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 > Part 23
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SOLOMON, SON OF ABRAHAM THE PATENTEE
Solomon was born in 1686 and married Sarah Van Wagenen in 1721. They lived in a stone house about 11/2 miles north of this village and a quarter of a mile east of the Springtown bridge. This house, after being unoccupied for many years, tumbled into ruins about 1860. There is a barn near by and about 100 yards south is a large old graveyard. Solomon had a large family of sons as follows :
Abraham, Jr., Jacobus, John, Daniel, Simon, Petrus and Elias. Of Abraham, Jr., Daniel and Simon we have no ac- count except that the first named married Rachel Sleight.
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Jacobus' son Benjamin owned what is known as the Simon L. DuBois farm near Springtown. He gave a life estate in the farm to his son Abraham, who was the grandfather of John H. Hasbrouck and Milton B. Hasbrouck.
Of Petrus, John and Elias we have quite a complete record.
Petrus lived in the old stone house now owned by Mr. A. Neal, at Middletown. This house was built for Petrus; his · wife was Sarah, daughter of Abm. Bevier. In Revolutionary times Petrus was second lieutenant in the second company of New Paltz militia, serving in Col. Johannis Hardenburgh's regiment, which regiment served from October 25, 1775, till 1782 and saw much fighting.
Petrus' children were Rælif, who lived at Springtown; Simon, who lived in the old homestead and died unmarried; Samuel, who married Lydia Crispell and inherited the old homestead; Jeremiah, who married a Bruyn and moved to Elmira; Mathusalem, who married Maria Deyo and moved to Binghamton; Solomon, who married Magdalen LeFevre and lived at Centerville; Abram, who married Mary Blanshan and lived on what is now the John Morey farm at Bontecoe. Rælif, the eldest son, was twice married. His first wife was Jane Elting. They had four children-all girls, Sarah, who mar- ried Wm. W. Deyo; Catharine, who married Jacob Rose; Dinah, who married Jonathan LeFevre; Magdalen, who mar- ried Daniel DuBois.
Rælif's second wife was Maria DeWitt. They had three sons, DeWitt, Clinton and Charles B. The last named long carried on the mercantile business in this village in the building afterwards occupied by his nephew, Oscar C. Hasbrouck.
Petrus' son Samuel was the father of Miss Cornelia Has- brouck and Mrs. Elihu Schoonmaker of this village, from the
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latter of whom we have our information in regard to this branch of the Hasbrouck family.
Elias Hasbrouck, the brother of Petrus Hasbrouck, moved to Kingston, where he engaged in the mercantile business, his store being located on the corner of Wall and Main streets, opposite the First Reformed church. Elias commanded a company of rangers in the Revolutionary war and saw much active service. He was with Gen. Richard Montgomery in the attack on Quebec, in which Montgomery lost his life. He named one of his sons Montgomery in honor of his old com- mander and to his son, as well as all other sons of his old com- rades who were named for her husband, Gen. Montgomery's widow made a present of a gold ring. This ring passed from Montgomery Hasbrouck to his daughter, Mrs. -
Keator, who long resided with her son-in-law, Mr. Chas. Drake, in this village, and preserved the ring as a precious heirloom. From her we have full information of the family of Elias Hasbrouck. When the British burned Kingston, in the time of the Revolu- tionary war, the store of Elias Hasbrouck was consumed.
After the war he went to Shandaken Valley, in Woodstock, where he bought a piece of land at what is now Lake Hill. Elias Hasbrouck's wife was Elizabeth Sleight of Esopus. They had a family of two daughters and five sons, Elias, John, Daniel, Montgomery and Peter. The last named moved to Kingston. The other brothers all settled on the tract purchased by their father in Woodstock, where they had farms adjoining each other. Two of Montgomery's sons, Daniel, late of Modena, and John W., of Middletown, Orange county, have taken an active interest in the family history.
Going back now to John, the brother of Elias and Petrus, we find that he kept the homestead of his father, Solomon- that is the old stone house, afterwards owned and occupied by
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Charles Elting, standing a few rods west of the late residence. of Jas. Ean, which tumbled down about 1860.
