Elias Hasbrouck

Captain

9^th Company, 3^rd New York Infantry Regiment

(1741-1791)

Born in Kingston, New York, on 18 May 1741, Elias Hasbrouck was the youngest of eight sons born to Solomon and Sara Hasbrouck. Like many Huguenots, Solomon's father, Abraham Hasbrouck, had left France in the wake of ongoing religious persecution. After first going to Germany, Abraham set out for a new life in America in 1675. Marrying the former Maria Deyo in 1676, Hasbrouck and his associates were the recipients of a land patent in 1677 from then Governor Edmund Andros. They would call the newly granted land New Paltz.

In 1757, a young Elias was apprenticed to the Livingston family. According to his apprenticeship papers, Hasbrouck was to "keep his masters secrets, refrain from cards, dice and matrimony and, in return for his work, he was to learn the art and mystery of a merchant."  By the mid-1760s, Hasbrouck had indeed learned the "art and mystery" of being a merchant, and was operating a shop in Kingston.  He had married Elizabeth Slecht, daughter of Jan and Elizabeth Slecht, on 21 Dec 1762, and they ultimately raised nine children together:  Solomon, Elizabeth, Daniel, Elias, John Elias, Sarah, Daniel Elias, Richard Montgomery and Petrus Elias.  Even though the French and Indian War was behind them, and Lexington and Concord were still a decade away, business conditions were, at best, unstable for colonial merchants such as Hasbrouck. A letter from a business associate in New York, Henry Remsen, points to such instability: "Goods of all sorts are rising very fast in England; many articles will certainly be higher in the fall.  The parliament have passed an act to prohibit our trading with any of the Neutral Islands, which obliges us to Ship our produce to the English Islands only, & will bring the produce of our Government very low & occasion a great rise in Sugar."

Following the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord, Hasbrouck, along with more than 200 other citizens from New Paltz and Kingston, declared his support for the colonial cause by affixing his signature to the Articles of Association, a precursor to the Declaration of Independence, in June 1775 – a risky move at that time in the British colonies.  Derived from the Continental Association, which had been signed earlier by members of Congress meeting in Philadelphia, the Articles of Association expressed the alarm and concern of the signers over the raising of taxes and the "bloody" events being played out in Massachusetts. Vowing never to become "slaves," the local signers "under the ties of religion, honor and love to our country" pledged "to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution, whatever measure may be recommended by the Continental Congress".  That same month he was commissioned a Captain of the Line in the Third New York Regiment.  He recruited his own company in Ulster County and led them to Albany, where they became a part of the American army under General Richard Montgomery which marched north to attack Montreal and Quebec.  Captain Elias accompanied the army as far as Montreal, at which point he was recalled to Ulster County and given the post of Captain of Scouts and Rangers (a militia organization) guarding the northern frontiers.  Until the end of the war he was constantly employed, either in this duty or other important assignments.  For a time he was Quartermaster of the army guarding the Hudson Highlands.  He served on courts martial involving, among other activities, detecting spies and suppressing conspiracies.  October 16, 1777 found Hasbrouck, along with other outnumbered colonials, acting in defense of Kingston as the British took the war, and their torches, to the heart of Ulster County. The destruction of the city at the hands of the British included the burning of Hasbrouck's own shop located in what is now uptown Kingston. Undaunted, Hasbrouck eventually rebuilt the store where he sold such items, as snuff, beaver hats, spectacles, tea pots and writing paper.

The trade must not have been very successful, for by the spring of 1785 he decided to sell his Kingston properties, including his dwelling/store at the corner of Wall and Main Streets, plus a large tract of land.  By June 1787 Elias had moved to the newly organized township of Woodstock, which at that time covered an area of about 450 square miles.  That month he was elected as its first town supervisor, a post he held until his death in 1791.  His original homestead there is still standing (although considerably altered by subsequent owners).  This is where the first town officers met and where he conferred with other Revolutionary War veterans who had adopted Woodstock as their home and were shaping its future.  After Elias’s death, his widow, Elizabeth, operated a tavern there for west-bound pioneers traveling the trail past the house, as well as for the local community.

When Elias died in 1791, he was buried in the small Hasbrouck Family Burying Ground nearby, but the original headstone was stolen some time before 1930, and the untended cemetery fell into a state of disrepair.  In 1976, local historians and descendants orchestrated a cleanup/restoration of this cemetery with the support of the town of Woodstock, Historic Huguenot Street and the Hasbrouck Family Association.  Meanwhile, the headstone was somehow discovered in a Brooklyn garage and returned to Woodstock.  The old headstone was incorporated into a memorial monument and placed in a more prominent location -- the main Woodstock Cemetery.  According to tradition, Elias passed away while out hunting and was found sitting against a stump with his gun across his knees – a fitting end for this warrior-hunter, whose best years had been spent in dangerous service on the frontier. 

Captain Elias Hasbrouck’s ancestry is well established and documented by the Hasbrouck Family Association, accessible here:  http://hasbrouckfamily.org/

Sources:

Hasbrouck, Kenneth E. The Hasbrouck Family in America, with European Background.  Vols I & II. 3^rd Edition. 1986. pp. 59-61. 

Robert W. Hasbrouck.  “Elias Hasbrouck – Revolutionary War Veteran and More,” Hasbrouck Family Association Journal, pp. 5-7.  June 2010.

Heppner, Richard R., Woodstock Town Historian. “Elias Hasbrouck, Woodstock's First Supervisor.”

Zimm, Louise Hasbrouck. "Captain Elias Hasbrouck, 1741-1791," Publications of The Woodstock Historical Society, September 1951.