Poughkeepsie, New York, USA
1877 - Poughkeepsie

POPULATION, 25,000. - SQUARE ACRES, 22,140.

Poughkeepsie was formed as a town March 7th, 1788. March 27th, 1799, the village of Poughkeepsie was formed and March 28th, 1854, it became an incorporated city. The town borders upon the Hudson, and contains some fine farming lands. Its surface is mostly a rolling upland. Wappingers Creek, forming the east boundary, and the Fallkill, flowing through Poughkeepsie City, each furnish a considerable amount of water power. The soil is clayey in the west, and a sandy and gravelly loam in the remainiug parts. New Hamburgh, Manchester, Rochdale, and Locust Glen, are small villages. A portion of the incorporated village of Wappingers Falls lies in this town.

The name Poughkeepsie is from the Indian word Apo-keep, and signifies a safe harbor. The Fallkill was so named by the Dutch, because of the number of cascades or falls occurring in that stream. The Indians called it the Minnakee. The bluff north of the bay at the mouth of the Fall Kill was called by the Dutch Slange Klippe, Snake or Adder Cliff, because of the venemous serpents that abounded there in olden times. The southern cliff bears the name of Kaal [Call] Rock, that being the place where the settlers called to the captains of sloops when they wished to take passage with them. With this bay, after whose beautiful Indian appellation the city and town of Poughkeepsie are named, is associated an Indian legend.

Some Delaware warriors came to this spot with some Pequod captives. Among the latter was a young chief, who was offered his life and honor if he would renounce his nation, receive the mark of a turtle upon his breast, and become a Delaware brave. He rejected the proposition with disdain. His captors thereupon bound him to a tree, and prepared to deal with him according to their customs. A half score of tomahawks were raised to hurl at the unfortunate captive, when a sudden shriek startled the executioners. A young and beautiful Indian girl leaped before them, and plead for his life. She was a captive Pequod, and the young chief was her affianced.

The Delawares debated. Suddenly the war cry was sounded, and some fierce Hurons falling upon them made them snatch their arms for defense. The Indian maiden seized upon this opportunity to sever the thongs that confined her lover; but during the excitement of the strife they were separated, and the Huron chief carried off the handsome Pequod maiden as a trophy. Her affianced conceived a bold design for her rescue, and boldly carried it out. A wizard entered the Huron camp. The maiden was taken suddenly ill, and the wizard was employed to prolong her life, until her capturer could satisfy his revenge upon Uncas, chief of the Mohegans. The lovers fled at nightfall, and shot out into the river in a light canoe, followed by blood thirsty pursuers. The Pequod paddled his beloved one to the mouth of the Minnakee, where he concealed her; and, single handed, fought the Hurons, and finally drove them off. This sheltered nook was. a "safe harbor" for her.

We append a copy of an ancient deed on file in the County Clerk's office in Poughkeepsie:

THIS INDENTURE made in the city of New York on the Ninth day of September, in the Ninth year of her majesties Reigne 1710, between Myndert Harmense of Duchess County in the Province of New York, planter, and Helena his wife, of the one part, and Leonard Lewis, of New York, merchant, of the other part, Whereas Col. Peter Schuyler of the city of Albany by Certain Deed made under his hand and seale bearing Date the Thirtyeth Day of August in the year of our Lord 1699, did grant, bargaine and Sell unto Robert Sanders and the said Myndert Harmense their heirs and assigns for ever all that certain tract or parcell of Land scituate Lying and being on the east side of the Hudson River in Duchess County at a certain place called the Long Reach slanting over against Juffrows Hook at a place called the Rust Plaats, from thence Eastward into the woods to a creek, Called by the Indians Pictawiikquasick, known by the christians Jan Casperses Creek, Northward to a Water Fall where the saw mill belonging to Myndert Hermanse aforesaid stands upon, and so southward alongst the Hudsons River aforesaid to the said Rust Plaats with all and singular its appurtenances, being part of the Lands granted to the said Peter Schuyler by Coll. Thomas Dongan, Late Gov. of this Province by patent dated the Second Day of June 1688, * * * and whereas the said Thomas Dongan, by patent bearing date the twenty fourth day of October 1686 did grant unto the said Robert Sanders and Myndert Harmse a certain tract of land containing twelve thousand acres to be taken in one entire piece out of the lands hereafter mentioned, that is to say out of a certain Parcell of Land scituate in Duchess County aforesaid called Minnesinck on the East side of Hudsons River to the North of the Land of Soveryn Alias called the Bakers with Arable Lands, Woodlands and Marshes with the creek called Wynagkee with Tree Tones, Range and outdrift for cattle and the fall of waters called Pendanick Reen, and another marsh lying to the north of the fall of waters called Wareskeehin as in and by the said Patent relation thereto may fully and at large appear, and whereas the said Robert Sanders has since deceased, and thereby the said Myndert Harmense as survivor is become solely vested in the premises, now this Indenture witnesseth that the said Myndert Harmense, by and with the consent of Helena his wife, by these presents sell unto the said Leonard Lewis for and in ye consideration of £140 lawful money of New York all those two tracts and Parcells of Land scituate Lying and being in the county aforesaid, and part of the above mentioned premises, the one beginning on the South side of a certain Pond on the Partition Line of Baltus Van Kleeck with a west Line to the Water side, and so along the water side to the land of John Kips to the Northward of the Creek having Water Falls and so east along John Kips Land to the Hill unto the Pine Trees, and thence southerly to the east of the Pond to the place where it began, with the whole creek and all the waterfalls thereof as well without as within the boundaries aforesaid as also one other tract beginning on the north side of a Piece of meadow that lyes by the River side and runs easterly along the meadow and marsh to the Sprout called the first Sprout which makes the bounds on the south side of Peter Viele and Runns along the said Sprout Easterly unto the most Easterly Part of the first Sprouts Plain, and thence East North East to the Creek Having Waterfalls, and so along the said Creek Southward to the Land of John Kips, and so by the said Land Westerly to Budsons River, and so along the River Northerly to the meadow where it began, with privilege of Cutting Wood and Timber in the woods, to make hay in all the meadows and outdrift for Cattle and Horses in all the Lands not cultivated of the said Myndert Harmense, and together with all and singular the woods, underwoods, Trees, Timber, Pastures, Feedings, Marshes, Meadows, Swamps, Stones, Quarries, Mines, Mineralls (Royall Mines Excepted) Pools, Ponds, Springs, Waters, Watercourses, Rivers, Rivoletts and the only privilege of erecting a Mill or Mills on the Great Creek aforesaid, without stoppage of stream or water. to Have and to hold the above bargained and hereby to be granted Two Tracts of Land, Creek and all others the Privileges, Comodities and Appurtenances before mentioned unto him the said Leonard Lewis his heirs and assigns forever.
MYNDERT HARMEN5E.
____ Co. Rec. Deeds, Book A. p. 251.

Another grant of land is recorded by which the relict of Robert Sanders convey to pieter u ziele of Duchess Co., "provided the said pieter u ziele, his heirs or assignees pay yearly and every year halfe a Bushel of good winter wheat when demanded, to commence from ye fifth day of September 1700 for quitt Rent into the sd Myndert Harmse and Thomas Sanders or their heirs or assignees. In testimony whereof the said Myndert Harmense and Helena his wife Elsie Sanders and Thomas Sanders have hereunto sett their hands and seales att pagkeepsing this 8th day of June 1708.