John Hasbrouck left two sons, John and ---. John was the only one who married. John's wife was a daughter of Wm. McDonald, a Scotchman, who had a tannery about where the eastern end of the Springtown railroad bridge now is. John and his wife had four sons, Andrew, William, Philip and John. Andrew and William emigrated in their youth, the last named, we believe, to Florida. John went to Indiana and left a large family of children. Philip resided in the neighborhood all his life, his residence being directly across the street from the school house. For a great number of years he held the office of justice of the peace and was usually called "'Squire." He had three sons : Washington, Peter and Evert. The first named was a very prominent educational man, was the founder of the Hasbrouck Institute at Jersey City and was for a num- ber of years principal of the New Jersey State Normal school . at Trenton:
This ends the history of the descendants of Solomon, son of Abraham Hasbrouck, the patentee.
JOSEPH, SON OF ABRAHAM THE PATENTEE
We will now proceed to the history of Joseph, the eldest son of Abraham the Patentee, who was born in 1684. Joseph Hasbrouck, and his wife, Ellsje Schoonmaker, are buried in the graveyard in this village, but for a great number of years they have had few descendants permanently residing in the town of New Paltz. Nevertheless none of the New Paltz Hugue- nots have left a more honored line of descendants and none have taken greater interest in the history of the place.
Joseph and his wife, Ellsje Schoonmaker, were married in ' 1706. They located at Guilford, on a tract of 2,000 acres,
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TOMBSTONE OF JOSEPH HASBROUCK IN THE OLD GRAVE YARD IN THIS VILLAGE
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which had been granted by patent in 1685 to James Graham and John Delavall. The original parchment is now in the possession of Joseph Hasbrouck, Jr., who is the owner and occupant of the farm where his father, Joseph L., his grand- father, Col. Joe., and his great-grandfather, Gen. Joe., lived before him. Gen. Joe.'s father, Col. Abraham, lived in Kings- ton in Revolutionary times and his father is the first Joseph in the line.
The parchment, on which the grant of the Guilford tract is written, is in a good state of preservation. About 1860 the family residence was burned down and a number of papers burned, but this patent being in the safe was preserved.
The following is a copy, the quaint spelling of certain words being given as in the original :
"Thomas Dongan, Lieutenant Governor and vice admirall of New Yorke and its dependencyes under his majesty, James the Second, by the Grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith, Supreme Lord and pro- prietor of the colony and province of New Yorke and depen- dencyes in America. To all to whom this shall come sendeth greeting.
Whereas Phillip Wells, esquire, surveyor general, hath by virtue of my warrant, bearing date the 16th day of December, one thousand six hundred and eighty-five, surveyed and laid out, for James Graham and John Delavall, a certain tract of land, being situate and lying upon both sides the Walls River, of the New Palls and known by the Indian name Nescatock and now by the name of Guilford, in the county of Ulster beginning on the east side the river'and att the south end of a small island, off the mouth of the River Chauwangung and stretching into the woods by a line of marked trees, east, south-
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east, five degrees and thirty minutes, southerly fifty one chains and a halfe and then in length north by east six degrees and forty five minutes easterly one hundred and ninety chains and then in breadth to the River west, northwest, five degrees and thirty minutes northerly, by a line of marked trees, fifty one chains and a half to the pauls River and so crossing the River, to a tree marked with three notches, and a cross on them, standing off the mouth of a small run and so continues by a line of marked trees, fifty one chains and a halfe over a small hill and then in length south southwest two degrees and thirty minutes westerly, one hundred and seventy six chains, to a tree marked, near the River Chauwangung and from thence east, southeast to the said River and so by the River to the aforesaid small island, including the said island, containing in all wood- land and meadows two thousand acres as by the Rowenty of the survey Remaining on record in the secretary's office may more fully and att large appear : NOW KNOW YEE that I, the said Thomas Dongan, by virtue of the power and authority to me devised from his most sacred majesty, and in pursuance of the same have given, granted, ratified, released and con- furred, and by these presents, do give, grant, ratify, release and confirme unto the said James Graham and John Delavoll, all the aforesaid tract and Parcell of land and Island lying and being scituated within the limitts and bounds aforesaid, to- gether with all the woods, underwoods, timber, swamps, mead- ows, pastures, fields, islands, waters, lakes, ponds, Rivers, Rivu- lets, Runns, Creeks, Quarries, Mines, Mineralls, ffishing, hunt- ing, hawking, ffowling and all other Royalties, Proffits, Com- moditites, hereadaments to the said tract and parcell of land, island and premissess with their appurtenances, belonging or in any wise appertaining (silver and gold mines only excepted) to have and to hold all the aforecited tract and parcell of land
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Island and premises with all and everything appurtenances, unto the said James Graham and John Delavall, their heirs and assigns, to the sole and proper use, beneffitt and behoof of them the said James Graham and John Delavall, their heirs and assigns, forever, without any lett, hindrance or molestation, to be had or Reserved upon (word illegible) or joynt tenancy or survivorship, any thing contained herein to the contrary in any wise, notwithstanding, to be holden of his most sacred majesty, his heirs and successors in free and comon Soccage, according to the tenure of east Greenwich, in the county of Kent, within the Realms of England yielding, rendering and paying therefor yearly and every year, unto his said majesty, his heirs and successors or to such officer or officers as shall be empowered to receive the same on the five and twentieth Day of March, att the city of New Yorke six bushels of good, winter, merchantable wheat, as an acklowledgment or quit rent, in lieu of all services and demands whatsoever.
