So many Winnes! John D. Winne

There are so many Winnes in Bethlehem history!

I've been trying to focus on Revolutionary War veterans William Winne and John D. Winne because they each have one of those blue and yellow historic markers.

John D Winne's marker getting a refresh August 2025

But I keep getting side tracked by a bunch of other Winnes.

Like Pieter D. Winne (1699-1759) and Rachel Van Allen Winne (1700-1775). Their old Dutch style farm house still stands on Creble Road. 

I took this photo in 2008.  It hasn't changed much in all of these years.

Or their son Daniel P. Winne's (1720-1800) house, that is currently at the Metropolitan Museum in N.Y.C. His wife's name is Jannetje DeForest (1722-1795). Follow the link for lots of good info on this type of architecture.

https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/the-american-wing/period-rooms/dutch-room

This image is from the MET website referenced above. It shows a "conjectural rendering of the Daniel Pieter Winne House" built in 1751. 

Or how about their ancestor Peter Winne (1609-1693) who came here in the 1650s? He was known as "de Vlamingh" which is Dutch for "the Flemming" because he came from Ghent in Flanders (a Dutch speaking area now in Belgium) and people from Flanders were known as Flemmings.  He leased a mill site from the Patroon in 1677 and the creek it was on became known as the Vloman Kill or the Flemming's Creek. We still know it by that name today.  Between his two wives, Pieter had 14 children, 2 with Aechie Van Schaick (1612-1647) and 12 with Tannetje Adams (1638-1697)

Or how about Barent Winne whose dock on the Hudson River was a hub of commercial activity in the late 1800s? Or Esley Winne who built the iconic Four Corners building with its Mansard roof line that is currently occupied by I Love Books? Or John L. Winne who was town supervisor in 1883? 

How about the fact that if you look at the modern map, we've got Winne Road, Winne Place and Barent Winnie Road. All in Bethlehem.

I often reference the book Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem. If you do a word search on "Winne" you come up with 397 hits. If you count up the first names in the index (it uses spellings Winne, Winnie and Winney) there are 140 of them (Abraham, Adaline...Susannah...Willis). Oh, and there are three different Winne family burial grounds.

That sure is a lot of Winnes! 

How about we get back to our Revolutionary War veterans, William and John D.?

From what I can piece together, I believe they were both born here in Bethlehem (remembering of course that there was not an actual Bethlehem until 1793).  It looks like William's brother was John's father, so uncle and nephew.

Lucky for us John D. Winne's Revolutionary War service is well documented in his pension application. Below is a picture of one of the pages. And also lucky for us, it has already transcribed,

Pop over here for details, https://revolutionarywarpensions.tripod.com/winne.htm  

(Note the line that starts with 1776 Capt. William Winne's Company in Col. Henry Quakenbo's Regiment - it looks like he served with his uncle for several tours of a few weeks at a time.) 

His service is poetically described in this obituary. (I found this posted on Ancestry but cannot find a citation. )  

Here are some excerpts:

Another Sire of the Revolution gone

John D. WINNE, esq., died on 30^th ult. at the residence of his son, William I. Winne, in South Pearl street, Albany, after an illness of about 3 weeks. He died [full of] years and usefulness, in the 79^th year of his age....  He was a Soldier of the Revolution and [faithfully] served his country and in those times “that tried [men’s] souls.” The heights of Saratoga and Ticonderoga record his prowess and his dangers...for he was no holiday patriot, but encountered privations and difficulties ...  After the peace he was elected a member of assembly for this county, ...he also evinced his incorruptible honesty and ... love of freedom. His memory will ever be [??] in the hearts of his relatives, his friends, his neighbors and his country.

John D. (1758-1837) was the son of Daniel P. Winne and Jannetje DeForest. He would have grown up in the house that is now down at the MET. He married Agnes Van Wie (her name is sometimes spelled in the Dutch way, Agnietje) at the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany on June 22, 1786.  They had two children baptized there, Jannetje in 1787 and Hendrick in 1789.  

A family tree posted on Ancestry reports two children Daniel, born 1791 and John I, born 1799, that I cannot find a record for. 

The documents pick up again with the Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem where John D. and Agnes are listed as having been received as members on December 19, 1795. They then had four more children baptized there: Maria in 1796, Abraham in 1800, William in 1803 and Unis in 1805. 

