Another House On Huguenot Street:
The Discovery of
the Dubois-Elting House
Kenneth Shefsiek, Curator of Education, Huguenot
Historical Society
August 2001; updated February 2002
It has long been believed that of the stone houses
built by the patentees and their children in the center of the
historic Village of New Paltz, all but one survives [the house of
Simon LeFevre, originally built in the "northern part of the present
churchyard" stood only until the Greek Revival church was built in
1839. Ralph LeFevre, History of New Paltz, New York and Its Old
Families 2nd ed. (Albany, NY: Fort Orange Press, 1909) 411]. It
has recently been discovered, however, that there was an additional
early stone house, that of Patentee Abraham DuBois, located between
the Abraham Hasbrouck House and what is now the library of the
Huguenot Historical Society.
During the summer of 2000, it came to the attention of
SUNY New Paltz Professor Joe Diamond that there might have been an
additional house on Huguenot Street, at one time owned by the Elting
family, located near the Abraham Hasbrouck House. This information
was derived from the 1790 Federal census which indicated that
Ezekiel Elting (1763-1842) resided between his father Roeloff J.
Elting (1737-1795) (in the Bevier-Elting House) and Isaias Hasbrouck
(in the Abraham Hasbrouck House). On the last day of Dr. Diamond's
2000 Field School, portions of a foundation were found in just that
location. Since it was the last day of the season, further
investigation was postponed until 2001. In August 2001, the
boundaries of the original structure were discovered. The
foundations indicate that the house was approximately 37' x 17.5',
indicating that it probably consisted of two rooms. As of 1798, the
house was no longer in existence, and Dr. Diamond theorizes that the
building was "robbed," meaning that the stones were taken away to be
used for other purposes. Through an analysis of estate and legal
papers, a partial history of the house and lot has been
developed.
When Abraham DuBois (1657-1731), son of Louis DuBois,
who had become a New Paltz Patentee at the age of 21, died on
October 7, 1731, he willed "myn huyse Schuer en Ewe in het dorp van
de Paltz" ("my houses, barn and lot in the village of Paltz"), to
his second surviving son, Joel [Will, Abraham DuBois, (I) October 1,
1731, trans. Gustave Anjou, Ulster Couny, NY Probate Records,
vol. 1 (New York: Published by the Author, 1906) 116]. He does not
indicate the location of the house in his will, but generally the
terms "village" or "town" were used in 18th-century New Paltz
documents in connection with what is now Huguenot Street as distinct
from elsewhere in the patent. Additionally, it is logical that
Abraham had a house on the street, since he was one of the
patentees. Fortunately, the location is confirmed in a later
document. Joel DuBois (1703-1734) died soon after his father in June
of 1734, and being that he was unmarried and died intestate, his
only brother Abraham DuBois, Jr.(1685-1758) became the owner of
Joel's property. As Abraham had relocated to Somerset County, New
Jersey, as early as 1718, he had no need for the property, so on
June 7, 1735, he sold to his brother-in-law Roeloff Elting
(1689-1746/7) (Roeoloff was married to Abraham Jr.'s sister Sarah)
"an other Lott being the house or home Lott late of the said Abraham
Dubois Deceased being bounded to the west by the Street to the North
by the home Lott of Daniel Hasbrouck" (i.e., Abraham Hasbrouck
house), "to the South by the home Lott of Samuel Bevier" (i.e.,
Bevier-Elting House) and to the East by the Land of Andries La
ffever [Indenture, Abraham DuBois (II) and Roeloff Elting, June 7,
1735. Roelof J. and Ezekiel Elting Family Papers. Unpublished MSS
Collection, Huguenot Historical Society of New Paltz, NY, Inc. This
statement is somewhat confusing, since it refers to houses in the
plural and lot in the singular. Since the house lots were fairly
small, it does not seem possible that there could have been more
than one house on a single lot. It has been suggested that Abraham
DuBois' house burned in a fire (William and Ruth P. Heidgerd, "The
Elting Family" Unpublished MSS, 1989, but the source of this
assertion cannot be located. According to Joe Diamond, the
archeologist who discovered the foundation, there does not appear to
be any evidence of a fire.}]. (Andries LeFevre was the son of Simon
LeFevre the patentee. Andries' son Simon, husband of Petronella
Hasbrouck, later inherited the LeFevre property mentioned in this
quote.) In the same indenture, Abraham DuBois also sold to Roeloff
Elting "an other home Lott being bounded to the West by the street
aforesaid to the North by the Lott of Daniel DuBois to the South by
the home Lott of Abraham Diljo" (Deyo) "and to the East by the lott
of Andries La ffever." This latter statement has several
implications to be discussed later, but at this point suffice it to
say that since two house lots were being sold, it is unclear from
this document alone which lot contained Patentee Abraham DuBois'
house. However, since both archeological evidence and the 1790
census indicate a house on the northerly lot and no evidence
suggests the existence of a house on the southerly lot at any time,
the northerly lot presumably marks the location of the Abraham
DuBois house. Additionally, concerning the northerly lot, it is
referred to as the "house or home lott" while the southern lot is
simply the "house lott." The use of the word "home" might indicate
the existence of the house.
