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 28
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Altogether they held their own among the old settlers very creditably, and it may do their descendants good to study their characters and revisit their old homes.
The following are the names of old people of the LeFevre 'family interred in the graveyard on the farm at Bontecoe, now owned by Simon LeFevre :
Johannes LeFevre, d. 1771, a. 49 years.
Sarah Vernooy, wife of Johannes LeFevre.
Daniel LeFevre, d. 1800, a. 74 years.
Catharine Cantine, wife of Daniel LeFevre, d. 1799, a. 72 years.
Petrus LeFevre, d. 1806, a. 85 years.
Elizabeth Vernooy, wife of Petrus LeFevre, d. 1807, a. 74 years.
Isaac LeFevre, son of Johannes LeFevre, born 1753.
Peter LeFevre, son of Daniel, d. 1830, a. 71 years.
Magdalen Eltinge, wife of Peter LeFevre, d. 1823, a. 57 years.
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John P. LeFevre, son of Petrus, d. 1810, a. 34 years.
Mary Hardenburgh, wife of John P. LeFevre, d. 1841, a. 59 years.
Jane LeFevre, d. 1852, a. 52 years.
Catharine LeFevre, d. 1834, a. 42 years.
Zebedee LeFevre, d. 1836, a. 33 years.
THE BLOOMINGDALE LEFEVRES
The first settler at Bloomingdale, in the northern part of the present town of Rosendale, was undoubtedly Matthew Le- Fevre, who moved from the LeFevre homestead in this village.
Matthew LeFevre was one of the two sons of Andre Le- Fevre, who was one of the three sons of Simon, the Paltz patentee. Matthew's location at Bloomingdale was on a tract of 700 acres, which was purchased for $700. We can not fix the date exactly, but it was about 1740, at about which same time his cousins, Andries and Abram LeFevre, located' at Kettleboro and about twenty years after his uncle, Isaac LeFevre, located at Bontecoe.
Matthew's wife was a Bevier. His house is still standing at what is now called Rock Lock. It is of stone and was lately owned by Benj. Hardenburgh and occupied by tenants. Matthew had four sons, Conrad, Jonathan, Samuel and Simon. Each of these brothers married a Swart from Kingston and, we believe, they were all sisters.
Matthew was a lieutenant in the 3d Regiment of Ulster County Militia, John Cantine, colonel, commissions being is- sued October 25, 1775. He subsequently became a captain. He was familiarly called the "Old Captain," and took his four sons with him to the army, preferring to do so though the youngest was not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age.
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One of the sons died from a wound received in the Revolu- 'tionary war. In the records at Albany appears the name of Matthew's son Jonathan as a private in Col. Cantine's regi- ment. The name of Simon LeFevre appears as a lieutenant and subsequently a captain, commissioned in 1779, in the Ist Ulster County Regiment. This was Matthew's son Simon. Moses P. LeFevre recalls one or two incidents in regard to Matthew's record as captain, as related by his grand-mother's brother, Col. Cantine.
Matthew's four sons settled as follows: Conrad in a stone house, part of which is still standing in the forks of the creek (that is between the Wallkill and Rondout) not far from the powder mill. The house passed from Conrad to his sons, Moses, Adam and Jonathan (the last named of whom did not marry), and all three brothers continued to occupy the house of their father. They had one sister, Affie, who married Dan- iel Blanshan and moved to Western New York. Lorenzo Le- Fevre, of Rosendale, was a son of Adam.
Matthew's son Jonathan occupied the original homestead after his father's death. He left but one son, Levi, who mar- ried a Newkirk. Levi is the father of our informant, Garret, and of Jonathan J. LeFevre of Creek Locks, formerly justice of the peace, deceased.
Matthew's son Samuel lived in a stone house built for him by his father on the top of the Bloomingdale hill. He died when a young man, it is said, from a wound received in the Revolutionary army. His widow married John LeFevre of the Paltz Plains and moved with him to Owasco, in western New York, being doubtless among the first settlers there. Samuel left one son, Simon, who married a Hendricks and left a family of three sons, one of whom, George, resided some years ago near Cold Spring Corner.
