LITTLE BRITAIN.—Perhaps the earliest date
for a school in Little Britain is 1735.
Edward M. Ruttenber in his “History of the Town of New Windsor,” writing
about Peter Mulliner and his setting aside land for a church and a cemetery,
says “A school was added to the neighborhood in 1735.” Nothing more has been found about this
school. It might not have been in the
immediate Mulliner neighborhood, but almost anywhere in Little Britain.
John Young came to Little Britain in 1730. On Toleman Road there is a stone and fame house, long known as the Welling house. John Young had built a log cabin on that spot but sold his farm to John Welling about 1764 and went north to what is now Washington County6.
That little log home served as a school. Thomas Young was the oldest son and Joseph second. Both became physicians. Mr. Ruttenber quotes Dr. Joseph Young writing of Thomas, “Our grandmother, Jane, was a good English scholar and learned us to read. As there were but few children in the new settlement (Little Britain), they had no schoolmaster; but my father who was a tolerable arithmetician, undertook to teach him with the assistance of Cocker’s ARITHMETIC.”
Thomas was six or seven at the time, so the date was about 1738. He goes on, “Some time after, Mr. John Wilson, a famous mathematician, opened a school about four miles distant, to which the young student was sent. Mr. Wilson’s mathematical fame soon procured him an invitation to open a school in New York where he removed. Fortunately there came a minister to the parish who was a good linquist, under whom he completed his Latin education.” This was undoubtedly the Rev. John Moffat and the school Moffat’s Academy.
The Young boys learned more than English and arithmetic in that little school in their home. Dr. Thomas Young went to Boston in 1766 to practice medicine. He associated with the leading patriots and took a stand against England’s taxes on the colonies.
In 1773 there was a meeting in Old South Church to discuss what to do about three shiploads of tea in the harbor. Samuel Adams of Boston was a leader in the rising resentment, but even Boston admits that Dr. Thomas Young was also a leade3r.
At this meeting some one said, “The only way to get rid of it is to throw it overboard.” That was undoubtedly the sentiment of many. Writers of the Boston region like to think those were the words of Samuel Adams. But writers of the Orange County area ascribe them to Dr. Thomas Young. In PUBLICATION No. 15 of the Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands they are quoted as the words of Dr. Thomas Young, but the source is not given.
He was the one who led a group of men disguised as Mohawk Indians, and they6 threw the cases of tea overboard. And he was the one who had to flee to escape being sent to England and tried for treason, so we can decide on that basis who probably said those thrilling words. So the Boston Tea Party was brewed in Little Britain.
The best information so far about Moffat’s Academy was found in “Moffat Genalogies: Descent From Rev. John Moffat of Ulster County, New York,” by R. Burnham Moffat. The Rev. John Little who seems to have bee3n a pastor without a parish, bought 483 acres, date not known, on which he built a large stone house in 1745 and called it Stonefield. It stands at the southern edge of the Town of New Windsor, on the west side of what is now called Station Road, Salisbury Mills on the old deeds. It is definitely in Little Britain.
John Little’[s daughter Margaret, married the Rev. John Moffat who was minister of Goodwill Church 1751-1765 or 1767 or 1769, date uncertain. Those were years of difficulty for the Goodwill Presbyterian Church. Mr. Cuthbertson, a missionary sent out by the Covenanters of Scotland, went up and down the Middle Atlantic Colonies preaching in the open air, in homes, in little meeting houses.
The Covenanter Church in Coldenham was started and drew heavily from Goodwill. Also Dr. Robert Annan, to the south of Goodwill was sent out by the Associate Presbyterians. Neelytown Church was started and it too drew from Goodwill. Mr. Moffat resigned, either from his own choice4 or the church’s and, and for many years lived out of this region. Later he conducted Moffat Academy.
The Rev. Mr. Little died in 1752. His estate was inherited by John Little Moffat who was not yet born when his grandfather died. He reached his majority in 1774 and inherited the whole plantation of Stonefield. He leased it to his parents for a nominal rental for the balance of their lives.
The Rev. Mr. Moffat graduated in 1749 in the second class from the college at New Brusnwick, N.J. which was later moved to Princeton. He was prepared to teach as well as preach. Moffat’s Academy seems to have lasted only a few years, 1778-1781.
The importance of the school is in the famous people who studied there. Gen. James Clinton sent his children Alexander, Charles, George, DeWitt and Mary. Robert and William Burnet are listed. Very interesting are the names of Robert L. and William Annan. Could they be other than children of Dr. Robert Annan pastor at Neelytown and Little Britain?
Other names of local importance are
Nicoll, Denniston, Belknap, Boyd, Dubois, Barber, DeWitt. Thomas Young is not listed in the Moffat book
so his list cannot be complete. Tuition
rates were low. It cost Gen. James
Clinton only ten pounds for DeWitt’s two years there.
John Moffat died in 1788 and his widow continued to live at Stonefield until her death in 1800. George Pierson of Campbell Hall wrote “On the hilltop a few rods north of the old Stonefield house can be seen a number of sunken graves some with common field stones for markers some of them have been broken off but most of them without any. These are the graves of the Rev. John Little and family and of the Rev. John Moffat and wife.”
The five children of John Little Moffat inherited the estate. They joined in a deed of the whole place to David Crawford of Newburgh and James Denniston of Blooming Grove for $12075. James Denniston became sole owner and sold the place to James Roberts in 1833.
Chester Roberts says that James’ sons Grant and Lee inherited from their father. The estate used to reach north of the Erie tracks and that part was sold to the Fosters. Grant Roberts had 100 acres for himself now owned by his son Chester and sold 140 acres including the stone house to Joseph Rakowiecki who now owns it and properly keeps the name Stonefield.
Created by Elizabeth Finley Frasier
Created May 5, 2009
