The Congers are first mentioned as settlers in Berne, Albany county, New York, about 1790. They are descendants of the Vermont family who lived in the town of Danby, where Gershom Conger was an early settler. He married Frances Ballard, of Tinmouth, and was an influential and worthy man of that town. Children: Isaac, Enoch, Ashen, Gershom, William, Ruth and Dorcas.
(II) William, son of Gershom and Frances (Ballard) Conger, was born in 1790, near Reidsville, town of Berne, Albany county, New York. Here the Conger homestead was located, lying in the eastern part of the town. The improvements were yet crude, but William considerably improved his farm and prospered. He was a Whig in politics, and a Methodist, being one of the pioneer members of the Berne congregation. He married Hannah Babcock, born in Berne, died in Albany, aged eighty-one years, long surviving her husband. Children:
- Catherine A., married Elias Reynolds, a farmer of the Helderbergs; child,
- Eugene, married Leonora Irving, who survives him, with daughters, Catherine A. and Blanche.
- William H., of further mention.
- Almira, married Morgan Hungerford, at attorney-at-law of Albany, where he died; children:
- Emma, married William Winne, whom she survives, a resident of Troy, New York, with daughter Audna;
- Jessie, married William Bender, then of Albany, now resident of Greater New York, has son Clarence;
- Hannah, married George Atherton, now of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has daughter Olive.
- Hannah, married (first) Chester Flagler; child, Victoria, married George Tubbs, and had daughter Grace, married and lives in East Durham; married (second) William Wilson; children: Rev. William Conger and Josephine. Rev. William Conger Wilson, Methodist minister of Broadalbin, New York, married Minnie Cook and has Leora; Josephine Wilson married DeWitt Benjamin, a merchant of Stamford, New York, and has a son Guy.
- James Enos, died, aged forty-five, January 9, 1875, unmarried.
- Josephine Amelia, born in Berne, Albany county, New York, 1842, died in Albany, 1904; educated in Female Academy, Albany, and a member for many years of First Presbyterian Church. She married Dr. William Morgan, born in Albany, 1842, died there 1898; graduate from Albany Medical College, class of 1868; some years later succeeded his brother in the insurance business, in which he became very successful; was active in local politics as a Republican. Children:
- William Jr., born 1874, postgraduate of Yale, class of 1896, Ph.D., now professor of chemistry of University of California, Berkeley, California; married Charlotte Lansing and has sons, Alan and Conger.
- James Pettit, born March 19, 1876, graduate of high school, class of 1894, succeeded to his father's business; married Mary A. Chandler, no issue.
(III) William H., son of William and Hannah (Babcock) Conger, was born on the farm in Berne, January 27, 1824, died at his home in New Scotland, September 7, 1910. He was a farmer of his native town until 1850, when he purchased and removed to a farm of two hundred acres in New Scotland, near the village of Unionville. He became a man of abundant substance and a leader in his town. His natural powers of conversation and argument were unusual and were enhanced by a mind well-stored by serious study and wide reading. His manly character and openhanded generosity were proverbial. None were ever turned away empty-handed, and in his will he remembered those whose only claim was having been in his employ. His lifelong abstinence from the common habits of tobacco and liquor using was well known and widely commented upon. He was an earnest, zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a liberal supporter of all Christian and charitable societies. Politically he was a Republican, but never sought public office.
He married (first) in 1847, in Berne, New York, Louisa Hotaling, born in the Helderbergs, August 25, 1829, died May 9, 1872. She was in full sympathy with her husband in his church and benevolent work and his valued co-worker in all things. She was a daughter of Aaron and Mary (Rogers) Hotaling, of Albany county. Mary (Rogers) Hotaling died in middle life, and Aaron married a second wife, later removing to Albany, where he was engaged in the ice business. He had five children, the only survivor (1910) being Hiram Hotaling, born March 28, 1828, who resides with his widowed daughter, Anna (Hotaling) Saxton, in Albany. William H. Conger married (second) in New Scotland, March 5, 1874, Mrs. Hannah Eliza (Hotaling) Oliver, born in New Scotland, January 9, 1832. There she was reared and educated. She married (first) John A. Oliver, who died in the prime of life, leaving a daughter, Catherine M., born April 2, 1852; she married John M. Van DerZee, born in New Scotland, June 6, 1849, a carpenter contractor of Schenectady. They have living children:
- Sarah Elizabeth, unmarried, general secretary of Young Women's Christian Association of Worcester. Massachusetts;
- Nettie M.. married William Glen, of Elmsmere, New York, and has William O., John E., Agnes A., Paul L., deceased, and Elizabeth.
