The rescue included the greater part of the captives. The
Esopus tribe was now nearly exterminated. Late in the autumn they sued for
peace.--which was established. The rich alluvial lands of the Wallkill Valley
had attracted the favorable attention of the rescuing party.
The results were
of the most important character. Within three years of the rescue, May. 1666
(according to Edmund Eltinge), the purchase from the Indians of a large tract
of land was effected by Louis DuBois and his associates. The extent of this
tract is differently stated. Mr. Eltinge makes it 144 square miles, or 92,160
acres. Rev. Dr. Stitt says: "It was an alluvial valley, beginning at
Rosendale, bounded on the west by the Shawangunk mountains, and running as far
south as a point called Gertrude's Nose (which overlooks the town of
Shawangunk), and stretching from these two points in parallel lines to the
Hudson river."
Mr. Gilbert DuBois estimates the tract to contain 36,000
acres." The whole river line was about ten miles in length. On the
southern border it extended westward. by a right line, about the same length
to a conspicuous and immovable landmark, the 'Paltz Point.' The northern
boundary was seven miles long. The western five miles." Still another
authority makes the southern line about twenty-one miles in length. I
am
disposed to think this latter correct. "The tract included part of the
present townships of New Paltz, Rosendale and Esopus, and the whole of
Lloyd." Highland has since been formed out of it.
The price paid was forty kettles, forty axes, forty adzes, forty shirts, four
hundred strings of white beads (wampum), three hundred strings of black beads,
fifty pairs of stockings, one hundred bars of lead, one keg of powder, one
hundred knives, four quarter of wine, forty jars, sixty splitting or cleaving
knives, sixty blankets, one hundred needles, one hundred awls and one clean
pipe.
It was necessary that this transaction should be confirmed by the colonial
government, and accordingly a patent deed was procured from Gov. Andross,
September 29th, 1677, conveying to "Louis DuBois and partners" the
territory described, for the annual rent of "five bushels of good
wheat"--a mere expression of acknowledgment to the lord paramount. That
important document, or rather a French translation of it, has been again
translated by Mr. Wm. E. DuBois, and is as follows:
[TRANSLATION]
Edmond Andross, Esquire, Lord of Saumarez,
Lieutenant-Governor-General
under his Royal Highness,
James, Duke of York, or Albany,
and of all his
territories in America:--
WHEREAS, There is a certain piece of land at Esopus, which, by my approbation
and consent, has been acquired from the Indian proprietors by Louis DuBois and
his associates; the said land being situated on the south side of the redoubt
called Creek or Kill, being from (i.e. beginning at the high mountain called
Maggonck; thence extending from the southwest side, near the Great River, to a
certain point or hook, called the Jauffrouc hook, situated along the tract
called by the Indians Magaatrarmis, and from the north side ascending along
the rivet to a certain island which makes an elbow at the beginning of the
tract called by the Indians Raphoos.
From the West Side of the high mountains
to the place called Waratakac and Tatiarataque, and continues along the high
mountains from (on?) the southwest side to Maggonck, formerly so called; all
which things have been certified to me by the magistrates of the said Esopus,
to have been openly bought and paid for in their presence, as appears by the
return:--
Be it known to all whom it may concern, That by virtue of letters patent of
his Majesty, and by the commission and authority which is given me by his
Royal Highness, I have given, ratified and granted to the said Louis DuBois
and his partners,--that is, Christian Doyau, Abraham Hasbroucq, Andre
LeFebvre, Jean Hasbroucq, Pierre Doyau. Louis Beviere, Anthoine Crespel,
Abraham DuBois, Hugue Frere, Isaac DuBois and Simon LeFebvre, their heirs, and
others having right from the said above-named persons, the said pieces of
land, as well are able as (also) the forests, mountains, valleys, prairies,
pasturages, marshes or ponds or water, rivers, rights of fishing fowling,
hawking and hunting; and all other profits, commodities and emoluments
whatsoever, of the said piece of land and appertaining acquisitions, with
their and each of their appurtenances, and all parts and parcels thereof:
To
have and to hold the said piece of land and acquisition, with all and singular
the appurtenances and dependencies, to the said Louis DuBois and his
associates, their heirs, and others having right of property according to
usage.
