§4 Pulvers Corners

The day of the self-sufficient hamlets at the crossroads of America is now past. Such homely, bucolic neighborhoods were first served by the rider on horseback; then, with the improvement of the roads, came the buckboard and the buggy. These lines of communication were followed by the railroad, the telephone and, well within the twentieth century. the automobile. In Dutchess^*

The history of Pulvers Corners began when the first Pulvers bought the ancestral farm from "Joseph Jessup and Joseph Jessup, junyer of Northeast Precinct, Dutchess County, in the Province of New York, Yoeman." The territory in the eighteenth century was part of that area bounded by a "ridge" of the Berkshires on the east and the Hudson River on the west. Here, the poor Palatines," pioneers from the East Camp on the Hudson River, near Germantown, formed a barrier and protection from the no man s land east of the ridge where the early outlaw and lone ranger sought to hide from the inquisitive and quick-fingered interest of the legal representatives of "Our Lord the King."

They did not come rapidly, as a generation later the pioneers crossed the plains of the West, but they spread out, almost perforce from the protection of their disappointed English sponsors who had gathered them into sailing vessels and transported them to a new world, and then up the Hudson River to the vicinity of Rhinecliff. Some were located on the west side of the river and went west. Those on the east journeyed slowly east. The Palatines came from England from 1710 to 1713.

In 1772, a deed for the Pulver farm at Pulvers Corners had been completed. This was four years before the Declaration of Independence, and thirty-one years before Pine Plains was no longer part of North East, but a town in its own right. Undoubtedly, the ' ridge," Winchell Mountain, in the formation of the new town, placed Pulvers Corners in Pine Plains and next to North East. Thus, our history of the Corner starts before independence was in the air. In fact, a moment's study of the Revolutionary War would show that the drum and musket followed the Hudson and the valley of the Connecticut, but had no inclination to intrude upon the generally unmapped and unsettled territory along Winchell Mountain!

Peter Pulver and his son, Wendle,* are the forefathers of the Pulvers of Pine Plains and Pulvers Corners and were "of the manor of Livingston and County of Albany." The road north from the Corner is still referred to as the Manor Road. In 1772, Albany County extended from its present area to Dutchess County and, only later, were the huge Livingston holdings divided and one section patriotically labeled Columbia County. Peter and Wendle bought 350 acres. This included not only the present farm owned by Louis Koschara, but much of the land in the Corner itself. The price was 900 pounds, approximately $4,379.85 in 1776, $2,070.00 in 1970. The witnesses to the payment of this sum were Philip Livingston and Anthony Hoffman. The deed was recorded January 17, 1772, by Henry Livingston, who held the office of Clerk of the Court, presided over by one James Smith, a judge of the Inferior Court.

Apparently no dwelling, of any note at least, was on the farm when Peter and Wendle bought the farm. Twenty years after the purchase, September 10, 1792, Peter made a will in which he said, "I further Order that as my Son Wandle had the Benefit of the whole farm the first year after we purchased it I order that the use thereof Shall be a compensation for his Service in Building my House and Barn wherein I now live." The writer's father recalled the remnants of this house which were moved back from the present road to make way for the house that stands there today. In Peter's will, Wendle was also ordered to distribute one hundred ninety-three pounds of Wendle's three brothers, Andrus, William and John, and three sisters, Catharine, Gatruy and Christine, and the heirs of a fourth sister, Elizabeth.

Wendell's will was dated February 10, 1826, and probated August 28 of the same year. Like all thoughtful husbands, he first provided for his "beloved wife Susannah, five hundred dollars to be paid to her in one year after my Discease and one Bedsted feather bed and bedding sufficient for one bed and one Cow. She is to have her choice out of my cows which is so given and intended to be in full satisfaction of her dower or thirds in my property." He then provided for his ten children, four boys and six girls. Interestingly, each generation seemed to provide in detail for any offspring who was physically or mentally incapable of caring for himself independently. In the family of Wendell, the father gave explicit directions that "my Daughter Jane" was to live "with my Daughter Hannah" and Hannah was to furnish her "with all things neccessaries sutible for her Condition." Wandle was born September 14, 1739, and his wife, Charity, May 23, 1745. The oldest child, Peter W., was born 1769 and the youngest, Hannah, August 18, 1791. Peter and Wendel purchased the farm and what was later to be Pulvers Corners in 1772; so, most of Wendel's children probably were born at Pulvers Corners or nearby. We do know, by reference to Peter's will, that Wendle ran the farm independently and that he owned the place in partnership with his father. Where he lived while he helped build his father's house can be scarcely more than speculation. It is not illogical to surmise that with Wendel the Corner really got under way. Few buildings, however, seem to have been erected by Peter or Wendel, unless they were so rudimentary that they were later torn down.

