Elting Biographies
From the History of Ulster County, 1880
Richard Eltinge, M.D. 1795 - 1878
Richard Eltinge, M.D. was a lineal descendant from
Roelif Eltinge, who came from Holland with the Dutch, and settled in the town of
Kingston, then called Wiltwyck. His son Roelif married Sarah, the daughter of
Abraham DuBois, June 18, 1703. Abraham DuBois settled on the site of New Paltz
and was the son of Louis DuBois, who with his wife, Catherine LeFevre, and
others, fled from France about 1650, 
on
account of religious persecutions. They went to Germany, stopped a short time a
place called the Paltz, situated on the Rhine, from whence, about the year 1660,
they came to Wiltwyck, now Kingston.
Richard Eltinge, son of Josiah Eltinge and Hester Brodhead,
was born at New Paltz, Ulster Co., May 8, 1795. He spent most of his minority in
his native town, where he received a good English education. While a young man
he came to Kingston, and commenced the study of medicine with Dr. H. Van
Hoevenburg, a prominent physician of that place. He subsequently attended
medical lectures in New York City, and settled in the practice of his profession
at what is now Ulster Park, in the town of Esopus, where, however, he only
remained about one year, and settled on a beautiful upland place on the bank of
the Hudson, near Port Ewen, in the same town, now owned and occupied by his
daughter, Mrs. A.L. Anderson. Here he resided until about 1859, having an
extensive and lucrative practice, reaching to the remotest parts of the county,
when he located in Roundout, where he remained in constant practice until nearly
the time of his death, which occurred Sept. 28, 1878. His practice extended
through a period of about threescore years, and he was familiarly known as
"Dr. Dick Eltinge." He was well known as one of the best skilled
physicians of his day. His large experience and varied practice made his counsel
of great value in cases of complicated disease, and his quick perception and
ready diagnosis of a difficult case commanded the confidence of not only the
people, but of the medical fraternity.
His knowledge of medicine and surgery was due more largely to
his experience and observation that to his early preliminary medical education,
and such was the retention of his memory that at the age of eighty-two he would
relate in detail the causes, effects, and complications of cases of disease that
he attended forty years before. This special characteristic enabled him to
utilize such knowledge in all subsequent practice, and gave him high rank in his
profession. He was known as the best bedside physician in the county, where, in
serious cases, he often gave his whole attention to the patient until a change
was wrought.
He was a man of indomitable perseverance, and possessed of
that resolution which overcomes every difficulty. His likes and dislikes were
strong, his action was independent, yet always guided by good judgment, and his
genial and unassuming ways won him many friends, and led him to be universally
esteemed by all who knew him.
He married, March, 1818, Elizabeth, daughter of Hon. Abraham
Hasbrouck of Kingston Landing. His children are Helen, wife of Charles Anderson;
Hester, wife of Abraham Sleght; Catherine A. L., wife of Capt. A.L. Anderson;
and Frances Eliza, wife of William Silkman. The mother of these children died
Nov. 6, 1865, aged sixty-five years.
Note: Some of the genealogical information appears to be incorrect.
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