Page 31
History of Orange County
Towns of Goshen, Hamptonburgh and Chester
Page 31
     Dr. BENJAMIN TUSTEN, was a native of Southhold, on Long Island. He was born on the 11th December. 1743, and was the only son of Col. Benjamin Tusten, a respectable farmer of that place. His father removed into this county in the year 1746, bringing with him his son, who was then three years old, and settled on the banks of the Otter-kill, two and a half miles from the village of Goshen, on the patent granted Madame Elizabeth Denn. Such was the respect in which he was held, that he was soon appointed one of the judges of the court of this county, and promoted a Colonel in the regiment of militia on the west side of the mountains, including at that time all the county of Orange, north of the Highlands, from Hudson's river to the line of New Jersey. His son Benjamin he had intended for a farmer, being then in possession of a large tract of land; but not being of a hardy constitution, he relinquished that design and determined to fit him for a profession. For that purposed he sent him to an academy to obtain a classical education, at Jamaica, L. I. there being none in this county: there he obtained a thorough acquaintance with the mathematics, and a good knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages. At the age of 19 he returned, and commenced the study of Medicine with the late Dr. Thomas Wickham, of this town, whose character as a physician and teacher of medicine, stood unrivalled in his day. Medical books at that time, were difficult to be procured-none were published in this country, and as they were brought only by one profession, importations of them were scarce; indeed most of the physicians imported their own libraries. From this circumstance the libraries of physicians were small, especially those who resided so far back in the country. This induced young Tusten, at the end of a year, to leave Dr. Wickham and go to Newark, N. J. where be spent another year with Dr. Burnet. Here he became acquainted with a Miss Brown, whom he afterwards married. There were at that time no medical schools in this country, and he was induced to finish his education with Dr. Thomas Jones, a celebrated surgeon in the city of New York.  In 1769 he returned home and commenced the practice of physic at the house of his father. Although he had availed himself of every opportunity of acquiring medical knowledge which the times would allow him, yet he commenced practice under unfavorable circumstances-within three miles of his first preceptor: Dr. John Gale, in the village of Goshen, (if village it might then be called) and Dr. Pierson in the East Division, not three miles distant, all of whom had their friends and employers; he performed some operations in surgery which gave him a degree of celebrity, (Dr. Gale being the only one who pretended to do anything in surgery.)  Dr. Tusten was mild, modest, and unassuming in his manners, pleasant to his patients, and affable with all; he was also well acquainted with all improvements in surgery up to his time, which gave him a decided advantage over his competitor in that department of science.
     Inoculation for small pox had never been practiced in this county; indeed it was violently opposed and never resorted to but where circumstances had rendered it imperiously necessary.  Dr. Tusten commenced inoculation in the year 1770.  For this purpose he hired four houses-one at Hamptonburgh, near where he lived, another near the Stony Ford Bridge, another at East Division, and a fourth on the little island near the Cedar Swamp.  In those houses he inoculated about 800 persons, with such success as entirely to destroy the prejudices of the people against it. He kept these houses two years, after which inoculation was admitted into private families, and pock houses were considered no longer necessary.  He continued the practice of physic with success and deserved reputation, until the year 1779.  During his time he married Miss Brown, by whom he had two sons and three daughters.  When he died he left his wife with the fifth pledge of their affection, who is still living, and who never saw her father.
     In the year 1775 the discontent which had long rankled in the bosoms of Americans, began to break out in open opposition to the British government.  Their long, cruel and oppressive measures, which they had adopted in regard to these colonies, became matters of serious complaint, and excited a spirit of resistance, which called forth the energies of all citizens, who had a just sense of the injuries they had received, and of the duties they owed their country. Dr. Tusten early evinced a spirit becoming a freeman; he took a decided part in favor of the revolution, which had at that time just begun to unfold itself; he risked his all in support of that declaration, wherein the signers pledged to each other amid to their country, “their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor;” and he redeemed that pledge by the sacrifice of his own life.  By riding and exercise he had become more healthy: active and enterprising he had gained the confidence of his countrymen.  In 1777 he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Goshen regiment of Militia, under General Allison, and in 1778 he was appointed a surrogate of this county, which office he held to the time of his death.
          The military character of this gentleman and the part he acted in the battle of Minisink, are found in an account of that battle in which he lost his life, and to which the reader is referred.  We have extracted the biography of this individual from an Address delivered by Dr. David R. Arnell, before the Medical Society of the county of July 4, 1820.
     MAJOR WOOD.-This individual was made a prisoner at the battle of Minisink, because Brandt, from some accidental sign, mistook him to be a Freemason. On the evening after the battle, when Brandt was about to tie him, lest he should escape, Wood remonstrated, and, said he was a gentleman and promised not to escape. They did not tie him, but directed him to lay between two Indians, who informed him that if he attempted to escape they would tomahawk him.- The blanket on which he slept caught fire during the night, and he dare not move from his position to extinguish it, lest he should experience the reality of the threat, and be tomahawked. At last the fire reached his feet, and he kicked it out. The blanket belonged to Brandt. Wood was harshly treated by Brandt ever after, and when asked the reason of his conduct, he said, “d-n you, you burnt my blanket.”- Wood resided in the county for many years, and was a very respectable citizen.
     Some persons, after the battle, knowing how Wood's life came to be saved, were envious enough to say it was a trick on his part to effect his safety, and that it was cowardly and mean. But we are of opinion, from all the circumstances of the case, the character of Mr. Wood, that he was not a Freemason, and from the reason of the enmity of Brandt, as ex pressed in the above anecdote, that Wood was innocent of any fraud upon Brandt, and that the suggestion was a slander.