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Show I I s Our Pioneer Mothers ( HOW SARAH WELLS. THE MAID OF WAYWAYANDA, GAME TO -8 BE THE FIRST WHITE WOMAN TO SETTLE IN THE LAND O' j GOSHEN. jS boPYEXGHTriOlO," BYMAEYW.NDHAREY 0. GREEN. Hfl J. Mldwuy between Shiuvaiiprunk moun- (' tnlhs and t lie IttulMOii river, which mark H ; thu hounditrlu'S of Cranio county, New Hj j f York, (lwro Hlnndt; a niiisslvn old btonc H.j I farmhouse, ulutt; (lied mul Ivy mnnilcd. Hjj, ( that hay weuUicivd tho storing itnd min- H sHino ot nearly two centuries. Tho mUMVil " btillrliiiK" of this homo In tho wilderness T " marked (lie culmination or a roinnnuo of 'lu tho pioneer Uay.s n.s tender and true as H.'j i tIlc storied loves of John -ldcn and Prln- HJ cilia, the Pnritun. Had Its chronicles been wrltinn. what H j. talcs that , old house would tell of the H early days, of the imituul trim and hope H of thu young bullili-i-n that helped cement H jf every utonu in its plurr, of heavy bur- H g dena made li;ht by affection, of forest I perils, wild animals and -wilder men, of tho tears and laughter of little children ;i 'for, from under the fiualnt Rabies and . rouEh-hewn rafters of the old house have v frono out tho sons and daughters of six generations of tho same blood descend -J -nta of Sarah Wells Bull, "the Maid of j: Waywayanda!" She wan so called bc- V cause she -went there alone, a giri In her ' teens, the first white woman to settle ? on tho Waywayanda patent,, a subdivl- alon of that vast area granted in 1G.U to lj ; the Earl of Warwick, and described as 1 "the country from the Narragansctt. M '. olong abort forty leagues and westward m t to the Pacific oceun." I ' ; Waywayanda Patent. I The Waywayanda patent, which In- . eluded ahouJL 160,000 acres In Orango and I ' Sullivan counties', was purchased from B ' the Mlnlsing Indiana In 1702 by Ghrls- K topher Donn and a. companv of eleven WW', other men. and the grant confirmed by mm - Queen Anne the following year. It wus tho Intention of the patentees to sell their land to settlers, but there , wa3 little or no demand for wild land, and after several ycar.3, Christopher V Denn vlsltod the territory and va3 so at- traded by its wild beauties that ho de-j de-j elded to locate a home for himself on the banks of the OtlcrlcIII. near where the H" present village of Campbell Hall Is sit- m- uated. The nearest settlement was at i New Windsor, on the Hudson, some fif- m- teen or twenty miles away, and a short distance below the present citv of Xew-RH Xew-RH burg. Mr. Denn. hired two friendly Jn- in dlnna to accompany him home, and help (). Win move, and at New Windsor he H j bought a sloop and hired a carpenter. jH Sir. Denn and his wife lived on Stnton iM' Island, They had.no children, but with tUm them lived an-orphan girl. Sarah Wells. 'im about 18 years old. Arriving at his 'Ml home, JIr. Denn found his business in mich condition that it seemed to dc-mand dc-mand his personal attention for some-, im!l time, and, decided that the plan would fmJii-' have to be given up for tho rime being, f WW Thon Sarah -polco up: "Let me go. I'll 1., atari the homo and havo things all BpI, ready for you when you come." W -M "Do it and I'll give you a hundred acres adjoining my own farm," said i m her fOHter ' father. I! ill go, said tho girl, dcclslvelv. and t I although JIr.,13ertn pointed out the hard- ; m flhips'and'dangers of such a venture. 'she I knew tho Importance to the family of r-t having an entry made upon the patent at ) ' that time, and would not give up, In two j or three days Hhc wan ready, and, ac- f ' companicd by her Indians and tho car- f penter. set sail on their llttlo sloop on- thcaftcrnoon df May 1!7. J712. The out- - fit she can-led was described by her in i 1 later days, as follows: i' a "Two pack horses, with bells oh. two : jj milch cows with bells, two Irish Brahmas, two dogs, one spade, two palls two beds i -with bedding, one small, nnd larger pol, I one Fin a 11 and one large k;ttlc,. wooden I ; trenchers and bowls, cundlosllck and ! candles, a frying pan. small tin plaice, j . coffee pot and coffee, teapot and cannls- I tor. silver tcapoons, riiimII china tea I s cups, clothing- In saddle bags, pillion . -f aaddle. knives and forks, tiomo potatoes. ;i medical cordials in vials, refined sugar , ; In small pifes. brown sugar In rolls, small bag of flour, biscuit, a bam, some i , trinkets, ribbons, and small knives for I ' I thu Indians." i i, 1 Twenty-four hours later they landed at Now Windor, and the next morning tho parly took to the woods. Mistress Sarah, tho leader of thn expedition, walked with tho men. and afterward testified to their "most kindly and courteous treatment.'4. The Journey ondfd at nightfall, and Ihfl Indians soon had a wigwam set up for the young woman. Kiirly next morning work was begun on thn log house. Lcavo for Now Homo. Aflnr tho departure of the plonuor mahl thcri was a very lonely honsn on Slaleit Island. Hardly had the little sloop passed out of sh:hl Into the mouth or the Hudson Hud-son than Mistress l.'enn began Imagining all sorts of dire disasters to her fostor-duughtr. fostor-duughtr. Probably she tofd the good ni:ti) that II was all his fault that tho girl had gono away on any such crazy venture. Anyway, it is on record that they passed a slcopless night and next ilav Mr. and Mrs. Denn locked tho doors I!H OLD BULL STONE HOUSE AT HAMPTONBURGH, N, Y., i f ! i Built in 1722 by William Bull and Is Occupied by Ebouczer Bull of the Sixth It f I Generation, l .tf . of their house, mounted their horses, and started across country, through tho highlands high-lands