Aristides Heustis was the progenitor of a significant line of the Heustis family. Many if not most of his descendants use the Huestis spelling of the name. I have used that spelling in all but the title of this database.Aristides is said to be the oldest son of the Caleb Heustis who was born about 1723, and Martha Totten, born about 1725, both of Rye, Westchester County, NY. This Caleb, most often with a surname rendered as Husted, or another d-ending variant, was remembered in the will of Peter Totten proved in 1766, as the widower of Martha. Caleb may also be the "school master" who lived in the Philipse Patent and witnessed several wills in the years before the American Revolution.
After Martha's death this Caleb may have married second Amy Bishop and had a second family. A 1778 will for a Caleb "Hustis" of the "Manor of Philips-Bourgh" abstracted in the 1924(2) volume of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record shows the reality of this Caleb; final proof that this is the same Caleb that married Martha Totten may be forthcoming soon. The Caleb who married Amy Bishop had a son William, a minor in 1778; his descendants are found in my GenCircles contributions: The Plummer Expedition and Jesse Heustis - NY ---> IL.
Aristides apparently had several full siblings. Sister Elizabeth married Jacob Dayton. The Dayton family recapitulated the names in the Huestis family, and several Aristides Daytons appear in that line. Aristides' brothers Lewis and Timothy were Loyalists, who migrated to New Brunswick in 1783. Some say that father Caleb also migrated with Lewis and Timothy. Daniel is a third, Patriot brother. A Daniel "Heustas," Captain of NH militia, age 30, was buried in Hartford, CT, in 1785 (1783?). Note that these family names are also repeated in Aristides' family.
Aristides married Prudence Baxter, whose family owned large amounts of land in New Hampshire, which Aristides' family lived on and then inherited. This inheritance was enhanced by the fact that the Baxters were also Loyalists, and they had removed to New Brunswick like Aristides' brothers. Aristides' allegiance to the Patriot cause led to affluence that seemed to have led to large families, as evidenced by the number of descendants in this file.
A sizable portion of Aristides' extended family remains in Essex County, NY, and neighboring counties in Vermont, to the present time, but as was the case with most families, the lure of the American West was strong. Some of the family were '49ers, appearing in the 1850 Census in El Dorado County, California. This part of the line extended up the West Coast as well.
Some descendants lingered in the Midwest, but surprisingly some of these migrants returned to their NY and VT roots.
