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OF STUDIES IN
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; \ A!
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V iREFORMED CHURCH, CREENWICH, N, Y.HISTORY
OF THE
TOWN OF GREENWICH,
FROM THE
earliest settlement,
to TIIE
Centennial Anniversary of our National Independence; including also, an
Oration delivered by Hon, D. A. Boies, at Greenwich,
N. Y„ July 4th, 1876.
COMPILED BY ELISHA P. THURSTON.
SALEM, N. Y:
H. D. MORRIS, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER,
1876.Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877,
BY ELTSHA P. THURSTON,
the Clerk’s Ortice of the District Court of the Northern District of New
York.INTRODUCTION
In presenting this little work to the people of Greenwich
and vicinity, the author has only to say, that in the collation
of facts concerning the earlier events of the locality now
claiming the name of the “ Town of Greenwich,” he has been
obliged to throw out much which has been handed down as
truth and has given tradition only where it seemed in absolute
conformity with established facts. To ascertain the measure
of credence which may properly be given to the legendary
history of a town, requires much time and research, combined
with judicial discrimination. The author in compiling this
pamphlet, has labored faithfully to eliminate the errors which
have grown into the unwritten history of the town, and to
which many cling tenaciously. He has given, as far as he has
been able to obtain them, all important matters connected
with the town’s history, of which authentic records have been
kept, as fully as the plan of his work permitted. There are
some things, in regard to which competent authorities differ.
In such instances, the views of both parties are given in
these pages, with such comments and estimates of conflicting
probabilities as have presented themselves to the best judg-
ment of the author. For many of the facts that make up thissketch, he feels himself under obligations to several residents of
this and adjoining towns. Particularly he desires to express
his heartfelt thanks to Rev. J. O. Mason, of Greenwich, and
Asa Fitch, M. D., of Salem, from whom much valuable infor-
mation has been obtained.*
Conscious that the scope of this work renders impossible
the elaboration of many matters of which the details might be
interesting, the author yet feels confident that his first historical
effort will not prove valueless to the communit}^ for which
it was prepared.
Greenwich, N. Y., August 20, 1876.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
CHAP. 1.
Description of the Town—The Saratoga Patent—Early Settlements
by the Dutch—The Log Fort—Its destruction—Retirement of the
Dutch Settlers to Albany during the French and Indian War—
Other Patents from which the town was formed.
The town of Greenwich is situated in the southern half of
the county of Washington, with the Hudson River as its
Western boundary, the Battenkill forming its line of division
from Easton and Jackson on the South, while it adjoins Salem
on the East and Argyle and Fort Edward on the North, to
complete its boundary lines. The town is about twelve miles
in length from east to west, with an average width of five
miles and contains about 26,000 acres of excellent land, which is
somewhat rolling in its topographical aspects, but forms,
nevertheless, one of the most beautiful, as well as the most fer-
tile localities in this section of New York state. A prominent
feature in the topography of the locality is Bald Mountain, sit-
uated in the northern portion of the town. This mountain
has an eminence of 912 feet above tide-water, is a mile or more
in length, and is made up of a superior quality of blue lime-
stone. It forms one of a range of hills running north through
the county into Hampton and thence to Vermont. Eminent
geologists have studied the rocks composing this mountain, but6
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
are as yet scarcely agreed as to what strata its formation be-
longs, as it presents many peculiarities not elsewere observa-
ble ; and this elevation has become, according to Dr. Fitch,
(from whose published writings these particulars arc gleaned),
“Classic ground to the votaries of science.” This mountain
is the most considerable elevation in the town, although some
of the minor acclivities stand out with picturesque boldness.
The Battenkill river, which as before slated, constitutes a por-
tion of the town boundaries, forms a feature of its landscape,
in its romantic windings, that contributes not a little to the
beauty and attractiveness of the locality. The stream has its rise
in Dorset, Vermont, and after a course of 20 miles enters this
state, through wdiich it runs 24 miles to its mouth. In the
town of Greenwich, it passes through East Greenwich, Batten-
ville, Center Falls, Greenwich, Middle Falls (Galesville), and
thence to Clark’s Mills, where it unites with the Hudson. At
these different points it has been the motive power of the bus-
iness industries of the town.' At Center Falls it has a natural
fall of 17 feet, at Middle Falls one of about 40 feet and half a
mile farther down, at “ Big Falls,” it has an abrupt descent of
70 feet. The last are called “ The falls of the Dionondehowa,”
from the Iroquois name for the Battenkill. These falls attract
much attention from visitors from abroad ; the overhanging
trees, jagged rocks and bounding waters, uniting to make the
scenery w ild and thrilling. Another point of attraction is the
beautiful lake known as “Cossayuna,” or to give the translation
furnished to Dr. Fitch by the Indians, “The lake at our
Pines,” a name appropriate to the place in early times. It
is situated on the northern border of the town of Greenwich,
lying partly in Argyle and is a pretty sheet of water, highly
esteemed by residents of the vicinity as a fishing-ground.
The island at its center is the picnic-grove for adjacent towns.
Its outlet, “ Cossayuna Creek,” which empties into the Batten-
kill near the present residence of Clark Woodard, was in its
course, followed by the Massachusetts Indians in their annual
hunting excursions, through this section, long before the axe
and rifle of the white man had disturbed the wilderness echoes
The fertility of the lands in this region and the superior
mill privileges easily and cheaply attainable, early attracted
the attention of enterprising men, and patents wTere issued inHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
7
a lavish manner, by the provincial government of the colony
of New York, always on payment of fees which showed these
officials to have been no unworthy progenitors of high officials
in the state at the present day. The first patent issued which
covered any portion of the present town ot Greenwich, is that
known as the Saratoga Patent, which was granted November
4lh, 1684, under the provincial administration of Thomas
Dougan. The grantees were Cornelius Vandyke, John John-
son Bleeker, Peter Philip Schuyler (a great-uncle of Gen Philip
Schuyler of Revolutionary fame), Johannes Wendell, Dirck
Wessells, David Schuyler and Robert Livingston. Vandyke
sold a portion of his share (that east of the Hudson river), to
William Kettlelmyn and Killyan DeRidder in 1685. The pat-
ent covered two towns on the west side of the Hudson river,
and the town of Easton and a portion of the town of Green-
wich, on the east side of that river. “The original grant,”
says Dr. Fitcii, “does not appear to have been recorded. The
proprietors subsequently applied for and Oct. 9th, 1708, ob-
tained a renewal of it, in which that portion of the patent
falling within this county, is described as follows ; ‘ And from
the Last Terminacion by a Straight Line to be drawn East, to
the North side of the Mouth of Creek Dionondehowe (Batten-
kill), and from thence continued East Six Miles into the Woods
on the East Side of Hudson’s River and from thence by a Line
Southerly Parallel to the course of said Hudson's River and
Six Miles Distant from the same soe farr Southerly until it
come Opposite to and bear Six Miles Distant from the North
Side of the Mouth of Schaacliook Kill (Hoosic river) which is
the Bounds of Schaacliook Patent Late belonging to Henry
Van Rensselaer.’ (Patents, Vol. 7, p. 375-379) * * * The
north east corner of the patent being in the town of Greenwich
nearly two miles north of Center Falls.” At the time of the
re-issue of the patent, its ownership had changed somewhat,
the share of Vandyke being owned by his grandson Cornelius ;
David Schuyler’s share by Peter and Robert Schuyler ; while
Johannes Schuyler owned the share of Johannes Wendell.
It is probable that scattering settlements were made along
the banks of the Battenkill, almost immediately after this, by
Dutch families from the vicinity of Albany, as we note that in
1709, a military road was built to Whitehall, via Fort Edward,8
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
from the north side of the Battenkill. In 1731 a stockade and
log fort was built on the summit of one of the river hills op-
posite Schuylerville, about one mile south of the present road
leading from that village to Galesville, on the Easton side
of the Battenkill, for the protection of settlers residing near
that stream. The colony did not extend far, as Indian incur-
sions kept the settlers in a state of almost constant alarm, and,
as will he seen, finally compelled their withdrawal from the
neighborhood.
As collateral evidence going to show that considerable settle-
ments were made on the Battenkill at this early period, and
detailing also the occurrences that led to their abandonment,
we quote the following from an historical sketch of “ Old
Saratoga,” recently prepared by Gen. E. F. Bullard. After
referring to the construction of the military road, he says :
“ As the (Hudson) river was navigable from Stillwater rapids
north to the Battenkill, about 13 miles, most of the travel here
was by water, and as the landing for the north to connect with
the new road was on the east side of the river, it is evi-
dent that the village (Schuylerville or old Saratoga) in the early
part of the last century, was partly on that side of the river.
The fort at Crown Point was erected in 1731 by the French,
and soon after the English built a fort at ‘ Saratoga.’ The lat-
ter was located on the second highland south of the mouth of
the Battenkill in what was then Saratoga, but now in
the county of Washington, and was upon the farm now
owned by Simon Sheldon, whose ancestors have occupied the
same about a century. In November, 1745, about thirty two
years before Burgoyne’s surrender, the village then called Sar-
atoga was destroyed by the French and Indians. In Lossing’s
history of the Schuyler family, he makes the date November
28, but in Stone’s history of the life and times of Sir William
Johnson, he puts the date at November 17, and the latter
would seem the more reliable date, as the massacre was the
cause of an angry dispute between George Clinton, then Gov-
ernor, and the colonial assembly then in session in New York,
and the records of that assembly show that it adjourned No-
vember 28 At that period it is evident that this was the ex-
treme outpost of the English on this frontier. The village
consisted of about thirty families and over one hundred per-HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
9
sons, many of whom were slaves. As the fort was then on the
east side of the river, there can be no reasonable doubt that
the main part of the village was yet on the same side of the
river, although the Schuyler residence and some of the mills,
were on the west side. This attack was made by the Indians
and French at the dead hour of night, without warning, and
many persons killed and 109 captured and taken to Canada.
The fort* was destroyed ; every house burned, and every build-
ing except one saw mill which was not discovered. We have
not been able to locate that mill, but judge from circumstances
it must have been on the Battenkill, about half a mile up
stream and east of the Hudson river where the Clark’s Mills
now stand. Capt. Schuyler was killed in his own house while
bravely defending himself, as were many others. Capt. Pe-
ter Schuyler was an uncle of Gen. Philip Schuyler, whose
buildings were burned by Burgoyne 32 years later. In 1746
the fort on the east side of the river was rebuilt by order of
the legislature, and was mainly constructed of logs and timber,
on the heights overlooking the river, and it was then named
Fort Clinton in honor of the governor. This fort should not
be confounded with the intrenchments, thrown up in 1777,
further south, and opposite Schuylerville which the Americans
made to cut off the retreat of Burgoyne. In 1747, the war on
'Doctor Fitch, fixes the date of this massacre at November 16, which is
undoubtedly correct, as in a despatch sent to England by Governor Clin-
ton, November 30, 1745, the following statement appears : “ I received an
account on the 19th inst., by express from Albany, that a party of French
and their Indians had cut off a settlement In this Province, called Saragh-
toge, about fifty miles from Albany, and that about twenty houses
with a Fort (which the publick would not repair), were burned to ashes,
thirty persons killed and scalped, and about sixty taken prisoners.”
It is improbable that Governor Clinton could have received the above de-
spatch in New York, within two days after' the massacre, from a distance
of two hundred miles. We must, therefore fix the date as November 16th.
Kalm, the Swedish naturalist who passed through this region about four
years after the occurrence, gives an account which differs in some respects
from that given by Gen. Bullard, and may be considered entirely authen-
tic, He says : “ A party of French, with their Indians, concealed them-
selves by night in a thicket near the fort. In the morning, some of their
Indians, as they had previously resolved, went to have a nearer view of
the fort. The English fired upon them as soon as they saw them at a dis-
tance; the Indians pretended to be wounded, fell down, got up again, ran
a little way and dropped again. About half the garrison rushed out to
take them pnsouers, but as soon as they were come up with them the
French and the remaining Indians came out of the bushes betwixt the for-
tress and the English, surrounded them and took them prisoners. Those
who remained in the fort had hardly time to shut the gates, nor could they
fire upon the enemy, because they equally exposed their countrymen to
danger, and they were vexed to see their enemies take and carry them off
in their sight and under their cannon.”10
ITISTOKY OF GREENWICH.
this frontier continued. At one time Col. Peter Schuyler oc-
cupied this fort, with New Jersey troops. The inhabitants
were in continual alarm. Sir William Johnson came up from
Albany with an army, and passed this point, but did not meet
any large force of the enemy and returned. As soon as any
large force was withdrawn, the defenceless inhabitants would
again be left exposed to the tomakawk. In the feeble state of the
colony, the authorities concluded that fall, to abandon the
post, and the stores and amunition were then transported back
to Albany and the fort burned, December 1, 1747. From that
time forward, for some years, this whole country was aban-
doned to the French and Indians, and Albany was the northern
English outpost.”
In 1782, or about the date of the erection of this fort, Wil-
liam Kettlehuyn, a merchant of Albany, before mentioned as
a purchaser of a portion of Vandyke’s interest in the Saratoga
Patent, in connection with Cornelius Cuyler, yeoman,
also of Albany, applied for a grant of land adjoining that
pat ent, claiming to have purchased it the preceding year of the
Indians. May 6tli, 1732, a patent was issued, 850 acres being
given to Kettlehuyn, and 750 acres to Cuyler, the lands being
situated near the Hudson and at only a moderate distance from
the fort. It seems probable that settlements were made here,
but abandoned on the destruction of the fort. No permanent
utilization of these lands was thereafter attempted until the
close of the French and Indian wars in 1763.
January 5th, 1763, Donald, George and James Campbell,
three brothers, sons of Capt. Laughlin Campbell, petitioned for
a grant of 100,000 acres of land, ‘‘ to be elected in one tract,
on or near the Wood Creek, between the falls of that Creek on
the north and Battenkill on the South, a line twenty miles
from Hudson’s river on the east, and that river on the east
side of Lake George and a south line thence to Hudson’s river
on the west.” Of course this was considered by the Commis-
sioners. an exorbitant demand ; but November 11th, of that
year, a patent of 10,000 acres in the present town of Green-
wich, just north of the Saratoga Patent, was issued to the
Campbell brothers, their three sisters, Rose Graham, Margaret
Eustace and Lilly Murray and four others : Allan Campbell,
John Campbell, Sr. James Calder and John Campbell, Jr. Dr.11
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
Fitch states that at the commencement and during the Revo-
lutionary war, the patent was sparsely settled by a few Dutch
families, and that the land so far as is known, was owned by
the eldest of the three brothers, Gen. Donald Campbell, who
espoused the patriot cause, while the other brothers were
tories. After the war, all traces of the family disappeared.
It may not be out of place here to note the fact, that twenty-
six years before this grant to liis sons, the father, Captain
Laughlin Campbell, induced by the proclamation of the gov-
ernor of the province of Hew York, offering liberal terms to
settlers, visited this county and was very much pleased with
the location. Lieut. Gov. Clark, then acting governor of the
province, urged Captain Campbell to found a colony here,
promising him a grant of 30,000 acres of land, free from all
charges except those of the survey and the king’s quit-rent.
Inspirited by these fine promises, he sold his estates on the
island of Isla and immigrated to this country with eighty-three
Scotch families (423 adults and many children), whose expenses
he defrayed. A portion of them cafhe with him in 1738, and
others at differant times up to 1740. Imagine the disappoint-
ment and chagrin of Captain Campbell, when the Governor
and Surveyor-General of the province refused to make the
grant without the large fees, which, in liis case, they had prom-
ised not to exact. Captain Campbell would not submit to this
extortion, and applied to the legislative assembly tor redress,
but unsuccessfully, as he steadfastly refused to share the prom-
ised grant with the avaricious officers of the province. Pur-
suing the matter with spirit, he memorialized the Board of
Trade in England, but his means became exhausted before a
satisfactory result could be arrived at, and he settled upon a
small farm, where he resided (except while serving under the
Duke of Cumberland during ti e rebellion in Scotland in 1745)
the remainder of his life. The granting of the Campbell Pat-
ent m Greenwich to his sons, was therefore, only an act of tar-
dy justice to the family of the sturdy and upright Scotchman.
The success of his sons, encouraged some of the poor men
who came with him lo the locality, to petition also for a grant,
of land, and March 2d, 1764, Alexander McNachten (Me.
Naughton), with one hundred and six others of the original
Oampell immigrants, petitioned for 1,000 acres to be granted to12
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
each of them “ to be laid out in a single tract between the
head of South bay and Kingsbury, and reaching east towards
New Hampshire and westwardly to the mountains in Warren
county. The committee of the Council to whom this petition
was referred, reported May 21st, recommending that 47,450
acres should be granted to them, between the tract already
granted to Schuyler and others (Fort Edward), and the tract
proposed to be granted to Turner and others (Salem). The
grant was made out in conformity with the recommenda-
tion of the council, and specifies the amount of land that
each individual of the petitioners is to receive, two hun-
dred acres being* the least and six hundred acres being the
most that any individual obtains. It also appoints five men as
trustees, to divide and distribute the lands as directed. By
the same instrument, the tract was incorporated as a township,
to be named Argyle, and to have a supervisor, treasurer, col-
lector, two assessors, two overseers of highways, two overseers
of the poor and six constables, to be elected annually by the
inhabitants on the first day-of May.” Dr Fitch, further says,
“ It is commonly reported and is currently believed to this day,
that this town was granted directly from the king. This is er-
roneous. The charter emanated from the same source with,
and is in all respects similar to the charters of the adjoining
towns.” This grant included a large portion of what is now
the northern half of the town of Greenwich.
The patents thus briefly described as making up the area of
the town, were, with the exception of Saratoga, subject to the
following conditions under which, at that period, all public
lands were granted, viz: “An annual quit-rent of two shil-
lings and sixpence Stirling was imposed on every one hundred
acres, and all mines of gold and silver, and all pine trees suit-
able for masts for the royal navy, namely all which were
twenty-four inches or more in diameter twelve inches from the
ground, were reserved to the crown.”HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
13
CHAP. II.
The Settlement of the Town—The Argyle or ‘ ‘ Scotch” Patent -first
settled—The Pioneer—The First House—Other Early Settlers—
First Civil Process—Archibald Campbell First—Settlement of the
Tefft Family in the Saratoga Patent—The First Saw-Mill—Rhode
Island Families—Incidents —The First Crist-Mill—The First
Public Burying- Qrou n d.
The close ot the French and Indian war, rendered the settle-
ment of lands adjoining the Northern Hudson, both practicable
and safe. Slowly but surely, the tide of immigration set this
way, not only from the old world, but from the more populous
colonies of the new. The forests, that for ages had sheltered
the earth from the sun’s rays, began to fall before the woods-
man’s axe, and to give place to the needs of a developing civ-
ilization. The streams that had flowed for centuries, rippled
(fnly by the plunge of the water-fowl, or the bark canoe of the
savage, began, in their restricted and perverted courses, to be
the propelling force of unending industries. The land, en-
riched in the lapse of time, by the decay of its spontaneous
products, responded with generous crops to artificial culture,
and a few short years saw the locality peopled with a race of
strong and sturdy men.
The first man known to have attempted a permanent settle-
ment in the town, was one Rogers, a kind of desperado, who
built on the flats of the Battenkill, above the mouth of Cossa
yuna creek, as early as 1763 or 1764 (the exact time of his com-
ing is not known), and lived there for some time. Alexander
McNachtcn (McNaugluon), Archibald Livingston, Duncan
Campbell, and Roger Reed, settled near the Battenkill as allot-14
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
tees of the Argyle patent in the spring of 1765, and found him
living there and claiming title from Col. Lydius, to a tract of
land running east from Cossayuna creek to the vicinity of the
stream now known as Black creek. He warned them not to
trespass on his claim, making various threats as to what he
would do. These men knew, however, that "they had perfect
titles and went on industriously with the work of clearing their
lands and building their houses, regardless of his threats. One
day, when Livingston was away, his wife was forcibly carried
ofl and set down outside of the limits of the claim, by Rog-
ers, who then proceeded to remove the furniture from the
premises. For this act, he was subsequently arrested by Reed,
who was a constable of the old township of Argyle, assisted
by Joseph McCracken from Salem. The arrest was made un-
der a warrant from Esq. McNacliten, who had been appointed
a Justice of the Peace, and was the first civil process ever
served in this county. It was, of course, to be expected,
that a man of the reckless character of Rogers, would resist
the officers, and the result justified the expectation. Rogers
tried to defend himself with his gun, which McCracken seized.
In his endeavors to wrest it from the hands of the ruffian, he
burst the buttons from the waist-band of his pantaloons, which
as he did not wear suspenders, slipped down over his feet.
The little son of Rogers, observing McCracken’s exposed con
d it ion, and seeing his father taken at a disadvantage, ran up
and as Dr. Fitch relates, “bit him posteriorly,” but without
causing him to loose his hold of the gun. Rogers was secured
and conveyed to Albany, after which we find no trace of him.
His house was the first one erected in the town.
