Louis DuBois was a Huguenot colonist in New Netherland who, with two of his sons and nine other refugees, founded the village of New Paltz, New York. These Protestant refugees fled Catholic persecution in France, emigrating to the Die Pfalz, the Rhenish Palatinate (in present day Germany), before going to New Netherland where they settled in Wiltwyck (present day Kingston, NY) and Nieuw Dorp, settlements midway between New Amsterdam (present day New York City) and Beverwyck (today known as Albany, New York) before ultimately founding New Paltz.
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Born October 21, 1626 in Wicres, Artois France, to Chretien DuBois, Louis fled persecution in France to Mannheim, Germany before 1650. Louis married Catherine Blanchan in Mannheim, Germany on October 10, 1655. The DuBoises eventually moved to Kingston, New York within New Netherland around 1660, then to Hurley, New York. In 1663 the Esopus Indians captured DuBois' wife and three children who were eventually rescued three months later. According to legend but unmentioned in the detailed journal of the rescue expedition's commander, his wife, Catherine DuBois, was singing the Psalm 137 about the Babylonian captivity when they were rescued. Louis DuBois was also physically attacked by the Indians, but fought back and survived.[1][2]
DuBois and the others bought a 40,000 tract of land from the Esopus Indians in 1677. The tract, known in 17th century colonial New York as a "patent," stretched from the Hudson River to the Shawangunk Mountains. DuBois was one of eleven men to begin settling on a rise over the Wallkill River, in the center of the patent, in 1678.[3] Louis DuBois served as one of the original elders in New Paltz's French Reformed Church, which is still in existence today.[4]
In the early years, DuBois and his fellow patentees governed the land communally. In 1728, the surviving patentees and their descendants created a more formal form a government called "The Twelve Men" (later known as the Duzine). This body consisted of one elected representative for each patentee families. Membership was restricted to their descendants through either male or female lines. To this date, some of the DuBois land is still owned by the family descendants. In 1785, the New York State Legislature confirmed the actions of this body. Although a standard form of town government was established in the late 18th century, the Duzine existed in at least ceremonial form into the 19th century. In the later years of the Duzine, the members were consumed with lawsuits defending the boundaries of the New Paltz patent. At one time, the Duzine hired Aaron Burr to represent them in such a lawsuit.
Louis himself eventually returned to Wiltwyck, by then known as Kingston, where he died prior to his will entering probate on June 23, 1696.[5] His widow remarried, and in her will freed two of her slaves.
The original settlement of Louis DuBois and his fellow patentees survives today as Historic Huguenot Street, a National Historic Landmark District. The site includes the DuBois Fort, a colonial stone house built by one of Louis' sons.
W.E.B. DuBois is said to be grandson of a loyalist descendant of Louis DuBois' brother who left for the West Indies. Most DuBois descendants supported the revolution, though, and now, descendants of the family's "French father" can be found in every state of the union.[6]