James H. Smith, in the "History of Dutchess County," published in 1882, states that 'the very earliest settlers of Eastern Pine Plains, and that portion of North East west of Winchell Mountain, were drifts from the early Dutch colonists who located on the Hudson, between Rhinebeck and Catskill." He goes on to say that the "disappointment and failure of the Palatines imported from England from 1710 to 1713 -- compelled these poor emigrants to seek other localities." In recounting the various localities to which these "poor Palatines" migrated, Smith concludes: "Others drifted east to the fertile flats of the Taconics. and southeast to the Little Nine Partners, in the County of Duchess." The earliest homes along the Hudson were gouged-out cellars covered with roofs. Since no real indications of structures in the eighteenth century are found in Pulvers Corners, we are not entirely fanciful if we imagine that similar rudimentary homes first appeared in the region of our interest. The Booth-Lasher house, the first house in the village of Pine Plains. was probably built around 1728. Peter and Wendel Pulver bought their farm in 1772. Thus, apparently, in forty-four years the frontier indicated by the Booth-Lasher house moved east to the foot of Winchell Mountain.

Wendel Pulver died in 1828, a hundred years after the first dwelling -- a log house -- appeared in Pine Plains, and only fifty-six years after he and his father bought their farm. Peter, Wendel's father, died in 1794. By that time, Peter spoke in his will of the house he and Wendel had built. Wendel gave the farm to his son. William W. (Wendel) and mentions as well a farm "or lot of Land lying in the town of Cato, in the County of Cayuga," but in this document there is no mention of buildings or other possessions in the Corner.

The man who built Pulvers Corners and made it an active, thriving community, was William W. Pulver -- "Uncle Helmus," the nice German word for William. His will, dated November 5, 1860, makes specific bequests to his sons, including a four-acre woodlot situated at the northeast corner of the present farm and a number of small areas and buildings in the Corner itself. To Jacob, a son, the "meadow known as the store meadow;" also, "the building known as the taylors shop and garden." This "taylors" shop was moved at the end of the century to the farm, still stands, and was turned into a shed for machinery, and the milk wagon, and a stall for a succession of impressive and active bulls. The J. Pulver tailor sign still exists. Jacob is said to have been lame with a club foot. That could explain his lack of interest in the labor of a farm and his concentration on such sedentary occupations as tailoring and possibly the making of shoes. Jacob did not stay in the Corner, but went north into Columbia County, and his later history seems to be lost.

With these bequests to Jacob went a house and lot "in which he now resides, with the land attached thereto, known as the Ellison property, also the red house and garden, also the house and lot, waggon makers and blacksmith shop -- being the property I purchased of Duncan Thompson, also the new house and lot built for a blacksmith to live in, in which John McKay now resides." Thus we have a complete picture of the Corner north of the present road, from the Manor Road (Ancram Turnpike) west to the top of the hill where, until about 1915, a blacksmith shop still stood. John Wiltsie was the last blacksmith. He was a most impressive man with a long white beard who lived in the house now occupied by Mrs. Fred Ryder. His lively little wife had a keen mind and a sharp tongue, but was practically stone deaf. These two were the grandparents of Bessie Brower, who lives in Millerton. Mrs. Brower's mother, Nellie Wiltsie, was a delightful person who occupied the blacksmith property until her death. She tore down the smithy and constructed an ice cream store and gasoline station called the Old Forge. The store is now part of a small house on the site of the Old Forge.

