Most conspicuous of the topographical features of the territory of Dutchess County – so named in 1683 in honor of the duchess of York and Albany…
(Note: Not yet edited/formatted.)
…is the range of mountains early called the High Lands which border it on the south. The longest of the streams meandering through
its fertile valleys to the Hudson River is the creek originally specialized in
letters-patent by the name of the Fresh Kill and subsequently called by
the Dutch the Visch Kill(Fish Creek), flowing into the Hudson about seven
miles south of the mouth of Wappinger Creek. Two miles north of the last
named stream is a smaller watercourse once familiarly known as Jan Casper’s
Kill.
It was early and is still a Dutch custom to measure distance on land by
the space of time in which an able-bodied man can walk it. In Holland, at
the intersection of roads one may see finger-boards pointing in the direction of
localities through which the several highways pass and bearing inscriptions
of the hours going {iirengaans) to them. One hour’s walk (een uur gaans) is
considered by Netherlanders as equaling three English miles. (See half uur
gaans on map, page 3.)
The first persons to acquire legal tenure to land included within the later
territorial bounds of Dutchess County were Francois Rombout and Gulian
Verplanck, who at the time were engaged as a firm in merchandising in the
city of New York. Having solicited Governor Thomas Dongan to permit
them to buy from the native Indians a tract of land comprising about eighty
five thousand acres, they were duly licensed, on February 28, 1683, to pur
chase it.
On August 14, that year, twenty-two warriors of the Wappinger tribe of
Indians, in the name of their sachem,
“
“
Megriesken,” conveyed to the two
1 In the act erecting the county and other similar divisions of the territory of the province of New
York itis titled the Dutchesses County.”
156
DUTCHESS COUNTY, AS SHOWN ON SAUTHIER’s MAP OF THE PROVINCE OK NEW YORK, IN I779
158
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
merchants, for certain measures of powder, lead, wampum, rum, beer, hatchets,
knives, pipes, tobacco, blankets, cloth, and other goods, the desired quantity
of land lying on the east side of Hudson’s river, north of the High Lands, and
more particularly described as “beginning from the south side ofa creek called
the Fresh Killand by the Indians Matteazvan, and from thence northward
along said Hudson’s river five hund (1
. rodd [about one and a half English
miles] beyond the Greate Wappins Kill[or Wappingers Creek], called by
the Indians Mawcuawasigh, being the northerly bounds, and from thence into
the woods fouer hovers goeing, alwayes keeping five hund’1
. rodd distant from
the north side of said [Greate] Wappins Creeke, however itrunns ; as alsoe
—
from the said Fresh Killor Creeke called Matteawan, along the said Fresh
Creeke into the woods, att the foot of the said high hills, including all the reed
or low lands at the south side of said creeke, withan easterly line fouer houres
goeing into the woods, and from thence northerly to the fouer hovers goeing
or line drawne att the north side of the five hund’ 1
. rodd beyond the Greate
Wappinger Creeke or Kill,called Mawenawasigh” 1
Gulian Verplanck having died before letters-patent were granted him and
Francois Rombout as possessors of the tract, Stephanus van Cortlandt became
associated
with Francois Rombout as a partner, who, with Jacobus Kip, then
the husband of Henrica, the widow of Gulian Verplanck, obtained, on October
17, 1685, the right and title to it by letters-patent.
Meanwhile, on September 26, 1683, Francois Rombout married Helena
van Balen, a widow, by whom he had a daughter named Cathryna, who, when
eighteen years ofage, became the wife ofRoger Brett, an Englishman merchan
dising in the city of New York. Having inherited on the death of Francois
Rombout, in 1691, his property, they, about the year 1712, settled on that part
of the Rombout manor comprising the site of the village of Matteawan, and
built a home, later known as “the Teller Mansion,” on a rise of ground,
on the north side of the Fish Kill,about a mile east of the Hudson River.
At the mouth of the Fish Kill,on the north bank of the stream, they erected
“
and operated a grist-mill, which, for many years was titled Madam Brett’s
mill.”
In the act erecting Dutchess County, on November 1, 1683, its territory is
“
described as lying within the following boundaries : The Dutchesses County
to be from the bounds of the county of Westchester, on the south side of the
Highlands, along the east side of Hudson’s river as farr as Roelof Jansen’s
Creek, and eastward into the woods twenty miles.” 2
On the division of the province into counties, or more accurately, on July
1 Book ofpatents, 5, pp. 206-210.
2 Documents relating to the colonial hibtory of the state ofNew York, vol. xiii.,p. 575.
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
159
30, 1685, Robert Sanders 1 and Myndert Harmanse, residing in the city of
“
Albany, obtained a deed of sale” from a number of native Indians for a tract
of twelve thousand acres of land in Dutchess County, “bordering” upon the
“
Hudson, called Minnisink” being north of the land of Savereyn, alias called
the Baker, with the arable and woodland, [and] marshes, with the creeke called
Wynachkee, with trees, stones, and further range, or outdrift for cattle, and the
fall of watters called Pondanickrien, and another marsh, lyeing to the north of the fall of watters, called Warcskcechen.” x Right and title to this manor was
granted them in letters-patent by Governor Thomas Dongan, on October 24,
1686, with the provision that it should not encroach upon that confirmed to
Stephanus van Cortlandt, Francois Rombout, and their associates.
