Talk:DeWitt Clinton

message: It would appear that DeWitt Clinton was also a considerable Freemason.  The DeWitt Clinton monument at Greenwood Cemetary has a short biography and almost half of it is about his participation as a freemason.  The plaque at the base of the statue also bears two Freemason symbols and the seal of the Grang Chapter of New York and the Grand Commandery of the State of New York. Here is the inscription on the monument;
Born March 2, 1769 at Little Brtain New York, DeWitt Clinton was one of the greatest statesmen produced by the State of New York.  He was a State Senator, United States Senator, Mayor of the City of New York and Governor of the State of New York.  He was the driving force that made public education a reality as well as a proponent of the abolition of slavery int he State of New York.  He spearheaded the construction of the Erie Canal, which became the gateway to the American West.  He was also one of the most prominent Freemasons of his day.  He was Master of Holland Lodge No. 16 in 1793 and he served as the Grand Master of the Masons in the State of New York from 1806 to 1819.  He was the first Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State of New York in 1789 and the first General Grand High Priest oft he General Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the United States in 1816.  Clinton also served as the first Grand Commander of the Grand Commandery of the Knights Templar of the State of New York in 1814, and in 1816 he was the first Grand Master of the Grand Encampment of Knights Templar of the United States.  DeWitt Clinton left his earthy labors on February 11, 1828 at Alabany New York.  He was reinterred in Greenwood Cemetery in 1844.  DeWitt Clinton was an honorable man, a true patriot and a devoted Freemason. 
-- KernelHappy 21:57, 25 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Freemasons 

message: * There seems to be a discrepancy in this article between Clinton's service as Mayor of New York from 1811 - 1815 and his service as Lieutenant Governor under Daniel D. Tompkins from 1811 - 1813.  Could he (and did he) serve both positions simultaneously?  Some research is necessary to ensure the intregity of the data. --CPAScott 14:00, 30 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: No discrepancy... in those days one could hold several offices at the same time. According to [this site] "Clinton was Mayor of New York City from 1803-1815... As mayor, Clinton also held office as State Senator (1806-1811) and Lieutenant Governor (1811-1813)." Blueboar 22:41, 14 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mayor and Lt. Gov 

message: There is no such institution.  Does the author mean New York University, the State University of New York, or some other institution (perhaps defunct)?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.67.179.8 (talk) 16:54, 27 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  University of New York 

message: Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that :File:DeWitt Clinton by Rembrandt Peale.jpg will be appearing as picture of the day on July 25, 2013. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2013-07-25. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. Thanks! — Crisco 1492 (talk) 02:09, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[:File:DeWitt Clinton by Rembrandt Peale.jpg]] to appear as POTD soon 

message: Yep.  The episode of Daria called 'The New Kid', Daria befriends a new student at her high school called Zach DeWitt Clinton. If I were to create a 'In Popular Culture' section to mention this, it would surely get deleted.  Here, it is safe.  Zweifel (talk) 04:25, 31 December 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, perhaps you should try reading Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines: "Talk pages are for discussing the article, not for general conversation about the article's subject (much less other subjects). Keep discussions focused on how to improve the article. Comments that are plainly irrelevant are subject to archival or removal." You admit this would be removed from the article and thus don't seem to be focusing on improving it. Cheers. Justregisteredtocomment (talk) 02:33, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Right it's just that I alerted an exceedingly experienced admin to what this guy was doing and she said she found it 'bizarre'.  I think talk pages are a bit more liberal than that, and indeed my comments could be seen as part of 'improving' the article by not putting in a silly 'in popular culture' section.  Regardless, it is not in any way this person's place to remove content from a talk page.  All of his other behavior on Wikipedia indicates that he is a trouble-maker, and he should be treated as such.  Zweifel (talk) 06:37, 6 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Daria 

message: Isn't the hamlet of Dewittville, New York (in the town of Chautauqua, New York) named after DeWitt Clinton? 206.248.181.150 (talk) 17:20, 22 March 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Dewittville, New York 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Is there a source or justification for the current spelling of the name (DeWitt) instead of De Witt? His own publications (e.g. Memoir of the Antiquities of the Western Parts of the State of New-York, 1820) list him as De Witt. Congress lists him as De Witt CLINTON, De Witt, (1769 - 1828), as does New York state Hall of Governors entry for De Witt Clinton. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dorcasina Sheldon  (talk • contribs) 11:06, 6 March 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Spelling of name 

message: This is an expanded version of the previous section, explaining why the article should use "De Witt" in its title, instead of "DeWitt", which is an evident misspelling.
This early American politician was known everywhere historically as De Witt, as documented in the previous section by  as follows
* US Congress official biography: CLINTON, De Witt, (1769 - 1828)
* New York State Hall of Governors: De Witt Clinton
* His own works, such as Memoir of the Antiquities of the Western Parts of the State of New-York, 1820
To this one may add the Encyclopedia Britannica (print editions), as evidenced by the fifth item in the General sources section of the article.
(The situation with the online edition is discussed below.)
To this I would add the following works from my own shelves, which all use the De Witt spelling
* The Columbia Encyclopedia
* Henry Adams, History of the United States during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, 1889-1891, Library of America Edition 1986
* Page Smith, A New Age Now Begins, McGraw-Hill, 1976
* Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern, Harper Collins, 1991
The compressed DeWitt spelling has also long been used, though not in literary sources that I've been able to find, but in more vernacular things, like place names.
The earliest example I've found of this is DeWitt County, Illinois, established in 1839, eleven years after the politician's death.
It's interesting (and amusing) that the Wikipedia article for this county contains the following disclaimer
: "The U.S. Census Bureau and the USGS list the county's name as De Witt, although the county uses the name DeWitt (no space)."
The present Wikipedia article was created in 2002.
A lot of its initial revisions were focused on place names, rather than on the history of the actual politician, which may help to explain why the incorrect spelling was picked up in the title.
Since then, the DeWitt spelling has become fairly common online, including in some authoritative-sounding places, for instance the online edition of Britannica, and a 1998 biography published by Oxford, etc.
But a lot of these errors may derive from the incorrect assumption that the misspelling in the title of the Wikipedia article must somehow be authoritative.
Conclusion: in his own mind and times, and in scholarship and in official sources, he is De Witt, and the article should be renamed to reflect this fact.
Eleuther (talk) 14:28, 9 August 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Summary of the name issue 

message: In this article and the linked article about the De Witt family it is claimed that Clinton's mother was descended from the prominent Dutch patrician family. I find this claim suspect, and the source on it actually says she was simply a "member of a New York Dutch family," unless I've managed to miss it somehow. I have been unable to find proof that Tjerck Claeszen de Witt, the ancestor of the American family, was in any way connected to the famous de Witt family and the book "The De Witt Family of Ulster County, New York" by Thomas G. Evans notably makes no such claim. I have marked the source as needing verification on both articles. Alistoriv (talk) 20:44, 4 February 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  De Witt family 

message: DeWitt, MI and Clinton County, MI are both named after DeWitt Clinton. Seems like that should be included. 167.73.35.115 (talk) 15:49, 14 February 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  City and County named after him