A true copy recorded and examined, per me, Henry Vanderburgh, Clerk, March the 11th Ano 172 2/ 3

Poughkeepsie was made the shire town of DUCHESS at an early period, because, as the record says, it was in "the centre of the county." The settlements were at that time confined to the neighborhood of the river, at Fishkill, Poughkeepsie, and Rhinebeck, and intermediate points. The first log houses were built upon the site of this city by two or three Dutch families, in 1690. The first substantial house was built of stone, in 1702. It was erected by Baltus Van Kleeck, and stood upon Mill street, near the corner of the present Vassar Street. It was one story in height, and was provided with loop holes for muskets, as a defense against the Indians - a common practice in early times. The stone lintel bearing the monogram of Van Kleeck, that was over its door, may now be seen in the outer basement wall of the dwelling of Mathew Vassar, Esq., at the corner of Mill and Vassar Streets.

As observed in another part of this work, the first buildring for a court house was ordered to be built in 1715; and a deed for the land on which the present court house stands was conveyed in 1718, by Henry Van de Bogart to Barent Van Kleeck. The house was not completed until 1746. Its construction was authorized by the Provincial Legislature in 1743, and it was built under the supervision of Commissioners, of whom Henry Livingston was chief; and who was appointed to receive and disburse the money raised for the purpose.

The first Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions, DUCHESS County, was established at Poughkeepsie, in 1734. The following is a copy of the order, issued by his excellency, William Burnett, Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Territories depending thereon in America, and Vice Admiral of the same, etc.

"In Council, an ordinance for establishing a Court of Common Pleas and a Court of General Sessions of the Peace in DUCHESS County, in the Province of New York:

"Whereas, in the establishment of the Court of Common Pleas and the General Sessions of the Peace, hitherto in the County of DUCHESS, over against the County of Ulster, there has been no Courts of Common Pleas or General Sessions of the Peace erected and established to be holden and kept within the said County, but the inhabitants of the said County 'have sometime formerly been subjected to the jurisdiction of the Justices of the aforesaid County of Ulster. For remedy whereof for the future I have thought fit by and with the advice and consent cf his Majesty's Council for the Province of New York, and by virtue of the power and authority unto me given and granted under the Great Seal of Great Britain, and do hereby Erect, Establish, and Ordaine. That from henceforward there shall be held and kept at Poughkeepsie, near the centre of said County, a General Sessions of the Peace on the third Tuesday in May, and the third Tuesday in October, yearly, and every year forever; which General Sessions shall not continue for longer than two days, but may finish the business of the Sessions possibly in one day, and that from henceforward there shall be held and kept at Poughkeepsie near the centre of said County, a Court of Common Pleas, to begin the next day after the Court of General Sessions terminates, and then only if business requires, hold and continue for two days following, and no longer, with the like power and jurisdiction as other Courts of Common Pleas in other Counties within the Province of New York, have used and enjoyed, any former Ordinance, Practice or Usage to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding.

"Given under my hand and seal at arms in Council, at Fort George, in New York, the sixth day of July, in the seventh year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.
V. V. BURNETT."

This Colonial Court House was burnt in 1785, and was rebuilt soon after at a cost of about $12,000. This second Court House was the building in which the Convention of the People of the State met, on the 17th of June, 1788, to deliberate on the new Constitution. The number of delegates was sixty one, representing twelve counties. DUCHESS was represented by Zephaniah Platt, Melancthon Smith, Jacobus Swartwout, Jonathan Aiken, Ezra Thompson, Gilbert Livingston, and John DeWitt. Governor George Clinton was chosen President of the Convention.

In the Convention, says Lossing, the supporters and opponents of the new Constitution were about equal in number. The subject had been ably and earnestly discussed in print. Governor Clinton and his family were all opposed to the measure. His brilliant nephew, DeWitt Clinton, then a young lawyer of New York, less than twenty years of age, had written against it in reply to Hamilton in the Federalist, and he attended the Convention here and reported its proceedings for the press. In April of that year, he wrote to his father, Gen'l James Clinton:

"If the Constitution is adopted, I am convinced that several people who now warmly advocate its adoption will exclaim 'From the insolence of great men; from the tyranny of the rich; from the unfeeling rapacity of the exciseman and tax gatherer; from the misery of despotism; from the expense of supporting standing armies, navies, policemen, sinecures, federal cities, senators, presidents, and a long train of et ceteras, Good Lord deliver us.' There is yet no prospect of its being ratified."

The debates in the Convention were long and earnest. The principal speakers were Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and Chancellor Livingston, in favor of the Constitution; and John Lansing, William Harper, Robert Yates, and George Clinton against it. The friends of the Constitution were gratified and strengthened by news that came by express from Richmond, Virginia, which arrived on the 2nd of July, announcing the ratification of the instrument by that State, on the 25th of June, by a majority of ten; and when the final vote was taken in the Convention at Poughkeepsie, on the 26th of July, there was a majority of only one in favor of the Constitution. That single vote in the Court House at Poughkeepsie decided that the people of this country should have a truly national government, with all its attendant blessings. Four of the six delegates from DUCHESS voted for it, namely - Platt, Smith, Livingston and DeWitt. Thompson was not present.

This historic building was destroyed by fire on Thursday night, September 25th, 1808. The flames were discovered about 10 o'clock; and were attributed to the acts of some of the criminals confined in the jail. None of the public documents in the Clerk's office were destroyed, and the prisoners were removed to the Farmers' Hotel kept by Amaziah Blakealee, on Cannon Street, nearly opposite the Duchess County Academy. The latter building then stood on the present site of St. Mary's Catholic Church. On the 28th day of October, on account of the destruction of the Court House, the Hon. Smith Thompson, together with David Brooks and Robert Williams, held the October term of the Circuit Court and the Court of Oyer and Terminer in the Reformed Dutch Church. The present Court House was ordered to be built the following year tinder the direction of James Tallmadge, John B. Van Wyck, and John Van Benthuysen. It is of stone, 50X100 feet, and cost about $24,000. Its walls are covered with stucco.

The Van Kleeck House, already referred to, was closely associated with the most trying scenes in our country's history. In 1774, the City of New York elected James Duane, John jay, Philip Livingston, Isaac Low, and John Alsop, delegates to the first Continental Congress. The DUCHESS County Committee, whose meetings upon the subject were held in the Van Kleeck house, adopted these delegates as representatives for their district.

When the state government was organized, in 1777, by the adoption of a Constitution, New York being in possession of the enemy, the first Session of the Legislature, under the new order of things, was held at Kingston, in July of the same year. But the invasion of the State at several points - by Burgoyne on the north, by St. Leger and his Indian and Tory associates at the west, and by Sir Henry Clinton on the south - compelled Governor Clinton to prorogue that body until the first of September. No quorum was present until the 9th; and before any laws could be matured, the session was broken up early in October, by the approach. of the enemy up the Hudson. Kingston was laid in ashes, and all was confusion. As soon as the alarm had subsided, Governor Clinton called a meeting of the Legislature at Poughkeepsie. It assembled in the Van Kleeck House, (then a tavern,) early in January, 1778. Various acts to complete the organization of the State Government were passed; provisions were made for strengthening the civil and military powers of the State, and it was during that session that the state gave its assent to the Articles of Confederation.

This building was the, meeting place of the inhabitants to consult on the public welfare, when the Boston Port Bill and kindred measures awakened a spirit of resistance throughout the country. There the Committee of Correspondence of DUCHESS held their meetings; and there the Pledge to sustain the Continental Congress and the Provincial Assembly was signed by the inhabitants of Poughkeepsie, in June and July, 1775.

Lee, founder of the sect called Shakers, was confined in this house in 1776, charged with complicity with the enemies of Republicanism. There many members of the State Convention in 1788, who met to consider the Federal Constitution, found a home during the session.

