The Elting Family
Although there were no Eltings among the twelve
Patentees, the Elting family was an important one in the story of New Paltz. In
almost any one of the original families one finds a connection with the Dutch
Eltings.
Jan Elting came to America in 1657. By 1665 he
owned land on Long Island. When the British took over the colony he was unable
to cultivate his land and chose instead to travel north. He was a carpenter by
trade and in 1672 married Jacomijntje Cornelisdr Slecht in Kingston. He was
later one of the witnesses to the signing of the agreement with the Native
Americans in 1677 for the New Paltz Patent. He moved to Hurley, near Kingston,
where he became a prosperous farmer.
In the early 1700’s Roelif Elting came to New
Paltz. He was the eldest son of Jan Elting and is described as having come to
town "with a belt of gold about his waist." He married the daughter of
Abraham DuBois, the Patentee, in 1703. His brother Cornelius married her cousin
Rebecca.
Roelif and Sarah had seven children. Their son
Josiah Elting purchased the Bevier homestead from the children of Samuel Bevier
in 1760. Josiah was named as the most affluent man in New Paltz on the 1765 tax
list. He was also one of the most liberal subscribers to the Conferentia Church
which believed that Dutch Reformed Churches in this country should be
subordinate to the Classis of North Amsterdam. The Consistory of the New Paltz
Church held that they were not under allegiance to the ecclesiastical power of
any foreign country.
Josiah’s son Roelif J. Elting married Mary
Louw, the daughter of Rebecca Freer and Johannes M. Louw. The couple lived in
the Bevier-Elting house during the Revolutionary War. It was their son Ezekiel
who built the "1799 House" on Huguenot Street, now known as the
LeFevre House. This house is of stone with a brick front and stucco simulating
brick on the south facade. It originally had a hipped roof which was replaced
after the blizzard of 1888.
The Eltinge Family in the Netherlands, New York, and Maryland
Roelof Eltinge married Aeltje (surname unknown) in the
province of Drenthe, northern Netherlands. One of their sons, Jan Roelofsz
Eltinge, was born in the hamlet of Swightelaer (Zwiggelte), near the town of
Beijlen (Beilen) in that province on July 29, 1632. In the mid-1650’s Jan, a
carpenter by trade, renounced in favor of his elder brother any future claim on
his father’s farm and sailed for New Netherlands. He settled in Flatbush (now
Brooklyn) and in 1662 was one of the builders of the Reformed Church in that
village. It seems likely he was married during his years there, but if so, no
recorded information has survived. Jan Eltinge bought land in Flatbush in 1663,
but soon came into conflict with the English authorities and as a consequence
sold out and went up the Hudson River to Esopus, on the western side of the
river.
In Esopus, Jan Roelofsz Eltinge became a prominent citizen. If
he had married earlier, that wife had died, for in 1677 he married the widow
Jacomijntje Focken, daughter of Cornelis Barentsz Slecht and Trijntje Mathijsdr
Bosch, who had five children from her two previous marriages. First she was
married to Jan Kunst and their daughter, Heijltje married Nicolaas Roosevelt
(ancestor of both U.S. Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Delano
Roosevelt). In 1684 Jan was a justice of the Court of Sessions, and before 1686
he purchased additional land on the other side of the Hudson near Rhinebeck,
Dutchess County. In 1689 he was among the signers of the Oath of Allegiance. He
died in Ulster County about 1695.
Roelif Eltinge, first son of Jan and Jacomijntje, was born in
Ulster County, baptized October 27, 1678 and married, in 1703, Sarah, daughter
of Abraham DuBois, the Patentee, who was the son of Louis DuBois, the Patentee
of New Paltz, New York. He settled in New Paltz about 1720. Legend says Roelif
came from Kingston to New Paltz wearing a belt filled with gold. He lived on
Huguenot Street near the stone house of Isaiah Hasbrouck. He later moved south
of the town on land purchased from the DuBois’ and built a stone house there.
Roelif had four sons. Noah, Josiah, Abraham and Johannes, and
three daughters, Jacomyntje, Margaretta and Catrina. Noah and Nathaniel Lefevre
received a grant of 3000 acres from the government on both sides of the Walkill
River and the family members still own a major portion of the grant.
Josias (Josiah), baptized October 12, 1712, lived in the old
Eltinge house on Huguenot Street. It was built by Louis BeVier and purchased by
Josiah about 1735 - 1740. He had a daughter, Catherine, and four sons, Roelif
J., Abram, Cornelius and Solomon. Abram and Roelif J. remained in New Paltz.
Abram married Dinah DuBois. His son, Philip, his grandson, Mathusalem and his
great-grand-son, Solomon Lefevre Eltinge have all lived in the same Eltinge
home. Roelif J. married Maria Louw (Low) and kept the old Eltinge homestead and
his father’s mercantile business.
Cornelius Jans Eltinge, son of Jan and Jacomyntje Eltinge, was
born in Ulster County in 1681 and in 1704 Married Rebecca Van Meter. They
settled in Kingston, and in 1711 were friends of the Joist Hite family of
Kingston, and god-parents of one of the Hite daughters. By the mid-1730’s the
Eltinges had left New York for Frederick County, Maryland. Cornelius Jans
Eltinge died there in 1753, his will, dated April 26, 1751, was probated on
January 1, 1754 in Frederick County Court (Book A-1, 65).
Zara (Sarah) Eltinge, daughter of Cornelius and Rebecca
Eltinge, was born in Kingston, Ulster County, New York in 1715. She moved to
Frederick County, Maryland with her parents, where in 1737, she married John
Hite, the eldest son of Joist and Anna Marie Hite. They lived in Frederick
County, Virginia and eventually had six children. The date of Sarah Hite’s
death is not known.
Our thanks to Peter Ross Elting for the original text and to Douwe Elting
for updates and Dutch spelling.
