Places to go, people to see: New England

Today I started compiling an itinerary.  It is organized by country, state, then by town, city, or county.  Each location is given a page or two in my journal, and I listed everything in each place and told how it is connected to my family.  If I should travel somewhere listed in my journal, I will know exactly what to see and do, and will be able to tell my family's story there.  It is amazing how many places are linked to both my maternal and paternal ancestors at the same time!

Here are the New England places I have included so far:

Massachusetts

Boston - Roger Williams (paternal) - arrived 1631 from Essex, England on the Lyon
Boston - Richard Lyman (maternal) - arrived 1631 from Essex, England on the Lyon
Plymouth - John Howland, John and Joan Tilley, and Elizabeth Tilley (maternal) arrived on the Mayflower
Boston - William Almy & wife, Elizabeth Audrey Barlowe immigrated from England, 1636
Northhampton & Westhampton - Robert Lyman (maternal) - discovered the first lead mines; "Robert's Hill" and "Robert's Meadow" were named for him.
Boston, Harvard University - Orrin Bishop Judd attended one year.
Boston (from findagrave.com):
"Thomas Dickerman of Dorchester in New England, Taylor" purchased a lot in Boston near the commons area for a tailor shop on August 26, 1656. He died the next year without a will at about 60 years of age. His estate was valued at 150 pounds for land and house in Boston, 47 pounds for house, barn, orchards and land in Dorchester plus moveables such as books, thread, leather, scissors, a sword with belt, and livestock, which totaled 235 pounds. (paternal)

Rehoboth - William Sabin, one of the founders - m. Mary Elizabeth Wright, 1640.  Burial Kickemuit Cemetery.

Rhode Island

Providence

Roger Williams founded the
first Baptist church in America.

• 
  
• Roger Williams (paternal)  founded Providence after being exiled from the Mass. Bay Colony.  
• Sabin's Tavern (family of Patience Sabin m. Godfrey - paternal), meeting place of the Sons of Liberty
• Greene Hold - surgeon John Greene (paternal) purchased land from Miontonomi on the Occupasituxet Bay.  He is buried there in the Spring Green Burial ground.  His son, Major John Greene, sold the property to the Brown family (of Brown University).  The land is now an active archaeological site.  
• Joseph Bucklin Bosworth (maternal), b. 1790
• Capt. Samuel Godfrey (paternal), Gaspee Affair 1772 - Providence River; burial St. Johns Cemetery.
• Timothy Sabin m. Rebekah Ashton, 1744; burial St. Johns Cemetery.

Newport County

• William Almy & wife, Elizabeth Audrey Barlowe - William was the county assessor for the town of Portsmouth.

Hartford, CT
Founders Monument

Connecticut

Hartford

• Monument to the founders - Welles (paternal), Bidwell (paternal), Hopkins (maternal), Judd (paternal)
• Thomas Welles (paternal), founder, 1st Governor
• Orrin Judd (paternal), Baptist theologian, held various public offices
• James Bradley (paternal), 1729-1813, burial Oak Hill Cemetery, Southington

New Haven

• Center Church on the Green - burial place of Eleazer Brown & Sarah Buckley Brown (maternal); Nathaniel Bradley & Ruth Dickerman Bradley; Alice Prichard Bradley (paternal)
• John Hopkins operated a grist mill built by his father Stephen Hopkins (maternal)
• Capt. Samuel Hickok m. Mary Hopkins (maternal); burial Bronson Library Park
• Jemima Bishop M. James Bradley (paternal) of Hartford, 1751
• James Bishop m. Elizabeth Perkins (paternal), 1725

Wallingford

• Center Street Cemetery - burial place of Abraham & Sarah Doolittle Hall (maternal)
• Doolittle Park

Farmington

• Church of Christ, founded by 7 men, including Deacon Thomas Judd (paternal), 1652
• Samuel & Hannah Hickok (maternal), members Church of Farmington 1679
• Church of Christ has 9 handwritten volumes of early church history.



http://www.firstchurch1652.org/meetinghousegreen

• Hila Bradley (paternal) born 1775
• Elnathan Judd m. Lois Thorpe (paternal), 1758

Middletown

• Washington Street Cemetery - burial site of Daniel & Thankful Lyman Hall (maternal)

New York

Gravesend

• Lt. Nicholas Stilwell (maternal) came from Virginia in 1646 to settle on a plantation outside of Graves End.  Leader in Esopus Wars. Friend to Peter Stuyvesant, governor of New Amsterdam.
• Interesting note:  Graves End was settled by Lady Deborah Moody, the 1st female landowner in America, religious leader/dissenter.  Nicholas had originally left England because of religious persecution.

