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Freer-Low Family
of the Huguenot Historical Society
New Paltz, NY
Hugo Freer
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By Diane Rumble
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of Hugo Freer or the settlement of New Paltz, NY, without knowing a bit about
the religious beliefs of Freer and the other settlers and what impelled them to
leave their native France. They were French Huguenots, followers of John
Calvin, one of the leaders of the French Reformation, which began in the 16th
century. As Protestants in a Catholic country, the Huguenots were persecuted
for their religious beliefs. Interspersed with times of relative peace were
periods of open hostility and even warfare between members of the two religions.
In 1572, the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre was responsible for the death of
all the leading Huguenots in Paris, and the violence spread throughout France,
where thousands more Protestants were murdered. Although the Edict of Nantes in
1643 affirmed civil and religious rights for the Huguenots, the French Catholic
clergy did all in their power to inflict misery on the Protestants. In 1685
Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and a large percentage of Huguenots left
the country for good. The closest refuge was Mannheim, Germany.
Hugo Freer was a refuge from this
persecution even before the final indignity in 1685. We know that by 1660 he
was a resident of Mannheim, along with
many of his fellow Huguenots. A Mannheim city map from 1663 has Hugo Freer’s
name on one of the houses. From Mannheim church records, we learn that Hugo was
born in the village of Herly, near Boulogne, France. He married Marie de la
Haye from Douaye, south of Lille, France on October 2, 1660 in Mannheim. Marie
and their two daughters died, probably of the plague. The youngest child, a son
Hugo born in 1666, remained. Hugo then married Jeanne Wibau in 1667, and
Abraham and Isaac were born from that union. Sometime after October 1674 (the
last time any of the family names appeared in the church records), the family
joined with other Huguenots to make their way first to England and then to the
New World, eventually settling around Kingston in Ulster County, New York.
This area was predominantly Dutch and
English at that time, and the Huguenots wished to have their own settlement,
where they could maintain their French culture. Under the leadership of Abraham
Hasbrouck, a Huguenot military leader and friend of the English governor of New
York, a group of families, including the Freers, obtained permission from
Governor Andros to negotiate with the Indians to acquire a tract of land.According to Dale Andre Bevier (The Path to
the Wallkill, 1996), “This agreement between the Indians … and the little band
of Frenchmen was the first instance of fair and honest dealing with the native
Americans concerning land ownership in the history of this country.” On May 26,
1677 a formal contract for purchase of 39,000 acres of land, including and
around the present village of New Paltz, was signed by chiefs of the Esopus
tribe and 11 Huguenot family heads. Later this group became 12 and was
subsequently called the Duzine. This Duzine then negotiated with the English to
also grant them the territory, and by September 29, 1677, the Huguenots were in
possession of an English patent to their land.
The first houses were built of logs
near the Wallkill River on what is now Huguenot Street in New Paltz. Soon these
original habitations were replaced with more permanent stone structures, which
over the centuries have been added on to and refurbished many times. The
remaining stone houses, including the Freer family home are now owned by the
Huguenot Historical Society located in New Paltz
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