63. City Hall (Poughkeepsie

HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 223".

supplied the church of Stoutsburgh from 1812 to 1815. This church was called the Church of Stoutsburgh until 1817, when it was called the Reformed Dutch Church of Hyde Park. The following is the succession of pastors over the church :— P. S. Wynkoop, 1817-22; F. H. Vanderveer, 1823-29; Cahoone, 1829-33; S. V. Westfall, 1834-37; J. C. Cruikshank, 1837-43; A. Elmendorf, x843-48; Ten Eyck, 1848-53; Henry Dater in 1853, and is the present pastor."

At Staatsburgh is an Episcopal house of worship; northeast of that is a Catholic Church. In Hyde Park village, in • addition to the church edifice already mentioned, there is a Roman Catholic, a Baptist, and a M. E. Church.

We have previously had occasion to remark that Jacobus Stoutenburgh was a large landholder. A further mention of him and his descendants will not be out of place, as he figured conspicuously in the early history of this county, quite as much so, perhaps, as some others who have been accorded a fuller historic mention. Some years since, so the writer was informed, as a member of the Stoutenburgh family was traveling in the town of Clinton, he was addressed by a very old man, who made particular mention of a certain tract of land known as the "Gore," situated in the north part of the county, the deed covering which was given by Jacobus Stoutenburgh to his eight children. The old gentleman asserted that the deed was at that time in existence somewhere near Rhinebeck, and which if found might eventually make trouble. He said his father was_a "squatter" on this tract, and never received any title from the original owner.

This circumstance caused a search to be instituted, which was rewarded by the finding of the identical instrument in question. It proved to be a full warrantee deed, covering a gore-shaped section, having its point at the Hudson River, and its base, some miles in length, adjoining the west Oblong line, comprising an area of thousands of acres. It was recorded at Albany, and the title is said to be yet good. The deed mentions all the children of Jacobus by name; and as neither

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they nor their heirs have ever disposed of any of their rights under the instrument, those holding the land included in this tract have very doubtful title. Much of it is improved, and is now very valuable, with buildings erected thereon. All the deeds given covering farms on the section in question are quit-claims. Whether the heirs of this land will ever undertake to get possession, remains to be seen.

In addition to this the Stoutenburgh family are heirs to the. Trinity church property. Jacobus married Margaret Teller, a direct descendant of Anneke Jans. The marriage° took place in New York city, soon after his arrival in this country.

Some years since as some of the family were searching the county records, they found quit-claim deeds of no less than seventy-seven farms lying between Rhinebeck and Poughkeepsie, the titles of which are derived from Jacobus Stoutenburgh. He is also spoken of as one of the first Judges of DUCHESS County.

The following is an extract from Lossing's "Hudson, from its Source to the Sea :" Placentia, a delightful country seat about a mile north of Hyde Park, was the residence of the lamented Janes Kirk Paulding. With it is connected no history of special interest. It is consecrated in the memory as the residence of a novelist and poet—the friend and associate of Washington Irving in his literary career. Paulding and Irving were intimate friends for more than fifty years. Paulding lived in elegant retirement for many years at his country seat, enjoying books, pictures. and the society of friends. He passed away at the beginning of i86o, at the advanced age of more than four score years. "Hyde Park is situated upon a pleasant plain, high above the river, and about half a mile from it. The village received its name from Paul Faulconier, private secretary to Edward Hyde, (afterward Lord Cornbury,) Governor of the Province of New York at the beginning of the last century. Faulconier

* The writer was shown portraits of Jacobus Stoutenburgh. and wife, as they appeared in thair wedding dress, which are now in possession of the family.

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purchased a large tract at this place, and named it in honor of the Governor. "At Hyde Park the river makes a sudden bend between rocky bluffs, and in a narrow channel. On account of this the Dutch called the place Krom E!leboge, crooked elbow. The present name is a compound of Dutch and English—from Elbow."

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Dutchess County Historical Society