About half a mile below where Livingston Street intersects Prospect Street, near the river, stands the Livingston Mansion. It was built by Henry Livingston in 1714, and is a fine specimen of a country mansion of that period. The situation is delightful, completely embosomed among venerable trees, on a rising knoll near the river, and far removed from the burry and bustle of the highway. The once secluded beauty and quiet of the place has been rudely interrupted by the passage of the Hudson River Railroad within a few yards of the house. Its occupants have endeavored to preserve its ancient appearance; and even the orifice in the side of the house near the door, made by a cannon ball fired from one of the British ships which conveyed those troops up the river that afterward set fire to Kingston, is preserved with care, and shown to visitors as a token of the animosity of the British against active Whigs.

This was the residence of Col. Henry A. Livingston, grandson of Philip Livingston, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He died June 9th, 1849. Although living in retirement, he often consented to serve the public in important offices, and was never known to be absent a day from his post in the Senate Chamber, or in the Hall of the Court of Errors. He will long be remembered in Poughkeepsie as one of its best citizens. The accompanying cut is from a sketch made by the writer in June, 1875, at which time the building was still in a good state of preservation.

Another historic building is the Clear Everett House. Everett was at one time Sheriff of the county. He built the ancient stone house standing on Main Street, a little east of Whitehouse's Factory, and now called the "Washington Hotel." When the flying New York Legislature left Kingston, and opened a session at the VanKleeck House, Governor Clinton took up his residence in the Everett Mansion, from time to time, during the war and afterwards. In that house were seated, at different times, many of the leading men of the Revolution. There LaFayette was entertained early in 1778, and there Governor Clinton was visited by General Washington, who attended a session of a Masonic Lodge in Poughkeepsie. In that house Clinton wrote a vast number of letters, and from it he sent forth several proclamations. Among the earlier of the latter documents is one now in possession of Lossing, which closes thus:

"Given under my hand, and the Privy Seal of New York, at Poughkeepsie, in the county of Dutchess, the 23d day of February, one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight. God save the people."

'The New York Gazette, for the 4th of July, 1781, thus refers, in not very complimentary terms, to the Legislature here:

"There is a set of mob legislators met at Poughkeepsie; a little time will show whether they mean to expose themselves to all the vengeance, of which the majority of the late Assembly and Senate live in constant dread, many of them changing their lodgings to elude the search of the avengers of the innocent blood they have shed. Mr. Clinton, the titular Governor, has fortified his but [the fine stone mansion of Clear Everett] against a sudden surprise, and the rebel slaves of Poughkeepsie guard it every night."

The allusions in this paragraph are explained by a letter written at Poughkeepsie, by Governor Clinton to General Schuyler, on the 14th of August, congratulating the general because of his narrow escape from abduction by a band of Tories and Indians. In that letter Clinton wrote he had received a dispatch from General Washington by express; informing him that a party had been sent out from New York to seize the Governor, and deliver him to the British authorities there, for which service they were to receive a liberal reward. "I have persons out to watch their movements," Clinton wrote, "and am not without hope of having some of them, at least in my power. This is the third party which has been sent out on this business, and of which I have been apprised during the course of the Spring and Summer, and some of them have met their fate at this place, though for different crimes."

One of these, referred to in the letter, was Huddlestone, the British spy, who was captured at Wild Boar Hill, in Westchester County, near Yonkers, and was tried, condemned and hung at Poughkeepsie, in April, 1780. The place of execution was what was afterwards known as Forbus Hill; in the rear of the present Nelson House in Market Street. Mr. Lossing mentions having heard the venerable Abel Gunn, of Poughkeepsie, who was a drum major in the Continental army, speak of Huddlestone, and of his execution. He described him as a small man with a large head and thick neck. He was accompanied to the scaffold by the county officers, and a small guard of militia enrolled for the purpose.

The old stone house on Market Street was erected in 1741, by a Swede named Von Beck, and for a number of years was occupied by him as a hotel. It afterward passed into the hands of a Mr. Knox, who also used it for hotel purposes. It was at that time, probably, one of the finest houses of entertainment on the past road between New York and Albany. The house is of curious construction, the front being of brick, said to have been imported for this purpose from Holland by Von Beck. The back and end walls are of stone, while the gable ends are of brick. On the rear wall is a stone bearing the date 1741.

Four miles below the city is an ancient farm house, and a. mill, at the mouth of Spring Brook, at the eastern terminus of Milton Ferry. Here during the Revolution lived Theophilus Anthony, blacksmith, farmer, miller, and staunch Whig, who used his forge for making the great chain that stretched across the river at Fort Montgomery. Vaughan, in his memorable expedition up the Hudson in the Autumn of 1777, laid the rebel blacksmith's mill in ashes, and caused Anthony to be confined in the Jersey Prison Ship in New York. Three years afterward, Anthony's mill arose from the ashes of the old one.

The following letter relates to the construction of the chain, above spoken of:

FISHKILL, Sept. 11th, 1776.
SIR:- It is conceived highly necessary that the Iron Chain should be immediately dispatched. If it is finished, pray send it down to the fort without delay. If it is not finished, let no time be lost, and in the interim give us the earliest particular account of its present state, and when it will be probably finished. I am sir, your very humble servant,
WILLIAM YATES, JUN.

To Gilbert Livingston, Esq., Poughkeepsie.
A few years since a cruel instrument of warfare was picked up in the locality of the forge, and is now in possession of a friend of the writer. The implement of torture was made of iron, with three sharp prongs projecting in such a. way that one prong would point upwards in whatever position the instrument lay. It was intended to be thrown in the way of cavalry, to disable the horses.

Toryism prevailed extensively in DUCHESS when the War for Independence broke out. In fact, the inhabitants were about equally divided into Whigs and Tories. In the summer of 1776 an insurrection broke out in the county against the authority of the Provincial Congress. The insurgents went about in small numbers and disarmed Whigs, and at one time the outbreak was so formidable that militia came from Connecticut to aid in putting down the revolters. Many arrests were made; and the jail at Poughkeepsie being full, some were sent to the jail in the adjoining county off Litchfield.

In March of the previous year, a few Whigs met at the house of John Bailey, about three miles east from Poughkeepsie, and erected a Liberty Pole with a flag on it bearing the words "The King," on one side, and "The Congress and Liberty" on the other. The Sheriff of DUCHESS County attended by a judge of the inferior court, and "two of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace and a constable," with some other Tories, cut down the pole "as a public nuisance." This act no one dared to repeat the next year in Poughkeepsie, for then the fires of the Revolution were burning brighter and more decided.

When the news of the surrender of Cornwallis sent a thrill of joy throughout the land, it was received with delight by the patriotic citizens of Duchess County. The news reached Poughkeepsie on the 29th day of October. The Legislature was then in session here, says Lossing, and both Houses, with the Governor, proceeded to the Reformed Dutch Church, and there offered thanksgivings to God for the great deliverance. The Rev. John H. Livingston officiated on that occasion. From the church the members of the Legislature went out to the residence of the Governor to tender their congratulations. Cannon were fired, bonfires were lighted, and the houses of Whig citizens were illuminated in the evening.

At that time there were only two stores in Poughkeepsie, one kept by Beekman Livingston, on the site of the present Park House, corner of Market and Cannon Streets, and the other by Archibald Stewart, "adjoining the Dutch Church." Each kept a general assortment of dry goods, groceries, drugs and hardware. On the occasion just alluded to, Beekman's store was illuminated. Stewart was a Scotchman and Loyalist, and his store was "darkened," so to speak, by the light of a single tallow dip.

On the day of rejoicing here, a scouting party returning to a militia camp near the village (the "rebel slaves of Poughkeepsie") met another party just going out, when a negro belonging to the former called out to one of the latter, "I say, Cuffee, what all dat firing we hear today?" The other replied, Oh, my dear soul, nuffin' 'tall, only Burgoyne had a brudder born today!"

