Note: The following information was compiled by Sarah K Hermans, Regent, Chancellor Livingston, NSDAR, May 2015 and published in “44 Patriots of the American Revolution interred in the Rhinebeck Reformed Church Cemetery”. Provided by and used with permission of Sarah K Hermans

Peter De Witt

GRAVESTONE LOCATION:

Row 10 in the center toward the back to the right of his wife’s deteriorating stone.

REVOLUTIONARY WAR SERVICE:

PRIVATE: 3rd Reg’t Ulster Co. Militia (as Petrus DeWitt) [NYRC+S V1 p. 196]
CAPTAIN: Unsourced (possibly before the Rev.)

DAR ANCESTOR NUMBER: Not in DAR database

GENEALOGY:

Thanks to the papers of this man’s family being held at the New York State Library, we have a summary of his life readily at hand. He is not the same man as Dominie Petrus DeWitt, as the dominie preached until 1799, nine years after this man’s death on January 3rd, 1790.

“Petrus Dewitt, son of Tjerck and Anne (Pawling), was born July 19, 1722, died January 3, 1790, and was buried in the churchyard of the Reformed Dutch church at Rhinebeck. He resided in the town of Hyde Park, Dutchess County, New York, on the estate derived from his mother, being part of the Pawling patent, including the site of the present Staatsburg. He was a captain of militia, and the powder horn which he used at Ticonderoga is kept by his descendants [as of 1914]. He married, June 8, 1749, Rachel Radcliff, born December 14, 1723, died July 20, 1794, daughter of Joachim Radcliff. Children: Johannes or John..., Hillitje, born December 31, 1753, died at Rochester, Ulster County, New York, September 6, 1807, unmarried; Ann, October 26, 1762, married, December 22, 1782, Philip du Bois Bevier, baptized January 1, 1752, son of Louis and Esther (du Bois) Bevier.” [GFHSNY pp. 1241-1242]