We, the undersigned, gentlemen, inhabitants, and owners of the twelve parts of the Village of New Paltz in the dependence of Kingston, county of Ulster, province of New York, certify that out of our good will and for the benefit of Jean Cottin, Schoolmaster of the Paltz, we have given him a small shack to be used as dwelling and place of study, located in the said Paltz at the end of the street on the left hand side, nearby the big Crouspelbose(1), situated in a clearing on the place reserved for the building of a church, extending on the right hand side all the way to the bottom and on the edge of the Crouspelbose, in the clearing to the bottom edge of the Crouspelbose while looking at it from the Northern side, reaching to the street on one side and continuing straight ahead all the way to the bottom edge of the Crouspelbose on the other side as one looks toward the setting sun, and extending to the bottom edge of the Crouspelbose. To the aforesaid shack, we grant permission as of today to the aforesaid Cottin that he moves in and enters into its possession, and that he should enjoy it always without any trouble. Considering it his own estate we also allow him and his own to cut their heating wood and building wood which they will find in the Paltz woods, and forever to him and his family likewise we grant permission to the said Cottin to grazing pastures in the woods of the Paltz for two cows and their calves and one filly and its foal. Us, the landlords and at the same time the ones agreeing to the sharing and the enlargement of our shacks, we have reserved the aforesaid small shack and we have given it away as mentioned in the above. Nonetheless, we want and understand that should the said Cottin wish to sell the said shack he could only do so to people of good standing and character who will agree with us and of which we will also approve. We are not bound to keep Mr. Cottin as Schoolmaster unless we judge acceptable everything that has been mentioned in the above and have all consented upon, ourselves as well as the said Cottin. Done at the Paltz on the First of August 1689 on the condition that the aforesaid shack will be subject to the Village council, thus signed – Abraham Hasbrouck, Pierre Deio, Jean Hasbrouck has made his mark, so has L. F. Hughes Fiere made his mark X Abraham Dubois, Issac Dubois, Louis Dubois, Anthoine Crispel, Louis Beviere, Lisbette Doyau has made her mark thus L D.
We, Anthoine Crispel and Estienne Pacherie, certify that this copy is authentic and in conformity with the original according to which we have signed the present document in Kingston on the 9th day of October 1707.
Anthoine Crispel
Estienne Pacherie
In the presence of me
(illegible) Wynkoop
Justice of the peace
Translated from the original French by Victor-Guy Aboulaffia, 2000
Notes
1 The word Crouspelbose is not French, and would seem to designate a tract of woods belonging to the Crispell family, as bose means “woods”in Dutch, and Crouspel sounds like Crispell.