Peter Schuyler, mayor of the city of Albany, on June 2, 1688, acquired by
letters-patent from Governor Thomas Dongan a tract of land bounded on the
north by that of Robert Sanders and Myndert Harmanse, and described as
“
lying att a certaine place called the Long Reach, bounded on the south and
east by a certaine creek [later known as Jan Casper’s Kill], that runns into
Hudson’s river, on the north side of a certaine house now in the possession and
occupation of one Peter, the Brewer, the said creek being called by the Indians
where it runs into the river, Thauackkonck, and where itruns further up into
the woods, Pietawicktquasseick.” 3
‘
Eleven years later, on August 30, 1699,
Peter Schuyler conveyed this tract of land to Robert Sanders and Myndert
Harmanse.
Shortly afterward the extensive manor of the two proprietors be
gan to be designated by a name which after many corruptions is now written
Poughkeepsie. 4 Myndert Harmanse seated himself and his family upon a part
of it, where, prior to the year 1799, he built a saw-mill. His partner, Robert
Sanders, died in the city of New York, probably in 1706,
conveyance, dated June 17, 1707, in which are named,
” as is indicated in a
Myndert Harmeen of
Pogkeepsink,” yeoman, and Helena, his wife; Elsje, widow of Robert Sanders,
” late of the citty of New Yorke, deceased.”
Among the number of yeomen cultivating farms, in 171 2, lying within the
bounds of the manor of Poughkeepsie, was Thomas, the eldest son of Robert
baptized in New Amsterdam, November 10, 1641. He married Elsje Barents, of Albany. He was
the son ofThomas Sanders, a smith, from Amsterdam, Holland, whomarried, inNew Amsterdam, Sep
tember 16, 1640, Sara van Gorcum, where he obtained a patent for a lot, July 13, 1643. He was among
the first settlers ofGravesend, LongIsland. In1654, he owned a house and lotin Bcverswijck. Later he
returned to New Amsterdam, where he was livingin1664, when New Netherland was surrendered to the
English.
2 Book of patents, 5, pp. 575-577.
WarcskcecJi, or the mouth of the stream called Wareskeek, ftow
ing into the Hudson, is about one and two-fifths miles north of the mouth of the Fall Killor Wynachkee,
otherwise written Wynogkee and Winnikee.
3 Book of patents, 6, pp. 325-327.
4ln different deeds it has been found written: Pokepsink, Pogkeepsink, Poghkepsen, Pokkcpsen,
Pochkeepse, Pockepsing, Pockepsink, Pakeepson, Poghkeepsie, Pochkeepsy, Poeghkeepsink, Poch
keepsey, Poghkepse, Poghkeepsinck, Pochkeepsen, Poeghkeepsingk, and Poughkeepsie.
160
Sanders,
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
1
who, while residing in the city of New York, had pursued the calling
of a mariner.
Two years later there were in Dutchess County sixty-seven
heads of families, who with their households and slaves formed a population of
four hundred and forty-five souls.
Barnardus, the fourth son of Roeloff Swartwout, was at that time stillliving
p.t Hurley, where his father had died in 17 15. He had married, on May 19,
1700, being then twenty-seven years of age, Rachel, daughter of Dirk Janse
and Maria Willems Schepmoes of Kingston. On October 2, 1702, he with
twenty-eight other of “the chiefest and principal inhabitants of the County
of Ulster,” had signed and dispatched an “address to his Excellency, Edward
Lord Viscount
“
Cornbury, governor of the province of New York. As is
disclosed by the records of the village, he was one of the seven freeholders,
appointed in 17 19, the first trustees of Hurley.
On August 3, 1720, he purchased for
a farm of five hundred acres
in the manor of Poughkeepsie, belonging to Thomas Lewis, and
“
adjoining
upon the south line of Henry van der Burgh’s thousand acres,” extending
southerly along Jan Casper’s Killto the land of Thomas Sanders.
Having
in view the occupation of this bouwcrij, he, on January 5, 172 1, resigned the
office of trustee of the village of Hurley, and, in the spring of that year, moved
with his family to Dutchess County. There, on September 13, 1723, he
bought of Andrew Teller, a merchant engaged in business in the city of New
York, for
two hundred acres of land bounded on the west by that of
Thomas Lewis, on the north by that of Madam Brett, and on the south and
east by that of Andrew Teller. Two days later he purchased of Madam Brett,
for
forty-five acres, with improvements, lying along Jan Casper’s Kill,
and north of the land which he had bought of Andrew Teller. He further
enlarged his farm by buying of Thomas Lewis, on May 6, 1727, for
one
hundred acres stretching southward to the Stony Flats {Steen Vlachteii).~
Having never occupied any of the sections of the manor of Maghaghkemeck
allotted him in the division of it, he, on October 28, 1741, sold to his nephew
Jacobus,
the second son of Antoni Swartwout, for
“all that full lot,
number one, which fell unto him the said Barnardus Swartwout by the second
division of the twelve hundred acres of land which were formerly purchased
by the said Swartwouts and company, which said lot is situate, lying, and
being on a certain tract of land known and called by the name of Manjoar’s
1 Thomas, son of Robert and Elsjc Barents Sanders, baptized in New Orange (New York) on July
14, 1674, married, on February 26, 1696, Acltje, daughter of Jacob Abrahamsen and Magdaleenlje van
Ylcck Santvoort, baptized October 7, 1674. Children: Robert, bap. October 4, 1696; Styntjc, bap.