Another fun website out there is called Political Graveyard where, amongst 18 other Winnes of course, we find 

"Winne, John D. - of Albany County, N.Y. Member of New York state assembly from Albany county, 1814-15. Burial location unknown."

I do like the "burial location unknown part", because we do know where it is. Its off of Elm Avenue, in a wooded plot out beyond the field behind his historic marker.

Stay tuned for more on  John D's uncle William in the next post.

 

What does it mean to be a Revolutionary War veteran "from" Bethlehem?

What does it mean to be a Revolutionary War veteran "from" Bethlehem?

So, this is a question I have wrestled with.  What makes someone "from" a place when you have an official list of those from Bethlehem.  Especially veterans.

Was the person born here?

Raised here?

Enlisted here?

Served here?

Lived here before the war? Moved here after the war?

Died here?

Are buried here?

What are the qualifications for being on the list?

Since I needed a place to start, I fell back to the list in the back of Bethlehem Revisited being careful to add those that were in the addendum that was created after publication. You can read that list here: https://bethlehemnyhistory.blogspot.com/2025/06/revolutionary-war-veterans-list.html

I was just searching thru the book for info on the Winne family (William and John D. are veterans "from" Bethlehem") and came across these paragraphs. They are in chapter 4 Bethlehem in the New Nation, not in chapter 13 Military Heritage which is the one I've been focusing on.

SIDE NOTE: I realize you can't read the pages illustrated. Follow the link for a digital copy of the book. Page 85 https://www.bethpl.org/local-history/bethlehem-revisited-a-bicentennial-story-1793-1993/

In a couple of paragraphs simply labeled "War", the article lists four people in the 1840 census who live in Bethlehem who are receiving pensions for their service in the American Revolution. Does that not make them Revolutionary War veterans "from" Bethlehem? They are not on the list in the back of the book or the addendum. Or any DAR historic marker that I am aware of. 

Now I am curious about these folks too. I think I'll add them to the list!

Veterans receiving a Revolutionary War pension listed in the 1840 Census as living in Bethlehem are:

Conrad Goss (age 90), Jacob Laraway (82), Joshua Bailey (76) and Minardt P. Vandenberg (83)

Bethlehem Revisited also includes those from nearby New Scotland:

John Ramsay (81), Garrert J. Sager (87), Christopher Winne (80) and war widow Rachel Van Hosen (80).

If you are curious, pop over to John Ramsey's Find A Grave memorial.  It has a nice write up.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/16558702/john-ramsey

And here is a bit about Jacob Laraway from the Jan 30, 1847 New York Daily Herald.  Clearly he died in Bethlehem but is he "from" Bethlehem?

Jurian Hogan, sure, but who is Martha Hogan?

 In Howell and Tenney's Bi-Centennial History of Albany County, published in 1886, there is a passing reference to Revolutionary War veteran Jurian Hogan. It is found in the biography of his grandson, Jurian Winne. 

"Mr. Winne's mother was Susan Hogan, daughter of Jurian Hogan of Revolutionary fame, who was so well esteemed by the Liberal party that he was commissioned a Colonel, while the Tory party evinced their appreciation of his importance by offering a reward for his scalp. The Hogan farm of 300 acres joined the Winne farm, and the homestead is still in the possession of the family." 

While I couldn't find a reference to any bounties on Jurian Hogan's scalp, there is plenty of documentation regarding his service in the Revolution and life in general.  

He is a descendant of William Hogan who was born in Ireland and emigrated to Albany sometime before September 1692. That's when he married Albany native Martina Becker.  Pop over to the People of Colonial Albany website for more Hogan family  info https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/h/hogan.html

There is some interesting discussion there, especially about the spelling of Hogan, and the first name Jurian (often listed as George).  Usually the People of Colonial Albany is pretty good, but their listing for Jurrian Hogan, which I think is our Jurian, has some inconsistencies.  Namely it states that he was dead by 1799. Except I have a copy of his will (referenced in that article by the way, when it was filed in 1813) to which he "hereby set his hand and seal"  in front of witnesses on July 9, 1810.  He also turns up in various Bethlehem assessment rolls and the 1800 and 1810 census in Bethlehem. 

