Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.arcliive.org/details/conklingprosclifaOOpros Ike CONKLING - PROSCH FAMILY ■WITH SOME REFERENCE TO THE DOTTER, ROE, REYNOLDS, BROOKS, MAPES, ELDER, McCARVER AND OTHER CONNECTIONS B)^ THOMAS W. PROSCH SEATTLE 1909 Press of the General Lithographing and Printing Company^ THE NEW YORK PUBLIC UBKARY 493125 A6TOR. LENO*; AND TILDEN FOU.vDATIOWS. R 1910 L Edition Limited to One Hundred and Fifty Copies Number uimisea to une inunarea £ ^y / /ry'. ^ ^''^^'i'-.^V/ VK'^^iV^'!/ / / Co my Father and Mother — Charles Prosch and Susan Conkling Prosch — This Family^ Record is c/^ffectionately" Dedicated. Thomas W. Prosch The author acl^nowledges his obligations for suggestions and other valuable assistance in the preparation of the matter in this volume to Henry IV. ConkUn, of Rochester, N. ^.; to Frank J- Conl^lin, of Jersey City, I\ . J.; to Egbert S. Conl^ling, of Brooklyn, A. Y.; to Mrs. Ceorgie Thompson Carpenter, of Monroe, A'. Y.; to the late Abram S. Doiter, of Philadelphia, Penn.; and to the late William Reynolds Hoyt, of Augusta, Illinois. Much other assistance n>as ob- tained from the published records of the States of A eH' York ^"^ Massa- chusetts; and from the Morion Genealogy, Griffin s Long Island Journal, Hedged Easthampton, Mallmanns Shelter Island, and Freeland's His- tory of Monroe. THE CONKLING-PROSCH FAMILY CONTENTS Page. The Conklings in Massachusetts 7 The Conklings at Southold 15 The Conklings of Easthampton 28 The Conklings at Shelter Island 39 The Conklings in the Revolutionary War 45 The Conklings of Orange County 61 Charles Prosch and Family 80 Genealogy 1 24 ILLUSTRATIONS Page. Charles Prosch in 1855 6 Sylvester Conkling House 6^ Charles Prosch in 1892 T9 Dotter Homestead in Pennsylvania 82 Susan Conkling Prosch and Daughter in 1855 88 Susan Conkling Prosch and Granddaughter in 1880 89 Steilacoom in 1861 ^S Charles Prosch in 1890 ■ 102 Susan Conkling Prosch in 1890 103 St. Peter's, Tacoma"s First Church 107 Charles Prosch in 1895 H'-' St. Mark's Church, Seattle HI Charles Prosch in 1905 113 CHARLES PROSCH IN 1855, (From an old Daguerreotype.) THE CONKLINGS IN MASSACHUSETTS Plvmonth Colon}- haviiii^' attained a measure of suc- cess, others in Ens^land, of the same or similar religious inclinations, were moved to follow the exam])le tliere set, and by the erection of establishments in America inake for themselves homes and secure for themselves religious freedom and relief from persecution. With these ideas in mind the Massa- chusetts Company was organized, a charter was obtained from the Crown, and the rights of the Plymouth people were purchased to a portion of the country not needed or used by them. In the summer of 1628 John Endicott, with about one hundred others, crossed the Atlantic, sailing from \\'evmouth : and after a long voyage cast anchor, in Se])tember. at a ])lace the\' founded and named Salem, a ])lace that soon became prominent in the affairs of the new world. The Company management was at first controlled in London, but after a few years the direction was transferred. Governor Winthroj:) bringing over the charter and opening in Salem the head office. There it remained until the greater growth and increasing importance of lioston demanded another change, when there was a second removal. The charter is carefully preserved in lioston to this day. being there regarded as a historic relic of priceless value. The Massachusetts Colony included in its aims not onl\ the settlement of the country, and incidentally the creation of trade and the making of money, but th? religious welfare of the i)eo])le as well. The fishing business was making headway, and it was thought to be a duty to kee|) the Church close to those engaged in it. In a broader way it was hoped also to benefit the Indians, among whom it was intended to do missionary work, to which the Companv was further enjoined by the explicit terms of the Charter itself. 8 The ConkUn'^s The people wlio eaiiie in the rtr>t days of Plymouth. Salem and Boston were substantial!}- all Puritans. To some have been also given the additional name of Pilgrims. In the beginning' the Puritans were members of the Chtireh of England, but the}' gradually drifted away, and soon became al- most as bitterly opposed to the mother Church as they were to the Church of Rome. They were a plain, industrious people, edu- cated above the average, full of determination and force, and moved bv a sense of dee]:) religious convicticju. Jn them was the best material in the world for the making of a strong colony, state or nation. While they did the best they could from their standpoint, much that the\- did could not be ai)i)roved in this later and more liberal period. Of these things, however, further consideration here will not be necessary. The Company and the people of Salem engaged in various industries for the purpose of securing means of individual liveli- hood and of increasing the general prosperity. They cultivated the soil, they engaged in the fisheries, they traded with the In- dians, and they speedily opened up commercial relations with the Frenchmen and Spaniards to their north and south. In a small wav the}- also did some manufacturing. One of their most re- markable enterprises was the oi)ening of a glass factory. Th ). of course, they would want some glass themselves, }-et the (juan- tity they would require would be very small. There could be practically no export trade, as other places could undoubtedly have their wants supplied more advantageously by the makers and shippers of Europe. Whatever the motives and ideas, the glass plant was set u]) at Salem, and men were brought over from Eng- land to run it. As far as known there were four of these men, namely: John Conkling, Ananias Conkling. Obadiah Holmes and Lawrence Southwick. It is not known exactly when they came, but they were there in 1638 : in the records were termed pro- prietors at that time, and it is possible they were there in 1637 and maybe sooner. It is probable that in sonie way they were connected with the ownership of the works in the beginning ; the word "proprietor," in the rec(M-ds. so indicating. With Holmes and Southwick this narrative has no more to do. With the Conklings it has. They were from Nottinghamshire, in the heart of England. It was Xottingham. it will be remembered, that the in Massachusetts 9 first Pilgrims started from, tliose who went to Holland in 1607. The Puritans were strong there. The Conklings were of the kind to suit the Comi)any and Colony. They were vigorous physi- cally, sound mentally, courageous and determined, and ahle as any men to succeed as pioneers in Xew hjigland. They were re- ligious, too, deeply religious. The dangers and difficulties con- nected with the migration to America were understood at that time in England. Reports had come from Massachusetts Uay of the labors, trials, risks, losses, sufferings and fatalities there that were appalling, but the sturdy Puritans held not l)ack on that account. They were the more resolved and set in con-^e<|uence ; thev went over in increasing munbers. and the C'onklings went with the host. Returning to the glass works, it is evident from the colonial records that thev were not a moneyed success. The Court at Boston, on the 10th of December, 1641. had jilaced upon its jour- nal the order following : It was voted that if the towne of Salem lend the glass men 30 £, they should be alowed it againe out of their next rate, & the glass men to repay it againe if the worke succeed, when they were able. The glass factory continued in an unsatisfactory condition several years longer, as is shown by the following extract (spell- ings and abbreviations as in the original ) from the printed record of the "Gennerall Courte" for the first day of the eighth month of the year 1645 : Upon ye petition of John Conklin and Ananias Conkling ( who have been implied about ye glass worke, wch ye undrtakrs have for ye three years neglected) yt they might be freed from their engagement to ye formr undrtakrs, & left free to ioyne with such as will carry on ye works eft'ectually, except ye formr undrtakrs will forthwith do ye same, the Cort conceive it very expedient ( in regard to ye public interest) to grant this petition, provided yt if any of ye prties interested shall (upon timely notice) shew cause at ye next Qurter Cort, at Boston, wreupon ye magistrates shall iudge it equall yt ye cawse should have a furthr hearing yn ye full answere and determination of ye petition shalbe deferd to ye next Generall Corte, othrwise ye petitionrs shalbe at liberty, ac- cording to their desire. 10 The Conl(Ungs Oct. 7th, 1645. "Ye Gcnnerall Courte" fnrtlicr passed upon th& complaint of the ConkHngs, as follows : In ansr to ye peticon of John Conklin and Annanias Conklin for the neglect of ye undertakers of ye glassworke these 3 yeeres past, either to be free to prvide for themselvs or to leave it of in regard of ye publicq interest, their request is granted, provided that if any of the prties interested shall, upon timely notice, shew cawse at ye next Qrtr Courte at Boston, whereupon ye magists shall judge it aequall yt ye cawse should have furthr hearing yn ye full ansr and determination of this peticon shalbe deferred to the next Gennerall Courte ; otherwise the peticoners shal be at lil}erty according to their desire. To use a modern word this was a "strike" on the part of the operatives. They were apparently bound to work when work offered, and could not escape the obligation without the consent of the Court. Little or no work oft'ered. causing dissatisfaction, resulting in the petition for relief. The oft"er of the Conklings to take and operate the factory was probably a mcn-emcnt of the nature of the modern receivership. If accepted, the ])ublished official record does not show. There is conflict in the reports of relationship between John and Ananias Conkling. In Savage's Genealogical Dictionary of New England Ananias is said to be "probably the son" of John. Elsewhere they are said to have been brothers, and this assertion is supposed by the writer to be correct. It is also said that they were the sons of Ananias, and were born and reared in Notting- ham, England. There is question as to the derivation or origin of the name Conkling; some alleging that it was Irish, some Welsh, and some Dutch. The family name was spelled a dozen different ways prior to one hundred years ago. It was often used as in the foregoing, and about as often as Conklin, Conkelin and similarly with g as a termination. In rare instances K was used instead of C. The odd spellings, however, have disappeared during the past century, and seldom is the name now found other than as Conklin or Conkling. In this work the latter is given the preference. The experience of this family, in the matter of name, has found counterpart in that of many — probal)ly most — other old families of English descent. At a time when there was little printing, were no newspapers, few books, almost no stationery, schools uncommon, and education of the meagrest character in Massachusetts ] \ among the masses: when the language itself was new and rai)i(ll\ changing; when most women wrote marks for their namo. and when men had daily use for guns and no use for pens, the people having progressed a few steps only from the conditions ])rcvail- ing in the dark ages, it could not have been otherwise. In the present form there can be no objection to the name, and no object in further changes. Conkling as a surname is euphonious, ex- pressive, dignified and honorable. Ananias Conkling is reported to have been "a glass man" at Salem in 1638. That year, on the 25th day of the 4tli month it was recorded in the book of land grants at Salem that : It is ordered that Ananias Conclane and Willm Osb: Granted unto John Conclyne. Ananias Conclyne and Thomas Scudder to each of them 4 acres to be laid out in the medow aforesaid. These dates were of the old style, as were all dates at that time. The 25th of March was then the first day of the year: January. February and the forepart of March being of the year 12 The Con}(lings ])rcvi()U>. 1 1 \\a> not uncDinmon then tn name two vears in con- nection with a (hite prior to March 25th. a.s l-'el). 15th. 1637-8. Ananias was made a freeman of the L'olony of Massaclutsetts liay. with one hniuh-ed eii^ht other men, .May 18th. \(A2. A freeman in those (la}s was e(|nivalent to a citizen in these. All men could not be freemen. They had to be passed upon by the I'hurch and Court. In 1631. on tlie 18th of May. at a .yeneral court liolden at r)t)ston it was determined that, for the preserva- tion of the countr}- l)y lionest and good men. "noe man shalbe admitted to the freedom of this body polliticke but such as arc members of some of the churches within the lymitts of the same." The oath of a freeman, tho changed from time to time, was a strong one, the taker usually acknowdedging his fealty to the commonwealth, swearing by the great and dreadful name of the everliving God that he would support the same, submit to its laws and orders, practise no evil against it. and that in voting he would do so according to his own conscience for the public weal without respect or favor of other men. Ananias was undoubtedly a man of enterprise. He shrank from nothing that other men undertook. He was married in the church of St. Peter's Parish. Nottingham, England, Feb. 23d, 1631, his wife being Mary Launder. They had six children, namely : John, Cornelius, Jeremiah, Benjamin, Lewds and Hester. He learned the glass making business and followed it in Massa- chusetts. Me was a farmer, too, and evidently believed in the acquisition of lands. Xor did he neglect his duty as a citizen, for he became a freeholder at an early day. The Church received him, as the book of the First Church of Salem plainly shows, he and his family being connected therewith in 1639 and subsequent- ly. His son Lewis is reported to have been baptised there in 1643, on the 30th da}- of the second month (April), and on the 7th day of the 12th month of 1650, Susan, supposed to have been his second wife, was received into membership. His son Ben- jamin is the first Conkling born (1641 at Salem) in America of whom we have knowledge. In or about 1651 or 1652 Ananias anrl most of his family removed to Long Lsland. John Conkling was l)orn about the year 1600. the exact date being unknown. That he was older than Ananias is reported but not proved. It may have been the other way. Their father in Massachusetts I 3 is said to liave been Ananias, and this being true there were four Johns and four Ananiases among" the Conkhngs of the first few generations. With them given names were Uible names, the first men lieing known chiefly as Ananias. John, llcnjamin, Jere- miali. Jacob. David, Daniel, Samuel, 'J'ini()thy, Thomas, Joseph and the like. l)etter names, it may be >aid. than i'eleg. Difficulty, Resolved. Consider. l-\>ar. Silence. Captivity. Repentance and others of their kind given to the children of the period, often without regard to sex or sense. It ma\' ])e assumed that Ananias was chosen as a name in remembrance of the one in the New Testament whose record was good rather than the one w'ho has come down to us in connection w^ith falsehood. John was mar- ried in Saint Peter's Church, Nottinghamshire, Jan. 24th, 1625, his wife being Elizabeth Alsaebrook. It is supposed they lived in England about ten years after marriage, the last positive oc- currence there of which we have date being the birth of a son, in 1634. It is reported that they came to Boston the following year, but the first authentic account of the family is from Salem, early in 1638. Their children are said to have been John, Jacob, EHza- beth, Rebecca and Timothy. The baptism of Jacob and Ehzateth occurred on the 29th day of the 1st month of 1643. The records of Salem and [Massachusetts do not have as much to say of John as of Ananias. He may have been more retiring. It does not appear that he was a freeholder, nor did he acquire land so early or so often. Possibly the records are at fault, there being more omissions in his case than in the other. John was one of the four "glassmen," whose enterprise was the first of its kind on the American continent. He also was a tiller of the soil, and is his- torically noted as a churchman. He became interested in the settlements to the south and w^est, and about the year 1650 made his home at Southold, Long Island, his family going with him. and being followed in 1653. or a year or two sooner mayl)e by Ananias Conkling and his family, all except one son, Cornelius. Cornelius Conkling remained at Salem, where he died March 21st, 1668. He had two sons, Cornelius and William. It i- -uj)- posed that Capt. Titus Conkling and Caesar Conkling, an enlisted man in Capt. Pilsbury's Company, both of whom took ])art in the Revolutionary War. on the >ide of their country — the only Conk- lines in the service from Massachusetts — were descendants of 1 4 The Confflings in Massachusetts Ci>nielius Conkliui^-. Kcv. liciijamin Conklin and his hrotlier-in- law . William llenshaw, were of tlic patriots of 1773, llen>ha\v being' compelled to seek safety in flight after the iJoston tea party. Another of the supposed descendants of Cornelius was "John Concklan," who, with his family, was enumerated as* residents of Boston in the census of 1790. The name is quite rare in Massa- chusetts history during the i)ast two hundred years. One of the official entries in the Boston records is that of the arrival, on the 20th of March. 1764. of the sloop Williams, "Capt. Samuel Conck- lin." from Xew York, bringing three passengers. Alarv, the widow of Cornelius Conkling, remarried in 1669, her second hus- band being Robert Starr, mariner, a widower with tw(^ children. His first wife, Susanna, died in U)65. their children l)eing- named Robert and Susanna after the parents. The second wife — the widow Conkling — was thriftily inclined. Before completing the matrimonial bargain she exacted from the old sailor a marriage portion of land, house and furnishings — a home. Capt. Starr, to all appearances, was a good provider and an affectionate parent. In March. 1671-72. he gave to Richard Moore and Philip Crom- well a deed of trust to certain property for the benefit of his chil- dren by the first marriage, and at his death in 1679. he being- killed by Indians in King Philip's war. he left all that he then had to Mary for the maintenance of herself and their children, the latter consisting of three daughters — Mary. Sarah and Hannah — the last named being twins then six years of age. The oldest son of Ananias is supposed to have been the John Conkling who led the family to the further west, he being at Flushing, near Brooklyn, in 1665. and at Rve. in Westchester' County, ten years later, where he deeded his lands to John and Joseph Horton Feb. 27th. \()77. He was probably the same John Conkling. who was said in the census of 1698 to be a resident of Fordham. now a part of the city of Xew York, his wife being Mehitabel, and his children "Josuf. John. Mahetabell. and Chear- rate" (Joseph. John. Mehitabel and Charity). ,^ THE CONKLINGS AT SOUTHOLD «|=\urTEEX years after Plymouth, and seven years after p!^^ Saleni. efforts were made l)y Englishmen and the British (iovernment to extend their operations and eontrol to the Sotith and West, in the Connecticut river vicinity and on Long- Island. To the Earl of Stirling- was given a grant of much of the island, in 1635. and simultaneously to others a charter was given with lands and privileges on the North shore of the Sound. In the latter case Lion Gardiner, an Englishman with a Dutch wife, newly married, was sent over to take charge of the large estahlishment contemplated at the mouth of the Connecticut, known afterwards as Saybrook, in honor of Lords Say and P.rook. After a prolonged stay in Boston, Gardiner, who was an engineer and architect, went on to his assigned field in 1636. There he remained three years, having war with the Indians and other troubles that caused him to tire of his ot^ice and send in bis resig- nation. While there a son, named David, was born lo the (iardi- ners. who was the first white child born in Connecticut. In looking up a new location Lion Gardiner selected an island of 3500 acres area, in a large bay at the east end of Long Island. He bought it from the Indians, bad his jiurchase confirmed by Lord Stirling, and in 163'J moved upon it with his family. Natur- ally, the land became known as Gardiner's Island, and the water surrounding it became (iardiner I'.ay. Some years later they moved to East Hampton, on the larger island, to the south, and there he died in 1663, and his wife in 1665. During their thirty years of life in America they were people of deserved importance and prominence, figuring with distinguished honor in the early aft'airs of three states. Their daughter. Elizabeth, lx:)rn Sept. 1 6 The ConkUngs 14th, 1641, was ilic first white child of British parentage in the State of Xew York. 'I4ie descendants of the (jardiners have been people, noted in local and national history, who have done credit to their progenitors here referred to. Following the Cjardiners, who were the first of their nation to settle permanently in what later became New York, came other men and women from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Eng- land. Lord Stirling was indifferent as to political jurisdiction, and as the people recognized the necessity for government and wanted protection against the Dutch on the West, they applied to the nearest English Colony for admission. Connecticut was that Colony. Southampton was admitted in 1664, Easthampton in 1649, Setauket in 1658, Huntington in 1660, and Southold and other English towns in 1662. In this way the threatened aggres- sions of the Xew Xetherlands were restrained. When the British succeeded the Dutch, Comiecticut lost Long Island, which became a part of the new province of Xew York, Connecticut being com- pensated for the loss by the addition of a stri]:) of mainland on her western border. The Long Islanders were not consulted as , to the change of rulers, and quite regretted the substitution of the Duke of York : he being a despot, as well as dissolute and of re- ligious views not in harmony with their own. They resisted, but their protests were futile. One of the new English Governors (Lovelace ), in a letter to a friend, wrote that he thought "to keep them in submission by imposing such taxes on them as may not give them libert}' to entertain any other thoughts."' In the genealogy of the Horton family, bv Dr. Cieorge F. Horton, published in 1876, and revised later, occurs the follow- ing concerning one of the first three members (brothers) of that worthy family known to have come to America : Barnabas Horton was probably the son of Joseph Horton, of Leicestershire, England, and born in the little hamlet of Mousely of that shire. Of his history before he came to America, very little is known. He came over in the ship Swallow, in 1633-8. He landed at Hampton, ]\Iass. How long he remained at Hamp- ton is not known. But in 1640 we find him with his wife and two children in Xew Haven, Connecticut, in company with the Rev. John Youngs, William Welles, Esq., Peter Hallock, John at Soiiihold 1 7 Tuthill, Richard Terry, Thomas Mapes. Matthias Corwin. Rob- ert Ackerly. Jacob Corey. John ConkHni^". Isaac Arnold and John Bndd, and on the 21st day of October. 1640, assisted by the ven- erable Rev. John Davenport and Gov. Eaton, they ors^^anized them- selves into a Congregational Chnrch. and sailed to the b^ast end of Long Island, now Southold. They had all JK'cn members ti Puritan Churches in England, and all had families with them except Peter Hallock. They doubtless had been on the island previous to this time and picked out their homes. On nearing the shore they cast lots to decide who should first set foot on the land. The lot fell on Peter Hallock. and the place where he stepped upon the land has ever since been known as Ilallock's landing. On coming ashore they all knelt down and engaged in prayer. Peter Hallock leading, as had been determined by the lot. These were the first persons of any civilized nation that had ever attempted to settle on the East end of Long Island. While it may be true that John Conkling assisted in the organ- izati(jn of this Church, and made this trip from Xew Haven to ."-^(luthold. as stated, he certainly did not then locate there with his familv. He must have returned ti > ."^alem, a.'^ the Massa- chusetts records show him beyond (|ue>tiun to have been there several years after the events at the other places referred to. On account of the Conklings, Hortons and (iardiners inter- marrying repeatedly, and their close association in Church, busi- ness and family, more space is given in this Chapter to the Hor- tons and Gardiners than otherwise would have l)een. Barnabas Horton had characteristics that \nii)re>sed them- selves upon his descendants, making them marked men in many respects. He was careful and substantial in hi> work. The house that he built in 1640, tho of wood, stood until of recent year-, and was a marked feature in the celebration oi the i.^Oth anni- versary at Southold in 1890. It had been well cared for, and oc- cupied by generation after generation of Hortons careful like the builder, but if the work had not been well done in the first i)lace it would have gone hke most of the neighbor's houses, in a short time. Another evidence of his forethought and care was furn- ished by the tombstone which he carried to hi< new home with him. preserving it forty years, until hi- death in 16S0. lie had it all marked, except the date of his death, the e])itaph upon it. written bv himself, reading thus : 18 The Conklmgs Here lies my body tombed in dust Till Christ shall come to raise it with the just; j\Iy soul ascended to the throne of God, Where with sweet Jesus now 1 make abode ; Then hasten after me, my dearest wife, To be partaker of this blessed life; And you, dear children, all follow the Lord, Hear and obey his public sacred w^ord ; And in your houses call upon His name, For oft I have advised you to the same : Then God will bless you with your children all. And to this blessed place He will you call. Hebrew X 1 :4 — "He being dead yet speaketh." The old Horton house is so wonderful that further account of it will be excused, if not desired, by the reader. Barnabas Horton built the West end in 1640, and his son Jonathan the East end in 1682. It was a shingle house, the shingles on the sides being' the same placed there by the builders more than two hundred years ago. It is undoubtedly true that in no part of the United States was there another dwelling house standing, no matter what the material of which it was composed, that equalled the Horton house in age. tho the Moore house of 1647, also at Southold. closely approached it. and may have since surpassed the Horton house in years. Dr. Horton calls attention to an- other remarkable fact in connection with this family and house. He says: "It is not often that we find two generations of the same name living and dying in the same house — rarely find three. But here we have six generations in succession, all bearing the Horton name, living and dying in the same house, and all born in it except the builder and his son Jonathan." The Hortons are one of the solid families of the country, plain and unassuming, but of integrity, worth, substance and energy. One of the most noted members of recent years was Alonzo E. Horton, founder of the prosperous and beautiful city of San Diego, Cal. Others, the descendants of a brother of Barnabas, were Dexter and Julius Horton, of Seattle — pioneers of Washington, men of family and wealth, moral, religious and upright, as well as among the most enterprising, reliable and valuable of citizens of the great city in which they so long dwelt. atSouthold 19 The Conklings, who married 1 lortons, descendants of IJarna- bas. (hiring the two centuries following the Southold settlement, were: I'ethia, Joseph, Henry. Susanna. Xanc\', Mary an(l Xancy (second). Several Horton children had Conkling for a middle name. The Hortons also intermarried (juite extensively with the Brooks, Howell, Webb, Carpenter, Thompson and other families with wdiom the Conklings were similarly connected, so that the association has been intimate from the first, and friendly in the extreme. The Conklings of Southold were also intermarried with the Underbill. Powell, Moore. Titus, Seaman. L'l lommedieu and other well known pioneer families. In beginning the town of Southold the first and supposed to be the choicest lot went to the Minister, John Youngs. The op- posite lot became the property of the lawyer, William Wells. In turn all were served, the town including among its residents Capt. John Underbill. Lieut. John T.udd. Thomas I'.enedict, IMiilemon Dickerson, Henry Tuthill. Henry Case. John Sweezy, and the others before mentioned. The descendants of some of these peo- ple became distinguished in the afifairs of the nation. Tuthill was ancestor of President Benjamin Harrison ; Sweezy of William H. Seward, Governor and Senator : Corwin of Thomas Corwin, Sec- retary of the Treasury; Dickerson of Philemon Dickerson. Secre- tary of the Xavy; Ananias Conkling of Roscoe Conkling. Repre- sentative and Senator: Hallock of a number of citizens noted in public affairs, while scarcely less can be said of other families similarly represented in the first settlement of Long Island. In an oration at the celebration of the 250th anniversary of Southold, Rev. Doctor Storrs described some features of life at the East end of the Island, experienced by our forefathers, that are worthy of reproduction. Among other things he said : There is a touch of unconscious pathos in the brief inventories of their household belongings. They had few of our familiar m- struments. fewer of our conveniences, none of our luxuries. They could not manufacture, and they could not import. Tea and cofTee they knew nothing of ; spices and condiments of whatever sort they could not buy ; of fruits they at first had none at all. save the wild fruits plucked from bushes or vines. Cornmeal and milk provided chief nourishment. "Rye and Indian" made their 20 The Conklinss breadstuff, and our finer wheat flour would have seemed to them almost as wonderful as did the manna, the angel's food, to the children of Israel. Clocks, carpets, lamps, stoves, they did not possess. Little glass was in their windows ; almost less money was in their purses. Few books were in their homes ; no pictures, and probably the only musical instrument was the pitch pipe. Men today cast away on a desert island, if saving anything from the fittings and cargo of the wrecked ship, would doubtless start with a larger apparatus of the furniture of life than the founders of this village possessed. In describing the people of whom Dr. Storrs was speaking, and their children and grandchildren. Edward Holland Xicoll about the same time said : Whatever else happened to them the early settlers of Eastern Long Island never lost their love for liberty and hatred for op- pression ; they bequeathed them to their children and grandchil- dren. While at the time of the Revolution the people on the West end of the Island were generally Tories, the inhabitants of Suffolk County almost to a man were patriots who gave their lives and their money to aid in the overthrow of what seemed to them the greatest of tyrannies. That they fought and died in support of their sentiment, and that when the nation was born they, as much as any others, helped to tide it over the years of its infancy, and start it safely on the path to future greatness, are facts of history known to all. It may be just as well to say here, before laying aside further reference to the 250th anniversary celebration and resuming more directly the main narrative in hand, that those who conducted the celebration were largely direct descendants of the few original families — the Terrys. Tuthills, Moores, Hortons, Dickersons, Cases, Conklings. Wells. Salmons. Howells, and others — that they were themselves people of worth and prominence in their home community, and that they then ( 18'^0 ) properl}- and gratefully ])aid due honor to the memory of their ancestors whose lives and a few of whose acts are herein briefly mentioned. John Conkling removed with his famil\- from Salem in or about \()50. Ills allotment of land was between the tracts of Jacol) Corey and Isaac Arnold, lie lived there ten or more years, but between l(/)0 and 1670 sold it to Jeremiah \'ail, Jr.. and Samuel (ilover. Two centuries later the part sold to (ilover was again in the possession of one of the branches of the Conkling famil}-. John was thrifty : he prospered, he was trusted by others ; at Southold 21 he soon became a leading- citizen, and held a> hi> own ei.