doth acquit exhonerate release and forever discharge the said Benjamin William and Jacobus Codebec their heirs executors and administrators and every of them firmly by these presents have given granted bargained sold released ratified confirmed and by these presents doe fully freely clearly and absolutely give grant bargaine & sell release ratify & confirm unto the said Benjamin William & Jacobus Codebec their heirs and assignes for ever all that certain tract or parcell of land situate being and lying in the county of ulster at Wackachkemeck being one just seventh part of 1200 acres of land.

Said Jacob Codebec stands entitled (?) and possessor? by virtue of a patent from Governor Benjamin Fletcher. Relation thereunto had may more fully & at large appear.

So have & to hold said just seventh part of 1200 acres of land as it is devided & undivided with all and singular the appurtenances thereunto belonging or in any ways appurtaining unto them the said Benjamin William and Jacob Codebec their heirs and assignes and to the only proper use benefit and behoof of them the said Benjamin William & Jacob Codebec their heirs executors and administrators and assignes that whereas the said Jacob Codebec has mortgaged the above said land unto Peter Guymard the 14th inst for the consideration of the above said. Now if the above said Benjamin Codebec William Codebec and Jacob Codebec do pay and release said mortgage with the interest and what said land shall be balanced appraised by three men (indifferently chosen) to be worth more than said money Said Benjamin William & Jacob Codebec shall pay the releasing said mortgage and interest that that money or overplush shall be devided amongst all my natural children by name Benjamin William Jacobus Marytie Elsie Helena Abraham En Naomie In equal shares.

The said Benjamin William and Jacob paying the yearly quit due upon said lands then this deed of bargaine and saile to be in full power and virtue.

In testimony whereof the said Jacob Codebec has hereunto set his hand and affisced his seale this 15 day of February in the 12 year of his majesties Reigne Annoq Dom 1725/6.

The word (the 14th inst) was interhned between the 26th & 27th lines before execution of the presents.

J Codebec SS Sealed and delivered in the presence of us Joseph Wheeler Jno Crooke June Jacobus Swartwout Jr.

PIONEER DAYS

These sturdy young people, ambitious, enterprising, accustomed to and delighting in the hardships of frontier life, found in this valley and at this place an ideal spot for their purpose. They determined to place themselves and their families beyond the realms of oppression and persecution, to live as free as the air they breathed, at a point relatively near, where their Huguenot countrymen had settled at Esopus and New Paltz. Game was abundant. Fish were in the streams in quantities. The soil was fertile, productive and easy of cultivation. The native inhabitants were kindly disposed and peaceable. Could anything be more alluring to these after their experience in their native land? Tradition relates that they were happy and contented in these new homes for many years. They were governed by a Christian sentiment and duty. Honor for honest industry abounded. Every person was comforted and ennobled by a "peaceful, pure and stimulating atmosphere of personal and religious freedom."

The typical pioneer's home has been described as a log house on sloping ground, on the brow of a hill, facing and overlooking the level meadow land, from which a path led up to its front door, which was about in the middle of the front of the house. Small high windows are on either side of it. Directly opposite the front is the back door, larger, wider and level with the ground. It opens against the sloping ground so that wood may be carried or rolled in or that the huge back log—the foundation for the fire—may be drawn in by a horse for the great wide fireplace which fills up one end of the single room—the "fire room"—the general living room. Across the ends of the house, logs surround the great stone chimney and are morticed in with the side logs. Between and around these clay and earth fill in the crevices.

Before the days when leaded window glass was first imported from England, thick oiled paper formed their semi-opaque windows. Sun-dials and hour glasses marked the time.

The ceilings were low, the stairs were short and steep. Ladders led to sleeping rooms above. The small cellars contained family supplies to supplement the food furnished by hunting and fishing, in which the Indian residents joined most willingly.

Indian trails widened to foot paths, as every one walked. Later travel by horseback was the custom, and pack horses carried their baggage, food and household effects—canoes and boats were of some service. For light, a bundle of yellow pine knots was burned in a corner of the large fireplace. This "candle wood" would be fastened there between flat stones. Later oil obtained from different sources was burned, as also tallow in betty lamps or brown bettys (shallow pewter or metal dishes two or three inches in diameter with projecting nose over which the wick hangs).

Phoebe lamps were similar but had a second shallow saucer to catch the drip. Later candles were made by dipping, afterwards by moulds. The pale brittle green bayberry candles from the taller shrub or candleberry tree gave most fragrant odor, while later, the brighter better light of the spermaceti candles was of service.

In the latter part of the 17th century, during the active lives of the second and third generations, the lands of the patent were allotted to individual ownership. The several owners then built substantial stone houses at nearby points in the valley. The "Gumaer stone house" of the present day was built. The "Cuddeback stone house," now standing, near the log house by the highway, near a small run of water just south of Port Clinton and about one mile due north of pioneers knoll, was built by Jacob Caudebec and his sons.

This has been occupied by six generations of the Cuddeback family. It is still firm and substantial and a comfortable home. The Swartwout's possessed Seneyaghquan.

These stone houses, generally irregularly rectangular, were most substantially built. Entrance was usually through a large double door, horizontally divided, opening into a large "fire room" at one end, while at the other end of the house was a smaller room, used as a dining room or a "state bed room," where a "Slawbank" or a "half headed bed" was ever ready for the visitor.

The large heavy "lug pole" was replaced later by the light moveable iron crane with its iron hooks, pots and kettles in the great broad fireplace. Andirons and creepers were later added to the household equipment. The ceilings showed great logs and rafters rough hewn and supporting a board floor or roof with its heavy bark covering.

The attic, beside providing sleeping apartments, had near the chimney, a room with an opening to chimney and place to smoke bacon, ham and beef; also a room for grains, storage, etc.

The large deep cellars contained bins for potatoes, apples, turnips, beets, etc., barrels for salted beef, pork, game and fish—tubs of sausage, headcheese, etc., and firkins of butter, eggs—shelves filled with fruit, etc., barrels for cider, vinegar, etc.

In the earlier years, the tables were of boards and the dishes, platters, etc., were mostly of wood, so were the trenches, the borols, the tankards, the spoons of laurel wood and the plates of birch bark. Bottles and drinking cups and noggins of leather and sometimes of the thin hard shell of the gourd of horn. Later pewter dishes were substituted. Food