While I couldn't place the exact location of the Hogan family's 300 acres, I do know where the Jurian Winne farm, referenced in the quote above, was located.  That farm was in the vicinity of modern day Creble Road and Long Lane, now underneath the Selkirk Rail Yard. The Hogans would have been nearby. 

The Hogan family seemed to be oriented towards the modern day hamlet of Feura Bush (remember it was still Bethlehem until 1832). The family turns up often in the records of Jerusalem Reformed Church.  Jurain (listed as George in the index but Jurian in the transcription) and his wife Hannah White had several children baptized there. Their children continued on with that church, including son Garrit Hogan & his wife Sofia Flansburgh (they had many children baptized there -seven if I am counting correctly) and the above mentioned Susan Hogan and her husband Francis Winne. Their son, Jurian Winne, was baptized there March 23, 1816. 

Sophia Flansburgh Hogan 1790-1871 (Findagrave)

Gerrit Hogan 1783-1848 (Findagrave)

Also in this book of vital records from the Jerusalem Reformed Church is a reference to a man named Prince Hogan. His death on February 12, 1872, age about 70 years, is listed under the "Death of Black People" section. I found Prince in the 1855 NY census in Bethlehem  listed as a Black male, age 46, working as a servant in household of Peter and Jane Niver (and their 8 kids!). The census reports he had lived in this town for 46 years. I interpret that to mean he was born here, around 1802 or 1809. Which means he was born a free person. Which makes me wonder about his parents and why he has the last name of Hogan.

Well, it turns out that the Hogans did enslave people. In 1800, Jurian's household of 16 people included 5 slaves. In 1810, his household included 2 free Blacks and 3 slaves. In addition, his will dated 1810,  bequeathed to daughter Mary Ann "a Negro girl named Bett" and to daughter Elosa "a Negro girl named Ginn."  Jurian Hogan also recorded the February 23, 1806 birth of a Black girl named Bett in the town record book. 

Jurain was involved in town life, and was appointed as one of the town's first Overseers of the Highway in 1794. His son Garrit was the more prominent figure having served as  Bethlehem Town Supervisor and Town Clerk, in the New York Assembly and, as one article put it, "other offices of public trust."

And who was Martha Hogan? The name turned up when I flipped the page from Jurain Hogan's war service record with G. Vanden Bergh's Regiment Albany Militia. There on the next page was the name Martha Hogan.  

Of course my mind jumped to "a woman! what?" because the word is clearly Martha.  I also found it in a different document "A List of the Names of the men Belonging To Captain William Winne on the west Side of the River" 

So, over to Google where AI told me that "while the name Martha is predominately and historically associated with females, there is evidence of its rare usage as a male name, particularly in the United States." Huh. My weird fun fact for the day.  Oh, and to tidy things up, the People of Colonial Albany listing for Jurian mentions that he had a brother named Marte or Martin. So there you go. 

(Also on this list is John D. Winne who we'll get to for the next blog post.)

George Colenburg, another man of mystery

Who the heck was George Colenburg?

Finding information on this man has been very frustrating! 

The name is spelled in many variations - Colenberg, Colenbergh, Colonburgh, Colonburough, etc. plus many versions with a double L like Collenburg.

He shows up on the list of names published in Bethlehem Revisited as a veteran of the American Revolution from Bethlehem. 

He shows up in the 1800 census in Bethlehem in a household of 5, all free white persons, 1 male ages 16-26, 1 male over age 45, 2 females 16-26 and 1 female over 45. 

Also in the 1820 census in Bethlehem in a household of 3, all free white persons, a male 16-25, a male 45 and over and 1 female over 45.

George shows up in the Red Book (The Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem 1698-1880) only for those census reports. Nothing in the church records or burial records.

A Jacob Colonbrough shows up in the 1830 census in a household of 2 elderly, free white people, 1 female over 50 but under 60 and a male over 70 but under 80.

Also in the Red Book is a John Colenbergh listed as a member of the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem in 1810.

And that is about it.  Can't find anything on Ancestry or Find A Grave, or Billion Graves, or Google books. He's not in New York in the Revolution. Or on the online records at the National Archive. And believe me I used all sorts of name spellings, and dates and places to mix it up to see if anything turns up.