To "Harmon"* -- Herman is the spelling usually given to this name -- Uncle Helmus left not only the family farm, but "my store I purchased of Peter Righter and the sheds attached thereto. I also give to him the tavern stand now occupied by John R. Rickerfeller." On Christmas Day of the same year that the will was made, 1860, a codicil was added disposing of personal property. This, as with other generations, was a very specific will providing that "my said wife" should have the "use and occupation of my dwelling house. A span of horses. A sett of harness, and a carriage, and a one-horse waggon and single harness. All to be selected by her from any I may own; and she is to have use of a stable, the barn or waggon house for keeping said horses and room in the waggon house for keeping said carriage and waggon." At this time, the 'waggon house" was, and remained so until about 1909, south of Route 199 in front of the present Koschara residence.

"Said wife" received also two cows, again "to be selected by her," and provision is made that the son who inherited the farm "keep and provide for said horses and cows at all times while they remain on said farm." The son was also to deliver to his mother "provisions she may need and apples and other fruit growing on said farm," and "that he furnish her at all times wood cut up at the door for her use." This was a long contract, for "said wife" lived for ninety-two years, much of the time alone. Hers was a cellar kitchen; yet, she slept in a featherbed two floors above the kitchen. True, she took her naps in a cradle in the kitchen -- a room, incidentally, where tradition states occurred the only wedding ever held in the house. Said wife's maiden name was Milius.

The Long House

On the south side of Route 199, in the Corner as we know it today, stood only two buildings, the "long house" once a store at the site of the former Wheeler Place, now owned by R. Alton Wright, and a large house built by Peter B. Knickerbocker opposite the house now occupied by Herbert Cookingham. This house, the present "hotel" property, and the large farmhouse built in 1835, were probably all erected at about the same time. An indication of this is the similarity of the imported English hardware in the three buildings, and the occurrence of the built-in Franklin type fireplaces in the structures. The big house in the Corner was occupied by W. W. Pulver's son, Herman, and his family. Of Herman's five children only the oldest, Harriette, 1862, and the youngest, Herman Frank, 1870, were born in the farmhouse. Cora, 1862, Irving (Ted Pulver's father), 1867, and Willard, the writer's father, were all born in the big house in the Corner. Only when W. W.'s widow, Christine, became ill did Herman leave the Corner and move into the farm. The "big house" in the Corner burned in 1968. The "long house" still stands, although at present it is rarely used.

The center of interest in Pulvers Corners has changed rather rapidly. The original inn, replaced about 1837 by the present structure, was almost the only building for a while. The excitement was down the road at the Myers-Wheeler-Hunter-Rundall-Wright Corner where at least one store existed and where the Salisbury Turnpike -- the most direct road between the Hudson River and Connecticut -- wound its leisurely way. This road ran straight past the Wright place, up the hill to the site of the Resseguie house, along the side of the hill to Winchells Station. Later, the "new" road was constructed. It went straight through the Corner, down the bill, on across the farm, through the woods by the "Finkle turn" and, just beyond the boundary of the farm, a right turn joined the old road from the Wheeler Corner, while the main road wound circuitously on to the top of the "mountain." This change isolated the little settlement, and it was then that the store moved to Pulvers Corners and a new store was shortly built at the northwest corner of the crossroads. The old road was still open when the writer was a boy and more apt to be used for driving with horses unused to motor cars than for regular traffic.

1868 certificate commissioning Alexander W. Randall as a Postmaster

The Dutchess & Columbia Railroad was opened in 1867, and fifteen more miles were added in 1871. This ran from Denning's Point (Beacon) to Millerton. Those "15 more miles" included the distance from Pine Plains to Millerton. "In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-third" Herman W. Pulver was appointed Postmaster of Pulvers Corners by the Postmaster General, Alexander Randall. In 1871 the new railroad appeared. A year after this, 1872, the Pulvers Corners Post Office was closed and the institution moved to Husteds. On February 18, 1873, the erstwhile Postmaster returned to the Post Office Department stamps worth $12.08:

        16 at 15 cts.
        73 at 12 cts.
        46 at 2 cts.

In 1872, Husteds was a tiny depot just beyond the home of Harold Tripp, and in sight of James Hamilton's place. Here, too, was a thrilling culvert where you could drive under the train and stop on a hot day to cool off. There seems to be no indication that Husteds was any more than a flag-stop where passengers arrived and departed, and the mail was dropped off and then distributed, presumably in the store at the corner.