In Testimony, whereof, I have caused these presents to be recorded in the secretary's office and seale of the province to be hereunto affixed, this eleventh day of September, Ann Dom one thousand six hundred and eighty six, and in the second year of his majesty's reign.
THOMAS DONGAN.
Recorded in the Secretary's office for the province of New York in Liber W. S. book of Pattents begun 1684, pages 546, 547, 548. G. I. SPRAGUE, Sec.
May it please your honor, the attorney-general hath perused this patent and finds nothing contained therein prejudicial to his majesty's interest. JA. GRAHAM.
Exam. August, 1686.
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We do not know very much about the first Joseph Has- brouck, except that he was one of the Justices of the County of Ulster in 1722, and his name is mentioned in a record of that date as having proceeded with two other Justices and an Indian to locate definitely the southwest corner of the Paltz patent at Moggonck.
The diary of Joseph's son, Col. Abraham Hasbrouck, says he was "a gentleman much respected by those with whom he was acquainted and he served in several public stations in Ulster county. He was very affable and agreeable in company, eloquent in speech, spoke French, Dutch, and very tolerable English."
Joseph Hasbrouck is buried in the old graveyard in this vil- lage and the stone which marks his last resting place bears the oldest date of any in the graveyard. It is of brown sand stone, such as was used at that period. At the top of the stone is an angel's head and wings. The inscription is as follows: "Here lyes the Body of Joseph Hasbrouck, Esq., aged 40 years, 3 months and 18 days, deceased, January 28, 1723/4." The fraction 34 marks the date in Old Style. By the side of this grave is another similar stone with the in- scription : "Here lies interred the Body of Ellsje Hasbrouck, widow of Joseph Hasbrouck, Esq., deceased ye 27 day of July 1764, aged 78 years, 8 months and 3 days."
Joseph's widow, as will be noted by these inscriptions, out- lived her husband forty years. We may suppose the stones were put up by her sons after their mother's death. Quite certainly no gravestones of brown sandstone were used in the graveyard here at so early a period as 1723.
At just what date Joseph Hasbrouck moved from his father's home in this village and located at Guilford we can not say. It was probably shortly after his marriage in 1706.
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In our previous sketches of the early settlers of New Paltz we have noted various instances of a widow being left at a comparatively youthful age with a large family on her hands. We have noted the additional fact as appearing in the early history of New Paltz that, where there was a large family of sons the record of the mother was that of an exceedingly able woman.
Joseph Hasbrouck's wife lost her husband when she was about thirty-seven years of age, and was left with ten children on her hands, while her oldest, Abraham, was only about seven- teen years of age. It requires little imagination to see that this woman, in the wilderness five miles from the little settlement at New Paltz, with no houses on the way except those of Louis DuBois, Jr., on the county house plains, and Solomon DuBois, where Mr. Blake now lives, must have had a dreary time, and had she not possessed a brave heart, would have succumbed to the hardships of the environment. But she did not give up the fight nor move back to New Paltz. She raised her family of six sons and four daughters. In her later years, when neighbors increased, she kept a store in the house. Nine of her children married. Her family scattered widely and rose to eminence.
The sons of Joseph Hasbrouck and his wife, Ellsje Schoon- maker, were Col. Abraham, who married Catharine Bruyn and located in Kingston; Isaac, who married Antje Low, widow of John Van Gasbeck, and located a short distance east of old Shawangunk church; Jacob, who married Mary Hornbeck and moved to Marbletown; Benjamin, who married Eledia Schoonmaker and located at what is now the Borden residence at Wallkill; Cornelius, who did not marry; Col. Jonathan, who married Catharine DuBois and located at Newburgh. There were also four daughters, all of whom married.