One (!!!) intriguing bit turned up on Ancestry and that is a record from the Reformed Church in Kinderhook for the baptism of Johannes Colenburg, son of Johan Colenburg and Claratje Bowle, on September 23, 1781. 

I'm not even finding much to speculate on to make up a story about George!

My next step is to reach out to the writers of Bethlehem Revisited to see where they got their information because I have not been able to confirm George's service.

In the meantime, the internet kept pointing me to Dutch Old Master painter Christiaen van Colenbergh.  So please do enjoy his painting of a boy and his dog while I do some further research.

Image: Christiaen van Colenbergh (Dutch, before 1635–after 1688), “Portrait of a Small Boy,” 1670, oil on canvas, 42 3/4 × 33 1/4 in. (108.6 × 84.5 cm), Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wiesenberger, 1956.409, Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Revolutionary War Veterans - the List

For those of you keeping track...

In my on going series about Bethlehem folks impacted by the American  Revolution, I have been working off of the list below compiled from Bethlehem Revisited and the DAR historic markers. 

Becker, Dirck

Becker, Wouter

Bender, Christian

Bratt, Peter A.

Boice, Peter

Britt, Frederick

Callanan, Patrick

Colenburg, George

Conning, Andrew

Glen, Cornelius

Hogan, George

Jolly, Hugh

Leonard, John

Murdock, Zimri

Nicoll, Francis

Niver, David

Oliver, Aaron

Oliver, John

Russell, Solomon

Sager, John

Selkirk, James

Sill, Richard

Slingerland, Abraham

Slingerland, Tunis

Smith, Caleb

Soop, Conrad

Staats, Barent

Vandenbergh, Gerrit

Vanderzee, Cornelius

Van Wie, Arie

Van Wie, John

Van Wie, Peter

Winne, John

Winne, William

Eunice and Arie Van Wie

With the sesquicentennial of the American Revolution underway, I am posting about the untold stories of Bethlehem people impacted by the war.

This is a series about Bethlehem's Revolutionary War veterans and Bethlehem folks during the Revolutionary War era.  

And Arie Van Wie is recognized as one of them having served with Quakenbo's Regiment of the Albany County Militia (also known as the Third Regiment).  He was baptized at First Church in Albany on December 14, 1760, the son of Henrick Van Wie and Johanna Gardenier.   You might be familiar with Bethlehem's Van Wies Point area. The large Van Wie family have been out and about here for generations.  Just in Quakenbo's Regiment alone, there are 10 different Van Wie men listed. 

Van Wies Point boasts two historic markers dedicated to its eponymous family.

Interestingly Van Wie's service in the Albany County Militia was in 1786, the Treaty of Paris that ended the war was signed September 3, 1783. Also of interest, some documents list him as a sergeant, like this one, others a lieutenant, and another as a quartermaster.

Mr. Van Wie's name is spelled many ways across the historic record including Arie, Aurie, Aurey, Ary and Andries. 

The 1799 assessment role for Bethlehem lists Arie and Henrick Van Wie (probably his father) with a house and farm worth $5,716 and personal property of $1,015. Those are pretty high numbers for Bethlehem in 1799.  Sadly, the Van Wie's were products of their time. The 1800 U.S. census indicates Arie had a household of 17, 14 of whom were enslaved people. 

But I got intrigued by Eunice Walden, who married Arie Van Wie at the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem in July 1800.  

According to several sources, like Find a Grave and Ancestry, and our very own book Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem, Eunice is the daughter of Nathen and Patience Walden. Those internet references also assert the family is from Nantucket. In Nantucket the last name is spelled Waldron, in New York its Walden.  From the sources I can find from the comfort of my couch, things are a bit murky, but plausible about Eunice being from Nantucket.

The Nantucket Historical Association has a database called the Barney Genealogical Record and there are no Waldens in it, but there are plenty of Waldrons including Nathan and his second wife Patience Russell and their daughter Eunice. 

(Side note: Nathan's first wife was Eunice Russell. Were the wives siblings? Cousins? Was daughter Eunice named after his first wife?) 

It reports that Eunice was born September 16, 1775 and that she first married a Mr. Rich and then a Mr. Le Van and they lived in Bethlehem.