Different portions of Argyle township began to be settled at
this time, the survey having been completed in 1764. The lots
originally belonging to that township, but now forming a por-
tion of the town of Greenwich, were numbered and- allotted
as follows : Lot 41, 250 acres, commencing at the north-east
corner of the Campbell Patent, with its greatest length from
east to west was^ulloltcd to Catharine Shaw ; south of this
towTard the Battenkill, were nine lots, also laid out with greatest
length from east to west, and numbered and allotted in the fol-
lowing manner : lot 30, 300 acres to Angus McDougall ; lot 31,
350 acres to Donald McIntyre : lot 32, 600 acres to AlexanderHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
15
McNacliten ; lot 33, 300 acres to John McCorc ; lot 34, 350
acres, to William Fraser; lot 35, running east across Cossayuna
creek, 250 acres, to Mary Campbell ; lot 36, at the mouth of
Cossayuna creek, 450 acres, to Duncan Campbell, Sr ; lot 27,
300 acres, to Neil McFadden ; lot 38, 250 acres, to Mary Torry ;
lot 39, a triangular plot of 250 acres, to Margaret McAllister,
being the soutliermost allotment of the patent. Then, com-
mencing at the eastern boundary of lots 41, and 30 to 35, were
lots with greatest length from east to west, and numbered and
allotted as follows : Lot 40, 450 acres, to Robert Campbell Jr. ;
lot 51, 350 acres, to Charles McArthur ; lot 52, 300 acres, to
Duncan McFadden ; lot 53, 300 acres, to Roger Reed ; lot 54,
300 acres, to John McCarter ; lot 65, 300 acres, to Hugh Mont-
gomery ; lot 66, 250 acres, at the junction of White creek with
the Battenkill, to Isabella Livingston ; lot 67, 250 acres, run-
ning across W bite creek to the Battenkill, to Catharine McCar-
ter ; lot 68, 250 acres, also running to the Battenkill. to Marga-
ret Gilchrist. Besides these lots, there are several on the east
side of Cossayuna lake running north to the “street.” The
numbers and allotments are as follows : lot 42, 400 acres, to
John McGuire ; lot 43, 200 acres, to Elizabeth McNeil, also
known by the name of Campbell from her first husband,
Archibald Campbell, one of the trustees of the patent ; lot 44,
450 acres, to Duncan McArthur ; lot 29, 250 acres,*to Daniel
Clark ; lot 50, 300 acres, partially in the lake, to John McGow-
an, Sr. ; lot 55, 300 acres, to Ann Campbell ; lot 56, 350 acres,
to Archibald McCollum ; lot 57, 250 acres, to Alexander
McArthur; lot 58, 250 acres, Alex. McDonald; lot 59,500 acres,
to John McEwen ; lot 62, 300 acres, to Mary Baine ; lot 63,
300 acres, to Margaret Cargyle ; lot 64, 450 acres, to Neil
McEachern ; lot 69, 400 acres, to Hannah McEven ; lot 70,
450 acres to John Reed ; lot 71, 350 acr^s to Archibald Neviu,
making in all about 12,000 acres which were set otf from the
old township of Argyle at the formation of the town of Green-
wich. A considerable number of the allottees did not settle
j-mpon their lands, having become permanent^ and satisfactori-
ly located elsewhere. Others took up the unclaimed lands and
have never been disturbed in their possession. Other settlers
purchased lots not occupied at merely nominal prices.
Duncan Campbell, whom we have mentioned as settling on16
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
his allotment in 1765, is stated to have been the Supervisor of
the old township of Argyle, for the first ten years of its exist-
ence. Arthur Reid, in his “ Reminiscences of the Revolution,”
gives the year 1771 as the date of the township organization.
The surveyors who run the division lines in 1764, were Archi-
bald Campbell and Christopher Yates. The former was a
son of Duncan Campbell, and a brother of Mrs. Catherine
McArthur, who was wife of Duncan McArthur, and grand-
mother of John Reed who now resides in Argyle, on that por-
tion of lot 44 (drawn by Duncan McArthur), which still lies
within the limits of that town Archibald Campbell 1st, as he
was called, was a man of wealth, education and influence.
He married Flora McNeil, and soon after the suryey was com-
pleted, settled on a tract of 600 acres, which he owned in what
was then Cambridge, now Jackson. Whether this land came to
him by inheritance or purchase, we are unable to learn. He
possessed no little vanity, and was frequently heard to boast of
his distinguished family connection. His house and furniture
and his manner of living, corresponded with his pretensions.
The house which he built in the year 1800, and in which he
lived at his death, which occurred January 31st, 1808, is now
owned and occupied by John Cowan. Little change has been
made in the house, which is a handsome modern-looking struc-
ture. Mr* Campbell died at the age of 69 years. He had pri-
or to his death conveyed to his son John the tract now known
as the Lyman Woodard farm, and which ran east as far as the
' old tavern stand at the corner of the road leading to Cossayuna
lake. To his son Alexander, he had conveyed the lands now
composing the farms of Job Skellieand Alexander Maxwell on
the south side of the Battenkill. In his will, John Campbell
is not mentioned as a legatee, although all. his other children
received legacies. Duncan inherited the tract known later as
the “Dunn” place, while the remaining lands in Greenwich
were divided equally between him and his brothers Archibald
and Alexander. Archibald received the homestead, on condi-
tion that he give his mother a comfortable support during her
natural life, or if they lived separate, pay to the executors
the amount of a legacy, $750 mentioned in the will. A simi-
lar legacy was devised to Ellinor, the daughter, who married
Hon. John Crary, of Salem. John Campbell married PollyHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
17
Walker. They were the parents of Mrs. Marinus Fairchild of
Salem. Duncan Campbell, the 2d son, married Betsey Edie.
Alexander Campbell married Nellie Dyer and settled in Jack-
son, on what is now the Skellie farm. Archibald Campbell 2d,
married late in life, Sallie Fuller, who is still living, his wid-
ow, at Center Falls. Their son, Archibald Campbell 3d, now
resides in the town of Easton. This family were related, we
learn, somewhat distantly, however, to Archibald Campbell,
the trustee of the patent, who was a merchant and hotel-keeper
of the city of New York. In. his later years he removed to
Fort Edward, where he died. His widow married a Mr. Mc-
Neil, and it was from the house of this. Mrs. McNeil, that the
lamented Jane McCrea went to her cruel and bloody death.
The family of Archibald Liyingston, who settled with others
on the Argyle patent in 1765, were prominent in the communi-
ty at an early date. Livingston married a daughter of Alex-
ander McNaughton. The record of that event and of the
subsequent births, is so quaint that we cannot forbear transcrib-
ing a portion of it: “Archibald Livingston and Ellinor
McNaughton, Joined in Matrimony and Lawfully married in
Novembef 23d, In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1756, And
Since Children are Born unto them through the Blessing of
God of which the first is a girle whose name is Mary who was
born in September the 26tli, in the year 1757 ; the second a
girle also Whose Name is Margaret. She was born in May the
30th day, in the year 1759 ; the third a girle named Jennie was
born in February the 2d in 1767.” Four other children were
born to them. Alexander wTas born June 8th, 1769 ; Moses was
born March 2d, 1772 ; Margaret, June 29th, 1774 and Nellie
August 10, 1777. Alexander became a man of mark in the town
and was well known throughout the county. The people hon-
ored him by sending him to the Assembly in 1809, and again in
1812, and in 1818 he was elected for the third time. He was,
also, a member of the constitutional Convention of 1821. He
died October 23d, 1863, a*ged 94. Members of the family still
reside at East Greenwich. Of the other families that settled on
the Battenkill at that period, there is but little of interest that
is available for this sketch. There are a few incidents, show-
ing the strong characters, and sterling qualities of these pio-
neers of the town of Greenwich, of which we will give a single18
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
illustration. Roger Reed, was one of the original settlers
on the allotments of the patent, his lot being the one now oc-
cupied by his grandson, Peter Reed, on Sand street. When
he had become old, nearly 90, he expressed the wish that
his brother should have a certain portion of his property.
Some one suggested that he make a will, as otherwise, his chil-
dren would not be obliged to make the bequest over to his
brother. The fiery Scotch blood reddened the old*man’s tem-
ples and his eye flashed as he exclaimed, “ I would have you to
know my children won’t dare to do different than I tell them,’’
and they did not, though their ages ranged from 50 to 60 years.
Such was the reverence which parents received from their
children. Such were the men who commenced the settlement
of the town of Greenwich, and the strong religious sentiment
wdiich pervaded their lives has had a benign influence upon
the later settlements of the town. All of these men were
prominent in the organization of the Associate congregation of
South Argyle which took place in 1785. The Alexander Mc-
Naughton allotment covered the farm now known as the Chris-
tie farm. On the premises opposite the house is the burial plot
of the McNaughton and Livingston families, containing the
remains of these pioneers.
The next settlement in the town was in the Saratoga patent in
1766, when Judge Nathan Tefft and his two sons, Stanton and
Nathan 2d, came from South Kingston, Rhode Island, and lo-
cated in the towns of Easton and Greenwich, Judge Tefft with
his son Nathan taking by lease from Kelleyan DeRidder, the
farm now owned by his great grandson, Nathan B. Tefft, in
Easton, while Stanton Tefft took in the same manner from De-
Ridder, the farm now owned by Harvey Rogers, at Middle
Falls, and built on the Battenkill at the fine water-fall at that
point, the first saw-mill on that stream, of which we have au-
thentic information. The following mention of this mill, is
made in the field-book of the survey of the Saratoga patent,
made in 1764 by J. R. Bleeker : “whereas, we the subscribers,
Commissioners appointed for the partition of all such lands,
creeks, rivers and falls of water as remained undivided in the
Saratoga Patent, have lately proceeded to the Survey, Partition
and Balloting thereof ; and have assigned for defraying the ex-
penses accrued on the same, all the islands lying in HudsonHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
19
River between the Soutliermost and Nortliermost bounds of
the said Patent, being in all nine islands, as also two Falls of
water with four acres of land lying adjacent and convenient
to each of them, the one being the second fall on Dionondeho-
wa Creek, where Staten Tefft now has a saw-mill.” This con-
clusively proves the early date of their settlement in Green-
wich. After the marriage of Nathan 2d, Judge Tefft lived at
the house of his son Stanton, in Greenwich, until his death in
1789. The settlement of the Teffts, was the beginning of the
large influx of Rhode Island colonists, from which the Baptist
church subsequently organized. The family yet remains one
of the most prominent of the town. Soon after their arrival,
there came a man called from his powerful and sonorous voice,
“ Whispering Somes.” He saw that the land in this locality
was good, and determined to remain. There is a tradition that
after looking over the country, he ascended Bald Mountain,
and called back to Jonathan Foster, in Rhode Island, “ Come
up Captain Foster, there is good land here.” We do not vouch
for the truth of the tradition, and can only assert in support of
it the fact that “Captain Foster” did come up here in 1767 and
settled upon the farm now owned by Morgan Heath. Mr. Fos-
ter was the ancestor of several families of that name, who still
reside in Greenwich. One of his daughters married Nathan
Tanner, afterwards prominent as the first pastor of Bottskill
Baptist church. Not far from the time of Captain Foster’s
arrival, a man named Bryant settled at the foot of Bald Moun.
tain, and erected a log house of peculiar strength, to resist the
attacks of the Indians, who several times tried to gain entrance
to it, but were unable on account of the thickness of the doors
and the manner in which they were strengthened with iron.
Through some heedlessness, they did on one occasion get into
the house in the absence of the family, and tried to get at some
of the valuable possessions of the settler, wdiich they not
incorrectly supposed, were kept under the floor. The trap to
the subterranean room, defied their ingenuity and they under-
took to get through the floor with their tomahawks, but tailed
in the attempt as the floor was made of hewn logs, pinned to
heavy sleepers beneath. In after years, Mr. Bryant would
gleefully point to the gashes made by the tomahawks of the
savages, in their fruitless attempts to find his valuables. At an20
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
early date, Mr. Bryant burnt lime at the mountain. One day,
when absent with his family, he left a pan of air-slacked lime
in the house. Some Indians entered the place, and mistaking
the lime for flour, attempted to make some bread of it, but
discovering qualities in the flour with which they were not
familiar, they abandoned culinary pursuits for more congenial
duties.
Following these men, Samuel Dickinson came to Greenwich
in 1769, and located on what is now known as the Bailey place,
about half a mile east of Center Falls. His son, Thomas Dick-
inson, who lived most of his life near Bald Mountain, was
born here m 1770. In 1769 or 1770, Daniel Rose, a mill-wright
(long in the employ of Gen. Philip Schuyler, at Old Saratoga),
came to Greenwich, and erected the first grist-mill in the town
on what was then called “Foster’s Brook,” but is now known
as the “Flax-mill Brook,” on Job G. Sherman’s farm. This
mill was probably in operation as early as 1771, as Dr. Fitcii
speaks of it as having been erected before Reed’s mill at Fitch’s
Point, in the town of Salem, and that mill was completed in
1772. Mr. Rose also erected a saw-mill on the brook, and we
believe these mills to have been those called by the next gen-
eration, the “ Old Rhodes’ Mills.” We do not learn that any-
where in the county, there were mills answering as closeiy to
the traditionary descriptions of “ Rhodes’ Mills” as those built
by Daniel Rose. It seems probable that the name “Rhodes”
as applied to mills came from a misunderstanding of Rose’s
name. Robert Kenyon came to Greenwich with Rose, and
selected the farm now owned by William M. Holmes, as the
place of his future residence, but being obliged to go to Rhode
Island for money, lie found on his return, that a man named
Mosher had “squatted” on his claim, and he took the farm
now owned by Rev. William Day.
In 1772, James Rogers, 2d, father of Thomas Rogers of Bald
Mountain, and of the late James Rogers, 3d, of Middle Falls,
came from Rhode Island and settled at the mouth of the Bat-
tenkill, near the place where Clark’s Mills now stand, on lands
leased from the Lansing family of Albany. Rev., or as he was
called, “Elder” James Rogers, father of James 2d, came with
his son, and occasionally preached to the Christian'people of
the surrounding country, although he was not settled over anyHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
21
church. Abner Yrates Rogers now lives on the farm first
owned by his grandfather, James Rogers 2d. In the same year,
1772, Smith Barber, then a lad of 12 years, walked from Rhode
Island to Greenwich. After a few years he married a sister of
Nathan Rogers, who came at about the same time with him-
self and settled on the farm now owned by Horton Tefft, Mr.
Rogers taking up what is now the Center Falls tavern stand.
Smith Barber was for many years a deacon of the.Baptist
church, where his cousin, Elder Barber afterwards officiated
for many }rears as pastor. Thomas Bentley and David Tefft
located themselves in Greenwich about the period of Barber’s
coming, the first on a lot of 100 acres, just east of what is now
known as the Hannah Place property. He built a dam across
the Battenkill near his house, where remnants of it may still
be seen. He erected a saw-mill which he run for many years.
John Rogers settled near Bentley, and soon after, David Tefft
came, and erected a house on the Hannah Place lot, where he
early kept a bar, and his house was known as Tefft’s Tavern.
It was afterwards moved to where it now stands, and was long
called the “Betsey Whipple house.” It is the present resi-
dence of Amasa Rose. It owns the distinction of being the
birthplace of the celebrated preacher, Re^. E. H. Chapin, D.
D., of New York. Dr. Chapin informed the writer that his
recollections of the town were very indistinct, as he left when
he was only a few months old. His father, who was a portrait-
painter, had rented the house temporarily, while plying his
profession. This is one of the oldest houses, if not the oldest
now standing in the town. Its sides are built up of three inch
plank, dove-tailed together at the corners.
The names given above constitute the larger number of those
who settled in the town prior to the Revolution ; all indeed
whose precise situations we have been able to trace. Elder
Tanner was undoubtedly here early, as he married a daughter
of Jonathan Foster, (mentioned as one of the earlier settlers),
after he came here, and in 1792 had two married daughters, in
whose families himself and wife resided. It is not known cer-
tainly, where he first lived after his marriage, some of his liv-
ing relations placing him on the Greenwich side of the river,
near his father-in-law, while others say that he lived in the22
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
town of Easton, near the old church. There are other names
familiar at that time, but we are not at present able to locate
them.
In the Campbell patent, we note in the same range of time,
although the exact date we have been unable to obtain, that
John and Rip Van Dam Sybrandt or Seebrandt, as it was then
called, settled on the farm now owned by Horace Gavette. On
a lot belonging to this farm, opposite a large tree, the stump of
which may still be seen, was erected a log meeting house for
the use of the Baptists of the locality. This was undoubtedly
the first house of worship, erected in the town. It was aban-
doned prior to 1790, about which time it was purchased by
Jeremiah Newberry, and removed to the next farm north, and
fitted up as a dwelling. Some of its timbers may still be seen,
in the corn-house on the Newberry farm, now owned by a Mr.
Graham. Mr. Jeremiah Newberry came to Greenwich in March,
1778. His father, a soldier of the French war, present with
Wolfe at the storming of Quebec, came at the close of the
Revolution, in which he was a patriot soldier, to Greenwich,
and lived with his son until his death. A large number of
families came from Rhode Island during the war of whom we
shall speak more particularly elsewhere. One fact should be
stated here. The fiats near the ford below Taylor’s grove, were
at an early period, settled by a considerable number of people,
among them being the family of David Petteys and his son-in-
law, Peterson. Petteys came prior to 1775. Near the farm of
Mr. Petteys is an old burial-yard, in which forty graves were
recently counted. The Petteys family, a portion of the Teffts,
Elder Tanner and others were buried there. We believe that
but one inscription now remains to tell the passer-by of a life
and a death. This is unquestionably the oldest public burying-
place in the town and one of the first in the county.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
23
CHAP. III.
Church History—The Baptist Church—Its Record—Incidents in
Elder Tanner's Pastorate—Later History of the Church— The
First Methodist Class Meeting—The North Greenwich Church—
Later History—The Butch Reformed Church—Its Organization
and Subsequent History—*The Congregational Church and the
causes that led to its Organization—Its History,
A sketch like this cannot embrace much of the ordinary
detail of history. It must, however, particularize events
which have had a lasting influence upon the morals of commu-
nity. The author, therefore, deems it proper, to dwell some-
what at length upon the history of those organizations which,
as he believes, have contributed most largely to the moral
well-being of society in the town. Those organizations are the
churches of the town, and primarily, the “Bottskill Baptist
Church.” While in the history of that church there may be
incidents which will cause a smile from their quaintness, or a
sigh and a tear from their illiberality, there is one feature of its
past that stands out prominent and bold, and entitles it to
unqualified respect : Bottskill Baptist church has never shrunk
from the performance of disagreeable duties. Mistaken,
unjust, cruel, it may sometimes have been ; weak and vacillat-
ing it has never been. People respect and admire strength of
principle and purpose, and this church grew strong in numbers
from strong adherence to the rigid morality of the Bible. The
men who formed the church, were men before whose sturdy
strokes the forests fell; wdio braved the dangers of pioneer life
with steady persistence, and who put into their church rela-
tionship the same earnestness that characterized them in their24
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
secular affairs, and its labors thus became a component part
of the history of the town.
An accurate estimate cannot, of course be made of the influ-
ence that churches have upon the formation of society. But it
seems to us unquestionable that the systems of church organi-
zation in the eastern and middle states of our Union, have been
the basis of our political freedom. There is no doubt that
the difference of moral tone in Massachusetts and California,
is due to the early presence of a congregational system of
churches in the one state, and the absence and practical dis-
regard of all church systems in the other. Both states were
settled by men of strong characters and prejudices ; but in the
one instance, these prejudices were toned by the ennobling
influences of religious truth ; in the other they were increased
by the fierceness of human passions.
Vigorous churches are the most effective workers for repre-
sentative government. In holding men accountable for moral
dereliction, they teach them the uses of restraint. Pioneer
churches are always more rigid in discipline than those organ-
ized in populous communities, and they exercise a power over
their members, hardly second to that of the civil government.
Withdrawal of fellowship from offending members, was in
early times, nearly equivalent to social ostracism, and people
were very careful not to incur this extreme penalty. How the
“ Church of Christ on the Bottenkill” considered the offences
of its members, will be shown to some extent in the following
pages, in which will be given the facts of its organization, so
far as they have been obtainable, and the more interesting
incidents related in its early records.
There is a wflde difference of opinion existing between those
who have made the matter a study, as to the date of the organ-
ization of this church. Rev. J. O. Mason, D. D., for many
years pastor of the church, in a brief sketch, prepared for the
Washington Union Baptist Association, gives the date of the
organization as 1767, while the minutes of the Shaftsbury
Baptist Association, fix it at 1774. The authority on which
Doctor Mason bases his theory of the date of the organization,
is chiefly a letter written by Elder Nathan Tanner in the year
1800. In this letter Elder Tanner says: “Thiity-three yearsHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
ago, the standard of the gospel was raised on the Bottenkill.”
Whether these words imply the real organization of a church,
or the simple gathering together of the Christians of the local-
ity for the purpose of worship, is a matter of some doubt. It
seems improbable, however, that the church organization
could have been completed at that early date, as from the
best data we can find, there were not more than six Baptist
families within a radius of seven miles from the residence of
Nathan Tefft, the first settler of the neighborhood. It is alto-
gether reasonable to suppose, that these families, brought up
in the same faith, and coming from the same locality, met each
other at stated intervals for worship and for social intercourse.
It is no doubt true, that the older men of the settlement exer-
cised an implied church authority over the younger members
of the community, chiding them for faults and to some extent
holding them to account for breaches of Christian conduct.
This condition of things covers the statement of Elder Tanner’s
letter. We believe no church organization existed prior to the
date cf the initial entry in the first book 6f records now ex-
tant. The minutes in this book go back to June 9th, 1775.
