Recently, the Bethlehem Historical Historical Association hosted Michael Aikey who spoke about Joseph Bettys: Revolutionary War Patriot, Loyalist and Desperado.* It was fascinating. Turns out Bettys had some remarkable connections to our local area.
This was mostly during the spring and summer of 1781 when Bettys was scurrying around the Helderbergs, New Scotland and Bethlehem trying to round up support for the Loyalist cause. Aikey specifically mentioned that Jellis LeGrange, a Loyalist, went to the Commissioners for detecting and defeating conspiracies to report that Bettys was in the New Scotland area. And why would Jellis do that, turn in another Loyalist? Aikey reported that it was because Bettys had ran off with Jellis' daughter Desdemona. Oh, there is a story there I thought.
To dig a little deeper, first I turned to the Minutes of the Commissioners for detecting and defeating conspiracies in the state of New York: Albany county session, 1778-1781.**
The index sums up Bettys' (spelled Bettis in the book) activity. Below, I have transcribed them word for word except for the page numbers. They are in chronological order as Bettis name came up in the committee meeting :
Bettis, Joseph (Joe), British emissary,
visits New Scotland
visits west district of Rensselaerwyck Manor
person hired to apprehend him
recruiting for enemy
aid of miliary sought for his capture
plot of negroes concerted with
offer of slave to give information about
persons who have harbored him to be apprehended
lurking in Helderbergs
discharged prisoner to give information about
attempt to capture him in Helderbergs
engaged in recruiting
person arrested for harboring
returns from Canada
continental troops to attempt to capture
young man returns to Canada with
person confined for harboring
his brother-in-law confined
"returns from Canada" and "continental troops attempt to capture" are the ones that include Jellis LeGrange.
Here are the sections - hope you can read them
Couple of interesting items to note - Jellis is requesting to come before the commission to report that Bettis is in the area, and, if Jellis provides more info, the board will use its influence to "procure his liberation from confinement." To me, this confirms that Jellis was a Loyalist under house arrest. Then Christian Lagrange comes into the picture reporting that Bettis was at his house that very day. The commissioners then requested that Continental troops under Col. Cortland to set off to apprehend Bettis.
No mention at all of a daughter.
Turning to Aikey's original article, after Bettis returned to Canada and the royal fort at St. John's he was restricted to the fort for "refusing to give up his Desdemona." There is also a reference to his "female recruit."*** Aikey leaves out how he knows that Bettis' Desdemona is a daughter of Jellis Legrange. I would love to find that reference!
So who is Jellis LeGrange? As you can imagine, there are not many men named Jellis in the records. The LeGrange family genealogy I consulted had exactly two, one of whose dates are not appropriate (this Jellis was born in 1670 and died in 1710). His grandson, born 1728 might be, but there is conflicting information about him.
Some notes then we'll try and draw a conclusion.
Jellis was under house arrest for loyalty to the crown in the summer of 1781 at his home which was probably on the land his ancestors acquired in the late 1600s now in the modern day area of the Vista Technology Park in the towns of Bethlehem and New Scotland.
He was baptized in 1728 in New Jersey. His parents were Christian and Catlynte. He married Jenneke Molenaer and they had six children (Catlyntje, Christian, Susanna, Ante, Jacobus, Peter and Elizabeth). All of these children appear to have been born (or baptized at least) in New Jersey. One source said that he died sometime before 1796 because that is the year his wife remarried.
DAR records (under the name Jellis De La Grange) indicate that the descendants of his son Peter entered the DAR based on the record of Jellis' service in the Patriot cause found in Fernow's book stating that he served as a Lieutenant in Capt. Abraham Slingerlandt's regiment of the Albany County Militia. This info conflicts with the New York in the Revolution book that has Jellis LaGrange listed under Albany County's Third Regiment Land Bounty Rights.
Born in 1728, he would have been in his 50s (or there abouts) during the war years. The DAR record indicates he died in Janaury 1777 (online I cannot see what the documentation is for that date) and I don't think it was his ghost haunting the Conspiracy Commissioners.
So, we are left with questions (again!). Is this the correct Jellis with changing loyalties? Maybe this is not the correct Jellis at all and there is another one that I am not aware of. Or maybe there was another LeGrange man who had a middle name of Jellis and that is the name he went by. It is all very murky.
And which daughter ran off with Bettys (Bettis)? From this short analysis, we know a woman did. What is her story? I really want to know!
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* The recording will be up soon on the Bethlehem Public Library's YouTube channel. Read Aikey's article here:
https://allthingsliberty.com/2017/10/joseph-bettys-revolutionary-war-patriot-traitor-desperado/
**Read it here: https://archive.org/details/minutesofcommiss0000newy/page/n5/mode/2up?q=Jolly
*** These quotes are from the book King's Men by Mary B. Fryer. Desdemona, I am sure, is an allusion to Shakespeare's Othello, not the actual name of Bettis' "female recruit."
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