Thias Johnson, Revolutionary War soldier

It's amazing the stuff you uncover when you start digging. I was snooping around looking for more information on the family of my great-great-great grandfather, William Melancthon Johnson. He had a doctorate in divinity from Princeton and served as pastor of the Silliman Memorial Church in Cohoes, NY. I knew he came from Cambridge, NY, but I couldn't find out anything about his parents. Then, in a copy of the Princeton Seminary Journal, in his obituary, I found the names of his parents, Thias Johnson and Sarah McDougall. Gold! I figured the genealogy would unfurl from there. Nope. I happened upon findagrave.com, where up popped his gravestone in Cambridge, NY. It said he died in 1843, at the age of 71. After that, I got stumped. I spent days working backwards and forwards, trying to find Thias Johnsons in all kinds of archives, census data, birth, marriage, and death records, military service records. I was staying up til all hours of the night wondering why I couldn't find out any information.

I searched for 'Thias Johnson" in ancestry records and found a promising line that started in Charlestown, MA in the early 1600s. From there, the family was among the founders of Marlborough, MA, near Framingham. I found a Thias Johnson born in 1733 and another, his nephew, born in 1762. So on the one hand, I had a Thias Johnson in Cambridge, NY born in 1783 and on the other a Thias Johnson born in 1762 in Marlborough, MA. Do they connect? There's only a difference of one generation! The Thias in Cambridge could be the son of the Thias in Marlborough! Dang if I could find out. I went to bed late one night and told Tim I had found a mention in a genealogy journal requesting information on Thias Johnson of Marlborough, MA. The notice was dated 1900! Would I ever be able to figure this out? I started thinking that given his birth date, he probably had served in the Revolutionary War. Maybe after that, he floated around, had a child out of wedlock, died and left him an orphan. I dredged through poor house records, orphanage records, prison records. 

I found some curious notes on US military pensions paid in 1818-1832 to 'Thias Johnson.' I figured these must be for the Cambridge, NY Thias Johnson, father of Wm Melancthon Johnson, who died in 1843. I found a couple other similar records and filed them under 'Thias 1783.' Then, as I was nosing around somewhere, I saw some mention of a decision by the US Congress to pay Revolutionary War pensions; the legislation was dated 1818! So, 40 years after the Revolutionary War, they decided to pay pensions to soldiers still living. The light bulb was when I realized that the pension payments were to Thias 1762, of Marlborough. One record even said that he was a resident of Cambridge, NY and had served in the Massachusetts Line (a regiment of the Continental Army). I went to bed with a big smile on my face and sat there hoping Tim would wake up so I could tell him, "I found him!" I found the grandfather of Wm Melancthon Johnson, my great-great-great-great grandfather. And he fought in the Revolutionary War.

Thias Johnson 1762 first enlisted at Bernardston, MA. His name appears on a list of men raised in Hampshire County for the term of 9 months from the time of their arrival at Fishkill. During the Revolution, Fishkill (near Newburgh) was the site of a large supply depot. The depot supplied the northern department of the Continental Army, which was responsible for securing the Hudson highlands and keeping the British from moving north of New York City. Thias arrived at Fishkill NY, ready for service, on July 7, 1778. He served in Capt. Shelden's company, in Col. Wells' regiment. Revolutionary War rolls show him as 5 ft. 4 in. tall, light complected, and 16 years old.

Thias enlisted as a private in a regiment of what was called the "Massachusetts Line." Many soldiers who fought on the American side during the Revolution were members of militia units who gathered as needed and then returned home, fighting for the most part in their home state. The Massachusetts Line was part of the full-time Continental army and fought in battles all over the American colonies. Each town in Massachusetts had a quota of soldiers that it had to supply. Most towns offered bounties to get enough men to fill the quota.

In a list of Officers of the Continental Army, I found Samuel Sheldon (NY), Lieutenant and Captain in the New York Militia (1775–1778). I also found David Wells (MA), Lieutenant-Colonel Massachusetts Militia (1776–1777). These were Thias Johnson's commanding officers during his first stint in the Continental Army. During his 9-month period of service, he likely fought with the Massachusetts Line 8th Regiment at Fort Anne, Martha's Vineyard, Boonesboro, KY, Unadilla, NY, Carr's Fort, GA, Fairfield, CT, and Green Farms, CT.

