Town of Fremont - History page 5

descendants remain. Thomas S. Ward was a lawyer who had previously practiced in Jeffersonville. The Hardenbergh descendants live in the town of Rockland. John Beck has a grandson by the same name in Jeffersonville. Van Benschoten was a land owner I think. The name was common among the Hudson River Dutch. The Cannons were Irish and perhaps the only Irish family in Fremont at this early date.
Personally I’m not quite clear on the early settlement near Long Eddy. The Erie railroad established a switch there and listed it on its records as Basket Switch. This can be assumed to be named after the place it was meant to serve. A similar situation had developed when the O.& W. Passed through Rockland township. There was no Livingston Manor. The railroad depot established there was called Morrston Depot and served Morrston, a settlement about two miles east. Like Morston, Basket was crossed by the railroad on a trestle and a switch was quite impossible. Basket in its day was quite a settlement. Only a few homes remain today.

Taylor Builds Erie Station

In 1855 a post office was established at Long Eddy and a ferry was organized to carry traffic over the river from the Pennsylvania side. In 1856 a Mr. Taylor built a railroad station at his own expense and served a year as agent for the Erie without pay. Taylor must have been only one of the many very enterprising men who settled at Long Eddy shortly after the mid-century judging from the many large scale undertakings attempted at that place. In 1866 the Delaware Bridge Company was organized and chartered. The stock was held by residents of Long Eddy and Little Equinunk, Pa. Solon Chapin took the contract to build the bridge. He became involved with the directors and quit work on the bridge. Martin A. Smith got control of the stock, new directors were elected, fired Chapin, and had the bridge finished - but it is no more.
Then the residents of Long Eddy had visions of the place becoming a place of considerable importance to rank with Binghamton, Elmira and other points along the Erie. Preparatory to this eventuality, D.D. McKoon and F.G. Barnes secured a charter from the state legislature incorporating the place as Douglas City. Thus came into existence the only city of which Sullivan County could ever boast. If Douglas City ever had a mayor, I have not found his name. The first officers were trustees - Charles G. Armstrong, Dennis D. McKoon, John McDuffee, Charles D. Brand, and Ulysses S. Tyler; assessors - George Guild and Joseph Dudgeon; collector - William T. Kellam; police justice - Samuel McKoon; treasurer - Henry H. McKoon; street commissioner - J. Wesley Tyler; police commissioner - Wallace Young.