Dutchess County, New York is within a two hour drive of NYC........Pastoral and a Country home location for many City residents today, in the late 18th Century, Wolves and Black Bears called this land their home

When settlers first arrived in the East Kill Valley, they came upon a rough and wild wilderness. Bears, wolves, and other dangerous wildlife roamed the thickly forestedregion. It is noted in historical records that many of the first settlers only remained therefor a short time before moving away. Therefore, little is known about many of thesepioneers.

A local account of one of these men from East Jewett further exemplifies someof the difficulties of inhabiting this land. The tale is of Timothy Lockwood who camefrom Dutchess County to live in the East Kill Valley in 1797. He is said to have retreatedalmost immediately upon arriving, after being intimidated by the howling wolves (Beach,1871).

Another man by the name of John Godsell also holds some renown with regardsto wolves, but in a different respect. Known as "Uncle John" by the locals, he was anexpert trapper. In his time, wolves were a big nuisance to sheep herders who were losingmany of their livestock to the carnivores. As a result, New York State encouraged thekilling of these wolves by passing laws which allowed towns to offer bounties for them.

John Godsell is reported to have killed between 40 and 50 wolves while residing in theEast Kill Valley. A story is told of one particular wolf which he tied up and tried to bringto the nearby town of Cairo. His goal was to cross the Cairo line with this captured wolfsince the bounty for killing a wolf differed from town to town, and in Cairo it was much higher. However, as a result of Godsell's cruel treatment, the wolf died before Godsellwas able to reach Cairo (Beach, 1871).

The East Kill is located in thepresent day town of Jewett. It begins atColgate Lake in East Jewett and flowswest. It roughly follows Rt. 23C, andthen turns south to follow Rt. 17. Iteventually spills into the SchoharieCreek near Jewett Center where Rt. 17meets Rt. 23A. The East Kill Valley was

 In 1813 a section of old Windham, encompassing current EastJewett, was broken off. In 1814, the name Hunter was given to this region. The town ofHunter currently borders Jewett, but at the time the two towns were one. It wasn't until1849 that part of Hunter as well as part of Lexington was sectioned off to form the townof Jewett. The towns name comes from a man named Freeborn G. Jewett. Freeborn was apolitician born in Connecticut who held office as U.S. Representative from New Yorkfrom 1831-1833 and Supreme Court Judge from 1847-1848 (Beach, 1871); (Kestenbaum,2005).
originally part of the town of Windham. It has a history of name changes before it finallybecame known as Jewett.

Early History of the East Kill Valley(Dutchess County, New York)