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Dumond-Elmendorph-Smith Family
Papers, 1727-1914 (bulk 1750-1850)

SC23070

Quantity: 4 boxes (1.25 cubic ft.)
Access: Open to research
Acquisition: Gift of Hebert L. Shultz, Kingston, New York, July 1, 2008; accretion, October 2009
Processed by: Nicholas Webb, Student Assistant, State University of New York at Albany, September 2008; revised January 2010

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Biographical and Genealogical Note:

The Elmendorphs and Dumonds were prominent families in Kingston, Ulster County, New York. The present collection covers several generations of the families from the early-eighteenth through the early-twentieth centuries.

Garret Elmendorph operated a mill in Kingston in the mid-eighteenth century. His son, Conrad Garret Elmendorph, was baptized in 1734. In 1772 Conrad married Neeltje Dumond, with whom he had a son, Levi. Conrad died in 1816. His son, Levi, had a daughter, Mary Jane Elmendorph, who was born in 1825 and died in 1907. She married John Scott Smith.

A few other Elmendorphs also appear in the collection. The names Jacobus Elmendorph and James Elmendorph likely refer to a single individual who was an adolescent in the early 1770s, while an earlier Conrad Elmendorph is represented by a single 1726 document. Their relationship to the Garret Elmendorph branch of the family is unclear.

The earliest member of the Dumond family to be represented extensively in the collection is Jacobus Dumond, who was engaged in commercial activities in Kingston in the mid- to late-eighteenth century. His daughter, Neeltje, married Conrad Elmendorph. The brothers Joshua and James Dumond, both residents of the Kingston-Hurley area, are identified by the donor of the collection (the great-grandson of Mary Jane Elmendorph) as having been Mary Jane's uncles, suggesting a separate Dumond family connection via Mary Jane's mother.

Three other members of the Dumond family represented in the collection are John Dumond, a merchant in Kingston in the early-nineteenth century, Maria Dumond, who lived in Rochester (probably the Ulster County town rather than the Monroe County city) circa 1815, and an elder James Dumond, whose name appears on a 1733 contract. Their relationship to the Elmendorph branch of the Dumond family is unclear.

John Scott Smith, the husband of Mary Jane Elmendorph, is also represented in the collection, as are three individuals, Anna Maria Hendricks, Thomas Huntley and James Smith, whose relationship to the family is unclear.

A note on names: For the purposes of this finding aid, the spelling of names and surnames has been regularized. As was common in the eighteenth century, the documents include several different spellings of names. Members of the Elmendorph family often used the variant spelling Elmendorf, and Dumond is occasionally written Dumont, Du Mond or De Mon. Garret Elmendorph is often referred to as Gerrit, Garrett or Gerrett, and the name of his son Conrad is sometimes written as Counrad, Coenraad, Coenradt or Conraught.

Scope and Content Note:

This collection contains the personal and financial papers of several generations of the Elmendorph and Dumond families, beginning in the early-eighteenth century and extending through the early-twentieth, with the bulk of the collection falling in the second half of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth.

Much of the material in the collection documents the economic activities of various members of the Elmendorph and Dumond families. Garret, Conrad and Levi Elmendorph and Jacobus, James, John and Joshua Dumond are each represented by an individual assortment of financial records, including accounts, bills, and receipts. Garret Elmendorph, in particular, is represented by numerous mill receipts, and Jacobus Dumond and Conrad Elmendorph are each represented by bonds and contracts in addition to accounts and receipts. The majority of this material is in English, but some of the older material is in Dutch. Many individuals, including John Scott Smith and most of the Dumond-Elmendorphs, are also represented by correspondence, including two letters to Smith from Secretary of State William Seward regarding the care of a horse belonging to Seward.

The collection includes numerous cyphering books belonging to various individuals. These hand-copied books contain instructions for and examples of mathematical calculation, with an emphasis on business usages such as calculating profit and interest. In addition, a 1758 book belonging to Garret Elmendorph provides handwritten examples of the legal documents that a prosperous tradesman or merchant would use in conducting his daily business.

Numerous nineteenth-century deeds document the transfer of various properties in the Kingston area among members of the Dumond and Smith families and a third local family named Lyke.

Two items, an undated military order and an 1805 "List of the Company of Horse under the Command of Jacobus Elmendorf," document an involvement by family members in the activities of the New York State militia. An 1871 affidavit confirms James Smith's service in the War of 1812.

Prior to the 1827 emancipation of the slaves in New York State, members of the Elmendorph family were slaveowners. The collection includes a 1792 contract between Conrad Elmendorph and his son, Levi, for the sale of "a negro man named Charles" and a letter to Levi Elmendorph from a Mr. Vanderlyn regarding the purchase of a female slave.

