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The Hoornbeek Store And its history.

The Hoornbeek Store is the first and oldest store in the history of the Town of Wawarsing. Located on Main Street between Church & Clinton streets in Napanoch. This store which still stands today was originally started in the home of Dr. William Henry Doll.

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Dr. Willam Henry Doll born in 1778 and died in 1829. He was married to Sophia Christina Beauman in 1796. They had 8 children: John Jacob Doll, Julia Ann Caroline Doll, George Jacob Leonard Doll, Anna Christina Doll , Sarah S Doll, William Henry Doll ,Sebastian Beauman Doll, John Kemper Doll.

The Doll House

This is Dr. William Doll’s home. He came to Napanoch in the early 1800’s from Colchester, a town located in Delaware County NY. Dr. William Doll sold a variety of items such as, wool hats, corn, rum, and sleigh whips. Some of his more known customers were: Benjamin Bevier, Wessel Vernooy, Coenradt Bevier, and Dr. Benjamin R Bevier.

Significance of 19th Century Account Books

1 of the 8 account books

The William Doll account books provide a window into the culture of the early nineteenth century, not long after the Revolutionary War. This store is believed to be the first store in the area, and provided local residents with all types of goods from rum and spirits, to nails and cloth, to sugar and tobacco. One interesting observation is that the accounting was kept in the British monetary system of pounds, shillings and pence, even though the American dollar was in use as a system of currency by this time. When payment was made in cash “dollars”, the value was converted to pounds, shillings and pence for accounting purposes. In one case, Thomas Bruyn (p. 173) paid cash in the amount of 20 dollars which was credited to his account as 8 pounds in 1807; additional entries equated 13 dollars to 5 pounds 4 shillings in 1806 and 33 dollars to 13 pounds 4 shillings in 1807. In the 1800’s the dollar was approximately 20 times more than today's value. So $20 in 2021 would have been about $400 for instance in the 1800’s.

More frequently than the use of cash to settle debts, however, was the payment in goods such as bushels of wheat or corn, or by way of payment in the performance of manual labor. Usually labor was simply stated as “days work”, but occasionally the work was specified, such as mowing or weaving work. Throughout the account book, customers frequently paid in bushels of rye, corn, oats, flax seed, etc., as well as shingles and pipe staves. Butter was commonly used as a form of payment, as were the skins of animals: deer, bear, fox, raccoon and muskrat. In two cases, Stephen Fairchild (pp. 34 & 153) paid for his typical purchases of rum, tobacco, linen, calico, buttons, wool cards, a raccoon skin, “nales,” molasses, etc., almost exclusively by means of numerous hats -- for men, women and boys. Alphies Fairchild (p. 172) also paid in hats, some wool and others “furr,” so it appears that the Fairchild family were skilled in hatmaking and used this skill to make their store purchases. Assuming the hats went into store inventory, the benefit extended to the entire community, as there are occasional purchases of wool and “furr” hats by other customers throughout the account book. Other customers made shoes and wove linen as payment for their purchases; one made 2.5 dozen “slay wips” [sleigh whips] to satisfy a 20 pound debt.

Page 1 Benjamin Bevier

Benjamin Bevier was born January 10, 1862, the only son of Benjamin, Sr. who built the Napanoch grist mill in 1754.

Benjamin Bevier, Jr. was known as Colonel, although he had achieved the rank of general following his service in the War of 1812. He served as an elder in the Napanoch church, a school trustee and was a member of the State Assembly during the time he shopped at the store in Napanoch (1800-1810). Benjamin married Leah Roosa in 1790 and they had eight children. He built a stately stone house in Napanoch c. 1820, a low rambling building with extensive porticoes. In the 1800 federal census, he is listed as having four slaves.

