Sources (Endnotes)

Introduction

  1. A United States Department of Interior Bureau of Pensions form dated March 23, 1901 asked the question “Were you a slave? If so state the names of all former owners, and particularly the name of your owner at the date of your enlistment.” Jacob’s response on the form was “never was a slave.” This form is copied in the files of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection.

Early Life

  1. The marriage record of Thomas Wynkoop and Jane Deyo, January 13, 1827 appears in the Records of the Reformed Church of New Paltz. Thomas Wynkoop’s slaveholder is named in John Wynkoop’s obituary in the New Paltz Independent, November 15, 1907, clipping courtesy of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, Elting Memorial Library. 1798 Tax Assessment for number of slaves by slave owner, New Paltz Town Records, courtesy of Historic Huguenot Street Archives. Larson and Fisher Associates, Historic and Natural District Inventory Form for “The Locusts, New Paltz, NY.” September 2006 (updated 2014). Birth record for “Jane,” born May 23, 1803, from the Register of Slaves for the Town of New Paltz, 1799-1825. Records of the Town of New Paltz, courtesy of the Historic Huguenot Street Archives. See also the online exhibit Jane Deyo Wynkoop. 
  2. 1830 United States Federal Census. The family’s early home is mentioned at the end of John Wynkoop’s obituary in Cyrus Freer, “Death Book,” 52. Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection. Determining which of the houses on Water Street this refers to (and if it still exists) needs additional research.
  3. Jacob’s reminiscences appear in Cyrus Freer, “All About … ” (a history of New Paltz), 156. Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection.
  4. 1830, 1840, and 1850 United States Federal Censuses. Ellen Mosen James, “Jacob Wynkoop: An African-American House-builder in New Paltz” in Society for the Preservation of Hudson Valley Vernacular Architecture Newsletter, v. 18 (January-March 2015), 10, http://hvva.org/news/2015-01-02-03-news.pdf (accessed May 23, 2020). Thanks also to Ellen Mosen James for sharing with me her unpublished article, “Black Voters in New Paltz, New York, 1821-1907.” For more information about the Ulster County Poorhouse, see https://ulstercountyny.gov/poorhouse (accessed May 23, 2020).

Building a Life

  1. The date of Jacob’s marriage (along with Diana’s maiden name) is provided on a United States Department of Interior Bureau of Pensions form, dated May 3, 1898, copied in the files of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection. 1850 United States Federal Census.
  2. "United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-L9W5-B86J?cc=2078654&wc=M7C3-MPN%3A359005801%2C359240801 : 16 April 2019). Ulster > Deeds 1863-1864 vol 124-125 > image 993-994 of 1347; multiple county courthouses, New York. Freer, “All About … .” 1855 New York State Census.
  3. Phone conversation with William B. Rhoads, April 20, 2019. The photo by Rhoads, taken in 1982, shows the house clad in a brick-patterned metal, probably added around 1900 to replace or cover the old wood clapboard siding. For images of vernacular Greek Revival houses in the area, see Rhoads’ Ulster County New York, The Architectural History and Guide (Delmar, New York: Black Dome Press, 2011).
  4. “United States, New York Land Records, 1630-1975,” database with images, FamilySearch, (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89WR-H84S?cc=2078654&wc=M7C6-N3F%3A359005801%2C360583001: 22 May 2014), Ulster > Deeds 1855 vol 92-93 > image 387 of 1556; county courthouses, New York. Freer’s account in “All About …” suggests that the house built for John “was taken down in that year and moved from the lot where the big house now stands [in] 1908 [the time he was writing]. It was an old house when I was a boy 10-years old [Cyrus was born in 1845] and it was taken down and put up at Jacob Wynkoop house along Mulberry, west of John’s house.” The “big house” probably referred to the house Jacob and John would build together in the 1890s at 66 Church Street, their mother’s property purchased in 1840. See the 1860 United States Federal Census for where various family members were living at that time.