The writer's recollection of the railroad was after the Dutchess & Columbia had become the Central New England. Until recently the signs of the C. N. F. were still standing at some long-unused crossings throughout the county. The memories are romantic, too. The evening train crept along the hill from Husteds to Winchells between seven and eight o'clock at night. Summer evenings, the advent of that train marked for a small boy the time for bed. Since the train, was not exactly punctual, you could gamble a bit on the awful moment of the end of day when the slowly moving, lighted bug of a train appeared and then disappeared on its way to Winchells and on to Millerton. Winchells was a flag stop, even as Husteds. You had to raise a wooden flag to stop the train so you could get on. Since horses were not confident of the plans of an approaching train, if you met the train for arriving guests you were smart to drive up the road out of sight of the whistling, steaming engine until the expected passengers had alighted and the train had fled away. Sometimes a careless conductor failed to notify the engineer of the need for halting and the train coughed onward through the Winchell Mountain 'cut," to be forced to back up, perhaps, after the horse and buggy delegated to meet a guest had with disappointment gone back down the hill to the Corner.

The Drover's Home

The hotel, at one time labeled on a sign as The Drover's Home, looked about as it does today. I followed a more rudimentary inn built by the first Wendel Pulver. Uncle Helmus built the second structure and members of the family ran the establishment or rented it to a succession of proprietors. Isaac Huntting tells us that the Martin Van Buren campaign was active in the Corner. This would be about three years after the hotel was built. The imposing building must have been a worthy setting for the successful campaign. It was not only big, but had a double porch with sturdy, square pillars across the front. This architecture is not unlike others in the area, the "hotel" at Lafayetteville being one of the most nearly tin ravaged examples remaining at the present day.

Herman was the last Pulver to own the Drovers Home. Herman's wife, Libbie, urged her husband to sell the place for she feared division of responsibility if the renter ran into tragic difficulties because of the barroom. Thus, the institution became the E. E. Simmons Hotel. Through the years, except for periods of 'temperance." profit from the sale of liquor far surpassed the income from overnight guests. The automobile rendered the lodging character of the business almost unnecessary and the large stable and wagon house north of the hotel stood empty and neglected.

F. F. Simmons had two daughters and, after his death, these two, with the help of a resident male, carried on the business until just before the arrival of Prohibition.

The barroom during those years could well have been a part of Longfellow's Wayside Inn. At your left, as you entered, was a handsome fireplace, another combination of fireplace and Franklin seen in the buildings erected around 1840. At the right was a long bench, on which at night, when business was closed, were set a line of "modern" adaptations of what the current buyer of antiques calls a captain's chair. At the end of the room was the bar. This was as high as a man's chest, of heavy construction, extending almost across the entire end of the room. A door was fitted into the space between the end of the bar and the wall, ~with a cover over the bar that could be let down and thus cut off the bar and its supplies from the rest of the room. Over this impressive structure hung an even more impressive oil lamp of brass with a huge chimney that reached through a wide and handsome brass shade. In winter and summer, here gathered men of the barn and hayfield, the lumberyard and the mill, to spend their money and drink draughts of Pulvers Corners ale and to solve the problems of Lincoln, Grant, Cleveland, and the others who had no such magic potions as those handed out by Aunt Kate and Aunt Min and their "resident male."

For a little boy it was a nice place, too, but only in the daytime when the valuable customers were all out gaining their bread -- and their drinking -- by the literal sweat of their brows. Aunt Kate and Aunt Mm, not unexpectedly, had added a feminine touch to the F. F. Simmons Hotel, penny candy and such nectar as birch beer. On a summer afternoon, the barroom was cool and smelled deliciously of mopping water, fresh beer, and clean, soaked floorboards. You could take in your dime, make your difficult selection among the varieties of candy and go out with five kinds of candy and a bottle of pop. Here was a peaceful, a somewhat lonely scene quite the reverse of the loud, proud. gay gathering of a Saturday evening when the bravest might find it more difficult to get home than they bad to join their pals under the charitable aegis of Aunt Kate and Aunt Min.

