Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.
Milliken
On this date, 250 years ago, John Millican [Milliken, Millikin] was one of eight shoppers at the Coldengham Store. In addition to buying fabric and ribbon, he moved some money from his store account to that of his widowed sister, Sarah Scott. This interesting set of transactions is shown below.
This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for more of an introduction to the store. You should also read this article which appeared in the Journal of the Orange County Historical Society.
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| Image of DayBook page containing transactions for John Millican and his sister, Widow [Sarah] Scott |
One of the Milliken farms was bounded by land of Samuel Campbell, the author's 6th great-grandfather and the father of the eponym of this blog...Joel Campbell. It was located on the current Rt. 208 between 17K and Walden. When Samuel Campbell's children sold the farm in 1793 the property description included a border on the north that extended "... three Chains and fifty Links to the line of the land belonging to the heirs of Alexander Millikin deceased ..." This location is to the southwest of the home of 'A Milligan' shown on the 1798 map of Montgomery (reproduced in previous articles). This makes me believe that this property belonged to the patriarch, Alexander, and not his son, Alexander.
The members of the Milliken family mentioned in the Daybook are John, his brother (James), and sister (Sarah Scott). In a 1779 tax assessment, John, Robert and Alexander are mentioned. More on them later.
The transcription of the Daybook transactions is shown below. The first transaction is a credit to Sarah Scott's account of 1 6 1. The third transaction is a debit to John Milliken's account for that same amount. This is how money was moved around without the use of cash. The store acted almost as a bank. Colden explained that John McClaughrey had paid Milliken by giving cash to Colden which was credited to Milliken's account.
The second transaction of 10 pence (0 0 10) appears to be cash paid by Milliken and credited to his sister's account to pay off her account in full. That zero balance would have been recorded in a separate account book which has not survived.
The last two items of Baize (a course flannel with a long nap) and ribbon were debited as Sundries to Millikens account #212.
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About ten years from this date, John and his brothers would be fighting the War for Independence in Hanover companies of militia. James served as Captain of a company that normally contained two of Samuel Campbell's sons. Nathaniel Milliken served as the company lieutenant. On October 6, 1777, both James and Nathaniel were killed at the Battle of Fort Montgomery [Riker, Evacuation Day]. It was one of the darkest days for this community near the Colden Store.
A stone marker stands in the Goodwill Church cemetery with the engraving:
"In memory of Alexander Milliken of Scotlands Armored (Armorial) family and his son Capt. James of the Committee of Safety, Capt. Nathaniel of the New Windsor Minute Men the officers killed in battle at Fort Montgomery 10/6/1777-Alexander-John-Robert-Hugh-soldiers of the colonial revolutionary Wars" [courtesy of Maude Conklin, interment.net].=================
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