The Lighthalls were great fighters in the Revolution. Their names spelled all kinds of ways (it seems to have been very tough orthography for the Dutchmen to handle), are in many a roll in the State archives. The following is the lineage:
Abraham Lighthall came to Schenectady in 1719. Soon afterwards he married Anna, daughter of Claas Van der Bogart. William, his oldest son, born February 3d, 1722, married, November 20th, 1748, Elizabeth, daughter of Johannes Marselis.
Abraham, son of William, married Annatje, daughter of Claas Frans Van der Bogart; he left surviving several children.
Claas, another son of Abraham, born March 7th, 1724, married January 14th, 1749, Margaret Idich.
Jacobus, his oldest son, May 14th, 1758, married Charity Page. He was sexton of the Dutch church from 1799 to the time of his death, April 22d, 1829, aged seventy-one years. He left surviving him two sons, Nicholas and William, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Maria.
William, another son of Claas, married Sarah, daughter of Ahasueras Marselis. He died October 5th, 1822. He held a commission of lieutenant in the War of the Revolution, and was highly distinguished for his bravery in the battle of Bennington, under General Stark. Besides Ahasueras, he had an older son, Nicholas, who died unmarried before his father's decease.
Ahasueras, his son, born March 12th, 1799, married, September 10th, 1820, Margaret Peek.
Lancaster, also a son of Claas, born May 10th, 1761, married Hester Kittle, and had three sons, Nicholas, Douwe and Abraham; also a daughter, Annake.
Jacobus, also a son of Abraham, born January 3d, 1726, married, first, Margaret, daughter of Pierre Benoit; secondly, Sara, daughter of Johannes Van Vorst, November 12th, 1752. He died July 19th, 1791. She died March 14th, 1807.
John, a son of Jacobus, born February 18th, 1759, married Annatje, daughter of Cornelius Van Slyck, April 23d, 1793. He died in Glenville, August 4th, 1835, aged seventy-eight years.
Nicholas, another son of Jacobus, born May 19th, 1767, married Elizabeth Wageman. For many years he was ferryman on the Glenville side of the Mohawk River, near the present Mohawk bridge, presenting the interest of John Sanders, deceased. While a ferryman on the opposite shore, he represented the interest of Hon. Joseph C. Yates and Jan Baptist Van Eps, Esq. After the bridge as completed in 1809, he kept an inn on Water Street, near the bank of the main Binnekill. He died January 27th, 1838, in his eighty-eighth year. His wife died October 20th, 1836, in her eighty-seventh year. They left two sons, Nicholas and William; also two daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth.
John, also a son of James, born February 12th, 1755, married April 23d, 1793, Annatje, daughter of Cornelius Van Slyck. He died in Glenville, August 4th, 1835, aged seventy-eight years.