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Matthew (the first settler's) son, Capt. Simon, lived in a · stone house built for him by his father on part of his tract, about a mile northeast of the Quaker meeting house on the Rosendale Plains. Simon was one of the organizers and first elders of the Bloomingdale church, which was organized in 1796 and was built on part of the LeFevre tract. Simon's. children were Anna, who married Abm. DuBois (father of Simon L. and Daniel A.) ; Magdalen, who married Solomon Hasbrouck (father of Alexander) ; Samuel and Matthew, the last named of whom long kept the lower toll-gate on the Paltz. turnpike.
We have this additional information concerning Capt. Simon's Revolutionary record: In Col. Snyder's (Northern) Ulster County Regiment Capt. Simon commanded the Hurley company. (Hurley then included most of the present town of Rosendale), having succeeded Gerardus (Gross) Harden- bergh in 1780.
In a report to Col. Charles Dewitt concerning fathers of tories in his territory he says that there were only two, both of whom were so poor that the assessors did not have them on their list.
All of the LeFevres of the first and second generations who . settled at Bloomingdale are buried in the old burying-ground, on the Conrad LeFevre place, in the forks of the creek, now owned by Mr. Hardenbergh. Most of the original tract of 700 acres has passed out of the family. Jonathan's place was. sold to Judge Jonathan Hasbrouck, of Kingston.
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CHAPTER XXXIV
THE AUCHMOODY FAMILY
The ancestor of the Auchmoody family in Ulster county is Gemes Acmoidec, as the name is entered in the marriage record on the church book at New Paltz. The record is in French, translated thus: 1731 Oct. 8, Gemes Acmoidec mar- ried Mari Doyo, daughter of Christianne Doyo and Mary Le Conte. The bans for this marriage appear in the Kingston church record as published Sept. 19, and the record is : Jeames Auchmoide, young man, born in Scotland, and Maria de Joo, young woman, born in New Paltz and both residing there. A few months earlier, in March of the same year, Mr. Auch- moody's name appears for the first time on the New Paltz church records as godfather at the baptism of a child. There was no other person of Scottish nationality who settled in New Paltz in the early days.
Mr. Auchmoody's house was built somewhere in the Bonte- coe neighborhood ; at least he owned land there. James Auch- moody and wife had three sons, David, Christian and Jacobus ; also three daughters, Maria, Elizabeth and Rachel. David married Maria DeGraff in 1764. At that time he lived in Dutchess county, but afterwards moved to Elmore's Corners in Esopus and finally located near Plutarch, where his grandson Jeremiah lived in modern times. The name of David Auch- moody appears as one of the enlisted men in the First Regi- ment of Ulster County Militia in the Revolution. Christian Auchmoody located in the present town of Rosendale, on a farm which passed to his son Abraham and then to Abraham's
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son Jonathan, who spent a long life there and was a highly respected man. Jacobus, the remaining son of Jeames Auch- moody, located on the farm now owned by Alonzo Neil, in the Middletown neighborhood, about three miles north of our village. He married Elizabeth Smith and afterwards Mar- garet Irwin. They had but one son, William, who did not remain at New Paltz.
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CHAPTER XXXV
THE BUDD FAMILY AT NEW PALTZ
Samuel Budd was a very prominent citizen of New Paltz for a long term of years about 1810. He had a wheelwright shop,procured the establishment of a stage line through our village and had an inn at the corner of Chestnut and North Front streets, where Luther Schoonmaker's hotel is now lo- cated and the fame of this inn extended far and wide. Sam- uel Budd's father, Thomas Budd, was surgeon on a ship. He had a grant for a large tract of land where the city of Mon- mouth, N. J., was afterwards located. From some technicality he failed to get or retain possession of this land, though even of late years efforts have been made to secure the property. Thomas Budd lost his life, and the privateer vessel on which he served was sunk during an engagement with a British cruiser in the Revolutionary war. During the battle of Mon- mouth, the house and other buildings on the Budd property were burned by the British and Hessians and the family scat- tered to the winds. Samuel Budd, then a boy of ten, fled to the residence of an uncle in Philadelphia and did not see his ' mother until a considerable time afterwards.
