USA > New York > Genealogical and family history of central New York : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the building of a nation, Volume I > Part 2
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(VI) Abiel, son of Thomas Briggs, was born about 1750. He married, at Berkley (intention dated December 9. 1775), Dyer Paul (see Paul III). Their daughter, Fidelia Briggs, born about 1777, married Abiel Nichols (see Nichols III).
(The Paul Line).
(I) William Paul, immigrant ancestor, was born in England, about 1624. He left Grave- send, England, in 1635, on the "Truelove de London," and settled in Taunton, 1637. In company with several others, he purchased land in what was known as South Purchase, in the town of Dighton, in 1672, and had lots 3, 28, 45 and 85. He later deeded these lots, together with his house, to his sons, John and Edward, February 27, 1687. He was a weaver by trade, which he followed most of his life, and died at Taunton, Massachusetts, Novem- ber 9, 1704, aged eighty years. He married Mary, born 1639, died October 3, 1715, daugh- ter of John Richmond. Children : James, born at Taunton, April 7, 1657 ; John, July 10, 1660 ; Edward, February 7, 1664; Mary, February 8, 1667 ; Sarah, July 5, 1668; Abigail, May 13, 1673: Ebenezer : Benjamin, mentioned below. (II) Benjamin, son of William Paul, was born in Taunton, in 1681, died at Berkley, January 12, 1757 (gravestone). He was well educated and taught school ; was selectman of Berkley, 1740-42. Ile had a son Benjamin, mentioned below.
(III) Benjamin (2), son of Benjamin (1) Paul, was born August 7. 1705. died January 25, 1789. He settled at Berkley, formerly part of Taunton. He married Anne Staples, who died November 2, 1778, aged seventy- two. He joined the Berkley church in 1737. They had four sons and six daughters. Among their children were: Benjamin, who died May 5, 1838, at Berkley, aged eighty-six; Seth, born October 1, 1741, at Taunton, removed to Westmoreland, New Hampshire, and thence to South Barnard, married, December 8, 1765, Freelove French, daughter of Captain Samuel and Freclove (Andrews) French ; Dyer, men- tioned below; Benjamin Paul, died at South Barnard, Vermont, August 21, 1825.
Dyer, daughter of Benjamin Paul, married, December 9, 1775. Abiel Briggs (see Briggs VI).
(The Hastings Line).
The name Hastings is older than the Nor- man Conquest in England. It was spelled
Hastang also. The castle and seaport of Hast- ing were owned by the family that adopted the surname as early as 911, before the Nor- mans were in Gaul. There was a Danish pirate, not of this family perhaps, who was a formidable foe of the Saxons occupying a part of Sussex. In nearly every county of England the family has established itself. Branches bearing coats-of-arms are found in Agmon- (isham, Buckshire; in Dorsetshire and Lei- cestershire : in Cambridgeshire ; in Gloucester- shire and Derbyshire ; in Ireland ; at Billesby, Lincolnshire; at Hinton, Northamptonshire ; in Nottinghamshire and Northumberland; in Staffordshire; Yorkshire; Oxfordshire, and Scotland. Of the numerous coats-of-arms the American branch claims the following: A maunch sable. Crest : A buffalo's head erased sable, crowned and gorged with a ducal coro- net and armed or. Supporters: Two man- tigers affrontee or, their visages resembling the human face proper. Motto : In virtute victoria. Also : Honorantes me honorabo.
(I) Deacon Thomas Hastings, immigrant ancestor, was born in England, in 1605. Thomas, aged twenty-nine, and his wife Susanna, aged thirty-four, embarked at Ipswich, England. April 10, 1634, in the ship "Elizabeth," Will- iam Andrews, master, for New England. He settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, where he was admitted a freeman, May 6, 1635. He owned land in Dedham, but never lived there. He was selectman. 1638-43-50-71 ; town clerk. 1671-77-80; deputy to the general court in 1673, and long held the office of deacon. His wife Susanna died February 2. 1650, and he married (second), in April, 1651, Margaret, daughter of William and Martha Cheney, of Roxbury. He died in 1685. His will was dated March 12, 1682-83, and proved Septem- ber 7, 1685. The inventory amounted to four hundred and twenty-one pounds. Children : Thomas, born July 1, 1652, mentioned below ; John, March 1, 1654; William, August 8, 1655, drowned August, 1669; Joseph, Septem- ber 11, 1657 ; Benjamin, Angust 9, 1659; Na- thaniel, September 25, 1661 ; Hepsibah, Janu- ary 31, 1663 : Samuel, March 12, 1665.
