Category: history
-
Backwoods Butchershop
Many years ago when I was a student at the Culinary Institute of America the scheme was that the newer student/chefs start off learning the basics of all things related to cuisine and by the end of your time there you are designing your own restaurant and cooking in one…
-
License to Thrill?
“The Clove” is my attempt to retell part of the story of Claudius Smith’s notorious gang of terrorists, the latest and probably not the last of historical fictions to deal with the subject. Over the years, there have been more than a few variations on the story. Most published versions I…
-
The Press
I sometimes think that the news of wartime events happening in Colonial Orange County, New York was shared informally and close to home. That information important to the common folk spread by word of mouth or by the occasional screed posted to a tree. A group of yokels trying to…
-
An Indictment
Claudius Smith of Cornwall precinct in the County of Orange labourer, James Smith of the same place labourer, and Richard Smith of the same place labourer on the fourthday of August in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight at the precinctof Cornwall in the County…
-
A Timeline of Crime
“We have not thought ourselves secure for a long time. We live so scattered that they can come in the dead of night to any one family & do what they please.”
-
John Earl’s Will
Here is the last will of John Earl, which gives some insight into his accumulated property and the regard he held his family members at the end of his life. I have a special place for old John in my heart. He is my 5X Great-Grandfather. He is the first…
-
Some background on Claudius Smith
As in all things related to the Smith Gang, take with a grain of salt. SOURCE: “History of Orange County, New York” Ruttenber EM and Clark,LH. (Philadelphia: Everets and Peck, 1881) reprinted 1980 Claudius came to Knight’s Mill’s in the present town of Monroe with his father“where he grew up,…