In consequence or the foregoing, the said Louis DuBois and his associates,
their heirs, and others having rights in perpetuity (here the connection is at
fault, perhaps from an omission), and that the plantations which shall be
established on the said parcels of land shall, together, be considered to be a
village, and the inhabitants thereof shall have liberty to make a highway
between them and the redoubt, Creek or Kill, for their convenience; and the
said Louis DuBois and his associates, their heirs, and others having right,
shall render a faithful account or the survey, and make a legitimate use
thereof, according to law; rendering and paying each and every year, to his
Royal Highness, the rightful acknowledgment or rent of five bushels of wheat,
payable at the redoubt at Esopus, to such officers as shall have power to
receive it.
Given under my hand, and sealed with the seal of the province of New York the
29th day of September, in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of his Majesty,
and of our Lord, 1677.
(signed) ANDROSS
Examined by me
MATHIAS NICOLLS,
Secretary
It was about this time that one of our ancestors, whose
memory we honor on this occasion, came to this country. We refer, of course,
to Jacques DuBois. or as used among our Dutch friends. Jacobus. or in English.
James. The year of his arrival is 1675--two hundred years ago--just the same
in which Abraham Hasbrouck came. James or Jacques was a younger brother of
Louis. He was apparently a man of eminent worth. He became a prominent member
of the Kingston church, and equally so were his sons Jacobus and Pierre, or
Peter.
They married, respectively. Susanna Legg and Jeannetta Burhans, and
their descendants are numerous and respectable in Ulster county. Peter early
removed to Dutchess county, where his descendants have, from the first, ranked
among the most useful citizens. These families bear an honored record,
especially in the churches at Poughkeepsie and Fishkill.
First on the list of
officers and members of the ancient church of Fishkill stands the name of
Peter I. DuBois. James, the emigrant, did not go with Louis to New Paltz. The
most intimate relations, however, seem always to have subsisted between them
and their families in those early times. These intimacies are here happily
renewed after they have been measurably interrupted for nearly two hundred
years.
The important enterprise or forming a colony solely for the enjoyment of
religious and civil freedom, without respect to traffic, was now undertaken.
The Dutch had established themselves on Manhattan Island at Fort Orange, and
at Esopus, and had brought with them the minister and the schoolmaster.
But peltry not piety best defined their motives. The Dutch enjoyed religious
and civil liberty at home, and love of church and school was an element of
their nature. They were Protestants. Among them the word of God was not
barren. But the Huguenots fled from their native country to escape popish
bigotry, tyranny and persecution, and wherever they settled their definite aim
was not trade but liberty of conscience, freedom to serve God and one another.
This is fully illustrated by their settlements at Oxford, near Worcester,
Mass., New Rochelle, N.Y.. and by this colony at New Paltz.
Louis DuBois and
his associates sacrificed their prospects of worldly thrift, and entered the
unbroken forests there to secure to themselves and their children a purely
civil and religious asylum. They even refused a larger grant of land at a time
when all were grasping for more, because it was unnecessary to their purpose.
They were not mercenary trades-people nor socialists nor religious
enthusiasts, but sensible, earnest and godly men and women, to whom freedom in
their labors and in their worship was dearer than the treasures of both the
Indies.
The arrangements necessary for the departure of the colonists are complete.
Business is settled, lands and houses, superfluous cattle and household goods
disposed of.
The designated morning of the departure arrives. I bring you to
the
place of assembling. Would you know the form of that ancient Kingston they are
about to leave? You have but to study the present map from the junction of
Green and North Front to Main street, and you have the streets precisely as
they were laid down two hundred years ago, except that Fair has been opened
from Main to John.