As before stated, when the first enumeration of the inhabitants of DUCHESS County was made, [1714] the number was only 445, of whom 67 were freeholders, and 27 were negro slaves. The most extensive slaveholders in our county at that time were Baltus Van Kleeck and Dirck Wessels, who owned five slaves each. Poughkeepsie increased slowly in population; and in 1737, when the county was assessed to build the Colonial Court House, the assessment of Poughkeepsie was less than $2,500 against $5,000 for Rhinebeck. One hundred years ago it was a hamlet of not more than 150 persons, yet it made quite a conspicuous figure in the stirring history of that time.

It was selected as one of the places in 1775, where vessels of the Continental Navy were to be built; and her; in 1776, the frigates Congress and Montgomery were constructed under the surpervision of Captains Lawrence and Tudor. One or two fire ships with fire arrows were fitted out here by Captain Hazlewood, in the Summer of 1776. The frigates were not completed and armed before late in the Autumn of 1776; they were wintered at the mouth of the Rondout Creek. The Continental Navy Yard was on the site of the late Edward Southwick's tannery, near the Lower Landing. The following papers relate to the building and launching of the frigates:

In Nov., 1776, the shipwrights employed on public works at Poughkeepsie petitioned the Convention of New York for an increase of wages. Everything was advancing in price, and the wages for journeymen was 8s., and 10s. for the foreman. The lowest price they agreed to take was 11s. and a half pint of rum per day for the journeymen, and 14s. and a half pint of rum per day for the foreman.

"Yours came to hand. We advise you by all means to launch the frigates as soon as you can, and then proceed with the vessels to the place most safe in Rondout Creek, near Esopus Landing. We are sensible of the custom to give a treat to the workmen after launching, nor do we know that $1.00 for each is too much. We would recommend that you give it careful consideration, that you may not be blamed of extravagance, nor we of giving sanction thereto."

FROM COMMITTEE OF STATE.
At the close of February, 1776, the navigation of the. Lower Hudson was unimpeded by ice, and vessels sailed freely between New York and Poughkeepsie the first week in March. Congress having ordered, as before observed, the construction of two naval vessels at Poughkeepsie, accordingly, on the 7th of March of that year, workmen and materials were conveyed to that place in a sloop from New York. Before the middle of that month, a sloop came down from Albany laden with lumber from the mills of General Schuyler at Saratoga, for the shipyard at Poughkeensie, and heavy cannon, and eight tons of powder and stores arrived at Albany, by a similar conveyance, for the army in Canada. The Upper Hudson and the lakes were clear of ice early in April - a circumstance that had not occurred in many years.

Seven Tories were at one time committed to the jail at Poughkeepsie, for robbing a number of houses. They were all painted and dressed like Indian men, but it was found that five of them were women, including a mother and her two daughters.

Samuel Geake, an emissary of Sir Henry Clinton, enlisted in Captain Swartwout's Company while at Poughkeepsie, in the character of a recruit; and, insinuating himself into the good graces of the officers of Fort Schuyler, acquired much valuable information respecting the means, designs and expectations of the Americans. He was suspected, arrested, tried by court martial as a spy, and condemned to death. He was spared, however, as a witness against Major Hammell, another recreant American, who accompanied him to Poughkeepsie;. and who was under arrest at that time. Geake confessed that he was employed for the crime of which he was accused. He said that Major Hammell who had been taken prisoner by the British, had espoused their cause, and was promised a colonelcy in the British army, and that he [Geake] was to receive the commission of Lieutenant as soon as he should return to New York from Fort Schuyler.

Samuel Loudon, of Fishkill, was State printer until he found a rival in John Holt, who set up his press in Poughkeepsie. Holt published the New York Journal, and like Loudon, had fled to a place of safety, first to Kingston, and then to Poughkeepsie. Three days before Holt's death, in 1784, Loudon petitioned for the State printing, preferring his claims on the following grounds:

"That your Memorialist's family is numerous and expensive (being twenty in number) and it will take considerable employment in the profession of a Printer, to yield them a moderate support.

"That your Memorialist has suffered much loss in the course of the War, not only by the depreciation of the Paper Money, but by the detention of both Public and Private debts, and have now to begin the world, though at an age considerably advanced.

"That your Memorialist has brought up his oldest son, a native of this [New York] City, after a liberal education, and has been taught the Printing Business, and is esteemed an accurate compositor, and that your Memorialist has a number of other good Workmen employed in the Printing Business.

"That your Memorialist printed the Journal of the Legislature of both Houses, while at Fishkill, and at a time when no other Printer in the State Would do them, as at that time, paper was extremely dear and scarce, they were printed to the approbation of his employers, and he is now ready to print the Laws or Journals of both Houses (should it be thought eligable to give him both) on as moderate terms as the price of paper and the wages of workmen will admit."

The first preaching in Duchess County was probably by ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church. Two societies of that denomination were formed in the county in the year 1716, by the Rev. Peter Vas, of Kingston:- one being located at Poughkeepsie, and the other at Fishkill. These were the first organized churches in DUCHESS.

A deed of land was given in 1718, for the use of the inhabitants of Poughkeepsie for a burial place, and plot for a meeting house, wherein the worship of God was to be conducted in the Low Dutch language. The deed bears date December 26, 1718, and was acknowledged before Leonard Lewis. The ground deeded was on the corner of Main and Market Streets. The older inhabitants will remember the mean old buildings which covered that ground until the year 1830, beneath which were the remains, thickly planted, of the earlier people of Poughkeepsie. In that year these remains were removed, and the fine buildings which now cover the front of the ground were erected. The late Gilbert Brewster built several of them, and that corner of Main and Market Street was long known as "Brewster's Corner."

The entire plot was devoted to burials. As the city grew this ground was wanted for building lots. At first the desecration was permitted so far as to allow the inhabitants to put buildings upon the ground, but were not allowed to have any cellars under them. In a little while, human bones began to appear about the streets, and around the dumping grounds, the people being inclined to transcend their privileges somewhat, some excavating underneath their houses unobserved. Finally the ground was dug over, the bones carefully picked out, and placed in a vault to the rear of the Smith Brothers restaurant.

The first Reformed Dutch Church edifice was built on the opposite side of Main Street; and there, in the rear of the store, may be seen the graves and gravestones of a burial ground attached to that meeting house. It was demolished about the year 1819, when the one was erected that was burned in January, 1857, and which stood on the site of the present First Reformed Dutch Church of Poughkeepsie.

The Dutch Reformed Church in this country (the exact counterpart of that in Holland) adhered to the custom of having preaching in the Low Dutch language, with great tenacity. The first of these churches in America were planted at New York (the Nieu Amsterdam), Flatbush, Esopus and Albany. That at New York was founded at or before the year 1639. It was the established religion of the colony, until its surrender to the English in 1674, when the Church of England took its place.

The first judicatory higher than a consistency among this people was a coetus formed in 1747, with no higher object than that of advice and fraternal intercourse. The first regular classis was formed in 1757, which involved the church in unhappy collisions, two powerful parties being formed within its bosom which carried on a war of words for several years, and, at times, threatened the church. It was, in a large degree, alienated from the mother church in Holland. Finally, in 7766, John H. Livingston (the father of the late Colonel Henry A. Livingston, of Poughkeepsie) went from New York to Holland, to prosecute his studies, in preparation for the ministry, in the Dutch universities. He was then a young man; but his representations produced a favorable disposition toward the American church. Its membership declined, in consequence of the persistence in preaching in the Dutch language, and Dr. Laidlic, a native of Scotland, was the first minister of that church in America, who was expressly called to preach in the English language.

