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History of Orange County
Town of Montgomery
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These were the last Indians seen in this vicinity in any considerable numbers. Unless we draw upon fancy which we are not inclined to do, we can only point to the Indian localities in the various towns, as now designated by tradition, and must consider their names and history lost. The same we have said of their customs, habits and manners. As far as we have been informed, they lived on terms of friendship with the early settlers in this town. We have not been informed of a good or bad act performed by them while they remained, worth relating. If they nourished a demon he slept quite soundly during their residence here.
JOHANNES MILLER, ESQ., AND ANCESTORS.—The father of Johannes Miller was John Miller, and his grandfather Johannes Miller, a German who emigrated to this country in the beginning of the 18th century, perhaps as early as 1720. On arriving at New York he remained there some time, and then removed to Esopus in Ulster county. From there he removed into the town of Shawangunk, in the neighborhood of the Schoonmakers and Bruyns, where he was hospitably received and pleased with the country. Brought up to labor at home, he could throw the shuttle, and, as there was weaving to be done at the place, concluded to try his skill upon the new products of the wilderness. He was young, sober and industrious. There were some young females in the families for whom he worked, who occasionally made and supplied him with quills for his web, and before he or they were aware, the young German had woven up one of these youngsters in a mesh of love; and Hymen approving the union, stopped the flying shuttle for a moment, spliced the threads and tied them up with a weaver’s knot. Jemima Schoonmaker, daughter of Cornelius Schoonmaker, one of the first settlers in Ulster, for being a quilling girl, became Mrs. Johannes Miller.
"Oh! there are moments dear and bright,
When love's delicious spring is drawing
Soft as the ray of quivering light,
That wakes the early smile of morning:
'Tis when warm blushes paint the cheek,
When doubt the thrill of bliss enhances,
And trembling lovers fear to speak,
Yet tell their hopes by silent glances."
Weaving was now laid aside, and their young thoughts directed to something more profitable and diversified for a living. We are not in possession of this date. The ensuing spring Miller concluded to inspect the lands along the valley of the Walkill for a location. These were not held in high estimation by the early settlers of Ulster, for they were neither flat nor fat as theirs, or those in Holland. We have been told that about 120 years ago the people about Esopus raised a committee of five, and sent them into Dutchess county to explore the unsettled lands with a view of settlement, who, on their return, reported that the lands were not worth crossing the river for.
Miller, with new born hopes, full of expectations and his light heart beating at the thought of Jemima, whiled his lonely way on horseback along the valleys and hills which skirted the Walkill, and entered the town of Montgomery. Here, from inspection, he was satisfied he had found lands upon which he could live by honest industry, and the help of his young vow. He returned, ladened with good fortune and high hopes, with a saddle of fat venison behind him, to relate the adventures of a week and the rich discoveries he had made. Jemima became an easy convert to the truth of the narrative, and agreed, God willing, the ensuing Spring to accompany him, put up a cabin in the wilderness on the fair banks of the Walkill, clear the land and share the golden fleece. Not knowing the owner of the lands in view, they agreed to possess and cultivate, until they could legally purchase. This was a common practice at that early day, and we of the present denominate it squatting. It was done in good faith, and grew out of the necessities of the case. They did then what our western emigrants are now doing every day upon the lands of the government, and they were actuated by designs fully as honest.
The time for Jemima to leave her father's dwelling came, and what was more bitter, the presence and care of her mother, and many were the terrors and awful stories conjured up and related with appropriete and double horrors to frighten her against leaving a safe and civilized settlement, to locate among the ferocious and cruel Indians of the wilderness. But all the raw head and bloody bone stories fell frightless and lost upon a true and faithful heart—and she resolved to go where Miller went and stay where he staid.
"Armed with Cupid's darts
She feared no evil
From mortal man or demi-devil."