through the Carolinas, making those states (particularly South Carolina, the point of origin for the Confederacy in the minds of Federal soldiers) pay the same

price as did Georgia south of Atlanta in 1864. He would arrive in Virginia to assist Grant in destroying Lee’s Army around Petersburg and end the war. Central North Carolina was to play a key role in this plan, for at some point he was to join forces with approximately 30,000 men under General John Schofield, veterans of recent battles in Tennessee and Fort Fisher. After the problematic start, by February 17th, Sherman had taken Columbia, South Carolina, and then, less than a month later, on March 11th, the Federal Army had marched into North Carolina and occupied Fayetteville, North Carolina.[6]

At the most, Johnson could only bring together approximately 30,000 soldiers to contest a force over twice this size. These troops, possessing a wide range of experience and quality, came from four distinct sources. First, there were the remnants of the Confederate Army of Tennessee, the force that had been the primary southern military organization in the Western theater since the beginning of the war. In late 1864, the Army had been shattered at the Battles of Franklin and Nashville, and only pieces of that force, commanded by Lieutenant General A.P. Stewart, perhaps 5,000 men total, were arriving in North Carolina to assist Johnson. Lieutenant General William Hardee brought garrison and coastal troops from Florida, Georgia and South Carolina numbering about 6,500 by March, and General Braxton Bragg brough another 5,000 from the North Carolina coast. While the former organizations were primarily untested, many of Bragg’s troops were experienced. Finally, the element that was perhaps the most effective and cohesive of Johnston’s troops was the Confederate cavalry, approximately 6-8,000 men under the talented and experienced co-leadership of Generals Joseph Wheeler and Wade Hampton.[7]

The Road to Averasboro

As Sherman arrived in Fayetteville, he allowed a brief pause in the march north, primarily so that he could catch his bearings and gain a better understanding of the situation. Sherman’s plan beyond Fayetteville was consistent with the campaign to date. The army’s next objective was the city of Goldsboro, 60 miles

to the northeast, where Sherman would link up with Schofield, refit and march to Richmond. To confuse Johnson about his intentions, Slocum was to take the Left Wing of the Army and feint toward Raleigh before shifting directions toward Goldsboro. During the brief respite in Fayetteville, the experience of the

150th was indicative of that of the entire Army. The regiment arrived at about 9 in the evening on the 11th and was pleasantly surprised to receive mail, the first the men had received since leaving Savannah in January. They were able to rest and recuperate on the 12th before leaving the city on the 13th. The 14th, again, was spent in rest while the regiment waited for the rest of the Federal Army to assemble.[8]

Map 1. Preliminary movements of forces prior to the Battle of Averasboro. Map from the Department of History, United States Military Academy (https://www.westpoint.edu/academics/academic-departments/ history/atlases/american-civil-war). Animation overlay by author.

Johnston’s necessary response was conceptually simple yet multi-faceted: he needed to buy time to discover Sherman’s direction and objectives, as there were multiple realistic courses of action open to the Federals. The first step was to consolidate the Confederate forces he had available around the town of Smithfield, approximately half-way between Raleigh and Goldsboro. Hardee was the main effort in Johnston’s endeavor, receiving the mission of screening the consolidation of the rest of the army. Johnston specifically wrote to Hardee that “it is very important…that your movements conform to Sherman’s when he leaves Fayetteville….It is important that you keep as near the [Cape Fear] River as you can without compromising yourself until Sherman’s course is developed.”[9] Hardee, in effect, had four components to his mission: buy time for concentration of Johnston’s army; determine the direction of Sherman’s advance; determine the strength of Sherman’s army; and, (as a supplementary mission) give his inexperienced troops an opportunity to demonstrate their military abilities.[10]

In order to achieve these objectives, Hardee chose to occupy a position at a point that blocked the Raleigh-Goldsboro Road about 5-6 miles south of the small town of Averasboro, where the Care Fear and Black Rivers were only a few miles apart, protecting his flanks. Occupying this position would force Sherman to attack.[11]

The Battle of Averasboro, 15-16 March

March 15th (the Spring Solstice) dawned as far too many of the days of the campaign had, with miserable weather, wind, rain and colder-than-average temperatures. Hardee spent most of the day posting his battle lines. He arrayed his 6,000 men in a three-line defense in depth, from south to north, each separated by 600-700 yards. The first and second lines, under the command of Brigadier General William Taliaferro (pronounced “Tolliver”), contained his more inexperienced troops, mostly garrison troops from the South Carolina and Georgia coast. His final line was under the command of Major General Lafayette McLaws, which contained a number of raw recruits, but also the South Carolina

Brigade of Brigadier General John D. Kennedy, which had spent most of the war fighting in the Army of Northern Virginia with an exceptional combat record.[12]

The Federal forces marching toward Averasboro were part of Slocum’s Wing, and were enacting the “feint toward Raleigh” aspect of Sherman’s order. In the forefront of Slocum’s march north was Jackson’s division of the XX Corps, to which the 150th NY belonged. Screening them were elements of the Federal Cavalry under Major General Judson Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick’s Cavalry, which had come out second best to Wheeler and Hampton on more than one occasion so far in the campaign, came to the first of Hardee’s lines about 3 in the afternoon, but faced heavy resistance and were unable to advance any further. After a few hours of heavy skirmishing, Taliaferro ordered the Confederate first line forward to drive the Federal Cavalry back. While Kilpatrick’s forces were able to dig in and hold their own, concern that a determined Confederate push could collapse his line caused him to ask for infantry support at 7:30 p.m. Slocum responded by sending Hawley’s Brigade, with the 150th, to support the cavalry. That force arrived about midnight and dug in to the rear of the cavalry, and sporadic skirmishing continued through the night.[13]

After a cold, wet and miserable night, the morning of the 16th saw no change in weather conditions. Slocum opened the engagement with the Confederate first line shortly after dawn, about 6. The initial attacks, though, were not pressed with vigor; Slocum focused on adjusting his lines, bringing up artillery and additional infantry forces in preparation for a decisive blow. By 10:30, he had arrayed about 12,000 men against the perhaps 1,000 Confederates in Hardee’s first line, and the ensuing assault, aided by a successful flanking maneuver around the Confederate right (Western) flank, caused Hardee’s troops to fall back to the second line. The withdrawal, given the conditions of the fight, was conducted with little panic, the Confederates regrouping successfully.[14]

The second phase of the battle began almost immediately, with Federal Cavalry attempting to flank the second line from the East. While the attempt was unsuccessful, it demonstrated to Taliaferro, commanding this line, that his overall position was in jeopardy. He therefore evacuated the second line to the final Confederate line, under McLaws, about 1 in the afternoon. This third line was sited on a very strong position, with most of Hardee’s forces well-entrenched and both flanks securely anchored, augmented by Wheeler’s cavalry. By mid-afternoon, Slocum had an advantage of approximately 26,000 men against Hardee’s 8,000, but was unable to overcome the Confederate positions. Sherman and XX Corps leadership received some criticism for their lack of aggressiveness in assaulting this final line; many of the participants felt that a more rapid attack

Map 2. The Battle of Averasboro, 16 March, 1865, 6 a.m. to 1 p.m., the fight for the first two Confederate lines. Map courtesy of the American Battlefield Trust (www.battlefields. org). The 150th NY occupied the area to the immediate north of the crossroads on the map identified by “Ward.” From there, the regiment advance to it’s position in Hawley’s Brigade as depicted on the map by 10:30 a.m., and then advanced to the North until 1 p.m.

on the Confederate position might have carried the day in a more emphatic victory. The Federals did, though, slowly and methodically develop their attack formation prior to the final advance, which was halted McLaws’ troops around 4:30 p.m.[15] The Wing Commander maintained steady pressure on the Confederate line as he brought up his other Corps, the XIV. He would not launch his final attack until that unit was in place.[16]

By darkness, though, elements conspired against Slocum’s plan, as the rain, which had been sporadic, if heavy at times, during the day, resumed a consistent downpour, and further

Map 3. The Battle of Averasboro, 16 March, 1865, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., the final Federal advance to the third Confederate line. Map courtesy of the American Battlefield Trust (www.battlefields. org). The 150th NY is located to the right rear of Hawley’s Brigade, and advanced to the point show on the map, roughly where 1LT Sleight was mortally wounded, from South to North between 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.

advance was not possible. Hardee recognized that his forces would be unable to resist an assault on this position on the following morning, and ordered a withdrawal at 8 p.m. By 4 a.m. on the 17th, the Confederates were gone, and Slocum occupied the final Confederate line.[17]

Both commanders claimed victory after the battle. Total casualties were relatively even, with the Confederates losing roughly 500 men (mostly from the first line), while Slocum’s losses totaled 682, of which 533 were wounded. Hardee was, in general, pleased with the performance of his force. Had had gained substantial clarity on Sherman’s force distribution, even if he was unable to clearly determine which direction Sherman was going. More importantly, perhaps, his inexperienced troops had, while vastly outnumbered, held up Sherman’s veterans by a full day, giving Johnston valuable time to consolidate the rest of his army. And, in the fighting itself, his novice troops performed well, providing a boost of morale and confidence going into the trying days ahead. For Sherman, the battle did not influence his overall plans in any substantial way. He still held key advantages over Johnston, and nothing that happened at the battle changed that dynamic. He now had about 500 wounded soldiers to care for (which challenged his logistical systems), and he was unable to dedicate his cavalry to destroying some of the North Carolina railroads in use by the Confederates, but other than being delayed by a day, there was no effect to his overall plan.[18]

The two armies, each in their entirety this time, would meet a few days later at the largest Civil War battle in North Carolina, Bentonville, from the 19th to the 21st, where Sherman would, after some touch-and-go moments on the first day, decisively defeat Johnston and pave the way for further Federal advance, connection to Schofield and, in little more than a month, the surrender of Johnston’s army.