This is the same information on an 1800 Census transcription that says Eunice (Lee Van) was 25 years old, born September 16 and lived in Bethlehem (with the word Baltimore crossed out).  I also found a copy of Nathan's will on Ancestry from 1798 that lists daughter Eunice, and his beloved wife Patience. 

(sorry I couldn't get a better image off of Ancestry)

Lee Van

Van Wie

I guess those names are close.

A sticking point is the birth date, September 16, 1775.

The gravestone transcription in the Records of the People of Bethlehem was taken in the 1950s by the Thayers (back when you think the stone would be more readable than today) and it says Eunice died March 22, 1807 aged 52 years, 6 months, 7 days.  When I saw the stone a few days ago it certainly looked like age 52.  Using a handy gravestone birth day calculator, that makes Eunice birthday September 15, 1754 which is about 20 years off the other reported birthday. Maybe the stonecutter made a mistake? Was she only 32-ish when she died?  That would also mean that when they got married in 1800, Arie was 40 and she was 25.  (And she had a first husband back on Nantucket if those records are to be believed).

Now my other bit of speculation is that I found Eunice's brother Robert buried in Hudson, New York.  

And Hudson and Nantucket have strong ties going back generations in the whaling industry. Read more here https://www.hrmm.org/history-blog/whaling-on-the-hudson

 

Eunice and Arie Van Wie's double marker at the Nicoll Sill Burial Ground, June 12, 2025.
They died just three months apart in 1807. 
The inscriptions are now barely legible. 

Nathen Walden's stone is right next to his daughter Eunice's.

Now the story I like to tell myself, and I am completely making this up, is that Eunice traveled from Nantucket to Hudson to spend some time with her brother, maybe after the tragic death of her first husband.  There she met a charming older man named Arie. They, of course, fell in love and got married at his home located on the river just north of Hudson in the little town of Bethlehem.  They had a few happy years together but were not blessed with children.  Eunice's parents Patience and Nathan, came to visit in the fall of 1806, but there was much sickness going around. Her father died that September and they buried him in the local cemetery. Patience returned to Nantucket.  That winter, in March 1807, Eunice died followed by her beloved Arie that June.  Word reached her mother and brothers and sisters in Nantucket, where they remembered Eunice fondly, but having never met Aire, they often got his name wrong. 

Anyway, like any good family story, there is probably much more to it than my simple imaginings.  

Cornelius Glen - It's complicated

With the sesquicentennial of the American Revolution underway, I plan to post more often about the untold stories of Bethlehem people impacted by the war. 

Conveniently, Revolutionary War veteran Cornelius Glen has a write up with the People of Colonial Albany project.  Pop over here and read it.  I'll wait...

https://exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/g/coglen4920.html

There are some interesting points made in this biography. Cornelius was born in 1741 and baptized November 1 of that year at the Dutch Reformed Church, Albany (Side note, today the church is known as The First Church in Albany because they were, quite literally, the first one, established in 1642). He was the son of Jacob Glen and Elizabeth Cuyler. The Glens and Cuylers were well connected families, the Glens being particular famous in the Schenectady/Scotia area -you might have heard of the Glen Sanders Mansion.  Click thru some of the links on the People biography for interesting bits of info on the families, including a picture of where Cornelis likely grew up at the corner of Steuben Street and Chapel Street in Albany. 

Cornelius married Elizabeth Nicoll in 1764, also at the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany.  Elizabeth, daughter of Rensselaer and Elizabeth (Salisbury) Nicoll, grew up in Bethlehem House, the old (circa 1730) brick home that still stands across the street from the cemetery where she and her husband Cornelis were laid to rest. The Nicolls were also prosperous and well connected. 

The plaque at the Nicoll Sill Cemetery that lists Revolutionary War Veterans buried there.  

The view of Bethlehem House taken from the cemetery. 

Cornelius and Elizabeth made their home in Albany and its nearby environs. The 1790 census had them in Albany, Ward 3 while the 1800 has them in Watervliet, Albany. (Side note: remember Bethlehem as an official town was erected out of the town of Watervliet in 1793. Watervliet was basically all of modern Albany County that was not the actual city. Another example is the town of Guilderland was erected in 1803 from Watervliet). It does not appear that they had any children.

