The Minisink Subscribers to the 1795 "Young Mill-Wright & Miller's Guide"

Mark Thomson, Esq. estate inventory

Browsing through Inventories, Volume A, 1803-1808, of the Sussex County, New Jersey Probate records, my attention was immediately drawn to the heading, Printed Books, in the Estate inventory of Mark Thomson, Esq., as sworn to at Newton in 1806.  Thomson (1739-1803), a Colonel of the First Regiment Sussex County New Jersey Militia, a Representative in the fourth and fifth Congresses, 1795 - 1799, and a slave owner, built a mill on the Paulinskill. The settlement on the site would become known thereafter as Marksboro.

Further research into the ninth title listed in the Thomson Inventory led to the University of Pittsburgh's rare 1795 first edition of The Young Mill-wright and Miller's Guide by Oliver Evans.

One of the notable features of this edition is the bound in Subscriber pages at the end of the book, a list of well-to-do patrons who sought "to encourage the work," in the words of the author, through underwriting the cost of publication in return for a discount. Typically this would be the first print run as delivered to the subscribers, subsequent runs would lack these pages further reducing the cost. Many of the subscribers would order multiple copies of the work.

The list of subscribers, a virtual Who's Who of the young Nation, included George Washington, then President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, former Secretary of State, numerous Senators & Representives, but most interestingly, it also included a handful of lesser known men in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Among them were second and third generation millers and mill-wrights whose ancestors had settled in the Minisink Valley.

Isaac Swartswood [Swartwood]

The 1795 Subscribers:  Isaac Swartswood [Swartwood] in present day Pike Co PA; Abraham Van Camp [Campen, Jr.], mill-wright in present day Warren Co. NJ; Jonathan Baker, mill-wright, and Hugh Forsman in present day Monroe Co. PA; James Douglas, Abraham Haver, and Ralph Hunt in Sussex Co. NJ.  Among the author's advertisers for Mill stones & equipment is William Byrnes of New Windsor NY.

Numerous others are residents of neighboring Hunderton (sic) and Summerset (sic) counties in New Jersey, and in present day Northampton Co. PA.  Most, but not all, of the alphabetically listed subscribers are followed by city or county (subject to later boundary change), with states being abbreviated with a single letter.  A number of subscribers have no identifying region so I may not have recognized their surname or variant as resident in Tri-state NJ, NY & PA.

A brilliant inventor and engineer, Oliver Evans would hold the third patent ever issued in the United States. His book would transform milling technology, remain a staple manual for millers, and would be revised and reprinted in fifteen editions through 1860.  James Poupard (1769-1814) the meticulous engraver, also illustrated for the American Philosophical Society's Transactions, including A Chart of the Gulph [Gulf] Stream, with remarks by Benjamin Franklin, 1786.

No less interesting in the Mark Thomson, Esq. estate inventory, on the page following Printed Books and under the headings Slaves for Life and Dutch Servants, were 12 individuals ~ but that is a story for another day.

A Portrait of Moses Chauncey West, circa 1865

As happens in exploring the history of a neighborhood one can be sidetracked by a clue which sends one off in an entirely different direction.  While researching 19th century photographers of the Tri-State NJ NY PA region in the Library of Congress' digital collection, I happened upon an elegant carte de visite portrait, with the penciled notation M. C. West, taken at the Branch's Photograph Gallery, Port Jervis N.Y. from the  William A. Gladstone Collection of African American Photographs. This research would lead in turn to the following brief sketch of the lives of Moses Chauncey West (1833-1914), his wife Emma Martha Myers (1844-1908), and their ancestral West and Myers families in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. 

"M.C. West" Branch's Photography Gallery

 

By 1830 the first instance of the surname as a head of household, free African American man, William West, appears in the Pike County, Pennsylvania census records. By 1840 Enos J West  and family are living in Dingman Township, Pike County.  The Margaret "Peggie" West family household in 1850 includes Titus West, age 95, born in New Jersey, Chauncey West, age 17, occupation Miller, and the namesake of Enos J. of 1840, Enos, age 6.

Chauncey West, born in PA, US Census 1850, Pike Co PA

By 1850 in Milford Township, two West children, females Cordelia, age 14, and Harriet, age 10, are living in the households of the Widow Cornelia DeWitt and Edwin Eldred, Esq. respectively. Chauncey's future wife, Emma Martha Myers is found, age 9, in the household of  Sarah Scuremon, age 78, a free African American woman living in Frankfort Township Sussex NJ.

Two heads of household Harry and Henry West also appear in the Sussex Co NJ census records of 1840, and in 1850, Prince West, age 37, is residing in Sandyston and Harry, age 61, in Walpack townships NJ.

