M. Ressler Genealogical Database

Capt. Henry (Henderick) PAWLING (also sometimes spelled PALINGH, PAWLIN, PAWLINGH, PAELINGH, PAELDIN, PAELDING, PAELDEN, PAULIN, PAULDIN, and PAELWDIN) was probably born at Padsbury, England. He married Noeltje (also Neelije, Neeltje) ROOSA (also sometimes ROOS and ROOSE), November 3, 1676, in Ulster, Kingston County, New York. He died in 1692 in Marbletown, New York. His will was dated January 21, 1691; it was probated March 25, 1695. Noeltje ROOSA, daughter of Allert Heymans ROOSA and Wintie ARENS, was born in Holland and came with her parents from Holland in 1660. Her family is described in Chapter V, The Dutch Ancestors. Her date of birth was about 1652. I don't know when she died but would presume it was in Ulster County, New York.

Capt. PAWLING was an officer in the British Army who came to New York in the Duke of York's expedition in 1664. He was a founder of Kingston, of Marbletown and of Hurley, all in Ulster County, New York. He was an officer over the Indians in 1669, was second high sheriff of Ulster County, 1685 to 1689, aided against the Indians in 1689, and served on many high commissions.

In Brodhead's History are to be found items concerning the services of Henry PAWLING other than that of a soldier, as follows: appointed November 9, 1668, to lay out lots in the town of Esopus to induce soldiers to remain. He was a member of a commission organizing the villages of Marbleton, Hurley and Wiltyck and changing the name of Esopus to Kingston. He was on a commission which granted land to discharged soldiers in 1678. He was discharged on the disbanding of the garrison April 13, 1678, by Colonel Francis LOVELACE, who had succeeded to the command at New York three years before, and was commissioned "Captain of the foot company listed and to be listed in towns of Marbleton and Hurley and Wiltyck at Esopus." In 1676 he joined in a petition for a minister at Esopus to preach both "Inglish and Duche." He was appointed High Sheriff of Ulster County in 1684, becoming a member of the Governor's Council and Collector of Taxes for the county. A patent of land is recorded to him in Ulster County, October 26, 1676. He also made a purchase of 7000 acres in Duchess County, New York, known as the PAWLING purchase. He had a grant of land in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

Henry PAWLING, a gallant young Englishman of means, education, and enterprise, came to America in 1664, in the military expedition sent out by the Duke of York and Albany to secure the patent accorded to him in that year, by his royal brother, King Charles II.... The expedition ... sailed from Portsmouth, England, 18 May, 1664, and arrived at New Netherlands in August. By September, New Amsterdam and Fort Orange had surrendered, and the whole territory came under the control of the Duke of York and his agent and governor.... One of the earliest acts of the new government was the establishment of a garrison for protection against Indians at Esopus, later Kingston, Ulster County, and the promotion of settlements in this district. Lands were promised to the 'soldiers and all other persons who had come over into these parts with Colonel NICHOLLS,' and Mr. PAWLING was appointed, 9 November, 1668, to lay out lands at Esopus Creek to induce the former to become settlers. The garrison, of which Henry PAWLING was a member and probably an officer, was maintained until the autumn of 1669, when, all fear of Indian depredations having ceased, the troops were withdrawn from service. On 9 September of this year Sir Francis LOVELACE... as governor, appointed seven leading men of the Province a commission to 'regulate affairs at Esopus and the New Dorpes,' with Mr. PAWLING as one of the commissioners. This body... located sites for the villages of Hurley and Marbletown, heard grievances, made redress, passed ordinances for the general betterment and government of the locality and appointed officers to carry out the same. Among the latter, 'Mr. PAWLING was Voted to be ye Officer to whom ye Indyans should repaire for Redress of Injuryes in Kingston, Hurley and Marbletown.' This appointment was due, doubtless, to the fact that, while at the garrison, he had become acquainted with the Indian tongue and displayed marked ability to deal with this people....

On Easter Monday, 4 April of this year [1670], he was made Captain, with instructions 'to raise and exercise the inhabitants of Hurley and Marbleton according to the discipline of war, proclamation of this fact being forthwith made by beat of drum publiquely in the Towne of Kingston.'...

Without doubt, Captain PAWLING continued to exercise his military office, in connection with his civil one, as a court of appeals in Indian affairs, until that unexpected event, the reoccupation of New York by the Dutch in 1673. The occupation lasted only until July, 1674, when a treaty of peace restored it to English rule....

[Ulster County was created November 1, 1683.] "Two years later Captain PAWLING was appointed by the governor its High Sheriff, a position of dignity and responsibility which marked the measure of the man, and in which, for four years, he gave unqualified satisfaction....

An interesting sidelight on the character of the subject of this sketch, and his vision of men and means is to be found in the circumstance of his being, in 1666, while still in garrison service, so large a purchaser at the sale of Dr. Gysbert VAN IMBROCK's library at Esopus. This was a remarkable sale of books for the time and place, and, it is perhaps equally remarkable that the titles thereof, together with the names of the purchasers and the prices paid, have been so largely preserved. Three hundred and sixty-eight books, at a cost of 130 gulden, were bought by Mr. PAWLING, many of a religious nature, others school books. Exquisite Proofs of Human Misery, Megapolensis' Short Way, Borstius' Succinct Ideas, a French Catechism, Stories of David, and a Gardiner's Book are a few of the suggestive titles of his acquisition.....

His worldly goods and acres increased with his years.... Shortly before his decease he purchased ten thousand acres known as PAWLING's Purchase..."

See https://archive.org/stream/henrypawlingsome00kitt/henrypawlingsome00kitt_djvu.txt