USA > New York > Ulster County > New Paltz > History of New Paltz, New York and its old families (from 1678 to 1820) : including the Huguenot pioneers and others who settled in New Paltz previous to the revolution, 2nd ed > Part 19
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Abraham, who was Daniel's only son, married Anna Le- Fevre of Bloomingdale. He died in middle age. His sons were Daniel A., Simon L., Benjamin and Samuel. Abraham
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had a daughter who married Maurice Hasbrouck, another married Alexander Elting and another married Mathusalem Wurts. The two last named moved to the vicinity of Auburn in western New York. The fourth daughter, Margaret, re- mained unmarried and was the last survivor of the family.
Samuel DuBois, son of Benjamin, married Jane LeFevre, as we have said. He lived in a stone house at Springtown, on a hill west of Tjerick Deyo's late residence and owned sev- eral hundred acres of land. There is an old graveyard near by. The sons of Samuel were John S., Abraham and Peter. John S. is the father of Samuel J.
HOUSE OF BENJAMIN DUBOIS, GRANDSON OF ISAAC, THE PATENTEE, ABOUT ONE MILE NORTH OF SPRINGTOWN, AFTERWARDS OCCU- PIED BY HIS SON DANIEL AND GRANDSON ABRAHAM.
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CHAPTER XXVII
SOLOMON DUBOIS, SON OF LOUIS THE PATENTEE
Solomon DuBois was born in 1670, while his parents re- sided in Hurley. He married, about 1692, Tryntje Gerritson, who was the daughter of Gerrit Cornelissen. Solomon built his house near where Capt. W. H. D. Blake now resides. He died in 1759 at the great age of 89 years. We do not know where he is buried. Solomon was a man of much influence, was an officer in the New Paltz church, occupied civil trusts, and accumulated much landed property not only at New Paltz, but in Greene county and at Perkiomen, Chester county, now Lancaster county, Pa. Louis DuBois, the Patentee, received June 2, 1688, from Gov. Dongan, a patent for a large tract of land, on which his sons Solomon and Louis Jr. located, lying on both sides of the Wallkill. Solomon's house, built on this tract, was quite probably the first house built outside of the village. From a tax list laid by the provincial government, which included a tax on chimneys, it appeared that Solomon's house had two chimneys.
Outside of our village there is no place in Southern Ulster of more interest to the antiquarian than this farm occupied by Capt. W. H. D. Blake. This neighborhood was called by our grandfathers by the Indian name of Poughwoughtenonk. Here, on the patent granted to Louis DuBois, his sons, Solomon and Louis, Jr., lived. Here stood the Conferentie church just before the Revolution. Across the Wallkill, at the mouth of the Plattekill, was the last Indian village in this vicinity. The homestead of Louis DuBois, Jr., who resided a short distance south, was broken up and passed out of the family long, long
20
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ago. The site of the house even can not be determined. But the homestead of his brother Solomon descended from genera- tion to generation of DuBoises till about 1880.
Josiah DuBois is still well remembered. He lived to be 87 years of age and in his olden days loved to tell of the days of our forefathers. The writer has still a very distinct recol- lection of a visit to Uncle Josiah's home in his early childhood and of the stories he told of the old times and old people. Even to the present day a considerable portion of the stories of the olden times are related on the authority of Josiah DuBois.
The homestead at Poughwoughtenonk has passed out of the possession of the DuBois family, but it has a worthy owner in Capt. W. H. D. Blake, who seems to possess all the love of the ancient traditions of Josiah DuBois, who in 1822 built the brick house in which Capt. Blake now resides.
