published by The Historical Society of Rockland County 20 Zukor Road, New City, New York 10956

Vol. 24, No. 1 January-March 1980

An exercise in historical imagination: Change the quiet pastoral land behind this old sandstone house to a noisy, busy state highway with service stations, motels and industrial plants. The house is still in use as a residence. Can you locate it? IN MEMORIAM James H. Blauvelt Anna Marvin Dunlop Josephine W. Junge Dr. Wilbur G. Malcolm Orville H. Mann Marjorie J. Tompkins Helen Townsend

* Memorial gifts have been made to the Endowment Fund and will be listed in the BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE.

**See also, IN MEMORIAM details on pp. 18 and 19.

A portrait study of the Beveridge C. Dunlops, from the pen of Isabelle K. Saveli, will appear an the next issue.

LIFE MEMBERS: Mr. and Mrs. Robert C. Allison, Mrs. E. Doscher, William Fulmor, Esther Harris, Jerome Johnson, Helene H. Stansbury Tfed Schultz, chairman of the Life Membership campaign, reports his com­ mittee includes the Rev. Edward B. Buller, Ms. Sophie Butterfass, Ms. Adelaide Ross Chamberlain, John W. Gumming, Pat E. Damiani, Philip J. Frohling, Jr., John Gattuso, Paul Remmell, John A. Stefan. Life Memberships cost $250 a person ($100 a person for those over 65). All payments are placed in the Endowment Fund and duly recorded in SOUTH OF THE MOUNTAINS. As an alternative, for those contributing $500 as a couple or as a memorial gift, the names are listed on an engraved scroll at the museum; payments may be made over a two-year period and are added to the Museum Fund. Any committee member will gladly supply further information, which is also available directly from the society at 634-9629. Did you know?... From time to time members of the society transfer stock to the society on which they would be liable for capital gains taxes. The market value at the time of transfer of such stock would establish a deduction approved by the IRS and could be more beneficial to the donor than a later sale and cash contri­ bution. Volunteers are needed to help operate the sales shop. Anyone who can donate even a few hours should call Mr. Egolf (634-2070). Recent additions to books in the society’s collection are all works of the Blauvelt family: Errors of Hopkinsiantism by Daniel J. Blauvelt (1824); Daily Food for Christians by Emeline Blauvelt (1869); Francis and James, New Testa­ ment and Passing Over Jordan by John H. Blauvelt.

© 1980 by the Historical Society of Rockland County

Acting Editor: Mariruth Campbell Printed by Executive Editor: John R. Zehner PRINT SPRINT THE KINGS HIGHWAY by John Scott

