Notes
Mary DeWitt, “Aunt Mary” to my mother, compiled the first exhaustive genealogy to bring our branch of the DeWitts into the 20th century, linking it all the way back to Tjerck Claessen DeWitt. She printed an unknown number of copies of the genealogy, with information on 2,845 individuals. Most of it holds up under later scrutiny. She spent years gathering this information from all conceivable sources.
It is on Mary’s work that much of the initial DeWitt information on this site rests. Mary’s original papers were donated to the D.A.R. when she died, and the family no longer knows where the documentation behind her research has gone. [2022 Update: Very likely the papers were donated to the Genealogical Society of Bergen County [New Jersey], and much of what was in them is available on that organization’s Website, though it is still not 100% clear how many of the original notes were themselves preserved.] We still have the printed genealogies, but they include only names and dates. Any other detail, and all the corroborating evidence, has gone missing. It is the task of this generation to dig up the original material again, to document and reconfirm sources.
Nevertheless, Mary DeWitt’s work stands as a huge monument of research, tracing the descendants of one of the earliest European settlers in North America. The family has played a rich and often intriguing role in the history and growth of the United States.
Mary Veldran DeWitt carried on a steady and lively correspondence with researchers all over who shared an overlapping interest in various sections of the family. Below is one example:
Courtesy of the Matthew Ten Eyck DeWitt Family Collection
12/16/59
Dear De Witt,
Thought, perhaps, these working sheets might help your aunts a bit with the several Andries.
On your father’s site Col. Charles De Witt had a brother Capt. Andries J.
De Witt married to a Blandina Ten Eyck who fought in the Rev. The “J” shows him the son of Johannes and the Will proving same is in Will Book II page 25.
On your Mother’s side Col. Andries De Witt married to Rachel Du Bois is proved in Wills Page 151 Vol II at the end of Henry De Witt’s will in the small print.
The original Tjerck Claessen De Witt in this Country will is all written out in Will Book I pages 56, 57 and 58. Look at small print last paragraph for children.
You will notice that first two generations are the same in both lines.
The Andries De Witt married to Jannetje Egbertsen is a common ancestor to both lines the will book and Ulster County histories state he died accidently by two heavy beams falling on him.
Sincerely, Mary
Courtesy of the Matthew Ten Eyck DeWitt Family Collection
The “will book” Mary refers to is the Anjou collection of Ulster County wills (see Sources below).
The “working sheets” she refers to may be a fan chart similar to others I have seen in her handwriting, or they may have been other notes she compiled when working on each member of the family tree.