Mr. Livingston was a native of Poughkeepsie, and received the degree of D. D. at Utrecht, in Holland, in 1779. During a portion of the Revolutionary war, he preached in the Dutch language in the first Dutch Reformed Church built in Poughkeepsie. He was appointed President of the college at New Brunswick, N. J., in 1807, and there spent the remainder of his life, prolonged till 1825.

There was no settled pastor over the Dutch Churches of Poughkeepsie and Fishkill for several years after their organization. They, however, enjoyed the occasional services of the Revs. Peter Vas, of Kingston, Gualterus Dubois, of New York, Vincentius Antonides, of Kings County, and Mr. Van. Deusen, of Albany.

The first minister regularly called and, settled over them was the Rev. Cornelius Van Schie, who was sent by the Classis of Amsterdam, in the year 173r, fifteen years after the churches were organized. The following persons constituted the first consistory of the Dutch church at Poughkeepsie: Elders, Peter Palmatier, and Johannis Van Kleeck; Deaccns, Lawrens Van Kleeck and Myndert Vanderhogart. Van Schie was succeeded by Rev. Benjamin Meinema, whose call bears date 1745, and who remained pastor of the churches till the year 1758. The third pastor was the Rev. Jacobus Van Nist. His ministry was short, for he died in early life. He was buried in the church yard at Fishkill, where his tomb stone was accidentally discovered while some men were digging a grave.

The death of Van Nist occurred about the period of the unhappy strife between the Coetus and Conferentia parties. In 1763 the Conferentia party of Poughkeepsie, Fishkill, Hopewell, and Rhinebeck, united in sending a calf to the classis of Amsterdam, to be disposed of according to its wishes. That body appointed Rev. Isaac Rysdyck pastor over the churches, who was regularly installed. On the 11th of Dec., 1769, the Coetus party presented a call to Henricus Schoonmaker, a candidate for the ministry, which call was accepted. So vehement was the opposition of the opposing faction to Mr. Schoonmaker, that at the time of his installation in Poughkeepsie, they forcibly closed the doors against him, and the services took place under an old apple tree not far distant from the present site of the First Dutch Church. Peace being again restored, Mr. Rysdyck relinquished his charge of the church in Poughkeepsie, and confined himself mainly to the care of the churches of New Hackensack, Hopewell, and Fishkill, until his death, which occurred November 2nd, 1790. He died very suddenly, from paralysis. The congregation had assembled that morning for services, when a messenger arrived and informed them that Rysdyck was dead. He was found alone in his room, with his completed manuscript sermon before him. His remains were placed beneath the floor in front of the pulpit (an ancient Dutch custom) in the old church at New Hackensack. When the old edifice was taken down in 1834, they were removed to the burying ground.

In the year 1800, a few Baptists began to meet for social worship in this place. They had but little preaching. Mr. Palmer was one of their first preachers. A council met at George Parker's, June 10th, 1807, and organized a church of 16 members. Francis Wayland, Sen., was their first pastor, who remained with them four years, during which time they built a house of worship. Rev. John Lawson, a missionary, when on his way to India, preached for them some time. He was succeeded by Lewis Leonard, of Massachusetts. In 1815 a Convention met with them at their request, and organized the Hudson River Association.

Aaron Parker succeeded Leonard as pastor, remaining one year. Their next pastor was Rufus Babcock, Jr., who was ordained with them. He continued there three years and was much esteemed. He was succeeded by R. W. Cushman, and Hutchinson. In 1826, Rev. A. Perkins returned, and was their pastor four years. In 1839, the church again obtained the services of Rufus Babcock, D. D., who served them as pastor three years more with abundant success, when he resigned to engage in the important duties of Corresponding Secretary of the American and Foreign Bible Society. Their house of worship, which had just then been erected, cost $20,000, one half of which was given by Mathew Vassar, a member of the congregation. Thomas S. Ranney and wife, Missionaries to Birmah, were for several years members of this church.

An aged resident mentions an old Methodist Meeting House - probably the first of that denomination in Poughkeepsie - which at one time stood in the vicinity of the burying ground between Main Street dock and the Lower Landing It was a plain edifice, and unpainted; it had no steeple, and was never finished on the inside.

The cemetery north of Poughkeepsie, on the Hyde Park road, was the ground used by the Reformed Dutch Church and society for burial purposes, after the old grounds on Market street were given up. Here may be seen the monuments of some of the oldest residents. Near the southern borders of the city, below Montgomery street, is the old Episcopal burying ground. Elegant residences are springing up around it; and the hurry and bustle of the busy throng contrast strangely with the solemn stillness of the sacred enclosure. Here, too are monuments marking the resting place of the ancient buried dead, shaded by venerable trees, and hidden by dense underbrush.

During the week ending Nov. 4, 1806, at a Court held in the village of Poughkeepsie, Judge Daniel D. Tompkins presiding, Jesse Wood was tried and convicted for the murder of his son, Joseph Wood, and sentenced to be executed on the 5th of the following December. The circumstances attending the murder were these: Joseph and his brother were engaged in a quarrel. The dispute rose to such a pitch that Joseph shot his brother, fatally wounding him. The father hearing the report of the gun, hastened to the scene and found one of them upon the ground bleeding, and Joseph standing over him with a gun. The father snatched the weapon away, and each tried to assist the wounded brother. In this position they were discovered by other parties, and the brother soon expired. At the trial Joseph accused his father of having committed the deed, and the father as strenuously accused the son. The wounded brother was unable to tell which was the guilty one; and as the father had the gun in his hand when first seen, the preponderance of evidence was against him, and he was executed. Joseph some years after, when on his death bed, confessed that he himself was the murderer, and that his father was innocent of the crime for which he was hung. A man named Shaffer was tried about the same time, having murdered his sister by splitting her skull open with an ax. The evidence being conclusive, he too was sentenced to suffer the extreme penalty of the law.

Executions in those days took place in public, and were made the occasions of a general gathering of the people for miles around. The gallows on which Shaffer and Wood were hung was erected on the grounds a short distance below the southern terminus of South Hamilton street, between the residence of Hon. J. O. Whitehouse and Springside. Thousands upon thousands were present, covering all the surrounding elevations.

The morning of the execution opened bright and clear. Joseph Thorn, Sheriff of DUCHESS County, had previously issued an order to Capt. Slee, directing him to parade his company of artillery, for the purpose of escorting the condemned the place of execution. At about 10 o'clock, the Sheriff entered the cell of the prisoners, which was on the lower floor of the old court house, where he found them in charge of their spiritual advisers, and apparently resigned to their fate. After securing their limbs to prevent their escape, the Sheriff led them forth into the corridor, where they were permitted to take final leave of their friends. Then, accompanied by the ministers, they were taken outside, placed in a close carriage, and driven to the scaffold.

The prisoners approached the fatal instrument with a firm step, and retained their nerve to the last. Everything being in readiness, the condemned were at once placed upon the gallows, which was of the old drop style. Jesse Wood, to the last, persisted in declaring his innocence; and the spectators were greatly shocked at this apparent hardened iniquity in giving utterance to what they supposed a falsehood at the very threshold of eternity. The death warrant was read to the condemned, followed by prayer by the clergymen. After being permitted to shake hands with those who accompanied them, the black cap was drawn, and they were launched into another world. We believe these to have been the last public executions in DUCHESS County.