United States Civil War

  1. Jacob’s name and information appear in the New Paltz enrollment book, June 1863, on pages 14 and 15. Records of the Town of New Paltz, courtesy HHHS. The enrollment book may be viewed here https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/nptr/id/124 (accessed May 23, 2020). The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops: Infantry Organizations, 20th through 25th; Microfilm Serial: M1823; Microfilm Roll (Published by Ancestry.com).
  2. Harper’s Weekly, vol. VIII, no. 377, March 19, 1864, p. 178, https://archive.org/details/harpersweeklyv8bonn/page/178/mode/2up (accessed July 21, 2020).
  3. American Battlefield Trust website, “Port Hudson,” https://www.battlefields.org/learn/civil-war/battles/port-hudson (accessed July 12, 2020). For a discussion on the enlistment of black soldiers in the North, see Lawrence Lee Hewitt, Port Hudson, Confederate Bastion on the Mississippi (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press. 1987). For enlistment records for Ulster County, see New York State Archives; Albany, New York; Town Clerks ´ Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca 1861-1865; Collection Number: (N-Ar)13774; Box Number: 63; Roll Number: 34 (Published by Ancestry.com).
  4. Laurence M. Hauptman, “The New Paltz Times Reports the Civil War: Sergeant Rooster Ackert in Cajun Country,” Hudson River Valley Review, 22, no 1 (Fall 2005), https://www.hudsonrivervalley.org/documents/401021/1102522/HRVR+22.1/d258fd43-fb04-41f5-a678-edc4eef04143 (accessed April 20, 2019). Note that Hauptman’s article, however, has confused details about Jacob’s life. Clipping about the letter from Jacob from the New Paltz Times, April 29, 1864, courtesy of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection. United States National Park Service website, “The Civil War,” https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=UUS0020RI00C (accessed May 23, 2020). Pension records for Richard Oliver explain his death, https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/hhs/id/806 (accessed June 11, 2020).

Voting and Community 

  1. John L. Stanley, Majority Tyranny in Tocqueville’s America: The Failure of Negro Suffrage in 1846, 84 POL. SCI. Q. 412, 413 (1969) cited in Bennet Liebman, “The Quest for Black Voting Rights in New York State,” 387, https://www.albanylaw.edu/centers/government-law-center/Documents/The-Quest-for-Black-Voting-Rights-Liebman.pdf (accessed May 23, 2020). Voter Registration Records for the Town of New Paltz, 1848-1860), New Paltz Town Records Collection, courtesy of Historic Huguenot Street Archives. Also, Josephine Bloodgood, “John Hasbrouck: A Most Estimable Citizen,” exhibit brochure (Historic Huguenot Street, 2018). Voter poll lists, Records for the Town of New Paltz, 1848-1860), courtesy of HHSA.
  2. Voter registration lists, Records of the Town of New Paltz, courtesy of HHSA. Charles J. Ackert’s editorial in the New Paltz Times, September 15, 1860. For more on Ackert’s evolving attitudes towards African Americans, see Hauptman, “The New Paltz Times Reports the Civil War.” Election figures for New York State from Liebman, “The Quest for Black Voting Rights,” 412. According to James’ “Black Voters,” thirty-two New Paltz voters voted for the proposed amendment, while 204 voted against it.
  3. New Paltz Independent, November 10, 1870. 1870 United States Federal Census.
  4. Newspaper clipping mentioning Jacob as captain of a black Republican club from New Paltz Independent, February 15, 1907. Also New Paltz Independent, October 12, 1876. These and all other clippings courtesy of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection.
  5. James, “Jacob Wynkoop,” 12. John Wynkoop’s obituary in the New Paltz Independent, November 15, 1907. Jacob’s work on the Parsonage is mentioned in the New Paltz Independent, January 25, 1884.
  6. Jacob is listed as a charter member in a record book for the Eltinge Post, Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) in the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection and in the New Paltz Times, December 12, 1883 and the New Paltz Independent, January 4, 1884. Jacob’s obituary in the Kingston (NY) Freeman, August 28, 1912, mentions his service in the 20th regiment, as well as membership in the G.A.R. and that he served as chaplain of that group for twenty years. Clipping from the New Paltz Times, Feb 29, 1888, regarding meeting General Sherman while he was in Kingston. Regarding the encampment, see New Paltz Times, August 13, 1890.