The 150th New York at Averasboro

The 150th New York had been involved in a number of tough battles throughout the war, starting with the Regiment’s baptism of fire at Gettysburg, through the Chattanooga Campaign, and

then the campaign for Atlanta and Sherman’s March to the Sea. But Averasboro was a defining experience. The action started for the Regiment at the outset of the fighting, on the evening of the 15th, and the men were actively engaged for over 24 hours, only really “relaxing” when the Confederate trenches were discovered empty on the morning of the 17th.[19]

The experience truly started for the 150th on the evening of the 15th, after a wretched day of marching north from Fayetteville in the pouring rain. By 2 in the afternoon, the Regiment, among the lead infantry elements of Slocum’s Wing, camped at the Old Bluff Church, amidst the tombstones, and tried to create a camp and warm some food, mostly unsuccessfully. At 8 p.m., though, just as the troops were settling down for the evening, Kilpatrick’s call for support was received, and the 150th, along with the rest of Hawley’s Brigade, marched four miles north, arriving in their support positions about midnight. Colonel Smith described the march in his diary by writing that his regiment “marched 4 miles over the most desperate bad roads. Got into camp at 12 midnight. Covered with mud and water, knees up. Rain pouring down.”[20]

Perhaps more eloquent were the words of Private Peter W. Funk, from Company F, who wrote:

“On March 15, 1865, we had marched through the rain most of the day and went into camp at night tired and wet to the hide. We put up our tents and had our fire blazing [at the Old Bluff Church] and began to think ourselves quite comfortable when the shrill notes of our Brigade and Division bugles broke the stillness of the camp and the cry of ‘the 150th fall in’ brough tents down quicker than they went in. We marched eight miles through the mud that was almost impassable, being up to our bodies in many places, and came up to General Kilpatrick’s line of cavalry breastworks and we learned that they had fought off the rebels all day and were scarcely able to hold their own and we had been sent to reinforce them.”[21]

Even Slocum himself wrote of the march that “Hawley’s Brigade…was sent forward late in the evening to support the cavalry…the roads were almost impassible.”[22]

The following day would be one of the longest in the regiment’s history. The men of the 150th would spend the rainy overnight hours close to the front lines, if not in continual contact, at least in the presence of enemy skirmishers. As the morning’s advance was scheduled for 6, the men of the 150

got very little sleep. From the time of that advance, the 150th remained in contact for the ensuing 10 hours, until late afternoon on the 16th.. Hawley’s Brigade suffered 144 casualties, the most of any Federal Brigade in the battle.[23]

th

Figure 2. View from the center of the second Confederate line, toward the southwest. The white building in the left-center of the picture is the Oak Grove Estate, moved from its original position and currently sited on NC82. The 150th would have advanced from the trees on the far left of the picture. (Author’s photograph)

Smith was assigned to the right (Eastern) end of the Federal line, and for most of the engagement for the first line between 6 and 11, the regiment was on the extreme right of the Federal advance. As other units arrived, they would fill in on the right of Hawley’s Brigade, so that the 150th eventually found itself in the middle of the advance toward the second line (See Map 1). Regardless of their battlefield position, veteran accounts are consistent with their accounts of the fighting. Three elements stand out in those reports: the weather, the continual and steady nature of the advance, and the occasional “rush” to assault Confederate positions. Private Funk wrote that “our men returned the [Confederate] fire with good effect, the two sides gaining and losing ground, as one side or the other would make a desperate rush and then receiving a deadly volley would fall back a short distance while the other would quickly advance a few paces. This way the fight continued the whole day till sundown…”[24] First Lieutenant Andrew J. Ostrum of B Company described how his company “brok [sic] camp at daylight the fight began at 7 am fought all day….Rained very hard in the afternoon.”[25]

Lieutenant David B. Sleight and the Cost of the Battle

The final act of the battle, the probing and attacks on the Confederate third line in the mid- to late-afternoon, provided both the last involvement of the 150th in the fight, as well as its most notable occurrence, the death of 1LT David B. Sleight, commander of I Company. Sleight was mortally wounded leading his company on the final push to the Confederate line. The exact circumstances of his death are not entirely clear, but certain aspects can be gleaned from both visits to the battlefield and from firsthand accounts. The ground over which the 150th made its final advance toward the Confederate third line was relatively flat, but there are gentle gradients in the fields over which the advance occurred. Accounts indicate that when “cresting” one of these gradients, the Confederates fired a volley which struck Sleight, most likely in his lower abdomen. He was carried from the field by his soldiers to the XX Corps hospital at the Oak Grove estate, located about a mile from the site of his wounding. En route to the hospital, he continued to give directions and

150th

across

road at approximately this position, and advanced roughly to the north. Lieutenant Sleight was mortally wounded during this advance, mostly likely from Confederate fire originating from the left of the treeline in the picture.[27] (Author’s photograph)

orders to his Company, as well as instructions as to his personal effects, but passed away by the time he arrived. He was buried next to the manor house the following morning.[26] After the war, Sleight’s remains were returned to Poughkeepsie, and re-interred in the LaGrange Rural Cemetery, on Overlook Road.

Sleight’s death was notable and memorable for many reasons to the veterans of the 150th. Aside from being a Company Commander, he had the reputation as a brave and talented leader, and was an original member of the Regiment, joining in October, 1862. He had fought in every engagement of the Regiment without a wound until, arguably, one of the last bullets in the 150th’s last battle struck him. As a mark of how respected he was, after the war, the Poughkeepsie Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Post 331 was named in his honor. There

Figure 3. View to the northwest from the center of the Confederate second line toward the third line. The Averasboro Battlefield Museum is circled. The

would have advanced

the

is also significant insight into his wartime experiences. While he did not leave a traditional diary, there are numerous artifacts held by the Dutchess County Historical Society that bear his signature, including his personal log book. The book itself does not contain his personal thoughts or opinions, but there are letters in existence that do so, and the log offers a fascinating insight into the seemingly mundane issues that shaped the life of a company officer during the Civil War.[28]

Eulogies were extensive and heartfelt for Sleight. Perhaps the most poignant came from his Regimental Commander, Colonel Smith. Smith’s diary is concise, but when he wrote of Sleight’s death, one can feel the emotion in his words. The entry of the 17th states that, simply, “Sleight killed. Heavy fire. Lieutenant Sleight killed.” He writes a further 2-3 lines on the battle, then

Figures 4a and 4b. Excerpts from Sleight’s log book. From the collection of the Dutchess County Historical Society, 150th NY Papers, Box 2.

Figure 5a. 1LT David B. Sleight. (Photograph courtesy of the Dutchess County Historical Society)

again “We all mourn loss of Lieutenant Sleight.”[29] Funk, not a member of Sleight’s I Company, wrote that “Lieutenant David B.Sleight was killed in the battle, leading his company in, as one may say the last fight of the war.”[30] John Platt, editor of the Poughkeepsie Eagle eulogized in the regimental history that Sleight was “held in the highest esteem by all who knew him before he went into the military service of his country, and his death was a huge shock to the whole community.”[31]

Beyond Sleight, there are other indications of the significance of the battle for the men of the 150th. An extrapolation of ammunition expenditures and personal reports from after the battle, indicates that the rate of usage was similar for the regiment at Averasboro (approximately 28.8 bullets per man fired) as it was for the regiment during its first fight, at Gettysburg’s much more familiar Culp’s Hill on July 3rd, 1863 (28.3 bullets per man). Admittedly, the calculus of such accounting contains numerous variables, but parallel tendencies can be readily identified.[32]

Sleight was not the only death from the regiment during the battle. Private John Cass, of A Company, was mortally wounded and died the following day at Oak Grove.[33] Cass was likely one of the dozens of soldiers who died at Oak Grove in that he was initially interred at the house before being removed to the Raleigh National Cemetery after the war.[34] Additionally, the following day, William J. Wallin of B Company was killed while “foraging,” although the exact circumstances of his death are unknown.[35] The number of 150th men wounded in the battle is less certain, with different accounts

Figure 5b. Sleight’s grave in the Lagrange Rural Cemetery (Author’s photograph)

utilizing different standards in their determination, although most accounts indicate that the regiment lost approximately 20 men total on the 15th and 16th. The Poughkeepsie Eagle’s roster published on April 8th, 1865, seems to be the most accurate, showing 2 killed (Sleight and Cass), 8 severely wounded and 8 slightly wounded. Additionally, Lieutenant William Wattles of A Company was slightly wounded[36] while serving as an aide-decamp to the Brigade Commander (Hawley).[37] The Battle of Averasboro was clearly a “big” battle for the men of the 150th.

Conclusion

Averasboro marked the final battlefield experience for the 150th NY. While they would march to Bentonville, their service at that battlefield would be to occupy already-dug entrenchments as part of the XX Corps Reserve. They did not see any action. The occupied positions, though, are still there and accessible. The Regiment returned to Poughkeepsie shortly after the war, and the 450 men serving in the Regiment at that time were mustered out on the 8th of June, 1865.[38]

Visiting the Battlefield

Averasboro provides a unique opportunity to visit a battlefield where soldiers from Dutchess County fought. A number of factors facilitate such a visit. First, as noted in the above narrative, this was clearly a battle that mattered to the Veterans, many of whom cited this encounter as the toughest or most significant of the unit’s history. Second, the battlefield itself is very accessible, being close to I-95, and most of the key features of the battle can be viewed from various positions along North Carolina Highway 82 (NC 82). Third, a visit to Averasboro does not requite a “long” stay; the key features of the fight, and the 150th’s involvement, can be experienced in one or two hours, easily. Fourth, the battlefield is relatively undeveloped

since 1865. While there have been changes, most notably the movement of the original Oak Grove House to a different location on the battlefield, the general landscape is largely unchanged, allowing the visitor to better grasp what soldiers fighting actually experienced.

When visiting the battlefield, there are five stops that provide the best opportunities to experience the action as it progressed. While the Visitor’s Center is listed here as the “fifth” of the five stops, one can easily start there before moving down to the Old Bluff Church (Site #1), particularly if arriving from the north. Each of these sites contains multiple signposts that assist the visitor in learning about the battlefield. In addition, there are a eleven highway markers and historical placards across the battlefield that, while not necessary specific “stops” on the

Map 4. Overview of Battlefield Visitation Plan. Map from Moore, Mark A. Moore’s Historical Guide to The Battle of Bentonville

Figure 6. Old Bluff Church (Author’s photograph)

tour, provide added insight. All of these sites are easily accessible from NC82, four of the five being directly on the road itself (Site #1 is a short distance off NC82, and well-marked).

Site #1: THE OLD BLUFF CHURCH. Start of the battle for the 150th on the evening of the 15th, and the location of their bivouac that was cut short by the call to assist Kilpatrick. The cemetery that surrounded the Church, amidst which the men of the 150th were trying to bed down when the orders to march came, looks much as it was in 1865. [Return to NC State Secondary Road 1802 and drive north for 2.7 miles, when the road splits. Follow NC State Secondary Road 1812 (the left branch) for a further 1.9 miles and pull into the wayside area to the East side of the highway. NOTE: After .9 miles, the road turns into NC 82.]

Site #2: WAYSIDE AREA #1. The southernmost wayside area represents the location of the 150th’s arrival to support Kilpatrick on the evening of the 15th, after the dismal march from the Old Bluff Church. The house to the east of the wayside area (private property)

Figure 7. Wayside Area #1 (Author’s photograph)

Figure 8. Wayside Area #2 (Confederate First Line) facing south, with NC82 on left of picture (Author’s photograph)

is the William Smith House, which served as a Federal hospital during the battle. The fields on either side of NC 82 to the immediate north of the wayside area are were the 150th would have been hunkered down on the night of the 15th, preparing for the coming battle on the 16th. [Return to NC 82 and drive north for 1.3 miles. Turn into the Wayside Area to the west of the road.]

Site #3: CONFEDERATE FIRST LINE (WAYSIDE AREA #2). Looking to the south, once can see the ground over which the Federals advanced on the morning of the 16th against the first Confederate line. The 150th advanced north from the trees in view to the south (far to near) on the eastern side of the road (the left side of the picture). There are a few items of interest at this

Figure 9. Chicora Cemetery, with NC82 on right of picture (Author’s photograph)

Averasboro Battlefield Museum (Author’s photograph)

stop in particular, particularly the remnants of the Confederate first line, as well as an historical marker commemorating the XX Corps that specifically notes the 150th NY. [Return to NC 82 and drive north for .9 miles. Turn into the Chicora Cemetery parking area to the east of the road.]

