Warwick Historical Papers Volume 6, Part 2

History as it should be ...

by ROBERT M. RICHMOND

Over the years since the Warwick Historical Society bought The Shingle House in 1915, families with deep roots in the communtiy have generously donated more and more things to the Society - and so many of them were part of the "working" side of the early settlers' lives that a building in which to display them became a real necessity. Accordingly, the Society searched for, and found on the old Sly farm, in 1965, an old red barn (circa 1825) that would make a good campanion for the old house; then through the Lewis family, had it taken completely apart, piece by piece, even including the hand-cut stones of its foundation, and carefully re-assembled it behind the house; and soon it was overflowing with interesting early American tools and agricultural implements you will find here today - most of them from farms in the vicintiy of Warwick.

In the early days, the men of Warwick were definitely "of the land." Most of them had dairy herds; and also raised for their own use, such crops as hay, rye, corn, oats and wheat, along with what we now call "truck" vegetables - peas, beans, carrots, squash, potatoes, and so forth. Many farmers had apple and peach orchards, too. Back then, a man's tools were extremely important to him, since he had to depend on them so completely; and many of them he made entirely, or personalized by making handles for them to fit his own hand.

So here we find his farming tools - such a adzes, sickles, axes, flials (for threshing wheat), hay knives, corn kinves, pitch forks (including a rare 2-pronged one), grain forks, scythes, including a big cradle scythe, rakes (one of them a sheaf-rake), and many others. Then there are larger implements, like wheel-barrows, ploughs, seeders - plus things for making crops usable, like a fanning mill to take the chaff out of the wheat, a grain cradle, a beet press (for sugar beets), a corn-sheller; also a feed carrier for taking feed to the cattle, and an old Amish handdrawn combination cart for corn, hay or grain.

Hand tools are here in profusion; buck saws, hammers, mallets, chisels, pliers, cutters, planes, bits, tool sharpening grinder to keep edges sharp - many of these necessary items in several styles, forms, sizes. Also milk cans, early lanterns (some very primitive), harnesses and bridles.

And there are countless thing that the early settlers needed, to get along; such as a candle-making rack, spinning wheels, yarn carders, butter churns, cider vats, a wine press, maple syrup kettles, old wood stoves, a sausage grinder, cistern pump. And children's thing, like a very old rocking horse, old skates, sleds, school desks with seats attached, small wagons, a baby carriage.

Also, here are household appliances that are of later vintage, but still from seventy to a hundred years old; a vacuum cleaner, an old telephone, Warwick's first bath tub, (zinc, inside a wood frame), old birdcage, a clothes-drying stand, an early wasing machine, a later model butte churn with a side handle, a screened closet for storing food, and old sewing machines.

Two special groups of great interest are found on the ground floor; a collection of ice cutting and storing implements - a big sledge, many huge saws, hooks, tongs, rollers and picks, all of which saw a lot of use back when the cutting and storing of ice was a big industry. And there's an unusual group that includes two carriages - one a phaeton with handsome top and uphoistery, the other a rubber-tired runabout with candle lamps; and six old sleighs - two 2 seaters, a fine single-seater with striking red upholstery, a racy cutter and two workday wooden sleighs.

THE SHINGLE HOUSE

The construction of The Shingle House began in 1764 - 11 years before the Battle of Lexington and Concord; George
Washington, 32 years old, was raising livestock and crops at Mt. Vernon; Thomas Jefferson, 21, was just 2 years out of college. The 13 original colonies, of which New York was the 2nd oldest (1614 - Virginia was 1st in 1607) had to wait a full 23 years more before they formed the beginning of what is now the United States.

Daniel Burt, building this house for his son, Daniel, Jr., chose an excellent location - practically where the Kings Highway from Newburg and the old road from Goshen joined together to make their way to Trenton and beyond. That explains why the 2nd oldest house in the Village, built originally by Francis Baird as a residence, in 1776, became Baird's Tavern a little later with the addion of a story-and-half frame kitchen. Old timers used to speak of these two homes as being opposite each other "across the square." Daniel, Sr., lived in a house on the site of what is now the McFarland house on Galloway Avenue; and in going back and forth between his own house and The Shingle House, he created what was called Burts' Lane, now known as Forester Avenue.

The Shingle House, with its shingled sides and saltbox outline, reveals its New England heritage, as do many of the early Warwick homes. And, accordingly to authentic tradition, the shingle for sides and roof were hewn from a single tree - few of them have had to be replaced in the house's 211 years. A small side porch is the only exterior alteration.

Within, the original stairway, the characteristic paneled wainscoting, the built-in-coner cupboard with its attractive shell top, and the remarkable central chimney, with its 4 fireplaces and its hidey-hole, are still just about as they were when Daniel, Jr., moved in, in January, 1770.

