Old Catskill by Henry Brace.
Old Catskill.

    This short anecdote has been excerpted from Henry Brace's 1880 article, "Old Catskill", published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine for May 1880. This 10 page article can be found in it's entirety by clicking on the link at the end of this article, under the "Source" heading. Those of you familiar with Richard Wynkoop's 1904 edition of "Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America" will remember Henry Brace's name listed as one of Richard's many sources of information regarding the Wynkoop family.

    The William Wynkoop mentioned in this article, as the son of Evert Wynkoop, may well be the same William Wynkoop mentioned in the article Early Military Companies of Catskill, who shot someone for stealing pork. (Nice guy!)

    If you're interested in some of the other Dutch families from the Catskill area you would do well to read the entire article. For those of you interested in how stubborn Wynkoops can be, enjoy!

    All my best,

    Chris


Old Catskill.
by Henry Brace

    Four miles from the Village of Catskill, upon the right bank of the river of that name, lies an alluvial plain of several hundred acres. This plain is raised a few feet above the usual level of the water, by which, however, it is covered, and also enriched, in times of flood. A continuous hillock like a terrace encompasses this fertile tract. Beyond the hillock are the Potick Mountains, and the precipitous range of Hamilton shales, which the Dutch called the Hoogeberg. This region - the plain hillock, and adjacent land - a hundred years ago went by the name of Catskill, the site of the village of that name upon the Hudson being known as T'Strand, or The Landing.

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    The ministry of Domine Schuneman was a faithful service of forty years. It was his habit to preach on one Sunday at Catskill and on the next at Coxsackie, travelling in summer on horseback, and in the winter in a sleigh, through the unbroken and solitary forest which lay between the two hamlets. ... His voice was deep and strong, his gestures were many and earnest, his enthusiasm was great and contagious.

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    The church edifice in which Domine Schuneman preached at Catskill stood upon the edge of the terrace of which I have spoken, near an ancient burying-ground of the Indians. It was a wooden building, nearly square, with a pyramidal roof, but with the apex of the pyramid cut off. Two aisles led to the pulpit at the west end of the building opposite the door. Slips, as they were called, were placed between the two aisles, and between each aisle and the northern and southern walls. In the winter the congregation sat without a fire, except that the women who lived near by brought foot-stoves.

    In 1798, when the building was undergoing repairs, it was proposed by certain young and effeminate members that a stove should be placed in the room. A stormy discussion thereupon arose, which came near rending the church. On one side, the comfort of the congregation was urged; on the other side, the characteristic and conclusive answer was given, that their fathers had gone without a fire. But the innovators were in a majority, and the innovation was voted. It was a huge box of wrought iron, and stood in the centre of the room, upon a platform, which was raised upon four stout posts six or eight feet above the floor. The floor of the platform was reached by a short ladder, and upon the floor was piled the wood for the stove. The old men reluctantly submitted to the novelty. It was sturdy Evert Wynkoop, I believe, who, however, refused to come to church for a whole winter, alleging as the reason that the heat brought chilblains out upon his feet. It was his son, William, I know, who, in later days, when the white inner walls of the new church were colored pink, never took his seat in the elders' pew by the side of the pulpit without putting on a pair of blue spectacles. The glare from the walls, he said (he had opposed the painting in consistory), made his eyes ache.

    But I should be sorry to give a wrong impression respecting the character of the Wynkoops, and of the class to which they belonged. The Dutch yeomen of the better sort at Catskill were rude and unlettered men, obstinate, bent on having their own way, perverse when they did not have it, and greatly and unreasonably averse to change in the habits of life or in their mode of farming. But they were honest, just in their dealings, hospitable, kind to the poor, and especially kind to their poor kinsfolk.

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Source:

Brace, Henry, "Old Catskill", Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Harper & Bros., New York, Volume 60, Issue 360, May 1880: Pages 818-827

    The full article can be found at: Cornel University's Making of America (MOA)


Notes:

    It seems more than likely that the Evert and William referred to in the above article are the following family members:

    Notes from Richard Wynkoop's 1904 edition of Wynkoop Genealogy in the United States of America, pages 54 & 92:

    132. Evert Wynkoop, (Hezekiah 39, Evert 4, Cornelius 1,) born September 8, 1743, baptized December 20, Kingston: d. April 6, 1830: married, May 30, 1765, Aeltje (Alida or Alice) Meyer, born March 11, 1741, died December 16, 1796, daughter of John Wilhelm and Sarah (Newkirk) Meyer.
    Evert was commissioned a Lieutenant of militia, December 7, 1772. He was an Associator of Kingston, in May and June, 1775, and First Lieutenant of the "Third Beat," or District of Kingston, October 25, 1775.
    In 1791, he bought land in the Inbogt, from _____ Spaan; and his son, William, lived thereon, for a large part of his life.
    In his last will, of Saugerties, dated June 6, 1829, proved June 29, 1830, he mentioned his children, William, Hezekiah, Jun., Catharine, Sarah, and Henry, deceased; and the children of Henry, namely, Evert, Tjerck, Hezekiah, Allie, Annetje, and Henry H.; and his grandson, Evert, living with him.
    "He was one of those who, willingly, obeyed the command, 'Be still, and know that I am God.' For three years he was confined to his bed; and the testimony is that, in all that time, no murmur escaped him."
    Children of Evert and Alida Wynkoop:
315. Hezekiah: b. June 9, 1766: m. Elizabeth Dederick.
316. Sarah: b. Jan. 12, 1768: m. Paul Van Steenberg.
317. Henry: b. Sept. 19, 1769: m. Anne Loew.
318. Catharina: b. Nov. 7, 1771, bp. Nov. 9, Kingston: d. Sept. 20, 1777.
319. William: b. May 20, 1774: m. Maria Trombour.
320. Maria: b. Sept. 10, 1776, bp. Oct. 7, d. Oct. 12. A tombstone in the old graveyard, Saugerties, reads: "M. W. K. geboren 1776 gestorven 1776."
321. Catharine: b. July 20, 1779, bp. Sept. 19: died unmarried. Her last will, of Saugerties, dated Mch. 13, 1857, proved Nov. 11, 1859, mentions her as a boarder in the family of John P. Kimball.

    319. William Wynkoop, (Evert 132, Hezekiah 39, Evert 4, Cornelius 1,) born May 20, 1774, baptized Aug. 9, Kaatsbaan church: died May 24, 1847: married, July 3, 1796, Kaatsbaan church, Maria Trombour, each described as unmarried. She was daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Schmidt) Trombour. She died March 25, 1843.
    The tombstones of William and Maria stand on the land of Myndertse [992], in Greene County, N. Y., near Hudson River, and they give his age as 73 years and 4 days, and hers as 74 yrs., 2 mos., 25 days. Baptisms of their children are in the Kaatsbaan church record.
    William seems to have purchased lands in the easterly part of Greene County, as early as 1797.
    Children of William and Maria Wynkoop: 567. Elizabeth: b. Nov. 10, 1797: m. John P. Sax.
568. Alida: b. Sept. 4, 1799: m. John Hover.
569. Hannah: b. Apl. 23, 1801: m. Judge Henry Wynkoop [552].
570. Cornelia, or Eleanor: b. Nov. 13, 1806: m. Egbert P. Schoonmaker.

Created March 31, 2001; Revised November 3, 2002
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