The following was contributed by Joanne Garland. Thank you, Joanne!

"What follows is my own most recent updated family group sheet for the Montgomery County family of Peter P. Van Etten and Margaret Froelich. The surname is spelled variously as VAN NETTER, VAN ETTER, VAN ETTA, VAN ATTA, v. ETTE, v. ETTER, and so on, often changing form even on the same page of a vital document, or from one generation of offspring to the next. Being descended from Canajoharie boatman Lewis Van Etta, who was a son of Jacob and a grandson of Peter P. Van Etten, I would be most happy to hear from other descendants of Peter P. Van Etten and Margaret Froelich, or from those whose own research has verified or otherwise proven the names of Peter P. Van Etten's parents in or near Rhinebeck."

Joanne Garland
February 2000

PETER P. VAN ETTEN - Carpenter in Johnstown, Montgomery County, NY.

In his Revolutionary War Pension Application (RWPA #13,118) dated 22 April 1818 he stated his age as "Sixty-three years on 13th August last." A 1956 letter of Edna L. Jacobson, Associate Librarian, New York State Library, which she addressed to family researcher Edward K. Bishop, late of Deansboro, NY, referenced NY State Library MSS10551 for the following: Size Roll of Capt. Lieut Elsworth's Company 4th New York Regiment...Names - Peter Vn. Etten. Age-30. Size - 5 feet 7 inches. Trade - Carpenter. Where born - Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, New York. Place of Residence - Rhinebeck, Ulster [?] County. Hair - Sandy. Complexion - Brown. Inlisted - May 21, 1779 at Stone Robby. For What term - War. The same letter cited the following information from Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Rhinebeck Flats, v. 1, p. 57: Child - Petrus, Bap. May 19, 1757, Parents - Abraham Van Etten and Catharine Steenberg, Sponsors - Petrus Soutenburg and Rachellye Steenburg. This child, born 6 May 1757, may possibly equate to the above Peter P. Van Etten, who died 9 November 1834 (per widow's declaration dated 21 November 1838 in pension application file).

MARGARET FROELICH - b. 11 February 1768, bap. 21 February 1768, Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia (RDSA:83), sponsors Eva Coppernoll and Jacob Frolich. Parents: Valentin Froelich (Freligh, Fraligh, Vrolig) (See his RWPA #W16995 file in which Valentin's daughter Margaret is identified as the widow of Peter Van Etten.) and Maria (Maritje) Halenbeck, who had married 27 March 1764 at Zion Lutheran Church, Loonenburg, now Athens, Greene County, NY (per pension file). Margaret is most likely the Margaret Van Natter, age 72, living in household of C. Frolick and receiving a pension in 1840. English Evangelical Lutheran Church records (Canajoharie) indicate that in February 1841 Mrs. Van Atter died. Note: Jacob Froelich (Valentin's brother) had a daughter also named Margaret Froelich, but born 31 March 1772 at Palatine, Montgomery County, NY.

m. 13 November 1784 in the sixteenth year of her age the thirteenth day of the last full month (widow's pension application statements of 1838 and 1839 respectively), by Rev. W. Rees, pastor of the Lutheran Church at Stone Arabia, "Said Rees has long since left...and removed...to a place called Rhinebeck..."

Children:

MARIA - b. 9 April 1785 ...in the month of April thereafter [i.e., after the marriage] she was delivered of her first child a daughter named Maria, to wit, on the ninth day of April which would make her said daughter now [1839] fifty-two years of age upwards, and this Deponent so testifies. Widow's statement.

ELISABETH - b. 28 November 1787, bap. 11 December 1787, Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia, sponsors Conrad Franz and Salome, geb: Bessinger. ...her second child named Betsy was born one year & Eight months after said Maria. Widow's statement. (Peggy Van Ette, daughter of Peter Van Ette, m. Bartholomew I. Sidnam on 14 June 1818, Protestant Dutch Reformed Church of Maple Town, Canajoharie, Montgomery County, NY.)

CORNELIA - b. 1 October 1789, bap. 12 October 1789 (RDSA), sponsors Petrus Froeher and Cornelia, ux. ...her third child named Cornelia one year & ten months after said Betsy... Widow's statement.

JACOB - b. 13 October 1792, bap. Trinity Lutheran Church of Stone Arabia (LTSA:70), sponsors Jacob Nier and Maria Heess. ...and her fourth child named Jacob two years & twenty days after her said daughter Cornelia. Widow's statement. Jacob Van Nette and Maria Saver are listed as parents of child Lodewyck b. 17 September 1813, in records of Reformed Dutch Church Fonda, Montgomery Co., NY. Lewis Van Etta, Erie Canal boatman, son of Jacob Van Etten and Maria Sever, lived in Canajoharie, NY, d. 1907.

CATARINA - b. 18 December 1793, records of the Lutheran Trinity Church of Stone Arabia.

BARBARA - b. 21 May 1796, bap. 5 June 1796, sponsors Johann Nicholaus Baker, Barbara, ux: ej., Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia.

ANNA - b. 15 March 1798 to Peter v. Ette, Lutheran Trinity Church of Stone Arabia. Mother's name not listed in record.

LENA - b. 13 May 1800 to Peter v. Ette, Lutheran Trinity Church of Stone Arabia. Mother's name not listed in record.

PETER - 1 March 1803, sponsors Peter Merckell and Elizabeth Merckell, RDSA.

JOHN - b. 27 April 1807, bap. 31 May, eod. anno., sponsors John Setterly & wife Anna, RDSA.

JANETY - b. 22 April 1810, bap. 27 May, eod. anno., sponsors John Coppernoll & wife Margaret, RDSA.

NB: Peter P. Van Etten's statement of 15 June 1820 included the following: I support a wife and two daughters, the wife fifty-two, and one daughter fifteen and the other ten years of age. This statement is consistent with regard to his daughter Janety, but may indicate the existence of an additional female child born to them about 1805.

The above information was gathered from several sources, among them work of the late Emma and Edward K. Bishop in 1955-56, paid research performed at the Montgomery County Department of History and Archives in 1984, and Revolutionary War Pension Application files #13,118 for Peter P. Van Etten and #W16995 for Valentine Freligh. Caution: Original church records should be consulted whenever possible before final acceptance of any of the above data, which may include transcription errors.

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