Site #4: CHICORA CEMETERY. The Cemetery, which is the final resting place for a number of Confederate soldiers who died in the battle, is located where the Confederate third line crossed the Raleigh Plank Road. In addition to the gravesites, there are a number of other artifacts for consideration, including a number of monuments and historical markers. If one stand in the parking lot, and looks to the southeast, the 150th advanced across the fields to your front, close to tree line extension closest to the cemetery, about ¾ of a mile distant. [Return to NC 82 and drive north for .3 miles. Turn into the Averasboro Battlefield Museum and Visitors Center to the west of the road.]

Site #5: AVERASBORO BATTLEFIELD MUSEUM. Closely behind the Confederate third line is the Averasboro Visitor’s Center, with Historical Markers, a Museum, numerous battlefield maps, artifacts, and collections documenting Averasboro and North Carolina in the Civil War.[39]

[1]Smith would be promoted to Colonel on March 24, 1865, just over a week after the battle.

[2]Rev. Edward O. Bartlett, The “Dutchess County Regiment” in the Civil War: Its Story as Told By its Members (Danbury, CT: Danbury Medical Printing Co., 1907), 156.

[3]Ibid., 157.

[4]Jeremiah Collins, “Reminiscences of Jeremiah Collins, Musician, Company G, 150th New York Infantry,” 1903. https://www.angelfire.com/ny4/ djw/150th.collins1903.html.

[5]Mark L. Bradley, The Battle of Bentonville: Last Stand in the Carolinas (n.p.: Savas Publishing, 1996), 27-28, 40; Daniel T. Davis and Phillip S. Greenwalt, Calamity in Carolina: The Battles of Averasboro and Bentonville, March 1865 (Eldorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2015), xviii.

[6]Mark L. Bradley, “Old Reliable’s Finest Hour: The Battle of Averasboro North Carolina, March 15-16, 1865” Special Issue, Blue & Gray, 2002. 6.

[7]Nathaniel Cheairs Hughes, Bentonville: The Final Battle of Sherman and Johnston (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 1996), 24-6; Bradley, “Old Reliable’s Finest Hour,” 4-5.

[8]Bartlett, 155.; U.S. War Department, The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (hereafter OR), 128 vols. (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901), Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 1, 653. http://collections.library. cornell.edu/

[9]OR, Series I., Vol. 47, Pt. 2, 1375.

[10]Bradley, Battle of Bentonville, 115; Mark A. Moore, Moore’s Historical Guide to the Battle of Bentonville (n.p.: Savas Publishing, 2001), 10; Hughes, 33-4.

[11]Bradley, “Old Reliable’s Finest Hour,” 6.

[12]Hughes, 33; Bradley, Battle of Bentonville, 123; David, 31.

[13]Bartlett, 156; OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 1, 422.

[14]OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 1, 585; OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 1, 600; Bradley, Battle of Bentonville, 122-128.

[15]Smith, Mark A. and Wade Sokolosky, “No Such Army Since the Days of Julius Caesar:” Sherman’s Carolinas Campaign from Fayetteville to Averasboro, March 1865 (El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie, 2017), 121-3.

[16]Bradley, Battle of Bentonville, 128-132.

[17]Ibid., 132.

[18]Hughes, 33-4; Bradley, Battle of Bentonville, 132; Bradley, “Old Reliable’s Finest Hour,” 18; Moore, 10; OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 2, 871; OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 2, 949.

[19]Bradley, Battle of Bentonville, 116-9.

[20] Alfred Smith, The Diary of Alfred Smith, 15 March, 1865. (Dutchess County Historical Society, Butts Library, Bookcase A, Shelf 2).

[21]Peter Funk, “A Civil War Soldier’s Diary, Company F, 150th N.Y. Vol.,” 40-1. Funk’s original diary is lost, but its contents were published as a weekly series from May 26 through August 18, 1932, in the Red Hook Advertiser. Funk was a resident of Red Hook, died in 1916, and is buried in the SW corner of the “Old” section of the Union Cemetery in Hyde Park.

[22]OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 1, 422.

[23]Bradley, Battle of Bentonville, 131-2.

[24]Funk, 41.

[25] Andrew J. Ostrum, The Diary of Andrew J. Ostrum, 16 March, 1865. (Dutchess County Histortical Society, Butts Library, Bookcase A, Shelf 2).

[26]Bartlett, 157, 329-331, 459; Ostrum, 16 March, 1865; Funk, 41; Smith, 16 March; OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 1, 653.

[27]Thanks to Pete Bedrossian and the 150th New York Historical Association (https://www.angelfire.com/ny4/djw/150th.histassoc.html) for insight that helped connect the disparate and/or vague accounts of Sleight’s death.

[28]Sleight Log Book. (Dutchess County Histortical Society, 150th NY Papers, Box 2).

[29]Smith, 16 March, 1865.

[30]Funk, 41.

[31]Bartlett, 330.

[32] Dutchess County Histortical Society, Richard Titus Papers, Box 2, File 5.

[33]Bartlett, 359.

[34]Smith, 188-9.

[35]Ibid., 379, 499.

[36]“List of the Killed and Wounded of the 150th Regiment.” Poughkeepsie Eagle, 8 April, 1865.

[37]OR, Series I, Vol. 47, Pt. 1, 638.

[38]Bartlett, 163-5.

[39]“Averasboro Battlefield & Museum,” accessed 19 April, 2022, https:// www.averasboro.com

First Lieutenant Henry Gridley of Company A, 150th NY State Vol. Infantry Regiment. Gridley was killed in action at the Battle of Culp’s Farm, Georgia, on June 22,1864. Later, the Millerton Post 617 of the G.A.R. was named in his honor. Undated photo. Dutchess County Historical Society Collections.

The Henry Gridley Post 617, Grand Army of the Republic of Millerton, New York (1887-1933)

By Sean M. Klay.

For over 40 years, Henry Gridley Post 617 of the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R) served the Civil War veterans of the village of Millerton and the town of North East. The post officially began operation when, on July 19, 1887, the Assistant Adjutant General of the G.A.R., in Special Order No. 95, officially approved the application for a charter for a new G.A.R. post in Millerton, thereafter known as the Henry Gridley Post 617 of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of New York.[1]

Henry Gridley was born on September 17, 1836, to Noah and Emeline (Reed) Gridley. His father was a successful businessman who owned large amounts of real estate and was engaged in significant mining and iron manufacturing in the Harlem Valley.[2]

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Gridley’s family convinced Henry to complete his studies at Amherst College, where he was set to graduate the following year. Upon returning home, he jumped at the opportunity to assist in the recruitment and establishment of a company for the “Dutchess Regiment” which had recently been authorized. This company would later be designated Company A of the 150th NY Volunteer Infantry, and Henry was commissioned the company’s First Lieutenant. He served through some of the war’s biggest and most significant battles to include Gettysburg, Chattanooga, and the battles of the Atlanta Campaign.[3]

This final campaign would prove to be Gridley’s last. On May 4, 1864, Major General William T. Sherman inaugurated this campaign that would culminate in the capture of Atlanta on September 2, 1864, following 128 days of battles, skirmishes and marching.[4] On June 22, 1864, the 150th found itself supporting

the Army of the Ohio, to which General Sherman assigned the task of turning the Confederate position on Kennesaw Mountain. The regiment took positions on an important ridge on Kolb’s Farm,[5] a few miles south and west of Marietta, Georgia. As John E. West records in his chapter “From Resaca to Kennesaw Mountain” in the book, The Dutchess County Regiment, “The ground in our front was for the most part open fields, with heavy woods on the opposite ridge, and a small ravine in the valley before us and slightly to our left.”[6]

In the immediate vicinity of the regiment’s position was a rail fence that Colonel John H. Ketcham, the regimental commander, immediately ordered his troops to use for material to create a breastwork, protecting them from enemy rifle fire.[7] West continues his account, “On they [the Confederates] came with a rush, advancing into the valley and then up the rise of ground in our front until we could almost see the whites of their eyes, when they received such a withering fire from our line and the two batteries at our left that they wavered and finally fell back to the ravine for shelter, leaving the space thickly strewn with their dead and wounded.”[8]

During this action

Lieutenant Gridley, commanding Company A, was actively directing the fire of his company against the Confederate attack on the Union position. At one point, Lieutenant

Recent photo of the gravestone of Lieutenant Henry Gridley in the South Amenia Cemetery. Photo by Sean Klay.

Gridley directed Private John Gollenbeck to fire at a prominent Confederate soldier holding the Confederate colors. Gollenbeck took aim and fired, killing the individual specified. At the same moment, Lieutenant Gridley was struck by a bullet near his heart and killed, becoming the first commissioned officer in the regiment to be killed in action. Initially buried near where he fell, his remains were later brought home by his father, and are now laid to rest in the family plot at the South Amenia Cemetery.[9]

Post Organizing and Installation of Officers

The first recorded meeting of the Millerton G.A.R. Post took place on September 9, 1887, following the approval of the Post Charter application by the G.A.R. Department of NY in July. Members from Millerton and North East were joined by members from Department of New York and their comrades from the O. H. Knight Post No. 58 in Lakeville, Connecticut. During this initial meeting the Post elected its first slate of officers. They were as follows:

•Post Commander: Seneca V. Humerson

•Senior Vice Commander: Michael Rowe

•Junior Vice Commander: James E. Myers

•Chaplain: Edward Saunders

•Officer of the Day: William Palmer

•Quartermaster: Charles Corey

•Adjutant: Dwight Stent

•Officer of the Guard: Charles Ford

The term for Post officers followed the standard calendar year. We do not know the terms of office for the initial Post officers (i.e. if they only served until the end of 1887 or were extended until the end of 1888), as many of the Post records have been lost.

