Showing posts with label New Netherland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Netherland. Show all posts

Friday, October 17, 2014

The Flemish Establishment of Nieuw Nederlandt

The 400th anniversary of the founding of New Netherland has just slipped by.That said, 400 years and 5 days ago,Nieuw Nederlandt was officially established. The four names in bold below were all "Zuid-Nederlanders". Members of the Lutheran congregation at Amsterdam, these immigrants from Antwerp were the first to act upon the news of Henry Hudson's 'discovery'. This post is intended to alert a wider audience to their accomplishment.





‘”The States General of the United Netherlands to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Whereas Gerrit Jacob Witsen, former burgomaster of the city of Amsterdam, Jonas Witsen and Simon Morissen, owners of the ship called the Little Fox (het vosje), Captain Jan de Witt, master; Hans Hongers, Paul Pelgrom, and Lambrecht van Tweenhuysen, owners of the two ships called the Tiger and the Fortune, Captains Adriaen Block and Hendrick Christiaensen, masters; Arnoudt van Lybergen, Wessel Schenk, Hans Claessen, and Barent Sweetsen, owners of the ship Nightengale, (Nochtegael), Capt. Thuys Volckertsen, merchant in the city of Amsterdam, master; and Pieter Clementsen Brouwer, Jan Clementsen Kies, and Cornelis Volckertsen, merchants in the city of Hoorn, owners of the ship the Fortune, Capt. Cornelis Jacobsen Mey, master, have united into one company, and have shown to Us, by their petition, that after great expenses and damages, by loss of ships and other perils, during the present year, they, with the above named five ships, have discovered certain new lands, situated in America, between New France and Virginia, being the seacoasts between 40 and 45 degrees of latitude, and now called New NetherlandGiven at the Hague, under our seal, paraph, and the signature of our Secretary, on the 11th day of October, 1614.” 


- E.B. O’Callaghan, History of New Netherland,  pp.74-76

Saturday, December 1, 2012

The Flemish Claim to Sinterklaas


The Flemish Claim to Sinterklaas in America




On December 6th children in Flanders receive gifts. These gifts ostensibly come from Sinterklaas with the aid of his Moor assistant, "Swarte Piet". This tradition had strong Catholic origins, which of course made it anathema to 17th century convicted Calvinists. Thankfully, a few key members of the Dutch Reformed Church in Nieuw Nederland who had roots in officially Catholic Flanders were unwilling to give up their cultural traditions.

One of these influential individuals was Annetje Loockermans (whose story I have told earlier here). Annetje was the sister of Govert Loockermans (the richest man in North America when he died in 1671) and together with several of her other brothers, represented the Brabantian town of Turnhout well in 17th century America.


Annetje married Olaf van Courtlandt (of Scandinavian roots but born in the northern Netherlands) and her children led the Netherlandic colony culturally, politically and economically. Two in particular are often-cited by historians.  Annetje's son Stephanus was the first native-born mayor of New York City. Her daughter Maria at the age of 17 married Jeremias van Rensselaer (son of Kiliaen, the founder of Rensselaerswyck and the subject of recent books). To this union of Jeremias and Maria a long line of prominent Americans can trace their roots. 

Later, when Maria's husband died, the young widow raised her children and kept the patroonship profitable. She also kept the traditions alive she had picked up from her Turnhouter mother Annetje. One of these traditions became the forerunner of the Sinterklaas ("Santa Claus") traditions we celebrate today.

Baker’s account from Wouter de backer



The earliest evidence of any practice related to Sinterklaas is found in the New York State archives. A surviving receipt from Wouter de Backer (Walter the Baker) to Maria van Rensselaer in 1675, (please see the embedded picture), says (8 lines from the bottom)  that in addition to cookies ("koeken"), Mrs. Van Rensselaer purchased 2 guilders and 10 stivers worth of Sinterklaas "goet" ["goodies"]. This is the earliest reference to anything connected to Sinterklaas that survives today in the archives of the European colonists in North America (please see an excerpt above and the actual scanned image here).

Later descendants of Annetje Loockermans were to carry the Sinterklaas theme even further. The family tradition of Sinterklaas came to morph into a cultural tradition that became widespread by the end of the 18th century. An individual who married into one of Annetje Loockermans' descendants captured that tradition in rhyme. The result gave us here in America the poem we know as "Twas the Night Before Christmas" . And it is from this juncture that the date we celebrate Christmas migrated from the evening of December 5th/6th to December 25th. 

Cultural influences being what they are, Christmas is now celebrated even in non-Christian countries like India and Japan (albeit as a cultural, not a religious, holiday). In fact, the spirit of gift-giving and the recognition of this holiday is one of the amazing global cultural expressions of our time.

So as you hum the latest Christmas jingle, bake your Christmas 'goodies', or scramble for those last minute gifts, take a moment to reflect, if you will, on the debt owed to a few hardy Flemish women in 17th century Nieuw Nederland who transmitted their cultural traditions to the world from Turnhout.



