Bronck Manuscripts

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: MSS 1939.0001

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Bronck Family Manuscripts comprise roughly five cubic feet of material primarily on parchment and handmade paper. Contents include personal letters, business papers, and legal documents dating from the lifetime of Jan Bronck (1652-1742) to Leonard Bronk Lampman (1872-1939). Leonard Bronk Lampman was the final owner of the family's 1663 estate and its contents. The most intellectually unified series within the collection come from the lifetime of Judge Leonard Bronck (1751-1828) and his immediate descendants and deal with the Revolutionary legacy of that generation of the Bronck family as well as their involvement in local and state government during that period. This era and generation of the family also represent the years for which the most materials are extant.

Dates

Majority of material found in 1725-1939

Biographical / Historical

Pieter Bronck, a sailor originally from Jonkoping, Sweden, settled in Beverwijck, New Netherland in 1652 accompanied by his wife Hilletje Jans (originally from Holland). At Beverwyck Pieter and Hilletje opened a tavern and brewery which catered to the influx of traders, fur trappers, and adventurers passing through along the frontier. However, the vicissitudes of frontier economy and what appears to be Pieter’s own "contentious personality" resulted in an unstable income stream which made supporting a family difficult. By the early 1660’s Pieter and Hilletje were considering another move. Pieter purchased a tract of land approximately 20 miles south of Beverwyck near the present village of Coxsackie from the native Mohicans. Pieter Bronck and his family moved to settle their land at Coxsackie in 1663, although both Pieter and his descendants would retain ties with Beverwyck's society and economy.

On a small hillock in the midst of the flood plain of Coxsackie Creek Pieter found a small clearing and commenced construction of a typical rural European style dwelling. Built of local rubble stone the one room 20’ x 20’ structure had both garret and cellar for storage. Pieter, Hilletje, and their young son Jan carried on all daily activities in the single first floor room. It is likely that Pieter dabbled in the fur trade at the Coxsackie site but certainly by the time of his death in 1669 the family had transition to selling timber and subsistence farming. This home, still standing, is currently the oldest known dwelling in Upstate New York. Pieter would die in 1669, and his son Jan, a man of considerable longevity, would go on to firmly establish the Broncks as one of the preeminent families in this sparsely populated section of the upper Hudson Valley.

Jan himself would first settle roughly ten miles from the family home at what was then called Catskill - a location now in the vicinity of the modern hamlet of Leeds, NY. Jan would speculate in land, and his ventures conducted in partnership with his neighbors the Van Bergens and Salisburys would prove lucrative and greatly enrich the family for generations to come. His sons and Daughters married into the other influential families of the region, and the family's influence grew with each marriage.

In 1738 Pieter’s grandson Leendert and his wife Anna de Wandelear built a handsome Dutch brick dwelling adjacent to Pieter’s old stone house at Coxsackie. Pieter and Hilletje’s descendents were by that time established grain farmers and considered themselves to be culturally Dutch despite Pieter Bronck's Swedish roots. By the time the American War for Independence commenced the Bronck family had already been farming their land at Coxsackie for 113 years. In the 1770s the Farmstead was in the hands of Pieter’s great grandson, Jan Leendert, and Jan's son Leendert (Leonard) Bronck. Both men were active in the effort to secure American independence - pledging the family’s wealth, farm produce, and considerable prestige to the Patriot cause.

Following the Revolutionary War Leonard Bronck, who by this time had standardized the spelling of the family name to "Bronk," was practicing almost exclusively as a lawyer and Judge, and it was in this capacity that he assisted in the drafting of the legislation that formed Greene County from portions of Albany and Ulster in March of 1800. The family farm, which was extensive in its scale, was still managed by Leonard during this time - though all the day-to-day labor was undertaken by upwards of ten enslaved persons owned by Judge Bronk. This number varied annually, and the Bronk family continued to own and trade in slaves up until the institution was abolished by the State of New York in 1827.

For 276 years seven generations of Pieter’s descendants would pass the family dwellings and the accompanying farm directly from father to child. The last family owner, Leonard Bronk Lampman, willed the Bronck farm and its contents to the Greene County Historical Society in 1939.