Josiah Hasbrouck (1755-1821)
Great grandfather: Jean, the Patentee
Great grandmother: Anna Deyo
Grandfather: Josiah Hasbrouck
Grandmother: Esther Bevier
Father: Jacob J. Hasbrouck
Mother: Annetje DuBois
Born in the Huguenot Street stone house (Jean) in New Paltz, Josiah was active in local politics (supervisor for three terms), the state assembly for four terms, and the US House of Representatives (8th Congress) as a Republican-Democrat, elected in 1803 to fill a vacated seat, and again in the 15th Congress (1817-1819) as a Republican.
Military Service: Lieutenant in Third Regiment of the Ulster County Militia in 1780, during the Revolutionary War.
In 1785, Josiah married Sarah Decker (1764-1845), daughter of Cornelius Decker and Elizabeth Van Wagenen. They had three daughters (Elizabeth, Jane, Maria Eliza) and one son (Levi). Levi inherited the extensive property called Locust Lawn in Gardiner, NY upon the death of his father.
Locust Lawn: 1809, upon return from Washington DC, he purchased the farm of Evart Terwilliger located several miles south of New Paltz. Sarah and Josiah lived in the Terwilliger stone farmhouse while the mansion was built.
The house was designed by architect Joseph Cromwell, of Kingston, based on a design by noted American architect Asher Benjamin. Hendrick Schoonmaker was hired as builder.
Completed in 1814-1815, the three-story house exterior has six pilasters that rise two stories on the façade. The arched-frame center door and the oval above highlight the elegance of the house and the prominence of the family, one of the wealthiest in the region.
The interior features a center hall design, with a large stairway, a feature of Asher Benjamin homes. Parlors are placed on each side of the hallway. Behind the parlors are a dining room, kitchen and school room. On the second level are bedrooms, with servant quarters on the third.
After acquiring the Terwilliger farm, Hasbrouck purchased additional lands on both sides of Plattekill Creek, eventually totaling over 1,200 acres. Also, he purchased significant tracts of land in western New York.
Josiah was in the general merchandising business while living on the gentleman's farm.
The house remained in the family for multiple generations, with original furnishings and fabrics kept. Shuttered in the 1880’s, it remained a time capsule of Hasbrouck family history. In 1958, Annette Innis Young, Josiah’s great-great granddaughter, founder of Locust Grove Museum in Poughkeepsie and the only remaining heir to Locust Lawn, gave the house, contents, and property to Huguenot Historical Society to be preserved as a museum. In 2010, HHS offered Locust Lawn to Locust Grove museum to preserve it as a museum.
Through Locust Grove Museum, the mansion in Gardiner can be toured by appointment. It is located on State Route 32 in Gardiner, NY.