Brief Family History

    The following is based on my research, and although some may argue with it, most fact back this view. And that is that all  Hotaling families in America, regardless of spelling variation, stem from one of two immigrants to New York State in the mid-seventeenth century, both of Dutch origin: 

    Mathys Coenradt Houghtaling who immigrated here in 1655 at age 16, from Amsterdam Holland, where he was living in an almshouse or "poorhouse" when he was offered a chance to come to America to help settle the land for the Dutch, Mathys did just that in what is now Coxsackie in Greene County; 

    and Jan Willemsen Houghtaling, who immigrated here 5 years later in 1661 at the age of 36, with his wife and two son's, from Loosdrecht Holland, choosing to settle in Kingston area of Ulster County. No instance's have been found wherein descendants of either of these men witnessed or sponsored baptisms of each other's children, even though in some cases they attended the same churches. This fact in itself, clearly demonstrates the lack of any family connection between the two lines.

    The fifty or more variations in spelling, ranging from Hogdielen to Huftailen to Hoochtelink, represent a good example of phonetic recordings by Dutch, German, and English clerks and ministers as this name became Anglicized and evolved into the present forms of Houghtaling, Hotaling, and Hotelling.

    Descendants of Jan Willemsen were sometimes recorded with the prefix "van" before the surname, indicating that Houghtaling is a place name. According to the book (Huizinga's complete list of names) the original Dutch name is 'Hoogteijling'. In this name 'hoog' means high and 'Teijlingen' is the name of a 13th. century castle in Sassenheim which is located in Zuid [South] Holland between Amsterdam and The Hague. For more information and pictures on the Teylingen Castle click here.

Mathys Coenradt and his descendants never used the "van." It is believed that he did not have a surname in Holland, but that he adopted the name Houghtaling about 1675, possibly. Twenty years after his arrival in America. In 1667 at Wiltwyck [Kingston] he was exposed to this surname when he appeared in court before Jan Willemsen Houghtaling, one of its magistrates, who had been using the surname as early as 1661. It would appear then that Sylvester's History of Ulster County, which suggests that the two were brothers, is in error. [The given names of the immigrants' fathers were obviously Willem and Coenradt respectively. ED.]

    The first mention of Mathys Coenradtsen is the appearance of his name on a list of boys and girls from the almshouse in Amsterdam, Holland, who were being sent to the New World to work for the Dutch West India Company and to "increase the population of New Netherlands." The letter of transmittal to Peter Stuyvesant from the Burgomasters of Mathys Coenratsen Houghtaling Family Amsterdam, noting the names and ages of the children, is dated 27 May 1655 and includes "Mathys Coenratsen, 16 years of age" (CDNY 14:3250. The late William J. Hoffman, an authority on early Dutch immigrants, states, in a manuscript in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society library, "On account of the unusual combination of names, Mathys Coenraets (the almshouse child) is probably identical with Mathys Coenraets of Albany." He notes the apparent discrepancy in their ages (the almshouse child having been born about 1639, and the Albany settler about 1644), but adds, "Ages as given in records were notoriously incorrect and these are not far apart."'

    No record of him has been found from 1655, the assumed date of his arrival in America, until 8 November 1667, when he appears in court at Kingston in a suit for wages due him from Reynr Van Coelen. Before he left the Kingston area, he was brought into court in 1668 for ostensibly declaring, "Damn the King and the Devil fetch the King " while chopping wood on a Sunday morning. From 1668 onward he lived in the Albany area (CMA 3:473f). Testimony given by him at Albany in 1684 reveals his age then as "about 40," putting his birth date about 1644, a date corroborated. rated by testimony of 1675/6, at which time he told the Court he was about 32" (ERA 3:342). In the previously cited record he stated that in 1669 he "went across the Fonteyn Vlakte to the Fonteyn kill" with Jan Bronk, Jan Roothaer, and two Indians (Sathemoes and Shermerhoorn) and "there marked a birch tree and made the survey," which may be the basis for some historians' calling him "engineer and surveyor." While he may have been a surveyor's helper, it is unlikely that his background qualified him as a surveyor. He most certainly was a farmer who owned and traded pigs, horses and cattle. He is referred to as "plumber" in the invoice of the ship de Witte Kloodt under date 6 July 1671 (VRB 800). Between 1670 and 1685 there are fourteen references to Mathys Coenradts or Mathys Houghtaling in the court records of Albany. From these it is possible to get a picture of his character and his way of life. He resided first "behind Kinderhook," sharing a farm with his father-in-law, Hendrik Marselis, in 1673 (ERA 1:95f), until Martin Gerritsen van Bergen, prominent real estate owner and Commissary, leased him "a certain farm lying at Kockxhachkin-h heretofore occupied by Gysbert Boogaert with a house and barn" for a period of six years [1675-1681] in the acknowledgement of "love and friendship" (ERA 3:3320. Upon expiration of this lease in 1681 he crossed the Hudson River to reside again it, Kinderhook until 1683 (CMA 3:474). That year he was back in Coxsackie (CMA 3:395) where he remained. The 1697 census of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck lists him as head of a household of two men, one woman, and three children, and in 1699 he took an oath of allegiance to the British Crown (AnA 3:279).