A separate fortified place of angular form rested on Main
street, having a block house at the right-angle, corner of Main and Fair
streets, a bastion at the second angle. near the corner of Fair and John
streets, with
the hypotenuse extending so as to enclose the church lot and the log church
itself, at the corner of Wall and Main streets.
It is early morning in May.1677;-a portion of the
towns -people are about to
emigrate. How could the remaining citizens break the old ties! The town
gathered at the place of departure. In their front was the south gate of Wall
street, at their left the stockade of the separate fortified place, and on the
line of it the thick walls of the church, pierced by small windows and
numerous portholes for musketry.
First, I introduce to you Louis DuBois. He has been seventeen years in the
country, is well known and highly esteemed. He is a large, thick-set, strong
man, with Roman-French features, shrewd and active, and fitted for leadership.
Now he is very animated. You see him in the quaint garb of the day. He returns
your salutation affably, but in a moment is away, counseling the women in
French, and the moment after leaving some direction in Dutch to an European
burgher, or speaking a word with Dominie Tesschemaker, or hurrying the steps
of a Negro, or asking same further particulars of the country from a friendly
Indian.
His wife CATHARINE is there also, a self-possessed woman, wisely
attentive to each particular thing. Their seven children are there, and not
idle; the oldest, ABRAHAM a patentee (survivor of the twelve.), now just come
of age, and LOUIS, a babe, their only daughter SARAH. a girl of fourteen,
imitates her mother's activity. She was afterward the wife of Joost Jansen,
and emphatically a mother in Israel.
I present you Christian Deyo and family.--His name, like that of DuBois, also
appears on the record in various fantastic forms. Also, his brother, Pierre
Deyo. A man of foresight and enterprise. He wears the belt of a soldier,
clasped, as are his breeches, at the knees with buckles of polished steel. His
wife deserted him and betrayed him, and remained a bigoted Catholic in France.
After indescribable suffering, he joined his brother here. He returned for his
property, but failed to get it. He lost his life exploring a road from New
Paltz to the Hudson --the buckles were found thirty years afterward, among his
bones. Salute him with respect!
I present you, also, Abraham Hasbrouck, now two years in the country. You will
notice a dignity and ease in his manner only acquired by intercourse with
cultivated society. His prominence here this morning is noticeable. He comes
from Calais, France, and after a sojourn in the Palatinate, entered the
English army. and there knew Andross, now governor of New York. The colony
owes much to his influence in securing the charter. He wears side arms: his
directions are attended to.
Both Abraham Hasbrouck and his brother Jean. whom I present to you, doubtless
had families.
Here is Louis Bevier. He has suffered for conscience sake, and when leaving
everything of earthly value behind him in France, his own brother disowned
him, and refused to bid him farewell. I present you his wife and children.
Next, Antoine Crepel or Crispell, an intimate friend of Louis DuBois. You
notice his sailor-jacket. He formerly followed the sea, and represented the
new country as a good refuge to the afflicted Huguenots, his fellow-sufferers.
Present also his wife, Maddelen Joops.
Hugo Freer is an earnest and pious man, the first deacon at New Paltz.
Last, I present you Andries and Simon LeFevre. The name was eminent in the
reformation of France. They had done and suffered much for religion, and their
faithfulness to the cause is unchanged among their descendants to our day
Ah! you do not know these people yet! Each one has a history written in tears
and blood. They are confessors for Christ, every one of them, and such as the
world is not worthy of! How many are in this company? Probably about fifty
with a few domestics. We see them beside the church, in the wide street of
that queer nondescript little town, with its dilapidated palisades and gates,
and its various houses in which the architecture of the Netherlands of France,
of Congo and the Indian wigwam commingle incongruously.
Prominent in the midst of the gathering throng stand three strange looking
wagons--capacious and canvas-covered: they were called cars. They are
unmistakably French-built with low wheels deep felloes and turned spokes. They
were made by French mechanics, and loaded with French goods and furniture
(though we must admit, not in such fabulous quantities as freighted the May
Flower!) and there were precious little French babies stowed snugly into them.