^ht of the forty-four share> in the lands and properties of the town, liis holding-s exceeding- those of an\- other ])er>()n. Some time before 1664, not exactly known, John Conklini^ be- came interested in the town of Huntington, on Huntington lUiy, on the north shore of Long Island, near to the now famous ( )ys- ter Uay. A portion of his family moved there: the others re- maining at Southold. He himself dwelt alternately in both places, but in the end became a fixed resident of the newer town to the west. At Huntington John Conkling was involved in a considerable land trouble. As administrator, executor or guardian he inter- fered with a man who was attempting to hold a piece of land under title disputed by Conkling. The ownership of the country was then claimed both by Holland and England. The man pre- sented the matter to the Dutch authorities, who took action as follows : In the Xame of the Lord. Amen. The first of Januar}-. 1662. Mr. Marcq ]\licx has informed us that some inhabitants of Southold on Long Island have warned him to remove from a certain piece of land in this Province of Xew Xetherland. in Mar- tin Gerritsen's Bay by the Indians called Mattinekonck. other- wise Hog's Xeck or Hog's Island, by Mr. Govert Lockermanns. a merchant in this city, let to Jonas Wood on the 5th of July. 1659, and by the said Wood underlet on the same conditions to Marcq ^Micx, w^ho until now has had peaceable possession of it, when as before said one John Koncklingh of Southold has dared to warn the said Marcq ^licx to remove from the said island, or else he would make him move, adding thereto that the island did not belong to the Dutch, but was lying within the government of Xew England. \\'hereas, the said ^larcq Micx has requested our assistance against the agitator and all others. Therefore we authorize the said Marcq ^licx to arrest this disturber of the peace, and all others who try to ijrevent him from quietly enjoying the said parcel of land, and to bring them as prisoners to this place. That he may execute it so much l^etter we. Director General and Council of Xew Xetherland, order and charge all Schouts and ^Magistrates within our government to assist the said ]\Iarcq Micx at his request in the arrest, that he may peacefully live on his land. Done at Fort Amsterdam. X. X., date as above. 22 The ConkUngs Conkling: was not arrested, but it is very likely that his be- coming a freeholder of Connecticut very shortly after the issuance of this paper (in 1662) was a measure of precaution intended to draw around him a little closer the protection of Xew England as well as that of Old England. Sept. 15th. 1666. when the English were in unquestioned con- trol of affairs, the matter was brought to the attention of Gover- nor Xicolls. He found that the terms of the contract of 1659 had not been carried out either by \\'ood or ^Mikx, who had not only "failed to pay the hire of the said land, but are also unwill- ing to depart oft' the same, altho the said time of hire is expired. I do therefore." he directed, "by these presents apix)int and order you. the Magistrates, to take such care in the preservation of the proprietor's rights and title as is customary in these cases, that every man may quietly enjoy his rights under his majesty's laws and obedience." the meaning being that ^^'ood and Mikx be evicted. There was further trouble over this land. (Jet. 20th. 1664, Henry Lenenton was required to appear before Gov. Xicolls and establish his claim to what the town of Oyster Bay then also claimed, or else surrender it to the town. At the hearing Lenen- ton show'ed a lease from John Conkling. with provision of war- ranty to save him from harm. Accordingly Conkling \vas called into the Gubernatorial presence on the 22d of November, 1664, at Fort James, where he produced a letter of attorney from Lord Stirling to James Forrest, dated April 20th, 1637. and a deed from Forrest of June 18th. 1639. to ^latthew Sunderland, and also testimony that the Indians had sold the land to Forrest m 1639. The widow of Sunderland left the land to the orphaned children, and in the contention Conkling represented them. The other side made a showing that Govert Loockermanns had also bought the lands, but his deeds of 1650 and 1659 did not go back so far as those of his opponents. Loockermanns was a Dutch merchant of X'^ew York. The Governor adjudged and ordered "that John Conkling. being now in possession in behalf of the orphans at present, he is so to continue." and yet that as Loock- ermanns had made plainly apparent his purchase, and that he had possession and received rent for five years, he was to have at Southold 23 the --ig-ht to present liis case to the Court wIku tlie Court should be estabhshed. and that the Court's decision of the (|uestion at issue should be final. There was other litigation over this land, but in the end the Sunderland title was approved and confirmed, or other land given in lieu. In fact. Gov. Xicolls favored English people and English land titles over Dutch people and Dutch land titles on every oc- casion where it was ixjssible so to do. and this was one of the occasions ; Loockermanns. in addition, being with the r>ritish au- thorities "persona non grata." It was notorious that he >old firearms and ammunition to the Indians, when such acts were forbidden to the English, and when the trade was not only ob- noxious to the latter but dangerous in the extreme. "The Inhabitants of Gravesend. plaintififs, against the Inhabi- tants of Flatbush, defendants," was the title of a suit at law tried Sept. 27th, 1666. The Gravesend people alleged that they were fenced out of the common road or highway to the ferry by the Flatbush people, and that this was the third time they were >:o injuriously dealt with by the defendants. They proved that the road existed before the town of Flatbush, and that it was desirable to them that it be continued. The Flatbush defense was that their patent covered the road in question ; that the lots deeded to their people extended into the woods beyond. It was said that "their former Poverty, at the first Planting, was the Cause they could not run their Fencing to the utmost of their Limits ; having cleared the Ground, and by God's Blessing being in a better Con- dition, they suppose it not unreasonable for them to Fence in what their Patent gives them." The plaintiffs insisted "upon the Enjoytnent of their old Road, which they have had Right to above twenty-three years, and Declare the inconveniency of their being forced to go so far about the fencing by reason of the deepness of the ways in winter there, besides that it is at least two miles further, and many unskilful in the new ways may be subject to lose themselves in the woods." The difference between the two peoples was referred for settlement to a jury of twelve men se- lected from the other towns — Southton, Southold. Huntington. Flushing and Xewton — John Conkling being one of the jurors. The decision was in favor of Gravesend. and in efifect was that the highwav from the ferrv should continue to be the common 24 The ConkUngs liiL^liwav. llu- I'lathush men 1«> remove the ()l)stnK-tions that pass- a,ue over the road mi-ht ])e free tliereafler. Tlie Court therefore ordered the defenctilin,L;- up his atYair>. stinie of his properties, preparatory to siniph tying- id making- Huntington liis sole place of interest lie deeded his Salem lands, as attested hv the manner following Southold, Tulv 6, lf)83. To All Christian People, (ireeting: Know Vee that 1. John Conkelin. Sen'r, for divers good causes and considerations me thereunto moving, have given, granted, bargained alineated and assigned unto John Concklin jun'r m\- eldest son and his heyrs forever. All those lands me(io\\> and grants of Lands and medows and all other privileges and ap- purtenances given and granted to me when 1 was an Inhabitant of Salem in Xew England, and now by me alienated and other- wise disposed of unto my sd son John Conckline. to have and to hold to him and his heyrs and assigns in as good and ample right and property as they are or ever were mine without any the let or molestation of me the sd John Conckline Sen'r my heyrs and assigns. In witness whereoff I have hereunto set my hand the date above written and sealed with m\- scale. JOHN COXKELIX. Witnessed l)v us present at signing, sealing and delivering. liEXIAMIN YOUXGS. JACOB CONCKLIXE. John Conkling died Feb. 23rd. 1694. at Huntington. His will indicates that before his demise he had disposed of the greater part of his earthly possessions, probably by division among his children, his legal heirs. It read as follows : I, John Conklin, being in my right understanding and per- fect memory do bequeath my soul to God. and my l)o(ly to ye earth, and my goods as followeth : \'iz. — to niy son John I doo give ten shillings, and to my son Timothy I doo give fifteen pounds, out of that which I was to receive for my land, which my son John sold for me at Oyster Ponds. Also I doo further by these presents convey all my meadow lying" in ye Oyster Ponds Xeck unto my son Jacob Conklin. to him and liis heirs forever, he ])aying to ^Ir. Silvester four pounds and ten shillings. Also I doo give to Walter Xoakes three pounds and all my wear- ing cloaths except my best coat. Also I doo give unto my grand- child, Rebekah Hubert, one horse or mare. .Also I doo give unto Mr. Eli]:)hilet Jones twenty shillings, and I doo make my daughter Elizabeth \\'ood. mv whole and sole Executor. TOHX COXKLIX. 26 The ConkUngs The second John CiMikHng was a man of local prominence. He fig-nres in the early history of Long Island quite extensively, lie \va> born in I-lngland in 1630. came to America with the family, of course, and. after the residence at Salem, moved down to Southold. He was commonly called "Captain." In 1657 he married Sarah, the daughter of r.arnabas Horton. who was then the widow of William Salmon, who in turn had previously married Katherine. the widow of Matthew Sunderland. In this way John Conkling, the second, for a young man of 27 years, had a remarkable family start. William Salmon leaving four children by his first wife and two by the second for him to look out for. In addition to these he soon had many children of his own. six surviving him. namely : John. Joseph. Sarah. Mary, Anna and Elizabeth. ■ He is said to have got his wife in this way: He was appointed administrator of the Sunderland-Salmon estate, in connection with the widow Salmon. They found each other congenial, and married. Second m.arriages in those days were very common, owing to the newness of the country and sparseness of the population being generally encouraged and approved. The young husband was afterwards appointed guardian of the or- phaned children. The records testify that in due time he settled with them satisfactorily for the estate, the heirs giving him re- leases in full. These circumstances go to show that it was the second John Conkling who was concerned in the land litigation before referred to. The Salmon family has always been noted in the afifairs of the eastern end of Long Island. John, the second, was looked upon as a representative citizen, and several times was chosen to speak and act officially for the townsfolk about him. April 6th. 1694. he died. Upon his tomb- stone are the following lines : Here lyeth the body of Capt. John Conkelyne, born in Not- tinghamshire. England, who departed this life the sixth day of April at South Hold. Long Island, in the sixty-fourth year of his age. Anno Domini. 1694. Capt. John's will, duly probated, had the quaint beginning: To all Christian People greeting Know ye yt I John Concklin of S. hold on Long Island though weak in body yet of sound memory do appoint make & declare these presents my last will & testamt in form following viz. : First I commit my soul to Jesus at Southold n Christ my merciful redeemer & my body bein^ dead by decent Inirial to ye earth beHevin,^- yt it shall rise a.t^ain at ye last day and as for my worldly goods I thus dispose of them — The will then provides for the bestowal of his pro])erties among- his children, chiefly to his sons John and Jose])!!. To his married daughter, Sarah, he g^ave two cows. To the three unmarried girls he gave the greater part of the household goods, to each of them twelve cows, and all his money, each to have one- third on her day of marriage or twenty-first birthday. To Joshua Hobart he gave ten pounds, "as a remembrance of my love and respect to him." As his wife was not mentioned it is supposed she then was dead, and the daughter. Sarah, who got so much less than the others, is supposed to have received her portion when she became Mrs. John Laughton. The last provision of the will was that "if Joseph shall not like to dwell in John's house on pipe stave neck yt yn John shall build Joseph as good an house as yt is in any other place of Joseph's land yt he shall appoint." The third generation lost a member in 1698. It was Joseph Conkling, the son of Capt. John, and grandson of the first John. He and Abigail Tuthill were married in November. 1690. Leaving no will "Abigail ye widow of said deceased and John Tuthill Sr.. of Southold. aforesaid her father." were appointed to administer the estate. Joseph was a husbandman. Lieut. Joseph Conkling is supposed to have been his son. Joseph was a popular name in the family the fir>t centur}-. The will of the sixth Jose])h Conkling was probated in 1740: in 1706 the will of the third John: in 1751 the will of the fourth John, and in 1754 the will of the fourth Henry. With such common repetition of names it is not surpri>ing that individuals and events in the family have sometimes been misplaced and confused. It would be truly astonishing were it otherwise. In the old bo^ks there is also much in obscurity, doubt and conflict. Under such circumstances, which were common in all families running back three centuries, an absolutely correct and wholly reliable family genealogy and history are impossible. THE CONKLINGS OF EASTHAMPTON jr/gl^IiE town of Easthanipton owes its beginninti-. in 1649. W^m to J°^^" Mulforcl. John Hand. Thomas Tahnage. Thomas Thomson, Robert Rose. Robert Bond. Daniel Howe, Josluia Barnes and John Stretton. Soon after, in from one to four or five years, came a score of other men, among the number being such noted pioneer Long Islanders as Tliomas Os- borne, William Hedges. Lion or ( Lyon ) Gardiner, Ananias Conk- ling, Chatfield, Brooks, Aleacham, Garlicke and others. Several of these men became noted, among other things, for their many years, Osborne living to be 90. Garlicke 100. and Steven Hedges, son of William. 99 >4. Ananias Conkling came from Salem, bringing all of his family except one son. Cornelius. The exact date of his migration is not known, reports varying from 1650 to 1653. He stopped for a while at Southold with his brother John, who had preceded him in the movement from Massachusetts. He held a home lot. as the Southold records show, and as is likely, as Ananias was a land getter whenever favorable opportunity ofi'ered. On the 5th of July, 1653, he received two land grants at Easthanipton. be- tween the lands of William Hedges and Thomas Osborne, in 1655 two more grants, and on the 1st of April. 1656, still another. Including all — at Salem, Southold and Easthanipton — Ananias Conkling received eleven pieces of public land. Some of the descriptions were a bit vague, but to the honest, innocent minded folks of those days they were sufficient. For instance, the town book of 1655 shows that "It is agreed that Mr. Lion Gardner, Thomas Chatfield, Ananias Concline and Wni. Hedges shall have the niedow at the north side of Hook Pond." The Conklings of Easlhamplon 29 Ananias died in 1657, it i> um kmuvn wIk-ii, l)ut jjrobably in September or October, or may be Xdvcinbcr. Tbc nearest i)nblic mention of bis deatb is tbe following-. AgTeement made tbe 27 day of Wjvember. 1()57. Ijetween Tbomas Baker, Mr. Jobn Mulford and Jobn Hand, witb the consent of the chnrch, the one party, and Jeremyar ConkHn, the administrator of Ananias Conckbn. (k'ceased tbe other party, in tbe behalf of Hester Concklin, tbe (kiuiL^bter of tbe said Ananias, deceased, as followeth : That is to say that he the said Jeremyar Concklin should have £10 out of her portion, bein**" thirty pounds, slie being' young, for bringing up the said Hester one year and an half, and tlie rest of her portion to be four cows, and being put out to the halves, he to have the increase in case they did stand, and if they did not then to allow that which is reasonable out of tbe i)rincipal for her bringing up until she were eighteen vears old. Ananias Conkling appears to have ])cen a devout, religion^ and good man, who lived within the law. was acceptable to the Church, gave proi)er attention to pohtical and ])uliHc affairs, reared bis children carefull\- and l)y tbe practice of in(hi>tr_\-. economy and saving, accumulated considerable proi)ert}-. Certain it is that his branch of the Conkling family were then, and have been ever since, people of favor and note wherever they dwelt. Of his children not much is known of Lewis, Jacob and EHzabetb. 1 lester married George ]\liller, who became one of tbe achninistrators of her father's estate by appointment Jan. 29tii, 1^).^S. As Ijefore said Jereniiab married Mary Garcbner in 1658, when he was 24 vears of age. He died March 14. 1712. aged 7S, years: she died June 15, 1727. aged 80 years. Tliey bad >ix cbildren. naniel\ : Jeremiah. Cornelius. David. Lewis, Ananias and Marw Mar_^ subsequently became Mrs. Thonias Mulford lienjamin ConkHng, son of Ananias, married Hannali. the daughter of John .Mulford. ]\Iulford became quite famous in local history, lie came fnun England, by way of Connecticut. In U»43 be settled at South- ampton, but six years later moved to luistbanqttdii. 1 le was one of tbe first local officers, one of three Justices who constituted the Court, the other two being Thomas Baker and Robert Bond. Benjamin Conkling died in 1709 and Hannah, his widow, in 1712. They had four sons — John, Eliakim, Benjamin and Ananias. The early Long Islanders treated tbe Indians very fairly, quite as well as the iM-encb did in Canada, tbe Puritans in .Massa- 30 The ConkUngs chusetts. the (Juaker> in ['cnnsylvania. the Roman Catholics further south, or any other people anywhere on the continent. While there were dilTercnces between those of the two races, there never was war or serious trouble. The white men bought and paid for their lands, and generally cared for the natives as well as could be expected. In a paper on Easthampton. written by John Lyon Gardiner, in 1798, is given the information fol- lowing bearing upon this subject : The English and natives appear to have lived on good terms. The lands on the east end of Long Island, as well as the neigh- boring islands — Shelter, Gardiner's, Plum and Fisher's — were purchased of the natives. Some French writer. I think Raynol, speaks in praise of the great William Penn for having set an un- common example in purchasing the soil of Pennsylvania of the native Indians, and which if it had been followed by the settlers of New England and \'irginia would have prevented some wars that took place. This Frenchman, like many European writers who had never been in the country, did not understand himself sufificiently on this subject. The fact was that the settlers of \'ir- ginia and Xew England purchased their lands of the natives before George Fox. the founder of the Quaker's sect, published their principles in England, in Oliver Cromwell's time, and a long time before the celebrated William Penn settled in Pennsylvania. There is no doubt that the regular purchase and the warrantee deed from the four above mentioned Sachems, in 1648. (on I^ng Island ) prevented difficulties between the natives and English. Some Indian writings on record in Easthampton speak of the friendship and amity of their neighbors, the English, about 1660. John Mulford. Thomas James and John Conkling witnessed officially the written acknowledgment of six Indian chiefs, at Easthampton Nov. 3d. 1660, in which the chiefs repudiated vassal- age to the Governor of Rhode Island, declaring that he should have no more wampum of theirs, and acknowledging the Governor of Xew York as their chief est Sachem. In a suit brought by Richard Smith against the town of Hunt- ington, Thomas James and Jeremiah Conkling were Commis- sioners appointed by the Governor, in 1670, to take testimony of the Indians. Decision was in favor of the town. The Court ap- proved the verdict, with the condition that the town carry out the terms in the Smith deed just as Smith would have been re- quired to do had he won the suit, that is settle ten families on the land within three years. The town authorities tried to get of Easthampton 31 tlie coiiditidii revoked, allei^iny- that it was inttikTahlc, hut thrir cttort was without avaiL Thouias llaker. acting;- as he aUci^cd for the town of I'la^lhaiup- ton. made formal protest to Governor Lovehiee ayain^t i>>uance of a deed to John Alulford. Thomas James and Jeremiah Conk- hng" for a tract of land the}' desired, and which thev had pur- chased from the Indians. The (iovernor su>i)endetl action until he could visit the locality and make examination for himself. Thi> was in 1671. After examination and public hearing", the Governor found and ordered as follows : Whereas, there was an agreement made bearing Date ye tirst day of December, 1670, between Mr. John ^viulford, Justice of the Peace, Air. Thomas James, Minister, and Jeremy Concklyn, in- habitants of Easthampton. on ye one part, & several Indyans on ye behalf of themselves & their associates, ye Proprietors of ye land, at Menatauket on ye other part, touching a certain parcell of their land, the which ye said Indyans had cpnveyed & made over tmto ye said Mr. Mulford & Company upon ye considera- tions in ye said Agreemt sett forth, all wch was returned unto mee with their Request that ye said Agreemt might be Recorded, & my confirmacon had thereupon, but for some Reasons for that time was suspended until certificate was made unto me the Com- missionrs for ye Indyan Affayres in those parts, that all obstrtic- tions & objections against ye agreemt aforesd w^ere removed. & that there was a right Vnderstanding on all parts had there- upon ; These Presents therefore Certify & Declare that the agree- mt of Purchase made by the aforenamed Mr. John Mulford. Mr. Thomas James and Jeremiah Conckling with the Meantuckett Indyan Proprietors aforementioned returned into ye office of Records here, is to all Intents & Purposes of Force and valid ac- cording to ye condicons therein sett forth. & I doe hereby allow of & confirme ye same, against all other pretences wdiatever. (liven under my hand and seale at Fort James in New Yorke this third day of Alav in ye 23th yeare of his Matie's Raigne Anno.ine Domini 1671. This land was at once transferred to the town of F.asthampton by the three grantees — Conkling, Multord and James. The Reverend James was an intUiential man in his day. being well salaried, well connected, and well fixed in property and local alYairs. With Governors Nicoll (or Nicolls) and Lovelace he was on good terms, but when Governor Andros came it was not so well with him. James was so indiscreet as to make complaint 32 The Conklings to Aiulros of I'liomas IWikcr, re])rcsentini4- him a^ an excommuni- cated i)crson and untit for public cm])lo_\-. ln>tcad of takiuL^ the preacher's word for it, and exiling- or otherwise punishing Baker, the Governor ordered James to make plain and specific charges of anv wrongdoing on Baker's part of which he had knowledge, and to furnish Baker with copy of the same that he might make reply. The minister was cautioned to do as indicated, and not fail, as such contempt would be at his peril. What resulted from this investigation is not known, but it is not unlikely that the minister's com])laint was found to be without cause or merit. Some years later the minister and liaker were on the same side, and in consequence of his "contempt" the clergy- man then was again involved in trouble. In 1686 Robert Cady. John Parsons. Jacob Dayton, John Field, Samuel Sherry, Oliver Xorris, William Hamilton. Daniel Kieflf, Simon Hillyer and- John Richardson appealed to the Provincial Council in effect that they had been living at Easthampton five years, had paid duties, and had become associates in the town, and notwithstanding these facts the authorities refused to give them land. The Council listened sympathetically and directed the Sheriff". Capt. Josiah Hobart. to have a surveyor lay out for each of the complainants thirtv acres of land within the Easthampton bounds not yet fenced or inclosed and appropriated by any ])erson. the men named to pay all expenses and give security not to sell the land until after its improvement by them. Thomas Baker. Thomas Char- field, Jeremiah Conkling. Stephen Rodgers and others claimed the land set apart for the new men and they resented and resisted the attempt to dispossess themselves of it. They held indignation meetings, and appointed Samuel Mulford. Robert Dayton. Samuel Parsons, Benjamin Conkling", Thomas Osborne and John Osborne to undertake the defense of their rights. The last named men prepared a written ])rotest. which diey posted upon the walls of the meeting house, in which they asserted the ownershi]) of the land marked out by the Surveyor to be in themselves and friends, it having been previously granted to them, and the grant ratified by patent deeds of conveyance both of England and the Province, and so forth. They denounced the acts of the other men as tres- pass against the properties and as unlawful. They also warne'^1 oft' the off'enders, threatening them with the law in suits lor of Easthampton 33 damages, and notifying- other people not to buy or receive the lands from the new men. The notice was dated ( )ct. ()lh, UxSf). The Rev. Thomas James sided strongly with the "old settlers."' and talked with exceeding plainness about the matter in his services in the Church. He declared that "cursed would be he who removed his neighbor's landmark." Me told the congrega- tion that there was no excuse for the cour>e tlie autht)rities were pursuing, even though it were l)y order of the King himself, or though it were by law. and that those who thought and acted otherwise would and ought to be cursed. For these bold and se(litiou> utterances Mr. James was arrested, and later wa- com- pelled to apologize. The Committeemen were denounced by the Attorney General in language of the strongest character, their acts being alleged to be scornful, contemptuous, riotous and the like. They were all arrested, as were also Jeremiah Conkling, Stephen Hedges. William Perkins, Daniel Bishop and Xathaniel Bishop. It was a violent storm in a teapot, with more bubble and fuss than the circumstances justified. In the end the Ciovernment withdrew its support to the claims of the new men, but it cost Mtilford, Hedges. Conkling and their associates a payment to the needy, dishonest officials of £200. Easthampton in 1675 had fifty three taxpayers, who were rated in the aggregate at £6842. \h ^hillings. 8 pence. Benjamin Conkling was one of the number, liis property being valued at £103. while that of Jeremiah Conkling was valued at £193. 10 shillings. In 1683 the property owners numbered seventy-one. their aggregate wealth being £9075. 6 shillings. 8 ])ence. I'.en- jamin Conkling had risen by this time to £148. 13 shillings. 4 pence, while Jeremiah had gone uj) to £247. 