“From Paulus Hook through the English neighborhood came a road that pursued a tortuous course, always avoiding difficulties of construction and lying between the uplands of the palisades and the marshy ground bordering on the Hackensack. It entered the county at Tappan, passed through the present Orangeburgh as the Clausland road, swept along the base of the Nyack hills, over Casper Hill... entered the present road from Nyack to Haverstraw near Valley Cottage, continued to and through Haverstraw, turned back through Doodletown and passed from the present county close to Forts Clinton and Montgomery, to continue its course through West Point... on to Albany. Later this route became and is still known as the Kings Highway”. Thus, a century ago, historian Frank Bertangue Green succinctly described this ancient road that had already been in use for more than two centuries by the white man who developed it from an Indian trail thousands of years old. Writing about the same time, Rev. David Cole, D.D. also describes this road: “The Kings Road continued from what is now Orangeburgh down through the present Village of Tappan forming a sharp angle to the right below the Mabie House (’76 House) and thence into New Jersey”. Arthur S. Tompkins in 1902 refers to it as ... “the most convenient of access and the shortest route from the province of New Jersey to the settlements along the Hudson River... this old Kings Highway exists so far as its location is con­ cerned as it did in the 18th century”. Colonial road records, land surveys and deeds abound in references to the Kings Highway or Kings Road as it was often called. Today it is hardly recognized as having once been the main artery of travel in the eastern part of Rockland county. As the first settlements were being established along the Hudson and Hackensack valleys there were few improvements in land travel; well trodden Indian trails through the primeval forest were used by the first European traders, fur trappers and explorers. The Indians had no knowledge of the wheel, therefore a trail as wide as a man’s shoulders was all that was necessary to sustain their simple system of communicating and trading. These trails were gradually widened to accommodate a pack horse and rider. Much later they were again widened by the settlers for their crude two-wheeled farm carts, sturdy vehicles able to maneuver over the rough terrain and around boulders, roots and stumps. The Dutch, who excelled at farming, were not noted for road building. Necessary connecting routes were opened from the rivers to interior settlements and these too, usually followed ancient Indian trails. After the English seized the Dutch colony in 1664. some highway laws were enacted in the New York colony but lack of legislation authorizing local taxes for roads led to indifference so, in most areas, little action was taken. In 1682 Charles the Second issued a proclamation to his Royal Governors: “His Sacred Majestie injoined his American subjects to enter into a close corres­ pondency with each other ...” Governor Lovelace of New York, attempting to fulfill the King’s wishes wrote: “... to make the most facile way for a post, which 3 in the process of tyme would be the King’s best highway ..an expressed need for public common roads or post roads —Kings highways. The Dutch reclaimed New York and, although the English soon took it back, little was done to further the Crown’s desire for “correspondency” between the King’s subjects on the west bank of the Hudson river. During King William’s War (1689-97) the military found it almost impossible to move troops and supplies overland in the winter months when waterways were frozen. Many trails were impassable for horses or vehicles any time of the year. Clearly something had to be done and in 1703 the Provincial Assembly of New York enacted the first major highway law, a statute that became the basis for most future highway legislation. Roads at least four rods wide were projected — two of these to run up both sides of the Hudson river to Albany. Highway commissioners in each county were to administer the road system; to serve three years at a salary of six shillings a day while in service. The county supervisors and treasurers were to be responsible for collecting necessary taxes. Orange county, erected in 1683 and including what is now Rockland, entered a new era of government, exercising the rights and privileges earlier granted to other New York provincial counties. The first Court of Sessions con­ vened at Tappan Apr. 27, 1703 and the first Court of Common Pleas met the following day, the justices functioning as a supervisory board as well as a judicial body — acting generally as the governing body of the county. (A county Board of Supervisors did not convene until 1723). Peter Haring, Johannes Blau- velt and Albert Minnie were named as road commissioners. They were to arrange for laying out of convenient roads and highways between settlements. They were granted power to remove obstructions, to allow passable swinging gates where necessary, and to require the King’s subjects, the inhabitants of towns, villages and precincts through which the roads ran, to make repairs to the thorofare “from time to time and at all times”. While the right of way had to be four rods in width where already laid out and six rods for new roads, the com­ missioners “are not hereby obliged to clear and maintain any other path than for horse and man only”. The laws were precise but not self-enforcing; easier to enact than administer. It was difficult to find capable men to take time from their domestic duties to serve as constables, overseers and surveyors. In April, 1704 the third session of courts at “Orangetowne” impatiently ordered that the “constable for the time being doe summons the inhabitants of the county to chuse a new constable and two overseers of the highways to meet at Tapane ... the first day of May”. A year later in April, 1705 a constable was still not chosen so the courts appointed a temporary one, Joshua Bush, to carry out their directives. In October the sixth session of the courts heard the complaint “that the constable hath left the county”. They then ordered “that the inhabitants of this county do meet to make a choice of a constable and two overseers of high wayes to serve till the next election according to an act of assembly”. In 1708 the courts in their eleventh session faced another challenge: Upon complaint of Mr. Daniel DeClark, surveyor of the high wayes, that severall persons upon notice given refused to attend the said services (would not work on the roads). It was then ordered “that all housekeepers within the bounds of the gen’l patent of Orange Towne shall be obliged to repairation of the Queen’s High ways as by acts of parliament and one act of assembly of this province. They are 4 John Scott photos These modern views along the Kings Highway recapture, with trees and brush, a feeling of yesteryear. Left; looking South down old “Albany Road" on the 1777 trail —Stony Point and the Hudson River in the background. Right; on the less steep northern slope of this hill stands the house that in Revolutionary times was Storm's Tavern, at the foot of Casper Hill. obliged the said surveyor haveing given them lawfull notice and for every default therein each person shall forfeit three shillings to be disposed of as the court will direct”. During the short reign of Queen Anne (1702-14) official records and docu­ ments referred to the Queen as “Defender of the Faith”, and the roads became Queens roads or highways. Despite threats of monetary penalties the roads were kept open only under the most urgent prodding of the average citizen, slow in doing his duty unless the hand of the law fell heavily upon him. All able bodied men were obliged for at least two days and not more than six of physical labor. In 1711 a supplemental law was enacted: ... “if they see cause to have any roads laid out for a waggon road ... to oblige the inhabitants to clear the same to a width sufficient for the passage of a wheeled vehicle”. Once a year the Kings highway was worked on and bridges were repaired by gangs of men working out their own or someone else’s required time. Most repair work was done on several days in June during the period between planting and haying, when the roads were most likely to be dry. A day’s road labor was widely regarded as a holiday from farm work with considerable time spent leaning on shovels or resting in the shade. Rum sometimes flowed together with endless story swapping, general horsing around, occasional contests of strength and impromptu foot racing. A day’s credit for work was achieved but the roads were sometimes left in little better condition than when they were found. Emergency repairs were required to remove fallen trees and to repair drain­ age ditches; paths had to be forced through snow drifts in winter. Floods and intermittent thaws developed ghastly bogs that threatened to submerge horse and vehicle while clay ruts became canals favored as wallows by families of domestic swine. The same road in dry seasons, now deceptively smooth, could engulf travelers in clouds of choking dust churned up by passing animals and vehicles while swarms of tormenting insects pursued their hapless victims day and night. It is not surprising that most serious traveling was by water routes whenever possible despite vagaries of wind and tide. Gradually one major north-south highway emerged — extending from Paulus Hook (now Jersey City) into New York State to the King’s Ferry at Stony Point, to the later sites of forts Clinton and Montgomery and to points north. This became the Kings Highway, the most direct route connecting the communities in and near the Hudson and Hackensack valleys. The importance of this road is best understood when it is realized routes 303 and 9W did not come into existence as through roads until the early 1900’s. The Kings Highway was the State road. On O’Connors’ 1854 map it was called the Old Albany Road as it ascended Buckberg mountain through Doodletown to Bear Mountain. Entering the county as Closter road at Tappan the highway follows its original ancient course as it does for most of the 24 miles northerly into Orange county. Numerous stone houses, pre-revolutionary structures, churches and burial grounds can be viewed along the way. It is now paved and widened, except for several miles through the Highlands in the Bear Mountain park system. Sections have been altered by other highway construction with some parts completely obliterated as in the Village of Haverstraw, but much remains to be seen. The Kings highway becomes Main street in historic Tappan as it passes the DeWint house (Washington’s headquarters), formerly reached by a lane and bridge over the Spar Kill on the right. Past the ’76 House, the Manse, the Dutch Church and burial grounds it assumes its rightful name of Kings Highway and turns sharply to the right over the Spar Kill near the site of an old grist mill. Here the highway takes a northeasterly course across route 303 onto the higher ground between the Spar Kill and Bear swamps to meet the slote road (Rte. 340) into Piermont Ave. to Tappan Landing (now Piermont). Turning sharply left at its junction with 340 and around the Mountain House tavern it takes a north­ westerly course past Rockland Cemetery on the slopes of Mt. Nebo. For many miles it clings to the base of Clausland and South Mountains (Nyack Mountains) precariously close to the continuous swamps and wet lands on the left. At Orangeburgh and Route 303 it turns sharply right around a cluster of 18th century sandstone farm houses and assumes a northerly course (as Green- bush road) past the old fairgrounds and Clausland Cemetery, through Blauvelt, and descending the long grade into West Nyack, where the vast area of the Greenbush swamp, now mostly landfill, is on the left. At the base of the hill near 6 a stand of tall fir trees to the right a trail leads through Buttermilk Falls Rockland County Park. Approaching Rt. 59 the highway crosses the Old Nyack Turnpike and con­ tinues to a dead end at the N.Y.S. thruway. Beyond the thruway (and still Greenbush road) it crosses Rt. 303 to the sharp rise over Casper Hill and into Valley Cottage where it again recovers its name of Kings Highway. Entering Congers it becomes Old Haverstraw road, approaching Rt. 9W and the Long Clove, where it formerly descended steeply to the river front. A century of highway and railroad construction at the clove now closes off this section and it is necessary to detour to Riverside avenue below; then right on West street toward Haverstraw. Here the highway roughly followed a course north on West Street, which becomes Broadway. Again pursuing its original course it turns right on Samsondale avenue and right again into Tanneyman’s-lane where it makes a sharp left at the old Benjamin Allison stone house and a right on 9W to past the site of the marker for the Treason House and toward Stony Point. On this portion of 9W construction has eliminated most traces of the old highway and military road to Stony Point battlefield and King’s Ferry. Emerging from Stony Point park onto 9W again the road follows its original course to Tompkins Cove, up Buckberg Mountain road where it commences the long climb into the Highlands. Descending from the summit of Buckberg to Mott Farm road the public highway now dead-ends into the private land of