No hamlet in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries could exist without its church. Bethel had its Round Top Church of the Lutheran sect, most ubiquitous in the Little Nine Partner Grant where the German Palatines were so active. Round Top has long since ceased to be active and has been torn down. Its two churchyards are separated by the present roadway. The "new" church, now also gone, was dedicated in 1840, one hundred years after the first edifice was built. Another early church was the Red Church on the Salisbury Turnpike, two miles east of the hamlet of Pine Plains, and two miles from Pulvers Corners. This church has also long since disappeared; but the little graveyard, sadly neglected, although enclosed by a chain fence about twenty-five years ago, contains the original graves of Peter Pulver, died 1794 at the age of 86, and his wife, Susannah, died 1790, age 75. A daughter, Margaret, was also buried there. When the fence was erected, the slate stones were raised and set in concrete where they still stand, but twenty-five years of Dutchess County wind and weather have all but erased the shallow inscriptions which had been preserved over a hundred years while buried face down in the ground.

The Red Church was the one attended by the early settlers of Pulvers Corners, as the location of their graves certainly testifies. But the church deteriorated and was torn down in about 1826. The churchgoers of the Corner then had to make the long, four-mile trek to Pine Plains. With no Lutheran church in the village, the descendants of the Palatines divided their worship among the several institutions available.

Yet, four miles over narrow, serpentine dirt roads were not conducive to comfortable religion. The result was the erection of the Pulvers Corners Church, still standing but in tragic disrepair. The church was dedicated in 1854. No record shows that the Pulvers Corners Church ever had its own minister. Labeled a Union Church, pastors from the village took turns in filling its pulpit, even as the ministers of churches in Pine Plains today share their time and Sundays with other churches in neighboring communities.

If we are to accept the statements of Isaac Huntting without question, the church experienced periods of congregational concern and care, and other times of neglect. Mr. Huntting, in 1896, states: "The building now needs repairs in window lights and paint." Yet the writer can recall an ice cream festival held on the lawn to raise money to replace the graceful triangular window in the front. This was during the First World War. The writer recalls also that he did his first teaching in the Pulvers Corners Church where he had a Sunday School class in the hall.

Few regular Sunday services were held after the turn of the century but, until almost 1920, occasional sermons were preached and, when that occurred, a pleasing congregation gathered. Mrs. Minnie Gould Tripp, Harold Tripp's mother, played the foot-propelled organ at the front of the room. The writer's mother ran the Sunday school following John Niver who lived on the farm now managed by Charles Place. Harriette Christina Pulver staged spectacular Children's Day events when the little church was embowered with flowers and ferns and vines gathered from the hills and woods surrounding the area. In the Pulvers Corners Church, the writer saw his first moving picture. For these affairs, also held for the benefit of the triangular window and paint, Philip Lindsky, Vincent Wright's uncle, set up his machine and a gay and often hilarious evening was enjoyed by what the Corner viewed as a crowd -- say, 25 to 50 persons. The hilarity was often the result of a halt in the picture while repairs were made, often leaving a character on the screen frozen in a grotesque and exciting posture.

Winters, or even chilly spring and fall days, put a conclusion to the events of the church. The white plastered walls began to crumble, the long stovepipe rusted, some of the ecclesiastical lamps were broken, and the slat-topped front porch began to break. Sunday School classes were held for many years in the Pulver

The Pulver Homestead

About one hundred years ago, June 28, 1870, to be exact, the total taxes for "District No. 4 of the towns of Pine Plains and Ancram (joint District) in Accordance with the provisions of Article seven title seven of the general school laws of the state of New York" were $77.35! "Charged on said District according to law, viz. $47.07 paid to W. G. Heubble as the balance due for teaching last term as per his receipt. Privy and Repairs $28.78. Cleaning School house $1.50."

Since District 4 -- a number held until the Central School in Pine Plains was formed in 1930 -- included an area covering both Pine Plains and Ancram (the latter over the line in Columbia County), it is apparent that consolidation is not so new as we are apt to think. About 1800, this school section was Number 9, but no reference to a building is found, although Isaac Huntting says a school in the neighborhood of Alton Wright's was taught by Noah Peck in 1799. The list of names of District 4 in 1870 is interesting, as it indicates the expanse of territory covered. This was a day when buses were scarcely in an English vocabulary.