Page 139 Wessel Vernooy

Wessel Vernooy was born May 20, 1742. He was the great grandson of Cornelis Cornelissen Vernooy who immigrated to this country from Holland in 1664, with his wife and baby, bringing the running gear for the first grist mill to be established in Wawarsing c. 1702. Cornelis purchased 400 acres of land that year and was apparently the first European settler to occupy his own land in the area. He was a neighbor of Abraham Bevier, and Abraham married his daughter Rachel Vernooy in February 1707. Wessel’s grandfather Cornelis Vernooy, Jr., married Sara Ten Broeck, whose father was Wessel Ten Broeck. He built the original Senate House in Kingston, New York, now a state historic site and museum.

Wessel Vernooy served in the Ulster County Militia, Third Regiment, during the American Revolution, for which he received land bounty rights. He married Annatje Wood of Rochester on January 14, 1780; they had four sons. In the 1800 federal census, Wessel is listed as having six slaves.

Wessel’s son Jacob, then in his twenties, may be the Jacob who appears on account book page 139 along with Wessel. Items purchased between them include a wool hat, a sleigh whip, rum, nales, a file, wire, cotton, sugar, shingles, powder, shot, a jack knife, calico, bushel of corn, bushel of flax seed and sundries. Credits or payments back included: bushels of corn, bushels of flax seed, butter, day labor and “riding loads to landing.”

Page 63 Coenradt Bevier

Coenradt Bevier was baptized May 7, 1758, a first cousin of Colonel Benjamin Bevier, another customer who appeared in the store ledger. Coenradt’s father Johannes was the brother of Benjamin, Sr., the brothers both being sons of Abraham who came to what was then Rochester with his brother Jean from New Paltz to help settle the wilderness area. Coenradt served in the regular army, 3rd Regiment, as a private during the Revolutionary War, helping defend the Minisink and Wawarsing Valleys. He was given charge of captured baggage upon surrender of General Burgoyne at White Plains and was known for his courage and fleetness of foot. After the war, he served in the state legislature. In the 1800 federal census, Coenradt is listed as having five slaves.

Ulster County Medical Society

Coenradt married Elizabeth Roosa and they had seven children. His eldest son Benjamin Roosa Bevier was born in his maternal grandfather’s home on Budd Hill Road, September 10, 1782. Benjamin would study medicine in Marbletown, graduate from Columbia College in 1804, and go on to practise in Woodstock, Kingston and Napanoch. He was president of Ulster County Medical Society 1823 and 1826-1837. He was supervisor of Wawarsing 1823-1825, and member of State Assembly 1838. As general legal advisor to his community, he drafted many wills and served as a county judge for a period of time. Benjamin married Catharine E. Ten Eyck and they had six children; the youngest, Benjamin Rush Bevier, would also become a physician in Napanoch.

Coenradt Bevier purchased a variety of items at the store, including: “cloath”, velvet, buttons, silk, twist, check, wine, molasses, earthen cups, tea, sugar, rum and sundries. In addition to cash, credits or payments back included staves and shingles, timothy seed and “riding loads to landing.”

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Dr. Benjamin R. Bevier Son of Coenradt and Elizabeth Roosa Bevier

Dr. Benjamin R. Bevier entered into partnership with Dr. William Doll. Once Dr. Doll gradually retired through age and infirmities, Dr. Benjamin R. Bevier became his successor.

Examples of different “notes” below

Credit note

“William Doll Esq. Please to place the sum of ten dollars and eighty seven and a half cents to the credit of John Broadhead and charge the same to me. March 19th, 1818 Benjamin R Bevier”

Lien note

R’d March 22 1806 from William Doll for work done at the sawmill of Doll and Kemper which Wm D act is charged to Wm Doll amt — the lien of three pounds eight shillings Johannis Hoornbeek

The Hoornbeek Store had a variety of customers that shopped there. The books display the trust between the owner, and the buyers that is something we just no longer see. These account books give us a look at the store as a whole, its operation, as well a visualization into what the lives of many people who purchased items from there may have looked like. The condition of these over two hundred year old ledgers is remarkable. These ledgers were passed down from the original store to a our local historian Katharine Terwilliger in 1975. Katharine Terwilliger donated them to EPL&M in 1982 where they have lived since.

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