They were not entered therein until 1788, as will be seen by
the following extract from the minutes of a meeting held July
19th, of the last named year. “ Appointed Elisha Bentley to
serve the church as dark for the future. Voted by the church
that a contribution is made in order to defray some church ex~
penses, and that Bro. Elisha Bentley is to provide a book for the
church records and minutes to be entered therein and that the
dark shall transfer all our records and minutes into that book
and the dark shall have a reasonable compensation for his ser-
vices in doing the same.” In the minutes of a meeting held Aug-
ust 3d of the same year, the following entry appears: “ Then
purchased a book for to keep the church records in, which
cost 6 shillings.” The labor of transferring the minutes seems
to have been a somewhat protracted one for this Elisha Bent-
ley—who was the first school-master of the locality, and at that
time earning a precarious existence at his calling—for we find
the following clause in the minutes of a meeting held as late as
March 17th, 1793.	“ Voted by the church to allow the dark
forty shillings for his labor in transferring all the records into
this book.” These entries show this book to be only a copy
i20
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
of the original minutes of tlie church, but it seems to comprise
all there is of its written history, and we believe, gives the
record of its organization. Dr. Mason thinks an older
book of records was burned about 1775. It is the author’s
opinion, however, that no other book of records existed, but
that fragmentary minutes from which the existing book of
records was copied, were destroyed, but at a later date than is
claimed by Dr. Mason. We see no reason to believe that any-
thing wras contained in them anterior in date to the engrossed
copy. If this theory of the matter is a correct one as the char*
acter of the record seems to show, we must consider that the
organization and first regular church meeting took place
at the house of Nathan Tefft in the town of Easton, June 9th,
A. D., 1775, which is recorded in the book on the page follow-
ing the Articles of Faith. The entry is as follows : “ Saratoga,
June ye 9tli, A. D., 1775. As a number of Christians being
gathered together as a church, to walk in the rules of the
Gospel, according to the laws and ordinances of God, and
being assembled at the house of Nathan Tefft at a church
meeting, to act and transact in the affairs of Christ’s Kingdom
(Ac.). Whereas, Brother John Rogers, Jr., and Sisters Meliit-
able Rogers and Amy Rogers and Sarah Bentley being in cov-
enant with us, and having forsaken the assembling of themselves
with us at our meetings for some time, the church, therefore,
considering the affair, have appointed Brothers Nathan Tefft
and Joseph Reynolds to treat with the aforesaid John Rogers
Jr., Amy Rogers and Sarah Bentley, and in behalf of the
church to cite them to attend our next conference meeting to be
held at the house of Nathan Tefft, on the 23d day of this
instant, to show their standing and make good their place in
the church. The church also appointed Brother Harper
Rogers and Daniel Rose as messengers to treat with Sister Me-
hitable Rogers and cite her to attend our next conference
meeting as aforesaid.” The language with which the minutes
of this meeting opens, seems to the author, to be an initiatory
assumption of authority and prerogative, and it appears
nowdiere else in the records. It asserts organization without
giving its details. It is true that the church there commences
with the discipline of members of society who had been in the
habit of assembling themselves together, for worship, but theHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
27
necessity for discipline was one of tlie producing causes of the
organization; and the sturdy and conscientious men who
formed this church, did not allow the doctrine of expediency
to interfere with their ideas of religious duty, and so began at
once to deal with the shortcomings of those whom they felt
belonged with them. Everything in the record seems to point
to this meeting as the date of the church organization. At a
second church’meeting held the 23d of June 1775, the commit-
tees appointed at the first meeting made tliei# report, and
the church deemed it wise to vote that “ Joseph Reynolds be
the dark to enter these things, and to keep the minutes of our
Proceedings as need shall require.” The inference from this
is natural, that in the history of the church thereto, nothing
had occurred which was deemed worthy of record. No word
anywhere appears to indicate church action prior to the time
of these meetings. We must therefore dissent from Doctor
Mason's theory of its date, and must consider the opinion of
Doctor Stephen Weight, as given in the minutes of the
Shal'tsbury Baptist Association, unsustained. The date of the
organization, we therefore fix as June 9th, 1775. There may
have been, as before stated, a quasi-religious association as early
as 1767, but the condition of the country and the sparse settle-
ments render entirely improbable the existence of a regularly
constituted church for some years thereafter. Bottskill Bap-
tist church was never puny. It was strong and healthful in its
action from the first. From the original “Articles of Faith,”
we quote the following on discipline, in which they set forth
some of their rights and privileges as a church : “ Before there
can be any orderly discipline in a church assembly they must
be orderly constituted into a church state, according to Gospel
institution as contained in the New Testament. A visible
church of Christ is composed of a number of true believers in
him, which be hath selected from the sinful mass of - man-
kind into union with himself by faith and love and in Gospel
fellowship, one with each other, they being thus persuaded
thus to give themselves up to the Lord and to one another, by
the will of God, to serve him in all obedience to the faith. A
number thus formed together, sufficient to maintain Gospel
discipline and government, are a spiritual house being built
upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, Jesus ChristHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
himself being the chief corner stone. A number of believers thus
united under Christ, their mystical head are become a church
of Christ, and have right to all the privileges of the Gospel,
and as such have power to govern themselves in and by the
rules of the gospel, and to judge of the gifts and to choose
their own ministerial officers (&c.).
At the third recorded meeting of the church, held July 10th,
1775, Natfian Tanner, afterward pastor, united with the church.
The record describes the meeting in the following language :
44 This is a day to be remembered, whereas there has been diffi-
culties and disputes, and divisions with and between Nathan
Tanner and some of the members now travelling in unity,
which hold with Elder James Rogers and particularly between
Tanner and Joseph Reynolds, all which difficulties and dis-
putes are removed and done away, and the said Nathan Tan-
ner enlisted as a member of the church with us, it being a day
of the manifestation of God’s power.” At a church meeting
held October 7th, 1775, it was “voted by the church that
Nathan Tefft and Harper Rogers and Joseph Reynolds go as
messengers of this church to Pownal at a conference to be
held there to inspect into the character of Elder Benjamin
Gardner. This was the first council in which the church took
any part. At the next meeting after this, the church by vote
resolved to withdraw fellowship from Mehitable Rogers, who
appears to have been the first member excluded from the com-
munion of the church.” At a meeting held January 6th, 1776,
the messengers sent to Pownal, made return that “they were
admitted as members of the conference held at Pownal on
November the 9th day, 1775, to inspect into the character of
Elder Benjamin Gardner, and after hearing a number of evi-
dences and considering thereof, it was resolved by the mem-
bers in conference that Elder Gardner’s character stand
impeached by the evidences, considering him in the character
of an Elder, which appears in his lewd and unsavory discourse
and wanton conduct toward the female sex.” At a meeting
held February 10th, 1776, Nathan Tanner and Nathan Crandall
appear as candidates for ministerial preferments. The church
decided that they could not be set apart as Elders, but might
be set apart as Evangelists. March 2d, the church elected
Harper Rogers and Nathan Tefli as deacons. Joseph Reynolds,HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
29
the clerk of the church felt aggrieved at the action of the
church, as appeals by the following letter contained in the
minutes :
“ Being a member of this body I think myself in duty
bound to shew my opinion that the proceeding at our two last
church meetings, doth not acquiesce or agree with the mind of
God and that the consequences thereof will bring forth visible
manifestations of his displeasure.	Joseph Reynolds.
March the 3d, A. B., 1776.
March 9th, 1776, a meeting was held at the house of Harper
Rogers, at which Nathan Tanner “proceeded to tell his expe-
rience and teachings to preach the Gospel and administer the
Gospel'ordinances. The church being called upon to know
whether they could give him fellowship to preach and admin-
ister Gospel ordinances if he could be legally qualified,
answered in the affirmative. Proposed whether members are
satisfied.that Nathan Tanner is to them a watchman or Pastor,
and the members are divided in sentiment.” On the 23d of
the same month, Nathan Crandal likewise pro coed ed^to exhibit
his qualifications for the sacred office. The record states that
“The church are of opinion that he ought to be externally
qualified.” The last meeting of the year 1776 according to the
minutes, was held July 27th. From this time until September
19th, 1781, there is a hiatus in the record. The meeting at the
last date wms a council of sister churches to remove difficulties
existing between Nathan Tanner and Harper Rogers, but it
accomplished nothing. At a meeting of the church, however,
held September 22d, they agreed “to put on charity toward
each other.” This meeting appears by the record to have been
one of general forgiveness and renewal of friendships. The
animosity does not seem to have been entirely expunged, even
by this general display of good feeling, for we find in meet-
ings following closely upon this, that dissatisfaction still
remained. Quarrels in regard to secular matters were brought
up and adjudicated upon by the church or referred to commit-
tees of members as arbitrators. In other matters of dissension
feeling ran so high that “ the complainers went away and left
the meeting. ” Nathan Tanner appears to have been unfortu-
nate in his zealous labors for the church, and was almost
constantly in difficulty with some one without meaning to30
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
wrong them or to do any injustice. He was a man of strong
religious convictions, earnest and conscientious in the work
to which he had consecrated himself, and as uncompromising
toward what he believed to be sin, as were the voyagers of the
Mayflower.
It seems from the records, that at this time, there had been
strong talk of abandoning the effort to keep up a church
organization. In the minutes of a meeting held at the house
of Thomas Bentley, November 20th, 1781, the matter is spoken
of as follows: “ First!jr, opened the meeting by singing and
prayer to God. 2d, Chose Elder Powers (Pastor of the first
Baptist church of Stillwater), Moderator. 3d, Whether the
brethren choose to goe forward in church relation, Ac. The
brethren present, being called upon to shew their minds both
males and females and they gave their opinion to goe forward
all but three persons. 4tli, Enquired cf the brethren which
joined before the covenant, they resolved to goe forward in
general, Brother Tanner standing by on account of difficulties
between him and Harper Rogers. * * * Elder Powers
proposed to meet with us the first Sabbath in January and
break bread to us if he finds us ready.”
The difficulty between Nathan Tanner and Harper Rogers
having been revived, the dispute was carried on with consider-
able rancor, but the matter was finally amicably arranged, and
at a meeting held on the 16th of June, 1782, it was “ proposed
by Nathan Tanner that the brethren in covenant converse
freely with him and shew the turning-point of their minds in
regard to his ministerial gifts and qualifications in the Gospel.
(Answer). The brethren resolved to confer with Brother Tan-
ner on the subject. At a subsequent meeting, March 9th, it
was “resolved to refar the matter to the council that is to be
called agreeable to a resolve of this body hairing date January
ye 5th 1782.”
The ordinance of baptism was first administered for this
church, to a number of candidates, by Rev. Lemuel Powers,
“ April ye 7tli, A. D., 1782.
At a council which was held June 4tli of that year, “ Enquired
into their choice of an Elder, and they made choice of Br.
Nathan Tanner, ‘ whoom we Did the Day following proceed toHISTORY OR GREENWICH.	31
ordain.’ ’Test (attest) Peter Worden, Moderator in Behalf of
the Rest as appears by tlie minutes.”
Elder Tanner thus entered upon a ministry, which though
fruitful of good to the church, brought him more of sorrow
and bitterness, more of poverty, more of unmerited reproach,
than usually falls to the lot of men. Advanced to middle life
when he entered upon his ministerial labors, among a people
who had known him and had known his weaknesses and short-
comings; a people who were stern and unyielding in their
prejudices, and a portion of whom were not even well-disposed
toward him, it is hard to imagine a more trying position than
was Elder Tanner’s from that time forth. His life was always
a sad one after he assumed the burden of souls in Bottskill
Baptist church. Injustice, was done him from the beginning.
Poverty like a grim specter haunted his humble home, and
overwhelmed him all his life long. Yret for years, through all
his troubles, he stood a strong man. He battled fruitlessly
with a poverty the church should have saved him from. He
defended himself manfully against charges the church should
have been ashamed of ; he stood up under persecution and
obloquy ; he maintained his manhood against the entire church
until all his troubles culminated m bitter, biting poverty, and
churchless, homeless and almost friendless his mind gave way,
and he became an object of pity in the community. Separated
from his wife by dire poverty, supported by his children, at a
time when he felt he had a right to a support from his church,
his later life presents as sorrowful a spectacle as is often wit-
nessed. Received back into the church on sufferance, in his
old age, shattered in mind, decrepit in body, the wreck of a
noble man, it must have been to him a glorious relief, a joyful
sundering from painful associations, when the angel of death
hovered tearfully over his lowly couch for a time and then
with tender care, lifted from this woeful wTorld, his poor,
wavering, life-troubled soul, and on swift and Heaven-
achieving wings bore it above, purified and sanctified into the
presence of the God who gave it—into the presence of the God
who rights all wrongs, who dries all tears and gives to laden
souls the peace, the rest, the love, that outlast time and all its
fleeting sorrows, finding its measurements only in the immeas-
urable cycles of Eternity.32
HISTORY OF. GREENWICH.
We shall, as briefly as we may, show in detail, some of the
trials Eider Tanner endured. The general aspects of the
church will appear in connection with this subject.
After his ordination, Elder Tanner entered at once upon the
functions of his ministry, administering the rite of baptism
the same day. Things seemed to go on smoothly for a time.
September 21st, we find the church adopting the following
proposition: “Proposed that some of the brethren be appointed
as helpers for the removal of difficulties among brethren where
private labor in single capacity fails,” and such a committee
was appointed. The same date, “Proposed whether to build a
meeting-house. Agreed it is necessary. ‘Agreed that said meet-
ing-house be built by the road between David Pettys and
Jeremiah Propers near the burying-place.	Proposed that
Joseph Reynolds draw a petition to request General Schuyler
to give or sell us a grant of a piece of land sufficient for the
meeting-house for. the use of this body. Voted that said Rey-
nolds draw a subscription paper to propagate the building of
said meeting-house.” At the meetings of November 10th, it
wars “ voted that the meeting-house to be built by this body be
made 2G feet wide and 82 feet long.”
In matters of discipline, this church was occasionally called
upon to treat peculiar phases of human depravity. We cite
one instance, in which a woman confessed to the commission
of adultery and justified herself in so doing, claiming that she
had done no wrong. The record of a meeting held February
“ye loth, A. D., 1783,” gives the following account : “Pro-
ceeded to confer upon the matter of labor, on account of
Sarah Robins pursuant to a complaint laid against her at a
meeting of conference held on the 11th day of January, 1788,
in which complaint she was accused of lodging with a soldier
in her husband’s absence. She owned it to be true' and said
she had done no wrong in so doing and at this meeting also this
body is informed of her lodging another man with her and
being conversed with about it justifieth herself in so'doing.”
The building of a meeting-house now occupied the attention
of the church. Their resources were canvassed, the cost of a
frame building calculated, and a log edifice decided upon as
within their means. Suitable committees were appointed for
the completion-of their “Temple in the wilderness.”HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
33
The site at length decided upon for a church edifice was in
Easton, near the present residence of David Burdick. It was
completed and occupied some time in 1783. Doctor Mason
thus speaks of it :
“Although it was u rude structure, the church felt that it
was a great accession to their means, of religious prosperity
and success ; and they were frequently permitted to see it ren-
dered by the Spirit’s presence, none other than the ‘ house of
God, and the very gate of heaven.’ It became sacredly asso-
ciated with the holiest experiences of hundreds, many of whom
were converted within its walls.”
While the church w.as thus struggling along toward a steady
maintenance of gospel ordinances, it did not fail to summarily
exclude members who persistently violated the covenant of
the church or disregarded the ministrations of the sanctuary.
Their letters of withdrawal were peculiarly pointed. We ap-
pend one which had its rise in a domestic difficulty :
“ The Church of Christ at botten Kill at Saratoga to Eliakim
Jonathan Hammond—Sendeth Greeting &, whereas a Com-
mittee was appointed by the Church April ye 17th, 1784, to
Visit you and treat with you and your wife on account of
some Visable Obstructions in matters of travil in Church
Relation and Humane fredom as man and wife it appears by
the Return of Said Committee that upon their Carefull &
Faithfull Laboar with you that peace & unity might be Re-
stored Between you & your wife that you might walk agreeable
to the Rules of the Gospel you Raged against them Speaking
hard Reproachful words Raiding against them which Returns
was made to the Church April 24th, A. D., 1784, and we
Labrowd with you as a body Endeavouring to Reclaim you
and you Confessed wrong and accused br. Kinyon and
others of being the Cause of it which Confession was Not to
the Satisfaction of the Church and as you Confessed your Ina-
bility at that time to pay the Debt you justly owed we Con-
tinued the affair to our next Conference for further Labour at
which time you Did not attend and so we Continued the same
at several times for your further attendance that if Possable
you might be Restored and you Neglect from time to tim.e
untill our Conference Meeting held the 21 Day of August, A.
D., 1784, therefore] we Do imthe Name of our Lord Jesus34
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
Christ withdraw from you our fellowship, agreeable to Mat-
thew, Chapt. 18 & Y. 17, and if he Neglect to hear the Church
Let him be unto the as an Heetlien and a Publican. Signed in
behalf of ye Church by	Joseph Reynolds, Clark.
We find the judgment of a court of Arbitrators set aside in
the following characteristic manner :
“ Br. David Pettys Complaineth against Sr. Sarah Babcock
widow and Saith she hath unlawfully withheld Kept back or
Neglected to pay unto him the Contents of one Certain Claws
of an arbitration judgment or award made up by Fenner Pal-
mer, James Freeman, jur., and John McKeeny arbitrators
Indifferently Chosen by the Said David Pettys and Job Bab-
cock Decesed, former Hursband to the Said Sarah Babcock
widow to the amount of twenty Pounds, payable December
ye 20th, 1783, the said Job Babcock having given Arbitration
Bond to abide the afore said award Bareing Date August ye
13th, 1782. We therefore having taking Carefull Labour to
Inspect Into the affair and peruse a number of Laws Relating
to administration on Intestate Estate and Do not find by any
Evidence that she has acted unlawfully in the matter where of
she is Charged by br. David Pettys wherefoie it appears not
that he has any Lawful Right of Complaint against Sister
Babcock.”
This occurred March 1785. In the meantime Elder Tanner
never receiving more than twenty-five to thirty pounds ster-
ling annually for his services, and having a considerable family
to maintain, was put to shifts which would seem strange in
these days, to any but the self-sacrificing men who are now
doing missionary and col porter work on our far western borders.
In 1791 things had taken such a shape that it was voted to
“Give Elder Tanner a letter of Recommendation to travil or
to preach the Gospel.” April 20th, 1793, we find the church
discussing a “ Resolve of the Church past Last Summer which
was to Raise thirty Pounds for Elder Tanner last year which
sum is not raised yet by Better than five pounds,” and pro-
ceeding then to complete the amount In June 1793, some
trouble grew out of the letter offered to Elder Tanner by the
church, and he, after making substantial reparation for what
the church deemed some improper remarks and actions, and
finding that the brethren were not disposed to treat him fairly,HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
35
called for a council, which was agreed to. The church had
made the Elder a certain offer of which he spoke, in, as he
says, “ wrather to harsh terms.” The following sketch of his
troubles taken from the records can hardly fail to be of interest:
“At a Conference Meeting held June 29tli, 1793, firstly
opened the Meeting by Singing & prayer to God.
“ 2dly. Proceeded to business & Calld the Contents of a
Certain Letter Eld. Tanner Sent to the Church in Question and
Proceeded to Labour on the Same and Labourd a Long time
there on and at Length we took the words of the brethren
whether it was an offer of the Church or Not and the Ma-
jority of the Church says it was an offer therefore the Elder
Desires the Previledg of a Council and it w7as Voted to grant
him his Request to have a Council.
“ 31y. Voted by the Church to have one Conference before
the Council Come to pave the way for the Council and to ap-
point the Churches to be sent for which Day is appointed this
Day two weeks.
“ At a Conference Meeting held July ye 13th, 1793.
“ First, opened the Meeting by singing & prayer to God.
“21y. Appointed Brother Elijah Case, Moderator for the
Day.
“3rd. Proceeded to business and Calld the Diffecelty be-
twen the Elder & Church in Question and Concluded and
Voted to take further Labour in the matter & after some
Labour there on.
“41y. the Elder Confesseth that he was too fast in answer-
ing Deacon Bently as he Did the Last Conference for it was in
a wrong Spirit and Deacon Bently says that he takes Elder
Tanner’s Retraction in full payment.
5. Elder Tanner says upon Careful Examination he Doth
Really Believe that the Church and Congregation Did agree to
Make a Certain offer to him and he Believes that the Church
Really thought that they Did Make him the offer Legally and
as the Elder Knew Nothing of what they had Conferred on
therefore he lieded the same in rather to harsh terms.
“ Glv. the Church sayetli that they Did Conclude & agree to
make the Elder a Certain offer and they Really thought that
they Did but upon Carefull Examination we find that wTe Did
Not offer it Legally.36
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
“ At a Conference Meeting held July ye 20th, 1793.
“ First, opened the Meeting by singing and prayer to God.
“21y. Proceeded to business and Chose br. Elijah Case
Moderator for the Day.
“ 31y. Proceeded and Calld Elder Tanner’s Case in Question
Concerning his Support in the Gospel and Concluded and
Voted by the Church to Meet Next Saturday in Conferrence
to settle and make up the thirty Pounds that was Voted by the
Church to Raise for him the Last year.
“ At a Conference Meeting held August ye 17th, 1793.
“First. Opened the Meeting by singing & prayer to God.
“21y. Chose brother Elijah Case Moderator and brother
Abiezer Edson Clark for the Day.
“ 31y. Deacon Bently & br. James Coon brought in as a Com-
plaint in writing (Viz.) four Charges against Elder Tanner
which was Laid before the Church.
“41y. The Voise of the Church was taken and Voted that
the Clark should take Recognance of them.
51y. In. order to take Labour there on this Meeting is ad-
journed untill the 23rd of this instant.
“August ye 23rd, Met according to adjournment, first
Opened the Meeting by singing & prayer to God.
“Firstly, Queried by the Elder wdiether upon Examina-
tion if any one fall in Debt to any one and stands Ready to
pay part whether it shall be Received as so much paid of the
Debt
“ 21y. Answered by the Church to give Credit for all that is
paid
“31y. Calld Deacon Bently’s first charge against the Elder
which was for his Protending to Dig in the Earth for Money.
