64. Catholic Church, Cannon Street

LA GRANGE.. "

'OPULATION, I,775.-SQUARE ACRES, 25,682,

A GRANGE was formed from Beekman and Fishkill as "freedom" February 9tl, 2822. A part of Union Vale was taken off in 1827. The following year the name was changed to La Grange—" the barn"—the name of Marquis de La Fayette's residence in France, that gentleman .having lately visited the United States, Its surface is a rolling and moderately hilly upland, the soil is a gravelly loam. Sprout Creek is the principal stream, flowing south through near the center. Wappingers Creek* forms the west boundary. Freedom Plains, La Grangeville, Titusville, Sprout Creek, Arthursburgh, and Manchester Bridge, the latter lying mostly in Poughkeepsie, are hamlets.

The Nelsons, Sleights, DeGroffs and Cornells settled in the western part of the town. Reuben Nelson, Jr., first kept .hotel at Manchester. The old house here was of stone, and :stood a short distance southwest of the present one. Moses DeGroff owned the mill at this place.

* In February, ]807, heavy freshets prevailed all over the State. Almost every bridge over Wappingers Creek was either swept away or materially injured. A number of millstnd mill-dams on the creek were°badly damaged.

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Dutchess County Historical Society

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 227

In the northeast part of the town is situated the district formerly known as "Jonah's Manor." Stephen Jonah was a Schaghticoke Indian, who lorded it « over this region years ago. It is a wild, hilly country, hardly adapted to cultivation. Here he lived until a ripe old age, in undisputed possession of his native domain. He resided in a little rude cabin in the woods, ;and subsisted partly by the chase, and partly by cultivating a small patch of ground cleared for the purpose. His sister Hannah is, we believe, still living in the town, in the family of one S'.ddmore. It is said she can cure the bite of a chunkhead, almost instantly. Nothing, however, can tempt her to disclose the remedy:

Joseph Weeks settled at an early date near La Grangeville. North of him were the Vermilyes. Isaac Clapp, father of Jesse, was one of the first settlers locating below La Grange'yille. Jesse Clapp lived here in the time of the Revolution. Israel Shear and Derrick Swade settled southwest of La Grangeville. North of Shear was Elijah Townsend. Joseph Potter came in about the year 2812. Enoch and Samuel Dorland settled near Arthursburgh about I82o. Thomas Andrews and Jonathan Lockwood located here quite early. Richard Jackson entered upon the tract now known as the Jackson Flats; he was ancestor of the present Jackson families. William Wolven and William Pearsol took up their residence near Freedom Plains. John Aoret will be remembered as an eccentric Dutch shoemaker. J. C. Colwell came in here in 1827 ; he is the only one living in this vicinity that was here at that time.

The old village is about half a mile east of the railroad depot, and was formerly known as Moreys Corners. At this place, sixty years ago, was a carding machine, and fulling mill. The building is now used as a distillery. This structure could tell of revelry and bacchanalian riotings, it being the practice in early times for the Customers to bring their toddy with .hem, and drink one another's health while waiting for their

Dutchess County Historical Society

228 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

work. The lower mill was built by Jesse Clapp over fifty years ago.

John Billings was an old auctioneer who lived north of La. Grangeville. He was an influential man, with sterling business' qualities. He was by trade a tan-currier, and kept a shoe-V. maker's shop.

Elder Pevey, of the Christian denomination, used to preach in this and adjoining towns to great crowds of people. One Miller, a Baptist, was led to embrace the doctrine of the Peveyites, as they were then called. Miller had a daughter; traditionally beautiful as the houri; she was wooed and won by Pevey. A revival was the result of his preaching, and many in the country round about were converted. He baptised a large number of candidates in Johnson's Pond, now Sylvan • Lake.

Sixty years ago, an old man lived on Freedom Plains,. named William Petitt. On the same place afterward lived a Quaker, named John Palmer, whose son joined the Shakers.

Fifty years ago, and before the railroads were constructed in the vicinity, it was no uncommon thing of a morning to see twenty heavy loads of pork, and as many of grain, all going to Poughkeepsie, then the great mart of this section. Now the products taken there consist principally of hoop-poles and straw.

The first church near La Grangeville was the Methodist Church at Potters Corners. The site of the edifice was near the old burying ground. It was taken down and a new one built where it now stands,p called the Trinity Church of La Grange. This and the Ebenezer Church at the Clove, constitute one charge.

Near the northeast part of the town is a railroad station and post-office known as Moores Mill's. Here is an old mill, built by the family of Moores, doubtless one of the first in this section of the country judging from its appearance, and the best information that could be gathered touching its history—after which the place is named.

Dutchess County Historical Society