The house has six rooms, four of them on the first floor. The two front rooms were both living rooms. The fireplace in the left hand room was closed up many years ago, and a Franklin, cast-iron stove place in front of it. It is on the paneling behind this stove that one sees the remarkable and rare primitive painting of the Battle of the Hudson River, said to have been done by a Revolutionary soldier in gratitude for having been nursed back to health by the Burts.

The Shingle House became the property of The Warwick Historical Society in 1915, and since that time, considerable restoration has been done. A combination of judicious purchasing and generous giving has resulted in a collection of fine old furnishings that stand as a monument to Warwick's early years. Such unusual pieces as a Chippendale Governor Winthrop drop desk, a Hepplewhite cherry Pembroke table, a Chippendale mahogany bookcase-desk, a Sheraton mahogany chair, are among the many things that make a visit to these rooms most rewarding.

The huge kitchen, with its tremendous open hearth for cooking, its bread oven, its Dutch walnut kaas, old table and bench, and dozens of other home-making necessities of the late 1770's, is most interestng. And the first-floor "borning-room," and the two bedrooms upstairs, are also very appropriately furnished.

Warwick Historical Papers Volume 6, Part 2

This is a transcription of an article published in the Warwick Valley Dispatch, dated February 18, 1976. Used with permission.

History as it should be ...

From the diary of C. J. Benedict

HOW EDENVILLE, AMITY, LITTLE YORK, LITTLE BROOKLYN, PINE ISLAND, HOOPSTICK, SNUFTOWN AND BIG ISLAND OBTAINED SERVICE FREE OF CHARGE.

In 1926, I obtained a contract to wire the farm home of Mr. Weiss on Big Island Road out of Edenville. He was getting a home lighting plant.

I completed the contract and filed an application for inspection with the New York State Fire Insurance Rating Organization of Syracuse, New York. In a few days, Mr. William Bliven came to inspect as he had many times before. When he arrived, he asked me to go with him and be prepared to spend the day. We drove to Mr. Weiss' home and Mr. Bliven inspected the job.

When he finished, he came out and got to his car and reached into the back seat. Handing me a clipboard, he asked me to draw a rough map of the road from there to Edenville, the streets of Edenville, then on to Amity and the streets there. Then from Amity to Little York, Little Brooklyn, Pine Islalnd, Hoopstick, Snufftown and Big Island.

He then took his speedometer reading which I marked down at the Weiss farm. Then Mr. Blivan stopped at each house of farm on the road and gave me the mileage from one to the other which I wrote on the map.

When we had made the round trip to Big Island and back via the Weiss farm to Edenville, Mr. Blivan stopped and told me he knew the Orange and Rockland Electric Company had had meetings in Seeley Everrett's store in Edenville and Dick Seeley's in Pine Island trying to get the people of the area to sign up for electric service at a cost of $300 per home plus wiring and fixtures.

Mr. Bliven also said he knew that the Orange and Rockland Electric Company had signed a contract to run a high line to the Amity stone quarry for Atlas Cement Company. The same high line would cross Mr. Weiss' property and the Jake Feagles property.

Our survey that day proved there were more than enough homes and farms per mile than the Orange and Rockland Electric Company charer called for, therefore, they could be compelled to run the electric lines and hook up all the places we had marked on the map free of charge.

He advised me to have contracts printed similar to those we already had, but with the following clauses added:
1. Electric service guaranteed at no cost to customer.
2. No money to be paid until current is turned on.
3. Customer agrees to sign right-of-way permit for the Orange and Rockland Company to run pole lines.

I did this and in about two months I had 250 wiring contracts signed with four churches and two schools. In passing, I would like to mention Mr. Martin Schmick paid for two of those church jobs and he was not in politics at the time.

I took the contracts to the Orange and Rockland Electric Company offices in Monroe, New York and both Mr. William Kehl and Mr. Roscoe Smith (President) looked them over and concluded they would have to run the line and would do so. They asked me to do them a favor and get the right-of-way contracts signed, which I did.

There were two property owners who refused to sign right-of-ways. One was the richest man in Edenville who made me install a new service in his house free as he already had a lighting plant and his house had been wired for several years. I had to do this as he owned the land on both sides of the road right in Edenville.

The other owner who refused lived in Pine Island. His home set back 150 feet from the road and the Orange and Rockland Electric Company charter allowed them to charge for any service that was over 100 feet from the road. I protected myself there and the Orange and Rockland did not charge me.

I had just wired the Hamilton Avenue School in Warwick and in 1927 won the contract and did the Burt Street School. I also won the contract to do the Pine Island School. I must say the Pine Island School Board had my name put on a plaque. The Warwick Board did not and I was the only contractor left off.

It was a busy time for me and I got to know nearly everyone in the area.

