Bringing It Home:
NYS Curriculum Connections to Warwick

Primary Documents, Maps & Folkways
by Sue Gardner

Historical Society of the Town of Warwick
& Albert Wisner Public Library
2007

Studying local history:

History has little meaning unless it resonates with our daily lives.

Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it.
--N. Scott Momaday

Seeing our challenges as part of a continuum gives them meaning and gives us hope.

The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.
--Mark Twain

Our local history echoes that of the larger culture;

differences and similarities between “then” to “now” are what imbue interest.

History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up.
--Voltaire

The uniqueness of a particular scene and time is what brings the past to life.

Primary Document: Early European Settlement

Deposition of David Davis

Relative to Maratanza Pond, Ulster County

From the Cadwallader Colden Papers, Vol. 7

Published in

“Collections of the New York Historical Society”

For the year 1923

p. 55-56

“David Davis being Duely Sworn Deposeth and Saith that he is 75 years of age—that in the Year 1712 he Lived at Warwick in Orange County With Captain Aske—that at that time a Great Number of Indians Lived there that he often heard the Indians Speak of a Pond on the Mountain between the Drownded Land & Minisink which they called as he thinks Camallo—that some time after being in Company with Lawrance Decker who understood the Indian Language and Some Indians & mentioning the Name of the Pond the Indians & Decker Laugh’d upon which this Deponan(t) asked Decker what they Laugh’d when Decker said it was at the Name of the Pond which Signify a Place where Young Indians & their Wives Mett & made Merry—that in Perticular an Indian Called George who Could talk English….” (further details about dispute over pond omitted) [August 27, 1765]

Primary Document: The King’s Highway

“Certificate of Laying Out of a King’s Road – 40 Rods Wide”

Recorded at the request of Messrs. Thomas Smith and William Mapes, Commissioners for the Precinct of Goshen, this 29th day of October, 1736.

November 20th 1735, at the request of Msrs. Benjamin Ask, Thomas Dekey, Richard Buell, Thomas Wright, Lawrence Decker, Joseph Perry and others of Wawayanda in Orange County, in the Province of New York, we have laid out a certain King’s Road of forty rod wide, beginning at or near the corner of Mr. Vincent Matthew’s Improved Land at or by Goshen road; thence running as the Old road runs about two rods to the north of Mr. Gold Smith house and thence along to a certain place to the Otterkill by a butter nut tree standing in the Loe Land; then from the butter nut tree over the brook up the Valley to the old path or road and so along the old roads to Cromelines Creek; then along the creek on the west side of the creek though the fence as the old road formerly went to the house of the said Cromlines; then along the south side of the swamp running to the old road. Then along the old road on the north side of Joseph Perry’s fence & so along the old Road to Lawrence Decker’s house on the south side of the house; along the side of the hill over the Crossway; then along the old Road through Thomas Blains fence on the South side of his house and so over the Bridge; then along the road as it goes to Abraham Wintfield house on the south side of the said house; then along the Old Wagon road tell it come near the Duble kill; then directly to the intended Bridges over the Duble Kill; then along on a strait course to the house where young Jacob Decker lives on the south side of the said house; then along the road that runs to Gold’s Plantation over the said Kill till it comes near the house of Thomas Dekey house; then running from the said road northward over the creek or run and so along the north side of the said Thomas Dekey’s barn & so to his house.

(Signed) Tho Smith, William Mapes Recorded, Liber B. page 483, October 29, 1736, Orange County Records.”

Primary Document: Colonial Era Map (1776)
Colonial Migrations & Culture, Land Claims, French & Indian War

Primary Document: Colonial Era Map
(This map was drawn in 1776 from prior surveys)

Colonial Road Corridors: Opportunities for Growth

Colonial Roads

Few major land routes

Main roads went through New York City

Secondary route through Goshen/Warwick.

Colonial growth leads to problems with the English government.

It becomes necessary to avoid New York City during the War.

