As we celebrate the 250th Anniversary of our nation, a country born from what many have called one of history's greatest experiments in self-government, I am equally proud to pass down to my grandchildren another cherished title: Patriot.
Genealogy has been a passion of mine for more than twenty-five years. My maternal grandparents emigrated from Italy, while my paternal grandparents came from Germany. When I began researching my wife's family history, I knew I was about to uncover the treasure trove I had been hoping for. Her father's ancestry was primarily Irish and Polish, but it was her mother's family that opened an extraordinary window into America's colonial past.
On her maternal side, my wife traced her grandfather's lineage to a talented carpenter from Torbjörntorp, Skaraborg, in the Västra Götaland region of Sweden. It was her grandmother, Carrie Augusta Van Nostrand, however, who unlocked generations of history dating back to 1634. Long before genealogy became the popular hobby it is today, Carrie preserved a Xerox copy of the Van Nostrand Family Bible, filled with names, dates, and family records that traced directly back to their Dutch roots in New Netherland.
The story begins with Jacob Van Nostrand, who sailed to America just twenty years after Henry Hudson explored the river that now bears his name. My grandchildren's ninth great-grandfather left the Netherlands seeking opportunity in the New World. He became one of the early Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam and established himself as a master brewer, operating his own brewery in what is now Rensselaer, near Albany.
It is here that the family story takes an unexpected and remarkable turn.
My grandchildren can proudly claim their seventh great-grandfather, Aaron Van Nostrand, and their sixth great-grandfather as an American Patriots during the Revolutionary War. As my research unfolded, it also revealed something equally compelling: the painful family divisions between Patriots and Loyalists that tore apart households throughout the colonies.
History offers famous examples, including Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, whose relationship with his son William Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey and a committed Loyalist, was permanently destroyed by the Revolution.
Choosing a side was dangerous. Loyalists often endured confiscation of property, public humiliation, imprisonment, and exile. Patriots risked imprisonment, execution, or death on the battlefield. Entire families were forever divided.
Aaron Van Nostrand, their seventh great-grandfather was born on January 7, 1729, the son of John and Lametie (Ryerson) Van Nostrand, and was baptized in Jamaica, Queens. He married Susannah Cornell on December 18, 1763.
In 1772, Aaron was commissioned as a cornet, the cavalry officer entrusted with carrying his troop's colors. On January 19, 1776, his name appears among those signing a declaration by residents of Queens County pledging their allegiance to the Continental Congress.
Following Susannah's death on February 11, 1793, Aaron married Elizabeth Ryder (née Brinckerhoff). They had no children together. Elizabeth died on February 18, 1816, at the age of eighty-nine. Both Aaron and Elizabeth are buried in Foster's Meadow.
Aaron and Susannah had one son, John Van Nostrand, born on January 20, 1766, near Lake Success.
Like his father, John was also a Patriot.
Still underage, John reportedly lied about his age in order to enlist. Records place him in military service in January 1782, serving in the Weissenfels Regiment until April of that year. He also participated in militia service during the Battle of Sharon Springs, where American forces successfully ambushed a combined force of Loyalists and Native American allies.
After the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 officially ended the war, John married Sarah (Sara) Hewlett on Christmas Day, December 25, 1785.
It is at this point that the story becomes especially fascinating.
John Van Nostrand and his father Aaron had fought for American independence. Sarah's father had fought just as passionately, for the British Crown.
While Sarah's mother attended the wedding, her father was absent, living in exile in Canada. One can only imagine the emotions surrounding that Christmas Day marriage. During the war, John and Aaron had quite literally fought against Sarah's father, Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hewlett, one of Long Island's most respected Loyalist officers.
Richard Hewlett, my grandchildren's sixth great-grandfather, was unquestionably a distinguished soldier. He simply fought for the losing side.
Born on November 1, 1729, in Hempstead, Queens County, Long Island, Richard was the son of Daniel Hewlett and Sarah Jackson. In 1753, he married Mary Townsend, and together they raised eleven children, all born on Long Island.