“41y. Elder Tanner Makes this plea that he was Informed
and tells how he was Informed that there was Money hid
there by Berguines men and that he Believed it and that he
Concluded that under his Poverty or Necessity it was not any
harm for him nor no other man to take it up or to find it
and to make use of it and upon that Consideration he tryed
to find it but to no purpose and as I understand it has Grieved
a Number of my Brethren for which I am Very Sorry that Ever
I tryed for to Dig for the money in the order I Did if it was toHISTORY OF GREENWICH.	37
Do again I should Not Do it So that I hope my brethren may
forgive me and over Look my fault.
“oly. The Bretlirens’ Minds was taken to Know how much
of the Debt was paid and they all Said to be Satisfyed or to
Let him goe but the two Deacons who was Not Satisfyed.
“Gly. Calld Deacon Bentley’s third Charge in Question
against Elder Tanner which was for his Leaving his wife and
not Living with her without a Sufficient Reason.
“71y. This above Charge the Elder Utterly Denyeth and
Saitli the Reason of their Not Living together is because their
house and farm was took from them their Lease being out and
Not being able to buy another they Concluded to Live with
their Children and for Certain Reasons his wife Gave she Chose
to Live with Such a Daughter and for Certain Reasons he gave
he Chose to Live with another Daughter So they Mutually
agreed for both of them to have their Choise and So the Elder
Made it appear that he olfen (went) to the Daughter’s where
his wife Made her home and Staid all Night or Nights and that
his wife Come Some times where he Makes his home and stays
a Nights and that Never Lodged at one house but what they
Lodged together. Calld the Bretlirens’ Minds to Know
whether this Charge was just or Not. Answered by Vote of
the Majority unjust.
“Sly. This Meeting is Adjourned untill this Day ye 29th
of August.
“ 1st. This Day August ye 29tli, A. D., 1793, Mett according
to adjournment. Opened the Meeting by Singing & pray to
God.
“21y. Calld Deacon Bentley’s Second Charge against the
Elder in Question which was for his useing a Mineral Rod to
serch for Money or mines or hid treasures.
“31y. The Elder Makes this plea in this order that he Doth
Not See the Evil there of for he Doth Not think it any More
harm to use a Mineral Rod then to use a jack plane or to use
a jointer or a Surveyors Compass to Stear a Ooarse he wanted
to goe through the wilderness.
“oly. Took the Bretlirens’ Minds whether it was Lawfull or
Expedient for the Elder to use a Mineral Rod Answered by the
Majority it May be Lawfull but Not Expedient.
“ Gly. Calld Deacon Bently’s 4 Charge against the Elder in38
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
Question which was that the Elder was the occation of Circu-
lating a Report that he and his wife had the foAvl Disease.
“71y. The Elder utterly Denyes this Charge Saying that he
Never Circulated Such a Report but he gives in this Diclera-
tion that as he had ben troubled with the Gravil and Billcrous
Complaints Not Knowing what it Ment and being tinkterd
Much with the Splean Did for Certain Reasons Did Mention
fears he had to Some Physitions and to Some of his brethren
Which promised a Profound Secrecy & he told them that he
Did Not Know it Could be any Such thing Likewise lie Pro-
dused from under the hands of those Physitions that he Never
had that Disorder Nor no Such Complaint which together
with the whole of his Declaration he gave full Satisfaction that
he Never was troubled with that Disorder he owned that he
was the Cause of its being but not of Circulating it.
“81y. The Brethrens’ Minds was taken whether the Elder
was Not the occation of Circulating that Report and there was
Seven brethren Voted that the Elder was Not the occation of
Circulating that Report &> there was Eight brethren Voted that
the Elder was the occation of Circulating that Report, but they
Doe Not Charge him with any Eyil in so Doing.
“At a Conferrence Meeting held September ye 14tli. 1793.
“ llv. Opened the Meeting by singing & prayer to God.
“Sly. Proceeded to business and by Request Red the min-
utes of our Last Conferrence and Conferred some there on.
“Sly. Elder Tanner brings in a Complaint against Decon
Bently Saying that Decon Bently says that he heard Decon
Kinyon Make Elder Tanner an offer or proposial in behalf of
the Church when he Concludes it Never was made in behalf of
the Church and further the Elder Concludes that Decon
Bently was not at that Meeting and Immediately thereon three
or four brethren Declares that he was there for they See him.
“ 41v. Proposed to have a Council and to call for some Sister
Churches to Come and Set in Conferrence with us and to Give
Council in this Matter.
“oly. Calld a Vote & Voted to Call for a Number of our
brethren from Several Churches to Come and Set in Confer-
rence with us and to Give us Council on Next Wednesday
week at ten of the Clock of the Day Proposed to Send for
Several Churches (Vizt)-for Elder Caleb Blood Church ofHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
39
Shaftsbury for Elder Lemuel Powers Church at Stillwater for
Elder Samuel Rogers Church at Saratoga for Elder Joseph
Craws Clili. at Greenfield for Elder Amasa Browns Chli. at
westfield for Elder Clark Rogers Chli. at hand cock for Elder
Justice Huls Chli. at Steventown for Elder Caleb Nicols Chli.
in Pownal and it is the Yote of this Church for these above
Churches to Come and to set in Conferrence with us on
Wednesday the 25th of this September and to Give us Council
in this our great Diffeculty.
“ At a Conferrence Meeting held September ye 28th, 1793.
“1st. Opened the Meting by singing &> prayer to God
this Meeting was appointed to Know whether the Church Re-
ceives the Result of Council or Not
“ 21y. Proceeded to Confer there on and Elder Tanner made
a Retraction of his Diging for money in the manner he Did in
this order that he has seen the Evil there of and that he be-
lieves he Committed an Evil there in and has brought a Great
Reproach upon that Innocent Cause of God and he says he
Renounces it for the futer and prays his Brethren to forgive
him and to over Look his sin in so Doing.
“ 31y. He Saith that he Doth Not See the Evil for him to
use a Mineral Rod any more then for any other brother in the
Church to use it so that if he Neglects Not his Ministry in So
Doing but Rather then to offend a brother he will Refrain
useing it.
“ 41y. He Concludes that he was Innocent in his Conduct
under his Curcumstance of he and his wife having two homes.
“Sly. The Elder Concludes him Self Innocent in Spreading
the Report of he and his wife having the foul Disease he owns
he was the first Cause of the Reports being but not of Spread-
ing of it he Confesseth that he was to formiller and Did make
to Many frends in his Diffeculty.
“ Gly. And Concerning his going to the C'ongerist he Con-
fesseth liis fault as followetli Saying he wras tempted so to Doe
which was a Great Evil to Except of the temtation but he has
Done it for which he is Very Sorry for to Goe to a Cungerer
for Council was always against his Principle and is yet tlioe
I hev ben tempted to do the Like I hope I Never may Do the
Like again this Meeting is Refaircd to our Next Conferrence
in Corse.40	Ills TORY OF GREENWICH.
“At a Conferrence Meeting held October ye 19th, A. D.,
1793.
“ First. Opened the Meeting by singing & pray to God.
“21y. Appointed brother Elijah Case Moderator for the
Day.
“31y. Proceeded to business and Calld the Brethrens Minds
who Receivd the Result of Council & who Did Not Receive
and there was fourteen Male Bcethren Received the Result and
there was Eight Male Brethren Did not Receive the Result &
there was five females Received and five Received it Not so
that the Majority of the Church Received the Result of
Council.
“41y. Red the Result of the Council in Publick.
“ oly. Then Elder Tanner Reads a Long Epistle of his mind
in answer to the Result and to Shew how much of the Result
he means to Confess.
“ 61y. There was a Number of Questions asked the Elder to
which he gave answer to them.
“ 71y. Took the minds of the Brethren to Know how many
the Elder’s Confession had paid the Debt too.
“Sly. The Yoise of the Majority was Not paid in full and
Not for him to preach untill he was Visablely Restord.
“ 91y. This meeting is adjourned untill this Day two weeks
at one a Clock of the Day in order to send for Council and to
appoint the Churches to be sent unto.
“ Met according to adjournment.
“At a Conferrence Meeting held November ye 2d, A. D.t
1793.
“ First, opened the Meeting by singing & prayer to God.
“21y. Proceeded to business and Chose brother Elijah Case
Moderator fordhe Day and then Red the minutes of the Last
Conferrence and Conferred on Sundry Subjects and Concluded
to Call for Council agreeable to the Vote past and agreed to
send for the following Churches (Viz.) for Elder Bloods Chh.
for Elder Powers Chh. for Elder Craws Church lor Elder
Browns Chh. for Elder Samuel Rogers Chh. for Elder Nicholes
Chh. for Elder Ffuls Chh. for Elder Eastmans Chh. for Elder
Wordens Church which Council is to be held on the 27 Day of
this Instant November on Wednesday at 10 o'clock of the Day.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
41
Proceeded to Confer on some Matters to Lay before the
Council that is Sent for to give us Council on the 27th of this
Month.
41 y. Voted that the first Question to be Laid before the
Council is whether Elder Tanner’s Confession is Sufficient to
Give Gospel Satisfaction for the Crime the Council found him
Guilty of on the 25 Day of September Last the 2 Question
Voted to be Laid before the Council is whether if Elder Tan-
ner gives good Evidence of true Repentance he ought to be
again Intrusted in the office of the Ministry.
Gly. the third Question Voted to be Laid before the Council is
whether it is a breach of Gospel Rule for Elder Tanner to Set
up a Separate Meeting to preach to a Number when the major-
ity of the Church had Voted that he ort Not *to preach until
he was propporly Restored in the fellowship of the Gospel.
Tly. the. 4 Question Voted to be Laid before the Council is
whether it ought to be held as a bar against Such Brethren as
justify Elder Tanner and foller him in So Doing.
At a Conferrence Meeting held December ye 7th A D. 1793
first opened the meeting by singing & prayer to God.
21 y Chose br Elijah Case Moderator & James James, Clark
for the Day.
Jly Proceeded to business and De’n Kenyon moyed to know
who was agreed to maintain Covenant together.
41 y EUTr Tanner opposed it which caused some Labour on
it and five brethren manifested their minds in renewing their.
Covenant and then some Labour was taken with Eld’r Tanner
but to no purpose and then Eld’r Tanner proposed to have a
general Conferrence for the whole Church to meet two or three
weeks lienee and Confer together.' Then there was the follow-
ing -QueGions asked the Eld’r. The first Question was asked
that suppose the answer to the Second Question Laid before
the Council was Left out are you agreed with the Rest or main
part answered by the Eld’r lio but Very Little part the Second
Question proposed to him was Suppose some small Rongs was
Confessed on both parts could you goe on with the Clili with-
out the fellowship of the Sister Churches—the Eld’r answered
yes he could. Then the Chli said there was no Need of another
meeting for there is already a Division and then the Eld’r Tan-
ner called them brethren that was agreed with him to meet42
HISTORY OF G HE EX YTIOIT.
with him in Conferrence two weeks from that Daw at the meet-
ing house. And then them that was agreed with Council
appointed a Conferrence to be held at the house of hr Wm
Teffts on the 19th of this instant December.
At a Conferrence Meeting held December ye 19th A D. 1793,
first opened the meeting by singing and prayer to God.
Sly Chose brother Elijah Case .Moderator for the Day and
proceeded to business and called on the brethren to know
whether they Received the Last Result of Council or Not and
they Cordely agreed to Receive the Last Result of Council on
there Labour with Eld’r Tanner some making a Reserve on
the answer to the Second Question Laid before the Council
Called a Tote of the Brethren to know whether they was Ready
to with Draw their fellowship from Elder Tanner as a Disor-
derly walker in Israel and from all those Brethren that goes of
with him and holds him as a Clean man. And it is Voted by
the Church that the Clark draws a with Draw and Presents
the same to the Church at their Next Conferrence meeting
containing a with Draw from Elder Tanner and the brethren
with him.
51y Voted by the Church to send Messengers to the Different
branches of this Church to show them the Labour avc have had
Avith EldT Tanner and how the Church has Conducted in the
affair.
Gly Voted for our Next Conferrence to be held at brother
James Jameses on the third Saturday in January and our Cov-
enant Day the Saturday before the first Sunday in the month.
71y Voted to send bro Elijah Case De’n Bentiy hr Able Lan-
fier and hr James James as Messengers to Visit the Different
branches of this Church.
At a Conference Meeting held Januar ye 18th 1794.
lly Opened the meeting by Singing and prayer to God.
21y Chose br Elijah Case Moderator for the Day.
-fiy Proceeded to business and Red the Minutes of the last
Conference meet i n g.
41y 4 he brethren that were sent as Messengers of the Chh to
Visit the Different branches to sIioav them the Labour we have
had Avith Eld’r Tanner that they have visited the Different
branches and has shown them the Labour that has been taken
and have desired all them brethren that excepts of the ResultsHISTORY OF GREENWICH.	48
of Council to give in their names to the Clark as soon as they
shall have a convenient opportunity.
51y Brother Simeon Berry makes his confession that he was
to fast in Excepting Elcl’r Tanners Confession that now he
means to Except of the Result of Council.
Gly Voted by the Church to Receive brother Berrys Retrac-
tion.
Tly The Clark Presents a Letter of with Draw from Elder
Tanner and Brethren and it was Red and a Vote Cald on it &
it was approbated by the Church.
Sly Voted by the Church that hr one Siphrous Hammond
and hr James Coon Carrietli the Letter of with Draw and
Deliver it to Elder Tanner.
91y Voted that the with Draw from Elder Tanner and breth-
ren be Red in Public after meeting.
After the Church had resolved to withdraw from Elder Tan-
ner, it remained destitute of a pastor for some months;
but finally, Edward Barber, jun., came as a candidate. To
use Dr. Masox’s words, as given in his sketch published by the
Washington Union Baptist Association in 1863:
“ On the 9th of March, 1794, Edward Barber, jun., then a
young man of about 26, a licentiate from Stephentown, ap-
peared before the church as a candidate for settlement; or, in
the language of the Record, ‘ to improve his gift with a view
to further acquaintance.’ He continued to supply the church
until the 25tli day of September following, when he was set
apart to the work of the ministry by solemn ordination—the
services taking place in the barn of Wm. Tefft—Eld. Caleb
Blood acting as Moderator, and preaching the sermon—Eld.
Samuel Rogeis offering the ordaining prayer—Eld. Clark Rog-
gers giving the charge—Eld. Obed Warren giving the hand of
fellowship and Eld. Amasa Brown offering the closing
prayer. *■*■*•**	*	*	* At the
time of Eld. Barber’s settlement, the church having abandoned
the former house of worship were already taking measures for
the erection of a new and more spacious edifice, on the north
side of the Bottenkiil. This edifice, the one which the church
now occupies, was built in the year 1795. Though somewhat
remodeled since, it remains essentially the same as that in
Wi.ich the fathers worshiped nearly seventy years ago.”4-1
IIISTOItY OF FBEEXWTOIE
During the ministry of Eider Barber, the church took a very
decided stand against what is known as “ Speculative Free-
Ma-onry,7 a position it has persistently held to the present
tune. \Y e find tlie church at a business meeting held May 7th,
170G, passing the following resolutions:
“ Rt^ob'rfs by the church that any member of this Church
that Joins the free Masons after this Date is a transgressor of
the Covenant of this church.
' ‘r, x by this church that if any member that belongs to
this or any other Church Coming here and Joining this Church
and then to meet with the masons without acquainting the
church there of shall be Culpable for so Doing.”
In the year 1808, the subject again came up and was laid be-
fore a large council called to meet with the Bottskiil Church.
The decision of the council was unanimous in advising the
churches to discountenance the institution for certain reasons
which are given at length in the result. When, a quarter of a
century later, the disclosures of William Morgan and others
laid hare the secret mysteries of the order, the church, as might
have been.anticipated, judging from her antecedents, took still
stronger ground against the institution. This position she lias
endeavored to maintain in regard to this as well as to all simi-
lar organizations, unto the present day. A posit ion so peculiar
and ultra as many have regarded it, has not failed to excite a
great amount of secret raid open hostility to the church for 70
years past.
Eider Earlier, an able and discreet clergyman, as he proved
himself to be, remained with the church until Ills death
in 18dk His successor was Elder Nathaniel -Colver, a man of
excellent powers of mind and strong convictions, who, with
the church, took advanced ground on the questions of slavery
and intemperance. So high did the excitement run that from
1884 to 1887 the church edifice itself suffered damage from
missiles, and it is stilted, that Elder Colver, in defense of his
principles, did not hesitate in the exercise of muscular Chris-
tianity. Ilis pastorate closed Jan. 1, 1888, leaving the church
strong and vigorous.
Eider Wm. Arthur succeeded to the pastorate of the church
commencing his labors about the 1st of Nov., 1880, and re-
mained about live years enjoying a peaceful and prosperous
pastorate. Eider Arthur was father to Gen. Arthur, the pres-HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
45
ent Collector of the port of New York. He retired from the
charge of the church in August, 1844, and in September of the
same year, Rev. J. O. Mason entered upon his long, peaceful,
and useful pastorate, during which about 1,000 persons were
added to the church and the present handsome and commodi-
ous place of worship erected, which event took place in 1866.
This history can add nothing to his reputation or to the es-
teem and veneration in which he is held. The resident mem-
bership of the church was about 550 at the close of his labors,
which, owing to his feeble health, occurred in May, 1873
Rev. C. A. Johnson, the present pastor, commenced his
labors with the church in November following, and has proved
an able, conscientious, and discreet pastor, who has won the
sincere respect and affection of his people. The chief incident
of interest connected with his pastorate was the endeavor,
during the winter of 1875-6, to secure a modification or abolish-
ment of the clause in the covenant of the church, which re-
quires the exclusion of members who unite with any secret
organization. The pastor earnestly favored the proposed
change in the covenant, preaching a yery able discourse in its
favor, being willing to trust to the consciences of the church
membership all questions of this kind; but at a church meeting
held during the winter, it was decided to leave the covenant
unchanged, and offending members were accordingly excluded
from church fellowship. The church took this extreme
ground at the time of the Morgan disclosures, and has held her
position ever since. And while some may doubt the wisdom
of this course, and may deplore what seems to them an illiberal
spirit, we cannot fail to admire the rigid adherence to supposed
duty on the part of this church, which as well in regard to the
real evils of slavery and intemperance,, took what might
properly be called ultra ground and strictly adhered to it
through trial and persecution. Thus have we traced particu-
larly the history of this pioneer church of Greenwich, which,
however we may view it, was the chief instrument of the moral
growth of the town, and among whose early members we may
find the progenitors of many of the present prominent families
of our locality, as the Whipples, the Cottrells, the Teffts, and
many others.
Following the organization of this church, was the settle-46
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
meat of a few families on the banks of the Battenkill, on the
immediate site of the village. Among them was a Mr. Carbine,
who had purchased considerable land on both sides of the Bat-
tenkill. He had built a dwelling, a dam across the river about
opposite the present site of Eleazer Looker’s house, had put
a saw mill in operation, and opened a store in part of his house
prior to 1780. He did not prosper and removed to Albany,
where Job Whipple, of Cumberland Hill, Rhode Island, found
him and purchased his interest in this locality, and built a new
dam a little north of the present site of “Palmer’s Dam,”
where he erected the fir&t grist-mill of the village, known from
him as “Whipple City.”
Mr. Whipple was an energetic, pushing man. He saw clearly,
that the future value of his purchase would depend upon the
rapidity with which he could make his water-power a center of
productive industries. He at once sought, and in William
Mowrv found a man competent to carry out his plans. Mr.
Mo wry had for years been in the employ of Samuel Slater, the
father of American Cotton Manufactures, at Pawtucket, R. I.;
was thoroughly up in his business, and having been refused a
merited advancement by Mr. Slater, he the more readily
listened to Mr. Whipple’s proposals to remove to Greenwich.
This he did, married Mr. Whipple’s daughter, and about the
year 1800 set up some Spinning-frames in a building then occu-
pying the present site of Weaver’s Machine Works. His yarn
was for a number of years jobbed out to the women of the
surrounding country, to be woven. Ladies rode in on horse-
back, from Whitehall, Granville, and other remote towns in
this county and also from Vermont, for yarn to weave, taking
their pay in yarn for the use of their own families. Probably
at no time in the history of the village, lias more briskness
characterized its people than during those primitive days,
when the dames from all the surrounding country came here to
do their trading, because their own industry could here help
them to eke out the earnings of the year, with strong, service-
able cloth for house and under wear. The enterprise proving
eminently successful, an association was formed in 1812, under
the style of Wm. Mowry & Co., .the other members of the firm
being Townsend and Samuel McCoun, of Troy, and John Gale
of Greenwich.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
47
Mr. Mowry’s enterprising spirit would not permit him to
lest, while in other parts of the world, manufacturers were
growing rich upon the fruitful products of improved machinery.
He therefore embarked, July 9tli, 1816, for Liverpool, accom-
panied by a Mr. Wild of Hudson, a most expert mechanician,
and on their arrival in the manufacturing districts of England,
in defiance of all rules refusing admission to manufactories,
forced their way to the machines he most desired. His able
coadjutor in the few moments before they were ejected, ob-
tained so clear an idea of the Double Speeder, that on his
return, he was able to build for Mr. Mowry, and put in opera-
tion the first Double Speeder used in this country, which was
in 1817 placed in the Brick Mill, which occupied the site of the
old Flax mill—in fact a portion of the present Flax mill is the
old weaving-room of the Cotton Factory, which contained
eighty looms and 2,500 spindles.
Thus commenced in Whipple City the industry that more
than all others has made the prosperity of the village of Green-
wich, which continued under Mr. .Mowry’s management until
failing health compelled him to resign the charge of the busi-
ness to his son-in-law, Henry Holmes, by whom it was contin-
ued until the year 1845, at which time the machinery had
become antiquated, and the stock had. mostly passed into the.
hands of others who felt no interest in keeping up the business,
which was accordingly in that year abandoned.
