PRICE, 25 CENTS. 
 
 
 M^ORICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 THE 
 
 S.N.D.NOBTH, 
 
 Old Senate House, 1777, 
 
 CITY OF KINGSTONV N. Y. * 
 
 ERFXTED BY COL WESSEL TEN BROECK, 1676. 
 
 BY FREDERICK EDWARD WESTBROOK, 
 
 ( 'ounsellor at Law and Alember of the New York City Historical Society, 
 
 KINGSTON, N. Y. : 
 
 JOURNAL & FREflMAN BRANCH OfFICJ PrINT, 43 WaLL STRKET. 
 
 rfe) 
 
 
The Two Hundredth Anniversary 
 
 OF TIIK ERECTION OF THE BlILPING 
 
 OCCUPIED AS THE SENATE HOUSE 
 
 Of the State of New York in 1777, 
 
 THE YEAR OF THE ADOPTION OP THE FIRST STATE CONSTITUTION, AT 
 
 ESOPUS, (now city OF KINGSTON), TOGETHER WITH SKETCHES 
 
 OF OLD PROMINENT CITIZENS OF KINGSTON, ETC., ETC, 
 
 Senate House of the State of New York, 1777. Nos. 5 and 7 Clinton Avenue, Kingston. N. Y. 
 
 Summer Residence of and belonging to FREDERICK E. WESTBROOK, Esq., of New York City. 
 
 Col. Wessel Ten Broeck, born in Westphalia, 1635, erected this stone mansion about 1676, wherein 
 the Senate of the State of New York was held in the year of the adoption of its first Constitution, 1777, 
 and continued therein until the burning of Kingston by the British, October i5th, 1777. 
 
 BY FREDERICK EDWARD WESTBROOK, 
 
 Counsellor at I^aw and Member of the New York City Historical Society. 
 
 KINGSTON, N. Y. : 
 Journal & Free.man Branch Office Print, 43 Wall Street. 
 
,\<s>rf 
 
 
 By rR«N»sFE-R 
 
 JUN 3 J9I0 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH. 
 
 In sketcliing the history of States, there are events which have occurred 
 in prominent places of national importance which posterity loves to dwell 
 upon and to commemorate. Remarkable deliverances from savage brutal- 
 ity and a painful record of their atrocities, as well as the calamities arising 
 from Christian warfare, which are necessarily blended with the recollection 
 of great distress or imminent peril, and whether as men or citizens we now 
 greatly rejoice, by that very joy we expressly declare that our fathers once 
 had cause to mourn. 
 
 Perpetual sunshine suits not the state of the natural world. Continued 
 success is by no means favorable either to human happiness or virtue. The 
 gloom incident to winter is the happiest recommendation of the return of 
 the flowers of spring. The blessings of peace would be but imperfectly un- 
 derstood were it not for the antecedent anxieties resulting from the sorrows 
 •of war. 
 
 With reflections and feelings of this character relative to the great events 
 incident to a retrospect of 200 years, particularly during the seventeenth 
 century, that have occurred in this iuiportant place, successively known as At- 
 karkarton,Wiltwyck, Esopus, now the City of Kingston, N. Y., and wJiich are 
 immediately connected with the early Indian wars and with the wars of the 
 American Revolution of 1776 and of 181-2, which resulted with the permission 
 and wisdom of the Supreme Ruler in the accomplishment of the independ- 
 ence of the United States, which is now the asylum of the oppressed of all 
 lands who desire the advantages arising from a government humane and 
 just in its moral sway over despotism, with its 50,000,000 inhabitants, will 
 continue till the world eventually becomes educated, prepared and enabled 
 to adopt a government similar in its character and in the enjoyment of 
 like blessings. 
 
 The two hundredth anniversary of the erection of the walls of the vener- 
 able building now known as the Senate House of the State of New York, 
 1777, in the year of the adoption of its first constitution within its time- 
 honored walls, which survived the ravages of fire and the power and efi'orts 
 of the enemy in a desolating war, is a fitting and enduring monument to 
 
pt'r|ii>tiiatt' till' iciiu'iiihraniM' of tli<.s(> who M\ in the service and contributed 
 sufcessfully in tlio aceoniplislmiciit of the independence of tlieir native or 
 adopted laml ; the honest pride which arises within us on hearing what ar- 
 duous struggles our ancestors endured to obtain sucli deliverances animates 
 the heart to support and protect their memories. 
 
 We consider the earth as sacred where these heroes have long slept in 
 death. This monumental building, its walls, if suffered to remain, will 
 continue for centuries to come as a venerable relic of a heroic and suffering 
 period ; and the patriotic citizen as he passes by will exult in these vestiges 
 of his country's glory, and feel an ardent hope (if necessary) that bis name 
 may hereafter be enn.Iled in the records of its fame. Our native land con- 
 tains every et.joyn.e..t that (his life can afford, and when existence termi- 
 nates we all look to it for a grave where we can rest in peace ; unassuming,, 
 vast m extent, powerful in resources, prompt in affbrding relief, firm and 
 undismayed in danger, and merciful in victory, its 50,000,000 of inhabi- 
 tants, .separate.1 from Europe by the stormy Atlantic, if united and relying 
 upon that powerful Almighty arm that supported them in the infancy of 
 their days, is capable on arriving at the manhood of their strength to bum- 
 ble any dar.ng .nva.lcr who u.ay attempt to disturb the peaceful character 
 ot tins natUM., now the most powerful in the world. It displays mildness 
 in, Its government and impartiality in its laws, which in this State is under 
 a written con.st.tutionen.anatingfron. the people; its laws which govern 
 and the han.Is which execute them are the creation of their wi.sdom and the 
 representatives of their power. 
 
 In the luxuriance of youth and in the vigor of manhood it is wise to- 
 pause ,n our pursuits of business and pleasure, and to reflect upon the pre- 
 cious memories of the past. The barbarian Briton who defended his coun- 
 try at an early and rude period against the Roman invasion, driven to the 
 remotest extremity of the land, rallied his followers to battle by the 
 bea,t-.st.rr,ng appeal: "Think of your fathers and your posterity." The 
 lofty cl.rts were covered with an army, whose firm resistance daunted the 
 invaders, and though the Britons had only their naked limbs to oppose to 
 the Roman armour, it rer,„ired resolution and address even in veterm le 
 gion.s, betore a fierce and bloody struggle terminated in gainin. the shores" 
 Continual storms destroyed or separated the fleet, which the ;erseveranc; 
 of Ca«sar renewed and frc.uent sallies of British cavalry, 'and cha dots 
 from the woo.ls ana mountains checked the progress of devastation 
 
 If m so nuperfect a state of civilization the inhabitants of the" British 
 island could be thus attache<l to their caverns and forests, can there possib v 
 exist the smallest doubt that their posterity in the 1.; world wiuTfl 
 times act w<.rthy of such distinguishe.l ancestors ' 
 
 One of the ..hi..f <..u«es of the early pro.sperity of Ron.e is found in the 
 
■cherished recollections of the virtues of its founders. No virtuous people 
 will ever forget those by whom their infancy was cradled and defended. 
 Those brave men who enlisted to support, sustain and protect the govern- 
 ment of their country in the late civil strife, were animated and sustained 
 ■in that great conflict by the powerful reflection that this was the govern- 
 ment erected by their fathers which was shedding its benign influence over 
 all lands, and was the only hope and consolation to the lovers of freedom 
 and of civil and religious liberty. 
 
 At Esopus, now City of Kingston, N. Y., about the year 1076, Col. 
 Wessel Ten Broeck erected the walls and finished the building since known 
 as the Senate House of the State of New York, 1777. He was born in 
 Westphalia, and was probably the great ancestor of all who bear his hon- 
 ored name in this State, being prominent in the church whose first clergy- 
 man was Rev. Mr. Blom, called in 1660 ; also was inducted into civil 
 •oflSce about the year 1670 at Esopus, as the records of the Ulster 
 County Clerk's oflice, N. Y., show in an affidavit made by him of that 
 •date that he was forty years of age, which was about the time of the 
 ■erection of said building. Being a prominent man and in possession of 
 what was then considered a large estate, he erected it in a substantial man- 
 ner, which was considered at that early and rude period a large and grand 
 building. The ceilings of Dutch houses generally are about six feet six 
 inches. This house is eight feet seven inches in height, which now causes 
 it still to become a pleasant building as a place of residence. 
 
 Col. Ten Broeck's family was composed of his wife, Jacomyntie, daugh- 
 ter of Rev. Laurentius Yan Gaasbeek, and eight children, born at Esopus, 
 now Kingston, between the years of 1670 and 1090. Their names are the 
 following : Jolui Ten Brneck : Jacob Ten Broeck : Mary Ten Broeck: 
 Elsie Ten Broeck ; Sarah Ten Broeck, who married Abraham Van Gaas- 
 beek, who became owner of the Senate House through his wife, Sarah ; 
 Wessel Ten Bicock : Conrad Ten Broeck : Gertrude Ten Broeck, married 
 John Dumont. John Dumont and Gertrude Ten Broeck (daughter of Col. 
 Wessel Ten Broeck), his wife, had four children as follows : Rachel, who 
 married Tjerck Beckman, who died in her 94th year, leaving an only child, 
 Sarah Beekman, wife of the late Rev. Dr. Cornelius D. Westbrook : Ger- 
 trude, who died unmarried : Sarah Dumont, who married Hon. Peter Van 
 Gaasbeek ; Mary Dumont, married John Ttm Broeck : John Dumont, mar- 
 ried Sarah and Elizabeth Waring. He died in 1869, in his 95th year. 
 
 Abraham A'an Gaasbeek, who married Sarah, daughter of Col. Wessel 
 Ten Broeck as aforesaid, was the uncle of Sar?h Dumont. He devised the 
 l)uilding known as the Senate House and his personal estate by will (see 
 ■book C, page 7'i, in County Clerk's office, Kingston, Ulster County) to his 
 
6 
 
 ,,.vi,„ ,noce Sa.al. Dun.uut, who afterwanls b<H.n,e tl. w.^ o Hon. P r 
 Van r.ausbook, onlv son of sai.l Abraham Van Gaasbeok Saul Hon. 1 ctoi 
 Van (;aasb.ok an.l" Sa.ah Dun.ont his wife had an only ch.ld survivmg 
 Sarah Nan ( Jaasbeck, who became owner of said Senate House on the death 
 ;, ;,, „,,her as sole heir at law. On the death of Sarah Van Gaasbeek, 
 .bout 185.), by her last will and testament she devised the Senate House 
 Z, .round.: and other property to her cousin, Charles Kugg es Westbrook, 
 L ti- the late Rev. Dr. Cornelius 1). Westbrook. In Apr.l, 18b9, Charles 
 R Westbrook and wife conveyed by deed the Senate House and grounds to 
 his brother, Frederick E. Westbrook, of the city of New York, the present 
 owner. From the above record of title the building and grounds have 
 been in possession of Col. Wessel Ten Broeck and his heirs from 16/6 to 
 
 the year 1S69. 
 
 Wo will now return to Col. Wessel Ten Broeck, who married as his sec- 
 ond wife the widow of Thomas Chambers, the first prominent settler of 
 Wiltwy.k or IvM.pus, now Kingston, and late owner of the manor of Fox- 
 l,.ill U;»»S. I lor only son, Abraham Van Gaasbeek, by a former husband, 
 Rov'. l.aurentius Van Gaasbeek, second minister of the Reformed Dutch 
 Cluirch of Wiltwvck or Esopus, now Kingston, from 1667 to 1680, on his 
 death became owner of the manor of Foxhall, devised by his stepfather, 
 Thomas Chambers (her second husband), on condition of his assuming the 
 name of Abraham Van Gaasbeek Chambers. The descendants of Col. Wes- 
 sel Ten Broeck and ^'an Gaasbeek have owned and occupied this Senate 
 House of 1777 for near two centuries. 
 
 In the records of the Ulster County Historical Society in the year 1860 
 in book part 2, cage 124, is the following : " The Senate (of 1777) sat at 
 the house of Abraham Van Gaasbeek, a stone building constructed after the 
 then Es..pus fashion, the last one on tlie west si.le of East Front street, now 
 known as Clinton avenue, near the junction of that street with North Front 
 street. This fact was shown by an entry on the journal of the Provincial 
 Convention, its own records, not mentioning any room. This house h^s 
 recently been occupied by Rev. Dr. Cornelitts D. Westbrook." The late 
 Mrs. Mary Ten Broeck, the grand-daughter of Col. Wessel Ten Broeck, 
 and wife of the latfc John Ten Broeck, of Flatbush, near Kingston, who 
 died about thirty years ago, over ninety years of age, confirms what has 
 been said relating to the time of the erection of this building in a con- 
 versation with the writer before her death. She had a family record to the 
 present time. 
 
 There have been n)any articles written which liave been published. I 
 will select one of them, written by a well-known writer, Miss Margaret 
 Winslow, of Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
[From the New Voik observer.] 
 
 THE BUILDING ERECTED IN 1676. 
 The Oldest Piblic Building in the United States— Once a Sen- 
 ate Chamber— The Great Men it has Sheltered- 
 Other Historic Structures. 
 
 " Ulster County is rich in material of historic interest. Many of these 
 are associated with this venerable house in which we are now sheltered. ^ It 
 is a quaint mansion, you may be sure, with solid stone walls nearly two teet 
 in thickness in front, while the back is built of scarcely discolored brick 
 brou<^ht from Holland at least two centuries ago : for the house was built in 
 IGTe'by the ancestor of our host, one Colonel Wessel Ten Eroeck, who was 
 born in Westphalia in 1635, elected a schoppen or public officer m IbTO, 
 and then appointed to superintend the settlement of the nwi/w dorp, or the 
 villaees of Hurley and Marbletown. The Colonel intermarried with the 
 Van Gaasbeek family, had eight children, and from the descendant of one ot 
 these— Sarah Van Gaasbeek, great-grand-daughter of the Patroon, Ihomas 
 Chambers, alias Clabbort— it'came, by will, into the pos.session ot the pres- 
 ent owner, Frederick E. Westbrook, Esq., a New York lawyer. The^ well- 
 known Dutch pride of ancestry is in this case quite overshadowed by the 
 pride of its owner in the possession of ' the oldest public building in the 
 United States.' In 1869 he commenced repairing the old house, which was 
 in its day considered one of remarkable grandeur, its length being seventy 
 feet and height eight feet seven inches— the usual Dutch measurement 
 of the period being only six feet. The original beams of prepared oak in 
 the cellar and ceiling were found in perfect condition, also the sloping gar- 
 ret with its five bed-rooms. The llnfo (lean-to) kitchen, only six teet high, 
 was also perfect, but the roofs have been added since the Revolution, sucji 
 light woodwork having all perished in the conflagration of the to«n "\ 1'' ' • 
 The antiquary has altered the interior as little as possible, to make it hab- 
 itable and has gathered in the seven old rooms, which all lay side by side, 
 a heterogeneous mass of old furniture, paintings, engravings and historical 
 records: while above one of the many outside doors he has placed the in- 
 scription : 
 
 Colojiel JVessel Ten Broeck erected this house in 1676, wherein the Senate 
 of Mew York xvas held durinir the adoption of its first Constitution, 1777. 
 An evening spent in such an atmosphere of antiquity cannot but be in- 
 teresting, and the hours fled rapidly by as we conversed ot the stirring 
 events which the old house had seen and the great men it had sheltered. 
 Here Ten Broeck, Pierre Van Cortlandt, Gansevoort, Governeur Morris, 
 Robert R. Livingston, Colonel DeWitt, Samuel Townsend, General bcott. 
 Colonel Broome and others carried on their deliberations concerning the 
 form of government to be adopted by the new State, and in oneot these 
 low-roofed chan)bers, in all probability, John Jay drew the dratt ot the 
 Constitution which was adopted at the ' (Jonstitution House --the old Bo- 
 eardus Inn, which till quite recently stood on the corner of Maiden Lane 
 and Fair street, and in which the first ' Assembly' of the State of Now 
 York met— with but one dissenting voice, preparatory _to its promulgation 
 from a platform erected on a barrel head April -22, 1" " 
 
 III 
 
Hon> fnmi timo to time have ooiiic the great men whoiu Kingston has 
 oitluT ixcoived or sent fortli int(» public life. Hero Gen. Armstrong, the 
 hny horo of tho Uev..lution, father-in-law of William B. Astor and ex-Sec- 
 rctarv of War, lived in 1S(»4, previons to his departure as Minister to the 
 Kreneh Court, leaving a small marhle lireplaee, the first ever seen in Kings- 
 ston, as a memorial of his residence , and here, last spring, Gen. Arthur, 
 tlie Hepuhlican candidate for Vice- President, bowed his tall head to escape 
 collision with the time-honored and smoke-hegrimod rafters; and hero we 
 — the honored Drs. \'an Santvoord and Hoes, with the host and the writer 
 — .sat and discussed the history of Kingston ; its first and second Indian 
 wars, 1 ().')<) and 1C.(')1 , and the burning of the fort, l(i()3 : Stuyvesant's 
 treaty of peace, 1G()1, at which ])eriod the wily savages ceded him the land 
 on wliich the city now stands, ' to grease his feet' in return for the compli- 
 ment of his visit, on which occasion the renowned warrior changed the 
 Uutch mime of Ksopus, or Groote Esopus, variously stated to be derived 
 from the Latin fabulist and from a soft place, to Wiltwyck, or Wild man's 
 village. The Putch regained the town after its capture along with the 
 Swedish pos.sessiiuis east of the Huds(Mi in l(i64, h(ddiug it, however, only 
 for a very short time, as said (Uie of my informants, adding thereto much of 
 tlie intermediate history till its consoli(hition with Uondout and Wilbur into 
 a city in l!S7'2, and the building of the s|ilendid new City Hall and Ar- 
 mory, the latter only just inmjdeted. 
 