Before the Revolution, Hewlett had already established an impressive military career during the French and Indian War. Serving as a captain in a New York Provincial regiment under Colonel Oliver DeLancey, he fought in Canada and participated in the capture of Fort Frontenac in 1758.
Returning home after the war, Hewlett became a prominent Hempstead citizen and lieutenant colonel of the Queens County Militia.
As tensions mounted between Great Britain and her American colonies, Hewlett remained steadfastly loyal to the Crown. Queens County itself was overwhelmingly Loyalist. In January 1776, New Jersey militia under Colonel Nathaniel Heard entered the county to confiscate weapons and reduce the threat posed by Loyalist residents. Hundreds signed declarations promising not to take up arms against the American cause. Six members of the Hewlett family signed the document.
Richard Hewlett did not.
Throughout the Revolutionary War, Hewlett commanded various posts across Long Island. One of his more memorable encounters occurred on September 29, 1779, while commanding the British post at Lloyd's Neck near Huntington. Four vessels entered the harbor flying British colors before suddenly lowering their flags and revealing the thirteen-striped American banner. The rebel privateers quickly captured four British merchant vessels before Hewlett's artillery drove them away, preventing the loss of many more.
When the war ended, Hewlett received one final assignment. In September 1783, he was ordered to escort the remaining Provincial regiments to the Saint John River in Nova Scotia and oversee their disbandment.
It must have been a heartbreaking duty.
The war had been lost. Thousands of Loyalists abandoned the only homes they had ever known, seeking refuge in what remained of British North America. Hewlett settled on a land grant in Gagetown, New Brunswick, where he retired on half-pay. He died there in 1789.
His wife, Mary Townsend, never joined him permanently. She remained on Long Island with one of their sons and died in 1819. She is buried in Hempstead, New York. Richard has a memorial marker there, although his actual burial is at St. Stephen's Anglican Church in New Brunswick, Canada.
History often speaks of battles, generals, and political leaders.
Far less often does it tell the stories of ordinary families divided by extraordinary times.
The Van Nostrand’s and the Hewlett’s represent both sides of America's founding. One branch fought for independence; the other remained loyal to the British Crown. Yet only a few years after the war, those two families became united through marriage.
Perhaps that is the most enduring lesson of all.
The Revolution created Patriots and Loyalists, but eventually, it also created Americans.
Today, the old Van Nostrand family cemetery, now surrounded by what is part of Beth David Cemetery on Elmont Road in Elmont, stands quietly as a reminder of that history. Although many of the stones have weathered with time, Aaron Van Nostrand's headstone can still be found, albeit badly worn. Numerous members of the Van Nostrand family rest there, surrounded by land that was once part of the Van Nostrand farm.
As I pass this history on to my grandchildren during America's 250th Anniversary, I hope they understand that their family legacy includes both Patriots and Loyalists. They should be proud of both. One side helped build a new nation; the other remained faithful to the country they believed was their own.
Together, they remind us that history is rarely black and white. More often, it is the story of families, convictions, sacrifice, and ultimately, reconciliation.
References
- US Revolutionary Rolls 1775 - 1783
- Van Nostrand Family Bible – As Maintained by Carrie Van Nostrand Ericson
- Centre Island News
- Mid Island Herald
- Mid Island Times
- South Shore Record
- Hicksville Illustrated News
- Newsday
- Newspapers.com
- Huntington Long Islander Newspaper
- Brooklyn Daily Eagle
- Fulton Street Post Cards
- Hicksville Courier
- NYS Historic Newspapers
- New York State Archives
- Holland Society of New York
- Queens Library
- Grace Episcopal Church Van Nostrand Book & Records
- Town of Oyster Bay Historical Society
- Ulster County Clerk's Archives Division
- de Halve Maen" Holland Society
- DIS of Sweden
- Swedish American Historical Society
- Far Rockaway Journal
- Bethpage Tribune
- Freeport News
- The Nassau Daily Review
- US Revolutionary Rolls 1775 - 1783
- United States National Archives
- Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography; Volume III
- Connecticut Society of Colonial Wars Pedigrees
- Ancestry.com
- FamilySearch.org
- Findmypast.org
- Findagrave.com
- Fold3.com