Manhatten Island, Staten Island

• Lt. Nicholas Stilwell (maternal) owned land; died on Staten Island.
• St. Sylvester's Roman Catholic Church - formerly Wandell Memorial Chapel (maternal), bought in 1921 from the destitute Methodist church.  Located on Tangee St., coincidentally not far from the location of the Nicholas Stilwell property.



Vintage postcard of St. Sylvester's Church, formerly Wandell Memorial Chapel

Ossining

• Samuel, Joseph, William Haight (maternal) were tenant farmers on Philipsburgh Manor; purchased the land from the government after the owner was exiled for treason.  
• Interesting notes:  Deborah Sampson, revolutionary soldier, stayed with William Haight; Clement Moore wrote The Night Before Christmas here; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was set here.  The Philips manor house is now a tourist attraction in Yonkers.

Brooklyn/Queens

• Elizabeth MacDonald Judd (paternal), writer for the New York Tribune, born 1822
• Alexander MacDonald, 1797-1872, buried at Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn
• Sadie Wright Abbott (paternal), born 1864
• Miriam Olivia Wandell (maternal), born 1824
• Abbott & Son Piano Shop (paternal), 66 Walker Street, 1832
• R&W Nunns Piano Factory - the four Abbott brothers apprenticed here:



Previously the Nunns and Clark factory, Setauket, Long Island.  Photo c1900



• Orrin Judd, occupation - 6th Avenue Elevated Railroad, 1880 (investor?)

Chittenango - home of the Hall family; Ada Clemina Hall born 1856.

Rochester

• John Dillingham (maternal), lived in Genessee County before moving to Ohio.
• Horace Crofford (maternal), Genessee Valley Millwright
• Note:  the Dillingham and Crofford families unite by marriage a generation later in Indiana.

Burlington - Joseph Bosworth (maternal), abt 1800

Pittsfield - Joseph Bosworth (maternal), early 1800s

Fishkill - Jacob Wandell (maternal), born 1747 m. Catherine Stillwell in 1770

Newburgh - Gen. Washington headquarters, Jacob Wandell (maternal) discharge papers stored there.

Havershaw - Jacob Wandell (maternal), millwright

Iona Island - Jacob & Catherine Wandell (maternal) died on this island in the middle of the Hudson River which had been in the VanCortlandt family for 200 years (was then called Weygant Island; now a part of Bear Mountain State Park).  For some interesting stories, look it up!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iona_Island_%28New_York%29

David's Island - Andrew Hall (maternal) spent six months at the civil war hospital
Auburn - Jacob Wandell was granted the land that is now Auburn.
Hamilton - Colgate University, formerly Madison University and Hamilton Literary and Theological Seminary, alma mater of Orrin Bishop Judd.  He was later a trustee of Colgate, and his descendants have maintained a tradition of attending school there.

New Jersey

Fort Lee

• Abbott & Sons Piano Factory (paternal), Lemoine Ave, 1872 (building now torn down)
• Church of the Good Shepherd, Parker Ave. - Abbotts, Bryants (paternal)
• George Wright Abbott (paternal), born 1882

Newark

• Robert Lyman (maternal), original proprietor, 1667
• William & Rebecca Bryant (paternal) moved there from Princess Anne County
• Charles Bryant (paternal), piano dealer (wife Mariah owned a boardinghouse in Ocean Grove, Monmouth County)
• Thomas Whitfield m. Betsy Godfrey (paternal) of Providence, RI

Middletown

First Monmouth Baptist Church - founded by Rev. James Ashton (paternal) 1652-1705.

Hackensack

John Abbott (paternal) owned a hotel where his piano factory employees lived.

Pennsylvania

Valley Forge - Jacob Wandell, Quartermaster, obtained shoes for Washington's men.  

Veterans pre-1900

This is a beginning attempt to compile a list of men in our direct line of ancestry who fought in wars prior to 1900.  This list does not include men who registered but did not serve.