Thias Johnson enlisted a second time at Guilford, VT. He served as a Private in Col. Michael Jackson's regiment of the Continental Army. Pay accounts show he served from Jan. 1, 1780, to Dec. 31, 1780. He may have served a 3-yr term. He is reported as discharged (which told me, before I connected all the dots, that at least he hadn't died in battle). Michael Jackson was field officer of the Massachusetts Line 8th Regiment, which became the 16th Continental Army Regiment. Jackson served from January 1, 1777 to June 12, 1783.

In 1780, while serving in the Continental 16th, Thias Johnson would have seen battle at a number of locations in the south, mostly in South Carolina.

How much was Thias Johnson's pension? He was paid $8 a month, or $96 a year (in 1835 dollars). In today's dollars, he received the equivalent of $1,972 annually, for a total over the years 1818-1833 of $30,350. 

Sources: Revolutionary War rolls, US Military pension records, Wikipedia, and any number of other sources.

John Bostwick Lewis, Civil War casualty

I just figured out that John Bostwick Lewis, my paternal great-great grandfather, served in the Civil War. He enlisted at Troy, NY on Nov 18, 1861, leaving his wife, Margaret Jane Viele, at home in Waterford, NY with two infant sons, Stephen Viele Lewis (born Sept 11, 1860) and Morgan T Lewis (born Sept 29, 1861). John Lewis left for service in the Union Army less than 2 months after his second son was born.

Lewis served in the New York 70th "1st Excelsior" Infantry Regiment, organized under authority of the War Department as the 1st Regiment, Sickles' Brigade, at Camp Scott, Staten Island, N.Y., and mustered in June 20, 1861. The regiment left New York State for Washington, D.C.,  on July 23, 1861 and was attached to Sickles' Brigade, Division of the Potomac, until October, 1861, and then to Sickles' Brigade, Hooker's Division, Army of the Potomac.

The NY 70th regiment did duty in the Defenses of Washington, D.C., until March, 1862. They participated in the advance on Manassas, VA (March 10, 1862), followed by the expedition from Dumfries to Fredericksburg and capture of stores on March 18. The regiment saw action at Stafford Court House on April 4. They fought in the seige of Yorktown April 10-May 4 and the Battle of Williamsburg May 5.

Photo: Manassas battlefield.

The Battle of Yorktown or Siege of Yorktown was fought from April 5 to May 4, 1862, as part of the Peninsula Campaign. Marching from Fort Monroe, Union Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac encountered Maj. Gen. John B. Magruder's small Confederate force at Yorktown. McClellan suspended his march up the Peninsula toward Richmond and settled in for siege operations.
On April 5, the IV Corps of Brig. Gen. Erasmus D. Keyes made initial contact with Confederate defensive works at Lee's Mill, an area McClellan expected to move through without resistance. Magruder's ostentatious movement of troops back and forth convinced the Federals that his works were strongly held. As the two armies fought an artillery duel, reconnaissance indicated to Keyes the strength and breadth of the Confederate fortifications, and he advised McClellan against assaulting them. McClellan ordered the construction of siege fortifications and brought his heavy siege guns to the front. In the meantime, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston brought reinforcements for Magruder.

On April 16, Union forces probed a point in the Confederate line at Dam No. 1. The Federals failed to exploit the initial success of this attack, however. This lost opportunity held up McClellan for two additional weeks while he tried to convince the U.S. Navy to bypass the Confederates' big guns at Yorktown and Gloucester Point and ascend the York River to West Point and outflank the Warwick Line. McClellan planned a massive bombardment for dawn on May 5, but the Confederate army slipped away during the night of May 3 toward Williamsburg.

Photo: Library of Congress. Yorktown, Va., vicinity. Gen. George B. McClellan's tent, Camp Winfield Scott.

The Battle of Williamsburg, also known as the Battle of Fort Magruder, took place on May 5, 1862, in York County, James City County, and Williamsburg, Virginia, as part of the Peninsula Campaign. It was the first pitched battle of the Peninsula Campaign, in which nearly 41,000 Federals and 32,000 Confederates were engaged, fighting an inconclusive battle that ended with the Confederates continuing their withdrawal.

Following up the Confederate retreat from Yorktown, the Union division of Brig. Gen. Joseph Hooker encountered the Confederate rearguard near Williamsburg. Hooker assaulted Fort Magruder, an earthen fortification alongside the Williamsburg Road, but was repulsed. Confederate counterattacks, directed by Maj. Gen. James Longstreet, threatened to overwhelm the Union left flank, until Brig. Gen. Philip Kearny's division arrived to stabilize the Federal position. Brig. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock's brigade then moved to threaten the Confederate left flank, occupying two abandoned redoubts. The Confederates counterattacked unsuccessfully. Hancock's localized success was not exploited. The Confederate army continued its withdrawal during the night in the direction of Richmond, Virginia.

