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OUR HOXIE HERITAGE

Copyright © 2004 Bruce H. Richardson

 

First Three Generations in America

 

 

3^rd Generation

 

{ZEBULON HOXSIE}³ (Joseph²,Lodowick¹)

b. 21 Sep 1718 North Kingston, RI

d. 29 Feb 1808 Oswego, Dutchess, NY, age 89

SARAH IRISH

d. 1803 Oswego, Dutchess, NY

 

Zebulon and his family were Quakers.  The Society of Friend’s records of North Kingston, Rhode Island indicate that they moved from Charlestown, RI to Stonington, Connecticut about 1749, and from there to Beekmantown, Dutchess County, NY about 1760.

 

Map Key for below: “Washington County was known as King’s County before the War of the Revolution.  Boundary disputes were many in the early days.  The map shows the old western boundary and the ‘purchases’ along Narragansett Bay, by which Connecticut hoped to extend her domains eastward.  The ‘purchases’ are shown on the map, as well as the divisions of the towns.”

 

 

  

An account of the establishment of Quaker Meetings in Westerly, RI township, of which Zebulon was a part, and the burial ground has survived:

 

Three meetings have existed within the original limits of the township: one in the present limits of the town; one in Hopkinton; one in Richmond. These were branches of the South Kingstown Monthly Meeting, and appear to have been established almost simultaneously in 1743. Two of the meeting‑houses were proposed and one was built in 1744. Evidently these meetings had their birth from the Great Revival. The New Light of the Spirit was joyfully welcomed by the open‑hearted disciples of George Fox. They gloried in the new life that threw off the shackles of formalsm and ceremonies, and broke the iron bands of church and state. 

THE WESTERLY MEETING.

The house of worship for this meeting was built in 1744, at a cost of about three hundred pounds, near the present residence of John K. Dunn, Esq., on the north side of the post‑road. A small cemetery, called the "Quaker Burial‑place," is all that now remains to mark the spot. Prior to the building of the meeting‑house, meetings were held at the residence of Stephen Richmond. After "the house was completed," "the South Kingstown monthly meeting" was held "alternately at Westerly and South Kingstown." "The ministers residing within the limits of this meeting, were James Scrivens (or Scribbens), Peter Davis, John Collins. Among the "active and efficient members of this meeting" were "John Collins, Jr., Peter Davis, Jr., Stephen Richmond, Solomon Hoxie, John Robinson, Cyrus Richmond, John Hoxie, Lot Trip, John Park, Zebulon Hoxie, Thomas Wilbur (father of John Wilbur), Stephen Hoxie," the latter for years serving as clerk.

 

Friend's Ground [burial ground]

By this name, rather than that of any family, is recognized the burying‑ground situated on the old post road leading to Charlestown, on the north side of the road, a little east of the site of the Wilcox Church, near the late residence of Ephraim Gavitt, Esq..  It is substantially inclosed by a wall and furnished with gates.  Most of the graves being those of Quakers are without inscribed headstones, though here lie the remains of persons of eminent worth.... In this ground lie the remains of the two famous Quaker preachers, Peter Davis Sen., and Peter Davis Jr., of whom mention is made in the religious history of the town.^[32]

 

 

About 1760 Zebulon and family moved from Rhode Island to Beekman, Dutchess County, New York.  Beekman town had just formally become a town two years previous on March 7, 1788.  Beekman area is described as broken and hilly upland containing some of the finest farming land in the county.  The streams are small creeks and brooks, tributaries of the Fishkill, and are bordered by wide, fertile valleys.  The derivation of the name “Beekman” is not without much mirth.  In General History of Duchess County 1609-1876 a note at the bottom of the page explicating “Beekman” reads:

 

The derivation of this name is thus given by noted writer: "This great dignitary was called Mynhor Beekman, who derived his surname, as did Ovidius Nase of yore, from the lordly dimensions of his nose, which projected from the centre of his countenance like the beak of a parrot.  He was a great progenitor of the tribe of Beekmans, one of the most ancient and honorable families of the province, the members of which do gratefully commemorate the origin of their dignity, not as your noble families in England would do, by having a glowing proboseis emblazoned on their escutchcon, but by one and all wearing a right goodly nose stuck in the very middle of their faces (Irving's Knickerbacker list, NY).^[33]

 

The name "Beekman" became attached to this area in 1697, when Henry Beekman, a large landowner from Kingston, obtained a grant from the British crown for what was to be named the Beekman Patent.  Recall, that England owned the land until after the Revolution.  The entire patent consisted of what today are the towns of Beekman, Pawling, Dover, Unionvale, and part of LaGrange. [see NY county map later in this document to see where Dutchess Co. is in SE NY]

 

In 1737, Beekman became a precinct and the first local government was formed.  In 1788 the new State of New York was divided into counties and towns which established the Town of Beekman.

 

A 1776 map showing the Beekman Patent:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The Oblong” is the long, narrow, vertical allotment on the Connecticut border as seen on the right of the map above.  The original Beekman Patent was later expanded.  The eastern bounds of Dover and Pawling were moved eastward by one mile and three quarters and twenty rods by the Treaty of Dover of 14 May 1731, which added the tract of land known as the Oblong.  This treaty settled a long standing dispute between the colonies of New York and Connecticut.  On 17 Dec. 1743 the eastern precincts in Dutchess Co. were extended eastward to include the lands in the Oblong.

 

A magnificent map from 1780.  Note the small gray square (lower center) which denotes the exact area of our Hoxsies, where Lodowick, Zebulon, and Peleg had adjoining land.  We know with great precision, thanks to the fact that, incredibly, modern maps still show “Hoxie Corner.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the modern map below, note also the highlighted “Oswego Rd.”  Records indicate Zebulon living at Oswego, which a source on New York historical sites notes lies one mile east of La Grange and is “the old name of a community with a meeting house of Society of Friends (Quakers) that was an 18^th century center for a wide neighborhood.”  Another source identifies Oswego (sometimes called Quaker City) east of Moore’s Mills and south of Verbank.  Oswego doesn’t appear on any map, but Oswego Rd. yet exists as does Verbank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 1790 Census was the very first official Federal Census instituted by the new country of The United States of America.  In the 1790 Census of Beekman Town, Dutchess County, New York, our honorable forbearer, Zebulon Hoxsie and household, plus his son Peleg and household are listed:

            Zebulon Hoxsie

3 free white males 16+

2 free white males under 16

6 free white females

1 other free person

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are fortunate to have considerable material in the historical record concerning Zebulon and his times.  For example, in the year 1761 a list of all the heads of the Quaker families in the Monthly Meeting that Zebulon was enrolled in was documented.  Curiously, his wife is never mentioned so one can reasonably speculate that she was not a Quaker.

 

A List of the Heads of Families in the Verge of our Monthly Meeting held on the Oblong & in the Nine‑Partners Circularly taken in the 3 mo 1761.^[34]

 

4thly At Oswego                            

Samuel Dorland & Wife                         Zebulon Hoxsie

Richard Smith & Wife                            Ichabod Bowerman

Joseph Smith & Wife                              David Irish

Samuel Hall & Wife                                Andrew Moore

Allen Moore & Wife                                Jospeh Waters

John Thomas & Wife                              Eliab Youmans

Lott Tripp & Wife                                    Othniel Allen

Ebenezer Shearman & Wife                  John Carman

Joshua Sherman & Wife                        Jesse Irish

Daniel Shepherd & Wife                        Deborah Reed

 

John Thomas & Wife                              Martha Gifford

Josiah Bull                                                 Abigail Adams

Mary Moore                                               Catharine Leaven

Mary Youman                                           Mehetable Devil

 

 

The above list mentions the Oblong (see previous explanation) and “Nine-Partners.”  Nine-Partners was the greater area just to the north of Beekman Province, where the Quaker Monthly Meeting was held, while the smaller, weekly, Preparative Meeting would have been held at the local level, which for the Hoxies was the Oswego Meeting.  Nine-Partners is depicted on the 1780 map below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zebulon is recorded on Beekman Tax Lists as follows:

