Article Number 26 - The Loveridge Patent No. 7 - The Overbagh Family
Originally published in the Catskill Examiner by Henry Brace between the years 1876 and 1879. Article 26 was published on August 13,1878. Extracted from the microfilm copies of the Catskill Examiner located at the Vedder Research Library. Transcribed by Barbara Bartley.
“The Examiner”, dated Aug. 13, 1878
LOCAL SKETCHES. No. 26. - History of the Town of Catskill, To
The Year 1783 By Henry Brace
The southern boundary of Lot Number Two of the Loveridge Patent began at the
Hudson, one hundred and thirty-eight feet and six-tenths of a foot below the
mouth of the Grootekil or the Plattekil, as Ram’s Horn Creek was once called,
and extended upon a course north seventy-two degrees west to the Katerskill. In
1749, as an old deed declares, this boundary was a “line of marked trees now
run by Jan Eltinge.” The trees, excepting one, are now all gone, but the line
can still be traced by fences and stone walls of division. It lies between the
lands of Burget and Overbagh, crosses the road to Saugerties a few feet north of
the stone cottage in which a negro woman, Sarah Person, once lived, crosses the
King’s road a short distance north of the Mountain Turnpike, and touches the
Katerskil at a huge black oak. A few days ago I went out to look at this
venerable tree. It stands on the very edge of the bank, and I doubt not was a
young and vigorous sapling when Eltinge surveyed the line. Five feet from the
ground, the trunk has a girth of twelve feet and six inches. The lower branches
are still full of vigor, but a portion of the top is gone. From the lustrous
green leaves protrude dead and twisted limbs, upon which John Person, from his
house half a mile distant, often sees hawks perching motionless.
The land upon the north side of this line, between the Kalkberg and the
Hudson, was bought by five Germans of the Lower Palatinate, in the autumn of
1728. Johan Wilhelm Brandow became the owner of a hundred acres, which were
afterwards occupied by Paulus Schmidt, and still later by Paulus Trumpbour;
Jourya Overbagh became the owner of a hundred acres, which are now in the
possession of James I. Overbagh; Johan Pieter Overbagh became the owner of one
hundred and forty acres at the Kykuit; Nicholaas Brandow became the owner of
sixty-one acres, which consisted of a strip of land nine chains wide, and
extended westerly from the Hudson; Frederick Diedrick became the owner of
fifty-two acres adjoining Brandow on the north. These estates were surveyed by
Martin Hoffman, Deputy Surveyor of the Province. I have seen and have copies of
some of the rude maps which he made. It will be observed that these Palatines
chose the uplands; if they had been Dutchmen, they would have settled upon the
flats or alluvial plains on the banks of the Catskill and the Katerskil.
Jourya Overbagh died on the 11th day of August, 1739. He devised his lands to
his “cozen Christiaan,” to whom and to whose descendants they have ever
since belonged. Whether Christiaan was related to the Overbaghs of the Fuyk or
of the Kykuit is no longer known. All that is remembered of him is that, on the
4th day of April, 1743, he married Sara, a daughter of Benjamin Dubois, built a
cottage upon his farm, and brought up a family of three sons and three
daughters. Respecting these children, the following is the meagre record which I
have gathered, with great labor quite disproportionate to the result, from
tradition, from rude and lichen-spotted tombstones in old meadows and from the Doop-Boeken
or Baptismal Books of the Churches of Kingston, Kaatsbaan and Catskill:
(1) Peter, baptized at Kingston on the 12th day of February, 1744, married Rendeltje Sammons, and died on the 8th day of February, 1818, aged 74 years, one month and nine days.
(2) Benjamin, baptized at Kingston on the 26th day of December, 1748, married Jaantje Oosterhoudt, and died--
(3) Isaac, baptized at Kaatsbaan on the 14th day of October, 1752, married Maria---and died about 1830.
(4) Katryntje, baptized on the 8th day of December, 1753, married Christiaan Servous, of Schenectady, and died---
(5) Mary, baptized---married George Servosa, of Remsenbos, near Schenectady, and died---
(6) Hannah, baptized---married David Cady, and died---
The children of Peter were---
(1) Christiaan, baptized at Old Catskill July 27, 1767
(2) James, baptized Feb. 17, 1773, married---and died Jan. 26, 1833, aged 59 y. 11m. 9 d.
(3) Sarah, baptized May 25, 1777
(4) Mary.
(5) Caroline.
The son of Benjamin was Christiaan, baptized at Kaatsbaan October 22, 1772, and died Feb. 9, 1813, aged 41 years and 24 days.
The children of Isaac were Maria, baptized April 8, 1778, and Samuel, baptized Feb. 27, 1792.
This list is imperfect, but I have not been able to complete it.
The farm of one hundred acres, which belonged to Christiaan Overbagh, was in the form of a square. Nearly in the centre of the square he built, about the year 1745, a stone cottage twenty feet long and as many deep. Its one chimney was on the outside, an unusual fashion of that time and region. The chimney was taken down, when the house was enlarged; but the place where the chimney stood can still be traced upon the outer wall. About 1859, the house was again enlarged, and is now the “Inbogt House” of James P. Overbagh. During the Revolution, the cottage was a place of muster for the minute men of the district, and a refuge for their families, when it was rumored that the Mohawks were about. At this time, Peter, the son of Christiaan, was the occupant of the farm. Isaac, another son, was a sergeant in Colonel Wynkoop’s regiment of militia, and was for a while stationed at Skenesborough. In Captain Samuel Van Vechten’s order book I find this entry: “Oct. 17, 1776,--Sergt. Isaac Overbagh deserted.” He was a zealous hunter, and spent many a winter’s day in the huge forests of the upper Kiskatom, in the pursuit of deer and foxes.
John Pieter Overbagh was buried in a meadow on the east side of the Kykuit. Upon the narrow slab of gray flag which marks his grave is this inscription:
It is the oldest tomb-stone in the town of Catskill.
The first house built upon the estate was a log cabin, which stood near the junction of the two roads, which pass on either side of the Kykuit. It was afterwards occupied by a Scotchman named Grant, whose sister married a Dubois.
The second cottage, which John Pieter Overbagh or his son built, was constructed in this wise: The frame of heavy timber was first raised. The sides of the upright posts had been grooved, and into the grooves were inserted the beveled ends of roughly hewn planks. The planks formed the walls of the house, which were then thickly daubed, both inside and out, with a mixture of stiff clay and chopped straw. The plastering was durable and made the dwelling both dry and warm.
This cottage stood until the year 1801, when the stone house which Lewis Overbagh now occupies was built near it.
Two sons and four daughters survived Johan Pieter Overbagh.
(1) Johan Jurry, married Katrina, a daughter of Paulus Schmidt, and died about the year 1759.
(2) Johannes, married Marytje---, and died about 1770.
(3) Marytje, who became the wife of Pieter Souser.
(4) Catharina, who became the wife of Godfrey Brandow.
(5) Annaatje, who became the wife of Gysbert Oosterhoudt.
(6) Elizabeth, who became the wife of Johannes Diedrich.
Upon the death of their father, in 1734, Johan Jurry and Johannes divided his farm of one hundred and forty acres, the former taking the eastern half and the latter taking the western half. The line of division runs over the Kykuit in a southwesterly direction. In May, 1753, they added to their estate, by the purchase from Paulus Smith of the strip of land nine chains wide, and extending to the Hudson, which once belonged to Nicolaas Brandow. I think they also bought the land which Frederick Diedrick had owned.
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