and Deborah Van Arsdale, and was
born in the town of Cornwall (then a part of Goshen), Orange County, N.
Y., on Monday, January 5th, 1756.[11] His ancestors for four generations
in this country, as mentioned in the records of their times, were men of
intelligence and virtue, honored and trusted in the communities in which
they lived, and on whom, as God-fearing men, rested the mantles of their
fathers who had battled for their faith in the wars of the Netherlands.
His grandsire, Stoffel Van Arsdalen (for so he and his Dutch
progenitors wrote the name), had removed from Gravesend, Long Island,
to Somerset County, New Jersey, in the second decade of that century,
and eventually purchased a farm of two hundred acres in Franklin
township, where he lived, zealously devoted to the church, and highly
esteemed, till his death near the beginning of the Revolution.[12] He
married Magdalena, daughter of Okie Van Hengelen, and had several
children, of whom, John, born 1722, and Cornelius, born 1729, removed to
the County of Orange, aforesaid.[13] John, by trade a millwright, was
engaged by Mr. Tunis Van Pelt to build a grist mill on Murderer's Creek,
so called from an Indian tragedy of earlier times; and from which name
softened to Murdner, in common usage, came the modern Moodna. While so
occupied, and sharing the hospitalities of Mr. Van Pelt's house, he
wooed and married his daughter, Deborah, in 1744. Associating with his
father-in-law in the milling business, Van Arsdale eventually became
proprietor, assisted, we believe, by his brother Cornelius, who was a
miller. Building up a large trade, he also became known for his private
virtues and public spirit. A lieutenant's commission (in which he is
styled "of Ulster County, Gentleman"), under Capt. Thomas Ellison, and
dated October 10th, 1754, is now in the writer's possession. But
misfortune, the loss of a vessel sent to the Bay of Honduras laden with
flour, and where it was to ship a cargo of logwood, led him to give up
the business and remove to New York, where he took charge of the Prison
in the old City Hall, in Wall street, which was deemed a post of great
responsibility. It was soon after this change that John, the subject of
our sketch, was born, at Mr. Van Pelt's residence, at Moodna, where his
mother had either remained, or was then making a visit. About six weeks
thereafter, having come to the city, with her infant, she sickened and
died of the small pox. After four year