        “Hoxsey, Hawksey, Zebulon  June 1760‑1778”^[35]

 

Pouring over LDS Family History microfilms of ancient land records for Beekman Province revealed a couple of indications of Zebulon and his son Peleg:

 

281.   16:334   April 17, 1798  $1500

Rev. Freborn Garretson and Catherine Rhinebeck to Henry Klien of Beekman

Begins SW corner Samuel Butler; mentions N side of Peleg Hoxie store; follows hill to Zebulon Hoxie's line.  Bounds Daniel Uhl       150 acres    Witness:  Ann Garretson, Ales Thompson^[36]

 

968.    12:295   July 23, 1807   $10.00

William Paddock and Mary Beekman to Platt Vail and Israel Fowler

Begins on Robert Livingston Lot Line.  Original lease Henry Beekman to Ellis Bullock and Robert R. Livingston to Samuel Hall May 1, 1774.

Bounded  W.  Zebulon Hoxie

                     N.  Lot 14      E.  Israel Vail

                     S.  Lot Tripp and John Deersten  91 acres

    2 roods  [sic]    Witnesses:  Thomas J. Oakley, James Emott^[37]

 

 

In making genealogical inquiry into our ancestors, the nagging question always arises--at least it does for me--as to what their lifestyle was like back then?  I discovered an excellent source--Settlers of the Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, New York, An Historical and Genealogical Study of all the 18^th Century Settlers in the Patent--which I will quote at length, because it gives us a splendid glimpse into life as Zebulon and family knew it in the late 1700's in Beekman Province.  First off, is an account of their Meeting House and we find that g‘-grandfather Zebulon is one of those given oversight of building a new one:

 

The Nine Partners Meeting (in Millbrook) was attended by Quakers from Dover and the Oswego and Verbank areas of Beekman until the Oswego meeting was established in 1750 and granted Preparative status in 1759 [Zebulon’s Meeting].  The Nine Partners Meeting House was built shortly after 1742 and was on the site of the present brick building. This was a weekly Meeting until 23 Feb. 1769 when it became the 3rd monthly meeting on the mainland.  The Nine Partners Monthly Meeting sponsored many other Meetings, both locally and at great distances.  The local ones were Oswego, Chestnut Ridge, Creek, Crum Elbow, and West Branch.  Some more distant Meetings were Easton and White Creek in Washington Co., NY, and Adolphustown in Canada.

 

The Oswego Meeting was established as early as 1750, given Preparitive status in 1759 and made a Monthly Meeting in 1803.  The Meeting House still stands in Oswego, north of Oswega Road and east of North Smith Road in present day Union Vale.  Land for the Oswego Meeting was purchased by Jesse Irish, Nathaniel Yeomans and Allen Moore on 2 April 1757 from Robert G. Livingston for 5 shillings. On 18 day, 8th month 1757 Allen Moore was appointed to take into his oversight the building of a meeting house at Oswego, one story high, thirty feet square, “near the spot where the other was burnt.”

 

From 20 Feb. 1788 through 10 May 1791 the minutes of the Nine Partners Meeting have many references to the building of a new Meeting House in Oswego.  It was felt that a building 28 ft. by 34 ft., two stories high would cost £350 and the Friends at Oswego initially only subscribed £76 and the Nine Partners Meeting only £66/42 [66 pounds, 42 schillings].  At the Meeting of 26th of Eleventh Month 1789, it was agreed that a committee could begin collecting materials for the building. Jonathan Clark, Joseph Hoxie [Zebulon’s son--also our g‘-grandfather], Ladowick Hoxie [sic. Lodowick, son of Zebulon], Garret Burtis and Lawrence Dean were appointed to have oversight of said building and proceed accordingly and appoint Tripp Masher, Pontius Wooley, Jadiwick Tallman, Reuben Haight, Joseph Wilbur, Enoch Dorland, Samuel Dorland Jr. and Henry Gidley to assist the Trustees in planning the house to the best advantage.” The building was completed by the May 1791 date.^[38]

 