"Sitting with a file of the Political Barometer before us, bearing date 1809, published in Poughkeepsie every Wednesday morning, by Joseph Nelson, five doors south of the Court House, we are for the time being carried back to days of cauld lang syne' in our local history. It is a long look back; end time has wrought many changes during the period that has elapsed since these sheets were issued fresh from the press. No one can deny that the newspaper reflects the spirit and progress of the age to an extent more marked than any other one thing. An antique and strangely arranged sheet it is; decidedly out of proportion as to length and breadth, and the old fashioned "s" (f) playing a prominent part. The reading matter is of the most solid and uninteresting character; while the local news is confined almost exclusively to the advertisements, and there must we look for items of interest." We give below a few of the more striking.

Cunningham & Smith, two doors west of Post Office, offer bargains in dry goods of all descriptions, also rums, brandies,' gins, salt, hardware, crockery, hollow ware, &c.

Benj. Herrick adds to these commodities, log wood, leather, drugs, wagons, &c.

Samuel Mulford and Nicholas Power, Jun., announce their co-partnership for carrying on the dry goods business in the yellow store opposite Paul Schenck's, Main Street.

Samuel Slee gives notice that he has purchased the stock in trade of Seelhorst & Co., in the Hardware Ironmonger ands bar iron business.

John Ryan carried on a grocery business under the hotel.

Baltus Van Kleeck & Co., offer for sale dyers and fullers articles, drugs, medicines, &c. They, [as all other merchants did at that time,] offer to take country produce in payment.

John L. Holthuysen carried on the lime and lumber business at the Lower Landing.

David Phillips has for sale one lot on the corner of Washington and Mill Street, five lots on Main, and two houses and lots on the corner of Academy and Main.

Cantillons & Collins offer for sale the noted estate called Cantillons Landing, on the east bank of the Hudson, County of Duchess, seven miles north of Poughkeepsie.

Francis L. Eerier conducted a French Academy at the house of Ephraim T. Paine, Esq., Main Street. Mrs. Paine had a school in the same building. It would appear that the streets were not numbered at the time, as none are given.

The following, copied from the ancient records in Poughkeepsie, show the form of a legal instrument in olden times:

Duchess Count ss.
Thomas Sanders, Justice of the Peace for said County assigned.
To all Constables and other officers as well within said county as elsewhere within the Collony of New York, to whom the execution nereof doth or may concern, Greeting.

WHEREAS, I have Received Information and charge against one James Jones, lately come from Lebanon, in ye County of Windham, in ye Collony of Connecticut, and Liveing in Dutchess County, at the house of one Ellexander Griggs, Calls himself a Weaver, a Lusty Well Sott Likely man full faced Brown Complexioned and wares a Black Wigg Irishman; by birth by the brogue on his Speach, who is Charged before me to be a Dangerous person and is suspected to have Stolen a silver spoon or the bigest part of a Silver Spoon; as by a warrant Produced; and the complaint of William Derddy of Lebanon in county afores sometime in the month of this present November.

Notwithstanding Seavverall Endeavours for apprehensions
of him he hath not as yett been apprehended but hath withdrawn himself and fled - Lately from Lebanon in ye County of Windham In ye Colloney of Connecticut and is Come to our County of Dutchess These are therefore in his majesties name to command you and every of You to make diligent search within your seaverall Precincts and Districts for said James Jones, and to make hue and Cry after him from Town to Town, and from County to County, and that as well by horsemen as by footmen, according to Law, and if you shall find the said James Jones that then you do carry him before some one of his Majesties Justices of the Peace Within the county or place whare he shall be taken to be Dealtt withal according to Law. Hereof fail not at your perils. Given under my hand In Dutchess County this Seventeenth Day of November, In the fourth year of our Reaign, and In the year of our Lord God Everlasting An° 1730.
The mark of X Thomas Sanders

To Franc Cool High Constapel, Justice of the Peace.
In Duchess County pursue after the person in this Hue and Cry.

The following is an account of LaFayette's visit:- General the Marquis-de Lafayette, after an absence of thirty nine years, revisited our country on the invitations of Congress, as the nation's guest, in 1824. He reached New York on the 15th of August, in the packet. ship Cadmus, Capt. Allyn, with his son and secretary. The Government had tendered him a United States frigate, but always simple and unostentatious, he preferred to come as an ordinary passenger in a packet ship.

There were no wires fifty years ago over which intelligence conld pass with lightning speed; but the visit of LaFayette was expected, and the pulses and hearts of the people were quickened and warmed simultaneously, through some mysterious medium, throughout the whole Union. Citizens rushed from neighboring cities and villages to welcome the French nobleman, who, before he was twenty one years old, had devoted himself and his fortune to the American colonies in their unequal conflict with the mother country for independence; and who, after fighting gallantly by the side of Washington through the Revolutionary War, returned to France with the only reward he desired or valued the gratitude of a free people.

General LaFayette was now sixty seven years of age, with some physical infirmites, but intellectually strong, and in manners and feeling cheerful, elastic and accomplished.

The General embarked at 1 o'clock, a. m. At half past two his approach was announced by a discharge of cannons from the bluff just below the landing at Poughkeepsie. Large piles of seasoned wood, saturated with tar and turpentine, were kindled upon that bluff, fed by hundreds of boys who had been intrusted with that duty, and which were kept blazing high, filling the atmosphere with lurid flame and smoke until daylight. Soon after sunrise, a large concourse of the citizens of Poughkeepsie, with a military escort, arrived at the wharf.

The boat having arrived, Gen. LaFayette, accompanied by Col. Huger of South Carolina, (distinguished for his attempt to rescue the General from the prison of Olmutz) Gens. Van Courtland, Fish and Lewis, were conducted to a barouche drawn by four white horses. Gen. Brush, assisted by Col. Cunningham, then formed the procession which moved at the word of command up Main Street into Academy, and down Cannon into Market Street, in front of the Forbus Hotel, where they were formed into a hollow square, and the General was received by the Trustees of the village.

He was next conducted to the upper piazza of the Forbad House, when an address of welcome was tendered by Col. H. A. Livingston, to which LaFayette feelingly replied. He was then shown to the centre hall, where the ladies, eager to offer their tribute of respect, were presented; after which he returned to the lower piazza, and was introduced to the officers present. He then walked along the line of troops, bowing to them as he passed, and receiving their respects. Among them was an old soldier bearing the marks of poverty and hardship, but whom the General recognized, and cordially shook by the hand.

At the conclusion of these ceremonies the General was escorted to the Poughkeepsie Hotel, where an excellent breakfast was provided. LaFayette sat at the head of the table, and Major Swartwout, a soldier of the Revolution, 95 years of age, was placed at the opposite end, the seats on either side age, being occupied by the most prominent persons of the village. Over the folding doors were the words "Welcome LaFayette," made up wholly of the pink blossoms of the china-aster.

Breakfast over, the General was escorted to the landing, and amid the firing of cannons, the waving of handkerchiefs, and the cheers from thousands, the steamer proceeded up the river to the then beautiful residence of Governor Morgan Lewis, where the party landed, proceeded to his fine old mansion, and partook of a sumptuous collation. About two o'clock the steamer glided through the placid waters until between four and five o'clock, when she reached Clermont, the manor house of Chancellor Livingston, of revolutionary memory. On landing the General was received by a large body of Free Masons, and was escorted by a military.company from Hudson to the beautiful lawn in front of the manor house, where the General was warmly welcomed by the Master of the Lodge in an appropriate speech. The afternoon was uncommonly beautiful. The scene and its associations were exceedingly impressive. Dinner was served in a green house or orangery, which formed a sort of balcony to the Southern exposure of the manor house. When the cloth was removed and the evening came on, variegated lamps suspended from the orange trees were lighted, producing a beautiful and wonderfully brilliant effect. Distinguished men from Esopus, Saugerties, Upper and Lower Red Hook, Catskill, Hudson, &c., had been invited. Among these were Robert and James Tillotsen, Walter Patterson, Peter R., Edward P. and "Oakhill John" Livingston, Jacob Haight, Thomas B. Cook, James Powers; John Suydam, Judge Willam W. Van Ness, Elisha Williams, Jack Rutson Van Rensselaer, Ambrose L. Jordan and Justis Mc Kinstry. But the grand event of the occasion was the ball, which was opened by General LaFayette, leading the graceful, blind widow of Gen. Montgomery, - who fell in the assault at Quebec, 1775 - amidst the wildest enthusiasm of all present. While the festivities were progressing within, the assembled tenantry who were to the "manor born," were feasted upon the lawn, where there were music and dancing. The party broke up and returned to the boat about 3 A. M. The steamer hauled out into the river, but did not get under way till sunrise.

