The New York genealogical and biographical record (Volume 74) online

vi. Phebe, born April 22, 1S2 1 ; died March 9, 1S82.
vii. Edward, born December 25, 181S ; died January 10, 1885.
viii. Emma, born April 1, 1824 ; died .

ix. Harriet, born May 1, 1S29.

18. Abraham '" Miller (Abraham \ Abraham 3 , Abraham '", James '). He
was a wheelwright by trade, and built the first wagon constructed in
Westchester County. Subsequently he built and operated a woollen mill
and a paper mill at Amawalk, N. Y. In crossing his mill pond on the
ice he fell through, and the shock of sudden immersion in the cold
water caused his death. He married, June 21, 1804, Elizabeth Griffen,
daughter of Joseph Griffen and Jane Cornell, of Mamaroneck, N. Y.
She was born August 15, 1783 ; died June 18, 1858. They had :

i. Jane Griffen, 6 born September 22, 1805 ; died October 8,

1891.
ii. Eliza, born August 9, 1807 ; died November 20, 1878.
iii. Phebe, born January 26, 1810; died June 9, 1893.
iv. Robert, born June 21, 1S12 ; died April 6, 1887.
v. John Griffen, born December 23, 1S14 ; died March 31,

18S5.
vi. Esther, born January 13, 1 Si 7 ; died September 25, 1S21.
vii. Benjamin Griffen, born March 20, 1819 ; died July 29,

i860,
viii. Charles, born March 23, 1821.
ix. Abraham Hoag, born December 19, 1S24 ; died March 11,

1854.
x. Mary Emily, born March 27, 1830.



Cuddeback Family.



145



JACQUES CAUDEBEC, OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK,
AND SOME OF HIS DESCENDANTS.



By Holdridge Ozro Collins.



Of the early pioneers of Colonial New York, who converted its wil-
derness into abodes of civilization, perhaps no one has left a more last-
ing impression upon the neighborhood with which he was identified than
the French Huguenot refugee, Jacques Caudebec. In the early records
the name is variously spelled Codebeck, Codebec, Codebac, Cordeback,
Cottebek, Kottebek, Kuddebeck, but since the time of Jacques, or Jacob,
Caudebec, the orthography has been Cuddeback, and there can be no
doubt that all of the families named Cuddeback in the United States are
descendants of Jacques Caudebec, called Jacob Codebeck in the Wag-
haghkemeck Patent.

Of the parentage, birth, and life of Jacques Caudebec prior to his
escape from France, but little can be told. He was born about the year
1666, and his own statement is on record that his native city was Caude-
bec, in Normandy, France, of which place his family were prosperous
merchants, and possessed of considerable wealth.

It was said of him and Pierre Guimar, the companion of his flight,
"That their hands were so soft and tender when they first came into
America that they blistered and bled when they first labored for a living
in this country." His superior education and personal characteristics
were unmistakable evidences of an association of social refinement. It
is very probable that we have not his patronymic, and that the name of
the city of his birth was given him as a distinguishing feature, as was
the custom of the Dutch people at that day. His family connections
were all zealous adherents to the Huguenot faith, and after the revoca-
tion of the Edict of Nantes they seem to have been particularly marked
for persecution.

Caudebec, with a friend named Pierre Guimar, from Moise, near
Soubise, escaped to England, where they were to await two of his sisters,
between one of whom and Guimar there was a promise of marriage. As
neither Caudebec nor Guimar in their precipitate flight had been able to
secure any money, the two sisters were to bring with them the means for
their support, and to start them in business in their new life ; but the
girls failed to appear, and the young men, without any resources other
than their courageous hearts, finally embarked for America.

They landed in Maryland, and soon after made their way to New
York, where Caudebec secured employment from the merchant Ben-
jamin Provoost, son of David Provoost, one of the "Nine men."

