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 47
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APPENDIX
Children of Abraham (3) and Janette Van Dyke, Somer- set county, N. J., were: Margaret, b 1749; Abraham (4) 175I -1807, m first Elizabeth Cheesman, second Mary Heberton; Nicholas (2) b 1753, m Anna Mount; Dominicus, b 1756, m first Marie Pettinger, second Elizabeth Scudder, 1793; Mary m Abraham Tyson; Catrine, b 1760, m John Baird.
Children of Abraham (4) and Elizabeth Cheesman, Phila- delphia, Pa., were: Samuel, 1778-1801, drowned in Charleston harbor; Abraham, 1780-1825, never married; Nicholas, 1783- 1819, married Agnes McKim, 1808, removed to Springfield, Ill., from Baltimore, Md .; Jane,. 1788-1827, m Charles Cal- vert Edgerton; Mary, 1789-1798, d at Williamsport, Md .; Edmund C., b 1793, married - -, descendants in Balti- more, Md .; James S., 1795-1859, never married; George H., 1805-1851, m Margaret , buried in old French ceme- tery, New Orleans; Elizabeth, 1807-1835.
Children of Dominicus were: Abraham (5) 1780-1865, mar- ried Juliet Bowes, b Edinburgh, Scotland, 1784; Jane, 1810- 1863, m first Henry Niven, second Franklin Lusk.
Children of Abraham (5) and Juliet Bowes, Great Bend, Pa., were: Joseph, b 1812, m Emroy Taylor; Catharine, b 1814, m Rev. Jas. B. McCreary pastor for thirty years of the Presbyterian church at Great Bend, Pa., which was built by Abraham DuBois and John McKinney; Elizabeth, b 1816, m Francis P. Catlin; Lydia Jane, b 1821, m Dr. James Brooks; Nicholas, b 1823, m Louisa Griffin; William, killed 1855 at Virgin Bay, Nicaragua, on return from California; Fanny, m Hon. Simeon B. Chase; Juliet, m Robert E. Cur- tis; Janıes C., m Emma Brundage.
Abraham (3) and son Dominicus or Mina (the name adopted by the latter, because he so much disliked that of Dominicus) both served in the Revolutionary War in the
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state troops of New Jersey, Abraham as Captain and Dom- inicus as Sergeant. There were several other DuBoises who were in the service of the country from this state during that period.
Abraham (4) son of Abraham (3) learned the jewelers' trade and established himself in Philadelphia in 1772, became an expert designer and engraver and is credited with having made the design of one of the first of the experimental coin- ages of the United States in 1783, known as the "Nova Constellation." Four of these coins, a ten cent, twenty-five cent, half dollar and dollar, formerly the property of John Jacob Thompson, were sold a short time since at the sale of the Parmlee collection in New York City for the sum of $1,375. Abraham (4) was of more than the ordinary ability. He engaged in a large export trade in the products of the West Indies to the several ports of the Netherlands. He owned or controlled a number of vessels engaged in this trade. An inventory of his estate shows the faith he had in the future of the New Republic. Among the items are the following :
House No. 65 S. 2nd street, Philadelphia, Pa.
Twenty-one tracts of land Luzerne county, Penn., 8,400 acres.
Four tracts of land Centre country, Penn., 1,600 acres.
Thirty-six tracts Northumberland county, Penn. Township, 14,600 acres.
In Harrison county, Virginia, 10,000 acres.
In Lincoln country, Kentucky, 10,000 acres.
In Fayette county, Kentucky, 10,000 acres.
In Roberon county, North Carolina, 115,000 acres.
In Montgomery county, Georgia, 219,000 acres.
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This followed a long list of personal and other property. It afterwards appears that much of the landed property was lost to the heirs through the large depreciation of the Con- tinental currency.
Nicholas (2) was a judge of the courts of New Jersey for a period of eighteen years.