Jacob's Houses

  1. Neil Larson and Associates. Village of New Paltz, Ulster County, New York: Reconnaissance-Level Historic Resource Survey (2004).
  2. See Larson, Village of New Paltz. Clippings from the New Paltz Independent, May 15, 1885 and March 19, 1886.
  3. The New Paltz Independent cited in Larson, Village of New Paltz.
  4. See various censuses and Civil War enrollment book describing Jacob’s employment. See “Building Operations” in the New Paltz Independent August 12, 1887 and July 1, 1889, as examples of mentions of Jacob and other builders. Also, Freer, “All About … .” The New Paltz Times reported October 7, 1885 that “Geo. DePuy and Jacob Wynkoop, two G.A.R. men, are erecting a dwelling house for Mrs. Ann Oliver in our village.” Soon after, the New Paltz Independent states “Mr. George DePuy has just completed the dwelling” (October 10, 1885). There are numerous references in the local papers to Jacob and George working together as members of the G.A.R., including serving as officers and appearing in parades (see New Paltz Times, June 4, 1884 and December 19, 1894, for example). Jacob’s work on the Parsonage is mentioned in the New Paltz Independent, January 25, 1884, cited earlier. The Charles Freer house was reported on in the New Paltz Independent, July 30, 1886.
  5. Thanks to William B. Rhoads for discussing the architectural form of the houses with me (phone conversation cited earlier).
  6. The construction of the house for Maggie and Augustus Freer on Broadhead is referred to in the New Paltz Times, July 14, 1886 (mistakenly calling Augustus “Chas.”) and September 15, 1886. The latter clipping refers to Jacob as “Comrade Wynkoop,” the term used to refer to fellow G.A.R. members. John Curry laid the foundation for the house (New Paltz Times, September 8, 1886).
  7. The construction of the house for Margaret Hasbrouck Clow was mentioned in the papers several times, including the New Paltz Times, November 16, 1892. Freer credits Jacob for building the house for Abraham J. DuBois at 44 Church Street (Freer, “All About …,” page 21a). Clippings regarding the Anna Banks house include New Paltz Independent August 17, 1894 and August 24, 1894, and the New Paltz Times, August 29, 1894. A photo of the Banks house from the 1970s in the HHS Archives shows a rectangular attic window, which may have been original to the house.
  8. New Paltz Independent, January 26, 1894. See James, “Jacob Wynkoop,” regarding the plat. New Paltz Times, November 7, 1894 and December 19, 1894. New Paltz Independent, May 24, 1895.
  9. New Paltz Independent, September 20, 1895 and January 22, 1896, and June 5, 1896.

Later Life

  1. New Paltz Independent, September 15, 1893, cited in William Heidgerd’s Black History of New Paltz, Part 2, 12 (Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection, Elting Memorial Library, 1986). General Affidavit signed by Charles Ackert and Elting G. Crispell, stamped June 20, 1893 (photocopy in the files of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection). Ellen Mosen James mentions Ann Oliver’s struggle to get her widow’s pension in “Jacob Wynkoop,” 12.
  2. Freer, “Death Book.” The 1880 United State Federal Census shows the Walkers living with Jacob and Diana.
  3. New Paltz Times, January 15, 1896, cited on Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 23 July 2020), memorial page for George J. Walker (1874—10 Jan 1896), Find a Grave Memorial no. 106291045, citing New Paltz Rural Cemetery, New Paltz, Ulster County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Haviland Heidgerd Historical Collection (contributor 47966167. See Find a Grave for listings of members of the Franklin family, including husband Charles and children Wyatt, Albert J., Lena, Clifford, “Baby,” and Ida, all buried at the New Paltz Rural Cemetery.
  4. 1880 and 1900 United States Federal Census. Comparisons between 1880 and 1900 made in James, “Black Voting Rights,” 29.
  5. New Paltz Independent, June 3, 1898 and October 26, 1900. In James’ unpublished essay on black voters (page 34), she states that Jacob was nominated and ran for the office of Town Collector in the fall; however, the original citation is incomplete (New Paltz Independent, ____1900) and has not been located. Jacob’s work on the walkway is praised in the New Paltz Independent, December 27, 1901.
  6. Freer, “All About … .”
  7. Freer, “Death Book.”
  8. 1905 New York State Census. New Paltz Independent, February 15, 1907, cited earlier.
  9. New Paltz Independent, January 9, 1906. 1910 United States Census.
  10. Copies of Jacob’s Last Will and Testament are in the files of the Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection. The New Paltz Independent, May 15, 1914, reported that Charles sold Jacob’s original house to John N. Vanderlyn. Obituary in the Kingston Freeman, August 28, 1912, cited earlier. Obituary in Freer, “Death Book,” 71. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com: accessed 23 May 2020), memorial page for Jacob Wynkoop (1829—25 Aug 1912), Find a Grave Memorial no. 102160041, citing New Paltz Rural Cemetery, New Paltz, Ulster County, New York, USA ; Maintained by Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection (contributor 47966167).
Sources