DEWIT, Carston Cornelius

DEWIT, Carston Cornelius

Male 1780 - 1827  (46 years)

 Set As Default Person    

Personal Information    |    Media    |    Notes    |    Sources    |    Event Map    |    All    |    PDF

  • Name DEWIT, Carston Cornelius  [1
    Birth 25 Jun 1780  Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Name Castin Cornelius de WIT 
    Ordained 1811  Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Suger planter 
    _DNA Match - Michelle (paternal) 
    Death 1 Apr 1827  Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Burial 3 Apr 1827 
    • Le Resouvenir, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana
    Siblings 1 brother and 2 sisters 
    Patriarch & Matriarch
    DEWIT, Barthel,   b. Abt 1750, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1798, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 48 years)  (Father) 
    VANDERSCHELDE, Adriana,   b. Abt 1750, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Nov 1806, Plantation Wittensburg, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 56 years)  (Mother) 
    Person ID I1281  My Genealogy | Laviolette Ancestry, Laviolette Ancestry
    Last Modified 4 Feb 2024 

    Father DEWIT, Barthel,   b. Abt 1750, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 1798, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 48 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother VANDERSCHELDE, Adriana,   b. Abt 1750, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 8 Nov 1806, Plantation Wittensburg, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Family ID F426  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family DEROCHEMONT, Maria Louisa Suzette,   b. 20 Nov 1786, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 30 Nov 1828, Plantation Le Resouvenir, Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 42 years) 
    Marriage 1805  Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. DEWIT, Maria Louisa,   b. 28 Mar 1811, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 3 Sep 1900, Newington, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 89 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    DEROCHEMONT, Frederick William  m. 24 Mar 1828
    +2. DEWIT, Henrietta Jacoba,   b. 28 Jul 1814, Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 15 Apr 1871, Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    DEROCHEMONT, George Washington  m. 16 Feb 1834
    +3. DEWIT, Carsten Bartholomew,   b. Aug 1808, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 14 May 1865, Newington, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 56 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    ANDERSON, Anna Eliza  m. 8 Jun 1843
    +4. DEWIT, Sophia Eleanora Gertrude,   b. 12 Jun 1819, Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 29 Jan 1892, Newington, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 72 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    PICKERING, Frank Tuscan  m. 18 May 1847
    +5. DEWITT, Elizabeth A,   b. 1816, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Aft 23 Oct 1867 (Age > 51 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    +6. DEWITT, Antoinette Susetta Frederika Alberta,   b. 3 Jun 1821, Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 17 Mar 1887, Chelsea, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA Find all individuals with events at this location (Age 65 years)  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    NUTTER, Charles Wesley  m. 7 Apr 1841
     7. DE WIT, Leonard Charles,   b. Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Abt 1829  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    ANDERSON, Sarah  m. 12 Nov 1829
     8. DE WIT, Insetta Henrietta,   b. Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 15 Nov 1819, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Find all individuals with events at this location  [Father: natural]  [Mother: natural]
    Family ID F350  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 4 Feb 2024 

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 25 Jun 1780 - Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarriage - 1805 - Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsOrdained - Suger planter - 1811 - Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 1 Apr 1827 - Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Photos
    Carsten DeWitt
    Carsten DeWitt
    Carsten DeWit. Photo provided in a private email sent 5 Oct 2014 to Michelle Dumas by Debbie (Patch) Wilson, granddaughter of Amelia deRochemont and Albert Garland She says: " I forgot also to tell you the cameo. My grandmother gave it to me. She told me that her mother (Harry's sister) gave it to her and told her it belonged to her Dutch grandmother. That would be Maria Louisa but my grandmother did not remember her name, just that she was Frederic's wife and that she was from Demerara."

    Documents
    Maria-Louisa-Boston-Globe
    Maria-Louisa-Boston-Globe
    History of the DeWitts
    History of the DeWitts

  • Notes 
    • In the 1 May 1894 Boston Daily Globe article titled "She Is No Yankee," it says that Castin Cornelius De Wit is descended from the family of John de Wit, governor of Holland. It describes him as a sugar planter with a schooner.
    • A small note in family papers reads, "Cornelius C. DeWit died Apr. 1. 1827. Buried on Plantation Le Resouvenir, east coast of Demerary Apr. 3. 1827. b June 25. 1780".

      So far Castin Cornelius's line has not been found other than parents. As of 16 May 1807 Carsten and his brother with only the intitial "N" owned shares in Plantation Wittenberg. In 27 Oct 1804 LHH de Wit was the manager of Le Resouvenir.