    In 1691 Mathys Houghtaling purchased from three Mohawk Indians [Manueenta, Unekeek, and Kachketowaa, called by the Christians Shernierhoorn, Jan d'Bakker, and Cobus respectively (ERA 2:19@] "a piece of woodland lying behind Koxhaghkye," to each of whom he paid "a cloth of duffel" (CEM 202). In 1697 this same land was officially granted to him by Governor Benjamin Fletcher (Colonial Patents 7:127), a representative of the Crown he had publicly defamed at Kingston thirty years before. The land conveyed by this grant comprised 3,500 acres of heavily wooded land in the Kalkeberg Hills west of Coxsackie, and took in part of present day New Baltimore.

    At the end of 1683, when the Albany Dutch Church records begin, "Mathys and Maria Hoogteeling" were members. About 1666 Mathys had married Maria Hendrikse, the daughter of Hendrik Marselis and Catryn Van den Berg (MA 4:146). She probably survived Mathys, who died in 1706, but there is no evidence that she remarried.

    Although no probate record has been found for Mathys, there is evidence that an unexecuted will exists to which earlier historians had access. In this will, Maria is named as his wife and is appointed executrix, inheriting his estate "as long as she remains a widow." If she remarried, his instructions were specific: "She shall convey ... the rest of the estate to the testator's children, to wit, Conrad, Johannes and Jacob Hooghtelinck, Trentje the wife of Richard Van den Berg, Rachel and Mathews Oooghtelinck, also Marga Morris taking the place of her mother Styje, eldest daughter of the testator." One-half of his land, identified in his will patent date and described as "lying back and west of Koshagky," was bequeathed to his son Mathews "about 12 years old, because he is a cripple." For the remaining half, Mathews was to pay his brothers and sisters the appraised value. Conrad, named as eldest son," was given a horse when his mother remarries or dies." Captain Jonas Dow was one of the appointed guardians of Mathews. All of the original patent appears to have been inherited by the descendants of Mathys's eldest son, Conrad, and Matliys's second daughter, Catryntje Van den Berg.

    The ancestor of this family was Matthias Houghtaling, born about 1644, to whom a patent was granted for a large tract of land in the town of Coxsackie, a full account of which is found in another place (in the Beers History). He died about 1706, and left children Conrad, Hendrick, Catryntje, wife of Richard Vandenberg, Syche, who married Francis Morris, and after his death, married Patrick McCarty, Rachel, who died unmarried, and Matthias, born about 1694, probably died young. 

    Conrad Houghtaling married Tryntje, daughter of Willem Van Slyck, 1688, and had children: Willem, born 1692; Maritje, 1694; Mathys, 1696; Peter, 1698; Beeltje, 1700; Hendrick, 1703; Teunis, 1705; Johannes, 1708; Janetje, 1710; Jonathan, 1712. There are descendants of these in various parts of the State, but we have no knowledge of them. 

    Hendrick, son of Matthias Houghtaling, married Hester Pritcher, September 12th 1729, and had a son, Thomas, born December 23rd 1731, and a daughter, Maria, born February 22nd 1747. 

    Thomas married Elizabeth, daughter of Andries Whitbeck, 1757, and had children, Andrew, Henry, Conrad, Peter, Thomas (who died without offspring), and Hester, wife of Peter Van Bergen. Of these sons, Conrad had three children, Thomas, Abraham and Anthony. 

