| Our Troop's home town of Poestenkill is part of the Capital
District Area of New York State, located minutes from Troy, Albany and
Schenectady, in rural Rensselaer County. The name Poestenkill is a
Dutch word signifying "puffing or foaming creek." While everyone now
pronounces it "Pohs-ten-kill", the correct pronunciation is "Poos-ten-kill".
For a small farming and bedroom community, Poestenkill has a lot to offer
-
Barberville Falls (credit
http://www.rpi.edu/dept/iear/wyred/yearone/falls.html):
Sandra Peterson-Hardt has recorded a beautiful image of Barberville Falls in
the Fall season. You can see it
here.
You'll find other interesting venues and activities in nearby
communities, such as Grafton:
- Grafton Lakes State Park
- Dyken Pond
- Berkshire Bird Paradise Sanctuary
- Grafton Peace Pagoda
- ... more on the Links page
Hidley's Poestenkill, 1862:
Artist: Joseph Hidley (1830-1872)
Category: landscape painting
Medium: oil on wood
Collection of the New York State Historical Association.
Description: A bird's eye view of the village of Poestenkill set
within a valley landscape. Main dirt road duns from lower right through
center into the distance in upper left. A flagpole is visible in the center;
"Eagle Hotel" in the lower right. A number of people are visible on the
streets, walking or riding in horse-drawn vehicles. The largest lone
pedestrian can be seen on the road in the lower right. Greens, reds, whites
and browns dominate. The landscape fades into the background and there is a
mixture of light and dark clouds in the sky, which covers the top one-fourth
of the painting. The reverse of the painting has an old typed letter with
information about the village of Poestenkill. Joseph H. Hidley, whose
paintings depicted townscapes and rural life in New England, was virtually
unknown as an artist during his lifetime of forty-two years which ended in
death from consumption. He was born in 1830 in Greenbush, New York, and left
an orphan at the age of four when his father died, preceded in death by
three other siblings of the young Hidley. When he later married, only three
of his six children lived beyond infancy.
Credit:
http://lsb.syr.edu/projects/postcards/poestenkill.html
Another Hidley perspective, 1850's:
Credit:
http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/ron/american_lit1/Images/irving.htm
President Garfield taught penmanship in Poestenkill
Following letters were exchanged on the
http://www.wrhs.org
website:
Dear Mr. President:
Did you ever teach school in Rennsalear County, New York State? If so, where
was the place/location of the school and the year(s) you taught there?
Paul from Albany, NY
Dear Sir:
Yours of the 28th inst. reached me today. I thank you for your inquiry. I
was fortunate to continue my education at Williams College in Williamstown,
Massachusetts, just east of Troy, New York, from 1854 to July, 1856. (This
area is where New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont are in close proximity.)
After the end of the fall term of 1854, I enjoyed a winter vacation of two
months in North Pownal, Vermont, where I taught writing classes to earn
enough to meet my college expenses. While at the Western Reserve Eclectic
Institute (now called Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio-JA Garfield's secretary),
I had taken a Spencerian penmanship course. I was now able to put that skill
to use.
My second winter vacation was passed at Poestenkill, the old Dutch village
in New York, in Rensselaer County, just 21 miles from Williamstown. Here,
too, I organized a writing school where classes were conducted in the large,
airy ballroom of the Union Hotel, located at the four corners. It was in
Poestenkill, teaching the good people there the fine strokes and shadings of
the Spencerial art of the day, that I also gained a chance to preach for the
Disciples of Christ Church--due to Elder Myron Streator's connections. I
remember writing to friends back home how cheaply they could attend classes
at Williams and teach three months each winter!
Very respectfully,
J. A. Garfield
P.S. President Garfield's secretary wishes to tell you that Garfield's vice
president, Chester A. Arthur, taught in Pownal, Vermont the year before
James Garfield!
Short history of Poestenkill
from
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyrensse/poesten.htm:
The following information is from Historical and Statistical Gazetteer
of New York State by J. H. French, published in 1860.
Poestenkill1 - named from its principal stream
- was formed from Sand Lake, March 2, 1848. It lies near the center of the
co., upon the western declivities of the Petersburgh Mts. The central and e.
portions are rugged, rocky, and mountainous, and the soil is cold, sterile,
and unproductive. The w. part is hilly, with a gravelly loam well adapted to
pasturage. Snake Hill, near the center, is one of the principal elevations.
Upon the Poesten Kil is a fall of about 80 feet. One mi. w. of the falls is
a medicinal spring, with a local celebrity for the cure of eruptions and
cutaneous diseases.2 Poestenkill (p.v.) contains 300 inhabitants,
East Poestenkill (p.o.) 10 houses, and Barberville 16. A union academy was
formed in this town in 1854, but it is not under the regents. The census
reports 4 churches.3
1 Pronounced "Poos-ten-kill". It is a Dutch
word signifying "puffing or foaming creek."
2 A bathing establishment erected here was swept away by a
freshet.
