The Huyck Bain Crandell Collection, Document BH011

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1774-03-24 Inventory of Part of Personal Estate of the Late Andries Huyck and Jacobus Huyck

Image: BH011.jpg

Transcription

Kinderhook 24 March 1774

Inventory of part of the Personal Estate of the late Andries Huyck and Jacobus Huyck of Kinderhook Deceased, taken by Peter Vosburgh, Johannis Huyck and Henry A Van Dyck and delivered to Michael Goes for the uses and purposes hereafter mentioned

10 milch Cows from 4 to 9 years old 1 yoke of waking{sic} Cattle 5 years old 1 yoke of Lleen{?} 3 years old 20 Sheep with their Fleeces 5 hogs of 2 years old 10 do. of 10 Months old 3 do. of 1 year old

1 Good Dutch plough the share and Colter{?} valued at 30p, of the other part of the Plough complete 1 good dutch Harrow Iron Teeth 1 Drag with 13 Teeth 1 English Plough the Share about half worn 1 Iron bound Waggon complete except side Boards, it has been used about two years but is almost as good as new 1 old waggon almost worn out 2 sell of flea Jackling about half worn 2 good Log fleas, one of them is thinly shod. 1 good pleasure, flea except the Shod. 3 good Corn Hoe. 1 Broad ax 2 good Chopping axes 3 old axes. 1 Carpenter Adz 3 Scithes about half worn 3 Scithe Mounted and 3 Maddocks 1 Wind Mill Compleat for cleaning Wheat.

1 Negro named Quash 1 do ................... Jack 1 Negro Boy ..... Jack 1 Negro Wench ..Bel 1 do ................... Flora

Commentary

Notes:

This is the formal English-language inventory of the combined estates of Andries Huyck and Jacobus Huyck, taken by Peter Vosburgh, Johannis Huyck, and Henry A. Van Dyck on March 24, 1774 — one day after the Dutch memoranda — and delivered to Michael Goes for farm management.

The farm equipment largely matches what we saw in the Dutch memoranda, confirming the two documents are complementary records of the same handover. But the final section is what demands attention:

Five enslaved people:
Quash — named in the 1739 bill of sale, purchased by Burger Sr. from Johannis Beeckman Jr. for £35 as a fourteen-year-old boy. In March 1774 he would be approximately 49 years old — having spent 35 years enslaved on the Huyck farm. His presence here confirms he survived and was still enslaved, now part of the combined estates of Andries and Jacobus.
Jack — the adult male we’ve seen referenced throughout both account books — fetching corn for Marguita Wieler, doing kiln drying work in Frans Pruyn’s account, delivering goods. Now formally named and inventoried as property.
Negro Boy Jack — a younger Jack, possibly Quash’s or the elder Jack’s son, suggesting an enslaved family on the farm.
Bel — an enslaved woman, new to the archive. The name Bel or Bell was common among enslaved people of African origin.
Flora — another enslaved woman, also new to the archive. Flora was a common name given to enslaved women in colonial New York.

What this means:

The Huyck farm at Pomponick in 1774 held five enslaved people — two adult men, one boy, and two women. This was a substantial enslaved household by Columbia County standards, consistent with the farm’s scale and prosperity.

The continuity from 1739 to 1774 — 35 years — is striking. Quash was purchased as a boy and is now middle-aged, having spent his entire adult life on this farm. The presence of a boy named Jack and two women suggests an enslaved community that had grown through natural increase as well as possibly additional purchases not documented in the archive.

The matter-of-fact listing of five human beings alongside ploughs, wagons, and scythes — as property to be inventoried and delivered to a new manager — is the most confronting document in the entire archive. It places the Huyck family’s commercial prosperity in its fullest and most troubling context.

“Henry A. Van Dyck” — now confirmed in the English documents as the correct reading throughout.

This document deserves careful and prominent treatment in the finding aid — both for its historical significance regarding slavery in colonial Columbia County, and for the specific individuals it names, who may have descendants who would want to know this record exists.

— Notes by Claude.ai 4.6 2026-05-05 - jhc

Metadata

Document: BH011

Date: 1774-03-24

Language: English

Type: Inventory

Subject: Agricultural history, Enslaved People, Estate Administration

Principals: Andries Huyck, Jacobus Huyck, Peter Vosburgh, Johannis Huyck, Henry A. Van Dyck, Michiel Goes

Other Persons Mentioned: Negro named Quash, Negro named Jack, Negro Boy named Jack, Negro Wench named Bel, Negro Wench named Flora

Places Mentioned: Kinderhook

— page revised 2026-05-17 - jhc

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