Old timers like Seely Everett, Cliff Quakenbush and Helen Houston can verify this story.

Christmas Exercises at New Milford M.E. Church

This was published in the Warwick Valley Dispatch, dated December 30, 1964.

Schilling Farm in Florida

I believe this photo was taken on the Schilling farm. I can identify one Aunt. Probably 1920's or 1930's.

The Schilling Farm in Florida

Top photo is from Wheeler of Goshen, N.Y. When I showed this photo to my aunts, they came up with Aunt Minn & Uncle Ott. However, this guy looks like the guy in the other photo, so they could have been mistaken.

Bottom photo is from Wheeler of Goshen, New York. For me this all started with family genealogy and then went from there. I think this is photo of Carl Krause and his three sons, Daniel, Charles and Freddie. Carl Krause was born in Germany November 20, 1848 and died on February 14,1922. He is buried in the Florida cemetery. His first wife was Caroline Mowitz (Movitz). Their children were: Daniel, Augusta, Minnie Julia, Lena, Charles, Anna and Freddie. My grandmother, Lena Krause, married Curtis Schiling. I did not know my mother's parents, since both of them died before I was born. The Schilling Farm is on Route 94, going toward Florida, Once you pass Ackerman Road, it is on the right. It is now a horse boarding business. This is an old house and it is being researched.

Warwick Historical Papers Volume 6, Part 2

This is a transcription of an article published in the Warwick Advertiser, dated July 31, 1902. The listing of businesses and individuals was actually the phone book for Warwick at that time. The phone numbers have been left out.

LOCAL TELEPHONE GROWING

The Warwick Valley Telephone Company have joined with the Highland Company and purchased the Conkling & Strong private lines between Warwick, Bellvale, Greenwood Lake and Monroe, The Warwick Company buying to Greenwood Lake from this end, and the Highland from Monroe. This gives the Warwick Company the Greenwood people on their line and opens up a big territory for development.

The deal gives Warwick a connection with Highland System, and will enable patrons of our lines to talk to Monroe, Chester, Blooming-grove, Washingtonville, Vail's Gate, Central Valley, Cornwall-on-Hudson, Highland Mills, Turners, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Kingston and many other places in Orange, Dutchess and Ulste counties. Connections will be made with the Orange County system at Goshen, which will give us Middletown and Pine Bush, and in a short time Port Jervis and the northern end of the county will come into the combination, thus giving the independent telephone companies what their patrons have long desired - a comprehensive county system.

Cut out this list below and subititute for list previously published. The new names are included. (Ed. Phone Numbers are not included.)

Advertiser - Office
Anderson, W. T. & Co. - Store
Balley, W. E. - House
Benedict, J.W. - House
Bennett, C. H. - House
Bradner, Dr. H. K. - House
Brien, George - House
Bunn, Isalah - Bottler
Campbell, L.J. - House
Carmady, W. - Saloon
Cary, F.C. - House
Chamberlain, J.A. - House
Colwell & Lawrrence - Store
Conklin & Strong - Office
Cummins, Drs. F.M. & J.S. - Office
Cummins, Dr. F.M. - House
Cummins, Dr. J.S. - House
Decker, Charles - House
Demerest House - Hotel
Demerest P.S. - House
Dispatch - Office
Dught L. - Store
Duncan G. - House
Dutcher, Dwight - Store
Eager, W.C. - Store
Edsall, E.C. - Store
First National Bank
Gullman, A.C. - Bakery
High School
Hotel Welling
Hynard Brothers - Store
Hynard, W.A. - House
Kane, M.N. - Office
Kane, M.N. - House
Ketchum, G.F. - Office
Ketchum, G.F. - House
Knox, Taber - House
Lazear, W.C. - Store
Lawrence, J.B. - House
Lawrence, R.B. - House
Lucha, L. - Bakery
Maines & Son, D.W. - Livery
Minogue, Rev. P.J. - House
Nichols, W.W. - House
O'Brien, M.J. - Bottler
O'Hehir, P. - Saloon
Ogden & Pelton - Store
Pierson's Creamery - Office
Pierson, C.G. - House
Pitts, Dr.G.F. - House
Primary School
Quakenbush, D. - Store
Raynor, F.C. - Store
Rogers, J.B. - House
Richardson, - Laundry
Rightmyer, S. - Store
Rightmyer, S. - House
Rutherfurd, M. - House
Sanford, F.V. - House
Sanford, J.W. - House
Sanford, J.W. & F.V. - Office
Sanford, M.L. - House
Sanford, P.E. - House
Sanford, S.H. - Office
Sanfrod, S.H. - House
Smith, F.S. - House
Smith & Son, Ira S. - Store
Strong, G.H. - House
Tate, H. - Office
Tate, H. - House
TenBroeck, F.F. - House
Tilt, Sheldon - Office
Vail, B.F. - Office
Vail, B.F. - House
Vandervort, W.B. - Store
VanDuzer, W. W. - Office
VanDuzer, W.W. - House
Vanness, J.W. - Livery
Vanness, J.W. - House
VanSaun, S.S. - Store
W.V. Light & Power Co. - Office
Webster, H.T. - House
Wendover, Dr. W.W. - House
Welch Brothers - Office
Welling, T. - farm
Well-Fargo Express - Office
Wheeler, Mrs. I. V. - House
Williams, G.A. - House
Wilson, J.C. - House
Wisner, C.W. - House
Wisner, H.S. - House