Despite the ferocity of these campaigns, John Lewis did not die in combat. Rather, he died of disease while serving in the Union Army. Disease was the biggest killer of the war. Of the Union dead, roughly three out of five died of disease, and of the Confederate, perhaps two out of three. About half of the deaths from disease during the Civil War were caused by intestinal disorders, mainly typhoid fever, diarrhea, and dysentery. The remainder died from pneumonia and tuberculosis. Camps populated by young soldiers who had never before been exposed to a large variety of common contagious diseases were plagued by outbreaks of measles, chickenpox, mumps, and whooping cough. The Union army reported that more than 995 out of every 1,000 men eventually contracted chronic diarrhea or dysentery during the war; the Confederates fared no better. Typhoid fever was even more devastating. Perhaps 25% of noncombat deaths in the Confederacy resulted typhoid fever, caused by the consumption of contaminated food or water. John Bostwick Lewis was 22 years old when he died.

Photo: Library of Congress. Manassas, Va. Provost guard of the 9th New York Infantry

Lewis's regiment went on to fight numerous key battles of the Civil War, including the Battle of Fredericksburg, VA, December 12-15, the Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6, the Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5, the Gettysburg Campaign June 11-July 24, the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3, and the pursuit of General Robert E Lee July 5-24. The regiment lost, during service, 9 officers and 181 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 officers and 62 enlisted men by disease. Of the total of 254 casualties, 25% died of disease.

The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville and the area from there to the east at Fredericksburg. The battle pitted Union Army Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker's Army of the Potomac against an army half its size, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. It is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because of his risky but successful division of his army in the presence of a much larger enemy force. Lee's audacity and Hooker's timid performance in combat combined to result in a significant Union defeat. The Confederate victory was tempered by the mortal wounding of Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson to friendly fire, a loss that Lee likened to "losing my right arm."

The Chancellorsville campaign began with the crossing of the Rappahannock River by the Union army on the morning of April 27, 1863. Crossing the Rapidan River via Germanna and Ely's Fords, the Federals concentrated near Chancellorsville on April 30 and May 1. Heavy fighting began on May 1 and did not end until the Union forces retreated across the river on the night of May 5–6.


The Battle of Gettysburg, fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, was the battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War and is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lee's invasion of the North.

After his success at Chancellorsville in May 1863, Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign. He intended to move the focus of the summer campaign from war-ravaged northern Virginia and hoped to influence Northern politicians to give up their prosecution of the war by penetrating as far as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, or even Philadelphia. Prodded by President Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit, but was relieved just three days before the battle and replaced by Meade.

The two armies began to collide at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division, which was soon reinforced with two corps of Union infantry. However, two large Confederate corps assaulted them from the northwest and north, collapsing the hastily developed Union lines, sending the defenders retreating through the streets of town to the hills just to the south.

On the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was laid out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. Lee launched a heavy assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Peach Orchard. On the Union right, demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culp's Hill and Cemetery Hill. All across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines.

Photo: Library of Congress. Gettysburg, Pa. The center of the Federal position viewed from Little Round Top.
 
On the third day of battle, July 3, fighting resumed on Culp's Hill, and cavalry battles raged to the east and south, but the main event was a dramatic infantry assault by 12,500 Confederates against the center of the Union line on Cemetery Ridge, known as Pickett's Charge. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great losses to the Confederate army. Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 Americans were casualties in the three-day battle. That November, President Lincoln used the dedication ceremony for the Gettysburg National Cemetery to honor the fallen and redefine the purpose of the war in his historic Gettysburg Address.

Sources: Civil War enlistment and service rolls, Wikipedia, Library of Congress photo collection, and assorted others.

Mathias Johnson, shoemaker

Mathias Johnson (1811- aft 1880) is listed in the 1860-1870-1880 census rolls as a shoemaker in Greenwich, NY, which is near Cambridge, where many other Johnson ancestors lived.  From what I can gather, Mathias was the older brother of William Melancthon Johnson (1834-1910). Likely, shoes in that era were still hand made in a small town in upstate New York. I have found several sites with information on shoemaking in the 18th and 19th centuries. Not until the end of the 19th century were shoes being made by machine. Shoes were usually made in small shops where each worker sat at a bench with his hammer, last, awls, pegs, string, wax, and bristles close at hand. During the 19th century, only farming occupied more people than shoe making.  Shoe makers worked in many cases for an entrepreneur shoe manufacturer on a piecework basis. Manufacturers then shipped most of the shoes for sale to the southern and western United States, the western territories and even the Caribbean. Some of the shoes were sold in New York and England as well. By the 1830s Massachusetts alone produced over 15 million pairs of shoes and boots each year. Custom shoemakers might learn their trade by serving an apprenticeship as boys. In small shops where shoe makers only pegged the soles and heels to one style of shoe, considerably less skill was required and could be learned from a friend or relative in a few weeks.

