Elizabeth Westbrook Hasbrouck Family Papers (1790-1898)

Finding Aid Completed by Eric Roth, April 13, 2004
Volume: 1 folder, approximately 30 items
Acquisition: Date and source of donation unknown.
Access: Unrestricted.
Copyright: Request for permission to publish materials from these records should be discussed with the Archivist and Director of the Huguenot Historical Society.

Special thanks to volunteer Sandra Capollero for her assistance in processing this collection.

Biographical Note
 

Elizabeth Westbrook Hasbrouck, was born on March 20, 1791 in the Town of Rochester, Ulster County, New York to Jonathan Westbrook (1756-1832) and Sarah Deyo (1761-1837). [1] On May 17, 1815 she married Isaiah Hasbrouck (1772-1828), son of Jonas Hasbrouck and Catharine DuBois. [2] They had three children: Catharine, born in 1816, Daniel Isaiah, born in 1818 and Margaret, born in 1825. Margaret and Daniel both married at Guilford Church in Gardiner, NY. Elizabeth died in 1864 and is buried alongside her husband in the Old Huguenot Burial Ground on Huguenot Street in New Paltz, Ulster County, New York.

Collection Description
 

This collection consists of letters, deeds and other legal papers, small account books, invitations, and miscellany relating to Elizabeth Westbrook Hasbrouck and other family members from the towns of Shawangunk, Rochester, and Marbeltown in Ulster County, New York during the nineteenth century. The physical condition of the papers ranges from poor to fair, showing damage from yellowing, tearing, folding, and scotch tape. In particular, the letters in this collection are extremely fragile, with some text lost due to staining and tearing. Otherwise, all of the text in the collection is legible.

The collection contents fall into three categories, primarily along chronological lines. The first category includes seven legal documents (deeds, mortgages, bonds, and a deposition) spanning 1790 to 1846. The deeds relate to real estate held by Joseph J. Hasbrouck, Jacob J. Schoonmaker, and Levi Hasbrouck located in the town of Shawangunk. Other names mentioned include John Weller, Johannis Eckert, Sylvanus M. Bruyn, Frederick Hoppenstedt (Hoppenstead), Jacob H. DuBois, and Jonas N.LeFevre. In addition, there is a manuscript fragment dating from 1803 that appears to be a court deposition of George Purois (?) concerning an estate sale in Neversink, Sullivan County, NY (then in Ulster County), and a bond from 1845 between Wilhelmus Eltinge of Bergen County, NJ and Catherine Jansen of Ulster County, NY that mentions Trinity Church in New York.

The second category, consisting of a series of eight letters written between 1810 and 1814, provides the most historically valuable material in this collection. The majority of these letters were written to Elizabeth Westbrook (prior to her marriage to Isaiah Hasbrouck) from various friends and relatives. Correspondents include Cornelia Wynkoop of Prospect Island , Helen DePuy of Minisink, Rachel Hasbrouck of Marbletown. The letters provide a rare if fleeting glimpse into the social life among Ulster County women during the early nineteenth century. The presumably young women (Elizabeth would have been about 20 years old) write mostly of their intentions to visit one another and briefly discuss activities such as sledding, singing and dancing at balls, spinning, teaching classes "to the girls," and attending church services. Two other letters from this period were written by S. Hasbrouck of Fishkill and addressed to Catherine Hasbrouck, "care of Joseph J. Hasbrouck" of Shawangunk. These letters are much more serious and religious in tone, informing of deaths of family members due to an outbreak of Typhus Fever.

The third category is comprised of a scattered mix of letters, memorabilia and ephemera dating from 1856 to 1898. These records include two letters written by H. M. Bauscher, principal of the New Paltz Academy: one invites Sarah D.B. LeFevre to a "Reunion of the Graduates" in 1875, and the other recommends Eugenie Hasbrouck to teach school (1880). Other letters discuss the deaths of children in the family (1856), and genealogical research (1898). Another gives a recipe for paint (undated), Also kept with this collection is a decorative and poetic greeting card with an attached mirror, a postcard of a painting of Mrs. Davic VerPlank stored at the Albany Institute of History & Art, and a news clipping with an advertisement for a "Ladies Shirt Waist."

Notes
 

[1] Hasbrouck, Kenneth E. The Hasbrouck Family in America with European Background, Vol. I-II. Huguenot Historical Society, New Paltz (1952): Vol. I, p.86.

[2] Lefevre, Ralph. History of New Paltz and Its Old Families. Fort Orange Press, Albany NY (1909): p. 371.