3 shillings 4 pence. One pound in those days would be equivalent to not less than fifteen dollars in these days. Jeremiah Conkling was one of the half dozen wealthiest men of Easthampton. The British Government dealt har>hly with the Colonic-, in the endeavor to make them dependent upon and tributary to England. Foreign ships were excluded, trade with adjacent colonies was hampered and prohibited: manufacturing was limited. Xowith- standing these efforts to subordinate the Colonies, and alienate them from each other and foreign lands, and generally to burden. impoverish and weaken them, the little settlements grew in 34 The Conklings strength and incIepeiKlcnce. The acts of persecution intended to re- tard served to develop instead. When it was made expensive, diffi- cult and inipossihle to import articles needed, as hats, shoes, furni- ture and an innumerahle lot of other goods, they were made at home hy the colonists themselves, and. though not so fine as like things in Europe, answered the purpose very well. The in- genuity, invention and skill of the people were quickened, and they were thereby better prepared for the greater undertakings later required of them. When the village of Easthampton was a half century old the men there included weavers, cordwinders, carpenters, tailors, coopers, glover, brickmaker. glazier, plasterer, hatter, blacksmith, etc. Among those so described and employed were five Conklings. For many years the towns of Easthampton and Southampton disputed with each other as to their line of division. The ques- tion was left to thirteen men of the two towns for settlement, -one of whom was Cornelius Conkling. In 1695 they decided the matter. Earthampton yielding a part of its claim to Southampton. To mark the line the more certainly and distinctly the arbitrators decreed a road one rod wide on each side of the line they estab- lished as that properly separating the two towns. In the church records appears the following entry of 'Slay 25th. 1718. by Minister Huntting. among infant baptisms: "1718. May 25th. a daughter of Cor. Conkling. Jr. Mary. Cornelius Conkling's. Jr.. daughter ye first baptised child in ye new meeting house." About the same time (April 1st, 1718), Cornelius Conk- ling was chosen Town Clerk. His oath of office reads as follows : You. Cornelius Conkling. Do swear that \()U shall safely keep all ye Books and Records delivered to }ou. and also to Record all Town and Trustees votes, until another person is chosen for that purpose, and also to give coppys out of Sd. Records as you may be required by ye Town or Trustees, as Town Clerk. According to ye best of your cunning, wit and power, so help you God. Sworn before me, Robert Hudson. Justice. A true Coppy per me. Cornelius Conkling, Town Clerk. The town of Amagansett, near Easthampton, had its begin- ning with the settlement there of branches of the Barnes. Hand. Schellinger and Conkling families. of Easlhampion 35 The Loiii;- J>lan(l Conkling-s .gave evidence of considerable niilitary spirit from the beginning-. During all the period from 1664 to 1775, while the Province of Xew \'ork was a pcjrtion of the British Kingdom, the following- named Conklings were on the military rolls: Abraham (corporal I, Abraham, 1 liggiii--. Jacob (lieutenant). Joseph. Xathan. Samuel. John. Anania>. ben- jamin, r.enjan-iin. Cornelius (captain). David. Delio icai)taini. Eliakim, Elisha, Isaac, Jedediah, Jeremiah. John. Thomas, Tim- othy, Gideon, Henry, Joseph, Samuel. Thomas. (Jilbert. Joseph. Thomas, Cornelius (ensign), Ephraim, Jacob, John. Thoma-. Thomas, Jr., Thomas, Ananias, David, Deliverance. Ananias. David, Deliverance, Eleazer, Eliakim. Ephraim. Isaac ( lieuten- John. Joseph, Joseph, Joseph (captain). Lewis. Matthew. Thomas. The foregoing list is from the official records, as com- piled by the State Historian, and published by the State. The names repeated generally mean two or more persons of the same name, or they mean repeated enlistments of the same person, the name thereby appearing upon more than one roll. Cornelius Conkling, for instance, was Ensign of the Easthami)ton Com])any in 1700, and also in 1722. and in 1715 was Ca])tain. Cornelius evidently was a man of prominence and distinction. In "the Aluster Roll of ye Suffolk Regiment Anno Dom. 1715. 1 lenry Smith Colonel and William Smith Major." ai)i)ear the names of Cornelius Conkhng as Captain of the "Easthampton h'oot," and those of Ananias and Elisha Conkling as privates. At the same time and in the same Regiment, in Capt. .Matthew I'.urnett's Easthampton Company were Lewis, Jeremiah, David. John and Benjamin Conkhng as privates. In 1746 among the hundred n-ien who enlisted in Suffolk County, for service in the expedi- tion against Canada, in Capt. James Fauxing's Company, was Jedediah Conkling. In the muster rolls of the C(imi)any the statement is made that thirty-eight of the enli-led men ■■ai)pear to be Indians and negroes." During these years members of the family settled in Westchester and Orange Counties, and in the enlistments there of 1758 appear the names of John. Delm. Thomas, Joseph, Deliverance and John Conkling. Several Conk- lings were referred to in the records by title only, as Lieutenant 36 The Conklings and Ca]:)tain Conklin^-. About a hundred years ai^o, when war wa> a])])reliended lietween the I'nited States and ( Ireat liritain. tlie President called u\m)U the States for 100.000 men. Xew York's (|uota was HJS*-*. At that time — 1808-<> — one (jf the regiments was raised and commanded by Colonel Conkling. Whaling was one of the main supports of the people at the east end of Long Island. The monsters of the deep were num- erous in the vicinity. At one time two hundred years ago thirteen whales were seen on the shore near Easthampton. Their i)ursuit was accompanied with much danger, as the following entry in the private records of Rev. Nathaniel Iluntting will show: Feb. 24. 1719 — This day a whaleboat being alone the men struck a whale, and she coming under ye boat in part staved it, and tho ye men were not hurt with the whale yet, before any help came to them, four men were tired and chilled and fell off ye boat, and oars to which they hung, and were drouned. viz. : Henry Parsons, William Schellinger, junior. Lewis Mulford, Jeremiah Conkling, Junr. In 1760 Capt. Joseph Conkling owned and sailed the sloop Goodluck in the whale fishery. Off the end of the island there are sometimes storms of fierce and violent character. That of Dec. 24th, 1811, is said to have been the worst in recorded history. Sixty vessels were cast ashore, many lives were lost, the cold was intense, the wind a tornado, sheep, cattle and fowls perished, and altogether the storm was one long to be remembered. One of the notable features of it was the loss of Capt. David Conkling, of Amaganset, his crew and three passengers, who were on their way in his sloop to Xew York. The storm is sometimes called "the Conkling Storm." and sometimes "the Christmas Storm." A ])oint of land near Easthampton is known as "Conkling Point." The ])atent of Richard Xicolls. (iovernor of Xew York, .March 13, 1666, for the town of Easthampton, was issued to and in the names of John Mulford, Thomas Paker, Thomas Chatfield. Jere- miah Conkling. Stephen I ledges, Thomas Osborne and John Os- liorne, "as i)atentees, for and in behalf of themselves and their associates, the freeholders and inhabitants of the tciwn of East- hampton," the lands having previously been purchased from the of Easthaiupton 37 Indians. The second patent to the town was issued hy ThMma- Dougan, Governor, Dec. 9th, 1686. and was a very lung document. The men in this case to whom the title was pas.sed for the town were Thomas James, Capt. Josiah 1 lobart. Cajit. Thomas 'I'al- mage, Lieut. John Wheeler, hLnsign Sanuiel Mulford. Jolui ]\Iulford, Thomas Chatfield, Jeremiah Conkling, Stei)lK-n Maud. Robert Dayton, Thomas Baker and Thomas Ostorne. I'ive of the men were the same in both transactions. The Conklings w-ere well represented among the officials of the town of Easthampton. Ananias Conkling. in U).^4. was the first one of the family^ so honored or burdened. In 1()65 came his son, Jeremiah, and following along rapidly thereafter were Benjamin, Cornelius, Eliakim, Nathan, Samuel. Ananias, Simon and Cornelius, Jr. Their ofifices were Sui^ervisors. Constables. Clerk, Justice and Overseers. Jeremiah served five terms, lien- jamin six terms; while Cornelius Conkling, from 1691 to 1743, was popularly chosen thirty-one times. Cornelius. Jr.. served eighteen terms, from 1744 to 1763. In 1742 three of the five town offices were held by Ananias, Nathan and Cornelius Conkling. The people of Easthampton w^ere loyal and true as any other residents of the Thirteen Colonies. In 1664 they protested strongly against being included in the Province of New York, asserted their determination to pay no taxes to it. and made vigorous effort to continue under the free and chartered Ciovern- ment of Connecticut. In 1682 they gave another exhibition of in- dependence and courage, when^ few as they were, they recitdl their political grievances to Gov. Brockholtz, protested against official usurpations of power, told of their legal deprivations and of the tyrannies practiced upon them, and ended with the bold declaration that if the Governor longer deprived them of their rights that they would go to the throne itself for the re(lre.s> they demanded. Such relief as they got from time to lime was more or less deceptive and inconsequential, so that by 1//^ they were as determined as were the people of Massachussetts, \ermont. North Carolina or other Colonies. Ten days after the battle of Lexington, and nearly fifteen months before the Declaration ot Independence at Philadelphia, a declaration was prepared in which the bloody scenes at Boston were condenuied. as was also the apparent resolution of the P.ritish Ministry to raise revenue in 38 The Con}(lmgs of Easthampion America ; assertion was made they were freemen and never would be slaves ; adherence was declared to the Continental Con- gress, and as associates all bound themselves to follow the advice of the General Committee, in the hope of peace, order and the safety of individuals and private property. Every man in East- hampton capable of bearing arms signed this paper, among them twenty Conklings, namely : Daniel, William, Nathan, Elias, Jere- miah, Ebenezer, William, Jr., Samuel, Jeremiah, Mulford, Jacob, Zebulon, Isaac, Edward, Jedediah, Nathan. Benjamin, Abraham, Elisha, and Sineus. Rev. Samuel Buell. pastor of the church, built, owned and maintained by the town, Calvanistic in principle, kept account of his members. Forty-one joined the church from 1747 to 1764, among them ten Conklings, viz. : Daniel and Abigail his wife ; Abigail, wife of Jonathan G. ; Sarah, a widow: Benjamin. Lewis, ]\Iary, Lucretia, Temperance, wife of Eleazar, and Abigail, wife of Joseph Conkling. In the equalization of the Alontauk Purchases, by which equitable arrangement was made among all the property owners upon a share basis, in 1748, thirteen Conklings joined, they being Captain Cornelius, Jr., David, Sineus, Elias, Jonathan, John, W'illiam, the widow Mary, Benjamin, Jeremiah, Simon and Henry. The Barnes family was one of the early New England and Long Island stock. Isaac, born 1704, liked the Conklings so well that he married two of them — Sarah, daughter of David, first, and, after her death, Hannah, daughter of Ananias, both of them great granddaughters of the first Ananias. In the cemetery where Isaac's body was laid the tombstone marking the place bears this inscription : "In Memory of Isaac Barns Esq who died April 22d 1772 in the 68th year of his Age. Death slew Com- missioned From on High nor warning Gave Barns you must die Not Usefulness Itself can Save Thy Life from the Devouring Grave." 1 THE CONKLINGS AT SHELTER ISLAND ■FIELTER ISLAND is about midway lengthwise of the ,,, bay or bays at the eastern end of Long Island, known ^ a:^ Gardiner's and Great Peconic Bays. The towns of Southold and Greenport are nearby to the north and the town of Sag liarbor is nearby to the south. All are in the county of Suffolk, State of New York. Shelter Island dates back in written history to about the year 1637. The first owner, after the Indians and the King of Eng- land, was the Earl of Stirling, who received it by grant from the King, with other lands of Long Island. The Earl gave ten thou- sand acres to his agent, James Forrest, who took Shelter Island as a part thereof. It is imcertain how it ol)tained the name it now carries. It possessed an Indian name, which was disregarded by the whites, who for a time called it Forrest's Island. It was, of course, a protection against the winds and waves of the Atlantic, and the fishermen and mariners were often glad to get behind it for shelter. It was also a place of refuge to the Quakers, who sought it to escape persecution in the days when it was a crime to have a religion not in harmony with the ideas and wishes of the politi- cal powers controlling the land. For one or the other or Ix^th of these reasons the name Shelter was applied to this island, and, on account of its fitting character, has become permanently at- tached thereto. Forrest, sometimes known as Farrett, sold the island in 1641 to a man named Goodyear, who, ten years later, sold it to other men named Middleton, Rouse and Sylvester, for sixteen hundred pounds of muscovado sugar. Xathaniel Sylvester proceeded to occupy the island, he being the only one of the partners so to do, and further he being its first settler. He was newlv married, his 40 The Conklings wife being- Grissel Brinley. and they having in time eleven chil- dren. The other owners dropped out, and Nathaniel was its sole possessor in 1673. Title to it was ac(iuired not only from the Government as intlicated. but from the Indians as well. Land titles in those days were not so easily obtained or so secure as in these. Sylvester, for instance, had to buy from the Indians, after securing title from the Crown, and to strengthen his claim was compelled to pay to Gov. XicoU. representative of the Duke of York, one luuulred and fifty pounds in 1666, and seven years later five hundred pounds to the Dutch. Sylvester died in 1680. About this time the ownership of the island was divided, and the Xicolls, Havens, Hopkins, Conklings and others became resi- dents and land proprietors. From an account book of William Hop- kins, the following names and dates are taken, indicating the pres- ence on the island of the persons referred to at the times stated : Gideon Youngs, 1681 ; Samuel King and John Conkling, 1682 ; Thomas Young and John Tuthill, 1685 ; Caleb Curtis, 1688 ; John ]^Iarlin. 1689 ; Thomas Torrey, 1691 ; John Carter, 1695 ; Samuel Glover, 1696; James Rogers, 1700; and during the following ten years Edward Bonnet, Jonathan Hains, Cornelius Payne, John Hobson, Jonathan Brown, Jacob Conkling, Jonathan Hudson, Lion Gardiner, Henry Tuthill, Richard Brown, Rebecca Crook, William King, Walter Brown, [Martha Collins, John Knowling, Thomas Russell, ]Mary Young. Emmons and others. All of these people may not have lived on Shelter Island, but may simply have dealt with Hopkins, going for that purpose from Southold, Easthampton and elsewhere. In 1730 twenty men were there dwelling, most of them heads of families, named ; William Xicoll, John Havens. Samuel Hudson, George Havens, Elisha Payne, Joel Bowditch, Abraham Parker. Edward Havens, Sam- uel \'ail, Thomas Conkling, Edward Gilman, Brinley Sylvester, Jonathan Havens, Joseph Havens, Noah Tuthill, Sylvester Lhom- medieu. Henry Havens. Samuel Hopkins. John Bowditch and Daniel Brown. These men separated the island from Southold, as far as local government was concerned, and organized the municipality or town of Shelter Island. Thereafter they kept their own books of record, and had their own local officers. The first town record was that of April 7th, 1730. and was an account of the election of five men as Supervisor. Collector, Constable and at Shelter Island 4 | Assessor. The Thomas Conkling- in the Hst was the son of John and Sarah 1 I h)rton ) Conkhn-.and gTandson of John and IChzaheth ( Alsaebrook ) Conkhng-. His own wife was Rachel Moore, whom he married in 1732, they having five children. He served the people as Assessor in 1739 and 1759; as Constable and Collector in 1741 and 1747; and as Overseer of the Poor in 1746, 1754, 1757 and 1761. The children of this worthy couple were Thomas, ]\Iary. Shadrach, James and Benjamin. Thomas, Ixjrn 1733, mar- ried Phoebe Glover, 1760, they having six children, namely: Thomas, Benjamin. Lewis. Rachel, Phoebe and James. From this branch of the family there have been many descendants, the mar- riages being with the Parker, Tuthill, Raynor, Devoe, Brewer, Howell. King, Clark, Grifftng, and other Long Island families of a century and more ago. The inhabitants of the island were so few in number for half a century that no step was taken to provide them with a house of worship of their own. They were progressing, however, and by 1732 concluded that the time had arrived to build a house, and have in it services according to the Presbyterian faith. The principal citizens — the landed proprietors — contributed substan- tially, while those of lesser means were no less generous in pro- portion to their ability. The subscription paper circulated among the latter class has been saved, and from it is learned the fact that there were forty-one of them among the contributors, their offerings ranging from Is. 6d. to £2 6s. The building then er- ected stood until 1816, when it was displaced by the one now there. In 1746 a paper was signed by the islanders in which they agreed to pay Rev. William Adams to preach the Ciospel. Upon this paper the name of Thomas Conkling appears for £10. or $50. his subscription being larger than any other, and equiva- lent to about $150 of the present day. The clunxh had experi- ences similar to those of country churches in all parts of the United States since. When it became necessary to build a new house the people were again severely taxed. Twenty-eight sub- scribers on the island gave $1277.50. of which amount I'.enjamin Conkling gave $200. Samuel Lord $250. and Sylvester Dering S300. the others being for contributions ranging from $2.50 to $100. Contributions were received from fifty-nine non-residents amounting to $1320.50. The new house cost four thousand dol- 42 The Conklings lars. While Sineus, Henry and Shadrach were contributors to the cliurch funds, a hundred years ago, I'.enjamin. of all the members of the Conkling family, was the most frequent, con- sistent and generous giver. He was a seaman, master of vessels, a money maker, who. in his later days, returned to the island. He was unmarried, and having no children, left the bulk of his fortune, some $8000, to the church. In the churchyard, over his grave, stands a headstone bearing this inscription : '"In memory of Benjamin Conkling, who died Feb. 21, 1826, aged eighty-two. It is but justice to the character of Mr. Conk- ling to say that he was an obliging neighbor : in his habits indus- trious, in his dealings honest. He liberally aided the cause of virtue and religion, and in his last moments bequeathed a large proportion of his property to the Presbyterian Church and con- gregation of Shelter Island, for the support of the gospel." The relatives of Capt. Conkling were evidently not pleased with this great bequest, as a year or two later they placed over the grave of the Captain's elder brother, also a bachelor, on a near by lot in the same cemetery, a similar headstone, in which these words were cut : '^In memory of Shadrach Conkling. who died January 23d, 1827, aged eighty-eight. :\Ir. Conkling possessed a sound mind and excellent understanding, and was a firm patriot, a good neighbor, charitable and strictly moral. He owned at the time of his decease, a large estate, which he bequeathed to his rela- tions, who were all very poor, and among whom were seven orphan children. Posterity will decide upon the wisdom mani- fested in the disposition of the estates of these two brothers." The Rev. Jacob E. Mallmann. in his history of Shelter Island and the Presbyterian Church, speaks of these headstones as follows : I do not intend to go into the merits of this proposition. One can, however, read very plainly between the lines of these epi- taphs. Perhaps this significant fact will aid "■posterity" in form- ing a correct opinion, namely, that while both men were wealthy bachelors, the latter contributed but twenty dollars to the erection of the present building, while the former gave two hundred dol- lars and yearly hired a pew, giving besides fifty dollars per an- num to the support of the church. But we look in vain for Air. Shadrach Conkling's name upon the pew lists of those ten years which are still in existence. at Shelter Island 43 Xotwithstaiuling- the pastor's evident preference tor llenja- min, his commendation, and the apparent disapproval by com- parison of Shadrach, it is plain from his own book that Shadrach was a useful citizen, that the people trusted him, and that durint^ liis long- life he rendered public services unexcelled by those of an}- other resident of the island. In the list of town officers from 1730 to 1815 he (^Ir. Mallmann ) reports Shadrach Conkling as follows: Collector and Constable. 1764. 1769; Assessor. 1771, 1790, 1791, 1796, 1798, 1801 : Overseer of the Poor. 1774. 1783. 1802: Fence Viewer. 1774, 1775, 1780, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1794, 1795. 1796. 1797. 1799. 1800. 1804, 1806, 1807, 1808. Benjamin, Henry and Sineus Conkling- also held offices during- the eighty- five years referred to, as well as Shadrach and Thomas. The census of Shelter Island was taken in 1771 and also in 1776. It included by name the heads of families only, with fig- ures for others. In 1771 there were twenty-seven such heads: Thomas Conkling being one, with four in his family, and Thonias Conkling. Jr.. another, with seven in his family. In all. the jwp- ulation then numbered 140 whites and 27 blacks. Five years later among the "heads"" were Thomas, Thomas, jr., and David Conkling. the three families aggregating fourteen persons. Tho. from their position on an island in the open sea. the Shelter people were greatly exposed to the attacking, invading and destroying British forces, they were no less patriotic than their fellow Americans of Massachussetts. Connecticut. X'irginia and other parts. Immediately following the battle of Lexington (April 19th. 1775) and fourteen months before the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia, they led the sentiment of the American colonists by preparing, circulating, signing and pub- lishing the following, bold, stirring and patriotic declaration: County of Suft'olk, May. 1775. A General Association, agreed to. and subscribed by the I'ree- holders and Inhabitants of the County of Sufifolk. Persuaded that the Salvation of the Rights and Liberties of America depends, under God, on the firm Union of its Inhabi- tants, in a vigorous Prosecution of the Measures necessary for its Safety: and convinced of the Necessity of preventing the Anarchv and Confusion which attend a Dissolution of the Powers 44 The Conl(lings al Shelter Island of Governmciil ; Wc, the l'"rccliuUlers and Inliabitanl.^ of the County of Suttolk, being greatly alarmed at the avowed Design of the Ministry to raise a Revenue in America; and shocked by the bloody Scene now acting in the Massachussets Bay, DO, in the most solemn ^^lanner resolve never to become Slaves ; and do associate under all the Ties of Religion, Honour and Love to our Country, to adopt and endeavor to carry into Execution what- ever Measures may be recommended by the Continental Con- gress, or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the Purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing the Execu-. tion of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the British Parliament ; until a Reconciliation between Great Britain and America on Constitutional Principles ( which we most ardently Desire ) can be obtained ; and that we will in all Things follow the Advice of our own Committee respecting the Purposes afore- said, the Preservation of Peace and good Order and the Safety of Individuals and private Propcrtv. Dated in Suffolk County. May. 1775. This paper was signed by the best known families of the isl- and and county, including the Havens. Hortons. Derings, Tut- hills. Howells, Bowditches. Cases. Paines. Adams. Sawyers. Park- ers, Browns. Booths. Johnsons. Hands. Davals. Xorrises and others, not excepting the Conklings. two of whom — Shadrach and Thomas Conkling. Jr.. boldly and plainly appended their names, to the everlasting credit of themselves and all others of the familv after them. THE CONKLINGS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR f^^priE record of the Conklings in the war with the mother ^A^ country for American independence could not he hetter. They w^ere apparently actuated hy motives of patriotism, rather than by personal ambition or the desire for public advancement and glory. This is made manifest by the ])resence of so many members of the family in the lines of tlie enlisted men. If they coidd not be officers of high rank, they did not on that account refuse other service in the lower grades. The}' serveil in all the branches, on sea and on land, and they not onI\- ten- dered such help as they could give to the cause, but offered it again and again, enlisting twice and three times over — for the war. The sacrifice that this meant is known to all reader> of American history. It meant death not infrequently: it meant wotinds and injuries more commonly: it meant disease and crip- pling for life: and it meant suffering, loss, pri\ation and other distressing troubles to the dear ones left at home. And what was the compensation for all this? Tracticall}- nothing of a .selfish or physical character. The i)ay of a private soldier was only $6.25 a month; of a corporal. $7.33: a sergeant. $8; an en- sign, $20; a lieutenant. $26.67 ; and of a cai)tain. S40. 'Idle Conk- lings all served within these grades, i'urther. these were only promises to pay. many not being made good until long after the war's termination. When ])aid it was in paper ot depreciated, uncertain and fluctuating value. Sometimes payments were made in permits to impress the animals and goods of other> tor which payment by the State later was ])romised. Meantime, the soldier was furnishing his owm clothes, his own weapons and often his own food. The State did the be.^t it could: the people under- stood the situation, and hel]) was given by the masses freely, un- complainingly, bravely and manfully. 46 The ConkUn§s Upon the muster rolls of the State of New York appear the names of 112 members of the family, as follows: Cankelen — William. Canklin — Daniel. Concklin — David. Elemuel (Captain"). Elenmel (Lieutenant), Elias. Elisha. EzekiJel. Henry, lliogins. Isaac. Jacob, Jacob, • James, John, JoshSa. Joseph. Lawrence, Matthew, Nathan, ^Nicholas, Nicholas N.,' Nicholas W., Samuel, Seth. Stephen, Thomas, William. Conckline — Lemuel. Conckling — Abraham. Aron. Gabriel. Isaac. John. John L., Joseph H.. Lewis. Alatthies, Michael. Nicolas. Nicolas W., Selah, Stephen, Thomas. Timothy. Concklin — Ezekiel. Conkelin — Jacob ( Captain ) . Conklang — Ebenezer. Conklen — Isick. Samuel. Conklin — Abraham. Edward. Ephraim. Gabriel, Henry, Isaac (Captain). Isaac. Jacob, Jacob. Jeremiah. John. Joseph, Joseph. Lemuel (Captain). Lewis. ^latthew. Matthias, ?^Iatthias, Matthew, Nathan, Nathaniel (Lieutenant). Nathaniel, Richard. Samuel, Seth, Seven. Silvanus, Stephen. Timothy, William (En- sign ) . Conkling- — Abraham. Ananias. Benjamin. Daniel. David. Eb- enezar. Edward, Ezra, Isaac, Israel, Jacob, Jeremiah. John. Jona- than. Joseph (Lieutenant). Joseph. Joseph. Nathan. Nathaniel. Samuel, Silvanus. Sylvanus, T. Stodard, Thomas, Timothy, Titus. William. William, Jr., Zophar. Conklinh— Thomas. Konklin — Joseph. In some cases, quite a number, no doubt, the same person is represented in the list two or three times. That is accounted for by the fact of his repeated services, his re-enlistments, his volun- teering- again and again during the struggle of eight vears dura- tion. In other instances father and son, bearing the same given name, both appear on the rolls. And again, many men, then as now, were named Jacob, John. Joseph, etc. The official rolls show that other families also had diversitv with their surnames, in the Revolutionary) War 47 the ea.sy one of Cole being varied l)y Coal, C<>ale. Kojc. kual and Koel spellings. The very comnian name of Smith was spelled in eight different ways. Reynolds in nine. Campbell in ten. etc. The enrolling officers then were as bad spellers, evidently. a> loo many people are now. The American forces were in divisions of ditk-rcnt name. The Line was the regular or national army, furni>lied bv the States, but serving under General Washington wherever directed by him. The ]\Iilitia were organizations under control of the State, for use whenever wanted in the State, but which could not be taken out of the State for more than three months at a time. The Levies were men drafted from the .Militia for the pur])o■^e of keeping up the Line. The Associated E.xenipt> were men pa>t 50 \ear> of age and ex-officials, who could be called out only in time of invasion. Regiments were usually known by the name> of their com- manding Colonels combined with that of the county or branch of service they represented. The State maintained a na\al force — ])ri\ateer> — con>i>ting in all of eleven small vessels, which took man}- prizes, and which were regularly in the service and on the pay rolls. ( )f the \2() privateersmen three were Conklings — Lbenezar. Richard and Titus. In 1842 Mary Conklin made application to Congress for a pension on accoimt of the services of her deceased husband on one of the privateers. The (iovernment was ungenerous to its fighting men and their widows in those days, and the petition of Mrs. Conklin was rejected by the I louse Conmiittee. Chairman Calhoun reporting that the fund available for that purpose was exhausted in 1837. While it is not known ])ositively who this ^lary Conklin was, it is more than likely that her husband wa^ one of the three men named. During the war Jacob Conkling was one of the Captains of the Fourth Regiment of Orange County Militia, while William and Higgins Conkling were two of the private soldiers. In the Second Regiment of Orange County Militia Matthias Conkling was Lieutenant. William Conkling Ensign, and thirty Conklings were in the ranks, namely: Ezekiel. David. Plcnry. Daniel, John, Nicholas, Nicholas X., Nicholas W.. Stephen, Abra- 48 The ConkUngs ham. Aaron, Gabriel, Isaac, John, John L., Joseph H., Lewis, Matthias, ^Michael. Stephen, Thomas, Aaron, Gabriel, Isaac, John, Joseph, Joseph, Jr., Lewis, Michael, Stephen! Nicholas W. The Second was a strong regiment, with thirteen companies, forty- three officers and full roll of i)rivatcs. Suffolk County ( Long Island ) was in the struggle for Inde- pendence at the beginning, but later was removed therefrom, the British forces obtaining and retaining control of affairs the last seven years of the war. Before the Declaration the people joined the American side almost en masse, and several military organiza- tions were effected. One of these was the Second Battalion, by order of the Provincial Congress, of which Daniel Conkling was one of the Ensigns in an Easthampton Company, and unques- tionably either he who was born in 1718 or his son of 1757. The First Suffolk Regiment numbered 600 men. Its command was oft'ered to Piatt Conkling. but he refused it, for some reason now unknown, and William Floyd was elected Colonel instead. In this regiment were thirteen Conklings. including Lieutenant Timothy, Thomas, Benjamin, Jacob, Jeremiah, Joseph and others, all willing to render service in behalf of their country, but unfor- tunately so placed that they were not able to do much. The First Regiment of Orange County ]\Iilitia seems to have failed in perfection of its organization, only thirty-three men joining it, one of whom was Lieutenant Joseph Conkling. Its lack of numbers, however, did not prevent it going into battle with Colonel Jesse Woodhull when the opportunity oft'ered, and suffering severely. In the Second Regiment of the Line were John, Joseph and '' Daniel Conkling, as enlisted men. In the Third Regiment of the Line were Lieutenant Nathaniel ^ Conkling, and John, Selah, Thomas and Timothy, enlisted men. In the Fourth Regiment of the Line were Lieutenant Edward Conkling. Lieutenant Silvanus Conkling. and Daniel, Edward, Nathan and William Conkling, enlisted men. In the b^ifth Regiment of the Line were John, Samuel and Thomas Conkling, enlisted men. in the Revolulionaiv War 49 In the Levies were John, Joseph, Samuel, Al)rahani, Jacob, John, Matthias, Nathan, John,/Samiiel, Lemuel, Isik, Li)hraim and John Conkling. John Conkling also served in the Line as an Artificer, under Lieutenant Colonel Luther IJahluin. In the Orange Conuty Militia with Land r.ounty Rii^hts were William, Daniel, John, Joseph. T. Stodard, Lzekiel, Ahitthew. Gabriel, Isaac, Joseph and Lenjamin Conkling. In the Dutchess County IMilitia were Captain Eleniuel Conk- ling, Lieutenant Elemuel ^Conkling and Abraham Conkling, private. The Land Bounty Rights was a Legislative device to induce enlistments near the close of the war — 178L A three-year en- listment entitled a man to 600 acres ; two years to 350 acres, and 200 acres was allowed to one securing the enlistment of another man. Alen in classes were entitled under certain circumstances to the 200-acre bounty, and in such cases it was usually ilisposed of in the manner following: We, the subscribers, belonging to Daniel Cantene's Class in Col. Jesse Woodhull's Regiment of Orange County Militia, do hereby transfer and assign to Hezekiah White, of the precinct of Cornwall, in Orange County and State of New York, carpen- ter, and to his heirs and assigns forever all our right and title to the annexed certificate and the gratuity or bounty of 200 acres of land to wdiich we are entitled by reason of an act entitled "an act for raising troops to complete the Line of this State in the service of the United States, and the two regiments to be raised on bounties of unappropriated lands, and for the further defense of this State," passed the 23d day of ^larch. 