The Abner and Pamela Hasbrouck Family Papers

Finding Aid Completed by Beth Patkus 2026
Thanks to Jessica LoVerme for her assistance in processing this collection.

Inclusive Dates: 1780-1979
Bulk Dates: 1832-1904
Volume:  .5 cu. ft., one box
Collection ID: MSS.453
Language: English
Acquisition: The papers were donated to Historic Huguenot Street by Francis A. Simpson, in memory of Lois Marion Hasbrouck.  
Access and Use: Unrestricted. Requests for permission to publish materials from these records should be directed to the Archivist/Librarian of Historic Huguenot Street.
Preferred Citation: [identification of item (author, title and date if known)], Abner and Pamela Hasbrouck Family Papers, Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz N.Y.

Biographical Note

The Abner and Pamela Hasbrouck Papers document Abner Hasbrouck F-19 (1811-1875) and his wife, Pamela DuBois Hasbrouck F-1214 (DB), F-1101 (H) (1812-1893)[1], as well as their children and other family members.  

Abner Hasbrouck F-19, born May 18, 1811, was part of a wealthy and influential branch of the Hasbrouck family descended from Joseph Hasbrouck B-3 (1684-1724), eldest son of Abraham Hasbrouck, the New Paltz patentee. Joseph B-3 married Elsje Schoonmaker (1685-1764) in 1706 and moved west from New Paltz to a 2000-acre tract of land in Guilford (today part of Gardiner). The family homestead in Guilford was passed down through their eldest son Abraham C-8, known as “Colonel Abraham,” to his eldest son Joseph Hasbrouck D-3 (1743-1808), known as “General Joe.”  General Joe married Elizabeth Bevier (1749-1795), and they had seven sons. Their fourth son, Joseph Jr E-8 (1781-1853), farmed the homestead in Guilford and was known as “Colonel Joe.” In 1809 he married Jane Hasbrouck E-600, daughter of Col. Josiah Hasbrouck D-190 (1755-1821) and Sarah Decker. Abner Hasbrouck F-19, was the eldest of their five children who lived to adulthood. His younger brothers Oscar F-21 (1817-1898), Joseph L. Hasbrouck F-24 (1824-1889), and Josiah P. Hasbrouck F-25 (1826-1859) are also mentioned in the papers.  

Abner was born in New Paltz and educated in Libertyville in the town of Gardiner, as well as at the Fishkill Academy. After marrying Pamela in 1840, Abner moved to a farm in South Gardiner on the Shawangunk Creek (his younger brother Joseph L. maintained the family homestead in the central part of Gardiner). Abner was prominent in the town of Gardiner, serving as its first supervisor in 1853 and subsequently from 1855-1862 and in 1871. He was a Republican and known as the leader of his party in the local area. He attended the Wallkill Valley Reformed Church in Shawangunk, and was one of the first directors of the Wallkill Valley Railroad, running from Goshen to Kingston and established in 1866.[2]

Pamela DuBois F-1214 (DB), F-1101 (H), born July 4, 1812, was descended from both the Hasbrouck and DuBois patentee families. Her father was Josiah Bruyn DuBois E-572 (1781-1869), son of Cornelius DuBois D-220 (1750-1816), and Gertrude Bruyn. Cornelius’ father (also Cornelius) was descended from Louis Dubois through his son Solomon. In 1805 Josiah DuBois E-572 married Elizabeth Hasbrouck E-601 (daughter of Col. Josiah Hasbrouck D-190 and Sarah Decker, and sister of Abner’s mother Jane Hasbrouck). Josiah DuBois worked with Elizabeth’s father in the mercantile business he ran in what is now the Jean/Jacob Hasbrouck House.

Josiah and Elizabeth had two daughters: Sarah F-1213 (DB), F-1101 (H) (1806-1869), who married Rev. John Easton; and Pamela. Elizabeth died in 1815 at the age of 29, leaving their two daughters aged 9 and 3. Josiah married Catherine Winfield in 1816, and they went on to have six more children: Elizabeth DuBois F-1215 (1818-1901, married Isaac Reeve), Gilbert DuBois F-1216 (1819-1886), Edward DuBois F-1217 (1821-1896), Josiah DuBois F-1218 (1823-1895, married Emily Catlin), Antoinette DuBois F-1219 (1825-1900, unmarried), and Jane DuBois F-1220 (1827-1881, married William Pierson).