Zebulon was a farmer.  Wheat was a staple crop from which they baked their bread and also sold as a cash crop, which was then taken by boat down the nearby Erie Canal to New York City.   Several lists of wheat rent payments have survived.  These date back to 1772 and list rentals paid by Beekman and Pawling tenants:

 

Mr. Livingston‑ The following list of wheat is what I have taken in store on acct of farm rent‑

 

January 1772                          Bushels

21     Ellenor Dunkin, widow  24

         Bostyon Wheeler             20

22     Zebulon Hoxsie          15 1/2

         Hendrick Koon                21

23     Bostyon Wheeler            11

         Henry Koon                     10

         Nathaniel Rogers            15 1/2

February

 1      Isaac Vail                          20

 3      Joseph Hoxsie            18   [our g‘-grandfather (Zebulon’s son)]

         Abraham Boyce              15

         John Van Duzen             12 1/2

 

         Isaac Vail                          10

 6      Abraham Boyce              15

         Jonathan Husted           20

 7      Joseph Ketcham            20

         Abraham Mace                 6 1/4

         Israel Vail                          7

11     Joseph Hoxsie            13 1/4   

19     Jonathan Husted          20

28     Amos Thompkins         11 1/4

          March

  9     Mathew Howard           11

10     Able Wooley                   12

                                                328 3/4^[39]

 

Another rent list dates from 1779 and 1780 and was for flour ground at Andrew Moore’s mill in Verbank, near where our Hoxies lived (see previous maps).

“Delivery of flour of M. Livingston by A. Moore.  1779

Sept. 21             11 barrels

Dec. 22              20 ditto

March 26             9

            28            14

                            54 in all

 

Rent wheat of Marg Livingston. Delivr’d to Andrew Moore.

 

1779                                                 Bushels

Dec. 3           Elijah Young               17 ½

 

1780

17                  Robert Harris              14

23                 Israel Vail                    30

25                  Robt Harris                    8

     do [ditto]               10

                     Elijah Young                 25

         Jacobus Algelt              26

        Israel Vail for Jacob Fowler    10

Feb. 25        Jacobus Algelt              10

                     Robert Harris               28

Mar 2         Charles Thomas             6

                     James Lake                    12

                     Eliz. Simons                    8

         9          Zebulon Hoxsie       14

       18          Joseph Hoxsie           8

                                                           226 1/2^[40]

 

 

Quackery (not Quakery) was something to be reckoned with even back then.  Dover was a town in the Beekman Patent east of where our Hoxies resided.  Jedediah Tallman of Dover placed the following ad in the Poughkeepsie Journal of 7 May 1799:

 

“The Subscriber living on Chestnut Ridge in Pawlings Town takes this method to inform the public, especially those who labor under infirmaties, that he had relieved and perfectly cured the following maladies, through the applications of Electricity, most of which in a very short time, viz: Scropholia, or King’s Evil, Erysipelus, or St. Anthony’s Fire, St. Anthony’s Dance, useless limbs, weak nerves, cramps, convulsion fits, fever sores of 5 or 6 years standing, Fellens, biles, violent headaches, angnea, bruises, &c and flatters himself that Gouts and Rheumatic complaints may be speedily removed, and by perserverance entirely relieved, Also, those who would wish to be furnished with ELECTRICAL MACHINES may be, with every apparatus for medical uses which will work in the most powerful manner (with directions for exciting and keeping them in the best order, in writing if they choose) on as low or lower terms than at New-York, with Cylinders of 6,7,8 or 12 inches in diameter.”^[41]

 

 

From the following account (Settlers of the Beekman Patent) of the era and area we get our best picture of everyday incidentals of life in Zebulon’s Beekman.  Recall that one of the land records previously listed indicated that Zebulon’s son, Peleg, operated a store.

