VAN PELT HOUSE



18th Avenue & 81st Street

	Aert Teunis VAN PELT took the oath of allegiance in New Utrecht in 1687 
as a native of the Province of New York. 

	Aert's father was Tonis Jansen Lanen VAN PEELT as the individual signed his name. 
VAN PEELT signified from the morass. He claimed he was from Liege in the Netherlands. 
He arrived in New Amsterdam in 1663 with his wife Grietje JANS and their six sons. He went 
to New Utrecht where he bought land in 1675 and where he was known as Tonis the Fisher. 
His second wife, whom he married 6 August 1696, was Gertrude JANSE, widow of John OTTER. 

	At the time Aert Teunis VAN PELT took the oath of allegiance he owned Plantation 11 
in New Utrecht, which he had bought in 1677. In 1694, he added to the property by purchasing 
Plantation 10 from Hendrick Mathysen SMACK. 

	It was on this plot that he built a small fieldstone house beside the bend in the 
old New Utrecht Road. Around the fireplace in its principal room he put blue and white 
delft tiles depicting Bible stories. 

	Aert was a farmer and a man of prominence. He married Neeltje Janse VAN TUIL of New York 
on 10 September 1686. 
In 1694 he was the town's magistrate; 
in 1703, lieutenant of its militia 
and in 1715, the captain. 
He died about 1739 when his son Petrus Aertsen inherited his farm and farmstead. 

	Petrus, too, was a farmer and a prominent man. He married Antje DORLAND 19 October 1734. 
In 1750, he was captain of the town's militia. Sometime prior to the Revolution he enlarged 
his house by raising its ridgepole and adding a central hall and more rooms. 

	It was in the British army's line of march from the New Utrecht-Gravesend beach to 
Flatlands on 22 August 1776 and according to tradition was used by General Howe for his 
headquarters. 

	At the time of the invasion of New Utrecht, Petrus VAN PELT, although loyal to the 
American cause, was forced to swear allegiance to England or go to jail. He swore allegiance. 

	On the night of 13 June1778 William MARRENER with twenty companions landed from two 
boats on the New Utrecht beach having come from New Jersey to go to Flatbush in order to 
capture, if they could, Mayor David MATTHEWS of New York, Miles SHERBROOK, Major MONCRIEFFE 
and Theophylaet BACHE, all Loyalists whom they hoped to exchange for Americans held prisoners 
by the British. 

	MARRENER, who knew the VAN PELTS, tapped on one of their windowpanes to draw Petrus's 
attention and told him of the plan. He and his companions continued on their way to Flatbush 
where they seized SHERBROOK, MONCRIEFFE, BACHE and a Captain FORREST and took them to New Jersey. 
Fortunately for him, MATTHEWS happened to be absent in the city. 

	On learning of the raid, the English authorities ordered anyone who had seen the raiding 
party to report the fact at once or take the consequences. On 16 June, Petrus's sons Aert and 
Rem together with Colonel VAN BRUNT were arrested on suspicion and confined separately in the 
provost jail of New York. Colonel VAN BRUNT, who had money in his pocket, bribed the sergeant 
in charge and was permitted a midnight interview with his fellow prisoners during which they 
decided to deny all knowledge of the affair. This they did when questioned and were therefore 
freed and allowed to return to their homes. 

	On 6 September 1781 Petrus VAN PELT died, leaving his house and farm to Aert who married 
Femmetje STELLENWERF. They had no children. 

	Aert's brother Rem married Ida LEFFERTS and had a son Jacob who was born 10 March 1774 and 
who married Maritje, daughter of Johannes E. LOTT, on 19 August 1802. 

	It was Jacob's son, John LOTT VAN PELT (b. 1 August 1802) to whom Aert left the ancestral 
property. 

	John married Anna Maria, daughter of Timothy T. CORTELYOU, and had a son Townsend C. 
VAN PELT (b. 13 November 1837) who was the next owner of the house and farm. 

	Townsend C. VAN PELT married Maria Elizabeth DITMARS (b. 24 September 1843) on 24 October 1866, 
and about that time remodelled his house. He turned the garret into bedrooms and added the porch 
with all its mid-Victorian scrimshaw decoration. Later he cut dormer windows in the roof and put 
into the house a heating plant and modern plumbing. 

	Both he and his wife liked old things. They were interested in local history and tried to keep 
alive traditions and stories that had been handed down to them. They saved from destruction the 
milestone that had been set up in 1740 by English army officers and placed it in a tiny park in 
front of their home. 

	They were the last residents of the house. After their deaths it became the property of the 
City of New York and now stands in a playground neglected and forlorn. 



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