The Post also established that meetings would be held on Saturdays at the local Webutuck Lodge, F.&A.M, where the rental payment was $50.00 a year paid in quarterly installments. Initial individual dues were set at $3.00 a year.[10]

Officers would be installed for their term of office during the first meeting in January. The installation of officers was generally conducted by a member or officer from a nearby G.A.R. Post. Following the formal installation ceremony, the Installing Officers were often given an opportunity to address the assembled Post members. Many of their remarks focused on common themes, such as staying the course of the organization’s mission, staying current on public patriotic events, and maintaining loyalty to each other. On other occasions, the installing officers would share their personal stories from the Civil War, or, as it was commonly referred to at the time, the War of the Rebellion.[11] In the early years of the Post, following the official meeting, where necessary Post business was conducted, the members would often retire to the Post Commander’s residence for a sit-down dinner provided by the Post Commander’s wife, assisted by other member’s spouses.[12]

After the organization of the Woman’s Relief Corps (W.R.C.) associated with the Henry Gridley G.A.R. Post 617 (they were officially designated as Henry Gridley Relief Corps No. 116 and can be most closely associated with the Legion and V.F.W Auxiliary organizations we are familiar with today), there would be a sit-down dinner in conjunction with the installation at the meeting hall itself. Period news accounts recorded that the veterans were often presented with small gifts by the ladies of the W.R.C. during these events.[13]

Tri-State Reunions and Clam Bakes

Beginning in August, 1889, for many ensuing years, the Post held an annual summer Clam Bake, with the first one held at the Nickel-Plate Rink on August 23, 1889. The August 15, 1889, edition of the Amenia Times stated “A good time may be expected and no pains will be spared on the part of the members

of the Post to make it a success. Come out and give the veterans a lift and help encourage them in their good and charitable work of providing for one another.”[14] At this event, Comrades from the nearby Lakeville Post attended.[15]

During the 1890 Clam Bake, delegations from the Lakeville, Sharon, and Canaan, Connecticut, G.A.R. Posts joined in supporting their New York Comrades. From these joint events was born the initiative to hold an annual gathering of local tristate veterans, the culmination of which was the annual G.A.R. reunion held every February 22, George Washington’s Birthday, and hosted by one of the participating Posts.[16] The first of these official Tri-State Reunions was hosted by the Millerton Post in 1891.[17] According to the March 1, 1913, Harlem Valley Times, the event that year in Great Barrington had the participation of two Massachusetts, three Connecticut, and one New York Post (Millerton).[18]

The Post Commander of the hosting post was the chair for the event and would act as Master of Ceremonies. Often these events would have a visiting dignitary or a former high- ranking military officer as keynote speaker. The hosting post’s Adjutant (secretary) would read the mortuary report which announced the mustering out or the passing of Comrades since the previous gathering. Singing was a significant part of the formal portion of these gatherings, with popular war-time songs such as “We are Coming Father Abraham,” “Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! The Boys are Marching,” and “Marching Through Georgia” recurring favorites. A dinner was served between the morning and afternoon sessions and was prepared by each Post’s W.R.C. Weather would occasionally have an impact on attendance, as shown with the 1912 and 1913 gatherings. In 1912, 342 dinners were served by the Millerton Post’s W.R.C. In contrast with only 75 dinners served in 1913.[19] The Harlem Valley Times noted the 1913 issue: “Comrade Nelson Jones did not attend the reunion at Great Barrington last Saturday. He has not been feeling very well for a few days, and the weather was so extremely unpleasant, that he decided not to undertake the journey.”[20]

The afternoon sessions would begin around 1:00 p.m. with an agenda filled again with oratory and song. Before adjournment one of the other posts in attendance would offer to host the next gathering. Organized festivities would end around 3:00 p.m., when veterans and spouses would either return to their homes or settle in with friends for the evening before returning home the next day.[21]

Decoration Day

The holiday now known as Memorial Day, initially known as Decoration Day, was established by General Order 11 of the Grand Army of the Republic, which called for May 30 of each year to be set aside to remember the fallen and to decorate their graves beginning in 1868.[22] It is unclear exactly when the first Decoration Day was observed in Millerton, but we do know, according to newspaper records, that it was being observed by 1888. In that year, G.A.R. Post 617 organized its first Decoration Day observances introducing many of the practices that are followed today.[23]

The day would begin early with various details sent out to local cemeteries, including North East Center, Spencer’s Corners, and Coleman Station, to decorate the graves of those who had served not only in the Civil War, but in previous wars as well, with flowers. Accounts record one detail would travel to the South Amenia Cemetery to pay a tribute to the Post’s namesake First Lieutenant Henry Gridley, placing a wreath at his grave. An Amenia Times article covering the 1889 Decoration Day observances noted that “…thirteen young ladies dressed in red, white and blue to represent the original states went to South Amenia where Henry Gridley is buried, each young lady carried a banner, and around the grave of their comrade they held a service, and address was made by Rev. Oliver, the girls sang songs, and the strewed flowers on all soldiers buried there…”[24]

Upon return, participants would assemble for the procession that would leave from the Post headquarters (after 1904 this would be Benedict Hall, today known as the Millerton Movie

House) and proceed to Irondale Cemetery. Upon their arrival at the cemetery the Post, joined by the W.R.C. and the community at large, would form a square around the flagpole at what today is known as the Old Veterans Plot. Beginning in 1893 the Millerton Cornet Band would join in supporting the Post and community with their music.[25]

At the cemetery, the program would include the decorating each veteran’s grave with flowers, multiple recitations, poems, and singing, and always closing with the song “America.”[26] Following this service-of-sorts, the Post and community would once again return to the Post headquarters for a dinner served by the ladies of the community.[27]

Benedict Hall (today the site of the Millerton Moviehouse) was home to the Post from the building’s completion in 1904 until Post 617 surrendered its charter in 1924. Undated postcard. North East Historical Society Collections.

Memorial Sunday

1888 was also the first year the Post began the Memorial Sunday program as part of their Decoration Day exercises. The very first Memorial Sunday was held on June 3, 1888, at the Baptist Church with the sermon being conducted by the Rev. Andrew Grey, who preached “a very able sermon.”[28] In 1889, the service was conducted at the Methodist Church with a sermon by the Rev. William Oliver. Following the morning sermons, the Comrades from Millerton would join their Comrades in

Lakeville, Connecticut, many of whom had participated in the Millerton events, for similar exercises.[29]

County Veteran Association Meetings

Records indicate that by the early 20th century, a decision was made to have County Level G.A.R. association meetings that would rotate between the various county Posts. In 1911, it was the Millerton Post’s turn to host this grand meeting of the County Veterans Association. The September 11, 1911, edition of the Poughkeepsie Eagle noted that the “…invitation was not limited to members of the G.A.R. but to all veterans in the county.”[30] For those who were traveling from Poughkeepsie, rail transportation was not ideal, and that alternatively automobile transportation had been arranged for $1.50.[31]

The Saturday, September 30 edition of the Rhinebeck Gazette also contained a small advertisement for the meeting for the members of the John Armstrong Post 104 of the G.A.R. in Rhinebeck, noting the event would begin at 11:00 a.m. with a dinner served by the W.R.C. at noon and the afternoon meeting beginning at 2:00 p.m. The advertisement also noted that “…about eight comrades have already signified their intention of taking this trip with J.W. Quicks auto. The price will be reasonable.”[32]

Columbus Day Parade

For several years during the latter half of the nineteenth century, a Columbus Day parade was held in Millerton. The October 11, 1962, edition of the Harlem Valley Times noted that “in the early 1890s Millerton was famous for her fabulous Columbus Day Parade, which consisted of the famed Millerton Cornet Band, the Fireman, the old Soldiers, the Merchants, and Tradesman, as well 200 school children dressed to the nines.”[33] The article noted that the village was filled with hundreds of visitors from the surrounding towns for the event. The parade, once formed, extended from the “Baptist Church to the Terni Ford Garage.”[34] The parade for years had two Grand Marshals, Fred Dakin and W. H. Cook, the latter credited with starting the Columbus Day parade in Millerton. Following the Grand

Marshals, whom the article notes were “riding astride their handsome mounts,” came the Cornet Band and the “comrades of the Henry Gridley Post.”[35] The article went on to describe the participants, observing that “…most of the soldiers parading were veterans of the Civil war and it was said they walked with more dignity and gracefulness than any of the younger marchers.”[36]

Annual Post Inspections

Traditionally, during the month of October (with occasional exceptions to occur in November, such as 1914),[37] the Post was inspected by one of the representatives from the Department of New York. The inspectors would ensure that the records of the Post were in order and that the actions of the Post were in keeping with the regulations that governed the G.A.R. Following inspection, the inspecting officer was given the opportunity to address the Post.[38]

Many of the inspecting officers would each give similar speeches in that they would appeal to the members to stay true to the organization’s mission of service to their communities and their fellow veterans, as well as to remind them to keep the spirit of patriotism alive. Occasionally, a personal story would be shared alongside the call to action.[39]

The November 2, 1912, edition of the Harlem Valley Times contains the account of the Post Meeting held on October 26. That year Comrade John G. Harris of New Hamburg, New York, was the inspector for the county. When the floor was turned over to him he, like many others, opened his comments by making the traditional “…strong appeals to that spirit of fraternity that binds together in one common brotherhood all the members of the Grand Army of the Republic.”[40] Harris continued to charge them “…all to hold fast to the spirit of patriotism that led us all to follow the flag and defend the Union against all its foes during the dark days of the civil war. He asked us all to get closer together, to close ranks, touch elbows, and keep alive the spirit of comradeship for the few remaining years that may be given to us to stay here.”[41]

The article noted that what he said next got everyone’s attention:

The speaker then gave us a little of his own personal experience during the war of the Rebellion. Said he was born in the ‘old north state’ [North Carolina] and lived in the southeastern part not far from the Sound. That the succession or disunion sentiment was very strong there, and anyone who did not espouse the Southern cause was looked upon as a traitor to their native land. He had three brothers in the Southern army and said he never passed through a greater conflict than when he fought the great fight-the mental battle-with only God as a witness, that was to determine his attitude in the death grapple that was about to take place between the North and the South. His great grand-father fought under Washington in the war for independence, his grandfather fought with Jackson at New Orleans, and his own father marched and fought with Taylor in Mexico. Comrade Harris said he could not repudiate the record, the loyal record of three generations, and so he decided to cast his lot with the Union cause.

His attitude was not only detrimental, but defiant and dangerous to the Southern cause and one day a band of guerrillas came and arrested him, and with a few others who were considered enemies of the South, took them ten miles from home called a drumhead court martial, ‘tried and condemned them to be hung.’ They had the ropes all ready and were preparing to execute the sentence upon them when the captain, who had been absent, rode up stopped the execution, and after an examination set them free. Shortly after this incident a detachment of the Third NY Calvary came by the Harris home on their way to Newbern, NC that was then in the possession of Union forces and the boy Harris went with them, enlisted, and served in that regiment till the end of the war.[42]

The article that covered this account noted that the moral courage required to remain true to the flag during that time in the South must have been immense and, comparatively, how much easier it was for northerners to remain true to the Union, since unionist sentiment was so strong. After Mr. Harris completed his address the Post “moved and carried unanimously that the

post tender the speaker a vote of thanks for this very interesting address we had just listened to.”[43]

Veterans Relief

A recurring phrase is found in the obituary or death notice listings in the papers of the era, in regards to the passing of a Civil War veteran, is “He leaves a wife and several small children in destitute circumstances.”[44] A major function of the G.A.R. was providing poor relief to veterans and their families, and this was documented as part of the year-end report the post would file with their respective departments. Documented in the Rhinebeck Gazette in both 1912[45] and 1917,[46] County Supervisors voted in both years to allocate county funds to specific G.A.R. posts for the purposes of poor relief. The disbursements were as follows for 1912:[47]

Armstrong Post of Rhinebeck - $400

Obed Wheeler Post of Amenia - $500

Henry Gridley Post of Millerton - $500

Ketcham Post of Wappingers Falls - $200

Howland Post of Matteawan - $500

C.N. Campbell Post of Pawling - $100

In 1917 the disbursements looked as follows.[48]

Armstrong Post of Rhinebeck - $250

Obed Wheeler Post of Amenia - $400

Henry Gridley Post of Millerton - $500

Ketcham Post of Wappingers Falls - $225

Howland Post of Matteawan - $100

Post Elections

The December meeting was the traditional time for the annual election of Post officers for the following year. Like many other local community events, the proceedings of these meetings were typically recorded in the newspapers of the day, at least until the start of America’s participation in the First World War. According to local papers, it appears that Post elections took place during the first of two monthly meetings in December. The records, unfortunately, don’t go into details such as if elections were contested or not. It appears reasonable to conclude that this didn’t happen often, if at all, as many of the same names recur frequently.