The expansion of wholesale markets around the time of the Civil War placed a premium on rapid, large-scale production. The invention of the automatic pegging machine (1818), the sole cutting machine (1844), and the leather rolling machine (1846) helped satisfy growing demand, but their impact was limited. They facilitated the standardization of shoe sizes and shapes, but they did not affect key manufacturing processes such as binding, bottoming, upper leather cutting, and lasting. It was only with the adaptation of Elias Howe's sewing machine to the stitching of leather uppers, in the 1850s, that mechanization of the industry really began. [Source: The Endicott Johnson Corporation:19th Century Origins, Prof. Gerald Zahavi, Department of History, University at Albany, Copyright © 1984, 2009 by Gerald Zahavi.]

Rev Pardon Tillinghast

In June 1979, I received my AB degree from Brown University at the First Baptist Meeting House in Providence RI. Now, I find out that an ancestor of mine, Rev Pardon Tillinghast, was the pastor there in the late 17th-early 18th century. Tillinghast is an old Rhode Island name, one I heard many times when I was a student at Brown. I am related to Pardon Tillinghast through his daughter Sarah, who married Job Harrington. The Harringtons eventually ended up in Cambridge NY and intermarried with Lotts (from Bennington, VT) and Warners (from Cambridge, NY). The Cambridge NY cemeteries are full of Harringtons and Warners. I am related to Tillinghast through Anna Warner Johnson, the wife of my great great grandfather William Melancthon Johnson.

William Melancthon Johnson

Quick post here. I have been kind of stuck on Wm Melancthon Johnson (1834-1910). He was born in Cambridge, NY and received a doctorate in divinity from Princeton University. For many years, he was pastor of the Silliman Memorial Church in Cohoes, NY. The church no longer exists. It was demolished some years ago. I have been searching for WMJ's parents and finally came across a mention of them in an obituary printed in the Princeton Seminary Journal, which says his parents were Thias Johnson and Sarah McDougall of Cambridge, NY. So I went to findagrave.com (finally went there; don't think that this was a straight line), punched in Thias Johnson and up popped two graves in the Old White Church Cemetery in Cambridge, NY. The first grave showed 'Sarah S, consort of Thias Johnson, Jr,' who died Aug 5 1830. I can't make out the full inscription, but it looks like the end of it says, 'in the 18 years of her age.'  'Consort', by the way, means husband or wife, companion or partner. 

The second gravestone shows Dea. Thias Johnson, which I take to mean 'Deacon' Thias Johnson, who died in 1843. In the accompanying photos, the first is the grave of Sarah S, the second of Deacon Thias Johnson. As Wm Melancthon Johnson was born in 1834 and Sarah S died in 1830, it doesn't make sense that Sarah S was his mother. From the Princeton obituary, I know that WMJ's mother was Sarah McDougall. Perhaps she was Thias Johnson's second wife. Who knows? The search continues.

Wm Melancthon Johnson is buried in Woodlands Cemetery, Cambridge, NY. This information from findagrave.com gives the location of the grave: 'Johnson, Wm. M., b. 1834, d. 1910, par: T. Johnson, Sarah McDougall, Sec. T 33, 35, 36.' WMJ's wife, Anna Elizabeth Warner Johnson, is also buried in Woodlands Cemetery: 'Johnson, Anna Warner, b. 1834, d. 1894, sp. Wm. Johnson, par: Jonathan Warner, Maria Snyder, Sec. T 36.' Her father is also buried there: 'Warner, Jonathan, b. 1802, d. 1882, par: Solomon Warner, Elizabeth Woodworth, Sec. C 33.' In fact, there are lots of Warners buried there, many of them obviously related. 

Meanwhile, I have also been researching Sarah Johnson Lewis (1871-1943), daughter of Wm Melancthon Johnson and wife of Stephen Viele Lewis. I find that she also is buried in Cambridge, NY. Here is her obituary. If you click on it, it will open in a large window and you will be able to enlarge it. The title of the article is 'Mrs Lewis dies at home.'

