Mary Anne Brown Papers (1812-1901)

Finding Aid completed by Eric Roth 2/2/98
Last revised 7/10/2002

Volume: 0.17 cu. ft.

Acquisition: Unknown. The photograph of Mary Anne Brown was donated by Mrs. Mary Gelhaus in November 1997.

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 Mrs. Janet Geary for her assistance in processing this collection.

Biographical Sketch

Mary Anne Brown, Quaker, was born to Amos Brown and Jane E. Thorne in 1867, probably in

Leptondale , New York . Very little is known about her life. She lived with her mother in

Leptondale until 1883, when she moved to Rondout , New York , ostensibly to attend or teach at the Ulster Academy in Kingston . Miss Brown received mail at New Paltz from 1890-1894, but was back in Rondout by October 1894, and resided there at least until 1899. She is also listed as a teacher at Leptondale in Kenneth E. Hasbrouck's History of Leptondale , 1948. Miss Brown died in 1945.

Collection Description

Records include family correspondence of Mary Anne Brown and her mother, Jane E. (Thorne)

Brown; Leptondale Temperance Society Meeting Minutes (1878-1884); an attendance register

from the Caper Hill Sunday School (1880-1892); one Conveyance from the “Trustees of the

School near John Terwilliger's House” to Peter Dougherty (1812); and one photograph of Mary

Anne Brown (ca. 1890). Other materials include recipes, receipts, maps of Lake Minnewaska

and Orange County [1] , one unidentified Trustee's report and an undated genealogy notebook tracing

the Brown, Chadeayne, Gerow and Thorne families.

Correspondence mainly pertains to family issues and local events in Plattekill, Leptondale, New

Paltz and Rondout , New York during the 1880's and 1890's. Of note is a letter written in 1899 to

Miss Brown by Sara A. Crosby, a teacher at Wilson College , Chambersburg , Pennsylvania . In the letter, Sara Crosby remarks on a bill before the New York State Legislature designed to raise the salaries of teachers. The contents of this letter suggests that Mary Anne Brown was also a teacher.

Folder/Item List

Bound Volumes:

  Pierpont, John. Introduction to the National Reader; A Selection of Easy Lessons

    designed to fill the same place in the common Schools of the United States that is

    held by Murray 's Introduction and the Compilations of Guy, Milius and Pingor.

    Boston , Charles Bowen (1836).

  Leptondale Temperance Society Meeting Minutes (1878-1884)

  Caper Hill Sunday School Attendance Record (1880-1892)

  Genealogy Notebook (undated)

Folders:

Conveyance, “Trustees of the School near John Terwilliger's House” to Peter Dougherty (1812)

Correspondence (1883-1899)

Miscellaneous (1884-1901 and undated)

Photograph, recipe, receipts, Trustee's Report, hiker's map of Minnewaska area

[1] The map of Orange County was “made expressly for the Newburgh Evening Union, Newburgh , NY ” and is currently stored with the Map Collection in the Archives Flat Files. The hiker's map of Minnewaska is retained in this collection and not listed in the Map Collection.