About 1795 a Mr. Langworthy organized a Methodist class
meeting near Reid’s Corners, which was continued until 1818,
when the first Methodist Episcopal Church in this town was
established at North Greenwich. The names of its pastors are
not given. In 1838 a branch was established in the village of
Greenwich, with Rev. David Poor as its first pastor. The old
church was built soon after the organization. This has always
been a live church, and has now a large and generous mem-
bership, as is evinced by the spacious and beautiful structure
in which they worship. Rev. H. F. Austin, the present pas-
tor, is an able and earnest worker, and the church prospers
under his leadership It is stated on good authority, that at
the time of the organization of this church in the village of
Greerftvieli, the Baptists tried to get an injunction against
it as a nuisance, but failed ignominiously.48
HISTORY OF GTE 3NWICH.
The Reformed Church was organized in the year 1807, being
a portion of the church in Easton, which church for a consid-
eration, furnished to the people of Whipple City the services
of Rev. Philip Duryea for one third of the time. The church
was built in 1810, and the first pastor, Rev. James Chrystie,
commenced liis labors there Nov. 25, 1815, two calls to other
clergymen having been declined. The church has been fairly
prosperous, and in 1874, under the present pastor, Rev. J. G.
Smart, completed its present elegant and commodious house of
worship.
We give below the larger part of the Historical Sermon
delivered by the pastor. Rev. J. G. Smart, May 11, 1873:
“On the 20th day of March, 1807,an agreement was made be-
tween the Consistory and minister of the church in Easton, of
the first part, and Ezra Dyer, J. P. Becker, and Chas. Ingalls,
of the second part, which for the sum of $83 53, to be paid in
two installments, by the parties of the second part to the Con-
sistory and church in Easton, should secure to them the ser-
vices of Rev. Philip Duryea one-third of the time for which he
was engaged by the Easton church; his services being equally
divided between that and the church at Scliuylerville. The
place of meeting to be some proper place in or near Whipple
City, in the town of Greenwich.
This agreement was renewed the next year. Services were
probably held at Reuben Bride’s, afterwards Capt. Moore’s
tavern. They held the services in the ball room, Mr. Duryea
preaching part of the time. The old tavern stood in front of
the site of the present hotel, its front stoop coming close to the
well curb. Opposite and a little southeast from this stood the
house soon after purchased and occupied by Luke Prentiss.
The old store stood near the lower part of Main street, and the
road ran up over the hill, across the place where this building
is standing; it also branched and ran north of Mr. Prentiss’
house up to the tavern and came together again near the resi-
dence of Mr. Dyer. This was an open lot down to Main street,
the only houses on it being those owned by Mr. Whipple.
The recorded history of this house begins with the following
brief minute; it bears’no date, but as we learn from the unex-
ecuted bond of Chas Ingalls, should have been dated Febru-
ary 5th, 1810.49
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
“ At a meeting of a number of inhabitants of the town of
Greenwich and Easton, with a view to taking into considera-
tion the propriety of building a house for public worship in
Union Village: Voted, That it is a jvish of this meeting to
build such house, and that a committee be chosen to view the
ground, and report to the meeting. Committee,—Thomas
McLean, John P. Becker, and Moses Cowan. Committee to
draw a plan to the house,—Capt. Ezra Dyer, J. S. Wright, and
Abram Tice.”
Again, on the I4th day of September, 1810, those who had
subscribed for the new church, gathered at the residence of
Reuben Bride, received reports from the two committees ap-
pointed at the first meeting; adopted a plan and arranged the
method for collecting the subscriptions. A building commit-
tee of six was appointed, viz: Robert Moores, Araspaes Folsom,
Elijah Norton, Moses Cowan, Otis Whipple, and Aaron M.
Per me. Captain Moores was specially appointed to purchase
material, employ workmen, collect and pay out all monies, to
superintend the work, and was to be paid a reasonable com-
pensation for this service. It was further resolved that Charles
Ingalls examine the title to the land, and the manner of receiv-
ing the deed, in trust or otherwise, until the subscribers should
become a corporate body competent to hold property. The
title being satisfactory, on the third day of October, Edward
Baber made a survey of the lot. The survey begins “ at the
well near David Whipple’s house,” measuring “three chains
and sixty-two links,” to reach the southwest corner of our lot,
the boundaries of which were nearly the same as at present ;
two small parcels having been added at different times since
respectively, on the south and east of the original purchase.
Mr. Ingalls reported that it would not be proper either for
these persons “to take a title to themselves individually', nor
any individual in trust, but that it should be given to some in-
vidual who should become bound to execute a conveyance
to the Society when they should be in a capacity to receive a
title to and hold real estate.”
Mr. Ingalls prepared such a bond, binding himself and heirs
to Job Whipple, Moses Cowan, John P. Becker, Joseph Safford
and others, in the penalty of $10,000. Through some neglect
the bond was never executed. But on the first of December,50
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
1810, the land was deeded to him by Nathan Rogers and John
S. Wright, giving to him a full title to the lot for the consider-
ation of $75, lawful money. Mr Ingalls died before the in-
corporation, and the property being deeded without the bond
having been executed, it became necessary to petition the leg-
islature to authorize his children to execute a deed to the land
to the Consistory, and from this petition we learn that one-half
the land was given by Nathan Rogers; of the remainder it is
said that it was also given or paid for by the congregation.
The petition is dated March 22, 1813. The act incorporating
the Consistory was passed but a short time before this request
was sent to the Legislature.
The well spoken of in the survey, is that now in use and
enclosed by a picket fence just in front of the Union Hotel.
The house was the tavern, and its position has already been
described. Reuben Bride occupied it at that time; it was built
and owned by David Whipple, and afterwards was occupied
by Captain Moores, and later still by Simeon Taylor.
About twenty-live years ago, the house occupied by Luke
Prentiss was purchased by Henry Holmes and William H.
Mowry, and moved to its present site, near the northwest cor-
ner of our lot to make room for the brick row. It is at present
occupied as a billiard saloon.
The record from the time of appointing the building commit-
tee is not very full.
The foundation of the new church was immediately began,
and the frame erected before winter set in. The place was
selected evidently because of its commanding position.
Rev. Phillip Duryea of Saratoga, now Schuyleryille, contin-
ued to officiate in the new church, occasionally, until a pastor
could be secured. Under his influence, in 1812, (the exact
date I have not been able to ascertain), the people worshiping
here appointed Simon De Ridder a commissioner to present
their petition to the Classis of Rensselaer, praying the Classis
to organize them and receive them into the communion of the
“ Protestant Reformed Dutch Church,” under the title of the
“Reformed Dutch Church of Union Village,” the same now
designating us, excepting the word “Dutch” stricken out a
few years ago, by the General Synod of our church.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
51
On the 16th of November, this same year, a commissioner
from thp Classis met in this house, and resolved to grant the
petition. Whereupon the congregation proceeded to organize,
closes Cowan was elected chairman, and Israel Williams, clerk..
An election was held for officers, and by a unanimous vote,
Benjamin Griffin and Thomas McLean were chosen elders,
Simon De Bidder, Luke Prentiss, and James Wells were chosen
deacons. Thomas McLean refusing to serve, Simon De Bidder
was chosen elder in his place, and on Sabbath, the 29tli of No-
vember, the first officers of this church were ordained and
installed, and the “ Reformed Dutch Church of Union Village ”
began its existence, all things having been made ready near
two years before.
The first communion service of which we have a record, was
held July 10th, 1813. In February of the next year, a call was
made out for the Rev. John Battle at the very liberal salary of
$500, a parsonage, garden plot and fire-wood, his time to be
equally divided between this church and that in Argyle, each
congregation agreeing to pay one-half, only the people with
whom he should reside were to furnish house and lot. The
call was declined.
In the interval between this and the issue of a call to Rev.
W. C. Brownell at $600, which was also declined, we find a
Consistorial minute complaining that the congregation would
not answer the call to meet and elect new officers. This was
Nov. 12, 1814 It was found necessary to change the manner
of electing officers, and adopt that usual in the Dutch church,
accordingly Classis was petitioned to grant the change. I find
some excuse here for your present indifference to calls for con-
gregational meetings. It came down from the fathers,—a most
unfortunate legacy.
Full four years having passed since the erection of the house
of worship, it was again resolved to make another effort to
secure a pastor, and on the 25tli of November, 1815, Rev.
James Christie was called at a salary of $600, with a house and
dot. His time was not to be divided with either Argyle or
Easton. It was resolved to purchase of Joseph Salford the
house then occupied by Mr. Boies, located on Main street, and
just south of Mrs. Ingalls’ residence; for this the sum of $800
was paid, and this became the first parsonage, and the home52
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
of Rev James Christie, the first pastor of this church. Mr.
Christie remained but two years. It was his first charge.
Twenty-six were added upon profession of faith, and a number
by letter, during his ministry. He also introduced the West-
minister Shorter Catechism as much easier than the Heidelberg.
In 1820 (Feb. 29), Jacob D. Fonda was called. One-third of
his time to be given to the church in Easton. He remained
fifteen years, the longest pastorate enjoyed by this church since
its organization down to this time. In 1830, Easton was given
up, and he labored for this church alone. The most interest-
ing period of the church’s history wTas during Mr. Fonda’s
ministry.
In 1823 a memorial was sent to Consistory, requesting the
privilege of occasionally admitting preachers of other denomi-
nations into the meeting house. The request was made in
July, and a satisfactory reply given in December. The sub-
stance of which I quote: 11 Resolved, That the Consistory are
willing that any person wdio has contributed to the building of
the meeting house, with an understanding that he should have
the right of inviting a person to preach in it, and who belongs
to the congregation, and contributes to the support of the
minister employed by the Consistory may, and of right ought
to enjoy the privilege of occasionally admitting into the meet-
ing house any ordained minister, or licensed preacher, cf good
and regular standing, professing the doctrine of grace as taught
in the gospel, at such times as it should not be regularly occu-
pied for the ordered services of the Consistory; the Consistory
agreeing never to appoint special meetings that might interfere
with this privilege.
In 1827 (December 28), Moses Cowan and John Hay with-
drew from the church services. Their consciences being of-
fended by the introduction of instrumental music at the public
worship on the Sabbath, a bass viol having been brought in to
assist the choir. Consistory seut a committee to talk with
them, and referred the question to Classis for their opinion.
But all to no purpose. The offended parties would not be
reconciled. The instrument was banished, but as late as 1829,
we find Consistory sending a committee to these men. Again,
in 1830, resolutions wTere passed in Consistory regretting
the occasion of offence, and sending another commissioner.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
58
At this time Mr. Cowan returned to attendance upon the ser-
vices of the church. But John Hay never forgot or forgave
the bass viol, and remained away unreconciled. Though John
was deaf, he was not blind.
February 25th, 1830, was appointed a day of fasting and
prayer, on account of the low state of religion existing in the
community, and during this year eleven were added to the
church upon profession of their faith; two of this number are
still living in our community.
The next year began a revival which seems to have been al-
most continuous up to the last year of Mr. Fonda’s ministry.
In 1831, 134 persons were received into the membership of this
church—118 of these upon profession of their faith, and 110 of
these between April 20tli and June 12th. This was probably
the most marked revival in all the history of our church.
That 24th day of April when Wm. Mowry, Reuben Norton and
good old Solomon Place stood forth with fourteen others to
receive the sacrament of baptism must have been one of deep
and lasting impressions. We know it was, some of them have
told us so, and some of you remain to bear witness of its influ-
ence. Onty one of all that company remains unto the present,
and infirm old age prevent^ Diyon Tobias meeting with us
to-niglit.
Not two months later, June 12th, thirty-seven presented
themselves for baptism, and in that list we find many names of
sacred memory. From all that number, there cannot be more
than three who gather with us at this service. We simply make
historic record of these days; we would not dim their glory by
our feeble words of description. Such things are seen and
felt—cannot be told by any tongue. In 1832, 39 were added,
82 of these upon profession of faith. During this year a few
feet were added to the rear of this building. The pulpit
changed to its present position. The old square box pew
taken out and replaced by the more modern ones. At this
time the galleries projected further in toward the center of the
house than at present. In 1833, 36; three of these by certificate;
in 1834, 37; 3 by certificate.
In 1833 (April 4th) a resolution of grateful acknowledgment
was passed in Consistory for the bequest of a small farm to
this church by Moses Cowan. The use of the farm was givenHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
54
to Mr. Fonda in lieu of $100 of liis salary. On the 9th of
October, 1835, on account of some difficulties in the church,
Mr. Fonda was released from his long and fruitful pastorate.
During this year an addition was made to our church lot, by
purchase from John Cushman of a small parcel of land at a
cost of $80.
In 1836 (January 4tli,) a call was made out for Rev. William
Cannon, an agent for the missionary society and declined be-
cause of his engagement with that society. The following
August a call was sent to Benjamin Van Zandt, and he be-
came pastor by ordination and installation September 23d.
During this pastorate the old parsonage was sold and the pro-
ceeds appropriated to the purchase of the one now belonging
to this church. Nearly forty were added to the church, as the
results of six years1 labor by Mr. Van Zandt. The most mem-
orable thing in his ministry is the sad dissension of the first
few months, marring our history and resulting in that separa-
tion from which originated the Congregational church. We
only mention it in its historical connection, rejoicing that its
bitterness has passed away and in the full faith that many who
w ere thus parted here, have been brought together in that king-
dom of clear and full light, where all see eye to eye and where
all is love.
There soon began to be felt a need for a consistory room for
the prayer meetings and smaller gatherings of- the congregation
and in 1841 it was resolved to make such a room in the base-
ment The young ladies benevolent association reported a
fund of $250, gathered and' invested for that purpose. The
next year the room w7as finished.
Mr. Van Zandt resigned in 1842, and the next pastor, Rev.
Mr. Morris, was called in February, 1843, and installed the fol-
lowing April. During his ministry the assembly’s shorter cat-
echism was again substituted for the Heidleberg in the instruc-
tion of the Sabbath school.
in 1845, November 10, by request, a committee was appointed
to arrange the basis of a union between this and the Congrega-
tional church. Its results, if not all that was hoped, yet
evinced a kindly and Christian spirit. It is summed up in one
of the resolutions, a copy of which was sent to the consistory
of this church.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
55
“ llesolved, That although we do not deem it advisable to
dissolve our church for the purpose of uniting with the Prot-
estant Reformed Dutch Church, still we do most cheerfully
tender our willingness to labor reciprocally with them in any
moral and religious effort for the good of mankind and the
glory of God.”
With the effort a few years later you are all familiar. The
last change and repairs were made in 1846, when the galleries
were made narrower, a new pulpit made, the house papered
and painted, and left as you see it to-day, minus the wear and
tear of twenty-seven years.
At the beginning of 1848 Rev. Mr. Morris was released from
this charge and in a few days Rev. Uriah Marvin was called
and was settled April 18th. Mr. Maryin prepared a brief
sketch of the church history and a full list of all the members
and 500 copies of this manual were printed.
In 1854, April 9th, twenty four persons were added to the
church upon confession of faith in Christ. Ten of these were
baptized at that time. This was a renewal of the scenes during
Mr. Fonda’s pastorate. In December of this year the church
received a gift of $100 from Miss Lydia Mo wry. It was in-
vested for the benefit of the church, and in 1859 appropriated
to aid in purchasing the organ now in use here. Mr. Marvin
resigned in 1855 and was released March 17th.
In June a call was sent to Rev. C. Van Santvoord, and in
November he was installed, remaining only three years, leav-
ing in August, 1858. A revival occurred during the last year
of his ministry, and as its fruit eighteen were added to the
church upon profession of faith.
Rev. John Steele was called November 29th, and settled at
the opening of the next year—1859. A large number were re-
ceived by letter during his ministry, which continued six
years, until August 14, 1865. Only eight united upon profes
sion of faith. In 1865 a legacy of $200 was received from Obe*
diali Culver. It was during this year that our brethren of the
Baptist church began work on their new church edifice, and
the use of this house was tendered them one half the Sabbath;
but moving their old house to the common in front of the old
lot, they continued to use it until the new building was coni-,
pleted. From 1865 to 1867 you were without a pastor, Rev.
Mr. Mattoon’declining your invitation for his services. Rev.56
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
A. G. Cochrane supplied the place during this interregnum.
During this time a legacy was received from the estate of Miss
Elizabeth Stewart, twelve shares of stock in our bank. 1867
seems to have been a year of revival. Twelve persons were
added upon confession April 6th. In April Rev. David Van
Horn was called and was settled in June. A change was now
made in the mode of electing officers, and was done by vote of
the congregation This pastorate lasted but one year, Mr. Van
Horn being released in June. Mr. Hoyt was called in August,
1868, and resigned in July 24, 1871. In February, 1872 your
present pastor came and was ordained and installed May 15,
1872. Ten pastors have been installed over this church. Six
of them were here ordained to the gospel ministry, and gave
to you the first and best years of their life work.
We find no report in all the records which places our mem-
bership so small as at present. In 1854-55, 112 families were
reported, 450 persons in the congregation and nearly 200 mem-
bers of the church. We have fallen off nearly tliree-fourtlis
since that time. Such an attendance must have crowded all
parts of this house. Now we seldom secure an attendance of
150.
About 1824 four men, each bearing on their shoulders a small
tree, entered the church yard, and to-day four large elms
put forth the annual promise of grateful shade and stand up-
on our northern borders, a living monument to remind us of
the zeal and the love of Dr. Holmes, Joseph Southworth,
Moses Cowan, and Moses White.
Thus briefly and hastily have we reviewed the records of this
house. They are the fruit of that first meeting held April 5,
1810, and belong to the history of this building in which we
are now gathered. For these things we love it and will cher-
ish its memory.
Yet were it not for that unwritten history, that imperishable
record burned into our hearts, the memory of things too sac-
red to be entrusted to the cold pages of historical diaries, we
might give up this house with few iegrets. We have loved it,
because of mighty influences from the early services held with-
in its walls, going forth through its portals, blessing and to
bless the people who have dwelt about its sacred enclosure,
sending out far and wide her sons and daughters with the light
and joy of her life giving proclamation and praise. ”HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
57
Tlie church has continued to the present time, prosperous
and flourishing, under the pastoral care of Mr. Smart, through
whose energy and management lias been built the beautiful
church edifice in which the congregation now worship, and an
engraving of which forms the frontispiece of this sketch.
As noted in the sermon, in 1837, the agitation of the anti-
slavery question made a disturbance in the church, which
finally occasioned a division. This rupture resulted in the
organization of the Congregational Church, whose history, up
to 1860, we copy from the Historical Sketch given in the Manual
of that church:
“The Orthodox Congregational Church of Greenwich, as is
the corporate name of the body, was organized March 15th,
1837, by a council composed of pastors and delegates from the
nearest Congregational churches of the region, without refer-
ence to state lines. It was a leading object with the founders
to have a church according to their idea of the primitive,
Scriptural plan,—one independent of everything beyond itself,
and democratic in the equality and self-government of its
members. And such a one was formed, and has been con-
tinued, down to the present time, as being in both external
relations and internal polity, just like all the Congregational
churches of New England, except a portion of those in Con-
necticut. But the founders sought, as an object of still greater
importance, to represent that most genuine, yet much neglected
type of religion, which has comprehensive, practical love for
mankind in all their interests, both temporal and spiritual.
This was felt to be the crying want of the land and of the
Christian world, as evidenced not only by the too generally
selfish and unbenevolent course in private life of professors of
religion, but also by the existence, tolerance and even endorse-
ment with Christianity, of huge evils like intemperance, slavery
and war. it is about the oldest, if not indeed quite so, among
the many Congregational churches of the kind, which the
growing light and love of the age have brought into being, and
especially in our cwn state; while it also belongs with the most
prosperous of such.
The original members of the organization were thirteen in
number; and of these only four remain with us now, while the
most of the others have gone the way of all the earth. The58
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
cliurcli had a stormy infancy, from outward opposition in part,
hut more from factious elements entering into its membership.
But at length all internal troubles ceased, from the exercise of
the wholesome discipline of Christ's house. And then followed
years of reigning peace, prosperity and happiness. This how-
ever was not to continue always, as better than the most favored
human lot; for next came what before was hardly known,
bereavement, and such in a very grievous and repeated manner.
Precious ones have passed away from us, among the founders,
officers and members of the church, and not only those in old
age, but oftener those in mid-age or youth. Several of them,
who may well be mentioned, as Mrs. Angelina G. Mo wry, Mr.
Charles H. Holmes and Mr. Erastus Bigelow, have left generous
funded legacies to the church of their love, conditioned on its
maintenance of the principles of humanity and reform. The
various bequests made amount to several thousand dollars,
aside from the waiting ones of the living. While the tasteful
and pleasant church, with its connecting chapel, of a hundred
feet in all from front to rear, and the contiguous parsonage,
the whole standing on a roomy lot of nearly an acre, together
with the organ and tower clock, have been provided at an out-
lay in the sum total of more than $15,000. The property Is
held by trustees elected on the part of the Society, which is
composed of all those statedly attending and supporting the
church. In this does it differ from that of churches not of the
independent order, as held by a ruling board of officers in their
own name, else by trustees for the use of an extended ecclesi-
astical body. But in so well providing for itself, this church
has not forgotten others in the great field of the world, white
and suffering for the harvest, nor to move in their behalf by
way of liberal giving and ready doing. Indeed it sustained a
mission church in Kentucky, with the help of the people on
the ground, for a time, or till a pro-slavery mol) burned the
house of worship and broke up the operations. While now it
is assisting, to a considerable extent, that devoted and daunt-
less man of the same state, Rev. John G. Fee, in his worthy
educational enterprises of religion and reform. It has also ever
taken good care of the needy poor in its own circle, as keeping
them from want and public charity. And thus from small
beginnings, and against the tide of the world, as insisting onHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
59
the pure, whole gospel of Christ, does this hand of Christians,
in view of results, ability,? influence, and numbers even, though
always a secondary thing with them, have much reason to
acknowledge the blessing of Heaven, and to say, “Hitherto
hath the Lord helped us.”
