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From the Newsletter

The Life of Anthony Crispell, Cordwainer

By David Baker, Historian

Anthony Crispell was four years old when his father, Peter Crispell died and left him without the prospect of an inheritance as the eldest son. However, he was fortunate when an up and coming young man, Johannes Schepmoes, married his mother, Neeltje Gerritsen (Newkirk) shortly after her first husband's death.

Johannes Schepmoes was a weaver by trade and also farmed the Esopus Valley. He the son of a middle class, well-educated businessman and farmer Dirk Schepmoes. It appears from his father's will that Jonannes had learned from him the art of weaving linen and woolen cloth. There was no shortage of wool or flax at that time as both sheep and flax were raised and grown by the local farmers; and there was a demand for well-woven cloth to fill the needs of the local populace. Johannes and Neeltje established a home on land along old Route 209, near the lands and home of Jan Crispell.

His mother and stepfather decided that Anthony should be apprenticed to a tradesman, a step that would provide Anthony with a livelihood in addition to farming. However, before Anthony could begin his apprenticeship, he had to complete his schooling at a private school in Hurley and become well versed in mathematics and reading and writing both English and Amsterdam Dutch; skills needed for the colonial businessman; Dutch being the excepted language of business in the Hudson Valley.

With his formal education completed, Anthony was apprenticed to a leatherworker, probably in Kingston. This master craftsman was a cordwainer; a worker in split leather and pigskin done in the Spanish, or Cordovan, method. This was a rather difficult method of working leather and required a long period of apprenticeship, perhaps five years or longer, which would be completed when Anthony was 21 years of age

As an apprentice Anthony would learn to split the thick, tanned hides into thinner sections and then used the thin leather to make soft leather gloves shoes, boots, work aprons, driving reins, some harness parts. He would also supply other craftsmen split leather for their products. From split pigskin he would make gloves and finer, softer leather goods.

After completing his apprenticeship, Anthony appears to have spent a period of at least seven more years working for a cordwainer, possible the man who granted him the apprenticeship. During this period he would have honed his skills in leatherworking, learned business practices and bookkeeping and saved his money so that he could open his own shop and support a wife and family. In 1719, the sixth year of this post apprenticeship period, he married Lea Roosa, the daughter of Heyman Roosa. He was ready to step out on his own.

It is more than likely that Anthony and Lea knew each other as their parent's homes were close to each other. What is intriguing is that Lea's father also owned and operated the village tannery at Hurley. One wonders at the coincidence; was the marriage based on love, convenience, or both.

The fact that there was a tannery operated by Heyman Roosa in the village, and that he had operated it since 1680, clearly indicates that the farmers of the immediate area did not go out into the woods to shoot game for food. In order for a tannery to operate there had to be a ready supply of fresh hides, in quantity, to tan and someone to process the hides into articles for the populace, the leatherworker. (Note- The above, plus the fact that wills from this period indicate the division of beef cattle as well as cows, horses and pigs amongst the beneficiaries, shows that many farmers were indeed self sustaining, right down to the beef and pork on the table; and that it was a staple in the diet of all. Those that did not raise beef cattle could purchase beef from cattle raisers.)

In 1720, at age twenty eight, Anthony and Lea purchased two garden lots on the corner of Main Street and the lane to the burial ground from Allert and Neeltje Roosa for 30 Pounds, "current money of New York" and shortly thereafter built his house and leather shop. Across the street was Wynkoop's forge, up the street was Roosa and Van Deusen's forge, and diagonally across the street was Wynkoop's new Inn where the stage to Ellenville and Newark stopped. In all, three roads met at the corner where he opened his shop; the center of the village at that time.