The collection also contains two diaries by unidentified writers, one from 1852 and one from 1892. The 1852 diary, a six-page loose-leaf manuscript written in a lucid, literary style, discusses the religious life of the diarist and describes life in Ulster County during the winter. It includes a vivid account of a local man's fatal fall from a tree. The 1892 diary gives brief descriptions of the author's daily activities.

The collection contains numerous pieces of printed matter. The domestic reading interests of the family are documented by religious tracts in Dutch and English, excerpts from novels, and a scrapbook of sentimental fiction and poetry clipped from newspapers. In addition, the collection includes intact copies of several newspapers and almanacs, including a February 1861 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper which describes the military buildup in the South on the eve of the Civil War. It also contains two early-nineteenth-century school textbooks and several political broadsides; of particular note are an 1801 broadside in which a number of prominent Albany clergymen respond to "highly unfavorable" rumors by attesting to the moral character of Stephen Van Rensselaer and a reprint of an 1807 speech against the Embargo Act by Ulster County Congressman Barent Gardinier. Finally, two small burlap bags provide physical evidence of nineteenth-century material culture.

Container list:

Box Folder Description
1 1 Dumond, Jacobus – Accounts, 1742-1787
1 2 Dumond, Jacobus – Bonds, 1752-1784
1 3 Dumond, Jacobus – Correspondence, 1758
1 4 Dumond, James – Accounts, bills, notes and receipts, 1818-1842
1 5 Dumond, James – Arithmetic notebook, 1824
1 6 Dumond, James – Arithmetic notebook, 1831
1 7 Dumond, James – Correspondence, 1818-1828
1 8 Dumond, James – Last will and testament, 1842
1 9 Dumond, James – License to use threshing machine, 1829
1 10 Dumond, James [elder?] – Contract, 1733
1 11 Dumond, John – Accounts and receipts, 1823-1834
1 12 Dumond, John – Account book, 1812-1822
1 13 Dumond, John – Correspondence, 1824-1834
1 14 Dumond, Joshua[?] – Account book, 1851-1862
1 15 Dumond, Joshua – Account book regarding horses, 1832-1833
1 16 Dumond, Joshua – Arithmetic notebook, 1825
1 17 Dumond, Joshua – Bills and receipts, 1835-1836
1 18 Dumond, Maria – Correspondence, 1815-1816
1 19 Elmendorph, Conrad – Accounts, bills, notes and receipts, 1784-1805
1 20 Elmendorph, Conrad[?] – Account book, 1768-1792
1 21 Elmendorph, Conrad – Arithmetic notebook, 1749 (also contains handwriting exercises by Garret Elmendorph, 1769)
1 22 Elmendorph, Conrad – Arithmetic notebook (later used as account book), 1751-1754
1 23 Elmendorph, Conrad – Arithmetic notebook, n.d.
1 24 Elmendorph, Conrad – Contracts, 1798-1802
1 25 Elmendorph, Conrad – Contract for sale of slave, 1792
1 26 Elmendorph, Conrad [elder?] – Receipt, 1727
1 27 Elmendorph, Conrad – Spelling book and blotter, 1755-1756
1 28 Elmendorph, Garret – Accounts, bills and receipts, 1737-1774
1 29 Elmendorph, Garret – Mill receipts, 1722-1769
1 30 Elmendorph, Garret – Notebook of handwriting exercises and example legal forms [also containing actual contracts?], 1758
1 31 Elmendorph, Garret – Rent receipts, 1759-1765
2 1 Elmendorph, Jacobus – Correspondence, 1775
2 2 Elmendorph, James – Arithmetic notebook, 1773-1774
2 3 Elmendorph, Levi – Accounts, bills and receipts, 1799-1818
2 4 Elmendorph, Levi[?] – "A List of Persons Names who have had their Mares covered by Silver Heels," 1807
2 5 Elmendorph, Levi – Arithmetic notebook, 1792 and page from 1787 arithmetic notebook
2 6 Elmendorph, Levi – Correspondence, 1818-1819
2 7 Elmendorph, Levi – Legal notice re: Estate of Jacobus Elmendorph, 1807
2 8 Elmendorph, Levi[?] – Memo book, 1795-1819
2 9 Elmendorph, Mary Jane – Correspondence and tuition receipt, 1831-1838
2 10 Elmendorph, Neeltje – Last will and testament, 1819