What they did have were slaves. The 1790 and 1800 Census confirm that the Glen's enslaved people during those years, six in 1790 and eight in 1800. One wonders about that 1800 Census. There are 12 people in the household, four were white people over the age of 45 (Cornelius and Elizabeth plus two others.) and eight slaves. Ancestry notes that the number of household over the age of 25 is four. That would mean that all of the enslaved people are aged 25 and younger.  The 1810 census captures Elizabeth when she is head of household (Cornelius had died in March 1810) enslaving five people. 

I easily found Elizabeth's will from 1812 on Ancestry (still looking for Cornelius'). She left a variety of assets to her niece Elizabeth Nicoll Sill Ludlow (daughter of her brother Francis) and various other nephews on her Nicoll family side.  Assets included shares of the Albany & Bethlehem Turnpike and the Bethlehem & Green Turnpike, stock in the Albany Bank, her pew at the "North Dutch Church" and her plate and household furniture. After a long list of bequeaths, this phrase stopped me cold

"And I hereby charge my said Nephews with the payment of five dollars, each on the fifteenth days of May and November yearly & every year for the purchase of Clothing for my old black woman during her natural life."

This person, an old Black woman who was important enough to have been given a bequest, is not even named. 

Slavery was very much a fact of life for people living in Bethlehem in those early days. New York's Gradual Emancipation Act was not enacted until July 4, 1799, and due to its gradual nature, Black people were still enslaved in New York until 1827.

Back to Cornelius and his Revolutionary War service.  As everyone did, Cornelius had to make a choice, Loyalist or Patriot?  As noted in the People of Colonial Albany biography, in July of 1778 he refused to sign an oath of allegiance to the Patriot cause which resulted in his arrest and being threatened with banishment behind British lines. However, he later did take the oath and served with a city regiment of the Albany County militia and was granted land bounty rights.

What is interesting to me is his waffling given the position of his brothers, John Glen (1735-1828) and Col. Henry Glen (1739-1814). A Schenectady County history book that includes a genealogy of the Glen family describes these two as follows: Both of these Glens were ardent and stirring patriots of the Revolution and highly esteemed personal friends of General Washington. On all occasions, when the older brother was quartermaster, the younger brother was his deputy.

Pop over here to read the whole page, which starts with his parents but does not include any mention of our Cornelius. 

https://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resources/yates/gen-glen.html

Photo from the Historical Marker Database, taken in 2006

I am so curious, did Cornelius and Elizabeth meet George Washington at his brother's home?

Cornelius Glenn (1741-1810) image from Findagrave

Elizabeth Nicoll Glen (1747-1812) image from Findagrave

Caleb Smith we have a math problem

 With the sesquicentennial of the American Revolution underway, I plan to post more often about the untold stories of Bethlehem people impacted by the war.

Down at the Nicoll Sill Cemetery there is a plaque that the women of the DAR installed. It lists those remembered in the cemetery who were veterans of the Revolutionary War. One of those is 

CALEB SMITH
2ND REGT. WESTCHESTER CO. MILITIA

Unlike other names on the plaque (Jolly, Nicoll, Selkirk, Sill and Van Wie), Caleb Smith is not one that I think of as a familiar Bethlehem name. 

What could I find out about him? 

I soon ran into a math problem.  In the cemetery there is defiantly is a stone for Caleb Smith. It reads that he died September 13, 1833 in his 63rd year.  Did you do that math? That means he was born about 1770.  The years of the American Revolution are defined as 1775 to 1783. I don't think litttle Caleb was off fighting the Red Coats, but maybe as a drummer boy late in the war - he would have been 13 in 1783.

Caleb Smith's stone - picture from Find A Grave

The book New York in the Revolution has six entries for Caleb Smith, including Caleb Smith and Caleb Smith, Jr. in the Westchester County Militia Second Regiment under Col. Thomas Thomas. Those two are also found in Westchester County's Fourth Regiment under Col. Thaddeus Crane. 

Is that Caleb Smith Junior our Caleb?  Further research is needed to find out what records the local DAR chapter used to connect the Caleb buried in Bethlehem with the Caleb who served in the militia. All the looking I did on line did not turn up a definitive connection. 

I did turn up some interesting items about our Caleb, at least I think it is our Caleb as the name Caleb Smith is more common than I thought it would be.  