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COL. ABRAHAM, SON OF JOSEPH
The oldest son, Abraham, married Catharine Bruyn, daughter of Jacobus Bruyn, who lived a few miles south of Guilford, and in 1735, fourteen years after the death of his father, moved to Kingston and left the other children to help their mother to carry on the farm. We may consider that the boys who were left at home under care of their mother did good service in clearing up the forest land, for in 1765, one year after her death, we find the farm assessed to Abraham, the oldest son (who had bought it) at a higher rate than any other farm in the whole precinct of New Paltz.
For thirty-one years Abraham carried on the mercantile busi- ness in Kingston. In 1776 his store was destroyed by fire. He then moved, and in his later years had his residence in the large stone building, well remembered by people of the present generation as Schryver's Hotel, on East Front street, destroyed by fire about 1876. He is usually called "Colonel," but was not engaged in active service in the Revolutionary army, being an old man when the war commenced. He was a lieutenant- colonel of militia, was for twenty years member of the Provin- cial Assembly and was a member of the State Senate in 1781.
In 1775 he was elected colonel of the Ist Northern Ulster County Regiment and the next year was elected commander. 'During a long term of years he kept a diary, which contained more authentic information probably than any other record of that time in the county. This diary is quite a large volume and is now in the possession of the family of his great-grand- daughter, Mrs. Geo. H. Sharpe. Col. Abraham Hasbrouck, though residing in Kingston, continued to take a great interest in the affairs at New Paltz, and in the feud between the Has- broucks and the Eltings, which formed so important a part of the history of those times, he bore quite a conspicuous part.
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The origin of the feud was, as nearly as we can ascertain, the attempt on the part of Noah Elting and Nathaniel LeFevre to obtain from the Colonial government a patent for 3,000 acres of land lying on the south of the Paltz patent. This was strongly opposed by Col. Abraham Hasbrouck and others in behalf of the balance of the Paltz people, alleging that the original Paltz patent covered a part of this tract. To make the fight more bitter an action was commenced against Noah, who resided where the late Edmund Eltinge lived, and it was claimed that the land he occupied and which his father purchased of Solomon and Louis DuBois, Jr., in 1726, was also a part of the Paltz patent and that therefore his title to it was not valid. Finally the matter was settled without coming into court. In 1755 Col. Abraham, together with Louis Bevier of Marble- town and Jacob Hasbrouck, obtained a grant of 2,000 acres of land south of the New Paltz patent and in the neighborhood of the present Clintondale depot. .
Col. Abraham Hasbrouck of Kingston left four sons, Joseph, Daniel, Jonathan and James. The oldest son, Joseph, when he became a man moved back to the old homestead at Guilford. Daniel located at Wallkill, Orange county, and left two sons, neither of whom married, and four daughters.
Jonathan lived in Kingston and is well remembered as "Judge Jonathan," and was the father of Hon. A. Bruyn Hasbrouck, than whom Ulster county has had no more honored son. James occupied his father's house, subsequently the Schryver hotel property, at Kingston.
We will now go back with Col. Abraham's son, Joseph, to the homestead at Guilford. Having been placed by his father on the farm he worked it on shares for several years. In 1773, when thirty years of age, he married Elizabeth Bevier. Joseph
·
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was a brigadier-general of militia and is usually spoken of as "General Jo." During the Revolutionary war his farm was a depot of supplies for the federal army stationed at New Wind- sor and other places and these supplies were forwarded as needed. The book with his account of these transactions is still in possession of the family at Guilford. During the Revo- lutionary war he was lieutenant-colonel in Col. Cantine's regi- ment. His title as general was probably for militia service after the war. He was a member of the Assembly in 1786 and a member of the State Senate in 1793-96. He died in 1808.
Gen. Jo. left one daughter and a large family of sons as follows: Abraham, Louis, Daniel, Joseph, Philip, James and Luther.
The oldest son, Abraham, who was born in 1775, moved to Rondout when a young man, and for half a century carried on · a general mercantile business, being known among his old neighbors in Southern Ulster as "Abraham Hasbrouck of the Strand." He was in the freighting business, as well as the mercantile business, accumulated a large amount of property, and was a member of Congress in 1813-15. His wife was Helena Jansen. Their children were Jansen, Helena, wife of Henry Sharpe and mother of Gen. George H. Sharpe; Eliza- beth, wife of Dr. Richard Elting; Catharine, wife of Judge G. W. Ludlum; Maria, wife of Robert Gosman. Jansen, the only son, was a very prominent citizen of Rondout and until shortly before his death was president of the Rondout bank.
Besides Abraham "of the Strand," the other sons of "General Jo." of Guilford, as we have said, were Louis, David, Joseph, Philip, James and Luther. Louis located at Ogdensburgh, where his descendants still live.
