Page 54
History of Orange County
Town of Newburgh
Page 54
     McNeal had an offer for it, and requested a reconveyance to perfect the sale, which was made, and the consideration paid to McNeal.  Very shortly after this time, and before Mr. McAuley knew of the receipt of the money—then living in Newburgh—there was a training or military parade of some kind in the town of Fishkill, and while the same was being held, McNeal, in a state of intoxication or heated with liquor, came upon the ground occupied by the troops, and behaved very improperly.  He had had a lawsuit, with Capt. Van Wyck of Dutchess county, which being decided against him, and at his request tried a second time before arbitrators, and again decided against him, he still remained dissatisfied, and threatened to revenge himself upon him.— With such intentions he had previously attended a horse-race, with the expectation of finding Van Wyck there, but being disappointed followed him to the training grounds where he was informed he was to be found.  At the time of his arrival, Capt. Van Wyck was at the head of his company performing some military movement, and McNeal approached him from behind, and attempted to strike him, but missed him by the timely interference of some of the persons present.  Van Wyck ran him through with his sword on the spot, and he died in a day or two.  Van Wyck was indicted for the act, and tried at Poughkeepsie and acquitted.
     He lived to be an aged man, was held in high esteem by his fellow citizens, and justified in the act, as well by public opinion as by the law of the land.
     After the unfortunate occurrence, and fearing it would prove mortal, the friends of Mr. McAuley, knowing the state of money matters between them, sent for him, in the expectation that they might be arranged and he secured before Mc Neal should die.  He went post haste, but death had arrived there before him and settled the account.  Thus he lost this debt—a large sum at that day—which placed Mr. McAuley in straightened circumstances, and from which we might say he never fully recovered.
     Mrs. McNeal was rich—independent of her husband, and might, had she been so disposed, have paid the claim with out injury, yet she did not think proper to do so.  This, however, is not a solitary case, for the country is full of them, really as unfeeling and cold-blooded as this, and perpetrated without remorse, or one word of kindness or look of regard toward the innocent victims of such pecuniary defaulters.
     In 1791, he married Miss Sloan of Poughkeepsie, and permanently located in Newburgh.  His lands in Essex county were exchanged with Mr. Adam Fairchild for lots in the village, some of which he exchanged with Mr. Adolph Degrove for a lot in Water street, at the corner of Water and Third streets, where he conducted a mercantile business for thirty-five years.  He died Nov. 20, 1833, aged 88 years.
     His children that grew up were, John, Catharine, wife of Sam’l W. Eager, Robert, Mary and William, all of whom are dead, except Mrs. Eager and William.
     William McAuley, one of the elder brothers, continued to reside on his lands in Essex county till he died.  He married Miss Gillerland, a relative of the gentleman of that name, mentioned in the early part of this article.  We are not sufficiently informed of the history of this branch of the family to be more particular.
     Robert McAuley, the other brother, after the war of the Revolution, ceased to reside in Essex county, and removed to Kingston in Canada, where he also became a merchant.  He married Miss Ann Kirby of Ticonderoga.  He was very successful in business, and became an individual of great wealth, and deservedly so.  He possessed all the business talents of the three brothers.
     His children were Robert, John and William.  Robert studied law, practised a few years and died.  John continued the extensive mercantile business of his father at Kingston, and is still living.  This gentleman has held several lucrative and responsible offices under the colonial government, of which he seems to be a favorite, such as Post Master, President of their Board of Internal Improvements, Member of the Provincial Legislature, Member of the Governor's Council.  He is a very reputable man, and stands high with the members of the party which rules the destinies of the Province.
     William, his younger brother, is a clergyman of the established church, was educated at Oxford, and studied divinity in England.  He resides at Toronto, formerly Little York, and his church living is among the best and richest in Canada.
     The subject of remark was small in stature, of very fair complexion, active and sprightly.  He had the character of liberal, just and honest man, who interested himself in all that concerned the welfare of the village and its institutions.  He is said to have been liberal to a fault, considering him mean, in all matters connected with the church of which he was a member.  His friends were heard to chide him on him over liberality in that respect.  In this connection we have spoken of him previously.  As a business man his great deficiency was in being too confiding in the representations of him customers, believing all men honest like himself, and in not collecting his dues in time to save them from being lost.  The consequence of all which was, as was to be expected, a continual loss from year to year, by virtue of the credit system too liberally extended.  Mr. McAuley was eminently a man of peace, kind, obliging and humane, and would rather be cheated or deprived of a debt than have a lawsuit or controversy of any kind.  The citizens of the village were universally his friends, and we think he died as he lived—without an enemy.  He was an early settler in the village, and among the first, if not the first, who sat up a regular store at the place.  In his domestic relations, we are warranted in saying, that no household was ever blessed with a more kind and affectionate husband and father.
     An anecdote not unfrequently developes the general character, and the peculiar temperament of an individual more dearly than an elaborate description of him.  Under this impression, when in our power, we have assumed to present the subject of remark to the reader by some incident in his life illustrative of character, as the shortest and most pertinent mode of accomplishing our object.  With the reader’s permission, we will adopt this course on the present occasion, and detain him but a moment.