In the 1790 census, there is a Caleb Smith living in Rensselaerwick (the precursor to Bethlehem) and also one living in nearby Coxsackie. (And a Senior and Junior in North Salem in Westchester County which might be those Revolutionary War veterans.) 

Caleb Smith is clearly in Bethlehem in the 1810 and 1830 census.

Church records indicate Caleb Smith and Magdalen Fleman had one son, Bartholomew, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of Coeymans on July 30, 1797.  

Two children of Caleb Smith and Magdalen Flemming were baptized at the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem, Francis Nicoll on June 3, 1810 and Catharine Tiny on August 28, 1812. Catharine died December 13, 1829 aged 17 years, 3 months and 18 days and is buried near her father at the Nicoll Sill Cemetery. Daughter Jane Ann is also buried there. She died July 4, 1823, aged 15 years and 8 months. I couldn't find a record of her baptism. 

And just to spice things up, records indicate that Caleb Smith and Magdalen Frothingham  had a son Bartholomew baptized at Albany's First Presbyterian church on July 5, 1801. 

Really, how many Bartholomew Smiths can there be? Maybe the first one died young and they re-used the name? And the spelling of Magdalen's last name is all over the place (Flehman, Flemming, Hemming, probably Frothingham too)

I did turn up an obituary for the Reverend William I. Smith published in 1896 that read he was "the son of Bartholomew Smith of Bethlehem and Margret Witbeck. When yet a boy his parents moved to Castleton".  Reverend Will was born about 1840, so at least that math adds up.

Oh, and Bartholomew Smith is listed as a member of the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem on June 22, 1822. 

And that's all I've got about Caleb Smith of Bethlehem, Revolutionary War veteran, or not, as the case may by.

Zimri Murdock

With the sesquicentennial of the American Revolution underway, I plan to post more often about the untold stories of Bethlehem people impacted by the war.

Today's story is about Revolutionary War veteran Zimri Murdock who is remembered at the Nicoll Sill Cemetery in the Cedar Hill section of Bethlehem. 

In 1778, he served in the 5th Regiment of the Duchess County Militia. 

Zimri was born in 1760, the son of John Murdock and Jerusha Hatch. John and Jerusha married in Preston, Connecticut on Janaury 20, 1757. We know Zimri's parentage because, conveniently, there is a book entitled Murdock Genealogy: Robert Murdock of Roxbury Massachusetts and Some of his Descendants compiled by Joseph P. Murdock in 1925. While it not for certain that Zimri is a direct descendant of said Robert, he is listed in a section called Other Lines.

The book also lists his siblings, all 12 of them, including brothers Zerah and Seymour who both served in Dutchess County militia regiments during the Revolution. 

I couldn't find any documentation that Zimri had a wife or children, or even how he ended up in Bethlehem. Sadly the early censuses do not provide that level of detail.  In the 1790 census he is living at Pawling, New York in a house hold of five including 3 males over 16 and 2 females. In 1800 he is in Brooklyn, Windham County, Connecticut, in a household of 6 people. 

In 1810 he is in Bethlehem in a household of 13 as follows: 3 males under 10, 2 males ages 16-25, 1 male 26-44, 2 males over age 45, 1 female under age 10, 2 females aged 16-25, 1 female aged 26-44 and 1 female over 45.  Since Zimri is listed individually, we know he is the head of household, but how all of these people are related is a mystery.  

At the cemetery in Cedar Hill, Zimri is the only Murdock buried there. His stone is very nice and inscribed "In Memory of Zimri Murdock who departed this life February 15, 1813 in his 53rd year of age" followed by a poem. I did find his brother Zerah (thank you distinctive names!).  He died in 1822 and is now interred at Albany Rural Cemetery in the First Universal Church Plot. 

A few more tidbits about Zimri. 

He ran the Union Store at Poughkeepsie in 1794 that had a large load of rock salt to sell.

In 1802,  he was enough in debt that his creditors ran ads in the Poughkeepsie newspapers.

In 1803 he was an investor in the Norwich and Woodstock Turnpike Company (Connecticut)

In the book Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem there is an entry recording the December 31, 1812 marriage of Ebenezer Murdock [Moordock] to Polly Dobbs at the First Reformed Church of Bethlehem.  The name Ebenezer turns up often in the Murdock genealogy book.  I am thinking he must be related to either Zimri or Zerah. 