(II) Dr. Thomas (2) Hastings, son of Dea- con Thomas (1) Hastings, was born in Water- town, July 1, 1652, died at Hatfield, Massa- chusetts, July 23, 1712. He was admitted a freeman, February 8, 1678. He studied medi- cine and settled in Hatfield, praticing also in Northampton, Hadley and Deerfield, and was
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for many years the only physician in those towns. He was also the first school teacher in Hatfield. A remarkable thing about Dr. Hast- ings' school was that girls were admitted on the same footing as boys. Elsewhere in New England, until after the Revolution, girls were not taught in the public schools. It was 1789 before Boston schools were open to both sexes and not until 1802 in Northampton. Dr. Hast- ings married (first), October 10, 1672, Anna, daughter of John Hawks, of Hadley. She died October 25, 1705, and he married (sec- ond), February 14. 1706. Mary, daughter of David Burt, of Northampton. She died April 13. 1734. Children of first wife: Hannah. January 19, 1677; Thomas, September 24, 1679, mentioned below; Hepsibah. April 6. 1682; Mehitable, June 23. 1684: John, at Hat- field, September 18. 1689.
(III) Dr. Thomas (3) Hastings, son of Dr. Thomas (2) Hastings, was born at Hatfield, September 24, 1679, died April 14, 1728. He was also school teacher and physician in the field that his father occupied before him. He was taken ill in Boston while on a visit, re- turned to his home, and told his wife that he should die April 14, 1728, which prediction was fulfilled. He died a comparatively young man. He was thought to have been a victim of slow poison. A quaint unpoetical but flat- tering eulogy and an acrostic to his memory were written at the time of his death by Jo- sephus Nash. A record of a surgical case of note is preserved in Rev. John Williams's "History of Captivity and Deliverance" (App. 3). Dr. Hastings married, March 6, 1701, Mary, daughter of John and Mary Field, born February 20, 1680, died November 9. 1764. Children : Mary, born December 29. 1701, died January 10, 1702 : Thomas, November 6, 1702, died November 4, 1703; Mary, July 26, 1704; Anna, October 13. 1706; Dorothy, July 27, 1709. died July 29, 1711 ; Thomas, May 5, 1713, died voung; Waitstill, June 3, 1714. mentioned below : Tabitha, October 6, 1715 : Hopestill. April 13, 1718; Dorothy, March 20. 1720, died April 6, 1720; Lucy, February I. 1723.
(IV) Dr. Waitstill Hastings, son of Dr. Thomas (3) Hastings, was born June 3. 1714. died April 22. 1748. He settled in Hatfield. Massachusetts, and there has been of this fam- ily a physician in that town ever since, except during the time after his death and the gradu- ation of his grandson, Dr. John Hastings. He
married, in 1737, Abigail Marsh. She married (second). April 10, 1751. Colonel John Bulke- ley, of Colchester, Connecticut, lawyer, judge of the superior court, and had Charles Bulke- ley, born May 22, 1752; Colonel John Bulke- ley, July 25, 1753. She married (third), No- vember 5. 1755. Rev. Ephraim Little, of Col- chester, and had several children. Children of Dr. Waitstill Hastings: John, mentioned below ; Abigail, born February 28, 1739; Han- nah Barnard, March 16. 1742; Mary, January 10, 1744: Samuel, March 14, 1747, died young.
