USA > New York > Ulster County > New Paltz > History of New Paltz, New York and its old families (from 1678 to 1820) : including the Huguenot pioneers and others who settled in New Paltz previous to the revolution > Part 30
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is no reasonable doubt that Josiah lived in the old Eltinge house, still standing, on Huguenot street, nearly opposite the late residence of Mrs. Berry. This house bore on one of its chimneys till recently the date 1735. It was originally a Bevier house, but passed into the possession of the Eltings about 1740. Josiah married Helena, daughter of Solomon DuBois, July 15, 1734. In a tax list dated 1765 Josiah's name appears as the wealthiest man in the town. To a list of owners of slaves, dated in 1755, Josiah's name is signed as captain. In the building of the Conferentia church his name and that of Hen- dricus DuBois appear as the most liberal subscribers. We do not know when Josiah Eltinge died. Doubtless he was in- terred in the old burying-ground in this village, and it is singular that no stone marks his grave. Josiah left one daugh- ter, Catharine, who married Jacobus Hardenbergh of Hurley, and four sons as follows: Roelif J., Abram, Cornelius and Solomon. The last named left no children. Cornelius mar- ried Blandina Elmendorf and settled in Hurley, where he left a line of descendants. Abram married Dinah DuBois and located where his son Philip, his grandson, Mathusalem and his great- grandson, Sol. L. F., have since resided. Roelif J. married Maria Low, daughter of Johannes M. Low. He occupied his father's homestead in this village and carried on the mercantile business.
THE ELTINGE HOMESTEAD
We have a feeling of pity for any one who does not love old houses, something akin to the pity we would feel for any one who says he does not love flowers or the song of birds. In the whole village there is no more interesting house than the one we are about to describe. There are none about which cluster more associations and traditions, and there is probably no old house in the county that has sheltered beneath its roof
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THE ELTINGE HOMESTEAD, ORIGINALLY THE BEVIER HOUSE
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the ancestors of so numerous a line of descendants, now living. What makes this old structure much more interesting is the fact that there has been no attempt to spoil it by modern im- provements. This house is now the property of Jesse M. Eltinge. It is about 50 feet in length and 25 feet wide. It has evidently been built at two different periods-the rear or eastern end last. On this eastern end the chimney bore until a few years ago the figures 1735. The western end, which fronts on the street, is evidently the oldest portion of the build- ing, but there is no date to determine its age exactly. Before entering we must notice the well, which is about 20 feet deep, the water of excellent quality and the stones covered with moss and ferns all the way from top to bottom. Every Eltinge who visits the home of his ancestors must take a drink from this well. The house is shaded by locust trees, such as the old folks used to plant. On the north side of the building the roof projects a dozen feet and the earth is paved with flat stones. Here we are told the people used to sit in the olden times on Sunday and chat until the bell summoned them to attend Divine ser- vice at church. Looking at the house we notice the gutters sustained in part on stones projecting from the wall; also the old shutters, held open by long, twisted hooks. No regulation style of architecture seems to have existed in the early days of the settlement. In this house the window above the door with its ten small panes was doubtless considered quite an attempt at style in its day. The main window by the side of the door is very grand with its 30 panes of 7x9 glass. Entering at the front door we find a room which in the old times has been about 16x24 and this is undoubtedly the room in which the merchant's wares were kept. From floor to beams above is a distance about eight feet and the great beams are about 10X15. In the chimney still hangs the crane. .
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Descending to the cellar we find the most interesting portion of the building. Here is a sub-cellar, which now exists in none of the other old houses. This sub-cellar is under the other cellar and is about four feet deep and walled all round, the mortar being made of loam and the floor of the cellar proper resting on these walls. Although there is no drain the · ground is dry as dust owing to its porous, gravelly nature. The chimney is about ten feet wide in the cellar and on the east side there has been evidently an oven. In the cellar is a fire- place and an outside door. The sub-cellars, where they existed in the old houses, were, we understand, for wine cellars, to be used in the storing of liquors. Ascending now to the first floor we notice the huge door frames, of pitch pine timber, 12x6 inches and fastened together by wooden pins. The nails used in the building are hand-made and the work of the home car- penter is to be seen in the planing of the timbers. Ascending the back stairs by the original staircase we notice that it has no banister, and doubtless many children and probably some grown people have got a tumble in descending it. One room on the stairs has been finished off, but in the rest of the house there is nothing overhead but the roof and rafters. The rafters are very heavy-about 6x4 inches. The floor boards are of pitch pine, about 15 inches wide. The bricks in the chimneys are of the same length as modern brick, but only about 11/2 inches thick. , Probably they were brought across the ocean as ballast and hauled from Kingston. The mortar used in the building is of loam, lime and chopped straw. The stone in the walls are only such as a farmer would use in building an ordinary stone fence, but the excellence of the mortar has held the stones together until the present day.
