Samuel Van Auken's Bridge over the Vandermark, 1867

Some years ago I purchased this vintage photograph of the Vandermark Bridge and recently set out to unravel the initials of the Pike County Commissioners and the Master Mason on the 1867 marble marker embedded in the stonework. Note in the photo the two idle fellows lying on the bluestone railing and the trout fisherman standing beneath the bridge.

The stone arch bridge carries Broad Street over the Vandermark Creek, Milford Historic District #417. 

Commissioners W. Brodhead, S. D. Van Etten, Jacob Hornbeck, and Master Mason S. T. Van Auken

 Through a process of elimination (online) the following people were identified:  Samuel Van Auken's census report lists him as a Stone Mason, the only Van Auken then residing in the county with S as a first initial and mason as occupation; William Brodhead continued to serve as Commissioner and Jacob Hornbeck is cited as a commissioner in Beers' Biographical Record of NE Pennsylvania, p 1559.  Possibly the S. D. Van Etten on the marker refers to either Samuel D. Van Etten or Solomon Van Etten, a wealthy farmer residing in Delaware Township, p 16 at the time. A follow-up trip to the courthouse is forthcoming.

Samuel Van Auken, Stone Mason, 1870 Census, Milford Township, p 2.

William Brodhead, Commissioner, 1870 Census, Milford Township, p 21.

Samuel D Van Etten, Raftmen's House, 1870 Census, Milford Township, p 17.

The Vandermark Creek above the bridge.

Matthews' History of Pike, Wayne and Monroe Counties Pennsylvania, Chapter I,  notes an earlier bridge:  The first improvement which there is any record of the commissioners making or causing to be made was the building of a bridge over Vandermark Creek, the contract for which was let August 23, 1816, to Samuel Churchill. 

The Battle of Conashaugh Affidavits

The 19th century applications for pension based on Revolutionary War service affidavits contain details of the April 1780 action though many years had intervened to perhaps color those memories and family accounts.  Herein a transcribed collection of existing material in the Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land-Warrant Application Files supporting primary source evidence detailing the deaths of only three men in the spring of 1780 as found in The 1780 Account of the Battle of Conashaugh.

The files are part of Record Group 15, Records of the Veteran Administration.

Affidavit excerpts:

Pvt. Gideon Cole, age 83, 1846, File S9210
...That in the year Seventeen hundred and Eighty Deponent again entered the service of the United States as a volunteer under the same officers [Major Samuel Westbrook and Captain Peter Westbrook] and served five months in manner as before.  Stated that during this period of service intelligence was brought to the fort by one Phillip McCarty that the Indians were collected in large numbers on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River.  Early next morning the company to which Deponent was attached were ordered to march against the Indians Captain Peter Westbook and Major Samuel Westbrook commanded.  After crossing the Delaware River into Pennsylvania the Company was divided. Captain Peter Westbrook commanded one portion and Major Westbrook the other.  Deponent was commanded by Captain Westbrook who directed our march to a small stream called the Connesook [Conashaugh], the other portion under the command of Major Westbrook marched in the direction of the Remans Kill [Raymondskill] The Company under command of Captain Peter Westbrook to which the deponent was attached after marching about three miles from the Delaware River came up with the Indians who were laying in ambush.  A battle ensued and after hard fighting with our enemy behind rocks and trees and after having lost our Captain and a number of the soldiers we were compelled by a quantity superior force to retreat.  The killed in this engagement as near as deponent now recollects were Captain Peter Westbrook, Lieutenant Benjamin Ennis and Richard Rosencranse, the wounded were James Van Etten and Samuel Helm ...

Pvt. Andrew Dingman, age 80, 1832, File S22731
... He further says that shortly afterwards [1780] he turned out as a volunteer under Major Samuel Westbrook and Captain Peter Westbrook two brothers from the State of New Jersey and Captain Johannes Vannetten and Lieutenant Benjamin Ennes of the State of Pennsylvania, that the party had a skirmish on the Pennsylvania side of the river Delaware near a house then occupied by Philip McCarty, in which one Indian supposed to be the chief was killed - the Indians retreated, and were pursued by the party for a distance of four or five miles when they lay in ambush and again gave battle - in which Captain Peter Westbrook & Lieutenant Benjamin Ennes and a young man by the name of Richard Rosencrantz were killed, Samuel Helms wounded in both his thighs and James Vanetten in the shoulder - and he the deponent assisted in bringing in and burying the dead ...

