To the north and east of the Pruyn estate was that of Cornelius Van Schaack, son of Emanuel, son of Claes. Cornelius was a merchant of much enterprise and thrift. He was a successful fur-trader, the owner of a sloop, a large land proprietor here and elsewhere, and a personage of much consequence and wealth for his time.

    The tract on which the homestead stood extended from the creek, on both sides of our present Church Street, to and inclusive of the land now belonging to the widow of Peter Best. It included the present Wynkoop property, the site of the Reformed Dutch church, and all the intervening land from the William A. Harder house on the east to and including that of Dr. Kellogg on the west. The original homestead stood a few rods to the east of the present Wynkoop villa ("The Ch�teau") and near the brow of the bluff and its descent to what was then the main channel of the creek.

    It was the "Van Shaaken" house of the Hessian soldier's letter elsewhere quoted. It was a large stone and brick house built at a very early period and fortified against marauding Canadian Indians. Early in 1700 the property was bought by Cornelius Van Schaack and much improved. His wife, Lydia, was a daughter of Hendrick Van Dyck, M. D., and a granddaughter of the Albany Schuylers. Here seven children were born, two of whom were among Kinderhook's most eminent sons. The children were: Margaretha, bp. September 21, 1728; Maria, bp. May 27, 1731; Henry, bp. February 18, 1733; Cornelis, bp. August 15, 1734; David, bp., 1736; Jannetje, bp., 1739, and Pieter, bp. 1747. Of Henry and Peter we shall have more to say. Cornelis became the owner of the present P. H. Bain property, Kleine Kill. David built the "Old Kinderhook Mansion" noticed later; and Peter, after his return from England, built the William A. Harder house. There his years of blindness were spent and there he died.

Cornelius's daughter Margaret married Lourens L. Van Alen, son of Lourens (Lawrence) who bought the De Bruyn patent and several other tracts: Maria married Jacobus (James) I. Roosevelt, an ancestor of our ex-President. Lydia married Isaac Van Vleck. Jannetje became the wife of Peter Silvester, the distinguished jurist of Albany and Kinderhook. When Cornelius died his estate was divided; his son David receiving the former Beekman-Vanderpoel property, and Peter a portion adjoining; while Peter Silvester (or his wife) inherited the homestead, including what we have known as the Silvester place, where lived Francis Silvester (Peter's son), an eminent lawyer and the father of Peter H. and Margaret. Peter Silvester, Cornelius Van Schaack's son-in-law, lived and died in the latter's homestead. There his daughter Anna Maria was married to Augustus Wynkoop, a successful merchant of New York, who later came into possession of the place. For several years he and his family were here during the summer only, boarding with Henry L. Van Dyck, M.D., and his wife Catharine Van Alen, to whom the place was rented. Here, to Dr. Van Dyck, several if not all of his children were born. Maria, b. 1797, married John A. Van Dyck, her cousin. They moved to Canada but returned after Henry L.'s death and occupied what was recently known as the Popham house, which Henry had lately built. Stephen, born June 8, 1799, died March 15, 1803. Andrew H., born January 27, 1801, married September, 1823, Catharine Staats of Valatie. He was an eminent physician, as noted elsewhere; Elizabeth, born May 14, '03, married '29, Rev. Peter Jackson, an Englishman. Stephen, born February '05; died '28. There also were born Lawrence H. and Henry H. Van Dyck (see Biographical Sketches), Engeltie (Ann), born October 5, '12; married June 9, '36, Newton Reed, of South Amenia, a most estimable farmer of much culture and of great influence in the church and community. The most notable of all the children, Cornelius V. A. Van Dyck, born August

13, '18, did a work the story of which in part is told in a succeeding chapter. It was with moistened eyes that this son of Kinderhook, second to none in true greatness of character and achievement, when revisiting his native village, gazed upon the few vestiges of his birthplace, and of the happy home of his childhood.
    The main channel of the creek, originally ran near the foot of the bluff on which the old homestead stood. Not content with that, it more and more encroaches upon the bluff itself, gradually undermining it, especially in the times of freshet, when, as often seen now, the lowlands become a great lake, dotted with many islands. This process continued until one dark stormy night there was a crash which startled many from sleep, and in the morning it was found that a large section of the bluff, including several great linden trees had been swept away. The locality, an object of interest to many visitors, became known as the Avalanche. It was of serious interest to Augustus Wynkoop, the owner of the house, as a warning of peril to the foundations. The only resource was thought to be the removal of the house, and in 1850 or soon thereafter it was entirely taken down. Available portions of its material were used in the building of the present attractive villa which came to be known as the Ch�teau.

    There all the Wynkoop children were born, of whom only Henry and Elizabeth survive. We have a pleasing account of the sad visit of several members and friends of the family to the homestead shortly before its destruction; a visit which inspired one of the number to write a pathetic poetic farewell to the old Van Schaack Silvester-Van Dyck-Wynkoop home.
    The distinguished visitors to this homestead were numerous. Sir William Johnson was a frequent guest, and many were the discussions of Colonial affairs with Colonel Cornelius Van Schaack, senior, and with his eldest son, Henry, who served under Sir William in the French and Indian wars. The Johnson manuscripts (if now in existence)

in the State Library, reveal portions of the family's correspondence with him. Among other visitors to the "hospitable house on the hill," as Jay termed it, we find such noted names as Colden, Robertson, Cruger, Delancey, Watts, Laight, Walton, Jay, Benson, Bard, Murray, Van Rensselaer, Yates, Livingston, Gansevoort, and Schuyler. During its occupancy by Judge Silvester (Mr. H. C. Van Schaack narrates) Aaron Burr, then in the height of his fame, was also one of its visitors; but after he had slain Hamilton he ceased to enter its doors, well knowing that his presence would be unwelcome to those who had always been ardent friends and admirers of Hamilton. In visiting Kinderhook after the famous duel, Colonel Burr uniformly stopped at the village hotel, and was wont to send for Judge Silvester's son, Francis, who had studied law with him, to meet him at the public house.
    But none of these distinguished visitors made this homestead so memorable as did the multitude of children born there, several of whom became notable men and women. To them in their cradle or in their mother's arms was often sung this old-time lullaby: