Editing Orange County, New York (section)

==History==
Orange County was officially established on November 1, 1683 when the [[Province of New York]] was divided into twelve counties.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcmassbookdig.ourcountryitspeo00smit/?sp=15&r=-0.437,0.252,1.924,0.868,0|title=Our country and its people; a descriptive and biographical record of Madison County, New York|chapter=1. Descriptive of the Subject|editor-first=John E.|editor-last=Smith|year=1899|publisher=The Boston History Company}}</ref>  Each of these was named to honor a member of the [[British royal family]], and Orange County took its name from the [[Prince of Orange]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orangecountygov.com/819/About-Orange-County|title=About Orange County|publisher=Orange County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation}}</ref> who subsequently became King [[William III of England]]. As originally defined, Orange County included only the southern part of its present-day territory, plus all of present-day [[Rockland County, New York|Rockland County]] further south. The northern part of the present-day county, beyond [[Moodna Creek]], was then a part of neighboring [[Ulster County]].

At that date, the only [[European American|European]] inhabitants of the area were a handful of [[Dutch Americans|Dutch]] colonists in present-day Rockland County, and the area of modern Orange County was entirely occupied by the native [[Munsee]] people. Due to its relatively small population, the original Orange County was not fully independent and was administered by [[Manhattan|New York County]].

The first European settlers in the area of the present-day county arrived in 1685. They were a party of around twenty-five families from [[Scotland]], led by David Toshach, the [[Laird]] of [[Monzievaird]], and his brother-in-law Major Patrick McGregor, a former officer of the [[French Army]]. They settled in the [[Hudson Highlands]] at the place where the Moodna Creek enters the [[Hudson River]], now known as [[New Windsor, New York|New Windsor]]. In 1709, a group of [[German Palatine]] refugees settled at [[Newburgh, New York|Newburgh]]. They were Protestants from a part of Germany along the Rhine that had suffered during the religious wars. Queen Anne's government arranged for passage from England of nearly 3,000 Palatines in ten ships. Many were settled along the Hudson River in work camps on property belonging to [[Robert Livingston the Elder|Robert Livingston]]. In 1712, a 16-year-old indentured servant named Sarah Wells<ref name="Boyd Cole 2017">{{Cite book|last=Boyd Cole|first=Julie|title=Sarah, An American Pioneer|year=2017|isbn=978-1981483334}}</ref> from Manhattan led a small party of three Munsee men and three hired carpenters into the undeveloped interior of the county and created the first settlement in the Town of Goshen on the Otter Kill. She was falsely promised by her master Christopher Denne 100 acres bounty for taking on the dangerous mission to make a land claim for him. He never gave her the land. But, she did fall in love and married Irish immigrant William Bull there in 1718 and they had 12 children and built the [[Bull Stone House]]. In 1716, the first known Black woman resident was recorded in Orange County. Her name was Mercy<ref name="Boyd Cole 2017"/>{{rp|108}} and she was enslaved by Christopher Denne at his settlement on the Otter Kill. Additional immigrants came from Ireland; they were of Scots and English descent who had been settled as planters there.

During the [[American Revolutionary War]] the county was divided into Loyalists, Patriots, and those who remained neutral. The local government supported the Revolution, or "The Cause." Some residents posed as Loyalists but were part of a secret spy network set up by Gen. George Washington. Capt. William Bull III<ref>{{Cite book|last=McWhorter|first=Emma|title=The History and Genealogy of the William Bull and Sarah Wells Family of Orange County, New York|publisher=T. E. Henderson|year=1974|isbn=|location=Goshen Library}}</ref> of the Town of Wallkill (which was then a part of Ulster County) served in the Continental Army with Gen. Washington in '''Spencer's [[Extra Continental regiments and Additional Continental regiments|Additional Continental Regiment]]'''. His cousin was revealed after the war to be part of Washington's spy ring. His brother Moses Bull raised 20 men from the Town of Wallkill to service with his brother. Capt. Bull was promoted twice for valor on the battlefield, once in the [[Battle of Monmouth]] where he was part of Lord Stirling's men who famously saved the day after Gen. Lee's retreat. Capt. Bull [https://valleyforgemusterroll.org/ wintered] at [[Valley Forge]] with several men from Orange County. Capt. Bull retired from the Army in 1781 and returned to the Town of Wallkill where he built [[William Bull III House|Brick Castle]]. Hundreds of men from Orange County served in the local militia and many of them fought in the Battle of Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton. However, many residents remained loyal to King George III, include members of Capt. Bull's family. Many in the county were divided within families. Capt. Bull's uncle Thomas Bull was jailed for years in Goshen and then Fishkill for being a Loyalist. Resident [[Claudius Smith]] was a Loyalist marauder whose team robbed and terrorized citizens; he was hanged in Goshen in 1779 for allegedly robbing and killing Major Nathaniel Strong; two of his sons were also executed for similar crimes. Capt. Bull's cousin Peter Bull of Hamptonburgh served in the Orange County regiment and was charged with guarding the roads at night from Smith. The Mathews family of [[Blooming Grove, New York|Blooming Grove]] were active Loyalists; Fletcher Mathews was a sympathizer and sometime associate of Smith,<ref>Public Papers of George Clinton, First Governor of New York, 1777-1795, 1801-1804. 1900, page 634</ref> and his brother [[David Mathews]] was Mayor of [[New York City]] during its British occupation for the entirety of the war.

In 1798, after the American Revolutionary War, the boundaries of Orange County changed. Its southern corner was used to create the new Rockland County, and in exchange, an area to the north of the Moodna Creek was added, which had previously been in Ulster County. This caused a reorganization of the local administration, as the original county seat had been fixed at [[Orangetown, New York|Orangetown]] in 1703, but this was now in Rockland County. Duties were subsequently shared between Goshen, which had been the center of government for the northern part of Orange County, and Newburgh, which played a similar role in the area transferred from Ulster County. The county court was established in 1801. It was not until 1970 that Goshen was named as the sole county seat.

Due to a [[New York – New Jersey Line War|boundary dispute between New York and New Jersey]], the boundaries of many of the southern towns of the county were not definitively established until the 19th century.
<ref name="sources">{{multiref
|{{cite book|last=Headly|first=Russel|year=1908|title=The History of Orange County New York|publisher=Middletown, N.Y., Van Deusen and Elms |url=https://archive.org/stream/historyoforangec00head#page/n5/mode/2up}}
|{{cite book|last1=Skeel|first1=Adelaide|last2=Barclay|first2=David|year=1900|title=Major Patrick MacGregorie|publisher=Newburgh, N.Y. |url=https://archive.org/stream/majorpatrickmacg00skee#page/n1/mode/2up}}
|{{cite book|last=Green|first=Frank Bertangue|year=1886|title=The History of Rockland County|url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924028832974#page/n5/mode/2up}}
}}</ref>