This image shows a mid-1800s blacksmith with his tools on the dirt road leading from the south (today’s Route 23) as it comes into Deckertown (today’s Sussex Borough). Introduced here, behind him, is the patented Deckertown Plow, perhaps not in time sequence, but also recognizing the timely and important technological advance produced locally that helped America to become the nation it is today.
Shepherd had ties to milia men killed during the Battle of Minisink during the Revolutionary War. As in the real battle, we need to expand our focus to men from both New Jersey and also include New York.
In addition, there has been some confusion in the people involved. I will try to clear this up the best that we can — there were few written records, the men were hastily gathered, unrecovered losses occurred on the battlefield, and much time passed before a more complete accounting was attempted. Also, each county and state tend to do their own research.
An important local historian for Sussex County was Charles E. Stickney (1841–1930), a Sussex County historian best known for writing Squire Stickney’s 1895 History of Sussex, New Jersey, a detailed local history originally published in the Wantage Recorder in 1895.
Some 80 years or so after the Battle of Minisink, Stickney pieced together scraps of history. He spoke of the blacksmith Abram Shepherd being killed in the battle; and that he was a Deckertown (today’s Sussex Borough) resident, thus a Sussex County loss. This is a story that we have held since.
It appears, though, that the following is a more accurate version. Abram Shepherd was from the Ridgebury contingent, in New York, who went to battle with his neighbors, including the Dunnings, Baileys, and Tustens. Shepherd was probably acting as a lieutenant, per the Hendrickson et al treatise on the battle. All these neighbors were in the Orange County (N.Y.) militia. Shepherd is the man famous for the “Split Rock” story. After being wounded in the arm, he had his comrade Jonathan Bailey tie a neckerchief around it so he could continue loading guns for his fellow soldiers until he was killed. While tradition varies on where this rock was/is, it is different than Hospital Rock where the heroic Lt Col (Doctor) Tusten was killed along with some 17 or so wounded and is a well-documented place not far from Split Rock. I wrote of Tusten a few weeks ago.
In the mid-1800s historian Stickney interviewed the descendants of Abram Shepherd, Sr. One of these interviewees was an Abram Shepherd, Jr. who had relocated to New Jersey from New York state. This Abram Shepherd was a blacksmith in Deckertown and was the son of the man killed at the battle. The son carried the story of his father’s death into Sussex County history.
While investigating blacksmith Shepherd, let’s look at the legend of Van Auken. This man has been often identified as a blacksmith and schoolmaster in the Minisink settlement (near Port Jervis/Wantage border).
Jeremiah Van Auken (Blacksmith/Teacher) was murdered by Joseph Brant’s forces on July 20, 1779 — two days before the actual Battle of Minisink. When Brant raided the schoolhouse, Jeremiah Van Auken was killed and scalped in front of his students. Legend says Brant spared the children by marking their aprons with paint.
The Van Auken family was very prevalent in the Papakating and Wantage area some 200 years ago. Daniel Van Auken famously defended his “little fort” (his fortified house) during the Brant raid. Elias Van Auken was a survivor of the battle who later provided testimony for pension records.
Because Jeremiah was a blacksmith (a trade also held by the younger Abram Shepherd in Deckertown), and both families were “of the Minisink region,” oral tradition in Sussex County sometimes melds the “blacksmith who died” into one composite hero.
In summary, Abram Shepherd was an Orange County, N.Y., militia man who died during the Battle of Minisink, and his son Abram was a blacksmith in Deckertown, N.J., some years later. The Van Auken families lived in the region at a similar time, and had a loss during the Brant raid.
Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, may be contacted at billt1425@gmail.com He is the author of “Last Signer of the Declaration of Independence: Lewis Morris III.”
