73. Paul Upton's House

412 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

Tile second house of worship was occupied about fifty years. In this house the first session of the Duchess Baptist Association was held in i855, October 14 and i5, Rev. T. Winter, Moderator. In the fall of 1867, a survey was made for the Duchess cam. Columbia Railroad, which passed through the pulpit, so that the house, had to be removed a little more. than the width of it to give way for work on the road. Ln December, the agents offered $1650 for the church building, which was accepted, and the present house built.

A Quaker Church was built at, Stanfordville about the year i800. It was sold a few years since, and is now occupied as° a public hall, with apartments for families below. As the church was erected before the separation of that sect, both th.e. Hicksite and Orthodox divisions received their proportionate

1'.ui! Uplun's 1iuuau. share of the purchase money, and both gave their (Teed for the, property.

Oa what is locally known as Bangall Lane, between Bangall and Stanfordville, a large Biblical School has been established, under the auspices of the Christian denomination.. David Clark, of Conn:, was one of the principal movers in its: establishment, and contributed $ 000 to found it.

One of the earliest settlers in this vicinity was Paul Upton,, an emigrant from Lynn, Mass. He located in the beautiful' valley on the borders of the romantic lake which bears his name. The annexed is a representation of his residence, which is still standing. A large addition has been since built, but that is not shown The house had originally a large chim-

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HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY. 413

ney, with three fire-places below, and one on the second floor. Paul Upton was a Quaker; as he lived near the meeting house, 1~is house was usually thronged at the time of the Quarterly Meetings; as many as forty people have been entertained at 'one time over night in this little dwelling.

Paul Upton and his wife once attended a yearly meeting ion Long Island. This was in the time of the Revolution, when the British had possession of that part of the country. They rode the whole distance on horseback, much of the way =through an almost unbroken wilderness. Arriving at their des xination, they put up at the house of a friend. One morning, :after the close of the meeting, their horses were brought up to the door, and while they were engaged in leave-taking, a Brit7sh officer stepped up, took the horses by the bridle, saying, as he did so, that he had use for them. The honest old Quaker" eyed the officer for a moment, and then addressed him in measured terms: " Friend, would thee consider what thee is doing? We are far from home; my wife is unable to walk that distance; neither can I in my enfeebled state; if thee takes 'our horses, we shall have no means to get back." Arid thus the old gentleman plead with him, until the heart of the officer relented. Letting go the bridles, he bade the honest Qual~er and his wife depart in peace, and went on his way, followed by their benedictions.

Paul had a son born to him about the time the British ship "Asia" left New York and anchored in the lower Hudson. This vessel was regarded with dread by the inhabitants of the river country, and was the object of a bitter hatred. Paul christened the child Asa; which sounded so much like the name of the hated vessel, that many Whigs living in the vicinity, who were generally unlettered, but who were excessively jealous of any semblance of loyalty to the King, thought the boy was named in honor of the vessel. This smacked too much of Toryism; and a committee was forthwith appointed to° enquire into the matter. The good old Quaker had little difficulty in explaining to their that 'Asa." and " Asia'' were two

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414 HISTORY OF DUCHESS CO'UNT'Y'_

distinct appellatives, and they departed evidently satisfied.

Paul was by trade a tanner. The farmers used to carry hides to him to be made into leather. On one of his tours to Lon; Island, he vas taken prisoner by the enemy. He stated his case to the officers in charge, depicting the loss that would be incurred were he to be retained. Said he "I ani a tanner by trade. I now have in my vats thousands of dollars' worth of hides. If I am not allowed to care for them, they will all be damaged. Many of my customers are friends to the King; they will suffer if I am kept here." The officer inquired about the length of time that would be necessary to secure the hides. 'About three months," was the answer. The officer thought a moment, and then said: "We will let you return home on condition that you will give us your nTord of honor that in three months from this day and date you will report ,yourself at Kingston." The Quaker gave his word, and was suffered to depart. The time expired just after the British had left Kingston, after the capture of Burgoyne, at Saratoga. True to his word, Upton presented himself at Kingston on the day appointed, but as there was no British officer to take charge of him, he returned home.