2 11 Hendricks, Anna Maria – Correspondence, handwriting books and poetry, 1817-1818, undated
2 12 Home remedies – late 18th/early 19th centuries[?]
2 13 Huntley, Thomas – Receipts, 1832-1863
2 14 Legal documents – 1752-1845
2 15 List of guests for funeral of C.G. [Conrad?] Elmendorph, 1816
2 16 Masonic oath[?], undated
2 17 Military records – 1805, undated
2 18 Smith family – Sundry papers, 1838-1895
2 19 Smith, James – Affidavit of military service in the War of 1812, 1871
2 20 Smith, John Scott – Correspondence, 1849-1896
2 21 Smith, John Scott – Letters from William H. Seward, 1866 (2 items)
a) A.L.S., 29 May 1866, William H. Seward, Washington, D.C., to J. Scott Smith, Kingston, N.Y.
b) A.L.S., 14 June 1866, William H. Seward, Washington, D.C., to J. Scott Smith, Kingston, N.Y.
2 22 Transcribed poetry – late-eighteenth-century to 1914
2 23 Unidentified writer [Joshua Dumond?] – Account book, 1857[?]
2 24 Unidentified and miscellaneous writers – Accounts, bills and receipts, 1790-1853
2 25 Unidentified and miscellaneous writers – Accounts, receipts and sundry papers (Dutch), 1726-1797
2 26 Unidentified writer – Diary, 1892
2 27 Unidentified writer – "Every Day Book for 1852" (Mss. Loose-leaf diary, 6 p.), January-February 1852
2 28 Unidentified writer – "Mnemonics" workbook, 1840
2 29 Fragments
    Printed Matter and Ephemera, 1775-ca. 1900
2 30 Almanacs – 1833, 1840, 1857
  1. Dutchess County Almanac: Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Edward McHood, 1833
  2. Fragment of almanac, 1840 (title page wanting)
  3. Farmers' Almanac: [?], 1857 (part of title page missing)
2 31 Blank mortgage and rent forms, mid-nineteenth-century
2 32 Broadside – Certificate of the moral character of Stephen Van Rensselaer, 1801
2 33 By-Laws and Act of Incorporation of the Kingston Mutual Insurance Company, 1838
2 34 Chapters from novels and religious tracts, mid-19th century
2 35 Legal document [?] (Dutch), 1775
2 36 Needlepoint patterns, undated
2 37 Photograph – James Dumond farmhouse, ca. 1890
2 38 Religious tract (Dutch), 18th century
2 39 Tintype – unidentified African-American man, undated
2 40 The Tribune Almanac and Political Register: New York, N.Y., The Tribune Association, 1864
2 41 The Tribune Almanac and Political Register: New York, N.Y., The Tribune Association,1873
2 42 "The Story of Money" (3 pamphlets), late 19th/early 20th century[?]
    Oversized Material, 1790-1881
3 1 Dumond, James – Arithmetic notebook, undated
3 2 Textiles – Small burlap bags (2), undated
3 3 Blake, Rev. J.L. Conversations on Natural Philosophy, in Which the Elements of That Science Are Familiarly Explained, and Adapted to the Comprehension of Young Pupils. (Boston: Gould, Kendall & Lincoln, 1838). Inscription: "Mary J. Elmendorf, Kingston."
3 4 Parker, Daniel. The Improved Arithmetic. (New York: J&J Harper, 1829). Inscription: "James R. Smith."
3 5 Scrapbook – Sentimental fiction and poetry, ca. 1840-1850. Pasted over arithmetic notebook inscribed by Levi Elmendorph, 1790.
3 6 Land deeds – Dumond, Lyke and Smith families, 1837-1881
    Documents in Box 4 were transferred from the Office of Ulster County Historian at the request of Hebert L. Shultz.
4 1 Blotter no. 1, August 1804-June 1805; day book of debit-credit accounts kept by Jabobus Elmendorf at West Camp, New York
4 2 Blotter no. 2, June 1805-June 1806; day book of debit-credit accounts kept by Jabobus Elmendorf at West Camp, New York
4 3 Loose pages continuing the record of blotter no. 2, from July 1806 to January 1807
EL 1 Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 23 February 1861
EL 2 New York Tribune, extra edition: "The Secret Telegrams," 19 October 1878
EL 3 New York Daily Witness, 21 January 1876, 22 January 1876, 26 January 1876
EL 4 Broadsides:
a) Advertisement, The Balance and New-York State Journal, 1810
b) "Mr. Gardenier's Speech" on the Embargo Act, 1807
c) "Regular Democratic Republican Nominations," 1833
Last Updated: February 25, 2022