 There are many other buildings and several localities of special interest 
 til those who love the mild antiipiities of our brand-new country — the Acad- 
 emy founded in 1774, in which DeWitt Clinton and Thomas DeWitt, Ed- 
 ward liivingston, Stephen \'an Kensselaer and Abram \'an Vechten X'C- 
 ceived their early education i the stone Court House built in 1818 upon the 
 site of a much older one ; and the First Dutch Church, organized August, 
 IGAO, by Hev. Herujanus Hlom, sent from Holland as a candidate, and or- 
 dained by the Cla.ssis of Amsterdjim, IGOO. The fac-.similes of signatures 
 (»f the fifteen succes.sors of Blom, carefully gathered by the venerable Dr. 
 Hoes, and shown me at the close of our pleasant evening conversation, are 
 suffi.ient guarantee that, from the first, Esopus — Wiltwyck — Kingston has 
 been in the <-are of that blessed people ' whose God is tlie Lord.' " 
 
 The following letter was .sent to the President of the New York Histori- 
 cal society, which was published by the Kingston Jourmtl, and also in the 
 History of Ulster Ctmnty. The following copy thereof was published in the 
 Kishkill SInnflnnf : 
 
 THE KINGSTON SENATE HOUSE." 
 The f.dlowing letter was read at the stated meeting of the New York 
 Historical S..ciety, on the first Tuesday of May, 1878, before a learned and 
 appreciative audience of ladies and gentlemen. The " Senate House" was 
 the centre of attracfi..n at the King.stou Centennial last year. It is owned 
 and occupied by .Mr Krederick E. Westbrook, who is a son of the lateKev. 
 Dr. Cornelius D. W.-stbrook, for twenty-five years pastor of the Reformed 
 l>utch Church, I-i.shkill Village, and held in aflectionate remembrance by 
 manv of the older citizens of this town : 
 
9 
 
 New York, May o, 1878. 
 Hon. Frkf). DePkystkr, LTi. I)., President of the New York Histo- 
 rical Society : 
 
 Respected and Dear Sir : — At the State Centennial held at Kings- 
 ton, N, Y''., July 80, 1877, the old house owned by myself and known as 
 •" the Senate House" in the year of its adoption of the first Constitution of 
 this State, April, 1777, wherein great interest was manifested by the large 
 numbers who thronged its spacious rooms on that memorable occasion, the 
 small marble fireplace erected by General Armstrong, father-in-law of the 
 late \Villiam B. Astor, Es((., and ex-Secretary of \Var, who occupied this 
 house as his place of residence in 1804 and until his departure as Minister 
 to the French Court as successor to his brother-in-law, Chancellor Living- 
 ston, was particularly noticed. Your records and proceedings of the Ul- 
 ster Historical St^ciety recognize this house as the place where the Senate 
 of 1777 held its sessions. 
 
 Colonel VVessel Ten Broeck, born in Westphalia in IO0.5, erected this 
 house about the year 1C7(), was the heail of all that bear his honored name 
 in this State, intermarried with the Van (laasbeek family, whose joint de- 
 scendants are prominent and numerous. Rev. Laurentius A'an Gaasbeek, 
 second minister of the Reformed Dutch Church of Wiltvvyck, now City of 
 Kingston, from 1667 to 1080, on his death, Colonel Thomas Chambers, 
 then owner of the manor of Foxhall, the first prominent settler of Wilt- 
 wyck or Esopus, now Kingston, married his widow : and on the death of 
 Chambers in 1098, Colonel Wessel Ten Broeck (aforesaid) married the 
 widow of Chambers, all prominent in the records of Kingston. Rev. Blom, 
 the first minister, settled here in 1600. Chambers, Ten Broeck and S.wart- 
 wout the scout were prominent in driving out the savages during the In- 
 dian massacre of lOO-S and the wars which succeede<l, in which the illustri- 
 ous Petrus Stnyvesant himself took a prominent part. 
 
 With these brief reasons, together with the interest so recently mani- 
 fested in hearing the paper read (at last meeting, before a learned, polished 
 and large audience), respecting old houses in Kinderhook, induces me to 
 offer the society, of which you are its honored head, a jihotograph, framed, 
 of this " old Senate House, 1777." I gave a copy thereof to the authori- 
 ties of the City of Kingston, and the other I respectfully offer for your ac- 
 <?eptance. I remain, dear sir, your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 Frederick E. Westurook. 
 
 A sketch of this building was published in the Magazine of History, ed- 
 ited by John A. Stevens, late librarian of the New Y'^ork Historical So- 
 fiety. A photograph copy thereof is in the work entitled " The Centennial 
 Celebrations of the State of New York," published by direction of the Leg- 
 islature of the State of New York, under the direction of the Secretary of 
 State, at the time of the Centennial, July 30, 1877. There was a splendid 
 military procession together w'ith an elegant display of fireworks. This day 
 was the one hundredth anniversary of the inauguration of the State govern- 
 ment. 
 
10 
 
 Tl... tnllowin. ar.i.-l.-, wi.l. illustrution^nf the Senate Hou.e of 1777 ap- 
 j.rare.l in ll'irinr's Weekly, August, 1S77 : 
 
 NEW YORK'S CENTENNIAL, 
 •n.e ..1.1 an.l ,.ieturcs.,uo t-.wn of Kingst..n preseuted a lively appearance 
 on\ .. V . y :;.», w .en the hun-lrcdth anniversary of the inaugurat on 
 , ;joveinor'.>f the State of New Y..rk and the ^-^^^^^ 
 
 Sn e governn,ent was celebrated. Kingston is P^^^^'^^^f^^^^f ,\ "^^f^ 
 - T e historic portion, or old Kingst..n," says the ^^'••^^P?"'^^"^^^*:^'.^^. 
 York W./ "occupies a level plain nearly two nnles from the cent. e of 
 U^Ue Frtion, ihich is R.mdont. Tn the upper portion can be found 
 e me old houses that the British essayed to burn, at leas forty-eight of 
 lenHldcl present nearly the same appearance as they did one hundred 
 ea s a.o '-L General Vaughn's troops burned the burgh. A peculiarity 
 ia' been noticed regarding tlfese old houses-that those of great^ pretensions 
 .d considerable difnensi.ms were almost totally destroyed, or burned so a. 
 to reouire the relaying of considerable portions of their walls. But the 
 m houses remain'i intact, and only required refitting as to their inside 
 
 wood-xN..rk which was of insignificant proportions, and on y enough of it to 
 Ta ly I-ve by its burning^he blue limestone of whidi the ho-- were 
 onstnu-t'ed. S.f there are n.>w four dozen old stone houses, with tlnck 
 Tils and low roofs, which were bapti/.ed by fire and yet remam.^' The 
 house in which the New York State Senate met during the year 1 m MS still 
 sending. It is the property of Mr. Frederick E. Westbrook, a prominent 
 citizen of Ulster County. ,. , i i *• 
 
 Our illustrations on paire G48 show various phases of the celebra ion. 
 The weather was propitious, heavy showers in the morning having laid the 
 dust, and light clou.ls mitigating the heat of the midsummer sun At noon 
 a large procession was formed, composed of military organizations, civic 
 socieVies trades, firemen, and ofiicial bodies. It made a line over a mile 
 long, and numbered more than five thousand persons. The procession was 
 rev-tewed by the Mayor and Common Council of the city, and paraded 
 through the principal streets, passing the interesting historic spots of the 
 place, including the old house where the first State Senate met, the house 
 where the Cmstituti.m was ad.)pted, and the Court House where Governor 
 Oeortre Clinton was inaugurated one hundred years ago. ... 
 
 The processhm then marched to the grounds where the celebration was 
 held. The May<.r of Kincst.... presided. The ceremonies were opened by 
 praver by the Rev. J. G. Van Slyke, pastor of the tirst Ket.n-med Dutch 
 Church, organized in Hm. Judge Westbrook then de ivered an address 
 of welcome^ on the .onelusion of which the Kev. Dr. J i. K Hoes, a ven- 
 erable ex-pastor of the First Reformed Church, read a letter from Rev Dr. 
 D„ll, pastor of that church, to (J..vern..r Clinton, prefacing it with the 
 ren.ark that (General Vauchan at first hesitated about destroying the church, 
 " but after learning the i.rominent part its past..r, cnsistory and member- 
 ship had taken in patri..tic enterprises, he hesitated no longer, but applied 
 the t.,r.'h t.. the house of G.nl." In this letter, which is dated August 2, 
 1777 Rev. Mr. Doll congratulates the Governor upon his being raised to 
 distin'guished power, and says, " All ranks, in pla.-ing you at their head 
 have ple.lg.'d their lives an.l fortunes to support and detend you in this e.xalted 
 
11 
 
 station, and the consistory of Kingston^cheerfully unite in the implicit stip- 
 ulation, and promise you their prayers." 
 
 The orator of the day, the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew, was then intro- 
 duced. In a very interesting address he sketched the history of the btate 
 from its formation to the present day. 
 
 The Court House standing in 1777 at Kingston, together with the build- 
 ing where the first Constitution was adopted, having been taken down, and 
 this Senate House of 1777 being the only building now standing of a 
 public character to commemmorate events of the Kevolution, causes this 
 ancient building, together with Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh, 
 to become by far the most important public buildings as relics now standing 
 in this State. 
 
 Holland, in the .17th century, was the most prosperous commercial state 
 in Europe, the principal corporation the Dutch East India Company ; under 
 its auspices the Hudson River was discovered and explored in 1609 as far 
 as what is now known as Albany, N. Y. ; their flag was hoisted on Man- 
 hattan Island in 1613 ; a few huts were erected for the purpose of trading 
 with the Indian.s. A few traders as early as 1614 found their way to what 
 was afterwards known as Fort Orange (now Albany) and at Wiltwyck (now 
 Kingston). A few years subsequent Fort Orange (now Albany) was built, 
 and a fort at the mouth of the Rondout, Atkarkarton (now Kingston). 
 
 In 1621 the Dutch West India Company was formed, with the exclusive 
 right to trade on both coasts of America. The province of New xNethei- 
 lands fell under the control of this corporation and its actual settlement was 
 commenced. 
 
 In 1624 Peter Minneck was sent out from Amsterdam as Governor of the 
 Colony, and brought over with him some French colonists, who were in 
 reality the first settled inhabitants of New Netherlands ; the few emigrants 
 or traders with the Indians who preceded them were not entitled to the 
 name of settlers. Shortly afterwards the Indian title to Manhattan Island 
 was purchased by Kieft for about $24. A block house was erected at its 
 southern extremity which was called Fort Amsterdam. 
 
 In 1629 a more extensive colonization was organized in Holland and 
 ratified by the States General, conditioned that any member of the com- 
 pany who would emigrate fifty persons upwards of fifteen years should be- 
 come absolute possessor of a colony sixteen miles in extent along the shore 
 or navigable river. He was to reign like a Feudel Lord under the title of 
 Patroon, but the settlers were allowed as much land as they could cultivate 
 and freedom from taxation for ten years. It was stipulated that the lands 
 should be first purchased from the Indians, as the lawful and original owners 
 of the land. 
 
1-2 
 
 Tliniuas Cliaiuljci^ linuitrlit a small number of {'aiiiilies in 1C»52 and began 
 the actual sottlLMiient of Tlster County. Rev. Mr. :Miller was sent to New 
 Amsterdam as a Missionary by the Episcopal Church of England; as they 
 had no church building he occasitmally preached in the Dutch (-hurch 
 erected in the fort at New Amsterdam in 1G4'2. 
 
 On his return he jmblished in London, in 1(»!»;), Miller's History of New 
 York, in whirli were plans of three places of strength, New Amsterdam 
 (now New York), Fort Orange (now Albany), and at Esopus (now Kingston). 
 Tiiey continued to be the three most important places till the year Kingston 
 was burned, 1777. Kingston was laid out, an<l the title was obtained from 
 the savages and presented to Stuyvesant. Constant difficulties and loss of 
 life occurred with the ravages until after the massacre of Wiltwyck in 1663. 
 Dominie lilr>m, the first minister si'ttled in 1660, has related the facts rela- 
 tive to this awful event. A charter was obtained May 16, 1661, municipal 
 power granted to Wiltwyck, Pell, Sleight and Koosa were appointed sc/iopens, 
 and KoeliftSwartwout, Sheriff. Captain Thomas Chambers, Justice at Esopus, 
 for signal services in the time of the Lidian war, his house was erected into 
 Manor of Foxhall. This Manor House was, without doubt, at what is now 
 known as Rondout, on the site of Mr. dansen Hasbrouck's grounds : being 
 a prominent man and of great wealth for that period, he might subsequently 
 had his residence elsewhere. With all his temporal honors, having no 
 children, his second wife was the widow of Rev. Ijaurentius Van (iaasbeek, 
 whose son assumetl the name of Abraham \nu Gaasbeek Chambers, who 
 became sole heir to the Manor of Foxhall on the death of his step-father, 
 Thomas Chambers, in 1606. The widow of Chambers thereupon married 
 the said Col. Wcssel TenRroeck, the then owner of the building now known 
 as the Senate House of the State of New York, 1777. 
 
 William l^eekman, the great-ancester of those who bear his name, was 
 Sheriff of Kingston until the close of Governor Lovelace's administration in 
 1674, when he returned to New York. He was born in Germany, emigrated 
 to America : after filling many official positions and in possession of great 
 wealth he died in 1707 with distinguished reputation. The present William 
 and Reekman streets. New York, bear his name. Henry, his eldest son, 
 settled at Kingston, was Judge of Ulster County and member of the Pro- 
 vincial Legislature. His daughter Margaret married Robert R. Living- 
 ston, and among her children was Jane, wife of (uMieral Montgomery, who 
 fell at the seige of Quebec. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston and his sister, 
 who married General John Armstrong, U. S. Senator, Secretary of War, 
 iVc, occupied the building now known as the Senate House in 1802 and 
 until he left as Minister to France. 
 
 The English Conquest commenced in 1664 : Nichols assumed the gov- 
 ernment as l)eputy Governor under the Duke of York of all his territories 
 in America. 
 
New x\msterdam was now called New York in honor of the Duke of 
 York, and Fort Orange, Albany. At this time the Dutch inhabitants in the 
 colony numbered about G,000. New Amsterdam contained 3,000, nearly 
 one-balf of that number. After the conquest by the Ilnglish many returned 
 to Holland. 
 