Near the bank of the Wallkill a short distance up the stream is the cellar of the house of Solomon DuBois. The knocker on the door always bore the initials S. D. B. From Solomon this house passed to his son, Cornelius, Sr., who left a rather singular will, providing that his only son, Cornelius, Jr., should have all his real estate during his life time, but after his death his six sisters or their heirs should have their share. The landed estate amounted to about 3,000 acres, lying on both sides of the Wallkill. One of the daughters of the first Cor- nelius, named Sarah, had married Jacob Hasbrouck of Marble- town. Under the arrangement for the division of the Pough- woughtenonk estate her son, Dr. Cornelius Hasbrouck, the father of Mrs. Peter Barnhart, deceased, of New Paltz, be- came the owner of this old house, which was torn down in his time.
Solomon left a family of four sons and four daughters. The sons were Isaac, who settled at Perkiomen, Pa., Benjamin,
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who settled at Catskill, and Cornelius and Hendricus, who settled on their father's estate in Ulster county. Solomon's daughters married as follows: Jacomyntje married her cousin Barent, son of Jacob; Sarah married Simon Van Wagenen, Kingston; Helena married Josiah Elting of New Paltz, and Catharine married Peter Low of New Paltz.
The name of Solomon DuBois appears with the title of lieutenant in the documentary history of New York, Vol. III, page 972, and he is credited with active military service. He was one of the trustees of the corporation of Kingston in 1695-6 and he probably lived there for several years before locating at Poughwoughtenonk.
Solomon's son Isaac, who settled at Perkiomen, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, married his cousin Rachel, daughter of Abraham, the Patentee. They left no sons, but had a family of four daughters, Catharine, Margaret, Rebecca and Eliza- beth. One of the descendants of Isaac DuBois is Mr. Samuel E. Gross of Chicago, who has shown himself one of the warm- est friends of the New Paltz Huguenot Memorial Society.
Solomon's son Benjamin married, in 1721, Catharine Suy- lant and settled at Catskill in what was then a portion of Albany county about 1727.
They had a large family of children, several of whom were born before their location at Catskill. The sons were Petrus, Benjamin, Solomon, Huybartus, Cornelius and Isaac.
The DuBois family flourished at Catskill. But we shall not in this portion of the book trace the fortunes of the New Paltz families outside of Ulster county.
A carefully-written history of the descendants of Benjamin DuBois of Catskill has been published by one of their num- ber, Rev. Dr. Anson DuBois, who is spending an honored old age at Newburgh.
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1
REV. DR. ANSON DU BOIS
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The matter of making good the title of Louis DuBois, Jr., and Solomon DuBois to the tract, on which they resided, as far as any possible claims by the proprietors of the Paltz patent were concerned, was perfected in 1729, as shown by an ancient quit claim in possession of the late Edmund Eltinge in which it is stated that for the sum of sixpence the owners of the Paltz patent release unto Solomon and Louis DuBois all claims upon the tract granted unto Louis DuBois, of Kingston, de- · ceased, by Thomas Dongan, late Governor, lying on both sides of the Paltz river and extending from the lands of said Paltz to the lands of James Graham and John Delavoll. (That is the Guilford Patent.) This document is signed
Jacob Hasbrouk,
Solomon Hasbroucq,
Daniel Hasbroucq,
Isaac lefevre,
Daniel DuBois,
Jan een,
Samuel Bevier,
Abraham Doiau,
Andre lefevre,
Louis bevier,
jean lefevre,
his
Hugo X ffrear. mark
(These names are interesting as showing the quaint orthog- raphy of those days, showing also who were the Dusine in 1729.)
THE DESCENDANTS OF SOLOMON DUBOIS
AT POUGHWOUGHTENONK
Solomon DuBois, as we have stated, left two sons, Cornelius and Hendricus, who settled on the ancestral acres. The for- mer married Margaret Houghtaling. He inherited 3,000 acres from his father's estate which was called Poughwoughtenonk,
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and here he resided. He left a family of three sons, Wilhel- mus, Josiah and Cornelius, and six daughters. The last named son was the only one who married and outlived his father.