Dominicus was agent for his brother Abraham of Philadel- phia in the purchase of land in Luzerne county, Penn., and settled at Great Bend, Susquehanna county, where he died in 1824.
He was active in all enterprises looking to the interest and advancement of Great Bend. In company with John Mc- Kinney he built on the picturesque site of the present Pres- byterian church the first church erected there, and was always one of its most earnest supporters.
Abraham (5) son of Dominicus, who married Juliet Bowes, owned and cultivated a large tract of land at Great Bend, covering a great part of this township, besides owning and operating a lumber mill still in the possession of the family. He had a large family and died in 1865.
Joseph, the eldest son of Abraham (5) held many positions of trust in his native town, Great Bend, now Hallstead, Penn. He left a family of nine children: Richard, Ellen, Juliet, Har- riet, James, William, Frances, Addison and Abraham. Rich- ard is a captain in the regular army. He has long resided in Washington, D. C. Harriet married Commander Geo. M. Bache, U. S. Navy. James has been U. S. consul at Man- heim and Consul-General at Switzerland.
Nicholas DuBois, son of Abraham (5) became a civil en- gineer and was employed in building the Erie railroad; after- wards was in Oregon and in 1859 located in Washington,
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D. C. His children were: Elizabeth, Charles, Carrie and Rhesa.
THE DUBOISES AT CATSKILL.
Benjamin DuBois, son of Solomon, son of Louis the Pat- entee, married in 1721, Catharine Suylant of Hurley. About 1727 he moved from his father's home at Poughwoughtenonk in the town of New Paltz to Catskill, in what was then Albany county, now Greene county. He settled on a tract of 900 acres, purchased in 1720 by his father, Solomon, of Alexander McDowell, for which he paid £305, lying on the south side of Catskill creek. In 1728 Benjamin purchased of Gysbert Lane and wife a tract of land at the Point for £350. In the will of Benjamin DuBois, which was proved in 1767, he mentions his sons, Huybartus, [Lieut .- Col.] Cornelius and Isaac and speaks of his grandson Benjamin, son of his deceased eldest son, Solomon. He also mentions his two daughters, Tryntje and Sarah, widow of Christian Overbaugh.
Benjamin's son Solomon, who was born in 1724, was a blacksmith by trade. He married Margaret Sammons. Their son Benjamin, born in 1752, married Catharine Salisbury.
Huybartus, son of Benjamin, the first of the name at Catskill, was born in 1725, before the removal of his father's family from Poughwoughtenonk. He married Cornelia Hal- lenbeck of Coxsackie. During a great portion of his life he occupied the homestead of his father, Benjamin, where he died in 1809. He left several daughters and two sons, Benjamin and John, the former of whom did not marry.
Lieut .- Colonel Cornelius DuBois was born in 1727, about the time of the removal of his father's family from Pough- woughtenonk to Catskill. In the Revolutionary War he was a captain and afterwards a lieutenant-colonel and commanded
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the IIth Regiment of. Levies. He was in active service as captain before being commissioned as lieutenant-colonel. The record says that Captain DuBois of Catskill erected a block- house half a mile east of Cobleskill village in Schoharie county and that he was for some time in command of this fort. In the campaign against the Indians and Sir John Johnson in 1779 Lieut .- Colonel Cornelius DuBois took an important part. Rev. Dr. Anson DuBois states that his grandfather Joel DuBois, then a boy of about seventeen, was among the state levies under Captain Hoteling in the cam- paign against Sir John Johnson, in the regiment recruited about Catskill and the Great Emboght and commanded by Colonel Cornelius DuBois. Rev. Dr. Anson DuBois adds: " The services of Barent DuBois, a son of Col. Cornelius, as a scout and ranger during most of the Revolutionary war, are full of the most romantic interest. He was an intimate associate of Timothy Murphy, the Schoharie Indian Killer, and knew every Indian path and secret cover from the Can- ada border to the Great Bend of the Susquehanna. The writer remembers him well and many an amusing or kindly tradition of Capt. Barent DuBois still lingers about his old home in Catskill."