Samuel Budd's wife was Mary De LaRue. They were mar- ried in 1796. Five children of the Budd family grew up and married. They were Hiram, Wade Hampton, Catharine, Ger- trude and Laura. Hiram married Maria Deyo, and as his second wife Catharine Ann Smedes. Catharine Budd mar- ried Jonas LeFevre of Kettleborough. Gertrude Budd mar-
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ried Robert Lawson of Newburgh. Laura Budd married Joseph Harris. Wade Hampton married Martha J. Brundage.
A pamphlet containing a history of the Budd family has been published. Two brothers, named John and Joseph, came to America from England about 1632. Another brother, Thomas, came to this country at a later date and settled in New Jersey. Samuel Budd, who lived in New Paltz, was descended from Thomas Budd.
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CHAPTER XXXVI
THE HARDENBERGH FAMILY
The Hardenbergh family has been one of the most respected and influential in Ulster county, its members occupying posi- tions of trust and responsibility in church and state, in peace and war. Of late years there have been comparatively few of the name in Ulster county.
Dr. Corwin in his last edition of "The Manuel of the Re- formed Church" says :
Sir Johannes (Hardenbergh) was knighted by Queen Anne at the recommendation of the Duke of Marlborough for gal- lantry at the decisive battle of Blenheim. With the order of Knighthood he also received the patent which bears his name and which comprised a considerable portion of what now constitutes the counties of Ulster, Delaware and Sullivan in the state of New York.
In signing his name, Johannes Hardenbergh sometimes simply signed "Hardenberg" as was the custom with those in England who held titles.
The Hardenbergh family is of German origin and the ruins of the Hardenbergh castle are still pointed out near Nordheim, in Germany. Gerrit Jans Hardenbergh, the progenitor of the family in Ulster county, came to America with his father from Maarden, near Utrecht, in the Netherlands. He first appears on record at Albany in 1667. His wife was Jeapie Schepmoes. Their son Johannes became an owner of real estate in the vil- lage of Kingston in 1689, was commissioned high sheriff of
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Ulster county by Gov. Leisler in 1690, and again by Gov. Lovelace in 1709. He was commissioned as major in the Ulster county regiment in 1728, and was afterwards a colonel in the same regiment. He was one of the patentees in the great or Hardenbergh Patent, by which an immense tract, estimated at 2,000,000 acres in the present counties of Ulster, Orange, Greene, Delaware and Sullivan was granted by Queen Ann in 1708. There was considerable dissatisfaction among the Indians for a long term of years at the granting of so large a tract, but they became satisfied on the payment of an additional sum.
By his wife, Catharine Rutzen, he had a large family of sons and daughters. Two of the sons married New Paltz women and settled within the bounds of the New Paltz con- gregation, although but one of them, Abraham, lived in the New Paltz precinct, his home being at Guilford. The brother Johannes lived at what is now Rosendale village. Other members of the family located elsewhere.
Abraham, who was born in 1706, married Marytje Roosa, daughter of Nicholas Roosa, who had moved from Hurley to New Paltz. After her death he married, in 1752, Mary, daughter of Joseph Hasbrouck of Guilford and widow of James Gasherie. Abraham Hardenbergh's house was built on the Wallkill, a short distance below Tuthill and commanded a fine view of the stream. A very large tract of land in this vicinity had been granted to Jacob Rutzen, the father of Abraham's mother. The portion of the tract on which the house stood descended in the Hardenbergh family for several generations to Mrs. Crines Jenkins. The old stone house has now tumbled into ruins. The land is owned by Josiah LeFevre.
