The Prevost Family
The Family Moves InIn 1767, James Marcus Prevost purchased 155 acres of apparently unoccupied land, part of which fronted on the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook and part of which adjoined the Lane property. Later that year Prevost also bought 98 acres (5 went to Benjamin Oldes) from Elizabeth Lane, but only after there was agreement on title and payments due among the Traphagen heirs, Lane, Prevost and the Proprietors.
The ownership of the Hermitage by Prevost also is verified in the Bergen County Road Returns which state in 1767 that Clove Road runs along Col. Prevost’s property. |
Ann De Visme, mother of Theodosia
|
Theodosia Prevost: A Woman of Dual Loyalties
Theodosia Prevost was a woman caught between two conflicting worlds. Born into a Loyalist family, she was married to James Marcus Prevost, a British officer. During the Revolutionary War, she lived at the Hermitage with her mother, Ann De Visme, sister Caty, and other half-siblings. As the wife of a Loyalist, Theodosia found herself surrounded by mixed loyalties among her neighbors and relatives, some of whom were staunch patriots, while others remained loyal to the British crown. Theodosia’s life was further complicated by the fact that her own family was deeply divided in their allegiances. Her half-sister, Elizabeth, married an officer in the Royal American Regiment, while her half-brothers and sons were all active in the British military. Theodosia herself was caught in the emotional crossfire of the war, torn between her duty to her family and her growing admiration for the ideals of the American Revolution.
Theodosia married James Marcus Prevost at Trinity Church in Manhattan. She brought to the marriage-and soon afterward, to the Hermitage-a rich, varied colonial North American heritage that stretched back more five generations.
Theodosia married James Marcus Prevost at Trinity Church in Manhattan. She brought to the marriage-and soon afterward, to the Hermitage-a rich, varied colonial North American heritage that stretched back more five generations.
James Marcus Prevost and Theodosia Prevost
|
James Marcus PrevostJames Marcus Prevost was born in 1736 in Switzerland to a family that had earlier roots in Savoy (now part of France). His parents had nine children, including three sons who chose military careers that would bring them to North America. James's two older brothers, Augustin and Jacques, entered the service of the King of Sardinia and then of Sardinia's ally, the Netherlands. James appears to have joined his brothers in Holland.
James had been stationed in North America as a British military officer since the 1740s and was in active service during the French and Indian Wars. With the decrease in military activity after the French were defeated, he and other British officers in America were put on inactive duty at half-pay. While he was in New York, James courted and married Theodosia Stillwell Bartow. By then, he was a well-traveled and seasoned military officer in his mid-twenties. |
Within months of their marriage, James's regiment was ordered to leave New York for Charleston, South Carolina. Theodosia accompanied him; however, she soon became pregnant with their first child. James arranged for a change in assignment to take Theodosia back to New York, where she stayed with her mother. Despite the move north, Theodosia appears to have miscarried or lost the child at birth, because there is no record of a child born to the couple in 1764. Meanwhile, James was assigned to Fort Loudoun on the Pennsylvania frontier. He was accompanied on the expedition by Lieutenant Augustin Prevost, an illegitimate son of his brother Augustin.
James and Theodosia at the Hermitage
In Hopperstown, James took up the life of a gentleman farmer with Theodosia and their growing family. Between 1766 and 1771, the couple had five children-two boys and three girls-who spent their childhood at the Hermitage. The sons, John Bartow Prevost (born in 1766) and Augustin James Frederick Prevost (born in 1767), grew up to lead active and illustrious lives. The three daughters-Anna Louisa (born circa 1770), Mary Louisa (born circa 1771), and Sally-died before adulthood. To help the family with farming, milling, and care of the house, the Prevosts, like many of Theodosia's affluent relatives and a considerable number of their Bergen County neighbors, obtained at least two African American slaves.
While they were living in the house that Henry Lane had built, James and Theodosia had a second house constructed, along with with a number of mills, near Ho-Ho-Kus Brook. When construction was completed around 1770, the family moved to the new house and sold the Lane house, now known as the Hermitage, and 68 surrounding acres to Theodosia's mother, Ann De Visme, who still had five children at home. The Prevost's home on by the brook was called the Little Hermitage. Theodosia's stepbrother Peter De Visme also bought 25 acres of land nearby.