 

There were a number of stores that catered to the needs of the Beekman settlers and they were located in all the neighborhoods.  We are fortunate that records have survived for some of them.  The stores conducted much of their business by barter, trading goods for other goods, and did a large credit business.  Some paid in cash when they did not have something to trade.  The store owners often only requested an accounting every year or so and customers often gave promissary notes.  The stores also provided services and hired people out to work.  Many early residents did not pay their store debts and the store keeper sued them.  The Ancient Documents have hundreds of suits in them for the local stores. The Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook for 1965, p.36ff has an excellent article by Charlotte C. Finkel on what the local stores were like and how they did business. We are including several pages from that article because it tells us a lot about early life in this area.  The store mentioned in the story was the Schenck store in Pleasant Valley.

 

 

“For the most part, these books are a record of barter or exchange of goods and services, with a fixed cash value invariably placed upon these goods or services in the account books. For example, let us take the account of the schoolmaster, John Brown, who purchased various items at the Schenk store within a four‑year period: sugar, soap, books, a pen knife, tea, snuff, etc.. Apparently, he taught the children of Goris, Petrus and Derrick Storm, among others.  When the Storms brought wheat to the store, they would have Hendrick Schenk (or his clerk) credit John Brown’s account with the amount they owed him for teaching their children, this being deducted from the amount they received for their wheat.  Hendrick Schenk, in turn, no doubt sent the wheat down‑river to New York City where it was credited to his account with the merchants from whom he purchased imported manufactured goods to sell in his store.  Perhaps actual cash did not often change hands in these transactions, but it was a methodical, businesslike system.

 

The variety of things which were brought up‑river to be sold in the store is astonishing, though it takes a little effort to translate the prices into present values.  Currency was based on 20 shillings (s.) to the pound, and 12 pence (d.) to the shilling, just as English currency is today.  At this time a farmer received from Hendrick Schenk an average of five shillings a bushel for wheat. A carpenter of average skill received five shillings a day for his work (no doubt, a twelve‑hour day).

 

If we keep these figures firmly in mind, five shillings for a bushel of clean wheat, five shillings for a day’s labor by a skilled carpenter, we will easily understand that rice at six shillings a pound was expensive!  And, that tea, at 9/6 per pound, cost almost the equivalent of two bushels of wheat, or two days work as a carpenter.

 

On the other hand, we would consider rum, at 4/6 per gallon, cheap indeed. It was a very popular purchase.  Most customers bought it by the gallon or half-gallon, or even a single serving for a penny in the store.  Tavern keepers bought it by the hogshead, 103 gallons for £20/l2/0.

 

Other food prices were: 7d a pound for sugar; 3s a pound for pepper; salt was 3/6 a bushel; chocolate, 2/6 a pound; molasses, 2/6 a gallon; and coffee was 1/6 a pound, unground.  A coffee mill could be had for 9/6.

 

A variety of tableware was available: sets of cups and saucers, knives and forks, spoons and pewter plates, the latter at 11/8 the half dozen.  Also teapots, decanters and pocket bottles.  For the kitchen one could buy iron pots, earthenware and wooden trenchers [carved bowls to eat out of], or a long-handled frying pan for 7s.

 

 

The store carried several types of hats and caps.  The most luxurious purchase one could make in this line was a beaver hat at £2/13/0.  A castor hat was a fine hat, too, but less luxurious than top quality beaver.  Then there were felt hats, ranging in price from 3/6 to 11/9; worsted caps for 2s. arid, during the summer, cotton caps for 1/11.  One could even buy hatband crepe by the yard.  Handkerchiefs came in cotton, linen or silk, and many plain black handkerchiefs were sold.

 

There were gloves for 4/4 (leather, we assume) mittens and mitts; garters for 4d a pair, and gartering.  Stockings were rather expensive; a pair for a woman cost 5/6; black stockings cost 8/6.  Some shoes were sold but more often people must have purchased direct from the cordwainer [shoemaker] or made their own.  Many pairs of wooden heels were sold, also shoe buckles.

 

Leather breeches could be had at £l/l5/0, but suits and dresses were either made at home or by a “taylor”.  Fabrics in great variety were available by the yard: flannel, calico, chintz calico, “taffety”, velvet, oznabrig, bombazine, fairnought, striped Holland, “Swanskin” plush, in red, green, blue and white; wool, plain or checked; flowered lawn and cambric.  Most elegant of all was “scarlet cloth”, at 25/6 a yard.  Anyone buying a length of scarlet cloth was clearly planning an elegant cloak or coat.  With it he also bought 3 1/2 yards of cord, some buckram and silk thread.