Pvt. Samuel Helm, age 72, 1832, File S4356
...That in the Spring of the year Seventeen Hundred and Eighty he joined Captain Peter Westbrook's Company as a volunteer who was then stationed in the County of Sussex in the State of New Jersey on the Delaware River under the Command of Major Samuel Westbrook and served until the 20th of April of same year; on that day a party of Indians were discovered from the fort where we were stationed on the opposite side of the Delaware River in the County of Northampton (now Pike), State of Pennsylvania, we were immediately ordered to cross the River and attack the Indians; commanded by Major Samuel Westbrook & Captain Peter Westbrook we marched against the Indians, soon after we had landed on the Pennsylvania shore we discovered the Indians in Ambush. After we had discharged several guns at them and received their fire several times the Indians retreated to the Mountains with the  loss of their party who appeared to be their Commander or chief from the appearance of his D__.  Our commanding officers directed us to pursue them we did pursue them about four miles into the mountains and when in about Pistol  ___ distance from them (they being in Ambush) we received their fire from so sudden and unexpected an attack we were thrown into some confusion but by the Bravery & example of our commanding officers soon again were called and returned their fire.  The Battle lasted some time hot & bloody.  After discharging several [or seven] times my rifle (two words struck out) and in the act of discharging it again I received a wound through both my thighs which disabled me; when endeavoring to support myself by my rifle I observed our Captain Peter Westbrook fighting within one rod of the enemy calling on his men to advance soon however he was killed. Our Lieutenant Benjamin Ennis was also killed in the engagement.  Richard Rosencrantz was also killed & James Van Etten was wounded, after Capt Peter Westbrook was killed Capt Johannes Van Etten took the Command ___ finding our Captain & Lieutenent killed & some of the Soldiers wounded and our numbers small compared to that of the Indians we were obliged to retreat. __ Andrew Dingman, Josephus Westbrook, Martinus Westbrook, Benjamin Hains & Gideon Cole were in the engagement.... 

Pvt. Barnardus Swartwood, age 73, 1832, File S22522
... He further saith that in the same year [1780] he served as a private in the Pennsylvania Militia at the Fort which was thrown up around the house of Captain Johannes Van Etten for the term of five months, Captain Van Etten commanded the troops in the Fort during which time an engagement took place with the Indians near the house of Phillip McCarty on the Pennsylvania side of the River Delaware in which one Indian was killed, from the appearance of his d___ was supposed he [was] an officer.  The Indians retreated into the woods three or four miles where the Militia again gave them Battle in which Captain Peter Westbrook & Lieutenant Benjamin Ennis were killed the last named officer was scalped.  Samuel Helm was wounded in both thighs & James Van Etten was wounded in his shoulder.  The said Benjamin Ennis was the brother in law of this deponent and the deponent saith he helped to carry the said Benjamin Ennis after he was killed to the Fort above mentioned ... 

Pvt. Abraham Decker, age 79, 1833, File S5332
"...Indians gave way having sustained a loss of several men, one of whom was ascertained to have been the Commander of the Indians from the peculiarity of his ___.  The Indians were pursued about four miles in the woods where they made a stand and gave battle after a bloody conflict the Americans were compelled to retreat, in this engagement Captain Peter Westbrook, Lieutenant Benjamin Ennis and Richard Rosencrantz were killed, James Van Etten was wounded in the shoulder and Samuel Helm in both his thighs."

Cornelia Decker Van Etten LaBar, widow of Ensign John Van Etten, 1846, File W4474/BLWT26699-160-55
... that her husband was also in the Indian Battles the one at Coneshaw [Conashaugh], on the west side of the River Delaware in now Pike County ... that her husband's father Johannes Van Etten had a fort on the west side of the Delaware River and was a Captain in the Revolutionary War.

Sarah Van Auken, daughter of Capt. Peter Westbrook, 1851, File W18321
... that her father the said Peter Westbrook was called into actual service at or about the commencement of the revolution and was almost constantly engaged in defending the frontiers from the British and Indian incursions till he was killed by the Indians at the battle of Minisink on the nineteenth day of April one thousand seven hundred and eighty.

James Westbrook, son of Major Samuel Westbrook, 1851, File S11714
... that in April 1780 he was in an engagement with the Indians near Upper Smithfield in the County of Northampton Penna where his brother Capt. Peter Westbrook also then in service was killed ...

The New Jersey Gazette, May 3, 1780, Vol III, Issue 123, Page 3, Trenton, New Jersey

The map pushpin indicates the historic McCarty House, c 1740, just south of the Raymondskill Creek gorge and north of the Conashaugh Creek gorge.



View Minisink Valley Genealogy in a larger map

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.