Major Johannes Hardenbergh (1670–1745), also known as Sir Johannes Hardenbergh, was the owner of the Hardenbergh patent of land in the
Catskill Mountains.
Biography
He was born in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...
, in 1670. He was
Sheriff of Ulster County, New York
Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster.
History
...
in 1709. He served as a
Major in the Ulster County Regiment.
In 1706, Hardenbergh bought the immense tract of land since known as the "Hardenbergh patent", which covered some of the
Catskill Mountains in what is today
Sullivan,
Ulster
Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kin ...
and
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
counties, from Nanisinos, ''
sachem
Sachems and sagamores are paramount chiefs among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Al ...
'' of the
Esopus Indians, for the sum of 60 pounds.
[The Catskills: From Wilderness to Woodstock, 1972 by Alf Evers] The purchase was subsequently confirmed and patent was granted to Hardenbergh and six others in 1708. There were some disputes as to whether Hardenbergh's acquisition of the property had been truly legal. Indeed, in 1769 another former British officer,
John Bradstreet
Major General John Bradstreet, born Jean-Baptiste Bradstreet (21 December 1714 – 25 September 1774) was a British Army officer during King George's War, the French and Indian War, and Pontiac's War. He was born in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia ...
, filed a claim to based on that very assumption.
Shares in the patent changed hands frequently, and the terms under which the land was sold or leased were so varied and complex that it impeded settlement of the district and clouded the title to most of its tracts until well after the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...
.
He died in 1745.
Descendants
* Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh, Jr. (1706–1786), a field officer under Washington in the Continental Army, served in New York's Colonial Assembly, was Hardenbergh's son.
* The Reverend
Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh
Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh (22 February 1735/6 – 30 October 1790) was an American Dutch Reformed clergyman, colonial and state legislator, and educator. Hardenbergh was a founder of Queen's College—now Rutgers, The State University of New J ...
(1735/6-1790), Dutch Reformed clergyman, first president of Queen's College (now
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
), member of the
Provincial Congress of New Jersey
The Provincial Congress of New Jersey was a transitional governing body of the Province of New Jersey in the early part of the American Revolution. It first met in 1775 with representatives from all New Jersey's then-thirteen counties, to supersed ...
and
New Jersey General Assembly
The New Jersey General Assembly is the lower house of the New Jersey Legislature.
Since the election of 1967 (1968 Session), the Assembly has consisted of 80 members. Two members are elected from each of New Jersey's 40 legislative districts f ...
during the American Revolution, was his grandson.
*
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh
Henry Janeway Hardenbergh (February 6, 1847 – March 13, 1918) was an American architect, best known for his hotels and apartment buildings, and as a "master of a new building form — the skyscraper."
Life and career
Hardenbergh was born in ...
(1847-1918), great-great-great-great-grandson, was a prominent architect in New York City in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
See also
*
History of the Catskill Mountains
Notes
External links
Early Sullivan County History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardenbergh, Johannes
1670 births
1745 deaths
American people of Dutch descent
Hardenbergh family
Catskills
Members of the New York General Assembly
People of the Province of New York
People from Albany, New York
Sheriffs of Ulster County, New York