 Their habitations, however, were soon occupied by emigrants partly from 
 Great Britain, but mostly from New England. Upon the Hudson River 
 were many Dutch settlers who remained. 
 
 Colonel Lovelace succeeded Nichols in the government of the colony. 
 Kingston, formerly known as Atkarkarton, Wiltwyck and Esopus, had a 
 few settlers who located amoTig the Esopus Indians in 1(514. 
 
 Rev. J. Megapolensis, third minister of the Collegiate Dutch Church of 
 New York, in a letter on the state of religion in the province of New York, 
 to the classes of Amsterdam, dated August 5, 1657, says : " Thomas Cham- 
 bers and a few others removed to Atkarkarton, or Esopus (now Kingston), 
 an exceedingly beautiful land, in 1652, and began the actual settlement of 
 Ulster count}' ; it was also known among the savages as the Pleasant Land." 
 From the date of the first settling of this place, the following are the 
 names of the Director-Generals of the Province of New York, sent out from 
 Holland : Andrisen Jores, whose administration commenced in 1623 : Cor- 
 nelius Jacobsen May, William Verhulst, Peter Minuit, under whose admin- 
 istration, in 1626, Manhattan Island (New York) was purchased from the 
 Indians for $24. Then follow Wouter Van Twiller, William Kieft, and 
 last the valiant, energetic, able and faithful Petrus Stuyvesant, whose ad- 
 ministration commenced May 11, 1647, in whom the early settlers of Kings- 
 ton, long harrassed by the savages, found a powerful friend. 
 
 The wars with the Indians and negotiations and troubles with his English 
 neighbors continued till New Amsterdam surrendered to the English in 
 1664, when Stuyvesant (released from the vexations and turmoils of public 
 life), after visiting Holland, returned to New York and spent the rest of his 
 days in retirement on his " Bowerie," where he departed his useful life in 
 1671. 
 
 General military officers for the colonies appointed by Congress June, 
 1775: 
 
 George Washington, Commander-in-Chief; Artemus Ward, Charles Lee, 
 Philip Schuyler and Israel Putnam were appointed Major-Generals ; Seth 
 Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph 
 Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan and Nathaniel Green were appointed 
 Brigadier-Generals, and Horatio Gates, Adjutant-General. 
 
 The revolutionary authority in New York was exercised by a Provincial 
 Convention assembled in the Exchange, New York city, April 20, 1775. 
 
14 
 
 /M- . ..1 I oi-i PinldinfT were delegates from 
 i;iiurlo> DoWitt, (leurgc ('lintuu and liOU t auiuui^ 
 
 „l,i..l, ,„<.. u. .Ne„- Y.,rk May 23, 1775, were Colonel Charle, Hardenbergh, 
 of Rosendale, Colonel Jan.e. Ciin.n,, Kgl.er, l.nu.on, of K-g^'"", G ,ar s 
 Clinton, Christopher Tuppen, of Kingston, John N teholson and .Taoob Horn- 
 
 beck, of lloclicster. ,r , xt i it 177^^ 
 
 Second Provincial C.ngress n.et at New York November U, 1.75. 
 Members from this com.ty were Henry Wisner, Jr Matthew Rea D„,k 
 Wynkoop, Jr., Matthew Cantine, Andries DeWitt, Andr.es Lefevre, Thoma. 
 
 Palmer and Samnol Brewster. 
 
 Third Provincial Congress met at New York May 14, 1. d*. Members 
 from Ulster were Colonel Charles De\Vitt, Colonel Abraham Hasbrouck, 
 Colonel James Snyder, Matthew Cantine, Matthew Kea, Arthur Park, 
 Henry Wisner, Jr., and Samuel Brewster. 
 
 Fourth Provincial Congress assembled at White Plains, in >A estcbester 
 Count v July 9, 17TG, when the Declaration of Independence was immedi- 
 ately Adopted, and on the following day the name of the house was changed 
 to that of the " Convention of the Representatives of the State of New 
 York." Members from lister were Matthew Cantine, Colonel Charles De- 
 Witt, Maj<.r Arthur Parks, Colonel Levi Paulding, Matthew Rea, Christo- 
 pher Tappen, Colonol Johannes Hardenbergh and Henry Wisner, Jr. 
 
 Convention adjourned to FishkiU August 2\), 1776. From there it moved 
 to Kingston, Ulster County, N. Y., where a committee was appomted, of 
 which John Jay was chairman, to report the draft of a Constitution. After 
 discussion the i-eport of the committee was accepted, and the first Constitu- 
 tion of the State of New York was adopted on the 20th of April, 1777, and 
 was proclaimed at the Court House at Kingston at 11 o'clock A. M. on the 
 22d of April, 1777, and on the 13th of Uay, 1777, the convention adjourned, 
 leaving power in the hands of a Council of Safety. 
 
 The first election under the constitution was held July 30, 1777. George 
 Clinton was declared Governor of the State of New York in the presence of 
 the military and citizens assembled at Kingston. 
 
 Among other important events of the eventful year 1777 was the sacking 
 and burning of Kingston by the British forces under General Yaughan, 
 known in history as Yaughan's second expedition. A paper prepared by 
 Hon. George W. Pratt was read before the Ulster Historical Society rela- 
 tive to the event on the Kith of October, lc^(')0, being the 83d anniversary 
 of its burning. This eminent nuui fell early in life, in public service (in 
 tlie late war), universally lamented and respected, and if his life had been 
 si)ared this important society would still be in operation, in accordance with 
 the wish (as expressed to the writer) of its late honored president, Abraham 
 
15 
 
 Bruyn Hasbrouck. It is to be hoped tliat his do.sire will be complied with 
 and this important society soon reorganized and continne its valuable ser- 
 vices. 
 
 The writer will sketch a few of the prominent men of Ulster County in 
 the service under the Colonial and State Governments, distinguished in the 
 annals of Ulster County : 
 
 Robert R. Livingston was appointed Chancellor of the State : John Jay, 
 Chief Justice, and Robert Gales and John Sloss Hobert, Associate Justices 
 of the Supreme Court ; John Mann, Secretary of State : Egbert Benson, 
 Attorney-General, and Comfort Sands, Adjutant-General. 
 
 Governor Clinton married Cornelia Tappen, sister of Christopher Tappen, 
 of Kingston. He was born July 26, 1731), and departed this life full of 
 years and full of honors, at Washington City, on the 20th of April, 1812. 
 
 John Jay was born in the city of New York December 12, 1745 ; married 
 Sarah, daughter of William Livingston : he was the alleged author of the 
 first constitution of the State of New York, appointed under it Chief Justice 
 of the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The first term thereof 
 was held at Kingston, N. Y., September 9th, 1777. He was afterwards 
 appointed by President Washington Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States, and subsequently elected Governor of the State of New- 
 York. This learned and accomplished man (of Huguenot descent) died at 
 Bedford May 17, 1829. He left the example of a well spent life, an un- 
 spotted name, and his illustrious services will always hold an important 
 place in the history of his native State. 
 
 Col. Johannes Hardenbergh, son of the patentee of the Hardenbergh 
 Patent, was a member of the Colonial Assembly from 1737 to 1743, and of 
 the State Legislature in 1781-2. Departed this life August 29, 1780, 
 aged 80 years : a true friend of church and State. When General Wash- 
 ington visited Ulster county, June, 1783, Colonel Hardenbergh entertained 
 Mrs. Washington, with Governor and Mrs. Clinton, at his house in Rosen- 
 dais. 
 
 Egbert Dumont, Sheriff of Ulster county under George III. of England, 
 from 1771 to 1773 ;. from the first he espoused the cause of the Revolution, 
 and was a deputy in the Provincial Congress which met in May, 1776. He 
 was again Sheriff from 1775 to 1781, and from 1788 to 1789. Prominent 
 in public affairs. 
 
 Col. Levi Paulding, of Marbletown, appointed Colonel of the Ulster 
 County Militia from October 25, 1775, to July, 1776. Subsequently del- 
 egate to the Provincial Convention, 1775 : also of Congresses of 1776 and 
 1777. Appointed first Judge of the county of Ulster May, 1777, and held 
 the office till his death, in 1782. 
 
 Cornelius C. Schoonmaker, of Shawangunk, was Member of Assembly 
 
nearly seven years, tVnni 1777 to 17'.».'). fn.m 17U1 to 171) '. Mouiber of 
 Congress; was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1778. He 
 died in 170(5. Hon, Marius Schonnniaker was his grandson. 
 
 Jacob Hornbeck, of Rochester, ajipointed Lieutenant-Colonel of Pauld- ■ 
 ing's regiment, chairman of the llochester Connnitteeof Safety, and in 1775 
 a deputy of the first Provincial Congress. Died 177S, and buried at 
 llochester, Ulster county. 
 
 Captain Tjerck Beekman was an officer of the Revolution and an original 
 iricmbcrofthc Society of Cincinnati. Died at Kingston December 25^ 
 1 701. He was father of the late Sarah, wife of Rev. Dr. C. D. Westbrook, 
 deceased, died about the year 170o. His grand son John Westbrook is the 
 present member of the Society of Cincinnati. 
 
 Colonel Abraham Hasbrouck, son of Joseph, and grandson of Abraham 
 Hasbrouck, one of the twelve proprietors of the New Paltz Patent, was 
 born in 1707' near New Paltz : in 173.') he removed to Kingston. On the 
 5th of January, 1738, he married Catharine, daughter of Jacobus Bruyn, 
 of Shawangunk. In 1737 was Colonel of Ulster County Militia : member 
 of the Ccdonial Assembly, 1730 to 1745, and ifrom 1750 to 17GS. After a life 
 of prominence in his country's service, he departed this life November W,. 
 1701, and was buried with military honors at Kingston. 
 
 A younger brother, Colonel Jonathan Hasbrouck, of this period, resided 
 in the house commonly called Wasliington's Headijuarters, at Newburgh. 
 He wius born about the year 172'2 ; married Tryntje (Catharine), daughter 
 of Cornelius BuBois, and shortly after removed to Newburgh, where he 
 continuetl till his death, July 31, 1780. Col. Hasbrouck enlarged tht> 
 house at Newburgh well-known as " Washington's Headquarters," and it 
 remained in the possession of the family nearly a century, till it became the 
 property of'tlie State and cared for by the Trustees of the village of New- 
 burgh. 
 
 After Governor Clinton the most prominent man in Ulster county was 
 Charles DeWitt, of Greenkill. Before the Colonies separated from Great 
 Britain he represented the county in the Colonial Assembly from 1768 to 
 1775 ; resolute and patriotic ; was a member of the Provincial Assembly in 
 1775, and subsequent Congresses, and also on the Conuuittee of Safety , 
 appointed Colonel in 1775. He was a menjber of the convention appointed 
 to draft a Constitution adopted 1777. In 1784 he was chosen a delegate to 
 Congress. From 1781 to 1785 he was a Member of Assembly, till his 
 death, Ai.ril 27, 1787. 
 
 General Frederick Westbrook was an officer of the ReviUution of 1776 
 and a Brigadier-General in the war of 1812. Born at Rochester, Ulster 
 county, N. Y. ; he married Sarah Depcw. He was a true patriot in the 
 cause of his country, ami departed this life after a lingering illness at the 
 
n 
 
 residence of Lis son, Rev. Dr. C. D. Westbrook, at Fishkill, N. Y., 18'2o, 
 in the 74tli year of his age. 
 
 Rev. Dr. Cornelius D. Westbrook was the last of the eminent men who 
 lived in and departed this life in the Senate House of 1777, and therefore a 
 brief notice of him will be given. He was born at Rochester, Ulster county, 
 N. Y., May 8, 1782, and was the only child of General Frederick Westbrook 
 and Sarah Depew his wife. Gen. Westbrook was an officer of the Revolution 
 of 1776 and of the war of 1812, of Anglo-Saxon and Huguenot ancestry. An 
 extended history of Dr. Westbrook's life appears in Rev. Dr. Torwin's His- 
 tory of the Dutch Church, and in the History of Ulster county"; alsolui 
 mteresting sketch of his life from the pen of Rev. Dr. C Van Santvoord, of 
 Kingston. Dr. Westbrook departed this life at Kingston, N. Y., March, 
 1858. Many resolutions were passed relative to bis life and services, of 
 which the following only will be inserted : 
 
 At a meeting of the South Classis of New Yoi-k City, held April "20, 
 1858, it was 
 
 Resolved, That the stated clerk be re([uested to forward to the family of 
 the late Rev. Dr. Westbrook the following tribute to his memoi-y : 
 
 " After a long, active and useful life. Rev. Cornelius D. Westbrook, D. 
 " D., for many years a member of this Classis, a Father in Israel and a 
 " veteran in the camp of Christ, has been gathered to his Fathers in peace 
 " and in honour : in him all the best purposes in the life of man have; been 
 " accomplished, and he came to the grave in full age, like as a shock of 
 " corn Cometh in his season." 
 
 The only members which composed the Rev. Dr. Westbrook's family who 
 resided at his late residence at the Senate House were his widow Sarah 
 Beekman, and her devoted daughter Mary, afterwards the wife of James L. 
 \'an Deusen, Esq. 
 
 Severyn Bruyn was born at Esopus(now Kingston) May 25, 1726, and 
 departed this life at Kingston, August 19, 1759. He married Catharine 
 TenBroeck, grand-daughter of Col. Wessel TenBroeck. He was an eminent 
 citizen. 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Jacobus Severyn Bruyn, his son, was born at Kings- 
 ton, N. Y., October 27, 1751. He served as an officer in our Revolutionilry 
 struggle and was an original member of the Society of Cincinnati. He 
 married Miss Blandina Elmendorf, of Kingston, who was eminent for her 
 intellectual attainments. Two sons were their only descendants, Edward 
 and Severyn. Col. Bruyn departed this life at Kingston July 12, 1825. 
 He was distinguished as an officer and for his great services during the war : 
 he afterwards served with distinction in the councils of the State. 
 
 Severyn Bruyn, his son, married Catharine Hasbrouck, daughter of Judge 
 Jonathan Hasbrouck. He was a gentleman by nature and education, be- 
 
18 
 
 lovea in evoiy circle wliicli ho honored. After a few years spent in the 
 practice of the hiw he accepted the position of cashier of a bank ; when his 
 services were ended he retired from bnsiness. He was a true patriot, a scholar, 
 and a Christian frentleiuan. lie de].;.rtod this life in peace, and left the 
 presence(.f his family and friends, by wh.mi he was greatly beloved, and 
 with tlie alVcctionate re-rrots of the entire community where he resided, Oc- 
 f(d)cr -JT, IS.')!), leaving two children, Augustus Hasbrouck Bruyn, Esq., 
 ;iiid the late Mrs. Mary Hruyn Forsyth. 
 
 Hun. Abraham Bruyn Hasbrouck, LL. D., a prominent lawyer of Kings- 
 ton, .son of .Judge Jonathan Hasbrouck, was Member of Congress, and for 
 ten years President of Rutger's College. He was the recipient of honors, 
 bestowed by the .synod of the oldest church in the State, the Reformed 
 D\itth Church in America, assembled at Kingston a few years ago. At an 
 appointed hour, by previous arrangement, this learned body received Mr, 
 Hasbrouck, standing : a .speech was delivered by its President on this occa- 
 sion, which was replied to by Mr. Hasbrouck in a learned and dignified 
 address befitting so important an occasion. No greater honor could be be- 
 stowed. He departed this life in peace and in honor at Kingston, N. Y., 
 February 23, 1870. 
 