In Roeloff Elting's will of October 29, 1745, it
states "To my son Josiah" (1712-1784) "all those lots in the Patent
of New Paltz which I have purchased of my brother-in-law Abraham
DuBois, with the dwelling house and now in his occupation" (Anjou,
136-138). It is likely that Roeloff purchased the house in 1735
specifically for Josiah, as on February 4, 1726/7, Roeloff had
purchased land "now in possession of the said Roelif Elting,
together with the house, barn, orchards, pastures and all and every
thing appurtenances" from Solomon and Louis (Jr.) DuBois (children
of Louis Dubois) located on both the west and east sides of the
"Paltz Kil on the grant" (LeFevre, 314-5). According to LeFevre,
Roeloff was living on the land purchased from Solomon and Louis Jr.
in his later years, but the deed of sale quoted suggested he moved
there much earlier ( LeFevre, 483. LeFevre also states that Roeloff
first settled in New Paltz around 1720, living in house located next
to what is now called the Abraham Hasbrouck House, but as that house
probably could not have been available even for rental until 1731
upon Abraham DuBois Sr.'s death, at which point Roeloff already
owned land elsewhere in the patent, it is unlikely that he ever
lived in the Abraham DuBois house under discussion. As to whether or
not Roeloff was living in New Paltz prior to his purchase of the
Solomon and Louis Jr. Dubois lands is unknown.). Roeloff's later
will of January 1747 again confers the lots purchased from Abraham
DuBois Jr. to his son Josiah, including both the house lot and empty
lot next to the Deyo House.
If Roeloff did indeed purchase the old Abraham DuBois
house specifically for Josiah, Josiah would follow suit in 1760,
when he purchased from the heirs of Samuel Bevier "All that the said
Dwelling House, Barn, Garden, yard, and the home lot unto the same
belonging, scituate living and being in the New Paltz town aforesaid
on the east side of the street in said town, being bounded to the
west by said street, to the North by a lot of said Josiah Elting, to
the east by a lot of Petronella Lefevre" (inherited from husband
Simon from his father Andries from his father Simon) and to the
south by a lot of Simon Dubois" (Indenture, the heirs of Samuel
Bevier and Josiah Elting, May 12, 1760, Elting Family Papers). He
subsequently rented this house in 1762 to his son Roeloff Josiah
Elting,, which was already in Roeloff Josiah possession at the rate
of one penny a year for ten years (Indenture, Josiah Elting and R.
Josia Elting, December 22, 1762, Elting Family Papers). The house
being referenced is now called the Bevier-Elting House, and
according to tradition, the west room had been rented to the Eltings
for use as a store around 1740. The house remained officially in the
ownership of Josiah until his death in 1784 when it passed to
Roeloff Josiah, even though Roeloff Josiah had been living in it as
early as 1762 (this type of arrangement is suggestive of a certain
type of land ownership, i.e., fathers purchasing land for sons
although not transferring ownership until the father's death). This
situation also helps to account for Josiah being the wealthiest man
in New Paltz in 1765 (LeFevre, 94-6). R.oeloff. Josiah left the
Bevier-Elting House to his sons Roeloff (1774-1819) and John
(1773-1827) although their mother, Maria (1738-1800) was granted the
right to live there (Indenture, Maria Elting and John and Roeloff
Elting, Undated, Elting Family Papers).
