Duryea Family Papers, 1752-1927, bulk 1754-1907

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Summary

Title:
Duryea family papers
Dates:
1752-1927, bulk 1754-1907
Creators:
Duryea (Family :1685-1803)
Abstract:
The collection contains the personal and professional papers of the Duryea family, a mercantile and political Dutch American family who lived in Dutchess County, New York, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Extent:
13.25 Linear Feet (15 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English and Dutch.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Duryea family papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

A family archive which includes correspondence, account books, legal documents, political writings, family papers, ephemera, and other material that document the history of New York and the Hudson Valley from the 1750s, through the Revolutionary War, to the end of the Civil War era.

Most of the collection is centered on the brothers Abraham Duryea (1742-1802) and Stephen Duryea (1744-1776), and their extended family, including Abraham Duryea's second wife Phebe Remsen Duryea (1753-1844), her children Jane Remsen Amory and John R. Remsen, granddaughter Phoebe Helen Robinson (1826-1910), and great-grandchildren Duryea Remsen Robinson and Mary Robinson (-1863).

The correspondence series includes mainly personal letters containing family news of health, birth, marriages, illness, and death; both the Revolutionary War and Civil War are discussed in the letters. The nineteenth century letters are written by intergenerational members of the Duryea-Remsen-Robinson families and are addressed to or written mostly by female members of these families. There is a large group of letters addressed to Mary Robinson (-1863), a teenage girl, whose wide circle of family and friends wrote to her of current events, school and social life, and their currents boyfriends. Sadly, Mary Robinson was in ill health and died in her teens.

The collection contains extensive business accounts for the general store and mercantile business owned by the Duryea brothers, as well as their other business interests. Also included are legal papers consisting of wills, indentures, bonds, promissory notes, warrants, and court business related to the work of Stephen Duryea as a Justice of the Peace. This includes charges of rape, bastardy, and default on loans.

Another aspect of the collection is the frequent references to enslaved persons owned by the Duryea family, as well as the many named enslaved persons of other families in the Hudson Valley who were customers at the Duryea's general store in Fishkill, New York. There are also documents involving legal cases, as well as documents relating to the sale of enslaved persons.

This collection is an important archive covering the colonial, Revolutionary, early Republic, and Civil War eras in New York state, as well as business, social, political, and women's history in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Biographical / historical:

The Duryea family were descended from Jost Durie, a Huguenot, who fled to Mannheim, Germany, and from there to Long Island; eventually the family settled in New York City and Dutchess County, New York. The family name is also seen as Duryee, Deryea, Deuryea, Duria, and Duryea. Abraham Duryea (1720-1785), the grandson of Jost, was a farmer; his sons, Abraham Duryea (1742-1802) and Stephen Duryea (1744-1776), were farmers, mill owners, merchants, and landowners. The Duryea family also owned enslaved persons to work in their general store and other businesses. Stephen Duryea also became a local Justice of the Peace from 1775 to 1776, before enlisting to fight in the Revolutionary War; he died at home in December 1776, from illness contracted on the battlefield.

Acquisition information:
Purchased for the Huntington from Carmen D. Valentino by the Library Collectors' Council, March 2024.
Processing information:

Processed by Gayle M. Richardson in January 2026.

A variety of spellings exist for personal and place names in the collection. Clear misspellings have been corrected and variations of the Duryea name were made uniform or modernized where possible in the item descriptions; however, other personal and place names with different spellings were retained as they were written on the original documents.

A large number of the letters and documents have the location of "New York" with no further location identified; while it is likely these refer to New York City, it was decided to include only what was written on the original document.

Arrangement:

Organized in four series: Series 1. Correspondence, 1750-1903; Series 2. Business papers, 1752-1927; Series 3. Legal papers, 1762-1907; Series 4. Family and political papers; ephemera, 1754-1864.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Gayle M. Richardson
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-02-12 12:09:11 -0800 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Duryea family papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
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