A Layman photo from the Requa Collection This photo of 60 years ago shows a group of buildings familiar to users of the Kings Highway. The barns and sheds are part of the Orangeburg complex that for many years housed the annual fair of the Rockland County Agricultural Society. The fair grounds also boasted a track, here devoted to trotting. Tompkins Lake Development. (Permission of the owners is necessary to continue through the development). The old road roughly followed Bird Hill road (to the right of the present lake) to the junction of Overlook and Riverview Aves. Straight ahead in the woods toward the west the old road is visible as it starts a very steep climb to meet the 1777 trail through the pass between the Timp and Bald Mountains. This junction with the 1777 trail can also be reached by an easy hike from nearby 9W on the TT trail in Bear Mountain park thereby avoiding Tompkins Lake Development. (Consult a Bear Mountain trail map). This trail up the mountain is the steepest section of King’s Highway in its entire length in Rockland County but “as the crow flies” it is the most direct route north. There is a gradual descent from the summit along Pleasant Valley road to Doodletown where abandoned foundations of farmhouses, orchards and stone walls are re­ maining relics of this once isolated community perched just above Iona Island. In the 19th century this section was called the Old Albany road and affords the best view today of a colonial highway little changed since the 18th century. The 1777 trail turns right onto Doodletown road and easterly across a bridge. Doodletown road continues to 9W but the 1777 trail (two red dots) and the old highway bear left towards Bear Mountain. Construction has eliminated most traces of the earlier road past Hessian Lake to Fort Clinton, where it dipped down across Popolopen creek and up the other side to Fort Montgomery and into Orange County. A favored inland alternate route north from Doodletown followed another 1777 military trail that swings west of Bear Mountain. This appears on 19th Century maps as the Old Caldwell Tpk into Orange County and provided eventual connection with the Suffern-Newburgh post road. Researchers into the colonial highway system soon find there was more than one Kings Highway or Kings Road in the lower part of Orange County now called Rockland. Most roads were named by the people in their immediate vicinity. There were few if any signs, therefore a long stretch of highway often had various names for connecting sections and these too changed over the years. A colonial road from Closter to Palisades came through the King’s Woods of the Lockhart patent. Now named Rockleigh road it appears as Kings road on the 1854 O’Connor map. Heavily laden vehicles could avoid the precipitous climb over Casper Hill by a longer circuitous route. During the Revolution this safer inland road was favored by the military as less likely to encounter British raiding parties from the Hudson. From Orangeburgh it turned west at the Old Clausland burial ground, went over Mountainview Ave. to Western Highway, then north over the Enhook bridge into Clarkstown (now West Nyack); turning right on Old Mill road to its second crossing of the Hackensack at the English bridge and thence northeasterly and right to follow what is now Crusher road and connect with the Kings highway north of Casper Hill at Storm’s road. This alternate route was also on occasion referred to as King highway or Kings road. In New City a small section of road, abutting route 304 and still called King’s Highway, has puzzled local residents who have no knowledge of its origin. This was part of a winding colonial road that came west from Haverstraw around the head of the mountain and south to Kakiat. At Coe’s tavern (present Rt. 45 and New Hempstead Road) this well used military road split, one branch 8 continuing west to Suffern and the other south-easterly through the present Germonds and West Nyack. This safer inner route was used to transport Major Andre to Tappan in 1780. Far to the western tip of the county a post road, sometimes called the Kings road and later known as the Orange Turnpike and Route 17, emerged from New Jersey through the Ramapo pass to Central Valley where it curved east to meet the Kings Highway near Newburgh. As noted above, colonial records are filled with references to the Kings Highway or Kings road from Tappan north to Kings Ferry. Through the High­ lands where several possible routes were merely rough difficult trails, use of the name Kings Highway diminishes, but comes strongly back into use on 19th century maps from Newburgh to Albany. John Scott's The King's Highway is based on material found in History of Rockland County, Green, 1886; History of Rockland County, Cole, 1884; Historical Record of Rockland County, Tompkins, 1903; The Slote, Piermont and the Erie Railroad, SM./2Q\8\ History of New York State, Sullivan, 1927; Historic American Roads, Rose, 1976; Old Roads from the Heart of New York, Comstock; History of Havel in America, Dunbar; Accomplice in Treason, Koke; Old Post Road, Holbrook; Frontier Elements in a Hudson River Village, Nordstrom; Political History of New York State, Documentary History of New York State, O'Callaghan; Tivin Forts of the Popolopen, Carr and Koke; Colonial New York, Kammen; West Side of the Hudson, Hine, 1906; Colonial Laws of New York State; Roads and Travel in New England, Park; Bear Mountain Trail Map, Palisades Interstate Park Commission; Hails and Pleasant Walks in Rockland County. The Rockland Audubon Society; Register of the Courts of Sessions and Common Pleas for Orange County, N. Y. 1703-08. Budke microfilm at the New City Library.

