1770 Account of Debits and Credits for the Poor

This document is an account of all the money received and expended from the first Tuesday of April 1769 until April 1770. It lists both debit and credit transactions while providing brief descriptions of the reasons in which money was received or expended. Under a credit transaction, it states: “By cash paid Michel Devoe for Maintaining and keeping Lydia Tuttle from the 16th of May last till the 3rd day of April, 1770.” Michel Devoe received twelve pounds and sixteen shillings for her care.

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Peleg Ransom (1735-1802), one of the Overseers of the Poor of New Paltz, was born in Plymouth County, Massachusettes and died in New Paltz. He was a Captain in the 3rd Ulster County Militia during the Revolutionary War. According to the 1790 New Paltz census, there were five enslaved people living in the Ransom household.

Hendricus Dubois (1710-1780), also, one of the Overseers of the Poor, served as Ensign in the 4th Ulster County Militia and Captain at Newburgh. For more on Hendricus, see The Missing Chapter Exhibit at HRVH.