December 26, 1697; Robert, bap. January 1, 1700; Jacob, bap. October 19, 1701 ; Elsje, bap. October
27, 1703; Annekc, bap. January 30, 1706; Maritje, bap. May 13, 170S; Jacob, bap. June 9, 1712 ;
Beatrix, bap. September 25, 1715.
~ Book of Deeds, i., pp. 21-23 ;36, 41, 316, 317, in the office of the clerk of Dutchess County.
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
161
Land.”1 On his death, his widow and sons conveyed to “Jacobus Swartwout,
junior, of the Menisincks, in the County of Orange, marchant,” the seventh
share which the deceased had owned in the manor of Maghaghkemeck.
Rudolphus, the eldest son of Barnardus Swartwout, having married, on
June 2, 1725, Elsje, the second daughter of Thomas and Aeltje Sanders, her
“
parents, on April 23, 1726, “inconsideration of the love, good-will, and
“
tion
affec
which they bore toward their loving son-in-law, Adolph Swartwout,”
conveyed to him one hundred acres of land stretching along the Hudson River
and adjoining other land belonging to them. On February 25, 1731, they con
veyed to him thirty acres lying on the east side of his farm and easterly on
Jan Casper’s Kill.2
Johannes, the fifth son of Barnardus, having become the husband of
Neeltje, a daughter of Myndert van de Bogaerdt, an early settler in the manor
of Poughkeepsie, purchased for £26 10s. on March 3, 1747, of his father-in-law,
forty-eight and a quarter acres of land, lying about two and a half miles from
the Hudson River and immediately north of the road passing through Filkin
Town to the village of Poughkeepsie.
1754, by the payment of
To this estate he added, on January 27,
to Madam Cathryna Brett, forty-three acres and
two rods of land lyingon the north side of Jan Casper’s Kill,and stretching
northward to the road leading from Filkin-Town to Poughkeepsie and border
ing on the east the road running to Dv Bois’s mills.3
Itis not unlikely that Cornelis, the sixth son ofBarnardus Swartwout, born
in 1718, who died in Albany, on July 4, 1747, was serving in the provincial
army organized for the expedition to be undertaken against Canada that year.
The disagreements and contentions of the settlers at Maghaghkemeck and
Minnessinck evidently influenced Captain Jacobus, the third son of Thomas
Swartwout, who had married, on October 5, 1714, Gieletjen, a daughter of
Cornelis Gerrits and Jannetje Kunst Nieuwkerk of Hurley, to remove from
Maghaghkemeck, and settle in Dutchess County, where, at Wiccopee, 4 on
November 9, 1721, he had purchased of Cathryna Brett a farm of three hun
dred and six acres ofland. 5 Lyingimmediately south of the Fish Kill,about
1Book of deeds, Hi., p. 25, in the office of the clerk of Orange County, in Goshcn.
2 Book of deeds, i., pp. 142, 145-147, in the office of the clerk of Dutchess County.
3 Book ofdeeds, ii.,pp. 158, 159, 516, 517, in the office of the clerk of Dutchess County in Pough
keepsie.
Maps of the lands of Poughkeepsie, surveyed by William Cockburn, D.S., in 1770, No. 45, in
the office of the secretary of the state ofNew York inAlbany. Field notes of the survey, vol.xxxix.,
pp. 160, 167, 164-167, in the office of the surveyor-general in Albany.
4 Said to be the name of a tribe ofIndians once inhabiting that part of the territory of the state of
New York. The name also designates a small stream flowing there northward into the Fish Kill.
5 The deed dated May 7, 1757, given by the heirs of Jacobus Swartwout to Matthew Allen,recites
that the land conveyed to him was
“
a part of that tract of land containing three hundred and six acres
purchased by the said Jacobus Swartwout, deceased, of Catharyna Brett, by one certain warrantee deed
under her hand and seal, bearing date of the ninth day of November, 1721.” Book of Deeds, iii.,pp.
313-31, in the office of the clerk of Dutchess County.
Copied from the original by him about 1765. Scale: 48 chains one inch, as protracted by him.
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
163
nine miles east of the Hudson River, his bouiverij was contiguous to the
farms of Johannes Buys and Johannes Ter Bos, whose baptismal names were
later incorporated in the designation Johns ville bestowed upon the small village
near the Highlands, about a mile southeast of Brinckerhoffville. The fertile
acres of his farm are now embraced in the two farms respectively owned by
Stephen J. Snook and Francis Burroughs; the one lyingabout one-half and the
other three-fourths of a mile east of Johnsville, and on the north side of the
highway running from that place to the village of East Fishkill. On Sauthier’s
map of the province of New York, made in 1779 (see page 157), the locality
is titled
“
Swartwouts.”
” In the twelfth year of the reign of Queen Ann, on the twenty -third day
of October, 1715,” as remarked by T. van Wyck Brinckerhoff, in his historical
sketch of the town of Fishkill, ” an act was passed ‘ for Dutchess County to
elect a supervisor, a treasurer, assessors, and collectors.’
