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Abraham Kip
Born 17 October 1738 Died February 11, 1830
St. John’s Reformed church cemetery, Upper Red Hook. A rectangular marble tablet, close to the church and side road.
A long life was the reward for Abraham Roelof Kip who was born on October 17th, 1738, the tenth child of Roelf Jacob and Sara (Du Mont) Kip. Abraham was the grandson of Hendricus Kip, one of the group of men who purchased land from the Sepasco Indians, according to the Consortium of Rhinebeck History’s website referencing Smith’s History of Rhinebeck:
“About 1686, Gerrit Artsen, Arie Roosa, Jan Elton, Hendricus Kip, & his brother Jacob Kip bought land from the Sepasco Indians on the east bank of the Hudson. This first settlement in this vicinity was called Kispbergen (now Rhinecliff). The royal patent confirming this sale bears the date June 2, 1688. The Indian owners were Aran Kee, Kreme Much, Korea Kee, Ankony, Anamaton, & Calycoon. In 1700 the first house in the patent was erected by Hendricus Kip. It stood until 1910 when it was destroyed by fire.”
His grandmother was Annette Jans Van Putten, and his uncle Johannes Kip “built the stone house still standing by the turn of the road leading to Long Dock [in Rhinecliff] about 1709,” continues Smith. From these beginnings, it is no surprise that Kip heard the call of duty and served as a patriot in the American Revolution.
With a license dated November 3rd, 1760, Kip married Helena (or Lena) Tremper, the daughter of John George and Susanna Tremper of Rhinebeck, and the Kips had ten children. Helena died March 24th, 1827, at 86 years old, according to Frederic Ellsworth Kip’s History of the Kip Family in America. This is how Kip is described by his descendant Frederic:
“Abraham Kip was a straight, vigorous man who was never ill and was never known to take a dose of medicine. He was of gentlemanly bearing, a man of wealth and Dutch to the backbone. He resided at the ancestral home in Rhinebeck, afterwards the residence of William Berg Kip, and he died after a life of usefulness in his 92nd year at Red Hook, Feb. 11, 1830.”
Kip adds that his ancestor “was a member of Dutchess Co. Militia, Sixth Regiment, Col. Morris Graham, Colonel, in (the) War of (the) Revolution. The Sixth Regiment took part in the battles of White Plains and Harlem.”
Abraham Kip is buried at St. John’s Reformed Church cemetery in Upper Red Hook.