In 1979 John Scott and Eddie Sauter, both West Nyackers, decided the best way to get the true feel of the terrain of this ancient trail was to walk its entire length. Sometimes accompanied by their wives, they accomplished this in a series of short hikes from the New Jersey State line to the Orange County line. A forthcoming article A STROLL ALONG THE OLD KING S HIGHWA Y will describe the numerous old houses, churches, burial grounds, historic sites and natural wonders along the way. A slide talk on the subject is available for local organizations.

A room as a History Museum has been set aside by the Village of Suffern on the second floor of the former Washington Avenue School. Built in 1912 as a high school, used since 1943 as an elementary school, the sturdy yellow brick building, not far from the site where John Suffern first built his house at the crossroads in 1773, will be renovated this year for a Municipal Building. An adjoining room, being kept as a classroom with blackboards and bulletin boards, will serve as a meeting room. Gardner Watts, village historian, urges all residents of Suffern and the surrounding area to keep the museum in mind when disposing of local records, papers, pictures and maps. The history room will also need a large sturdy table, chairs in good condition and files. Call Gardner (357-3667) for information. 9 The site of this homestead appears on Gen. Robert Erskine's military map of 1778-9.

Historian George Budke identified this 18th C. stone house as headquarters for Gen. Steuben during a 1780 American army encampment. Earlier it had been used by the Mabie family. Locations for these four houses and the one pictured on the cover are listed on page 17 under QUERIES FOR READERS.

10 As was the custom in the early 18th C the oldest part (1735) of this sandstone farmhouse was built as a separate unit. Later (1750) the larger section was added to accommodate a growing family. The roof was raised for a second floor in the 19th C.

This beautiful old sandstone (built in 1821) gave one of Rockland's hamlets its name.

