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History of Orange County
Settlement of Orange County
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Though France had been a Catholic country for centuries, yet after the Reformation, Protestants or Calvinists grew up in great numbers all over the kingdom. These she persecuted in various ways from time to time. In 1572, in the reign of Charles 9th, on the 26th of August, the memorable massacre of St. Bartholemew took place, and 70,000 of them were butchered with circumstances of unparalleled cruelty. On this occasion many of the principal Protestants of the kingdom were fraudulently invited up to Paris under a solemn oath of safety, to witness the marriage of the king of Navarre with the sister of the king of France. The Queen Dowager of Navarre, a Protestant, was poisoned by a pair of gloves before the marriage took place. Coligni, Admiral of France, was murdered in his own house, then thrown out of the window. The whole city was ravaged by the bigoted and cruel murderers, whilst the massacre extended and spread through the whole kingdom. The scenes transacted were too horrible, numerous and revolting to tell or enumerate. In 1598 Henry 4th passed the famous Edict of Nantz, which secured to the Protestants of France free exercise of religious belief, and joy and rejoicing spread over the land as if visited by some heavenly messenger. Things remained in this condition till 1685, when Louis 14th, of infamous memory, revoked the Edict of Nantz, and sat in most vigorous operation the renovated machinery of former persecutions. Churches were demolished, citizens insulted by the soldiery, and after the loss of many moat valuable lives, 50,000 were driven into exile. They fled, as before remarked, to England, Switzerland, Germany and Holland. In Holland they made extensive settlements, built churches, and had among them some of the most distinguished preachers, of whom the eloquent Saurin was one. The Huguenots of whom we speak are a part of this persecuted people, who fled to Holland and afterwards continued their wanderings till they came to these shores. This emigration of Huguenots to this country took place in the latter part of the 17th century, and arriving, passed up the Hudson and established themselves at the mouth of the Walkill. After a time some of these, or others from the settlement, passed down the Valley of Mamakating as far as the Delaware River, and there made settlements on the Neversink River, in the Minisink country. Others in like manner proceeded up the Valley of the Walkill, and from time to time made settlements along the whole course of the stream, including parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Dutch, when they came, thought no lands worth settling unless they were flat and rich, and these were of that description. Emigrants from the settlements on the Neversink River pushed their fortunes into New Jersey and settled the town of Wantage, in the County of Sussex. An old family by the name of Decker were the pioneers in that direction, which is now very numerous, and from them Deckertown has its name. The old settlers along the Valley of the Walkill, in Orange, as occasion required from time to time pushed their children east and west, further and further from the stream, till the Dutch may be considered as the first sparse population of the towns of Montgomery, Crawford, Deerpark and Minisink. In this process of settlement they passed over the town of Walkill.