The Negroes had already driven on the cattle and swine. They have said adieu:
Tesschemaker has prayed;*they begin to move; the crowd out through the gate.
as if the whole population are about to emigrate, and accompany their friends,
until at length. far into the woods, the last parting word is spoken--and the
Huguenot colony of New Paltz is alone, face to face with many hardships.
Not all the Huguenot families of Kingston (the name had recently been
established by Gov. Andross) left with the New Paltz colony. William E.
DuBois, our first American historian, gives a list of more than twenty French
families who remained. I cannot tell, from authentic data, the route pursued by Louis Du Bois and his
fellow-colonists from Kingston to New Paltz.
Intelligent persons of the
neighborhood tell me that the only practicable route was the west shore of the
Rondout, by way of the Green Kills, turning to the left where the road now
strikes the Delaware and Hudson canal, and crossing the Rosendale at the old
ford which lay at that place. Then you find a natural and comparatively easy
ascent up from the valley, along the side hill. to the table lands of
Rosendale, extending all the way to Springtown and New Paltz.
Whatever the
route may have been, the point of arrival is well known that interesting spot
was TRI-COR. the present residence of Mr. Ira Deyo, on the west bank of the
Wallkill, one mile south of the church. The name is given from the three
wagons, or cars, used in the journey. The opening scene in the local history of the New Paltz settlement was filled
with romance and dramatic interest.
As evening shadows were lengthening across the valley, the weary train moved
slowly into an open space beside the Wallkill. Arranging the three cars, and
making their preparations for the night as quickly as possible. They drew
together to offer their thanks to God for the unfailing mercies which had
brought them now at length, through perils by land and water, to their
long-looked-for home.
One of their number, whom we are warranted in believing
to have been Louis DuBois reverently opened the old French Bible, and reading
with suggestive emphasis the 23d Psalm, led the assembled colony in prayer of
thanksgiving and supplication. We need ask for no scene more beautiful or
grand in the history of any people. Large numbers were indeed wanting, but
here were all the elements of intense interest in civil or religious history.
These people were themselves the fragments of a wreck--the survivors of the
lost church of France--thrown upon these shores by the angry sea. They were a
few of who remained of the defeated, scattered army of French protestants,
after the long and bloody conflict had ended disastrously.
Probably every
family there was but a part of the old, happy household of France. Brothers,
nephews, and sons, had perished in dungeons, or now were mingling sighs and
songs in the murderous toil of the galleys. From home and kindred and country
they had fled for God and liberty.
True, they were now in a perfect
wilderness, and surrounded by jealous and treacherous savages. years of toil
and privation were before them--perhaps a violent death. But in their deepest
hearts they felt this to be a paradise, and the mercies of God in bringing
them hither like his mercies to his ancient covenant people.
So praises
mingled with their prayers. Thus, at length, we have arrived with our
forefathers at the land of promise. God had wrought wonderously for them by
His providence and abundant blessings were yet in store for all their perils
and losses.
The great mission of Louis DuBois and his associates at New Paltz was now
fairly in hand. After the merest shelter of their families, first came the
equitable division of their lands, and then the definite arrangement of their
civil government. The first, it would seem, was performed in a rude way; each
family portion was measured off by paces. and staked at the corners. These
boundaries were never changed. None were found to remove the landmarks which
the fathers had set, and they remain to this day.
It was a curious custom of theirs, to apply designations to the parcels
assigned to the special owners, such as these --Pashemoy, Pashecanse. Wicon,
Avenyear, Lanteur, Grampase, etc. These names have survived two hundred years.
The lands were at first tilled in common, and the proceeds equally divided. As
their fields lay adjacent to one another, they practiced a novel mode of
planting so as to guard against confusion and insure concert of action in case
of sudden attack by the Indians.