Prince West, US Census 1850, Sandyston Township NJ.

		Harry West, US Census 1850, Walpack Township, NJ
		By 1860, both Chauncey and Emma are living in the village of Newton, Sussex Co, NJ, Chauncey working as a miller, Emma as a servant.  In November of that year they would be married.
		US Census NJ 1860 ~ Village of Newton, Northrup household, MC West, Mulatto, Miller, $400.

US Census NJ 1860 ~ Village of Newton, Nelden household, Emma Myers, Black, Servant.

To the Clerk of Sussex Co. N.J.
"I hereby certify that Moses Chauncey West of the Township of Newton, and Emma Myers of the Township of Frankford, were by me united in Marriage on the 29th day of November, One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty." ~ GW Lloyd, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Frankford N. J.

New Jersey Marriages, Moses Chauncey West & Emma Myers, 29 Nov 1860.

The family settled briefly in Minisink village, Orange Co NY in 1865, moved to Wantage in NJ by 1870, before finally settling in Middletown NY before 1880.

Chancey West family, US Census, 1880, Middletown, Orange Co NY

The Pike County Press would report a visit from Chauncey to his brother Linford, who served in Co A, 41st Regiment during the Civil War.  Linford joined the Delaware Chapter of the G.A.R in 1884.

Pike County Press., January 17, 1896, p 1.

M. CHAUNCEY WEST DIES IN NEW JERSEY

Respected Colored Resident Passes Away at Advanced Age

"Moses Chauncey West died suddenly at the home of his son, Edgar A., of East Rutherford, N. J., on Friday. October 10, 1914, at 3 p. m. in the 81st year of his age, having been born on March 4, 1833, at Milford, Pike County, Pa. He was the son of Enos J. and his wife Margaret Santica [?] West, his mother having attained the age of 95 years at her death, which occurred in the year 1895. The deceased was a respected colored citizen of this city, having been a resident thereof for over 40 years, 29 of which he was employed as a grist miller at the Houston mill. Having obtained a liberal education at the Milford Academy, in which village he grow to manhood, it enabled him to transact business pertaining to his calling. In 1860 the deceased was married to Emma M. Myers, daughter of William Myers, of Branchville, N. J., who departed this life in 1908. He is survived by three children: Edgar A., of East Rutherford, N. J.; Mrs. Harriet A. [Turner] Warner [2nd marriage] and Mrs. Bernetta W.[West] Reynolds, and four grandchildren Bessie L. Westfall, Kenneth C. Hallock, Alma [d.1937] and Chauncey [West] Reynolds [1905-1985], all of this city; also by two sisters, Miss Helen A. West, of Milford, Pa. and Mrs. William Franklin, of Port Jervis. Mr. West was a Republican in politics and had the honor of being nominated by the Prohibition party for the important office of Assessor for the city of Middletown, and at one time was elected delegate to the Republican convention of this city. Funeral services will be held at his late home, 82 Sprague this city, on Sunday, October 11, at 2 p. m. Brother J. J. Harris, of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, will have charge of the services." ~ Middletown Daily Times Press, October 10, 1914, p 8.

 Chauncey & Emma Myers West

Locating Theeshacht

In the course of research, I grew curious about the location of Theeshacht or Theeshact or Teeshachtee  as dwelling places mentioned in the Marriage Register of the Minisink Valley Reformed Dutch Church Records:







 

The pronunciation of Theeshacht in Dutch reminded me of another mystery location from an early record of the Forts of Pennsylvania. In his 1756 instructions to Capt Vanetta [ transcript pages 301 & 302] of the township of Upper Smithfield, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
 For the better Security of the Inhabitants of that District, you are to post your men as follows: Eight at your own house [tract on the present day Conashaugh], Eight at Lieutenant Henshaw’s, [Hyndshaw] Six with a Serjeant at Tishhock ____, and Six with another Serjeant at or near Henry Cortracht’s,[Courtright] and you are to settle Signals, or Means of Suddenly alarming the Inhabitants, and convening your whole Strength with the Militia of your District, on any necessary Occasion. 

Ben Franklin's instructions to Capt. Vanetta

A detail for Upper Smithfield in the 1792 Reading Howell map of Pennsylvania locates the hamlet of Tyshock Bar along a creek draining into the river opposite the south end of a large island which must be Mashipacong & Cummins Hill Creek. If so, this is also the site of the hamlet known as Quicktown in later histories of Westfall Township and the location of Cornelius DeWitt's land grant of 1749 (patented to Peter Quick in 1787).

