Page 39
History of Orange County
Town of Newburgh
Page 39
Among the early settlers of this village, and those extensively engaged in business, we name Jonathan Hasbrouck and his son Isaac Hasbrouck, Benjamin Smith, Isaac Belknap and Isaac Belknap, jr., his son, John Mandeville, John McAuley, George Gardner, James Renwick, Derick Amerman, Leonard Carpenter, Jacob Carpenter, William Seymour, James Donnelly, John Dubois, Joseph Hoffman, Robert Ludlow, Thomas Powell, Jacob Powell, Jason Rogers, Martin Weygant, Robert Gardiner, John D. Lawson, Alex. Falls, Robert Gourlay, James Burns, Daniel Niven, Capt. Hudson, Capt. Beebe, Daniel Niven, jr., James Bate, Adolph Degrove, — Howell, Benjamin Case, Capt. Benjamin Case, John Anderson, Edward Howell, Jonathan Carter, Samuel Wright, and James Humphrey. Some of these individuals were here before the Revolution and others came in close upon the heels of it, and others still at a later period. Smith, Hasbrouck, and Renwick were the principal owners of the land, now covered by the village south of the Glebe.
After the Rebellion in Ireland in 1798, some of its noble-hearted patriots, who had dared to breathe freely, and lift up an arm and voice for liberty, fled to this country from the tyranny and oppression of the English Government. This class of emigrants was far above the ordinary grade and some of them settled in and near the village. John Brown, John Abercrombie, John Caldwell, his sons, John, Andrew, and Richard, James Hamilton, John Parks and Alex. Denniston were among the number, some of whose descendants are now enterprising and industrious business men of the place.
OUR ANCESTORS.
“It is the advice of a sage that the history of Revolutions should be written neither so long after they have happened, that many of their events will be forgotten; nor so immediately after they have occurred, as to preclude it from being executed with the requisite impartiality."
What is true of History as a general rule, is equally so of Biography—the great mass of the one being but the embodiment of the more interesting and important acts of individuals. If you strike Biography from History you leave not a wreck behind. The very good and had actions of men, like good and bad spirits, pervade and constitute all history.— The individuals, generally, of whom we shall speak have been gathered to their fathers; some a longer and others a shorter period, but not so long since as to be wholly covered up by the dust and obscurity of years.
In the remarks made by the Hon. Daniel Webster, at the celebration of the New England Society at Washington, on the 22d of December, 1845, he observed “It is wise for us to recur to the history of our ancestors. Those who are regardless of the history of our ancestors and their posterity— who do not look upon themselves as a link connecting the past with the future, in the transmission of life from their ancestors to their posterity, do not perform their duty to the world. To he faithful to ourselves, we must keep our ancestors and posterity within reach and grasp of our thoughts and affections, living in the memory and retrospect of the past, and hoping with affection and care for those who are to come after us. We are true to ourselves only when we act with becoming pride for the blood we inherit, and which we are to transmit to those who shall fill our places.”
In planting us on these pleasant shores—in cutting down the stately forest, and clearing up these smiling hills and vales around us—in fighting the battles of the country—in declaring and maintaining in an undying charter our civil and religious rights, a guarantee of life, liberty and property—in laying broad and deep the foundation of universal education by common schools and academies to instruct and educate our children in knowledge and morals—in establishing precedents for the world in furtherance of human rights, which are hurrying on with resistless energy, the drift of empire to the west, our ancestors have achieved most wonderful things for us. The world itself now clad in the hoary vestments of antiquity, and governed by time honored institutions that are crumbling around her, before many ages shall have rolled away, will cast her idols to the moles and bats, bring her offering, and place it upon the popular altar of human rights. The very earth we tread cries aloud for gratitude, and by a thousand considerations of pride, patriotism, and future expectations, imperiously admonish that we remember and cherish the names and deeds of our ancestors with devout and filial regard.
“The years that greet each sister land,
Shall lift the country of my birth
And nurse her strength, till she shall stand
The pride and pattern of the earth;
Till younger commonwealths for aid,
Shall cling about her ample robe,
And from her frown shall shrink afraid,
The crowned oppressors of the globe.”
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To track up our origin to stars, garters, or embattled castles—to lords, knights, or esquires—is as vain as fruitless, for we are not of patrician blood. We speak of them generally, but doubtless there are many exceptions. We can name two families in one town, the ancestors of one of which, revelled for centuries in Ludlow castle, England; while the other is directly descended from the celebrated house of Tudor, which united the contending factions of York and Lancaster, and blended the white and red rose in one harmonious regal flower, and gave illustrious Kings and Queens to the British Throne. These things are certainly not objectionable, but we shall consume no time in finding them out.
On this point we may say in part with a Knight of Malta, who, on being inquired of in relation to the genuineness and respectability of his descent, drawing his sword, exclaimed “Here is my father and mother, and here” (scattering a handful of gold among his soldiers) “are all my relations and progenitors.”