 Hon, Lucas Elmendorf, one of Kingston's most honored sons, was pos- 
 sessed of a brilliant intellect, well read in the law and in the routine of its 
 practice, especially relating to titles of real estate in Ulster county, which 
 fifty years ago enlisted and occupied the attention of the most eminent minds 
 in the State ; his learning and counsel in their investigations was of great 
 service. The writer believes too little has been said of this great man. As 
 a statesnuui, his broad and liberal views at this period were felt and acknowl- 
 edged in the National and State councils. His influence, without doubt, 
 contributed largely to the appointment of Professor Henry to be the head 
 of Smithsonian Institute at Wa.shington. 1 have before me copy of a letter 
 written by Professor Henry, dated September 22, 1876, in answer to an ap- 
 plication made by the Hon Wm. Coventry H. Waddell in behalf of Misses 
 Julia and Nellie, daughters of the late Nicholas Elmendorf, of Kingston, 
 for a photograph of the Professor, who was the distinguished friend of their 
 grandfather, Hon, Lucas Elmendorf, and was associated with him in the 
 survey, \c., of the old Lucas Turnpike road. Professor Henry, in his re- 
 ply, sending his photograph, says : " 1 should take special interest in visit- 
 ing again the mansion of your grand old relative. Judge Lucas Elmendorf. 
 His stately form and expressive countenance is now before me, and I have 
 never recalled him to recollection but with feelings of gratitude, admiration 
 and respect. We formed on a short ac(juaintance a warm friendship, which 
 continued during life. He did me the favor, unsolicited, to exert an influ- 
 ence in my advancement in life." Tiiis is the language of that great man. 
 
19 
 
 Professor Henry, of Suiitlisonian Institute. The offices held by Judge 
 Lucas Elraendorf are as follows : He was Member of Congress from 1797 to 
 1803 ; Member of Assembly, 1804 ; District Attorney from 1801 to 1811 ; 
 Regent of the University from 1805 to 1829 : State Senator from 1816 to 
 1817 ; County Judge from 1818 to 1821 ; Surrogate of Ulster County from 
 1835 to 1840. He departed this life in the year 1843 at Albany, with 
 the regrets of his family, the community, and the State to which he con- 
 tributed his eminent services for their welfare and happiness. 
 
 Hon. Charles H. E-uggles was Vice-Chancellor Circuit Judge of the Su- 
 preme Court of the State of New York, appointed in 1831. He was elected 
 Judge of the Court of Appeals in 1847. He was an uncle of Hon. Theod- 
 oric R. Westbrook, Judge of the Supreme Court of New York. His char- 
 acter was exalted as a man and as a jurist. He died with distinguished 
 reputation about the year 1875. 
 
 Jacob Burhans, son of Cornelius and Maria (TenBroeck) Burhans, was 
 born August 30, 1792. In the year 1816 he became a clerk for his uncle, 
 Jacob TenBroeck (a descendant of Col. Wessel TenBroeck, the elder), and 
 subsequently was clerk to Judge Jonathan Hasbrouck. He commenced 
 business as a merchant for himself in 1820 and continued till 1846, when 
 ill health caused him to retire from active duties as a merchant. He con- 
 tributed to organize four banks in Kingston, and was the first President of 
 the State of New York Bank : was a prominent member and officer of the 
 First Reformed Dutch Church of Kingston ; was for many years a trustee 
 of the Kingston iVcademy, and was deeply interested in the cause of educa- 
 tion. The delineations of the countenance of this good man inspired re- 
 spect. The writer in his youthful days saw him frequently in the church 
 he so faithfully served and was fascinated with his dignified, mild and 
 placid countenance, indicative of the man, and left an impression on his 
 boyish mind that the lapse of time has never been able to efiace from his 
 memory. He had eight children, two of whom, Cornelius and John Salis- 
 bury Burhans, are well-known merchants, and one of his daughters married 
 Hon. Frederick L. Westbrook, all of this city. This true Christian left the 
 presence of his numerous relatives with their painful regrets, and this com- 
 munity joined with them in sorrow for their loss and respect for his precious 
 memory. He departed in peace and in honor, and rested in cheerful an- 
 ticipation of a happy immortal life. He has left his friends the example of 
 such a life and the glory of such a death. 
 
 A brief sketch of tlie noble race of men will now be given who so power- 
 fully contributed in the stormy period of our Revolutionary struggle, who 
 hav^e long since passed away, their achievements on the field or in the coun- 
 cils of the Colony and State, their heroic endurance from savage and Chris- 
 tian foes — who have by their stately deeds laid broad and deep the founda- 
 
20 
 
 tit. lis (.f our civil and roligious institutions, which should be held in sacred 
 remembrance. 
 
 Of our Dutch ancestry in ri.ster county, a few are said to have come here 
 to trade with the Ksopus Indians as early as 1614. New Amsterdam (now 
 New York) and Fort Orange (now Albany) had a few settlers about the 
 same period ; they were traders with the Indians. Settlements were not 
 formed until several years subsequent. In lOOo Miller's History of New 
 York was published in London : there were in it plans of three places of 
 strength, New York, Albany and Kingston, which continued to be the three 
 most important j.laces till 1777. The Dutch ancestry in Ulster county 
 duriuir the greater part of the 17th century were predotninant in numbers 
 and iniiucnce. liy inter-marriages with the Huguenot emigrants and others 
 who fraternized with the Dutch and finally adopted their religion as well as 
 their customs, the line of descent between the Dutch and Huguenots 
 branched out, and the spirit of the Dutch character was blended in common 
 suftering with savage and Christian foes, and had a tendency to increase the 
 bond of friendship, and was attended with most beneficial results. 
 
 The character of the Dutch has been conservative, steadfastly adhering ta 
 the church of their fathers, living in peace and concord with other denom- 
 inations. The history of our State shows their spirit of patriotism, adher- 
 ance to popular rights and civil liberty throughout the Colonial annal and 
 Revolutionary struggle. The tribute paid them by that eminent jurist, 
 Chancellor Kent, in his address before the New York Historical Society, 
 New York, in 1S2S, will be found characteristic and true. 
 
 Tlie Dutch discoverers of New Netherlands were grave, temperate, firm, 
 persevering men, who brought with them the industry, the economy, the 
 simjdicity, the integrity and the bravery of their Belgic sires, and with 
 those virtues they also imported the lights of the Roman civil law and the 
 purity of the I'rotestant faith. To that period we are to look with chastened 
 awe and respect for the beginning of our cit}- and the works of our primitive 
 fathers. 
 
 American citizens can never forget the heroic struggle for freedom in 
 England during the jteriod which constituted the transition state from the 
 oppression of the Tudors and Stewarts to the constitutional liberty which 
 they enjoyed under the Commonwealth of England. The close sympathy 
 which was felt by our pilgrim ancestors, Elliot, Hampden, Milton, Vane 
 and l*ym, in that struggle against the alleged tyrannical reign of Charles I., 
 the protectorate of Cromwell during the Commonwealth of England, the 
 apparent freedom England then enjoyed, was probably the o'rigin of our 
 national existence, and which planted the institutions of piety and learnino- 
 on the shores of America. The history of that great man Cromwell, who 
 refused the Crown of England, has yet to be written. The Puritans who 
 
21 
 
 'emigrated to America were the conservators of civil and religious freedom. 
 
 The English are an aggressive race ; they descended from the Saxons, or 
 more properly speaking, were conquered by the warlike Teutonic tribe, in- 
 .habitants^f the north-western part of Germany, near the shores of the Bal- 
 tic. There is reason to believe that the Saxon had formed small colonies 
 there about the same period, and from their intermixture is derived the 
 Anglo-Saxon as applied to the Teutonic race which settled in the southern 
 part of Britain. England is only an abbreviation of Anglo-land or the land 
 of the Angles, by which subsequently the country became known in this 
 ■early and rude period of England's history. 
 
 About two centuries ago many of the Anglo-Saxons emigrated to Ulster 
 ■county. They were loyal to the Crown until the Revolutionary struggle, 
 •when they revolted against her arbitrary and unjust course and espoused 
 the cause of their adopted country against oppression, and aided and con- 
 tributed to the independence of these United States. 
 
 Henry IV. of France issued the edict of Nantes for the protection of the 
 Huguenots, both politically and religiously in 1598. 
 
 The Huguenots were the artizans of France. The revocation of the edict 
 ■of Nantes by Louis XIV, in 1685, the ordinary workmen, who were accus- 
 tomed to work under the direction of the Huguenots, on their expulsion, 
 caused by the persecutions they encountei'ed, laid the blame of their 
 ■expulsion on the clergy, which caused their starving condition, having 
 no work nor means for support. Then commenced a series of persecu- 
 tions against all priests, both Catholic and Protestant, the Bible and its 
 teachings, and all religions were banished from France ; Atheism prevailed. 
 Then followed a frightful scene of disorder, which was then enacted and 
 continued. Robespiere and his followers continued to decapitate the no- 
 bles, richer land holders, and then selections were made for victims among 
 the small land holders. Finally they were made among the Commonalty 
 and then commenced the cry, Down with the tyrant Robespiere, and he met 
 an awful death. During the progress of the French revolution, which con- 
 tinued and was brought about by those disorders resulting principally 
 from the effects of the expulsion of the Huguenots, and the results arising 
 from the banishment of the Bible and the overthrow of all religion, and per- 
 secution of the priests of all denominations, anarchy followed. 
 
 The writer's conclusion from history is that no Republic can stand or 
 continue without the Bible and the Christian religion. If Atheists were 
 the friends of the State they would recommend the Bible and its teachings 
 as essential for the maintenance and support of any free government. The 
 French revolution, of 1789 to 1794, and its awful results, demonsti'ated most 
 clearly this established fact. The human mind is so constituted, particularl}' 
 at a period when age causes man to see the necessity of religion of some kind 
 
22 
 
 as the only satisfactory solace when the world is receding from their view. 
 The result in revolutionary Franco was that order was not restored until 
 the collossal power obtained by the coiH|uering sword of Napoleon Bona- 
 parte, who was then swaying the destinies of France, restored the Christian 
 religi..n au.l the Bible and its teachings. As a necessary result order and 
 law were again triumphant. This great man knew that such a restoration 
 was necessary for his aujbitious aspirations, as he was about ascending the 
 steps of an imjierial throne. 
 
 After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in lOS.j, this skillful people, 
 who carried on nearly all the manufactures of France, found that their 
 liberties, one after another, were wrested from them, their clergy were for- 
 bidden to preach, their teachers to give instruction excepting in writing and 
 arithmetic. Public office and the professions were shut against them and 
 they lost the shelter of the laws. Regiments of Dragoons hunted them 
 down. All this caused the last drop in their cup of bitterness. Shaking 
 the dust of France forever from their feet, HOI >,(HH) Huguenots fled with 
 brave hearts and skillful hands to England, Holland and Oermany, where 
 they were joyfully received. Many emigrated from Holland to America,, 
 where they were received with open arms, and ultimately melted in the 
 general blood of America, who reaped the benefit arising from the manu- 
 facturing skill and general intelligence of these Huguenot refugees. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that about the same period William Penn, the 
 purest and most honest among rulers, was rendering his name forever illus- 
 trious by establishing in America a refuge for the oppressed from the 
 storms of persecution, and obtained from Charles II. of England a patent to 
 form a settlement in the New World, where the Society of Friends and 
 others might be unmolested, in the Colony of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia. 
 Louis XI^ ., one of the most gorgeous and heartless of sovereigns, and one 
 of the most powerful of French monarchs, was about the same period deliv- 
 ering up 8()i),i)iH) families of his Protestant subjects, the artizans of France, 
 to the atrocious tyranny of the fanatical I^e Tellier and the sanguinary 
 Louvois. Louis' great blunder, as a statesman, was his treatment of 
 the Huguenots : they were the most moral, industrious and intelligent of 
 the French population, and when they were exjielled from their native land 
 they enriched England, Holland, Germany and Amerii-a with the commerce 
 and arts of France. 
 
 Ascending the Hudson the Huguenots landed at Wiltwyck (now Kings- 
 ton), and were welcomed by the Dutch settlers, who had prepared the way 
 in the then wilderne.ss for their enjoyment of civil and religious privileo-es. 
 The region selected by the Huguenots for their future abode was like their 
 own delightful France. It wanted the culture and im[irovements of the 
 former, but tiic pictures<|ue and the siiMimc in nature appeared on every 
 
side. Rurining streams, verdant lawns, hills and woods chfirmed the eye. 
 Toward the east the charming prospect was bounded by the noble and ever 
 rolling Hudson. The lofty Cat.skill.s delighted their vision while at Kings- 
 ton, where they remained about fifteen years before leaving for Xew Paltz, 
 about 1683, where they remained as their final resting place. The Shawan- 
 gunk and the Fishkill range of mountains gave additional beauty to the 
 scene. Tlie Rosendale begins its course far in the interior, and uniting 
 with the Wallkiil then rapidly passes on till it unites with the Hudson. 80 
 with the Esopus creek ; its source is among the mountains of the Delaware, 
 Avlieneo it rushes furiously onward until it reaches Marbletown : from thence 
 it runs northerly until it mingles with the Hudson at Saugerties, Flster 
 county. About twenty families remained at Kingston. The Dutch and 
 French Huguenots followed these noble streams. Tlieir descendants now 
 enjoy the rich and glorious patrimony secured by the industry, frugality and 
 piety of their ancestors. 
 
 The county of T'lster is considerably broken by those lofty monarchs of 
 the Hudson, the Catskills. Numerous little streams and creeks enrich this 
 beautiful region not far from Kingston. Xew Paltz being the principal 
 homes of these Huguenots a patent was obtained for the lands from Colonial 
 Governor Andros ;. they selected twelve of their brethern as the patentees, 
 who arc known by the appellation of the twelve patentees. A list of the 
 original purchasers were : Louis DuBois, Christian Deyo, Abraham Has- 
 brouck, Andres Lefevre, John Brook (said to have been changed to Has- 
 brouck), Peter Dean (or Deyo), Louis Bevier, Anthony Crispell, Abraham 
 DuBois, Hugh Freer, Isaac DuBois, Simon Lefevre. 
 
 A copy of this treaty with the Indians exists, and was executed May 26, 
 1677. They were three days on their journey from Kingston to New 
 Paltz. Soon, however, they selected a more elevated site ujion the banks 
 of the beautiful Wallkiil, where the ancient viUage now stands. Kingston 
 was then their only trading village. 
 
 The French church, of wliich Louis DuBcjis was the first elder, was estab- 
 lished ill 16^8. For .50 years the language they used was French : subse- 
 ((uently for 70 years succeeded by the Low Dutch : since the beginning of 
 the l!»th century English has been their church vernacular. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Dallie, from New York, visited New Paltz January 26, 1<>S3, 
 and occasionally conducted .services for them. Tlieir then house of worship 
 was a stone edifice, where they worshipped 80 years, when it was demolished 
 ill 1S;^1>. The Huguenots finally by intermarriages and intercourse with the 
 Dutch adojtted their language, manners and customs, and finally gave up 
 their French church and accepted and joined with the lleforuied Dutch de- 
 nominatifm, and worshipped with the Dutch in the same church edifice. 
 
 The Irish settled in Esopus (now Kingston) at an early period : many of 
 
•24 
 
 thorn woro iiicii of wealth and standing. Tlii.s useful ehiss of citizens, many 
 of wh.un are eonnected with the publie works, are engaged in the stone, lime, 
 
 eement. real estate and railr-.ad en.plnv uts. They are generous-hearted 
 
 and impulsive. As men (.f toil they have been of vast service in developing 
 the resourees of this county (the writer is speaking of them only as inhabitants 
 of rister county), whose chief city is Kingston. They have advanced this 
 county by their efforts in peace ami in war : they are always ready to fight 
 the battles of our country, and are loyal and ready to protect its flag — the 
 emblem of its power — against any daring invader, and to support and pro- 
 tect the interests and independence of our country. 
 
 The writer states that he has endeavored to give short sketches of the 
 lives of the most prominent men of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries 
 and only a few of a later period : the limits of the work prevent him from 
 including many others. 
 
