By Shannon Butler
Poughkeepsie has always been a place of growth and change, and despite what some may believe, it’s never really been the kind of place that stays entirely frozen in time. Here in the Local History Room, we are always working on research projects that we intend to turn into programs that showcase different aspects of Poughkeepsie’s history. My most recent dive into the past is taking me back to the beginning, when things were slow to grow, and are now hard to understand, mostly due to a lack of proper documentation. The goal is to find evidence that proves that even from its humble beginnings as a village, Poughkeepsie has had a desire to alter its landscape and make improvements in order to attract newcomers (hopefully the ones with some money to invest).
When the Dutch began settling the colony of New Netherland, they didn’t really venture into the area we now call Dutchess County, at least not to live. The English took over the colony from the Dutch in 1664, changed the name to New York, and then settling began in this area (although interestingly, by mostly Dutch names). Later in 1683, it was decided that New York should be broken up into counties. Ours, known at the time as The Dutchess’s County, in honor of Mary Beatrice, the Duchess of York, also included the area that is now southern Columbia County and all of Putnam County. The western side of the river was settled much earlier than the eastern side as it appears that Dutchess County was considered too rocky (you don’t say) and densely forested. In fact, during this time period, and right up until 1713, the population of white settlers in Dutchess County was so small that the county was actually governed by officials in Ulster County until we had a bit more time to procreate.
In the late 17th century, there were plenty of claims being made for this rocky land. For example, in 1680 there was said to be a gift of land from the local indigenous people to Arnout Cornelise Viele. Then, in 1683, there was a deed between a Wappinger native named Massany and two Dutchmen, Pieter Lassent and Jan Smeedes. There are a few important patents for land that would become the area we now know as Poughkeepsie; the Rombout patent of 1685, the Sanders and Harmense patent of 1686, the Schuyler Patent of 1688, and the tiny Cuyler Patent of 1687. When it came to the legalities of these land patents, the parties involved were generally the Native Americans, who were offering the land, the white purchasers, and some legal officials who represented the crown. In the case of the Sanders and Harmense patent, Royal Governor Thomas Dongan (who has a statue and a park named after him here) was the legal official; he happened to be in the business of issuing land grants in other places, such as Long Island.
The Schuyler patent was another part of land within what is now Poughkeepsie, and belonged to Peter Schuyler of Albany. Now, when it comes to both Schuyler and Sanders, these guys didn’t really stick around long, and mostly leased or sold off this land for other buyers to settle. For example, in 1697, Sanders and Harmense sold some of their land to Baltus Van Kleeck, who would go on to build what is believed to be the first residence of Poughkeepsie, in 1702, on Mill Street. The drawing that we have of this house was done in 1835, not long before it was torn down to make way for progress. The Dutchess County Historical Society holds a stone lintel that once stood over the doorway of the house and has the initials of Van Kleeck and his wife Tryntie.
Van Kleeck was not the only one to build a house in the area during this time period. The names of two others that were said to have built houses in the early 18th century are on an early deed from 1691. Myndert Harmense, whose name is on one of the original patents, actually did stick around and built his home on the “opposite side of the Indian Trail,” on what is now the northeast corner of North Bridge and Mill Streets. Hendrick Ostrom also may have built something here, though nothing is known of its possible location. We don’t really get a sense of how many people were settled here until a census was done in 1714 which shows that there were 447 people living in the entire county. At that time, the county was made up of three settlements, Rhinebeck, Poughkeepsie, and Fishkill, and there were about 22 families living in the Poughkeepsie area, which made up about 155 white settlers and 14 enslaved individuals. The first church in the area would be the Dutch Reformed Church, which was established when, in 1716, Jacobus Van Der Bogert gave land to a group of people in the area that is now Main and Market Streets.
With a combined population (between the city and town) that now stands over 70,000, thousands of buildings, many different churches, and a lot more roads to traverse, Poughkeepsie has certainly morphed into a major metropolitan area over the past 300 years. It will be fun to explore the further growth of the area through the centuries and I can’t wait to share what I find with you.
References:
Reynolds, Helen Wilkinson, Poughkeepsie: The Origin and Meaning of the Word, 1924.
1697 Van Kleeck Deed – LH Collections
Harvey K. Flad & Clyde Griffen, Main Street to Mainframes, 2009.
Melodye Moore, “Of Sufficient Number: The First 447 to Be Counted,” Dutchess County Historical Society Yearbook, Volume 92 (2013) 17-29.
Bill Jeffway, A Look at Van Kleeck Touchstones Across Five Centuries Van Kleeck photographs are a significant part of a larger & varied Van Kleeck Collection & family history. https://dchsny.org/cfi-van-kleeck/
Shannon Butler, Grandpa, Is That You? – Learning Your Family’s History (with Stories and Some Research Tips), https://poklib.org/grandpa-is-that-you-learning-your-familys-history-with-stories-and-some-research-tips/
Images:
Poughkeepsiepatentmap – A map showing the patents of the 17th century in Poughkeepsie
3R4LD24C2 – Drawing of the Baltus Van Kleeck House done by Benson Lossing.
Vankleeckdeed – The deed for land for Baltus Van Kleeck, 1697
Baltusvankleeck – A painting of Baltus Van Kleeck