Abraham J. and Jansen Hasbrouck

Family Papers (1786-1929)

Finding Aid completed by Eric J. Roth, 1/21/2000

Last revised, 4/21/2005

Volume: 0.25 cu. ft.

Acquisition: 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.

Biographical Sketches

This collection documents the lives of Abraham J. Hasbrouck (1773-1845) and his son, Jansen Hasbrouck (1810-1891), both of Rondout ( Kingston ), Ulster County , New York .

Abraham Joseph Hasbrouck (E-4) [1] was born on October 16, 1773 to Joseph Hasbrouck and

Elizabeth Bevier and baptized in the town of New Paltz . On March 6, 1797 he married Helena

Jansen (1770-1824), daughter of Henry Jansen and Helena Sleght, and had six children: Helena (b. 1797), Elizabeth (b. 1800), Catherine (b. 1805), Joseph Bevier (b. 1807), Jansen (b. 1810) and

Maria (b. 1812). On October 7, 1828 Abraham married his second wife Rachel W. Seely

(1790-1870). Abraham had no children from this second marriage. He died on January 12, 1845.

According to local tradition, Abraham was in the freighting and mercantile businesses in Kingston , and served as the President of the Rondout Bank. [2] He also served as a representative in the Thirteenth Congress of the United States from 1813-1815 under President James Madison. [3]

Jansen Hasbrouck (D-5) was born at Kingston on January 27, 1810. In October 1849 he married Charlotte Ostrander (1826-1894), daughter of Jonathan DuBois Ostrander and Catherine H. Elmendorf. They had seven children. Jansen attended the Kingston Academy and later graduated from Yale College in 1831. [4] The next year he was appointed Aide-de-Camp and later Paymaster of the Sixth Division of New York Infantry under Major General Wynkoop.

Jansen took over his father's shipping business in 1834 and, according to his obituary, “became interested in a steamboat freight line between Rondout and New York , and also engaged extensively in the flour and feed business.” He was also a founding director of both the Kingston Bank (1836) and the Bank of Rondout (1848), where he also served as President. Jansen Hasbrouck died on February 7, 1891 from a long battle with chronic inflammation of the bladder.

Collection Description

The collection consists of four types of records: correspondence, estate and legal papers, political and military papers, and miscellaneous. The majority of the collection is comprised of legal papers such as deeds, mortgages, articles of agreement, wills, receipts stock certificates, and financial documents of Abraham J. Hasbrouck and Jansen Hasbrouck primarily concerning property in the city of Kingston and the towns of New Paltz and Esopus in Ulster County, NY, and the city of Poughkeepsie in Dutchess County, 1786-1897. Documents of particular interest include the wills and probate records of Henry Jansen (1801), Abraham J. Hasbrouck (1842, probated 1845), John H. Janse (1840), Jansen Hasbrouck (1891), and Charlotte Ostrander Hasbrouck (1894); a furniture bill of Jansen Hasbrouck (1849); Articles of Association for the Bank of Rondout (1848); and deeds between the Montrepose Cemetery Association and Rev. Benjamin Phillips for cemetery plots (1850, 1853). Other individuals represented in these papers include John Longyear, John Atkins, Abraham A. Masten, and Christopher Tappen, Thomas Van Gaasbeek, John Atkins, John Longyear, Gideon Ostrander, Moses Cantine, Frederick DeZeng, Cornelius Elting, Mary H. Preston, Peter Vanderlyn, John Delafield and Rev. John DuBois.

The correspondence includes two main sets: the first includes two letters from 1830 chiefly discussing family news such as deaths in the family, a sloop accident involving Jansen's brother, Bevier Hasbrouck; and A. Hasbrouck's aspirations and concerns about her unidentified young adult son. The second batch of letters date from 1898 and 1899 relate to the sale and auction of livestock and farm supplies of Johnston Hasbrouck of Forest Glen (town of Gardiner), Ulster County New York. Other miscellaneous correspondence include a letter of recommendation written by Rev. Philip Peltz of NPRDC for Eugenie Hasbrouck as a schoolteacher (1880), a letter from Rachel Van Etten, Walden NY, to Mrs. Hasbrouck discussing family news (1929), and an invitation from H. M. Rauscher to Sarah B. LeFevre to Alumni Reunion, New Paltz Acadamy, undated, ca. 1890.

The collection also includes a few letters to Abraham J. Hasbrouck as a U.S. Senator concerning New York State Elections in 1813 and 1821, and a proclamation by President Madison requesting Congress to convene from 1814; a certificate of Appointment, Abraham Hasbrouck to First Lieutenant of “Captain John Milspaugh's Troop of Horse in the Brigade of Militia in the County of Ulster County,” 1797 (oversized); a poem titled “Metaphor” handwritten in pencil, ca. 1890s; and handwritten notes, by Frank Hasbrouck concerning Hasbrouck family genealogy in Europe, 1890.

The physical condition of the papers varies from poor to good, showing damage from fading, tearing, and yellowing. The handwriting is legible.

Folder List

Correspondence (1812-1927 scattered)

Estate and Legal Papers (1795-1897 and undated)

Oversized Papers (1797-1842)

Receipts and Miscellaneous (1786-1891)

[1] Identification numbers are taken from Kenneth E. Hasbrouck's The Hasbrouck Family in America with

European Background, Third Edition, published by the Hasbrouck Family Association, Huguenot

Historical Society, New Paltz, NY (1986). Unless otherwise noted, all genealogical information is also

taken from this source.

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

384.

[3] Hutchins, Stephen C. Civil List and Constitutional History of the Colony and State of New York . Albany , NY . Weed, Parsons & Co. (1880): p. 440.

[4] The following information is taken from Jansen Hasbrouck's obituary, reprinted in Hasbrouck, p. 1986.