Louis Du Bois - Settlement in America

Settlement in America

DuBois and the others bought a 40,000 tract of land from the Esopus Indians in 1677. The tract, known in 17th century colonial New York as a "patent," stretched from the Hudson River to the Shawangunk Mountains. DuBois was one of eleven men to begin settling on a rise over the Wallkill River, in the center of the patent, in 1678. Louis DuBois served as one of the original elders in New Paltz's French Reformed Church, which is still in existence today.

In the early years, DuBois and his fellow patentees governed the land communally. In 1728, the surviving patentees and their descendants created a more formal form a government called "The Twelve Men" (later known as the Duzine). This body consisted of one elected representative for each patentee families. Membership was restricted to their descendants through either male or female lines. To this date, some of the DuBois land is still owned by the family descendants. In 1785, the New York State Legislature confirmed the actions of this body. Although a standard form of town government was established in the late 18th century, the Duzine existed in at least ceremonial form into the 19th century. In the later years of the Duzine, the members were consumed with lawsuits defending the boundaries of the New Paltz patent. At one time, the Duzine hired Aaron Burr to represent them in such a lawsuit.

Louis himself eventually returned to Wiltwyck, by then known as Kingston, where he died prior to his will entering probate on June 23, 1696. His widow remarried, and in her will freed two of her slaves.