Concerning the former Abraham DuBois house during this
period, it seems to drop from the record between its rental to
Josiah Elting in 1762 and the 1790 Census when it is indicated that
Ezekiel Elting was residing there (Presumably Ezekiel was given the
opportunity to live in the house as eldest son of R. Josiah who
lived in the Bevier-Elting House. It is not clear when Ezekiel moved
into the house, but his grandfather Josiah died in 1784 when Ezekiel
was 21. Ezekiel married his first-cousin Magdalene in 1787.). Only
one house is mentioned in Josiah's will of 1767 (Will, April 4,
1767, Josiah Elting, Elting Family Papers ) (the Bevier-Elting
House), but that was the home in which Roeloff Josiah was living, so
presumably Josiah was still living in the house purchased for him by
his father (the Abraham DuBois House). While the A. DuBois house was
occupied in 1790 by Ezekiel, as stated previously, a copy of the
1795 probate of Roeloff Josiah (he died intestate), refers to the
"House or Homestead Lot late of Abraham Dubois deced" and the
"Homestead and Lot" of the former Bevier property, both of which
went to Roeloff and John (Undated manuscript, Elting Family Papers).
The last mention of the house is in the 1798 U.S. Direct Tax which
indicates "1 old Dwelling house of stone and frame used for a
Granary or stone house age 113 yr." (Presumably the stone house had
a wood frame addition, possibly to the rear.) Interestingly enough,
the owner is recorded as Ezekiel Elting and the occupants are
Roeloff and John (his brothers), even though Roeloff and John
apparently received the house through the probating of their
father's estate. (The 1798 tax list indicates that Ezekiel is living
in a house he was renting from Jacob Hasbrouck, Jr., elsewhere in
the patent.) The assessment also indicates that Ezekiel is operating
a 20' x 15' "situate at the South end of Paltz town joining Jacob
Hasbrouck" owned by the "Proprietors of Paltz Patent," presumably
the site on which Ezekiel built his new house the following year.
Since the old Abraham DuBois house had been "robbed" of its stones,
it is conceivable that it was done so by Ezekiel himself to
construct his new house. Additionally, the 1798 U.S. Direct Tax
assessment indicates that the lot next to the Deyo House, purchased
by Roeloff, conferred to his son Josiah and then to his son Roeloff
Josiah, was in the possession of Ezekiel.
Since he reused materials, this might also shed light
on why only part of the south wall of the 1799 House is of brick;
i.e., he ran out of reused stone. One more intriguing aspect of the
1798 tax listing is that the entry had been crossed out in the
original document and no valuation was given. Although it is
difficult to ascertain why this was done, one possible reason is
that although the house was originally included in the survey, by
the time the tax record was submitted, it had been torn down, and so
the entry was crossed out. This scenario would coincide with the
traditional date of 1799 for the Ezekiel Elting (LeFevre) House.
The research on the DuBois-Elting house also uncovered
the fact the current layout of the house lots on the east side of
the street was originally intended to be denser than that which
survives today, as evidence in several of the Elting deeds indicate
that two additional house lots had been planned although apparently
never built upon (at least no stone houses were built on them)
between the Bevier-Elting House and the Deyo House. The existence of
additional house lots helps to clarify why the Bevier-Elting house
might have been erected with the gable-end to the street, a typical
feature of urban Dutch architecture, the goal of which is to
conserve street frontage. Looking at the houses that survive, it
seems that it would have been unnecessary for the Beviers to have
constructed their house in that manner, but given that a denser
village was conceived, their choice seems more logical. No
additional house lots have been discovered on the west side of the
street, but because of the dropoff behind the western lots, they
might have been wider and less deep.
The most exciting historical note uncovered in
researching the DuBois-Elting House, however, is the indication that
it was 113 years old in 1798, resulting in a construction date of
1685, about ten years before the houses were believed to have been
built! While it is true that the date is not necessarily exact, it
is the earliest known reference to a construction date so far
uncovered. Additionally "113" in no way sounds arbitrary, suggesting
that at least in 1798 it was believed to have been accurate.
Furthermore, since Abraham was one of the youngest patentees, it is
likely that he was not the first to build his house, suggesting that
some of the other houses were built even earlier. Since tradition
has indicated that the houses we built in the 1690s but were
possibly constructed even a decade earlier, this was an extremely
significant find. |