Benjamin Provoost resided alternately at New York and Kingston,
between which places he carried on a trading business, and Caudebec
was for a time resident in Kingston, while in the service of Provoost.
His name appears in "A Roll of the names and surnames of them that
haue taken the oath of allegiance in ye County of Vlstr, By ordr of his
Excely ; ye Governor ; ye Hirst day of September Anno Qe : Domini



1^6 Cuddeback Family. [J u b'>

1689." The companionship of the two friends lasted until their death.
Guimar followed Caudebec to Kingston, and in 1692, at New Paltz, he
married Esther Hasbroucq. At Kingston, Caudebec and Guimar were
welcomed by their countrymen, fugitives like themselves from the des-
potism of Louis XIV., and they were received into the intimacy of the
family of the old " Schout " Roeloff Swartwout. This friendly relation
was destined to result in a lasting association of material interests with
Thomas, Anthony, and Bernardus Swartwout, the three sons of Roeloff.

Caudebec was of too enterprising a spirit to be satisfied with a sub-
ordinate position, even with so prosperous a merchant as Benjamin Pro-
voost, and notwithstanding the warm affection existing between himself
and Margaret, the daughter of Benjamin, about the year 1690 he organ-
ized a company for the purchase and settlement of new lands. He asso-
ciated with himself in this venture the companion of his flight, Pierre
Guimar, Thomas Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout,
Jan Tyse, and Daud Jamison, the latter a Scotchman, who became
Attorney-General of the Province of New York in 1720. Exploring the
Minisink Valley, this little band of seven adventurers finally settled in
what is now the town of Deerpark, in Orange County, New York, at a
spot called by the Indians Peenpack, said to be significant of a rolling
hill and bountiful spring which were the principal features of the
place.

Eager says, in his History of Orange County: "Strange as it may
seem, . . . this town, though situated in the very suburbs of the country,
and at the time deep buried in the forests, and far from the navigable waters
of the Hudson and any known settlement nearer than Esopus, was
among the earliest settled portions of the County." . . . "We may say,
perhaps, with truth, that the earliest settlements within the present limits
of this County (Orange) were made at a place called Peenpack in this
Town (Deerpark), and on the southerly portion of that long and narrow
valley of partially alluvial land known as Mamakating Hollow." It is
now certain that the foregoing statement of Eager is an error, and that a
settlement in Orange County had been made as early as 1684 at Couwan-
ham's Hill, now known as Plum Point, at the mouth of Murderer's
Creek, by Patrick Mac Gregorie and a company of Scotch Presbyterians,
"and so settled themselves, their families, and sundry of their servants
on the land so purchased, and were not only the first Christians that set-
tled and improved thereon, but also peaceably and quietly possessed and
enjoyed themselves during the term of their natural lives."

This settlement, however, did not prosper. Mac Gregorie failed to
obtain a patent for the lands, and losing his life in the revolution of
Governor Leisler, his heirs were dispossessed of their homes, the Scotch
people abandoned their holdings, and at the time of the granting of the
patent to Caudebec and his associates, Peenpack was the only settlement
within the boundaries of what is now Orange County. Satisfied with his
surroundings, Caudebec determined to make this locality his permanent
abiding place. He erected a substantial residence, and he also built a
flouring mill, the first in the county, on a small stream flowing from a
spring in the immediate vicinity. In 1695 he journeyed back to the
scenes of his early colonial life, and on October 21, in the old Reformed
Dutch Church of New York, he was wedded to her to whom his love had
been pledged while in the service of her father.



I S96. ] CuJdeback Family. 147

The following is a copy of the record of the marriage, now extant, viz.:

1695. f Jacob Codebeck, j. m. Van Normand- ]

Ingeschreven. j yen, en Margareta Provcost, j. d. Van | Getrouwt

den 17 dicto. j Kingstouwne, d'Eerste woonende in \ den 21 Octb.

(Sept.) [ Esopus, en twede alhier.

TRANSLATION.

, . f Jacob Codebeck, young man from Nor- ]

■n • ?' j 1 mandv, and Margareta Provoost, young I Married

Registered < , /' r T ,.° , a ' ',. . ° \ ,-. .

a . I daughter irom Kingston, the first living ( (Jet. 21.

" ' [in Esopus, the second here.