 The histiiry nf the First Reformed Uutcli Church of Kingston, organized 
 in ICi.'ti.) — Srst clergyman called was Rev. Harnianus Blom, who commenced 
 this pastiirate Sejstember, l(i()U — is so full of interest a brief statement there- 
 of will be inserted. Its several pastors in tlie order of succession from 1659 
 to lS-<3 are as follows : Laurentius Yim (!aasbeek, successor to ]Jlom, from 
 16<)7 to ICtSO ; then follow Johannes Weekstein, Laurentius \'an der Jiock, 
 I. r. Nucclia, Francis L. Reys, l*eter \'as, George Wilhelm Mancius, Dr. 
 llainianus Meyer, Dr. (jeorgO I. L. Doll, the last of the Dutch ministers 
 educatetl in the Universities of Holland : this eminent man's pastorate 
 cnuimenced in the year ITTo and continued till the year 1808. During the 
 troublesome and stormy period of the American Revolution his heroic bear- 
 ing and patriotic services rendered in support of the new State of New 
 York ami its first illustrious ( Jovernor, (reorge Clinton, are recorded in his- 
 tory, which perpetuates the memory of this eminent divine. 
 
 l>r. .Tohn Gossman was the successor of Rev. Dr. Doll ; then follow Dr. 
 John Lillie, I. W. ^'an Wagonen, Dr. John C. F. Hoes, Dr. D. W. Van- 
 derveer, and the ])resent pastor, Dr. J. (!. A'aii Slyke. '*' 
 
 Rev. l)r. John (Jossman was born February 10, 17X4, and was called to 
 this church in the year 1808 : his pastorate continued till about the year 
 IsS.'). He was distinguished as an eminent divine, possessed of a powerful, 
 rich and melodious voice, and was one of the most pojiular preachers of his 
 day. He dejiarted this life Decend)er S, 1S(),"). 
 
 Rev. Dr. John C. F. Hoes, born in iSll, was called to this church in 
 1S4.". . his j.astorate continued for "il uars, till the year 1800, when he re- 
 signed, and continued to reside in King.>ton .till hi.s death, distingui.shed as 
 a .Miund and able dominie, dignified in his deportment, h(mest and nnfiinch- 
 ing in discharging tli.' duties (.f his high calling. He officiated for neigh- 
 
25 
 
 boring congregations frequently till his death with great acceptance in the 
 county where he so long resided. His valuable paper read b}' him at the 
 Kingston Centennial, July 30, 1877, relative to the venerable church where 
 he so long officiated as pastor, correspondence of Dr. Doll with Governor 
 Clinton in 1777, relative to the destruction of the church building'standing 
 in that year, his^«c simile furnished of the signatures of all the ministers of 
 tliis church from Rev. Mr. ]51f)m to and including Dr. Van Slyke, all set 
 forth in the history of Ulster county, are valuable contributions which every 
 friend of the church ought to preserve. 
 
 He suddenly left the cresence of his family and numerous friends, who 
 deeply mourned their loss, at Kingston, about June, 1883. The community 
 where he so long resided hearing of his sudden departure, joined his afflicted 
 family and friends in son*ow for their loss and respect for his memory. His 
 widow and two daughters and only son Rev, Randall Hoes, chaplain in the 
 U. S. Navy, constitute his surviving family. 
 
 An interesting sketch of the First Reformed Dutch Church at Kingston, 
 N. Y., which is copied from the December number of the Magazine of the 
 Reformed Dutch Church, published in the year 182G, more than 56 years 
 ago, as follows : 
 
 [For th« Dutch Church Ma=!aziue.] 
 
 KINGSTON CHURCH, 1826, 
 
 The village of Kingston had a settled minister as early as the year 166*2 : 
 being more than forty-eight years after the first landing here, of the emi- 
 grants from Holland. The hamlet at that time was called Wildwyck, or 
 Indian district : and afterward Esopus. The first clergyman was the Rev. 
 Hermanns Rlom, whose accounts for salary, all payable in wheat, are pre- 
 served to this day, in the county records. He preached in a log hut, on 
 the site of the present building. Yet, even in that rude edifice reared by 
 the piety of our ancestors, God condescended to meet and to bless us. The 
 second Church building was in the ancient style ornamented with highly 
 coloured, painted, and burnt window glass, bearing the coat of arms of our 
 progenitors frouj Vanderland. The third was a larger building, erected in 
 1752, as appears by the names of the workmen, and the year of their la- 
 bours, cut in hewn stone, and masoned into the front wall of the present 
 building. The fourth and last structure is of blue limestone, with a lofty 
 tower of the same materials, in which hangs a Holland bell, imported from 
 Amsterdam in 1794 : which measures seven feet six inches in circumference 
 at its mouth ; is two feet two inches in height, and is remarkable for its 
 clear and deep-toned peals. This was the first bell that ever tolled here for 
 a funeral : the previous usage having been to ring the bell on such occa- 
 sions. It was also the practice before this time to ring the bell three times 
 a day by way of notice, to tidy house-keepers, of their breakfast, dinner and 
 supper hours. 
 
 At present the town clock regulates the kitchen. The bell was also 
 formerly rung whenever there was a baptism, or a christening as it was 
 
20 
 
 called : and then the minister, with an elder, and whoever else pleased, went 
 into Chureh, and perforuiod the rites of baptism. On the top of the steeple 
 is an iron cross, fastened horizontally ac(;ordinc to the magnetic meridian : 
 and accurately designatini:- the four cardinal points of the compass. This 
 was in former' days stirmounted by a large cock: which, they say, was the 
 memento of I^eter's denial of his Master. And on the top of the pulpit was 
 Noah's dove holding the olive branch in her mouth : but these emblems of 
 those feathered worthies, have also mingled in the rubbish of oblivion. 
 There was, also, until demolished within a few years, a Consistory-house, 
 built in front of the Church door, according to the fiishion of the Dutch 
 Churches generally. This appendage was not erected until 1721, as appears 
 by a stone tablet, saved from the ruins, and imbedded in the front wall of 
 the present building, inscribed P. VAS. MDCCXXL The first bell used 
 by tiie Church, was a ])resent from (\iptain Anthony Kutgers, of the city of 
 New-York : and is the same bell now mounted in the cupola of the new 
 court-house. The present Cliurch bell was also procured from Holland, 
 through the agency of Captain Rutgers : a name dear to Kingston and to 
 the Dutch Church. It was also the custom among our forefathers, immedi- 
 ately before the ringing of the last bell for Church service, to be notified by 
 a rap at each door, from the ivory-headed cane of the grey-headed sexton, 
 who sung out aloud, '■'■ church time: " and for this circuit, was paid by each 
 family two shillings ))er annum. The sexton also carried to tlie clerk, all 
 written requests for tiie prayers of the congregation. The clerk had a long 
 rod, slit at the end, into wliich he stuck the note, and handed it up to the 
 minister : who, in those days occupied a very high pnlpit in the shape of a 
 half globe, raised on the top of a demi column : and canopied with a sound- 
 ing board. The knob for the Minister's hat, exhibited a likeness of the 
 president of the American Congress of 1777, with his name underneath 
 " Laurens : " thus uniting patriotism with devotion. The minister wore a 
 black silk mantle, a cocked hat, and a neckband with linen cambriek " Z'e^j/" 
 on his breast : tor cnir/ifs were tlien unatnonical. Tlie first psalm used to 
 be set with movable fijrures suspended on three sides of the pulpit : so that 
 every one as they entered, might prepare for the lofty notes : which in those 
 days were printed with each psalm ; and it was deemed an accomplishment 
 to dwell long and loud on a mi, fa, so/. And, to give them an ague-like 
 shake, in those days of primeval simplicity ; the deacons, when service was 
 ended, rose in their places, the pastor distilled on them the dew of charity, 
 in a short address : they bowed, took each a bag fixed to a long black pole, 
 with a small alnrm bell fastened to the end, went their rounds, steering- 
 clear of the canopy, the pillars, and the bonnets ; and rousing the sleepy 
 heads with exj)erienced dexterity, and returned heavy laden with farthings ; 
 or, with a cojiper coin called /oA-p/i.s, being stanjped with" Kingston Church," 
 and redeemed at stated times. Nor is it less wortliy of notice in our precise 
 ancestors, that they never approached a communion table, unless apparelled 
 in black : a sort of silent language, saying, " Do this in remembrance of 
 me." It was then also usual ti> stand round the sacramental board, which 
 was placed at the foot of the pulpit. Instead of exhortations from the Min- 
 ister, after iie had broken the bread and handed the eup, the clerk read 
 aloud a suitable cha|iter from the Prophet Isaiah, or John the Evangelist. 
 The clerk also read a portion of Scrijtture, before the Minister came into 
 
27 
 
 Church, in order to withdraw the minds of the congregation from worldly 
 matters. There was a canopied seat expressly set apart for the county 
 clerk, the sheriiF, and the town magistrates ; and also a separate bench for 
 the trustees of the corporation. The rest of the seats were held, not in 
 pews, but as single seats promiscuously ; and, at the death of the occupant, 
 were again " booked " for life, to the next of kin ; or, on their neglect, to 
 the first applicant. 
 
 Until the year 1808, Kingston Church stood alone as an independent 
 Church ; and having been so for a century and a half, it threw an air of 
 superiority around her, which was not easily subdued by the regular judica- 
 tories of the Dutch Church in America. A great consistory had once been 
 called, and had rejected the jurisdiction of the General Synod. Our clergy 
 were ordained in Europe, and we had received an ample charter, granted to 
 us by the British Crown, November 17, 1719, which gave us full powers to 
 conduct our internal affairs. But it was at last thought, that, as the Eng- 
 lish language had nearly supplanted the Dutch ; and, as it would therefore, 
 be useless to send to Holland for our Ministers, we might rather unite with 
 the ecclesiastical associations at our doors. Another great consistory was 
 accordingly called September 5, 1808 ; and out of twenty-eight members 
 only four voted against joining the Synod. Then we gave the hand of fel- 
 lowship to our sister Churches. And, although our sturdy notions of inde- 
 pendence at first caused many billows of trouble to roll over us, yet are we 
 now at peace ; and we leave the records of our public charities to speak their 
 own eulogy. 
 
 Eleven clergymen have been settled in this Church from its first planting 
 in the new world, to this time, viz : 
 
 Blom, Van Gaasbeek, Weekstein, Nucella, Van Bosen, Beys, Vas, Man- 
 cius, Meyer, Doll, Gosman. 
 
 Of these, the Rev. P. Vas died here at ninety-six years of age, and his 
 great-grandchild and other descendants are now living in this village. 
 
 The Rev. W. Mancius also died here, and is buried within the walls of 
 the Church. The Rev. Mr. Meyer died in New Jersey. The Rev. G. Doll, 
 at the age of seventy-two, died, and was interred at Kinderhook. A half 
 length portrait and true likeness of this good man, was taken by Vanderlyn, 
 and is preserved in Kingston as a memorial to his numerous friends. The 
 remains of his deceased consort Mrs. Doll, are also entombed within the 
 Church. 
 
 Among the descendants of these clergymen, are the daughter of Dominie 
 Mancius, and the great-grandson of Dominie Vas; both of whom first par- 
 took of the Lord's supper in this Church, sixty-six years ago ; and are yet 
 among the regular attendants at the communion table. 
 
 A stranger merely passing the burying ground, would be apt to think 
 there had been great mortality here, from the number of graves and grave- 
 stones. But on looking at the inscriptions, he will find some to exceed one 
 hundred years. At the head of one grave stands a cedar post and a stone 
 slab chiselled with the year 1710. Yet this post is solid, and when chipped 
 with a knife, has the odor peculiar to that kind of wood. On the subject of 
 mortality it may be stated with certainty, that by the census of last year 
 the population of the compact part of the village is 1170 ; and for the last 
 twelve months the births were 31, and the deaths only 15. Let me add one 
 
•28 
 
 more, and a highly gratifying statistical fact. This congregation embraces 
 1700 souls : of these 3"i8'are communicants ; and of that number 240 have 
 been added to the Church during the pastoral cliargo of the Rev. Mr. Gos- 
 man ; a proof that he is " a burning and a shining light in the ministry." 
 June, 1826. Boerhaave. 
 
 A friend of the writer, Cornelius Van Gassbeek, Esq., for many years an 
 elder, and i)rominent in the First Reformed Dutch Church at Kingston, has 
 a diploma of his ancestor Rev. Laurentius Van Gaasbeek, second pastor of 
 said church, received from the University of Lyden, Holland, where he 
 graduated May 24, 1074. Also has an old oil painting of Rev. Johannes 
 Weekstein, third pastor of said church. Date on said painting, 1674. 
 
CITY OF KINGSTON, 
 
 The following articles relating to Kingston's history, growth, industries, 
 &e., published in the Kingston Daily Freeman of June 23d and 30th, 1883, 
 are so immediately connected with the foregoing that writer has concluded 
 to reprint the same, as follows : , 
 
 EARLY FACTS CONCERNING KINGSTON. 
 
 The Men Who Founded It — Wars and Politics — Religious Inter- 
 ests — Public and Private Buildings — The Prospect 
 Twelve Years Ago. 
 
 Editor Freeman: — In 1871 I wrote the following article which was then 
 published in the Christian Intelligencer of New York, and republished in 
 Kingston papers. At the time it was received with much favor, but as I 
 was unable to furnish the great demand for papers containing the article, I 
 now propose to offer the same for republication, preliminary to another arti- 
 cle showing the changes that have since taken place, entitled : " City of 
 Kingston, its Mountain Hotels, Railroads, Industries and Commercial 
 Prosperity," indicative of its becoming what nature and the enterprise of a 
 few citizens intended it to be — the foremost commercial city between New 
 York and Albany. Frederick E. Westbrook. 
 
 Kingston and its Overlook Mountain House. 
 
 Kingston, formerly known as Atkarkarton, Wiltwyck and Esopus, had a 
 few settlers who located among the Esopus Indians in 1614. 
 
 Rev. I. Megapolensis, third minister of the Collegiate Dutch Church of 
 New York, in a letter on the state of religion in the province of New York, 
 to the classis of Amsterdam, dated August 5, 1657, says : " Thomas Cham- 
 bers and a few others removed to Atkarkarton, or Esopus (now Kingston), 
 an exceedingly beautiful land, in 1652, and began the actual settlement of 
 Ulster county ; it was also known among the savages as the Pleasant Land." 
 
 From the date of the first settling of this place, the following are the 
 names of the Director-Generals of the province of New York, sent out from 
 Holland : Andrisen Jores, whose administration commenced in 1623 ; Cor- 
 nelius Jacobsen May, William Verhulst, Peter Minuit, under whose admin- 
 
30 
 
 istration, in 1626, Manhattan Island (New York), was purchased from the 
 Indians for $24. Then follow Wouter Van Twiller, William Kieft, and 
 last, the valiant, energetic, able and faithful Petrus Stuyvesant, wljose ad- 
 ministration commenced May 11, 1647, in whom the early settlers of Kings- 
 ton, long harrassed by the savages, found a powerful friend. 
 
 The wars with the Indians and negotiations and troubles with his English 
 neighbors continued till New Amsterdam surrendered to the English in 
 1664, when Stuyvesant (released from the vexations and turmoils of public 
 life), after visiting Holland, returned to New York, and spent the rest of 
 his days in retirement on his " Bowerie," where he departed his laborious 
 and useful life in 1671. Under the administration of William Kieft, Rev. 
 Evardus Bogardus, the first minister (and Adam Roelandson, the first 
 schoolmaster) arrived in the colony, and officiated at New Amsterdam, in 
 the Collegiate Reformed Church, from 1638 to 1647. He marriedthe 
 widow of Roeloff Jansen, who was then called Anneke Jans, or RoelofF, and 
 had four children by her former husband, and after her marriage with the 
 Dominie she had four children. The farm, about which so much money has 
 been wasted in litigation, contained sixty-two acres, now of immense value 
 — which land was granted to Roeloff Jansen in 1636. Upon his death it 
 passed to his widow and heirs ; it went subsequently by the name of the 
 " Dominie's Bowerie." After his death, in' 1647, being lost at sea, his 
 widow resided in New York, and in 1654 the grant of the farm was con- 
 firmed to her and her heirs by Director-General Stuyvesant, and subsequent- 
 ly confirmed by the English government. Her heirs disposed of this prop- 
 erty to Col. Francis Lovelace, then Governor of New York. One of her 
 sons, Cornelius, did not join in the conveyance, and it has been alleged that 
 his heirs are entitled to a share in this vast property. In 1705 the farm 
 (then called King's Farm) was leased by the colonial authorities to Trinity 
 church, New York. The object of this statement is to assure the numerous 
 alleged heirs residing at Kingston and vicinity, that it is an act of folly to 
 pay lawyers for the recovery of this property, which is barred by the statute 
 of limitations ; there is no earthly hope of success, and if the writer's advice 
 is taken the object of this statement is accomplished. 
 
