Purchase of the Land

In 1827, Ulster County purchased land to be used for the construction of a poorhouse. Fifty and one-half acres, including the winter grain, was bought by the county from Thomas Merritt for a total of eighteen hundred dollars. An additional sixty acres, excluding the site of the family cemetery, were purchased from Jeremiah Merritt (1749-1829) for a total of two thousand dollars (photograph of Merrit family cemetery courtesy of Susan Stessin-Cohn).

In addition to the land purchased from the Merritt Family, the county purchased land from Sarah Dubois, aged 22, for 1,500 dollars with 6% interest on February 15th, 1828. Here the Ulster County poorhouse would stand for the next 150 years.

For more on the Ulster County Poorhouse, see the The Ulster County Clerk's Office exhibit, “The Ulster County Poorhouse Project”: