The first twelve patentees, or the ‘Duzine,’ managed the affairs of the infant settlement as long as they lived, and after their death it was a custom to elect a court officer from among the descendants of each, at the annual town meetings.  For a long period they kept in one chest all the important papers of their property and land titles.  The pastor or the oldest man had charge of the key, and reference was made to this depository for the settlement of all difficulties about boundaries.  Hence they were free from legal suits as to their lands; and to this judicious, simple plan may be traced the well-known harmony of the numerous descendants in this region,—­the fidelity of their landmarks, with the absence of litigation.

We know of no region in our land where property has remained so long in the same families, as it has at New Paltz; since its first settlement, there has been a constant succession of intermarriages among the French descendants, and many continue to reside upon the venerable homesteads of their early and honored forefathers.

Devoted as the Huguenots ever had been to the worship of the Almighty, one of their first objects at New Paltz was the erection of a church.  It was built of logs, and afterwards gave place to a substantial edifice of brick, brought from Holland, the place answering the double purpose of church and fort.  Their third house of worship was an excellent stone building, which served the Huguenots for eighty years, when it was demolished in 1839, and the present splendid edifice placed on the venerable spot and dedicated to the service of Almighty God.  It is related that a clergyman of eccentric dress and manners, at an early period, would occasionally make a visit to New Paltz, and, for the purpose of meditation, would cross the Walkill in a canoe, to some large elms growing upon a bank opposite the church; on one occasion the stream was low, and while pushing across with a pole, it broke, and the Dominie, losing his balance, pitched overboard.  He succeeded, however, in reaching the shore, and proceeded to the nearest house, for the purpose of drying his clothes.  This partly accomplished, he entered the pulpit and informed his congregation that he had intended to have preached a sermon on baptism; but, eyeing his garments, he observed that circumstances prevented, as he could now sympathize with Peter, and take the text, ‘Lord, save, or I perish.’

To serve God according to the dictates of their own conscience, had ever been a supreme duty with the French Protestants, and paramount to everything else.  For this they had endured the severest persecutions in France, and had sacrificed houses, lands, kindred and their native homes; they had crossed a trackless ocean, and penetrated the howling wilderness, inhabited by savage tribes—­and for what?—­To serve their MAKER, and the RIGHTS OF CONSCIENCE.  They had been the salt of France, and brought over with them their pious principles, with their Bibles,—­the most precious things.  Some of these faded volumes are still to be found among the children of the American Huguenots, and we have often seen and examined one of the most venerable copies.  It is Diodati’s French Bible, with this title:—­