Abraham Hardenbergh was a man of wealth and influence. He was Supervisor of the town of New Paltz from 1751 to
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1761 and again in 1770. He was one of the Justices of the Peace of the county in 1766. In the list of slave-holders in 1755 he is set down as the owner of seven slaves, a number only equalled by one other resident of the town, Solomon Du- Bois, who likewise owned seven slaves. In the tax list of 1765 Abraham's name appears as Supervisor, and the amount of his assessment is exceeded only by that of Col. Abraham Has- brouck, of Kingston, for his Guilford farm, and by Josiah El- ting of the village. In 1759 he was an elder in the church.
The children of Abraham Hardenbergh by his first wife were Johannes, baptized at Kingston in 1743, and Sarah, also baptized at Kingston. The children by the second wife were Nicholas, Elias, Maritje and Rachel, all baptized at New Paltz from 1753 to 1758. Abraham died 1771. His name does not appear on the subscription for the erection of the second stone church in 1771, but the names of his widow and son John A. appear.
From Abraham Hardenbergh the farm at Guilford passed to his eldest son, Johannes, who wrote his name John A. Elias married and had his residence somewhere within the congregation, as we find his name on the church book. Where the other children lived we do not know. John A. was a captain in the patriot army in the Revolutionary war, serving in the Third Ulster County Regiment, John Cantine, colonel. His name also appears as lieutenant in the Fourth Ulster County Regiment, of which his cousin, Johannes Hardenberg of Swartekill, was colonel a part of the time. His wife was Rachel, daughter of his neighbor, Hendricus DuBois.
The children of John A. Hardenbergh and his wife, Rachel DuBois, were Marichie, born in 1771; Jacob, born in 1780; Charles, born in 1782; Alexander, born in 1784, and Abra- ham, born in 1777. The last named built on the ancestral
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estate the fine old brick house, near the Guilford church, long unoccupied and now commencing to tumble into ruins. Abra- ham, who wrote his name Abraham J., married Margaret DuBois and his brother Jacob married Jane DuBois, both of whom were daughters of Cornelius DuBois, Jr., of Pough- woughtenonk.
It is related that the parents wanted the last named young woman to marry another young man and that she jumped out of a window and then ran away from home in her every-day dress to marry the man of her choice. Her husband died young. Alexander became a doctor. He died from an acci- dent, his neck being broken by a fall from his horse, which stumbled over a log. Jacob left one son, Jacob, and one daughter, who married Crines Jenkins.
The brother Charles became a minister, was settled at War- wick, N. Y., Bedminster, N. J., and was a colleague of Rev. Dr. Thomas Dewitt in the collegiate churches in New York. He was one of the trustees of Rutgers College.
Abraham J. Hardenbergh, who built the brick house, was a member of the Legislature in 1813. In the war of 1812 he was a colonel of militia and was able to get part of his men across the Niagara river, which was more than some others did, when the invasion of Canada was made.
It is a striking illustration of the lack of all interest in an honorable military career that was felt in the days of our grandfathers, that Abm. J. Hardenbergh subsequently had two butcher knives made out of the sword that he carried in the war of 1812. What a contrast with the feeling of pride, with which the people of to-day look upon the military record of their ancestors !
The sons of Abm. J. Hardenbergh and his wife, Margaret DuBois, were Cornelius, Charles, David, Josiah and Ditmas.
HISTORY OF NEW PALTZ
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HOUSE OF COL. ABRAHAM HARDENBERGH AT GUILFORD
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The only daughter, Gertrude, married Aldert Schoon- maker and lived in this village. The son Charles became a doctor and settled at Port Jervis; David went to Michigan ; Ditmas located at Ellenville; Josiah settled on the farm of his father at Pecanisink in Shawangunk and there his father like- wise lived in his latter days.