3 Bap., F. W. Bap., Disciple, and Ev. Luth.
The following information is from Gazetteer and Business Directory of
Rensselaer County, N. Y., for 1870-71, compiled by Hamilton Child, 1870.
Poestenkill, named from its principal stream, was formed
from Sand Lake, March 2, 1848. It lies near the center of the county, upon
the western declivities of the Petersburgh Mountains. The central and east
portions are rugged, rocky and mountainous, and the soil is cold, sterile
and unproductive. The west part is hilly, and the soil is a gravelly loam,
well adapted to pasturage. Snake Hill, near the center, is one of the
priucipal elevations. Upon the Poesten Kil is a beautiful cascade of eighty
feet fall. About a mile west of the falls is a medicinal spring which has
attained some notoriety for the cure of eruptions and cutaneous diseases. A
bathing establishment erected here several years ago was carried away by a
freshet.
The village of Poestenkill, on the creek of the same name,
contains two churches, three stores, a grist mill, a saw mill, a small
cotton batting factory and about 300 inhabitants.
East Poestenkill is a hamlet.
The village of Barberville contains a church and about
fifteen dwellings.
The population of the town in 1865 was 1,952, and its area
19,353 acres.
The number of school districts is eight, employing the
same number of teachers. The number of children of school age is 725; the
number attending school 503; the average attendance 226, and the amount
expended for school purposes during the year ending Sept. 30, 1869, was
$2,727.56.
The following information is from History of Rensselaer Co., New York
by Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, published in 1880.
Poestenkill derives its name from its principal stream,
the Poestenkill, which, in the Dutch language means "puffing" or "foaming
creek". It is located near the center of Rensselaer County, and was formed
from the town of Sand Lake on March 2, 1848. It is bounded on the north by
the towns of Brunswick and Grafton, on the south by Sand Lake, on the east
by Berlin, and on the west by the towns of North and East Greenbush.
The first permanent settlements were made in the town
about 1770. The early settlers came mostly from river towns, working their
way north and east as settlement of the county progressed.
Poestenkill boasted the usual grist mills, blacksmith
shops, cotton mills, and later a shirt factory. A medicinal spring was
located near the settlement and in the early years of the nineteenth century
it was a very popular resort, with large bathing houses. In 1814 the resort
and dams were destroyed by a flood and never rebuilt.
Poestenkill's military record is praiseworthy. At the time
of the Revolutionary War the town contained few inhabitants, a large number
of whom served in the army. Among these were William Sluyter, Archelaus Lynd,
Barent Polock, Mr. Windsor, and Daniel Peck. Benjamin Cottrel, grandfather
of George and William L. Cortrell, served in the war and drew the first
wheelbarrow-load for the fortifications of Bunker Hill.
A number citizens served in the War of 1812, among whom
were Joel Peck, William C. Cooper, Thomas Morrison, Burbee Feathers and
Platt and George Horton.
The following is a list of those who served in the Civil
War, prepared from the printed muster-in rolls of the State, and from the
reports of the census of 1865.
Civil War Soldiers
Adams, Luther A., enl. Dec. 2, 1863, 7th H. Art.; pro. to corp. and serget.;
re-enl. June 2, 1865
Amidon, Benjamin F., enl. Feb. 28, 1862, 11th N. Y. Regt.
Amidon, Benjamin T., enl. March 1865, 192d Regt.
Austin, Charles, enl. Aug. 14, 1862, 125th Regt.
Austin, Hiram F., enl. Aug. 6, 1862, 108th Regt.
Austin, James E., enl. Dec. 31, 1863, 7th H. Art.
Austin, John E., enl. March 27, 1865, 192d Regt.; re-enl. 11th Regt.
Bailey, Abraham, enl. Sept. 3, 1862, 169th Regt.
Bly, William C., enl. Aug. 24, 1861, Harris Cav.; re-enl. Feb. 1864
Bly, William C., enl. Feb. 1862, Cavalry
Bradt, John, enl. Oct. 6, 1862; pro. to corp.; wounded.
Bradt, Tunis, enl. May 1861, Navy, gunner's mate, ship "Octorora."
Bronagen, Frank, enl. Aug. 30, 1863, 125th Regt.
Burdick, Thomas, enl. May 8, 1861, 4th Wis. Regt.; pro. to corp.; pro. seven
times.
Castle, Irad, enl. Aug. 14, 1864, 7th H. Art.; had served before in the
169th Regt.
Causick, John, enl. Dec. 16, 1864, 7th H. Art.; wounded
Chapel, William J., enl. Sept. 6, 1864, 43d N. Y. Regt.
Cipperly, Ezra, enl. Sept. 1862, 125th Regt.
Cipperly, George, enl. Sept. 1862, 125th Regt.
Coons, Jacob, enl. Sept. 1863, 169th Regt.
Cooper, William W., enl. Dec. 21, 1863, 7th H. Art.; severely wounded
Cropsey, Albert, enl. Dec. 21, 1863, 7th H. Art.; pro. to corp.
Feathers, Adam H., 1st sergt., enl. Aug. 11, 1862, 125th Regt.
