Ebenezer Perkins Family Papers (1783-1959)

Finding Aid Completed by Eric Roth, April 1, 1999
Revised 2001, 2025

Inclusive Dates: 1783-1959
Volume: 0.5 cu. ft.
Collection ID: MSS.055
Language: English
Acquisition: Unknown.
Access: Unrestricted. To request permission to publish materials from these records, contact the Archivist/Librarian of Historic Huguenot Street.
Preferred Citation: [Author/title/date of item], Ebenezer Perkins Family Papers, Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz, NY.
Digital Access: Digitized in 2025, hosted online in New York Heritage (also see link in Box/Folder listing below).

Biographical Note 

Ebenezer Perkins, blacksmith at New Paltz, NY, was born on Dec. 14, 1740 to Valentine Perkins (1718-b. 1789) and Temerance Perkins (d. 1789). He married Hannah Purdy (b. 1737), by whom he had seven children: Nathaniel Jane (b. 1764), Valentine (b. 1766), William (b. 1768), Zophar (b. 1770), Henry (b. 1772), Ebenezer and Charity (b. 1774), and Hannah (unknown). [1] Ebenezer Perkins died in 1799.

Collection Description 

The papers document the lives of the Perkins family of the towns of New Paltz, Milton, Lloyd and Highland in Ulster County, New York from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Papers include deeds, quit-claim deeds, bonds, wills, agreements, insurance policies, burial arrangements and other property records; family letters; receipts for transportation, funeral expenses and domestic goods; family records of the Perkins and Martin families; membership cards; a farmer's almanac; and daguerreotype and tin-type photographs of unidentified dating from the mid-nineteenth century.

Letters to the Perkins family from Valentine Perkins, Zophur and Ely Perkins, John M. Ranken, J.A. Hurn and the East Strout Farm Agency, Inc., mainly discuss family matters (illnesses, deaths, visits, etc.), farm business and church affairs. Also of interest are court papers pertaining to a lawsuit between Valentine Perkins and Zachariah Hasbrouck over a cow pasture (1791); will of Ebenezer Perkins (1795); a notice concerning the division of New Paltz (1833); and the will of Henry Perkins (1850). Other families mentioned in the papers include the Ball, Bevier, DuBois, Ransom, and Young families.

Many of the papers are very delicate, showing signs of damage from tearing, folding, dust and dirt, and weak paper. Also, the glass frame of one daguerreotype is broken and the backing paper shows signs of decay; and the daguerreotype cases are in poor condition. The papers are organized at the folder level alphabetically by format and thereunder by date.

Box and Folder List 

Note: only Folders 1 and 7 have been digitized.

Box 001

001.001 (folder) Estate and Legal Papers (1785-1925)
001.002 (folder) Family Genealogical Record (1774-1914)
001.003 (folder) Miscellaneous (ca. 1864-1920)
001.004 (folder) Correspondence (1827-1931, scattered)
001.005 (folder) Receipts and Cancelled Checks (1893-1946)
001.006 (folder) Insurance Papers (1916-1959)
001.007 (folder) Estate and Legal Papers (1783-1845) - oversize

Photographs:
DA.2007.197 Daguerreotype, Unidentified young man and woman (undated)
DA.2007.198 Daguerreotype, Two unidentified young men (undated)
DA.2007.199 Tin-type, Two unidentified young men (undated)
001.008 (item) Tin-type, Unidentified young woman (undated)

Notes 

[1] Hannah Perkins is not listed in the family Bible record, but is mentioned in Ebenezer's will, 1795.