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Historian Spotlight: Ulster County’s Ken Hasbrouck

April 10, 2020 by A. J. Schenkman 11 Comments

1950s postcard showing Hasbrouck HouseA direct descendant of French Huguenots who settled New Paltz in 1678, Kenneth E. Hasbrouck Sr. had an important influence on Ulster County local history. He served as County Historian, Town of Gardiner Historian and was a founder and president of the Huguenot Historical Society (HHS).

In 1990, Gardiner Town Historian Dr. Carleton Mabee (1914-2014) interviewed Ken Hasbrouck, known by some as “Mr. Huguenot.”  During the interview, Hasbrouck discussed his early life and how he came to influence so much of New Paltz local history.

He was born in Guilford (a Town of Gardiner hamlet) in 1916. His parents were Josiah Lefevre Hasbrouck of Guilford (1889-1950) and Agnes Riley, formerly of Brooklyn (1883-1935). The family farm, called Hillsdale, encompassed some 150 acres on Guilford Schoolhouse Road at the base of the Shawangunk Mountains.

Hasbrouck recalled the local huckleberry pickers who periodically set fire to portions of the mountains to provide better conditions for the berry crop. These fires sometimes grew large and difficult to control and more than once came “within a hundred feet of the pig pens and chicken houses” of the Hasbrouck family farm.

He also recalled the stills built during Prohibition, which were sometimes raided by police. He remembered a man named Peter VanLeuven who produced illegal corn and apple liquor near the back of the farm property where there was a stream. Hasbrouck said VanLeuven’s still once exploded, starting a fire that nearly took his life.

In 1927, Ken Hasbrouck’s family left their farm. Molly, a sorrel horse, needed to be left behind. Sixty-three years later, Ken still remembered the sadness over leaving the favorite horse behind. (Molly eventually met her end when a hunter mistook her for a deer.) The reasons they sold the farm was many. Hasbrouck said they sold farm because it was too big for their family, “quite isolated,” and his mother was then in failing health.  Before leaving the farm, his mother needed an operation and sought out the services of Dr. James E. Sadlier’s Sanitarium in Poughkeepsie.  Young Ken lived with his aunt Eugenias for a time while his mother recovered.

The family relocated to the New Paltz-Newburgh Road (Route 32) in Tuthilltown around October 1927.  Ken’s father worked as farm laborer at a local orchard and on the Hoyt farm, once owned by John G. Borden of Borden Milk fame. Within a few years his parents built a new house on Route 208, and a few years later his mother died following her lengthy illness.

Ken graduated from “the Normal School” in 1938 and took a job as a public-school teacher until the Second World War. Drafted into the Army in December, 1942, he was assigned to the headquarters unit of the Fourth Antiaircraft Command in San Francisco, and worked with the Brigade’s Surgeon. (The 4th AA Command manned the antiaircraft guns and facilities at Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego.)

When he returned home, Ken Hasbrouck looked on with concern as many of the field stone homes that his ancestors built were in danger of being torn down for more modern homes. Many of the early homes, with the exception of the Jean Hasbrouck house, were in private hands. The Jean Hasbrouck House had been purchased in the late 19th century and dubbed Memorial House. In the 1950s it was in debt and its future uncertain.

Ken Hasbrouck worked to convince the descendants of the original houses of the Huguenot settlers to form family organizations, which he envisioned purchasing and protecting the homes under the umbrella of the Huguenot Historical Society.  He died in 1996, leaving an important legacy that is now carried on by Historic Huguenot Street.

Photos, from above: postcard of Ken Hasbrouck’s ancestral home on HHS in New Paltz; and the house where Ken lived for a good part of his life until his death.

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Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Hasbrouck House, Historic Huguenot Street, New Paltz, Ulster County

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Andrea Kelsey Calfee says

    April 11, 2020 at 8:06 AM

    I was the fortunate recipient of the Marie Rose–Huguenot Society of America scholarship for the four years I attended Vassar College, 1963-67. After graduation I joined the society as a member and have been one ever since! I do remember the bus trip the group took to Huguenot Street in the late 60s. Very enjoyable. Wish I could participate more, but I live far away, in Middle Tennessee!

    By the way, I was born and grew up in Westchester Co. and would frequently drive past the Thomas Paine House and giant bronze statue of Paine in New Rochelle, heading to the New Rochelle Y for swimming practice. It was a lovely spot. I hope cooler heads prevail to ensure a future for this historic place.

    Reply
  2. Dj Sirrine says

    April 13, 2020 at 8:38 PM

    Nice article, the Guilford area of Gardiner is beautiful.

    Reply
    • A. J. Schenkman says

      April 13, 2020 at 9:08 PM

      Thank you so much! It is a beautiful area! So much history.
      AJ

      Reply
      • Dj Sirrine says

        April 13, 2020 at 9:15 PM

        Yes, I think I’ve finally been able to pinpoint the location of the Guilford church. I found an old map online and that was helpful. I wish there was more pictures of it.

        Doria

        Reply
        • A. J. Schenkman says

          May 11, 2020 at 6:51 PM

          Doria,

          Good to hear from you. Contact the editor of AboutTown. She has a huge collection of postcards. If anyone has a picture it will be her. I can also check the archives if you like once everything starts to open again.

          It should be in the woods directly opposite Gibbons Lane if I remember correctly.

          Sincerely,
          AJ

          Reply
          • Dj Sirrine says

            June 11, 2020 at 3:13 PM

            Hi AJ,
            If you have any luck finding a photo please let me know!
            The bear activity has kept me from walking over that way to check out the area, but I will soon.

            Thanks,
            Doria

  3. Bob Krajicek says

    May 11, 2020 at 5:56 PM

    Greetings,
    I think they were living on Forest Glen Rd. in Gardiner when he passed, and before that, in the stone house by the Kettleboro schoolhouse on Rte 208.

    Reply
    • A. J. Schenkman says

      May 11, 2020 at 6:48 PM

      Hi,

      I am pretty sure that they lived in the Route 208 house. Ken died as a resident of the old Blue Nursing home on Jansen Road. His wife continued to live on the house on 208. After his death, his wife Alice sold the old stone house and accompanying Kettleboro School. She bought a home closer to town.
      Thank you for your feedback!
      Sincerely,
      AJ

      Reply
  4. Jean Graga says

    November 9, 2020 at 3:48 PM

    I’m discovering my ancestry to the Deyo family. I am connected through Anne Marie who married John Sheffield. I am looking for the book “Deyo (Deyoe) Family” by Kenneth E. Hasbrouck and Ruth P. Heidgerd written in 1958. It has so much information in it and I love the genealogy it covers. If anyone knows of a source to purchase this book, please contact me.
    Regards,
    Jean

    Reply
    • Donna Hasbrouck says

      November 11, 2020 at 11:28 AM

      Hi Jean~ Give the Deyo Family Association a try. Hasbrouck Family Association sells Ken’s Hasbrouck genealogy, perhaps the Deyo’s do, too.
      https://www.huguenotstreet.org/deyo
      ~Donna Hasbrouck

      Reply
      • Jean says

        November 11, 2020 at 12:58 PM

        Thanks. I will. I tried ebay and amazon with no luck. I appreciate you getting back to me.

        Reply

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