(V) John, son of Dr. Waitstill Hastings, was born at Hatfield, January 10, 1738, died December 6, 1811. He was a magistrate in Hatfield for thirty-four years ; representative to the general court and state senator twenty- eight years ; the foremost citizen of the town for many years. He married, November 29, 1763, Content Little, born August 10, 1740, died April 9. 1829. Children, born at Hat- field: John Jr., born October 7, 1764 ; Content, September 14, 1766; Mary, January I. 1769; Waitstill, May 14 or 19. 1771; Elizabeth, March 7 or 8, 1773; Abigail, May 7, 1775 : Samuel, March 30, 1777 ; Ephraim, mentioned below : Son, born April 16, 1783; Justin. Feb- ruary 14. 1786.
(VI) Ephraim, son of John Hastings, was born at Hatfield. November 16, 1780. He married. December 24, 1806, Lucy, daughter of General William and Sarah (Dewey) Shep- ard. of Westfield. She was born December 15, 1778, died in Heath, March 5, 1833. Her father was captain in the French and Indian war, and was general in the Revolution, in which he fought in twenty-two battles, being wounded but once, then in the neck. At Shay's insurrection he commanded the forces on Springfield Hill. General Lafayette pre- sented him with a dress sword which is now in possession of the family. General Shep- ard's wife. Sarah Dewey, whom he married January 31. 1760. was of remarkable ability for management, and during his absence ran the farm as well as the house. General Shep- ard was born November 30. 1739, died No- vember 16, 1817. Children : William Shepard. born March 19. 1761, died July 13. 1823; Turner. September 16, 1762, died July 8, 1796; Charles, September 27, 1764, died May II, 1813: Sally, February 17, 1767, died April 3, 1847 : Noah, February 20. 1769 ; Nancy, Octo- ber 25. 1771, died February 17, 1802; Ware- ham, December 29, 1773; Lucy. December 15,
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1778, died March 5, 1833, married Ephraim Hastings.
Ephraim Hastings went from Hatfield to Heath about 1805. and in May, 1848, removed to Nashna, New Hampshire, where he had bought a large piece of land. His daughter Margaret and her husband made a home for him. He died November 24, 1861, aged eighty- one. In 1811 he was chosen first representa- tive for Heath and continued as representative almost constantly until 1834, when he was chosen senator, and two years later member of the council. He was most of the time selectman or assessor for Heath. Children : Twins, born and died January 18, 1813: Jane, born and died February 8, 1815: Nancy, born April 21, 1816; Sarah Jane, March 15, 1818; married James Nichols (see Nichols IV) ; Margaret ; Nancy S., December 28, 1820, died March 13, 1847.
DEWITT The DeWitt family, mentioned in the following sketch, is de- scended from Claes DeWitt, of Grootholt, in Sunderlant, Holland. The Sun- derlant, or as it was more frequently called, "The Sauerland or Surland." was the most southerly of the three natural divisions of the old Dutchy of Westphalia, and is described as "consisting of hills and vales, and having fine woods and meadows, suited for grazing and the dairy." In those respects it was distin- guished from the other two divisions, which were more productive of the cereals. Groot- holt is situated a little east of the river Rhine, between the Lippe and the Imster, and not far from the manufacturing town of Essen.
DeWitt is one of the very few Dutch- American names which were illustrious in the Fatherland. The grand pensionary, John De- Witt, administered the government of Holland from 1652 to 1672. He and his brother Cor- nelins, who also held important positions in civil and military life, were killed by a mob at the Hague, after years of faithful service to their country. They had incurred the hostility of the monarchical party.
In the Royal Library, at the Hague, in Hol- land, "The Geschlacten Von Dordrecht" gives the descent of the family in an unbroken line from the year 1295 to September 8. 1639. After the death of John, of Barneveldt, Jacob DeWitt became "Land Advocate of Holland." John Jr. became "Grand Pensionary of Hol- land."
The "History of Ulster County" (by Syl- vester ), pp. 298-99, says: "Among the many old Holland families, who about the middle of the seventeenth century sought the shores of the New World, none has been more. distin- guished in social and political life, none has numbered in their ranks more noted men than the DeWitts.".
They were natives of Dordrecht, one of the old burgher towns of Holland, and in later years dear to theology as the meeting of the Synod of Dort. After the death of John, of Barneveldt, Jacob DeWitt succeeded to the high honors of "Land Advocate of Holland," his son Cornelius, the burghermaster of Dord- recht, at the head of a Dutch fleet with a staunch Dutch admiral to do his bidding, sailed up the Thames river, burning the English ships and sending consternation into the very heart of London.
