PETERSBURGH, taken from Stephentown in 1791.  Pop. 1,901.  Rensselaers Mills, 20 miles E. of Troy, and Petersburgh Corners 27, are small villages.
John W. Barber, Henry Howe, 1844
 
PETERSBURGH, was formed from Stephentown, March 18, 1791.  Its boundary on the lineof Berlin was changed, Jan. 4, 1793; parts of Berlin and Lansingburgh were taken off in 1806, and parts of Nassau and Grafton in 1807.  It lies upon the E. border of the co., N. of the center.  Its surface consists of two precipitous mountain ridges separated by the narrow valley of Little Hoosick River.  The highest peaks are 1000 to 2000 feet above tide.  The mountain regions are barren almost inaccessible.  The Hoosick River breaks through the Taghkanick Mts. in the N. E. part.  The soil in the valley is a gravelly loam.  Petersburgh, (p.v.,) formerly "Rensselaer Mills,"  contains 40 houses, and Petersburgh Four Corners (p.v.) 12.  The first settlers were Dutch who came in about 1750, as tenants under Van Rensselaer.  A few years later, many families came in from Rhode Island.  The census reports 3 churches.  (2 M.E, Seventh Day Bap.)

Among the early settlers were Wm. Prendergast, John Brimmer, Jacob and Godfrey Brimmer, John Spencer, Hans and Peter Rachus, Johannes Ruyter, Henry Litcher, Hans Lantman, Barent Hogg, Jacob Best, Petrus Vosburg, Bastian Deel, Frans. Burn, Juriah Kreiger, Henry Young, Schoolmaster Watson, and Long Andries.  John Spencer built a log gristmill before the Revolution at S. Petersburgh; and Barber & Murray built a carding mill about 1800.  Serveral of the settlers were killed or taken prisoners during the French War, probably by the same party that destroyed the Hoosick settlements in 1754.
Gazetteer of the State of New York, 1860, Frank French, p 557