Tyshock Bar, opposite the south end of Mashipacong Island

Given the overwhelming use of Native American words in the naming of early 18th c hamlets in the Minisink, it is possible Theeshacht is the Dutch spelling for a Native American descriptive term, perhaps later anglicized to Tishhock. The editor of Deputy Surveyor of Pennsylvania George Palmer's field notes of 1774 includes this intriguing reference to the place name Tyshaw:

 

Are the locations of Theeshacht in the c 1750 Dutch records, the site of Tishhock in Ben Franklin's instructions of 1756, George Palmer's field note of 1774 on Tyshaw  and the 1792 hamlet of Tyshock Bar, in present day Westfall Township, one and the same?

William Henn, in Westfall Township, Gateway to the West, p17, states:  "In 1730, Cornelius Van Aken (b 1690), who married Sara Westbrook (b. 1694) bought a tract of land below the ferry landing, and on this plantation known as Theesacht several generations of Van Akens were reared.  It was adjacent to another tract owned by Herman Rosen Krantz ... As was common among the sparse inhabitants, neighbors became in-laws, and in 1749, Abram C. Van Aken, son of Cornelius, married Catherine Rosen Kranz at Theesacht and made it their home."

Henn fails to note his sources but the PA State Warrantee township map for Westfall finds the warrants for Cornelius Van Akin, key W for 92 acres, 1750, situated in present day Matamoras, and close at hand that of Herman Rosegrand, key U, 62 acres, 1751, situated along the present day Rosetown Creek.  Additional mid-18th century warrants include the names of Johannes Cole and Tunis Middaugh.

An old burying ground presently called  the Cemetery on Bell Farm and also known as Middaugh -Van Auken Cemetery is located on Ave Q, between 9th & 10th Streets in Matamoras. The earliest existing tombstone is that of John Van Auken who died in 1831, aged 73.

About a mile and a half south stands the earliest existing tombstone in the Rose family burying ground that of Maria Hornbeek, wife of James Rosencrantz, who died July 3d 1815 in the 75th year of her age.

Maria Hornbeek Rosencrantz, 1743-1815

Harkening back to the beginning paragraph of this rumination I think there's a line to be drawn between a community (Minisink Dutch Reformed Church Records) or the Gallagher house also know as "Teesacht or Teasack", owned by Frederick B Marvin (Fluhr) or a plantation (Henn).  Fluhr & Henn both lack a period source but possess a flavor, as it were, by using what must have been a community place name as listed in the MDR Church Records.

Abram van Aken, Catharina Rosenkrantz, Lisabeth van Aken, Benjamin Quick, Isaac Middagh, and Arriaentje Rosenkranz are all listed as being born at or dwelling in Theeschacht in the marriage records of 1748 to 1754. Way too many folks to be living in one house or on a single plantation. (Note people were living in Theeschacht before PA issued Warrants to either Cornelius Vanaken, 1750, or Herman Rosegrand, surveyed in 1751.) 

Which leaves the lay of the land to examine against the Theeschacht time period of the Warrants and including the "Y" Warrant for Tunis Madock [Middagh] of 1749 which lies directly opposite the confluence of the Delaware and Neversink, the ferry landing. Not too very far away are "W" Van Akin [Vanaken] of 1750 (per Henn, a tract of land below the ferry landing) & "U" Rosegrand [Rosencrans/Rosenkrantz] of 1751 on the Westfall Township map (survey shows his tract surrounded by vacant land.) Just up river from Middagh are the earliest Cole tracts, "13" & "P" of 1749.

Warrants:  "Y" Tunis Madock [Middagh], 1747; "W" CorneliusVan Akin [Vanaken], 1750; "U" Herman Rosegrand [Rosencrans/Rosenkrantz] 1751.

 So, we have PA families living/farming/marrying in a small community opposite the settlement & DRC of Magagkamack. Vosburgh lists Sarah, wife of Cornelius Van Aken, d  1766 among those buried at the Magagkamack graveyard. How many, I wonder, of the Theeshacht folk are buried there?

The19th c Edmund O'Callahan map mentioned in our most recent entry Brodhead's Map of the 17th C New Netherlands Charters, refers to a settlement T'schichte as found on Van der Donck's map. Whether these Dutch families settled among the Indians or were informally granted a portion of land along the river flats, the place name T'schichte may well be the origin of the Dutch church records place name Theeshacht. Whether the earliest maps are accurate, given the location is further north, or if the European and Indian villages existed together or apart, remains a mystery.

~~~~~
 

A Note on Tyscbag:
Additional, and later, records list:  A marriage in 1757, Arriyantie Rosenkrans (widow) born at Tyscbag; 1758, Helena Quick dwelling at Tyscbag; and 1759, Jacobus Van Aken born at Tyscbag to Elizabeth Bunscoten, widow, and both dwelling there. All these entries were written by Anthony Van Etten, JP, the least literate of all the MDRC recorders. See page 271.