 

Every kind of sewing necessity was here: pins by the paper, needles, knitting needles, scissors, ribbons and various threads.  All kinds of buttons--pewter, bone and silver.  Occasionally someone bought a “rannent”, probably a remnant of yard goods.

 

A few people bought blankets; a striped wool cost 15/6, as did an Indian blanket.  A rose cost a full pound.

 

Clay pipes cost 6d. a dozen, tobacco 4d. a paper, a pack of cards 1/6, and chamber pots at 1/3 each.  Gabriel Dutcher bought a trunk for his son for 6s. (Was the young man planning a trip?).  A month later Mr. Dutcher bought 477 pounds of feathers for 7/6/0!  However would one weigh or transport 477 pounds of feathers?

 

Stationery supplies and books were “spelling books and primmers”.  Writing paper by the bonnet or quire, ink by the cake.  Almanacs were bought in November and December.  Dutch Psalters usually cost around 6/6, but Johannes Van Deusen paid the great sum of £4/16/0 for a Dutch Bible.  It must have been very large, with a heavy, tooled leather cover, brass clasps and perhaps a wooden case.

 

Even lottery tickets could be bought at the store.  Hendrick Van Voorhis bought half a ticket in the New York Stamp Lottery for £1, on May 8, 1765. “Spectacals” cost 4s. but they were not infrequently returned a few days later. A “Pocket Looking Glass” was sold for 1/3, larger sizes were 17/4.

 

 

A “pain” of glass cost 6d. and a variety of colors were available for painting one’s home; the base was “oyl” and one mixed it with white lead, red lead, “verdigress”, vermillion, Spanish brown, Prussian blue or indigo.  Much hardware was sold, plain hinges, H‑hinges and locks.  All sorts of tools, hammers, axes, saws and chisels.  A particularly expensive item in this line was a cross‑cut saw at 1/15/0.  A rattrap cost 3/5.  Everyone, at some time or other, seems to have bought a “gimblet” at 5 d.  At the other end of the scale, a pair of mill wheels could be had for ten pounds.

 

How were all these items paid for?  Terms were one year of credit, after which interest was charged.  The most common way to settle an account was, of course, to bring in farm products: wheat, beef, hogs, fowl, butter, buck‑wheat, a bushel of turnips or a dozen heads of cabbage, etc..  Also lumber products, -cut boards, shingles, logs and fence posts.  Some brought in homespun linen, flannel or linsey-woolsey, a yard of the latter bringing about 5s.

 

A cooper would trade barrels for merchandise and a cobbler, shoes.  Some people brought in starch they had made themselves from some root or tuber. A few brought in mink skins and red fox.  Occasionally partridges, turkeys or a “fatt goose” appear on the credit pages.  The blacksmith received credit for making axes to be sold in the store, also for hooks and eyes, fishhooks, or for “shewing a slay”.

 

Others paid off their store accounts in labor or services, as was earlier described in the case of the schoolmaster, John Brown.  Abraham Boice was paid 5 s. for “a half day he spent looking for takels and bringing them from Poughkeepsing here”.  Hannah Smith was paid 4s for “altering a rapper”. Doctor Cornelius Osborn was credited 5 pounds “for attendance at my wife’s illness in January, 1764”.

 

And finally, the local merchant not only kept store, everything from papers of pins to rum, axes and beaver hats -but he was also the local banker.  He was called upon almost daily to advance credit or cash against future crops or wages. It might be just a few shillings or it might be many pounds.”

 

THE BEEKMAN PATENT STORES

 

Probably one of the earliest merchants in Beekman was James Duncan who was a storekeeper in the Greenhaven area ca. 1745.  In a letter of 7 Jan. 1745/6 Henry Beekman wrote Henry Livingston: “Wish you could let my tenants know [that] the longer they delay, the further they get in debt, for pay day must come.  [Tell them] either to bring it at Poughkeepsie or at Mr. James Duncan’s store, or at Mr. De Peyster’s mill.”  Duncan was taxed in Beekman from Feb. 1744/5 through June 1748.  He was fairly wealthy and was assessed at £6 in Feb. 1744/5 and at £12 in Feb. 1746/7.