The church adopted the following resolutions, bearing on the
great moral questions of the dajq viz : Intemperance, slavery
and war. The first four were passed July 29th, 1837. The
last two December 16th, 1857:
Resolved, That in view of the evils produced by the use of
intoxicating liquors as a beverage, it is the duty of every person,
and very especially of every professor of the Christian Religion,
entirely to abstain from using it themselves or giving it to
others, and also from manufacturing the same, or trafficking in
it, except for medicinal, mechanical, chemical, or religious
purposes.
Resolved, That to hold human beings as chattels personal, is
a sin against God, and a palpable violation of the command of
Jesus Christ, to love- our neighbor as ourselves.
Resolved, That as followers of Him who came to preach
deliverance to the captive, it is our duty to “remember them
that are in bonds as bound with them,” and also to labor and
pray tor the speedy and entire abolition of slavery in this nation
and throughout the world.
Resolved, That we cannot admit to our communion any per-
son who uses, manufactures, or deals in, intoxicating liquors
as a beverage, nor any slaveholder, nor any person who justifies
slavery, or advocates its continued existence.
Resolved, That the whole system of international warfare is
unnatural and inhuman, that it is always wrong when waged
anyhow in an aggressive way, and only justifiable, if ever,
when waged in the strictest self-defence, and that difficulties
between nations, irreconcilable to their governments, should be
settled by some form of arbitration or convention.
Resolved, That the Churches of the meek and merciful Savior
should debar from their membership and communion, all impli-
cated in aggressive war, and that Christians should earnestly
prajr and labor to bring in the blessed reign on earth of univer-
sal peace and love.
The following were the original members of this church:
Daniel Frost, jr., Roxanna Frost, Hiram Corliss, Susan Cor-
liss, William H. Mo wry, Angelina G. Mowry, Charles J. Gunn,
Abigail Gunn, John Clark, Martha Clark, Roswell Grandy,
James Watson, Lydia Watson, Edwin Wilmartli, Beululi
Downs, Elizabeth Horton, Mary F. Corliss (Cook), Lucy
Patti son.60
HISTORY OF GREEXWICII.
The following are the clergymen who have seryed the church
since its organization:
John Smith, from June 1838, to January 1841; E. C.
Pritchett, from April 1841, to August 1845; Sabin McKinney,
from November 1845, to December 1846; J. B. Grinned, from
June 1847, to November 1850; C. S. Shaltuck, from November
1850.
Since Mr. Shattuck's pastorate, which closed in 1860, the
church has been without a pastor most of the time. Mr. Pom-
eroy, a Methodist clergyman, preached there for a time, after
which, for a short season, Rev. Mr. Holmes was settled. Since
the close of his labors there has been no stated preaching, but
the reading of the sermons of distinguished preachers lias been
kept up until very recently. The church accomplished
much good, in the course of its existence, by the advanced
ground it took on the questions already adverted to.
In 1872, a mission of the Episcopal Church wras established
in the town, holding its services in the Congregational church
building, under care of Rev. Mr. Walker, of Schuylerville.
This mission has developed into a church, known as St. Paul’s.
The first Rector was the Rev. H. M. Blanchard, now of Ford-
ham, N. Y., a very able and excellent man. His successor,
the present Rector, Rev. H. M. Smythe, is an excellent and
exemplary clergyman, beloved by his people; and the church
is flourishing under his pastoral care.
The Roman Catholic Church was established in 1871, and
was for several }rears under the charge of Rev. James Fedigan,
an able and liberal man, who was much esteemed. He al^oliad
charge of the church in Cambridge. During his stay the old
M. E. church was purchased by his society, moved to its pres-
ent location, and repaired and otherwise fitted for the worship
of his congregation. When he left, Rev. E. A. Donnelly
assumed the charge of the parish, and has given very good
satisfaction.
Branch churches have been organized from the central
churches of the Baptist and Methodist organizations in different
portions of the town. One from Bottskill Baptist church, at
Lake, in 1884, and another at Galesville, now Middle Falls, in
1837. We have not the space to do justice to the history of
these churches, which have had experiences well worthy of61
*
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
record. Both have been well sustained. The Galesville church
has suffered some from internal dissensions, but under the
pastoral care of Rev. J. O. Mason, is at present in a prosperous
condition. The other has been prosperous, and under the
present charge of Rev. E. A. Clark, is in good condition.
Methodist branches have been established at East Greenwich
and Battenville, which have flourished according to the
prosperity of those villages.
We have thus traced with some minuteness the history of
these organizations, which have extended largely into the life
of the town, and will be read with interest at least by some.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
62
CHAP. IV.
Revolutionary Incidents—The Town Organization—The Bald
Mountain Lime Works—Development of Business in the Town—
Personal History— War of 1812—Anti-Slavery and Anti-Masonic
Excitement—The Academy—The Bank—Agricultural Society—
Later Events— Centennial Celebration— Conclusion.
It does not appear from tlie records in Albany, nor from any-
thing are we able to learn, that there was much interest taken
in the Revolutionary contest by the fathers of the town. Some
few incidents, however, will be of interest. These are mostly
connected writh Baum’s march to Bennington, of which we sub-
join a brief sketch, in so far as it relates to matters of local
interest, together with such other incidents as properly belong
to this narration.
As Burgoyne proceeded down the river, he found that Gen.
Schuyler, although his forces were numerically weak, arid not
less so in the equipments that make up an efficient army, had
placed all the barriers in the way of his advance that were
possible. Earthworks, which are still visible, were thrown up
on the east side of the river, near the present state dam, to
prevent the British from crossing at that point, which was
deemed the most available spot to cross. From some cause,
however, they were abandoned, and Baum crossed first to the
island, which fronted them, and from this island to the east-
bank of the river, on to the land then held under patent by
Gen. Phillip Scuyler, (but first occupied and cultivated by
James Rogers, 2d—now owned by Abram Yates Rogers) nearHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
63
what is now called Clark’s Mills, and there encamped. Col.
Baum sent several experienced scouts, guided by Indians, on
the several trails leading through Cambridge to Bennington.
One party passed along and up the Battenkill, stopped at the
house of Thomas Bentley, just above where Hannah Place now
lives, and demanded refreshments. Mrs. Bentley, alone with two
small children, quickly complied, and they passed on and
forded the river at Center Falls, near the Tucker tavern stand,
and crossed the hills to Cambridge. The other party of
scouts crossed the river into Easton, and thence to Cambridge.
Col. Baum, with the main body of his detachment, crossed
the Battenkill near its mouth, and marched along its banks, on
the Easton side, to near Galesville, where they crossed and
remained over night. .In the morning they again crossed at
Taylor’s ford, on to what is known as the Washburne farm,
and crossing the road between Washburne and Captain Jo.
Salford’s, went east on the John Salford place through the old
Baldwin farm, through a small portion of the William Stewart
farm, now owned by Harvey L. Potter, on the old Petteys
place, by a spring and down a ravine to the house where David
Burdick now lives. The army then passed below O. K. Rice’s
house, over to the Carver Rice place, past the house of Mrs.
Coon, (afterwards Mrs. Grandy), now known as the McArthur
place, past Amasa Hill’s into what is now William Whipple’s
farm; through his orchard and into the meadow below his
house, where a part of the old road, made of logs, can still be
seen in the marshy grounds; across the present Cambridge
road, near the place where C. P. Coy now lives, they turned
and went over the hill, thiougli the land now belonging to
Horace Petteys, to the old tavern stand of Jonathan Pullman,
where the army halted for a short time, and the officers bought
eggs and milk. Merritt Hillman’s house stands on the site of
the old tavern stand, and is the same house. The ford on the
Richardson farm, where the army crossed, is about a quarter
of a mile west of the present ford. When the army passed
through this town, three houses stood between this ford and
landlord Pullman’s; two on the Greenwich side of the river.
The first, a small house, was about fifty rods from the old ford
in the now Taylor meadow; the walled cellar, about nine feet
square, filled with rubbish and the bricks for chimneys, can04
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
be seen by the curious. The house was built of upright plank.
The other, a house of more pretensions, was on the south side
of the present road leading to the ford opposite the Washburne
farm.
John Potter, grandfather to Mrs. Sarah Frost, who now
resides in the village of Greenwich, settled on a farm on the
Salem road before the revolution. The house stood east of
Hannah Place's—the cellar could be seen a few years ago.
Potter was warned that Baum’s army was coming and fled,
taking with him his four children, two cows, one horse, and
a yoke of oxen, and arrived at Hoosick the same night that the
army did. They seized his property and took two of his sons
prisoners.
About the time of the passage of the army, a Mr. Rogers,
also a grandfather of Mrs. Frost, settled on the farm just north
of the William Tefft place, now occupied by Hill Miller and
son. He set out back of his house the first apple orchard in
the town, making a journey to Rhode Island to get the sprouts.
His house stood where William Allen’s house now stands.
One of the scouting parties, having with it a number of
Indians, had, two or three days before the passage of the main
body of the detachment, passed this way on the road to Ben-
nington. On their route they captured and took with them
Mrs. Hannah Coon, (later Mrs. Grandy) wife of Mr. Elisha
Coon, a captain in the American militia, and who was then
absent on duty. Mrs. Coon was then in a very delicate situa-
tion, and such as required momentary attention; but notwith
standing, she was compelled, as incapacitated as she was, to
travel on foot with these ferocious savages and more brutal
Tories. The second day after her capture her ammchment
took place, where they halted for the night. In the morning
after her confinement, she, with two other women who had
also been captured, was again compelled to walk and carry her
child, to the place where the troops under Colonel Baum
encamped, previous to the action with the Americans under
General Stark. Soon after the action commenced, she saw the
Indians, she says, flying in all directions, and skulking behind
trees, rocks, and other places of concealment. On the retreat
of the Indians, after the defeat of Colonel Baum, she was taken
with them, and soon met the reinforcements under ColonelHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
65
Brayman; when she returned to camp and remained during
the second battle, and was again compelled to travel on foot
with them on their retreat to the place where they encamped
during the night. Here, owing to her recent confinement and
constant fatigue, she was taken sick, and whether it was on
that account, or on account of the hurry and bustle the troops
were in at the time, being in momentary expectation of pursuit
by the Americans, she does not know, but she was left without
a guard, and managed to conceal herself and child until they
had departed, when she made her escape. After her escape,
she with much difficulty returned home, where she remained
alone, (excepting her infant child) and in the midst of the
wilderness, about three weeks, with nothing to subsist upon
but a little salt pork, which had been concealed, and some old
or seed cucumbers, that were left undisturbed in the. garden,
all their other provisions and even her cooking and other furni-
ture having been taken away by the Indians and Tories. The
cucumbers she scraped the seeds from and peeled, then roasted
them in the embers, and though she Was fearful they might kill
her, yet, she says, she thought she might as well die by eating
them as to starve to death—as the salt pork she could not eat
alone.
At the expiration of three weeks she was again taken by the
Indians and Tories, who, she thinks, vented their malice par-
ticularly upon her, on account of her husband having taken
sides with the Americans, as they would often speak of it. At
this time she was compelled to cross the river wTith them, in
advance of the British army, and was taken as far as Stillwater,
but managed to make her escape during the action of the 19th
of September, having suffered much during the time.
She Jived at the time of her death, at the age of nearly one
hundred years, about two miles from Greenwich village, on
the Easton side of the river, as before mentioned, on what is
now known as the McArthur place.
There are many other incidents well authenticated that might
)be given, but we forbear as our space limits us. Numbers of
our early settlers suffered from the war. Quite a large number
fled to Bennington, only to get between the two armies, and
suffer all that fear could make them suffer. The Teffts, the
Dickinsons, the Rogers, and many others were among this66	HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
number, but we must leave this portion of history for other
themes.
The lands which now form the town were, as before stated,
under the control of the township of Argyle, until the formal
organization of the. town in 1803. The whole of both towns
was, prior to 1772, included in the boundaries of Albany county.
Albany county took its name September 24tli, 1664, and was
one of the original counties, and was erected by a law of the
first legislature ever held in the colony of New York, which
convened November 1st, 1683. It comnrised about nine-tenths
of the lands of the state, and has been divided into forty eight
counties in this state, together with Gloucester and Cumber-
land counties of Vermont. March 12th, 1772, Charlotte county
was created by law, embracing what are now Washington and
Warren counties. In 1784, the name was changed to Wash-
ington, and, in 1813. Warren was, by act of legislature, set off.
The town of Greenwich was set off from Argyle by law April
12th, 1803, and organized. Its first supervisor was Robert
Perrigo, jr., and the first town clerk was Eraspus Folsom.
The postoffice was also established with John Herrington as
postmaster.
While these events, relating to political aspects of the town,
were taking place, business was taking a start in various parts
of the town. As early as 1788, lime had been burned at Bald
Mountain for building purposes, and in 1790 Samuel Dunham
erected a kiln for the regular burning of the rock, which, thus
produces this useful commodity. Since that time the business
has gone on without intermission. Gardner Thayer and Sam-
uel Heath first gave a strong impetus to the business, which
they pushed with considerable vigor. In 1852 Robert W*
Lowber purchased the quarries and pushed the business with
wonderful energy. He erected 11 kilns of the most approved
kind, built elevated truck ways for the convenient transporta-
tion of the newly quarried rock to the kilns. He also built a
most excellent macadamized road to the canal at an expense
of about $30,000. In addition to this, he erected over one
hundred tenements which form the hamlet now known as
Lowberville, or Bald Mountain. The lime from his kilns
always found a ready market, and under his vigorous direction
the place presented a lively and business-like appearance.HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
67
Unfortunately for the town, however, he was, in 1873, pre-
vailed upon to sell his title to the kilns to the Glen’s Falls
Lime Company, who were bound by the contract to keep the
works-in operation. They have, perhaps, fulfilled the letter
of the contract, but certainly not the spirit of it, as for some
time only one kiln has been kept burning. This stoppage of
so large a portion of the works, has thrown many out of
employment, and has given the hamlet, which Mr. Lowberhad
built up about him, a deserted appearance. It is stated that
the reason of the stoppage of the works is due to the fact that
the Bald Mountain lime is of a quality so superior as to deaden
the sale of the lime from the larger quarries in Glen’s Falls.
So they only furnish it for the work of hard finishing. But
whatever may be the cause the practical suspension of the
works is to be regretted.
In 1849 these works were owned by Gamble, Tefft and
W right. A pottery which had been established near the moun-
tain, by Lemuel Rowel, who was succeeded by O. Y. Lewis,
was then in successful operation, furnishing an excellent qual-
ity of pottery. At what is now known as Clark’s Mills, Messrs.
Holmes A Shearer then carried on the lumber business. . It is
proper to state that this business has Seen carried on at this
point almost continuously for a hundred years, and tradition
(sustained to a considerable extent by records of other con-
temporaneous facts) states that as earty as 1731 the business
was prosecuted at that point, and that these mills were the only
ones that escaped burning by the French and Indians. In the
neighborhood of the old Sybrani (Seybrandt) place, now owned
by Horace Gavette, seven saw-mills were in operation as early
as 1790, on the brooks of that locality.
Middle Falls, recently known as Galesville, formerly as
Arkansaw, is located on both sides of the Battenkill. In 1788,
Joseph Heath erected the first grist mill on the splendid fall at
that point, but in the following year sold it to Abraham G. Lan-
sing. Quite a settlement was made here at the time Lansing
came. Two excellent grist mills, a woollen mill, a saw mill
and plaster mill now partially utilize the water power and
make the place prosperous.
About 1815, the permanent settlement at Battenville began.
Thomas McLean in connection with Abel Dunham in that68
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
year laid the foundation of the old woollen mill at that place.
They failed and the property passed into the hands of Judge
McLean. In 1826, his son-in law and Samuel Anthony con-
verted it into a cotton mill. Soon after both McLean and
Campbell died, and Anthony, who acted as agent, subsequently
failed. In 1836, it was, for a while, run by a man named
Graves, after which it again lay idle until 1842, when Thomas
Truesdell from New Y^ork carried it on successfully for three
or four years. Then a man named Moore ostensibly bought it
aud soon after failed, and the Haskin Brothers bought it and
run it successfully until it was burned, in 1868. In 1872, the
Phoenix Paper Company built a paper mill on the site of the
cotton mill and are doing a fair business. Messrs. William
R. Hobbie and H. L. Mowry constitute the firm. Although
the business does not require so many workmen as did the
cotton mill, it renders the village quite prosperous.
The village or hamlet known as Lake is nine miles northeast
of Greenwich village, at the outlet of CossayunaLake. Corey’s
“ Gazetteer of the county of Washington ” informs us that its
first settlers were Alexander Beid, William Pratt, John Mc-
Eachron, Robert McEachron, Walter Stewart, Tinsler and
Mount. There is a grist-mill, tannery, flax-mill and store, and
a church as elsewhere mentioned.
The eastern portion of the town, as lias been before shown,
was the first portion settled, and East Greenwich was the first
settlement in the town to take the importance of a village,
There has been a store there continuously since 1794. Its
first settlers were Archibald Livingston, William Black, Alex,
ander Shaw, Roger Reid, and others. Some of these men we have
heretofore menticned. The store was, in early years, kept by
James Shaw, who was a shrewd business man. It is related of
him that he owned a saw mill, which he carried on in connec-
tion with his store. The dam got out of repair, and Mr. Shaw,
who was crippled in his arms by paralysis, wishing to have it
repaired, and not wishing the men to be dissatisfied at working
in the water, walked into the stream, a bottle of gin under each
arm for their refreshment, and there remained (though it was
an autumn day and bitter cold) until the job was completed
On another occasion he had lent a saw and had forgotten the
b orrowe r. So he adopted the ruse of asking every one whoHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
69
came to the store why he did not return it, until at last he
found the borrower, and recovered the saw again. The lumber
business was early carried on quite extensively at this point,
and the place was indifferently called East Greenwich, or
“ Slab City.” It lias been a thriving place. A saw mill, grist-
mill, sash and blind factory, and woollen factory have consti-
tuted its manufacturing interests, and have made it prosperous.
The place has two stores, a church, a hotel, and blacksmith
shop. The lumber business is still carried on quite extensively
by William Walker. The village is situated eight miles east
of Greenwich village.
North Greenwich, about five miles north of Greenwich, was
settled about 1800. Archibald McKallor, Phineas Langwor-
thy, and a few others, first settled this section. The place is
now called Reid’s Corners, and has one store in which the
postoffice is now kept by H. L. Reid.
Center Falls was formerly a lumbering district, the fine fall
in the Battenkill offering excellent facilities for sawing. It
was originally settled by Smith Barber and Nathan Rogers,
whom we have before mentioned. Soon after others came,
and the place soon attained its growth. In later years a paper
mill was carried on by Isaac G. Parker and others, but being
burned down, the water power has since remained idle. It is
now the property of D. A. Bullard, of Scliuylerville.
We return now to the history of the village of Greenwich.
It was incorporated as “ Union Village ” in the year 1809. This
name was given it from the fact of its embracing a portion of
the towns of Easton and Greenwich. We can hardly give a
synopsis of the business developments here, and will only speak
briefly of those which have been of primary importance.
The cotton mill, which first brought the village into promi-
nence, we have already referred to at some length. No other
important manufacturing interest was developed until after the
war of 1812, although a store was established by Eraspus
Folsom, about the beginning of the century.
In the war of 1812 our town took a deep interest, some
sixty of its citizens going into active service in the field. The
books at the pension agency in Albany, show that about twenty
of these veterans are drawing pensions at the present time.70	HISTORY OF GREENW10It.
Thus creditably did our fathers stand by the country in its
needs.
Waldron Eddy and Edwin Andrews, in 1837, established a
furnace for the manufacture of agricultural implements, and
it has been uninterruptedly prosperous, though many changes
have taken place in the firm, which now does a large business
in the manufacture of goods of their own invention, under the
style of Eddy, Reynolds, Langdon & Co.
In 1848 was established the shoe business, which was soon
the controlling industry of the place, the manufacture of cotton
having been given up soon after Mr. Mowry’s death, in 1845.
The shoe business continued with one interruption until early
in the year 1870, when, owing to financial difficulties, it was
abandoned and its trade was divided between Troy, and Ben-
nington Vt.
In 1858, Messrs. Mowry, Masters and Andrews established
the American Tea Trav works, the only establishment of the
kind in the country, it has always had a fair business in the
manufacture of the finer kinds of tea trays, servers, dust-pans,
etc,, which are decorated in the most artistic style, Japanned
and perfectly finished.
The Battenkill Knitting Works were established in 1802,
and, in 1870, were incorporated as the Pleasant Yale Mills.
They are owned by William M. Palmer, who runs them,
employing about fifty operatives, and doing a fair business.
In 1868, was commenced, by William Weaver and the Cot-
trell family, a Linen mill, which was completed, and most of
the machinery placed in the building ready for use, when an
unfortunate business complication, caused the enterprise to be
abandoned. Mr. Weaver, who was familiar with many
branches of manufacturing, in 1870, started a machine shop,
which is still conducted by him under the name of the Green-
wich Machine works, where lie manufactures several wood
working machines of his own invention, which have secured
for themselves a deservedly large sale.
The town has been prolific of newspapers, twelve in all
have been published here, viz. :	“ The Anti-Masonic Cham-
pion,” “The Banner,” “The Union Village Courant,” “The
Union Village Democrat,” “ The Democratic Champion,”
“The Washington County Sentinel,” “The Union VillageHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
71
Journal,’' " Tlie Champion,” “ The Eagle,” “ The Union Village
Eagle,” “The Union Village Democratic Standard,” and the
“ People’s Journal,” all but the latter having been suspended
prior to 1850. The “People’s Journal” has been published
uninterruptedly from its origin, 1842, by the following pub-
lishers: John W. Curtis, H. C. Page, C. L. Allen, jr., W. J.
