Petrus Masten (~1725 - 1813)

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This is his brother Ezekiel's will, transcribed from the original written will. In the probate records from Ulster County that were compiled in 1906, they usually put in notes as to who his family was (below green line). And you will see, Peter (aka Petrus) is missing. Ideally we would LOVE to have Johannes Masten's will (Peter and Ezekiel's father) but that will could not be located. It was either destroyed or he died without a will.

The dude who compiled these Kingston Probate records, Gustav Anjou, did use the church records to make these notes. But, he was also being paid by wealthy clients to reconstruct prestigious family trees and was later found to liberally use things like an invented child, marriage, or an entirely hypothetical generation to explain gaps in the tree or timeline. There are several articles about his shenanigans in several   

reputable magazines, including the National Genealogical Society. So these notes at the end of the transcribed will are not foolproof, might contain people that don't exist, and should be used with extreme caution. In our case, Anjou was using baptismal records and we have already established that Petrus does not have any records in the Kingston area.  Perhaps they burned when the Brits torched the town in 1777?

Johannis Dubois, in his 1772 will, tells us that his daughter Sarah (aka Zara) was married to Petrus Masten prior to her death and they had two living children: Sarah and Abraham. The footnotes show that Petrus and Sarah married on Nov 10, 1751. Even though I told you not to trust the Anjou footnotes, we do have backup for this statement. It DOES establish some justification for Petrus Masten's birthdate, since in those days a first marriage for a man occurred about the time they could provide for themselves and a family (usually in the mid-20's).

You may be wondering how I know that Petrus belonged to Johannes and not Aert or someone else. First off, Cornelis was the progenator of the Masten family in the Kingston/Poughkeepsie area and he died prior to Petrus' birth, so Petrus must be his GRANDSON. That leaves only Johannes and Aert, his only two sons, as possibilities. 

This question will be definitively answered further down, but now, let's trace Petrus' steps between PA and NY and build out his family tree to provide strong circumstantial evidence of his parentage.

Summary : He leaves everything to his wife Elizabeth for the duration of her widowhood. If she remarries, she will relinquish half of the estate to the children. Then, upon her death or full distribution, his entire estate is to be divided equally among his five children, who are explicitly named:  Johannis, Aert, Dievertje, Antie and Geertjie. It would be highly unlikely for a son (specifically one named Petrus) not to be mentioned in a will.

Kingston. We know this because of the marriage records (both of them).

First child died  - buried in Kingston 1752.  

The second child was baptized in Kingston in 1753. Named Johannes, after Petrus’ father (using conventional Dutch naming system), he died young. He was not mentioned in Johannes DuBois’ will in 1772.

The third child was Abraham, baptized in Kingston in 1755; we know he outlived his father and received proceeds from his will.  

 The last child with wife Sarah was a daughter named Sarah who was baptized in Poughkeepsie in 1766. She was still alive when Johannes Dubois wrote his 1772 will, but was not living with her father in Fayette Co PA in 1790 and probably did not reach adulthood.

 Mary, called Polly, was the first child to be born to Petrus and Grietje Freer.  She was likely born in Poughkeepsie although no record can be found for her baptism (from late 1767 through late 1769 many, many baptisms went unrecorded).

She went to Fayette County and as an adult, married James Snowden. The 1840 census was her last, and it shows she was between 70-79 years of age, which put her birth year between 1761 - 1770. The fact that she was born after Petrus married Grietje puts it after early 1767, and we need to allot some time for her brother James to be born as well (according to the 1850 census, he was born about 1769). So to sum it up, she was born around 1767 or early 1768 in Poughkeepsie.

 James was the first known male child to be born to Petrus and Grietje Freer.  James ended up moving to Tuscarawas, Ohio as a farmer. He appears on the 1850 census as being born about 1769 in Delaware. I think this more likely means he was born along the Delaware [River] since that is how Petrus and Grietje most likely would have travelled during their move between Poughkeepsie and York Co PA. It's either that or haul your horses, wagon, screaming children and all your earthly possessions over the mountain range

Depending on the trip timing, it is possible they may have stopped somewhere to rest or let the weather become more favorable, so it is entirely possible that James may have been born enroute.

