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How Did Stone Arabia Get Its Name?
By
Helen A. Nellis
The above question is asked often by visitors to our area, to my knowledge
I do not know anyone who really knows where the name came from. I have been told
there was an early Stone Arabia down along the Hudson River another Stone Arabia
was located where Lansingburgh, NY is now situated. The name first appears fifty
years before the Stone Arabia Patent was granted by the King in 1722. Under a
patent dated Oct. 19, 1669 Robert Sanders and Harmon Vedder bought land from
the Mohican Indians near Schenectady. In 1670 Harmon Vedder conveyed his
interest to Robert Sanders. In 1680 Robert Sanders sells his farm which was
commonly called "Steen Arabia". Robert Sanders was an interpreter for the
Indians and probably acted as such for the Stone Arabia patentees. In some way
the name of his Hudson Valley farm came to have the name of the Stone Arabia
Patent. There is an old tradition that the name is a Dutch way of saying
"pitching" or "throwing stone" with the variations of spellings this does not
shed much light on this theory – and we know the name appears down along the
Hudson earlier than our Stone Arabia, our Stone Arabia is not especially stony.
Variations of spelling are Steen Arabia, Steen Rabbi, Stein Raby, Steinrepi,
Stonraby, probably others can be found. Some think the name has Biblical
connotations, perhaps in research someday someone will find it is a name the
Palatines brought frocm the Palatinate. Stone Arabia is one of the jewels of
the Mohawk Valley with its rich farmland, scenery, views of the distant hills,
elegant church buildings, certainly a heritage worth preserving
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