King, E. P. Thurston, E. P. & D. P. Thurston, C. L. Allen,
jr., Corliss A Allen, Meeker & Mandell, and the present pro-
prietor, D. W. Mandell, maintaining a fair circulation and an
excellent business.
Want of space prevents us from giving any considerable
detail of personal history. Already these pages largely exceed
the number contemplated in the original plan of this work.
We can, therefore, only speak briefly of those who have, either
in Greenwich, or in the places to which they have gone,
achieved distinction or eminence. These we shall speak of
in connection with other matters of historical interest.
Prominent among the men, who, by their energy and activity
have been important in the community, is Dr. Hiram Corliss,
who came to Greenwich in 1825, to establish himself in the
medical profession. He is now, although more than an octo-
genarian, still practising. Very soon after he came to Green-
wich, in 1827, be commenced the agitation of the temperance
question, and soon after, in 1888, the anti-slavery movement
claimed his attention. He was one of the first abolitionists of
the county and of the state. Elder Colver, of the Bottskill
Baptist church, was one of his deciples in this movement, and
from the meetings called and held by these two men, sprung
that intense feeling on the slavery question, which made the
town of Greenwich noted throughout the land as a prominent
station on that line of march toward Canada and freedom,
which was known as “ The underground railroad.” Many
slaves who were concealed in the town were tracked by their
owners, but not one who had reached this point, was ever
taken back to slavery. Notable cases are related where slaves
had escaped and arrived at Greenwich closely pursued, but so
securely were they hidden that they were never found. John
Salter, now a farmer living in Easton, was formerly a slave
who ran away from his master. He intended to go to Canada,
but Dr. Corliss and other leading abolitionists told him to stay72
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
and they would protect him. He accordingly staid, although
for five years persistent attempts were made by slave-holders
to abduct and carry him back into slavery. The movement
carried with it the best element of the town’s population.
Active in the movement, in connection with Dr. Corliss, was
Elder Colver, whom we have already mentioned; Mrs.
A. C. Holmes, William H. Mowry, Leonard Gibbs, and many
others. In the houses of all these persons might, at one time,
have been found secret recesses or chambers, where slaves
were hidden, and indeed several of them remain to this day.
Leonard Gibbs, who was the legal adviser and constant coad-
jutor of this coterie of fugitive slave law-breakers, was a law-
jmr of distinguished ability, and was brought prominently
into public notice by his connection with the *• Jerry Rescue ”
at Syracuse, which took place in 1848. Mr. Gibbs came to
Greenwich from Granville in 1846. Up to the commencement
of the war, efforts were made in the abolition movement.
George Corliss, of Providence, R. I., whose name has recently
been so much before the public, in connection with the con-
struction of the immense centennial engine, which bears his
name, is a son of Dr. Corliss, who is mentioned in this con-
nection, as is also William Corliss, the inventor of the “Corliss
Spherical Safe,” and Rev. Albert H. Corliss of Lima, Livingston
county, in this State. His daughter is the wife of Rev. Sabin
McKinney, of Binghamton.
The first lawyer of the town was Charles Ingalls, who was
born in Andover, Mass., in the year 1763, graduated at Dart-
mouth college in 1790, was admitted to the bar 1803, when he
established his office at Union Village. In 1804 he was elected
member of Assembly. Israel Williams and Joseph Boies
prosecuted their legal studies under his instruction. He con-
tinued practice until his death, in 1812. His son, Charles F.
Ingalls, Avas born in 1795, was admitted to practice, Oct. 29,
1819, was afterward appointed Judge of the Court of Common
Pleas. After the expiration of his term, he continued his pro-
fessional labors until his death, in 1870. His sons, Chas. R.
and Thomas F. Ingalls, followed the legal profession; the
former at Greenwich until 1860, when he removed to Troy and
practised as partner in the office of David L. Seymour, where
he remained until elected Judge of the Supreme Court, inHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
73
1868, to which office he was recently re-elected without oppo-
sition, both parties joining in his nomination. Thomas F.
Ingalls, a man of fine natural abilities, practised until his
death, in 1873.
Joseph Boies, of whom we have spoken, commenced prac-
tising law in Greenwich in 1813, and with the exception that
he was, for a time, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and
afterwards Surrogate, he practiced until his death, in 1866.
His son, David Artemus Boies, entered the legal profession;
which he still practises, having attained to an eminent position
at the bar of Washington county. He has once been
honored with the office of Surrogate, and is thoroughly
esteemed by his brethren of the profession, and by community
at large.
The family of Eugene A. Cronin, who settled in Greenwich
about 1825, have been among the successful people who hav«
gone out from the town. Timothy C. Cronin is a lawyer of
prominence in New York, and received the nomination as
presidential elector, for his own district in Brooklyn, of one
of the great political parties the present year, while his brother,
Eugene A., received a similar nomination on the opposing
ticket in Oregon. David E. has been prominent in newspaper
matters, in Binghamton N. Y.
One of the most eminent men the town has ever produced
was Hon. Daniel Pratt, of Syracuse, who was born near Mc-
Eachron’s Lake, in the northwestern portion of the town, in
1808. He graduated at Union College in 1833, and the same
year moved to Onondaga county. He settled in Syracuse in
1836, and in the following year was admitted to the bar, and
commenced the practice of law. In 1843 he was, by Gov-
ernor Bouck, appointed first Judge of Onondaga county
In 1847 he was elected Justice of the Supreme Court, and was
re-elected in 1851, and held the office until 1859, when h^
resumed practice, which he continued until he was elected
Attorney General, in the fall of 1873. After the expiration of
his term of office, he again resumed his practice in Syracuse,
where lie now lives.
Governor Beveridge, of Illinois, was also a former resident
of the town, and was brought up on the place adjoining that
where Judge Pratt wTas born. We should be glad to give some74	HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
details of his personal history, but our limited space forbids it.
Wo shall now refer briefly to the more important institutions
of the town: First among them is the school, Union Village
Academy was established in 1836—incorporated in 1839. Its
first principal was James I. Lourie, and, it is safe to say, that
the school has never been more prosperous than under his
management. A correspondent of the People's Journal recently
gave the following particulars:
In the first three years of this institution, during which time
Judge Lourie was principal, the following gentlemen were
scholars: Daniel Anthony, Governor of the State of Kansas;
Chester Arthur, collector of the port of New York; Henry A.
Tefft, commissioner to establish postoffices in California, mem-
ber of the Constitutional Convention, and Justice of the
Supreme Court of that State; William Wallace Rockwell,
member of assembly from Saratoga county; Charles R. Ingalls,
member of assembly, and Justice of the Supreme Court of this
State; Patrick Mullon, Judge of Common Pleas, Ohio; Rev.
James A. Tefft, known amnog his companions as Ticonderoga
Tefft, missionary on the western eoast of Africa; and Joseph
Potter, District Attorney, County Judge, and Justice of the
Supreme Court of this State.
Mr. Lourie, afterward studied law and was admitted to prac-
tice. He was, at one time, by appointment, Judge of the
Court of Common Pleas, and later was elected Surrogate of
the county, both of which offices he filled acceptably to the
people. He still continues the practice of his profession, and
is an highly esteemed citizen. The school, since he left it, has
been usually full and prosperous, and has had the services of
many excellent teachers. In 1869, it was, under the law,
changed to a graded free school; and although it has encoun-
tered some opposition from heavy tax-pavers, the people are
benefited by the change.
^ In 1838 Washington County Bank was established with a
capital of $102,000, under the direction of a board of fifteen
directors. Henry Holmes was the first president, and held
that office until his death, in 1850. LeRoy Salisbury was the
first cashier, but, dying at the end of the first year, Mr Edwin
Andrews was elected to the office, which he still retains, to the
satisfaction of the stockholders and community generally. The
capital stock of the bank was increased to $150,000 in 1850,
and asain in 1857 to $202,000. In compliance with the law, itHISTORY OF GREENWICH.	75
became a national bank in 1865. It has been uniformly
prosperous. LeRoy Mowry is its present president.
The Washington County Agricultural Society was organized
in 1840, Henry Holmes being its first president. His son, Wil-
liam M. Holmes, was president of the society for one year, and
has been for many years its treasurer, retaining the office at this
date. The fairs of the society have been held every year from
its commencement, except 1862, when it was postponed that
its grounds might be used for the organization of the 123d
regiment.
In 1805, June otli, Rising Star Lodge, F. & A. M., organized
and had a x^rosperous existence until 1837, when, the great
excitement concerning the Morgan disclosures, and his supposed
murder, caused its downfall. On the 10th day of July, 1865,
some of the Free Masons of the town organized Ashlar Lodge,
No. 584, and it was instituted by the Grand Lodge, June 27,
1866, and, notwithstanding some opposition, has been pros-
Xierous and growing, and numbers among its hundred members
many of our -leading citizens. It has had but two Masters
since its organization, Clias. H. Robinson being the first, occu-
pying the position for two years, and Dr. S. L. Stillman, who
now officiates.
Union Village Lady, No. 122. I. O. of O. F., was established
by charter from the Grand Lodge, August 15, 1844, and
deceased October 12, 1857. Was reorganized November 15,
1870, and resumed its charter August 24, 1871, and is now in
good condition.
In 1864 the survey was made for the Greenwich & Johnson-
ville Railroad. In 1867 the first ground was broken, and the
road was comx>leted August 31, 1870. Mr. John Lee was the
first president, retaining the office until his death, which
occurred in 1870. Since that time Mr. William M. Holmes has
been president, Edwin Andrews secretary and treasurer, and
H. 11. Warner superintendent. VDuring the entire six years of
its operation, it has had an excellent freight business, with fair
passenger traffic.
At the commencement of the war, in 1861, Greenwich
resxDonded nobly, furnishing 231 men for whom the town was
credited. There is no doubt that the whole number reached
300. One hundred Greenwich volunteers were killed in battle76
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
or died in service. The town was represented in about twenty
regiments, although the greater number were in the 123d, 93d,
30th and 22d regiments of New York volunteers. The town
expended for war purposes $88,074 82, and furnished the fol-
lowing commisioned officers: Lt. Colonel E. Franklin Norton;
Captain Alonzo Trueman Mason; Captain Abram Reynolds;
Captain James Cowan Shaw, and Brevet-Captain George
Robinson. Lt. Colonel Norton was the only commissioned
officer who lost his life in battle. He died May 12, as brave
men die, from wounds received at the battle of Chancellors-
ville, May 1, 1863. The 123d regiment, in which most of our
volunteers were found, participated in twenty battles, and their
regimental flag, laid away in the military archives of the State,
bears evidence in its tattered folds of the true hearts that fol -
lowed where it lead, “even to the jaws of death, even to the
mouth of hell.” Gratefully the town received them when
they returned tattered and worn from the fields of bloody
victory. Gratefully our tears should water the graves of the
fallen.
Quite recently Bald Mountain was made a U. S. signal sta-
tion, and observations are occasionally taken therefrom by
officers of the U. S. signal seivice.
In 1868 the People’s Bank was started, with Edwin Wil-
marth as cashier; and, under his management, would haye
been successful, but for complications he was unable to con-
trol. The project was finally abandoned in 1872. The building
is now occupied as a store room by Mr. N. H. Wing.
In 1870, William Whiteside Hill completed the handsome
block which bears his name, and which has been generally
occupied by leading merchants of the place.
There is much more of interest which we would gladly men-
tion in this connection, but our space will not permit it. We
must briefly epitomise the celebration of the nation’s centen-
nial anniversary, which was observed here, and bring this
narration to a close.
The people of the town deeming it proper that there should
be an appropriate celebration of the nation’s centennial anni-
versary, made preparations commensurate with the importance
of the occasion, and heralded its dawn with the booming of
cannon and the ringing of bells. In the early morning wasHISTORY OF GREENWICH.
77
formed a parade of masked invincibles, who paraded the streets
creating laughter and mirth. The afternoon saw the forma-
tion of a grand civic procession, consisting of a band, the fire
companies of Cambridge and Greenwich, a fine cavalcade,
carriages for leading citizens and participants in the day’s fes-
tivities, and a beautiful canopied car, in which thirteen young
ladies, arrayed to represent the different states, were seated.
The parade commenced about two o’clock, and was to close by
stopping at Mowry’s park, where a platform had been built
and arrangements made for the seating of the immense con-
course of people who had gathered to witness the proceedings
of the day. Unfortunately, however, a severe thunder storm
came up, and while on the march the procession was scattered,
and the Marshalls, Major Henry Gray, James O. Lavake and
Captain Abram Reynolds, were unable again to organize it.
The scattered people, however, gathered at the Methodist
church, which was kindly thrown open by the pastor, Rev. H.
F. Austin. Excellent music was furnished by a glee club and
chorus, trained for the purpose by Prof. R. A. Spalding. The
Declaration of Independence was read by Hon. Samuel
Thomas. The excellent oration, wThich forms the.appendix of
this work, was delivered by Hon. D. A. Boies. The after-
noon’s exercises at the church were closed by the reading of
the historical sketch which forms the frame-work of this book.
The usual athletic sports followed these exercises, and fire-,
works concluded the day’s exercises. To the committee, A.
H. Miller, A. H. Knapp, \Y. R. Hobbie, Merritt Mo wry, R. A.
Spalding, Oscar Eddy, E. D. Wilcox, D. T. Ensign, James
Skiff, James White, W. T. Moore and E. P. Thurston the
credit of the day’s success is mainly due. The celebration
was worthy of the day and of the occasion.
And now, as we draw this narration to a close, we will sim-
ply say, that its completion has been to us a pleasure, and we
can only regret that, out of a large amount of material, we have
been able to present so little of the detail of our town’s most
.interesting history. A volume of five times the size of this
might have enabled us to justly delineate the facts of the past
of the town of Greenwich; but while we feel that in this work
but little has been done, we believe that little been has done cor-
rectly, as we know it has been done conscientiously. Should78
HISTORY OF GREENWICH.
this, our first attempt at the compilation of historical facts,
prove acceptable to the people of the town, we may at a future
time, present a more elaborate and particular history. Trusting
that the little we have done may develop a desire for a more
perfect work, we will add to what we have written only the
word,
FINIS.APPENDIX.
I
APPENDIX.
Address Delivered by Hon. D. A. I3oies, before the Citi-
zens of Greenwich and Vicinity at'their Celebration of
the Nation’s Centennial Anniversary, July 4th, 1876.
Fellow Citizens. —W e have met together on a most happy
and auspicious occasion. On an occasion unexampled and un-
paralleled in the history of nations. You may search the long
annals of history in vain, for an occasion like this. We are
met to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the birth-day
of this great Republic. With most of the great nations of the
world, it is difficult, if not impossible, to fix upon the exact
period of their origin as nations. With some, their history
runs back into the region of myth and fable. With others,
their origin was small and they grew by gradual accessions until
they became great nations. But, as in the fanciful mythology
of ancient Greece, it was said that Mercury sprang full armed
and panoplied from the cleft head of Jupiter, so did our nation
on the fourth day of July, 1776, step forth into the family of
nations, in the vigor and strength of national youth, and now,
to-day, while yet comparatively in the fresh bloom and grow-
ing strength of early manhood, America stands in the front
rank of the great nations of the world. And now, on this
pleasant mid-summer day, all over the broad surface of this
mighty empire, from the pine forests of Maine and where theII
APPENDIX.
cold waves of tlie Northern Atlantic are dashed upon her rock-
ribbed coasts, to where the tepid waters of the Great Pacific
Sea lave the strands of auriferous California; in the great city
where our national independence was first proclaimed to the
world; in the great emporium and metropolis of the New
World, and in the other cities and rural villages of our land,
our people are gathered to celebrate by appropriate ceremonies
this great centennial anniversary of our nation’s birth.
As noble old John Adams predicted, the whole land resounds
with the booming of cannon, the ringing of bells, the explo-
sions of powder, and the evening sky will be radiant with the
glare of bonfires and torchlights and the scintillations of fire-
works and the welkin ring with the shouts of Freemen.
But what is the significance of this great anniversary?
The American Revolution, viewed merely as a successful
war, is not entitled to the consideration which we attach to it.
It is true great courage and boldness were exhibited in a few
feeble colonies, pitting themselves against and boldly defying
the prowess of one of the greatest naval and military powers of
the age; and our forefathers, during that seven years7 war,
“the times that tried men’s souls,” exhibited courage, patience,
endurance, patriotism, and many of the best qualities of hu-
manity—and they were men of whom we might well be proud
as the founders of our nation.
But other people have exhibited these qualities in as great
a degree, and the battles of the Revolution have been dwarfed
almost into skirmishes in comparison with the mighty and
terrific battles of our great Rebellion.
The significance and importance of the American Revolution
depend upon the principles upon which it was based. Daniel
Webster said that our forefathers went to war upon a preamble.
But what a preamble was that?
Prior to that time the generally accepted doctrine was that
Kings derived from God the right to govern the people. It
was called the divine right of Kings. Some speculative writers
had questioned this right, and England, at the time of her
great rebellion, established a commonwealth, but they soon
substituted a protector with more than kingly power, in place
of a king, and at Cromwell’s death they went back to the scep-
tre and the crown.APPENDIX.
Ill
But the declaration of American Independence startled the
nations by enunciating with wonderful clearness and force the
general cardinal principle of politics : “That governments
were instituted among men to secure their unalienable rights,
and all their just powers are derived from the consent of the gov-
erned.” That the people are the fountain and source of all
power, and the government has only those powers which the
people see fit to confer upon it. It was the very opposite of
the doctrine which had theretofore obtained: That the Govern-
ment, or King or Emperor, was the source, and fountain of
power, and the people had only those privileges which the govern-
ing power saw fit to confer upon them. Never was a war waged
in a nobler cause, and it was successful. Our independence
was secured; and the nobler principle for which our fathers
fought, has, during the century, spread its influence through-
out the civilized world.
It had a great influence upon, if it did not produce, the great
French Revolution; and, although the world was shocked and
horrified at the insane butcheries of Robespierre and liis brutal
coadjutors, and although the French Republic was changed
into a personal despotism by the treachery and ambition of the
great Napoleon, yet with all its evils the French Revolution,
on the whole, was a blessing to France and to the world; and
now, at this day, the great doctrine of the people’s right, the
foundation principle of the American Declaration has become
the accepted and accredited belief of the educated and civilized
portions of mankind.
Never did a nation have a nobler cause, never was a war
waged for a nobler principle, and we have just reason to be
proud of our origin as a nation.
This is more than an ordinary anniversary; it is the Centen-
nial, or the celebration of the hundredth anniversary of our
nation.
At such a time it is natural and appropriate to throw our
minds back to the beginning of the century, and to compare
and contrast the condition of things then existing with those
that now exist.
The appropriate limits of the occasion will not permit a gen-
eral survey of this field. 1 can refer only to a few points.IV
APPENDIX.
We have met here to-day, on this beautiful spot, surrounded
on every side by the comforts, the conveniences, the refinements
and even many of the luxuries of the higher civilization. Tem-
ples dedicated to the worship of God, lift their tall and shapely
spires to the skies, and the summer breeze wafts through these
valleys and over these hill tops the sweet melody of their
musical bells.
Education, free to all, is brought almost to every man’s door,
without money and without price.
The homes of our people are the abodes of comfort, happi-
ness and peace. Every man can sit down under his own vine
and fig-tree, with none to molest or make him afraid. We fear
no midnight raid of the skulking savage, nor the ravages of any
foreign foe. For almost a century the quiet air of old W ash-
ington has not been vexed by the roar of hostile cannon, nor
her soil been pressed by the footsteps of a foe. “Verily, our
lines have fallen to us in pleasant places and we have a goodly
heritage.”
One hundred years ago the place where we are now assembled
was a dense virgin forest.
Prior to the Revolution there were a few settlements in this
county, a small one at Skeensborough, now Whitehall ; *a few
scattering farms or lots had been occupied in the Argyle Patent;
there was quite a settlement in Salem, and somewhat of a set-
tlement. in Cambridge. There were a few settlers scattered
along the banks of the Hudson, perhaps a few families at Gales-
ville or in its vicinity, and, as appears by the statistics which
Mr. Thurston, our historian, has collected, somewhat of a set-
tlement of Scotch people at or near East Greenwich. But, as
a whole, I have no doubt that the territory now embraced
within the present limits of Washington county might properly
be said to be a wilderness.
If one hundred years ago to day, a person had stood upon the
summit of Willard’s Mountain, the highest point in this section <
of country, I have no doubt that his eye would have ranged
over an unbroken forest, with not a house or even a building
visible. It was not until after the close of the Revolution that
settlers began to move into the county to any great extent, but
then immigration, principally from Rhode Island, Connecticut
and Massachusetts, became rapid and extensive. I will not,APPENDIX.
y
however, encroach upon the province of our town historian.
Fellow citizens, W e are proud and happy to call ourselves
citizens of the great State of New York. We are proud to
call it in the magniloquent language in which Americans are
too prone to indulge, the Empire State of this great Republic;
and it is facile princvps —easily the first in this great sisterhood
of States—first in population, first in wealth and resources,
first in commerce and first in influence. But, at the time of
the Revolution, New York occupied no such commanding po-
sition among her sister colonies. There were three colonies in
advance of her. In 1776 the population of the four leading
colonies (exclusive of slavery) was as follows:
Massachusetts....................... 352,000
Pennsylvania........................ 341,000
Virginia.......................... ..... 300,000
New York...............................   238,000
Indeed little Connecticut lacked only 36,000 of equaling New
York.
There were 500,000 slaves in the colonies in 1776, 280,000 of
which (more than one-half)	belonged	to	Virginia. If	these
were added to the white	population	of Virginia,	it would	make
580,000--thus making Virginia far in advance of either of the
others and much more than double the population of New
York.