Iron Act Closes Lawrence Scrawley/Crowley’s Forge
in Bellvale

Some Colonial & Revolutionary Era Inns of Warwick

Francis Baird’s Tavern, built 1766

on the King’s Highway

Sterling Iron Works:
British Invasion Halted by Local Iron

January 14, 1778
“…Your committee, who were sent to ascertain the place for fixing a chain and erecting fortifications for obstructing the navigation of Hudson’s river, beg leave to report… From these considerations, the committee are led to conclude that the most proper place to obstruct the navigation of the river is at West Point..” Jno. Sloss Hobart,Henry Wisner,John Hathorn,Zepha. Platt [Included as note, Public Papers of George Clinton Vol. II No. 1021]

Primary Documents: Revolutionary Era
Visitors to Warwick

George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799: Series 5 Financial Papers (Washington stopped at Warwick) by Jonathan Trumbull Jr., July, 1782, Revolutionary War Accounts, Vouchers, and Receipted Accounts 2

Other visitors included:

May 20, 1779:
“This morning the weather still continued rainy necessity obliged us to continue the march, the traveling is extremely bad, and 9 o’clock made a halt at a small village called Warwick, NY, six miles. Here we took breakfast at Baird’s Tavern, from whence we proceeded on the march to Hardiston, NJ 7 miles .”These troops were on the march to join Gen. Sullivan’s expedition against the Indians.

Oct. 20, 1779: 3d Regiment Continental Line, Capt. Phillip Du Bois Beiver & Lieut. Frees

Dec. 6, 1782 the Marquis de Chastellux, part of the French delegation.

Other records of visitors

John Hathorn: Warwick’s Revolutionary Militia Leader

Revolutionary Era
Local Militia, Battles, Tories

Primary Documents:

General Hathorn’s Report on the Battle of Minisink

Hathorn and Wisner’s letters to Gov. Clinton

Washington’s letter regarding mail route

Salt shortages in Florida

Warwick militia testifies against 13 Tories

Hathorn reports on movements of the enemy

Secondary Documents/

Oral Tradition

Boston Tea Party Witness

Burgoyne’s Army at Warwick

Pursuit of Tories

Report of Hathorn on Regiment

Feud of Tory vs. Whig

Henry Wisner of the Continental Congress

Some Revolutionary War Sites in Warwick

Defense of the Hudson

Warwick in 1805 from Memoirs of Henry Pelton

Primary Document: Memoirs of Henry Pelton

In 1872 Henry Pelton wrote down his memories of Warwick, as it was when he arrived in 1805, which included a sketch of who lived where and other memories of the area.

As we look at the map created from his descriptions by Elizabeth Van Duzer we can see:

Roads of the colonial era are still recognizable today.

There was a significant population already in the Town (3,747 in 1790)

Environmental features such as stream beds were already being changed; the swampy areas of the Wawayanda Creek were already proving a source of health problems. Memories of Native Americans were being carried forward in oral tradition, but were often fragmentary.

Henry William Herbert: Species Change and Human Actions

Slavery in Warwick

Preludes to the Civil War: William Henry Seward

Advocate for Women’s Rights: Dr. Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck
1827-1910

Railroad Links Warwick to
Markets & Travel Destinations

Railroad Links Warwick to
Markets: Coal Fields of Pennsylvania to New England
Travel Destinations: NYC, Boston, Washington, Etc.

Primary Document: Railroad Timetable

1875 Map: Hamlet Life--Expansion & Inventions


	History has little meaning unless it resonates with our daily lives.

	Anything is bearable if you can make a story out of it. --N. Scott Momaday
	Seeing our challenges as part of a continuum gives them meaning and gives us hope.
	The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. --Mark Twain
		Our local history echoes that of the larger culture;
		differences and similarities between “then” to “now” are what imbue interest.
	History is filled with the sound of silken slippers going downstairs and wooden shoes coming up. --Voltaire
	The uniqueness of a particular scene and time is what brings the past to life.


