Name/Title
Goodwill NotesEntry/Object ID
002005Tags
William Bull and Sarah Wells Stone House AssociationScope and Content
Transcription: Page 5
Sheet No. 2
Continued from No. 1 —— To the City of New York, and after introducing them as Friends, to His Family. (it is necessary here to Remark, that Christopher Denn and his wife, Never had any Children; Yet they had a handmaid, or as a Domestic in his family an Indented Orphan Child, a Native of New Jersey, Reared, for the most part, Upon Staten Island, whose Name was Sarah Wells, whom they had a Great Regard for) We Say, after Christopher Denn, had introduced these friendly Natives of Wawayanda, to his Family, and the Kind attention he had Received from them in the Wilderness... And the Better, to sooth his family into the Scheme, of trying their fortune, among these friendly People and Natives of the Woods... He told His Domestic... his Sarah & Orphan handmaid, that if She Would take Charge of his Household goods and kitchen furniture, and some Livestock Cow & others and Go Up the Hudson River, to New Windsor; He would get some Mechanical Workmen With their tools to go along with them, and these friendly Indians would Lead, and Conduct them on the Way, to his place of Destination on the Otterkill —— While she pondered a few moments upon the Subject... and Conceived it a Hazardous Undertaking for so Young a Girl... When Christopher Denn and his Wife Assured her, they would Leave New York, and take their Way on Horseback through the Wilderness, of the High hills of the Highlands, and meet their Sarah, at some future Day on the West Bank of the Otterkill... At his Selected Site & place of Destination... And for her faithful Services, they Would give Her, One Hundred Acres, of Bounty Land as near as Circumstances Would admit Adjoining them. This proposal, Raised in Her mind, a kind of Cheerful Mixture of Hope & fear... For she had, no Desire of Leaving or separating from Madam Denn, for so she ever called Her, and Considered Her, as a Great & Good Woman, and the Greatest Female friend she had in the World —— And therefore, the more Readily Accepted their proposition and Acted Accordingly. — Shiped on Board of a Vessel at New York, in the Evening had a favourable passage Up the Hudson River to New Windsor.
Transcription: Page 6
To New Windsor, and on the Second Morning, after Leaving New York, they Unshiped their Little Cargo, at the Water Side... of the Tide Waters of the Hudson River, (And what may be thought a Little Singular, The Landing at New Windsor, was Called the “Water Side”... and face of the Market, By the inhabitants of Wawayanda, for more than Half a Century afterwards) —— However, after Unshiping at the “Waterside,” and making every Necessary Arrangement for their Journey, they Started as Early, as possible, from the Hudson River, With their Little All — Under the Direction, of their Faithful Indian Guides... and Arrived, the first Day, to the East Bank of the Otter Creek, or Kill, nearly Opposite, to Where, Christopher Denn, had Selected a Site for his Residence —— The Stream Being too high to ford... no Canoe... and Night Overtaking them, they were Necessitated to Encamp for the first Night, in the Goshen of Wawayanda Under the Boughs of A Beech tree... But for fear of the Rattle Snake, The Workmen Cut Crotches, Drove them into the Ground, Cut Poles, and Laid them Across, With some Brush over them, Upon Which, they Spread their Bedding; After Which, they took some Refreshment, to Recruit them from a fatigueing Days Journey of near twenty Miles As an Evening Repast, —— when they Lay Down to Rest, under the Beech tree on their New Constructed Bedsteads — Where the Beech tree Boughs, Which Served as A Canopy to keep off the Dews of Heaven... Where they Received... All things Considered... A Peaceful & Comfortable Nights Rest... —— But as the Morning light Appeared, —— The Workmen Was Up, Cutting Logs, of Light Wood (as Sarah Called them) made a temporary Raft, in the most Expeditious manner —— slid over With their tools, and went to Work, on the spot, Where Christopher Denn had fixed His Site Under the Direction of these friendly and Kind Natives of the Wilderness... —— Who had Long Wished to See, the White People Settle Among them as Neighbours, and for which purpose, their Lands Were Sold to the White People.
