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                                                                                                                                                                August 2007

The DuBois Family

The DuBois family was one of the oldest of the noble houses of Cotentin, in the Duchy of Normandy.[1]   Its genealogy in America has been well documented in William Heidgerd’s book, listed in footnote 1.  Here we are only interested in those people who went to Orange County, NY, Salem County, NJ and the Shenandoah Valley, and may have had connections to the Popinos.

Louis DuBois, bap at Lille, France 21 Oct 1626, d at Kingston, NY 23 June 1693, came to America in 1660 and settled at Hurley, Ulster County (Shawangunk).  Louis’ brother, Jacques DuBois (1626-1676) joined his brother in 1675.  Jacques’ daughter, Anne, (1669-1760), married Joost Hite.

In 1677 Louis and associates obtained a tract of land from the Esopus Indians near Kingston.  Louis lived in Esopus and, following the practice of the Huguenots to join local churches of similar principles, he became an elder in the Dutch Reformed Church formed in New Paltz in 1683.  These Huguenots soon became Dutch speaking, married Dutch wives and husbands, and their neighbors might assume them to be Dutch, not French.

Among Louis’ children were: Abraham 1657, Isaac 1659, Jacob 1661, Sara 1662, David 1667, Solomon 1669, Rebecca 1671, Rachel 1675, Louis 1677, Mattheus 1679, and Magdalena 1680.  In this paper we will follow Jacob, Sara and Louis Jr.

          Jacob Du Bois (1661-1745) m1 1689 Lysbeth Varnoye; and m2 Gerritze Gerritsen. About 1714, he heard that there was a large quantity of good land for sale in southern New Jersey in Fenwick’s Colony, the first Quaker settlement in America, founded about 1675, and which emphasized religious liberty.  Jacob took a trip to Salem County and with his sister Sarah, and John and Isaac Van Meter, purchased 3,000 acres in Pilesgrove township from Daniel Cox. (whose wife was Rebecca Hedge, widow of Samuel Hedge, Jr.)  In 1716 he received 1200 acres as his share, which he subsequently divided among four of his sons: Barent, Louis, Isaac, and Garret.  Barent and Louis settled at Pilesgrove, later called Pittsgrove.  Louis bought more land: 350 acres in 1726, 300 acres in 1733, and 441 acres in 1749.  Louis and his wife always used Dutch when speaking together and he was considered a Dutchman.   

Sarah Du Bois (1664- ), m 1682 Joost Jansz Van Meteren (Van Meter), of Marbletown, Ulster County, NY,[2] born in the Netherlands.  Joost was known as Indian Trader John and had gone with Delaware Indians deep into the Shenandoah Valley, thus interesting his sons in its settlement.  They had four sons and four daughters.  The sons were:

John Van Metre (1683-ca1745) , m1 ca 1705,Sarah Bodine and m2 ca 1710 Margaret Mollenauer.  He moved to Pilesgrove in 1714, to Monocacy Junction, near Frederick, MD in 1726, and was granted 20,000 acres on the Shenandoah River in 1730, which he flipped to Joost Hite.  He settled near Shepherdstown, VA.

Henry Van Metre (1695-1778), m Rebecca.  Died in Hampshire Co, VA.

Abraham Van Metre (ca 1700- ) m Eliza.  Lived first in Chester Co, PA, then moved to the Shenandoah Valley about 1753 and ultimately settled in 1763 on the east side of the Monongahela River in present Fayette Co, PA..

Isaac Van Metre ((ca 1692-1757), m 1 Catalina Hendricks, and m2 Annetje Wynkoop.  Like his brother John, he moved to Pilesgrove in 1714, was granted 20,000 acres in the Shenandoah Valley which he flipped to Joost Hite, but retained some land in the South Branch Valley, now Hardy Co, WV.  He marked his claim in 1736, but didn’t move down until 1744.  He built a home and fort, called Fort Pleasant, and was killed by Indians in 1757.

          Louis Du Bois (1677- ), m 1701 Rachel B. Hasbrouck.  In one document he has the title Captain. They lived in New Paltz.  Among their children:

                     Nathaniel Du Bois (1703-1763), m1 Gertrude Bruyn (d bef. 1733) and m2 Gertrude Hoffman, d/o Zacharias Hoffman and Hester Bruyn of Salisbury Mills, Blooming Grove, Orange County, NY.  Nathaniel moved to Orange County where he owned a tract of 1500 acres at Salisbury Mills about 8 miles from Newburgh on the road from Goshen.   Nathaniel’s children mentioned in his will[3] were:  sons: Lewis, Zachariah, Jonas, and Frederick; and daus: Renaltjie; Hester, wife of Jesse Woodhull; and Rachel, wife of Andreas LeFevour.  Jonas DuBois died in 1775, and his will showed daus. Esther, Hannah and Gerty, and as one of the witnesses: Renelche Parkhurst—his sister.

