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Towns of Bloominggrove, Cornwall and Monroe

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Bloominggrove.-The patent to John Van Horn, Christopher Denn, Peter Mathews, Daniel Cromline, and others, in Bloominggrove, was granted in 1712, and contained 1000 acres. Washingtonville stands on this tract, which was sold in 1735 to Thomas Goldsmith for £200. It is quite evident from this that this vicinity was not settled till after 1735.- We believe that Vincent Mathews, Esq., the ancestor of Messrs. John I. and Fletcher Brooks, who owned “Stone-field,” was instrumental in settling this and other localities. We find his name on the roll of attorneys in Orange county as early as 1741, and that of Fletcher Mathews in 1753.- The bounds of this patent begin at the Wigwam of Maringamus, and we have been told that at a certain time when the owners and surveyors came to locate and run it out, they planted their Jacob Staff in the ground at the door of this Indian Wigwam, and that when Maringamus saw what they were doing, and knowing what effect the settlement of the county would have upon him and his tribe, he walked into his wigwam, gathered together what few things he wanted and instantly left his dear but humble dwelling, and was never heard of afterwards. The man who could do a deed like that, must have had a mind and will capable of achieving the most heroic deed. This vies with the self-sacrifices we read of in Greek and Roman story. Heroic Maringamus! while we lament the stern necessity which drove thee from thy dwelling, we admire the nobility of thy nature, the foresight that prompted and the courage that enabled thee to do the deed.

A settlement in Bragg's Clove was made as early as 1753, by Col. Jesse Woodhull of the Revolution. He came to this locality when about 18 years of age, and purchased about 500 acres of land, some of which is in the possession of his descendents. This individual is mentioned in an article on the “Woodhull family.”

There was an early settlement made at Salisbury, and we believe by Mr. Nathaniel Dubois, the grand father of Gen. Nathaniel Dubois of Newburgh. He owned 1,500 acres, covering the mill site at this place, which is now owned by Mr. Isaac K. Oakley. We believe he purchased of Vincent Mathews, Esq. He died at the old stone house near Salisbury, then in the precinct of Goshen, on the 12th of May, 1763. We have seen his old Dutch Bible, in the possession of his said grand son, Gen. Dubois, printed in 1734, which weighs 14 lbs. The lids are of wood, covered with leather, and 3-4 of an inch thick. The corners of their upper surfaces are strongly guarded with thick brass plates, 1-4 of an inch thick. The brass guard at each corner has a knob 1-4 of an inch high, to protect the cover when lying down. The clasps are very heavy, and the whole book is in capital preservation, and guarded sufficiently to protect a box of goods carried round the globe. A person who examines this Bible, made 110 years since, will conclude that there has been no improvement in making and binding hooks since that time.

The name of this town is fanciful, and adopted to express the pleasant, kind and fruitful nature of the soil, and which when compared with other well cultivated and prosperous towns, a judicious farmer would say, is a Bloominggrove still.

In this town the early settlers were the old families of Strong, Brewster, Howell, Dubois, Coleman, Moffat, Seely, Gilbert, Woodhull, Tuthill, Goldsmith, Brooks, Mathews, Pierson, Marvin, White, Chandler, Youngs, Halsey, Heard, Hudson, Little, Earl, Duryea, Wisner, Helms, and many others.

Cornwall.--In this town an early settlement was made at Canterbury, and the tradition is that some Germans came and settled just south of the small stream south of the present village of Canterbury. There they made the first clearings in all that vicinity, and planted their log cabins and an orchard; but in a few years sold out, left and went probably to New Jersey or Albany, where there were German settlements. To these succeeded other settlers, and their lands passed into the possession of the Townsend family, by whom some of them are still held.

Among the old settlers in Cornwall we name the Sutherlands, Sacketts, Sherods, Brewsters, Wood's, Clarks, Smiths, Townsends, Van Duzers, Mandevills, Bartous, Sands, Thorns.

We may have placed some of these early settlers in the wrong town, as they are now organized; but if so, the error is of no moment, as they were within the limits of the old town of Cornwall.

We have not space to be more particular. The name of Cornwall is doubtless from “Cornwallshire, England,” the south point of which is called Landsend. That shire is nearly in the shape of a cornucopiae, and from that circumstance derived its name. In the old British language “Cornyn,” signifies a horn or promontory, of which Cornwall is the English corruption. The two portions of land are not dissimilar. They are alike in being broken and mountainous, and in jutting out into the water, and the name is as appropriate as we should expect to find it. The original settlers or those who bestowed the name, probably came from Cornwall, England.