17SL .\s witness our hands and seals, etc. It is not intended in this work to give more credit to any person or people than is due. The idea is to lie fair and true. While the patriotism and military services of the Conklings are so specifically mentioned, not the least diversion from or detrac- tion of others, contemporary with them, is contemplated. More than forty-three thousands enlistments are recorded among about three hundred thousand people in the State of New York during the war of the Revolution. One-seventh of all the men. women and children took part in the defensive and offensive operations of that terrible period, saying nothing of the Tories among them who favored actively or passively the enemy so savagely assailing 50 The Conklings them. Xew York was the great battlegTound of the war. Heroism was demanded of its people, and they responded in a manner un- surpassed if not uneciuahed in the history of the world. It is gratifying" to the writer to speak so of the people of his native State, and it is the more so when he can include among these patriots so many men who were connected by blood and family with himself. Hardly less agreeable and stirring is the fact that hundreds of other relatives, of other names, however — the Thompsons, Carpenters, Hortons, Mapes, Brooks, Lamoreux, Webbs, Roes, Howells, Sutherlands. Terrys, etc. — were of the same sentiment, same nature, and same determination to stand by their country and the right, shedding their blood on the field of battle, and risking, suffering, losing and gaining as their cousins, nephews, uncles and brothers-in-law, the Conklings, were doing. A good illustration of the time and services given by many of these men to their country is afforded in a report to the House of Representatives by Mr. Denny, from the Committee on Revol- utionary Pensions, submitted ]\Iarch 26th, 1832. as follows: The Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, to whom was re- ferred the petition of John Conklin, report : The petitioner states that he enlisted in 1776 in Jacob Dewitt's company of rangers for and during the war. The company hav- ing broken up he enlisted in October, 1778, for three years, in Capt. Mills' company, in Col. Baldwin's Regiment of artificers. Petitioner was made a sergeant, and continued to serve until the 22d of October, 1781, when he was honorably discharged; that he continued to render service on the frontiers with scouting par- ties. Petitioner is seventy-seven years of age. is poor, and. from infirmities, unable to labor. It does not appear that petitioner's statement was made under oath. Joseph Thomas makes an affidavit, and declares that petitioner in 1776 enlisted in Dewitt's company, and afterwards entered Mills' company in 1780, and acted as sergeant; that in May, 1781, petitioner was put into Capt. Patten's company of artillery arti- ficers, and remained at West Point while deponent marched to the southward. Silas Tyler and Paul Tyler testify to the enlistments of Conk- lin in Dewitt's and ]Mills' companies. in the Revolulionary War 51 The petitioner accompanies his appUcation with his commis- sion as sergeant in ]^Iills' company, dated at West Point July 19. 1780. and also with other original papers, dated in 1781. turni>ii- ing evidence of his service, and with his discharge, signed by J. Wright, lieutenant of artillery artificers, dated October. 1781. at West Point. The Committee recommend that petitioner be placed on the pension roll. It is not known that any other Conkling was pensi()ne(l on account of services in the war for independence. The name Clinton figures remarkably in the written history of Xew^ York during the Revolutionary period and the few years before and the few years following. So many Clintons were there, and so extensive and mingled were their operations, that confusion of thought and memory frequently results in tlie mind of the student. It will be well, maybe, to clear up the situation. The first Clinton was Charles, who crossed the Atlantic in 172'). and located his home and family in the Ulster and Orange County region, sixty or seventy miles from New^ York City. It was Indian country then, and the Clintons had to guard against and fight the savages. A palisade, or high log fence, was built around their house for protection. As a Lieutenant Colonel he took part in a British-American expedition against the French-Indian allies of Canada, being accompanied by his sons. James and George. He served the people as surveyor and as county judge. George Clinton was an officer of the British Xavy. who in time rose to the rank of Mce Admiral. He was the royal Ciov- ernor of the Province of New York from 1743 to 17.-^3. Sir Henry Clinton was son of Admiral and Governor Clintr.n. In the British Army he served as Major General with Howe and Burgoyne at Boston, but in 1778 succeeded Howe as commander- in-chief in America with rank of Lieutenant General. James Clinton, son of Colonel Charles Clinton, began his niil- itarv career in 1756 with the expedition against Canada, during 52 The Conklings which as a captain he captured a French war vessel on Lake Ontario and assisted in the taking of Fort Frontenac. In 1/75 he alHed himself with the patriots, and was soon a Colonel and Brigadier General. He stayed in the war to the end, command- ing at Albany, fighting the Indians at the head of 1600 men, being at the siege of Yorktown and at the evacuation of New York. George Clinton was also at Fort Frontenac, as a Lieutenant. For a time he held a clerkship under the British Governor-Ad- miral, George Clinton, there being blood relationship between the two families. He represented New York in the Continental Congress and was afterwards a Brigadier General, first of the Militia and then of the Continental Army. Lpon the organization of the State in 1777, he became Governor, holding that office until 1795. In 1801 he was once more elected Governor, and in 1804 and 1808 was elected Vice President of the United States. Dewitt Clinton, son of General James Clinton, like his father and Lmcle George, was born and lived in Orange County, his years extending from 1769 to 1828. He was as prominent as any of the other Clintons, being Legislator, Mayor of New York, Lieutenant Governor, Governor and candidate for President in 1812, when he was beaten by James ^Madison. It will be seen that among the leading men of the Province and State of New York, a century and little more ago. were six Clintons, three of whom were Governors, three Generals, four soldiers of distinction, one a seaman of high rank, and two very close to the Presidencv of the United States. In 1777 the Highlands of the Hudson River were defended against the British by two forts, one called Clinton and the other Montgomery. While General Burgoyne was in the country to the north, being hemmed in and gradually overcome by the Amer- ican forces under General Gates, Sir Henry Clinton undertook a measure in the hope of giving him relief. He sailed up the Hudson with a fleet upon which were 3000 soldiers. By a bit of strategy or deception he got past General Putnam, and thereby in ihc Rcvolutionar'^ War 53 saved liiniself trouble and defeat. lie attacked these forts on the 6th of Otcober, storming them, and effecting their capture. Fort Clinton was commanded by General James Clinton, and Fort Montgomery by General George Clinton. The defense was heroic, but unavailing, as the 600 Americans, outnumbered five to one, could not hold out against their assailants. The nrili>h losses of killed and wounded were the more numerous, but the destruction of the fortifications and the capture of American sol- diers tended to even up the results. On their way down the river the British stopped long enough at Newburg, Orange County's largest town, to burn it. In this affair it was out of the ordinary that Fort Clinton, defended by General Clinton. should be attacked and captured by General Clinton, but so it was. As an aid to Burgoyne the expedition was a failure; I'.ur- goyne being compelled to surrender, at Saratoga, with all his forces a week or so later. The Clintons and the attack upon the Highlands forts have been referred to so fully in this chapter because the interest in the men and in the expedition was so great in Orange County. It was local history in which all the people were concerned. The forts were partially or wholly garrisoned by citizens of the county. Two of the Conklings— Samuel and Thomas— lost their lives in consequence of it, being captured at Fort Montgomery and both dying in the prison where they were placed by the British. Their friends and relatives suffered somewhat similarly. One of these was William Reynolds, who with his brother John came from England. Their sympathies were with the people of New York in the war that ensued some years after their coming, and they entered the military service of the State. They were in Captain Francis Smith's company of Colonel Jesse Woodhull's regiment defending Fort Clinton. William Reynolds was so badly wounded that he was incapacitated, and in his helpless con- dition applied to the State for relief. The papers in his case are somewhat quaint in their phraseology, spelling, and capitaliza- tion, and are here produced as in the original : 54 The Conl^lings Deposition of John Lamoreux, Orange County, State of New York. John Lamoreux being Duly Sworn Deposeth and Saith that on the 6th of October 1777 WiUiani Runels of Coll Jesse wood- hull's Rigment was in command in Ft Clinton with Lt Henry Brewster and in the Reboubt Commanded by Coll Wm Loughrey and that he was wounded with a Bainot in several places in the Body and that very Badly Espetialy under the Right Brest and that he was Taken Prisoner and Carried to New York where this Deponent Saith they were Prisoners Together for Near Ten months and further this Deponent Saith that after their Releas the said Runels was under the Surjants hands until the Later end of year 1779 and his wounds Not Healed. Certificate of Inspector. I do hereby certify that William Raynolds, a private in Capt. Francis Smith's Company Coll Jesse Woodhull's Regt of Orange County IMilitia \'oluntarily joined himself to my Plattoon in the time of the Battle of Fort Montgomery on the 6th of October 1777 under the command of Lieut. Coll. James McClaughry and that the said William Raynolds received several dangerous w^ounds with bayonets in his body and was taken prisoner with me and carried to New York by the British. Henry Brewster Jr. Inspector to General John Hathorn's Brigade of Orange County ^lilitia. Certificates of Examining Surgeons. I hereby certify on examination that the Bearer William Rey- nolds from a wound through the Integuments and right Lobe of the Lungs and others in different Parts of his Body is disqualified for obtaining a Livelihood by bodily Labor and that the inability will increase as he advances in years. Charles i\I. Knight. I have examined the case of the within named William Reynolds & am of the same opinion of Doctor M. Knight in every respect and do further testify that I visited him frequently as a surgeon during his illness & that his case was most deplorable and his sufferings almost beyond Discription. John Cockrane, late Director of the Hospitals Cnited States. The certificates of John Lamoreux and Doctors Knight and Cockrane were with a view to securing a pension from the United States. They were made in 1790. The Secretary of War wrote to the New York State officials for further information, which the Treasurer furnished as shown in the following : in the Revolutionary War 55 New York. Jan. 12ih. 1791. Sir: Your letter of 8th Instant requcstins,^ sonic information respecting a payment made by me to William Reynolds an in- valid, came duly to hand. On examining my papers 1 tind that the payment was made in pursuance of Concurrent Kesulutions of the Senate and Assembly of this State of the 4th .April 17X5 a copy of which I do myself the Honor to enclo>e you, and am sir, Your most humble servant. Gerard Bancker. Henry Knox Esq Secretary of War. Copy of Legislative Resolution. In Assembly Monday 10 oClock A M. April 4ih 1785. .Mr. Ford from the Committee to whom was referred the I'elilion of William Reynolds a wounded soldier Reported that is the opinion of the Committee that the Petitioner merits relief, that the Com- mittee have for that purpose agreed to a resolution which being read was concurred by the House — Thereupon Resolved if the Honorable the Senate concur here- in that William Reynolds a soldier of the Orange County Militia in Capt. Francis Smith's Company of Col. Jesse Woodhull's Regi- ment of said Militia has produced Satisfactory Certificates that he was wounded at Fort Alontgomery while in actual service, opposing the enemy during the late war. That agreeable to the acts of Congress, and the Laws of this State, he is entitled to a partial support and that he be allowed Twenty six shillings & eight pence p month from the 6th day of October 1777 until the 23d day of December 1779 as a partial support. Ordered that M Clark deliver a Copy of the last proceeding Resolution to the Honorable the Senate. A true extract from the Journals of the A-^seiubly ^i the State of Xew York. Gerard I'.ancker Trea<. Gerard Rancker Fsqr. Treasurer of the State i>f .\'ew \ nrk to the Sec of War 12 Jan. 1791. Thomas Lamoreux was Ensign in Captain Francis Smith's Company: Daniel Conkling was a private in Cajitain Phineas Rumsey's Company, and other Orange County men too numerous to mention were there, in the service, in the front, in the battle. Not all were taken prisoners. The escape of General Clinton was miraculous and has become liistoric. The prisons to which 56 The Conklings the soldiers were sent became historic also, but not in a sense at all creditable to the enemy. They were in every way unfit for human habitation, and were the cause of a vast amount of suffer- ing and hundreds of deaths among the unfortunate patriots in- carcerated within them. It is told among their descendants to this day that when Reynolds and Lamoreux were exchanged and returned to their home they stopped at a big rock near the house, and called to the folks inside to bring them tubs of warm water, soap, towels, combs, scissors and other clothes as they were too dirty, ragged and lousy to enter the house in the condition they then w^ere. They washed out of doors, burned their rags, cut oflf their hair and cleaned up as thoroly as possible before again familiarly mingling with the family. William Reynolds not long after married Martha Lamoreux, daughter of John, one of the brothers. The Lamoreux brothers were French Huguenots, who thirty or forty years before w^ere driven out of France by the Catholics on account of their religion. John Lamoreux married Betsey Tice, a Dutch woman from Holland. Their granddaugh- ter. Charity Reynolds, married Sylvester Conkling, and in this way the three families were connected. Notwithstanding their foreign birth the Lamoreux and Reynolds families were Ameri- cans of loyal and trustworthy character during the long and ter- rible war of the Revolution. Orange County suffered greatly during the eight years prior to peace in 1783. The Indians were yet close, and, as allies of the foe, cut off the trade, destroyed the property, and slew the people ruthlessly. A part of Washington's army wintered one year there. Xewburg for a time was his headquarters. The Tories were zealous for the King, and rivaled the savages in brutality. It is not astonishing that almost every man in the county shouldered his musket and entered upon the defense of the community. Indeed, the man who did not was old and phys- ically worthless, or so young that he had hardly entered upon his teens. The pressure and the desire to serve could not be withstood, and the people erimasse went into the war. Some years ago Ed. Mott told the story following in the New York Times, and, as it concerns people connected with the family and illus- trates the character of the struggle on the then frontier, it is here reproduced : in the Revolutionary War 57 Henry Reynolds was a Quaker, whose reli^^ion did n<.t previ-nt him doing- for his eountry what its best citizens generally were doing. His property had been destroyed by the Jlritish s(.ldier> when they burned the town of Peekskill. and he then moved a Httle further west, across the Hudson river, into (Grange County. He assisted as a minute man in the capture of Stony I'oint, and he was so active generally that he aroused the enmity of the Tories, who determined upon vengeance. One night, in July, 1782, he was awakened by a knocking at the door. To his query as to who was there he received the reply that it w^as the commander of a detachment of American soldier>, who were seeking deserters from Washington's arm>. a portion of which w^as in camp three miles from the Reynolds' place, the locality being known to this day as "The Camp." Thrown off his guard the patriot Quaker hastily dressed him- self, opened the door and went back to get a light. As he struck the flint in the tinder box and lighted a candle he saw the Tory Edward Roblin and another one named lienjamin Kelly. There were three others, -rtrangers to him. Seeing that he had been duped, Reynolds felled Kelly and Roblin to the floor, and made a dash for the open door. He was captured and overpowered by the others. The noise brought Mrs. Reynolds, her twelve-year- old daughter Phoebe, her younger son, Caleb, and the Ixiund boy upon the scene. Reynolds struggling with his assailants, shouted to the bound boy to run and summon aid, but the Tories seized the boy and frightened him so that during all the succeeding out- rages of the night he stood motionless and speechless against the wall at one end of the room. Mrs. Reynolds, who was in delicate health, swooned when she saw her husband at the mercy of the outlaws. The boy Caleb, young as he was. endeavored to render some aid to his father, and he was knocked down by Tory Roblin and thrown unconscious into the ashes on the hearth of tiic broad stone fireplace. The girl Phoebe fought desperately to ])rotect her father, but while two of the gang^ held her the others swung the big wrought iron crane of the fireplace out from the chimney jamb, tied a rope around Reynolds' neck, fastened the other end to the crane and drew their victim up until his toes were off the floor and dangled in the ashes. There they left him suspended. supposing that he had strangled to death, and went to otiier parts of the house, ransacking it for plunder. Left thus to herself Phoebe hastily cut the rope by which her father was suspended, and removed the noose from his neck. Finding that he was not dead, altho he was unconscious, she dragged him to a bed in one corner, lifted him upon it. and suc- ceeded in restoring him to consciousness. A moment later the 58 The Conklinss Tory, Roblin, returned to the room. Discovering what Phoebe had done, he summoned the others. The girl, brandishing the butcher's knife with which she had cut the rope, placed herself in front of her still helpless father. Roblin thrust his sword deep into her breast. She wrenched the sword from the Tory's hand, and before she was disarmed had wounded him severely. She then threw herself upon her father to protect him from the weapons of the gang. The Tories stabbed her in half a dozen different places, and tore her clothing almost entirely off her boay before they forced her from the bed and hurled her, bleeding from her many wounds, into a far corner of the room, where she lay, as they believed, dying. Mrs. Reynolds had recovered from her swoon by this time. She crawled to the hearth and took the still unconscious boy, Caleb, from the ashes, and held him in her arms moannig ror mercy to her husband. Disregarding her agonized appeals, the Tories took Reynolds from the bed, again hanged him from the crane, stabbed him several times with their swords, and resumed their plundering of the house. In spite of her wounds, the men had no sooner left the room than I'hoebe went again to the aid of her father, and once more cut him down. She attempted to carry him from the house, when he slipped from her arms and fell heavily to the floor. The noise brought the Tory gang quickly back to the room, where they found Phoebe lying upon the prostrate and uncon- scious form of her father, mingling her blood with his. With oaths they thrust their swords again and again into the Quaker's body, and Phoebe received additional wounds while trying to ward the blades from her father. The assassins at last dragged the girl away and thrust the Quaker's limp body into a large wooden chest — which is still in possession of a descendant of Rey- nolds in Sullivan County — and closed the lid down upon it. They then departed with their plunder, having first rolled a rock against the door and set fire to the "house in two places. The flames were extinguished by the girl, Phoebe. Then returning to her father, she staunched and bound up his wounds, and started out to give the alarm to neighbors. A party quickly formed and pursued the Tories. They were overtaken in the mountains south of Chester and three of the gang were killed, Roblin and another alone escaping. Roblin fled to Canada, and that was the end of the Claudius Smith gang. The doctor from Goshen found thirty dangerous wounds on Rey- nolds' body. One ear was nearly severed from his head and one arm was so badly hacked that the use of it was never recovered. The girl, Phoebe, had eleven bad wounds, two of which — one in the head and one in the breast — were so dangerous that the in the Revoluiionarv War 59 girl's life was long despaired of. The lx)uii(l hoy iK-ver reccn-ere.l from the fright the Tories gave him, and died from hrain fever a few days later. The day after this outrageons assault on the Ouaker'> family Mrs. Reynolds gave birth to a child. Jt was a girl. Tiie l)ai)y lived, grew to womanhood, and became the mother of the well known Wales family, of Sullivan County, Reynolds having removed to that county soon after the Revolution, and where that daughter married Blake Wales, who became a famous physi- cian and surgeon of the southern tier. The boy, Caleb, grew up and was a soldier under General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans during the war of 1812. Phoebe married Jeremiah Drake in Sullivan County, and prominent families of the Delaware and Xeversink \^alleys are descended from her. She lived to be eighty-three years old. The Reynolds' farm and the old house, the scene of that night's terrible ordeal, are now the property of Mrs. Elizabeth Gignoux. of New York. The broad stone chimney, on the fire- place of which the patriot Quaker was twice hanged from the crane, is tumbling down. The iron crane was removed years ago by one of the Wales family, it is said, in whose possession it now is. The trials and troubles of the women in the Revolutionary period were as great as those of the men. The Reynolds incident illustrates the truth of this assertion. If proof were needed, there were other illustrations in plenty. Augustus Griffin, in his Jour- nal, published in 1857, tells a number of stories concerning his and kindred families and their experiences with the British forces of that time. One of these was about Mr>. John Corwin. A party of the enemy, mounted. sto])ped at her door. In a rougli voice the officer commanding demanded of Mrs. C"or\\in some grain for their horses. To impress ujxni her hi> imp(«rtance and the necessity for prompt compliance with h\> demand, he adiletl: ''Your situation, Madam, warns you to an immediate attention to my request. To refuse is to rush to destruction." Disregard- ing the threat Mrs. Corwin coolly replied: "I have no food either for you or for your horses." "Well," said he, '"liere is a fine piece of wheat across the field. It will answer for our horses, and we will have it." He moved for the gate which t)ixMied the field. "Stop!" said Mrs. Corwin. "Altho 1 am alone, and you think unprotected and in your power. I am not afraid and I defy you. I will shoot dead the first horse that enters that field." .\s she 60 The Conlflings in the Revolutionar]) War said this she presented a loaded gun, and took position to con- summate her declared purpose. The gate was not opened, the grain remained, the soldiers left. The heroine of this affair was, in her youth, one of the Mapes family, a connection of the Conk- lings. At the time of the incident, in 1778, she was not quite nineteen years of age. She lived until Christmas day of 1850. In Onderdonk's Revolutionary Incidents of Suffolk County is an account of "Captain Conkling," who, in 1779, led several small vessels against a British privateer at Sag Harbor, capturing her and taking her out. Conkling's own vessel was the sloop Beaver. Later he took two brigs loaded with 12,000 bushels of oats, liquors, etc., intended for supply of the British troops at the east end of Long Island. The Conkling in these affairs is supposed to have been Captain Edward Conkling, son of Captain Joseph Conkling, both mariners, and noted in the affairs of the island in the Eighteenth Century. THE CONKLINGS OF ORANGE COUNTY illEX, in the later years of the Seventeenth Century. \e\v Netherlands became New York, and the British suc- ceeded the Dutch in the possession and government of the country, a great movement was inaugurated that has con- tinued to this day. The people on the shores of the Atlantic be- gan at once to go West, which they had been prevented in dc^ng by the great barricade of a foreign land intervening. The English speaking residents of the eastern end of Long Island had long been restrained, hampered and even persecuted by the Dutch of the western end, the line between the national possessions being uncertain and at times in dispute. With the change of flag, how- ever, came a change in these conditions. The whole country was opened to both peoples alike, and an Englishman under the new regime was looked upon as being as good as a Dutchman and in the eyes of the officials as probably a little better. Encouraged by the rulers and lured on by reports of a flattering character con- cerning the lands and the prospects for trade and advancement, the islanders of the east end, from Southold, Easthamiiton and other places, proceeded to take advantage of the new ojiportuni- ties offered them. Many of them sold out their town lots and farm lands, and by sailboat and wagon started for the other island end and the Hudson river. They crossed the river ami they ascended it. and soon very considerable settlements of them were found in what are now Westchester. Rockland and (Vange counties, of the State of Xew York, as well as on Manhattan Island, in New Jersey and elsewhere. By the year 1702 the cen- sus of Orange County gave evidence among the inhabitants of 4*) men from 16 to 60 years, 5 above 60, "40 wiffes. 57 male chil- dren, 84 mayds and gerells" and 33 colored persons. By 1731 the people of Orange County had increased to 1%*^ in numbers, 62 The Conf(lmgs 184 of whom were black and 1785 white. At that time the Prov- ince of New York contained 7231 l)lack inhabitants and 43,058 white. Among those who went from Long Island to Orange County were branches of such^well known families as the Youngs, Tuthills, Wells, Mapes, Conklings, Budds, Hallocks, Hortons, Terrys, Corwins, Arnolds and others, all of whom are yet repre- sented by their descendants among the best people of the county. The census of 1771 gave as "heads of families," meaning mar- ried men, eighteen Conklings, namely : Daniel, Nicholas, Jacob, Nicholas, William, Henry, Thomas, William, Casper, Matthew, Abraham, Jacobs, Samuel, Nicholas, Gabriel, Isaac, Joshua and Lewis. \Miile all these men, no doubt, were from the same ori- ginal stock — John and Ananias, the glass men — they are not sup- posed to be connected sufficiently near to those particularly re- ferred to in this narrative as to require further mention. Among the Easthampton families a century and a half ago was that of Daniel Conkling. He was son of Ananias, grand- son of Benjamin and great grandson of the first Ananias, who came from England to Salem. He was born in 1718. and had ten children, of whom the seventh was a son, also named Daniel, born in 1757. When the men of Easthampton were called upon in April, 1775, to sign tlieir "Declaration of Independence," the elder Daniel signed with every other able-bodied, grown man in the town. The son was l/jA years old at the time, and for that reason was debarred from the privilege forbidden to the boys and exercised only by the men. In little more than a year there was fighting on the island ; thousands of British soliders assisted by other thousands of Hessians and a powerful fleet of war ves- sels, attacking the militia men and other somewhat disorganized American forces, and overcoming them. In consequence they were, before the close of 1776, in possession of New York City and all of Long Island, a command they continued to enjoy until the end of the war. General Washington and his army retired into the counties north of the city and to New Jersey. The Long Islanders found the conditions wellnigh intolerable during the years of British occupation, and many of them went over to Con- necticut and up the Hudson river to escape them. Among this number was young Daniel Conkling. Naturally, he sought his kinsfolk, and had no trouble in finding a great many of them o/ Orange County 63 in Westchester, Orang-e, Ulster and Dutchess counties, the pect> terrible. After leaving the Line he settled in Orange County, near Goshen, and there again entered the service, in the First Regiment of Orange County Militia, with Land ik)unty Rights, commanded by Major Zachariah DuIxms. an organization of three himdred men ; his company being that headed by Captain Phineas Rumsey. Among those with him in this Regiment were Joseph. John, William and T. Stoddard Conkling. John Hrooks, Isaac and John Lamoreux, John, Lsaac and Tetcr Hull, three Sutherlands, five Howells, Thompsons, Tuthills. I lortons, Seeleys, Carpenters, Woodhulls, Youngs, Wickham and others of names familiar to readers of these pages. The militia were intended for home defense, and as the source upon which levies could be mat. Two of them died in early youth — Daniel, the firstborn, an captain, and Augustus M. Conkling as lieutenant in the navy, the latter in the battle of Lake Erie commanding the L'. S. vessel Tigress. Some one writing of the lieutenant said that "he was an elegant officer in appearance, but too convivial even for the nuvv." .