Post elections also had representatives from other posts or the Department on hand, ostensibly for the purpose of ensuring a fair election. In 1913, the election of officers was observed by John G.Harris,[49] and in 1915 was attended to by Berthold Myers.[50]

Annual Millerton High School Flag Replacement

Sometime after the start of the W.R.C. in 1906, an annual tradition began with the ladies purchasing a flag annually to replace the national flag flying in front of the Millerton High School.[51] Typically, this would take place as part of the annual Christmas school assembly and the Post Commander would present the replacement flag to the school principal on behalf of the W.R.C.[52]

New Year’s Ball

By 1889, the Millerton G.A.R. Post was hosting an annual New Year’s Ball every January 1, which was held at Barton’s Hall on the upper floor of the Brick Block Hotel, today’s location of Brick Block Auto Parts. The December 28, 1888, Amenia Times advertisement noted that “…it is hoped there will be a full attendance. Good music will be furnished on the occasion, and a bountiful supper provided. Come and enjoy yourselves and keep alive old memories.”[53]

The January 4, 1900, edition of the Amenia Times noted that that year’s New Year’s Ball had “…a good number present and a good time was enjoyed by all.”[54]

Highlights from Post Meetings

Newspapers at the turn of the twentieth century are interesting and provide numerous tidbits of information about individual day-to-day activities, in addition to the news of various groups and organizations. For example, “Comrade Benjamin Robertson of Wassaic came up to attend the regular meeting of the Post last Saturday.”[55] Or, from the same edition of the Harlem Valley Times, this note: “Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Hunt of Hillsdale visited friends in Millerton last Saturday and comrade Hunt attended the Henry Gridley Post in the afternoon.”[56]

In contrast, every now and then there was a more substantial write up that provides more detail, such as the following record from the May 17, 1913, edition of the Harlem Valley Times:

A VIGOROUS VETERAN

Last Saturday May 10th, comrade Henry Books 85 years old drove over from Pine Plains to attend Post meeting.

It was cold and windy that day, and the drive over the mountains was most unpleasant, but comrade Brooks said he did not mind it. The round trip gave him a drive of twenty miles— pretty good for an 85 year old boy.

That spirit of devotion to duty, that sustained him during his service in the civil war, impelled him to take a drive of twenty miles to attend a meeting of his Post. This incident illustrates the spirit of the men who composed that mighty army that for four long years struggled to maintain the national integrity and. unity. May future generations emulate this unselfish devotion to the Union established by the fathers of this Republic.[57]

Regrettably we do not have much left in the historical record regarding individual Post meetings outside of special events. What items we do have are from secondhand accounts and sources, like the following narrative, recorded in the Pine Plains Register on May 23, 1929:

“Several items found in their [the Posts] records were unusual. One was where one Comrade was reprimanded for his actions unbecoming a Comrade and member of Henry Gridley Post. Another was when a motion was made that the trustees of the Post meet with the Trustees of the Lodge to confer in regard to the last clause in the lease “to keep the lamps clean.” A third when the members minus their badges in the meeting and “the Commander gave them down the banks for so doing and ordered that in the future no one should neglect to don them and in a conspicuous place, by all means in the Lodge rooms.”[58]

It does make one wonder as to the identity of the reprimanded Comrade. Unfortunately, we may never know.

“Mustering Out”

Within a few short months of the establishment of the Post, Peter Welch was the first member to pass away, after a brief illness at age 44 on November 23, 1887. Peter had only joined the G.A.R. a week prior to his death, yet the November 25, 1887, edition of the Amenia Times notes that “…the care and attention paid him by his comrades of that Post was untiring. His funeral was from the Presbyterian church in this village… The members of Henry Gridley Post turned out in a body, and several members of Knight Post of Lakeville were present.”[59]

Over the next decade the local newspapers would record several of the Millerton Post members who were mustered out upon their passing, such as Michael Rowe in November, 1891,[60] William Ferris in February, 1892,[61] Seneca Marks in April, 1896,[62] and Dwight Stent in October, 1898.[63] The local paper recorded that many of these funerals were “attended in a body” by the members of the Henry Gridley Post.

The second decade of the twentieth century saw several Post members passing, which is unsurprising considering many of these men were now in their seventies and the nation was observing the semi-centennial of the Civil War. The obituaries note, for many of these funerals, that the W.R.C. members, in addition to those of the Post, were in attendance, especially as the frequency of these events increased. Six more members would pass in the next twenty-one months, including Peter Cain in January, 1913,[64] Reuben Rossiter in February, 1913,[65] Nathan Reed in May, 1913,[66] Charles E. Prior in December, 1913,[67] John Wooden in April, 1914,[68] and Charles E. French in September, 1914.[69]

The report of Reuben Rossiter’s funeral was easily one that attracted attention from casual readers of the paper. Under the headline “A Remarkable Old Lady” is written the following:

The mother of Comrade Rossiter attended his funeral. She came over from Salisbury with her son Will, with whom she resides. She is 94 years old and unusually active for a person of that age. She manifested remarkable self control. Only once did she give way to her grief—that was just before the services began, and when the casket was being draped with the flag her son fought to maintain unsullied.

The sympathetic tear stood in every eye during that pathetic scene.

Kind sympathetic friends supported her while she wept, and after a little while she became calm again. During the rest of the service she controlled herself with Spartan fortitude. Truly she is a remarkable woman.[70]

Increasingly during this period, the papers observed that Union soldiers were mustering out of the G.A.R. at over 100 per day,[71] with over 4,000 recorded alone in April of 1913.[72] As the February 15, 1913, edition of the Harlem Valley Times recorded, “Grim death calls more frequently as the years go by. The union soldiers are being mustered out at a rate of more than 100 per day —over 36,000 pass away in a single year. Not many years hence the last living soldier of that mighty army that fought with Grant,

and marched with Sherman, will receive his final discharge and be laid to rest in that ‘silent city of the dead.’ Then the Grand Army of the Republic will only be a memory.”[73]

As the May 17, 1913, edition of the Harlem Valley Times noted during this period, “Death is now decimating the ranks of the union soldiers almost as rapidly as did the rebel bullets during the war…At this rate it can be but a few years at most before the last survivor of that great struggle will be called to report to the Supreme Commander.”[74]

“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away…”

By the early 1920s the roster for the Henry Gridley Post was getting thin. At the conclusion of 1923, then-Post Commander Ward van DeBogart included a letter with the annual end-of-year report where he initiated a discussion about the requirements to surrender the Post Charter as the Post had six members left, with only two able to make meetings, as the others were either too old or infirm. [75] The reply from the Assistant Adjutant General, Department of New York, informed van DeBogart that the Post could maintain its charter as long as there were three members left.[76]

It was at this time that the W.R.C. decided to disband, formally doing so on February 6, 1924, after eighteen years of service. Of their remaining members eight (Miss Dorothy Bailey, Miss Libby Valentine, Mrs. Lillian Beaujon, Mrs. Sarah Bishop, Mrs. Elizabeth Haveley, Mrs. Mary Kaye, Mrs. Henriette K. Puff, and Mrs. Kathryn Delaney) took a ‘honorable discharge’ while seven (Mrs. Fannie Morgan, Mrs. Jennie Valentine, Mrs. Cecelia Barclay, Mrs. Frances Jones, Mrs. Eva Lawrence, Mrs. Julia Andrews, and Mrs. Dora Shaffer) transferred to other W.R.C.s, most prominently the Hamilton-Sleight Corps.[77]

Around this time the Post held its final in-person meeting, although the exact date of this meeting is not currently known. Their charter was never surrendered so, therefore, the post was never technically disbanded. The Post Charter, along with the other relics of the post, were turned over the newly established Millerton American Legion sometime after the latter organization

was formed in 1927. The final member of the Post was its last Commander Ward Van De Bogart.[78]

Conclusion

During its forty-plus years the Henry Gridley Post left an impact on the Village of Millerton and the Town of North East in the form of patriotic observances, grave decorating, and community events. While few, if any, tangible artifacts remain, its legacy remains in the traditions it initiated. Unfortunately for all of us today it is assumed that the relics of the Post, which presumedly included that portrait of Henry Gridley given to the Post by his mother for their hall,[79] were lost when the Legion Post burned down in the 1960’s. The fire also, most likely, destroyed the G.A.R. Charter and many of the records which were referenced in the writing of the “Millerton Memories” columns that provided much material consulted in the composition of this article.

At this point you may be asking when did this Post finally end? If a date could be given, then perhaps no better date can be given then the one when the last member and Post Commander, Ward Van DeBogart, reported at last to the Supreme Commander, February 8, 1933.[80] Veterans themselves, the organizations they create, never die, but just fade away.

[1]Charter Application Post 617, July 19, 1887, Folder 14, Box 48, Grand Army of the Republic Department of New York Records, New York State Archives, Albany NY.

[2]Edward O. Bartlett, The Dutchess County Regiment: (150th Regiment of New York State Volunteer Infantry) In The Civil War, ed S. G. Cook and Charles E. Benton (Danbury CT: Danbury Medical Printing Co., 1907), 257.

[3]Ibid., 257-258.

[4]Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative, Red River to Appomattox, vol. 3, (New York: Vintage Books, 1974), 323.

[5]150th NY Volunteer Infantry Regiment Monument, Gettysburg National Battlefield Park, Gettysburg PA.

[6]Bartlett, The Dutchess County Regiment, 93.

[7]Ibid., 93.

[8]Ibid., 94.

[9]Ibid., 258-259.

[10]“Millerton Memories: Henry Gridley Post No. 617, Grand Army of the Republic,” Pine Plains Register, May 23, 1929.

[11]“Grand Army Meets,” Harlem Valley Times, February 1, 1913.

[12]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, January 11, 1889.

[13]“Installation,” Harlem Valley Times, January 16, 1915.

[14]“Grand Army Clambake,” Pine Plains Register, August 15, 1889.

[15]“Grand Army Clambake,” Pine Plains Register, August 15, 1889.

[16]“Millerton Memories: Henry Gridley Post No. 617, Grand Army of the Republic,” Pine Plains Register, May 23, 1929.

[17]“Millerton Memories: Henry Gridley Post No. 617, Grand Army of the Republic,” Pine Plains Register, May 23, 1929.

[18]“Grand Army Reunion,” Harlem Valley Times, March 1, 1913.

[19]Ibid.

[20]Harlem Valley Times, March 1, 1913.

[21]“Grand Army Reunion,” Harlem Valley Times, March 1, 1913.

[22]Reference needed.

[23]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, May 25, 1888.

[24]“Millerton Memories: Henry Gridley Post No. 617, Grand Army of the Republic,” Pine Plains Register, May 23, 1929.

[25]Ibid.

[26]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, May 28, 1896.

[27]“Millerton Memories: Henry Gridley Post No. 617, Grand Army of the Republic,” Pine Plains Register, May 23, 1929.