So ends our description of the house of the richest man in the town in 1765, for as such do we find Josiah Eltinge's name
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in a tax list of that date. From Josiah Eltinge the old home- stead passed to his son, Roelif J., who owned it during the Revolutionary period. In the contest between the Coetus and Conferentia parties in the church a few years before the Revo- lutionary war, which doubtless shook the little community to its center, Roelif sided with the latter party, attended their church when erected, near Mr. Wm. H. D. Blake's, and when after a few years the quarrel was settled and the church had stood, unused for awhile, he removed it to this village.
Roelif J. Eltinge is buried in the old graveyard in this vil- lage and his tombstone, of dark sandstone, states that he died on the 21st of July, 1796, aged 58 years, 6 months and 4 days. By his side is another tombstone, stating that "Mary Louw, wife of R. Elting, departed this life Aug. 24th, 1800, aged 62 years and 7 days." This couple left five sons : Josiah, Ezekiel, Solomon, John, Roelif ; also four daughters : Magdalen, Sarah, Catharine and Maria. Each of these nine children of Roelif J. married and settled in this vicinity and each one raised a large family of children.
Josiah, the eldest son, married Sarah LeFevre and settled on the Turnpike where his grandson, Philip L. F., now lives. Josiah had eight children, who grew up and married, of whom the last survivor was Gitty, wife of Cornelius D. LeFevre. Josiah's sons were Andries, Roelif and Abm. D. B. The daughters of Josiah were Maria, wife of Dr. John Bogardus and afterward of Abm. P. LeFevre; Rachel, wife of Ralph LeFevre; Cornelia, wife of Peter Deyo, and Magdalen, wife of Derick W. Elting.
Ezekiel, Roelif J.'s second son, kept the old homestead and long carried on the mercantile business in partnership with his cousin, Philip Elting, who was also his brother-in-law. Later in life, in 1800, Ezekiel built the large stone house where Jesse
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M. Elting lived many years in our day. Here the mercantile business continued to be carried on. Ezekiel married Magda- len Elting and they left a family of eight children, of whom Jacob Elting of Clintondale was the last survivor. The other children of Ezekiel were Solomon, Alexander, Dinah, Maria, Sarah, Catharine and Jane. All of these lived in New Paltz or adjoining towns except Alexander, who located at Owasco in western New York. Dinah married C. Brodhead and long carried on the milling business at Dashville Falls, Maria married Andries DuBois, Catharine married Andries Deyo. Ezekiel's son Solomon lived two or three years in the "Old Homestead" and afterwards lived and carried on the mercantile business in the store across the street from the Huguenot Bank. Solomon was elected sheriff of the county in 1837. He was the father of Abm. V. N. of this village and Ezekiel of Highland.
Going back now to the next son of Roelif J., who was named Solomon, we find that he was first married to Cornelia LeFevre and afterwards to Rachel Eckert and left a family of eleven children, of whom Tobias was the last survivor. Several of this family located at a distance. Roelif, the eldest son, lived on South street in Lloyd. There were only two other sons, David and Solomon, the rest of the eleven children being daughters.
The next of Roelif J.'s sons, John, married Jane Wurts and lived in Esopus opposite Hyde Park. He left four daughters and only one son, George, who has a son, John, who is now and has been for many years engaged in business in this village. Roelif J.'s son Roelif lived in the north part of the village, where Philip D. Elting now lives. He married Dinah Elting. They left a family of four sons and five daughters, not any of whom located in this vicinity. Roelif built the dyke along the
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Wallkill about 1795. Three of the sons were Daniel of Ellen- ville and Brodhead and Ezekiel of Port Ewen.
We have said that Roelif J. left four daughters, Magdalen, Sarah, Catharine and Maria. All of these married in this town and all left large families of children. The eldest daugh- ter, Magdalen, married Peter LeFevre and they left a family of nine children, of whom Moses P., Magdalen and Josiah P. were the last survivors, the two first named each living until upwards of 90 years of age. Magdalen, who died in 1900, aged nearly 93 years, was the last survivor of the 77 grand- children of -Roelif J. Elting.
