Laura Tallmadge Hasbrouck, the fourth daughter and
youngest child of Levi and Hylah Hasbrouck, was born on
January 19, 1834. In 1850, Laura attended the Poughkeepsie
Female Collegiate Institute where she studied a variety of
subjects including mathematics, science, philosophy, and
French. In 1873 at the age of 39, Laura married Abraham
Varick of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., a widower with three children
and a trustee of the Poughkeepsie Female Collegiate Institute.
Laura purchased Locust Lawn from her brother Josiah’s
widow, in order to keep the homestead and farm from being
sold out of the family. She held title to the property until her
death in 1925 at the age of 91. Upon her death Locust Lawn
passed to the children of her deceased sister Ann B. H. Innis.
In 1923 Laura T. H. Varick gave land to the Village of New
Paltz to be used as a public park - known today as Hasbrouck
Park.
“Mrs. Varick will be mourned by a wide circle of friends who admired
and loved her. She was what used to be called an “old fashioned
gentlewoman,” a type rarely found in these days.”
From obituary for Laura T.H. Varick
New Paltz Times, March 26, 1925
