Rachel Bogart Married Tunis Slingerland, a Rev. War veteran

The page from Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem that does NOT give Teunis' wife's name

This is supposed to be a series about Revolutionary War veterans "from" Bethlehem. And it will be. But first I have to deal with Tunis Slingerland's wife. It drives me crazy that her name is not listed in several of my usual sources.  

Please meet Rachel Bogart. As recorded by the First Reformed Church of Albany, she married Tunis W. Slingerland on May 31, 1777. 

They had one son that I know of. His name was Douw B. Slingerland, born in 1782.

Douw's baptismal record. Note the witnesses, Barent and Willempje Bogert. I think these might be Rachel's parents.

Tunis died in 1795 at the young age of 44 and is interred in the small burial plot off of Creble Road where Jane and William Winne are also interred. I've always wondered why he was buried there across the street from the Winne homestead.  I think he and Rachel must have lived nearby. The 1800 census provides a glimpse.

Above is page 195 and 196 of the 1800 census for Bethlehem. In order we have Solomon Russel, Myndert Bogart, Cornelius Winne, Peter Winne, Rachel Slingerland, William Winne, Daniel Winne, Mary Winne and John D. Winne. Notice the Bogart name, and so many Winnes (and we are going to skip over the distressing fact that most of those Winne's were slave holders). While we can't know for certain, this grouping suggests a close geographical connection to these families. Rachel's household has two women in it, one aged between 16 and 26, and one, likely Rachel herself, aged over 45. 

After this census, I lose track of Rachel.  One source suggests she died in 1833 but I can't find any documentation.  I did find her son Douw's last will and testament. He also died young, in 1836 at age 54, and distributed quite a bit of property. He mentions his wife Ann (who is also a Bogart) and the rest of his 6 children including a daughter named Rachel.  

All right, getting back to Tunis...

What is fun about Tunis (or Teunis as it is more commonly spelled*) is that there are three men named Teunis Slingerland from our area with documented service in the Revolutionary war. And, because families are complicated, one of them was loyalist.

Pop over to this blog post for some info on the Teunis who was a loyalist. You will also get some info on James Selkirk, another Revolutionary War veteran "from" Bethlehem.

https://bethlehemnyhistory.blogspot.com/2021/07/our-town-bethlehem-july-2021.html

Another Teunis is Captain Teunis A. Slingerland  (1722-1805). He and his wife Agnes Witbeck (1727-1811) are buried over in Jerusalem Cemetery in Feura Bush.  There are many other Slingerlands remembered there including Revolutionary War veterans Cornelius and Peter. We could get into the "what does it mean to be from Bethlehem" discussion again because none of these veterans appear on the Bethlehem list. Yet in many ways they were part of our town's history including the fact that the cemetery was in Bethlehem until 1832 when the Town of New Scotland was split off.  Anyway... Captain Teunis served in the Third Regiment of the Albany County Militia. 

Rachel's husband Tunis, born 1750, was the son of Wouter and Hester Slingerland.  According to New York and the Revolution, he was an enlisted man serving under Captain John Scott with the First Regiment of the Albany County Militia. And that is about all I know about Rachels' husband's service. 

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*You might be curious to know that Teunis is the Dutch form of the name Anthony