The next of Roelif J.'s daughters, Sarah, married Wm. Deyo and lived with him on what is now Oscar Tschirkey's farm, about four miles north of this village. This couple raised a family of five sons and six daughters, all of these eleven marrying and nearly all settling in this immediate vicinity. The sons of this family. were William W., Roelif, Ezekiel, Cornelius and Abram W.
Roelif J.'s next daughter, Catharine, married Philip Elting and they lived about a mile north of this village, where their grandson, Sol. L. F., now lives. This couple left seven chil- dren who reached maturity and five married.
Roelif J.'s youngest daughter, Maria, married Garret Du- Bois. They lived on what is now the southern bound of the town, where their son Jacob G. and their grandsons, Philip and Solomon, resided. This couple left four sons, Henry, Jacob, Roelif and Solomon, all of whom married, and three daughters, Catharine, Rebecca and Maria. Of this family Solomon, who lived at Vigo, Ross county, Ohio, was the last survivor.
In all Roelif. J. Elting and his wife had 77 grandchildren who grew up. Most of these married and settled in this
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vicinity. There is such a host of the second cousins that the - old homestead would not begin to hold them.
Abram, son of Josiah and brother of Roelif J., located where his great-grandson, Sol. L. Eltinge, now lives, about a mile north of this village, which place has been in pos- session of his descendants ever since. Abram married Dinah, daughter of Hendricus DuBois of Nescatack. They left four sons, Josiah, Henry, Noah and Philip, and two daugh- ters, Jane and Margaret; also one son, Jacobus, by the second wife, Dorothy Bessimer. Of these sons Philip kept his father's homestead. He carried on the mercantile business in this vil- lage, many years in partnership with his cousin, Ezekiel El- tinge, who was also his double brother-in-law (each marrying the other's sister) in the stone house with a brick front, now owned by his grandson, Jesse M. Elting.
Abram's son Josiah married Hester Brodhead and, together with his brother Henry, who did not marry, built, about 1786, the brick house now owned and occupied by Mr. Terpenning, about 21/2 miles north of this village and which is by far the oldest brick house in this town. Josiah died in 1813, May 15th, aged 52 years, and his wife, Hester, in 1848, at the ripe age of 86 years. Both lie buried in the northwest corner of the old graveyard in this village. Josiah left four sons, Cor- nelius, Abm. J., Charles and Richard. The last named studied medicine and located in Rondout, where he became a very noted physician. Charles lived on part of the old homestead and built his house where his grandson, Watson, lived. Abm. J. lived for a time in the brick house of his father. One of Abm. J.'s sons, Edgar, became a doctor and settled in Kingston. Another, Norman, was educated at West Point Military Acad- emy and was in the service of the government a considerable time.
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HOUSE BUILT BY JOSIAH ELTING-THE OLDEST BRICK HOUSE IN THE TOWN
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We will now take up the history of Abram Elting's son Noah, who was born in 1763. He married Hannah Deyo and located at New Paltz Landing on a tract of 500 acres. His house was built near the ferry landing. He established the ferry to Poughkeepsie, which at first was propelled by oars and sails, giving place afterwards to horse power, and finally to steam as the propelling force. Noah died in 1813 and is buried in the old cemetery at Highland. His brother Henry, of whom we have previously spoken, died three years earlier and is buried in the same cemetery. Noah left a family of five sons, viz .: Abram, Henry D., Joseph, Philip and David. Abram commenced the freighting business by running a sloop to New York about the time of the close of the second war with England and he continued in the business for perhaps 40 years, his son Luther being latterly associated with him and the sloop giving place to a barge. Noah's son Philip erected the first buildings, in the present village of Highland, about 1825.
Going back now to the family of Abram's son Philip at New Paltz, who we have said lived about a mile north of this village and long carried 'on the mercantile business here, we find that he married Catharine Eltinge. They left a family of three sons, Moses, Mathusalem and Jesse, and five daughters, Maria, Rebecca, Dinah, Magdalen and Gertrude. Mathusalem occupied the homestead of his father up to the time of his death, since which time it has been occupied by the son, Solomon L. F.
Right here we will note a curious instance of heredity from a female ancestor. The Eltings are not generally noted for their large size, but, as we have stated, Abram Elting married Dinah, daughter of Hendricus DuBois. The family of Hen- dricus were noted for their goodly stature, a saying of an old
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negro being still remembered that more large people had prob- ably come out of his house than any other in the country. Now, among the descendants of Abram Elting and his wife, Dinah DuBois, are found to this day men of large size. The Eltings, not descended from this line, are not above the average in physical proportions.