Up to this time no
election had been held in Dutchess County. This arrangement continued in
force until 17 19, when the county was divided into three districts or wards,
called the middle, northern, and southern wards, with power to choose a super
visor in each.
In 1737, these wards were again subdivided into seven precincts,
with power to elect a supervisor and town officers in each, and this provision
‘
was coupled with the act, that the wages of each supervisor shall not exceed
“
three shillings for each day.’ 1 The precinct of Poughkeepsie embraced the
territory of the manor of Poughkeepsie, and the Rombout or Fishkill precinct
all that part of Rombout manor lying south of Wappinger’s Creek.
The following transcripts of parts of the early records of Dutchess County
of which there are none extant prior to the year 1718 may serve to enlighten
the reader regarding those of the first settlers of Rombout manor who were
invested with local offices : “Atan Election held in Dutchess County in the
South Ward, on the first Tuesday in April,it being the second day of said
Month, 1722. These following are chosen for Dutchess County for the South
Ward: —John Montross, Constable and Collector; Jacobus Swartwout, Super
visor; Peter Dv Boys f Dubois|, Assessor ; Johannes Ter Boss [Ter Bos |, jr.,
Assessor ; Jan De Lange, Overseer of the King’s Highway ; Jacobus Terbos,
Overseer of the Highway; Jan Buys, Surveyor of the fences; Garrit Van
Vliet, Surveyor of the fences.
Henry Vanclerburg, Clerk.” 2
” The Inhabitants, Residents, and Freeholders of Dutchess County [in the
South Ward] are rated and assessed by ye assessors for the same, the 16th
day of Jan. Anno. Dom. 1623-4,
John Montross, 14 [pounds];
1 Historical sketch of the town of Fishkill, from its first settlement.
Fishkill Landing : Dean &Spaight, publishers.
1866, p. 57.
By T. van Wyck Brinckerhoff.
2 Book ofold miscellaneous records inthe office of the clerk ofDutchess County, p. 1.
164
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
Johannes Buys, 9; Jacobus Swartvvout, 12;
derick [TerJ Boss, 5 ;
Hen
widow of Roger Brett, deceased, 50 ;
Johannes Ter Boss, 32.”
Captain Jacobus Swartwout, having been elected to serve as supervisor of
the south ward in 1722-24, was again chosen to fill that office on April 5,
r 727.1
The seat of the first and largest community ot settlers in Dutchess County
was established about the beginning of the eighteenth century at the mouth of
the Fall Kill,flowing into the Hudson River. The site of the village having
been early designated by a name meaning
“
safe harbor,” of which Pough
keepsie is a corrupted form, the place thereafter retained that peculiar appella
tion.
Two decades later the hamlet of Fishkill, five miles east of the Hudson
River, was bearing the name of the stream flowing by it. In 1729, mention
” was made of the two settlements in a published description of the county.
and Fishkill, though they scarcely
The only villages in it are Poughkeepsie
deserve the name.”
The first religious society in the village of Poughkeepsie was organized in
1716, by the Reverend Petrus Vas, the fifth pastor in charge of the Reformed
Dutch Church in Kingston, who, in the same year, formed another in the vil
lage of Fishkill. The two congregations were served until 1731, by different
ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church, who visited the two places to con
duct divine worship, and preached on appointed days.
The first pastor having
charge of the two congregations was the Reverend Cornelius van Schie, who
came, in 163 1, from Holland, in answer to a united call made by them to secure
the services of a minister of the Reformed Dutch Church. One of the fifteen
signatures
subscribed to the agreement, written in Dutch, to send the call, is
that of Jacobus Swartwout. 2
The Poug-hkeepsie congregation erected its first house of worship, it is said,
in 1723, on the north side of Main Street, nearly opposite the site of the pres
ent court-house.
There were thirty-eight pews on the ground floor and eigh
teen in the gallery, which afforded sittings for three hundred and eighty-six
people.
Among the contributors to the salary of the pastor of the congregation in
1744 were Barnardus Swartwout and his three sons, Rudolphus, Abraham, and
Johannes.
Abraham was elected a deacon of the church in 1752, and Johannes
an elder in 1 755.
1 Book of oldmiscellaneous records in office of the clerk of Dutchess County, p. 27.
‘-‘The signatures as written are : Piter Dv Boys, Leonardus van Clecs, Abraham Brinkerhoff, Abra
ham Buys, Johannes van Kleeck, Abraham Brinkerhoff, Elias van Benschouten, Johannes Coerten van
Voorhees, Mynhault van de Bogart, Hendrick Phylyps, Pieter van Kleeck, Hans de Lange, Henry van
der Burgh, Jacobus Swartwout, Hendrick Pells.
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
165
The Fishkill congregation erected its first house of worship in that village in
173 1.
Itwas a stone building with small apertures in the walls through which
firearms might be thrust and fired on any attack of the place by Indians or
other foes.
It was covered with a hip-roof, above the apex of which was a
small tower in which a bell was hung and rung to summon the people to the
meetings held in the plainly-built edifice. The small panes of glass affording
light to the interior were held in place by narrow strips of lead, attached to the
window-frames.
Captain Jacobus Swartwout, who had been admitted to mem
bership in the church on June 17, t 732, was the holder of nine sittings:
“
five
places inpew No. 1r ; one forhimself, and one for his wifeGieltje, and one forhis
daughter Jacomintje, and one for Catrina, and one for his son Tomas, and four
places, above in the gallery, in pew No. 4 ; one for his son Cornelis, and one
for Rudolphus, and one for Samuel, and one for Jacobus.”