Lieutenant-Colonel Cornelius' wife was Catharine Vander- poel of Kinderhook, whom he married in 1751. Their sons (besides Captain Barent) were Benjamin, Lowrens and Abra- ham and there were several daughters.
We will now go back to Isaac DuBois, youngest son of Benjamin, who was born in 1731, after the removal of the family from New Paltz to Catskill. He married Lena Sam- mons of Shawangunk. He resided at Catskill Point on the place previously occupied by his brother Huybartus. Here he lived thirty-five years, until his death in 1793. He had .
-
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two sons, John and Joel and two daughters. The eldest son, John, occupied the place for forty-six years, until his death in 1841, when it passed into the possession of Joel DuBois, his son, who owned it until 1859, when it passed out of the possession of the family, which had owned it for 131 years. The information in this sketch is from Rev. Dr. Anson DuBois, partly derived from correspondence and partly from information found in his history of the Catskill DuBoises, which was published shortly after the DuBois Reunion at New Paltz in 1875.
THE STATEN ISLAND DUBOISES.
There was another Louis DuBois in this country shortly after the New Paltz Patentees located here and this other Louis DuBois left a line of descendants on Staten Island, though this does not interfere with the evidence that Louis Jr., son of the Paltz Patentee, had a son Louis who settled on Staten Island, likewise.
In the calendar in English of New York Historical memo- randa which we find in the Poughkeepsie library, it appears that in 1690 Peter Cavalier, Adolphus Hardenbrook, Louis DuBois and one or two others made a formal complaint that they had been deprived of their share of the prizes taken in this Canada expedition which was the first under- taken. This Louis DuBois is not the New Paltz Patentee for he was much too old for such work, nor was it his son Louis for he was a lad only thirteen years of age. Next we find in the record in the old French church in New York City recorded in French the marriage of Louis DuBois and Hester Graset in 1694; then in the enrollment of militia in Staten Island in 1715 appear the names of Louis DuBois, sen. and Louis DuBois, Jr .; then in the records of the Dutch
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church on Staten Island it appears that Louis DuBois and his wife Catharine Van Brunt had a son baptized in 1744; next we find in the records of wills in New York City that of Louis DuBois made in 17II and probated in 1744 in which he speaks of himself as a resident of Staten Island, appoints his wife Katrina (in English Catharine), as one of the execu- tors, gives to his eldest son Louis, his smithy and nothing more, gives to his sons John and Augustus the plantation where he resides, gives to his son Samuel his plantation on the south side, which he bought of Daniel Stilwell, and gives certain legacies to his daughters Martha, Esther, Mary and Marguerite. In the records of the Episcopal church on Staten Island we find the baptism of several children, evi- dently of this line of DuBoises.
There is also on Staten Island records a considerable amount of information concerning the family of Louis Du- Bois, son of Louis, Jr., of New Paltz and grandson of Louis the New Paltz Patentee, who went from New Paltz to Staten Island, married Charity Andervelt about 1743, located at Richmond, near the center of the island and had a family of five sons and two daughters one of whom Mathias, emi- grated to Broome county and located in the town of Union.
This Mathias married Catharine Carshan and afterwards Mary Marshall, before removing to Broome county about 1793. By his first wife he had one daughter Mary, and four sons Lewis, Daniel, Mathias and John. The last named born in 1777, married Lucy Crocker. They located in Owego, N. Y., near the mouth of Owego creek. John DuBois en- gaged in lumbering as well as farming. His children were: Ezekiel, John, Jr. (the lumber king), David, Pamelia, Abel, Angeline, Matthias, Orrin, George M., Joseph, Mary. John DuBois, Jr., carried on the lumber business on a very large
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scale and was likewise a bridge builder. He left a fortune of several millions of dollars.
NEW PALTZ HUGUENOTS IN POUGHKEEPSIE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION.
