THE BEVIER FAMILY THE DESCENDANTS OF LOUIS BEVIER, Patentee of New Paltz, New York Compiled by KENNETH E. HASBROUCK A revision and continuation of "The Bevier Family", by Katherine Bevier, 1916 Published by The Huguenot Historical Society, New Paltz, New York, Inc. 1970 IN APPRECIATION This book has been delayed due to the fact that a genealogist who respects the excellent results of another person's efforts in the past, tends to be hesitant in pro­ ducing a new work, which must measure up to the standards so capably followed by Miss Katherine Bevier in 1916. However, forty-four years have par -ed, and as I worked on the manuscript, it was definitely evident that a new book would be twice the size of the original "Bevier Family", and Miss Bevier had been hampered by the advent of World War I. The members of the Bevier Family have been a constant inspiration. They have been interested and most cooperative. They have shown in many ways that they wanted a new genealogy. It would be impossible to list all of the people who have contributed material for this work. In a number of instances it has been necessary to complete lines of descent that go back to the third generation. Mrs. David Koch of Terre Haute,Indiana;Mrs. Lois Pennie Knapp of Duluth, Minnesota; Miss Annette I. Yo·,.mg, Poughkeepsie, New York; Mr. Seward Bevier of Jackson, Michigan; Mrs. Charles Stewart of Coon Rapids, Iowa; Miss Katherine T. Terwilliger of Ellenville, New York, members of the family of Miss Katherine Bevier (deceased); Mr. Richard Borcherding, Gardiner, New York, Mr. Kip C. L. Bevier; Mrs. Paul Kurtz, New Paltz; Miss Julia K. BeVier of Mansfield, Ohio; Miss Mary Ann Be Vier of Tampa, Florida, Mrs. Earl Hanlon of Montgomery, New York, and numerous oth~rs have been most helpful. Mrs. William Heidgerd has as usual done a fine piece of work in producing the original typed copy of the genealogy. A person who has the patience and ability to go through all of the intricacies that are required. deserves a great deal of credit. Therefore, a new BEVIER FAMILY genealogy has been completed. It is my sincere hope that another person will continue keeping the family record and in time a new genealogy will be forthcoming. As long as there are people, a genealogy is never completed. The Bevier family has been a most interesting one genealogically, as it abounds with people who have been sincerely devoted to education, the ministry, and many scholarly endeavors. Kenneth E. Hasbrouck COAT OF ARMS Gules, a chevron or, charged with a Maltese cross o! the first, between three geese o! the second. Crest: a goose or, facing sinister Mantling: Gules and or Motto: "Deum Verere" Gloss of Terms: Gules - red Or - gold Sinister - to the right of the viewer, the left o! the wearer Mantling - the tattered helmet cloth o! the knight fancifully draping the shield in points and dags Crest - the boiled leather symbol of each knight attached to his helmet to identify him in battle and beautify him in pageants. THE FOUNDING OF NEW PALTZ Die Pfalz-am-Rhein had been a refuge for French Protestants who !led there from the persecutions of Louis XIV. In the little towns of Manheim, Spayer, and Mutterstadt, the Bevier, DuBois, Hasbrouck, Crispell, Deyo, and LeFevre families gathered £ram all parts of the Sun King's territory. These were not small peasants - they were proud old families. The Deyoe had been mountain chieftains in the Franche-Camte for centuries; the LeFevres and Hasbroucks prosperous bourgeois of Calais, the DuBoises and Beviers, landed gentry of Artois. Frances was not hospitable to Protestants, however, and many of them fled to the Palatinate. But even there the Sun King sought them out. He decreed that this fertile region of the Rhineland be laid waste so it could not "continue to serve as a granary for the enemies of France. 11 And again the Hugueno1:s fled, not in a single group, but family by family, dawn the Rhine in flatboats to Holland. Louis DuBois, who had married Catrina Blanchan, was in Kingston in 1661 and built his home in the "Nieuw Dorp" (Hurley. Antoine Crispell was already there, as were Mattys Blanchan and Michael Ferre, goad Huguenots all. The Dutch settlers of Wiltwyck (Kingston) had made them welcome, and yet they felt alien. Their whole way of life was different. The Dutch were interested above all in the Indian trade - the French dreamed only of quiet farms. The very religious tolerance of the Dutch which had welcomed them became irksome. They were all followers of Calvin, but in what a different fashion! Most important was their differing attitude toward the Esopus Indians who were their neighbors. The Dutch traders, with or without the