In Solomon's will, which was made in 1756 and admitted to probate in 1759, he gives to his four granddaughters, children of his son Isaac, all the land at Perkiomen, Pa., to his son Benjamin his land at Catskill, but requiring him to pay £100 divided equally between his daughter Helena, wife of Josiah Elting, and the children of his daughter Catharine, wife of Peter Low. The will gives the son Cornelius the lands occu- pied by him on the patent granted to his father and likewise a moiety of the New Paltz patent, but requires him to pay £100 to his sisters or their heirs. The will gives to the son Hen- dricus the lands in his possession within the patent granted to the testator's father, Louis DuBois, the Patentee, also a moiety of the New Paltz patent, but requires him to pay fioo to his sisters. The testator provides, moreover, that if any of his children or grandchildren shall commence a law suit against other of his children on account of dissatisfaction with the will they shall forfeit their share of the estate. The sons, Benjamin and Hendricus, and John Elting of Kingston are- appointed executors of the will.
The six daughters married as follows: Janitje married Major Jacob Hasbrouck of New Paltz, Catharine married Col. Jonathan Hasbrouck of Newburgh, Rachel married Col. Lewis DuBois of Marlborough, Leah married Cornelius Wyn- koop of Hurley, Sarah married Jacob Hasbrouck of Marble- town and Jacomintje married Andries Bevier of Wawarsing. Cornelius, Jr., occupied his father's homestead. In the Revo- lutionary war he served as quartermaster in the 4th Regiment of Militia, of which his brother-in-law Jonathan Hasbrouck of Newburgh, was colonel. He married Gertrude Bruyn. He
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left one son, Josiah, who married, and a family of daughters, who married as follows: Jane married Jacob Hardenburgh of New Paltz, Margaret married Abm. J. Hardenburgh of Shawangunk, Sarah married John N. LeFevre of Kettleboro, Hannah married Andries J. LeFevre of Kettleboro, Mary mar- ried Wm. McDonald of Wawarsing.
Josiah DuBois in his younger days carried on the mercantile business in what is now the Memorial House in this village in partnership with Col. Josiah Hasbrouck, whose daughter, Eliza- beth, he married as his first wife. About 1822 he left New Paltz and moved to the ancestral acres where he erected the fine brick house, still standing, and here he lived until his death in 1868, at the great age of 87 years. After the death of his first wife he married Catharine Winfield, of Peconosink in the town of Shawangunk. The children by the first wife were Sarah, who married Rev. Mr. Easton, and Pamela, who married Abner Hasbrouck. The children by the second wife were Elizabeth, wife of Dr. Isaac Reeve; Gilbert, Edward, Josiah, Antoinette and Jane, wife of Dr. William Pierson.
HENDRICUS DUBOIS
Going back now to Hendricus, the other son of Solomon, we find that he married Janetje Houghtaling. He lived on what is now known as the Capt. Jacob M. DuBois place. Hendricus had a family of four sons, Solomon, Philip, Ma- thusalem and Henry (sometimes called Hendricus), and four daughters, Catharine, Leah, Rachel and Dina, all of whom married as follows : Catharine married Matthew DuBois, Leah married Christopher Kiersted, Rachel married John A. Har- denburgh and Dinah married Abram Elting.
In the building of the Conferentia church, which was situ- ated near the residence of his brother, Cornelius, Hendricus DuBois and Noah Elting were the most liberal contributors
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and in the organization of this church Hendricus took a very active part, a meeting being held at his house August 29, 1767, for the purpose of organizing this church. Both Hendricus and Cornelius were men of large means.
The family of Hendricus DuBois were noted for their great size, and the saying is still remembered of an old negro man named Frank, who lived to be about 100 years of age, that more large people had come out of his house than out of any other house in the country.
