Black Community in the Account Books

As discussed earlier, John Hasbrouck’s account books make references to members of his extended family, Jane Deyo Wynkoop and her son John. The accounts books also shed light on the broader Black community and John Hasbrouck’s dealings with them.

Philip I. Lefever, named in the second account book, was a family friend. John and his wife Sarah were witnesses for Philip’s marriage to Dinah Tenbrook, widow of William Freer, in December 1837.[1] Between 1842 and 1845, John credited Philip in the second account book for occasional work performed for him. Usually it was just a half day or a day at a time, but once it appears to have been seven and half day’s harvest work and then the following year, “6 ½ days in grain 3 day in hay.” John paid Philip in bushels of corn and rye, corn meal and wheat flour, fresh meat, a pair of chickens, eggs, eight pounds of mackerel, twenty-five “puincken” (probably for hogs he raised), and three pecks of flax seed. Sometimes John paid Philip in cash and other times it appears that John paid part of debts Philip owed to Silas Deyo and Moses Freer (the local blacksmith).

In 1845, John provided boarding for Black laborers working for Daniel DuBois, including Philip Lefever, as well as Jime York (probably James York of Marlborough), Charles DuBois, Philip Johnson, and “Israel,” with no surname provided for the latter.[2] Fifteen years later, John had Simon Rose pay cash to Philip I. Lefever’s stepson Henry Freer, perhaps for work Henry had covered for John.[3]

Another Black man mentioned in the second account book was Charles Wurts. In March 1840, John was credited by Daniel DuBois for nine and a half days that Charles had worked, suggesting Charles was indebted to John. Charles’s marriage in 1835 to Priscilla Lefever appears in the Reformed Church Records.[4]

Notes

[1] Records of the Reformed Church of New Paltz, vol. 6, image 54.

[2] Hasbrouck Account Book 2. Jime York appears in image 7 (“Bording Jack to field” on that page could refer to a horse). The other men are listed in image 34. Charles DuBois is one of the “colored” fathers named in the Kettleborough School records cited earlier. Israel is probably Israel Flagler, the then 24-year-old Black laborer who appeared in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census for New Paltz. Philip “Johnston” appears in the 1850 census as well.

[3] Hasbrouck Account Book 2, image 125.

[4] Hasbrouck Account Book 2, image 12. See Hollister and Schutz, 17. Charles and Priscilla’s marriage is listed in the Reformed Church of New Paltz Records, vol. 6, image 51.