Abner and Pamela married on February 13, 1840. They had three children who lived to adulthood: Elizabeth G-57/58 [3] (1852-1914), who married George Birch, a farmer in Shawangunk; Josephine G-58 (1854-1912), who married James Luther Hait, a merchant in Brunswick; and Abner, Jr. G-59 (1856-1914), who lived with his mother on the family farm in South Gardiner after his father’s death in 1875. In 1886 he married Mary Phinney. Elizabeth and Josephine and their spouses, and Abner, Jr., are all referenced in the papers.    

Collection Description 

The collection consists of material relating to Abner and Pamela DuBois Hasbrouck of the town of Gardiner in Ulster County, New York; also referenced are their children and various other family members. Documents relate to the towns of Gardiner, Shawangunk, New Paltz, Plattekill, Lloyd, and Woodstock in Ulster County, and Mamakating in Sullivan County. Subjects are primarily real estate transactions, the settling of estates, and other financial/legal matters, with a couple of items documenting family news. The bulk of the material dates from 1832-1904, with a few earlier and later items. Types of records are estate, legal, and financial papers (mortgages, deeds, leases, agreements, surveys, letters, receipts, etc.). There are also two military certificates, a few unidentified and undated photographs, two recipe books, and a framed portrait of Abner Hasbrouck.

The papers are arranged chronologically, with miscellaneous undated fragments, photographs, and recipe books following.

The earliest document is a land survey map dated 1780 relating to property owned by Cornelius DuBois D-200, Pamela’s grandfather, adjacent to the Freer patent. The other early document is an 1807 indenture from Stephen and Nancy Stilwell to Josiah Hasbrouck (maternal grandfather to both Abner and Pamela) and Josiah Dubois (Pamela’s father) for land in the Town of Woodstock. Several later documents pertain to this land in Woodstock (e.g., an 1844 survey for Josiah DuBois, a deed from John and Sarah Easton to Abner Hasbrouck in 1847, and several documents dated 1894-96 relating to the settlement of Pamela’s estate by Abner, Jr.).

Two folders of documents pre-date Abner and Pamela’s marriage. The first concerns several land transactions between 1832 and 1838, variously involving Josiah DuBois, Pamela DuBois, Sarah DuBois Easton, and Sarah’s husband Rev. John Easton. This folder also includes the 1844 survey and letter to Josiah DuBois likely concerning the above-mentioned land in Woodstock. Other names mentioned include Clinton Hasbrouck, Solomon C. Elting, Isaac Van Brunt, and Jacob Snyder. The second folder contains two military certificates dated 1838 and 1839 noting Abner’s status as Captain of the 92nd infantry regiment and Major of the 120th infantry regiment.

Papers from the 1840s through the early 1870s concern a variety of land agreements and transactions, as well as the administration of the estates of Josiah P. Hasbrouck (Abner’s younger brother) in 1859 and Josiah Dubois (Pamela’s father) in 1869. Of interest is an 1847 letter to Abner from his brother-in-law John S. Easton with news of the family from Pennsylvania. Other names mentioned in the documents include Gilbert DuBois, Antoinette DuBois, Matthew Smith, William and Rebecca Godfrey, Isaac and Hannah Van Brunt, William and Phebe Benson, Jacob and Anna Decker, Peter and Sarah M. Davis, Marius Schoonmaker, Elizabeth Van Wagenen Schoonmaker, Cornelia Schoonmaker, John Shaw, Eli DePuy, and Edmund Bruyn.

After the death of Abner in 1875, some documents relate to the administration of his estate by his brother Oscar. Through the later 1870s and 1880s there are a variety of documents relating to Pamela and to family members Antoinette DuBois, Abner Jr., George Birch, and J.L. Hait. Of interest is an 1883 land dispute between Gilbert DuBois and the other children of Josiah DuBois, relating to the death of their youngest sister Jane Dubois Pierson in 1881. Names mentioned in other documents include Benjamin J. Freer, George Edmunds, Howard Decker, Daniel Jaffrey, David Bundy, and Isaiah Boyce.

After Pamela’s death in 1893, Abner Hasbrouck Jr and Elizabeth Hasbrouck Birch served as administrators of her estate, and various papers document their activities. Of interest is a December 1893 letter regarding multiple family members and their property, addressed to “Cousin Libbie” from Laura T. H. Varick, Pamela’s cousin (daughter of Levi and Hylah Bevier Hasbrouck), as well as a February 1896 letter from Louis Hoysradt, husband of Marion DuBois (daughter of Emily Catlin and Josiah DuBois, Jr., Pamela’s half-brother), regarding the worth of the Woodstock property.  