11 GRANDFATHER WON THE IRISH SWEEPSTAKES by Samuel Korn March 26, 1938 was the day my grandfather, Louis Korn of Haverstraw, won the Irish Sweepstakes —at a time when my family was hard pressed to make a living. Louis Korn owned and operated a butcher shop on Main Street in Haverstraw. He was barely able to pay the bills to support his wife and two growing boys. One day a customer, a Mrs. Brophy, asked him to buy a sweepstakes ticket for the Grand National Steeplechase Horserace run annually at Aintree, England. This charity event benefits Irish hospitals and orphanages. Grandfather, keen to keep Mrs. Brophy as a customer, decided to buy a ticket. This bet by-ticket- purchase was legal if you lived in Europe but was illegal in this country — unless you won. The price of the ticket was $2.50, which grandfather could only pay off in pennies. After all of the tickets are returned to the Irish Sweepstakes Committee in England, they are put in large containers for the drawing. These containers are mechanically driven and air-circulated so all tickets are randomly chosen. My grandfather’s ticket was one of the lucky ones and was assigned to an American horse named Battleship. Unfortunately, this horse was a 40-1 longshot and, due to his small stature, was given little chance against horses much bigger and stronger. Battleship, like my grandfather, was an underdog. Son of Man o’ War, whose other son, War Admiral, and grandson, Seabiscuit, had up to that time won more money between them than any other two horses racing in America. Battleship, however had not lived up to this breeding history and was converted to steeplechase jumping as a last resort. And, because of a technical gap in his pedigree, British breeders refused to recognize Man o’ War or any of his get as thoroughbreds. Battleship was owned by Mrs. Marion Du Pont Scott, heiress of the late William du Pont and wife of actor Randolph Scott. He was to be ridden by a young American jockey, Bruce Hobbs, only 17 years old and with little racing experience. My grandfather wasn’t able to choose the horse he would bet on but was given a chance by Lloyd’s of London to recoup any losses he might have. He was offered $10,000 by this company for his ticket, but he refused. A representative of Lloyd’s took him by limousine to the Statler Hilton Hotel in New York City to persuade him by showing how much $10,000 could buy. However, grandpa refused; said he would take his chances. Finally, race day came — the 100th running with a field of 36 horses ready to compete. The night before the race it had rained on the Aintree Course. This was the first break for Battleship. This horse which stood only 15.2 hands high would have a smaller center of gravity over the four-mile 856 yard course with twelve-foot deep gullies on the side opposite ten-foot high fences. Bigger horses than Battleship would slip and fall on the wet course. He was able to keep his footing without breaking stride. The bad weather however, did not bother the tremendous crowds which began to converge on the course early and by racetime reached a total of 250,000. Owner, Mrs. Scott, having made a last-minute dash across the ocean to see her horse run, arrived only an hour before the race started at 3:21 p.m., English time. 12 Louis Korn spent the time during the broadcast of the race in Paul Cardaci’s barbershop adjoining his butcher store. Charles B. Byrnes, one of ten men who were with Mr. Korn, said Korn was seated in a barber chair and evinced no more than ordinary interest during the early part of the race. Battleship was not men­ tioned by the announcer. When the American-bred horse jumped into the lead, Korn became very happy. The happiness vanished when another horse, Royal Danieli, wrested the lead from the eventual winner. When Battleship was whipped down the stretch to victory, everyone but Mr. Korn whooped. “You’ve won,” Byrnes shouted. Korn made no reply. “You’ve won,” Byrnes repeated, and Korn, grasping Byrnes by the arm said weakly, “Take me out.” At Aintree, Mrs. Scott was apparently just as excited as my grandfather, for she was unable to escort her horse to the victory circle. She had fainted. There were a lot of firsts to report about this race. It was the first time a horse actually born and bred in America had ever won this jumping classic. It was the first time a father-son combination had trained the eventual winner. It was the first time a lad so young had ridden the winner. Louis Korn was the first Rockland County resident to participate in the capital prize of the Irish Sweep- stakes. Grandfather’s joy knew no bounds. Immediately after the race, his store was the scene of a big celebration. According to a neighbor, this created more excitement than Haverstraw had seen in a long time. According to my father, the town residents hoisted my grandfather on their shoulders and carried him to Henry Adler’s saloon. The town was roped off to visitors and $600 worth of liquor was consumed. My grandfather didn’t have the money to pay this tab but had to wait until his winnings arrived. The Journal-News (the County's daily) was unable to reach the winner for a statement and Mrs. Korn said, “He probably will not be available today.” The next day, grandfather was behind the counter pursuing his usual tasks. Said he,“I intend to remain here.’’“Naturally I am grateful at my good for­ tune, but the fact that I have won will make no difference in my daily routine.” “I will continue my business and will not forget my loyal friends and patrons who have made it possible for me to continue my business.” Grandfather kept his word. Although he didn’t stay in that particular store, he worked every day until 1970 in a butcher shop up the street from his original shop. With the Sweepstakes money, my grandfather did more for his family than for himself. During World War IT he brought five of my cousins from European concentration camps and posted their bonds for entry into this country. He helped all my relatives by either paying medical bills or by con­ tributing to college educations. Included in a 1969 offer to do an all-expense Hollywood movie that would depict all past winners of this race, he refused. You see most people who win a great sum of money squander it; they are usually left penniless within a short time. Grandfather was unique. He only knew how to help those around him and used what Lady Luck had given him to aid others. That’s why I wrote this article — not to tell a story about someone who just happened to be my grandfather and his good fortune, but — as a reminder how this man helped all those he loved dearly. I will always remember grandfather for his generosity, not his good fortune. —Samuel Korn 13 CIVIL WAR DRAFT RIOTS by Anthony J. Benedict Military service has not normally been looked upon with favor by those whose lives would be disrupted by involuntary induction. Reaction to the draft in July of 1863 was most unfavorable. The order for the draft in New York under the Enrollment Act of March 3, 1863, was issued by General Ferry on July 1, 1863. The order received no attention from either New York’s Governor Horatio Seymour or Mayor George Updyke of New York City. The New York Times, on July 11th, fearlessly stated: “The draft will cause little difficulty” and added, “The prospect is that the draft will be manfully met and responded to. And in this gratifying circumstance we do not fail to see the happy effect of the late important victories of the Union cause.” The optimism of The New York Times was short-lived. Following the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1,1863, many Negroes migrated to the North. The Irish and other working class whites had for years looked down upon the Negroes as persons who would take away their unskilled jobs. Great animosity was evident between these workers. By June 1863, there was a cry for federal restriction of Negroes migrating to the North. Trouble was brewing in Washington and St. Louis as well as New York. Almost all the longshoremen on the New York City waterfront in July of 1863 were Irish. Their work was tiring, hazardous, and casual. There was an over-supply of workers whose irregular employment resulted in unstable earnings, with a resultant unsettled standard of living. These laborers worked an average of only three or four days a week with their daily rate of pay about $1.50. The general hardships caused by inflation, losses of manpower through military service, higher taxes to meet war expenditures, interferences with personal liberty (most of all, the draft) were blamed on the Negro. The Irish longshoremen in New York City could not afford to buy replacements under the so-called “Rich Man’s Exemption” to the draft. The melting pot of the 1860’s was boiling with the necessary ingredients for tragedy. The New York draft riots commenced the first day of the draft. Ostensibly in opposition to the draft, these riots were for the purposes of pillage and outrage against the black population. For three days, business in New York City was almost entirely suspended. The railroads and public conveyances ceased running; the stores on Broadway and the shopping centers throughout the greater portion of the city were closed. Prowling gangs made it unsafe to walk the streets. New York was not the only city hit by rioting. Disturbances in Ohio, Ken­ tucky, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois; upstate in Troy and Albany, and across the Hudson in Newark, New Jersey were widely reported. The New York longshoremen were active in the mobs which sustained the rioting. So determined and bitter was their feeling against the blacks that not one black person dared appear on the docks or piers of the city. Blacks were thrown into the river and drowned; others were hung from lamp posts. The Colored Orphan Asylum off Fifth Avenue was burned to the ground. Police and fire departments responding to the call at the asylum were unable to reach the scene. Police Superintendent William B. Davis was there and he ushered some

