List of Registered Voters in 1859
The above image is a list of registered voters in New Paltz from October 18th, 1859. John Hasbrouck, Jacob Wynkoop, and John Wynkoops are labeled as “colored” on the right-hand sides of their names. Documenting the few first African-American men to vote in New Paltz, the register offers key insights into the struggles for Black suffrage in New York.
Description
The page that lists the Wynkoops and John Hasbrouck is contained within the Registered Voters of the Town of New Paltz. The booklet does have some creasing, specifically where the tab that indicates the page of the voters’ last name beginning with that letter has been dog-eared. Additionally, the ink of each page within this booklet can be seen to have bled onto the page before it. All names appear in cursive, alphabetized according to their last name.
Provenance
These documents were once in the possession of local historian and former Historic Huguenot Street President Kenneth Hasbrouck. Then they became part of the New Paltz Town Records Collection. These documents reside in the archives and are now taken care of and administered by Historic Huguenot Street, but they are property of the Town of New Paltz.
The "H" section in the List of Registered Voters listing John Hasbrouck's name. Photo Courtesy of Sara Vala
The "W" section in the List of Registered Voters listing John Wynkoop and Jacob Wynkoop's names. Photo Courtesy of Sara Vala
Narrative
The United States carries a long history of voter disenfranchisement, suppression, discrimination, and violence against African-American populations. The work to fight for African-American suffrage in the 19th century, as a result, was more consequential than ever. In the List of Registered Voters in the Town of New Paltz in 1859, three African American man are listed and distinguished on the list, revealing not only the participation of African-American voters but the struggles they barriers they, and hundreds of others, faced to vote in New York.
Though slavery was officially abolished in New York in 1799, with the passage of the act for the gradual abolition law (though it did bear some additional provisions that negated the idea of complete freedom), African-American men faced major challenges in exercising their rights as citizens, especially with voting. One major restriction that barred African-American men from voting was the property requirement.
Since 1777, voting eligibility was tiered, with white men’s voting power being contingent on the amount of property they owned. Those with more property were able to vote in state governor elections whereas those with less would vote in smaller assembly-level elections (Liebman 389). By 1821, these laws had changed. The Democratic-controlled Constitutional Convention put forth a provision removing the property requirement for white men altogether, increasing voter eligibility in all elections. In this same provision, however, African-American men had a property value increase imposed on them, which raised the requirement from $100 to $250 (Liebman 394-395). Because very few African-American men were able to purchase property by this point, many were left unable to participate in their local elections.
The list of registered voters of 1859 is a final copy of those eligible to vote in the town of New Paltz with only three men denoted as “colored:” John Hasbrouck, John Wynkoop, and Jacob Wynkoop.
John Hasbrouck was born in 1806 to Peg, an enslaved woman under John J. Hasbrouck. Under the 1799 law, though John was not legally enslaved, he was legally required to remain a servant to the Hasbrouck family until his 28th birthday (NY Heritage). It is estimated that he was freed in 1827. An account book owned by John Hasbrouck detailed the work he had done in his life, performing day labor on the farms and leatherworking, demonstrating his work in the town, the compensation he received, and the farmland he purchased in 1844 (NY Heritage).
John Wynkoop, born in 1827 to Jane Deyo Wynkoop, was a laborer in New Paltz, working on farms and construction projects alongside his brother Jacob. He lived with his mother for a few decades as the head of the household and later purchased property from his brother who built him a house around 1855 (“John and Jacob Wynkoop.”)
Jacob Wynkoop, born in 1829, was a carpenter, Civil War veteran, community organizer/activist, and one of the first African-American men to purchase land in the community. He oversaw the construction of several historic homes across the late 19th century, including his own home on property he purchased in 1851 from Maria DuBois on the corner of what is now Mulberry and Church streets (“Black Suffrage in New Paltz”).
The work to remove the property qualification met heavy political pushback for decades. “In the referenda held in 1846, 1860, and 1869, the voters of New York State refused to eliminate the property qualification for black voters. Only the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 would end the legal discrimination against black males voting in New York State” (Liebman 387). Ulster County’s majority opposed these provisions along with many other downstate counties, whereas northern, central, and western counties of New York grew in support each time the ballot issue arose (Liebman 407, 412, 417).
Despite being a Union state, New York’s disenfranchisement of African-American voters persisted until the adoption of the 15th amendment. Though some such as Hasbrouck and the Wynkoops were able to meet these requirements, hundreds of African-American voters were still left without rights for decades after the state abolition of slavery. In a time where other states were removing barriers for Black voters, this list reveals how New York stood by bigoted policies that ultimately suppressed African-American voters across New Paltz.
~Alexandra Avila, Revised by Sara Vala
Works Cited
“Black Suffrage in New Paltz.” Omeka RSS, omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/jane-deyo-wynkoop/black-suffrage-in-new-paltz.
“Early Life-Jacob Wynkoop - Hudson River Valley Heritage Exhibits.” Hrvh.org, 2025, omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/jacob-wynkoop/voting-and-community. Accessed 17 Sept. 2025.
Gershon, Livia. “Suppressing the Black Vote in 1811.” JSTOR Daily, 23 Feb. 2024, daily.jstor.org/suppressing-the-black-vote-in-1811/. Accessed 17 Sept. 2025.
“Hasbrouck Family Association.” Historic Huguenot Street, www.huguenotstreet.org/hasbrouck.
“HHS_749_FULL.” Home, nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll153/id/27329/rec/2.
“HHS_JOHNHASBROUCKACCOUNTBOOK_MSS_323_009.” Home, nyheritage.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16694coll153/id/27278/rec/4.
“Huguenot History.” Seal of the Huguenot Society of America, www.huguenotsocietyofamerica.org/history/huguenot-history/.
Igielnik, Ruth. “The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of the U.S. Electorate.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 23 Sept. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/09/23/the-changing-racial-and-ethnic-composition-of-the-u-s-electorate/.
“John Hasbrouck.” Hrvh.org, 2025, omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/missing-chapter/people/john-hasbrouck. Accessed 17 Sept. 2025.
“John and Jacob Wynkoop.” Hrvh.org, 2017, omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/jane-deyo-wynkoop/john-and-jacob-wynkoop. Accessed 17 Sept. 2025.
Liebman, Bennett, “The Quest for Black Voting Rights in New York State,” Government Law Center at Albany Law School, accessed September 17, 2025, https://governmentlawcenter.omeka.net/items/show/432.
Paley, Ben. “Huguenot History.” Huguenot Museum, huguenotmuseum.org/about/the-huguenots/.
“Voting & Community.” Hrvh.org, 2025, omeka.hrvh.org/exhibits/show/jacob-wynkoop/early-life. Accessed 17 Sept. 2025.