Another son, John DeWitt, one of the most distinguished men in the history of the Nether- lands, became "Grand Pensionary of Holland," during the period of the separation of Spain and the opening of the "Thirty Years War," a position which at that time required the most consummate ability and statesmanship. Through his guidance Holland became a power among the nations of Europe. Geddes, in his recent valuable work, "The History of the Administration of John DeWitt, Grand Pen- sionary of Holland," says of him: "He was head and shoulders above nearly all of the notable men of his time and one, moreover, on whose public virtue there was hardly a blemish or spot."
The coat-of-arms of the De Witt family con- sists of the hare and hounds upon a shield, beneath which is a scroll and the words "Fortis et Fidus."
Tjerck Claes DeWitt was the kinsman of John and Cornelius De Witt and came to this country from Zunderland about the middle of the seventeenth century. A history of John DeWitt, and incidently his brother Cornelius, issued in 1885, by Pontalis, shows the political situation in Holland, during the time of the grand pensionary.
(I) Tjerck Claeszn DeWitt, son of Claes De Witt, immigrant ancestor of the family in this country, first appears in the records of New Amsterdam in 1656, when he married, according to the records of the old Dutch Reformed Church, Barbara Andriessen, who came from Amsterdam, Holland. He resided
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in New Amsterdam until 1657, when he re- moved to Albany, and he finally located, in 1661, at Wiltwyck (now Kingston), Ulster county, New York, where he resided until he (lied, February 17, 1700. His widow, Barbara, died July 6, 1714. In 1667, when the British sent Captain Broadhead and thirteen soldiers to take possession of Kingston, DeWitt was one of those who opposed British occupation and among the complaints made afterward by the burghers was the following: "Captain Broadhead has beaten Tjerick Claeszen De- Witt without reason and brought him to prison. Ye reason why Capy. Broadhead abused Tje- rick De Witt was because he would keep Christ- mas day on ye day according to ye Dutch and not on ye day according to ye English observa- tion." The remonstrance of the burghers sent to the governor against the imprisonment of Tarentson Slight, was signed among others by De Witt. He was granted leave, April 8, 1669, to build a house, barn and stables on land be- tween Kingston and Hurley. He appears to have been well-to-do and brought servants with him to Kingston. Complaint was made by an Indian before the court that DeWitt had re- fused to pay wages due and the court appears to have taken a rather absurd snap judgment, ordering DeWitt's banishment and fining him six hundred guilders. Upon appeal, the order of banishment was rescinded and the fine re- mitted, and DeWitt was ordered, instead, to pay a reasonable sum for his services to the complaining Indian-about eighty cents. De- Witt was granted the right to occupy a mill site about five miles from Kingston and to erect and operate a mill there and a tract of seventy acres a mile farther distant, known as "Dead Men's Bones," was added for his sub- sistence.
The old one-story stone dwelling on the road from Kingston to Hurley is probably the site of the house erected by Tjerck Claeszn DeWitt, in 1669, in pursuance of the license above mentioned.
This property, with the adjoining estate, re- mained, in 1872, in possession of his descend- ants. The owners, in the year last mentioned, were the two daughters of Isaac DeWitt, who succeeded to the estate in 1826, through a series of devises and inheritances.
The records of Ulster county also show that Tjerck Claeszn DeWitt owned negro slaves, and also possessed two sloops which plied upon the waters of the Hudson, and along the
Atlantic coast, carrying on trade at various points. They also show that he sold one of the sloops, named "Ye St. Barbara," to Cap- tain Daniel Hobart, a mariner of the Island of Barbadoes, to be taken to that island for com- mercial trade. When Tjerck Claeszn De Witt died, he left large bodies of real estate in and about the city of Kingston, and had about $8,000 in personal property.