14 500 children out of the rear of the building on 43rd Street while the mob was breaking in the front doors. By 6 p.m. on the evening of July 13th, there were some 1,000 officers and soldiers at the 35th Street Armory. By the time thousands of additional soldiers were brought into the City to help, some 3,000 blacks had been made homeless. Hundreds more were lurking about on Long Island and in the woods along the Harlem River. On July 14, the New York Tribune called for martial law: “The (Federal) Government can do it (calm the riots) only by martial law, and by de­ claring that promptly, exercising it mercilessly, and maintaining it till the last vestige of treason is annihilated.” As a result of the rioting, on July 17, 1863, General Harvey Brown was relieved by General Canby. When he was relieved, General Brown generously praised those troops who were engaged in night and day conflict with the mobs, which many times outnumbered the troops ten to one. Following the riots, a relief committee was established to help restore the blacks to their former employment and help them overcome the tragic results of the riots. An ordinance was even proposed in the New York City Common Council to provide bonuses to draftees. Mayor Updyke vetoed the bill. Not only did the draft riots disturb the civil affairs of New York City, but they also disturbed military operations in the war against the South. On July 29, 1863, Major General George E. Mead was issued the following order by General Halleck: “As it is quite possible that we may be obliged to detach from your troops to enforce the draft and to bring on the drafted men, I think it would be best to hold for the present the upper line of the Rappahannock without further pursuit of Lee. I will telegraph you as soon as I can get a decision in regard to the 11th Corps.” The New York Times on July 17th wrote that it believed the rebels contributed money to foster the riots in New York City. It declared that these riots were intended to coincide with a possible victory by Lee in Pennsylvania. The Times concluded the government had the moral responsibility to enforce the draft and thus subdue the riots. There was much discussion indicating that the conscription was demoraliz­ ing to the individual soldier. It was argued conscription should be for a period of six or nine months, rather than for the three-year period set up under the Draft Law. If such had been the case, it was felt that no riots would have occurred. Some writers have contended the real cause of the draft riots was political agitation against the way the war was being conducted; other writers have con­ tended opposition was more a resistance to tyrannical, despotic repression evident in the draft itself. Realistically, opposition to the enforcement of the draft in New York City in July 1863 can be attributed to two significant factors: The act itself bore most heavily upon the poor and lower classes; it gave the appearance to the white workers they were being forced to fight to free the slaves who had already become or would soon be rivals for employment. Although the Provost Marshall had difficulty attempting to rent offices to continue the draft, it was finally resumed in New York City on August 19, 1863.

Are you a descendant of an Eckersen/Ackersen? Family association in­ formation available from Mrs. Ethel Kelenut, 245 Erie Ave., Midland Park, NJ 07432 (201) 445-9430. 15 A George Sharpless photo

HONOR THEIR PLEDGE: Mrs. Betty Catron, manager of the Piermont Ex­ change, presents a check for the final payment on the Exchange's pledge of $3,000 for the construction of the vault in the center's museum. Earle Crum, treasurer of the museum fund, is the recipient as President James F. Stoner looks on. By agreement with Pat Damiani, the ground floor area in the museum building designated the Collection and Preservation Area will be sponsored by Local 363, Intemation Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The Map Room, given in memory of Thomas Crosse, is at the westerly section of the first-floor library, for which the Gannett Foundation supplied shelving and equipment. Further library sponsorships are available. Clem Egolf of New City will move the society’s sales shop from the Blauvelt House to the museum’s Kirchner Room. This will permit modernization of the Blauvelt House Kitchen and the completion of the Leland Rickard Meyer Colonial Kitchen, for which additional funds were raised by the Women’s Committee’s annual doll house festivals and holiday bazaars. Anne M. Klejment, administrator, Historians-in-Residence Program, New York Historical Resource Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, needs information about persons who have a professional degree in New York State local history or who have completed research, taught a course, prepared public lectures and/or exhibits, or given demonstrations in local history of New York State. The Historian-in-Residence Program provides the opportunity for collabora­ tion between a visiting scholar and an historical agency. Seeking a list of scholars who could be contacted as resource persons, Anne M. Klejment asks interested persons to send a brief sketch of their local history interests, including name, mailing address, phone number, professional degree (if any), titles of New York State local history publications or projects, and current research interests. 16 QUERIES FOR READERS

