The tract was unoccupied until 1712, when Christopher Denn made settlement upon it, to be followed shortly by Benjamin Aske; Daniel Cromline, who became a shareholder in 1704; Christian Snedeker, of Long Island; Samuel Staats, who came into record as a thirteenth shareholder in 1713; and John Everett and Samuel Clowes, who in 1714, acquired a tract equal to four of the thirteen shares. The township of Goshen came that year, and the precinct of Goshen, comprising the outlying settlements came later, and remained until 1788 when the township was expanded to take its place. In 1712, Christopher Denn, a carpenter by trade and resident of New York City, paid a visit to the patent and determined to make a settlement upon it. He and his wife, Elizabeth, were childless, but had adopted an orphan girl, Sarah Wells. Denn selected a spot along the Otterkill, as it is now known, about two miles or more from the present village. He returned to New York, equipped an expedition, which he sent up the Hudson River in charge of his adopted daughter, accompanied by two white men and some Indians whom he had taken to New York when returning from his first visit. A raft was used for the voyage and a landing safely made near Cornwall. The journey to the spot selected by Denn was through a trackless forest, but was made without mishap and a rough cabin was built. After the starting of the expedition Denn was remorseful because he sent the girl into unknown dangers, and within a short time he started for the new settlement, with his wife. The journey was made on horseback. They arrived safely and took up permanent residence there. It appears from an old map that Denn's share of the patent was a triangular tract, containing about 2,000 acres. The presence of this family soon brought other settlers and the woodman's axe resounded far and near. The merciless push of immigration began and the native red men were driven further into the wilderness. In the course of a few years Sarah Wells became the wife of William Bull, of Wolverhampton, England, who came to this country and was employed by Daniel Cromline in 1716 to build the masonry of a dwelling, later known to fame for nearly a century as the Greycourt House. History records this as the first marriage within the limits of the town of Goshen.