Anglo-Powhatan War, 1644-1646 and the Esopus Wars
Nicholas Stillwell, 1603-1671

French and Indian War
Abraham Hall, 1709-1761 (in the army at Crown Point)

Revolutionary War
Jacob Wandell, 1747-1828
William Allen 1724-1789
Benajah Bosworth, 1744-1800 (Crary's Regiment)
Robert Allen 1704-1784

Crary's Regiment, Revolutionary War

War of 1812
Benjamin Applegate, 1774-1862
Richard Pierce Applegate, 1796-1847
Capt. Jacob Wandell, 1779-1868 (deserted)
John Dillingham, 1773-1861, & son, Henry

Civil War, 1862-1865
Calvin V. Crofford, US 1806-1880
Horace C. Crofford, US 1846-1916 (Mail runner)
Andrew Hall, US 1828-1907 (Hospitalized 6 mos, David's Island, NY)
Eley Bryant, 1829-1887 (POW Pt. Lookout, MD)
George J. Powell, CSA 1825-1866 (POW Farmville, VA)
Robert Scott Allen, CSA 1797-1864 

Research Strategies

So far, all of the research I've done has been by computer, except for family documents shared with me by relatives.  I recognize and appreciate the fact that much of the information I've discovered on Ancestry is there only because someone did a lot of the original legwork in the pre-computer days. 


Here are the resources that have helped me the most in my research:


Findagrave - this website is just amazing.  People from all over the world visit cemeteries and contribute photographs of tombstones, transcribing the information on them.  Some entries are created by family members or descendants, with detailed biographical information.  Others are created by people who have no relationship with the people in the graves, but who wish to add to the body of knowledge.  If a relative of that person wishes to add information, the creator of that entry can transfer it to the relative. A network is created where people can request a photo of a grave in a certain locale, and someone in that locale will provide it.  I cannot express how valuable this website has been to me. 


Google Maps - whenever I have clues to a location, I look it up on a map and explore the area.  Exploring the streets, viewing buildings, and looking at the relationships between places, I have gained insight into my ancestors' lives that at times has broken through a wall in my research.  This strategy has made my research immensely more real and tangible, and has greatly affected my understanding of the way of life of my forebears.  I can go to street view and visit the actual places where my ancestors built their lives.  I can take a snapshot of a building and include it in my documentation.  If I find a plat of a town from colonial times, I can compare it to the current landscape and pinpoint the location of property owned.  Street names have provided clues to my family's stories.  The number of instances where this resource has helped me are countless. 


Ancestry - this goes without saying.  This database grows continually as members add documents and information.  I have learned which sources to ignore - Ancestry trees, Family data, Millenium files - all of these are rife with errors due to amateurs' enthusiasm and lack of discipline!  Their information is valuable only to pick up possible names to verify.  With experience, I have learned which researchers are the most careful and accurate.  I have actually contacted a few of these folks to find out more information.  On Ancestry, there are indexes listing the names but not the actual information included in a variety of resources.  There are also sources such as DAR applications, Census documents, and Veteran's pension applications which contain reliable information.   


Google books - many original transcripts of old books can be found here.  A Google search using a person's name will turn up many of these sources.  I can scroll through a major portion of a book to learn about my ancestors' part in history. 


Postcards and letters - family memorabilia or online - these provide major clues to family relationships, important places, and life events.  There are photos of buildings from as long ago as the mid-1800's.


Journals, stories, personal accounts - these can be original documents or online resources.  Carefully chosen search terms yield a surprising number of sources, such as newspapers and local histories, that might mention your ancestor's name.  Searching multiple ways with different combinations of search terms will affect the results.  These are fairly reliable, especially if they are firsthand accounts, though not necessarily.  I discovered that my great grandmother was a storyteller, and her stories were often passed down by word of mouth and often distorted. 


I have taken the step of expanding my search to International databases.  The next step will be to join subscription websites such as newspapers.com.  Right now I am working on verifying the information I have already added to my tree before adding anything new.

Joseph Bucklin Bosworth

Joseph Bosworth was my 3rd great grandfather on my mother's maternal side.  I hesitate to delve too deeply into that particular lineage as there are still a few unverified relationships.  My grandmother knew little of her family and I have had to piece together some pretty random bits of information.  However, I feel pretty secure in saying that IF my grandmother's parents are who we believe they are, then my information about our ancestry is correct from there on back.  It is also important to carefully verify every link since the Bosworth family is one of our links to the Mayflower.

Joseph Bucklin Bosworth > Orlando Marcus Bosworth > Eva L. Bosworth > Teresa/Ethelyn Allen > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Joseph Bucklin Bosworth was born on March 6, 1790 in Providence, Rhode Island. (Providence is one of the many places where both my maternal and paternal ancestries lived). His father was Benajah Bosworth; I have not yet discovered his mother's name.  By 1800, the Bosworths were living in Burlington, NY.  One source states that he lived in Pittsburg PA at one time; however, I believe there was confusion with Pittsfield, Otsego County, NY where the Bosworths lived in the early 1800's.

