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History of Orange County
Town of New Windsor
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EARLY SETTLEMENT.
We have previously remarked, that this town was principally settled by emigrants from Ireland, of whom Col. Chas. Clinton, the father of George and James Clinton, was the pioneer, and came to this town in 1731. This gentleman may be considered an early settler. On this article, we quote from our history of St. Andrew's Church, in Montgomery:
“As early as about the year 1732 or 33, this society (the London Missionary Society) sent out the Rev. Richard Charton their Missionary for the parish of New Windsor, the forming part of Ulster county. This parish, together with the surrounding country, was then but thinly settled and contained but few families professedly attached to the church of England. The principal of these were the families of Messrs. Alsop, Ellison, Chambers, and Lawrence, residing in New-Windsor; and those of Messrs. Colden, Mathews, Wileman, McIntosh, Bull, &c., in the interior of the county, and all included in the parish of New-Windsor.”
It appears from this, that there were other families in the town of different religious faiths, at that time, but who they were we cannot state. The Mr. Chambers spoken of, was a patentee of the patent upon which the village of New Windsor is situated.
The belief is very general in this part of the county, that the villa of New-Windsor is the oldest village in the present county of Orange, and the fact is so stated in Spofford's Gazetteer, but we are not in possession of any authority for the assertion. Being situated on the first convenient landing place on the river, above the highlands, renders it quite probable that the spot was settled very early, and that a small cluster of houses soon grew up and formed the nucleus of the present village. Such locations are generally occupied before those further removed in the country. The owners of the village plot, in 1749, were persons of English origin, who came to this county from Long Island. Their names were, Ebenezer Seely, Brant Schuyler, Henry Case, Vincent Mathews, Michael Jackson, Daniel Everet, Evan Jones, Hezekiah Howell, Joseph Sackett, Jr., James Tuthill, and John Sackett, Jr. The descendents of these individuals are still numerous in the county. Up to the time of the Revolution the whole foreign business of the county was done thro' New-Windsor. After that period Newburgh sprang up and inflicted a death blow upon the future prospects of the place since which she has remained almost stationary.
Among the early patrons of the village, were William Ellison, Capt. James Jackson, William Jackson, Isaac Schultz, Mr. Logan, Mr. Byram, Mr. Halsted, Mr. Denniston, and others. Mr. Ellison was there as early as 1732, kept a store and owned sloops which sailed from there to the city of New York. The Jacksons were the captains of their own sloops. Mr. Ellison became, a man of large estate, and owned large tracts of land. His grandson, Thomas Ellison, occupies his old mansion, just south of the village, which he has recently fitted up in handsome cottage style. We commend the kind and filial spirit which preserves these old paternal structures.
The first and only glass-house ever in the county was in this village. It stood at the north end of the village, where there is a brick yard at the present time, and where some of the logs which composed the dock are still to be seen. These works were continued till sometime after the war. The foreman of the bellows department of the establishment went out one night to a neighboring farmer's to get some flour, and when returning, was shot. At that time, deer were yet numerous in the vicinity, and two men had gone out the same night to kill some venison. While they were watching for the deer, to come along their usual foot paths, the man, returning with his bag, came to a fence, and, getting over it, made a noise. The huntsmen, being within sight and supposing him to be a deer, shot and killed him dead.