Near where is now located Willow Brook Station, on the Poughkeepsie .and Eastern Railroad, there stood in Revolutionary times, a tavern. A number of noisy fellows had gathered there one day, who were carousing finely. At last it was arranged.. that each one should in turn sing a song. One of the revelers was named Marvin. When it came his turn to sing, he gave them a Tory song. This put a sudden stop to the proceedings; and so full were the rest of bad continental rum, that they did not stop to consider the consequences: but all fell upon the poor fellow, and killed him. After he was dead, one of the men by the name of Obey Smith took the abo ly upon, his shoulder, put it into Marvin's sleigh, and started the horses for home, with no one in it but their dead driver, where they, arrived soon after. Obey Smith used togo abut,with his.lxead drawn to one side. It was currently

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HISTORY OF, DUCH S . COtfl t 2. 4I5

reported that the deformity was caused by his carrying the dead body of Marvin upon his shoulder.

A man once lived in this town—name withheld—who made a ° wager with a colored man living with him, betting a bay mare. against the negro's wages. The negro won, and mounting his property, rode gaily away. His employer was greatly chagrined at being thus fairly beaten, and out of revenge had the darkey arrested for theft. As the latter could furnish no proof, except his own word, of the manner in which he came in possession of the mare, he was adjudged guilty of the crime of which he was accused, sentenced to be hung, and was afterwards executed His employer was present at the execution. Just before the noose was placed about his neck, the negro made some remarks, a part of which were addressed to his accuser. "You know, very well," said he, "that the mare was mine, and that I carne honestly by her, and you will stand there and see me hung, innocent of what I am accused. May God forgive you, as I do, of the crime of willful murder which will rest upon your soul.

Esq. Sam. Arnold was anciently a noted magistrate. During his term of office a law was passed making it a finable offence to allow a dog to run loose without a ring about his neck bearing the name of his owner. As one half of the fine went to the informer, a, man named Quick thought this would be a favorable opportunity to make a little money. He lived near one John Bailey, for whom he worked; and taking the names of all those who had not complied with the law, he appeared before the magistrate with a goodly list. That functionary promptly commanded the delinquents to appear before him on a certain day and answer to the charge. In the meantime the accused had made common cause against their informer, and had arranged to retaliate upon him for meddling with theft affairs. They caused a heavy iron collar to be forged, which was to be secured by a rivet, on which were the words: "I am John Bailey's dog, whose dog are you ?" This they designed placing around the neck of Quick.

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416 HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.

One night they surrounded Quick's house, and were about -effecting an entrance, when one of them looking through the key hole caught sight of him just as he was going up stairs. He called out " Here he is," and everybody rushed for the front door. This worded a chance of escape for poor Quick, who jumped from a rear chamber window, and was lost to view in the gloom of the adjacent wood. He fled the country, and never afterward showed himself in the neighborhood. The collar is yet in existence, having done duty different from that for which it was made.

Once a band of Tories had secreted themselves in a dense swamp, in this vicinity, where they were supplied with provisions by their wives and sweethearts, who went there for that purpose at night. A report having spread that the British had recently met with a brilliant victory, and were penetrating the county in the neighborhood of Fishkill, the Tory band boldly sallied forth to meet them. When near Salt Point, they were informed that the report was false; whereupon they made all haste for the swamp, before they could be intercepted.

The writer was informed that when the Stone Church at Clinton Corners was being built, about forty men were engaged upon it. During an alarm, these men were called upon to assist in repelling the invaders, but they all fled to the neighboring woods except an old man, who boldly kept at work, and who was pressed into the service. Tradition says that a number of muskets were thrown into the body of water known as the Pond Gut in the Revolution, by some Tories who were endeavoring to escape pursuit; in proof of the truth of this it is asserted that but a few years since one or two muskets, of ancient pattern, were found in it.

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POPULATION, 1,434•-SQUARE ACRES, 14,876,

i 9J) NION VALE was formed from Beekman and "Free(now LaGrange) March 1st, 1827. Its surface is a hilly and broken upland, divided into two parts by a broad valley, which extends north and south through the centre. The Clove Kul, a tributary of the Fishkill, flows southwest through the town. Slate crops out upon the summits and declivities of the hills. The soil is a gravelly and slaty loam. An extensive iron mine near the Clove post-office supplies the Beekman Furnace, two miles farther south. Henricus Beekman, the patentee, conveyed 1,000 acres in this vicinity to his son Henry, in 1716, and settlement is supposed to have commenced soon after. Verbank, Oswego Village, Clove, Crouse Store, Mansfield, and Pleasant Ridge, are hamlets.

Families by the name of Potter, Livingston, Hall, Emigh, Wilkinson, Cline, Able, Reed, Morey, and Uhl, settled in Union Vale at an early period. James Skidmore, Adam and Daniel Crouse, and John Mosher moved in at an early date, half a century ago, a union meeting house stood on the road 417-a2

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