Person:Roelof De Duytser (2)

Roelof is, probably, the "rullof Johnson" who 1686-7 was private in Capt. Matthys Matthysen’s Company with "John Willemson" as corporal, at Kingston. In 1711, he and his brother David were volunteers on "Ye Expedition against Canada": thus thoughtfully entitling their descendants to membership in various Societies of Colonial Wars. 30 Nov., 1715, under Sergeant William White (father of Joshua White), he, and his wife’s brothers, Nicholas and Eabriel Bresie, and his son-in-law Joshua White were in the Livingstone Manor Independent Company. In the census of 1714, he and his household, including one slave, is given. In 1720, or prior thereto, he was in Salisbury, Conn., where it is said, that he with John Dyckman, Abraham Van Deusen and Laur. Knickerbocker bought land, supposing it was within the New York borders. De Deutscher Genealogy gives a deed in full for 150 acres at New Milford, Conn., to Roelof, Aug. 29, 1720. In 1722 he and his wife appear at Linlithgo, Col. Co., N. Y., as sponsors to a child of his wife’s sister, Clara Vosburgh (b. Bresie), and in 1727 at Claverack to a son of Abraham Van Deusen, supra. His land on the west side of the "Owsatunnock" River is mentioned, 20 May, 1726. On 8 Feb., 1729, by a "Margarett vote" at Westbury, Litchfield Co., Conn., he was elected to mark and record the horses, and 26 Feb., 1729, he took the oath of office. He died, a large land owner, 19 Jan., 1737, his will, drawn in English, being proved 8 June, 1737, Rulof making his mark. The widow and sons were taxed on £330. De Deutscher Genealogy gives the will in full, also a family compromise because of a codicil. The widow died the 26 July, 1749. Rulof was a Weatouge (Conn.) pioneer, a competent farmer, and his sons showed the upward tendency which has made our country a nation of ascent, not descent. Many descendants are still in Connecticut and Vermont. The military instinct was peculiarly strong, and the Revolutionary members include Capt. Roelof Dutcher of Connecticut.

1.   Walter Kenneth Griffin, "The Dutcher Family," New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (1910):
   29.