Our theme this year is colonial life. Friday has become the social hour and genealogical focus of the program. Mike Benson will share his visit to his Hardy County, West Virginia DuBois ancestors. He wrote about this in the newsletter, but now you can visit with him through his photographs and hear his moments of discovery.

Saturday morning, Nigel Massy, from the Sainte Esprit Church in New York City will once again lend his amazing Huguenot spiritual voice to help us experience church in those days. Then Dawn Roth- Eric Roth’s new bride and an experienced re-enacter- will take us back in time by weaving fish net and fishing line at the Fort while telling us about the importance of fish in colonial life.

Eric Roth, at the HHS library will reveal his research into our knowledge of New Paltz families’ experiences with religious persecution and the difficulties they faced during their emigration, first within Europe and then to the New World. This research has uncovered some startling discoveries about the families’ ethnic makeup.

July 2007

book is entitled: The Early History of Kingston and Ulster County. He will bring his books to peruse, purchase and be signed by him. That will take place from 4-5:30 at the Family Association Center.

That evening if you choose you can drive over to Kingston to join their colonial ball that is hosted at their biannual re-enactment of the Burning of Kingston.

Reunion at a Glance

• Date-Friday & SaturdayOctober 19-20

• Friday-6:30 PM Social (FAC)

• Friday-7:30 PM Genealogy Show and Discussion

• Saturday-9:00 AM Church Service

• Saturday-9:45 Family Picture

• Saturday-10:00 Group Activities at the fort and library

• Saturday-12:00 Lunch

• Saturday-1:00 Food Talk

• Saturday-1:30 Business Meeting

• Saturday-3:00 House Tours

• Saturday-4:00 Author Talk and Book Signing

• Saturday-Evening—Burning of Kingston Colonial Ball, For moreInformation call 1-800-331-1518

A self guided quest/tour of the windows and doors of Huguenot Street especially devised for the DBFA reunion can be done at anytime during your stay, either in groups or by yourself. Rather like the Quest for the Crest at the last event, in as much as you pursue the experience on your own, it differs by focusing on colonial architecture rather than a variety of DuBois related clues.

Luncheon at Deyo Hall follows with a colonial like menu. After our meal, Dawn will share early colonial menus, and more recent menus from the HHS archives.

The afternoon business meeting will focus on the election of the new officers slate as required by the DBFA by-laws. Then there is time for house tours.

Because the book talk and signing at the last reunion was such a success, there will be another this year. Mike Benson wrote an article on Patent day for the June 2006 newsletter about local author Marc Fried speaking. And Mr. Fried has agreed give a lecture designed for the DuBois family, drawing from his vast knowledge accumulated in the writing of five books about the early history of and nature in Ulster County. He will surely take us back into colonial times as one

by Dina DuBois

Reuni

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Form

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DuBois Family Reunion 1

President’s Message 2

Genealogy 3

Election of Officers 3

DuBois Fort 4

Membership News 5

Reunion Registration 7

DBFA members,In March of this year I was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer. As you this read this I will be undergoing radiation therapy at James A. Haley VA Hospital in Tampa, Fla. At the present time I am on hormone therapy to slow the growth of the cancer. On June 5th I begin the radiation therapy for 42 days. The VA is putting me up in a hotel near the hospital. I hope to be home on the weekends. I will be on medical leave from my job for

about three months. I hope that my recuperation and the finances will not prohibit me from attending the reunion. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.

This year is an election year. We are losing several of our officers due to retirement and other obligations, so we need several new Board members. Yes, I do plan on running for another term as your president. I am confidant I will beat the cancer and be able to continue. Let me take this time to ask for your support with a look at what we have accomplished since I was elected your President.

I have set up the Newsome Trust Oversight Committee to oversee expenditures of the Newsome Trust by HHS. This is a joint DBFA/HHS committee. This has resulted in a closer working relationship with HHS and given us a stronger voice in how the funds are spent. I have set up online stores with Cafepress, which is bringing in funds from sales. Our website which I maintain at my own expense is one of the largest sites of all the Families. The website has for several years been a source for getting new members. I set a goal with Fred DuBois the VP of membership to increase our membership to 1000 by 2010. Before I took office we were losing about 60 members a year. That’s a non-renewal rate of around 15%. Thanks to the hard work of Fred and You —our members—the non-renewal rate is now at 2%. We are on our way to reaching our goal. Our finances are growing, membership and attendance at reunions are improving. We have a dedicated group of officers who are committed to the DBFA and its membership. I am proud to serve as the President of such a hard working group of people.