When the English required the oath of allegiance to be taken by heads of families in 1668, he was one of the few who refused to submit. In the roll of heads of families in Ulster county, in 1689, his name is not given, nor is that of his son Andrew, but Tjerck C. was living at that time, as shown by the fact that lie was a witness at a baptism of a grand- child in December, 1700. He was also evi- dently possessed of some Dutch stubbornness. Of his descendants nearly a hundred served in the Revolutionary army. Children : 1. Andries. mentioned below. 2. Tjaatje, born about 1659. in Albany; married, in 1677, Matthys Mat- thysen Van Kensen ; she was captured by In- dians at the burning of Kingston in 1663, but afterward rescued. 3. Jannetje, baptized Feb- ruary 12, 1662, died 1744; married Cornelis Switz. 4. Klaes, baptized February 17. 1664, died before 1698. 5. Jan, baptized February 14, 1666, died before April 12, 1715 ; married Wyntje Kiersted. 6. Geertruy, baptized Octo- ber 15, 1668; married, March 24, 1688, Hend- rick Hendrickson Schoonmaker. 7. Jacob, mar- ried Grietje Vernooy. 8. Rachel, married Cor- nelis Bogardus. 9. Lucas, married, December 22, 1695. Annatje Delva. 10. Peek, married (first), January 2, 1698, Maritje Jense Van- derberg : (second), December 21, 1723, Maria Teunis, widow of Jacob DeMott. II. Tjerck. 12. Marritje, married (first). November 3, 1700, Hendrick Hendrickson Kortright; (sec- ond). September 6, 1702, Jan Wacklin. 13. Aaggje, baptized January 14, 1684: married, August 23, 1712, Jan Pawling.
(II) Andries, son of Tjerck Claeszn De- Witt, was born in New Amsterdam in the early part of 1657. He married, March 9, 1682, Jannetje Egbertson, baptized January II, 1664, died November 23, 1710, daughter of Egbert Meindertse and Jaepje Jans. He lived for some time on a farm at Marbletown, given him by his father, but afterward removed to a farm on which he settled, located about a mile southwest from Kingston, on the road to Hur- ley. From an old Dutch Bible, still preserved
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at Kingston, we learn that on July 22, 1710. "Captain Andries DeWitt departed this life in a sorrowful way; through the breaking of two sleepers (beams), he was pressed down and very much bruised ; he spoke a few words and died." He was buried in the old church- yard of the Kingston church, his grave being marked with a flat stone, fastened with iron bands to a red cedar post ; both are still stand- ing, as placed in 1710. Children : I. Tjerck. baptized January 12, 1683, died August 30, 1762; married (first), January 18. 1708, Anne Pawling ; (second), October 17, 1739. Deborah Schoonmaker. 2. Jacob, baptized September 28, 1684, died in infancy. 3. Barbara, bap- tized August 22, 1686, died in infancy. 4. Vlaes, baptized April 30, 1688, died in infancy. 5. Barbara, born October 30, 1689. died No- vember 1, 1715; married, March 25, 1715. Johannes Van Leuven. 6. Jacob, mentioned below. 7. Mana, born January 21, 1693 ; mar- ried, October 30. 1713, Jan Roosa Jr. 8. IFelena. December 7, 1695 : married, June 6. 1719, Jacob Switz. 9. Andries, April 1, 1697, died July 2, 1701. 10. Egbert, March 18, 1699; married, November 4, 1726, Mary Notting- ham; their daughter Mary married General James Clinton and became the mother of Gov- ernor DeWitt Clinton, of New York. II. Johannes, March 26, 1701 ; married. June 27, 1724, Mary Broadhead. 12. Andries, bap- tized February 20, 1704. died in 1764; mar- ried. December 3. 1731. Bredjen Nottingham.
(III) Jacob, son of Andries DeWitt, was born December 30, 1691 ; married, May 9, 1731, Heyltje Van Kampen, baptized October 6. 1700, daughter of Jan Van Kampen and Tjaatje Janse Decker. Children: 1. Child, born probably in 1732, but the parish records of that time are lost. 2. Johannes, baptized September 22, 1734. 3. Jacob J., mentioned below. 4. Elizabeth, baptized September 25. 1738. 5. Maria, baptized October 5, 1740.
