The Settlers of the Beekman Patent
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The Settlers of the Beekman Patent, Dutchess County, New York: An Historical and Genealogical Study of All the 18th Century Settlers in the Patent, by Frank J. Doherty, contains data on over thirteen hundred families who settled in the Beekman Patent, an original land grant given to Col. Henry Beekman in 1697 by the English Crown and the second largest patent in present-day Dutchess County. Many emigrants from New England lived in and passed through the Beekman Patent on their way west. Others, such as the Palatines and Quakers (almost all from New England), were early settlers and remained for several generations or more. The area of study includes the towns of Beekman, Dover, LaGrange (part), Pawling (including Quaker Hill), and Union Vale. The first volume of the series was published in 1990, and included all early information available on the Patent - the lease system, precinct (town) records, road dedications, the rent wars, over three hundred pages of local Revolutionary War data, and more. This installment also contains previously undiscovered Revolutionary War muster rolls for four of the nine companies of minutemen in Dutchess County as well as important information found in the two newspapers that were published in the county during the Revolution. Subsequent volumes of Settlers of the Beekman Patent contain detailed family histories of the eighteenth-century residents of the Patent, many of which were drawn from sources previously unavailable to family historians, such as the original lease records of Henry Beekman and original daybooks and over sixty ledgers from early Dutchess County stores. Beginning with Volume 4 (1997), the author has included all reference to the Beekman Patent family names found in New York State Probate up through 1830-1840. Mr. Doherty expects to publish six to eight more volumes before the series is completed. Compiler and author Frank J. Doherty has researched the settlers of the Beekman Patent for over thirty years and is considered the foremost expert on these families. He began his research after he purchased property in the town of LaGrange in Dutchess County and became interested in the history of the area. His research includes all eighteenth-century records from Dutchess County courts, probate, cemeteries, churches, stores, leases, tax lists, military, census, and other documents pertaining to the area. In addition to offering previously published volumes as searchable databases on its website, NEHGS has also agreed to co-publish upcoming volumes of this authoritative series in book form with Mr. Doherty. NEHGS Executive Director Ralph Crandall says, "This important project is comparable to other major genealogical compendia NEHGS has undertaken such as the Great Migration Study Project and The Search for Missing Friends book series." Volumes 1-8 of this series are currently available in both book form and on CD from NEHGS and from the author at his website, www.beekmansettlers.com, which also offers individual family chapters. Publishing dates for the new volumes of the series will be announced at a later time. |
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