Joseph was a Private in the Army during the War of 1812, serving as a musician.  He married Lucinda Hopkins on May 17, 1815.  By 1818, he was living in Copley, Ohio, where his occupation was given as farmer, though another account gives his occupation as millwright (the two are not mutually exclusive).

Here's where the story takes an interesting turn.  Sometime after 1830, Joseph was baptized into the Church of the Latter Day Saints.  He had a close personal relationship with Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS church, and was ordained a High Priest in September 1834.  The lucky thing about this is the LDS church kept very detailed records about everything.

Joseph Smith himself wrote about "Bro. Joseph" in his journal, 1832-1834:

Next morning, 19, started and arrived at brother Joseph Bozworth's in Copley, Medina County, where we took dinner.  Bro. Bozworth was strong in the faith - he is a good man, and may, if faithful, do much good.

The minutes of church meetings also mention Bro. Joseph frequently, as he spoke, described visions, and made important church decisions.  A few excerpts:

Bro. Joseph Bosworth occupied a short time in exhortation and instructed the brethren into the propriety of the deliverance of Zion. He said that he had no property but if necessary for the deliverance of Zion, he would sell his own clothes at auction if he could have left to him a garment as the Savior had in the manger.

Bro. Bosworth then related a few items of a vision which he gave us as a testimony of those things contained in the revelations read by Bro. Sidney... concerning the building of the house of the Lord. 

Bro. Bosworth then laid hands upon certain children and blessed them in the name of the Lord.

Joseph was included in Joseph Smith's patriarchal blessing book records (1833-1843), making him officially one of the 144,000..?

Joseph and Lucinda had eleven children:  William Benjamin, Elvira Alzada, Albert Alfonda, Miles, Giles Crihenden, Carlos Clark, Orlando Marcus (our ancestor), Omer Richardson, Benejah Ogden, Malon Montilla, and Joseph Bucklin.

They moved to Hancock County, Illinois before 1840, and Joseph was "appointed to serve mission to Louisiana and to preside over the area" in April 1844.  They moved back to Copley, Ohio, by 1850.  He died of cholera on a visit to Peoria, Illinois, on July 16, 1850, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur.

Joseph's son Orlando was born in Copley, Ohio in 1825, and was a lifelong resident of Littleton, Illinois. This is where his daughter Eva met and married my great grandfather Augustus Allen.

Jacob Wandell, 1747-1827

My 4th great grandfather, Jacob Wandell, was the son of Johannes Wandell who immigrated from the Netherlands in 1737.  Johannes was the gg?grandson of the famous Dutch poet and playwright, Joost Van Der Vandel, whose statue is displayed in Vandelpark in Amsterdam.

Jacob Wandell > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada Clemina Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Jacob was born in 1747 in Fishkill, New York.  He married Catherine Stillwell in 1770,  and they had ten children.  He became a wealthy man and owned slaves.

Jacob enlisted as a Quartermaster in the military under General Washington in 1777, and was assigned to Colonel Spencer's regiment.  His connections with the Dutch community enabled him to obtain food when the English army could not.  Jacob participated in the battles of Brandywine (September) and Germantown (October), and was with the army at Valley Forge during that terrible winter of 1777-78.  My great grandmother Ada Crofford wrote:

When Washington was at Valley Forge, my great grandfather seeing the soldiers were in much need of shoes went to Washington and told him that he had left a great quantity of hides in his tan-vat, and that they were, by that time, ready to be finished.  He offered to go home and have the hides finished, and made up into shoes, by his slaves, one of whom was a good cutter, and several could sew leather.  Washington gladly gave his permission.  My great grandfather went home, returning in due time with two great wagons loaded with shoes. 

Jacob's own home was plundered during the war.  According to Ada:

Great grandfather Wandell was rich when the revolution began.  His home was between the lines much of the time and was plundered by both sides. They had got down to one cow. One day they saw a soldier departing with her.  Great grandmother had twin babies in the cradle. Snatching them from the cradle she ran to the door with a baby on either arm.  "Stop, stop!" she cried.  "If you take her, my babies will die." The soldier stopped and looked at the babies a moment, then took the rope off the cow and went off.  