On the afternoon of the 12th of August, 1840, a terrific thunder storm arose. During its progress the air was filled with sulphur, and "so incessant was the lightning that Main and Market Streets seemed to be one vivid sheet of fire." Major Hatch then kept the Forbus House. He was sitting with his back against the bell knob, in company with Gilbert V. Wilkinson and Charles Potter. The lightning entered a room on the second floor, and followed the bell wire down to the knob and on the side of the front door, striking the Major in the back, killing him instantly, and rendering his companions insensible. A ball of fire entered a room on the first floor of a house on Cannon Street, where it separated, one portion passing out of the front door, and the other going through the kitchen, striking senseless a girl who was at work there. Several other buildings about the town were damaged; the bells all rang the fire alarm, and general consternation prevailed among the people.

In the Autumn of 1844, the State Fair was held in Poughkeepsie, on the grounds in the eastern part of the then village.

The hill back of the city is crowned with a model of the Temple of Minerva. From this point the city appears like a town in the midst of a forest; and a view of a fine farming country of a radius of thirty miles, spreads out before the eye of the beholder. The city is profusely shaded with multitudes of maple, elm, and acacia trees. The building here mentioned was formerly the Poughkeepsie Collegiate School. This institution was organized in 1836, under the charge of Charles Bartlett and others. The school has been discontinued, and it is now used as a hotel. The following is copied from Barber's Historical Collections, descriptive of this once flourishing institution of learning:

"Its situation is truly a noble one; standing on an eminence commanding an extensive view of almost every variety of feature necessary to the perfection of a beautiful landscape From the colonnade, which entirely surrounds it, the eye of the spectator can compass a circuit of nearly sixty miles; on the south, at a distance of twenty miles, the Highlands terminate the view, within which an apparent plain stretches to their base, covered with highly cultivated farms, neat mansions and thriving villages. Similar scenery meets the eye on the east, but more undulating. On the west and north, the Hudson rolls in its pride and beauty, dotted with the sails of inland commerce and numerous steamboats, all laden with products of industry and busy men. In the dim distance, the azure summits of the Catskills, reared to the clouds, stretch away to the north, a distance of forty miles, where the far famed 'Mountain House' is distinctly seen, like a pearl in its mountain crest, at an elevation of three thousand feet above the river. At our feet, like a beautiful panorama, lies the city of Poughkeepsie, with its churches, its literary institutions, and various improvements in view, indicating the existence of a liberal spirit of well directed enterprise."

Two miles below Poughkeepsie is Locust Grove. This was the seat of the late Prof. S. F. B. Morse, a name known throughout every civilized nation of the globe as the inventor of the magnetic telegraph. Locust Grove was his summer residence, where he enjoyed telegraphic communication with every part of the United States and the British Provinces. This mansion is embosomed among the trees, on an eminence overlooking the river, and is one of the most charming retreats along the Hudson. Nearly opposite, on the west bank, we see Blue Point. It is said that under the shadow of these hills was the favorite anchorage of "The Storm Ship." The legend connected with this is one of the oldest, and therefore the most reliable. The story, which has been rendered immortal by the pen of the gifted Irving, is somewhat as follows: Years ago, when New York was a village - a mere cluster of houses on the point now known as the Battery; when the Bowery was the farm of Peter Stuyvesant, and the neighborhood of the old Dutch Church on Nassau Street was considered the country, say one hundred and fifty years ago - the whole. town was one evening put into great commotion by the fact that a ship was coming up the bay. The arrival of a ship, was, in those days, a matter of great importance, and everybody flocked to the landing place. The vessel approached the Battery within hailing distance, and then sailing both against wind and tide, turned aside and passed up the Hudson. Week after week elapsed, but she never returned; and whenever a storm came down the Tappan Zee, it is said she could be seen careering over the waste; and in the midst of the turmoil you could hear the Captain giving orders in good Low Dutch. But when the weather was pleasant, her favorite anchorage was among the shadows of the picturesque hills a few miles above the Highlands. It was thought by some to be Hendrick Hudson, and his crew of the "Half Moon," who had once run aground in the upper part of the river; and people living in. this vicinity still insist that under the calm harvest moon they can see her under the bluff of Blue Point, all in deep shadow, save her topsails glittering in the moonlight.

The following is from the Political Barometer, 1809; "The, sloop Edward, John Foster, Jun., sails from the Landing of Geo. B. Everson & Co., for the accommodation of ladies ands gentlemen traveling on business or pleasure, leaving Poughkeepsie on Tuesdays at 5 o'clock, p. m., and New York on. Fridays. Her berths are furnished with packing bottoms, new beds and beldings. Passengers will be let ashore if requested, at any place between Poughkeepsie and new York."

An aged citizen says: "I well remember the time when the old steamboats used to ply between New York and Albany and that when they hove in sight of the point coming down, boy, with an immense tin horn, would go up in the town and blow on the horn, to give notice that the boat was in sight. Those intending to take passage would come down to the river, without much necessity of hurrying either, as the old crafts proceeded very slowly; and there was plenty of time for the passengers to dress and walk down to the river before the boat reached the dock. In those primitive days the passengers were taken to the steamboat in a yawl, as the former did not make landings at the dock."

Whale dock is located a short distance north of Main Street landing. It is so named because the whale ships, that were sent out from Poughkeepsie many years ago, were moored at this point. This business was conducted largely under the patronage of Nathaniel P. Talmadge. Many a DUCHESS County youth signed the shipping papers, and cured his love for the sea by a long whaling voyage. The first ship sent out came back at the end of three years with a large stock of oil and whalebone, but the subsequent voyages were failures, and the business was finally given up.

A fearful accident occurred at the drawbridge spanning the creek at New Hamburgh, on the 6th of February, 1871, occasioned by the colliding of a special oil train going south, and the Pacific express train going north. The axle of one of the oil cars broke just before reaching the drawbridge, which threw the car from the track, and caused it to project sufficiently to be struck by the locomotive of the express train. The latter, locomotive and all, was instantly thrown from the track into the water on the east side of the bridge. Several of the oil cars were crushed, and the wreck of both trains set on fire by the flames communicated to the oil by the furnace of the locomotive. Three sleeping cars were attached to the express train. In the first of these, the passengers were so injured and stunned by the collision, that they were unable to leave the car before it was enveloped in flames, and all perished. The passengers in the other cars were comparatively uninjured, and escaped before the flames reached them. Almost immediately the bridge was likewise all ablaze, and in a short time it fell with a crash, carrying with it the burning cars, and burying in the ice and water the half consumed bodies of the occupants of the first sleeping car. Between thirty and forty persons were believed to have perished.

The eminences about New Hamburgh are covered with Arbor Vita Loudon, the English naturalist, says the finest specimens in the world of this species of tree are to be found here. The most beautiful are from six to ten feet in height. They are of all sizes and forms; from the tall tree that shows its first stem several feet from the ground, to the perfect: cone that seems to rest on the earth.