New Paltz people were not among the very earliest set- tlers in Poughkeepsie. The first tax list for the middle dis- trict in Dutchess, which comprised Poughkeepsie and its immediate vicinity, was made in 1718 and contains the names of thirty-three persons, not one of them a New Paltz man, though Pierre (Peter) DuBois, son of Jacques, had gone from Kingston to Fishkill a dozen years earlier and was an elder in the church at Fishkill, when it was organized in 1716.
However, though there were no New Paltz people in Poughkeepsie when the first tax list was made in 1718, there were three grandsons and one great-grandson of Hugo Freer the Patentee, who went from New Paltz and located in that place in the next generation; while six grandsons of Louis DuBois the Patentee, went from Kingston to the same place in the same period. Besides there was a son of Hugo Freer the Patentee, who went to Rhinebeck about 1720.
The records of the Dutchess county clerk's office show that in 1723 Abrahamı Freer of Dutchess county purchased of Henry Beekman sixty-seven acres of land "joining the land of his father " Abraham Freer senior, on the King's Road and fifteen years later the former and wife Johanna (Louis) sold this identical sixty-seven acres "lying at Rhinebeck " to Matthew Earnest of Rhinebeck for £190. These records show that Abraham Freer junior and his father both owned land at Rhinebeck in 1723.
In the Dutchess county tax list for 1723 Abraham Freer is assessed for $5 and Abraham Freer junior for £8. Peter
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DuBois of Fishkill is rated at £25. The next year, in addi- tion to the names mentioned we find that of Hugo Freer, oldest son of Abraham Freer senior, who married Marietjen Dewitt. Hugo joined the church at Rhinebeck in 1742 and probably lived and died there. Some of his children were baptized at Rhinebeck, some at Kingston and some at New Paltz.
[His son Johannes (John) lived in Rhinebeck and married Catharine Caruryck. They had children: Peter, baptized at Rhinebeck in 1758; Henry, born at Claverack; Johannes in Albany; Hendrick in Schagitoke. The eldest son Peter, who was baptized at Rhinebeck in 1758, married Rachel Davenport and located at Troy, N. Y., where he died in 1730. His son Henry Davenport Frear lived in Troy. James A. Frear, secre- tary of state of Wisconsin is a grandson of Henry Davenport Frear of Troy, N. Y.]
This Hugo or (Hugo Ab. as the name sometimes appears) had four brothers: Abraham junior, Solomon, William and Philip. Each of these located at a different place; thus the Freer family scattered widely at an early date. Abraham junior married Janitje DeGraff and as his second wife Johanna Louis and moved to Poughkeepsie; Solomon mar- ried Claritje Westvaal and located at Minisink; William mar- ried Maryanetta Van Coykendall and we find him at Pough- keepsie, his name being signed to a call sent to Holland for a minister in 1744.
His sons were Benjamin, Jacob and Abraham. The last named, who was born in 1744, lived for a time in "Sopus " (as Kingston and vicinity were called in those days) but in 1778 moved to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. He left three children and thirty-six grandchildren. His son William was a minister of the Baptist church and likewise his grandson Geo Frear, D. D.
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Philip, son of Abraham Freer, married Catharine Scharf and lived at Claverack.
In 1727 the name of Abraham Freer appears as collector in the North Ward, that is the Rhinebeck district, and the receipt with his signature appears in the book. It is written in Dutch and is one of the very few papers in that language in the Dutchess county records.
Abraham Freer senior, son of Hugo the Patentee, doubt- less ended his days at Rhinebeck.
We have noted in previous pages that Abraham senior, who was the second son of Hugo the Patentee, and was living near the present location of the Bontecoe school house, not very far from the north bounds of the Paltz patent in 1705, sold his pews in the church here in 1723 and probably moved somewhere, as his name does not appear on the list of free- holders in 1728. From these Dutchess county records there can be no doubt that he moved from Bontecoe to Rhinebeck in 1723 or before that date, with his family. He was the first son of a Patentee to locate outside of Ulster county and he was the only son of a Patentee who ever lived outside of Ulster county except Benjamin, son of Abraham Hasbrouck who, at a later date, also moved to Dutchess county and Abraham DuBois, son of the Patentee of the same name, who went to New Jersey.