Herman Knickerbocker Viele

From: Who's Who in America, 1908

Francis Viele-Griffin

From: Who's Who in America, 1908

The Viele Map of Manhattan

From the David Rumsey Map Collection. Go here for a zoomable version and more information about this map made by Egbert L Viele, which is still in current use for the detail it provides on original watercourses and topography of Manhattan.

The Viele Divorce

From University of Delaware Library's Special Collections Department:

In the year 1870, prominent New York society members General and Mrs. Egbert Ludovickus Vielé sued each other for divorce on nearly identical grounds: adultery, insanity, and cruelty. General Vielé was accused of having an affair with Miss Julia Dana, and Mrs. Vielé with General W.W. Averill. The scandalous suits were further sensationalized by a custody battle over the Vielés' five children. In 1869, General Vielé had absconded with the children and his mistress, Miss Dana. Throughout the ordeal of trying to recover her children and divorcing her unfaithful husband, Mrs. Vielé kept these scrapbooks of "business letters, etc." Containing letters, newspaper clippings, and telegrams from attorneys and detectives, the scrapbooks document the high-profile divorce. In addition, they include evidence of sympathetic support for Mrs. Vielé's case: calling cards from remaining society friends (Mrs. Judge Roosevelt, Mrs. George McLean, Mrs. General Gates, and Generals Averill, Pleasanton, and Ingalls); invitations to balls, charities, or weddings; and programs for lectures, concerts, and church services.

Perhaps documentation of the drama appealed to Mrs. Vielé's literary instincts. Hers was a creative family. She had authored Following the drum: a glimpse of frontier life (1858), based on her experiences as a military spouse during her husband's tour in the American Southwest and fighting in the Mexican War. The General (1825-1902) published Hand-book for active service; containing practical instructions in campaign duties (1861). Their youngest son, Egbert Jr., accompanied his mother to France after the divorce and later changed his name to Francis Vielé-Griffin (1864-1937), gaining renown as a French symbolist poet. Older son Herman Knickerbocker Vielé (1856-1908) achieved fame as a novelist, playwright, and artist in New York, and was best known for Last of the Knickerbockers a Comedy Romance (1901). Teresa Vielé died in Paris in 1906 and was buried in Père-Lachaise Cemetery.

The Knickerbockers of Schatighticoke

An article published in Harper's Monthly, v. 54, p. 33-43, 1877, by Egbert L Viele.There are references to his Viele ancestors as well, some of whom also lived in Schaghticoke, including Aernout Viele (called Arnoud in this article), mentioned in a footnote. In fact, as a fluent speaker of Iroquois languages, he was a key go-between and more than a mere interpreter.



And now come back to Earth with this, from 'Reading America: Text as a Cultural Source' by Matthew Guillen, 2007:

Egbert L Viele

Egbert L Viele apparently formed this mining company to manage his interests in mines in Colorado, at least one of which, the Bosco mine, is located in Leadville. In the following article, the geology of the Gray Porphyry Belt is detailed. With these Google readers, you can read right in the window,but it's a little cumbersome. If you click on 'Books' at the lower left hand corner, you will go to Google Books and be able to read a larger format.

Wow! This is cool!

I just figured out how to embed a whole book in this blog. I am researching John Lewis of Westerly, RI, who was one of the earliest settlers in RI. He arrived in the 1630s, is known to have been in Westerly in 1661, and died in 1690. He is buried near Watch Hill Rd. The book I have embedded is about Captain Edmund Lewis, an early settler of Lynn, MA, who arrived there in 1634 with a 3-yr-old son John. This John seems to be confused in many family trees with John Lewis of Westerly. I am not convinced they are the same person. Other information I have found suggests that John, son of Edmund, inherited his father's lands in Lynn and lived out his life there, dying in 1710. So here's the book. Happy reading. What I wanted to point out all happens in the first 10 pages. Suffice it to say, tracing the Lewis line all the way back to Noah is probably not possible. It makes you feel like a real stud to get back to 80 AD but you are likely kidding yourself.

What have they been doing all these years?

What interests me most about genealogy is finding out how my ancestors actually lived their lives. I like finding information on their trades, their social status, their community activities. I like finding maps that show where they lived so I can imagine their world.

Last night (up til midnight doing genealogy), I found out that John Miller, who immigrated to the USA in the 1850s and lived thereafter in Green Island, NY, was a cooper in the old country. The ship's passenger list that shows his transit from Glasgow to New York lists him as a 20-yr-old cooper from Old Kilpatrick, Scotland. Old Kilpatrick now appears to be a suburb of Glasgow. Back in the mid-19th century, Old Kilpatrick, located on the River Clyde, was a thriving port.