The Theme for the reunion this year is “Colonial Days Life”. Please read the reunion story by Dina DuBois for details. She has a fantastic program planned. The menu is going to be delicious. We will have a limited supply of coffee mugs from our CafePress online store available to purchase at the reunion. Let’s make this a reunion to remember.

I would like to thank Dina DuBois, Carol Edelman and Mike Benson, who are leaving the Board, for their dedicated service to the DBFA.

Terry L DuBois, President

President Terry L. DuBois 46715 McLeod Rd. Myakka City, FL 34251-3907 president@dbfa.org

Vice President-Buildings & Grounds Dina Downing DuBois PO Box 473 Cornith, VT 05039 fort@dbfa.org

Vice President-Finance Pamela Bailey 1237 Golden Canna Lane Celebration, FL 34741 finance@dbfa.org

Vice President-Membership Fred DuBois 4296 Jennings Fish Camp Rd. Lake Wales, FL 33898 membership@dbfa.org

Secretary Carol Edelman 108 Buck Drive Ruckersville, VA 22968 secretary@dbfa.org

Genealogist Catherine Smith 220 Plutarch Rd. Highland, NY 12528 genealogy@dbfa.org

Editor-In-Chief Sally Lord 4268 RT 20 Durham, NY 12422 newsletter@dbfa.org

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By Terry L. DuBois

www.dbfa.org

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It starts off innocently enough-maybe it is an old photograph in a family album with a name scribbled on the back, grandfather Joseph Anybody. And you wonder whose grandfather? So you ask a few elderly family members and they fill in some of the information and still you want more. So you go to the local historical society and get more information maybe Joe’s parent’s names and still you want more. The next thing you know your planning family vacations around county archives where the elusive ancestors were last spotted. You’re hearing family members ask, “Who are we looking for?”, as they wander down rows of gravestones all the time muttering under their breaths about looking for dead people. And still you want more.

You find yourself dreaming of finding a line to Charlemagne or the Holy Grail actually tracing your line back to Adam & Eve! Now you’ve advance to talking friends and relatives into glassy eyed stupors with tales of great-grandfather Albert Somebody who lost two fingers on his right hand when his gun misfired in the Battle of Cedar Creek during the Civil War. You’ll know more when the records come from Washington. You sent for them last week. And still you want more. For every one person you find there are two more waiting in the shadows and the need to know more is never satisfied. You stay up nights searching Ancestry.com, Genelogy.com, familysearch.com, Rootsweb.com. You rush home from work to check your email for answers to posted queries on message boards. Family and friends become concerned for your health and still you want more.

Some times you’re lucky and you find a family member that understands. We are planning a family wedding in Sept., Mike and Susan are coming from Tennessee to New York for the wedding. Mike wants to stop in Lancaster, PA to do a little research on his great-grandfather. I’ve arranged for someone to meet Susan and the kids at the airport, we’re going to miss Mike. But. I for one will understand the need to know more.

The DuBois Family Association election of Executive Board members will be held during the Business meeting in Deyo Hall Saturday October 20,2007.

This is the current slate of officers at press time. Anyone who wishes to run for office should submit their name to the nominating committee at DBFA@juno.com. Nominations will also be accepted from the floor.

Current members up for re-electionPresidentTerry DuBois, DBFA President since Oct 2005. Member of Executive Board since Oct. 2000 (Vice President) Webmaster since 1998.

VP/Finance/SecretaryDr. Pamela Bailey, Executive Board member since Oct 2000.

Vice President/Membership.Fred DuBois, VP-membership since March 2006. Member of Executive Board since Oct 2005.

Members running for election Vice President/OperationsBill Haines, Age, 55. Born and raised in Greene County (that’s just north of Ulster County). Currently living in Douglaston, NY, a part of Queens. Married to Gail Welch for 35 years. They have two sons, Peter and

By Catherine Smith

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by Dina DuBois

At the fall 2007 reunion you are all invited to take a self-guided Quest Architectural Tour designed especially for the DuBois participants to note the various kinds of windows and doors that have been so well preserved as examples of the Dutch architectural influence in the Hudson Valley.