Abraham Freer senior, who certainly was the first to move from New Paltz to Dutchess county, had a nephew Simon, son of Hugo, senior and grand-nephew Peter son of Jonas who moved from New Paltz to Poughkeepsie. The mar- riage of the last named is the first recorded on the church book at that place. It is dated in 1746 and states that Peter Freer, born at New Paltz was married to Cornelia Ostrom, both then living at Poughkeepsie. [The record of births in
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Poughkeepsie dates back considerably further, and begins in 1718.]
Abraham Freer junior was one of the first New Paltz men to locate in Poughkeepsie, and he quite surely lived at Rhine- beck with his father, before going to Poughkeepsie. He was the son of Abraham senior and grandson of Hugo the Pat- entee. He was born in 1697 and was still living at New Paltz in 1720 when he married Janitje DeGraff at Kingston. As his second wife he married at Poughkeepsie in 1734 Johanna Louis, widow of Peter Van Bome. In 1734 his name appears on the Poughkeepsie records as poundmaster.
On a map of Poughkeepsie of 1770 no Freer name is set down except the Abraham Freer farm of 146 acres.
Abraham Freer's son Johannes (in English John) was born in 1739. He married Maria Van Fleet. He resided in Poughkeepsie.
Now going back to another member of the Freer family who early moved from New Paltz to Poughkeepsie we find that in the year 1724 Simon Freer " of Ulster county " pur- chased of Aert Masten forty-two morgen of land at Poegkeep- sling (Poughkeepsie). The price paid was £140.
The name of this Simon Freer, who was a son of Hugo senior, does not appear on the tax roll in Dutchess county until in 1729, six years later than those of his uncle Abraham senior and his cousin Abraham junior. He was born in 1695 and married Marytjen Van Bommel at Kingston. He is mentioned in the will of his father-in-law Peter Van Bommel (Wamboom) in 1732. His name appears as an ensign at Poughkeepsie in 1739 and a signer to a call to Holland for a minister in 1744.º His sons were Simeon (born in 1721), Petrus, Johannes [Col. John], Nathan, Jacobus (born in 1735 and probably Capt. Jacobus) Jeremias. The youngest child was baptised at Poughkeepsie; others at Kingston.
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We have additional information concerning two of these sons of Simon Freer who moved from New Paltz to Pough- keepsie, namely Simeon the eldest and Johannes (John).
The last named was Col. John Freer, who commanded the 4th Dutchess Co. regiment of militia in the Revolutionary war. Our information of Col. John Freer's family is obtained to some extent from Gov. Walter F. Freer of Hawaii who is one of his descendants. John Freer's name first appears with the title of colonel in 1770.
The list of enlisted men in this regiment can not now be found, but the list of officers has been preserved; also the list of land bounty rights for the regiment. Mention of this regiment repeatedly appears. At the commencement of the war in 1775 Col. Freer was appointed one of the "com- mittee of correspondence " to look after the interests of the patriot cause. In 1794 his name appears as one of those who manumitted their slaves.
His wife was Mary Van Kleek. They had two sons, Simeon J. and Baltus and two daughters: Betsy who married Peter Deyo and Maria who married Cornelius Levingston. The son Simeon J. (born in 1755), lived in Poughkeepsie, married Sarah Van Kleek and after her death Mary Van Sickler. The first wife had one son John S.
The second wife had three sons, James, Samuel and Baltus and four daughters, Phebe, Maria, Sally and Eliza C. The son Baltus (born in 1794), married Lavina Westervelt. About 1830 he removed from Poughkeepsie to Ithaca. Their chil- dren were Alexander, Louisa, Walter, Rebecca and William. Several of the descendants are living at Ithaca. The son Walter (D. D.), married Fannie E. Foster and removed to Oakland, California, where he is still living. They had three sons Hugo P., Walter F. and Philip and two daughters.
