Peter Stults was b. 27 Oct. 1785 and probably died sometime after 1 May 1815 (as he had a dau. Gitty born after his death on 26 Feb. 1816) and prior to 19 Aug. 1815, the date his wife Helen was appointed administratrix of his estate in the County of Ontario, State of New York. Due to a fire, there is no further information on Peter available in the Court Records excepting the appointment of his wife, spelled Hellen, as administratrix.
Peter mar. Helen Cortelyou (also called Helena, Lena and Lene) at Cranbury, N. J. 25 Jan 1809. She was the sixth child adn the second dau. of Roelof Cortelyou. She was b. perhaps in the Cranbury N. J. area on 23 Feb. 1790 and d. at Town of Gorham, Ontario Co., N.Y. 30 Apr. 1867; and is bur. in Fobes or Baldwin Corners Cem., Town of Gorham, Ontario Co., N.Y. she mar. second Martin Blodgett and she was the mother of nine children from her two marriages.
Peter and his family moved west into the Finger Lakes region of New York State and apparently settled in the Town of Gorham sometime after 12 Jan. 1812 when his daughter was baptized in Cranbury N.J. His third child, b. ca. 30 Dec. 1813, may have been born in Gorham as no baptismal record is found for him in New Jersey, however he had to be in New York State before 25 Aug. 1814 when he entered the War of 1812.
The War Department, the Adjutant General's Office, Washington D.C. in a letter to Mrs. Ona Porter Wood on 17 Nov. 1947 stated "...that the records show that one Peter Stults, served in the War of 1812 as a private in Captain Roger Sutherland's Company of New York Detached Militia, McMahan's Regiment. His service commenced 25 August 1814 and ended 8 November 1814. Signed Edward F. Witsell, Major General, The Adjutant General." No pension for him was found.
There has been much speculation about Peter's name -- whether it was Peter or Hiram Peter or Peter Hiram. The only place I find any mention of Hiram as his name is in the Cortelyou genealogy on pp. 130, 172, and in some correspondence to Ona Porter Wood from a granddaughter of Martin Blodgett and Helen (Cortelyou) Stults Blodgett. She evidently was a very old lady as her handwriting was almost illegible but she wrote that she "....thinks his name was Hiram." He is simply called Peter in his father's will, in his marriage record, in the baptismal records of two of this children, and finally in the appointment of his wife Helen as the administratrix of his estate.
The same granddaughter of Martin Blodgett wrote "Peter was a ship Coukn" (perhaps Caulker) "cleaned ships so they were ready for their next trip. Had become very well off."
Mrs. Emma (Crosier) Whitney of Gorham, a granddaughter of Helen (Cortelyou) Stults Blodgett by her second husband Martin Blodgett wrote in a letter to Mrs. Ona Porter Wood dated 11 May 1947: "Gitty never lived with her mother. Her father was killed by a falling tree while working in the woods. Mr. Stults' mother took baby Gitty (the child born after her father's death) and brought her up. He was buried in a corner of the Gorham Cemetery but Grandma Blodgett never knew just where as she was sick and not able to go to the funeral and pigs got in and rooted the place so it could not be found." This is the explanation why Gitty is found in the New Jersey church baptismal records.