Julian H. Salomon, 1 Skymeadow Road, Suffern, is gathering material on the families Conklin. Can you help him? Marian (Mrs. B.) LoPresti of 212 Highwood Ave., Tenafly, N.J. 07670, writes in response to a request by Mrs. Willard Thether for information about Knapp in New City: I can’t help you; but am looking for a Knapp family that had a daughter born 1796 in New Lisbon. The family may have been migrating as I’ve found nothing on them; the daughter, Sarah m. Samuel Benson of Wassaic; reportedly she arrived on horseback with her new husband in 1814. Lots of Bensons in that area but nothing on Knapps. Wish I could help but perhaps you can help me. Have you a Sarah the right age in your records? Scott Webber of Stony Point (924-2254) is preparing a booklet for the society on Camp Shanks/Shanks Village. He can use experiences, recollections and sidelights about the camp and its construction, about troop movements, German and Italian POW’s, etc. Material may be sent to the society at Box 495, New City, NY 10956. “Is there an ARTIST in the house?” — the house being the historical society or its environs. The society feels a critical period in history has not been fully portrayed and wonders if any local resident might consider creating in any of the visual arts incidents in the fall of 1780, when the master plan of the British (to force the Hudson River Passage) went awry when Sir Henry Clinton’s adjutant, Major John Andre, was captured and hanged as a spy. Anyone interested in this project may contact John Scott (358-1729), who can list incidents for illustrative purposes, or may peruse the Andre/Arnold material in Koke’s Accomplice in Treason or Abbatt’s Crisis of the Revolution, both available at the history center. Do you have Civil War memorabilia, artifacts, letters, uniforms or parts thereof to supplement the society’s collection, which will be displayed in an exhibit prepared by William Doughtery for the Community Room. If so, please notify Mrs. Winkley at 634-9629. All five houses (cover picture and center spread) stand today on the Kings Highway. The cover picture shows the William Weekley home at 45 North Greenbush Road (the old Kings Highway), West Nyack, just north of the Rt. 59-Rt. 303 clover leaf. A c 1915photo from the Weekley collection. p. 10 (top) The old DeRonde homestead, Buckberg Road, Tompkins Cove. A John Scott photo. p. 10 (bottom) In Orangeberg, near Rockland Cemetery; 19th C. home of John Bell, taxidermist. An 1880-90photo from the Aurell collection. p. 11 (top) No. 89 Kings Highway, Congers, built by the Debaun family- east side of the road, south of Lake Rd. A 1979 John Scott photo. p. 11 (bottom) Another Debaun home, built in 1821 by John-west side of the highway just north of the RR crossing in Valley Cottage. A c. 1910 photo from the Draudt collection. 17 James H. Blauvelt, 89, son of the late General and Mrs. James H. Blauvelt of Nyack, died October 30, 1979, in Newfield House, Plymouth, Mass. He is survived by his wife, Geordie J. Blauvelt. Mr. Blauvelt, last survivor of the four Nyack men who served with the YMCA during World War I, was mentioned in Crawford Wheeler’s NYACKERS IN REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA, South of the Mountains, Vol. 19, No. 4. A descendent of Jacob Blauvelt of Blauvelt, he was an honorary life member of The Holland Society of New York and a member of the St. Nicholas Society of New York.