 Dominie Blom, first minister at Wiltwyck (now Kingston), arrived from 
 Holland and commenced his pastoral duties (as first minister) with sixteen 
 members. May 12, 1660. Much might be said of this remarkable man. A 
 work is soon to be published, being a history of the Dutch clergymen of 
 Kingston, by a prominent minister, Rev. Dr. fioes, which I am told will 
 include an interesting sketch of the early history of this place. Constant 
 depredations and loss of life occurred in disputes with the Indians during 
 the whole of Stuyvesant's administration, and he frequently .visited this 
 place to quell those disturbances. His advice to the farmers of Wiltwyck 
 
31 
 
 (now Kingston) was, fur their security from the savages, to form a viHage, 
 which they at first strenuously opposed, but subsequently acceeded to, and 
 during Stuyvesant's sojourn the site of the present village was selected, and 
 the work was commenced May 31, 1658, and while engaged in building and 
 stockading the same the savages appeared, not with hostile intentions, but 
 to present the site of the village to the Grand Sachem Stuyvesant as a pres- 
 ent to grease his feet, as he had taken so long and painful a journey to visit 
 them (more properly to chastise them). A charter was obtained May IG, 
 IGGl, municipal powers were first granted, and the village was called Wilt- 
 wyck, or Indian village, as it was a present from the savages. Evart Pels, 
 Cornelius Barentson Sleight and Elbert Heyman llosa were appointed 
 schopens, and Roeloff Swartwout, schouf. A frightful and memorable mas- 
 sacre occurred at this place by the Indians June 7th, 1663. After great 
 loss of life and a partial destruction of their village, the savages were finally 
 driven out by the exertions of Thomas Chambers, Swartwout, and the va- 
 liant Dominie Blom. The latter has given a detail of this awful event. 
 Thomas Chambers, first settler of Wiltwyck (now Kingston), was the recip- 
 ient of an order issued by Governor Lovelace, dated October 16th, 1672, 
 setting forth that Capt. Thomas Chambers, Justice at Esopus, hath done 
 signal service in the time of the Indian wars, and having a house not far 
 from Kingston, and in acknowledgment of his services, the said house 
 was erected into the Manor of Foxhall. This grant was confirmed in Octo- 
 ber, 1686, by Governor Dongan. With all these temporal honors, he had 
 no children. His first wife was Margaretta Hendricks. He subsequently, 
 the writer believes, married the widow of Rev. Laurentius VanGaasbeek, 
 whose son assumed the name of Abraham VanGaasbeek Chambers, and be- 
 came heir to the Manor of Foxhall on the death of his stepfather in 1696. 
 The name of Foxhall has now disappeared except from the Book of Patents. 
 The widow of Thomas Chambers, on his death, ujarried Col. Wessel Ten- 
 Broeck, before mentioned, prominent at that period, and who was the great 
 ancestor of the TenBroeck and VanGaasbeek families of this place. William 
 Beekman was Sheriff of Kingston until the close of Governor Lovelace's 
 administration in 1674, when he returned to New York. He was born at 
 Hasselt, in Overrysel, in 1623, emigrated to America, and died in New 
 York in 1707, with distinguished reputation, filling many official positions. 
 The present William and Beekman streets. New York, bear his name. He 
 married Catharine Deboogh, and had several children. His eldest daughter 
 married a son of Governor Stuyvesant. Henry, his eldest son, settled at 
 Kingston ; was Judge of Ulster county and member of the Provincial Leg- 
 islature. His daughter Margaret married Robert R. Livingston, and among 
 her children were Janet, wife of the late Richard 31ontgomery, who fell at 
 the siege of Quebec, and the late Chancellor Robert R. Livingston. These 
 
82 
 
 brief facts are fully set forth in Brodliead's, O'Callagan's, Miller's, Dun- 
 lap's, McAuley's and Valentine's histories of New York. 
 
 Among the prominent stone buildings now standing, which have survived 
 the burning of Kingston, in 1777, and wliich were repaired after the Revo- 
 lution, are the llasbrouck Mansion, residence of Hon. A. Bruyn Hasbrouck, 
 ex-President of Rutger's College ; the old Academy, where many prominent 
 men of the seventeenth century received their preparatory education : the 
 Schoonmaker Mansion, owned by Hon. M, Schoonmaker ; the Beekman 
 House, late residence of Mrs. Rachel Beekman, a remarkable woman in her 
 day, who died in lier 94th year, and who has related to the writer interest- 
 ing events at the burning of Kingston by the Britisli : and the TenBroeck 
 Mansion, corner of North Front street and Clinton avenue, erected by Col. 
 Wessel TenBroeck about the year 1676. General Armstrong (who married 
 a sister of the late Chancellor Livingston), Secretary of War, occupied this 
 house until 1804, when he left for France, Minister to that court. The late 
 Rev. Dr. C. D. Westbrook resided here till his death, in 1858. The Sen- 
 ate of the State of New York was held in this building in 1777, the year of 
 the adoption of its first constitution. 
 
 Modern Kingston was incorporated in 1805. It is beautifully located, 
 about one hundred and eighty feet above the' level of the sea, on an exten- 
 sive plain, surrounded by distant and near mountain scenery, extensive 
 views of the lowlands, where runs the Kingston Creek, a rapid mountain 
 stream which empties into the Hudson at Saugerties. Washington Ir- 
 ving was an admirer of the magnificent scenery at this place, who, as he 
 surveyed the Catskill Mountains, in company with ex-President YanBuren 
 and General Smitli, of Kingston, exclaimed, " This is the most impressive 
 and beautiful mountain scenery that I have ever witnessed." The health 
 of this place is well known, as persons known to the writer, former resi- 
 dents of New York and Brooklyn, are residing here for benefit from disease 
 of the lungs, and experience much relief. Its beautiful churches (the First 
 Reformed is one of the most beautiful in the State), Presbyterians, Episco- 
 palians, Baptists and Methodists have fine edifices. The Second Reformed 
 church, erected in 1850, a beautiful and costly edifice, which was shortly 
 after its ei-ection embarrassed, was saved by the timely liberality of the 
 Collegiate Church of New York, through the eiforts of the Consistory, and 
 efiicient aid given to their application by the late Rev. Dr. C. D. West- 
 brook. It is now out of debt, and has a wealthy and powerful congrega- 
 tion, under the able ministry of Dr. Stitt, the present pastor. The intelli- 
 gence, social habits, and refinements of its citizens render this place a de- 
 lightful residence for those who are desirous of being released from active 
 business and the excitement and vexations incident to city life. Kingston, 
 besides being a pleasant residence not surpassed by any village in this 
 
33 
 
 State, is in a flourishing condition. The popnhition of the town of Kings- 
 ton, including Rondout, in 1840 was 5,800 : in 1870 it increased to 21,000. 
 The population of Ulster county in 1840 was 39,000, and in 1870, 84,000 
 — a ratio of increase exceeded by only a few places. The Delaware and 
 Hudson Canal, the Rondout and Oswego Railroad, the Wallkill Valley 
 Railroad, from New York, terminating at Kingston December next, and a 
 railroad to connect with Rondout and Oswego to Boston, via the Connecti- 
 cut Western, is in progress. The stone trade of the covmty is said to 
 amount to $4,000,000 annually, and its lime and cement works are power- 
 ful agencios at work in giving an increasing business character to this place, 
 which is soon to become, with Rondout, a large city, separated by the dis- 
 tance of one mile, to which it is united by a horse railroad. 
 
 The Overlook Mountain Company of Kingston have recently completed a 
 3Iountain House on one of the highest peaks of the Catskills, said to accom- 
 modate three hundred guests, and is in every respect a tirst-class hotel, kept 
 by Mr. Lasher, whose reputation is well established. I would advise all 
 who have an interest in mountain scenery to visit this interesting place, 
 said to be 3,800 feet in height, and which overlooks many points of inter- 
 est that cannot be seen at any other place in the Catskill Mountains. 
 
 On the ever-memorable r2th of July last, the writer was one among a 
 large party from Kingston and Rondout who visited this mountain house. 
 It was a joyous and happy occasion of meeting many familiar faces and 
 prominent and well-known citizens. Early in the morning, the lowering 
 clouds, indicative of a storm, did not prevent this party from assembling in 
 large numbers at the depot of the Rondout and Oswego Railroad : it was 
 intended as a deserved compliment to the enterprise of the company (of 
 which Mr. Artemas Sahler, a prominent merchant of Kingston, is President), 
 and to the proprietor, Mr. Lasher (who is said to have expended $25,000 
 in furnishing and adorning this place), and to cheer onward by the presence 
 of so many of its friends an undertaking which, in connection with a project 
 now maturing for the erection, by a joint stock company, of a large, first- 
 class hotel at Kingston for summer boarders, to accommodate three hundred 
 guests, and intended to co-operate with its Mountain House, which, when 
 completed, the success of the Mountain House will exceed the anticipations 
 of its founders. To return to our party : toward noon the morning clouds 
 dispersed and the brilliant orb of day shone in unusual splendor. The 
 scene before us was magnificent. To the east the well-known Round Top 
 appeared on a level with us. The westerly view of the Catskills was the 
 subject of much remark ; it was a point of surpassing beauty. The cele- 
 brated Paltz Point, a place of great resort, was noticed as an elevated hill ; 
 apparently we' could discover the cultivated plains beyond, looking over the 
 3 
 
34 
 
 Poiut. Tlio most distant view north was above Albany, and on the south, 
 near New York, and many other attractive point* of interest in this elevated 
 position and temperature of retVeshinir eoolness. miirht be presented to the 
 reader. The eye of the visitor gazes long upon the wide expanse of lovely 
 and sublime soetiery, spending hours in surveying the various jnunts of in- 
 terest. Wo had the pleasvire of witnessing the beauty of the setting sun 
 bevond the dark outlines of the distant mountains, which was only surpassed 
 by the splendor of its rising on tl»e following cloudless morning. During 
 the eveniusr the spacious parlors were tilled ; the music of the Kondout 
 Band, and the social qualificatious of our party, and pleasant conversation 
 relative to the scenes of the day, caused all to be cheerful and happy. At 
 4 o'clock on the following afternoon ukany of our party returned to Kings- 
 ton, where we arrived at 0> P. M. The view from the summit of Overlook 
 is not exceeded in grandeur, beauty and extent of its natural and cultivated 
 scenerv by any other nunintain top. The writer has visited the tojvs of 
 Mount Washington and Mansfield during sunshine and storm ; while im- 
 prt-ssed with the vastness and extent of the mountain-tops of the former, and 
 the KnuJty of the cultivated scenery of the latter, yet nothing seems to sur- 
 pass the varied and indescribable beauties of mountain and cultivated scen- 
 ery as seen from OverUn^k. F. E. M . 
 Now York. AuiTusT, 1ST1. 
 
 KINGSTON'S INDUSTRIES AND PROGRESS 
 
 Its: Chi rohks. Schools, Stkamboats, Kailroaps, Coax. Trai>k and 
 Mam KACTi KINO. Estabushmknts — Its: Presk>-t 
 
 ANP FlTUKK GkK-X-TNKSS. 
 
 EiHTOR Ekkkmax : — On this auspicious and memorable occasion (*25th day 
 ot June, ISSo), all nature smiles, and is glowing iu luxuriant early summer 
 beauty, adorning the varievl and magnificent scenery with its lofty Catskills, 
 which at no other place than Kingston appcv so grand, sublime and at- 
 tractive to the beholder. The bmmteous harvest which IVn-idence is aKnit 
 to prv>vidc, all i^\n»spirc to gladden and cheer the pathway, and to elevate 
 the minds of the large numbers of Kingston's most prv>minent citiiens, as- 
 seu;bled at the Tuion lV{x>t of the New York, West Shore and Kuffalo 
 Kuilrv>ad to witness the im|H>rtant event of the departure of its first train of 
 cars to New York, which was celebrated by the firing of cannon, and ring^ 
 ing of church Wlls, a splendid banvl of music giving additional interest to 
 the fairy scene. t)n the return of the cars iu the evening the excitement of 
 the morning was greatly increased, the number of citiiens assembled was 
 
oO 
 
 ubout 4,000 ; the fireworks and other expenses were im-urred h_v th(> mer- 
 chants uptown, who are ever ready to apjireeiate sneh an inij)ortant event. 
 This unexpected and great demonstration is indicative that tlie peoph' un- 
 derstand the benefits arising from a great trunk line of railroad passing- 
 through, equi-distant from both sections of tliis beautiful and historical city. 
 This road is the port of upper Kingston during twelve mouths of each year, 
 iind settles forever the vexed question relative to the supremacy of either 
 section. Upper Kingston's ctmtinued gn>wth and power are now perma- 
 nently established. Both sections can now enter upon a career of prosperity 
 accelerated by the completion of its important public works. Having no 
 railroads in her rear, and owing to the contignratitui of its mountains, this 
 city is forever protected from such a calamity as has befallen its sister cities. 
 Its coal, limestone, cement, brick, carriage factories, foundries and other 
 varied industries, and the minerals to be obtained from the bowels of the 
 earth, amounting to millions annually, as will be hereafter set forth, are in- 
 ducements sutficient for its citizens of both sections to enter now upon anew 
 order of things, and the only sectional feeling hereafter should be the laud- 
 able one which will contribute most for the general prosperity of all. 
 
 The completion of the West Shore llailroad to Kingston is the crov\ning 
 irlorv of the several railroads now in successful operation to this place, one 
 of which has been extended, and its first train of cars has connnenced run- 
 nine this "ioth dav of Juiu\ 18So,from Tannersville Junction to the Kaaters- 
 kill and Beach's old mountain house, tlie depot of which is at Catskill Lake, 
 one-half mile distant therefrom. These several railroads will be briefly set 
 forth. The Wallkill Valley, lately foreclosed, was pnrcliased by Kingston's 
 distinixuished capitalist, lion. Thomas Cornell, who after a great outlay of 
 money and labiu- put the same in complete running order, and disposed of it 
 lately to the West Shore and Initfalo Railroad. The bonding of the Ivon- 
 dout and Oswego Railroad, now known as the Ulster and Delaware, and its 
 subsequent foreclosure and purchase by Ron. Thomas Cornell, are events 
 too widely known to discuss. The eftect of this foreclosure and bonding 
 was to enable him to purchase the same and put it in complete order with 
 steel rails, etc., running now to Stamford, its passenger and freight list 
 doubliu"' every short period. Without this bonding and foreclosure Mr. 
 Cornell certainly would never have purchased the same. The argument has 
 been advanced that the bonding of this road and partial completion caused 
 the loss of the wagon trade from l>elaware county, and it probably diil for 
 a time which is freely admitted, and which all good citizens regretted. 
 The dav had, however, arrived when railroads in this important place were 
 to supercede the wagon business. If Mr. Cornell had not purcha.sed this 
 road, the result would have been a struggle between this city and Catskill 
 •which should build this road to Delaware county, which is equi-distaut 
 
m 
 
 from both. In either event the King.ston waf.'on trade would inevitably 
 have been superceded. All good citizens are gradually becouiing reconciled, 
 and I think will admit that the advent of railroads for the reasons set forth 
 was a matter of necessity. The principal ownership of the Ulster and Del- 
 ware road happily is in the hands of -Mr. Cornell, of which he is President, 
 and is in successful operation, with constantly greatly increased passenger 
 and freio-ht traffic, which has induced that sagacious, enterprising and ener- 
 irotic citizen, S. D. Coykendall, to build and equip the Stony Clove Rail- 
 road through a mountain pass to Hunter and Tannersville Junction, on hi& 
 own responsibility. This important road (Mr. Coykendall being the Presi- 
 dent thereof), requiring great engineering skill in its construction through 
 an almost inaccessible narrow gorge between elevated mountains, forms a 
 notch in the mountains, and as you approach Hunter the scenery that pre- 
 sents itself is of remarkable beauty and sublimity. Hunter and its vicinity 
 is a great boarding region. Thousands of summer boarders have for years 
 invaded this mountain region of unsurpassed loveliness and beauty. The 
 writer was among a large number of invited guests, a few months ago, that 
 attended the celebration of the completion of the Stony Clove road to Hun- 
 ter. It was an elegant day, and the ride through the Clove was one of 
 great interest, and on our arrival at Hunter we were all struck with the 
 great display of flags and other decorations. After hearing speeches by Mr. 
 Harding, General Sharpe and others as to the advantages Hunter and 
 Kingston would derive from this great event of building and completing this 
 road, and partaking of an elegant supper prepared by the citizens of Hun- 
 ter, we returned and reached Kingston at 1*2 P. M., satisfied that a bond of 
 fraternal union exists between Hunter and Kingston. 
 