Tanner leads the tax list. This was undoubtedly the farm now owned by Dowd, just over the Manor Line. The steep hill starting from Helen Magee's new home was known as Tanner Hill. Lawrence Barrett, the grandfather of Dr. Kenneth Chase and Mrs. Charles Case, lived, with his beautiful and popular daughters, high on Winchell Mountain on the road from Winchell's Station, south to Northeast Center, and more than two miles from the school. H. B. Knickerbocker, Rena Knickerbocker's grandfather, lived at the extreme west end of the district, the present Eldridge farm. Five Pulvers were included: H. W., Jacob, Christina, Anthony and Levi. The widow Rowe, who no doubt lived in the house on the road from the present Prospect Hill farm to Route 199, was listed. Three Tripps are listed: namely, Widow A. I. Tripp, H. and L. Tripp, Henry Tripp (Harold Tripp's grandfather), F. Collins estate (the present Wright farm), and a few names not currently associated with the Corner, Ed. Leucks, Walter Trowbridge, and Hiram Wilson.

H. W. Pulver (Herman Wendel) was the Trustee. Until the school was -included in the consolidation at Pine Plains, one person made up the Board of Education, but his election occurred annually. On the 1870 tax list, H. W. Pulver paid the highest tax of the district, $12.36. H. J. Winchell on Winchell Mountain was next, $10.03. Christina Pulver, a widow, although not so designated as were other bereft ladies, was assessed $2,000 as personal property. The tax was $2.05.

The tax list closed with a statement, "You are hereby commanded," to the Collector whose name was never given. Only two weeks were allowed for the collection of these taxes. For his labor, the unnamed collector was to receive one cent on each dollar paid, $7.74 in this case and, in case the landowner was derelict in his payments, an additional five cents was to be assessed.

The schoolhouse attended by the writer still stands and is today a residence. This, of course, is a "new" building. Yet, it cannot be too different from the other one-room schools which served the Corner. As can be seen today, the windows faced east, south and west. A hall for coats and overshoes furnished entrance and cut the chill of the north wind. In the one room, the blackboard was at the north end; in the center was a good round iron stove. Against the south wall was the library -- a bookcase not five feet high and in width about three. A bench for "recitations" was pushed against the wall on the west side and near the blackboard -- no artificial lights, no plumbing. Two privies, separated by a tall wooden barricade, were at the south end of the schoolyard. Water was brought each day from the well in "Tripp's yard." To bring the water was a much desired labor for the boys of the school. Another coveted task was putting up the flag. Actually, getting water was the better. It took longer and, occasionally, you could clumsily stumble, spill the water, and be forced to go back after another bucketful. Besides, it took two to get water, only one to raise the flag.

The teachers apparently frequently enjoyed considerable tenure. The W. G. Heubble mentioned on the 1870 tax list was still at work when the writer's father, Huested Willard Pulver, was a student. Like the list, Willard would be 100 years old this year. The only anecdote the writer recalls about Mr. Heubble (the W., of course, stands for Washington -- they called him "Wash" -- ) was his declaration that he was going to bore a hole in a student's head and stuff the information in on paper -- a remark which might generate a sit-in today.

It is pleasant to report that the Pulvers were not without honors in their education. Most of the official documents at hand show the principals involved as signing their names with a mark. The first Peter did a pretty good 'P P' on his will. Wendell made a poor showing, William Wendel. 'W.W.," willed a 300 acre farm, thousands of dollars, and that cow to his wife with a nice cross (X) ," a far better cross than his father, Wendell, had made. Apparently, the "poor Palatinates" had no time for the frivolities of education, although highly religious and, after the first fifty years in America, not especially poor.

However, not all the children of Peter, and Wendel and William spurned the enticements of education. On May 3, 1817, Polly Pulver. daughter of William W., received a certificate to certify that (she) is a verry (sic) fine scholar and highly merits the approbation of her Parents and Instructor R. Smith." "R. Smith," however, did not teach at Pulvers Corners but in Ancram. where William W. lived for a time before moving to the Corner. "Mr. Peter Pulver," also the son of 'W.W., got fifty cents and an illuminated certificate "for his Diligence and Attention." At another time, the same burgeoning genius received second testimony for his Diligence Good Conduct and Improvement.' Unfortunately, these Honorable Awards show neither the place of origin nor the date. Peter's awards were all signed by L.S. Garritt. Mr. Garritt, or perhaps it was Miss, also gave twenty-five cents to "Mr. Harmon Pulver for," as usual, his Diligence and, this time, also for his "Attention."