\ story is told of one of the Conklings in the 1812 war that is worth repeating. His camp w^as not supplied by the government with poultry, of which the farmers in the neighljorhood had an Englishman took the side of the Americans, fighting for their cause, and sustaining injuries which gave him pain to the end of his life. In the Reynolds group many interesting family stories are told. William Reynolds, Jr., was an abolitionist, a Whig and a Ri'i'iiblican. His last national vote was for James G. Blaine, in 1S84. In 1852 he and his Presbyterian minister, Mr. Ludington, were saved by the militia from a New York city mob, who were seeking their destruc- tion and that of their property on account of their anti-slavery |)riii- ciples. Mr. Reynolds was a thoughtful, considerate man, one of Uw latest evidences of which fact was his preparation of the burial plot in Orange County for himself and wife. In a letter now before the writer hereof he describes the lot as inclosed with galvanized iron bars an inch and a quarter thick, fitting into square granit(> po.st.^ eight inches thick, a work that cost him $175, but which the old gen- tleman wrote would "last a thousand years." One of the Reynolds family branches started for the far west — Ohio — eighty or ninety years ago. They put their coin in a box of irons in the wagon, and while the father drove from the front the mother trudged behind watching and guarding the box all the way. In this family were the remarkable number of twenty-one children, and more remarkable still, the twenty-one were all boys. It being hot on the road, Mr. Reynolds stopped at a country store to get straw hats "for my boys." When he had fitted half a dozen of them he called for more hats. "Why, how many boys have you got?" asked the merchant. "Twenty-one," was the reply. "Twenty-one!" gasped the merchant; "I tell you right now. sir, that you can't pay for any hats here. A man who has twenty-one boys gets hats for the whole bunch in this store for nothing." 70 The Conklings abundance. Conkling- attractively baited a fishhook, and, drag- ging it over the ground by string, passed thru a lot of geese. A big gander seized the bait, and swallowed the hook with it. Of course, it followed Conkling, who thereupon hurried for camp, holding strongly to the line. The bird went, too, with wings flapping and neck extended. As the hurrying man, apparently pursued by the goose, passed the house of the farmer, his wife stepped out on the porch and shouted to Conkling: "Don't be afraid, young man ! The goose won't hurt you." The soldier went the fastes, however, and so did the goose, until the camp was reached, where the bird was soon in the hands of the cook and not long after was dealt out to the eagerly-waiting, pleased soldiers. Sylvester Conkling's brother-in-law, William Reynolds, also served in the war of 1812, and several of the Thompsons. One of the latter was drafted. He could not well go, but a brother could. The latter presented himself under the drafted name, was accepted and served. Long afterwards the govern- ment gave pensions to all the soldiers, and then, on account of this deception, neither of the Thompsons could get one. Sylves- ter Conkling, as long as he lived, drilled with the militia, or "trained," as then called, his old uniform of 1812-15 coming out each year at the appointed time, cleaned and freshened, he shin- ing by contrast with the majority of the men, who usually hadn't a semblance of military garb. He was quite a land-getter, and at present-day prices his successors would be wealthy could they have retained his landed acquisitions. During his boyhood the district where he lived was known as the Cheesecocks Patent, from a paper, or deed, issued by Queen Anne in 1707. in which the land was so called. In 1808, however, the name was changed to Monroe, in honor of James Monroe, fifth President of the United States. Monroe then was of more extended area than at present, including the present Woodbury, Tuxedo, and a part of Highland, precincts or towns, situated north and west of Rock- land County. Rockland, by the way, was cut ofif from Orange and made a county about the time that Monroe was made a town, or succeeded the Patent. Some of the individuals and events referred to in these pages as of Orange County were, perhaps, of other counties of the present days, but at the times written of were of Orange County, and are so spoken of. Monroe is now of Orange County 7 | quite a smart, well built city, while Orange is a county of about 120,000 inhabitants. After sixteen years of married life, (hirintj which they had seven children born to them, Charity, the wife of Sylvester, died. In 1834 he married aj^ain, his second wife being Elizabeth R. Southerland, a Quakeress,- by whom, in the following six years, he had four more children. Sylvester Conk- ling was regarded kindly by his acquaintances and most affection- ately by his relatives. It is a remarkable fact, and one some- what to his credit, of course, that he had two stei)-ciiildrcn and eleven children of his own, and all were Ijrought to maturity, ail but one were subsequently married and had children of their own, and that these thirteen children have lived lives ranging from 26 years to 85, four of them yet surviving, of 69, 79, 81 and 85 years, respectively. To secure such results the children of Sylvester Conkling must have been given as good beginnings in the world as it was possible for parents in his time and situation to give to their offspring. The author is possessed of a number of letters, papers and documents associated with the Reynolds branch of the family connection, a few of which are here reproduced as evidences of the business and legal methods of the people there a century ago. The first is a receipt, termed on the back, a "Deed For a Seat in Monroe Prispaterion ]\Ieetenhousc," reading literally as follows : We the Trustees of the fleeting house in the Town of South- field County of Orange and State of New york for and in Con- sideration of the sum of Six Dollars to Us in hand Paid have granted. Bargained and sold to William Reynolds of the Town County and state aforesaid and to his heiis and assigns forever *The genealogy of Elizabeth R. Southerland was as follows: David Reynolds, born Oct. 13th, 1738, and Mary Reynolds, born Dec. 24th, 1739, were married. He died April 25th, 1789. and she March 3d, 1825. Their children were Joseph, born Jan. llth, 17r>2: Elizabeth, Nov. 21st, 1764; Harry, July 29th, 1767; Reuben. Dec. 19th. 1768; and Sarah, April 15th, 1772. Sarah Reynolds Feb. 27th. 1791, married William Southerland. born Sept. 19th, 1761, and who died June 16th. 1846. Their children were Andrew, born Sept. llth, 1794; Elizabeth R.. March 17th. 1797: James R.. Jan. 4th, 1800: Maria. March 6th. 1802; Charles. March 12th, 1804; Henry W., March 22d. 1806; Sally C. October 13th. ISOS; Catherine B., April 5th, 1811; Kate B., Nov. 17th, 1812; Rachel. Jan. 6th, 1816. 72 The Conklings all that Certain ground Work Known and Distinguished By seat Xo six in said Meeting house given Under Our hands and seals this first day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand Eight hundred and Two. James Smith Gilbert King George Fowler Charles Webb Isaac Bull Samuel Gregory Witness pre- sent — Abraham Halstead Hopkin Smith. Opposite the name of each church officer is pasted a small diamond-shaped piece of paper intended to represent a seal, tho on them are no letters or figures whatever. It is difficult to un- derstand how such symbols can add to the force or validity of documents, but many people to this day are so convinced, and their use is by no means uncommon, tho in niost cases entirely unnecessary. An interesting document was the will of the first William Reynolds, made just before his death in 1816. Verbatim et literatim it was as follows : In the name of God Amen I William Reynolds of the Town- ship of Monroe County of Orange and State of New York being weak in body but sound in mind and memory do order and dispose of my temporal concerns in manner following 1st I order all my just and lawful debts to be paid and funeral charges. 2d I give and bequeath to my True and loveing Wife two good beds and a sufficient quantity of beding one Tea Kettle pan pot her Teapot silver Tea spoons and all the Crocory ware the choice of my cowes theas exclusive of her right of Dowry. 3d 1 give and bequeath to my Two sons Thomas and W' illiam Reynolds all my Landed property that I am seased of at my deth to them and their heirs or assigns forever to be equally divided and as soone as Convenient after my death the above described Real property to be aprised by three judicious competent men to be Chosen by my heirs and Executors the above apraisement to be made within the space of one year after my deseas the hole of my personal prop- erty after taken out what allready disposed of to my wife Martha to be Soaled and after paying my debts the Residue to be added to the apraisement of my Real property and my two sons Thomas and William Reynolds To have one hundred dollars each more than my daughters. I will and bequeath to my Grandson Wil- liam R Brooks Fifty dollars to be put to Interest untill he arive to the age of Twenty one years. I give and bequeath the one equal half of the Residue of the before mentioned apraisment to be equally divided between my two daughters Sarah Brooks and Charity Flowell to be paid to them in manner following viz at the expiration of one year after my death the one equal third part of their Respective Legacys and the Residue to be paid in two of Orange Count}) 73 anual payment with Interest from the Time the lir-t payim-nt eonies (hie and if either of my sons Thomas or WilHam l\eynol(l> shall or do substantiate any eharge ag-ainst my ['".state then the said Charge or demand to Taken ottt of their own Legacys ex- cepting obligations my son W illiani holds ag"ain>t me. I give mv son William Reynolds all my wareing aperal. 1 do eon>titute and appoint Thomas Reynolds William Reynolds and J()lni Brooks my E.xecutors of this my last will and testament. Signed sealed published and declared in the present of James 1) Secord Ebenezer ]^Iead David Reynolds This fourth day of June in the year of our Lord one Thousand Eight Hundred and Si.xteen. The estate was duly divided, without es])ecial delay or trouble. It was common for John r»rooks to burst into poetry on occasions. When he received a two hundred dollar payment for his wife he acknowledged it in the most simi)le manner imaginable, thu^: Received Monroe b'ebruary 5th 181S of William Keynold-- Two hundred Dollars In Part of ^Nly Legasy of the Real i'.->tate of William Reynolds deceased — $200. John I '> rooks. Much more detail was evidently re(|uired of the daughter Charity, who in the meantime had become .Mr> Sylvester L"onk- ling. A paper was prepared for her. which her new husband wa^ made to sign as well. The fact that T.rooks was an i-^xecutor. perhaps, had something to do with the ditiference in hi^ favor. for in that case not even the real beneficiary, the legatee, his wife, signed. The other receipt, prepared b}- some one who was exceedingly generous in the use of capital letters, but very sparing" with jjunctuation marks, reads as here given : .Monroe June ISth ISIS Received of William Reynold> tive Hundred and thirty-three Dollars and Tw^elve Cents in full of our Respective Legacy of the Real and Pearsonal Estate of William Reynolds Deceased wich Being ordered in his Last Will and testament that Three Men should be Chosen Bv his Heirs and Executors to apprais his Real Estate and wdiereas' Josiah Seeley Jonas King and William Fitchgerald where Chosen and did aprais the Real Instate t.f William Revnolds Decea.sed With the incumbrance of the widow'- Third and whereas we the under.signed did agree that the al)ove :\Ientioned Men Should Be the Men to apprais the al)ove Men- tioned Estate and after Paying the Delits of the above Decease*! we the undersigned Do allow the above Mentioned Sum to \W in full of our Respective Legacv SVL\ EST1-:R COXKLIXC. CHARrrV COXKLIXC. 74 The Conklings Thomas Reynolds sold his interest in the landed estate in 1818 to his brother William, and William, i)resumal)ly for the purpose of completint;- the i)ayment to Thomas, borrowed of \\'illiam Southerland $400, giving a mortgage on the farm, which was somewhat oddly described as being situated in the Town of jMonroe, and "bounded on the east by John 15rooks, on the north by Sylvester Conkling, on the west by Daniel Stephens, on the south by Josiah Seely," and known as Lot 37. In 1839 William Reynolds arranged to sell the farm to James Gallow^ay for $5,500. Instead, however, of giving Galloway an agreement or contract to sell, as is the custom in these days, and probably was then, he took from (lalloway an agreement to buy. the consideration to be paid in "current money of the State of New York." ^Ir. Rey- nolds was a careful, cautious man, who took no unnecessary busi- ness risks, and who could be depended upon to do things safely and usually well. As his }'ears increased he was anxious to round out a full century. He all but succeeded in this ambition, being 99 years 8 months and 2 days old at the time of his death. W'hen Sylvester Conkling died, in 1841. the family was left in such condition that it could not continue unbroken as before. There was a stepmother with four children of her own. all less than seven years of age, and there were seven of her stepchildren ranging from 11 to 24 years. There were enough elements of discord to cause feelings necessitating separation. The property was willed fairly enough, the widow having her share. After five years on the farm, the two oldest sons bought her share and the whole place — 126 acres — was sold by them to Nathaniel Thompson. During these five years William R. and Daniel S. Conkling lived on the place, their sisters keeping house for them. The place has been in possession of the Thompson family ever since. William R. Conkling. eldest child of Sylvester and Charity Conkling, married Rachel Southerland, daughter of William and Sarah Reynolds Southerland. William's wife was the sister (19 years younger) of his own father's second wife. They had four children. The oldest — a boy — was killed by falling from a tree. Two daughters — Sarah and Maria — married two brothers — Hiram and William H. H. Bull. After selling the farm Wil- liam R. went to New York city to live, returning to Monroe after ten or twelve vears, buying another farm, and settling down to o/ Orange Countv 75 agricultural pursuits. The three dau-hters were named Sarah. Maria and Emma; all married, and had children, many of whom are yet living in the county. The last home of William R. was next to the old cemetery, and wdien he and his wife were buried the pallbearers carried the bodies from the liouse to the graves, where, near his father and grandfather— Sylvester and Daniel— they were carefully and mournfully laid. Martha, second child of Sylvester and Charity Conkling. mar- ried Albert Frederick. He was a blacksmith. They went west in 1855, and established themselves in Minnesota. Thev had to fight for their land and home there, they suffering severely in tlie Indian outbreaks. The three oldest sons served their country as volunteers during- the war of rebellion. Mr. Frederick was son of Jacob and — Stevens Frederick. :\Ir. and Mrs. Albert Fred- erick had one daughter— Kate— and five sons— Sylvester C. Wil- liam, Daniel, George and Frank. Daniel, George and I'rauk yet survive. Daniel S. Conkling was the third child. His wife was Eliza- beth, daughter of John and Sally Reynolds T.rooks. She was not strong, and lived a short time only. His second wife was Harriet Emmons, and they had three children — William. Harriet and Sarah E. Daniel S. Conkling was a farmer. Susan was the second daughter and fourth child of Syl voter and Charity Conkling. She was enterprising for a country girl and full of courage. When only fourteen years old she left home and spent nine months in an adjacent town, learning needlework, dressmaking, etc., getting board and bed only as compensation for her services. Upon return she went into the shop of her cousin. Job Mapes, and worked at tailoring, becoming so skill- ful that she soon was able to make a whole suit of clothes. Later she went to New^ York city, to visit her relatives — the William Reynolds and Daniel Wilson families. While there she again took employment in a tailor shop, working for several months, and until her marriage to Charles Prosch. They lived in New York and Brooklyn a number of years, having four children, later coming to the Pacific Coast, wdiere they have since dwelt between fifty and sixty years. She is now the oldest surviving member of her father's family, while her husband is the only surviving mem- ber of his parents' family. 76 The ConkUnQs Charity was next after Susan. She was married to George W. Thompson, second son of Nathaniel and Sarah Horton Thompson. The Thompson ancestors came from Ireland to Xew York in 1737. Charity was named after her mother. She was a very lovable woman. A city man. who wrote a very pretty hand, sent Charity a valentine on the 14th of February, 1843, which, perhaps, indicated a bit of romance that has no other record and no living memory. Charity saved it, and it is now here given to the reader: Dear Charity : — Tis usual about this time ( At least it is in the city ) For each to choose a valentine ; And now it would be a pity If I, tho in the country bred. Should not by this good custom led Write something. In company with the girls I've been And several if not upwards seen, Twere' strange if I were not inclined To choose one for my Valentine ; Msit Monroe 'twould be a rarity If I should not chose you. sweet Charity. This clearly demonstrates that valentines are not a Twentieth Century invention, and goes to prove that the boys and girls of a hundred years ago were much the same as those of today. Mr. and ^Irs. Thompson had three children — Mary E.. born 1848. a son who died in infancy, and Georgie. born 1855. who married John H. Carpenter in 1883. Following the death of his wife, Charity. Mr. Thompson, in 1876. married Miss Louise Dixon, and they have one son — Frank Horton Thompson. Mr. Thompson has always been a farmer, and long has been engaged in the dairy line, in common with a great number of other Orange County agriculturists. Tho 8S years of age he is yet giving personal at- tention to the business, never losing a day from the cows and the milk cans. A part of the house ^Ir. Thompson now lives in was standing on the same spot when the farm was bought by his father, Nathaniel Thompson, in 1818. of Orange Countv 77 Catherine Conkling- followed her hn.ilK-r William aii.l Irt sister Susan to the city of \e\v \(irk. She obtained employ- ment there as a vest maker, and at that ()Ccui)alion supixjrtetj herself until her marria.ye to Thomas Dixon. 'Hu-y had three children — William, Thomas and Minnie, the latter now heiu!^ Mrs. W. W. Sample, with son and daughter of her own, Thomas Dixon being a physician by profession, and William Dixon being dead. The father, Thomas Dixon, was by birth an Knglishman, but by naturalization an American. For many years he was Cap- tain in the Blackball line of packet ships plying in the trade be- tween Xew York and Liverpool. He sailed on the cli])per slii]) Manhattan in January, 1863, and neither the >hip nor any jjcr^.n on it was ever heard of afterwards. It was >u|)po>ed that in a violent storm, or as the result of collision with an iceberg, the vessel and crew were lost. Mrs. Dixon married Capt. William Lundt in 1871. Init he lived only a few months thereafter. Iler oldest son left a family, several members of which still live in the cdd state. The \oungest child of Sylvester and Charity Conkling was Louise, born thirteen years after the first — William. She lived in the home countv until her sisters Susan and Catherine were mar- ried and settled in Xew York, when for a time >he lived with them, also with her brt)ther William. Iler hu>bane that it in- variably has; ^Ir. and Mrs. Prosch selling their land and going further out — to Xewark. X. J., for a new home. To this couple were Iwrn three daughters and seven son>. the first one in 1812, the last in 1830. That the stock was of sturdy. enduring character, is apparent from the facts that all reached maturity but one — a boy, who was drowned — and that including the parents themselves the average life of the family members was upwards of seventy-five years. Of the children Charles was the seventh. 1 k- was lx)rn at the Lancaster county home, and he today is the sole >urvivor of the family of his parents. Moving over to Xew ^'ork when an in- fant, or but little more, he was there reared and brought to nian- ceived as possession and dwelling my sainted father's whole farm in Thuringen, and at that time yet under the baronial Thuringian .\n- drean family, and have given birth to, on 7th May. 1766, a son. .John Caspar, who lived 8 months, 10 days; June 6th, 1767, born .lohn Ca.s- par, lived 9 months and 2 weeks; June 23d, 1770, born John .\ndr««as. who married his father's maid servant, and went to America." This full and comprehensive statement was evidently not writtt-n into the family record contemporaneously with the events, but lat«T. though there need be no question as to its reliability on that account. Entries had been made elsewhere, which were combined by .Andreas Dotter in the manner indicated about the end of the ISth century. In those days it seems to have been common custom to give the same names, in whole or in part, to children whose brothers and sis- ters before had them, but who had died in early childhood. The marriage of John Andreas Dotter to his father's maid servant was the cause of a prolonged family sensation. She was probably re- garded as socially of lower class, though this judgment of her was no doubt erroneous. Her name was Magdalene Engelhaubt. She was born in 1777, married in 1796, was the mother of seven children i Bar- bara, Johannes, Adam, Andrew, Christian, Christian and Henry) prior to 1815. and died in 1865, her husband preceding her forty-five years. 1 / r ^S5v "By^V^^ o >> r Charles Prosch and [• aniilv 83 h(K)(l. lie had all the experiences of the stronj^', vi^orou^ \)n\ of his period. He greatly enjoyed the rivers there, and the ships and wharves about them. He l)ceanie a ,great diver and expert swimmer, and witli the other \(iun,L;sters man\- a time went from the yardarms of the >hip> headforemost into the >tream. Xor was he more saintly than other boys of hi> day. The fire ilepart- ment, the military, the races, the sports and contests interested him g-reatly. He occasionally took part himeslf, and it is no more than the truth to say that many another l)oy suffered at hi> liaiuls in their encounters. ft)r Charles was a stout, vigorous youth, above the average in strength, and well able to take care of him- self wherever he went. His father was anxious to start his l)ovs properly in life, and after giving them such schooling- as he could (Charles attending- St. John"s College, an l^piscopal Church school), he apprenticed them to various trades. So one of his sons learned ropemaking-, another the making- of nautical instru- ments, and Charles was put to ])rinting'. He entered the ofiFice of the Xew York Express, a new paper belonging to James and Erastus Brooks. Boys then signed articles of a]iprentice- ship. which involved oblig-ations of strong and l)indiiig character. little short of slavery itself. A boy breaking h\> promi:-e to serve After her husband's death, in 1820, the widow married a man named George in Harrisburg, who subsequently made Magdalene a widow the second time, leaving her, however, in comfortable circumstances. One of the sons of John Andreas and Magdalene was John, born Dec. 11th, 1801, and who lived at East Hanover, in Lebanon County. Penn- sylvania, and who was the father of eight children — four sons and four daughters — one of whom. A bram S. Dotter. has fiu-nished ihr writer with the matter contained in tliis note. The youngest daughter of Andreas Dotter, whose family record is first above given, was Christiana Elizabeth Frederike, born Dec. 7th. 1787, at Rossbach, near Leipzig, and who became the wife of William Prosch. She furnished her descendants the following account of her family, which differs from that of her father in the number of children he reported, his narrative evidently ending in 1770, while hers ran on many years later: "My father. Andreas Dotter. had one brother, whose name was Caspar Dotter. Caspar married, and had five daughters. 1 know nothing of the descendants. My father, Andreas Dotter. married Anna Maria, daughter of John Rohrig. Anna was born Feb. 17th. 1743. at Mittelsinn. Episcopate of Wirzburg. They had thirteen children. 84 Charles Prosch was liable to arrest and ])unishnient. The term of Charles was four years, during which time he received wages of $2.50 a week, and once a year $50 for ckjthes. At that time — 1836 to 1841 — money was worth at least double what it is now. and a young man could live, with economy, on the small amount paid to him. In this case there was also indirect reward, in increased knowl- edge and improved education. The publishers soon found that he was one of their best and most reliable helpers, and for seven- teen years they retained him in their service, or until he left the Atlantic coast for the Pacific. They even forgave him. at one time, while yet an apprentice, for giving a thrashing to the fore- man, who made a mistake in bull}-ing and provoking beyond en- durance the wrong boy. The Express was a party journal, the Brooks brothers being Whigs and politicians, and the young printer there imbibed principles that made him a Whig or Re- publican for the remainder of his days, though the father. William Prosch, was a Democrat. Charles was so intense a partisan that he was unable to withstand the temptation to cast his first vote a half year ahead of his legal majority, William Henrv Harrison in 1840 getting the boy's ballot for President. It is safe to say that no one now living in the State of Washington voted for President before Charles Prosch. and a verv few men in other nine of whom died before I came into the world. Of the four others Andreas was the eldest, next Magdalena, then John Adam and last Christiana Elizabeth Frederike. My great grandfather's farm was in Thuringen. John Rohrig persuaded his son-in-law to lease his own farm and take another farm situated in Rossbach, so as to be near John Rohrig's family. Eleven of the children were born in Thuringen and two in Rossbach. Andreas was the spoiled child, and was the cause of his father coming to America. He had run through with considerable money, and his father called a halt. He advanced An- dreas enough more, however, to go to Frankfort, with a view to there entering business. Instead of doing this, he, unbeknown to his father, married Magdalena Engelhaubt, his father's family servant, and came to America. Their descendants are in Pennsylvania. Three or four years after Andreas came to America his father and the rest of the family also came, except one daughter, Magdalena. It was in the year 1802, on the ship Oranien. They landed at Newcastle, on the Dela- ware river, soon after going to Philadelphia, and then to Lancaster, where they found Andreas, who was there farming. Some time after he (the father) returned to Philadelphia, took sick, died, and was buried in a cemetery," now known as Logan Park. and Family 85 States of tlie I'niiMi. Jonsistently he ever after voted for W'liii,' or Republican Presidential candidates, thouj^li further down the tickets he frequently "scratched." Henry Clay ii;ot his vote in 1844. Zachary Taylor in 1848. Wint^eld Scott in 1852. John C. Fremont in 1856. Benjamin Harrison in 1892. William McKinlev in 1896 and 1900. Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and William 1 1. Taft in 1908. Residence in a Territory prevented him from vot- ing for Lincoln. Grant, Hayes, Garfield. I'.laine and Harrison the first time. James Brooks was quite popular, as citizen, editor and public speaker, and. though the city of Xew York wa> rabidly Democratic, he was sent from one of its districts to the .X'ational House of Representatives four years — 1849-1853. A decade or so later he became a Democrat, whereupon the members of that part}- chose him for one of their leaders, and sent him to Congress four more terms — 1865-1873. While member of a Congressitmal Committee during his last term, and a short time only before his death. Mr. Brooks visited Puget Sound, and he and his former employee then most agreeably renewed the acquaintance and friendship begun in the great metropolis a third of a century before. During the days of young Prosch in Xew ^'ork. the printing business was in a condition of change and develo|)ment ot re- markable character. The Xew York Herald. Sun. Tribune and Times were started, and so also the lx)ok publishing house of Harper Brothers, as well as numerous lesser ]nil)lications and es- tablishments. James Gordon Bennett. Horace Greeley. Henry J. Raymond. James \\'atson Webb and Moses V. Beach were all publishers and editors at the time, while the paid writers included Bayard Taylor. Xathaniel P. Willis. I'itzGrcene ilalleck and a host of other men who became prominent as poet>. hi>torianN and leading lights in the literary world. During his boyhood, and some years before hi- api)reiu ice- ship. Charles participated in a wonderful trip to the .Mis>i>sippi \^alley. the vivid impressions of which never faded from his mind. His father was told that "out West" there were more and better chances for a poor man. Fertile Government land could be got for the taking; less labor was required to secure a living: things were newer, fresher, easier and more promising. He determined to look at the country so highly praised for himself. In company 85 Charles Prosch with a friend, who was etjuahy excited at tlie prospect, he started for Ilhnois. taking his small son Charles for company. In those days the trip could not be made in a day or two, as now. by merely stepping on a car and riding in comfort and elegance to the end. On the contrary, it was a journey of weeks and weeks, of much expense, of hard toil and many i)ains. So the travelers in this case found it. They left Xew York on a steamboat : got on the recently built railroad at Passaic. X. J.; rode through Phila- delphia and on to Pittsburg : then liy canal, and finally down the Ohio, up the Mississippi, and then up the Illinois, by steamboat. While sitting on the boat at Beardstown a bat flew close by the face of a w^oman passenger. Throwing up and out her hands in momentary alarm, she dropped her purse into the river. The boy, Charles, offered to get it. and in the effort dove repeatedly to the bottom of the river, which there was about five and a half feet deep, or a foot over the boy's head standing on the bottom. A tall man then volunteered his help. Partially stripped and hold- ing his mouth above water, he waded around in the vicinity, feel- ing for the purse with his bare feet. When he touched it he moved it shoreward, and continued so moving it until it was in water shallow enough for him to reach it by hand. The grateful woman paid him for the return of her property, and also gave the boy a dollar for his willing efforts in the same direction. Fifty miles from Springfield the trio left the steamer and started on foot over the prairie for the capital of the State. The soil was found to be all that it had been represented, and that farms could be obtained or made there was not to be doubted, as not one acre in ten seemed to be occupied or owned by any one. On the prairie were seen hundreds of snakes, while in the air above were thousands of birds. These crawling and flying creatures entertained and amused the boy considerably, who. after killing a number of the reptiles, trying to catch the birds and walking thirty-five miles, was so "done up" that he was unable to go on with his father and their friend. They left him at a farm house while they went in to town. The boy followed them next morn- ing alone. A physician soon overtook him. and. on learning where the boy was going, gave him a ride in his vehicle the re- mainder of the way. Their friend was pleased with what he saw and heard, and stayed in Springfield, where he became a re- and Familv 87 spected and wealth}' citizen. Mr. l'r(»>cli, the falhvr. \\a> not s, > pleased or snre. lie saw throui^hont the \\'e>iLrn ci)nnir\- e^;>,'-> selling at six cents a dozen: pork at from three cenl-^ a ix>und np : corn he was told sold sometimes for ten cent■^ a hu^hel. an were equally cheap. Production was far ahead of consumption. TluTe was little or no outside market. All men were iK)sitivc tlierc would be a market by and by. that Illinois would be a great State. and that the visitors would make a mistake if they did not take advantage of the opportunities then and there presented to them. The father was not persuaded. He could not make up his mind ti» leave the little Bloomingdale farm for the great prairie farm in the West. He went back to New York Ijy the route that he came, leaving his friend in Springfield and his M)n in ."