But, now, here in the newsletter, you may start that tour with an examination of the openings in the DuBois Fort.

First we’ll travel back in time to the first openings. Windows means wind eye, or wind hole according to Harrison Meeske in The Hudson Valley Dutch and their Houses (1989). The window was to let in air more than light. Some settlers “made do with simply shuttered apertures. Thin pieces of horn, or oiled paper, or the caul of a new born calf served as a way to let in some light.” He also cites that “the DuBois home in New Paltz still had a ‘window with leaded panes’ of glass when examined by H.W. Reynolds in the 1920’s.” The HHS library has that book and sure enough it mentions a “window with leaded panes at the west end of the upper veranda in the wall of the wing is a lone survival of the eighteenth

century.” (1927)

My grandmother Lanetta Elting lived in the Fort as a child and always loved that it had an attic where old things were stored. She wished that I would always have an attic. So, although I had that kind of notion that the Fort attic held treasures, even I was surprised when Brian Kennedy (formerly on the HHS restoration crew) found that very leaded window in the garret. HHS has kept it in storage since then. Our HSR (Historical Structures Report) says at some point in the twentieth century, the window was removed and that opening at the west end of the second story veranda was converted into a doorway. “The stile-and-rail door is composed of a glazed panel above two flush panels, and appears to have been made from an old shutter.” (p.73)

Another amazing treasure, kept for many years in the garret, is the paneled board that could be fitted over the exterior face of the glazed panel of the east entrance on the first story veranda. That door has a nine light glazed panel above two raised vertical

Martin. Bill is a small business owner, plumbing contractor, and former President of DBFA and Haines Family Association. His hobbies include trap shooting, cleaning up and maintaining old cemeteries, and his dog, Daisey, a German Shorthaired Pointer.

Post-revolutionary front door with leaded over-light

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wooden panels. So the paneled board would fit over that glass portion to keep out cold or heat, protect the glass and “discourage intruders” (Meeske p228)

The Fort features many aspects of early colonial architecture. The Dutch door on the first story “can be opened for sunlight and fresh air, while the bottom remains shut to keep small children and a miscellany of farm animals inside or out. The lower half also provided a social barrier for tradesmen and others to talk without having to let them into the house.” (Meeske p.264)

The other windows and doors are documented in the HSR which will be available for perusal at the reunion. But suffice it to say that the Fort embodies early features of doors and windows in the Hudson valley even though it was changed into a two story building in the 1830’s.

The door has a nine light glazed panel above two raised vertical wooden panels. So the paneled board would fit over that glass portion to keep out cold or heat, protect the glass and discourage intruders.

The Dutch door on the first story can be opened for sunlight and fresh air, while the bottom remains shut to keep small children and a miscellany of farm animals inside or out.

By Fred DuBois

FANTASTIC! is the only way to describe the awesome response to our 2007 Membership Enrollment, and much of the success goes to all of you that renewed your own personal membership and/or gave several NEW GIFT memberships to family or friends. Our failure to renew rate was less than 2%. So far we have added 81 new members.

HHS will set up a special display just for the DBFA reunion, a one day showing of the leaded window pane. This is your chance to see a rare and valuable original early leaded window.

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Does the thought of all that gift giving have you pulling your hair out?

DBFA has the solution.

www.cafepress.com/dbfa

• Housewares • Golf Shirts • Mugs • Mouse Pads• Magnets • Post Cards • Greeting Cards • Calendars• Buttons • Caps • Coasters • And Much More!

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DuBois Family Reunion

Reunion AttendanceI/We will attend the reunion: ______ adults; ______childrenI/We can not attend the reunion: ______ (Please help us plan future reunions by telling us why you will not be attending on the back of the form.)

Friday Night ReceptionI/We will attend the Friday Night Reception at 6:30 p.m. (Family Association Center): ______adults; _____children

Reunion Luncheon at 12:00 noon (Deyo Hall).Please reserve _______ places for me at the luncheon @ $15 each.

Name(s): __________________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

___________________________________________Please make check payable to DuBois Family Association.

Mail the reservation form to: Pam Bailey, Treasurer 1237 Golden Canna Lane Celebration, FL 34747

All reservations must be received by October 6, 2007

46715 McLeod Rd.Myakka City, FL 34251-3907

Postmaster:Address Service Requested