In 1821, Jacob Pulver, he who eventually inherited so large a part of the Corner, received a fairly elaborate hand-decorated award for "good conduct in school the weeks past." On March 10, 1822, this same well-behaved scholar, then ten years of age, was granted a statement that "this day" he "excelled those of his class in the art of Spelling and merits the Esteem of his Friends." These testimonials, granted about the time of Ichabod Crane, recognized the value of good conduct and declared the ability to spell as an art. The teacher was Samuel Curtiss.

Pulvers Corners School, about 1904

In 1910, Susan Pulver, Helen Hermans's grandmother, was the teacher. She was not the first Pulver to be in charge of the Pulvers Corners school. Harriette Pulver, the older daughter of Herman William, taught for a year or two. Among her students, only a few of them still living, were Ruth Pulver Moore, Roy Pulver (Ted Pulver's brother), and Ralph Pulver. In the school picture are twenty-six students.

A number of Susan Pulver's students still live in or around Pine Plains. Harriet Tripp Ferris was also one of the teachers. As the twentieth century arrived, pedagogical talent appeared more and more within the Corner itself. As the automobile closed down the blacksmith shop and the hotel and the church, so it took the local high school youth to teachers' training classes and normal schools and even colleges. Harriet Tripp was teaching in District No. 4 in 1911 and 1912. She left to see the world away from the school in sight of her own home. She went to Mt. Ross. Hazel Haight, from Stanfordville, came for two years. Then, enough of far-off places, Harriet Tripp came back. (Until Superintendent William Tremper came to visit, all the students called her "Hattie." They always had!) Agnes Pitcher (Mrs. Clarke Barrett) held the school for a time. Clara Reynolds, the Church twins' mother, taught for a year. But the day of the little school was passing. The attendance was smaller and smaller, as fewer farms were in operation and the talk of consolidation was in the air.

Time had produced a natural evolution. As fewer children were enrolled, less interest was shown in the school. The Trustee advertised and opened the annual meetings. The writer's father was frequently the Trustee. Each May, when school meeting time arrived, he would take an oil lamp and his books and go to the meeting. In the dim light, the few items of business would be conducted and the teacher's salary decided. In 1912, Harriet Tripp got $10 a week for a 36-week year. Ten years later, in 1922, the stipend had doubled to $20 for the same school year. If the teacher also took care of the fire, she might make ten or fifteen dollars more, but that meant early hours and even attention to the stove on Sunday night.

"He shall not waste his said Master's Goods, nor lend them unlawfully to any. He shall not commit Fornication, nor contract Matrimony, within the said Term: At Cards, Dice, or any unlawful Games he shall not play, whereby his said Master may have Damage. With his own Goods, nor the Goods of others, without License from his said Master, he shall neither buy nor sell … nor haunt Ale-houses, Taverns, or Play-houses; but in All Things behave himself as a faithful Apprentice ought to do, during the said Term.

The only date given to the above extract is added to the release of the contract indicated as "the 9th Day of March, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Six." This release is headed in German, Eine vollatandege Quittung Über Lewegliche Dinge. The lessor was one Jacob Wall; the apprentice seems to be a fellow named debonairly John Jemmy.

The requirements of the contract sound like the details required by the Puritans of Massachusetts; yet, the title is in German and is among the historical papers of the Pulvers -- the Palatine people -- of Pulvers Corners. We cannot but wonder if the approaching independence had anything to do with the release of the young John Jemmy as of March 9, just four months before the proclamation of American independence on July 4.

We can, however, see in this contract and the history of Pulvers Corners a kind of thumbnail account of the story of America. The Palatines fled the austere, unproductive land of the Palatinate in Germany. They struggle in America. The English planned that their charges would "make a living in the manufacture of naval stores: pitch, tar, turpentine, and resin." These plans were never realized, more because of the dearth of pine trees than from the inexperience of the newly arrived immigrants. Thus came the Pulvers to the Corner, even as our later ancestors struck out for the changing frontiers of the West.

In 1776, Pulvers Corners was a frontier settlement of meager houses and few inhabitants. The farms were still to be enlarged, the stores and smithy to be found needed. Yet, as the bi-centennial anniversary of our country approaches, Pulvers Corners can be viewed as one of the pioneer settlements about which the Revolution was fought.

About the Author	Table of Contents		Notes and Bibliography
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