Elias Hasbrouck – From the Revolution to Woodstock’s First Supervisor
By: Richard Heppner, Woodstock Town Historian
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| Elias Hasbrouck Memorial at Woodstock Cemetery |
Elias Hasbrouck came to Woodstock, ultimately, by way of New Paltz and Kingston… and a small thing called the Revolutionary War. Born in May of 1741, Hasbrouck was the youngest of eight sons born to Huguenot parents, Solomon and Sara Hasbrouck. In the early fall of 1757, a young Elias Hasbrouck was apprenticed to the Livingston family. By the mid-1760s, Hasbrouck had established himself as a merchant in Kingston, New York where he sold such items as teapots, spectacles, writing paper and snuff. Hasbrouck was also someone who steadily came to believe in the cause of American independence and would put both his name and his life on the line for that cause.
Following the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord, Hasbrouck, along with more than 200 other citizens from New Paltz and Kingston, lent his support to the colonial cause by affixing his signature to the Articles of Association, expressing alarm and concern over the raising of taxes and the "bloody" events being played out in Massachusetts.
In June 1775, Hasbrouck received a commission as Captain in the Third Regiment. In addition to serving with General Richard Montgomery, he also served as a Quartermaster in charge of supplying troops protecting the Hudson Highlands, sought out spies and conspirators and, additionally, transported supplies on the Hudson for both American and French troops. On October 16, 1777, Hasbrouck, along with other outnumbered colonials, fought in the defense of Kingston as the British took the war, and their torches, to the heart of Ulster County.
In 1785, Hasbrouck moved to the Lake Hill area of Woodstock and established yet another shop and inn at the corner of what is now Route 212 and Mink Hollow Road. Two years later, on June 5, 1787, Hasbrouck became Woodstock's first Supervisor following the official creation of the town by New York State in April of that same year.
Though elected twice as Supervisor, Hasbrouck would not see the end of his second term. Elias Hasbrouck, having born witness to the birth of a nation and a small town in the Catskills, died on October 8, 1791.
