62. Court House (Poughkeepsie

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-burned Kingston, he cannonaded the house. One ball passed directly through the hall, entering at the front door and out at the rear one, both of which were open, without even touching the building. Another ball struck the house without doing much damage. Both these balls are preserved by the inhabitants of the vicinity as mementoes of past barbarism. The cut given of this house is copied from an old drawing now in possession of Tobias L. Stoutenburgh, of Poughkeepsie.

The third house built by Jacobus Stoutenburgh was situated -west of the post road below the village of Hyde Park. The ruins are yet visible, surrounded with small trees and shrubbery.

Another antiquated mansion stands at East Park, formerly Union Corners, built by William Stoutenburgh, ' a son of Jacobus. It is provided with a basement, nicely finished in panel work. This was, in the days of slavery in this state, set :apart for the use of the slaves. The house is now occupied by Mr. Van Wagener.

It is said that a member of the Stoutenburgh family, when a very old man, built a stone wall near this house which stood upwards of a hundred years. He built it of small flat stones, and owing to bodily infiiudties was obliged Stone House at East Park. to sit in his chair while doing the work. The wall could be shaken almost its entire length by a person standing at one end.

At the time of Vaughan's visit to Hyde Park, already referred to, a British force was sent ashore to plunder as usual, and to castigate such of the Whigs as had incurred the displeasure of Great Britain. A small body of Americans lay just over the point, with the evident intention of disputing their landing. A few shots were. exchanged; but as the enemy passed further down the stream, they got into a position that enabled their suns to rake the valley in which the Americans were stationed.

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A portion of the latter took refuge behind the stone housealready spoken of, but were finally driven back to the plain on which the village stands. The enemy did not care to follow, so after burning the landing, a shop and storehouse, the proper-ty of Luke Stoutenburgh, they departed, to pursue their work of desolation at other points. This skirmish was the nearest approximation to a battle that ever occurred within the limits of DUCHESS County, that has come tO the knowledge of the writer.

It is said that the British were piloted by three Toriesnamed Dhupp. These renegadoes, from their intimate knowl-edge of the country, would point out the houses of the Whigs along the river, which the enemy's gunners would make a target of their skill. For their services they were promised a. large section of land north of Hyde Park, in case the British arms were successful.

East of Hyde Park, on the lower road leading to East. Park, at the foot of a hill, is a lonely spot known as Obeys. Folly. This locality is pointed out as the scene of a bloody encounter in Revolutionary times, in which one of the Dhuppss, met a deserved fate. At the time spoken of, Luke Stouten-burgh, a son of Jacobus, was riding along this road. Each side: was bordered by a forest, with a dense growth of underbrush, creeping close up to the roadside. The general insecurity of the time led every traveler to arm himself for self defence, for personal encounters and deadly strifes were then common occurrences. In addition to his other weapons, Luke carried a.. riding whip, with a short lash, on the end of which was am ounce ball.

It was growing dark as our traveler reached this lonely part of his road. The wood abounded in coverts and hiding-places among the rocks, and Tories and robbers were known tomake their haunts in the vicinity. Just as he reached the foot of the hill, three robbers sprang out of the bushes, the foremost one catching his horse by the bridle. Luke, by a dexterous: movement, sank the ball on his whip deep into the robber's,

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temple; as the latter released his hold of the bridle and fell to the earth, he put spurs to his horse and escaped, closely followed by several shots, sent after him by the robbers. The next day word came that a dead Dhupp was found lying in the road near Obey's Folly. He was brought into the village, and people came from far and near to look at the remains of a man who had been such a terror to the neighborhood.. Notwithstanding his misdeeds, he was accorded a Christian burial. Luke Stoutenburgh was present at the funeral; and it is said that he pressed the bandage back from the robber's head so as to display the wound on the temple, as if to satisfy himself of the identity of the body before him. Another Dhupp was said .to have been killed between Fishkill Village and the Landing; while a third died some time afterward in the alms-house near Poughkeepsie. Such was the • end of this notorious robber family.

Staatsburgh is a small village and station on the Hudson River Railroad, some six miles north of Hyde Park. A hundred years ago the whole tract of country north of Crom Elbow Creek was known as Staatsburgh, or Stoutsburgh, as written in old records, and is undoubtedly a corruption or abbreviation of Stoutenburgh. Near Staatsburgh are the residences of the Hoyts, the Lowndes, and the Livingstons, descendants of the old Livingston stock.

The first mill built in this town was at the lower. landing, and which was burned down some thirty years ago. There is an old mill near East Park, built by the Delamaters, probably the oldest now standing in the town.

East of Hyde Park, near the east border of the town, is a Quaker church, known as the " Crom Elbow Meeting House." This edifice was erected about the year 1780. It has been several tunes repaired, and somewhat remodeled, and has, therefore, lost much of that antiquated appearance generally noticeable in very old buildings. Our informant, who, though past the three score and ten year-s allotted to man, was still

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vigorous in mind and body, related some reminiscences of Elias: Hicks, founder of the Hicksite order of Friends.

He frequently saw Hicks, and heard him preach in the Crom Elbow Church. He spoke of him as a tall, spare man, and a powerful speaker. He was present at a meeting in this church, in which Hicks and the English Friends who opposed him took ,part in the controversy which caused the division in that Society known as the Separation.

Attached to this church is an ancient graveyard, where lies• the buried dead of a century and a quarter. Many of the mounds have no stone to tell the name of the one whose dust lies beneath ; whose history is forgotten, never to be brought to remembrance until the resurrection. Other graves are marked with rough slabs taken from the field, a few with rude initials chiseled into them, but more of them unlettered.. Many of the lettered stones are moss-grown, weather-worn, and hardly decipherable. On these ancient slabs are the names of the Waeters, the Moshers, the Briggs, Bakers, Marshalls, Halsteds, Willets, Albertsons, and others, family names of the old settlers in this smiling valley.

A Union Church was built at an early date, in the villageof Hyde Park, and used harmoniously by the Episcopal and Dutch Reformed societies. It was known as the Red Church and stood a little south of the present Reformed Church edifice. The Episcopal Society afterward built a large and elegant house of worship a short distance north of the village. They also have erected a chapel within the village for public worship. The following statistics of the Dutch Reformed Society of this place have been kindly furnished by the present pastor, Rev. Henry Dater: "The records. of the early history of this church are imperfect, and for a part of the time I find no records. It was organized, or divine service was first held, in 1793. I do not know when the first church was erected; but it was rebuilt in 1826. Rev. Cornelius Brower was pastor of the churches of Poughkeepsie and " Stoutsburgh" from 1794 to 1812, and.

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