Original 1845 Ulster County, New York manuscript financial agreement involving the historic Ten Eyck, Keator, and Benson families of Marbletown and Hurley.
Dated May 27, 1845, this handwritten document records an unusual $500 family financial arrangement between Anthony Benson (1816–1890) and his mother-in-law Ann Peck Keator Ten Eyck (1792–1871) concerning money Ann advanced to her daughter, Jennett/Jeanette Ten Eyck Benson (b. 1820).
The agreement is witnessed by Jeanette\'s younger brothers, James Keator Ten Eyck (1824–1912) and George Ten Eyck (b. 1829).
The identities are supported particularly well by Alfred Decker Keator\'s Three Centuries of the Keator Family in America (1955), which records Ann Peck Keator, her husband Matthew Persen Ten Eyck, and their children Jeanette, James Keator and George. The genealogy places this family in the Hurley/Marbletown area of Ulster County, New York.
An Unusual Family Estate Arrangement
This is considerably more interesting than an ordinary receipt or promissory note.
Ann P. Ten Eyck had advanced $500 to her daughter Jennett, who had married Anthony Benson approximately four years earlier. Anthony formally acknowledges the advancement and agrees to pay Ann 5% per year, or $25 annually, for a period of up to ten years.
However, the agreement contains two unusual provisions.
The annual $25 was payable only if demanded, and unpaid installments did not themselves accumulate interest. More importantly, Anthony explicitly states that the $500 principal was never to be repaid.
The annual payments were also to terminate early if Ann\'s property was divided before the expiration of the ten years.
The language therefore appears consistent with a family advancement accompanied by a temporary annuity, possibly made in anticipation of a future division of Ann\'s property, rather than a conventional loan requiring repayment of principal.
It provides a fascinating surviving example of how property and money could be transferred between generations of an established Ulster County family in antebellum New York.
Full Transcription
I do hereby acknowledge the Receipt of Five
Hundred Dollars being Money advanced to my Wife
Jenett from her Mother Ann P. Ten Eyck for which
I agree to pay at the rate of five per cent Interest
viz. Twenty five Dollars Yearly Evry Year for
and during the term of Ten Years provided the
same be demanded, but it is Expressly understood
that if said Yearly Sum should not be demanded
or paid when due that then No Interest Shall
be demanded or paid on Said accumulated Sum —
And in Case a division of the property of Said Ann
P. Ten Eyck Shall be Made before the Expiration of
said Ten Years, that then Said annuity Shall Cease
but the principal of Five Hundred Dollars are
not to be repaid
Witness my Hand and Seal this 27th Day of May 1845
Witness Present
James K. Ten Eyck
George Ten Eyck
Anthony Benson
Reverse docket:
Anthony Benson
to
Ann P. Ten Eyck
Ann Peck Keator Ten Eyck (1792–1871)
The Ann P. Ten Eyck named in the document can be identified as Ann Peck Keator Ten Eyck, born March 25, 1792, and died March 23, 1871, at Marbletown, Ulster County, New York.
She was a daughter of Jacobus (James) Keator and Sybil/Syble Sands and belonged to the long-established Keator family of Ulster County.
Ann married Matthew Persen Ten Eyck (1793–1882), another member of an old Dutch-American Ulster County family. Matthew was a son of Dr. Richard (Dirk) Ten Eyck and Jane Becker.
Matthew was born January 30, 1793, and was baptized at the Reformed Dutch Church at Kingston on March 6, 1793. His distinctive middle name reflected the family\'s connection with the Persen family of Kingston.
Ann and Matthew lived in the Hurley and Marbletown area and raised a substantial family there.
Their children recorded in the Keator genealogy included:
Cornelia Catherine Ten Eyck, born 1817;
Sybil Ann Ten Eyck, born 1819;
Jeanette Ten Eyck, born 1820;
Mary Ten Eyck, born 1822;
James Keator Ten Eyck, born 1824;
Blandina Ten Eyck, baptized 1827; and
George Ten Eyck, born 1829.
This makes the present document especially interesting genealogically: the mother, one daughter and two sons of the same Ten Eyck household are all represented in a single original manuscript.
Jennett / Jeanette Ten Eyck Benson
The document calls Anthony\'s wife “Jenett.” She is Jeanette Ten Eyck, born October 20, 1820, in Hurley, Ulster County, the daughter of Matthew Persen Ten Eyck and Ann Peck Keator Ten Eyck.
Jeanette married Anthony Benson at Marbletown on May 29, 1841.
Consequently, this agreement was executed almost exactly four years after their marriage.