On the death of the
father, his sitting in the pew on the ground-floor was transferred to his son
Cornells.” 1
The satisfactory manner in which Captain Jacobus Swartwout had dis
charged the duties of the office of supervisor caused the freeholders of the
south ward of Dutchess County to elect him, on April 7, 1730, to serve with
Johannes Ter Bos as an assessor in that district. Governor George Clinton,
recognizing his integrity and ability, appointed him, in 1743, a justice of the
peace, which office constituted him and James Duncan, a contemporary justice
of the peace, assistants to the judge of the Court of Common Pleas, sitting in
Dutchess County.
In 1745, Justice Jacobus Swartwout .gained considerable distinction for the
able manner in which he, as judge of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas of
Dutchess County, had conducted the trial of Daniel Hunt, found guilt)’ of the
charge ofpassing ten counterfeit twenty-shilling bills of Rhode Island money.
At the termination of the trial, he wrote as follows to his Excellency, the Hon
orable George Clinton, governor of the province of New York :
“May itPlease your Excellency
“Poghkeepsing, May yey c 24th, 1745.
” Agreeable to your Excellency’s order,
Isend enclosed all the proceedings had before me relating to the counterfeit
1
money passed in this county or elsewhere to my knowledge, and if anything
“
Jacobus Swartwout ltd 5 Plaetsscn in die bank No. 1 1 ;ecu tot lieim, en ecu lot syn vrou Uielt/e,
en cen voorsyn Docliter ‘Jacomintje, en ecu voor Catrina, en ecu vonr syn Soon ‘J’omas, en 4 l’laetssen om
1100% op die guide? ij,in die bank No. 4/ ecu voor syn Soon Corne/ijs, en een voor A’udo/vis, en ecu voor
Die Plaets yon Jacobus overgedragen op syn Soon Cornelis.”
Samuel, en een voor Jacobus.
166
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
further shall be discovered by me, Ishall
lency thereof, who am
r
“Y Excellency’s
inform your Excel
” Most obedient, humble servant,
“Jacobus Swartwout.” 1
In his last willand testament, made on December i,1744, he bequeathed to
his oldest son, Thomas,
“
sixty pounds, or the choice of one of” his
“
negroes
for his birthright,” and to his five sons : Thomas, Cornells, Rudolphus, Samuel,
HEAD-STONE AT THE GRAVE OK JUSTICE JACOISUS SWARTWOUT
and Jacobus, his estate, which he ordered to be divided equally among them. 2
He died on April 3, 1749, and his remains were interred in the graveyard on
the west side of the Reformed Dutch Church, in the village of Fishkill, where,
1 New York colonial manuscripts, vol.lxxiw,p. 197, in the general library of the state ofNew York.
~ Book of wills,vol. 16, pp. 478, in the office of the surrogate of the cityof New York.
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
167
near the edifice, stands a massive brown-stone slab marking the place of their
sepulchre and bearing an inscription in Dutch:
“
Here lies the body of Jacobus
Svvartvvout, being rested in the Lord on the third day of April, 1749, being fif
ty-seven years, one month, and twenty days old.” !
In order to comply with the provisions of the willof their father, Thomas
Swartwout and Mary, his wife; Cornelis Swartwout and Elizabeth, his wife,
and Rudolphus and Dinah, his wife; Samuel Swartwout and Phebe, his wife,
and Jacobus Swartwout, sold, on May 7, 1757, for /705,/705, to Matthew Allen of
Rombout Precinct, late of Ulster County, two hundred and thirty-five of the
three hundred and six acres purchased by Jacobus Swartwout, in 1721, of Ma
dame Brett. On April 13, 1758, the two brothers, Thomas and Rudolphus,
as heirs, made a conveyance to each other of three hundred and ninety-three
acres (seven of which Rudolphus had bought of Madame Brett), which lay on
“
the south side of a brook called the Fish Kill,in Rombout Precinct,” and “on
the west side of the road, near Thomas Swartwout’s new house, and along the
road leading from Wiccopee to the landing on Hudson’s river ;”‘ Thomas taking
the easterly section, comprising one hundred and ninety-three acres, which, on
October 31, 1792, he sold for ,£l,OOO, to Joseph Burroughs; and Rudolphus,
the western section, containing two hundred acres. 2
Cornelius, the second son of Justice Jacobus Swartwout, whose Christian
name was that of his mother’s father, purchased, on May 27, 1757, of John
Andres, one hundred acres ofland lyingon the south side of the Fish Kill,and
on the north side ofthe road leading fromBeekman’s Precinct to FishkillLand
ing.
Whether or not he lived on this farm with his family it is difficult to de
termine.
When he conveyed it to Michael Rogers, on May r, 1762, for
the purchaser was occupying it.8
The disastrous character of the surrender of Fort William, at the south end
1
“
Hicr Lydt Hct Lighaam \Ligchaam\ van lacobus Sivartiuout Zyndc In dc Heerc Gcrust Den
3 DagJi van April, 1749, Oudc Zyndc 57 Taarcn Ecn Maant En 20 Daagen.”
2 Book of deeds, iii.,pp. 313-316 ; 13, p. 406, in the office of the clerk of Dutchess County ;and a
deed in the possession ofFrancis Borroughs, now owning the eastern farm.
