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Ditmas, Charles Andrew, Historian, Editor, Civic Leader - Although he pursued for many years an active and successful business career in Brooklyn, New York, Charles Andrew Ditmas is best remembered for his wide civic interests and for the major part he played in keeping alive an appreciation of the fine traditions originating in the historic past of the community. A descendant of old Brooklyn families and an American patriot of unwavering loyalty, his interest and effort were directed for many years toward historical and geneological research, the publication of these materials, are a fitting commemoration of the achievements of the past in contemporary life. He was the moving spirit in numerous patriotic and civic enterprises and well deserved the high value placed upon his citizenship by the people of his community. Mr Ditmas was born in Brooklyn, New York, on September &, 1887, son of Andrew and Margaret (Van Brunt) Ditmas. His birthplace was the old Flatlands district of Brooklyn, where one of his ancestors, Steven Coerten Van Voorhees, first settled almost three hundred years ago, while the New Netherlands colony still flourished. In those days the section was known as Amersfort, from the town of the same name in the Netherlands. Mr. Ditmas was descended not only from the Ditamases, Van Brunts and Van Voorheeses, but from Wiliam Adriaense Bennit, Wolfert Gerretsen Van Cowenhoven, Peter Claesy Wyckoff, Carel De Bevoise, Aucke Jansen Van Nyse, Joris Jansen De Rapelje, Jeronimus De Rapelje, Teunis De Nyse, Peter Lott, Peter Jansen De Wit, Dirck Janse Woertman, Capt. Machiel Hansen Bergen, Simon Aertensen De Hart, Capt. Roelof Martense Schenck, Kan Thomasse Van Dyck, Jan Janse Van Kerk, Jan Van Cleef, Jehu Burr, John Wakeman, Deputy Governor Stephen Goodyear, Sergeant Robert Lockwood, Hon. Andrew Ward. Dirck Benson, Sergeant Jan Nagel, Richard Stout, Philip Du Trieux, William Guljanse Cornell, Rev. Johannes Polhemius, Capt. Jan Strycker, Johannes Schenck, Jan Van Ditmarsen, Ferdinandus Van Sycklin, Obadiah Holmes. His father was probably the last of the prosperous Dutch farmers in the Flatlands, and the old Ditmas farmhouse, in which he himself made his home, is one of the last of its kind remaining in the section. Charles Andrew Ditmas was privately educated under tutors. Upon beginning his active career, he became interested in banking and real estate operations. As a result, once established in the business world, he had both the means and leisure to devote a considerable portion of his time to historical research and related endeavors. These had been his hobby since boyhood. He became a recognized authority on the history of Brooklyn and eastern Long Island, particularly during the Revolutionary period, and sponsored many movements to restore to public consciousness a sense of the past and its traditions. His own publications, in addition to various articles and monographs, included the definitive and handsomely illustrated volume, "Historic Homesteads of Kings County,' which presented in great detail the story of old Flatbush and Flatlands houses. Mr. Ditmas was the founder and only president of the Kings County Historical Society during his lifetime, which became an influential organization under his leadership, gathering together those who shard a common interest in Brooklyn's history, undertaking the publication of