The $500 was expressly described by Anthony as money “advanced to my Wife Jenett from her Mother.” The document therefore supplies direct contemporary evidence of a substantial financial transfer from Ann to her married daughter.
Jeanette and Anthony Benson established their own family in Ulster County. Genealogical records associate them with children including Matthew, Jennie and Annie Benson.
Anthony Benson (1816–1890)
Anthony Benson, who signs and seals the document, was born January 1, 1816, in Marbletown, Ulster County, New York.
He married Jeanette Ten Eyck in 1841 and was associated with the Marbletown/Kingston area for much of his life.
Anthony was part of the agricultural community of 19th-century Ulster County rather than a nationally prominent political or military figure. His importance to this manuscript lies in the unusually detailed record it preserves of his family\'s finances.
In 1845 he formally acknowledged the $500 that his mother-in-law had advanced to his wife and assumed the obligation of paying Ann $25 annually under the conditions stated in the agreement.
Anthony Benson died October 30, 1890, in Kingston, New York, at approximately 74 years of age.
James Keator Ten Eyck (1824–1912)
The first witness is James K. Ten Eyck, identifiable as Jeanette\'s younger brother James Keator Ten Eyck.
The published Keator genealogy records him as born January 5, 1824, in Hurley, the son of Matthew Persen Ten Eyck and Ann Peck Keator.
He would therefore have been approximately 21 years old when he witnessed his brother-in-law\'s agreement in 1845.
His middle name, Keator, preserved his mother\'s family name and helps establish the identity behind the manuscript signature.
James married Catherine Jane Hoffman in Marbletown in January 1845, only months before this document was executed. Following Catherine\'s death, he later married Eliza H. Benson.
James remained associated with Marbletown and died there on May 20, 1912, having lived into his late eighties.
George Ten Eyck
The second witness, George Ten Eyck, is likewise identifiable within the same immediate family.
The Keator genealogy records George Ten Eyck, born in 1829, as the youngest listed son of Matthew Persen Ten Eyck and Ann Peck Keator.
He was therefore the younger brother of Jeanette and James and was approximately 16 years old when the document was executed.
His presence beside James as a witness further strengthens the identification of this manuscript as an intimate Ten Eyck family financial document rather than an ordinary commercial transaction between unrelated parties.
The Ten Eyck and Keator Families of Ulster County
The individuals represented here belonged to established Dutch-American families deeply rooted in the Hudson Valley.
The Ten Eyck family traces its American history to New Netherland and subsequently produced numerous branches in New York and New Jersey. This particular family belongs to the Ulster County/Hurley-Marbletown Ten Eyck line, rather than being identified with the better-known Albany political branch.
The Keator family likewise became particularly associated with Ulster County. Alfred Decker Keator\'s major 1955 genealogy, Three Centuries of the Keator Family in America, traces generations of the family and specifically records Ann Peck Keator, Matthew Persen Ten Eyck and their children.
The family\'s connections also extend into other old Hudson Valley families, including the Persen, Becker, Sands and Roosa families, placing this manuscript within the interconnected Dutch-American community centered around Kingston, Hurley and Marbletown.
Historical & Genealogical Importance
This document is particularly desirable as a piece of Ulster County family history because it does much more than preserve several signatures.
It records an actual financial transaction involving three generations of an established family network:
Ann Peck Keator Ten Eyck → her daughter Jeanette Ten Eyck Benson → Jeanette\'s husband Anthony Benson, with Jeanette\'s brothers James Keator Ten Eyck and George Ten Eyck serving as witnesses.
It also documents a substantial $500 intergenerational transfer in 1845, while providing unusually specific terms governing the income Ann would continue to receive from the money.
Of particular interest is Anthony Benson\'s explicit statement that the principal was not to be repaid, coupled with the provision ending Ann\'s $25 annual annuity upon a division of her property.
As such, the manuscript offers a tangible glimpse into family finance, inheritance planning, women\'s property, marriage and intergenerational wealth transfer in antebellum New York.
An excellent research piece for collectors of:
Ten Eyck family genealogy
Keator family genealogy
Ulster County, New York history
Marbletown and Hurley history
Kingston-area Dutch-American families
19th-century New York manuscripts
American family financial history
Genealogical documents and ephemera
An original and highly researchable 1845 Ten Eyck–Keator–Benson family manuscript with an unusually complete surviving genealogical context.
Please examine the photographs carefully for condition, handwriting, folds, toning and other characteristics of the original document. Research and transcription are included for historical context; prospective buyers are encouraged to conduct their own genealogical research.
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