Page 18
History of Orange County
Town of New Windsor
Page 18
At the end of the war, Col. McClaughrey returned to his in farm in Little Britain, where lived most respectably surrounded by his friends and compatriots in arms. He was a true patriot, a lover of human freedom and a warm-hearted friend. The contents of his will-an extract of which we have placed before the reader, are, in part, proof of this remark. He bore a most cordial dislike to tyranny and oppression of every kind, and was ready on all occasions to battle against them. He was fearless and of indomitable courage, self-willed and a kind of Mad Anthony Wayne in miniature. He died in 1790, aged 67, having had no issue. His widow lived many years after his death, and died in the village of Newburgh, where she resided.
MATHEW DUBOIS.--This gentleman was a Huguenot, and a descendent of those early emigrants in Ulster county. He lived neighbor to Robert Burnet, Esq. and Gen. James Clinton. During the war he was an assistant commissary. At the commencement of the war he sailed a sloop from New Windsor, and having to go to Boston on business in 1777, when the English were expected to pass up the river, he bored holes in the bottom the sloop, as she laid at the dock, which he showed to his family, and on leaving directed them to sink the vessel in case of necessity. The English came while Dubois was absent, and the sloop was sunk according to order. He died in 1799, aged 75 years.
His son David, was a Lieutenant in the army, went to Quebec under Gen. Montgomery and stood by his side when he was shot down. David returned home with a constitution ruined by the fatigue and hardship of the campaign, and died early in life.
James, another son, was also in the army and fought under Gen. McDugal at the battle of Monmouth. The Gen. was a Scotchman and took snuff, which he carried loosely in his vest pocket in order to have it handy. We knew a Scotch clergyman who had his vest pocket made of leather, to use as a snuff box.
ASSOCIATE REFORMED CHURCH OF LITTLE BRITAIN.--This was organized in the year 1760, and the congregation principally composed of Scotch stud Irish emigrants. The record proceedings of this church are few and very imperfect, insomuch that it us impossible at this day to glean from them any thing more than a mere outline of its early history.
The first meeting house was erected in 1765, and rebuilt on the same site in 1826. Their first pastor was the Rev. Robert Annan, and more particularly mentioned in our paper. He was installed in 1768.
Mathew McDowell, Patrick McClaughrey and John Waugh, were the first Elders.
The second pastor was Thomas J. Smith, installed May 1, 1791.
The third was the Rev. James Scrimgeour, a native of Scotland, and installed Jan. 24, 1812.
Between the settlements of Mr. Smith and Scrimgeour, there was an interval of several years, during which the church was vacant. This latter gentleman was well educated, and his style of rhetoric, formed on the rules of professor Blair, chaste, flowing and elegant, and almost wholly destitute of ornament and figure. There was list enough of Scotch dialect in his pronunciation to wake it pleasant and agreeable. Though he used no notes while preaching, he never faltered in idea, nor miscalled a word, and the service was a pure, ceaseless, flowing stream of gospel sentiment.- He died in Feb. 1825, and was succeeded by the Rev. Robert H. Wallace, who was installed on the 6th of Oct., 1825, and still remains the pastor of the church.
We regret our inability to give a more extended notice of this ancient church establishment.