He was elected a magistrate of Ulster county, March 4, 1689. The trustees of Kingston conveyed to him one hundred and eighty-nine acres of land, February 13, 1685, and June 6, 1685, he claimed two hundred and ninety acres lying upon the north side of Rondout Kill, known as Momboccus, which was granted to him by patent May 14, 1694.
He joined with others, in 1684, petitioning Governor Thomas Dongan that there might he "liberty by charter to this county (Ulster) to choose our owne officers to every towne court by the major vote of the freeholders." The petition greatly offended the authorities, so that the signers were arrested and fined for this display of a desire for free or local self-government. He was, on February 11, 1679, one of the signers of a renewal of the Nichols treaty with the Esopus Indians. Governor Lovelace deeded to him "a parcel of bush-land, together with a house, lot, orchard, and calves' pasture, lying near Kingston, in Esopus," on June 25, 1672, and Governor Andros, October 8, 1677, deeded to him about fifty acres of woodland west of the town. 28 of the "New Lots." His eldest daughter, Taatje, was carried away from him by the Indians, June 7, 1663, during the destruction of Kingston and Hurley, but was rescued. He was undoubtedly a man of means, as is shown by the fact that in 1661 he was taxed one hundred and twenty-five guilders (equal to about $50) to help pay for a new church building in Esopus, and in 1662 he owned No. He exchanged this in September, 1660, with Madame de Hutter, for land in Wiltwyck (Kingston), Ulster county, New York, with "possession to be given May 1, 1661." Here he lived until his death, and for two centuries and a half the place remained in the family. De Witt resided in New York for a short time following his marriage in 1656, where his first child was born but removed in the spring of the following year to Albany, where he purchased a house and lot. It is not known whether other of his relatives actually came over from Holland at the same time that he did but it is thought probable, as he had a sister, Emmerentje, who married Martinus Hoffman in 1662, at New Amsterdam, and his brother, Jan Claessen De Witt, died, unmarried, at Kingston, New York, in 1699. There it is recorded that on April 24, 1656, "Tjerck Claessen De Witt van Grootholdt en Zunderlandt" (Westphalia) married "Barbara Andriessen van Amsterdam." He was the son of Nicholas De Witt, of Holland, one of the members of a most influential family. The ancestor of the De Witt family in America was Tjerck Claessen De Witt, of whom the first mention made is to be found in the "Trouw Boeck," or register of marriages of the Reformed or Collegiate Dutch church of New York City. Go to previous family: Warren | next family: Hilton Index to All Families | Index to Families by County: Albany, Columbia, Fulton, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren, Washington You are here: Home » Families » HMGFM Home » De Witt Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs:
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