There are six rural schools and one church now in the town. This is
the Presbyterian church at Campbell Hall, where also are the stores
of Alexander Brothers and C. B. Howell, a meat market, a creamery and
a blacksmith's shop, and the surrounding houses with neat lawns make
an attractive hamlet.
The two-room schoolhouse stands in a grove of oaks on a hill
overlooking the Otterkill where the old church stood before it was
moved to Hamptonburgh proper. Now that building stands empty and only
the graveyard tells the old story. The name Campbell Hall came from a
Colonel Campbell who lived there. His house was back of what is now
the Bertholf house. "Col. Campbell was a Scotchman, the father of
Mrs. Margaret Eustace, who was the mother of Gen. Eustace of the
Revolutionary army of France, both of whom, we believe, died in the
vicinity of Newburgh thirty or thirty-five years since." (Eager in
1846-7.) In speaking of Mrs. Eustace he notes her dignity of manner
when she resided at Campbell Hall; also of her husband, Doctor
Eustace, who was from the South, he says there was a secret not fully
understood which embittered the last years of her life and her
father's.
[Illustration: The Bull House, Hamptonburgh, Erected 1722.]
Campbell Hall owes much to Mrs. Matilda Booth Gouge. Her husband,
Mr. George Gouge, conducted a large creamery business there for
years, and on his death he left his widow more than comfortably
provided for. There were no children and Mrs. Gouge did many kind
things for her neighbors before her death. She gave the ground on
which the church was built and a large house for a parsonage close to
the church. She also educated a colored man for the ministry. On her
death she willed her large residence with its furniture for a more
comfortable home for the pastor and her farm of 100 acres to the
church with $5,000 in bonds. Most of the buildings in the village are
built on land purchased from her. Her birthplace was near and is now
owned by Mr. C. B. Howell.
Burnside has a sawmill, a store and a Borden's creamery. Post offices
are in each place and the R. F. D. comes out from Montgomery. This
closes the helpful public activities of the town, but fine hotels,
with bars, make an addition not to be omitted. It is impossible to
follow closely all the different family fortunes of those who make
the records of to-day; our allotted space is too small.
There are two of the original grants on which the descendants of the
patentees are still living. These are the Richard Gerard and William
Bull grants.
The one of 2,600 acres was dated August 10, 1723, on which, by a
mistake of calculation, the carpenters erected the first wigwam in
1712, followed by the William Bull stone house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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