[30]Veterans Day at Millerton,” Poughkeepsie Eagle, September 11, 1911.

[31]Ibid.

[32]“Headquarters Armstrong Post No. 104 G. A. R.,” Rhinebeck Gazette, September 30, 1911.

[33]“The Cracker Barrel” The Harlem Valley Times, October 11, 1962.

[37]“Millerton Herald,” Harlem Valley Times, November 14, 1914.

[38]“Post Meeting” Harlem Valley Times, November 2, 1912.

[44]“Death of a Soldier,” Pine Plains Register, May 1, 1896.

[45]“The Supervisors,” Rhinebeck Gazette, December 14, 1912.

[46]“The Supervisors: Farm Bureau Asks For $3,000 – Other County Business,” Rhinebeck Gazette, December 8, 1917.

[47]“The Supervisors,” Rhinebeck Gazette, December 14, 1912.

[48]“The Supervisors: Farm Bureau Asks For $3,000 – Other County Business,” Rhinebeck Gazette, December 8, 1917.

[49]“Henry Gridley Post Holds Annual Election,” Harlem Valley Times, December 20, 1913.

[50]“Grand Army Meets,” Harlem Valley Times, December 18, 1915.

[51]Harlem Valley Times, January 25, 1913.

[52]“Millerton Herald,” Harlem Valley Times, December 28, 1912.

[53]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, December 28, 1888.

[54]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, January 4, 1900.

[55]“Millerton Herald,” Harlem Valley Times, March 20, 1915.

[56]Ibid.

[57]“A Vigorous Veteran,” Harlem Valley Times, March 20, 1915.

[58]“Millerton Memories: Henry Gridley Post No. 617, Grand Army of the Republic,” Pine Plains Register, May 23, 1929.

[59]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, November 25, 1887.

[60]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, November 12, 1891.

[61]“Millerton,” Amenia Times, February 4, 1892.

[62]“Death of a Soldier,” Pine Plains Register, May 1, 1896.

[63]“Dwight Stent Dead,” Hudson Evening Register, circa 1898.

[64]“Civil War Veteran Passes Away,” Harlem Valley Times, January 11, 1913.

[65]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, February 15, 1913.

[66]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, May 17, 1913.

[67]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, December 20, 1913.

[68]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, April 18, 1914.

[69]“Grand Army Man Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, September 26, 1914.

[70]“A Remarkable Old Lady,” Harlem Valley Times, February 15, 1913.

[71]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, February 15, 1913.

[72]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, May 17, 1913.

[73]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, February 15, 1913.

[74]“Mustered Out,” Harlem Valley Times, May 17, 1913.

[75]Ward Van DeBogart to Assistant Adjutant General NY G.A.R. Isidore Isaacs, abt January 1924, Folder 9, Box 20, Grand Army of the Republic Department of New York Records, New York State Archives, Albany NY

[76] Assistant Adjutant General NY G.A.R. Isidore Isaacs to Ward Van DeBogart, January 12, 1924, Folder 9, Box 20, Grand Army of the Republic Department of New York Records, New York State Archives, Albany NY

[77]Millerton Memories, Pine Plains Register, May 30, 1929

[78]“Millerton Memories: Henry Gridley Post No. 617, Grand Army of the Republic,” Pine Plains Register, May 23, 1929.

[79]Ibid.

[80]Grave marker, Ward Van DeBogart, Irondale Cemetery, Millerton NY.

N NOTES

1762 Amenia Precinct Minute Book

by Elizabeth Strauss

In the year 1762, Amenia became a precinct, set apart from the former Nine Partners/Crum Elbow Precinct. It was also the year that the precinct adopted the unique name of “Amenia.” The first precinct meeting was held on the first Tuesday of April at the tavern of Roswell Hopkins, Esq., Justice of the Peace. From that date until 1801, clerks recorded the minutes of these annual meetings in this volume, along with a variety of other information through 1842.

Because the Hopkins family was central to the establishment of the town, they deserve a few words of introduction. Formerly from Harwinton, CT, the Hopkins were early settlers in the Nine Partners Precinct, arriving c. 1742, having purchased all of Lot 32 and a portion of Lot 31. Stephen and Jemima Hopkins were educated, religious and well-respected. They donated land for the first church and the first burying ground, near their home on the eastern side of Lot 32. Five of their seven sons became officers in the Revolutionary War, with Col. Roswell Hopkins being chief among them.[i]

At the first precinct meeting, Stephen Hopkins, Sr., was elected supervisor. Michael

Fig 1: Stephen Hopkins’s Stone in the Old Amenia Burying Ground.

Photos by Elizabeth C. Strauss

Hopkins was chosen as clerk, a position which he held until his untimely death in 1773. Roswell Hopkins took over his brother’s office at that time and served as clerk for ten years. The signature of Roswell Hopkins, Esq., was the most well-known signature in the town because of the many records he kept. In addition to the Amenia Precinct Book and the Book of the Poor, Roswell kept the records of marriages he performed and legal cases he handled as justice of the peace for thirty years.

The annual precinct meeting was conducted according to the format of town meetings which were held for decades in New England. In addition to supervisor and clerk, officers were elected annually for the positions of assessors, tax collector, town constables, overseers of the poor, overseers of highways, pound keepers and fence viewers.

Included on the meeting agenda were recurring issues regarding stray animals and poor people. To deal with the problem of wandering livestock, the construction of fences became regulated and fence viewers were appointed to keep an eye on the fences in their neighborhoods. When a stray animal was found and “taken up,” as it was called, a notice was posted at the nearest tavern with a description of the animal and who to contact. A fee was charged the owner for the boarding of the lost animal, and if no one claimed the animal within ten days, the “taker-up” could

Fig. 2: From the record of Strays in the 1762 Amenia Precinct Book

keep the animal. A pound was built on the Hopkins’ property and later in other locations.

A more labor-intensive system for handling the problem of strays was established by which each farmer was assigned an ear-mark with which he marked an ear of each of his animals. The clerk was expected to keep a record of the earmarks in the precinct book and would continue to assign new or disowned earmarks to new residents. This system expected the taker-up to report the design to the clerk in order to match it to the owner on record.

The other perennial problem discussed at the annual meeting was that of caring for the poor people in town. The poor were often widows and their children or elderly residents, who had no relatives to care for them. The overseers of the poor were charged with the responsibility to determine if the needy person or persons were truly residents of the town and not another town’s responsibility. They were also given a budget for the purchase of food and clothing for the poor. They were required to submit the names of the poor persons and the receipts of purchases to be recorded in the Book of the Poor. Every year the amount budgeted for the poor increased.

A system of indentured servitude was also available for the care of poor children in the town. The indenture was a legal agreement which officially documented each child placed with a local resident and it was recorded in the Book of the Poor. It was signed by two overseers of the poor, two justices of the peace, two witnesses and the person taking the child. The “master” was responsible for providing for the child until the age of 21, or age 18 for young women. The contract was lengthy, but in most instances, it was identical to other such agreements. The overseers were to make sure the children were treated kindly and fairly. The child was to be trained in the skills of the “master,” taught to read and do basic math and, at the age of release from the family, he was to be given two sets of new work clothing, a set of church clothing, and a new Bible. This form of foster care continued until the 1830s, when a County Poor House was established.

The matter of highways involved electing an overseer for each neighborhood who would keep the road in good repair, as much as possible. The precinct was responsible for the building of roads as new areas were settled. Hence, in the clerk’s book, the number of overseers of highways increased every year, with each individual being assigned to a numbered district. The districts were described in the Highway Commissioners’ Book.

The precinct book also included the issuing of tavern licenses. The clerk kept the records and collected an annual fee for the license. The tavern owner agreed to abide by the laws of the town regarding the conduct and activities at taverns. There was to be no cock-fighting or gambling of any type and no disorderly conduct.

Finally, the manumitting of slaves was a legal matter overseen in most instances by two Justices of the Peace and recorded by the clerk in the precinct book. In the 1762 book, the first recorded manumission in Amenia was in 1788. Other manumissions were recorded in the 1790s, with the last one in this book recorded in 1807.

Fig 3: From Amenia’s Book of the Poor, 1768 Indenture for Isaac Osborn

Beginning in 1800, the names and birth dates of children born to enslaved persons and the names of their Amenia masters were recorded by the clerk in the book, as required by New York State law.

The Town of Amenia and the Amenia Historical Society are fortunate to have in their archives these ancient record books, which contain a treasure trove of information regarding the early residents of the town.

Elizabeth C. Strauss

Amenia, NY

[1]Newt Reed, Early History of Amenia, 5th Ed, Rhinebeck, NY: Epigraph Books, 2012, pgs 33, 41, 51, 52, 68, 92; Timothy Hopiks, John Hopkins of Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1634, and Some of His Descendants, Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press: 1932, pgs 49, 50.

Fig 4: A Manumission Recorded in the Amenia Clerk’s Record Book

In May 2022, the building was named the Robert J. Murphy Research Center in honor of our past president and city historian.

The Beacon Historical Society’s Robert J. Murphy Research Center

By Diane Lapis

The Beacon Historical Society (BHS) was founded by a small group of concerned citizens in 1976 to procure, preserve, and promote the history of Beacon and its antecedent villages of Matteawan and Fishkill Landing. From our humble beginnings in a small room at the Howland Library, to our current spacious location, our mission is more important than ever as we see a great deal of interest, change, and rebirth of our city. The BHS is an independent nonprofit membership organization governed by a board of trustees and managed by volunteers.

Our headquarters is located in the former rectory of St. Joachim’s Church at 61 Leonard Street in Beacon, NY. It is home to our research library, exhibitions, collections, public programs, and administrative offices. In May 2022, the building was named the Robert J. Murphy Research Center in honor of our past president and city historian.

The BHS archives include a wide range of materials for those interested in the economic, political, social, and cultural history of Beacon and the Hudson River area. The Johnson Research Library houses our books on architecture, landscape design, the Hudson River, Black history, local authors, and history from the 18th century to contemporary times. The library walls are adorned with a group of paintings by local artist Alice Judson, a second generation Impressionist, and one work by the renowned artist Ella Pell. Our archives include city directories, maps and deeds, postcards, newspapers, scrapbooks, ledgers, letters, journals, ephemera, yearbooks, and paper and photo files, and more. Ferry models, glass bottles and other artifacts help to tell our diverse and storied history.

The Society presents changing exhibits throughout the year showcasing the depth and breadth of our collections in the Meyer

Galleries and Map Room. Our website hosts mini-exhibits to provide additional access to those far and wide.

To further tell the rich history of our city, we host a free lecture series on the fourth Tuesday of each month from March through November. Our monthly newsletter provides members with information about our collections and programs. The newsletters and three publications Historic Beacon, Beacon Revisited, and Beacon’s Memory Keeper and Storyteller: Robert J. Murphy delights readers with hundreds of stories and thousands of photographs, and offers a wider appreciation of our history. Special events such as our ghost and walking tours, annual postcard show and Beacons of History Award Night are signature events for our members, community, and tourists.

