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Harmen Whitbek

Born 13 May 1755 Died 4 February 1814

Old Red Church cemetery, Tivoli. A sandstone tombstone with shouldered tympanum and stunningly clear inscription. third stone to the southwest of the church.

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Harmen Whitbek, born May 13, 1755, was descended from some of the first settlers of the area, served as an associate of the 6th Regiment of the Dutchess County Militia, and was an elder of the Old Red Church Consistory, and yet, as we often see, had a life of irony and complicated actions given that he enslaved others.

      Whitbek (whose given name and surname appeared with wild variations typical of the fluid nature of spelling during the era) was baptized Haremanus Witbeck on June 15th, 1755, as the son of Folkert (Volkert) Witbeck and Dorothea Vosburg (Vosburgh)—both of whom are buried in the Old Red Church Cemetery as well. Jacobus Heermansen and Catrina Vosburg acted as witnesses. On December 6th, 1779, he married Maria Silvester or Sylvester in Rhinebeck.

      Whitbek is listed as an associate of the 6th Regiment of the Dutchess County Militia, according to records of the Daughters of the American Revolution. An older brother John (1747–1831), who is buried in the Claverack Dutch Reformed churchyard, served in the 8th Regiment of the Albany County Militia. Here is where the irony appears: even as Harmen Whitbek fought for Americans’ liberty from the British, he enslaved four people in 1790 and three in 1800, according to the U.S. Censuses from those years.

      Whitbek’s parents were among the 14 people who were “received as members” when the Old Red Church was founded, according to Roger M. Leonard’s The Red Church. Whitbek himself is noted as participating in church matters in 1793 and 1807 relating to payments of the ministers, and was listed as an elder of the consistory in church records, reports Leonard.

      Whitbek died February 4, 1814, and he was interred in the cemetery of the church where he had served for many years.