Feathers, John M., enl. Aug. 12, 1862, 125th Regt.
Feathers, Joseph, enl. Sept. 10, 1862, 5th Art.
Flint, Heman, enl. March 7, 1862, Scott's Nine Hundred
Freemauth, Alfred, enl. 5th Regt.; wounded in foot
Fritz, Henry, enl. Sept. 15, 1862, 169th Regt.; wounded in hand
Fritz, Henry, enl. Sept. 5, 1862, 169th Regt., Co. A
Goewey, Daniel, enl. Aug. 4, 1862, 125th Regt., Co. C
Goewey, Darius, enl. Aug. 1862, 125th Regt.
Goewey, Oliver, enl. Sept. 1861, 30th Regt.
Hall, Emerson, blacksmith, enl. 1861, 7th Cav.
Hall, George M., enl. July 12, 1862, 7th H. Art.
Hammond, Edward, enl. 11863, 104th Regt.; re-enl. March 14
Hanner, David, enl. Aug. 26, 1862, 125th Regt.; pro. to sergt.
Herringrton, Herman E., enl. Aug. 11, 1862, 125th Regt.
Herrington, George F., corp., enl. Sept. 11, 1862, 115th Pa. Regt.
Horton, Alfonzo, enl. 169th Regt.
Horton, Alonzo, enl. Sept. 3, 1862, 169th Regt.; trans. to 9th Vet. Res.
Corps.
Horton, Charles, enl. Aug. 19, 1864, Scott's Nine Hundred
Horton, David P., enl. Dec. 2, 1863, 7th H. Art.
Howe, Henry S., enl. Aug. 27, 1864, 21st Cav.
Isle, Nelson, enl. Dec. 6, 1861, 2d Regt.
Ketchum, Henry, enl. Dec. 1863
Lampson, George, enl. May 1862, Scott's Nine Hundred
Lampson, Otis, enl. March 1865.
Lance, Henrya, enl. Sept. 6, 1862, 169th Regt.; pro. to corp.
Lanze, Henry, enl. Sept. 6, 1862, 169th Regt., Co. A
Lawless, John, enl. 1863, 7th H. Art., trans. to infantry
Lee, Emerson D., enl. Aug. 15, 1862, 125th Regt.
Lefinger, Irad K., enl. Aug. 1862, 125th Regt.
Lockwood, Simson, enl. Dec. 1863, 7th H. Art.
Loderick, Jacob, enl. Dec. 1863, 7th H. Art.
Magett, Joseph, enl. Jan. 6, 1862, Ind. Battery, No. 12
Mason, Israel, enl. Dec. 14, 1863, 7th H. Art.; wounded; trans. Nov. 1864
Mason, Leonard, enl. Aug. 17, 1862, 125th Regt.; prisoner at Harper's Ferry
Mason, Moses, enl. Dec. 19, 1863, 7th H. Art.
Mason, Peleg, enl. Aug. 17, 1862, 125th Regt.
Mason, W. H., enl. Sept. 6, 1862, 169th Regt., Co. A
McDonald, Hugh, enl. Dec. Dec. 1863, 7th H. Art.
Menheifer, Lewis, enl. Sept. 3, 1862, 169th Regt.; wounded in lower limbs.
Mills, John, enl. Jan. 7, 1862, 12th Battery
Mills, John, enl. Jan. 7, 1862, Ind. Battery, No. 12
Moon, Alfred, enl. April 1861, 30th N. Y. Regt.; re-enl. Aug. 14, 1862, and
Jan. 12, 1864.
Moore, Norman, enl. Aug. 331, 1864, 91st N. Y. Regt.
Overocker, Mathias, enl. June 1864
Place, George, enl. June 1861, 30th N. Y. Regt.
Pulner, David, enl. Sept. 1864, 12th Cav.
Quitterfield, Charles O., enl. Aug. 10, 1862, 125th Regt.
Reder, Anton, enl. Sept. 6, 1862, 169th Regt., Co. A
Render, Anton, enl. Sept. 25, 1862, 169th Regt.; pro. to corp.
Richard, Henry, enl. Dec. 1863, 7th H. Art.
Sharp, Benjamin, enl. Nov. 1861, 15th H. Art.
Simmons, George, enl. Dec. 21, 1863, 7th H. Art.; wounded through the hand
Simmons, Herman, enl. Aug. 16, 1862, 125th Regt.
Strope, George, enl. Dec. 1863, 7th H. Art.
Tracy, Chauncey, enl. Sept. 1, 1862, 169th Regt., Co. A
Tromble, Byron W., fifer, enl. Nov. 1861, 1st Sharpshooters
Tromble, Theron A., drummer, enl. Aug. 1862, 1st Sharpshooters
Wager, Zachariah Z., enl. Sept. 2, 1864, 188th Regt.
Wagner, John, enl. Sept. 5, 1862, 169th Regt., Co. A
Waterman, William C., enl. March 14, 1862, Scott's Nine Hundred; re-enl.
March 1864, 11th Cav.
Wheeler, Walter M., enl. June 6, 1861, 30th Regt. |
