Mothers and “Bastards”

Finding forgotten voices in the 1833 Justice of the Peace docket of Benjamin Van Wagenen

Several accounts of “bastardy” in Benjamin Van Wagenen’s Justice of the Peace docket from 1833 to 1834 reveal the names of two women, Caty Lewis and Mary Church. Though these cases were brought against men to determine fatherhood and financial support, there is no evidence of Caty Lewis’s or Mary Church’s own voices in either of these cases, both having been represented by the Overseers of the Poor. We choose to highlight these stories as examples of forgotten voices; voices that come from underrepresented communities whose perspectives and experiences are ill understood in the visible historical record.

Mary Church’s case against Amos Hait, Jr. does not provide much information. Amos was “adjudged by said Justices, to be the reputed father of a bastard child, born of the body of Mary Church.”

Census data shows a Mary Church, born either 1810 or 1812, living in the town of Lloyd (once part of the New Paltz Patent) in 1850 and 1855. She was the daughter of Caleb Church and mother to Anna A., John T., and Celestia. Daughter Anna shows up in the 1875 New York State Census married to Henry “Terpeny” and living in Newburgh, with Mary Church listed in the household as mother-in-law. Finally, Anna appears in records for the Friends Cemetery in Plattekill as Anna Augusta Terpenning, 1833-1875, indicating she died around age 41 and suggesting she may be the child of this case.

Anna's reputed father, Amos Hait, Jr, appears on a grave marker in the East Plattekill Methodist Episcopal Church Grounds with the dates 1805 to 1885. His wife Hannah Johnson Hait is buried nearby.

The case of Caty Lewis against Simeon DuBois provides more context, particularly through the voices of several men testifying against her. There is no record of Caty’s own voice or defense, only that she was represented by the Overseers of the Poor in their suit against Simeon for fathering her “bastard” child. This case was brought before the court on July 30, 1833.

Several men came before the court to question the validity of Caty’s testimony. Lewis C. DuBois, possibly a cousin or other relative of Simeon’s, “thinks her mind is unsound.” Jacob J. Schoonmaker swore she “is a person of slender capacity” and “knows her character from common report only.”

Jacob M. DuBois “has known [her] 3 years, believes her mind unsound,” she is “not competent to manage business herself” and “would not be willing to believe her own oath.” Genealogical research shows that Jacob M. was Simeon’s brother. In a modern context, these testimonies bring up issues of bias and the weaponization of sexuality and presumed promiscuity. Based on the overwhelming evidence against her, Caty “was found to be an incompetent witness” and Simeon was ultimately discharged from being the father of her child.

Ten days before his case of bastardy began, Simeon had married Hetty Ann McKee, as noted in the docket on July 20, 1833. No further information about Caty or her child has been found.

- Grant Barnhart, HHS Collections Care Assistant, adapted from a social media post (June 13, 2023).