07/11/2024
Some very interesting facts on the lives of the Ogden family, specifically David and David, Jr.
David Ogden, Sr., was a soldier of the Revolution. He was born in Dutchess County in 1764; and, although very young at the time of the war, like so many of the patriots of that day he enlisted in the cause of freedom, and was taken prisoner, not by the British, but by the Indians. For two years he lived in a wigwam with the squaw who adopted him, and then he escaped and returned to his home. During the time of his captivity he acquired great fluency in the Indian tongue, which was of great use to him in his dealings with the red men. He died in Croton in 1840, at the age of seventy-six years. His son, David Jr., who was born in that town in 1792, and died in 1858, married Sally McCall. She was born January 7, 1794 and died in 1869. They had ten children, four sons and six daughters, only four of whom are now living, namely: Linus Ogden in Croton; Susan, widow of Isaac Hitchcock, in North Carolina; Marian, widow of Pardon Howland, of Whitney's Point, N.Y.; Mary, widow of the late Julius Brownson, of Oregon.
Chauncey Ogden, son of David Jr., and his wife Sally, was born in Croton in 1824, and married Hannah D. Munn, born in the town of Franklin, October 5, 1830. She was the daughter of Reuben and Lydia (Jones) Munn, and was but eighteen years old in 1848, when she became Mrs. Ogden. She has three children still living, namely: Emma, wife of Charles Potter, of Franklin, and the mother of two sons - Albert Ogden, twenty-one years old; and Orion C., eighteen years old. Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Ogden began life as farmers, with a capital of five hundred dollars; and before the death of Mr. Ogden the property was worth several thousand dollars. In religion Mrs. Ogden is a Congregationalist.
From another source:
Of the many early settlers of this town probably none experienced the hardships and sufferings that were endured by David Ogden, who was for many years a resident of the town, and died at his residence near Croton village, and who remains lie beside those of his wife in the cemetery near that village. He was born at Fishkill, Dutchess county, in the year 1764. From this place, when he was a mere child, his parents removed to Saratoga county, and from thence to the wild and uninhabited regions of the Susquehanna valley, where they located on a farm, or made a clearing about two miles above the present village of Otego, which composed until the year 1822 a part of the town of Franklin. AT that time there were no roads, except the Indian trail or war path, which followed or ran parallel to the river.
Here the family remained two years, when the war broke out, on which account they with some other settlers filed up the valley to a place called Newtown Martain, where they remained on season and then went to Cherry Valley, where a fort had been erected to protect the settlers; the head of the family, with his twelve-year-old David, navigating a canoe up the Susquehanna, while Mrs. Ogden and a younger child drove the oxen and cow along the Indian trail beside the river. The reason Ogden's father fled was that Brant, who was then encamped at the mouth of the Unadilla river, had sent him word that if he did not immediately join the tory party, against the rebels, he would seize him and his property. This plan of Brant's was defeated by a friendly Indian, to whom Ogden had shown favors, who came to him in the night and apprised him of his danger, being obliged to travel all night to order to do it unknown to Brant. The next spring David entered the patriot army, in which his father was an orderly sergeant. While stationed at Fort Stanwix he, with seventeen others, was taken prisoner by Brant, and the party was driven off to Fort Niagara. Young Ogden became the slave of a squaw, but was at length taken to Oswego as waiter to a British officer. Here he made his escape with a comrade named Danforth, and they fled for their lives up the Oswego river, with their pursuers often but a few minutes behind By tremendous efforts they made good their escape to Fort Herkimer, on the Mohawk.
Mr. Ogden was also a soldier in the war of 1812, and at the battle of Queenstown was in the thickest of the fight, yet was not wounded, although two bullets passed through his clothing. He settled at Croton. David, his eldest son, was the father of Messrs. Chauncey, Linus and Ira Ogden. David Ogden, sen., died October 30th, 1840, aged 76 years; his wife February 2nd, 1849, aged 79 years.
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