COL. JOHANNES HARDENBERGH OF ROSENDALE
Going back now to Col. Johannes Hardenbergh we shall make but brief mention of his family, because he did not live within the precinct of New Paltz, although included in the congregation of the New Paltz church.
Johannes Hardenbergh, of Rosendale, was Colonel of the First Regiment of Ulster County Militia for twenty years, was a member of the Colonial Assembly from 1743 to 1750, and of the State Legislature in 1781 and 1782, and he was a member of the First Provincial Congress. He repeatedly served as an elder in the New Paltz church, acting in that capacity as a delegate to the Conference in New York, when the differences betwen the Cœtus and Conferentie parties were harmonized.
A few years before his death, when General Washington, in June, 1783, visited the county of Ulster, Colonel Harden- bergh entertained the General and Mrs. Washington, with Governor and Mrs. Clinton, at his residence in Rosendale.
The wife of Col. Johannes Hardenbergh, of Rosendale, was Maria DuBois, who was born in 1706 and was the daughter of Louis DuBois, Jr., of Nescatack, in the town of New Paltz. Their children were: Johannes, born in 1729; Lewis, born in 1731, married Catharine Waldron; Charles, born in 1733, married Catharine Smedes; Jacob Rutze, born in 1736, mar-
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ried Dina VanBergh, widow of Rev. John Frelinghuysen ; Rachel, born in 1739, married Rev. Hermans Myer, D. D .; Catharine, born in 1741; Gerardus, born in 1744, married Nancy Ryerson.
Jacob Rutze Hardenbergh became a minister of the gospel, settled first in New Jersey and afterwards over the churches at Marbletown, Rochester and Wawarsing. He was the first president of Queens, now Rutgers College.
Johannes Hardenbergh, Jr., eldest son of Col. Johannes Har- denbergh of Rosendale, located at Swartekill, a short distance north of Rifton. His house we believe is still standing a short distance east of the highway. His wife was Mary LeFevre, daughter of Isaac LeFevre of Bontecoe.
In the Revolutionary war he served a great portion of the time as lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Ulster County Regiment, of which Jonathan Hasbrouck of Newburgh was colonel. On account of the ill health of the colonel the regiment was a con- siderable portion of the time under the command of the lieu- tenant-colonel. In 1779 he received his commission as colonel.
Sojourner Truth, the famous negro woman, who acquired a great reputation as a public speaker and died in Chicago about 1870, after having long passed the century mark, was in her early days a slave in the family of Colonel Hardenbergh at Swartekill and related that she and a number of sheep were once sold for $100.
There was a standing dispute between New Paltz people and the Hardenberghs as to the boundary line of the respec- tive patents. The Hardenberghs at Swartekill claimed the land up to about where Perrine's Bridge is located. The Paltz people claimed that the surveyor had been bribed by the present of a cow to run a false line and that the Paltz Patent really included the valuable water privilege at Dashville Falls.
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HOUSE OF COL. JOHANNES HARDENBERGH.
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1 But the Hardenberghs retained Dashville Falls till about 1810, when the privilege was purchased by Peter LeFevre of Bon- tecoe of his uncle, Johannes Hardenbergh, Jr. Peter LeFevre proceeded with his brother-in-law, Ezekiel Eltinge, to build the mill torn down a short time ago. Some time previous the Hardenberghs had built a mill at Swartekill, which was one of the first in this county. The sons of Johannes Harden- bergh, Jr., of Swartekill, and Mary LeFevre, his wife, were Isaac, Peter, Charles and Louis. Peter moved to Pennsyl- vania, Isaac went to Catskill, where he became a merchant and was a prominent man. Charles resided in the neighborhood. He is the ancestor of the late Benj. F. Hardenbergh of Rock Lock. Louis was a blacksmith by trade. He lived part of the time on the paternal estate at Swartekill. Afterwards he had a shop at Bontecoe north of the lane leading to the old house of Ralph LeFevre. Louis had three sons, Richard, Simon and John. Richard is well remembered by the old men of the present generation. He resided for a time at New Paltz and was the father of Hon. Jacob Hardenbergh and of Louis Hardenbergh of Gardiner, who until his death, two or three years ago, occupied the farm purchased by his father about 1830.