^t. Lnuis. The latter made friends readily among the >trangerv. wlm se- cured him a trip on a steamer to Xew Orlean> by hi> renlerin;,^ some service on the boat. At the latter city other friend^, a^ easilv and quickly made, got him a i)lace as cabin boy on a -^ail vessel bound for Xew York. The captain treated him kindly, landing him safely at the home port, none the wor>e for his three months' trip and the sights and adventures he had witnessed and experiencerl in Pennsylvania. Ohio, Illinois. Mis>ouri. Loui-. Andrew, the next son, joined his brother ( ieor-e in the in- strument makini;- business, and contiinied in it to the time of hi^ death. They made a number of inventions, of which thev did not exclusively avail them>elves. giving them freely to the world instead. L'pon the death of his wife, when he was about sixty years of age, he devoted himself clcsely to his business, becom- ing a recluse, living and sleeping in his shop, his sole interest seeming to be the making of microscopes and other fine instru- ments, many of special designs, for scientists and college^, lie left no children. His death occurred in 1897. Adam was the fourth son. He was a ship caulker. I le Is spoken of as a genial, companionable man, living until about seventy years of age. lie was married and had two children. All are now gone. Charles was the fifth son. The sixth son was Christian. He was the first of the adult> to go, about 1860, leaving no family of his own. The last born of the ten children was Ji)hn, IS.iO. When three years of age he \vas pla\ing one day on the lUooiningtlaie farm, with the calf of the Kngli>h cow before referred to. He either sli])ped and fell into the Hudson river, or was pusheil in by the calf. His body was found next day in the water nc-ar where he was last seen with the animal. ]\Iartha was the oldest of the three daughters. She became Mrs. Abel X. Waters, and was the mother of four children, named INIatthew. Henry. Abel and I*>ank. Three of her sons married. Alatthew having two children of his own. and .\bel three. Henry had no children. Of I'rank nothing furiher is known. Charlotte was the second daughter. She was inclined to art. and became a skillful and excellent daguerreotyper. She mar- ried Alfred Day. with whom she had four children— Mary. Ada. George W. and Millicent. Ada is dead. The other children ycl 92 Charles Prosch live: Milliceiit bein,^" married to Thomas Jenkins. Mary and George l)eini;' unmarried. The only grandehild is a (lau,giiter of Ada and Ciiarles Howland. The young"est of the three daughters was Anna !Maria. She married John AT Mayhew. They had nine children, five of whom died in infancy. Of the adults Charles H. Mayhew mar- ried Margaret Denning, Louise A. Mayhew married Frank A. Allen, Hannah M. Mayhew married Arthur M. A'reeland. and Herbert G. Mayhew married Alargaret Borghausen. The grand- children number seven. On the ^^layhew side a long line of descent is traced, the known ancestors dating back nearly four hundred years. Nothing is known as to the parents of \\'illiam Prosch. the father of the ten children here mentioned. His own last years were spent at Newark. Xew Jersey, where he died on the 15th of June, 1863. Christiana Dotter Prosch was the daughter of Andreas Dotter, a Hanoverian, and of Anna Maria Rohrig. of Thuringia. The latter was born b^eb. 17. 1743. and she and Dotter were married June 4th. 1765. Mrs. Prosch also died at Newark, Feb. 17th. 1866. Returning now to the point where we were before this di- version, and continuing the narrative along the same lines, it 's said that Mr. Charles Prosch continued his residence in the eastern city during the seven years following his marriage. The California gold excitement had afifected him as it had others. and since 1840 he had been sorely tempted to yield to it. An increasing family and other considerations, however, restrained him, but by 1853 he could no longer withstand his desire. After establishing his family in Brooklyn as comfortably as he coukl. he sailed for the Golden Gate, taking passage with about one thousand others on the steanier Illinois, a ship that in these davs would not be i)ermitted to carry more than three hundred pas- sengers on a trip like that. They stopped at Kingston, on the island of Jamaica, for provisions and coal. Such a visit meant many thousands of dollars to the people of the town, and the ship was given a welcome of the heartiest kind. The next stop was at Aspinwall, the Central American terminus of the Atlantic route. Capt. Hartstein, commander of the Illinois, was an ofiicer of the U. S. Navv. rendering service for the time to the Pacific and Family 93 Mail Steamship Company. He was oik- of tlic licuti-iiant> on the brig Porpoise, in the famous explorinj^ expedition of (apt. Charles Wilkes, to the Antarctic Ocean. Australasia. Hawaii, the Philippines, Puget Sound, Columbia river, California, Soutli Africa and elsewhere. Cnder l.ieut. Cadwalader Kinggoid. Hart-stein assisted in the survey, marking and mai)ping of the Sound, from Commencement Bay to the 4'>th parallel. The largest island in the upper waters, now in Ma^on county, wa^ named in his honor by direction of the expediti(jn lommandir. Wilkes. The fifty mile trip across the Darien Isthmus wa- made ui two days, about one-fourth of the distance by the new railroad. a second fourth on foot, another fourth in boats and the last on muleback. It was a varied and wonderful experience, well worth the having, however. At Panama, the passengers found the steamer John L. Stephens wailing for them, and to her all were taken out in row boats, a distance of two miles and a ta^k of no mean character. Robert L. Pearson, the master, wa-- a cai);ible mariner, and brought ship and all safely to San l-'rancisco. though the voyage was an exceedingly stormy one, which with a i)oorer vessel and less careful navigator might have ended di^a^trou>Iy. The John L. Stephens ran up and down the coa>t for thirty year-, during the latter part of her career ])cing employed in the trade between Portland and San I->ancisco. With ]\Ir. Proscli on this trip were a half dozen other printers, who, like him. came under engagement to Coinior Ov- Kemble, publishers of the Alta California. They were to work for not less than one year, their transi)ortation being paid, and their compensation to be one dollar per thousand eni'-. .\t lhi> rate the men made ten dollars a day easily, and fre(|uently twelve or fifteen. In New York the rate was 30 cent>. and the matter not, in printer's parlance, "so fat" as in San ••'rancisco. < )ther things were high, too, so that the chances to lay by a fortune were not great as they appeared three thousand mile-^ away. .Mr. Prosch thought that in two years he could make a fortune, and return to his family in the East. With meals, however, at a dollar apiece, lodgings by the month at a dollar a niglit. and other things in proi^ortion. with money to be mailed to the familv, and finallv with wages not fully paid, not nnich was ac- 94 Charles Prosch ciinnilated. At the end of two years the pubhshers failed, for an enormous amoinit of money, including about eight hundred dollars apiece to eight of the printers. The newspaper was sold by the Sheriff, Mr. Prosch purchasing it for himself and others for ten thousand dollars. The printers got five hundred dollars each for their claims from Frederick AlcCrellish, who, assisted by C. K. Garrison, a wealthy Xew York steamship owner, took the paper off their hands, and thereafter published the "Alta," as it was abbreviatingly called, for about thirty years. The Alta was one of the two or three oldest papers in California. Air. Prosch became foreman of the newspaper under AlcCrellish, and remained by it until F"ebruary. 1858. when he left it to come to Washington Territory. All the time he was there — five years — printers received one dollar per thousand for their typesetting. Shortly afterwards the price went down to 7? cents, and still later to 50 cents, a rate that has prevailed up and down the coast for thirty years or more past. The Alta and the Herald, leading papers in San Francisco in 1853-4-5-6, are now both dead ; the Call and Bulletin surviving them, and continuing to this day newspapers of real worth and deserved influence. In 1855, despairing of getting the fortune he had at first contemplated, and thinking also that the Pacific Coast was good enough for him and them, Mr. I'rosch sent to Xew York for his family. The wife and four children took the same route that he had. except Jamaica. The railroad was then completed across the Isthmus, and. but for the trouble of keeping the children together and safe — somewhat imaginary trouble, of course — the wife got over the thirty days journey as comfortably as a woman could who was sea sick every hour of the time she was on board the ship. At San I-'rancisco the family took up their residence on Union street. Telegraph Hill, living in the same house three years. ^^■hile working in the city with the types, the forms and the papers. Mr. Prosch dreamed of the country. He thought that on the farm was the ideal life, and if he could only get on a suitable tract of land, with horses, cattle, pigs, ix)ultry, fruit, vegetable and grain fields about him. how happy he'd be. In 1856-7 he undertook to carry out this idea. He bought what was called a "squatter's right" in Sonoma \'alley — a good piece and Familv 93 of farm land, with cheap houses and some tenee ui).)ii it. lie fotmd it impracticable to live iii)oii the place in the hei^Miiiiiii','. and necessarily hired others. They had to l)e \rd'u\ and fed. and farm animals and implements boui^ht. \n money came back. \\ hat he had saved was soon g-one. and with it went land. hope> and all that he had in the venture. About this time a man named (ieort^e W. Lee arrived from Puget Sountl. lie was a i)rinter. and he represented that he had been connected with a newspaper venture in tiie north. As a matter of fact he had worked a short time in an office at Steila- coom, and had been there, at Seattle. ( )lympia and elsewhere in their neighborhood for .several year>. He expatiated upon the beauties, glories and i)romises of that region, and he told of a newspaper plant lying idle, waiting only for .some one to take it and make a lot of money in a i)lace there thai wa> bound to grow and become a great city. His talk had effect with Mr. Prosch. They went to see Capt. Lafayette Halch about it. I'.alch owned the Steilacoom townsite. owned the newspaper ofhce. and in addition was a ship owner, mill owner and merchant. I le con- firmed all the glowing tales of Lee. and added to them fullness. strength, brilliancy and fervor. In a little while he hae were the only towns. At Whatcom, now I'.ellingham. were a few people: at Dungeness a settlement: (|uite a number of farmers on W'hidby Island: sawmills at l'ort> ( )rchard. Madi>on. Gamble, Ludlow. Seabeck and two or three other point-: a military garrison at Fort Steilacoom: a llud.son 15ay post at I-"ort Nisqually: a hamlet at Tumwater. land claimants or farmers here and there— in all. on Puget Sound, possibly, two or three thousand white people, and. perhaps, three times as many 96 Charles Prosch Indians. The real picture was found to be quite different in appearance from the one so attractively drawn by Lee and Balch in San Francisco. The newcomers, of course, were objects of local curiosity for a short time. Everybody in town was down to the vessel to meet them, and everybody in the county was anxious for the new paper. In a few days the family were installed in a dwell- inghouse. and the type and hand-press in a commodious store- room. March 12th appeared the first issue of the Puget Sound Herald, a four-page weekly, with six columns to the page. It sold at 25 cents a single copy, $3 for six months, and $5 per an- num. Lee was soon found to be not the man wanted for part- ner, and at the end of eight weeks he left the business, town and country. Mr. Prosch found that he was unable to do all the work, and as no other help was obtainable, and in truth no other help could be afforded, he was obliged to avail of the services of his two older sons — James, then 11 years of age, and Frederick 9. Within two years the third son also was similarly employed. Thereafter, doing all the work connected with the newspaper — editorial, mechanical and business — either himself or his family, he was enabled to get out the paper for six years, when under other circumstances — the payment of a fair wage for all services — it could not have lived six months. Soon after landing at Steilacoom the Fraser river gold dis- coveries violently excited the whole Pacific coast. Thousands of people came from California in the spring, other thousands in the summer, and still other thousands in the fall. Hundreds came from Oregon, while the residents of our own Territory were no less wildly agitated or differently affected. British Col- umbia got the great benefit in this movement of men and money, but after that Province Washington shared most generously. The Puget Sound towns, mills, agriculturists and boatmen were greatly helped. During the years 1858-59-60 the white popula- tion increased 100 per cent., and prosperity was not only general but seemed to be substantial and abiding. In the good times then prevailing the Puget Sound Herald shared with other in- terests. While in the beginning there was but one paper in the Territory, the Pioneer and Democrat at Olympia, there were soon other journals in Whatcom, Port Townsend and \^ancouver. and Famil]) 97 and before 1860 was gone Olynipia had two. tlu- \\'a>liin)^t()ii Standard making its appearance, jjublished by |.»hn .Miller Mur- phy, who now for forty-nine years has contiiniously owned. edited and issued it — a wonderful reconl. truly. By industry, prudence and economy, Mr. I'rosch was c-nabk-d during his first five years to accumulate considerable property, including two whole blocks of land, a number of scattered town lots, to build a printing office and a dwelling house, and to ;c trips was made in 1S()4, with the help and under tlie auspices of the U. S. (iovernment. The military officers for a nuniher of years were disaffected with the location of i-'ort Steilacoom. Gen. W. S. Harney, in 1859. su^-,^-ested and >tron!4ly uri^ed Point Defiance as the place for a fort and ,i;arri>on. In ISOO. Col. George Wright added his recommendation, and in ailditioii gave direction that a military reserve there he made: t'nrlher, that stirvey and examination of the site he made 1)\- Lieut. Thomas L. Casey, of the Engineer Corps. During the war of rehelliou there was more talk along" the same line. Major I". 11. Kumrill. commandant at h\)rt Steilacoom. heing instructed to look the grotind over with especial reference to the supi)ly t)f fresh water. The Major got a big rowboat. stocked it abundantly with camp equippage and foodstuffs, and taking along three men to work the craft and do the cooking, started, accompanied by .Mr. and Mrs. Charles Prosch and Capt. Egbert 11. Tucker. C. S. .\.. and Mrs. Tucker. Thev thoroughly inspected the I'oint. but could not find water in (juantity. iiualit}' and location to suit, anil they also looked at other j^laces for some distance to the north. including Gig Harbor. X'ashon Island and .\lki Toint. \earl\- a week was consumed in this wa\-, in an outing of the most en- joyable character. In 1866 the land at I'oint Defiance was pro- claimed by President Johnson a nnlitary reserve, and it is now one of the finest features of the city of Tacoma — a grand natural park. How much the result was affected and aided by the oitting of forty-five years ago. above mentioned, cannot now be more than conjectured. In 1862 a Xew Yorker named Guilford, who had spent some time in California, came to Steilacoom. and f(.r a few months tattght the village school, lie was enthusiastic in his praises of California, and particularly of that ])art in the vicinity of Monte- rey bay. He praised the town of Santa Cruz most highly, which was not only extremely lovely, but was bound to be a great place. He urged the Prosch family to go there, saying that Ptiget Sound was hopeless, that Santa Cruz contained more people than all the four or five Sound towns together, and that it would be a mistake to remain and a mistake not to go. Hi^ arguments might have been persuasive and conclusive if it had 1 00 Charles Prosch been possible for tlie parents to sell out and go. As the im- possibility of so doing, however, was only too apparent in the dull times then prevailing, his suggestions necessarily went for naught. Santa Cruz is now a good county town, a small subur- ban city, a place of perhaps 10,000 people, that, if joined to any one of several Puget Sound cities, would make an average ward for that city. Ten years or so later, when the writer was con- templating a removal to Seattle, another friend strongly and persistently urged the town of Harrisburg, in Oregon, instead. Harrisburg, he said, was then a place of four or five hundred inhabitants, not quite so many as Seattle had, but it was on a navigable river, on a line of railroad, in a fertile valley, and was bound to be a substantial, important city. Seattle was regarded by the Northern Pacific Railroad Company with disfavor, and it must wither and shrivel in consequence. It had no agricul- tural backing, no water power, no great and enduring resource ; it was merely a sawmill-sawdust village at the foot of a great hill, that, under the circumstances, could not amount to much. Harrisburg has grown some in the thirty odd years interven- ing since these statements and arguments were put forth, and it is today a town of eight hundred or a thousand people. Seattle has also grown, the distance between the two places constantly widening, until the present ratio of population is fully 300 in Seattle to 1 in Harrisburg. These instances illustrate forcibly how men — tho well meaning and intelligent people — may err in their advice to those whom they most esteem and wish to be- friend, and how unsafe it sometimes may be to take the advice of others, even when those others appear to be thoroly informed and are certainly actuated by the best of motives. The money obtained from the sale of the Puget Sound Herald material, added to other money happily made about that time, was used in the establishment of a mercantile venture in the same town. A stock of groceries, dry goods and all the things usually included in a village store, was purchased, and early in 1865 the new trading place was opened in the room formerly occupied by the printing ofiice. For a time the store was in every respect successful, so much so that it was valued at eight thousand dollars. The proprietor was over enterprising, over-confident, and the second year over-reached himself. He gave unlimited and Family \ Q \ credit to a man named Williamson, who huilt a uumlKT of >ail vessels, and he soon had a long- account a.i^ain^t him which the shipbuilder could not pay. and which eventually was lost. At the same time he set up in business four loi^^.ijers — McKeiizie. Mc- Pherson, Davis and Daniels — buying for them land, cattle. Ix'ai. tools, feed and all that was necessary in their line. Tlie men lo-t their raft, and were unable to pay a dollar to the merchant who had started them. There were also bad debts and slow payers in town. In these directions three or four thousand dollars were quickly gone. The merchant's credit was exhausted, his stock reduced to unsalable goods, and tho he did not actually or legally fail he was compelled to close the store and do something else. It was also necessary for him then to give up the District Court Clerkship, as it alone was insufficient f(»r the maintenance of himself and family. The easiest thing, then, the one thing at hand, was to take the logging camp abandoned by the four men, on Ilartstein Island. In January, 1867. he did this, and for ten months carried on that business. Saw logs that year were worth only $3.30 i)er thousand feet, scaled on the two-thirds plan, with many logs rejected by the mill companies, said by the loggers to be cut nevertheless and sold in the shape of merchantable lumber. The Port Madi- son mill took the logs. Despite these adverse circumstances the camp was made to pay expenses at least, tho not more. The two sons helped in the woods at this time, as zealously as |)ossil)le. and as effectively as ordinary hired men. In November, 1867, Ezra L. Smith, the Territorial Secretary, at Olympia. visited Steilacoom. He made business propositions to Mr. Prosch, looking to the removal of the latter to the capi- tal, the purchase by him of the Pacific Tribime. and his api)oint- ment as Public Printer. The approaches were favorably re- ceived, and in accordance with the plans proposed the newspa|K-r establishment was purchased from Randall II. Hewitt, the family settled in the new^ home and the printing begun with the open- ing of the Legislature the first week in December, i-'ather and sons w^orked long hours on the newspaper, the Legislative print- ing and commercial job work, and there being three of them they were strong and comparatively independent of rival or opposing influences. The printing, however, was not s,i Iticra- 102 CHARLES PROSCH IN 1890. 103 SUSAN CONKLING PROSCH IN 1892. 1 04 Charles Prosch live as anticipated. Payments for it were long delayed, and when made were in dejjreciated currency. The auditint;- officer at Washington City cut down the l)ills, and disallowed a number of charges for work done and material furnished. There were other losses and expenses not anticipated. In all. only about five thousand dollars was received by the printer for about eight thousand dollars worth of labor and material. It was a griev- ously disappointing- undertaking for ^Ir. Prosch. Simultaneously with the opening of the Legislative session the new publisher of the Tribune began to issue a small evening- newspaper. It was the first daily paper in Olympia. Of course. it did not pay expenses, and its publication was suspended at the conclusion of the session. \\'ith enterprise still unjustified by the population and Inisiness of the country, the publication of the Daily Pacific Tribune was resumed in 186^. and continued thereafter under more or less adverse circumstances a number of years. Not only was it the first, but also the second daily newspaper in the capital city. Several of Mr. Prosch's printer friends in San Francisco followed him to the north, and by their works left their marks upon the country. One of the first was John F. Damon, who established a paper at Port Townsend called the Northwest : who later worked on the Oregonian, and who still later became a Con- gregational minister in Seattle. Another was William H. Newell, familiarly known as "Deaf Newell," who published a paper at The Dalles called the Mountaineer, and later the Statesman at Walla Walla, between forty and fifty years ago. Still another was Samuel L. Maxwell, who can-ie to Seattle, and started the Intelligencer, of which the present Post-Intelligencer is the direct descendant. A fourth was David W. Higgins, who with four others started the San Francisco Call in 1856. He came to British Colun-ibia in 1858, and after a while established the Chronicle in Mctoria. He subsequently bought the British Col- onist, which he owned, edited and managed for nearly forty years, making it one of the great papers of Canada. ]Mr. Hig- gins has recently written a lot of Pacific Coast stories, which he published in books called. "The Mystic Spring" and "The Passing of a Race." and which were deservedly popular and had great and Famih iq- sale. Of this (|uintet of old S;m l'raiici>c:ms— printers, publish- ers and mutual friends— all arc n-.w in the >\nr\\ land, except the stibject of this sketch and Mr. Ili--ins. In 1868 Mr. and .Mrs. Charles IVosch allied themselves with the Protestant Episcopal Church, joinini;- the contrre.-,^•ltio^ of St. John's, at Olympia. then under the uiinistratiMU .if Rev. P. TC. Hyland. The followin.y- year they were contirnie.l hy r.i.h..p Morris. For forty years now they have continued in the faith. Since then, in three different towns and four different churches. Mr. Pro.sch has been almost unbrokenly and ontiiuiously a church officer — vestryman, warden or lay reader, much cf the time filling two offices and part of the time all three. I'.ut few men have as good a church record as he. The family remained in Olympia until the summer of 1873. During these six or seven years the town grew substantially and well. The inhabitants increased in number from about ()?() to 1,300. There had been much other change, in the way of bridges, streets, houses, and lines of trade. .\t tir-t there were btit two newspapers, lx)th weeklies, the Standard and the Tri- bune, and the support for them was meager indeed. The busi- ness in their direction gained more rapidly than the ixipulation and circumstances justified. A third, a fourth and a fifth news- papers made their appearance, and in 1S70-1-J-3 tliere were in Olympia the Daily and Weekly Tribune, the Daily and Weekly Courier, and the Weekly Standard. Transcript and ludio. The town was just about big enough to comfortably and i)roperIy sup- port one weekly new'spaper of the character of the five then des- perately and painfully struggling for a living. To maintain tivc newspapers, or rather two daily and five weekly newspapers, was a severe tax upon the town and tributary coimtry. which the people finally began to resent and resist. The Tribune could be run with less money than the others, owing to the fact that three practical printers in one family were joined in it. and they were not of the kind to give u]) easily. In efforts t.. imi)rove their con- dition lands had been purchased in and near the Maple I "ark .\(l- dition and dweUing houses built upon them. The burden of these enterprises came at a time when the ability to carry it was lessened by the apparent approach of a blow to ( )lympia that must 106 Charles Prosch be extremely hurtful to it. Tlie Northern Pacific Railroad, which had been promised to the people, and upon which they had confidently relied, gave indications more strong from day to day of a deliberate intention to violate its faith and agreement. Of course, this treachery — this going by the town instead of coming into it — hurt the people and place, and among others struck hard was Mr. Prosch. A conspiracy at that time was also concocted among his political enemies to down him. They succeeded in forcing him "to the wall." his newspaper plant, as a result of their efforts, being sold by the Sheriff' in 1872. With a view to further injuring him these men refrained from bidding, thinking to leave against him a large deficiency judgment. It happened, tho. that the youngest son. by labors elsewhere, had earned a few hundred dollars, which had been carefully saved, and with which he bought the printing material at a price considerably below its actual value. The conspiracy worked like a boomerang, those engaged in it failing to accomplish their ends — the destruction of a man and an influence they could not use in their nefarious schemes — and in that failure experiencing disappointment and losing both money and honor. The Tribune went on with little change, and would, perhaps, be still going on in Olympia were it not for the passing of the town by the Northern Pacific Rail- road. The new publisher determined that he would go to the town at the end of the road, and there make a new start in busi- ness and life. \\"hen Tacoma was declared the terminus ( July 14th. 1873). arrangements were made for removal to that place. To go from Olympia. then the finest town in the Territory, to break from the many warm friends there possessed, and to leave behind the comforts of home, for a new. rough, sawmill village like Tacoma was, was hard indeed, but it was undoubtedly the wise thing to do. and there has been no real cause since for re- gretting the action thus and then taken. The first half of August found the change of base fully effected, the Daily and W'eeky Tribunes opening from a building on Starr street in Tacoma. lender the inspiration resulting from the location there of the terminal point, the town had suddenly increased in population from about one hundred and fifty to three hundred souls, and it was a matter of a few weeks only until the number was further increased to six or eight hundred. The new and Familv 107 ST. FETEB'S, TACOBIA'S FIRST CHURCH. IN 1874. people were tented on the vacant lots. U>r the u>e of' whicii rental was paid at the rate of one dollar ])er front foot per in. .nth. Cheap frame buildings were ([uickly constructed, a wiiarf Imilt. streets opened, a bank, express office, new stores and churches keeping company witli the other changes and town addition^. The newspaper was welcomed, of course, a generous patronage for which, all things considered, being (piickly secured. .