Matthys Van Keuren

  Noted events in his life were:

• Military, 1670. I was an ensign in the Ulster militia in 1670

• Military, 1672. I became a captain in the militia in 1672. I was commissioned into the military at the level of Captain in 1685 when I fought against the French on the northern frontier.

• Property, 27 Dec 1703. I purhcased the Wiltwyck chapter House from Anthony Crispell. The Wiltwyck Chapter House stands on a triangular lot at the junction of Crown and Green Streets, within what was the original stockade area of Kingston, New York. It is one of the oldest stone houses in the city, having been built before 1695.

• Sold, 1730. ⁸²⁶ I sold the Wiltwyck House to Hendricus Sleight for £120. During the Revolutionary War, the house was damaged when the British burned Kingston because Henricus was president of our village. He later rebuilt the home. In 1782, George Washington paid a call on Mr. Sleight to pay his respects and gratitude. Hendricus Sleight conveyed the property to his daughter, Helen Jansen for $400, in 1784. This deed now hangs in the front entry hall of the Chapter house.

Matthys married Taatje Dewitt, daughter of Tjerck Claasen Nichols Dewitt and * Barbara Andriessen, in 1677 in Kingston, New York. (Taatje Dewitt was born in 1659 in Fort Orange, New York and died before 1724.)