 A few months after this celebration Hon. Thomas Cornell commenced the 
 Kaaterskill Ilailroad (of which he is the President), connecting Hunter with 
 Harding's, or the Kaaterskill Hotel, and the old Mountain House, which 
 was completed and opened on this memorable day, the 25th of June, 1883. 
 This new mountain^railroad is one of the grand enterprises of the year, is a 
 fitting monument to individual enterprise, and will be appreciated by thou- 
 sands of summer travellers, who will enjoy all-rail traveling from New 
 York via Kingston to the Harding or Kaaterskill House, which can accom- 
 modate 1,000 guests, and several thousand more that occupy the boarding 
 houses from Hunter to said mountain houses. This statement is made as an 
 act of justice to Kingston's all-rail route from New York via Kingston ta 
 the Kaaterskill Lake, among and above the clouds, half a mile equi-dis- 
 tant from Beach's old mountain house and Harding's, or Kaaterskill Moun- 
 tain House. 
 
 Wonderful results have been accomplished since 1871. Twelve years ago- 
 Kingston was rejoicing over the successful building of the Overlook Moun- 
 
37 
 
 •tain House, anticipating it as a great event and a great blessing, together 
 ■with a few small boarding places constituting all the acconunodations in the 
 mountains then accessible via Kingston. In 1883 Kingston is delighted in 
 having the Grand Hotel, Overlook, Kaaterskill Hotel, Laurel House, Kaa- 
 terskill Falls, Tremper House, Guigou House, Hunter Hotel, and several 
 other large hotels, and is the gateway by all-rail road from Kingston to 
 nearly 1,000 hotels and boarding places in all parts of the Catskills. Car- 
 riage roads have been built by Messrs. Kiersted, connecting Overlook north 
 ■with Harding's and Beach's mountain houses, and in fact connecting all 
 leading hotels, which increases the variety, enables guests to ride and visit 
 from one prominent hotel to another, and relieves the monotony during their 
 stay. Who can estimate the commercial advantages to Kingston to be de- 
 rived from the completion of these great public works ? Who can estimate 
 the gratitude due to those prominent citizens, Hon. Thomas Cornell and Mr. 
 S. D. Coykendall, for the solid and enduring benefits they have confeired in 
 the completion of these works ? The eminent men that rear their own mon- 
 uments by the efforts of their energies, skill, cost and labor, directed for the 
 public welfare, to construct the same successfully, to survive either stone or 
 marble, must be composed of no common material. The annals of this city 
 will record their deeds, and posterity will long continue to enjoy the bene- 
 ficial results arising from the wisdom displayed in their public services. 
 
 This mountain traffic and travel will be a source of wealth and power to 
 this city. It is now in its infancy, and when arriving at the manhood of its 
 strength, will prove a great blessing in opening this important and rich sec- 
 tion of country, including Hunter, Delaware county and beyond, to Kings- 
 ton. A profound sense of gratitude now exists towards those eminent capi- 
 talists, not only in this city, but by thousands of summer boarders and others 
 elsewhere, who are so greatly benefitted by their munificent outlays and far- 
 reaching and lasting results arising therefrom. The merchants of the upper 
 section of the city, seeing the importance of this mountain trade, including 
 Hunter and vicinity, and Delaware county, contributed largely to the ex- 
 tension of Fair street to the Ulster and Delaware Railroad, and erected 
 thereon a depot at this point convenient to the business of the upper section 
 in order to share with its lower section in the advantages of its trade, etc. 
 Being in operation over a year these enlightened business men have or will 
 be amply compensated for their generous course of action. 
 
 Kingston was organized and incorporated as a city in 1872, governed by 
 a Mayor and eighteen aldermen. The general measures and workings of 
 the city government have been on the whole satisfactory. A reduction of 
 the city funded debt and reduction of taxation have been accomplished, 
 •while many public works of utility have been laid out and completed. The 
 ordinary expenses of the city for all general purposes, exclusive of schools, 
 
38 
 
 last year amounted to $32,000. The average during the last tive years- 
 has been about $30,000. In the annual appropriations during said years 
 there has been a small surplus each year. 
 
 Union avenue, Wall street, Fair street and Albany avenue have been 
 paved, and has resulted in increasing facilities and beautifying and adding 
 to the value of the property improved. The Kingston water works are in 
 progress. Kingston has now recovered from the effects of the disastrous 
 revulsion and panic which lasted several years, from 1871 to 1878 or 1879, 
 causing a stoppage of public works. There was during that period a sur- 
 plus of houses. Being a commercial place, few cities felt more seriously 
 the result thereof, which shows more clearly the importance of the place, for 
 at this period (1883) the public and private works are in operation on a 
 large and more extended scale. The completion of the railroads has caused 
 a great demand for dwellings and parts thereof. There are many boarding, 
 unable to find a residence. Kingston is eighty-eight miles from New York, 
 on the north side of Rondout creek, which is navigable for three miles ; 
 population estimated 18,000. It is the terminus of the Delaware and Hud- 
 son Canal, which last year brought to tide water 1,300,000 tons of coal, be- 
 sides an immense tonage of lime, cement, lumber, grain and agricultural 
 products. It has forty steamboats, thirty of which, including the Mary 
 Powell, belong to Cornell Steamboat and Transportation Company. The 
 elegant steamers James W. Baldwin, M. Martin and Eagle, belong to 
 Messrs. Romer & Tremper Steam Transportation Company, of Kingston. 
 It has a wharfage front of four miles, and vessels arrive and depart daily 
 from this port to all parts of the United States with cement, lime, coal, lum- 
 ber, stone, brick, etc. The tonnage of coal, blue stone, ice, lime and ce- 
 ment, lumber and brick shipped from this port amounts to 2,700,000 tons 
 annually. In a debate a few years ago in the Legislature of this State, it 
 was announced that the tonnage of this city exceeded that of the city of 
 Albany. 
 
 Kingston is the centre of the blue stone and flagging business, which is scat- 
 tered through a section nearly ninety miles in length, reaching from near 
 Delaware river to the Hudson. This is brought to this city by wagon, rail 
 and canal. Among the prominent stone dealers are William B. Fitch, 
 Noone &: Madden, Sweeny Brothers, Daniel E. Donovan, Booth & Moran, 
 H. Boice, J. V. Cummings. Noone & Madden furnished 250,000 tons of 
 stone for the abutment of Brooklyn and New York bridge, also large quan- 
 tities for Erie Canal enlargement. Government lighthouses, etc., which re- 
 <(uire stone of solidity and durability, and is considered superior for such 
 purposes to granite obtained from other sections. This firm's monthly pay- 
 ments, when on contract work, exceed |>10,000 per month. Tlie largest ce- 
 ment manufactory in this city is the Newark Lime and Cement Works, 
 
39 
 
 which turned out h^st year '243,000 barrels. The cement is obtained by 
 tunneling the hills which face the Ptondout creek, and running galleries in 
 the layers of rock. These galleries are nearly two miles in length and are 
 often sunk to the depth of 200 feet. The average thickness of the layers is 
 thirty feet and incline to all angles. Hon. James G. Lindsley, first Mayor 
 of this city, is the general manager. 
 
 The Hudson River Lime and Cement Works, 3Ir. F,. M. Brigham gen- 
 eral manager, turns out about 150,000 barrels annually. The Lawrence- 
 ville Lime and Cement Works, of which the late Mr. Beach, of New York 
 (deceased), was President ; these works are very extensive. He departed 
 this life a few months ago, and was much respected in this city. Norton's 
 cement works are very large and extensive. Time and space will not per- 
 mit me further to enlarge and speak of the large number engaged in the 
 trade. From the best information I can obtain (from Mr. Lindsley and 
 other sources), the annual amount of cement shipped from this port amounts 
 to 1,500,000 tons. Other estimates may exceed that number. 
 
 This city also contains four foundries and six macliine shops and steam 
 engine builders, two planing mills, one manufactory of malt, eighteen of 
 cigars, one- of glue, three tanneries, two of tombstones and monuments, nine 
 breweries, thirteen carriage manufactories, six sash and blind factories, three 
 blue stone rubbing and polishing mills, one butter tub factory. The princi- 
 pal lumber and manufacturing yards are Burhans & Felten, Howard Oster- 
 houdt, Overbaugh & Turner, Wm. J. Turck, H. W. Palen, and others. 
 Newspaper and printing. Freeman Job Printing Establishment, Kingston 
 Argus, Kingston Daily Freeman, Kingston Journal and Weekly Freeman, 
 the Daily and Weekly Leader, and J. P. Hageman, job printer. John P. 
 Sleight, Tracy N. Stebbins, George L. Wachmeyer, and Stock & Rice are 
 the most prominent manufacturers and dealers in furniture. Crosby, Sahler 
 & Co., Winne, Payntar, and A. & J.' Hasbrouck are heavy dealers and 
 manufacturers of hardware. The business of these several manufacturing 
 firms is simply immense, including the several firms in the dry goods trade, 
 where articles of luxury of every variety can be obtained. The drug busi- 
 ness, of which Van Deusen Brothers, Clarke, DuBois, and Kennedy are 
 most prominent, for the sale and manufacture of drugs, oils, etc. Orders 
 are received from several states besides this vicinity. 
 
 One felloes for wheels factory, two soap manufactories, one factory for 
 standard scales, pump and block factory. The brick manufacturers are J. 
 H. Cordts & Co., Albert Terry, Nathan Nickersou, P. J. Gurnee, John 
 Streeter & Co., Charles Shultz, Nelson Stephens, A. S. Staples, Jacob 
 Kline. Messrs. Cordts & Co. say they manufacture 135,000 brick daily, 
 amounting for the season, five and one-half months, to 10,500,000. Their 
 estimate for the whole of the brickyards is 75,000,000 of brick. There are 
 
40 
 
 five National IJank.s and three Savings Banks. The Fire Department con- 
 sists of five steam engines, four hand engines and nine hose companies. 
 The principal hotels are the Eagle Hotel, Kingston Hotel, Mansion House, 
 HilTs Hotel, and there are many others. The ship and boat builders are 
 Allen Brothers, Jefferson McCausland, Lewis Minnerly and Delaware & 
 Hudson Canal Company ; one sled manufactory, Crosby, Sahler & Company. 
 There are twenty-two churches in the city, with dates of their organization 
 (a few excepted)— First lleformed Dutch Church, 1659 : Fair Street Re- 
 formed Dutch Ciuin-h, 1848 : Reformed Dutch Ciiurch of the Comforter, 
 1853; St. John's Episcopal Church, 1832 : First Baptist Church, 1832 ;, 
 First .Methodist Church, 1824: Second Methodist Church, 1855 : Metho- 
 dist Church, Eddyville, 1835 : St. Joseph's Cliurch, Catholic, ; Pres- 
 byterian Church, Rondout, 1833 : First Baptist Church, Rondout, 1842 ; 
 St. Mary's Church, Rondout, 1 835 ; tin-ee Jewish churches : St. Peter's 
 German Catholic Church ; Methodist Church in RuiKlout ;. Church of the 
 Holy Spirit ; two Lutheran cliurches : two Zion (colored) cliurchcs. 
 
 The Principal of the Kingston Academy is F. J. Cheney, A. M., who has 
 five assistants. The Principals of some of the schools are Professor Henry 
 D. Darrow, William E. Mower, Jared Barliite, John J. Moran, Thomas 
 Raftery, iMessrs. Grriffin, McCabe and others, each having a large number of 
 assistants. Hon. M. Schoonmaker, Hon. xVugustus Schooumaker, Hon. 
 Fi^derick L. Westbrook, Postmaster Hayes, E. M. Brigham, Cornelius 
 Burhans, H. D. Baldwin, J. E. Ostrander, Mr. Ridenour and others have 
 by their joint and individual efforts advanced the cause of education until it 
 has attained its jn-esent lofty stature and great usefulness to this city. I 
 will simply take some extracts from an able annual report to the Board of 
 Education of 18()4, made by Hon. Marius Schoonmaker, for many years 
 President of the Board, relating to the origin, etc., of the Kingston Acade- 
 my, as follows : 
 
 Kingston Academy was originally founded by '' the Trustees, Freeholders 
 and counnonalty of the town of Kingston," in the year 17 74, for the instruc- 
 tion ot youth m the learned languages and other branches of knowled<^e. 
 Ihe names of the Trustees of Kingston for that year, who had the honor%f 
 toundmg this now time honored institution, are Derick Wynkoop, Joseph 
 bashane, Johannes Persen, Silvester Salisbury, Christopher Tappen, Adam 
 Persen, Johannes DuBois, Abram A'an Gaasbeek, Johannes Sleight, Ezekiel 
 iMasteu and Willielmus Houghtaling. They reserved to themselves the care 
 and superintendence of the institution, and furnished for its use a suitable 
 building and grounds at the corner of Crown and John streets, Kingston. 
 Ihe Academy as thus organized opened and continued a prosi)erous course 
 under the charge successively of John Addison, Mr. Miller and Mr. Evart, 
 iis princii)als, until the ravages of a desolating war ; and the burning of the 
 Aeadem)- at the general conflagration at Kingston, 1777, by the British, 
 necessarily suspended instruction for a time. Its trustees soon commenced 
 
41 
 
 TO repair damages, prepared for its reopening and reconstructed the Aca- 
 demic Hall. The stone building on the southwest corner of John and Crown 
 streets, then occupied as a private residence, was erected and prepared for 
 the accommodation of the Academy, and Mr, Timothy T. Smith was em- 
 ployed as principal December 1, 1792, and notified the public thereof. 
 After its reopening, on the 21st of February, 1794, it again resumed its 
 course of prosperity and celebrity. The trustees of Kingston applied to the 
 Regents of the University of the State of New York for its incorporation. 
 On the 3d of February, 1792, the document was signed by George Clinton 
 as Chancellor. The distinguished character of this institution for many 
 succeeding years and the names of the eminent men of its alumni testify to 
 the wisdom of its policy. Among its alumni are llev. Dr. Brodhead, Kev. 
 Dr. Thomas DeWitt, Rev. Dr. C. D. Westbrook, and Rev. Dr. Ostrander, 
 who received their preparatory education for college. Its semi-annual ex- 
 amination was looked forward to with great expectations of delight by citi- 
 zens of Kingston and surrounding country, both old and young, and weeks 
 preceding the event preparations were made for its fitting celebration. At 
 a meeting of the trustees, iMay 2, 1 800, the death of John Addison, the late 
 senior trustee, was announced. The seniority fell upon the Rev. George I. 
 L. Doll. Mr. Smith having resigned his position as principal August 1, 
 1801, Rev. David Warden was appointed principal tutor. On the 1st day 
 of October, 1802, pursuant to a law passed March 8, 1802, Rev. George I. 
 L. Doll, ttie then senior trustee, was unanimously elected First President of 
 the Board. Previous to that the senior performed the duties of presiding 
 officer under the title of Mr. Senior. At a meeting of the trustees of the 
 Academy on the 81st day of January, 1804, they resolved to make applica- 
 tion to the Regents of the University to found a college. The establish- 
 ment of a college having been denied, the corporation of Kingston conveyed 
 the whole of the real property which had been designed for a college fund 
 to the trustees of the Kingston Academy, conveying 800 acres of land, in- 
 cluding the triangular lot in Kingston upon which in 1834 the present 
 Academy was erected. 
 
