Peyser Family Papers

Collection Type
Papers
Year Start
1761
Year End
1978
ID
SC23633
Quantity

1 box and 1 Extra Large Folder (0.25 cubic ft.)

Access

Open to research

Acquisition

Donation; Jenn Peyser, August 2019

Processed By

Jill Tominosky, Student Assistant, Manuscripts and Special Collections, October, 2019

View Catalog Record

Biographical Note

Christian Piser (1722-1800) and his brother Martin (dates unknown) emigrated from Germany to the colony of Massachusetts in the 1700s and started a dairy business near Boston. When the brothers lost their land during the Revolutionary War, they moved to Pittstown, Rensselaer County, New York, where they purchased about 150 acres. The land, which is still in the Piser (now Peyser) family, is located near the Tomhannock Reservoir, in the village of Melrose; the original homestead was flooded sometime in 1904-1905 to create the reservoir. The house the family had lived in on the original site was moved and attached to a house that had been built outside the land of the reservoir.

Christian Piser married Katharine Schwerin (1742-1833); they had four children: Peter Piser (1762-1839); Martin Piser (1764-1850); Eve Piser Anthony (1767-1852); and Magdalena Piser Mulford (1777-1859). A more thorough genealogy, created by the family and bringing the family history up to the 1990s, can be found in the Personal Papers series of the collection.  

Scope and Content Note

The Peyser Family Papers are divided into four series: Land Papers, Personal Papers, Photographs, and News Clippings.

The Land Papers series (Box 1, Folders 1-2 and EL1) includes the original lease for the Piser property, a transcription of the lease typed by Emma Peyser, and a copy of an 1876 map of Pittstown, Rensselaer County, New York, with names of Pisers showing where they lived in the town.

The Personal Papers series (Box 1, Folders 3-8) contains miscellaneous paperwork from the family including correspondence between family members; a Piser (Peyser) genealogy; obituaries; receipts; a bicentennial certificate of recognition from the New York State Agriculture Society; and an advertisement for the Peyser Holstein cows.

The Photographs series (Box 1, Folders 9-12) makes up the bulk of the collection and includes photographs dating from the early 1900s to the 1970s; most are of the farm itself, but also included are images of Peyser family members, some of whom are identified. It’s possible many of the photographs of the house and the farm buildings were taken ca. 1904 – before the house was moved and the other buildings were moved or drowned under the reservoir.

The News Clippings series (Box 1, Folder 13) contains a story about the Peyser farm that was published in the August 3, 1976, issue of the Pittstown Centinel; two facsimiles of the article are also in this folder. Another clipping, published in the January 27, 1978, issue of the Centinel, consists of a photograph of the farm’s silo and a cutline explaining that the silo had been destroyed by gusts of wind.

Box and Folder List:

BoxFolderDescription
  Series I: Land Papers
 EL1Indenture (Lease) of Pittstown Land Patent (150 Acres) to Christian P[y]ser dated May 21, 1766; seller listed as Bastian Keyser, Poughkipsingh (Poughkeepsie), Dutchess County and Thomas and Mary Clark of New York City; notarized by Jacob C. Ten Eyck; witnessed by John N. Bleecker and Nanning Visscher.
11Typed transcription of Indenture by Emma C. Piser (1901-1990)
12Copy of an 1876 map of Pittstown with Piser names circled (by family). From County Atlas of Rensselaer New York From Recent and Actual Surveys and Records under the Superintendence of F.W. Beers (New York: F.W. Beers & Co., 1876)
  Series II: Personal Papers
13Piser/Peyser Family Genealogy typed by Emma C. Piser, updates by Helene (Damon) Peyser (1926-2016)
14(2) Letters of correspondence between cousins, Emma C. Piser and Theodore H. Piser regarding the original indenture to the Piser Farm, 1947
15Advertisement for (Eugene) Peyser Holstein cows, n.d.
16Funerary receipt for Jacob Piser, 1945
17Mary Piser obituary, 1976 (laminated)
18Bicentennial Certification of Recognition from New York State Agriculture Society to Peyser Farm, 1976
  Series III: Photographs
19

Family at the Farm

  1. “Gene’s Cousins” on porch at family home, n.d.
  2. “Herman Piser” in front of family home, n.d.
  3. “Gene & Gerry, Fall 1927. H. Eugene Piser and Gerald Piser” on swing
  4. Family home
  5. “This is the bull that almost did my father in. Herman and Marge Belden holding the bull. Picture taken on or before 1923”
  6. “Same bull and same Herman,” 1923(?)
  7. Picture of flowering trees outside of home, n.d.
  8. “Gene at Hartford” [young girl holding baby], n.d.
  9. Snowy tracks through trees on farm, n.d. 
  10. “Herman Piser” with bull, n.d.
  11. “Emma, Cora, Iola Wing(?) [and] Herman. Emma is the little girl to left of door” on porch of original homestead house, n.d.
110

Farm Buildings

  1. Sepia-colored 9 cm x 12 cm image of farm outbuildings, n.d.
  2. Three color photographs of the Peyser farm homestead and views, including one of which is stamped "Oct [1971]" and shows the Tomhannock Reservoir in the background; in the foreground of a second photo from about the same decade is a piece of farm equipment (plow that would be pulled by horse(s)?) and in the distant background is the farm; beyond the farm is the Tomhannock Reservoir
  3. Two 12½ cm x 20½ cm sepia images mounted on board of farm buildings and layout of buildings in relation to the house, n.d., before flood, 1904(?)
111

Family outside the Homestead – mounted

  1. “Clarence[,] Sherman, Edith [(Damon) Sherman] and Mother,” n.d. [1904?] Clarence and Sherman are standing next to a wooden wheelbarrow; Mother and Edith are sitting on a stoop in the background. Clarence holds a basket of chicken feed which he has been throwing on the ground for the chickens, chicks, geese and goslings in the foreground.
  2. “Monty[,] Yates, Mother, Edith Piser, and Father.” Verso: "Jacob & Mary E. Piser," n.d. [1904?] In the foreground are two four-wheeled wooden wagons, each of which is hitched to a pair of horses. Monty and Yates are standing next to one pair of horses; Mother and Father are standing next to the other wagon and pair of horses; Edith is standing in the wagon next to her father. Directly in back of the wagons is the homestead house.
  3. Seven people (4 men, 1 boy, 1 woman and 1 little girl on porch with 2 dogs, n.d. [1904?] It’s probable the man, woman and child are “Mother, Edith, and Father” from the photo of with the two pairs of horses hitched to wagons taken in front of the house
112

Farm 

  1. Black-and-white aerial photograph of Peyser farm, 1960
  2. Color aerial photograph of Peyser farm, 1976
  3. Color photograph: in foreground is a piece of farm equipment (plow that would be pulled by horse(s)?); in the distant background is the farm; beyond the farm is the Tomhannock Reservoir
  4. Color photograph of trees in autumn; some leaves still on the trees and some on the ground
  Series IV: Newspaper Clippings
113
  1. “The Piser Farm of Pittstown and Schaghticoke: Over Two Hundred Years of Continuous Operation,” Pittstown Centinel, August 3, 1976
  2. “Picking up the Pieces,” Pittstown Centinel, January 27, 1978. Photo shows the farm’s silo laying on its side, having been toppled over and destroyed by gusts of wind.
  3. Two facsimiles of item a, n.d.