David became a doctor and settled in Utica. He left at least two sons, William and John L., the latter the well-known
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New York merchant. Gen. Jo.'s sons Philip and Luther mar- ried, but left no children. Philip lived where his nephew, Philip B., now lives in Gardiner. The two remaining sons, James and Joseph, located in the vicinity, Joseph retaining the old homestead at Guilford and being sometimes called "Colonel Jo." James lived west of the Guilford church. His surviving sons are Louis of Libertyville and Philip B. Col. Jo., who kept the old homestead, left a family of four sons, Abner, Oscar, Dr. Alfred, who settled in Poughkeepsie, and Joseph L., who kept the old homestead.
About 1850 fire destroyed the old stone mansion, and some of the ancient papers, but a portion of the most valuable ones were in the safe unharmed. A brick house of modern pattern took the place of the stone house. On the death of Joseph L. Hasbrouck the property came into the occupancy of his only surviving son, Mr. Joseph Hasbrouck, Jr.
Louis Hasbrouck (son of Joseph, son of Abraham, son of Joseph, son of Abraham the Patentee), who settled at Ogdens- burgh, was born April 22, 1777, and was baptized May II, 1777, at Shawangunk by Rev. Regnier Van Niest. He was educated at Princeton and graduated in 1797. He studied law in the office of Josiah Ogden Hoffman in New York city and was admitted to the bar in 1801. Shortly afterwards he re- moved to Ogdensburgh, N. Y. He was the first County Clerk of St. Lawrence county, Postmaster of Ogdensburgh, Member of the Legislature and State Senator. He died August 20, 1834.
He married Catharine Banks, daughter of Justus Banks. They had several children, of whom one son, Louis, born in 1814, and two daughters, Sarah Sophia and Louisa, married. One daughter, Jane, is still living. Louis, the second of the name at Ogdensburgh, was twice married. His first wife was
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Louise Seymour Allen and his second wife was Sarah Maria Hasbrouck, daughter of Levi Hasbrouck of New Paltz. By the first marriage there were three children, two of whom, a son and daughter, are now living-the son, who is named Louis, being a prominent lawyer at Ogdensburg. By the second mar- riage there were three children, two of whom, Levi and Laura Maria, are still living.
ISAAC, SON OF JOSEPH AND GRANDSON OF ABRAHAM THE PATENTEE
Isaac Hasbrouck, second son of Joseph and grandson of Abraham the Patentee, was born March 12, 1712, and in 1766 married Antje Low, widow of John Van Gaasbeck, settled in Shawangunk about a mile south of Tuthill and built the house still standing, owned by Richard Hardenberg and his children for seventy years. His lands joined the Wallkill on the east for nearly a mile and extended west to where the Shawangunk church stands and probably extended a little farther to the Shawangunk kill. When the Shawangunk church was organ- ized in 1737 he gave the land where the building stands.
Isaac Hasbrouck was Supervisor of the town of Shawan- gunk in 1751 and 1752.
Isaac and his wife had three children-Joseph I., Elsie and Jane. Elsie did not marry. Jane married John Crispell and they had two sons, Peter and DuBois; both became physicians. DuBois settled and died in Kingston, Peter died in Hurley. A granddaughter of Joseph I., Mrs. A. M. Ronk, has in her possession an old family Bible with the following record :
"Joseph I. Hasbrouck, born October 1I, 1767, died March 24th, 1842. Married Cornelia Schoonmaker of Pa-ca-na-sink, born February 18th, 1766, died July 14th, 1814." Their chil- dren were Sarah B., born August 28, 1788, married Daniel
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Tuthill; Maria, born May 23, 1790, married Thomas Ostran- der; Catharine, born August 17, 1792, married Samuel John- son ; Dr. Stephen, born April 24, 1794, married Elsie Schenck of Fishkill; Levi, born December 21, 1795, married Manj Decker; Jane, born January 27, 1798, married Cornelius De- Witt of Marbletown; Geo., born January 26, 1800, married Maria Johnson; Joseph Osterhoudt, born December 23, 1801, married Eliza Ray; Abel, born December 16, 1803, married Ruth Winfield; Augustus, born September 20, 1809, married Jane V. W. Eltinge, daughter of Rev. Wilhelmus.
Joseph I. located and built on a portion of his father's lands about half a mile south of the old homestead and some distance by lane from the main road to the banks of the Wallkill. This has sometimes been mistaken for the old homestead.
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