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Tjerck Claessen DeWitt emigrated from Grootholdt in Zunderlandt to New Netherland in 1657 and bought a house in Beverwyck. In 1660 he exchanged his house for land at Wiltwyck, possession of the land to be given him on May 1, 1661. he was actually living at Wiltwyck in 1663 for in that year his daughter, Tjaatje (later the wife of Mattys Mattysen Van Keuren) was carried away captive by the Indians. In January 1669-70, Governor Lovelace issued a permit to Tjerck Claessen DeWitt which authorized him to: "erect a house and barne with convenient outhouses for his cattle upon his own land at Esopus, lying betwixt Hurley and Kingston;" for which land the permit recites that DeWitt had formerly had a grant from Colonel Nicoll and "in confidence whereof" DeWitt "hath provided all materials ready for the same." The permit also stated that for DeWitt to build as planned would not be "prejudicial to the towns adjacent but rather in tyme might prove a benefit and relief to such as should travail that way." It is evident from the permit that occupation by the DeWitts of the farm on the road from Kingston to Hurley dates from 1670. And apparently Tjerck Claessen acted at once upon the permission to build for in 1672 the Governor gave him a deed (equivalent to confirmation of title) which covered: "a parcel of bush land, together with a house, lot, orchard and calves' pasture, lying near Kingston in Esopus."
Tjerck Claessen DeWitt died in 1700, leaving a will by which he gave to his wife (Barbara Andriessen) life use of this property. After her death (which occurred in 1714), two of his sons were directed to hold his estate in trust for appraisal, following which was to be divided equally between his six sons and six daughters.
(See paragraph on Andries DeWitt in previous posting.)
Immediately after the accident to Captain Andries DeWitt, his eldest son, Tjerck (grandson to Tjerck Claessen DeWitt), on September 28, 1710, made a formal division of his estate. By the division, Tjerck himself was to receive: "the land and buildings in Kingston corporation devised by his grandfather to his father." Tjerck DeWitt (born 1683, died 1762) occupied the farm on Hurley Avenue, Kingston, and left behind him there an iron fireback, marked: T D W 1749; and an inscription on a barn in a barn as: T D W 1768. A later Tjerck (ancestor) who lived in the house dated a farn: T D W 1796, and put a brass knocker on a door, inscribed: T D W 1799. The house remained in the possession of the DeWitt family until 1875 when it was sold to John C. Suydam. The present owner is Mrs. Gertrude Suydam Smith, and for 20 years John H. Beatty has been the lessee.
Of the five sons (beside Andries) of the original Tjerck Claessen DeWitt, Jan and Jacob removed from Kingston to the town of Rochester, Ulster County; LUCAS died early and his sons went to the present town of Saugerties; Peek settled in Dutchess County; but of Tjerck Jr., nothing is known after the mention made of him in his father's will.
Captain Andries DeWitt's son, Tjerck, who inherited the homestead on Hurley Avenue, married in 1708 to Anna PAWLING and by so doing tied the DeWitt house to the Pawling homestead which stands four miles to the south on the same road. Tjerck and Anna (Pawling) DeWitt had a son, Petrus (born 1722), who went from his parents' home to Staatsburgh, Dutchess County, and whose son, John DeWitt, built the house in the town of Clinton, Dutchess County, shown in plate 116.
I hope this is helpful to you.
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