THE HURLEY ELTINGES
The Hurley Eltinges are descended from Cornelius, the son of Josiah and brother of Roelif J., and Abram, who moved from New Paltz about the time of the Revolutionary war and located on a farm about a mile south of Kingston, which is still owned by the family. Cornelius Eltinge married Blandina Elmendorf and left a family of three sons, Solomon, Cornelius and Wilhelmus, and four daughters, Jane, who married Mat- thew Oliver; Polly, who married David Bevier; Blandina, who did not marry, and Katie, who married Dr. Peter Crispell. Two of Cornelius' sons, Wilhelmus and Cornelius, became ministers of the gospel. The first named located at Paramus, New Jersey. Cornelius located at Port Jervis. The son, Solomon, kept his father's homestead at Hurley and he has descendants still living at the place.
Rev. Wilhelmus Elting married Jane Houseman and they had three children, Maria, who married Cornelius Van Winkle, Jane V. W., who married Augustus Hasbrouck of Shawan- gunk, and Cornelius, who married Catharine Hardenburgh, daughter of Jacobus Hardenburgh of Marbletown.
We have now completed the history of the Eltings at New Paltz-the only family not of original Huguenot stock that settled here at an early date and increased and flourished at New Paltz.
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Before closing this chapter we will allude to the personal characteristics of the Eltings, as noted by the old people. They are an active, thrifty, energetic race, given to sociability and hospitality. They have been, almost without exception, up- right, moral and church-going people. Bluntness of speech and positiveness in dislikes and likes may be considered to some extent as family traits. A tendency to turn gray at a comparatively early age has been considered by the old people as a physical characteristic.
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CHAPTER XLIV
FAMILIES LIVING IN THE CONGREGATION BUT NOT IN THE PRECINCT OF NEW PALTZ
THE SCHOONMAKER FAMILY IN GARDINER
Hendrick Jochensen Schoonmaker, founder of the Schoon- maker family in America, was a native of Hamburg, Germany. He came to this country from Holland as lieutenant in the mili- tary service-of the Dutch East India Company, in 1654. He was sent with his company to Fort Orange (Albany), where he later became an innkeeper. In 1659 he was sent with his com- pany on order of Governor Stuyvesant to the Esopus (Kings- ton) to assist the settlers there in defending themselves against the Indians. He was so attracted by the beautiful lands in the Esopus country that on his return to Fort Orange he sold his property there and located among the people he had been sent to defend. He married, at Fort Orange, Elsie, daughter of Jan Janse Van Breestede. He died in 1681. He left five children, of whom the eldest, Jochem Hendrick, married Petronella Sleght in 1679. After her death he married Ann Hussey. He was one of the pioneer settlers of the town of Rochester and was one of the three trustees to whom a patent was granted in 1703. He died in 1713.
By his first wife he had four children. The eldest of these, Cornelius B., married, in 17II, Engeltje Roosa. They had three daughters and only one son, Cornelius, who married, in 1744, Arriantje Hornbeck of Rochester.
Cornelius settled on a large tract of land on the north side of Shawangunk, which he purchased from the James Henderson patent, which adjoined on the south the Zachariah Hoffman patent. He died in Shawangunk January 21, 1778.
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He had three sons : Cornelius C., Abraham and Isaac, all of whom located in what is still called Schoonmakertown, in the present town of Gardiner. The son Cornelius C. did not re- main in that locality. Abram and Isaac staid. Abram had a family of seven sons: John A., George, David, Moses, Selah, Cornelius and Abram. All of the sons, with probably one ex- ception, settled along the Marakill and all married and left children.
Isaac married Sarah DuBois. Their eldest child, Mathusa- lem, was baptized at New Paltz in 1783. Mathusalem lived at Tuthill. Isaac had four other children : Harriet, who married Goetcheous; Polley, who married Tjerick DeWitt; Abraham, who married Rachel Deyo, and Jacob I. The last named married Arriantje Schoonmaker, and after her death Ann Baird. Jacob I. carried on the blacksmith business at Libertyville, and afterwards put up a store building and long carried on the mercantile business at that place. He was a member of Assembly in 1828 and again in 1831. It was during his term of office that measures were taken to erect the first county poorhouse and he was one of the committee.
From the late Elihu Schoonmaker, who was a son of Jacob I., the information was obtained concerning the location of the Schoonmaker family in Gardiner.
