TARPENING! July 17, 1768 at the Colden Store, Coldengham, New York

Sunday, July 17, 1768
Coldengham, New York
Store of Cadwallader Colden, Jr.

Tarpening

Samuel Tarpening [Tearpening] purchased salt, sugar, tea, rum, and a set of six cups and saucers at the Colden Store on this day, 250 years-ago.

July 17, 1768 Entry in Colden Store Day Book for Samuel Tearpening. Courtesy of N-Y Historical Society.

For two weeks-in-a-row the store appeared to have sales on a Sunday. Sunday sales were rare.  I suspect there may have been some occasional 'misdating' of pages by Colden himself as he reviewed the pages of the DayBook at the end of a month, but these sales appear to have been truly on the 17th as the dating is on the item itself and not just on the page header.

This day began one of the busiest weeks recorded in the DayBook. The week consumed twenty
pages or about 5% of the book. It was about three times busier that the average week. Just
about every day saw more than twenty customers visit the store. The reasons for this increase in business are not totally clear.

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This article is one in a series of a daily accountings of Colden Store transactions. Be sure you read the first installment for 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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The Tarpening (Terpening, Tearpening) surname appears fifteen times in the DayBook, including Bondawine (4), John (6), and Samuel (5).  The DayBook indicates that Bondawine and Samuel were brothers.

A google search for 'Bondawine Tarpening' yields five results, all of which refer to my book, Yeoman of the Revolution or my blog articles.  Interesting. Did I just make him up?  I hope not. The National Archives confirms that a 'Bondewine Tarpenning' was a Captain of a company in Hasbrouck's Ulster Militia Regiment which included Joel Campbell (eponym of this blog) and his sons. This company was a 'Newburgh' company that appeared to recruit from the eastern sections of Hanover Precinct (the jurisdiction in which the store was located).

In January of 1777, Bondawine was with his militia company guarding the pass at Ramapo.  In July of 1777, his company did regular duty at Forts Montgomery and Clinton. Presumably he was with this company on Constitution Island on October 6, 1777 when the two forts fell to the British. Constitution Island was close enough to see the smoke and hear the cannon of the battle, but too far away to know what was happening or provide assistance.

The appearance of the Tarpening family at the store indicates the large geographical area covered by the store. It drew customers from Shawangunk to Newburgh and from Little Britain to the current hamlet of Wallkill.

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