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CHAPTER XXXVII
THE WURTS FAMILY
The Wurts family is of Swiss origin. The ancestor of the family at New Paltz was George Wirtz, M. D., who was the first physician in the place. He was a near relative of the Goetschius family, which was likewise of Swiss blood, three of whose members served the New Paltz church, acceptably in the early days, the first as a supply and the others as regularly ordained pastors. Maurities Goetschius, the second of the name to occupy the pulpit at New Paltz, served the people here as a physician, as well as pastor, and was known as the "doctor dominie." Dr. George Wirtz's name first ap- pears on the New Paltz records in 1773, when he married Esther, daughter of Major Jacob Hasbrouck. Rev. Stephen Goetschius succeeded his uncle, Rev. Maurities Goetschius as pastor of the church in 1775. Dr. Wirtz was on the ground at the time of the arrival of the new pastor, who was his cousin, and may have come before the death of his uncle, the "doctor-dominie," which occurred in 1771. He united with the church at the village of New Paltz in 1776 by certificate from the church at Shawangunk. It seems certain, therefore, that he must have lived at Shawangunk at least a short time before coming to New Paltz. His uncle had his home at Shawangunk and preached there, as well as at New Paltz.
Dr. Wirtz was doubtless a busy man, with a large territory to travel over in visiting patients. So when he thought of selecting a partner for life he could not spend much time in courtship. The story, as we have heard it related, is that he
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made his proposal of marriage without preliminary and com- pleted it with the statement that if it was accepted he would take tea with the family. The proposal met with an affirma- tive response and the young doctor took tea with the family in the old steep-roofed house, now the "New Paltz Memorial House," in which they resided.
Dr. Wirtz built as his residence the house at the foot of Main street, torn down about 1880, the site of which is now occupied by the Riverside Cottage. His name appears as one of the signers of the Articles of Association at the outbreak of the Revolutionary war. He was a deacon in the church in 1776 and an elder in 1797.
The children of Dr. George Wirtz and his wife, Esther Hasbrouck, were Jacob (born in 1776), Janetje, Catharine, Mauritius (born in 1784).
Dr. Wirtz died in 1802. The tombstones in the old grave- yard marking the last resting place of himself and wife bear these inscriptions :
In memory of George Wirtz, M. D., who departed this life April 20, 1802, aged 55 years, 5 months and 6 days :
In memory of Esther Hasbrouck, daughter of Maj. Jacob Hasbrouck and relict of doctor George Wirtz, who died June 4th, 1826, aged 68 years, 4 months and 26 days.
The sons, Jacob and Maurities, both became doctors. The first named married Catharine DuBois. During his long life he attended to the duties of his profession as a physician, rid- ing about the country on horseback, according to the custom of those days, to visit his patients. He lived in the house which his father built until in middle age, when he built and moved into the house in the southern part of our village where his son Cornelius afterward lived.
The children of Dr. Jacob Wurtz and his wife, Catharine
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DuBois, were George, born in 1798; Gertrude, born in 1803; Mathusalem, born in 1806; Gitty Jane, born in 1809; David, born in 1812; Maurice, born in 1815. By his second wife, Mary Hornbeck, Dr. Jacob Wurts had one son, Cornelius.
Maurities (in English Maurice), the younger son of Dr. George Wirtz, engaged in the practice of medicine, living for a while in Esopus and likewise for a time at Springtown, on the farm where his son-in-law, Gilbert Elting, afterwards lived. His wife was Maria Jansen. He died in middle age, leaving two sons, John H. and Jansen, and two daughters, one of whom married Gilbert Elting and the other Nathaniel Elting.
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