The date of the robbery at the Earls (and Woodhulls). Right in the middle of a Hudson Valley summer.
Claudius Smith was 43 years old and married to Abigail Rumsey (41). They had married in 1762, and Abigail was not the mother of Claudius’s sons and fellow gang members. James Smith (18) and Richard (Dick) Smith (18, also maybe a twin?) are featured prominently in “The Clove” as well as other gang members, William Cole, Matthew Dolson, and James Flewelling. There were at least seven others who were members of the Gang, some hung with Claudius on January 22, 1779.
The patriarch of the Smith family, David Smith was 77 during the final robberies, and probably well aware of their planning and effect on his neighbors. In his younger years, and before the rebellion, he was a prominent land owner, justice of the peace, and tax collector. Now he was an old man, married to Jerusha Rumsey (54), Abigail’s sister.
John Earl (Earll, Earle, Earles) was 66 and married to Rachel Adams (62). They married in Pomfret, Rhode Island in 1732, and by the time of the burglary had seven of their grown children living within a few miles of each other in “New Cornwall”, Orange County, New York. Featured in “The Clove” I have Elizabeth (45), James and Mary (42), Samuel (39), Ezra (28), and Peter (30). John and Rachel were owners of nearly 2000 acres in the area by the time of John’s death in 1786. John, like David Smith was a prominent and respected mill and tavern owner, only a few miles from each other. I can only guess at the rivalry between the two families. I wonder if the political differences between the men were touted as reasons to choose which establishments to use. Did they advertise their allegiances with signs and flags?
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