THE RONK FAMILY
The ancestor of the Ronk family in Ulster county was John George de Ranke. He lived in Belgium near the French line and was educated for the ministry. About the year 1740, Bel- gium being under the dominion of Holland, having incurred the hostility of the government, de Ranke left the country and. fled to America. He married his wife, Clara Battie, on board the ship ..
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In 1750 he purchased of Frances Barbarie, daughter of Peter Barbarie, the patentee of that tract, 245 acres, at $2.50 an acre, on the Shawangunk Plains road. He built a log house on this tract by a big spring about the centre of the portion of this tract lying on the west side of the road, and afterwards a stone house on the extreme north part of the tract. This house was lately owned and occupied by Mr. Jacob Tears. In the same year (1750) he joined the church at New Paltz by letter and he was elected a deacon.
Some time afterwards de Ranke made a second purchase of Frances Barbarie amounting to 277 acres. Afterwards de Ranke made a purchase of land from James Erwin joining his previous purchases on the south and joining Dr. Phinney's farm.
Ronk's name and that of his wife appear at different times on the New Paltz church records as sponsors at the baptism of children, and in 1760 Ronk's name appears as sponsor at the baptism of his grandchild, Johannes Ostrander.
John George de Rank or Ronk (as it was afterwards written) left four sons, Laurents, John, Philip and Cornelius; also four daughters: Christina, who married Peter Ostrander; Mar- garet, who married Peter Pich; Janet, who married Ezekiel Masten, and Anna, who married Dr. Plum of Plattekill.
The two brothers, John and Philip Ronk, were at Fort Mont- gomery, when it was taken by the British in the Revolutionary war, but they escaped to the mountains and returned home.
The name of Cornelius Ronk appears as a private in the 4th Regiment, Ulster County Militia.
Laurents Ronk left but one child, a son named John George. He sold his father's farm and bought the place south of the Flint, where J. J. Van Steenbergh lived before emigrating to California.
John Ronk, one of the four brothers, married a Sinsabagh.
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He left several sons, one of whom, whose name was Joseph, kept the farm.
Laurents Ronk, the eldest son of John George, was one of the organizers of the church at New Hurley in 1770.
The name of his father, John George, does not appear in the church records until three or four years after the organization of the church, when he served several years as an elder. He was probably connected with the church at New Paltz and did not unite with the church at New Hurley at its first organiza- tion. The name in this church record is spelled in various ways-de Rank, Ranke, Rank, Rancke.
John George divided his land among his four sons, Laurents, John, Philip and Cornelius. The first named received five shillings as his birthright. He had only 100 acres of land from his father, but was given £800 in money. The daughters re- ceived £250 in money.
Laurents (who is the grandfather of the late A. M. Ronk of Brooklyn), lived in a stone house which he built, south of the New Hurley church on the road to Wallkill. John, the second son, built and lived in a stone house on the road to the Wallkill. This house was of late occupied by Mr. Sutton. Philip built and occupied a stone house, still standing, adjoining the Dr. Phinney place. Cornelius, the youngest son, kept his father's homestead. The houses of the four brothers are all still standing except that built by Laurents.
THE RELYEA FAMILY
The first mention we find of any Relyea is when the name of Dennis Relje appears as godfather at the baptism of a child of Hugo Freer and his wife, Mary LeRoy, in 1693. Dennis' wife's name was Joanna LeRoy. Probably she and Hugo Freer's wife were sisters. Dennis Reljea long occupied the
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house on the Hudson, just south of Juffrow's Hook, as the point was called, where the south bounds of the patent struck the river. He and his wife, Joanna LeRoy, had several chil- dren baptized in the Kingston church-David in 1703, Claudina in 1706, Hester in 1708.
Although the first Dennis Relje had children, it is learned from the manner in which the location is mentioned in the con- tract of 1744, that they did not occupy the house on the Hudson after his death, nor do we find any further mention of the family until in 1759, when David Relyea, doubtless the same whose christening is recorded in 1703, appears as godfather at the baptism of David, child of Dennis Relje and Marytje Van Vleit at Kingston. In 1771 Dennis and his wife, Marytje Van Vleit, joined the church at New Paltz. It was probably at about this time that Dennis located at New Hurley. In the list of sol- diers of the Revolution we find the names of Dennis, Peter, John and Simeon Relje. About this time the name of Simeon also appears in the New Paltz church book. In 1793 David Relyea and his wife, Lana Ostrander, joined the New Paltz church by letter from New Hurley. In 1795 Dennis Relyea was an elder in the New Paltz church.
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