\ siuall dwelling house was constructed not far from the printing office. in which the family made their home during their stay in Tacoiua. One of the things coming to Taconia at tln> time wa^ a church of the IVotestant I'lpiscopal denomination. IJisJiop ^lorris and Rev. Chas. R. r.oimell made the necessary arrange- ments, the first named securing a lot and last named securing the money for the building. The new church and congregation were called St. Peter's. It was the first house of worship in 108 Charles Prosch that city. On this acciuint. and also on account of its ivy-cov- ered ( tir stump ) bell tower, it has become ({uite famous, and is now one of the landmarks of Tacoma. there being- probably not a dozen older buildings in the city and none more interesting. Mr. Prosch was one of the organizers of St. Peter's, one of its first vestry men, and for a year or more conducted services in it as a lay reader, \\dien he left Tacoma, in 1875, the congrega- tion presented him with a watch, inscribed, as a token of the appreciation in which he and his services were held by them. After thirty-four years' use that watch is still a])parently as good as new. As a family possession, a keepsake, its value is great, and from year to year is greater. Of course, life there, as elsewhere, had its changes, episodes and afifairs of interest. Things at first were crude and rude enough. The only wharf was the lumber wharf of the mill company, and quite inconvenient for the other part of town. The printing material was landed from the steamer Alida in small boats on the open beach. It wasn't long before a wharf was built at the foot of McCarver street, and before 1873 was gone another wharf a mile and half away for the Northern Pacific Company. A few feet from the Prosch cottage stood a tall fir tree four feet thru at the butt. Tho ]vlr. Charles Prosch had never before chopped down a tree of any size, he bravely undertook the felling of this giant. It took a number of days to accomplish the task, giving to it such limited time as he was able, but he succeeded in the undertaking fully and satisfactorily, and thereafter found employment and exercise in sawing and splitting the big log into stovewood. A week before Thanks- giving Day a friendly farmer presented the family with a fine large turkey. The bird was bountifully fed for a number of days with a view to getting him into fit condition for the table. The gobbler was unnecessarily noisy, and in loud tones, that could be heard by all the townspeople, persistently told of his presence and location. When Mr. Prosch, on A\"ednesday morning, took his sharpened ax and went out to try it on the neck of the turkey the bird was gone. As far as known, it never was seen or heard afterwards. Its disappearance was a mystery that no one in the town, apparently, could solve. The place on the dining table reserved for the turkey was occupied by a cheap substitute from and Family \ 09 Chambers' Inucher shop. The clearin-' of a thoiisainl acres <.f townsite l)y the Taconia Land (.■ompany : tin- (lrivin,i4 «.t the hist spike by (ien. ^NlcCarver in the tir.st railroad to I'utjot Siuiid: the coming and going of the first trains of the Northern Pacific Company ; the institution of the town government : the estahhsh- ment of various commercial enterprises, some of whicii are still in existence : the beginnings of society, etc.. w ere witiies^rd by ]\Ir. and Mrs. Prosch, and in man}- ca>e> i)articipated in bv them. The great financial crash of the latter part of 1S7.^, followed by several years of business depression, had very hurtful effect u\m,\\ Tacoma. The town languished ; money became scarce and hard to get ; more people left than came ; it was more difficult to make ''both ends meet" in 1874 than in 1873, while 187.^ was worse than 1874. Under the circumstances, it became necessary to change once more. As the paper could no longer be made to pay in Tacoma, tho conducted most cheaply, it either had t<» suspend publication or go elsewhere. The most promising and prosper- ous town then on Puget Sound was Seattle, a ])lace of from 1.5(XJ to 2,000 inhabitants. Thither the Tribune printing plant was moved in June, 1875. In Seattle they have since lived, a period of thirty- four \ears. Mr. Prosch lost no time in connecting himself with the church. For fourteen years he was an active member of Trinity, being one of the first Board of \'estrymen. in 1878. as well as memlK.T of subsequent boards, lay reader and delegate to a number oi convocations. In the organization of St. .Mark's Parish, in 188«>. he took active part, and now for twenty years has been associated with it, almost all of the time as an officer — vestryman, warden, and so forth. He assisted materially and substantially in buying two sites for the church, building two rectories and two houses of worship. His generous support is being given at this time to the efforts to build a third church— larger, better and more costly than its predecessors — a church in keeping with the great city in which it is located.* *Since the foregoing was prepared for publication the parishion- ers of Saint Mark's Church have met in regular annual session, on the evening of Easter Monday, April 12th. 1909. the meeting being held In the bodv of the church and the attendance large. Mr. J. H. Powles. one of the members and a past vestryman of many years' service. no Charles Prosch CHARLES PROSCH IN 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Charles P'rosch took proper places in the society of their new home town. Probably no people in the State have been godparents to more children at the baptismal fonnt, and not only children but erown folks, the old as well as after remarks of appropriate character, presented to the meeting the preamble and resolutions following: The Rector and Members of St. Mark's Parish, assembled at this annual meeting on Easter Monday. 1909, desire to express hereby their affectionate regard and high admiration for their Senior Warden, Charles Prosch, who, under the rule adopted last year forbidding continuous service on the Vestry for over three years, will retire from the Vestry at this time. He has been a most consistent, faith- ful and devoted Churchman during a residence on the Pacific Coast of sixty years. He has served our Church in particular and the cause of Christianity in general in all the ways that a layman can serve them — by his noble Christian life and example, by his labor, his time. and Famih I I I SAINT MARKS CHURCH. SEATTLE, 1009. the young, the white, the black, and the mixed in color. Amk.iij^ the first they stood at the akar witli \va> .Mr.>. Rebecca Howard, a colored woman, large and heavy, who in the 50s and (i)<. owned and conducted the Pacific House, a popular Olympia hotel, a woman most kindly remembered by all Washington Territory pioneers. Some of the children they have been spon>or> for have since attained maturity, been married, and had cbildren of their own. who have in like manner been pre>eiUe always been a worker, a iI'kt. In a sale of the racific Trihnne. he wa>> deprived of "ia, and there worked six months as a eonlpo^itor. Ivetnrnini; then •ee ot' the Inlelli^eiicer and later six (la\ s everv week nntil he was <>'' years of ai(e. and nntil the .cjrcat tire of June f.th, ISS''. In |H,S3 he l)oni;ht a half lot — (>() hy N) feet — on Third Avenue, near t ohiinliia street for $3,000. There he and hi- wife dwelt for a nuniher of year>. When the -row ih of the city deuiand- ed the land for hu^-ine-s purix)ses, he accepted the situation, i^ave away his cottai;e. and a lar;;e frame build- ing was erected upon the lau). The circumstances narrated — and man\ others mi}j;-ht he — illustrate the stm(l\- character of the subject of this sketch. It i- one that hi- rela- tives and friends are justly proud of. The facts that he is the oldest newsi)ai)er publisher or e\-publisher in the .^tate of Washington; the old- est printer, probably, oii the Tacitic Coast: one of the oldest pioneers and oldest t'hurchmen : that he is hrm for the ri.L^ht as he sees it: that he is i)hysically straij^rht as an arrow, and equally as straight morally aud in all the walks of life: that he is and always has been one of the best citizens and one of the best of exemplars; historic in the land of his adoption. familiar to thousands, and friendly to all. combine to make him interesting and beloved in the highest degree. Tho he is Inm- self ready to go at any moment to the higher life in the other 114 Charles Prosch land, and at times wonld have welcomed such departure as a long-contemplated joy and rot, it is the sincere desire of those surrotmding him and knowing- him best, that he may be con- tinued with them on earth for many years yet to come. Mr. and Mrs. I^-osch have witnessed remarkable changes in science, in art, in civilization, in politics and among the people of the world, and particularly in the I'nited States. Xo city in America was as large as Seattle is now when they were born, and none of the States more populous than is the present State of Washington, except possibly New York. West of the Missis- sippi was then a far-off region, difficult of access and dangerous on account of savage Indians. The country itself was smaller, having no undisputed territory on the Pacific Coast ; Alaska be- longing to Russia; California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico. Utah and Texas belonging to Mexico ; ( ireat Britain claiming Oregon, Idaho and Washington, and the Hag of Spain waving over Florida until 1821. Not an American citizen then was to be found west of the Rocky ^fountains. There was then no steam railroad, and no electric lines anywhere. Photographv, the great daily newspaper, the modern monthly magazine, friction matches, and a thousand other conveniences and necessaries of the present day were unknown. The most rapid transit then by land was that liy means of the horse, either for mails or passengers. It took weeks and months to learn the results of a Presidential election that now^ are made public in a few min- utes, in some cases even before the closing of all the extreme Western polls. On the water then people traveled by sloops, canal boats and sail ships. Five hundred tons was a large ship. Modern steamers in some cases are fifty, sixty and seventv times as great in tonnage. Even in the largest city in America, dur- ing their residence in it, only sixty years ago, people got their water from street pumps, and there was no sewerage anvwhere. Houses were built upon plans of equally primitive character. Human slavery was in all the Southern States and in some of the Northern. The changes indicated by these lines have oc- curred within ninety years, and some of them within fifty or sixty. And this isn't all that can be said to illustrate the won- derful development and progress of the time of Mr. and :\Irs. Prosch and their acquaintances. Thev had relatives and friends and Family \ \ ", who had hvcd sixty, seventy and ei.^lity year> hcfore them, wlio dehghted to tell them of the old \var> of 1733-17^3 and 1775- 1783 — men and women who not only lived l)ef<»re tlie rnitcd States, but who could tell of the days when there wasn't an inch of America from Cape Horn to the North Pole that was free from European domination; who knew what is now the I'nited States when it was all under the control of h:n.L,dand. |->ance. Spain, or Russia: when there were hardly a million white peoi>le within its borders, against the nearly one hundred million> of today: when Georg-e Washington was a l)oy. when we i^ot our laws and our Governors from London, and when we were ham- pered, held back, oppressed and suppressed in a manner that would be incredible if told of a modern civilized peoi)le of the proent time. No other people of any country or of any time in tlie world's history have witnessed and enjoyed such great and ex- traordinary changes as have Mr. and Mrs. Proseh and those con- temporary with them of the eighleenth and nineteenth centuries. Euuna Proseh. — Of the children of Mr. and .Mr-. Gharles Proseh. Emma was the la>t to come and the first to go. She was born at Brooklyn on the 24th of l-'ebruary. 1833, and died at San Francisco januar\- 1st. IS.^f). Iler little Ixxly was laid in Lone Mountain Cemetery, now almost in the center of the great Pacific Coast city. James Wiley Proseh. — He was the tir>t horn. .\ew ^'ork was the place of his nativity. Oct. 21st. 1S4(). lie received con- siderable schooling in the city of P>rooklyn. now a part of New York. In the saiue direction he was further aided during hi-> almost three years' residence in San I'rancisco. The eleven- year-old boy was well informed when the family moveil to Puget Sound, and being industrious as well as studious, he at once took able part in the newspaper work at Steilacoom. ( )n thi^ account, as well also on account of his active interot in the Steilacoom Library, and in all the atYairs of the town and i)e.>ple. he became prominent in the comnnuiity to a remarkable degree tor one so young, and was highly esteemed by all. In .\ugust. 1860. he was stricken with what has since been known as appendicitis. and on the 16th was overcome. A totubstone in the historic Fort Steilacoom Cemetery marks his grave. The Library Asso- ciation, in resolutions signed by Committeemen Parkin-on. Lagan 1 1 6 Charles Prosch and Dclin. and l)y I'resident Rollers and Secretary Eagan, spoke of liini as one of "kind and affectionate natnre, who was en- deared to all who knew him, and whose loss has cast a deep shadow over the whole conimnnity.'" and for whom it was declared the Association members mourned in >orn)wful remembrance. In the following issue of his paper, the father spoke of his son in the manner following : •'Here he was employed, when but eleven years of age, to set type ; and, conceiving a strong partiality for the business, rapidly advanced in usefulness and a knowledge of the art. So well did it agree with his temperament and tastes, that he indulged the hope of ere long becoming conductor of this or some other jour- nal, and with this view devoted a portion of each evening to the perusal and sttidy of such works as were best calculated to fit him for the position to which he aspired. In this project his father encouraged him with much pleasure and pride, and looked forward to the time as not far distant when his laudable ambi- tion should be fully gratified. But, while "Man proposes, God disposes" events, and the parents, grief stricken, were doomed to witness their fondest hopes blighted by the ruthless hand of Death. He possessed an extremely sensitive nature ; all vices were repulsive to him, and no temptation was strong enough to induce him to do what he knew or felt to be wrong. He required no restraints; instinctively he adopted the right and rejected the wrong. Affectionate and obedient, ambitious and industrious, he was the joy. the pride, the hope, of his bereaved parents." Frederick Prosch. — The second son was named Frederick. He was born in Brooklyn (X. V.), August 7th, 1848. When seven years of age he came to the Pacific Coast, with the family, and in 1858 to Fuget Sound. lie worked with his father and elder brother on the Fuget Sound llerald, and later on other newspapers, becoming a swift compositor and expert printer, cap- able of doing anything in the printing offices of his day. When the Herald was sold, in 1864, he employed himself as salesman in a store, in the driving of a team, laboring in a logging camp, and for nearly a year in setting type on one of the daily papers in X'ictoria. P.. C. In 1867 he engaged with his father and brother on the Pacific Tribune at Olympia, and for almost six years there dwelt and toiled. In 1871-72, in partnership with Thornton F. McElroy, he was public i)rinter for the government. Januarv 1st, I860, he was married, his wife being Helen Mar and Fannly • t -j Elder.* They had Umxv ehildren horn m iheni. nanicly : Wdls Chester, in 1870; Susan IVarh in 1S7_>: Mal)el AHce. in 1S74. and Grace Ccciha. in 1880. The Hr>i and tliird ..f the children are still living-; the second and fourth di..'d in infancy, j-'rcd- erick IVosch, the suhject of thi> >keich. and his family niove(| from Olympia to Portland in 1873. Ik- foinid (.•nipluyment then- on the Oregonian until 1877. when they went to San l-'rancisco, where for five years he worked on the Call. In 188.' the faniily came to Seattle, where they lived for twelve years, lie hciiii; en- gaged on the Post-Intelligencer, the Times and Press-Times. f..r ten years as foreman, lie houglu lots aucl huilt two hoii>e>. in which they made their home, lie joined the .\orth Seattle I'.ap- tist Church and Columbia Lodge of Inited Workmen, and main- tained in them his membership to the end of hi^ life. Ik- took up a land claim in Kitsap County, near Seabeck. leaving the city for the country in 1894. lie cleared and cultivated hi> land. these occupations, with their free, open-air life, being to him most agreeable. His farming included stock a^ well — cattle. *Mrs. H. M. Prosch, born May 23d, 1S4S, was descfiided from Matthew Henry Elder and Elizabeth McPherson. Virginians, who wer»' born about the time of the Revolutionary War. and who. after mar- riage removed to Kentucky, about the year ISOO. possibly a yt-ar or two sooner. They had nine children; Alfred Ridgeley. the third son. subsequently father of Mrs. Prosch, being born August 16th. 1806. While in Kentucky, they lived at Shelbyville and Lexington. They were Baptists, and strong in the principles of that Church. Alfred was brought up to be generally useful, and in that effort became a silversmith and also a brick mason. Divergent and different as these occupations were, he not only built brick houses in his time, but made thimbles and other silver articles as well. \\\ \V»'stern men. three- quarters of a century ago, were farmers, and young Elder was in this respect the same as the others. In 1S27 the Elder family re- moved to Sangamon County, Illinois, and there, the year following. Alfred R. and Martha Page Ross were married. Their union wa.n blesesd with an old style family of ten children— seven ughters and three sons — and. as if this number were not enough, an orphan Ixiy was adopted, and brought to manhood with the other children. About the time of their marriage, young Elder and his wife were changed in their religious predilections by the famotis jireacher. Alexander Campbell, and they not only connected themselves with his movement and organization (the Christian Church), but Mr. Elder entered the ministry. Thereafter, as long as he lived, he conducted religious ser- 1 18 Charles Prosch swine, poultry and bees. It did not pay. however, and after a few years' trial he felt impelled to change. Moving into the little town of Scabeck. he became the wharfinger, the merchant, the postmaster and the justice of the peace, losing no opportunity to better the condition of himself and family by efforts and ven- tures in other directions. Tho of large frame and much bodily strength, he was unable to withstand an unexpected tubercular attack. He fought the disease bravely for more than a year. On the 24th of August. 1901. he died, having a little more than completed his 53d year, all but the first ten years of which, as will be seen from this recital, were an unbroken period of effort and enterprise, of energy and industry, of high moral aim and good citizenship. In the cemetery at Seabeck his body was laid. His family continued their residence at that place nearly six years longer. Mrs. Prosch succeeding her husband as mer- chant and postmaster. In 1907 she and her children went to Tacoma. where a comfortable home property had been secured, and where they now reside. vices, tho at no place did he engage in the worli: on salary, depending always upon voluntary offerings and other means for support. In Illinois he became intimately acquainted and very friendly with Dr. Anson G. Henry, who subsequently became Surveyor General of Washington Territory; with William Pickering, war Governor of the same Territory; with Col. E. D. Baker, Senator from Oregon in 1861, and killed in the war of rebellion; and with Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States. They were all of the same political faith, of similar age, and, dwelling in the same locality, were associates in many movements having the good of humanity and their country at stake. In 1849 Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Elder came over the plains and mountains from Illinois to Oregon, settling first in Yamhill County, and later in Polk. In 1862 they moved again — to Olympia. In 1863 Mr. Elder was appointed by his friend. President Lincoln, Agent in charge of the upper Sound Indians, having super- vision of all the tribes and reservations from Tulalip to Chehalis. inclusive — the Snohomishes, Skagits, Suquamishes, Duwamishes, Puy- allups, Nisquallies, Squaxons and Black Rivers. He held this oflBce several years. Later he was Justice of the Peace and Probate Judge at Olympia. In 1868 Mrs. Elder died, and in 1880 Mr. Elder followed her. In the meantime, however, Mr. Elder had remarried, his second wife, Mrs. Mehitabel Lord, being yet alive, and. at the age of 93 years, a resident of Tacoma. and Family i ig Thomas W. Prosch.—'VW ..nly Mirviviii- cliil.l ..f C"liarlcs and Su>an I'rosch is the third n.h. 'l-lK.inas Wickliam. i;r.>«>k- lyn. \. v.. was the place of hi> hirih : the date. June 2<1. 1850. Coming to the Pacitic Coa>t in 1S55. Iiis schooHn.i,'. of course, was here obtained, and was such a> tlie village sch. I le was sales- man in the store at 15. a hand in the logging camp at 17. legis- lative clerk at 19. and at 20 clerk and inspector in the custom house at Port Townsend. IJetween timo he wa> employe hcini; lon<,'. the blocks larg:e and the streets from 100 to 250 feet in width. ^\'ith a single exception— Good Templar Lodges at Steilacnim and Olympia— he has never belonged to a secret stxriety. but has been a member of quite a number of public organizations, including three historical societies, three pioneer societies. Seattle Chani- the town of Linnton, a place that is now a i)ronusinK north ♦•nd suburb of the city of Portland. His family came west in 1S45, Inn the year after Mrs. McCarver died. Jan. 20th. 1848. he aKuin was wedded, the second wife being Mrs. Julia A. Huckalew, one of the immigrants of 1847, who had lost her husband in consequence of the hardships of the trip. The second Mrs. .McCarver was born in .Mis- 'souri, Nov. 19th, 1825. her parents being James and Polly Cannon McCoy. Gen. McCarver now had two children of his own; Mrs. .Mc- Carver had one child of her own. and together they later had five children, all daughters, of whom Virginia was one — the first. While in Iowa McCarver had been honored by Governor Lucas with an ap- pointment as Commissary General of the Territory. This fact, pos- sibly led to similar appointments in the Oregon Indian wars of 1848 and 1854-55-56 by Governors Abernethy, Davis and Curry, his active service continuing 458 days in the latter case. In 1S4S he went to California, lured by the discovery of gold, and leading a host of Oregonians to the land of promise. He settled at Sacramento, and there traded in town lots, merchandise, etc. The year after he repr«»- sented that district in the Monterey Convention, which prejjared the Constitution under which California was admitted to National State- hood. Returning to Oregon, he went back to the farm — the second farm, back of Oregon City — where he engaged in fruit culture for a number of years, interrupted severely by his war experience, by business ventures in sail and steam vessels, and by other speculation."* and efforts. In 1862-63 he was trading and gold mining in Kastern Oregon and Idaho, and in 1864-65 was in New York. In ISfiS he made a new start, when he settled on Commencement Hay, where for him- self and two partners — James Steel and T^ewis M. Starr — he acquired extensive land holdings, and where he i)latted and named the town of Tacoma, the latter part of the year. Gen. McCarver's ideas and plans looked to the building of a great city, and that there was abimdant reason for them circumstances since have fully i)roven. He Induced Hanson. Ackerson & Co. to build the sawmill there in October. 1S68. and in July, 1873. he was gratified at the fruition of his alms. efTorts. and holies in securing for Tacoma location of the terminus of the 122 Charles Prosch ber of Commerce, and Sons of the American Revolution. In the latter he is entitled to membership through the military serv- ices of John Lamoreux, the Frenchman. William Reynolds, the Englishman, Jonas Roe, the Scotchman, and Nathaniel Roe and Daniel Conkling, the Americans. Of the State Pioneers he has been an active member for twenty-three years, a Trustee re- peatedly and President. Of the Chamber of Commerce he has been a member for twenty-five years. Secretary of it for three years. Vice President four years and Trustee fourteen years. He has issued in connection with these organizations many pamphlets of Northern Pacific Railroad, to accomplish which he gave time, money and land until he was quite impoverished. April 17th, 1875, General McCarver died. Mrs. McCarver, daughter of James and Polly (Can- non) McCoy, was granddaughter of James Cannon, last of Tennessee, but formerly of North Carolina, who fought in the Revolutionary War under Lighthorse Harry Lee. In 1790, according to the U. S. census, there were in North Carolina twenty-six Cannons who were heads of families. In Dobbs County were James Cannon, Sr., with three males and three females in his family, and also James Cannon, Jr., with two males and three females. One of these Cannons was un- doubtedly Mrs. McCarver's grandfather, but which one cannot be told, and one of the females was unquestionably her mother. The census then gave but little information, the only person named in a family being the one assumed to be "the head." Dobbs County was so called after one of the royal Governors. When independence was achieved, the name was changed. The first Cannon known to have come to America was John, one of the Pilgrims, who was prevented from coming on the Mayflower by lack of room, one hundred being her full passenger-carrying capacity. Cannon came on the second ves- sel, the Fortune, a craft of 55 tons, with thirty-two other Puritans, arriving at New Plymouth Nov. 11th, 1621. He joined in the land division of 1623, when two acres on the sea shore were assigned to him and William Tench together. An "aker" per man was the ordin- ary allowance, as it was deemed desirable to keep the people close together as a matter of protection against the savages. The next Cannon to cross the Atlantic was also named John, who arrived in Virginia on the Abigail in 1622. When 20 years of age he was re- ported in the census, or "muster" as then called, of the Virginians, as being one of the "servants" of Christopher Woodward. It is quite likely that most of the numerous Cannons of North Carolina had their origin in John Cannon, the servant boy, who came over to Vir- ginia two hundred eight-seven years ago. and it may be that some of them are represented in the line of John Cannon, the Pilgrim. Mrs. M. M. McCarver died May 14th, 1897. and Family I 23 descriptive and historical character, and ha-> piihlislitMl several lx)ok.s, as "]\lcCarver and Taconia," "David S. and CallK-rinc T. Maynard," and a (hctionarx of the Chinook Jari^oii. lie and liis wife 'lave al\\ay> hchiwd in tin- ownership of lands and of lionies. In fnrtherance of ihi^ idi'a they have many lots in the two i^reat Pui^et Sonnd cities, have hnilt three dwell- ings, have an "addition" to Seattle, and own two structures of historic interest, one heing the honse (hnilt h\ them) occi!pic\(,-rnn)ent «:ince the opening- of that estahlishnient in 1S''S. ami tlu- i.ther Itein.!^ tlie McCarver residence (huilt in ISfiS-f/'), the nl.k^i hahitahlr house in the city of Taconia. 124 GENEALOGY l^^pK the genealogical record following completeness is at- ^H|^ tempted only in the cases of those in the direct family ^&^^ line. It has been impossible to obtain all information 0^^^ desired in doing this, in a nnmber of cases names being partly or wholly missing, and in other cases exact dates of births, deaths and marriages. Alany of the records from which infor- mation found in this volume has been derived are of church character, and. while accurate so far as the church is concerned, do not give dates of births but rather of baptisms, nor dates of deaths but of funerals instead. In the latter case the variation is not great, of course, but in the births and baptisms it some- times is weeks, months and years. As a rule, also, less was re- corded of the women than of the men. making it difificult or im- possible in some cases to tell either who they or their families were. In what follows there is some repetition of what has gone before, but not enough to be serious or objectionable. ANANIAS and John Conkling are first reported in Notting- ham, England. They were born not far from the beginning of the seventeenth century. There is abundant reason for suppos- ing they were brothers. It has been impossible for the compiler to tell which was the elder of the two. John was married first, six years, but Ananias died first, twenty-seven years. Both were married in St. Peter's Church. Nottingham. Ananias on the 23d of February, 1631, his wife being Mary Launder. John had a son born at Nottingham in 1634. The next report of them is at Salem, ]\Iassachusetts, in 1638. Between these two times the brothers and their families came to America. They lived at Salem until about 1650, when they removed to the east end of Long Island, John preceding Ananias in the migration. For a time they dwelt at Southold, but Ananias soon changed to ilog]) \1' Easthampu.n, and later J,.hn wcm u> I luiitiii-t..ii. 'riu-rr i, rea- son for iK'licvin- tliat Susan I'.Miklin-. ulio was a.lmitinl to the Salem church in 1()50. wa- iIk- scomkI wife of Ananias, but whether she wa> the lut^ther .it any ..f hi. children cann..t Ik: told. If she were his wife. Ananias was the fir^t Conklin^ mar- ried in America. Mis children were John, (ornelins. lerciniah. Benjamin. Lewis and Hester, .\nanias died at l-'.asthatnptim in 1657. BEXJAMIX. son of .Vnanias and Mary ( Laimder i (.'..nklin.i,'. was born at Salem in lo41. lie is said to have l)een the fir>t Conkling horn in America. Me went with the family to Sonthold and Easthanijjton. and at the latter place he hecame a useful ami influential citizen, a substantial ])ropert\- owner and taxpayer. and for a number of years Justice of the Peace. Mis wife was Hannah, daut^hter of John .Mult'ord. Their four ciiildren, all born at Easthampton. were John. Eliakim. r.enjamin and .\nanias.t Benjamin Conklin^- died Feb. 3d. 170*'. "abou^ noon." as re- corded by Rev. Nathaniel llunttin.-. and his wife, l-'eb. 4. 171J. the same authority testifying that ".Mrs. Hannah roiikline widow died about two in ye morning'. 