The book that Saugerties Town Historian Audrey Klinkenberg displayed at the Town Board meeting on Wednesday, June 16 was old — it was titled Surveys of Roads, 1811 to 1854, Town of Saugerties. While the title sounds kind of dry and uninviting, Klinkenberg said that the book contained fascinating anecdotes about the properties listed in it.
“This is an original book as it was done at the beginning of 1811, when Saugerties was first founded, when it separated from the Kingston Commons,” said Klinkenberg. “The first town clerk was Andrew Brink; Mr. Brink has the most beautiful handwriting that I have ever seen.” The book is more than 200 years old, she said, and “Mr. Brink has a little history in it. Mr. Brink was born over on Mynderse Street, in one of those bigger mansions over there.”
Andrew Brink was the son of James Brink, who ran a ferry between Saugerties and Clermont. “Mr. Brink became a pilot of a schooner called The Maria and he used to run between New York and Albany, and at some point along the way, say around 1807, he ran into Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton. Mr. Brink became the caption of the Clermont, which was the first steamboat to run between Albany and New York. He did that for a couple of years and then he came over and he was our town clerk.” Klinkenberg said his home was a stone house that now has a sign that says “John Jacob Astor’s Furs were traded here.”
Andrew Brink was the grandfather of Benjamin Myer Brink, who wrote the oral history of Saugerties and also wrote Old Ulster.
Describing the survey book as a “book of stories,” Klinkenberg said there are stories of the commissioners of the Town of Saugerties laying out the roads. “There are stories of the people who were aggrieved because the roads were being laid out through their meadows and fields. In one case, over on Mynderse Street, a potato patch.”
One person at the meeting commented that the book, which appeared to be just a record of civic actions, really had a story to tell. “Apparently, this book was part of the Saugerties records, until at some point it no longer was,” Klinkenberg said. “It was given to someone who put it away and now it has found its way home.”
Other entries name the people who were aggrieved because the commissioners were refusing to lay a public road. The book also contains surveys and Klinkenberg read the details of one: “There are mentions of butternut trees, stakes, rock piles and all kinds of fun things. It goes on and on and on. It’s all hand written and a lot of it is surveyor’s things.”
Klinkenberg asked that the book be scanned, “and once it’s scanned, I may try to transcribe it,” she said. “It may take me ten years to do it, but I’m gonna try.”
One suggestion from a meeting attendee was to keep a pair of cotton gloves with the book to ensure that no oil from fingers handling it would get onto the pages and leave marks. Klinkenberg said that after it is scanned, the book will be put away and people can refer to the scans for the historical information they need.
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