Jacob Hasbrouck De Witt

Jacob Hasbrouck De Witt (October 2, 1784 – January 30, 1857) was a U.S. Representative from New York and a prominent public official in Ulster County during the first half of the nineteenth century. Born in Marbletown, Ulster County, New York, he was raised in the nearby hamlet of Twaalskill, an area that later became part of the city of Kingston. He was the son of Colonel Thomas De Witt (1741–1809), a veteran of the American Revolution, and Elsie Hasbrouck DeWitt (1749–1832), the daughter of Jacob and Maria (Hornbeck) Hasbrouck. Through his mother he was connected to the influential Hasbrouck family, long prominent in Ulster County politics. His parents were married on February 28, 1782. His grandfather, Egbert A. DeWitt, served as town supervisor of Rochester, Ulster County, from 1736 to 1738, further rooting the family in local public life.

De Witt’s extended family placed him within a notable political network in early New York. His aunt Mary De Witt was the first wife of General James Clinton and the mother of DeWitt Clinton, the future governor of New York and leading advocate of the Erie Canal, making De Witt and DeWitt Clinton first cousins. Growing up in this milieu, Jacob De Witt attended the rural schools of Twaalskill and later studied at Kingston Academy, an important local educational institution. After his schooling he took up agriculture and became a farmer, a vocation he continued to pursue throughout his life even as he entered military and political service.

During the War of 1812, De Witt served in the New York militia, beginning as adjutant of a militia regiment. He continued his militia service after the war and ultimately attained the rank of colonel as commander of the 131st Regiment of the New York Militia. His military role reflected both his family’s Revolutionary War tradition and the importance of local militia leadership in early nineteenth-century New York.

As a member of the Republican Party representing New York, De Witt contributed to the legislative process during one term in the United States Congress. More specifically, he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Sixteenth Congress and served from March 4, 1819, to March 3, 1821. His service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history marked by the “Era of Good Feelings,” debates over internal improvements, and the aftermath of the War of 1812. In this context he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his Ulster County constituents at the national level. He was not a candidate for renomination in 1820 and, upon the conclusion of his term, returned to his agricultural pursuits in the Kingston area.

De Witt remained active in local and state government for many years after leaving Congress. In 1827 and again in 1840 he served as Kingston’s town supervisor, thereby sitting on the Ulster County Board of Supervisors, the principal governing body for county affairs. He was elected to the New York State Assembly in 1839 and again in 1847, participating in state legislative deliberations during a period of significant political realignment and economic change in New York. Through these offices he maintained a steady presence in public life, balancing local responsibilities with broader legislative duties.

In his personal life, De Witt married twice. On February 20, 1815, he married Mary Ann Meyer (1797–1816); she died the following year, leaving him a widower at a relatively young age. On June 8, 1823, he married Sarah Ann Sleight, the daughter of Johannes and Aaltje (Swartwout) Sleight and a granddaughter of Jacobus Swartwout, thereby linking him to another established Hudson Valley family. Jacob and Sarah Ann De Witt had at least four children: Elsie De Witt (1823–1900), who died unmarried; Mary De Witt (1825–1893), who married Kingston banker James Sidney Evans (1816–1857) in 1850; Anna De Witt (1834–1901), who married Charles Lytle Lamberton (1829–1906), a Pennsylvania state senator from 1862 to 1864; and John Sleight De Witt (1838–1901). Through his daughter Mary, De Witt was the grandfather of Thomas Grier Evans (1852–1905), a Yale-educated lawyer and author of the 1886 genealogical work “De Witt Family of Ulster County, New York.”

Jacob Hasbrouck De Witt died in Kingston, New York, on January 30, 1857. He was originally interred at Sharpe Cemetery on Albany Avenue in Kingston and was later reinterred in the Old Dutch Churchyard, a historic burial ground associated with many of the region’s early Dutch families. His local prominence was further commemorated in the naming of DeWitt Street in Kingston, which honors both Jacob and his unmarried brother, Reuben DeWitt (1787–1859). Through his congressional service, militia leadership, and long engagement in town and state government, De Witt exemplified the intertwined military, political, and familial networks that shaped public life in early nineteenth-century New York.