Little Britain is an area in the town of New Windsor,

Orange County, New York Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 401,310. The county seat is Goshen. This county was first created in 1683 and reorganized with its present boundaries in 1798. Orange ...

, United States, south of and adjacent to

Stewart International Airport Stewart International Airport, officially New York Stewart International Airport , is a public/military airport in Orange County, New York, United States. It is in the southern Hudson Valley, west of Newburgh, south of Kingston, and southwest ...

. The name spread to the surrounding region, which at that time was part of

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History ...

History

The area of Little Britain was part of a patent issued to Andrew Johnston on July 19, 1719 for 2,000 acres. It was first settled ''circa'' 1724 by John Humphrey, who purchased a farm lot of 250 acres. Peter Mullinder purchased a farm in 1729; the following month Robert Burnet of Scotland, by way of

Raritan, New Jersey Raritan is a borough in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 6,881,Charles Clinton Col. Charles Clinton (1690 – 19 November 1773) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician in colonial America. A colonel of the French and Indian War, he was the father of General James Clinton and George Clinton, and the grandfather of DeWi ...

was a native of County Longford, Ireland, who espoused Jacobite sympathies. Having persuaded a number of his friends and relatives to join him, he left Ireland and arrived at Little Britain in 1731. Among those who accompanied him were William Borland,William Borland, Personal Journal Alexander Denniston, Thomas Dunlap, Robert Frazer, William Hamilton, and George Lille. Clinton became a judge of the court of common pleas.Gorse, C.A., "Town of New Windsor", ''The History of Orange County'', (Russel Headley, ed.), Van Deusen and Elms, Middletown, New York, 1908
/ref> In 1770, Little Britain was designated a road district for the purpose of maintenance. Little Britain Road was one of the first roads in the town.Ruttenbur, E. M. and Clark, L.H., ''History of Orange County, New York'', Everts & Peck, Philadelphia, 1881
/ref> In 1737, there being but few children in the settlement, Little Britain had no schoolmaster, but around 1751 the Rev. John Moffat, pastor of Goodwill Church, having succeeded John McNeil, opened "Moffat's Academy", which was located in a house on a farm owned by Robert Shaw, on the road from Little Britain to Washingtonville. By 1814, the Little Britain Meetinghouse school district was established. The first post office in the town was established at Little Britain on May 29, 1824. Hamilton Morrison was postmaster. Little Britain was the birthplace of

New York Governor The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has a ...

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and naturalist. He served as a United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the seventh governor of New York. In this last capacity, he was largely res ...

, his father General

James Clinton Major General James Clinton (August 9, 1736 – September 22, 1812) was an American Revolutionary War officer who, with John Sullivan, led in 1779 the Sullivan Expedition in what is now western New York to attack British-allied Seneca and ...

and his uncle U.S. Vice President George Clinton. Today it lends its name to Little Britain Elementary School, part of the Washingtonville school district. The Little Britain

Grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...

hall also still stands near the intersection of NY 207 and NY 747.

References

* http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/a/r/Thomas-Barker-TX/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0104.html * http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/a/r/Thomas-Barker-TX/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-1262.html Hamlets in Orange County, New York New Windsor, New York Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area 1724 establishments in the Province of New York {{OrangeCountyNY-geo-stub