In 1762, Rev. Samuel Parkhurst, a recent graduate of Princeton College, was invited to be the minister at the Florida and Warwick Presbyterian Churches.  A number of local men bonded to pay him including John Poppino Junior, Joseph Totten (married to Mary Poppino), Richard Johnson (married to Sarah Poppino), and John Minthorn (married to Christian Poppino).  John and Christian Poppino, parents of the above, made their marks as witnesses.  This would seem to imply that they were active in inviting Parkhurst.[4]

On 7 May 1763, Nathanial Dubois wrote his will and it was proved on 13 June.[5]  In it he left Renaltje her choice of slaves after several others were taken, 3 cows, 2 horses, 9 sheep and 30 pouns; £300 over and above all other legacies and, along with his wife and sister Hester, wife of Jesse Woodhull, all household goods and furniture.

Ten months later, In March 1764, Renaltje married Samuel Parkhurst.[6]

On 11 Mar 1768, Samuel Parkhurst died at age 29.  Administration was granted to Renalche Parkhurst, widow.  Bondsmen were the widow, Dr. Nathaniel Elmer, and Gertrude DuBois (her mother), all of Orange County.  Witnesses were John Gale (Surrogate of Orange County) and Christian Poppino.[7] 

John Minthorn, married to Christian Poppino’s daughter. Christian, later named a son Samuel Parkhurst Minthorn.  This suggests the possibility of a connection stronger than Samuel having been minister at Minthorn’s church for a few years.

Another Dubois in Warwick was Elisha Dubois, son of Johannes DuBois and Catrina Cooper of New Paltz.  Elisha, who died in 1836, was an M.D. and one of the founders of the Orange County Medical Society.  He married Elizabeth Peck, 1781-1822, daughter of David Peck and Mary Woolsey.  Her brother David Peck married Christian Minthorn, granddaughter of Christian Poppino, and her sister Lydia married William Minthorn, grandson of Christian Poppino.[8]

The Poppinos and their close relatives had been instrumental in setting up the Florida Presbyterian Church in 1741.  In the 1750s, the Rev. Jonathan Elmer was minister of the church.  I believe Nathaniel, bondsman for Renalche, was his son and was a medical doctor.  Nathaniel Elmer was born in 1732 in Wilton, CT, in 1775 was Captain of the Florida militia company (John Poppino Jr, served under him) and died in 1797.[9]  These Elmers were related to the Elmers of Salem County because both descended from Elmers in Connecticut.

Shourds says (p 427) that Rev. Daniel Elmer emigrated from Connecticut to Fairton (Salem County, NJ) in 1727 and was pastor of Fairfield Presbyterian Church until his death in 1755.  Might he have been a brother to Rev. Jonathan Elmer?

All of the above hints at connections between the Presbyterians of Orange County (specifically the Florida group where the Poppinos were located) and those of Salem County.  Although the time period is later, these connections may well have existed in the late1720s or early 1730s when Peter Popeno is believed to have moved from Florida, NY to Salem County, NJ.  He no doubt was well aware of the DuBois purchase of lands in Salem County and he was probably also influenced by the fact that Joseph Miller, a step-uncle of Samuel Seely, Peter’s stepfather, had moved there in 1698.  

What was the connection of Christian Poppino to Renalche DuBois?  We have her as a witness to the bond inviting Samuel to come to Florida—the only woman on the paper (although we don’t know that Samuel was acquainted with the DuBois family at that time)—and as a witness to administration of his estate by his widow, Renalche.  Why would Christian have been brought in for the latter unless she had some relationship with Renalche beyond being a neighbor?   

In 1879 a relative, G. W. Seward, in a letter to Lyman C. Draper, said that Christian was from Holland and “she could place a pail of water on her head, take one in each hand, and carry them without spilling a drop.”  This was about a century after Christian’s death but had come down as family folklore.   

Jean Papineau and his wife, Charlotte Bouniot, became part of the French community in New York City about 1704 and this community no doubt had connections with the French in Ulster County.  Charlotte may even have encouraged her second husband, Samuel Seely, to move from Stamford, Connecticut to Orange County, New York because of its proximity to the French in adjoining Ulster County. 

Since the Dubois family were part of the Dutch settlement in New Paltz and were members of the Reformed Dutch Church, it would be natural for them to be thought of as Dutch as discussed above.

So if John Poppino married a Dutch woman, the closest ones would be those from Ulster County, and the connection to Renalche DuBois suggests that John’s wife may have been Christian DuBois (a name that was used in the DuBois family for both sexes).  She couldn’t be a sister to Renalche because she would have been born about 1705 and she wasn’t her mother.  But she could be an aunt—a sister to Nathaniel and daughter of Louis DuBois Junior.   There is a gap between Nathaniel, b 1703 and Maria, b 1706, in which Christian could have been born.

That is my guess, anyway.