Please visit us at www.beaconhistorical.org for upcoming events, mini-exhibits, history blog, recorded programs, podcasts, gift shop and more. The Society welcomes visitors on Thursdays from 10-12 and Saturdays from 12-4 during exhibitions and by appointment for researchers. Like us on Facebook and Instagram.

Figure 1: One of the final pages of Zebulon Southard’s Ciphering Book, 1760. Courtesy of the Dutchess County Historical Society.

The Zebulon Southard Cyphering Book

By Jacquelyn Harbison

Mathematics lessons during the 18th and early 19th centuries were slightly different than today. In modern schools we utilize textbooks and notebooks to learn simple and complex mathematical concepts. During this earlier period, students (often under the supervision of private tutors) used notebooks called ciphering books. Filled with rules, definitions, examples, and exercises, these books offered students a guide to simple addition and subtraction, algebra, geometry, and specific arithmetic needed for various professions. Word problems were common in higher level ciphering books, usually focusing on the math needed for store management, surveying, or the calculation of interest. Ciphering books offer an invaluable window into the history of education and student learning patterns.[1]

Among the Dutchess County Historical Society’s collections is a ciphering book from 1760 belonging to Zebulon Southard of Fishkill.[2] Southard’s ciphering book follows the traditional forms for the period, suggesting that he used it during his preteen or teenage years to prepare for entry into the world of commerce and farming. Through a careful analysis of the book, a historian can arrive at a better understanding of exactly what role Southard’s instructors were preparing him to play in adult life.

Southard’s ciphering book begins with “the rule of three” in direct proportions and inverse. The purpose for these lessons was for students to comprehend the basics of mathematics; mainly the ability to gain the skills to understand proportions and ratios. To fully comprehend the rule of three in direct proportions and inverse, teachers and students would apply the rules to realistic scenarios. For example, Southard wrote, “If a mans (sic) spend (sic) 7d per Day how much is That in A Year.”

Beneath the word problem, Southard proceeded to write, “If 1 Day---7d---365 Days”, and beneath the previous “if statement” is a division

problem, where the answer is labeled copying the “if statement” with the answer to the word problem. Historians understand the Rule of Three to be the equivalent of elementary education today.

Subsequent portions of the book reveal that Southard studied the topic of interest in great detail, including different time spans of principle interest rates. He also studied the topics of tare and trett, land areas, commission of brokerage, rebate or discount, and equation of payment. Like the Rule of Three, each higherlevel topic developed through word problems between the heading and work. Toward the very end of the book, there are mock scenarios for common business dealings regarding interest, and discounts, along with samples of apprentice indentures and bonds. These legal documents would be regular features of a storekeeper’s life. The word “indebted” is written on several pages of the word problems. On one of the final pages of the ciphering book, Zebulon wrote the same quote repetitively from the top of the page to the bottom. He wrote, “In all concerns on Virtue fix your Eyes and vice.” On the bottom of the page, he wrote, “Zebulon Southard his book 1760.”

How does studying and analyzing ciphering books help us in the modern era? Education has changed dramatically since the introduction of public schools in Dutchess County during the early nineteenth century. During the 1760s, students would learn from private tutors or as an apprentice before starting their own business or going into the trades or farming. In the case of Zebulon Southard, other items within his family papers preserved at the Dutchess County Historical Society reveal that he operated a store and tavern in addition to other commercial activities. When paired with his ciphering book, it is clear that Southard’s parents and instructors prepared him for his adult occupation early in life, offering an example of how education in the eighteenth century was closely linked to applied real-world scenarios that students could expect to encounter later in life.

1 Nerida Ellerton and M.A. Clements, “The Mathematical Content in Cyphering Books,” in Rewriting the History of School Mathematics in North America 1607-1861: The Central Role of Cyphering Books, (New York: Springer, 2012), 3-4, 93, 104–116; Ashley K. Doar, “Cipher Books in the Southern Historical Collection” (master’s thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006), 9,21,30,58. accessed March 21, 2022, https://ils.unc. edu/MSpapers/3160.pdf; Rauner Library, “Ciphering Books,” Library Muse -Inspiring Ideas from the Dartmouth Library, November 14, 2014, accessed March 1, 2022, https://sites.dartmouth.edu/library/2014/11/14/cipheringbooks-2/.

2 Zebulon Southard Book 1029.1, Dutchess County Historical Society, Poughkeepsie, NY.

A ADDENDA

Dutchess County Historical Society

Yearbook Contributors

Michael Boden, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of History at Dutchess Community College. A native Nebraskan, he moved to the Hudson Valley when he retired from the US Army in 2011 after 23 years of service as an Armored Cavalryman. He is a graduate of West Point (Class of 1988), and taught courses on the Holocaust, German and World History at the Academy from 1997 – 2000. He is a member of the Dutchess County Historical Society Board of Trustees, working extensively on Dutchess County military history, particularly the experiences of Soldiers and units during the Civil War, and as a facilitator in the “I Served” oral history project.

John Desmond is a retired professor of English at Dutchess Community College. He co-authored Adaptation, A Study of Film and Literature, published by McGraw Hill, in 2005. Since his retirement, he partially occupies his time writing free-lance articles on a number of subjects, from independent-baseball leagues to restored railroad stations.

Jacqueline Harbison is an educator with a decade of experience in various settings. She holds a B.S in Elementary Education and an M.S. in Childhood Education. She has taught in both public and private schools. While teaching she also volunteered with the Dutchess County Historian and became a clerk in the Historian’s office where she became familiar with public history. During her tenure there she worked closely with the county’s Ancient Documents Collection and found ways to relate the documents to public education. She continued her career path as a Historic Interpreter at Staatsburgh State Historic Site where she found ways to educate children by creating children’s programs and virtual activities.

Andrew Hunter, born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada is an author, curator, educator and activist. His working-class grandparents came to Canada in the 1920s from Birmingham, England, and Glasgow, Scotland. A graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Hunter has, over a 30 year career, worked nationally and internationally. He has held senior curatorial positions across Canada and has produced exhibitions and publications for such institutions as the National Gallery of Canada, Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Concordia University, University of Toronto, Museum of Moder Art Dubrovnik (Croatia), Hammer Museum at UCLA, and Museum of Fine Arts Boston, among many others. Hunter has taught undergraduate and graduate classes at University of Waterloo/Waterloo Architecture and OCADU University and has worked closely with organizations supporting at-risk youth. He regularly writes and speaks about institutions of culture and history, the erasure of histories, the marginalization of cultures by colonial institutions and the responsibilities and accountabilities of settler communities and whiteness. His latest book, It Was Dark There All The Time: Sophia Burten and the Legacy of Slavery In Canada, was published by Good Lane Editions (January 2022). He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Slavery North initiative at University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Sean Klay is a Dutchess County native who earned his BA in History from Westfield State College, and is completing his Master’s in Military History from American Military University. He is a twenty-plus-year veteran of the US Army, having seen service in Europe and Afghanistan. He is a member of American Legion Post 178 in Millerton, where he serves as Post Historian and VFW Post 5519 of Pine Plains. In addition, Sean actively takes part in French and Indian War reenactments with the New England Living History Association. He is a member of the North East Historical Society and resides in Columbia County with his wife Melissa and their three children.

Larry Laliberte is a native of Poughkeepsie now living in Carmel, New York. He is a retired service technician with Verizon, and serves as the editor of the BULLETIN, a semi-

annual publication of the Empire State Postal History Society. Researching the many schools that called Poughkeepsie home is one of his passions, as is the postal history of Dutchess and Putnam counties.

Diane Lapis is a Trustee and former President of the Beacon Historical Society where she researches, presents programs, and creates exhibitions on the history of Beacon. She is the coauthor of the book Cocktails Across America: A Postcard View of Cocktail Culture in the 1930s,40s, and 50s with Anne PeckDavis. Diane has written numerous articles inspired by her midcentury postcard collection. She is a retired elementary school educator and holds a B.A. in Art History, M.S. in Reading, and a Certificate in School Administration. She lives in Beacon with her husband Peter.

Robert McHugh is the President of the Millbrook Historical Society and has taught in the Social Studies Department at Arlington High School since 2003. His article on the Lyall Report grew out of a talk he delivered to the Millbrook Historical Society in February 2022, which is available through the group’s website at https://www.millbrookhistoricalsociety.org/videos-1.

Leonard Sparks a Senior Editor at The Highlands Current. Sparks, who lives in Peekskill, is a former reporter for the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, where he covered Sullivan County and later Newburgh. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Morgan State University and a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Maryland.

Elizabeth C. Strauss moved to Amenia in 1976 with her husband Julian and took up residence in Julian’s childhood home. While he established a veterinary practice and endeavored to maintain the family farm, Elizabeth became curious about the early settler of their neighborhood, especially the Garnseys (Guernseys) who had established the farm in 1759 and lived on the land for seven generations.

Elizabeth’s research resulted in a deep interest in local history. She has served on the Boards of Trustees of both the Amenia

and North East Historical Societies where she enjoys doing genealogical and historical research on the history and families of the two towns. Since 2006 she has developed programs and made presentations based on her research. Elizabeth is also is also a board member of the Dutchess County Historical Society. In 2018 she was awarded the Helen Wilkinson Reynolds Award for in depth historical research

William P. Tatum III, Ph.D. has served as Dutchess County Historian since October 2012. He holds a B.A. in History from the College of William & Mary in Virginia and a MA and PHD History from Brown University. As Dutchess County Historian, Will designs, exhibits, conducts archival projects, and presents public programming. He also coordinates the county history community, which includes local historians, historical, historical societies, preservation groups, and state and federal historic sites. Will is a long-time contributor to the Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook and has published widely on his other favorite topic, the eighteenth-century British Army.

Board of Trustees 2022

Rob Doyle, President

James Nelson, Esq., Vice President

Jack Cina, Treasurer

Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer, Secretary

Michael Boden, Ph.D., Jim Brands, Peter Bunten, Peter Forman, Eileen Hayden, Karen H. Lambdin, Antonia Mauro, Melodye Moore, Wayne Nussbickel, Rick Soedler, Elizabeth Strauss, David Turner, Andrew Villani, Ex-offcio: William P. Tatum III, Ph.D.

Committee Chairs

Finance: Jack Cina

Development: Wayne Nussbickel

Membership: Elieen Hayden & Betsy Strauss

Programs/Public Relations: Andrew Villani

Auction: Antonia Mauro

Publications: Bill Jeffway, Melodye Moore, William P. Tatum III, Ph.D.

Collections: Melodye Moore

Nominating: James Nelson, Esq.

Advisory Board

Steven Effron, Bradford H. Kendall, Steve Lant, James Merrell, Ph.D., Dennis Murray, Ph.D., Albert Rosenblatt, Esq., Julia C. Rosenblatt, Ph.D., Fred Schaeffer, Esq., Denise Doring VanBuren.

Staff

Bill Jeffway, Executive Director

Cintia Osorio-Sosa, Library & Collections Manager

Local Vice Presidents

DCHS has a longstanding tradition of appointing local Vice Presidents who act in a non-executive capacity. These individuals are a single point of contact for the cities, towns, and villages across the county.

