Thomas Chambers was a man who liked to be first. He was the first European to settle in Troy and perhaps the first to settle Kingston, New York.

Chambers, an English carpenter, introduced to the colonies covering houses with clapboards. His nickname was "the Clabbort (clapboard)." He first appears in New Netherland records on May 6, 1642 in a contract to build a house and cover it with 500 clapboards for Jan Jansen Schepmoes at Fort Amsterdam.

Chambers settled in Troy on September 7th, 1646. He signed a five year lease with the officers of Rensselaerwyck and rented land between the Wyantskill and Poestenkill. He built his own house and barn, but received two mares, two stallions, and four cows as part of the arrangement. He also had first rights to erect a saw mill on one of the kills. He occupied the land from 1647 to July 14, 1654, when he moved to the Esopus area (Kingston). Apparently Chambers didn't like the political and economic restrictions placed on him under the Rennselaerwyck manor system and ended up leading a movement toward independent farming and freehold land ownership in the Esopus area.

On June 5, 1652 two Esopus Indians sold Chambers a parcel of land on the Esopus Creek. Some 60 or 70 Dutch and friends of Chambers became permanent settlers within a year. Esopus was changed to Wildwyck (Wild Woods), or Wiltwyck by Peter Stuyvesant in 1661. Chambers in the meantime was appointed captain of the citizen's militia in April 1662.

War broke out between the settlers and natives in the Esopus area. Esopus Indians were not happy about trade dealings and the fact that their people were being sold as slaves. In 1658, following the first war, Governor Stuyvansant personally ordered settlers to move in closer and build fortifications and stockade. It was in 1663 that Wildwyck (Kingston) and a nearby village (Hurley) were attacked by the Natives in broad daylight.

Chambers was wounded on his way into the village but ordered the townsmen to secure the gates and bring out a cannon. It appears the cannon did the job to save the village. On October 7, 1665, a treaty was signed between the Esopus Indians and Governor Nicolls.

Chambers became a commissary (council member) in 1665 and was highly regarded by Nicolls and later governors, and he held public office almost continuously from the time of the English conquest. In 1670, Chambers became a justice of the peace and resigned from the commissary position not wanting to have a conflict of interest.

After the second Esopus war, Chambers built a large stone mansion on his land a mile northeast of the Kingston stockade called Foxhall. In 1672, it was made into a 'manor' by Governor Lovelace. In October 1681, he bought a parcel on the Strand (beach on the Roundout Creek), and on October 28, 1686, he was issued a new patent by Governor Thomas Dongan adding another 300 acres.

Chambers had no children of his own but married twice. His first wife, margriet, was the widow of Mattys Jansen (van Keulen) of Fort Orange. In 1681, he married Laurentia Kellenaer, widow of Domine Laurentius Van Gaasbeeck. In his will, he instructed that his estate and possessions were given on the condition that his heirs always had to use the surname Chambers.

Chambers died on April 8 1694 and was buried near his house on the Strand. Jansen Hasbrouck erected a brick house on the site in 1850, and Chambers' vault was removed to Montrepose Cemetery and buried in the ground. In the vault with Chambers and his wife Laurentia was Abraham Gaasbeeck Chambers, his wife, and a number of their children and grandchildren. Above the ground of the vault was identified only by a plain unmarked bluestone slab. A granite monument in front of the vault was dedicated on October 4, 1909.

In the rear of the Hasbrouch house stood a large old pear tree that was planted by Chambers and stood until 1926. A small section of the trunk and sample of the fruit are preserved today. In the foundation of the north side of the house on the NE corner was imbedded the original tombstone of Chambers bearing his initial and the date of his death. In the summer of 1960, the stone was removed from the foundation and the house was demolished.

Chambers spent over 40 years in the Kingston area making numerous contributions as a citizen and public official. How Troy would be different if he stayed here is conjecture, but no doubt he would have made contributions. He was a proven leader.