His home was a one room cottage, with an English fireplace at the center of the east end-wall; complete with cooking crane and meat drying hooks in the chimney; and was very modern compared to the jambless Dutch fireplaces in their parent's homes. The building was built by a professional mason and carpenter following an architectural pattern that was very similar to that of the parent's homes except for the placement of the fireplace and the beams in the ceiling. Earlier houses had the fireplace centered on the eave wall at the back of the room while Anthony's and Lea's was placed on a sidewall. Their ceiling and floor beams rested in the eave walls instead of the earlier method of resting in the end walls.

Beneath the cottage was a cellar, floored in sand, and entered by way of an outside entrance. The cellar room was windowless, as its major function was to keep harvested vegetables for family consumption during the winter. Windows allowing sunlight to enter the cellar and would hasten decay of the produce.

At the West Side of the house, but placed at ground level, was the leather shop. It was heated by a fireplace in the end wall, and had a window on the front eave wall so that wares could be displayed and passers-by could look in. The shop was entered from the house; there was no entrance to it from the street. Although the two rooms of the building were built on different levels, they were built as one unit.

It is not known just how Anthony financed the purchase of the property and the building of his home and shop. Being a recognized craftsman he most likely was able to secure a mortgage from a local source to supplement his savings.

The property, at that time, extended from the street all the way back to the far side of the knoll that is now the burial ground. The area would have contained a barn with stalls for the family horses and milk cows, a small orchard for apple and pear trees, and a fenced kitchen garden near the back door of the house. A dug well completed the back yard landscape.
The back door yard was the refuse pile for the sweepings from the floor and garbage from the table. A pig or two in the yard kept the garbage under control, and the remains were trod into the ground as family members moved about. Outhouses would not become a part of the picture until the time of the Revolutionary War.

Although Anthony was a craftsman providing needed goods and services to his community, he also purchased, over time, additional farmland acreage to provide him with his own source of food and fodder, as well as additional income from the sale of grains. He was a member of the local militia, training in the company commanded by this stepfather, who held the rank of Captain. His militia service probably started when he was age 16, and lasted until he was over 50 years of age.

Individuals who owned land valued at 30 Pounds or more were considered Freeholders and could hold office in the town government, provided they were elected by voice vote at a town meeting. In April of 1725 Anthony was elected to the position of Trustee for one year and appointed by his fellow trustees to be one of two Town Constables and Tax Collectors. He apparently served his constituency well in these not too popular jobs, as he was re-elected the following year to the same positions. In 1727 he was again elected to the position of Trustee for one year, but declined any other appointed position. In 1736 he was appointed for one year to the position of fence viewer for the town. This position was one of inspecting the private fences along the roads, seeing that the land owner kept his section in repair. Whatever other later office he might have held is unknown, as the town records are missing from 1739 to 1794.

There was a census taken of slaves in Ulster County in 1755. Anthony is shown to have three, a male named Awaan and two females named Dien and Mary.

It appears from the records that Anthony lived a relatively long life for the time. His date of death is unknown, but it occurred before 1790. In the census for that year the ownership of the property was in the name of his wife Lea. In this census the family is listed as being composed of one male over 16, four females and four slaves. Lea dies between this census date and 1798 when a county house census was made.

There are indications that Anthony did not teach the leatherworking craft to his children, or if he did they did not follow it, as the later census records indicate that the Crispell family was involved with farming at the turn of the 19th Century.

At that time the house is listed as being owned by another Anthony Crispell. Here is one of the problems that occur in families of this time period. It appears that there has been a jump of a generation, as Anthony did not have a son named Anthony. This second Anthony may be a grandson whose father died at a young age.

For the next thirty some years the family of the second Anthony inhabited the old homestead. Just before 1840, it appears that the homestead was sold to others, outside the family.

The rear section of the family homestead that was next to the Town Burial Ground appears to have been used by the family for at least one burial. At some time, perhaps, about the time of Lea's death, the land was given to the Town for use as an extension of the burial ground; as the land was divided into plots and sold to townspeople before 1830. There is no record of the sale of this property to the Town or any other cemetery organization in the Town or County records.