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History of Orange County
Town of Montgomery
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JOHN BLAKE.—This gentleman was the son of John Blake of Neelytown, heretofore mentioned as an old settler as the place and of Irish descent. Mr. Blake was not an educated man, but received only such elementary instruction as the common schools of the country offered after the war and before 1790. Though the branches then taught were few in number, yet instruction was thorough in reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, surveying, etc. At the time of the division of Ulster county and the formation of Orange, Mr. Blake was Deputy Sheriff of Ulster and resided at Kingston. After this, and when his official period of service expired, he returned to Neelytown.
In 1800 he was appointed Sheriff of the new county of Orange, served its term and executed the office to the general satisfaction of his fellow citizens. In 1806 he was elected by the Republican party—the class of politicians to which he had ever been attached since entering in to public life—to represent the county in the general Congress of the United States. Some years subsequently he was again elected to the same office, and on both those occasions, his votes were cast agreeably to the wishes of his constituents. Mr. Blake was very modest and diffident, and therefore never trusted himself to speak in public while a member. Montgomery, his native town, had unlimited confidence in his judgment and discretion as a town officer, and so well were they satisfied with the care he took of their interest in the county board of supervisors, that he held the office for fifteen years in succession, and until he requested to be excused as a personal favor. While a member of the board they were engaged in settling the ratio of valuation of the respective towns in the county, and those members who knew the quality of land on public highway from Montgomery to Goshen and the Valley of the Walkill, were of the opinion that Montgomery was being rated altogether too low. They inferred the whole town, then including Crawford and reaching west to the Shawangunk kill, was of the same equally good grade of land, notwithstanding the assurances of Mr. Blake to the contrary. On the adjournment of the board, before completing their annual business, Mr. Blake invited one of the board to ride home with him, who had been among the most clamorous in favor of the high standard of Montgomery farms. At this time the bills beyond the village of Montgomery were but slightly cleared up and badly cultivated, and a large district of the town for several miles in an unenviable agricultural condition. On leaving Goshen, Mr. Blake, without disclosing his object, saw proper to leave the ordinary good highway leading homeward, conveyed his unsuspecting guest through and over the district of town above referred to. Before they arrived at the end of their ride the supervisor candidly remarked that he did not before believe there was so much rough and worthless land in the town, and that he was now satisfied Montgomery was rated full high at the value proposed by Mr. Blake.
Under this valuation the town remained a number of years; no one attempting to change it—under the belief it was reasonably high.
In addition to the offices named we further state that he was several times returned a member to serve in the Assembly of the state; for many years a Judge of the common pleas of the county and Justice of the peace.
Mr. Blake married the daughter of William Eager of Neelytown, and died leaving a large family to mourn and numerous relatives to lament his death. He died after a short illness in an attack of typhus fever.
From this brief statement the reader may infer that Mr. Blake must have been a man of superior talents in some respects, to have held these various and responsible offices. It was not so. He was as destitute of art and intrigue in the procurement of official station as any man probably could be; and if such things depended upon his own exertions, he would have remained his life time a private citizen. The hold that he held on public confidence was inspired by the wide spread honesty, uprightness and general integrity of his character. In these respects he was well known and appreciated by the county at large. They knew him to he trustworthy as a man and a politician, and that these interests would be safe when committed to his keeping. In all these respects he was emphatically an honest man, and as the poet says, “the noblest work of God.”
If there be a blessing in store for “the peace maker,” then our departed friend may be called “a child of God.” No one in the county was more frequently selected a referee to settle controversies at law, or oftener called on to arbitrate matters of difference between neighbors. These offices, though small matters in the actions of a man’s life time, still they go to show and make up public opinion, and the confidence community had, not only in his honesty, but his ability to serve them. Such men are the reliable guardians of the state, and noble examples for imitation in every age. Manhood, and youth more especially, may learn valuable lessons from this short note of the life of an honest man.
In person Mr. Blake was large, tall, very erect and inclined to be fleshy, with small hands and feet. His complexion was dark; features, coarse, strong and sedate, expressive of a calm serene mind, and of great good will. He was fond of walking as an exercise, and when he went to the village of Montgomery, which he frequently did on private and public business, usually performed it on foot with a staff in his hand.
Mr. Blake aspired to no higher station than that of a good practical farmer, which he was. His relations with the society around him, whether of a temporal or spiritual character, were all sedulously and justly performed; and while he was a kind and obliging neighbor, no large family of domestics and children lived under a government more affectionate and paternal.