Mrs. Conger survives her husband and resides with her daughter in Schenectady, retaining to a remarkable degree her youthful vigor and giving little evidence of her seventy-nine years. She continues her membership in the Reformed church, of which she is a lifelong member. She is a daughter of Tunis W. and Magdalena (Winne) Hotaling, of New Scotland, who were married by Dominie Van Housen, who also christened the wife Magdalena. After marriage some years Tunis W. and Magdalena Hotaling removed to Rotterdam, Schenectady county, where he died at the age of seventy-four years, she at sixty-five years. They were both communicants of the Reformed church. Tunis W. was a son of William Hotaling, who came to Albany county from Holland with two brothers and settled on adjoining farms south of Feurabush. This was prior to the revolution. They were a thrifty family and succeeded well in their new home. William Hotaling was twice married and had issue by both wives. Magdalena Winne, wife of Tunis W. Hotaling, was the daughter of Adam and Christianna (La Grange) Winne, early settlers of New Scotland. She was of French ancestry, and he of Dutch. Tunis W. and Magdalena (Winne) Hotaling were the parents of thirteen children:
- ————, died in infancy.
- Adam, a farmer of Rotterdam, Schenectady county; married Sarah Allen, who survives him.
- Hannah Eliza, married (first) John A. Oliver; (second) William H. Conger.
- William, of Fullers Station, now retired; married Elizabeth Fuller, deceased.
- Francis, died in South Dakota, a farmer; married and left issue.
- Simeon W., deceased; married Annie M. Fitch, now a resident of Albany, and second time a widow.
- Garret, now of Syracuse, New York; married Jane Bogart, deceased, five children.
- Christianna, married James W. Wilmet, both deceased, also their only daughter.
- John, of Victor, New York; married Jeanette Bennett; three children.
- Mary, deceased; married Walter Bond; two children.
- Eleanor Van Derveer, married Alexander Veeder, of Rotterdam, Schenectady county, New York; two living children.
- Isaac, of Schenectady; married Julia Chapman: child, Ira.
- Peter J., deceased; married Ella Vedder, a resident of Schenectady; child, George.
William H. Conger had by his first marriage the following children:
- Emerette, of further mention.
- Hannah A., born in New Scotland July 24, 1851; married Garrett Van Derpoel, a retired farmer, now of Delmar, New York; children: Conger and Chester, the former died at the age of eleven years.
- William A., of further mention.
Two granite shafts mark the resting places of William H. Conger and family in the burial plot on his own farm.
(IV) Emerette, eldest child of William H. and Louisa (Hotaling) Conger, was born September 23, 1849, in Berne, Albany county, New York. She was one year old when her parents settled in New Scotland, where she was reared, educated and married, February 26, 1873, Taylor McMillen, born in New Scotland, March 7, 1849, son of Henry and Mary Jane (Taylor) McMillen. Henry McMillen was the son of Alexander McMillen, who died in New Scotland, and is buried in the Presbyterian churchyard. For the past ten years Taylor McMillen and wife have resided at the Conger homestead, he having charge of the estate. They are both members of the Presbyterian church, and Mr. McMillen is a strong Republican. They have no children.
(IV) William A., son of William H. and Louisa (Hotaling) Conger, was born in the town of New Scotland. Albany county, New York, November 2, 1853. He was well educated in youth, and has spent his active years in the town of his birth. A man of means, he has not actively pursued any special line of activity, but has lived more the life of a country gentleman. He has always been an active worker in the Republican party and aided in county management as district president of the county committee. He is now a resident of Albany, where he retired in 1910. He married, December 13, 1883, Sarah E., daughter of Rev. Alexander and Sarah A. (Barriclo) Millspaugh. Children:
- William H., born January 3, 1885; graduated at Albany Medical College, M.D., class of 1908, now practicing his profession at Tivoli, New York. He married Iva Brown, of Fort Plain, New York.
- Alexander M., born February 18, 1887; graduated at Rutgers' College, classical department, class of 1910, now studying for the ministry at Princeton University Theological Seminary.
- Mabel, born March 6, 1889, died July 12, 1909.
- Bertha, born June 14, 1894, attends Girls Academy, Albany.
- Irving B., born October 7, 1896, died August 31, 1899.
(The Millspaugh Line)
This name is found on the early records of Orange county as Miltzpatch, Miltzpach and Milsbagh. The emigrant was from Germany and came to the United States accompanied by a grown-up family. The valley of the Walkill was settled by German, Dutch and Huguenot emigrants, who, frugal and industrious, very soon became possessed of competence and wealth. The Millspaugh family settled in the town of Montgomery, Orange county, New York, about 1730. They were from Holland and Protestant in religion, from which they suffered persecution which led them to emigrate to America. Jacob, the father, was evidently an old man, as the records do not mention any land purchased by him. The printed records of the family begins with his son, Matys (Matthias).