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Gov. Frear writes that the information he sends is from his grandmother, the wife of Baltus Freer, who removed from Poughkeepsie to Ithaca about 1830.
Simeon, the eldest brother of Col. John Freer resided in Freertown. He married Catharine Van Benschoten. Their son Elias was a soldier in the Revolution. He married Mary Van Kleeck. About 1777 he moved from Poughkeepsie to Greenfield in the town of Wawarsing where he bought about 1,000 acres of land. He has a large number of descendants in the town of Wawarsing. Elias' son Moses moved to New Paltz about 1830 and for about twenty years occupied the old Freer house on Huguenot street, and carried on the blacksmithing business in a shop across the way. He then moved to Ohio. Subsequently he returned to this town and located two miles east of this village where he again started in the blacksmithing business and called the place Ohioville, in memory of the state where he had lived. This name the little village has ever since borne. Moses' son George carried on the blacksmithing business in this village for a period of about twenty-five years from 1855, at what is now the trolley depot.
Now we will go back to Poughkeepsie and the Freers who resided there.
In the list of those who signed the Articles of Association at Poughkeepsie in 1775 appear the names of John, Jacobus (2), Simon and Elias Freer. Among the number who re- fused to sign appear the names of Abraham, Abraham, Jr., Simon, Jr., and Thomas Freer. Some of those who refused to sign changed their mind, afterwards, and cast in their lot with the patriot cause.
There were a large number of Freers in Poughkeepsie in the time of the Revolution and in the Land Bounty Rights
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of Col. John Freer's regiment appear the names of Abraham, Abraham, Jr., Baltus, Jacobus, John, Nathan, Peter and Simon J. Freer.
Tradition has preserved a story that during the Revolu- tionary War Capt. Jacobus Freer was stationed with a com- pany of soldiers near the Kall Rock when Gen. Vaughn with the British fleet sailed up the Hudson on his way to burn Kingston and that from his cover Capt. Freer's men fired upon the fleet. The author of the Eagle history thinks , that most probably this firing was on the return of the fleet and states that shots from the ships were also fired, one hav- ing struck near the old Vassar brewery and being now pre- served at Washington's Headquarters at Newburgh.
The number of Freers increased in Poughkeepsie. In a map of 1798 Freertown is marked down at its present loca- tion and people of the name are also set down as living farther south on the Post road.
On a map of 1799, when the village was incorporated, six Freer residences are located on the Post road in the southern part of the place. The initials of the Freers occupying these houses on this map are P. N. I. E. S. and S. S.
The total population of the place at that time was about 1,000 and the Freers were apparently much more numerous than any other family.
A part of Poughkeepsie is still called Freertown on account of the number of people of that name, living there a century ago. Freertown is reached by going down Market street and South avenue and it bounds on Livingston street. The fine Hinkley residence overlooks Freertown. No people of the name have lived there in about half a century. The oldest resident of the neighborhood is Mr. Levi Van Kleeck. He is about eighty years of age and has resided there about
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sixty-five years. He remembers Jacobus and Lawrence Freer, two of the last of the name residing there. Neither of these left sons. Lawrence Freer owned some half a dozen houses in different parts of Poughkeepsie. The family, which was a century ago the most numerous in the place and highly respectable did not move away to any great extent. Mr. Van Kleeck tells us: They just died out.
THE DUBOIS FAMILY IN POUGHKEEPSIE AND VICINITY.
In the Dutchess county records we find that in 1730 Mat- thew DuBois " of Ulster County " who can be no other than Matthew of Kingston the youngest son of Louis the Pat- entee, purchased of Andrew Teller 1337 acres of land on Wappingers Creek, being a part of the Francis Rombout patent. Within the next two years he made additional pur- chases of land, amounting in all to about 2,000 acres.
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