and motive, we trust no one will charge us with a felonious appropriation of their worthless goods and chattles. We say worthless to them, but interesting and valuable to us, and without which, we do not well see how we could execute the object we have in view. All such claimants will be held in derision, for they must be content with the honor of having their fragments gathered up and spread before the public, where they may be of some present and future benefit. We come in the character of a gleaner, with a rake in hand, and the bundles gathered up, give back to the people, for our object is of a public character and publicly executed.

In conclusion, we must be permitted to remark, that never having thought on the subject till recently-possessing little information relative to the historical reasons for our county names and local traditions, and knowing absolutely nothing of the Saxon, German and Indian languages, from which many are derived, we have small hopes of executing the task to our own satisfaction, or to the edification or amusement of the Association. Nay, failure stares us in the face, and almost frightens us from the effort. No one will infer our ability from the tenor of our indroductory remarks, for we frankly confess that what is here said, calculated to leave such an impression, is said in jest only, and now in time, as danger comes up clearly in view, we make a virtue of necessity, openly confess our cowardice, and that we are not a strong man armed for the battle. We shall truly and honestly, however, endeavor to do all that we can, to make it as perfect and correspondent with truth and fact as our information will warrant. The facts and statements will be made with the same belief of their truth that we would state them in a court of justice, when speaking of information derived from others. In many instances we may be in error from misconception and false information. Some things may be thrown in now and then to light up the sombre dulness of the subject, which some may think misplaced and undignified; but we trust they will receive what is said in the same temper and spirit in which they are proffered, separate the true from the false, fact from fiction, and smile only at our attempts at the light and frivolous. As an atonement for such offence, and that the dignity and historical reputation of the Association may be left unsullied in honor, and unimpeached for want of true gravity and intelligence, we promise to expunge all such objectionable matter from our next edition, personally assuming the responsibility of this.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTY.

Orange County is quite ancient, and among the earliest organized in the State. It is said to have been organized in 1683, by a law of the colony, which we have not been able to find in print, except in the appendix, page 6, of the Revised Laws of 1813. It was one of those formed also by the general act of organization in 1788, and contained the present county of Rockland, and described thereby as follows: "To beginne from the limitts or bounds of East and West Jersey on the west side of Hudson's River, along the said river to the Murderer's Creek, or bounds of the county of Ulster, and westward into the woods as far as Delaware River." According to this it contained all that part of the State south of an easterly and westerly line from the mouth of Murderer's creek to the Delaware River or northerly line of Pennsylvania. It remained unaltered in boundaries till the acts of 1798, when the county of Rockland was set off from it, and five towns from Ulster added, which made it of its present dimensions. In the records of Albany there is said to be a law passed in April, 1699, directing that courts of Sessions and Pleas be held in Orange that year. This we presume was not carried into operation for several years thereafter; for, according to the records in the Clerk's office in Goshen, which we have examined, the ordinance for keeping courts of Sessions and Pleas was granted on the 8th of March, 1702, at Fort Anne-present, his Excellency, Edward Viscount Cornbury, Wm. Smith, Peter Schuyler, and Sa. Th. Boughton, Esqrs., of Council; and the commissions to hold such courts of Sessions and Pleas was granted and signed April 5, 1703, by Queen Anne. Courts were first. held in Goshen in 1727.

EXTRACTS FROM OLD COURT RECORDS--Page 46 of the first Court Record of Orange County, 8th Sessions of Orange Co., Oct. 29th, 1705, held at Orangetown, Rockland

"Upon ye presentment of Coonradt Hanson that George Jewell kept a log which was injurious to many of the neighbors, it was ordered that the Said Jewell should hang the said dog."

This was the first capital punishment on record in the County, and the court, by its decision, seemed to think there was no other way to kill a dog than by choking.

B

To give some idea of the amount of taxes under Queen Anne, we make an extract from the "memorandum" in the

"Register kept for Orange County, begune ye 5th day of Aprill, Ano. Dm.

As the × has been the emblem of the Christian religion, it was formerly used in spelling the word Christian, as will be seen in the following extract from the deed executed by the Indian owners of the Minisink Patent, recorded in Records of Deeds in Goshen :

"To all Xtian People to whom these presents shall come or may concern: Know yee that wee, Rapingonick, Wawastawaw, Moghopuck, Comelawaw, Nanawitt, Ariwimack, Rumbout, Clauss, Chouck hass, Chingapaw, Oshasquemonus, and Quilapaw, native Indians," &c.

The Indians made each a different mark. The six white witnesses also made their marks.

The county was named after the Prince of Orange, who married Mary, and came to the throne of England in 1689, under the title of King William. William and Mary reigned jointly.

It is bounded on the east by the middle of Hudson's River, north by Ulster, west by Sullivan, southwest by Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and southeast by Rockland; contains 760 square miles, or 486,400 acres, and is situated between 41° 8 N. and 41° 38' N. latitude-10 E. and 43' W. longitude from the city of New York. By the State census of 1845, the population was 52,227, and sends three members to the State Legislature.

Since we are engaged in enumerating the names of all the places in the County, accompanied with a short note on each, we cannot do less than take a general, though brief, survey of its external features, products and early settlement; to attempt more would be inconsistent with the design we have in view, exceed our present knowledge, and trench upon the time we have to spare. Few in the State contain as much rude, elevated and mountain land; no one so large an area of lands overflowed with water, and covered by recent alluvia carried down by rains from the surrounding hills and mountains to the low grounds and vallies. The thousands of acres of

what are commonly called the Drowned Lands, situate on the borders of the County and New Jersey, on the head waters of the Wallkill River, constitute the principal measure of this description of land; they cover an area of 17,000 acres in this county, and 3,500 in New Jersey. The owners have made great exertions, and large expenditures of money, on several occasions, to reduce the area of water which covered the meadows, and reclaim, if possible, some of the land along their shores, and devote it to agricultural purposes. In these laudable attempts they were at least partially successful; and the portions reclaimed, when thoroughly subdued and dried, on cultivation, yield large and profitable returns for the labor bestowed upon them.. Upon lands thus submerged and saturated for centuries, the sun and air must act for a considerable length of time before they can become sufficiently warm and genial to produce abundantly. There are islands in this district which contain the finest quality of limestone, and noticed hereafter.

In other respects the general features of the County are pleasant, and happily diversified. The soil is above medium character for all agricultural purposes; and while the agriculture of the County is above mediocrity, the soil may be considered worn out and exhausted, as respects growing large or profitable crops of wheat, without manuring too expensively. That article must be purchased of the Western farmer, who yet drives his ploughshare through a strong and virgin soil. That this crop must be abandoned for the present, and the land employed to raise grass, or other grains, is a dictate of common sense, and we trust our farmers are wise enough to see it, and not struggle in an unequal contest against the easy culture and large crops of the West.

The following is a table of grains, &c., taken from last census, with their estimated values, and farmers who grow wheat are requested to examine it.

The value of these products, estimated at the market price, is less than $800,000. We are not skilled in farming, and are therefore surprised.

The County abounds with all the variety of natural grasses, with but little intermixture of noxious vegetables. This con