Three of Hendricus' sons, Solomon, Mathusalem and Henry, served in the Revolutionary war. The first named had his knee injured in some way in the army and remained lame. His knee would click as he walked, for which reason he was some- times called "Clinker." Their brother Philip kept a public house at Libertyville, and his widow, whose maiden name was Anna Hue, continued it after his death in Revolutionary times. Methusalem was a captain in the army and was stationed at Newburgh. In "New York in the Revolution" his name ap- pears as ensign in the 4th Ulster County Militia. He was twice married, his first wife being Gertrude Bruyn and his second Catharine Bevier. We have more stories concerning Mathusalem than of almost any man of that period, although we have no account of the battles in which he was engaged. After the war he was usually called "Old Captain." He lived in a house part wood and part stone, torn down about 1830, on the place lately owned by his grandson, Zachariah. The sword which he carried in the army came down to his grand- son, Peter W., of Libertyville, who allowed it to be taken to Indiana by one of the family. In those days there was much game in the country, and it is related that Captain Mathusalem was coming afoot to church (of course we mean the Confer- entia church near Mr. Blake's present residence), when he saw a deer lying asleep by the side of a log, and that he seized the
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deer, and though a little dog that was with him kept snapping at his legs, while busy, he took out his pocket knife, with which he dispatched him. He did not go to church that day, but car- ried the deer home. While Captain DuBois was stationed at Newburgh the Indians burned Wawarsing, and it was thought that they would cross the mountains. It is related that an old colored woman in the place kept a pot of water boiling for two or three days, in order to give the redskins a warm reception, but they did not come.
Captain Mathusalem had two sons, Wilhelmus (father of Peter W.) and Philip (father of Zach.), by his second wife. by his first wife he also had two sons, Abram, who went west, and Cornelius, who lived where his grandson, the late Henry M., resided.
A short distance from the residence of the "Old Captain" was that of his brother, Henry (or Hendricus), who was a soldier in the patriot army in the regiment commanded by Col. John Cantine of Stone Ridge. His wife was Rebecca Van Wagenen. Their children were Garret, Mathusalem, Mary, Jane and Rebecca. Garret lived where Garret L. Du- Bois lately lived, on the east bank of the Wallkill. Mathu- salem's sons were John B., Garret, Alex, Henry and Capt. Jacob M., who occupied the old family home. now in ruins. Jane married Z. Freer, the father of Henry D. B. Rebecca married her cousin, Cornelius, father of Mathusalem and grandfather of Henry M., who occupied the old homestead, where his father and his grandfather lived before him. Garret married Maria, daughter of Roelif J. Elting. Their sons were Jacob G., Roelif, Henry G., and Solomon. The last two moved to Ohio. Jacob G. lived where his sons Philip D. and Solomon afterwards resided. Jacob G.'s wife was Cornelia Deyo. The oldest son, Henry J., went to Nebraska, but afterwards returned to New Paltz.
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CHAPTER XXVIII
THE FAMILY OF LOUIS DUBOIS, JR., SON OF LOUIS THE PATENTEE
Louis DuBois, Jr., was born in 1677, and in 1701 married' Rachel Hasbrouck. He settled on a portion of the same tract as his brother Solomon, which had been granted by patent to their father, the original Louis. Where Louis, Jr., built his- house we do not know, but it was somewhere on the County House plain a little south of his brother's. The locality where- Louis, Jr., located was called until quite recently by the Indian name of Nescatack, changed in modern times to Libertyville. In an ancient document the name of Louis, Jr., appears with- the title of Captain, but we have no information as to any mili- tary service performed by him. Louis DuBois, Jr., left three sons, Jonathan, Nathaniel and Louis. He also had three daughters, Maria, Mary and Catharine. The first named mar- ried Johannes Hardenburgh of Rosendale.
