User:JulieboydCole/sandbox

Sarah Wells Bull, b. 1696 in America, most likely in Germantown, PA. She was a recorded orphan and but likely the oldest daughter of John and Elizabeth Pittenger, both immigrants from Germany. Sarah was the first white settler of Goshen, NY, and the is believed to be the first white settler of the interior of Orange County, NY, 60 miles north of New York City in the Hudson River Valley. She was an indentured servant who agreed to a deal with her master, Christopher Denne of Manhattan, an English immigrant, to make his land claim in Orange County, NY, days before he believed Queen Anne of England was going to strip him of property rights.

In 1712, Sarah, then 16, accepted the deal Denne offered her to travel by sloop north on the Hudson River to the Waywayanda Patent, which was much of Orange County, and claim his stake of the land. In exchange for this dangerous journey, Denne would give Sarah 100 acres when she finished her indenture at the age of 21. Sarah, who first turned down the request, accepted the deal once Denne added the land as a sweetener.

Sarah Wells left the Denne's townhouse on Pearl Street in lower Manhattan about May 25, 1712, and traveled about 60 miles north on the Hudson River by single-mast sloop with three hired carpenters and three Native men of the Munsee band. Less than 24 hours later, they arrived at the small outpost along the Hudson River called Plum Point. It was operated by a small group of mostly Scottish Presbyterians and was just north of what is now West Point.

They spent the night aboard the sloop with their limited supplies, two cows, one bull, two dogs, and two horses.