In 1776, Philadelphia, New York and Boston were the only
places worthy to be called cities. Philadelphia had about
30,000 inhabitants, New York about 25,000, and Boston under
20,000.
But what is the condition of things at the end of the century?
The State of New York has become a nation by itself. By the
State census of 18g its population has become 4,704,394. I do
not know what the population of Pennsylvania is at present
By the United States census of 1870 her population was
3,421,791, and that of New York was 4,382,759. Virginia and
West Virginia together, comprising the old State of Virginia,
in 1870 had a population of 1,667,177, and Massachusetts, in
1875, had a population of 1,651,902.
The thirteen colonies at the time of the declaration of Inde-
pendence had a population of 2,243,000, exclusive of slaves,
and about 500,000 slaves. It will thus be seen that at the pres-VI
APPENDIX.
ent time New York alone lias a population more than double
that of all the colonies (exclusive of slaves) at the time of the
Revolution, and in wealth, commerce, and in resources, it
exceeds that of all the colonies in far greater proportions.
The city of New York has become the great city of the New
World, and is the* third city of the civilized world. London
ahd Paris only are ahead of it, and in a few years I have no
doubt it will stand second only to London as far as population
is concerned. In speaking of the population of New York,
Brooklyn, Jersey City and other suburbs should be embraced.
A city is a geographical fact; it is a collection of inhabitants
living contiguous to each other, and the fact that different por-
tions of the city are under different municipal or other govern-
ments, does not alter the geographical fact that it is one city,
Suppose Paris should be divided and placed under two muni-
cipal governments, and that portion on the north side of the
Seine should be called the city of Paris, and that on the south
side should be called the city of Napoleon, that would not
alter the geographical fact that there was the great world-
renowned city of Paris, the most magnificent city it the world,
with a population of about two millions. Therefore, in speak-
ing of the population of our great metropolis, and comparing
it with the great cities of the world, it suburbs should be
embraced, and the population of New York and its suburbs
now amounts to at least 1,750,000.
And is it not wonderful that that little towrn, scarcely more
than a village in 1776, scattered over the southern end of the
Island of New York, below where now are the new post office
and the Astor House, should now within a century have
become the metropolis of the New World, and the third city
in population in the world, and within a few years I have no
doubt that it will have exceeded in population the magnificent
metropolis of France, and will stand second only to wonderful
London.
Henry Clay said in one of his speeches, more than thirty
years ago, that the city of Cincinnati was to him an enigma.
That he could not account for its wonderful growth and the
proportions which it had attained.
I am not puzzled with Cincinnati, but I confess that London
is to me a perfect wonder. It has a population of nearly threeAPPENDIX.
VII
millions and a half, and exceeds in population, in wealth, in
commerce, in solidity, any city which ever existed on this
planet, not excepting Rome in her palmiest days of pride and
power, when mistress of the world. That such a city can be
sustained on such a comparatively small island as Great Britain,
which on a map of the world occupies so small a space as to be
almost imperceptible, and sprinkled all over with other cities,
several of them large enough, and rich enough, and magnifi-
cent enough to be worthy to be capitals of powerful states, is,
indeed, most wonderful. It shows what is possible to an intel-
ligent, enterprising and free people, and America may well be
proud that she has sprung from a people capable of such
achievements. But although London has such an advance, yet
New York has some advantages in the race.
America, by the end of another century, will in all probabil-
ity have a population of over 100,000,000 and her greatness will
be tributary to her great commercial city. The harbor of New
York is one of the best in the woi£d; it can shelter the fleets of
the world in its ample arms. And it certainly does not appear
to be a wild and crazy fancy to predict, that one who should
a century hence sail up the bay of New York, would see those
waters surrounded by the magnificence and splendor of the
mightiest city on the globe.
I have not time on this occasion, to review the progress
which America has made during the century in the several
departments of human effort. 1 shall but briefly allude to a
few topics.
No nation can occupy an estimable position in history, with-
out having a worthy national literature. Look at little Greece,
occupying so small a portion of the earth’s surface; her magnifi-
cent and wonderful literature, has for more than two thousand
years exercised a controlling influence in the world of thought,
and immortalized her name in history. The authors of Eng-
land and Scotland have shed a brighter lustre upon their
names, than all the achievements of their armies and navies
. have produced.
How, then, has America progressed during the century in
this branch of human effort? Prior to the Revolution, Amer-
ica had no literature. She had but one writer, Jonathan
Ed ward c, vvlio was known in Europe, and he was only knownVIII
APPENDIX.
by his treatise on the will. Franklin was known among the
savants of Europe, but chiefly by reason of his scientific
experience and experiments, rather than from any literary pro-
duction. Less than half a century ago, Blackwood tauntingly
asked, “ Who reads an American book?” But such aypiestion is
no longer asked. Within the last fifty years we have made such
rapid advances, that we have now a very respectable national
literature.
In poetry—which many deem the highest development of
the human intellect—we have none who can rank with the
great monarchs of song, with Homer and Dante, with Shaks-
peare and Milton. But such prodigies are like angels’ visits,
few and far between. But we have poets now living who can
well compare with the living poets of Great Britain and the
continent. Bryant, Whittier, Longfellow and others, have
shed bright lustre on the American name.
In History, Bancroft, Prescott, Motley, Irving and others,
occupy an honorable position among the historians of the
present age, and in the other departments of literary effort,
our progress has been as rapid and satisfactory as, under our
circumstances, could have been reasonably anticipated, and we
may well expect a much greater advancement in the future.
The number of educated men and women, and especially of
those who make literature a profession, is much greater than
at any other period of our history, and is constantly increasing;
and I have no doubt that at the close of another century our
country will occupy as proud and commanding a position in
the republic of letters, as she will then occupy in the family of
nations.
The mechanical progress of the last century has been some,
thing wonderful. As one writer has said, compared with its
predecessors, it appears rather as a contrast than as a develop-
ment. It appears almost to have leaped into existence. This
appears also to be almost literally true of Chemistry, Electric-
ity, Galvanism, Magnetism and Geology.
In Locomotion the change is marvelous. A member of the
Provincial Congress in 1776, consumed fifteen days in going
from Boston to Philadelphia. Now mark the contrast. About
a month ago a party of singers took seats in a palace-car in theAPPENDIX.
IX
city of New York, glided rapidly up tlie valleys of the Hud-
son and the Mohawk, dashed through the cities of Western
New York, skirted the shores of the great lakes, stopped for a
breathing space in Chicago, that almost magical city of the
W est, springing, phoenix-like, from its own ashes in greater
beauty and strength than before, then on, on, on again with
the speed of the wind across the prairies of Illinois and Iowa,
across the Mississipi and Missouri, across the great plains to
the Rocky Mountains—the backbone of the continent—then,
with scarcely diminished speed, up and over those mighty
mountains, down through the valley of the great salt sea,
across the great alkaline desert, and over the mountains of
Nevada, and finally from the top of the coast range mountains
of California, settling down like a bird upon the shore of the
Pacific, in the busy and brilliant city of San Francisco, which
has sprung into existence within the remembrance of men of
less than middle age, and which has now a population far
exceeding that of all the cities of the colonies one hundred
years ago. This journey across the continent was accomplished
in eighty hours and twenty minutes, three and one-third days.
Who could have dreamed of such a thing one hundred years
ago ? One who should then have predicted it would have been
deemed a lunatic.
But this is not the greatest wonder yet of modern times. As
soon as those passengers reached San Francisco, they found in
the morning papers of that day a particular account of their
trip from the time they started at New York until they set foot
on the shore of the Pacific, and also that morning’s news in
New York, more than three thousand miles away ; and also an
account of what had transpired that morning in London and
Paris, and all over Europe and the East. Indeed, as the light
uing upon the telegraph wires moves westward much faster
than the earth moves eastward upon its axis, the singular phe-
nomenon is exhibited of news moving westward and reaching
its destination sooner than the time when it was sent. Thus
when it is noon at New York, it is 8:20 in the forenoon at San
Francisco ; and a telegram sent from New York at noon on
July 4th, 1876, will reach San Francisco, say at 8:30 a. m., of
July 4th, 1876, that is, about 3^ hours before it was sent.X
APPENDIX.
Tlie telegraph is indeed a wonderful invention, and to many
it seems inexplicable ; and yet the principle on which it operates
is very simple, like almost all great inventions, and after it
wras discovered, it seemed singular that it was not discovered
before it w7as. The whole principle of this wonderful inven
tion is this : By passing a current of electricity or galvanism
around a piece of soft iron you make it a magnet; by breaking
the circuit it ceases to be a magnet. Thus if you have a bat-
tery here, powerful enough, you can send a current of elec-
tricity around a piece of iron at San Francisco and by playing
upon a key here, you can magnetize and demagnetize a piece
of iron there; and as that plays upon the key there you can
make the sounds there -which can be understood like spoken
language. The machinery of the telegraph used to be compli-
cated by the use of clock-work to move a strip of paper upon
which the characters of the telegraphic alphabet were marked ;
but most of our operators have become so expert that they can
read the click of the machine without the use of paper, and
can thus talk to each other across the continent, and across and
under the ocean, as if they were conversing face to face. Thus
the anticipations of Sliakspeare, that wonderful genius, who'
seemed to have anticipated almost every thought that has ever
passed through a human mind, has been more than realized.
He put into the mouth of Puck the remark, “ I will put a
girdle round the earth in twenty minutes.”
The advancement in the mechanical arts has been so won-
derful during the last century that it does not appear possible
that an equal advance could be made in the century to come ;
but the limit of the capacity of the human mind cannot be
measured, and it is impossible to predict what it may not yet
acccomplish.
The most cursory survey of the history of our country dur-
ing the century, requires some allusion to the subject of
slavery.
Slavery always had an important influence upon the politics
of the Republic, and for more than a quarter of a century
prior to its abolition, it was the controlling power in the land.
It may not be generally known that at the time of the revo-
lution, the number of slaves in proportion to the number of
the white inhabitants was greater than it was when slaveryAPPENDIX.
XI
ceased. In 1776, there were in the colonies 500,000 slaves, out
of a total population of about 2,750,000, a little less than one-
fifth ; whereas the census of 1860, the last census taken
before the abrogation of slavery, showed out of a total popu-
lation of 31,148,047, 3,950,531 slaves—a trifle over one-eighth
slaves. Thus notice upon what a monstrous inconsistency our
government was founded.
Our forefathers appealed to the judgment of the world, and
justified their rebellion against the mother country upon the
noble principles so clearly and forcibly portrayed by Jefferson
in the Declaration of Independence, “ that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain
inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness ; that to secure these rights, governments are
instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the governedf and upon that platform the seven years’ war
of the Revolution was waged and our independence secured ;
and yet, at that very time, one out of every five of the inhabi-
tants of our country was bereft of every right of man, stripped
even of the attributes of manhood, in law was changed into a
chattel and a thing.
It should be said in extenuation, that our fathers did not, in
general justify and defend slavery : they apologized for it as a
necessary evil, bequeathed to them by their ancestors, and they
fondly hoped that it would be gradually abolished. Many of
the best men of that period denounced it, and Jefferson said
that he trembled for his country when he remembered that God
was just.
But the hopes of the best patriots were doomed to disap-
pointment. The invention of the Cotton Gin by Eli W hitney,
and other mechanical inventions, produced a wonderful
increase in the cultivation of cotton and in the value of slave
property, and cotton became king, and for years the slave-
holding influence became the controlling political power in the
country. But such a state of things could not last.
“ Truth crushed to earth shall rise again,
The eternal years of God are her’s,
But error wounded, writhes in pain,
And dies amid its worshippers.”XII
APPENDIX.
Slavery was a foul and damning blot upon our national
escutcheon. As Lord Brougham said, “It was a wild and
wicked phantasy, that man can hold property in man.”
It was an anomaly, a monstrosity, a living lie, a piece of the
dark ages, amid the light and intelligence and civilization of
the nineteenth cqptury, and could not live. It became ambi-
tious and aggressive, and strove to subject the whole nation to
its sway. It was destroyed, but it was wiped out in fire, blood
and tears. What a price we paid for the sins of our fathers
and ourselves. Slavery was so interwoven with our whole
political, social, business and religious systems, that it could
not be wrenched out without fearful dislocation. But great as
was the price, the consideration was not inadequate.
Formerly, although wTe had much of which we might justly
feel proud, yet slavery was a source of mortification and
shame. If in Europe an American were upholding the princi-
ples of a republican government against the supporters of a
monarchy, the monarchist had but to utter in scorn and con-
tempt one single word, “slavery,” and the American had to
drop his head in humiliation and sorrow. But now that foul
blot, that shameful inconsistency is removed and we can hold
our heads erect in conscious pride, and as the citizen of ancient
Home used to exclaim as a talisman and protection all over the
then civilized world, “lam a Homan citizen,” so now, any
member of our great republic can exclaim the world over,
with true respect and with no tinge of shame upon his cheek,
“ I am an American citizen.”
The moment that a slave sets his foot upon the free soil of
America his fetters drop, and her free air is breathed only by
free men.
We can now repeat with truth, and not as a lie, the couplet
of Drake :
“With freedom’s soil beneath our feet,
And freedom’s banner streaming o’er us.”
There is a tendency in human nature to exaggerate the dis-
tant and the past, and to depreciate the present and the familiar.
Campbell, one of the sweetest of British poets has sung :
“ ’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,
And robes the mountain in its azure hue ”
And as long ago as when the book of Job was written, prob-APPENDIX.
XIII
ably the oldest written composition extant, the same sentiment
is put into the mouth of one of the characters and personages
in the book, but not as the opinion of tlie writer, that the old
times were better than the new. And it is now the case, as it
has been for centuries, that old people always declare that old
times were better than the times that now are. As a general
thing the truth is the other way. New things are better than
the old, and the world is advancing.
If I had time to show the condition of the common people
in Europe and all over the civilized world, one hundred years
ago, and contrast it with their condition at the present time,
the contrast would be startling.
Yet the leaders of our Revolution, the founders of our
Republic, were noble men. Washington, the Lees, Henry,
Jefferson, Franklin, Jay, Livingston the Adams and their noble
compeers, were worthy to be the founders of a great nation,
and are well entitled to the respect and veneration of their
descendants.
But while we render due honor to the men of 1776, let us be
careful not to depreciate the men of 1876.
“ America, with all thy faults, I love thee still.”
With all their faults, I believe the present generation of liv-
ing Americans are worthy of their noble ancestors. They have
passed through the ordeal of lire, and their qualities have been
tried by the severest tests, and in the hour of trial they were
not found wanting.
At the time the great Rebellion broke out we had been at
peace for nearly half a century. To be sure there had been
the war with Mexico in 1846, but in that case the army was
mainly composed of adventurers from the Southern States ;
and the'battle-fields were so far away from the Northern states,
and indeed the causes of that war did not commend it to the
conscience of the nation, that the great heart of the North was
not stirred by that contest. Since the battle of Plattsburgh
the hills and valleys of old Washington had not resounded
,with the strains of martial music, calling her sons to the battle,
field in defence of their country. The military spirit had
apparently died out among us. and many feared that patriot-
ism was also dead. That the long peace, the growing riches	V
and luxury of our people, and their absorption in the intenseXIV
APPENDIX.
devotion to the cause of money-making, liad eradicated the
more manly virtues upon which a nation must depend for its
defence in its hour of peril, but their fears proved groundless.
For when traitorous and parricidal hands were raised to
strike at the very life of the nation, and the cry resounded
through the land that the Republic was in danger, the people
of the North sprang to arms and marched to the defence of
their country. The great uprising of the North after the
attack on Fort Sumpter, was one of the most striking and
dramatic scenes in history. Nor was it a mere ephemeral
excitement. In the beginning we did not appreciate the magni-
tude of the contest nor the enormous dimensions which it was
destined to assume. It ultimately developed into the mightiest
civil war which the world ever saw. The government at one
time had more than a million armed men in the field. The strug-
gle was tremendous. But the courage, the endurance, the pat-
riotism of the friends of Liberty and Union, withstood the
tremendous strain, and ultimately the good cause triumphed.
As I have said, it is the natural tendency of human nature
to exaggerate the past and the distant, in comparison with the
present and familiar.
I used to think that the heroes of the Revolution, the men
who fought at Bunker Hill and on other battle-fields of that
war were somehow greater and different from the men of
to-day whom l see around me daily engaged in the ordinary
avocations of peaceful life.
But when the hour of trial came, those times that test the
heroic quality of nations, the sans proved worthy of their sires.
We saw our cotemporaries, our acquaintances, our neighbors,
our friends and some of us, those who were near and dear to
us by the ties of blood and kindred, wholly unacquainted with
the arts of war and familiar only with the avocations, of peace,
leaving their homes and all that was near and dear to them,
and impelled by as pure a patriotism as stirred the blood of
our patriot sires, daring the dangers and terrors of a terrific war,
at the call of their country in its hour of danger, march to its
defence.
They came from every occupation in life, the farmer from
his fields, the mechanic from his work-shop, the collegian fromAPPENDIX.	XV
the quiet shades of his alma mater, the clerk from his counter,
and sometimes even the school boy from his books.
I know it is difficult for us to conceive and realize that we
have heroes among us, mingling and associating with us in our
daily lives.
But when on that early September midnight in 1862, one
thousand of the young men of old Washington took the cars
and moved on into the darkness on their way to the scenes of
war, they were as truly heroic as our ancestors who fought at
Bennington or Saratoga, or those who in the days of chivalry
and the crusades, marched to the Holy Land to rescue the
Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the infidel.
It was in one of the darkest hours of the war. The splendid
army of McClellan had been hurled back from the Peninsula,
and Lee, flushed with success was pressing forward toward the
national capital.
The other sons of our county who fought in other regiments
in the war, did their duty faithfully and are entitled to equal
honor. On the battle-fields of the war our soldiers upheld the
honor of our county’s venerated name.
Yes, fellow-citizens, those who fought in the great war of
the rebellion, are entitled to equal honors with those who
fought to establish our independence.
But on this great national jubilee, on this joyous occasion,
let us not forget to give due honor to those who gave the last
full measure of devotion to their country’s cause, who offered
up their young lives a willing sacrifice in the cause of liberty
and union, died that the republic might live. They peacefully
rest beneath their native soil in every cemetery and grave yard
of the North. Others, less fortunately for their friends, lie
beneath a southern sky.
Speak softly, tread lightly, he has gone to his grave ;
He died for his country, his country to save,”
Fellow-citizens and friends :—It is not the language of patri
otic boasting, but it is the language of sober sense and simple
truth when I say that upon this occasion, the commencement
of the second century of our existence as a nation, the Ameri-
can people have greater cause for congratulation and thank-
fulness than any people on the face of the earth.XVI
APPENDIX.
Our physical blessings are abundant. We have the most
magnificent empire on the face of the globe, extending from
ocean to ocean, from the St. Lawrence, the great lakes, the
cold regions of Canada and the Arctic ocean on the north, to
almost, the tropics on the south, embracing almost every
quality of soil, climate and production, with the richest mines
of coal, iron, gold, silver and other minerals, and capable oj
supporting a population of hundreds of millions, with a pop-
ulation now of about 44,000,000 of inhabitants, and increasing
at a rate which will soon place us at the head of the civilized
nations of the earth ; with religion free and untrammelled,
with liberty to every man to worship God according to the
dictates of his own conscience, with equal rights to all, with
suffrage, the great prerogative of freemen common to all,
with the right to every citizen to aspire to any office in the
nation
Life, liberty, person and property are protected. We are at
peace with all nations and I think we may reasonably look for-
ward in the future to long years of exemption from that
greatest of all curses, war. War is a terrible curse and should
never be resorted to except in a case of extreme necessity.
But we have become so powerful and so situated, that it
does not seem that war can become necessary. No power in
this continent will dare to go to war with us. No European
power will desire to do so, and if war with any of them should
arise, it would be merely a naval war.
We are honored and respected throughout the world.
As an illustration of our position among the nations look at
that great international exposition or exhibition now being held
at Philadelphia, the city of the Declaration. Several of these
have heretofore been held in three of the great capitals of
Europe, London, Paris and Vienna. But the one now holding
in this country is the largest, the finest and the best of those
that have been held.
All the most important nations of the earth have honored it
by their presence, and have there met in a friendly rivalry to
exhibit their natural productions and the results of their
industry and skill.
And I will here say, that a Greenwich boy at the opening
ceremonies of that display, occupied a prominent position, andAPPENDIX.
XVII
the name of Corliss, was as conspicuous as that of Grant or
Dom Pedro.
Fellow-citizens:—I am aware that it is not all sunshine with
us. We are laboring under business depression. There are
other evils that afflict our land. To be sure we need never
expect in this world to be wholly exempt from sorrow and
trials, but most of the evils which now specially affect us, are
like the heaving of the waves of the ocean after the tempest
has passed over it, but gradually the ocean will subside into
peace, the clouds which now cast their shade upon us will pass
away, and our sky will be bright and serene. I have no fear of
the future. The horizon is tinged with gold and the future is
full of promise.
But I must close with a few words.
We have great blessings, we have a noble heritage, but we
have corresponding duties. I have no. time to enlarge upon
this topic, but in the noble language of that martyr President,
Abraham Lincoln, in that wonderful speech made at the dedi-
cation of the Gettysburgh cemetery, in some respects the most
remarkable in the English language and worthy of a Hebrew
prophet, “Let us here highly resolve that the dead shall not
have died in vain ; that the nation under God shall have a new
birth of freedom, and that governments of the people, by the
people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Yes ! Let us preserve unimpaired, the noble heritage which
has been bequeathed to us ; which was won by the blood of
our forefathers, which has been preserved by the blood, the
treasure and the sacrifices of the present generation, and let us
transmit it unimpaired, beautified, glorified, to our children.