“To Be Sold, an Excellent Farm, Belonging to the estate of Rodolphus Swartwout, deceased, situ
ate inRumbout’s precinct, in Dutchess County, four miles east from Fishkill and nine from the Landing,
on the post-road leading from Fish Killto Fredericksburgh and Danbury, adjoining the farm of Judge
Van Wyck, deceased; containing about Two Hundred Acres of Good Land, very level and clear of
stones, and a great part of it most excellent Meadow Land, which yields above fifty tons of exceeding
good Hay yearly. There is likewise on the premises a Large Stone House, witha convenient Kitchen,
Cellar Kitchen and Cellar under the house, a very good Barn and waggon House, both covered with
cedars and an exceeding good Orchard ;said farm is well watered and ingood fence and repair.
“
“Fish Kill,Dec. 11, 1782.”
“Jacobus Swartwout,
Thomas Burroughs,
The New York Packet and American Advertiser.
3 Book of deeds, xxvi.,pp. 61-64, in ie office of the clerk ofDutchess County.
Executors.”
TIJE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
168
as quickly as practicable.
of Lake George, on August 9, 1757, to the French, made the people of the
province of New York realize the importance of immediate action on the part
of the British Government to prevent the farther advance of the enemy and at
the same time recognize the imperative necessity of driving him into Canada
As loyal subjects of King George 11., they heartily
approved the course taken by the crown early in the year 1758, when, on
March 25, James De Lancey, his majesty’s lieutenant-governor and commander
in-chief, in and over the province of New York, and the territories depending
“
thereon, issued a proclamation for the enlistment of two thousand six hundred
and eighty effective men, officers included, to be employed in conjunction
with a body of his majesty’s British forces and the forces of the neighbour
ing colonies against the French settlements in Canada,” promising “each
able-bodied man entering voluntarily into the said service the sum of ten
pounds as a gratuity.” As particularized in this provincial call for volun
teers, the
“
“
rates of pay to the non-commissioned officers and men were
the following: Sergeants,
one shilling and eightpence a day ; corporals
and drummers, one shilling and sixpence ; and privates, one shilling and
threepence.
Cornelius, the son of Justice Jacobus Swartwout, at that time thirty-six
years of age, bore a creditable part in the campaign of 1758 as captain of a
company of Dutchess County volunteers.
His company served under Major
General Ralph Abercrombie, who undertook the reduction of Fort Carillon at
Ticonderoga.
Having the command of seven thousand regular British troops,
and ten thousand volunteers and militia, furnished by different provinces, “he
embarked his forces on Lake George in one hundred and twenty-five whale
boats and nine hundred batteaux, attended by a formidable train of artillery,
transported on rafts, with every other requisite of success.
In crossing the
isthmus between Lake George and Champlain, Lord George Viscount Howe,
at the head of the right-centre column, fell in with the advanced guard of the
enemy, which, in retreating from Lake George, like the English column, was
lost in the woods.
He attacked and dispersed them, killing several, and mak
ing one hundred and forty-eight prisoners.
But, though only two officers on
the “British side were slain, Lord Howe was one.
Learning from the prisoners the force under the walls of Ticonderoga,
and that a reinforcement of three thousand men was daily expected, Major
General Abercrombie proposed to storm the place, and caused the works to
be rcconnoitered.
Upon a superficial and imperfect survey, the fatal resolution
was taken to attempt the fort, before the artillery arrived.
The troops marched
intrepidly to the assault, on July 6, but could make no impression ; the felled
trees in front of the entrenchment, which had been unobserved, and a breast
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
169
work of eight or nine feet, presented unexpected and insurmountable obstacles,
before which the assailants were exposed to a murderous fire for four hours,
with “a loss of two thousand men.
retreat.
This rash attempt was not more ill-advised than the subsequent hasty
The fort was, in truth, unfinished, and at one point easily approach
able, and the garrison did not exceed three thousand men ; and, from the dread
of the British, greatly superior in numbers, the French general had actually
prepared to abandon this position, with Crown Point.” 1
After the retreat of Major-General Abercrombie to the south end of Lake
George, a detachment of three thousand men, under Colonel John Bradstreet
was sent by the way of Albany to reduce Fort Frontenac, at the eastern end of
Lake Ontario. On the twenty-seventh of August, the English were in posses
sion of it. This success inspirited Great Britain to prosecute withgreater vigor
the war against France, in North America.
In a proclamation, dated on March 7, 1759, Lieutenant- Governor James
De Lancey made another call for the enlistment in the province of two thou
sand six hundred and eighty effective men, officers included, promising a bounty
of fifteen pounds to each volunteer.
