1880 History of Ulster County New York - Saugerties Section

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TOWN OF SAUGERTIES. ;la ASA BIGELOW. Asa, the first settler of the name of Bigelow in Ulster County, was a son of David and Patience Bigelow, and was born at Marlborough, in the State of Connecticut, on the 18th day of January, 1779. John Baguley, or Bigelow, the ancestor of the numerous families of Bigelows in New England, came from Cheshire, England, to Watertown, in the colony of Massachusetts, where on the 30th of October, 1642, he married Mary Warren, who was also born in England. He died July 14, 1703, aged eighty-six years. IIc left twelve children. Several of his grandchildren settled in Marlborough,* Mass. His son John, born in 1643, and grandson Isaac, born in 1690, settled in Connecticut. They are presun~ed to be among the early scttlers of the town of Marlborougl~, in the State of Connecticut, and to have brought with them to their new home the name of the place which one of them at least had left, and which was consecrated to both by the tenderest associations. Asa Bigelow's grandfather, David Bigelow, died at Marlborough, on the 2d of June, 1799, in the ninety-third year of his age. His grandmother, IIary, died Jan. 5, 1795, in the eighty-sixth year of her age. While yet. a lad of fourteen, Asa entered tlie store of David Kilbourn, a merchant in the town of Farmington, in the State of Connecticut, and was at the same time received into Mr. Kilbourn's family on the footing of a son. His school education was limited to four winter months' attendance at the district school in that place. He remained with Mr. Kilbourn till he becamc of age, when he opened a store on his own account in the town of Colcbrook. While residing there, and on the 18th day of February, 1802, he married Lucy Isham, a daughter of Samuel and Mary Isham, of Colchester, who was a Miss Adams,-he in his twenty-third and his wife in her twenty-second year. Be was reasonably successful in his business, and in the course of four or five years accumulated a few hundred dollars,.but, fancying there was a wider sphere of action for young men in tlie far West," he mounted his horse one day, and, with all the money of which he was possessed stuffed into his saddle-bags, started for the State of New York,-the "far West" of that period,-accompanied on another hone by his brother-in-law, Dr. Roswell Bradley, who had married Mm Asa Bigelow's sister, Sally Isham. The pilgrims crossed the Hudson River at Catskill, and traveled southward along its west branch as far as Flatbush. Here Mr. Bigelow was inclined to purchase a tract of land on the rivcr and settle, but "* The Bigelows came to Marlborough, Mass., from Watertown. Thia family was early in the country, and may be traced to a remote period in England, even to the reign of Henry III., when the name was written Baguley, and was derived from the place where they dwelt. Richard at that time was Lord of Baguley, and his descendants took the name of the place. In the reign of Henry VII., Ralph de Baguley was Lord of Ollerton Hall, and died 1540, leaving Randall and Nicholas. Randall died 1556, and his sons, Philip and Robert, divided his estate. Robert died 1582, leaving Randall and John, both of whom moved to Suffolk. Randall died 1626, leaving two sons, Frnncis and John. Francis died 1657, and gave, by will, a portion of his property to his brother John, who was then in New England."'- Histo y of the Tom of Marlboco~rgh, Masr., by Charter Hudson, p. 325. upon a more careful study of the situation concluded to return to the Dutch settlement at Saupcrties, sonie eight n~ilcs Farther north. He there purchased thc house and store on the corner of Main Street now known as liursell's Block,-to-day perhaps the most valuablc piece of It~nd of its size in the town,-and comrncnced a gencrtrl shippinp and commission business. He bought or advanced on tl~e produce of tlie surrounding country, which he shipped to the New York market and sold, making his settlen~ents largely in merchandise. Hc was quite prosperous, and seems very soon to have been recognized as one of the leading men of the county. 5 In 1811 the county of Greene was carred out of the --.. T, counties of Ulster and Albany, and at the same time Snu- .- ... gerties, theretofore a part of the town of Kingston, was f .* < itself incorporated into a town. Mr. Bigelow was elected . -- K- the second supervisor of the new town,t and was re-elected every year till he took up his rcsidenee elsewhere. Upon 4 < his application, a post-office was established at Saugerties, -0 2 2 and he was ~ ts first postmaster. He continued to hold this i ; F office also till he moved to Bristol, now called pllaldcn, 5 "., *+ _. about two miles north of Saugerties. Thc navigation of 5 - - Sauprties Creek in thosc days was subject to serious in- 3 ' 2 tcrruptions from freshets and shoals, which prorcd such an -r;, 2 7 ineonveniencc to his business that after five yearb' cxperi- . . $3: ence Mr. Biplow detcrmined to go two mila farther north, c . where he could have his dock privileges and warehouse di- $ rectly on the river, with plcnty of water. - < 5~i - -. This section of Ulster County had been originally settled b z. C-' * by German refugees from the Palatinate, who four~d an asy- ; Y' : lum from the persecutions of Louis XIV. along the bitrllis ' -. < of the Hudson River, between Icingston and &kkill. They < %, were a simple-minded people, living mostly upon the pro- 2 ; ducts of their land, which was but. poorly tilled, and upon \-av, v--- thc fish with which in those days the watersof the Hudson .- , teemed. They had little enterprise, disliked all Ynnkee " c novelties, and diseouragcd what the Yankees considcred im- 2 provements. They rapidly diminished in numlers, their descendants having to a considerable extent disappeared, leaving scarcely any durable traces of thcir existence behind , . . - them. The only house in Bristd, when Mr. Bigelow rr- 4 ! %z rived there, was an old fish.house, which stood upon the L-+ %- -I? site now occupied by the klalden Nousc. k: 7. He had purchased from the heirs of John Wolven, in .r4 1808, a tract of about two hundred acres, for which he :a ,L,. .I ." paid six thousand dollars. This land, or most of it, is now $ :- the property of Mr. Francis Pigeon. Upon the upper end 4 $ of this property he built a frame store, on the south side s 4 of the road leading to what is now known as the Isham wharf.: He erected for his in the place, which is now occupied Soon after settling there he store into which he moved in 1814. Four years later he took his brothers-in-law, Charles and Gilw Isham, into partnership with him, under the firm-name of Bigelow & Isham. Giles Tsham had been his clerk for several years previous. Not long after this partnership was formed Mr. Biglow withdrew from it, built the stone store on a propt Benjamin Snyder waa the first. f This store was afterwards burned.
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1880 History of Ulster County New York - Saugerties Section

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