assistance of "fire­ water", were quick to take advantage of the savages. They expected to make money from them, considered them only as animals, but were swift to punish when these same animals did not follow white man's ways. The whole series of skirmishes called the Esop.is Wars had a simple beginning. The naive Indians, being unaware of the white man's ideas of property, had graciously granted the new settlers hunting rights in the territory, just as a modern farmer might post his land for the benefit of the local gun club. The paltry presents received from the Dutch were merely evidence of neighborliness and goad faith, certainly not a sale pTice. In fact, an individual Indian co·.ild not sell land, because the tribes owned everything in common. He could merely grant life rights to hunt, fish, and farm the land. Little frictions grew up because the Indiant1 had no understanding of property rights and boundary lines. Nor, unfortunately, were they acquainted with domestic animals. A cow was killed, and immediately the Dutch captured twelve or tre finest young braves and sold them to slavery in the Barbados. It is hardly surprising that the Indians retaliated. On June 7, 1663, while the men were working in the fields, the savages fell on the "New Village". Hardly so much as a h~yrick was left standing and 29 women and children were carried into captivity, among them, Catrina Blanchan DuBois, and her three children, and the wife and child of Antoine Crispell. The captives were hurried down the valley to the Indian fort, from which point the Esopus sent messengers to declare that they would be held as hostages until their brothers were released from slavery. Louis DuBois was tireless in his efforts to find his little family, but the Indians eluded him for three months. Some irreverent souls say the men waited until the crops were in before they settled down seriously ta the search - some say they were waiting for reinforcements before daring the unknown wilderness. But when Cap1:ain Martin Kregier arrived from New Amsterdam with his band or soldiers, the bareaved husbands and fathers set out anew to search. On July 31st they found the Indian fort near Wawarsing and burned its triple palisades and the cornfields around it; but alas, savages and captives were gone into the mountains. For weeks they searched, aided or sometimes misled by Mohawks, Wappingers, and occasional captive Esopus Indians. Finally, on September 5th, they located the New Fort, a 15-!oot palisade not yet completed, near the Shawangunk Kill in the Hogabergh area behind the present village of Wallkill. Tradition tells the tale of Basha, the aqua piling wood near the spring which bears her name, who was shot by Louis DuBois before she could give the alarm. Legend also tells that the Indians, angry at the failure of their attempts to secure the release of the captives in Barbados, had determined to put their vic­ tims to death - that Catrina DuBois was already tied to the stake and the faggots placed - but that intrepid lady, her faith rising above her fears, lifted her head and sang the 137th Psalm, ".By the waters of Babylon". Her clear voice charmed the Indians, so the story goes, into delaying the burning. More important, it served as a guide through the woods for her husband .and the soldiers. The surprise was com­ plete, the fighting was sharp. The Indians lost their chief and Zl killed. 13 others were taken prisoner, while Captain Kregier lost 3 killed and 6 wounded. But the prisoners were released unharmed. It was on the return journey that Louis DuBois had the opportunity to note the fertile plains of the Wallkill Valley and his dream was born. He had passed that way before, had killed an Indian scout near the present Libertyville, with his own sword, but only now he could appreciate the beauty of these fields guarded by the "Great Wall" of the Shawangunks. As he continued to live in Hurley, his dream grew - a French settlement where they could at last find permanent refuge,. but could also retain their language, their customs, and their religion. When the yo·,.ing LeFevre brothers, Simon :1.nd Andre, arrived in Kingston, they quickly fell in with his dream, b:.it it was not for 8 or 10 years until the arrival of the Hasbrouck brothers, the Beviers, the Freers, and the Deyos, that it seemed possible of fulfillment, and it was Abraham Hasbrouck who made it a reality. After leaving the Pfalz, Abraham had served for a time with the English army and had earned the friendship of Edmund Andros. By that time, the English govern­ ment had replaced the Dutch, New Amsterdam had become New York, and Edmund Andros had become governor of the colony.