In 1780, Jacob was transferred to Colonel Goose Van Schaick's regiment where he served until the close of the war.  He was in Virginia at the Battle of Yorktown, and was apparently acquainted with Lafayette. Many years later, when Lafayette visited America (1824), he recognized Jacob during a parade in NY City and embraced him.

When the Treaty was signed in 1783, Jacob's discharge was signed by George Washington.  This relic is currently housed in Washington's Headquarters in Newburgh, New York.

General Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh, NY

Jacob moved to Havershaw, New York in 1794 and became a millwright.  He died a poor man.  He and Catherine both died on Weygant's Island, now called Iona Island, on the Hudson River.  The island was owned by the Van Cortlandt family for 200 years.  It is now part of Bear Mountain State Park.

Small island on the Hudson River where Jacob and Catherine died.

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell, Virginia colonist

My family, what would you think if I told you that one of your ancestors - my 9th great grandfather - was associated with Jamestown? 

UPDATE:  NEW INFORMATION DISPUTES THE CONNECTION OF NICHOLAS STILLWELL TO VIRGINIA. THIS BLOG ENTRY WILL BE EDITED AFTER FURTHER RESEARCH. HIS CONNECTION WITH THE QUEEN OF BOHEMIA IS ALSO IN DEBATE AS HE WOULD HAVE ONLY BEEN 15 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE FLED BOHEMIA IN 1621.

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell > Capt. Jacob Wandell > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada Clemina Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia M. Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

Lt. Nicholas Stillwell was the progenitor of the famous Stillwells of Long Island. We are direct descendants through my mother's paternal lineage.  There is a wealth of primary documentation about the Stillwell family.  It took some time to wade through it all, especially since many of them had the same first names and there were multiple spellings of the last name. Interesting, this Nicholas consistently wrote his name with the N backwards, so his writing is distinctive. He was a military man who led expeditions against the Indians, but he was also described as a pious man who "lived for the betterment of the human race."  He was loyal all his life to the Dutch people in America.

Nicholas Stillwell was born in Surrey, England in 1603.  He fled England to escape religious persecution, becoming a soldier of Elizabeth Stuart the Queen of Bohemia who was protestant. Elizabeth is called "the Winter Queen" because of her short tenure in the winter of 1619-1620.  According to tradition, he married one of her maids of honor, Abigail Hopton, in about 1630.  After the defeat of Prague, Elizabeth went into exile at The Hague, and her army disbanded.  Nicholas came to America and settled in Virginia.

[see this post for new info on the Queen of Bohemia]

He was a successful tobacco plantation owner on the York River in Virginia from 1635 to about 1646. His house and plantation were located "east of West Creek" (now Felgate's Creek) right off what is now the National Colonial Historic Parkway. From 1635 to 1639, he was a tobacco evaluator, inspecting tobacco for quality before it was shipped to England, so he likely was well known to John Rolfe. He aided Claiborne (future governor of Maryland) in the fight against the Indians in Virginia from 1644-1646.  Afterward, Nicholas left Virginia - perhaps because the "Claiborne Incident," whatever that implies, caused an unsafe situation for colonists vulnerable to attack by small groups of Indians, or maybe because Gov. Berkeley created an uncomfortable situation for certain protestant groups in Virginia.

UPDATE 5/3/2020:  Just discovered that Nicholas Stilwell also owned 200 acres in what is now Gloucester. The following two maps were found in The Descendants of Lieutenant Nicholas Stillwell, Volume I by Raymond J. Stillwell, 2010. Note the proximity to Warner Hall.

In 1646, he left for New Amsterdam, leaving his land to be taken by others.  He was one of the 20 original farm owners (Lady Moody colonists*) in Graves End. He traded a house in town for an outlying plantation. He had to prove he could defend himself from the Indians in order to obtain permission to live outside the town.  He led expeditions against the Indians during the Esopus Wars, which were localized conflicts between the Indians and the Dutch. In the years 1650-1653, he was the town magistrate.  He was a close personal friend and confidante of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New Amsterdam.

Graves End, or Gravesend, NY

In 1664, he purchased land on Manhattan Island.  In 1665, he moved to Staten Island directly across the bay from Gravesend.  He received the estate of Thomas Morell by will, as Morell did not have heirs.

Nicholas died on Staten Island on December 28, 1671.  

Nicholas Stillwell owned the land on Staten Island between what is now
Jefferson and Liberty Avenues, in the area of Dongan Hills.