Taking his bride back to the forest home prepared for her, he re-
sumed the arduous toils of a pioneer. The increase of population in the
neighboring districts, and the repeated encroachments upon the lands
claimed by the Caudebec party, made it necessary for them to secure a
patent definitely locating their possessions, and to Caudebec, as the head
of this community, was this duty entrusted. Going to New York he
secured a patent, dated October 14, 1697, to Jacob Codebeck, Thomas
Swartwout, Anthony Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout, Jan Tyse, Peter
Gimar, and David Jamison for "a certain quantity of land at a place
called Waghaghkemek, being the quantity of one thousand two hundred
acres, beginning at the western bounds of the lands called Nepeneck,
to a small stream of water called by the Indian name of Assawaghkemeck.
and so along said run of water and the lands of Mansjoor the Indian."

It does not lie within the purview of this article to enter into any dis-
cussion of the controversies which grew out of the ambiguities of the
conflicting patents granting lands in the Minisink Valley, or relate the
numerous battles, with both pen and sword, which these colonists were
compelled to fight for the maintenance of their homes. Suffice it to say
that, notwithstanding the various attempts made to dispossess them, they
were always successful in retaining possession of the tract embraced in
their patent, and their lands were secured to them eventually by perfect
title. Tyse and Jamison disappear from the history of the settlement
soon after the granting of the patent, their interests having been pur-
chased by the other five patentees, and within a few years the entire grant
was owned by Caudebec, Guimar, and one of the Swartwouts. These
three subsequently conveyed an interest to Heromandus Barentsen Van
Nimweegen, generally called Harmanus Van Inwegen, a courageous
Dutchman, in consideration of the material assistance rendered by him
in the protecting of their lands.

I have been able to find no authority stating definitely which of the
three Swartwout brothers permanently remained in Deerpark, but it was
either Bernardus or Thomas, probably the latter. Anthony Swartwout
died at Hurley in 1700, and his widow, Jannetje Jacobs, on January 19,
1731, married Harmanus Van Inwegen. As early as 1728 both Ber-
nardus and Thomas Swartwout have disappeared from the list of inhabi-
tants. In the Documentary History of New York, vol. 3, pp. 969, 970,
is given "A list of freeholders within the County of Ulster. 1728," and
under the head of "The ffreeholders of Wagaghkemek " appear the
names of only Harme Barentse Van Enweegen, Peter Gomar, John



I/tg Cuddeback Family. [July.

Van Vliet, Jr., Samuel Swartwout, Bernardus Swartwout, Jr., and Jacob
Kuddebeck.

Early in 1725 died Benjamin Provoost. Descended, through his
father David, from the oldest nobility of France, he had achieved by his
own personal force of character an honorable position among the
governing powers of Kingston, and secured by his mercantile operations
a competency for his children. In May, 1725, Jacob Caudebec and his
two brothers-in-law, David Provoost and Anthony Demilt, were appointed
administrators of the estate of Benjamin, and the settlement and distri-
bution of the property was managed principally by Caudebec. With the
exception of the contests in which he participated for the preservation of
the patented lands, and the disturbances of his neighborhood caused by
the French and Indian War, the closing years of Jacob Caudebec were
blessed with prosperitv and the happy companionship of his numerous
descendants. He had always been the leader of the settlement in all of
its enterprises, and he remained its patriarch until his death. He was
noted for the care he gave to the education of his children, and the pro-
vision he made for their future comfort.

In personal appearance he was tall and muscular, with blue eyes, fair
skin, and black curly hair. " Caudebec was the reverse of Guimar in
respect to his business transactions, and more tender towaids his children.
He had much of a speculative disposition, and aimed at getting a living
by easier means than that of steady manual labor." . . . " He was
a man well calculated to overcome difficulties, and had a penetrating
mind. He was characterized as a sensible man. He instructed his
children in moral and religious duties, and was very tenacious of their
characters." ... " His character, in relation to what has been
mentioned respecting his mental ability, has been inherited from gen-
eration to generation by some of his descendants to the present time.
Jacob Cuddeback has been known to say that by leaving France he
had been deprived of many enjoyments he might have had in that
country, but for these sacrifices he had the satisfaction of leaving his
posterity in a country of good land and easily to be acquired." He died
at Deerpark in 1766, aged one hundred years, retaining his mental facul-
ties to the last. The following were the children of Jacob Caudebec and
Margaret Provoost :

2. i. Maria 2 , baptized at Kingston, August 2, 1696. Married at

Minisink, August 20, 17 16, Jurian Westfall.