Amenia: Julian Strauss

Beacon: Diane Lapis

Beekman: Vacant

Clinton: Craig Marshall (chair)

Dover: Caroline Reichenberg & Valerie LaRobardier

East Fishkili: Rick Soedler

Fishkill: Vacant

Hyde Park: Vacant

Lagrange: Vacant

Milan: Victoria LoBrutto

Washington & Millbrook: Jim Inglis &. Alison Brookes Meyer

North East & Millerton: Ed Downey &. Jane Rossman

Pawling: Bob & Nancy Reilly

Pine Plains: Dyan Wapnick

Pleasant Valley: Marilyn Bradford

Poughkeepsie: Michael Dolan

Red Hook: Elisabeth Tatum

Rhinebeck Town: David Miller

Rhinebeck Village: Michael Frazier

Stanford: Kathy Spiers

Union Vale: Fran Wallin

Wappingers: Beth Devine

Municipal Historians and Historical Societies of Dutchess County

Dutchess County Historian

William P. Tatum III

22 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, New York 12601

845-486-2381 - fax 845-486-2138

wtatum@dutchessny.gov

Dutchess County Historical Society

Bill Jeffway, Executive Director

Post Office Box 88

Poughkeepsie, New York 12602

845-471-1630

bill.jeffway@dchsny.org

Cities

Beacon

Historical Society: Diane Lapis

Post Office Box 89

Beacon, New York 12508

845-831-1514

dlapis@beaconhistorical.org

beaconhistorical.org

Historian: Vacant

Poughkeepsie

Historian: Tom Lawrence

Poughkeepsie Public Library District

93 Market Street

Poughkeepsie, New York 12601

845-485-3445 x 3306

tlawrence@poklib.org

Towns and Villages

Amenia

Historian: Jordan Shook

Amenia Town Hall

4988 Route 22

Amenia, New York 12501

jordshook@gmail.com

Historical Society: Betsy Strauss Post Office Box 22

Amenia, New York 12501

strausshouse72@gmail.com

Beekman

Historian: Patricia Goewey

4 Main Street

Poughquag, New York 12570 845-724-5300

historian@townofbeekmanny.us

Clinton

Historian: Craig Marshall

820 Fiddlers Bridge Road

Rhinebeck, New York, 12572 845-242-5879

craigmarshall266@aol.com

Historical Society: Cynthia Koch

Post Office Box 122

Clinton Corners, New York 12514 cynthiakoch@optonline.net clintonhistoricalsociety.org

Dover

Co-Historian: Valerie LaRobardier

845-849-6025

valarobardier@gmail.com

Co-Historian: Caroline Reichenberg

126 East Duncan Hill Road

Dover Plains, New York 12522 ( BOTH )

sweetcaroliner@aol.com

Historical Society: Fran Braley

180 Old State Route 22

Dover Plains NY 12522

845-832-7949

fran1braley@gmail.com

East Fishkill

Historian: Rick Soedler

845-227-5374

rjsoedler@gmail.com

Historical Society: Rick Soedler

Post Office Box 245

Hopewell Junction, New York 12533

845-227-5374

rjsoedler@gmail.com

Fishkill (Town)

Historian: Arnold Restivo

Fishkill Town Hall – 807 NY Route 52

Fishkill, NY 12524

(845)831-7800 ext. 3507

tofhistorian@fishkill-ny.gov

Historical Society: Steve Lynch

Post Office Box 133

Fishkill, New York 12524

914 -525-7667

asklynch@yahoo.com

Fishkill (Village)

Historian: Antonia Houston

Local History Librarian

Blodgett Memorial Library

37 Broad Street

Fishkill, New York 12524

vofishkillhistorian@gmail.com

Hyde Park

Historian: Carney Rhinevault

4383 Albany Post Road

Hyde Park, New York 12538

carneytatiana@yahoo.com

Historical Society: Sharon Piraino-Buko

Post Office Box 182

Hyde Park, New York 12538

845-229-8225

hydeparkhistoricalsociety1821.org

Hydeparkhistoricalsociety1821@gmail.com

LaGrange

Historian: Georgia Trott-Herring

845-452-2911

lagrangenyhistory@gmail.com

Historical Society: George Wade III

Post Office Box 112

LaGrangeville, New York 12540

845-489-5183

lagrangehistoricalsociety@gmail.com

https://www.lagrangenyhistoricalsociety.org/

Milan

Historian: Vicky LoBrutto

Milan Town Hall

20 Wilcox Circle

Milan, New York 12571

victorialobrutto@gmail.com

Millbrook (Village) Washington (Town)

Historian: David Greenwood

3248 Sharon Turnpike

Millbrook, New York 12545

845-677-5767

ngreenwd@aol.com

Historical Society: Robert McHugh Post Office Box 135

Millbrook, New York 12545

computermail@msn.com

Millerton/North East

Town Historian: Ed Downey PO Box 496

Millerton, NY 12546

eddowney12@gmail.com

Historical Society: Ed Downey Post Office Box 727

Millerton, New York 12546 518-789-4442

eddowney12@gmail.com

Pawling

Town Historian: Robert Reilly 160 Charles Colman Blvd

Pawling, New York 12564 845-855-5040

sc31redsky@gmail.com

Historian: ( Village ) Vacant

Historical Society: Jaclyn Wagner

Post Office Box 99

Pawling, New York 12564

PawlingHistory@gmail.com

Pine Plains

Historian: Vacant

Historical Society: Dyan Wapnick

Post Office Box 243

Pine Plains, New York 12567

518-398-5344

dyan.wapnick@gmail.com

Pleasant Valley

Historian: Fred Schaeffer

1544 Main Street ( Route 44 )

Pleasant Valley, New York 12569

845-454-1190

fredinhv@aol.com

Historical Society: Mary Ellen Cowles

merc@hvc.rr.com

Poughkeepsie (Town)

Historian: John R. Pinna

1 Overocker Road

Poughkeepsie, New York 12603

845-485-3646

townhistorian@townofpoughkeepsie-ny.gov

Red Hook

Town Historian: Emily Majer

7340 South Broadway

Red Hook, New York 12571

emily.majer@gmail.com

Village Historian: Sally Dwyer-McNulty

7467 South Broadway

Red Hook, New York 12571

sally.dwyer-mcnulty@marist.edu

Historical Society: Claudine Klose

Post Office Box 397

Red Hook, New York 12571

845-758-1920

claudineklose@gmail.com

Rhinebeck

Town Historian: Nancy Kelly

845-876-4592

kinship@hvc.rr.com

Village Historian/Town Deputy Historian: Michael Frazier

845-876-7462

michaelfrazier@earthlink.net

Historical Society: David Miller

Post Office Box 291

Rhinebeck, New York 12572

845-750-4486

dhmny@aol.com

Stanford

Historian: Kathie Spiers

Post Office Box 552

Bangall, New York 12506

845-868-7320

lakeendinn@aol.com

Historical Society: contact Kathie Spiers

Tivoli

Historian: Emily Majer

7340 South Broadway

Red Hook, New York 12571

emily.majer@gmail.com

Union Vale

Historian: Fran Wallin

249 Duncan Road

LaGrangeville, New York 12540

Town Office 845-724-5600

franw821@hotmail.com

Historical Society: Peter Gay (Vice President) 845-677-4837

chargaysgy@gmail.com

Wappinger/Wappingers Falls

Historian: Joseph D. Cavaccini

Town Hall: 20 Middle Bush Road

Wappingers Falls, NY 12590

Town Office 845-297-4158 ext 107

jcavaccini@townofwappingerny.gov

Village Historian: Brenda VonBurg 845-297-2697

Historical Society: Beth Devine info@wappingershistorialsociety.org

Post Office Box 174

Wappinger Falls, New York 12590 845-430-9520

DCHS Life Members

Rev. Herman Harmelink

Michael Levin

Amy Lynch

Peter & Deborah Krulewitch

Lou & Candace Lewis

W.P. McDermott

Melodye Moore & Lenny Miller

Sheila Newman

Joan Sherman

Norma Shirley

Mr. & Mrs. C.B. Spross

Peter Van Kleeck

DCHS Members & Supporters

Gaivoora Abrahaim

Susan Adams

Joshua Ahearn

Christine Altavilla

Amenia Historical Society

Anthony LaRocca

Andrew S. Antinori

Antonia Foster

Myra Young Armstead

John & Anne Atherton

Rebecca Thompson Atherton

Nancy Bachana

Harry W. Baldwin

Richard Birch

Debra Blalock and Russ Freleigh

Joan and Charles Blanksteen

Kelly Bruce

Peter Bunten

Eileen Burton

Linda Beth Card

Chen Yong Cher

Joanne S Clarke

Miriam Cohen

Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley

Natalie Condon

John Conklin

Ilene Cooke

CR Properties Group, LLC

Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer

David Dolson

Roger and Alisan Donway

Rob and Sue Doyle

Margaret Duff

Dutchess County Government

Jean Fisher

Diane Fitton

Gene Fleishman and Judith Elkin

Peter & Anne Forman

Robert Gosselink

Julius and Carla Gude

Eileen and Ben Hayden

Linda Heitmann

John Hicks

Timothy Holmes

Linda Hubbard & the late E. Stuart Hubbard

Bill Jeffway & Chris Lee

Susan Kavy

Thomas Kearney

Randall C. Kelly

Kenneth & Ann Arigoni Winans

Nathalie Klepp

Martin Kline

DCHS Members & Supporters

Bryan Knickerbocker

Virginia LaFalce

Karen H. Lambdin

Jody Lewis

Lou and Candace Lewis

Herbert Litss III

Victoria LoBrutto

Lainie Lobus

The Members' Fund at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College

Stephen Lumb

Lawrence Magill

Robert Magill

Mahwenawasigh Chapter NSDAR

Antonio Mauro

The Late Stephen Mazoh

Suzanne Meunier

Scott & Alison Meyer

Friends of Mills Mansion

Susan Joy Minker

Sarah More

Michael & Beth Mostransky

Jean Musto

N&S Supply of Fishkill, Inc.

Kyle Neiswender

James & Margaret Nelson

North East Historical Society

Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery

Poughkeepsie Public Library

Prager Metis CPAs

Caroline Reichenberg

Barbara Restaino

Town of Rhinebeck

Village of Rhinebeck

David Ringwood

Ellen S. Roberts

Curtis Schmidt

John Simpson

Catherine McWilliam Skowronski

Rev. Warren Becket Soule

Laura Strait

Elizabeth & Julian Strauss

Christopher Taylor

Kathy & Nathaneil Torgersen

S. L. Trocher

Michele Trugade

Phil and Barbara Van Itallie

Andrew Villani

Marcy Wagman

Rodney Ward

Gina Watson

Ann Wentworth

White's Hudson River Marina

Dale Whitmore

Bonnie Wood

Richard Yeno

Zimmer Brothers Jewelers

Membership, Donations, Business Sponsorship

Please contact any board member, or Bill Jeffway at bill.jeffway@dchsny.org, if you will consider supporting the preservation and sharing of our local history. There are a variety of ways that include short-term and longer-term approaches.

Each year, the “society” of members, donors, business sponsors and friends, sets the particular of focus of activities in support of our unwavering mission.

More information at: www.dchsny.org