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History of Orange County
Towns of Goshen, Hamptonburgh and Chester
Page 16
We will detain the reader, by asking him to step into the new double log house of Christopher and Madam Denn, and witness the marriage ceremony. Whether male or female, old or young, they are unworthy to wear the bonds of Hymen if they refuse the invitation. We know they will not, for it is not a matter of every day occurrence.
Previous to this time courts of justice had been established and a magistrate resided in the neighborhood, who was called upon to perform the marriage ceremony, there being no priest to do it. Bull was an Episcopalian, and wished to be married according to the forms of that Church, but how were the bans to be published three times, to make the contract valid. After long deliberation they concluded, that circumstances altered cases, and that three proclamations made in one day, were as effectual for all purposes, as if they were made during three successive weeks. To test the principle and carry it out in practice, the guests being assembled and the bride and groom anxiously waiting to know how it was to be performed, the magistrate, with a solemnity demanded by the occasion, took up the book of common prayer and proceeded to the front door of the house, and there proclaimed the bans to the trees of the forest, then he walked through the hail to the back door and made a second proclamation to the cattle and outbuildings, and then again at the front door made a third, to the wilderness at large. The trees of the forest made no objection, the cattle did not forbid the bans, and the wilderness seemed to echo back its approbation and consent, whereupon, the marriage ceremony was immediately performed. Though this was a new and hazardous experiment on a delicate subject, we never heard that its legality was questioned, even by those who were most personally interested in the matter. Tradition affirms this to have been the first marriage within the limits of the old town of Goshen.
Settlement of Hamptonburgh.
It will be recollected, that Christopher Dean had promised Sarah Wells 100 acres of land for commencing the settlement of the patent, who now being of age and married, and having chosen a guardian to lean upon and protect her for life, requested a fulfilment of the promise. Without disclosing his object, he advised her “not to be in a hurry about it, that she had married a young Irishman who might play her some trick, and finally leave her; and the title might as well be left where it was for the present.” At this she became offended, as it cast an unworthy imputation upon her husband, and she replied that “Bull was born in England, and though brought up in Ireland, she did not know that that made him an Irishman; and that he was as good an Englishman as himself.” Denn manifested no resentment at what she said, and smiling pleasantly put her off. He told her, however, to go and select 100 acres of his unimproved land where she pleased, and locate it, and it should be secured to her. This was done and possession taken. Bull, like many of us at this day, desired to possess land that he could call his own, and in place of settling and making erections on the 100 acres, located on the south easterly side of Christopher Denn's lot, then considered wild and unappropriated, and now designated by the “old Bull stone house at Hamptonburgh.” On this he erected his log cabin in 1719 or 20. The location was a favorable one. The land was of a fine quality and well watered, and on settling called the place “Hamptonburgh,” in honor of Wolverhampton, the place of his birth, which it yet retains. It is proper to say that the title to the 100 acres of bounty land was made in fee simple to John Bull, the eldest son, which was a compliment too frequently paid by the partiality of the English law.
Bullshead, the village of Hamptonburgh and the residence of Ebenezer Bull, Esq., the old stone house, are on the 100 acres.
When Denn settled, he supposed he located on the patent of Wawayanda, but as that patent was bounded there by the northwest line, when the new northwest line came to be run, it cut Denn's settlement off of the patent. His improvement was secured in this way. By the English law, at this time, a bona fide settler was entitled to a patent of 600 acres, and this he determined to procure, but dying before he accomplished it, the patent was issued to his widow, Madam Denn.
Besides the patent in Walkill, Bull and Gerrad, in 1723, procured one of 2,600 just east of the 100 acres, which was a part of the patent to Capt. John Evens, and on this William Bull erected the stone house in 1727, which is still standing. This building is literally founded on a rock and has a spring in the cellar. We have recently examined it and found it in good repair, and baring accidents, likely to stand another 120 years. The house is two stories of 11 feet each, with a sharp roof, and for a dwelling of that number of stories, is the highest in the county, measuring from the first floor to the peak. It is wonderful that the building is in the good preservation we found it, for it has once been riven by a thunder bolt, and while building was rocked by the vibrations of an earthquake.
The family tradition is, that before the stone house was erected, Bull lived in a log hut in the vicinity, and that while the stone house was building and nearly completed, about 12 o'clock at night, he and Mrs. Bull were waked up by a rumbling noise and a shaking of the bed and house, which they thought an earthquake, and Mrs. Bull remarked to him, “William we have lost our new house.” On inspecting the building in the morning they found a crack, beginning in the lower part, of the first story, at the east end, which extended up through the second story. This was plastered up and, the house finished, and the seam is very observable at this time. Indeed there has been no time since built, when it was not there. We had heard of this tradition and mentioned it to several persons, but no one gave it credence. While examining it a few days since, our doubts of its truth were: suggested to Mr. E. Bull, who said, “Samuel thee need not doubt it, for I will prove it to thee.” He walked to his library, took down a book and referred us to the page which contained the evidence. The book was a re-print in 1826 of an old work entitled, “The Life and Travels of Samuel Bownes, in 1726 and 7. ” Bownes was an English Quaker and came out to travel and visit his friends in the colonies, and while here attended the yearly meetings through New England.-In September 1727 he was attending the yearly meeting at Cockset, in Rhode Island, which lasted three days. Speaking of the conclusion of the meeting he says: “This evening as I was going to bed, about 10 o'clock at night, there was an exceeding great earthquake, that made a noise like driving carts or wagons on an uneven causeway; it continued about two minutes to the great surprise of the people. It was felt about 1,500 miles as was afterwards computed, and as was thought, by calculation was not quite three hours going that space.”
This we think, establishes the truth of the family tradition beyond even a reasonable doubt.