John Paulding - Personal History

Personal History

John Paulding was a self-sufficient farmer: a strong, sturdy man, he stood over six feet tall, unusual for the era. He married three times in his life, and was the father of nineteen children. He died in 1818 at Staatsburg, Dutchess County, New York of natural causes. His last words were reported to be: "I die a true republican." He is buried in the cemetery of Old Saint Peter's Church in Van Cortlandtville, Cortlandt Manor, NY. The grave is marked by a large marble monument with the epitaph: "FIDELITY - On the morning of the 23rd of September 1780, accompanied by two young farmers of the county of West Chester, he intercepted the British spy, André. Poor himself, he disdained to acquire wealth by the sacrifice of his country. Rejecting the temptation of great rewards, he conveyed his prisoner to the American camp and, by this noble act of self-denial, the treason of Arnold was detected; the designs of the enemy baffled; West Point and the American Army saved; and these United States, now by the grace of God Free and Independent, rescued from most imminent peril."

Paulding's descendants are numerous but perhaps the best-known of them is his son Hiram Paulding (b.1797 - d.1878), who served in the War of 1812 and fought in the Battle of Lake Champlain; he rose to become a Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and retired only after the end of the American Civil War.