3. ii. Benjamin", baptized Kingston, February 19, 1699. He

died, aged eighty years, unmarried.

4. iii. Elsje", baptized Kingston, October 19, 1701 ; married,

Kingston, 1727, banns June n, Harmanus Van Gorden.
They lived in New Jersey at Shipikunk.

5. iv. William", baptized Minisink, June 21, 1704 ; married,

Kingston, May 2, 1733, Jacomyntjen Elting of New
Paltz, daughter of Roeloff Elting.

6. v. Jacobus 2 , baptized New York, July 7, 1706 ; married Janne-

tye Westbrook.

7. vi. Magdalena 2 , baptized Kingston, January 30, 171 2 ; married

Evert Hoornbeck of Rochester. He was a blacksmith,
and after his marriage he settled upon a faim in New
Jersey, near Shipikunk.



I S96 J . Cuddeback Family. jiq

8. vii. Dina 2 , baptized Minisink, January 19, 1714 ; married, Mini-

sink, May 31, 173S, Abraham Louw. He was a black-
smith, and he also settled in Shipikunk, N. J., where
he purchased a farm.

9. viii. Abraham 5 , baptized Minisink, August 19, 1716 ; married

Esther Swartwout, daughter of Major James Swartwout of
Peenpack. He was a farmer, and in his old age with his
wife went to live with a son at Skaneateles, where he died
August 18, 1796. Esther died April n, 1798.

10. ix. Naomy", baptized Rochester, January 16, 1726 ; married,

Kingston, May n, 1757, Lodewyk Hoornbeck ot
Rochester.

n. x. James 3 , married Neelje Decker, daughter of Christopher
Decker of Shipikunk, New Jersey.
5. William" Cuddebeck lived and died in Deerpark. He " was a man
of somewhat over six feet stature, coarse-boned, muscular and lean. He
was strong and very nimble, and could outrun many young men after he
was fifty years old. In the French war, alter his hair had begun to turn
gray, he outran a soldier who thought himself swift. He was very talka-
tive and witty, and he never had his equal in this town for humorous
discourse and a display of wit properly and suitably applied. He was
characterized as a wise man in his time."

He signed the "Articles of Association," in 1775, and he was an
enthusiastic supporter of the Continental Army in the Revolution, to
which he contributed most of his sons as officers or privates, age pre-
venting his own active participation. He died in 1778. His wife,
Jacomvntjen Elting, was descended from the best blood of the early
Ulster County pioneers. She was granddaughter of Jan Elting, the emi-
grant from Drenthe, Holland, and great-granddaughter of Cornells
Barents Slecht, one of the first three " Schepens " of Esopus, and of
Christian Deyo and Louis Du Bois, two of the " dusine " (douzaine) or
twelve patentees of New Paltz.*

The children of William" Cuddeback and Jacomytjen Elting were :

12. i. Jacobus 3 , baptized Minisink, June 19, 1734 ; died un-

married.

13. ii. Sara, 3 baptized Minisink, May 4, 1737 ; married Daniel Van

Vliet, great-grandson of Ariaen Gerretsen Van Vliet, the
immigrant to Wiltwyck from Utrecht.

14. iii. Abraham 3 , baptized Minisink, October 31, 1738 ; married

Esther Gumaer, granddaughter of the Huguenot Pierre
Guimar. Abraham Cuddeback was a Captain of Orange
County Militia during the War of the Revolution, and he
greatly distinguished himself by his prudence and valor in
many actions. He "was a man of six feet stature and
over two hundred pounds weight. He was strong and
athletic, and could with ease jump a five-railed post or rail
fence. He was very handsomely built, and in all respects
a very good-looking man."