In 1846, Old Kilpatrick had 7020 inhabitants, of whom 819 were in the village of Old Kilpatrick, 5 miles (E. by S.) from Dumbarton, and 10 (N. W. by W.) from Glasgow.

The book 'A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland' by Samuel Lewis, published in 1846, says this about the town:

The parish is bounded on the south by the river Clyde, along which it extends for nearly eight miles, and is four miles and a half in extreme breadth, comprising 11,500 acres, of which 6000 are arable, 600 woodland and plantations, and the remainder meadow and pasture. The surface rises by a gentle acclivity from the river towards the north, and is diversified with hills, of which the most conspicuous are those of Dalnotter, Chapel-Hill, and Dumbuck, commanding from their summits extensive views of the Clyde, the county of Renfrew, and part of Lanarkshire. The Kilpatrick hills, of which Dumbuck hill forms a part, terminate near the western extremity of the parish; they are a prominent and lofty range, and some of them attain an elevation of upwards of 1200 feet above the level of the sea. The parish, as seen from the Clyde, constitutes one of the richest features in the picturesque and beautiful scenery for which that river is so celebrated. A nameless stream is supplied from two small lakes behind the range of the Kilpatrick hills, and, flowing southward, by Faifley and Duntocher, falls into the Clyde at Dalmuir. The soil along the banks of the Clyde is a fine deep loam, resting on a bed of clay; and in the higher grounds, light and gravelly. The crops are, oats, wheat, barley, potatoes, and turnips. The system of husbandry is improved, and the arable lands are in a high state of cultivation; great attention is paid to the management of the dairy-farms, and large quantities of butter are sent to the Glasgow market, where they find a ready sale. The cattle are generally of the Highland black breed, and on the dairy-farms the cows are of the Ayrshire breed; both are chiefly purchased at the neighbouring fairs, few being reared in the parish. The sheep, of which considerable numbers are reared in the moorland pastures, are all of the black-faced breed. The rateable annual value of the parish is £23,524.

The plantations, which are well managed, and in a thriving state, consist of oak, ash, elm, beech, plane, lime, and the various kinds of fir, for all of which the soil appears to be well adapted; and both in the lowlands and higher grounds are many fine specimens, of stately growth. The substrata of the parish are principally of the coal formation; and the rocks are composed of greenstone, amygdaloid, trap, greywacke, and basalt. Limestone and ironstone are also found. The coal, which is wrought in the lands near Duntocher, occurs at depths varying from 120 to 200 feet, in seams about five feet in thickness, and of good quality. The limestone, which is also of good quality, is wrought for manure; and there are some quarries of freestone and whinstone in operation. The principal seats within the parish are, Cochno, Edinbarnet, Milton House, Auchintorlie, Auchintoshan, Glenarbuck, Mount-Blow, Barnhill, and Dumbuck, most of which are handsome mansions, finely situated in richly-planted demesnes. The village of Kilpatrick was formerly a burgh of barony, and, by charter under the great seal, dated 1679, was made head of the barony, and invested with power to create burgesses, and appoint bailies for its government. These privileges have long been extinct, though it is not recorded by what means they became obsolete; and the old gaol, with the iron bars on the windows, is now a private house. A post-office has been established under the office at Glasgow; and facility of communication is afforded by the turnpike-road from Dumbarton to Glasgow, which intersects the parish for nearly eight miles; by other good roads; by the Forth and Clyde and the Monkland canals; by the Erskine ferry near Kilpatrick; and by numerous steamers which frequent the Clyde.

Various branches of manufacture are carried on, to a very great extent, in the several villages within the limits of the parish. The principal works are the cottonmills at Faifley, Duntocher, Milton, and Hardgate, in which 74,045 spindles and 530 power-looms are employed, producing as many as 875,000lb. of yarn, and 2,000,000 yards of cloth annually, and affording occupation to nearly 1500 persons. At Dalmuir are papermills, producing paper of all kinds to the amount of £30,000 annually, and giving employment to 176 persons, of whom one-half are women and children. There are soda-works at Dalmuir-Shore, in which thirty tons of sulphuric acid are produced weekly, and used in the making of bleaching-powder, chloride of lime, and soda: about 100 persons are engaged here. At Milton are an extensive bleachfield and some calico-printing works, in which from 400 to 500 people are employed; and at Cochney were once works for dyeing cotton cloth a Turkey red, and printing them when dyed, in which more than seventy persons were occupied. At BowlingBay is a ship-building yard, where about twenty persons are employed in building sloops of 170 tons' burthen, and vessels for canal navigation; and at Little-Mill, likewise, nearly one hundred people were formerly engaged in building steam-vessels of large dimensions. There is an iron-forge at Faifley, for the manufacture of spades and shovels, in which thirty persons are employed. At Little-Mill and Auchiutoshan are distilleries, in the former of which about 50,000, and in the latter about 16,000, gallons of whisky are annually made. Several handloom-weavers throughout the parish are employed by the Glasgow and Paisley houses; and a considerable number of females are engaged in embroidering muslin.