Many of the readers of this volume will doubtless remember that old river institution, the "horse ferry boat." The annexed is a representation of one of the last in use on the Hudson. In 1860 there were only two of the kind - one at Milton Ferry, shown in the cut, and the other at Coxsackie. Steam has superseded the horse as a motive power, and the horse ferry boat exists only in the memories of the past.

To the eastward of the city of Poughkeepsie are the sites of two race courses, now obliterated. One of these tracks was in existence but a few years ago; the other dates back to earlier times, when running matches were more in vogue than at present. Then the people came from all parts of the country, remaining three or four days. It is said it was not unusual for a large amount of money to change hands during. the races.

Vassar College, established for the higher education of young women, enjoys the distinguishing feature of being the first of the kind ever founded. Its history is thus briefly given by the historian, Lossing: Its Board of Directors was organized in February, 1861, and it was opened in September, 1865, with 350 students. It possesses an Art Gallery, Cabinet and Museum, not inferior to those of any college in our country, and has a Library of almost 10,000 volumes. Its founder, Matthew Vassar, lived here from his early boyhood until his death. He began his business life in Poughkeepsie 66 years ago, [1876] as a brewer of ale, a barrel at a time, which he carried around the streets with his own hands, and sold to customers. When by honesty, industry and thrift he had accumulated a large fortune in his declining years, he was induced by his niece, Miss Lydia Booth, who was at the head of a seminary for young women in Poughkeepsie, to contemplate the founding of an institution for the higher education of women. This germ expanded and yielded noble fruit. He gave a large portion of his fortune (he was a childless man) to the founding of this college, and lived to see it start upon a career of great prosperity and usefulness. Matthew Vassar, by an expenditure of $800,000, gave to Poughkeepsie the immortal honor of having within its borders, the first college proper ever established for the education of young women.

The same writer says of Eastman's Business College: - The Eastman National Business College at Poughkeepsie, New York, is not only the pioneer among these Institutions, in teaching actual business, but is a model Dr. Eastman first opened a commercial school at Oswego, New York, in 1855. Previous to that time only penmanship, arithmetic and the theory of bookkeeping were taught in commercial schools. He introduced with theory, actual business operations, teaching the students practical knowledge in buying and selling according to the fundamental principles of trade. In the College at Poughkeepsie, which was founded in 1858, the student not only learns the theory of business of every kind, but is actually engaged in the practical operations of a merchant, a banker, a trader, an accountant, and a bookkeeper, using real merchandise, and specie, bank notes and fractional currency, in as legitimate a way as if he were a member of a mercantile or business house. Each day's business is based upon quotations in the New York market, whether it be stocks, merchandise or produce. Dr. Eastman opened his College in Poughkeepsie, in a small room with only three students. They numbered sixteen the second week, and at the end of three years they had expanded to 500; and in 1863, to 1,200. The next year the College register, at one time, showed a regular dilly attendance of over 1,700 students. The rules and regulations of the Eastman Business College are calculated to insure order, and a high moral tone. The students are generally earnest young men seeking practical business knowledge. Its graduates, now numbering about 23,000, fill many places of trust in our land, and many others have become leaders in commercial circles.

In August of 1853, the Young Men's Christian Association of the City of Poughkeepsie was founded, at a meeting held in the First Methodist Church. That meeting was addressed by Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, the pioneer in the organization of similar institutions in this country. The Association was organized by the appointment of John H. Mathews as President, J. I. Platt as Secretary, and W. B. Frissell, as Treasurer. A reading room was furnished, the nucleus of a library was formed; stated prayer meetings were established, and Committees were appointed to do active christian work. By persevering effort and the generosity of the citizens of Poughkeepsie, and other liberal minded people, the spacious building occupied by the association was purchased, and the usefulness of the institution greatly extended.

Space would fail were we to mention, at length, the "Home for the Friendless," "Old Ladies' Home," "St. Barnabas Hospital," "House of Industry," and other kindred institutions, with which are closely associated the prosperity and happiness of the people.

The Poughkeepsie Female Academy was founded in 1836, being incorporated under the Regents of New York. The Principal, Rev. D. G. Wright, A. M., a gentleman of superior talents, and of ripe scholarship, has held his present position during the past seventeen years.

The Duchess County Academy building was erected in 1836, at a cost of $14,000. This institution was first organized in Fishkill, and afterwards removed to Cannon Street, Poughkeepsie. In the year above mentioned it was again removed to its present location, on Hamilton Street, where it is now used as The Old Ladies' Home.

The Hudson River State Hospital is one of the finest public institutions in the country, standing on the Highlands, two miles north of the city of Poughkeepsie, commanding a fine view of the Hudson River for miles. The hospital was established by act of the State Legislature passed in 1866, and was erected under the supervision of Dr. J. W. Cleaveland, the present able and skillful Superintendent. It has accommodations for 600 patients, 300 of each sex; and when the additions now being erected under the direction of Mr. Post are completed, it will have a capacity for about 1,000 patients.

The manufacture of mowing and reaping machines is among the most important of American industries. Of these implements, none has gained a more deserved popularity than the Buckeye Mower and Reaper - which may be termed a DUCHESS County institution - manufactured by Adriance, Platt & Co. These machines were first brought out in 1857, when twenty five were made. The manufacture and sale has risen to 30,000 in a single year. The manufactory stands on a bold bluff of the Hudson, and comprises a handsome group of structures.

But a description of Poughkeepsie would be incomplete without a mention of Eastman's Park; which, though purchased and maintained by the private purse of Hon. H. G. Eastman, is as free to the public as though owned by the city itself. The grounds are the admiration of all who see them. The wall surrounding them is of superior workmanship, of cut marble and blue stone. The entrances are of solid white marble piers. It has been appropriately styled the "Central Park" of the city of Poughkeepsie; and here the Fourth of July celebrations, Summer evening concerts and other public entertainments are held without any charge for the grounds. Inside of the enclosure are fountains and ponds, a music park, ball ground, skating park, deer park, and an extensive flower garden. The Soldiers' Fountain, at the junction of South Avenue and Montgomery Street, and opposite the Park, is among the largest and most artistic fountains in the country. It is a massive iron structure, some forty feet in height, and of very graceful proportions. Eight cannon project from the large basin, from the mouth of which are thrown jets of water made to resemble the smoke and blaze of a discharged field piece. There are some forty water jets in all in connection with the fountain, and the effect is very fine. Professor Eastman was the originator of this public work; and after a failure to raise the means to construct it by general subscriptions and entertainments, he completed it at his own expense.

The Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery comprises about 54 acres, situated between the old post road and the river, about one mile below the city. This is as picturesque and lovely a spot as could be selected for the resting place of a city's dead. Although but recently laid out, it already contains many fine monuments.

The Collingwood Opera House is one of the finest music halls in the country. It is excellently fitted and appointed, and has a seating capacity for over 2,000 persons. The new Public Library building is a large and elegant structure. The library itself comprises many choice volumes and periodicals, which add greatly to the interests of the city.

The Poughkeepsie Bridge, work on which has been commenced, and which is destined to be another distinguishing feature of the city, will, when completed, constitute one of the grandest structures in the country. Its dimensions are given as follows: The main river bridge will be composed of five spans, of 525 feet each. These are to have each two trusses, 25 feet from centre to centre, constructed of iron and steel. The base of the rails, which will be of steel, will be 193 feet above high tide, and the top of the piers 135 feet. The total length of the bridge and its approaches will be 4,500 feet. Art excellent view of the contemplated structure is elsewhere given in this volume.

General History of Dutchess County..., By Philip H. Smith, 1877

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