15. iv. Benjamin, 3 baptized Minisink, January 17, 1742 ; died in

childhood.

* New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. xvi., pp. 25-30.
The Elting Family.



I co Cuddeback Family. [J u 'y>

16. v. Roeloff Elting 3 , baptized Minisink, January 20, 1745 ; never

married. Eager gives the particulars of his famous duel
with an Indian in 1779.

17. vi. Benjamin 3 , baptized Minisink, June 21, 1747; married,

1767, Catrina Van Vliet, daughter of Jan Van Vliet, Jr.

17. Benjamin 3 Cuddeback was a farmer, and after the close of the War
of the Revolution, in partnership with his brother, Captain Abraham
Cuddeback, and Captain Abraham Westfall, he built and operated a saw-
mill on the Bushkill near the Neversink River, to supply the demand for
lumber caused by the burning of so many of the buildings of Deerpark
by the British. He was a soldier in the company of Orange County
Militia commanded by his brother, Captain Abraham Cuddeback, and
he participated in nearly all of the battles fought in Orange County dur-
ing the Revolutionary War.

His wife, Catrina Van Vliet, was great grand-granddaughter of Ariaen
Gerretsen Van Vliet, agriculturist from Utrecht, who immigrated to the
New Netherlands on the ship Faith, in March, 1662. Her mother was
Jesvntje Swartwout, daughter of Thomas Swartwout, one of the associates
of Jacob Caudebec in the Peenpack settlement. The children of Benja-
min Cuddeback and Catrina Van Vliet were :

18. i. Jesyns 4 , born August 3, 176S, baptized at Machackemeck

Church, September 24, 1768.

19. ii. Hendrik 4 , born March 23, 1771 ; married Esther Gumaer.

20. lii. William', married Annalje Van Inwegen.

21. iv. Levi 1 , died unmarried.

22. v. Benjamin', baptized Minisink, October 29, 1780; married

Blandina Van Etten.

23. vi. Syntche 4 , married Simon Westfall.

24. vii. Jemima', born August 10. 1783 ; married April 26, 1801,

at Deerpark, Anthony Van Etten. He was the great-
great-grandson of Jacob Jansen Van Etten, the immigrant
who was married on January 11, 1665, at Kingston, to
Annetje Arians, and in the list of his ancestors were
Albert Heymanse Roosa and Evert Pels, two of the first
three Schepens of Esopus, the other being Cornelis
Barents Slecht, and these three, with the " Schout "
Roeloft" Swartwout, formed the first Court of Justice in
Ulster County, New York. His father, Anthony Van
Etten (Sr.), was a blacksmith and a man of considerable
education and great strength of character. He became
Vredrichter of Orange County, which office he held up to
the time of his death. He acquired a large estate, which
by his will, recorded in book xxxiii., page 66, in the
Surrogate's office, New York city, he gave to the use of
his wife, Annalje Decker, during her life, unless she
should remarry, with the remainder in equal shares to his
four sons and six daughters.
He was a signer of the "Articles of Association" at Minisink in
1775, and a zealous patriot during the Revolution. He was assassinated
by Tories in the latter part of 177S, a few months before the birth of his
son Anthony (Jr.). He erected a substantial stone residence, in which



i Sg6.] Cuddeback Family. jr T

his widow and children lived unlil the invasion of the neighborhood in
July, 1779, by Brandt with his Indians and Tories, when they were com-
pelled to flee. The house was raided but not burned. " His widow sur-
vived him many years. She was a short, strong woman, of good consti-
tution, an affectionate mother and agreeable neighbor, sociable and
much addicted to humorous conversation."