  The Low Dutch were deeply committed to their language, customs, and the Dutch Reformed Church. In the early 1760’s, many had relocated to York County PA in hopes of forming tight-knit community that allowed them to preserve their identity. By the time Petrus and Grietje arrived, the Dutch had successfully formed their own "Conewago" congregation and built a central "Low Dutch Road" to connect their sprawling farms.

Sons Ezekiel and Petrus Jr were born here in 1772 and 1775. Note the spelling of Ezekiel is one of the common Dutch variations that use the letter “g” – (Ezegiel, Ezegiel and Ezeghiel). 

Peter, having ditched his Dutch name of Petrus, and his wife Grietje, had two more children, both born in Fayette County PA. The first was Abraham Freer, who was given a middle name to both distinguish him from his older brother Abraham (Sarah Dubois' child), and also as a nod to his mother's maiden name of Freer. He was born around 1779 according to the 1850 census. At that time, he was a laborer living in Coshocton, OH with six young children and his second wife Mary (also called Polly). 

His first wife was  Elizabeth "Betsey" Miller who died likely between 1836 - 1839. Abraham and Betsey had six children of their own, with the youngest being born around 1824.

The best markers of when Petrus was born are the date of his first wedding and the date of his death (because he lived to be an old man!) He initially was a cooper (barrelmaker) by trade, which is a skill that required 5 - 7 years of apprenticeship before breaking out on your own. He was also unlikely to marry before he could support a family, so that probably means he was at least 23 when he married in 1751. If he reached age 90 when he died in 1813, puts his likely birth year between 1723 and 1728. As a side note, it was VERY common, perhaps necessary, for a new widower with young children, especially a newborn, to quickly marry again, just like Petrus did when his 1st wife died.

While in New York, Petrus made a living making barrels. This was a highly skilled job and generally provided a good income, although it took up to seven years as an apprentice to become one.

Legal documents such as this one list his profession.

This is notable because the land is described in terms of two of Jan Jr's brothers: Ezekiel and Benjamin. Petrus is not mentioned in the transaction. The document itself is long - you can read the whole thing in NY Land Records, Ulster Co Deeds 1722-1757, Liber EE Page 372 (document starts at bottom of page).   Best I can tell, the 5.9 acre property Jan Jr bought from his father is outside of the stockade on the NW side.  Ezekiel’s lot was to the west of Jan Jr, and Benjamin’s lot was to the east. 

This  1753 transaction involves Jan Masten (identified as a weaver from the "Towne of Kingston in the County of Ulster and province of New York"), who is exchanging a house and lot of ground with his brother Petrus Masten. Proof that Petrus has a brother named Jan and both lived in Kingston in 1753. You can find this document online, Liber GG, p 558.   These are two separate lots but they are very close in proximity to each other – no more than a mile or two.

In this 1761 document, Petrus sells the exact same "twelys Mill" property he swapped with Jan Jr in 1753 to Jacob Heermance.  Petrus is living in Poughkeepsie at the time of this transaction. Notably, Heermance is a Weaver—meaning this specific town lot (with its house and barn) continued to be used for the exact same textile trade that Petrus's brother, Jan Masten, practiced there in the 1740s and 1750s. You can also access this online if you want to read the whole thing - Liber GG, p. 555.

Putting together pieces of these land transactions….Jan Sr has sons named Jan Jr, Ezekiel and Benjamin. Jan Jr has a brother named Petrus. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that Petrus, Ezekiel and Benjamin are all brothers who share the same father – Jan Sr (aka Johannes Masten Sr).

This is the land that Petrus (who is now calling himself Peter) purchased.  The Cook house sits directly on the northern border of Peter Masten's original 117-acre survey tract.

The blue bubble represents the approximate center of the original 1791 land warrant issued by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to Peter Masten. Harmony Acres farm encompasses a good portion of the land today.