“Whereas,” as he remarks, “his majesty
hath nothing so much at heart as to improve the great and important advan
tages gained [in the] last campaign as well as to repair the disappointment at
Ticonderoga, and by the most vigorous and extensive efforts, to avert, by the
blessing of God on his arms, all dangers which may threaten North America
from any future irruptions of the French,” all of which were to be accomplished
by
“
sions.
invading Canada and carrying war into the heart of the enemies’ posses
}y
Under this call forprovincial troops to serve inthe campaign of1759, Jacobus,
the youngest brother of Captain Cornelius Swartwout, was appointed, in 1759,
captain ofa company of Dutchess County volunteers. The four companies ofvol
unteers raised in the county (the three others being those commanded by
Captains John Pawling, Samuel Badgeley, and Richard Rae), were transported
by river-craft, in May, to Albany, where they were incorporated in the army of
twelve thousand regular and provincial troops commanded by Major-Gen
eral Jeffrey Amherst, which moved from that city, in July, to attack Fort
Carillon. The French, aware of their inability to cope successfully with this
large force of British and provincial troops, quickly withdrew from Ticonder
oga and Crown Point, leaving the forts there to be occupied by the English
forces.
” In order to complete the reduction of Canada,” Lieutenant-Governor De
«
1 Essay on the history of New York, in the Gazetteer of the state of New York, p. 59. By Thomas F.
Gordon.
170
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
Lancey, on March 22, 1760, issued another call for the enlistment of “two
thousand six hundred and eighty effective men, officers included,” witha prom
ise of fifteen pounds bounty to each volunteer.
By a commission, dated March
22, t 760, Captain Jacobus Swartvvout was again placed in command of a com
pany of Dutchess County volunteers, of which Nicholas Emanuel Gabriel and
Isaac Bush (Ter Bos) were lieutenants. 1 The company, as shown by the
muster-roll of May 1, 1760, was composed of men who had previously enlisted
in the companies of Captains Cornelius Swartwout, Henry Rosekrans, Eleazer
Dubois, and other officers named on it.2
The meritorious services in this war of Abraham, son of Abraham and
Tryntje van Kleeck Swartvvout, born in Poughkeepsie in 1743, and second
cousin to Captains Cornelius and Jacobus Swartwout, frequently obtained for
him honorable mention for being an exemplary soldier and admirable officer.
On April 8, 1760, at the age of seventeen years, he enlisted in Captain Peter
Harris’s company of Dutchess County volunteers, of which Joseph Powell and
Isaac Conclin were lieutenants.
His initiative experience in the campaign of
1760 influenced him to enlist in the same company on April 11, 1761, under
the call of the Honorable Cadwallader Colden, president of his majesty’s
council and commander-in-chief of the province of New York, on April 4,
for volunteers
“
to be employed in securing his majesty’s conquests in North
America.” As entered upon the muster-roll of the company, Abraham Swart
wout was then six feet and one inch in stature.
In the campaign of 1761, he
held the position of a sergeant.
Among the commissions given by Lieutenant-Governor Cadwallader Colden
to officers about to serve in the campaign of 1762, were those of lieutenant
to Teunis Corsa and Abraham Swartwout in Captain Peter Harris’s company
of Dutchess County volunteers, in the Second New York Regiment, com
manded by Colonel George Brewerton. As a part of the force of volunteers
would be employed in an intended attack upon the city of Havana, on the
island of Cuba, for Spain had become, in January, 1762, an ally of France,
Cadwallader Colden, in order to assure those of the
volunteers
Lieutenant-Governor
who were willing to participate in the reduction of Morro
Castle and other Spanish strongholds in Cuba, that they would not thereafter
1 Fifteen clays before the date of this commission, Captain Jacobus Swartwout had been married to
Acltjc, the daughter of Isaac and Sarah Rrinckcrhoff, of Rombout Precinct. He was then twenty-five
Her father, born at Flushing, on Long Island, January 12, 17 13, was the
years old and she nineteen.
twin brother of Jacob, and the third son of Uerick Brinckerhoff- He was married to Sarah Rapeljc, on
February 28, 1737, by whom he had two children : Derick, born May 21, 1739, and Aeltjc, September
23, 1740. -April 26, 1759, Captain Jacobus Swartwout was paid
Captain Jacobus Swartwout was paid
bounty for 98 men.
bounty for 117 men. May 7, 1760,
Vide: Muhtcr-Roll ofMen rais’d in the County of Dutchess and pass’d for Capt. Jacobus Swartwout’s
Company May yu Ist, 1760. Document No. 7in the Appendix.
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
171
be retained in the service of Great Britain as regular troops, issued the follow
ing proclamation :
” Having received Information that the Inlistment of Volunteers to serve in
the Forces in the Pay ofthis Colony has been greatly discouraged from an Ap
prehension that they may be compelled to enter the King’s Regular Forces,
and that such of them as already or may be hereafter embarked, are to proceed
on some service from whence they willnot speedily return :In order to remove
such Prejudices, and the Obstruction that might arise thereby to the King’s
service, You are to make known to the Volunteers already inlisted, and to all
Persons whom you shall endeavour to inlist in the Pay of this Province, that
His Excellency, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s
Forces, hath assured me the Provincial Troops of this Colony shall not
by any Means be compelled to inlist in the Regular Service.
Those who em
bark, amounting to Five Hundred and Fifty-Three, shall, as soon as the Ser
vice they be destin’d for is effected, which cannot be of long Duration, imme
diately return to New York. That the Remainder of the Troops of this Prov
ince are ordered to Albany, and from thence to Oswego, where they will be
employed as last year, unless other Services shall call them from thence ;
and that when the Campaign is over they willof Course be sent back to their
Homes.
couragement
” You are also to notify That the Troops who embark willreceive an addi
tional Bounty of forty Shillings allowed by the Province as a farther En
to induce them to go on that Service with Cheerfulness and
Alacrity.