	Deposition of David Davis
	Relative to Maratanza Pond, Ulster County
	From the Cadwallader Colden Papers, Vol. 7
	Published in
	“Collections of the New York Historical Society”
	For the year 1923
	p. 55-56

	“David Davis being Duely Sworn Deposeth and Saith that he is 75 years of age—that in the Year 1712 he Lived at Warwick in Orange County With Captain Aske—that at that time a Great Number of Indians Lived there that he often heard the Indians Speak of a Pond on the Mountain between the Drownded Land & Minisink which they called as he thinks Camallo—that some time after being in Company with Lawrance Decker who understood the Indian Language and Some Indians & mentioning the Name of the Pond the Indians & Decker Laugh’d upon which this Deponan(t) asked Decker what they Laugh’d when Decker said it was at the Name of the Pond which Signify a Place where Young Indians & their Wives Mett & made Merry—that in Perticular an Indian Called George who Could talk English….” (further details about dispute over pond omitted) [August 27, 1765]


	“Certificate of Laying Out of a King’s Road – 40 Rods Wide”

	Recorded at the request of Messrs. Thomas Smith and William Mapes, Commissioners for the Precinct of Goshen, this 29th day of October, 1736.

	November 20th 1735, at the request of Msrs. Benjamin Ask, Thomas Dekey, Richard Buell, Thomas Wright, Lawrence Decker, Joseph Perry and others of Wawayanda in Orange County, in the Province of New York, we have laid out a certain King’s Road of forty rod wide, beginning at or near the corner of Mr. Vincent Matthew’s Improved Land at or by Goshen road; thence running as the Old road runs about two rods to the north of Mr. Gold Smith house and thence along to a certain place to the Otterkill by a butter nut tree standing in the Loe Land; then from the butter nut tree over the brook up the Valley to the old path or road and so along the old roads to Cromelines Creek; then along the creek on the west side of the creek though the fence as the old road formerly went to the house of the said Cromlines; then along the south side of the swamp running to the old road. Then along the old road on the north side of Joseph Perry’s fence & so along the old Road to Lawrence Decker’s house on the south side of the house; along the side of the hill over the Crossway; then along the old Road through Thomas Blains fence on the South side of his house and so over the Bridge; then along the road as it goes to Abraham Wintfield house on the south side of the said house; then along the Old Wagon road tell it come near the Duble kill; then directly to the intended Bridges over the Duble Kill; then along on a strait course to the house where young Jacob Decker lives on the south side of the said house; then along the road that runs to Gold’s Plantation over the said Kill till it comes near the house of Thomas Dekey house; then running from the said road northward over the creek or run and so along the north side of the said Thomas Dekey’s barn & so to his house.

	(Signed) Tho Smith, William Mapes Recorded, Liber B. page 483, October 29, 1736, Orange County Records.”


	George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799: Series 5 Financial Papers (Washington stopped at Warwick) by Jonathan Trumbull Jr., July, 1782, Revolutionary War Accounts, Vouchers, and Receipted Accounts 2

	Other visitors included:
	May 20, 1779: “This morning the weather still continued rainy necessity obliged us to continue the march, the traveling is extremely bad, and 9 o’clock made a halt at a small village called Warwick, NY, six miles. Here we took breakfast at Baird’s Tavern, from whence we proceeded on the march to Hardiston, NJ 7 miles .”These troops were on the march to join Gen. Sullivan’s expedition against the Indians.
	Oct. 20, 1779: 3d Regiment Continental Line, Capt. Phillip Du Bois Beiver & Lieut. Frees

	Dec. 6, 1782 the Marquis de Chastellux, part of the French delegation.

	Other records of visitors


	Primary Documents:

	General Hathorn’s Report on the Battle of Minisink
	Hathorn and Wisner’s letters to Gov. Clinton
	Washington’s letter regarding mail route
	Salt shortages in Florida
	Warwick militia testifies against 13 Tories
	Hathorn reports on movements of the enemy
	Secondary Documents/
	Oral Tradition

	Boston Tea Party Witness
	Burgoyne’s Army at Warwick
	Pursuit of Tories
	Report of Hathorn on Regiment
	Feud of Tory vs. Whig
	Henry Wisner of the Continental Congress
	Some Revolutionary War Sites in Warwick
	Defense of the Hudson


	In 1872 Henry Pelton wrote down his memories of Warwick, as it was when he arrived in 1805, which included a sketch of who lived where and other memories of the area.

	As we look at the map created from his descriptions by Elizabeth Van Duzer we can see:
	Roads of the colonial era are still recognizable today.
	There was a significant population already in the Town (3,747 in 1790)
	Environmental features such as stream beds were already being changed; the swampy areas of the Wawayanda Creek were already proving a source of health problems. Memories of Native Americans were being carried forward in oral tradition, but were often fragmentary.