The papers also include some fragments and miscellaneous undated/unidentified items, along with letters from 1979 relating to an 1858 letter (a copy of which is included) written to Abner and Pamela Hasbrouck from John Van Vleck, a professor at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. It appears that Abner and Pamela donated money to the school (Van Vleck was originally from Shawangunk). The 1979 letters suggest that the original 1858 letter was donated to the school’s archives.         

The collection also includes two small notebooks with handwritten recipes for food, wine, dyes, and home remedies. The first recipe book appears to date from the early to mid-1800s and most likely belonged to Pamela Dubois Hasbrouck. A page of accounts gives the dates June 1836 and April 1838, and information on the back of a newspaper clipping refers to events that took place in the 1850s. There is an entry referring to “Aunt Hylah,” a reference to Pamela’s aunt Hylah Bevier Hasbrouck, wife of her mother’s brother Levi Hasbrouck. The second recipe book appears to date from the mid-1800s.

The collection also includes a few undated and unidentified photographs (a daguerreotype of a young girl, a photograph of a toddler and infant in a carriage, and a photograph of a group of people), along with a framed portrait of Abner Hasbrouck.

Related Collections

Related Bevier Family collections at Historic Huguenot Street include: 

Box/Folder List 

Box 001

MSS.453.001.001 (folder)                      Land survey map, Joh. Bruyn for Cornelius DuBois, 1780
MSS.453.001.002 (folder)                      Indenture, Stephen and Nancy Stilwell to Josiah Hasbrouck and Josiah Dubois, 1807
MSS.453.001.003 (folder)                      Legal Papers, Pamela DuBois and family, 1832-1844
MSS.453.001.004 (folder)                      Military papers, Abner Hasbrouck, 1839
MSS.453.001.005 (folder)                      Land transaction, John & Sarah Easton to Abner Hasbrouck, 1847
MSS.453.001.006 (folder)                      Estate and legal papers, 1853-1857
MSS.453.001.007 (folder)                      Estate and legal papers, 1864-1869
MSS.453.001.008 (folder)                      Estate, legal, and financial papers, 1870-1878
MSS.453.001.009 (folder)                      Legal and financial papers, 1881-1893
MSS.453.001.010 (folder)                      Estate and legal papers (Pamela Hasbrouck estate), 1893-1904
MSS.453.001.011 (folder)                      Miscellaneous papers, 1923 to 1979 (plus photocopy of 1858 letter from John Van Vleck)
MSS.453.001.012 (folder)                      Miscellaneous papers, fragments and undated
MSS.453.001.013 (folder)                      Photographs, undated
MSS.453.001.014 (item)                        Recipe book #1, ca. 1830s (probably belonged to Pamela Hasbrouck)
MSS.453.001.015 (item)                        Recipe book #2, ca. 1840

Flat Files

MSS.453.OV.001 (item)                         Framed portrait of Abner Hasbrouck (1811-1875) OVERSIZE

Notes 

[1] Unless otherwise noted, identification numbers and personal data for the Hasbrouck family are taken from Kenneth Hasbrouck, comp., The Hasbrouck Family in America with European Background, Third Edition (Huguenot Historical Society, 1986). Identification numbers and personal data for the DuBois family are taken from William Heidgerd, comp., The American Descendants of Chretien DuBois of Wicres, France (Huguenot Historical Society, 1968). For individuals whose parentage is from two lines, the number for the paternal line is cited first, and the number for the maternal line appears second, using (DB) or (H) to indicate the source. Unless otherwise indicated, biographical information is taken from the same sources.

[2] Biographical information for Abner Hasbrouck is taken from Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, History of Ulster County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers (Philadelphia, 1880), pp. 20, 151, 286b, 289.

[3] An error in The Hasbrouck Family in America with European Background, Third Edition numbers Elizabeth Hasbrouck as G-58 but changes her to G-57 on the following page. G-58 should be correct because G-57 is assigned to her elder brother Joseph B. Hasbrouck, who died at the age of 4 in 1849. However, the G-57 error is carried on, so that her younger sister Josephine is then assigned G-58, and so forth.