Zimri's name and death date is listed in  a record of New York Wills and Probate Records. A trip to the Albany County Hall of Records should turn up more details on that, plus maybe land records.

 

Those Z names,  Zimri and Zerah had a sister named Zerviah, are old Hebrew names. 

And finally, Zimri and his family are very very distant cousins of mine - really!

In that same Murdock genealogy book, there is an entry for Elisha Murdock (1765-1826) and Martha Perkins (1767-1835) of Carver, Massachusetts.  These good folks are my 5th great grand parents.

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The Revolutionary War story of Elizabeth Becker Soop

 With the sesquicentennial of the American Revolution underway, I hope to post more often about the untold stories of Bethlehem people impacted by the war.  

Which brings me to Elizabeth Becker Soop (born about 1754, died 1842) and her husband Conradt Soop (1745 to1847 - and yes you read that right - he was 102 when he died).

Both Elizabeth and Conradt's ancestors were part of the German Palatine movement of immigrants from Germany to the Schoharie Valley in the early 1700s.  It is there that they met and married in May of 1774. Not long after the wedding, the couple acquired land in Bethlehem and began to establish the family farm.  While the Schoharie Valley was practically "wilderness" back then, Bethlehem at least had close proximity to Albany so was a bit more "settled", but farmsteads were still few and far between in 1774. (Bethlehem itself would not become a town until 1793.)

And then, in 1776, as one biography put it, Conradt "and his young wife had scarcely become settled here [Bethlehem] when he was called to shoulder his musket to fight in that war which “tried men’s souls.”

There is a good bit of information out there about Conrad's Revolutionary War service.   He served several tours as a private between 1776 and 1780 in the New York Militia under various officers including Capt. Jurian Hogan and Colonel Vandenburgh. 

One can even read Conradt's own words in his war pension application. In his initial tour in 1776 he wrote "I was enrolled as a private in a militia Company in whereof Albert VanDerZee was Captain and Gerrit Vandenburgh was Colonel of the regiment, at Bethlehem and in the year 1776 I marched under Capt. VanDerZee from Bethlehem to Saratoga, where I was employed in assisting to erect barracks for the troops that were there." He then describes other terms of service including time in Schenectady and  Schoharie.

While Conradt was serving his deployments, away for weeks and months at a time, Elizabeth was home in Bethlehem keeping up the farm. 

Conradt's biography in Landmarks of Albany County (published by Amasa Parker in 1897) was written by a grandson. He wrote glowingly about the couple's life summing up with "They lived eventful and Christian lives, and died honored and respected by their neighbors." The grandson heard many reminiscences , but the one he chose to publish was about his grandmother and her time in Bethlehem during the Revolution, home on an isolated farm. Let me just quote him.

"When he [Conradt] was away in the army his wife [Elizabeth], wishing to visit her parents in Schoharie, saddled her horse with a sheep-skin, and made the journey through an almost unbroken wilderness, where Brant and Butler, with their band of Tories and Indians were on the warpath, pillaging, burning and often murdering. She quite frequently made this journey of over eighty miles, unprotected and was never harmed. Who is the dame of the present day who would undertake a similar journey?"

Riding alone to visit her parents, or perhaps even her husband during one of his assignments to the garrison at Schoharie, shows an admirable determination on Elizabeth's part.  While sounding exaggerated in the writer's late 19th century tone (was it really 80 miles???), it was a dangerous journey.

Indeed, who is the dame?   

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You can read more about the loyalist regiment of Butler's Rangers on their wiki page. They were certainly known for their violent raids in the Schoharie and Mohawk Valleys.

Other information we know about Elizabeth is that she had at least four children beginning with Mary (1782-1861), then Jacob (1786-1868), Frederick (1790-1876) and John (1793-1874) all of whom lived in and around Bethlehem. She is part of the Becker family known for the naming of Becker's Corners. The Soop family was long connected to Bethlehem history turning up in all sorts of documentary evidence including census reports, tax rolls and newspaper clippings. 

Above is the 1866 Beers map with Soop family properties circled.  We believe that the one on left, F. Soop, is Elizabeth and Conradt's original farm. A farm house, barn and various outbuildings are still there.