 

The Merritt store which existed on Quaker Hill [lot 32 in Oblong, D 12:170] served most of the people on the Oblong and on both sides.  The records for this store, which existed from at least 1762, are in the Akin Memorial Library on Quaker Hill.

 

John Wightman, son of George and Bridget (Sweet) Wightman, operated a store in Beekman from 1787 through 1790 or so.  A small ledger containing several entries relating to this store which we have abstracted below:

 

Year         Customer      Method of payment

1787 John Townsend mowing, butchering, etc.

1767 Philip Jenkins use of sled in hauling timber

1787 Joseph Kuhn his work and that of his sons also killed hogs

1787 Joseph Weight use of oxen. bro. Benjamin mentioned

1787 Benjamin Albro paid 6 bushels rye

1787 John Cronkhite no data

1787 Benjamin Haxton paid by working 4 1/2 months

1787 Job Briggs 12 1/2 days work

1787 Samuel Sweet doing carpentry

1787 David Brand made nails, also mentions Samuel Sweet

         and Waite Hoxsie

1787 William Hollaway paid in cash

1787 Gideon Tompson Blacksmith work

1787 James Gardner Butchering

1787 John Darling Hoeing and mending the house

1787 Coll. Andrew Morehouse no data

1787 Zebulon Force no data

1787 David Nichols mowing and plowing

1787 Jedediah Jenkins rye and potatoes. mentions Gideon

         Jenkins

1787 Angus McDaniel  paid cash

1787 Wait Hoxsie worked three weeks at 4/6 the week

1790 Enoch Wooley paid by tayloring

1790 John Cronkhite digging potatoes, hoeing corn, etc.

1790 David Mosher bushels of rye.

1790 Elizabeth Shear no data

1791 Benajah Carr by horse work and sundries.

1791 John Thompson no data

1791 Thomas Clark mowing, and tapping a pair of shoes

1791 Nathaniel Cronkhite mowing, planting corn, etc.

1791 Gideon Jenkins sundries

1791 Stephen Chapman one bushel of potatoes.

1791 John Eyat [Hyatt?] “by account”^[42]

 

 

Offices in the Beekman Patent included: Assessors, Tax Collector, Constables, Overseers of the Poor (Poor Masters), Inspectors of Intestate Estates (wills), Pound Masters, Road Overseers (Path Masters), Fence Viewers, and Town Clerk.  Among the officers for 1763, g-‘grandfather Zebulon is listed as one of four Pound Masters.  The Settlers of the Beekman Patent sheds some light for us as to what this involved:

 

Animals were not allowed to roam freely on the commons. Stray animals found in one’s enclosure, or “close” were subject to be taken to the pound. Every resident obtained a “mark” for his animals as soon as he moved to the area. These marks almost always were ear marks and involved cutting holes or slits in the ears of the animal. Families frequently had similar marks and the marks were passed on from father to son. Some early settlers also had iron brands which they used on their animals. There were restrictions on letting sheep rams roam freely during late fall of the year and the sheep owner who violated the law ran the risk of having his ram gelded. Likewise hogs were not to run loose unless they were “yoked and ringed.”

 

There were three public pounds in Beekman. They were located “at or near Capt. Daniel Uhle’s [in the Clove], at or near Zachariah Flagler Jun. [between Green Haven and Poughquag], and at or near Hezekiah Collin’s” [on Pray Lane off Cross Road near Billings]. [BTR 42]. We have no records of the location of the pounds in the Pawling—Dover area but there must have been several. There were certain procedures set up by the residents to handle equitably the problems caused by stray animals which are enumerated in the town records. The Beekman Town record book has many entries of people reporting stray animals that were found in their enclosures.^[43]

 

  

 

Copyright © 2004 Bruce H. Richardson. This data file may not be copied except for small quotations used with citation of source.

         

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