Anthony Van Etten, Jr., inherited the mental strength of his father,
and during his early years he acquired an intellectual culture much
superior to his environment. In stature he was five feet ten inches,
weighing about one hundred and sixty pounds. In temperament he was
dignified and reserved, and his relatives, neighbors, and friends usually re-
ferred to him as " the gentleman." In 1802, with his wife Jemima Cudde-
back and their oldest child, Hannah, he moved to Owasco, Cayuga County,
N. Y., where he became a farmer upon an estate of about five hundred
acres. Through his efforts the Reformed Dutch Church at Owasco was
organized and a picturesque building for worship was erected. He served
as Sergeant of a company at Black Rock during the war of 1S12, sub-
sequently being commissioned First Lieutenant, and his early death on
January 30, 1821, was the result of illness contracted during his military
services in that campaign. Jemima Cuddeback, his widow, never remar-
ried, and she lived upon the estate at Owasco until her death on June 9,
1861. The children of Jemima Cuddeback, by her husband Anthony
Van Etten, all of whom were born in Owasco, Cayuga County, N. Y., ex-
cept the oldest, Hannah, who was born in Deerpark, Orange County, are :

25. i. Hannah, born May 31, 1802 ; married Warren Austin, De-

cember 15, 1 819 ; died at Skaneateles October 16, 1879.

26. ii. Benjamin, born February 28. 1804 ; married August, 1836,

Amanda Grover ; died at Pecatonica, 111., April 24, 1881.

27. iii. Asenath, born January 26, 1806 ; married January 25, 1826,

William Howard : died at Owasco October 20, 1867.

28. iv. Levi, born November 22, 1807; died at Owasco January 2,

1 89 1, a bachelor.

29. v. Thomas, born August 23, 1809; married January 19, 1876,

Jane E. Green; died at Owasco, May 8, 1890. No
children.

30. vi. Catharine, born September 14, 181 1 ; married December

25, 1835, Martin P. Sweet. She is now living in Free-
port, 111.

31. vii. Simon, born July 28, 1814 ; married June 6, 1853, Ann

Hine ; died at Pecatonica, 111., May 10, 1S91. No
children.

32. viii. Mary, born June 5, 1816; married August 27, 1837, Israel

H. Owen ; died at Auburn, N. Y., December 17, 1869.

33. ix. Ann, born June 12, 1819; married October 23, 1843,

Ozro Collins of Naugatuck, Conn.; died at Toledo, Ohio,

December 22, 1S58.
33. Ann Van Etten, the youngest child of Anthony Van Etten and
Jemima Cuddeback, No. 24, was a woman of unusually gifted intellectual
powers.* Her personality was strongly impressed upon her surroundings,

* Memoir of a Brilliant Woman, New York GENEALOGICAL AND Biograhii U
Record, vol. xxiv. , p. 94.



jc2 Conkling, of East Hampton, L. 1. [J u 'y,

and her memory is still cherished in the community where she passed the
final years of her too short life.

Ozro Collins, her husband, was descended from the earliest settlers of
Massachusetts and Connecticut, many of his ancestors having been dis-
tinguished as signers of the Compact at Quinnipiac, as soldiers in the
wars of the Pequots and King Philip, and as members of the Councils of
both those Colonies. He survived his wife many years, dying in 1890,
and leaving but one surviving child. Their children were :

34. i. Holdridge Ozro, born in Cayuga County, N. Y., December

10, 1844 ; living in Los Angeles, Cal.; married at Chicago,
111., April 23, 1874, Mary Ballance; born May 19, 1851 ;
died December 24, 1894. Daughter of Charles Ballance
of Peoria, 111.

35. ii. Wolsey Wooster, born in Cayuga County, N. Y., October 17,

1846 ; married August 2, 1873, at New York city, Belle
Prince Browning of Dayton, Ala.; died at San Miguel,
Cal., June 8, 1886. No'children.
34. Holdridge Ozro Collins and Mary Ballance had issue:

36. i. Rejoyce Ballance, born in Chicago, 111., July 28, 1876.

37. ii. Gladys, born in Chicago, August 14, 1883; died Oakland,

Cal., February 2. 1886.

38. iii. Constance Dorothy, born Chicago, October 26, 1888.

39. iv. Jessie Fremont, born January 21, died May 10, 1890, at