” Given under my Hand at Fort George, in New York, the Twenty-first
Day of May, 1762.
“
“
commanding 1
Cadwallader Colden.
To Colonel Michael Thodey,
officer, and to all officers authorized to inlist Volunteers to
serve
” in the Forces
in the Pay of the Colony of New York.” 1
Havana.” as described by Bancroft,
“
was then as now, [in 1852,] the chief
place in the West Indies, built on a harbor large enough to shelter all the navies
of Europe, capable of being made impregnable from the sea, having docks in
which ships of war of the first magnitude were constructed, rich from the prod
ucts of the surrounding country, and the centre of the trade with Mexico. Of
this magnificent city England undertook the conquest.
The command of her
army, in which Carleton and Howe each led two battalions, was given to Albe
1 Vide: Collections of the New York Historical Society for the year 1891. Muster-rolls of the New
York provincial troops, pp. 268-273; 521, 525, 541, 545, 548, 549; 254-255; 380-381 ; 527, 536; 472
473 Document No. 8, in the Appendix.
172
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
marie, the friend and pupil of the Duke of Cumberland.
The fleet was in
trusted to Pocoke, already illustrious as the conqueror in two naval battles in
the East.
“Assembling the fleet and transports at Martinico, and offCape St. Nicholas,
the adventurous admiral sailed directly through the Bahama Straits, and on the
sixth day of June came in sight of the low coast around Havana.
The Spanish
forces for the defence of the city were about forty-six hundred ; the English had
eleven thousand effective men, and were recruited by nearly a thousand negroes
from the Leeward Islands, and fifteen hundred from Jamaica.
Before the end
of July, the needed reinforcements arrived from New York and New England ;
among these was Putnam, the brave ranger of Connecticut and numbers of
men less happy, because never destined to revisit their homes.
“On the thirtieth of July, after a siege of twenty-nine days, during which
the Spaniards lost a thousand men, and the brave Don Luis de Velasco was
mortally wounded, the Moro Castle was taken by storm. On the eleventh of
August, the governor of Havana capitulated, and the most important station in
the West Indies fell into the hands of the English. At the same time, nine
ships of the line and four frigates were captured in the harbor.
The booty of
property belonging to the king of Spain was estimated at ten millions of
dollars.
“This memorable siege was conducted in mid-summer against a city which
lies just within the tropic. The country round the Moro Castle is rocky. To
bind and carry the fascenes was of itself a work of incredible labor, made pos
sible only by aid of African slaves.
Sufficient earth to hold the fascenes firm
was gathered with difficulty from crevices in the rocks.
sumed.
Once, after a drought
of fourteen days, the grand battery took fire by the flames, and crackling and
spreading where water could not follow it, nor earth stifle it, was wholly con
The climate spoiled a great part of the provisions. Wanting good
water, very many died in agonies from thirst. More fell victims to a putrid fever,
of which the malignity left but three or four hours between robust health and
death.
Some wasted away with loathsome disease.
Over the graves the
carrion-crows hovered, and often scratched away the scanty earth which rather
hid than buried the dead.
Hundreds of carcasses floated on the ocean.
And
yet, such was the enthusiasm of the English, such the resolute zeal of the sailors
and soldiers, such the unity of action between the fleet and army, that the ver
tical sun of June and July, the heavy rains of August, raging fever, and strong
and well-defended fortresses, all the obstacles of nature and art, were sur
mounted, and the most decisive victory of the war was completed.”
‘
1History of the United States. By George Bancroft. 1552. Vol. iv.,pp. 444-446.
THE SWARTWOUT CHRONICLES.
Environed by such shocking and depressing scenes as these, heroically
suffering the same privations, courageously co-operating in the face of numer
ous reverses
173
and discomfitures to accomplish the reduction of fortifications
strongly built on steep and rocky eminences, Lieutenant Swartwout manfully
bore his part in the brunt of the siege of Havana and the storming of Morro
Castle and other Cuban strongholds in the successful campaign of 1762. He
with other provincial volunteers was undoubtedly among those who received
prize-money, as is disclosed by the following advertisement :
“This is to o^ive Notice to all Officers and Soldiers belonoine to the New
York Regiment in the Yeare 1762, that were at the Reduction of the Havannah,
under the command of Col. George Brewerton ;—That from certain Advice re
ceived from London lately, there are Powers [of Attorney] agreeable to proper
Forms to be made out here for the Recovery of the Prize Money due to such
as are entitled to it; and applying either to Col. Michael Thodey, or Col.
George Brewerton in New York, they may be put into the proper Method for
the Recovery of such Part as they shall respectively be entitled to. Those
who are entitled from the Wills and Powers [of Attorney ] of the Deceased, in
the first Division made of the Prize Money shared at the Havannah, and not
receipted for by me, will likewise have a Form given them, if they think the
Expence willanswer their Expectations.
” George Brewerton, jun.” x
Besides serving as a captain of a company of volunteers in the French and
Indian War, Jacobus Swartwout was commissioned on December 30, 1769,
” one of the coroners of the county of Dutchess.” 2
1 The New York Mercury, May 21, 1764.
a Record of commissions.
Liber iii.,pp. 430, 431, in the general library oi the state of New York.