Solomon and Louis DuBois, Jr., sold to Roelif Eltinge, in 1726, the land where Edmund Eltinge resided and the. original deed was still in Mr. Eltinge's possession. It read as. follows :
To all Christian people to whom this present writing shall or may come. Lewis DuBois and Solomon DuBois, both of the New Paltz, for divers, good causes and considerations, them thereunto moving, have remised, released, and forever quit-claimed and by these presents for themselves and their heirs do fully, freely, clearly, and absolutely remise, release-
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and forever quit-claim unto Roelif Elting, of the same place, yeoman, in his full and peaceable possession and to his heirs and assigns, forever, all such right, estate, title, interest and demand, forever, as they the said Lewis DuBois and Solomon DuBois, had or ought to have, of out, or in, to all that certain tract or parcel of land which, lying and being at the New Paltz aforesaid, on the west side of the Paltz Kil on the grant, piece now in possession of the said Roelif Eltinge and likewise all the land on the east side of the said Kill, now in possession, of the said Roelif Eltinge, together with the house, barn, orchards, pastures and all and every thing appurtenances, thereunto be- longing or in any wise appertaining to have and to hold ‘the above remised and released premises, with all and every the appurtenances, thereunto belonging unto the said Roelif El- tinge, his heirs and assigns, forever, so that neither, they the said Lewis DuBois and Solomon DuBois nor their heirs, nor any other person from, by or under them, shall claim, chal- lenge or demand any right, title or interest into or to the prem -- ises or any part thereof.
Feb. 4, 1726-7. Witnesses :-
Juryan Tappen, Geo. van Wagonen.
Acknowledgement signed by Abraham Gaasbeck Chambers, Judge of the supreme court of common pleas.
Gil Livingston, Clerk.
There seems to have been some misunderstanding as to the
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exact boundary between the Paltz patent and the DuBois patent occupied by Louis and Solomon, and Mr. Samuel B. Stillwell had among his papers, a document in the hand writing of the late Josiah DuBois, and copied in 1850 by him from the original, bearing date in 1729 and establishing the line as follows :
Pursuant to his excellencies warrant dated the 13th day of November last to me directed, I have by the mutual consent and agreement of Solomon DuBois and Lewis DuBois, own- ers of a tract of land adjoining to the south bounds of the lands of the New Paltz and of Abm. DuBois, Jacob Hasbrouck, Daniel Hasbrouck and likewise other proprietors and owners of the said New Paltz, surveyed the south bounds of the lands of the said New Paltz as follows, viz: Beginning at a certain high point in the hills lying on the west side of the New Paltz River and from thence runs south thirty-five degrees east to a stone set in the ground on the east side of the highway, and at the west end of a small gully, which falls in the Paltz River and lyes between the fence of the lands of the said New Paltz and the lands of the said Solomon DuBois and Lewis DuBois which stone was allowed by both parties to have been placed there as a mark of the boundaries between the land of the said Solomon and Lewis DuBois and the lands of New Paltz and from the said stone down the said gully two chains and 46 links to the Paltz river, then crossing the said river runs from the opposite side thereof south 56 degrees and 40 minutes east to the south side of Geffrow's hook and the north east corner of John Barbour's land on Hudson River. Given under my hand, this 7th day of April in the second year of his majesty's reign, Anno Dom. 1729.
Copy - - Caldwallader Colden, Jr.
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P. S. The stone referred to is marked on the north side P. L. (meaning I think Paltz limits) on the south side D. D. B. There are more such stones on the same line, on the east side of the Wallkill, if not lost.
LOUIS, SON OF LOUIS, JR. 1.
The pamphlet published in 1860 by Robert Patterson Du- Bois, of New London, Penn., and Wm. E. DuBois, of Phila- delphia, containing the history of a number of the descend- ants of Louis DuBois, the Patentee, has only this to say about Louis, Jr., and his descendants :
"Louis, who was born about 1677. Having received infor- mation from some of his descendants, we can speak more fully in regard to this line. It appears that Louis was married to Rachel Hasbrouck in 1701. How many children they had is not known, only that there was one son named Louis, who was born about 1717, married Charity Andrevelt and settled in Staten Island. This last Louis had six children, viz., Louis, Matthias, Augustus, John, Charles and Elizabeth. Matthias, the second of these, who was born in 1747 and died in 1820, had by his first wife, Catharine Carshun, Mary, Louis, Daniel, Matthias and John; and by his second wife three daughters, Ann, Lockley and Susan. He removed with all his family, about the year 1792, from Staten Island to Nanticoke, Broome county, N. Y., where several branches of his family now reside. In 1847 John, the only surviving child of Matthias' first wife, was living in Tioga, N. Y., and about 70 years of age. He was the father of twelve children, most of whom lived in Tioga county, N. Y., and two, viz., John and Matthias, were living in Williamsport, Pa. It was through this last named and his. father that these facts were procured."