    Henry married Elizabeth Staats; had children, Abraham, John Staats, Jacob and Thomas. Peter married 1st, Sarah VanDuzen, 2nd, Sarah VanDyck; sons Thomas, John, and Andrew. 

    Andrew, the first son of Thomas Houghtaling married Polly N. VanBenthuysen, January 13th 1782, and had children; Elizabeth, born January 1st 1783, married Isaac A. Staats, 1803; Barent, born August 20th 1784; and had children, Andrew E., George, Edward, and John; Thomas, born June 25th 1786, died an infant; Gerrit, born February 1st 1788; had sons, Anson, Stephen and Andrew; Thomas, born May 11th 1791; no children; Anthony, born March 14th 1793, married Maria VanBergen November 28th 1816, and had children; Andrew, born May 3rd 1819; Maria, born 1821; Catherine, born 1823. The second wife of Anthony was Sarah Bronk, married October 12th 1817. 

    Andrew, son of Peter Houghtaling (son of Thomas), married Elsie VanLoon, and has children, Aaron, Sarah, Rachel A., Elizabeth, Jacob A. (of Coxsackie Landing), Peter, James, Thomas, Stephen, Catherine, Lena, Andrew, Edward and Maria. The father of this family is now (1884) living in the town of Coxsackie at the age of 84. 

    The homestead of Thomas Houghtaling, which was probably owned by his father Hendrick, is by the south side of the Diep Kill at the northeast corner of the Houghtaling Patent. In a little burying ground east of the kill is a tombstone bearing this inscription: "In Memory of Mr. Thomas Houghtaling, who died February 1st 1824, aged 93 years and 3 months." His wife Elizabeth died July 29th 1820, aged 82. By the side of their graves are those of the next three generations. 
Henry Houghtaling, died October 15th 1827, aged 70. 
John Staats Houghtaling, died September 26th 1840, aged 52. 
Henry Houghtaling, died September 7th 1847, aged 30. 

    The house of Truman Mackey is on the site of the old homestead. The residence of Mr. George Houghtaling is on the side of the Hudson River, at the place called by the Dutch settlers "Klinkenberg" or Echo Hill. This was the original dwelling place of the "Klinkenberg Hallenbecks," and here Jacob Hallenbeck, and his son Major Jacob, and other generations lived and died, and are buried on a small hill northwest of the dwelling house, in what was called the "new orchard" as long ago as 1717. The original stone house stood on the site of the present mansion. The last of the race that owned the place was John Jacob Hallenbeck. The north line of this farm is at the point which the early settlers called "Fish Hook." The land to the north was the farm of Nanning Hallenbeck, and his house directly in front of the present residence of Samuel Stevens, in still more ancient times was the site of an Indian encampment. Stories of treasure buried on the Klinkenberg farm by Hallenbecks of Revolutionary days still excite the credulous to searches which are not successful.

P.S.
Although Mathys Coenradtsen Houghtaling and Jan Willemsen Houghtaling were believed to have been unrelated to one another, I have found that through the years and several inter-family marriages, that has changed now. Not only are they related to each other though, but it seems to me that virtually all of the early families who settled NY, are now almost all related to one another. The following are just a few of those: Bradt, Kuhn, Conyn, Van Buren, Van Slycke, Van Valkenburg, Hallenbeck, Vanderzee, Pinkerton, Staat, Mower, William, Vrooman, Schermerhorn, Hogaboom, Silvernagle, Roosa, Uzile, Tappen, Vandenburg, DuBois, Becker, Converse, Klock, Fonda, Bronk, Schoonmaker, Elting, Hasbrouck, Quackenbosch, Van Keuren, Ver Planck, Flansburg, Sixbee, Albright, Brueckman, Spaulding, Rockefeller, Hagadorn, Schaeffer, Kool, Whitbeck, Douw, Shaver, De Witt, Bloomingdale, Moon, Lansing, Klein, Worden, Brink, Pinkerton...

Source: Mathys Coenradt Houghtaling of Coxsackie & His Descendants, written by Constance Ross Ulrich, as published by the NY Genealogical &Biographical Society;  and
The Houghtaling Family, Retyped from Beers "History of Greene County" by Annette Campbell