Line of descent:  Lt. Nicholas Stillwell > Capt. Nicholas Stillwell > Nicholas Stillwell III > John Stillwell > William L. Stillwell > Catherine Stillwell* > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada C. Hall > Horace C. Crofford > Virginia Crofford > Zaun
*some sources say Catherine's father was Stephen Stillwell, also descended from Lt. Nicholas Stillwell.  I'm still working on verifying this information.

Our family lines have crisscrossed through the generations, especially in our New England ancestry.  These links have not yet been proven, but there was a Richard Applegate (mom's maternal ancestor?) who married a daughter of John Stillwell (mom's paternal ancestor?).  I also found out that Jeremiah Stillwell (mom's paternal ancestor?) married Rebecca Ashton (dad's maternal ancestor?).

There is a book out now by Michael Philip Cash called Stillwell: a Haunting on Long Island. 180 five star reviews on Amazon!  There is a Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend, and the estates of some family members were well known on Long Island and in Queens.

*Gravesend was founded by Lady Deborah Moody, a leader of religious dissenters; she was the 1st female landowner.

Sources:
http://haygenealogy.com/hay/sources/britton/stillwelltree.html
http://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/STILLWELL
http://www.stilwell.uk.net/index.php/families/usa-stilwells/the-known-history.html
Various documents linked to Ancestry.com

Ossining

Ever since Nintendo Wii came out with Karaoke Revolution, I have been ridiculously in love with the song Ossining by Mike Doughty.  I never get tired of listening to it.

This is just another one of those eerie coincidences that I'm finding in my genealogy research.

The story, according to my great grandmother Ada Crofford, is that her grandfather Haight purchased a tract of land from an Indian called Old Sing Sing.  As part of the price, Old Sing Sing was promised a fresh loaf of bread every Christmas, baked by my 4th great grandmother. The old Indian would appear at Christmas time, and go off very happily with his prize.

William Haight > Miriam Haight > Miriam Olivia Wandell > Ada C. Hall > Horace C Crofford > Teresa Zaun Austin

This tract of land, once called Sing Sing, was officially named Ossining in 1901.

Nice story, right?  Historical accounts found online tell that a man named Frederick Philipse purchased the land from the Sint Sinck Indians in 1685 and incorporated it as the Manor of Philipsburg.  He leased the land to tenant farmers.  After the Revolution, Philipse was imprisoned for being a British Loyalist.  His manor was confiscated and sold at auction by the State of New York.  It became known as Sing Sing. Many of the farms were sold to the tenant farmers who had supported the American cause.  The Haights were among those tenant farmers who bought the land.  Ada's great grandfather William Haight was born in 1752 in Philipsburg; after the war, he purchased land he had been farming. His father, Samuel Haight had occupied the land as early as 1745 and purchased part of the manor from the state of New York in 1785.  According to The Settlement of Philipsburgh, by MacKenzie, Samuel and Joseph Haight were among the English families who settled in the eastern and northern part of Mount Pleasant after 1725.

In a manuscript about Deborah Sampson, there is mention of William Haight:

It is in this region* that William (also given as Willis) Haight had a tenant farm of 133 acres that was part of the extensive land holdings that made up Philipsburgh Manor. Unfortunately for Frederick Philipse III, he chose the wrong side in the Revolution. After the war his confiscated land was put up for sale by the New York State Commissioners of Forfeitures, and Haight purchased the land that he had been farming. XXX
The name Haight has many variations, the most usual being Hoyt and Hoit, with Hoite and Haite also used frequently. It was a relatively common name in Westchester.

*near where the borders of the present towns of Ossining, Mount Pleasant and New Castle intersect two miles due east of Ossining and the Hudson River.  In The Female Review it says "a place called, in Dutch, Vonhoite."

Interesting side notes:
Slaves played an important role in colonial life in this northern town.  One slave was named Charles Haight.
The Philipse Manor House still stands as a tourist attraction in what is now Yonkers.

Among the many famous people associated with Ossining:
Washington Irving "Sleepy Hollow"
Clement Moore "The Night Before Christmas"
Deborah Sampson, Revolutionary War soldier

Ossining lyrics:

Put my faith in the price of mud
And my lord shall match the pounds,
Ten thousand days and a night spelunking
Kill my years in the lightning round,
Confound it

Why not
Seek Ossining
These threes and foursomes
Abounded,

Why not
Seek Ossining
This time around?

No, not a maze, but like blazed-out inner star
Disclosed completely in a plain film canister