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By John Hofler
On their first day of operation, September 17, 1669,
the Whitfeld Commission renamed the villages of the Esopus. Nieuw Dorp was
renamed Hurley. Some say it was named after Governor Lovelace’s
ancestral home in Berkshire, England. This is disputed by others, saying
that the home is the ancestral home of a relative, a home where he lived
as a boy.
Further Dorp was also renamed that day. Its name was
changed to Marbeton because of the layers of limestone that is ubiquitous
to the area. As Further Dorp it was sometimes called Further New Dorp and
as Marbleton it found it’s name shortened to Marble. Eventually it was
changed to the present name of Marbletown.
Eight days later, September 25th, the Commission
changed the name of Wiltwyck to Kingston, after Kingston Lisle near
Wantage where Lovelace’s mother lived with her first husband.
The only name not changed was Half-Way Ground, often
referred to as the other New Dorp. Apparently, by this time the concept of
another village lying half-way between Hurly and Marbleton was being
dismissed. It had appeared in the records during the years 1668 and 1669
and it’s name appears in the minutes of the Whitfeld Commission, but the
fact it was not renamed indicates very little strength to the viability of
that village. It was not included in the surveying efforts of the Dudley
Lovelace Commission a few months later.
The concept of a lost village is intriguing and here
the Town of Hurley has it’s own lost village, akin to Atlantis sinking
into the sea. Governor Lovelace had referred to it a year earlier,
September 18, 1668, when he ordered all that had land “in either of the
new Dorps or villages lately laid out by my order” to gather fence
material to be used to mark out the boundaries of their lots. The “New
Dorps” referred to Marbleton and Halfway Ground. However, the soldiers
who would occupy the lands of Further Dorp were only disbanded one year
later, September 9, 1669. The Whitfeld Commission also envisioned the area
of Half-Way Ground as being populated at some time because on September
17, 1669, in response to Governor Lovelace’s order that “fitt places
of rendevous be appointed”, they provided three such places; “Three
places of Rendevous were appointed for Safegard of the Villages, vizt the
first in the middle of Marbleton, the second at Halfway Ground, the third
at Hurley, which is the village next to Esopus, and then soe nam’d by
them.”
There is further reference to the area of Half-way
Ground, which would imply that only one home was built there. Governor
Lovelace gave permission for one house to be occupied halfway between the
villages of Hurley and Marbleton as a rest stop for travelers. “ That
all be compelled to settle in Townes, except one I have given lycense to,
who in regard hee lives between Hurley and Marbleton may be a convenience
to Travellers, and make a Nearer Correspondence between the two townes.
Given under my hand the 24th day of March 1669 Francis Lovelace” The
order is dated 1669, but remember that the calendar was such that 1669 is
really 1670 by our reckoning. [The English New Year Day was March 26 of
each year.]
It was Robert Goldsberry that was given permission to
build half way between Hurley and Marbletown. The order was made September
21, 1669 by Governor Lovelace but the patent wasn’t issued by the
Lovelace Commission until April 8, 1670
[Editor’s note. The above article was extracted
from the History of Hurley that was being written by Olive Clearwater and
John Hofler, past town historians and submitted by Hurley Town Historian
David Baker.]
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