Orange County Directory 1878-9
Historical and Business Review.
SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS.
Side by side with the discoverers of Spain and Portugal, come those of France, England and Germany, and with such names as Dias, Gama, Cabral, Balboa, Cabot, Magelhaens. De Monts and Champlain, must be placed that of Henry Hudson. Four times did Hudson cross the Atlantic, seeking like Columbus, a western passage to Asia. On his third voyage in Sept. 1609, while searching along the coast for the passage to Asia. He sighted the shores of Staten and Long Island, sailed through the Narrows into the bay of New York, crossed the bay and entered the river which now bears his name.
Sailing slowly up the river, examining with wonder and delight the magnificent scenery upon either shore, he came to anchor, on the 14th of September, off West Point. With the dawn of morning the
voyage was continued, the Highlands passed, and before him lay the bay of Newburgh once more hope whispered that his dream was to be realized, that the long sought passage to Asia was before him; and he continued on up the river, until, having ascended as far as where Albany now stands, he became convinced that it was only a river, and so returned disappointed it is true, in the object of his search, but having given to the world a river unrivaled in the beauty and grandeur of its natural scenery, and a country, destined to be the arena wherein should be enacted some of the grandest deeds the world has ever witnessed. That little Half Moon, was the forerunner of mighty events in the destiny of nations, and the name of Hudson, was made immortal. His was the first sail ever borne upon the bosom of the Queen of Rivers; his, and the crew with him, the first white men whose eyes ever beheld Orange County. Such was the beginning of events, the enactment and culmination of which would change the thoughts and purposes of nations; and give existence to a free people; and the end thereof after the lapse of nearly three centuries, no man can see.
Orange County was named in honor of the Prince of Orange, who married Mary, and came to the English throne as King William the Third in 1689.
The county was formed under an act, Oct. 17th, 1683, for dividing the province and dependencies into shires and counties. The boundaries of the county were: Hudson River on the east, Delaware River west, and a line from the mouth of Murderer's Creek, to near the mouth of the Mongaup River on the north, and a line from the mouth of the Neversink River to the south-east corner of the present county of Rockland formed the south boundary. It embraced the Haverstraw Patent, Wawayanda Patent, Chesekook Patent, and a part of the Minisink and John Evans Patent. The first settlement within the limits of the present county was made at Plum point and Moodna. The John Evans Patent was granted in 1694; and the Minisink Patent in 1703. The boundaries of the various patents were described in such vague and general terms, that it was impossible to locate them without conflicting with others, and serious difficulties arose among the different claimants. The Evans Patent was revoked, as being improvident, by the Earl of Bellamont, and the policy of granting large patents was soon abandoned as prejudicial to the interests of the Crown. The remainder of the county was patented to actual settlers, in small tracts, most of which were granted prior to 1750. These settlers were Dutch, French, Huguenots, and English, nearly all of whom were refugees, seeking political and religious liberty in the wilderness. Among these were the Germans from the Palatinate of the Rhine, who came over under the auspices of the English government in the year 1708 or 1709, and formed the Palatine Parish of Quassaick, settling where the present city of Newburgh now stands. During the early years of settlement, the inhabitants were seldom free from fear of Indian war and massacre. Various individual conflicts occurred at different places throughout the Province, but no general engagement or declaration of war was made until in 1755 The Minsis Indians had just cause for complaint the traders in the Minisink country had defrauded them. first making them drunk, of the purchase money of their lands, and also of their peltries. The Delawares, who were at this time subjects of the Six Nations, were first openly insulted in council, and afterwards driven from their homes, and this tribe when freed from the Indian masters, were only too eager to avenge their wrongs, and the frontiers of Orange and Ulster Counties rang to the Indian warwhoop. and the cry of murdered settlers. The Minisink settlements and those of the Wallkill Valley were abandoned, and the Indians once more were lords of the soil, which title they maintained with knife, and tomahawk until the close of the tear 1758. After the close of this war, the history of Orange County is the same as that of the rest of New York; a struggle between the Royal Governors and the people , until the breaking out of the Revolution.
The Revolutionary history of Orange County was written in blood: and forms a record over which the student ponders and which is read again and again, each time with deeper interest. The Hudson highlands were the scene of thrilling adventures and hairbreath escapes of spy and freebooter. The erection of Forts Clinton and Montgomery, the surprise of the same by the English, and their gallant but unsuccessful defence by the militia of Orange and Ulster Counties; the persistent attempt to close the river against the passage of the British fleet; the treason of Arnold; the memorable days when the Continental army encamped at New Windsor; the terrible days of when Brandt ravaged the Minisink country and with his Indians laid waste the entire settlement; and the sequel the horrid massacre of Minisink; all, this and much more is as a twice-told tale. Who that looks upon the rocky crest of old Storm King, towering grandly into cloudland. but remembers the patient, half clad guardsman, keeping watch through summer's heat and winter's cold, beside a beacon pile, ready at any moment to touch a blazing fagot and send streaming skyward the flame signal, that tells of the advance of his country's foes, and summon to her defence, his brothers, the yeomen of Orange and Ulster Counties. Who can forget the scenes enacted in that old stone mansion, the ` Head Quarters.” where a greater than Caesar declined a crown and robe, and the grandest Republic time ever beheld was born. Dark days were those when the Father of his Country kept ceaseless watch of foes without and zealous friends within his lines, until at last came the day whereon was issued that “Farewell to the Army,” which told of a peace won, a war ended, and a country free; that told of the sundering of ties which had been years in forming. that suffering, danger and blood had cemented. Such a scene as was enacted in and around those Headquarters will never again be witnessed, and the citizen of Orange County who remembers not all this, is a recreant and an alien; unworthy of recognition in the place be calls home.