All the field-paths and roads were made to
converge to one point, which was the fortified rendezvous of the settlement.
At the first alarm, every man sprang along the row in which he happened to be
standing, and soon found his neighbors gathering closer to him, and in a few
moments all were at the fort. This ingenious arrangement was to prevent
confusion even in the densest fog.
Apropos. An amusing story is told of one
Francis Rampant, an early settler. An alarm was made while the men were in the
fields, and according to the rule, no man stopped to fight on his own account,
but all followed the rows to the rendezvous. The number was full with the
exception of Rampant, and a party returned to bring him in.
They soon found
him sunk to his middle in a marshy spot, as he was heavy, and better at
sinking than running. But they found him in fair spirits; for while there he
had been attacked by a young Indian but having seized the savage by the
throat, he thrust him under the mud beside him, and tightening his grip, he
exclaimed, in a favorite phrase, "Where were you when the king was
crowned?" The Indian was dead, and Rampant fearing the vengeance of the
tribe returned to France. It is owing to the circumstance of his return that
we have no New Paltz people by that name.
The civil government of the infant colony was wholly of their own devising,
and differed entirely from the system in vogue at Wiltwyck and other Dutch
municipalities. The twelve patentees--the "DUZINE." as they were
called--were constituted the legislative and judicial body of the miniature
state. The number was supplied, after the death of the original members by
annual election.
Decisions in all cases referred to them seem to have been
accepted as final; for though we must assume the right of appeal to the
colonial government, no such appeal is known to have been made, or disputed
boundary, or internal feud to have disturbed the absolute harmony of the
settlement. There was no civil government other than that of the Duzine in
operation at New Paltz for a period of more than one hundred years.
On March 31, 1765 the township was incorporated under the state government The
"Twelve Men" at that date, and the last in office, were Simon
DuBois, Jacobus Hasbrouck, Johannes Freer, Jacob Hasbrouck, jr, Abraham
Donaldson, Abraham Eltinge, Petrus Hasbrouck, Samuel Bevier, Benjamin Deyo,
Isaac LeFevre, Matthew LeFevre and Abraham Ein. The allotments, and all
decisions of the Twelve Men, were confirmed. Their "Common Book" was
to be retained a reasonable time by the surveyor-general. and then deposited
in the county clerk's office to be forever preserved. The records are deemed
authentic evidence in court.
We come now to consider the attention paid by our
forefathers at New Paltz to
education and religion. We speak of education and religion, for the two were
inseparably connected in their minds. An educated ministry and an intelligent
people were correlative ideas. In their best days in France, the Huguenots had
no less than five universities--Saumar. Montaban. Nismes, Montpelier and
Sedan. As soon as the infant colony of New Paltz had secured a shelter for
their families on the east bank of the Wallkill, to which they had removed.
They erected a crude log building to answer the double purpose of schoolhouse
and church. It stood on the old burial-ground, beside the road yonder, where,
for all these years, the precious dust of our ancestors has reposed. Here the
people met for such Sabbath worship as they themselves could conduct.
They
drew the waters of salvation directly from the Scripture fountain, and saw the
wilderness made glad and blossom as the rose. But at length, after five or six
years, on January 22, 1663 a minister of their own nationality as well as
faith, found his way to their secluded home.
This honored man was REV. PIERRE
DAILLIE; He came on Friday, at mid-winter, but the news spread, and on Sunday,
January 24. 1663 the little church was crowded twice to hear him preach. This
occasion proved one of lasting interest and blessing, and at this very moment
we are sitting beneath the shadow of that fruitful vine which was planted amid
the rigors of that winter's day doings, written in French by the hand of Louis
DuBois. This has been already quoted in Dr. Peltz's address of Welcome It is
the simple statement of a transaction now in the dim past but whose blessings
are as fresh as the dew which lay this morning along this valley.
*thirteen years later, the Indian with his axe smote asunder
the head of this good man, and left him with his dwelling to be half consumed
at Schenectady
