Stephentown from History of Rensselaer County New York

Book: 

 Pg 451:  Stephentown was named for Stephen Van Rensselaer, formed from Rensselaerawyck on 29 Mar 1784.

The town was first settled about 1765, by pioneers from Connecticut, and Rhode Island who entered town at the southeast corner and located upon the rocky hills there.  Asa and William Douglas settled there in 1765-66, but others believe the first settlement was made by Elnathan Sweet, Nathaniel

P 454:  East of Kinderhook Creek, from north to south are the lots of many including C. Sweet.  

Pathmasters of the town in 1784 included Samuel Sweet.  

P 499:  Burying Places, the Old Baptist Cemetery on the hill back of Stephentown village is one of the oldest in the town, and contains the remains of many of the first settlers of the town.  It was probably laid out about the time of the formation of the church, or in 1795 or 1796.  Among the stones still standing in the yard are those of Rufus Sweet, died April 11, 1850, aged 84; ... Elnathan Sweet, died Sept 25, 1819, in his 73 year; ...   (Rufus is the son of Elnathan in this cemetery)

David Sweet and Mercy Spencer are the parents of Elnathan Sweet Sr. as well as the (green) Amos Sweet line, which does not turn out to be our line - having found the names of children in a school record.  Elnathan Sweet Sr and Mehitabel Rogers are the parents of Elnathan Sweet Jr, Rufus Sweet . 

Epidemic 1813

Page 510:  The year following, in 1813, an epidemic made its appearance in the valley of the Hoosick, and swept through the country like a tornado.  The inhabitants of the valley had, from the earliest settlement, been much favored in health.  Very few cases of those complaints that generally afflict people of new countries, such as ague, bilious complaints, etc.  But few deaths had occurred comparative to the humber of inhabitants; but when the epidemic made its appearance it was but the warning of the near approach of the angel of death.

  "There was little or no exception as to age; the young and athletic fell before the destroyer.  The grand lever of human greatness broke at the silent touch of this awful disease.  Mourning as in almost every house; but few families escaped.  Few cases were cured; the knowledge of the physicians was altogether too limited to stay the fever of this raging epidemic.  The habiliments of mourning were everywhere, and the wail of widows and orphans not infrequent.  It made its appearance near midwinter, and continued till warm weather."

Page 511:

The road from Stephentown to Petersburgh, passing north and south through the town (of Berlin) (NY Highway 22), is the oldest existing highway in the town.  It was first an Indian trail, then the settlers' pathway through the wilderness, and finally a public highway.  The Green Hollow Turnpike, running from Albany to Williamstown, east and west through the town, is probably nearly as ancient.  The Harlem Extension Railroad passes north and south through the town, having stations at North, Centre, and South Berlin.  

Town of Hoosick:  

Page 361:

At the close of the French-and-Indian war in 1760, the country extended from the Walloomsac, near the junction of the Little Hoosick with the Hoosick, was covered with a dense forest of oak and pine, broken in only two places by the axe of the settler.  Jan Outhout had some time before 1754 erected a dwelling just within the present boundaries of the village of Hoosick Falls, on land afterwards owned by Henry Barnhart.  Pitt II .. had made a clearing and built a house two miles farther south, on the farm now owned by Mr. Nicholas Brown.

  At and near the junction of the Little Hoosick with the Hoosick was the settlement known in colonial records as Hosack.  It occupied those fertile meadows lying between ...

The legal description of the town from the revised statutes of the State:  "The town of Hoosick shall contain all that part of said county bounded northerly and casterly by the bounds of the county, southerly by Petersburgh and Frafton, and westly by Pittstown."

  The title to the soil in this town is derived through three original petents, the Hoosick, the Walloomsac, and the Schneider.

  The Hoosick Patent.  This was granted June 3, 1688 by Thomas Dongan

  The Walloomsac Patent.  This tract, lying north of the Hoosick but extending farther east, was granted June 15, 1739, to Edward Collins, James ....This patent conveyed about 12,000 acres lying along the Walloomsac River, partly in what is now Washington County and parly in the county of Rensselaer.

  The Schneider Patent.  July 8, 1761, land "bounded northwardly by the patent of Wallumshack, southwardly by the patent of Rensselaerwyck, westwardly by the patent of Hoseck, and eastwardly by other vacant lands, containing about 10,000.  

Hoosick is divided into two nearly equal parts by the Hoosick River.  This is an old historis stream, whose valley was the war-path along which the French and Indians made their stealthy marches upon the villages of New England.  This river, having received the waters of the Little Hoosick just within the town of Petersburgh, enters this town a little east of the central point of the southern boundary, and flows slightly west of north until it reaches the line of White Creek..