      The following information was extracted from Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood, the Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823 by Emilia Viotti da Costa.

      "When all land along the river had been granted, the company distributed new grants along the coast, east and west of the mouth of the Demerara, in the areas that came to be known as the East Coast and the West Coast. A limit of 1,000 acres was established for sugar and 500 for coffee plantations. Before the area could be settled, a complicated system of canals, dams, and sluices had to be built to improve drainage--a task the Dutch were particularly qualified to accomplish. Plantations were laid out next to each other, with frontages of 100 roods [one rood= 12 feet] and depths of 750."

      Demerara was incorporated into the British empire circa 1792. On the East Coast, the area between the Demerara River and Berbice, most plantations in the first part of the nineteenth century were producing mainly cotton although some were producing at the same time sugar, rum, cotton, and coffee. By 1813, 8% of the plantations had more than 300 slaves, 40% had between 200 and 300, and 46% had between 100 and 200.

      Le Resouvenir belonged evidently to a Dutch planter named Hermanus Hilbertus Post. Unlike most of the planters, he was a pious man and invited a Methodist minister named Wray from the London Missionary Service to come and preach to the slaves. Post had been born in Utrecht in 1755 but had settled in Demerara. He quickly built a fortune which allowed him to travel to Holland and to live in New Rochelle, NY from 1791 to 1799. He returned in 1799 to take care of business in Demerara. Evidently he had undergone a religious conversion and made the religious instruction of his slaves a top priority.

      Le Resouvenir was on the East Coast of Demerara, about eight miles from Stabroek which became Georgetown. In 1808 it "had a population of 375 slaves and about 700 acres, 225 of which were planted in cotton, 375 in coffee, and 100 in cocoa and provisions. The main building stood about a mile from the seaside, and behind it there was a canal leading to the back dam. Orange trees had been planted on each side of the canal. A green path shaded by rows of Mountain Cabbage trees led from the main house to the public road. Everything had been built or grown by slaves under Post's supervision."

      Post built a chapel called Bethel Chapel on Le Resouvenir and a small missionary house as well. Slaves from surrounding plantations were allowed to attend the church services also. Most of the congregation was made up of slaves and a few white overseers. The local Dutch minister as well as other planters saw Post as a trouble maker. Many at Le Resouvenir only spoke Dutch, but most spoke English as well.

      In 1809 Post died, and his widow married a man named Van der Haas whose brother beat the slaves. He in turn was replaced by a man named Hamilton. There was much unrest on the plantation at this time. Wray who had come to preach had been eventually replaced in 1816 by missionaries John Smith and his wife Jane. In her deposition, Sarah de Wit mentions a Dr Smith, but he appeared to be a medical doctor, and the above John Smith was dead by the time the De Rochemonts immigrated to the U.S. in the 1830's. It is John Smith who is considered the hero of the slave rebellion of 1823 which led ultimately to their emancipation. He lived and preached on Le Resouvenir.

      Da Costa speaks of an outbreak of smallpox at Le Resouvenir in 1819. She further mentions a slave Susanna who lived with the plantation manager John Hamilton. She also speaks of slaves in the dry season going to Le Resouvenir for water, for there was a permanent spring there. She mentions a carpenter Peter Hood on the plantation and slaves Cupido, Romeo, and Azor. The focus of the book concerned the events that led up to the revolt of 1823, and there is little about the goings-on of Le Resouvenir other than those that concerned the slaves directly.

  • Sources 
    1. [S138] She Is No Yankee, Boston Daily Globe, 1 May 1894, pg 6., Online (Reliability: 3).
      Story about Maria Louisa DeWitt DeRochemont describing her family, her life in Demerera, and her life in Newington
      http:/​/​pqasb​.pqarchiver​.com/​boston/​advancedsearch​.html
      Maria-Louisa-Boston-Globe
      Maria-Louisa-Boston-Globe


    2. [S138] She Is No Yankee, Boston Daily Globe, 1 May 1894, pg 6., Online.
      Story about Maria Louisa DeWitt DeRochemont describing her family, her life in Demerera, and her life in Newington
      http:/​/​pqasb​.pqarchiver​.com/​boston/​advancedsearch​.html
      Maria-Louisa-Boston-Globe
      Maria-Louisa-Boston-Globe


    3. Details: Footnote: MA VR Footnote: MA VR.


Go to Top