The death of Marjorie Jean Tompkins on Nov. 8, 1979, marked the chrono­ logical end of an era in Rockland County. Actually, the era ended some 40 years earlier (Jan. 20, 1938) with the death of her father, Arthur S. Tompkins. An assemblyman, a congresman, a judge, Tompkins served for 29 years as a Justice of the Supreme Court, part of that time on the Appellate Division. He was also a political boss: very little of a public or a political nature happened in Rockland County that he did not know about or sanction. Judge Tompkins was as ubiquitous as a human being can be. Grand Master for New York State of the Free and Accepted Masons, Exalter Ruler of the Elks, Grand Master of the Odd Fellows, First Sachem of the Red Men, he also served as president of the Rockland County (historical) Society, president of the board of trustees of the First Baptist Church of Nyack, and president of the Nyack school board. He was very active in firemanic affairs, and the Y.M.C.A. He bred and raced trotting horses for the fun of it. In 1902 he had printed at Nyack his “Historical Record of Rockland County”. And he early came out for women suffrage when most politicians were overtly or covertly doing everything in their power to scuttle it. Judge Tompkins’ only daughter, Marjorie, thus grew up in an atmosphere of total involvement in community affairs and in 1917, after New York women won the right to vote, she became one of the leading Republican women in the county. Together with her longtime friend and co-worker, Natalie Couch, she organized one of the first, if not the first, women’s Republican club in New York State, a Nyack-oriented club which during World War II had a membership of 500. Following World War I, Miss Tompkins was involved in famine relief work in Russia under the Red Cross; in World War II, she served as vice-president of the Nyack Red Cross and as the active director of a volunteer organization of several hundred men and women engaged in everything from canteens and motor corps work to blood banks and fund raising. —The annual fund-raising drives for Red Cross war work while she was vice-president raised more than $180,000 in the Nyack chapter area. In 1944, Miss Tompkins and some of her political colleagues, including Natalie Couch, formerly her father’s law clerk and later an attorney in her own right, turned their attention to Hamilton Fish, one of the country’s leading isolationists, who, following a redistricting, was seeking to represent Rockland County in Congress. In one of the county’s hottest political campaigns, marked by the intense activity of Rockland women, Fish was defeated by an independent Republican, Augustus W. Bennet of Newburgh, and was permanently retired from Congress. 18 Miss Tompkins was a decorator by profession. She did the homes of many prominent people, including the home of Helen Hayes and Charles MacArthur on North Broadway, Nyack. Miss Hayes was at the time appearing in “Victoria Regina” and Miss Tompkins decorated their home to match the role. When, in 1931, the Grand Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons of New York State, acquired the historic DeWint house in Tappan (to prevent its becoming a speakeasy), Miss Tompkins was commissioned to select and secure the proper 18th Century furnishings. During these years she was a devoted and active worker in the First Baptist Church of Nyack and for many years she owned and ran a gift shop (The Gift Tree, at 12 South Broadway) which was a mecca for local residents seeking accoutrements of impeccable taste. Miss Tompkins was born in Nyack July 18, 1890, the daughter of Arthur and Jeannie C. Tompkins. For 50 years the family occupied the great Tudor mansion on North Broadway now owned by Norman Rose, the producer. In 1969, after the death of her father and mother, Miss Tompkins lived for a time on Oak Hill Drive, Upper Nyack, then moved to Speculator and later to Cambridge. In October 1975 she went to the Masonic Home, Utica, where she spent the re­ mainder of her days. Miss Tompkins only brother, Arthur S. Tompkins, died many years ago and her only survivors are nieces and grand nieces, among them Mrs. Warren Thurnauer of Manchester, Conn; Mrs. Arthur Tompkins 3d of Princeton, Ky; and Mrs. Heinz Bieringer of Saratoga Springs. Pursuant to her wishes, graveside services were held for her on November 13 at the family plot in Oak Hill Cemetery, Nyack, with the Rev. Richard N. Myers of the First Baptist Church officiating. —Isabelle Saveli

A very successful St. Nicholas Festival, Helena Hora, chairman, thrilled some 300 children December 8 at the center. Harvey Wanamaker as St. Nicholas arrived with Shadow, Marcus Ratcliff’s white horse. Traditional tales of the holiday were retold by Dorothy Mayhew and Judy Marolewski. Musicians, through arrangements with Barbara Conques, were Declan & Evan Spring and Delphine Fine. Shoes were filled with candies by Girl Scouts Karin Dieter, Heide Wagner, Mary Ellen Scrocce, Susan DiPaci, Heather Yorke. Scout Master Bill Kugler, assisted by Scouts Andy Thub, Paul Lindell, Jim Donoghue handled parking. A visit to the doll house exhibit rounded out a happy occasion. The attractive displays in two of the memorial windows of the museum arcade were arranged by members of the Clarkstown and Valley Garden Clubs. These displays added a holiday touch that pleased the several thousand visitors to the doll house festival and holiday bazaar.

Wilfred B. Thlman’s HOW THINGS BEGAN... in Rockland County and places nearby is available in paperback at $8.95, including sales tax. Cloth-bound copies are priced at $12.50. The books are on sale at the history center and may be bought by mail if the purchaser adds $1. for mailing and handlingxosts. Every Sunday and Wednesday from 2 to 5 p.m. the History Center at 20 Zukor Road, New City, is open to the public. Special center tours may be arranged by telephoning 634-9629.

Staff members: Richard A. Sgritta, museum curator; Bettie Kobbe, assistant — exhibitions; Louise Winkley, secretary; Adelaid Rau, membership secretary;

The Suffern Historical Hikers will begin their 25th year of outdoor historic programs, open to all adults, Sunday, March 9, at 12:45 p.m. Meeting place will be the parking lot on Chestnut Street, Suffern, opposite the post office. Each outing will take about three and one-half hours and will include visits to Indian rock shelters, iron mines and iron furnaces, and Ramapo Mountain sites relating to the Revolutionary War. The adult education fee for the eight-hike series is $16. ($2.50 for a single outing). For further information call Gardner Watts, Suffern Village historian, at 914-357-3667. DATES TO REMEMBER Mar. 16 (Sun) 2:30 p.m. annual slide show of society’s activities with Richard Sgritta, curator Apr. 14 (Mon) 8 p.m. annual meeting; election — officers & trustees; Harold Lindlan, ch., nominating committee May 18 (Sun) 1 to 5 p.m. Spring Open House & Festival—craft demonstra­ tions; barn sale. June 7 & 8 2:30 p.m. MEMBERS EXCHANGE on center’s grounds for (Sat & Sun) members & friends who supply not more than two card tables each ... donation to society of $10. June 15 (Sun) 2:30 p.m. Strawberry Festival with Awards to High School His­ tory Students. All previous winners invited as guests. Award programs began in 1965. July 19 (Sat) 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. YANKEE PEDDLAR DAY at Spring Valley High School field, Rt. 59; Clem Egolf, ch. RAIN DATE — July 26

NEW YORK TRAP ROCK CORPORATION WEST NYACK, NEW YORK The Savings Of ROCKLAND Bank COUNTY