(\\') Jacob J., son of Jacob DeWitt, was baptized at Rhinebeck Flats ( then regarded as within "Nieu Englant"), August 22, 1736; married. March 30. 1758, Leah Kortwright. Children : 1. Heyltje, baptized November 22. 1759; married Uriah Masterson. 2. Moses, mentioned below. 3. Bodewyn, baptized Janu- ary 8, 1764, died before 1797. 4. Mary, bap- tized May 28, 1766. 5. Jacob. 6. Samuel, bap- tized August 27, 1772. 7. Margaret. 8. Sev- eryn, born February, 1781.
(V) Moses, son of Jacob J. DeWitt, was
born October 23, 1761, died December 8, 1842. He married Margaret Wilson, who died May 19. 1845. She was a daughter of Richard Wilson. Children : Hiram, born November 9. 1783; Olive, January 7, 1785; Jezereel, men- tioned below; Tjerck, April 19, 1788; Evi. June II, 1789; Moses, September 1, 1790; Mary, April 20, 1792; Aaron, June 24, 1793: Elizabeth, January 20, 1796; Margaret. Octo- ber 13, 1797; John, January 18, 1799; Naomi, March 23, 1801; Jacob, November 27, 1804; Catherine. March 23, 1806.
The history of Sussex and Warren counties says that Moses DeWitt came to Wantage township, New Jersey, and that he held the office of captain in the revolutionary war. The New Jersey Herald, of Newton, Sussex county, of July 7, 1892, says of Moses De Witt :
He was at the battle of Minisink in 1779. Dr. Wilson says several attempts to break our lines had failed, but just as the fire began to slacken, one man, who guarded the northeast angle of the hollow square. and who had kept up, from behind a rock, a de- structive fire on every side, fell, and the Indian and Tory crew broke in upon our ranks like a resistless deluge. Edsall, in his centennial address, claims this man to have been Moses DeWitt. He escaped the massacre and after the war moved to Wantage.
On the top of one of the highest mountains overlooking the Delaware river, near Lacka- waxen, New York, a monument was erected in 1904. to commemorate the battle.
The New York Tribune, of July 17, com- mented upon the monument, and among other things said :
The battlefield where it stands is in the town of Highland, Sullivan County, and is elevated above the Delaware River about a thousand feet. The field itself is a plateau, formed by a ledge of rock, which is covered with earth of a sufficient depth to support shrubbery. With an unobstructed view of the four points of the compass, its strategical value was recog- nized by both whites and Indians.
The Indians belonged to the Delaware tribe, and had been harassing the whites in the vicinity of the Minisink and Goshen regions, in Orange County. Under the leadership of the noted half-breed, Brant, they committed many depredations. Colonel Hathorn organized a force of two hundred men and started in pursuit of the Indians, who retreated. Colonel Hathorn kept up this pursuit for more than fifty miles, and the forces met at 10 o'clock on the morn- ing of July 22, 1779, on the fields in the wilds of what was then Ulster County, now Sullivan. The whites had entrenched themselves upon the plateau and for hours Brant sought to break through their ranks. He had practically decided to give up the fight when he learned that the ammunition of the whites had given out. The Indians then charged upon the little band and massacred nearly all.
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Moses DeWitt, though wounded, escaped from the fury of the Indians and Tories by descending the mountainside and swimming across the Delaware river into Pennsylvania, a short distance below Lackawaxen. After the war it is said that a large tract of land in Wantage township, Sussex county, New Jer- sey, was granted him by the government, in recognization of his services in the war. The farm upon which he lived and died is said to be still in the possession of some of the family.
A large monument in memory of the soldiers who fell at Minisink has been erected by the citizens of Goshen, and still stands in that village.
"Old Ulster," volume 2, at page 333, in its account of the battle, says :
It was sunset. Brant was discouraged. He was just ordering a retreat when the defender of the northwest angle fell. All day he had kept his post which was the key of the position. His aim had been deadly, and from behind the rock which shel- tered him he could not be dislodged. He is said to have been a DeWitt, but his name does not appear among those inscribed on the Goshen monument. Brant saw him fall and rushed around the rock where the defender had stood. Many of the savages followed and before they could prevent it the patriots were overpowered. Their powder was exhausted, many of the Americans were slain, and the enemy was in possession.
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