of New Jersey, past the picturesque pictur-esque Hainapo Falls, until they reached their new home, just about the time It was finished, and the reunited familv spent iheir first night in the log house by Otlorklll. in later days to be known as the land o" Goshen." Other families soon followed, and In a few vears Mr. Denn had disposed of enough laud to make him independent in fortune and still left him a largo landed proprietor. Proved His Worth. Among thcto settlers was Daniel Crom-line. Crom-line. who very soon determined to build a tavern on tho new high road, which i whs being opened between the JTudson I and Delaware rivers. Stono was cheaper 8 and more plentiful than other building material. He went to New York to find a stono mason, and thero met William Bull, a young Englishman, .lust landed and in sore straits. Ho had held a contract con-tract to build a bridge near Dublin, but failed lo complete it within tho stipulated stipu-lated time. Luinblc to meet his obligations obliga-tions he escaped imprisonment for debt by sailing for America. When he arrived ar-rived tho captain Insisted that hs pas-sago pas-sago money was insufficient and that ho i must be sold into bondage to inako up the- deficit. Crornline advanced tho money, finding that Bull was a stone mason, and took him back to his camp. ' It w'as but natural thai in time the young man should 'seek tho nearest settlement, set-tlement, the home of Sarah Wells, and it was Just as natural that the young people peo-ple should become sweethearts. Tt was also, perhaps, Just as natural that Mr. and Mrs. Denn should look askance at the young and penniless stranger until he proved his worth. He proved it. Settlers Set-tlers were coming fast into "the land of Goshen." and the services of William Bull' were In demand. He grew prospcr-'ous prospcr-'ous and thrifty, purchased 200 acres of land alongside the 100 given Sarah Wells by her foster father, and on March 25, 1718. they were married by justice John Mcrritt, the second magistrate appointed by Queen Anne for the province. Aided by Magistrate. This magistrate, who seems to have 1 been a man of resources, smoothed out 1 what had appeared to be a great diffi- M culty. William Bull was a communicant. 1 of the Church of England, tiro canons of I which require the promulgation of mar- U r age banns upon three successive ocea- I slons to make valid the contract. Bull was a strict churchman, and not given to change Trom established custom. The magistrate could not make the long Journey Jour-ney from Albany to New York to pronounce pro-nounce the banns, How ho helped them out of their perplexity Is best told bv Mistress Bull to her granddaughters many ycara afterward: "After some 'deliberation. Justice Mcrritt Mcr-ritt concluded that three proclamations, made the same day. would be sale and valid under the circumstances. - So the magistrate took his prayer book in hand and went lo the door in the front part of the house and there proclaimed the banns lo tho birds and the trees. Then he walked to the bHek door, looking out on tho barnyard, nnd in;ulo his second proclamation tq the cows and sheep. Then, again, he went to the front door, whero he pronounced the banns oucu more io the fields and wilderness at large"; then, as the eattlo and Ireos, tho birds and (lowers skeined to give their consent, we were married." Built Stone Houtico. Four yeai-o later William Bull built tho I tstonu house. Tho young wife hulpcd him H so much in tho building thai ho ttlwayn 1 insisted that they built it together. The 1 structure was forty feet square, with a walls three feel thick on everv side. I There was a cellar under the whole I houi'e. .o that II Is practically three I stories and a half In height. Main- veant I lal-r. behind a. blind wall in this same cellar, several highly chori.shcd rolls wre m hidden lo Have thein from Mrltlsh and Tory marauders, though the house itself fl was never seriously molested during H Revolutionary times. Wlllfuni Hull died H In 1705 at the age of 6U. Ills widow f-ur- H vIVcd him until 17?r., when she died at the ago of 102. She sleeps by the sldo I of her husband in the old burying- ground In Hiimplonhiirgh. on a little eminence I overlooking the old stone house, whore w she lived lo .see ,'i:;r living children, I grandchildren an, great-grandchildren. K 'I he old stone hoiiHe r. now the home of m Ebouczer Bull of the sixth general Ion 11 in direct dcseciil from the Ijullders of the II house, und Ihe founders of (he familv H William Bull ami Sarah Wells. It Is H in an almost perfect stale of preservation, I and the Intnrlor Is a veritable museum. where may be seen (he old hall clock, H impoi'texl by William Bull from England, the spinning wheels and loom uned by m harah Wells Bull and her daughters, old- 1 time conking utensils nnd dishes, and B many other rarely Interstlng relies or I the early days, and Including a, photo- 1 graph of the wedding di-e.ss worn bv I Sarah Wells, and in which a. number I of the daughters of Jive generations I have been married. The dress itself is 1 In possession uf another branch of the I family in New Jersey, and Is one of their I most cherished belonging: The Thill stone house stands on the old I road between Ncwburgh and the county I scat at (.loshcn. from which It is dls- I taut about five miles. Goshen Itself was I built on tho old Waywayunda patent. It 1 Js oHlimutcd thai there are more than i Vi,00o lvlng descendants at Sarah Wells I Hull and her husband, and their annua'l D reunion at Campbell Hall and the old H homestead Ik one of the most Interesting yearly events In Orange county. 2l |