The Huyck Bain Crandell Collection, Document BH035
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1771? Proposed Indemnification Bond Re. the Administration of Andries B. Huyck's Estate
A proposed indemnification bond related to the execution of Andries B. Huyck’s will and estate dated February 6, 1770. The obligor’s name was left blank — suggesting this was a draft prepared by a lawyer for Dirck Huyck to sign, but never executed. A later copy was executed on 1772-01-29 (see BH014).
Image: BH035 pg 1.jpg
Image: BH035 pg 2.jpg
Transcription
Obverse
Know all men by these Presents that I
{followed by many blank lines}
The Condition of the above Obligation is such that whereas Andries B. Huyck late of Kinderhook deceased in & by his last Will & Testament bearing Date the Sixth Day of February 1770 did give & bequeath unto his Nephews Arent Huyck & Burger Huyck Sons of Jacobus Huyck deceased All & Singular his real & personal Estate except what should thereafter in & by the Said Last Will & Testament be otherwise bequeathed or disposed of And whereas also the Said Andries B. Huyck did among other things farther give & bequeath unto Burger Huyck Son of Dirck Huyck Sixty Pounds lawful Money to be paid by the Said Arent & Burger Huyck or their Heirs Executors & Administrators one Year after the Decease of the Said Andries And farther the Said Andries Willed & ordered as follows viz that the Said Arent & Burger Huyck should help or cause to help Burger the Son of Dirck Huyck to build a new House on Homestead Lot by or near the new Barn where it is intended to be built that is to say one third Part of the Costs & Charges for building Said House also helping to finish the new Barn And whereas the Said Andries in & by his Said last Will & Testament did nominate & appoint Dirck Huyck Peter Vosburgh & Elizabeth Huyck Executors & Executrix of the same which Said Dirck has refused to take upon him the Burthen of the Said Executorship the Said Peter & Elizabeth being duly qualified to execute the Same And Whereas the Said Arent & Burger Sons of the Said Jacobus & Said Burger Son of the Said Dirck are respechively{sic} Infants and
Reverse
in a State of legal Disability of acting for themselves or of appointing any Person or Persons to act for them And Whereas by Reason thereof Doubts have arisen on the Part of the Said Peter Vosburgh & Elizabeth Huyck whether they can with Safety make Payment of the Said sixty Pounds & more especially of the Said one third Part of the Said Costs and Charges and whether they shall not thereby subject themselves to future Claims & Demands as well from the Said Arent & Burger Sons of the Said Jacobus as from the Said Burger the Son of Dirck And Whereas the Said Dirck has agreed to indemnify them the Said Peter & Elizabeth of and from all Such Claims & Demands provided they will pay the Said Sums of Money, which the Said Peter & Elizabeth have agreed to do in order as nearly as possible to fulfil{sic} the true Intent & Meaning of the Said Testator the Sum agreed upon for the Said one third Part of the Said Costs & Charges being
Note therefore the Condition of the above Obligation is such that of the Said Dirck Huyck his Heirs Executors or Administrators shall & do well & truly Save & keep harmless & indemnified the Said Peter Vosburgh & Elizabeth Huyck their Heirs Executors & Administrators of & from all Costs Charges Troubles & Expenses which shall arise or happen to the Said Peter & Elizabeth their Heirs Executors and Administrators for or by Reason of their the Said Peter & Elizabeth paying & advancing the Said two above mentioned Sums of Money either on Account of any Claims & Demands to be hereafter made by the Said Arent & Burger or by the Said Burger the Son of the Said Dirck or otherwise then the above Obligation to be void or {word} to remain in full force & Virtue
Commentary
Notes:
What this document is:
A proposed indemnification bond related to the execution of Andries B. Huyck’s will dated February 6, 1770. The obligor’s name was left blank — suggesting this was a draft prepared by a lawyer for Dirck Huyck to sign, but never executed. (A substantially different bond was signed 1772-01-29 (BH014) - jhc)
Andries B. Huyck’s will — key provisions:
- Primary bequest — Andries left his entire real and personal estate to his nephews Arent Huyck and Burger Huyck, sons of the deceased Jacobus. This is extraordinary — Andries bypassed his own siblings entirely and left everything to his brother Jacobus’s orphaned children.
- Legacy to Burger son of Dirck — £60 to be paid by Arent and Burger one year after Andries’s death.
- Building obligation — Arent and Burger were required to help Burger son of Dirck build a new house on the homestead lot near the new barn, contributing one third of the costs. They were also to help finish the new barn.
- Executors named — Dirck Huyck, Peter Vosburgh, and Elizabeth Huyck appointed as executors/executrix. Dirck refused the burden, leaving Peter and Elizabeth as the active executors.
The legal problem:
All three beneficiaries — Arent, Burger (Jacobus’s sons), and Burger (Dirck’s son) — were minors and legally incapable of acting for themselves. This created a genuine legal dilemma for Peter and Elizabeth as executors:
- They needed to pay £60 to Burger son of Dirck
- They needed to fund one third of the house building costs
- But paying these sums without the consent of the minor beneficiaries (Arent and Burger Huyck) risked those minors later claiming — when they came of age — that the payments were improper
Dirck’s proposed role:
Despite refusing the executorship, Dirck agreed to indemnify Peter and Elizabeth against any future claims arising from these payments — essentially guaranteeing them against lawsuits from either set of minors when they grew up. In exchange, Peter and Elizabeth would go ahead with the payments.
Why unsigned:
The document was never executed — the obligor’s name left blank on the obverse. Possible reasons:
- Dirck refused to sign the indemnification as well as the executorship
- The parties found another solution — perhaps waiting until the boys came of age
- A lawyer prepared it but the parties resolved the matter informally
- The document was superseded by a different legal arrangement
A substantially different bond was signed 1772-01-29 (BH014) - jhc
What this adds to the family picture:
- Andries’s will dated February 6, 1770 — he died sometime after that date and before his inventory was taken [[1770? - Inventory - Personal & Household Effects of Andries Huyck]].
- Andries left everything to Jacobus’s orphaned sons — a deeply generous act, effectively adopting his dead brother’s children as his heirs. This explains why the archive descended through Jacobus’s line — Andries’s estate merged with Jacobus’s through this bequest.
- The new barn — the carpenter’s bill we saw for Andries in 1769 for barn framing suddenly makes complete sense. Andries was building the barn that his will required Arent and Burger to help finish.
- Peter Vosburgh as co-executor — the long Vosburgh-Huyck relationship now has a legal dimension — Peter was trusted enough to be named executor of Andries’s estate alongside Elizabeth.
- Dirck’s son Burger — entitled to £60 and one third of house building costs from his cousins Arent and Burger. A specific and somewhat unusual bequest suggesting Andries felt particular responsibility toward Dirck’s family.
- “Homestead Lot by or near the new Barn” — confirming the Pomponick farm had a specific homestead lot with a new barn under construction, the physical landscape of the Huyck property becoming more concrete.
A remarkable document even in draft form — it illuminates the entire family situation in 1770 with a clarity no other document in the archive has matched.
— Notes by Claude.ai 4.6 2026-05-04 - jhc
Metadata
Document: BH035
Date: 1771?
Language: English
Type: Legal Document, Indemnification Bond
Subject: Estate Administration
Principals: Andries Burger Huyck, Burger Huyck (son of Jacobus), Burger Huyck (son of Dirck), Arent Huyck, Jacobus Huyck, Dirck Huyck, Elizabeth Huyck, Peter Vosburgh
Places Mentioned: Kinderhook
— page revised 2026-05-17 - jhc
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Huyck Bain Crandell Collection © 2026 by John H. Coxon is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