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JONATHAN, SON OF LOUIS, JR.
Jonathan, son of Louis, Jr., married Elizabeth LeFevre, daughter of Andries LeFevre. They probably occupied the house of his father, but we have no testimony on that score except that they lived in that same neighborhood. They had a family of three sons, Louis J., Andries and Nathaniel, and three daughters, Rachel, Cornelia and Maria. Cornelia mar- ried Cornelius Vernooy and Maria married Abm. Bevier and both settled in the New Hurley neighborhood.
The will of Jonathan, which was made in 1746 and admitted to probate in 1749, gives to his eldest son, Louis J., his large Dutch Bible as a birthright; it gives to his wife Elizabeth all his estate during her widowhood, but in case she should marry again she is required to give to the children all the estate except one negro girl and such cows and household goods as she had when she married ; after his wife's marriage or death he gives to his eldest son, Louis, J., all his land on the south east side of the Paltz river, but he is required to pay to his brothers, Andries and Nathaniel, and to his sisters, Rachel, Cornelia and Maria, £250 current money of New York, to be equally divided between them; to the youngest son, Jonas, the will gives all the land on the north west side of the Paltz river, but he is required to pay to his brothers, Andries and Nathaniel, and his sisters, Rachel, Cornelia and Maria, the sum of £450. In case the wife shall die or marry before the sons, Louis and Jonas, come of age the farms shall be rented by the executors and the proceeds applied to the bringing up and educating the children ; to the four sons are bequeathed all horses, wagons and farming utensils, and to the three daughters all household goods and furniture. All the residue of his estate is divided equally be- tween the sons and daughters. The testator's brother, Na- thaniel DuBois, and his brother-in-law, Johannes Harden-
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burgh, and Wessel Brodhead are appointed executors. The will is witnessed by Cornelius DuBois, Evert Terwilliger, Jr., and J. Bruyn.
We have no farther account of Jonathan's son Jonas. He probably died young.
Jonathan's son Andries married Sarah LeFevre, of New Paltz village, and settled at Wallkill, in those days sometimes called New Hurley, where his brick house is still stand- ing and was the first house of brick in this part of the country.
Andries' sons were Simon L., Sen., Jonathan and Andries. He had one daughter, Elizabeth, who married Johannes Le- Fevre, of Kettleborough, and another daughter, Elsie, who married Philip LeFevre, of Kettleborough. Andries, son of the Andries who built the brick house, moved to New Paltz village and occupied the old LeFevre homestead here, which stood in the north part of the present church yard. This property came to him from his uncle, Andries LeFevre, who left no children. When the present brick church was erected, in 1839, this LeFevre house was torn down. Andries moved to Put Corners into the stone house now owned by Mr. Jacob Champlin. His sons were Louis, who occupied his father's residence; Nathaniel, who located at Shivertown, and Jona- than, who lived just north of this village. The descendants of Simon L., Sen., still reside at Wallkill. He had but one son, Simon L., Jr., who left three sons, Daniel D., Jonathan and Andries.
Nathaniel DuBois, son of Jonathan and grandson of Louis, Jr., did not marry. He built the first mill at Libertyville. Jonathan's son, Louis J., lived in Revolutionary times where Henry L. DuBois lately resided. His wife was Catharine Brodhead. The house in which they lived is still standing and is probably the oldest frame house in this part of the country.
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