John Miller might have made casks for the fishing industry or for the distilleries. He had perhaps finished his apprenticeship when he sailed for New York. In any event, once established in Green Island, he changed his trade. He is listed in both the 1860 and 1870 US Census as working as an iron molder. By the time of the 1880 census, he was disabled. The census lists his as 'paralyzed.' Presumably he was injured in a factory accident. His trade as an iron molder was dangerous, as this piece about another iron moulder attests:

In the 1860s, Troy was an important producer of the nation’s iron and iron products. In addition to the four largest iron mills in the country, 14 smaller iron foundries molded a wide variety of iron products like stoves, stove patterns, ranges, bells, nails and wheels, including the J. Griswold Rolling Mill Company, Rensselaer Iron Works, Clinton Iron Foundry, Bessemer Steel Works and the Albany Iron Works.

1886 Map of South Troy's Iron Works

Soon after he arrived in America in 1847, Charles Duffy migrated to Troy and worked in the iron industry for a company that manufactured merchant iron spikes and horse shoes. From 1855 until his death in 1859, he was a laborer living in Ward 6 near the Albany Iron Works, formerly the Albany Nail Factory. The Albany Iron Works' campus consisted of a company-sponsored public hall, a library and reading room, and a chapel.

Charles was employed at the Albany Iron Works at the time of his death. The record states he died at the Nail Factory—the cause was listed as diseased heart. (Obviously the recorder used the former name of Albany Iron Works in reporting the death.) We are unsure if he died on the job or in a separate building. An examination of Troy's death records at that time revealed numerous deaths occurred at the Nail Factory caused by various diseases. We conclude, therefore, that a medical facility was located on the premises.

After leaving Ireland for American shores in 1860, Edward Reardon also settled near Iron mills in a southern ward of Troy—Ward 9, located a mile or two north of Charles Duffy’s Ward 6. Since census records list him as an ironworker, he probably worked at one of several large iron plants which lined the Hudson River in South Troy. Nearby were Clinton Stove Foundries at Second and Ida Streets, Fuller, Warren and Company at Monroe and RiverStreets, and the Rensselaer Iron Worksat River Street at the foot of Adams Street.

Iron workers usually did not have a steady income during each 12-month period. Between labor strikes and the iron mills often closing for three months during the winter, it must have been challenging to make ends meet. Since Edward was able to purchase a home 11 years after moving to Troy, we must assume work was fairly steady and wages were relatively high.

Edward’s son, John (my great-grandfather), followed in his father’s footsteps as a skilled iron worker. He was employed as a molder at Ludlow Valve Manufacturing Company, maker of fire hydrants and valves, located on the former site of the Rensselaer Iron Works. Molding required a long apprenticeship of between four and seven years, great strength, and substantial skill. Also, the molder was allowed to hire a helper.

Although the pay was relatively high, the profession was not easy. John was engaged in the hot, dangerous, and delicate craft of casting molten pig-iron into hydrants and valves which had to be completed while the metal was molten. Sand or loam of the exact proper consistency and wetness had to be prepared; the wood or cast iron patterns (prepared by the pattern-maker) had to be filled with sand and rammed strenuously to make a mold; the mold had to be rapped carefully to remove the pattern without breaking the mold; and the molten iron had to be poured quickly and evenly into the mold. A mistake at any stage could render the mold

unusable and entail the loss of several days’ labor.

The temperature at the foundry was well over 100° F., and John would have worked multiple pourings each day with the molten metal. The work was so strenuous that it could not be done continuously during the ten-hour workday. Iron workers usually took rest breaks between pourings, sometimes visiting the neighborhood saloon for fortification and comradely relaxation.

Older family members report that my great-grandfather went to work at six o’clock in the morning and came home at six o’clock at night, six days a week, Monday through Saturday. During hot summer days, John’s wife would have a pitcher of ice cold lemonade ready for him when he got home from work, and he would drink the whole pitcher by himself.