 The writer of this article will state that on or about 1804, General John 
 Armstrong, known as the boy soldier of the Revolution, Brigadier-General 
 at twenty-five, author of the celebrated Newburgh Letters, and aid to Gen. 
 Gates at the taking of Burgoyne's army, removed to Kingston from Rhine- 
 beck for the better education of his children. To receive the benefits aris- 
 ing from the Kingston Academy under charge of Rev. Mr. Warden (one of 
 those children was afterwards the late Mrs. Win. B. Astor, of New York), 
 he hired from Mrs. Peter Van Gaasbeek and daughter the old Senate House 
 of 1777, Kingston, she having removed therefrom and resided with her sis- 
 ter, the late Mrs. Rachel Beekman. During its occupancy by General 
 Armstrong, his brother-in-law, Chancellor Livingston, having returned as 
 Minister to the French Court, this eminent man having filled the offices of 
 United States Senator and Secretary of War, was appointed as his successor 
 as ^linister to the French Court. General Armstrong engaged Professor 
 
42 
 
 Warden to accompany him to France ; he thereupon resigned his office as 
 Principal of Kingston Academy. 
 
 At a meeting of the trustees held on the •27th of March, 1830, it was re- 
 solved to build a new Academy of brick on the triangular lot. The old 
 Academy building was sold at auction on the 17th of April, 1830. A con- 
 tract was made to build the Academy in 1834. Mr. Hubbard resigned as 
 principal, and Mr. Isaac A. Blauvelt was appointed to succeed him. On 
 the 81st of December, 183o, Rev. Dr. Gosman, second president, resigned, 
 and Rev. Dr. John Lillie was elected President of the Board. 
 
 In 1883 Professor Cheney had been for three years the Principal of the 
 Academy, and his administration has been eminently successful. The en- 
 largement of the Academy edifice has become necessary,, and I am gratified 
 to hear that this ancient institution is now again in a flourishing condition, 
 and last evening (June 30th) was held the 109th Annual Commencement in 
 Music Hall, and was witnessed by a very delighted audience. 
 / The writer of this article is not a native of Kingston. About twenty 
 / years ago he visited the west, beyond St. Paul, saw many of its prominent 
 J cities and places and found that its most prominent were on the west side of 
 1 the Mississippi. The same thing will be noticed hereafter on our magnifi- 
 I cent Hudson. On my return, arriving at Rhinebeck on my way to Xew 
 York (my place of residence the greater part of my life), my eyes were di- 
 verted to the Catskills and its glorious scenery, and observed that in all my 
 travels west there was nothing to compare with the varied and magnificent 
 scenery of Kingston. I had then no pecuniary interest in Kingston what- 
 ever. About 1871 I showed Dr. Hoes Miller's History of New York, pub- 
 _ lished in London in 1G95 (he subsequently procured a copy). . In it were 
 plans of three places. New Amsterdam (now New York), Fort Orange (now 
 Albany), and Kingston, each dated 1695— the only places then of any ac- 
 count in the province of New York. At the time when Congress was se- 
 lecting the site for the capital of the nation, the several states were called 
 upon to name a suitable place. The State of New York named Kingston : 
 Washington, however, was selected. 
 
 In General Sharpe's statement of the old houses now standing at Kino-s- 
 ton, the walls of which survived the burning, I think he named forty-six in 
 all. These are our venerable buildings, among which is the Senate House 
 of the State in 1777, where the first Senate was held in the year of the 
 adoption of its first Constitution, of which that great man. Chief Justice 
 Jay, was the author. The walls of this building were erected by Kingston's 
 prominent citizen. Col. Wessel Ten Broeck the elder, about 1676. On the 
 records in the Ulster County Clerk's office, on his being inducted into pub- 
 lic office, is his affidavit made about 1070, stating that he was then 40 years 
 old. On the death of the illustrious Thomas Chambers, owner of the Manor 
 
43 
 
 of Foxhall, Col. Wessel TenBroeck married his widow. In the annals of 
 Albany it is stated that the TenBroecks' ancestors were descended from the 
 Wessels. He was without doubt the great ancestor of all that bear his 
 honored name. 
 
 Citizens of Kingston, preserve these ancient buildings erected on streets 
 laid out by the friend of Kingston, the late Colonial Grovernor Petrus Stuy- 
 vesant, more than 200 years ago, as monuments to remind us of the early 
 sufferings and privations endured by our heroic ancestors from savage and 
 Christian foes. They are, however, slowly disappearing before the changes 
 incident to the onward march of time. Preserve them as relics of a heroic 
 and suffering period, and as vestiges of our country's glory and achieve- 
 ments. 
 
 The writer in compiling this article, which he voluntarily assumed, pre- 
 pared it for publication in one week. Instead of one, four weeks' time should 
 have been allowed to complete what was intended to aid our public spirited 
 men who have completed important public works for the pi'osperity of Kings- 
 ton and the welfare of its citizens. I am indebted to Hon. Mr. Lounsbery, 
 Mr. Schepmoes, City Clerk, Gen. Sharpe, Mr. Coykendall, Cornelius Bur- 
 hans and Mr. Lindsley for valuable information to aid me in this matter. 
 
 Frederick Edward Westbrook. 
 
 Kingston, June 25, 1883. 
 
COMPLIMENTARY LETTERS. 
 
 Among numerous letters received reLative to Kingston Senate House, the 
 writer will insert copies of only a few thereof. He was desirous of includ- 
 ing a letter received from Martha J. Lamb, the elegant and accomplished 
 historian of the city of New York, which letter being mislaid, in. lieu there- 
 of will insert a copy of one received from the former owner and editor of the 
 Kingston Daily Freeman and Weekly Freeman and Journal, Mr. Charles 
 Marseilles, whose health is substantially restored. Commencing said copies 
 with two received from the late distinguished President Hasbrouck, of Rut- 
 gers College, New Jersey ; also in their order of dates, one from that emi- 
 nent historian, Hon. Benson J. Lossing. 
 
 Kingston, N. Y., April 7, 1875. 
 Dear Sir : — 
 
 I can give you no further information relative to the house you speak of 
 [meaning Senate House], now occupied by my friend, Re^. Dr. Van Sant- 
 voord, beyond what is mentioned in your letter of inquiry. The facts as 
 stated by 3Irs. TenBroeck are no doubt authentic. As I mentioned to you 
 in our last interview, I remember that Gen. Armstrong occupied the house 
 with his family at the time of his appointment to the French Embassy by 
 President Jefferson. 
 
 I sympathize with your eft'orts to perpetuate the history of this old settle- 
 ment datmg back as long as 1<)14, when a fort was erected in this vicinity. 
 The traditions of the past are fast fading away. I trust you will succeed in 
 gathering them up. 
 
 Ptespectfully yours, 
 
 „ , „ „, A. Bruyn Hasbrouck. 
 
 Fred k E, Westbrook, Esq., New York City. 
 
 ,, ^ „. Kingston, N. Y., May 18, 1875. 
 
 J\iy Dear Sir : — 
 
 A score of the little hindrances that are apt to occur even in the leisurely 
 path of an aged man have prevented me from making an earlier acknowl- 
 edgement of your kind letter. I needed not this demonstration of your love 
 of antiquarian research in a county in which you are by descent so closely 
 associated. 
 
45 
 
 Our Ulster Historical Society commenced well. The war called away 
 most of our active members, and its meetings were suspended during its 
 progress. I made one or two unsuccessful efforts afterwards to revive it 
 and resign my presidency for a more efficient superintendence, but nothing 
 has of late been done and the society now, if not dead, is at least in a very 
 sound sleep. A rich mine is still to be worked which the society only 
 opened. 
 
 I regret to say our collections are out of print and T fear I shall not be 
 able to supply your wants. I have from time to time applications made to 
 me, even from distant States, for copies of our collections, which I regret 
 I cannot furnish. You are fortunate in procuring the two numbers you men- 
 tion. Among other papers which would interest you are papers on the set- 
 tlement of Xew Paltz, by Edmund Elting ; a history of the church there 
 from its first establishment by the Huguenots, by Dr. Stitt, and a very full 
 history of Vaughan's expedition up the Hudson and the burning of Kings- 
 ton, &c., by Col. Pratt, whose death was a severe loss to the society. 
 
 If any of these, or others which you have not, should unexpectedly fall in 
 my way you shall have them. 
 
 Believe me, resp'y yours, 
 
 A. Bruyn Hasbrouck. 
 
 Fred'k E. Westbrook, Esq., New York. 
 
 The Ridge, Dover Plains, May 28, 1883. 
 My Dear Sir : — 
 
 Please accept my cordial thanks for your kind courtesy in sending me an 
 impression of an engraving of your summer residence at Kingston, the old 
 Senate House of 1777, and hallowed by the lapse of years since it was built 
 and by the precious historical associations which cluster around it. 
 
 In 1848, while at Kingston, I made a sketch of a stone house on the 
 south-west corner of Maiden Lane and Fair street, then the residence of 
 Mr. Baldwin (since torn down). I was then informed that the house named 
 was the one in which the State Convention was held when that body adopted 
 the State Constitution. 
 
 I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you at Fishkill next Saturday on 
 the occasion of a Centennial celebration, where I expect to have the pleas- 
 ure and profit of listening to a historical oration from the lips of your 
 brother, Judge T. R. Westbrook. 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
 Benson J. Lossing. 
 
 Frederick E. Westbrook, Esq. 
 
 Exeter, New Hampshire, August 27, 1883. 
 Fred. E. Westbrook, Esq. : 
 
 My Dear Sir : — I see by the Freeman, which I receive daily, that you- 
 are still in Kingston, and that you had the old Senate House gorgeously 
 
46 
 
 decorated on the occasion of the recent Firemen's Convention in that city. 
 ^m. * * jf (i,g State had more public-spirited citizens like you the old 
 Senate House would not remain lonp- the property of a private citizen, but 
 would become the pr()i)erty of the State. The State ought, certainly, to be 
 in the possession for all time of that building, which fills so important a 
 place in the history of New York. 
 
 I understand that the population of Kingston is rapidly increasing. By 
 the way, perhaps you are aware that Exeter, here in New Hampshire, was 
 the original capital of the State as Kingston was of New York. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 Charles Marseilles. 
 
 Newburgh, N. Y., Sept. 5th, 1883. 
 Fred. E. Westbrook, Esq : 
 
 My Dear Sir : — Please accept my thanks for your reminiscences of the 
 early history of the city of Kingston, and especially the photograph of the 
 Wessel Ten Broeck mansion, since occupied as the Senate building of 1777. 
 Although personally unacquainted with you, I knew your father, Rev. Dr. 
 Westbrook, quite well, and recollect distinctly his accepting the editorial 
 department of the Christian Infelligencer, at its inception, and which I have 
 continued to read from that day. It was my pleasure to spend a week in 
 Kinsrston during the session of General Synod, some years since, where I 
 enjoyed the hosi)itality of your brother, Judge Westbrook, with whom and 
 his family I formed a very pleasant acquaintance ; to whom please extend 
 my regards. 
 
 Hoping we may in the near future become more intimately acquainted, 
 I am 
 
 Sincerely and truly yours, 
 
 Thomas Jessup. 
 
 FlSHKILL-ON-TIIE-HuDSON, Sept. 18, 1883. 
 .My dear Mr. Wesf brook : — 
 
 I acknowledge with pleasure your interesting and welcome letter, and 
 warmly congratulate you on the success which your historical writings are 
 receiving. I shall be very happy to see your pamphlet. I suppose you 
 have seen in the last Harper''s Weekly, Sept. 15th, a picture of your historic 
 Senate House, in the interesting article on the old capital at Albany, re- 
 cently taken down. 
 
 I am, as you know, very fond of such historical studies, and they open to 
 me fields of rare delight. 
 
 1 thank you for your kind mention of my Fishkill centennial address. 
 
 Your brother gave an eloquent address, and Judge Graham, of Newburgh, 
 acquitted himself well. 
 
 Very truly, with kind remembrance to the Judge, 
 
 J. Hervey Cook. 
 
CLOSING REMARKS. 
 
 THE FISHKILL CENTENNIAL. 
 
 June 2, 1888, was a grand day for glorious old Fishkill, Dutchess Coun- 
 ty, N. Y., (writer's native town). Five thousand persons participated in 
 the Fishkill Centennial of the disbandnient of a detachment of Washington's 
 army at Fishkill village during its five years' service in the war of the Rev- 
 olution. The house which Washington occupied while at Fishkill, still 
 standing, was the residence of Colonel John Brinckerhoof, a man of distin- 
 guished reputation, and with whom Washington advised and frequently spent 
 days at his home. 
 
 At 2.30 P. M., a Revolutionary cannon was fired thirteen times in honor 
 of the then thirteen States, and the procession moved, headed by Piano's 
 band ; next was Dr. C. Kittridge's choir of male singers, next the Fishkill 
 centennial committee, the clergy, the speakers and the thirty-eight young 
 ladies representing the thirty-eight states. 
 
 Hon. Benson J. Lossing was chairman, assisted by thirteen vice-presi- 
 dents. Among these were Mr. Brett, over ninety years of age, and General 
 Schofield, an officer in the army of 1812. 
 
 The proceedings commenced with prayer by Rev. Robert Yan Kleeek, 
 followed by Judge Monell, of Fishkill, chairman of the committee of ar- 
 rangements, who delivered an able address. When alluding to the thirty- 
 eight young ladies on the platform, the judge said blushingly : "The repre- 
 sentatives of the stars, and the blue ground of the flag ; also. Heaven's first 
 best gift to man. Let the toast be, ' Dear woman,' and let the band respond." 
 This seemed to largely increase the fervor and the patriotism of the occasion. 
 
 Mr. Lossing then introduced Hon. T. R. Westbrook, of Kingston, who 
 delivered the first historical address. Then followed J. Hervey Cook, 
 Esq., the historian of Fishkill, who delivered an able address. Judge 
 Graham, of Newburgh, was the next speaker. He was listened to with 
 marked attention. Mr. Lossing then announced that a poem by Mary 
 Westbrook would be published with the proceedings. 
 
 Music, prayer, and the benediction by Rev. Mr. Thomas, pastor of the 
 Revolutionary Dutch church of the village, closed the proceedings, which 
 will long be remembered by all present. 
 
48 
 
 THE NEWBURGH CENTENNIAL. 
 
 October 18, 1883, at Washington's beaLlquarters, city of Newburgli, will 
 be celebrated with great ponipt and splendor the one hundredth anniversary 
 of its occupation by the illustrious Washington, at the closing scenes of the 
 successful war for liberty and independence, on that august and memorable 
 occasion in the presence of the President of the United States and represen- 
 tatives from many of its states and others who will on that occasion assem- 
 ble to witness the laying of the corner stone of the monument for which 
 Congress has appropriated $35,000, to hear the statesman and orator, Mr. 
 Evarts ; to see the grand pai'ade and ships of the American navy riding at 
 anchor gracing the silvery waters of the majestic Hudson ; the grand old 
 Fishkill mountains with their rich and fertile valleys (the native town of the 
 writer), all conspiring to cause the bay of Newburgh always to be the most 
 conunanding and most beautiful view that presents itself to the beholder any- 
 where on the waters of the noble Hudson, which on this occasion will present 
 ap-^nimated and never to be forgotten scene. 
 / Newburgh has its honored Headquarters ; Kingston possesses the old 
 Senate House of 1777, whose walls survive the lapse of time and the power 
 and efforts of the enemy, and will continue for centuries to come. Guard 
 and protect these venerable relics of a suffering period, as monuments 
 to perpetuate the remembrance of the actors of those mighty scenes, long 
 sleeping in death, and of our country's glory, and to serve as a fraternal 
 bond of union that ought always to exist between the cities of Newburgh and 
 Kingston, who were at an early period sharers in common sufferings, as they 
 ^re now enjoying the blessing of lasting peace. 
 
 General Arthur, President of the United States, who is to be present, has 
 visited Kingston's Senate House on a former occasion. 
 
 Let there be a general movement of the patriots of Kingston for New- 
 burgh on the 18th of October (within one hour's ride) to witness this grand 
 uprising of the people on that memorable day. 
 
 Frederick Edward Westbrook. 
 
 Kingston, October 16, 1883.