The majority of the papers relate to business activities of the DuBois family who owned and/or lived in the DuBois Fort on Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York during the 18th and early 19th centuries. Bulk dates for the collection are 1733-1833. Papers include estate and legal papers such as deeds, wills, bonds, court papers, estate inventories, quit-claims and other documents pertaining to properties in the towns of New Paltz and Shawagunk in Ulster county from 1722 to 1828; as well as receipts and agreements concerning domestic goods, property, building supplies, household items, etc. dating from 1685 to 1820. The records from the late 17th and early 18th centuries, some of which are in French and Dutch, primarily relate to financial transactions of Louis and Isaac DuBois, both patentees of New Paltz.

The majority of the collection concerns the property holdings of the Deyo family at New Paltz and Esopus during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Records include receipts, notes, subpoenas, wills, estate inventories, bonds, and deeds. Items of specific interest are slave purchases of Christian and Pierre Deyo (1680, 1694); will of Daniel DuBois, (1752); receipts concerning the construction of a schoolhouse and the Dutch Reformed Church at New Paltz (1770-1775); and purchases of domestic supplies such as wheat and livestock. There is also an estate inventory book of William Deyo (1812-1833).

The papers primarily document the settlement of Gerrit Freer’s estate in New Paltz after his death in 1804. Records include his will (1804), and bound and loose estate inventories, receipts and quit-claim deeds (1804-1808). Other records include a fair copy of the New Paltz Patent (1677), legal documents concerning the division of the lands within the patent (1703, 1713), bonds of Gerrit Freer to Isaac Hasbrouck, Jacob Hasbrouck, Jun., Philip LeFevre and Joseph Hasbrouck (1754, 1761, 1796, and 1799, respectively), a sale of slave to Jonathan LeFevre (1796), guardianship papers of Sarah Sluyter under the care of Peter LeFevre (1797), quit-claim deed between Ezekiel Elting and Peter LeFevre (1823), will of Johannis LeFevre (1831), and vendue list of Daniel LeFevre (1840).

The large majority of the collection documents the real estate holdings and financial activities of Josiah DuBois during the early nineteenth century. The account books and loose receipts provide documentation of the management of the store located in the Jean Hasbrouck House on Huguenot Street by both DuBois and his father-in-law, Josiah Hasbrouck. Other financial activities covered include newspaper subscriptions, taxes, court fees and judgments, expenses concerning, advertising, livestock, transportation, and farm and construction work, and DuBois’ work as Overseer of the Poor.

The papers are organized into two series: 1) Account Books, and 2) Papers, which include correspondence, estate and legal papers, financial papers, genealogical research materials and miscellaneous papers. The bulk of the collection falls between 1768 and 1843.

The papers primarily reflect the real estate and economic transactions of Wilhelmus Hasbrouck, Moses Hasbrouck, and Sarah M. (Freer) Hasbrouck, Johannes Freer, and Simon Deyo in the towns of New Paltz, Hurley and Saugerties in Ulster County, New York. Records include receipts, deeds, mortgages, notes, bonds, wills, family records, maps, and photographs from the Freer, Hasbrouck and Deyo families of New Paltz, New York. Other names include Samuel Bevier, Johannes Blanshan, Almond Canfield, Moses Cantine, John B. Davis, Jacob DeWitt, Henrick Deyo, Johannes Deyo, Philip Deyo, Frederick de Zeng, Stephen Eckert, Roelof and Ezekiel Elting, Wilhelmus Emerick, Hugo Freer, David Freer, Joseph Gashiere, Abram Hasbrouck, Jacob Hasbrouck, Hans Kierstead, Peter LeFevre, Mary Leggett, Petrus Ostrander, William Peters, John E. Schoonmaker, Zacharius Slater, Garrit Van Keuren, George Wirtz, and Moses Yoeman.