Warwick Historical Papers Volume 6, Part 2

This is a transcription of an article from the Warwick Valley Dispatch, dated February 5, 1975.

A bit of Warwick history preserved

"Only the most perceptive eye could have appreciated the simplicity of starkness of that magnificent building. I am shocked at the way our historic monuments are allowed to deteriorate and eventually be destroyed."

So said Ann Lye, resident of Church Street, Warwick, and a member of the local historical society when she heard that the Veterans of Foreign Wars had made a decision to destroy their large Georgian Colonial building located on the corner of Church Street and Forester Avenue in the Village of Warwick.

The VFW Post could no longer financially support the large structure and decided to replace the old historic building with a contemporary meeting house.

Mrs. Lye quickly joined with David Brandt, a local land planner, and David Hull, an orchardist and real estate associate, to see what could be done to save the builing that had historical lineage dating back to the 1800's.

The building was the first of Georgian style architecture to be built in Warwick, according to Betty Rutledge, who studied the deed and historical background of the property for the local historical society.

John W. Smith, a successful merchant from Long Island, purchased the vacant property in the early 1800's and established a business on the corner of Colonial Ave. and Forester Ave., the site of the present Professional Building. His trade was general merchandise and stables. Mr. Smith, a raconteur and real estate entreprenur, dazzled the young ladies of the day and in 1813 married the gorgeous Kathleen Welling. The mansion was erected shortly thereafter. Mr. Smith, a civic minded individual, was Supervisor of Warwick for six years. He served on the school board and as Trustee of the first Warwick library. The famous naturalist Frank Forester mentions, "The magnificent mansion built by John Smith" in his book Warwick Woodlands published in 1836. M.R. Bradner, M.D., established Warwick's first hospital in the mansion in the early 1900's. It remainded a hospital until 1939. The property was purchased shortly thereafter by the Veterans of Foreigns Wars.

The Warwick Historical Society, in an effort to save the building, decided to take an option with the Veterans to purchase the property. The option was for a period of one year. The Society listed the building for sale. It was felt that a suitable buyer could be found that would restore the exterior of the building to its original architecture and use the interior and grounds for functional use. The property, one acre in size, is zoned for apartments, office space, medical clinics, retirement home. It is one of the largest parcels of land remaining in the village.

A revolving fund was created by the Historical Society under the chairmanship of Mr. George Bensen, treasurer of the Society. The general purpose of the revolving fund is to supply low interest, long term loans to owners of designated hitorical buildings in Warwick and to aid the owners with exterior restoration of their buildings. The fund has been enormously successful in raising over 8,000 dollars through community contributions.

The year's option with the Veterans failed to produce a suitable buyer for the property. The Historical Society was given notice that the mansion was to be destroyed within a week. Mrs. Van Leer, president of the Historical Society, called an emergency meeting of the executive committee. It was decided at the meeting to purchase the property. The Veterans were asked for a delay of one week before destroying the building. The asking price of 60,000 dollars was met quickly by several large cash loans from local concerned citizens and Main Street businessmen who strongly felt that preservation of this building would contribute much to the character and environment of the community. "It would save a legacy for future generation."

Today you can easily preceive and appreciate the vision that Mrs. Lye, Mr. Brandt and Mr. Hull had for this building more that two year ago. The Georgian mansion has taken on a new life. The brick walls have been sandblasted, cleaned and preservered. The roofs have been repaired, window panes replaced, A replica of the front entrance is being made. The trim, shutters and attached meeting hall will be painted in the spring. The building has been received by the New York State Historical Society. The John W. Smith mansion may become an historical landmark in the very near future.

The Warwick Revolving Fund is hard at work and asking for further contributions to carry on its task of preservation. If you're looking for an architectural tearsure, the John W. Smith mansion is for sale.

(Ed. When I think of the Welling Farm, I consider it in the area of the Pioneer Farms Restaurant. But I think the original tract of land that Thomas Welling bought from Burt was rather large. According to the Assessment Roll of 1775, District # 2, Thomas Welling was accessed 24 pounds and 8 schillings. This was the highest for this district. I think his holdings included a large section of the present Village of Warwick.)