Madam Brett Homestead
historic house in New York, United States
The Madam Brett Homestead is an early-18th-century home located in the city of Beacon, New York, United States. It is the oldest standing building in southern Dutchess County and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. It is also listed on the NYS Independence Trail.
Madam Brett
Catheryna Rombout Brett (1687–1764) was the daughter of Helena Teller Bogardus Van Ball Rombout and Francis Rombout. Helena Teller was the daughter of William Teller, of Albany, one of the original patent holders of the area around Schenectady. Francis Rombout served as a lieutenant during Stuyvesants' expedition against New Sweden. In partnership with Gulyne Verplank, Rombout became a successful merchant fur-trader, and in 1679, Mayor of New York. In 1683, Rombout and Verplanck purchased about 85,000 acres (34,000 ha) from the Wappinger native Indians. The purchased was confirmed October 17, 1685, as the royal Rombout Patent issued by King James II to Francis Rombout, Jacobus Kipp (who married the widowed Henrica Verplank) and Stephanus Van Courtland. The original document is on display at the Homestead.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Madam Brett Homestead” as historic house in New York, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as historic house in New York, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6726230. Authority coordinates are 41.502, -73.967. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1687, 1764 and 1679.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Madam Brett Homestead”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Madam Brett Homestead primary sources, Madam Brett Homestead archive and Madam research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Madam Brett Homestead”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Madam Brett Homestead” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.