As an interesting aside, the Duffy and Reardon familes listed in this story of the iron molder should ring bells with my immediate family. We were close family friends with Duffies and Reardons.

What other trades have I found for Viele-Lewis ancestors? I'll start with a list and expand as I have time:

tavern keeper (we come from a long line of these)

sailmaker

interpreter (Iroquois-Dutch)

cooper (more than one)

iron molder

sulfuric acid maker

workers in collar factories

tailor

blacksmith

owner of a brick factory

Revolutionary War quartermaster

hardware merchant

dealer in fancy goods (laces and whatnot)

Civil War general & engineer

Presbyterian minister (w/ DD from Princeton)

bookkeeper

postmaster

an ice house owner

a manufacturer of gelatin dessert

Of course, this hardly covers the ground. I have so little information really. I'll post more as I find it.

Pruyns in Albany & Buskirk's Bridge

(39) Samuel Pruyn, merchant, of Albany; son of (18) Francis S. Pruyn and (14) Alida van Yveren ; b. Sept. 3, 1728; d. Dec. 14, 1785. He married Feb. 17, 1756, Neeltje Ten Eyck, bp. Jan 15, 1729, d. April 14, 1817 ; dau. of Jacob Ten Eyck and Alida Visscher, of Albany. In 1752 he was Fire-Master for the Second Ward of Albany, and in March, 1764, we find his name attached to a "Petition of Merchants of Albany to the Lords of Trade" at London, in regard to trading with the Indians. In 1768 he was a Deacon of the Dutch Church. He lived on the southwest corner of what are now North Pearl Street and Maiden Lane, in a good old gabled house, known for many years as the " Pruyn Homestead." He had issue:


51. Francis Samuel (b. 1757), m. Maria Van Ness (daughter of Hendrick Gerritse Van Ness).

52. Maria, m. Abraham Halenbeck.

53. Annatje, bp. Aug. 2, 1762 (Casparus Pruyn, uncle; Alida Pruyn); d. at the "Pruyn Homestead," Feb. 2, 1833. She was a great church worker, and one of those old Dutch ladies for whom Albany was famous. At her funeral a " memorial sermon" was delivered by the Rev. Isaac Ferris, D.D., pastor of the Second Reformed Church, of which she was a member.


The first land deeded by the Schaghticokes to the Christians within the environs of the Hoosac Valley proper was the Hoosac Patent. The patent was granted by Gov. Thomas Dongan on June 2, 1688, to Maria Van Rensselaer and Hendrick Van Ness of Albany, Garret Tunisson (Van Vechten) of Catskill, and Jacobus Van Cortlandt of New York City, and confirmed by the Duke of York, as King James II, in July.

The Hoosac Patent covered seventy thousand acres, including two miles in width on each bank of Skatecook Creek (Hoosac River of blended waters) ; and extended up the river from the Devil's Chimney opposite the Fallen-hill in Old Schaghticoke to Quequick Falls; thence up the valley to the sandy island known as Nach-a-quick-quack, the Ashawagh, or land between the junction of the Little Hoosac with the Big Hoosac. The annual quit-rent exacted for this vast manor-land was "ten Bushells of good Sweet Merchantable winter Wheat, delivered Att the City of Albany."

During the opening raids of King William's War, in 1689, Hendrick Van Rensselaer of Fort Crailo partly negotiated with Captain Soquon for a tract six miles square in Old Schaghticoke, although the deed was not confirmed until 1707 during Queen Anne's War. Meanwhile, Hendrick Van Ness transferred half of his right in the Hoosac Patent to his brother Jan Van Ness on February 17, 1699, and on October 18, 1706, Hendrick Van Ness and Jacobus Van Cortlandt were deeded Kiliaen Van Rensselaer and Johannes Van Vechten the shares of their parents, Maria Van Rensselaer and Garret Tunisson- Van Vechten. Later on, November 16th, Hendrick Van Ness and Jacobus Van Cortlandt gave each other mutual release of joint tenancy of their Hoosac Patent manor-lands.

Hendrick Gerritse Van Ness married Magdalena Vrooman. Their daughter was Maria Van Ness, the mother of Hannah Pruyn.

Francis and Alida Pruyn (emigrated from Antwerp, Belgium before 1665). They had a house at the corner of North Pearl St and Maiden Lane in Albany. Their son, Samuel Pruyn, married Maria Bogart. He was a merchant, Indian trader, and skipper who lived in Albany. Samuel Pruyn’s son was Francis Samuel Pruyn, who married Maria Van Ness.

Vieles in Schenectady, Waterford, & Schaghticoke