1 think between '>() autl 70 years old." Hunttin^'s clnu-ch records are of inestimable value to genealogists, covering the years betwet-n lo''o and 174'», and entering quaintly and remarkably into personal and peculiar mat- ters. For instance. .April 2. 1711. appears tiie rejtorted death i>t "a daughter of I'.. Conkling. aged about (> years, died in night about bed time." The child of Samuel i 'arsons was recorded as "ye first bapti.sed in ye alley by ye deacon's seat after ye pulpit was raised and ye deacon's scat put u])." Cornelius Conkling's child was "ye first baptised in ye new meeting hou>e." and Sam Parsons was "ye first ])erson that owne baptisms, with careful particu- lars as to dates, numbers, names of relatives, causes and places. with frequent curious and entertaining remarks, the worth of his work to people of all future time will be easily seen. 126 Genealogy AXAXIAS. son of I'.enjamin and Hannah (Miilford) Conk- ling', was born in 1672, and was married to Hannah Lndlow prob- ably in the year 1700. In common with other relatives he took his tnrn at serving the people, he being Constable a number of years. From the church records it is plain that he was very re- ligious. He "owned the ct)venant," as reported by Rev. Xathaniel Huntting. on the 1st of July, 1701. His ten children were all taken by him to the church for baptism while infants, beginning with Ilethiah June 1st. 1701, followed in turn by Henry. Xathan, Ananias, Samuel, Lenniel, IJenjamin and Hannah, twins. Daniel and Josiah, the latter July 23d 1721. All these children lived to maturity, and all survived their father but one. Samuel, who dietl at the age of 25 years. Bethiah married a man named Hicks, and Hannah a man named Barnes. The demise of the father is thus told by the faithful church historian: "March 1. 1740 — Ananias Conkling, Senr., died about one of ye clock in morning aged 67 years 6 months." His wife survived him. and in the will was duly cared for with the nine children. The son Xathan was executor of the will, which was probated on the 26th of August, 1740. The tombstone of Ananias bears this modest inscription: "Here Lies the Body of Mr. Ananias Conkling who died ]\Iarch ye 1 1740 in the 68 year of his age." DAXIEL. son of Ananias and Hannah (Ludlow) Conkling, was baptised Feb. 16. 1718. He was the ninth child. Abigail Davis, born 1725. became his wife in 1745. Their children were Abigail. Bathsheba, Cleopatra. Abigail. Mary. Hannah. Daniel, Catherine, Elizabeth and Davis. The first born died Feb. 19. 1753; hence, the second Abigail, born about that time. Daniel Conkling was one of the men wdio signed the Easthampton decla- ration of freedom, and of loyalty to the American Colonies and Congress, more than fourteen months before the Declaration of Independence at Philadelphia. He and his wife belonged to the church. He was the first of a long list of Daniel Conklings. She was the daughter of John Davis and Puah (Reeves) Davis, who were married July 3(\, 1706. ~S\r. Davis was the son of a John Davis who came over from England in the Seventeenth Century, and who, with his family, settled at East- hampton after some residence in one or two of the Colonies to the north. There the mother died in 1704 and the father in 1705. Cenealog'^ 127 Youni;- John Davis was tir>t iiiarricil to Siisaniia < )^lxlnl. in 1703, but she died in 1704. John Davis a])i)car> on the old Mast- hampton records as a weaver. It was desirable in 174S t(» buy about nine thousand acres ( tlie transaction^ bcin,!^ known a> the ^lontauk Purchases), for the common tjood, the land> to Ik- used as pasturage, to be controlled by the Town Trustee^. The efforts were accomplished at a cost of al)out one dollar an acre. all the townspeople joining, their contribution'^ ranging from about S3 to $250 per man. widow or e>tate. each family^lK-ing represented. In the conclusion of the transaction. anlst }ear. as headstones in the I'^asthampton cemetery tes- tify, lie left his property to his various heirs, the i)roperty in- cluding a considerable number of lx3oks of history ann. When the relations between the mother country and the .\merican Col- onies became strained, he gave prompt adherence and >upix>rt ti> the latter. One of the first defensive organizations was Col. David Midford's Regiment in Suffolk County, in 1775. C"om- missioned in Capt. David Fithen's Company of tliat regiment wa> Daniel Conkling as Ensign Se])t. 13th. 1775. There were two other Daniels there at the time, one the father of yoimg Daniel, and the other, a relative, bom in 1737. ( )ne of these three was the Ensign referred to. but which one the writer is unable to say. .\s Ensign was the lowe>t grade of commi,<;sioiu*d officer, below Lieutenant in rank, it hardly seems jiossihlc that men of forty, fifty or si.xty years of age would be so chosen, anti that it is much more likely that young Daniel of 18 years wa< the Ensign in the Eourth Comjiany of the Second Ilattalion of Suffolk County. However that may be. the service in that ca.sc Avas not of much moment, not nearly so serious as that in Col. Tames Holmes Fourth Regiment of the Line, in which Daniel 128 Cenealogp Conklin.y was soon after enrolled as a private. One of the offi- cers in this Rei^iment in 1780 and 1781 was the third John Davis of Easthamptt)n. he heini^- Major at that time, lie was the elder brother of Mrs. Abigail Conkling. and the uncle of Young Daniel. I le was unable to endure the trials, troubles and hor- rors of the war, and became deranged, being mustered out on that account, and soon after died. At least one of the local chron- icles report his wife. Puah, appointed administrator of his estate in 1784. Jf this was correct, she nnist have been a second wife, as he and Katherine Talmage were married Dec. 31st. 1744. Daniel Conkling. in going west with Washington's army, was in some way, probably, released from the Line, and at once entered the Orange County Militia, serving in Capt. Phineas Rumsey's Company, and taking part in the battle at Fort Montgomery Oct. 6th. 1777. Xear the close of the war he entered the First Regi- ment of Orange County Militia (Land Bounty Rights) under Major Zachariah Dubois and Col. Jesse Woodhull. Lender this enlistment he later made application for State land. The writer is not positive that these four enlistments should all be credited to the one man, but the published war records lead irresistibly and almost conclusively in that direction. Jan. 17th, 1770. he married Susannah Roe. who was the daughter of Nathaniel and Susannah Roe, and granddaughter of Jonas Roe. Jonas Roe came from Scotland, settling at Florida, Orange County, in 1730, where two years later his son Nathaniel was born, he being one of t\)ur- teen children. The Nathaniel Roe place, acquired in 1751. is yet in the possession of the Roe family. Susannah ( Roe ) Conk- ling was born Jan. 28th, 1760. The children of herself and hus- band were Daniel. Susannah, Joseph, Abigail, Solomon, Julia, Sylvester, ]\laria, Hiram, Sally and Daniel S. After her death Daniel married again, his second wife being Hannah Brooks. They had no children. He died in 1819. Hannah ( Brooks) Conkling survived her husband about twentv years. SYL\*ESTER, son of Daniel and Susannah (Roe) Conkling, was born Dec. 20th, 1792. His first wife was Charity, daughter of William and Martha ( Lamoreux ) Reynolds, and granddaugh- ter of John and l)etsey ( Tice ) Lamoreux, she being born April 28th. 1790. Charity was married first to James Howell, they having two children. Her second marriage, to Svlvester Conk- Genealogy 1 29 liny-. \va> (Ml July hih, ISlf.. She -lii'.l 1 kr. 13tli. \KU. Their seven children were William 1\.. Mariiia, iJaiiicl S., Susan, Charity. Catherine and Louisa. Sylvester's second wife was Elizabeth R. Soutlierland, their niarriaj^-e oecurrinij I*"el). 20th. 1834. They had four children — Elizabeth IJ., .\ndre\v J.. Ilirain and Egbert S. Sylvester Conkling died March 2(>\U. 1S41. and his body was laid in the I'reslnterian church yard at .Scamaii- ville. near Monroe, where also rest the remains of many others of his name, his friends and relatives, dating back a century an-i)er. twins, who died at birth. John Adam and Albrecht. b>lm Ca-per Dotter. the hus- band and father, died in 17()0. and lAa Maria, the wife and mother, married again, her >econd hu>band being Chri^toplicr Hoffman. She died in 1780. ANDREAS, son of John Casjier and I'.va Maria ( I'rotzal- lerin) Dotter. was born Aug. Sth. 1741. In 17^.5 he was married bv Anna Maria Rohrig. daughter ot' John Rohrig. born i'Vh. 17th. 1743. from Mittelsinn. and they bad thirteen children, as follows: John Casper. J(.hn l"a>per. John Andrra- : these three and six others, all of whom died in early childlnHxI. The four later children, who attaine^l Susan Conkling were married. She.W^ the cmlgmer ot Sylvester and Charity (Reynolds) Conkling, of Orange County, New York, and by direct line was further descended as follows : From Daniel and Susannah (Roe) Conkling; Daniel and Abigail (Davis) Conkling; Ananias and Hannah (Ludlow) Conkling; Benjamin and Hannah (Mulford) Conkling, and Ananias and Mary (Launder) Conkling. She is also descended through Abigail (Davis) Conkling from John Davis, born in 1675, and Puah (Reeves) Davis, born in 1673, and further from his par- ents, John Davis and wife, an English couple who died at East- hampton in 1704 and 1705. Through Hannah ]\Iulford, ]\Irs. Prosch's family line is traced at least to John Mulford, who was born about 1606, came to Massachusetts between 1630 and 1640, and about 1642 or 1643 settled at Southampton, Long Island. In 1649 he was one of the nine men who founded the town of Easthampton, of which for eighteen years he was Justice of the Peace, or Commissioner as sometimes called. It is not known who his first wife w^as, but she was the mother of Samuel. John, Mary and Hannah Mulford. His second wife was the widow of William Osborn, of Massachusetts, a well-to-do mer- chant. She was the mother of five Osborns but no Mulfords. Charles and Susan (Conkling) Prosch have been parents of four children, namely: James Wiley, Frederick, Thomas \\'ickham and Emma. FREDERICK, son of Charles and Susan (Conkling) Prosch, was born in Brooklyn, X. Y., Aug. 7th, 1848. He was married Jan. 1st, 1869, to Helen Mar Elder, born May 23d, 1848, daughter of Alfred R. and Martha P. (Ross) Elder, and granddaughter of Alatthew Henry and Elizabeth (^McPherson) Elder of Ken- tucky and Virginia. They had four children, as follows: W^ells Cliester, Susan Pearl, Mabel Alice and (^irace Cecilia. He died Aug. 24th, 1901. Wells Chester Prosch and Bessie Hauser were married in 1892, and have had two children — Charles Leland and Dorothv. Cenealogv 131 THOMAS WICKHAM, son of Charles aiul Siisan ling) Prosch. was Ix^rn at I'.rooklyn, X. ^'.. June id. lS5ii 12th. 1877. ho was married, hi^ wiu- l)L-iii,<.j \'ir.i,'inia. born April 17th. 1851, danijhtor of Morton Matthew and Julia Ann (McCoy) McCarver, granddan!.;;hter of Joseph and I'etscy (Morton) McCarver, of Kentncky. and i^reat j^randdauj^htcr of James McCarver. of North Carolina; and, on the int)ther"s side. granddaughter of James and I'olly (Cannon) McCoy, of Missouri and Tennessee, great granddaughter of James Camion of N'orth Carolina, and further supposed to be a descendant of cither John Cannon, the Pilgrim of 1621, or of John Cannon, the X'irginian of 1622. Their children, six in number (descended from Enij- lish, Irish, Scotch, French. Dutch and German ancestors ) were named Julia. lulith Gratia. Arthur Morton. Genevieve. Beatrice and Phoebe. ^ 133 INDEX OF EVENTS AND PLACES Fakte Across Darifii Istlimu.s in isor. :«« Adventure with a Goose S) Albany, N. Y 5: Alta California and other San Francisco Papers 94 Amagansett, L. 1 34 America 7, 9, 12. 15. 26, 4 4. .">1. S4. HO. 114, 122. fZi. 125. 12i» American Women. Heroism of 5!» Anniversary of Southold. 250th 17, 19 Appointments as Public Printer 100. 1 1< Asplnwall. now Colon 92 Assessments of the first Long Islanders 24, 33 Bankrupt Newspaper. Purchase of 94 Beardstown. Illinois H6 Beginnings of a great City 10:» Bloomingdale 80. 87. 91 Boston 7. 12. H. 37 Brandywine 84 Brooklyn 14. 7.'.. so. ito. y2. 115. 116. 130. 131 Burlington, Iowa, founding of 130 California, to. in 1893 93 Canada 35. SI. 58. 104 Census, of New York State 82 Census, of Orange County 82 Census, of Shelter Island 42 Census. United States, of 1790 64. 120. 122 Cheesecocks Patent ' •* Children. Three Sets in One Family 2« Churches, at Nottingham. Southold. Eastliampton. Shelter i8lHnii. Seamanville, Olympia. Tacoma. Seattle 12. 1.3. 17. 3S. 41. 67. 105. 107. 109. 120. 124. 129 Church Records. Quaint. interesting, valuable .125 Citizens of many occupations 118. IjO Clintons, the. British and American »• Confederate Army. Drafted in »0 Conkling Point J* Conkling. the Name ik' 'iV 'io* jV " Js Connecticut !». 1«. 22. «<. 43 Convention. Constitutional, at Monterey •-• Courts of Seventeenth Century Court Martialed. Acquitted "with honor" Coytesville. New Jersey 24 «4 ; ; 90 Deaths in the Prosch Family 11 5. tlT n >• ' •'». 129 Declaration of Independence. Shelter Island *;» Deed, of 1683 :^ Delaware Valley , ^^j Deranged Army Officer ;„ Deserted the Confederacy , .... Dobbs County. N. C. change of name ' - • Dotter Family Record .„ Documents, old and interesting '.. Double Pensioner, a ,',J Drowned in the Hudson River jj Dutchess County v ••••;■• •• • Vi' '-ii' ifi' Vo 6"' ' l>i iSl 130 Easthampton 1.-,. 16. 2!>. 30. 31. 34. 36. 40. «... i.«. *-^-. 'jr Easthampton vs. Southampton ■•■••,; ••S Eleven Grants of Public Land to One Man. ........_;;. ;^-- ••• -^-v. y^- • -^ England ••••'.'••'•>•"'•-'•----•, -..V -•„ ..,• ,-^ Epitaphs in Long Island Cemeteries «»■ -••• '^- ^% 'j, Estates, of the Conklings ■.*."..■...'.'. SO Europe ,•■■•-•■'. .' ! . . 1 Jl European Ancestry, much mixed ^3 Express, the New York ^ y Family of 21 Boys 1 34 Index of Page Family of Patriots. Tliree Generations in the ^Yar 6-4 Famous Newspaper Publishers and Writers S5 Flushing, N. Y 23 Fordham. N. Y 14 Forts — Amsterdam, Clinton. Frontenac, James, Montgomery, Steila- coom. Nisqually 21. 22, 31, 52, 55, 65, 95, 99, 128 Founder of Four Cities, M. M. McCarver 120, 121 Fourteen-year-old Girl Goes from Home to Learn Trade 75 Frankfort, Germany 84 Fraser River Gold Discovery 96 Freemen, Freeholders, Citizens 12. 13. 22, 36, 38. 43 Galveston. Texas 90 Gardiner's Island and Bay 15. 30, 39 Genealogy 10, 68, 71, 80 124 Gift from an Appreciative Congregation 107 Glass Works, in Salem 9 Golden and Glowing Tales of Puget Sound 95 Goshen. N. Y 58, 63, 64 Go West Movement, Inauguration of 61 Hampton, Mass 16 Hard Times Succeed the Good 97 Harrisburg, Oregon 100 Hartstein Island, Mason County 93 Herald. Puget Sound, Newspaper 96, 97, 100, 116 Holland 21, 56, 65 Horton house, the old 17, 18 Houston, Texas 91 Hudson River 52. 57. 61, 91 Huntington, L. 1 16, 21, 23, 25, 30, 125 Illinois in the 1830s 86 Imprisoned for Loyal Sentiments 90 India 80 Indians, of Long Island and Elsewhere 8, 14, 15. 22, 23, 29, 31, 37. 40. 52. 56. 63. 66. 75. 121 Iowa 120. 121 Jaunt 75 years ago to Illinois 85 Kingston. Jamaica 92 Kentuckv 117. 120. 130. 131 Lancaster County. Penn SO, 81, 84, 130 Land Bounty Rights 49 Land Dispute at Huntington 21, 30 Land Grants at Salem and Elsewhere 11. 28 Land Troubles at Eastliampton 31 Lexington 37. 117 Lincoln's Acquaintance and Friend, A. R. Elder 118 Linnton, a part of Portland. Oregon, founding of 121 Logging Camp, from, to Printing Office 100 London 7. 115 Long Island 12. 15, 17, 26, 39, 62. 124 Loss of a bright young Life 115 Loss of an Earned Pension 70 Lot Purchase, profitable 113 Louisiana 87 Loyalty to the Colonies, Easthampton's 37. 126 Manhattan Island 62. 80 Marriage Promise Joke, Honored and Kept 67 Maid Servant Married Son of the Family 81. 84 Massachusetts 7. 13. 16. 28. 37. 43, 130 Mercantile Venture, a 100 Military Excursion on Puget Sound 99 Military Matters 200 Years Ago 35 Minnesota 75 Missouri 87. 121. 131 Mistaken for Greeley, and Killed 67 Mobbed as an Abolitionist 69 Money Panic of 1873 109 Monroe, N. Y 66, 70, 74. 76, 129 Montauk Purchases 38, 127 Monuments in Contrast 42 Morse, S. F. B 90 Moore house, the old IS Murder, of AYilliam Bull 66 Names. Repetition of 24, 27, 46 Naval Forces, New York, of ^7 Neversink Valley, N. Y 59 Newburg. N. Y 53 Newcastle, Delaware River 84 Events and Places | 3-^ Xew England New Haven, t'nnn Xew Jersey Xew Xetheiiands ".V.'. X'ew Orleans Xewspaper Apprenticeship Xewspaper Ridden Town Xiwton. L. I Xew Years Day. March 25th , , Xew York, City 14. 51. 52. at. 6 J. , I : I Xew Y'ork, State Ifi, 37. Ill Xew Yorkers, Patriotic Spirit of l-i Xorth Carolina :!7, l.i' ij.' 131 X'ottingham and Nottinghamshire 8. 10. 13. JiS. i: • Xumerous Enlistments of Daniel ConklinR \:\ Ohio s»5 Olympia 95. 97. 100. 105. 117, 11» Orange County. X. Y .35. 4!t. 51. 53. 55. 57. 62. 63. 66. 70. K7. 12K. 130 Orange County in the War 49 14 *!■! Oregon Citv ' ' •• > ■ • Oyster Bay. L. I : Outrage upon Heniy Reynolds and Family Pacific Coast 75. 81 Pacific Tribune, first Daily Paper in Olympia and Taconi li>o. IIS Panama sa Paris Passaic, X. Y Peekskill. X. Y Pennsylvania 30. 6»;. - Pension Papers of William Reynolds 1 Pensons for Revolutionary Soldiers 4i. ..•> Persecution of the Colonists 31'. 3:! Philadelphia 37. 43. 66. 84. 86, 1 .••; Pierce County •■•T Pilsbury, Captain 13 Pioneer of Six States — Illinois. Iowa. Oregon. California. Idaho. Wanli- ington U" Pioneer. Historian, Public-Spirited Citizin Ill' Pioneer Life on Long Island 19. 33 Plymouth Colony ". IS. I-':' Point Defiance '-••-• Portland, Oregon M. 117. 119. 1 .' 1 Port Townsend »5. 104. 1P.« Printers' Wages $10 to $15 a Day 93 Prosch-Conkling Marriage in 1846 S7 Publisher of three Newspapers 119 Puget Sound S5. 90, 93, 95, 99, 1««. IIR 116 119 Purchase of X'ewspaper Plant ' "" Puritans and Pilgrims Quintet of Early Californians Remarkable Marriages Removal to Seattle Revolutionary Ancestors, five Revolutionary Army Forces, Character of Revolutionary War Rhode Island Road Controversy — Gravesmd vs. Flatbiish.. Roe, the V. S. galley Rockland County Rossbach • Sacramento, operations of one of its Founders Sag Harbor Sag Harbor, naval affairs at • Salem, town and colony «. ' Sale of the Pacific Tribune San Diego, Cal San Francisco Santa Cruz, Cal Saratoga Saybrook. Conn • Schoolteachers, one of Tacoma's first Scientific Instruments, makers of Scotland Seabeck Seattle Setauket ] 36 Index of Events and Places Page Shelter Island :!'». 3'.i Ship Lost, the Manhattan "7 Silversmith and Brickmason Combined 117 Small boys made Printers 96 Social and other Activities, long- years of 112 Soldiers of the Revolution. Compensation of 4.5 Soldiers Return — Dirty. Ragged and Lousy 56 Southampton. L. 1 16. 34, 130 Southold 13. 16. 17. 21, 23, 25, 26. 28. 39, 40. 62. 124, 125 Springfield, Illinois S6 Steamer John L. Stephens 93 Steilacoom 95. 97, 99. 115. 121 Stony Farm, of John Brooks 65 Store to Logging Camp, from 100 Storm, the Christmas or Conkling 36 St. Louis 87 St. Mark's Parish Meeting and Resolutions 109 Suffolk County, N. Y 20. 35. 39. 43. 44, 66, 127 Sullivan County. N. Y 58. 59 Tacoma 99, 106. 109, 118. 119. 121 Tacoma, Removal to 106 Territorial Newspapers, increase of 96. 105 Texas 90 The Dalles. Oregon 104 Thuringen, Thuringia 80. 92. 129 Town Platting, extensive work 120 Turkey Gobbler, the lost 108 Turner. N. Y 77 Tuxedo. N. Y .■ ■ ■l'^ L'Ister County ol. 63 L'nfortunate Venture in Farming 94 United States 36. 49, 70. 77. SO. ll.r, Valentine of 1843 ',6 Valley Forge 64 Vancouver 96 Vashon Island 99 Vermont 3 i Victoria. B. C 104. 116 Virginia 30. 43. 122. 130 Voted for Harrison in 1840. for Taft in 1908 84 Walla Walla 104 War of American Revolution 4 ■ . 49 'War of 1812. Service in 69 Washington City 104 Washington Territory and State 84. 94. 96. 9i, 114 ■\,\'ebb brothers, two Giants 66 Well Meant Advice Happily Disregarded 100 Weymouth. England ^ T\'estchester County 14. 35. 62. 63 ■\A'haling. at Eastliampton 36 West Point oO. 66 'S\'hatcom. now Bellingham 95 Wilkes Exploring Expedition 93 Wills, the Conkling. Davis, Reynolds 2o. 26. 2.. 64, .2. 12. T\'onderful Changes in the World of the past Century 114 Yorktown. Siege of 52 137 INDEX OF PERSONS Page Abernethy. Governor i :' i Ackerly. Robert 17 Allen. Frank A !i- Allsaebrook. Elizabetli i:!. 4 1 Andros. Governor ,';i Anne. Queen 70 Arnold. Isaac 17. I'o Baker. Col. E. D lis Baker. Nathaniel 1 1'6 Baker. Tliomas i',s. .31, 36, 37 Balch, Lafayette 95 Baldwin, Colonel 49 Bancker, Gerard 55 Barnes. Isaac 38 Barnes. Joshua 28 Beach. Moses Y 85 Benedict. Sally 68 Benedict, Thomas 19 Bennett. James Gordon 85 Bishop. Daniel 33 Bishop. Nathaniel 33 Blaine. James G 69 Bond. Robert 2S Bonnell. Chas. R 107 Bonnet. Edward 40 Borshausen. Margaret !ti' Bowditch. Joel 40 Bowditch, John 40 Brewster, Lieut. Henry 54 Brinley. Grissel 40 Brockholtz. Governor 37 Brook. Lord 15 Brooks. Elizabeth 75 Brooks. Erastus 83 Brooks. Hannah 65, 128 Brooks. James 83, 85 Brooks. John 63, 65. 67, 73 Brooks, John. Jr 65. 68. 75 Brooks, William R 72 Brown. Daniel 40 Brown. Jonathan 40 Brown. Richard 4i> Brown. Walter 40 Buckalew. Julia A 121 Budd. John 17. 19. 24 Buell. Samuel 38 Bull, Ebenezer 66 Bull, Hiram 74 Bull. Isaac 66, 72 Bull, John 63 Bull, Peter 63 Bull, Sarah Wells 66 Bull. William 6« Bull. William H. H 74 Burgoyne, General 51 Burnett, Matthew 35 Burnett. Peter H U'O Cady, Robert 32 Calhoun. Chairman •<7 Campbell. Alexander 117 Cannon. James 1--. 131 Cannon. John U'-. 131 Cantene. Daniel ■»» Pm«e Carp.-nt.r. <;.-..rKl.. Th..mpj...n. . . ?< Carpenter. John H 7« Carter. Jt)lm 40 Case, Henry 19 Casey, Lieut. Tho«. L >9 Chatn.ld. Thomas, 28, 32, 36, 37. 127 Clark. M 55 Clay. Henry 85 Clinton. Cliarles 51 Clinton, Dewitt 63 Clinton. (;eorKe 51 Clinton. Henry 51 Clinton. James 51 Cockran.-. Jolin 54 Collins. Martha 40 Conklinjr. Aaron 48, 4S ConklinK. AblKalI.24. 38. 6«. 126. 12s ConklinK. Abraham 35, 38, 46, 47, 4S». 62 ConklinK. Ananiuji s. 12. 28. 29. 35, 37, 3S. 46, 62. 64. 124. 125. 126. ISO- Conkllnjr, Andrew J 77, I2» Conklinjr, Anna 2t. Sanunl I * Conkllntf. Ca.sper «2 Conkllnjr. Catherine.. .77. 12«. i:t ConkllnK. J'harlty 14. 71. 73. 76. 128. 12». 1»0 ConkllnK. Cleopatra 1S« Conkllnif. Colonel U CcmkllnK. <'orn<'llus 12, 13. 28, 3 4. .T. "" • " ' i:« ConkllnK. Daniel 13. 3s. 4'. 63, 64. 67. 122. 1 '30 ConkllnK. Danl.O S 64, 67, 74, 76. I.'S ConkllnK. David ..13. 29. 3r.. 36. 3S. 43. 4« 4.. 64 ConkllnK. Davl.M l.'< Il.i 3^ !1\ ConkllnK Conkllm; Ci.iiklii . C..i.k! Coiikli Conkli' ConklitiK. i;i'"ri. I ConkllnK. Klliiklm. . . :'■ ConkllnK. Klla.-* ConkllnK. KIl.Mhrt ConkllnK. Kllzabeth. I ConkllnK. Ellxabeth II ConkllnK. Emma 138 Index of Page I 'uiikling:, Enos 64 ConkliiiK. Kphraim :i5. 46. 49 Conklins Ezekiel 46. 47 Conklins:. Ezra 46 Conkling-. Gabriel 46. 48. 6'J. Conkling, Gideon 24, 35 Conkling. Gilbert 35 Conkling. Hannah 38, 125, 126 Conkling, Harriet ■ 75 Conkling, Henry 19, 24. 38. 42. 43. 46, 47, 62, 126 Conkling. Hester 12, 29, 125 Conkling, Higgins 35. 46, 47 Conkling, Hiram... 66. 77, 128. 129 Conkling. Isaac 35, 38, 46, 48, 62, 64, 69 Conkling, Israel 46 Conkling, Jacob 13, 24, 25. 29. 35, 38. 40, 46. 47. 48, 62, 64 Conkling, James 41, 46 Conkling, Jededlah 35, 38 Conkling, Jeremiah 12, 29. 30, 31. 35, 37. 38, 46, 48, 125 Conkling, John 8. 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 24 25, 26, 29, 30, 35, 38. 40, 41. 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 62,. 63. 69. 124. 125 Conkling. Jonathan G 38. 40. 64 Conkling, John L. 46, 48 Conkling, Joseph 13, 14. 19. 24. 26. 35. 36, 38. 46. 48, 65, 128 Conkling, Joseph H 46. 48, 63 Conkling, Joshua 46, 62 ("(inkling. Julia 66, 128 I'Miikling. Josiah 126 I 'i inkling, Laurence 46 Conkling. Lemuel 46. 49, 126 Conkling. Lewis 12. 29, 35, 38, 41. 46, 48, 62, 125 Conkling. Lucretia 38 Conkling, Maria 66. 74. 12S Conkling. Martha 74. 129 Conkling. Mary 14 19. 24. 26. 29. 34. 38. 41. 47. 126 Conkling. Matthew.. 35. 46, 49. 62 Conkling. Matthias 46. 48 Conkling. Mehitabel 14 - Conkling. Michael 46, 48 Conkling. Mulford 38 Conkling. Nancv 19 Conkling. Nathan. ... 35. 37, 38. 46 Conkling, Nathaniel 46, 48, 64 Conkling. Nicliolas 46, 47 Conkling, Nicholas N 46, 47, 62 Conkling. Nicholas ^Y 46, 48 Conkling. Phoebe 41 Conkling. Piatt 48 Conkling. Rachel 24. 41 Conkling. Rebecca 13 Conkling. Richard 46, 47 Conkling. Roscoe 1 9 Conkling. Samuel 13. 14, 24, 37, 38, 46. 48. 53. 62. 126 Conkling, Sarah 24, 26, 38, 41. 66. 74. 128 Conkling. Sarah E 75 Conkling. Selah 46. 48 Conkling. Seth 46 Conkling, Seven 46 Conkling, Shadrach 41, 43, 44 Conkling, Simon 37, 38 Conkling, Sineus 38, 42 Conkling, Solomon 66, 128 Conkling. Stephen 46. 47. 48, 64 Conkling. Susan 12, 19, 65, 75, 87, 125, 128. 129, 130^ Conkling, Susannali Roe. . 65, 67, 77 Page Conkling, Sylvanus 46. 48 Conkling. Sylvester 56. 66, 67, 73, 74, 128. 130 Conkling. Temperance 38 Conkling. Thomas 13. 24, 35, 40, 41, 43, 44, 46, 48, 53, 62 Conkling, T. Stoddard ... 46, 49, 63 Conkling, Timothy ... 13. 25, 46, 48 Conkling, Titus 13, 46, 47 Conkling, Williaip 13. 38, 46. 47, 48. 62. 63. 64. 69. 75, 77 Conkling, AVilliam R 74. 129 Conkling, Zebulon 38 Conkling, Zophar 46 Connor & Kemble 93 Corey, Jacob 17. 2Q Corwin. Matthias 17" Corwin, Mrs. John 59 Corwin. Thomas 19 Crawford. Samuel L 119 Cromwell, Oliver 14, 30 Crook, Rebecca 40 Curtis. Caleb 40 Curry, Governor 12i Damon, John P 104 Davenport, John 17 Davis, Abigail 126, 130 Davis, Governor 121 Davis. John 126, 128, 130 Davis, Puah 126, 128 Day, Ada 91 Dav, Alfred 91 Day. George W 91 Day. Mary 91 Day. Millicent 91 Dayton, Jacob 32 Dayton. Robert 32. 37 Denning. Margaret 92 Denny, Mr 50 Dering, Svlvester 41 Delin A P 116 Dewitt, Jacob 50 Dickerson. Philemon 19 Dixon, Capt. Thomas 77 Dixon, Louise i '"> Dixon. IMinnie 77 Dixon. Tliomas 77 Dixon. William 77 Doolittle. Amzl 120 Dotter, Abram S S3 Dotter, Adam 81 Dotter. Albrecht 80, 129 Dotter. Andreas SO. 84. 92, 129 Dotter. Andrew 81 Dotter, Anna Catherine SO, 129 Dotter. Anna Margaretha. . . 80. 129 Dotter, Anna Maria 80, 129 Dotter, Barbara 81 Dotter, Casper 83 Dotter. Christian 81 Dotter Christiana E. F. .80, 84. 129 Dotter, Henry 81 Dotter. Johannes 81 Dotter. John 83 Dotter. John Adam 80, 84. 129 Dotter. John Andreas SI, 129 Dotter, John Caspar... SO, 129, 130 Dotter, Magdalena 84, 129 Dougan. Governor 37 Drake. Jeremiah 59 Dubois. Maior Zachariah . . . 63. 128 Eagan, Charle.s 115 Earl, Mahala 68 Eaton. Governor 1 " Edison, Thomas A 90 Elder. Alfred R HT. 130 Persons 139 Pace Elder. Kliz;il..-tli McFlifisoii . . . . 117. i;!0 Elder. Helen Mar lit!, i:!(i Elder. Matthew H 117. i:!0 Elwood, Antoinette 7 7 Emmon.s. Harriet 7.'> Endicott, John 7 Ensrelhaubt, Magdalene SI. S4 Field, John .'.i' Fitchgerald. William 7:5 Fithen, Capt. D 1:^7 Floyd, William -IS Ford. Mr .'..". Forrest, or Farrett J J. 'i'.> Fowler, George 7l' Fox. George 30 Frederick, Albert 7.'. Frederick, Daniel 7". Frederick. Frank 7.") Frederick. George 7.") Frederick. Jacob 7.5 Frederick, Kate 75 Frederick. Sylvester C 75 Frederick, William 75 Fremont, John C 85 Galloway. James 74 Gardiner, David 15 Gardiner, Elizabeth 15 Gardiner, John Lyon 30 Gardiner, Lion or Lyon.. 15, 2S, 40 Gardiner, Mary 29 Garrison. C. K !M Gerow. Abigail J ' ' Gignoux, Elizabeth »9 Gilman, Edward 4 'J Glover, Phoebe -11 Glover, Samuel -'0. -Ill Grant. President .120 Greeley. Horace 66, 85 Gregory, Samuel '2 Griffin, Augustus >9 Guilford. J. B !'"-' Hains, Jonathan 10 Haljeck, Fitz Greene No Hallock. Peter 16 Hallock, William 24 Halstead. Abraham '2 Hamilton. William 3|. Hand. John 2!>, j.9 Hand, Stephen ■ 3 . Hanson, Ackerson & Co 1-1 Harney, Gen. W. S • « » Harris, George W ■•''•: Harrison, Benjamin 1 ••• >'■• Harrison, William H '^ • Hartstein. Captain •.•:- Hathorn. Gen. John • •;•^ Hauser, Bessie 1 -5 ' Havens, Edward ^ Havens, George * • Havens, John \\\ Havens. Jonathan " Havens, Joseph \" Havens, Henry oV " ,« Hedges, Stephen 3.1, .Jb Hedges. William. . --J Henry. Dr. Anson G i\1 Henshaw. William -ll Hewitt. Randall H 1] '_' Hicks, Urban E. •• ' Higgins, David ^^ »!';», Hillyer. Simon ;': Hobart, Joshua -i Hobart, Josiah oo ' jA Hobson, John. ■•■•■; '*- Vi Hoffman, Anna M. K ■ • • •»" Hoffman, Clinstopher so. i-» Hoffman, John Henry '*" IH II. .[.kins. Will ,ti llortnll. Aloll/.., % llortc.ii. iiarriaba.^ Z^ l|..itnn. ral.-b. . . .. Ili.rt..ii. D.xtir. . IH llortuii. Dr. Geo. 1 !•; Morton. John I* llorton. Jonathan.. I *» Morton. Jo.»»eph ' ' Morton. Julius Mot ton. Sarali Howard. Mrs. Rebecca... Howe. Danl.-l -•» Howell. James «7. 12H Mowland. Cjiarles 92 Mub.rt. Kebekuh 25 MiKlson. Jonatluin <» Mudson. Samuel <•» Hunt. Leigh S. J U!* Huntting. Rev. Nathaniel 34. 36. 125, I2«; Hyland, R.v. P. E 104 Jackson. General 5» James. Rev. Thomas. .30. 31. 83. 37 Jenkins, Thomas 92 Jennings, Mary A 120 Jones. Eliplialet 25 Johnson. President 9S Kelly. B.njamin ^' Kieff. Daniel 32 King. Gilbert i2 King, Jonas '3 King. Samuel *» King. William 40 Knight. Charles M 64 Knowling. John i.'.; • • •;? Knox. H Schellinger. William 3t; Scott, Bishop 1 1 !• Scott. Winfield J^'' Scudder, Thomas 11 Second. James D •_• • • I'' Seelv, Josiah < :!. '4 Seward. William H 1'' Shepard. Charles K 11- Sherry. Samuel '-^'^ Shuit. Charles ~ > Shuit, Emma ii Shuit. Joseph a Shuit, Mary Louise ii Shuit. Morgan a Shuit, Theodore ii Shuit. William ;/_ Silvester. Wm -^ Smith. Capt. Francis aS Smith. Claudius • o» Smith, Ezra L 100 Smith. Henry ^^ Smith. Hopkins ij Smith. James ' - Smith. Lydia. 66 Smith. Richard ^'J Smith, William i=J Southerland. Andrew i\ Southerland. Catherine B ij Southerland. Charles -;•,',. Southerland. Elizabetli R....1 1-' Southerland, Henry ^^ i} Southerland. James R i } Southerland. Kate B ij Southerland. Marie -V'-l Southerland. Rachel ' i- i^ Southerland. Sally ( l] Southerland, Sarah R ■_• • ■ t.\ Southerland. William .1. • + Southwick. Lawrence.... Starr. Lewis M Starr. Susanna Starr, Robert \\ Starr. Sarah { ' Starr, Hannah •.',;* Steel. James ' = ' Stevens. Daniel • ' ^ Stewart. James P • : • -,- ' ' ; Stirling, Earl of l-'- -- •\' Storrs. Rev. Dr .',• Stretton. John , - . Sunderland. Katli.-rin.- •.,■.,•:,,: Sunderland. Mattliew --. -;| Sweezy. Jolin . ; Sylvester, Bnnley . .■»'' Sylvester, Nathaniel ^• n l::i .14 Taft. William II TalriuiKe. KatlKT TalmaK'-. Tli'.m i Tavh.r. MiiN.ii.l Tavli.r. '/a. 1.1! Tril.h. Wllh..!, T.-rry. Rl.h.n ! Thoma.M. Jns.-i Thomson. Tl...!., Thumps.. M, Kr.inl Th.>iiii.s..ii. <;,-.,r Th..nu«si>ii. <:.-..r Tlii.mps. TlH.mps. Thomps< Tic.-. H.ts.y Torr.-y. Tht>ma.'» \\ 17 io z* 7<{ T* N;ithanl.-1 71. 7« Mary E i« Sarah Horton •• ...56. 87. IS» •10 l-J. 40 Tuck.-r. EKh.rt tl Tuck.r. Mrs, K. II Tuthlll. .\bi«all. . Tuthlll. M.nry Tuthill. J.>hn 17. 27. 40 Tuthlll. N.>ah ■lO Tvler. Silas and Paul 59 rnilerliill. Capt. John J9 Vail, J.r.mlah, Jr 20 Vail. Sanni.l «0 Vreelan Wat.rs. Frank »1 Wat.rs. Henry »» Wat. rs. Matthew »l W.l.b. Charles 'j W.bb. James \V J* W.bb. Samuel ,. .«« Wflles. William 1»>, 19 Wheeler. John 5 ' Wliite. Hezeklah ,<» WliitP, Slnip.'*.>n S 1-0 Wilkes. Capt. Charl.-.x " Willis, Nathanl.-I I* ■. • li Wils..n. Itanl.l ««• >i Winthrop. John - ' Woo.l. Elizab.-th -^ Jonas •-' mil. Col. J'-- • . 4«. 4i». i3, ot. i:i« WrlKht, Col. Georjre »» WriKht. J.... " York. Duk.- of... •*» YounK Mary.. J" Y..un»r. ■'•'.;•""- ; • Y..unKs, John.. "■• >» W.)0(l. W.....I1 r FEB 2 1 1930