(II) Matthias, son of Jacob Millspaugh (Miltzpach), was born in Germany, as the journal of the New York assembly for 1735 shows a bill for the naturalization of several persons, among them Matys Milsbagh, Philip Milsbagh and two members of the Crist family. This would indicate that he had reached manhood before coming to America in 1730. Philip was evidently his brother. In 1738 Henry Crist, Stevanus Crist and Matthias Miltzpach purchased of William Sharpus, of New York City (a patentee of the two-thousand-acre tract), four hundred and forty-two acres in the town of Montgomery on the north side of Walkill, opposite the later day village of Montgomery, a little back of the stream. They had previously purchased two hundred acres, known as the "Crist Mill Lot." The land was of the finest quality, deep and fertile. They divided their purchase and at once began to clear and cultivate. The first home was dug out of the side of a hill and there the family was comfortably housed until the dugout was replaced by a house of logs. They were an energetic family and soon were in fairly comfortable circumstances. They were members of the Dutch Reformed church, and with their neighbors of that faith erected a log church in which they worshipped for many years. Matthias married Elsie Kimbark, daughter daughter of one of the numerous French Huguenots, who like their Holland co-religionists found the Walkill Valley a safe and pleasant refuge. The Kimbarks first settled in Ulster county near Kingston, but later joined their brethren in the Walkill Valley, where they afterward lived and died.
(III) Charles, son of Matthias and Elsie (Kimbark) Millspaugh, was born in the town of Crawford, then Montgomery, Orange county, New York, January 18, 1781; the town of Crawford was erected from Montgomery in 1823. He received a share of his father's estate to which he added by purchase, becoming a prosperous farmer and highly respected citizen. He married Mehitable Van Tassel, born in Orange county, New York, August 9, 1781, a descendant of Jan Cornelius Van Tassel, who founded a conspicuous family particularly prominent in the revolutionary war. There is on file in the state archives at Albany the original petition for relief presented to Governor Clinton, February 9, 1781, which among other things recites:
Notwithstanding the enemy have not left us one single head of our cattle, furniture, etc., but has plundered us of all, we beseech that you will look with an eye of pity on us and have some consideration for our past services, and that a years imprisonment and five years exile, the ruin of our fortunes, and the submission with which we have born these punishments and the zeal which we are still ready to show for our country's cause, if your Excellency and the Senate and the Assembly do not make some provision for us, we and our families must inevitably perish.
Signed
ISAAC VAN TASSEL, six in family, released from imprisonment.
DANIEL VAN TASSEL, five in family, released from imprisonment.
ABRAHAM VAN TASSEL, seven in family, released from imprisonment.
JACOB VAN TASSEL, seven in family, and still a prisoner.
Twenty-four of the family were regularly enlisted privates and officers of the revolutionary army. Children of Charles and Mehitable Millspaugh: Maria, Howard, Isaac, Alexander, of further mention, Leander, Albert, William, Charles.
(IV) Rev. Alexander Millspaugh, son of Charles and Mehitable (Van Tassel) Millspaugh, was born in Orange county, New York, town of Montgomery, January 12, 1810, died at Feurabush (Jerusalem), town of New Scotland, Albany county, New York, December 5, 1885. He was educated in the schools of Orange county and prepared for the ministry at Rutgers Theological Seminary, New Brunswick, New Jersey, from whence he was graduated with honors, class of 1842. He was ordained a minister of the Dutch Reformed church, and spent his subsequent life engaged in that holy profession. He was for twenty-five years pastor over the Middletown church, Monmouth county, New Jersey, and during his quarter of a century in that field built up a strong congregation and did good and faithful work for his Master. He was not only an acceptable pulpit orator, but the "beloved pastor," known far and near in the county. His second pastorate was assumed in response to a call from the congregation in New Scotland, which he accepted and where he passed a life of great usefulness, continuing in the active ministry until his death. He married Sarah A. Barriclo, born in Marlboro, New Jersey, August 14, 1818, died in the village of Unionville. She was a devoted Christian wife and mother, nobly seconding her husband's efforts and working hand in hand with him for the betterment of humanity. Children, all born in Middletown:
- Huldah C., married James Baird, and resides in Marlboro, New Jersey; has sons, Alexander and Carlton A.
- Charles H., now a real estate dealer of Brooklyn, New York; married Jennie Conover; children: Lafayette C., Josephine S., Eleanor C. and Charles E.
- Harriet, resides in New York City, unmarried.
- John B., now a hardware merchant of Spokane, Washington; married and has Sloan and Barriclo.
- Sarah E., married William A. Conger and resides in Albany, New York (see Conger IV).
- Catherine L. T., died in early childhood.