Copyright 2012 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without my express, written permission.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

The De Milles of Flanders, New Netherland and Hollywood



Cecil B.DeMille died on this day, January 21st, in 1959. At the time of his death he was at the very top of the “A list” of Hollywood directors. DeMille is probably not well remembered by many outside of the film industry today. But among DeMille’s Academy Award winning films were “Cleopatra”, “Samson and Delilah”, “The Greatest Show on Earth”, and, of course, “The Ten Commandments”. This last film was among the top five most profitable films in history and is still considered a classic (it won multiple Academy Awards).

De Mille’s importance to us here is that he epitomizes for that time what an American celebrity was. Yet, the reality is that he was a Flemish American. This of course speaks to the issues of assimilation and self-identity (I have not seen any article or statement where De Mille publicly acknowledged his Flemish roots). Be that as it may, DeMille is a direct descendant of Flemish emigrants. The important point here, of course, is that DeMille’s genealogy speaks to the unacknowledged presence (and prominence) of Flemish Americans.

Permit me then to offer to you, on this anniversary of his passing, an abrdiged and edited reprinting of the Flemish origins of the DeMilles (edited by me for style but content primarily excerpted from Louis P. de Boer’s “Pre-American Notes on Old New Netherland Families,” from The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Volume III/1928).


Anthony deMil/DeMille (1625-1689) is the first of his family name to reside in America.[i] He is a direct ancestor in the male line of Cecil B. DeMille (1881-1959). The De Milles belonged to the colony of Flemish refugees which had established itself at Haarlem after 1577, just after that city had freed itself from Spanish control.[ii] The Flemish colony at Haarlem had grown as a result of immigration, by numbers of settlers, either directly from Flanders, or from Flemish refugee colonies in England and Germany.[iii]

The persecutions of dissenters [such as the Pilgrims, who of course fled England for the Netherlands in 1607] by the British King James I caused many Flemings to flee England and relocate in Haarlem. Even at that time this was remarked upon. In the Haarlem city archives there is a thin booklet called [translated into English] “An Account of the Flemings who have come to the city of Haarlem in the year 1612”.[iv]


After the outbreak of the Thirty Years War in 1618[v], still more Flemings came to Haarlem. These Flemish refugees were part of the mass exodus of Flemish Protestants who had established congregations in the Rhineland and Palatine[vi] (western Germany). Like their fellow Flemings in the diaspora in England and France, the Flemish diaspora in western Germany came into being after Catholic Spain reconquered Flanders (1577-1585).



This influx of Flemish refugees transformed Haarlem. By 1622 more than 50% of all Haarlem residents were from the Southern Netherlands.[vii] This had a profound impact on the culture and even the language (with the Haarlem dialect adopting the “zachte ‘g’”/soft “g” of Flanders).

Of the Flemish refugees at Haarlem, the largest numbers appear to have come from Brugge (Bruges), Gent (Ghent) and Antwerp.[viii] For the first few generations this Flemish community kept up their Flemish traditions and customs and frequently intermarried. When they emmigrated abroad, these practices were carried over to New Netherland. In fact, many of these Haarlem Flemings settled in New Netherland beginning around the middle of the 17th century.


The Flemish Haarlem family we are most interested in, the De Mille family, was originally from Brugge (Bruges), in West Flanders. For example: a certain Gerard de Mille lived at Brugge in 1350; a Jan de Mille lived there in 1400 and a Martin de Mille was a resident at Brugge in 1550. Some members of the De Mille family were wholesale flour and grain merchants. This appears to be a profession passed from father to son. A branch of the family also existed at Antwerp.[ix]


Like his father before him, Anthony de Mille (grandfather of Anthony De Mille the New Netherlander) was born at Brugge about 1550. There he married Maria Cobrysse [perhaps sometime in the late 1570s or early 1580s]. Maria was the daughter of Jacob Cobrysse and his wife Jacomyntje. Maria’s mother’s sister [name unknown] married a Matthys van de Walle. Sometime before 1597 both Anthony de Mille and his wife Maria Cobrysse died and their minor children were taken in by their great uncle Matthys de Walle.


It was also about this time that the family fled – as many Bruggelings and West Flemings did – to Zealand. Since Brugge fell to the Spanish in 1584 it might have been then. At any rate, the son of the deceased Anthony de Mille of Brugge, also (and confusingly) named Anthony de Mille (but referred to here as the Elder), was raised in Vlissingen (aka Flushing) in Zealand. It is here where Anthoiny de Mille the Younger (the New Netherlander) may have been born.

Anthony de Mille the Younger at some point gravitated back to the “half-Flemish city” of Haarlem. For it was at the Dutch Reformed Church at Haarlem on September 19, 1653 that Anthony de Mille the Younger married Elisabeth van der Liphorst, a lady of Flemish origins residing at Haarlem.[x] Both bride and groom had lived on the Anegang, a narrow street still used in Haarlem.

Like some of his ancestors, Anthony de Mille the Younger made his living as a grain merchant. This required frequent travel. But since the grain trade was closely tied into the financial exchange at Amsterdam, it is likely this which pulled the young family from Haarlem to Amsterdam. It was in Amsterdam in the following year, 1654, that the couple’s first child (named Maria, after her paternal grandmother as was the practice) was born.

However business must have been unstable. Because by 1656 the family was living in Vlissingen (Flushing), Zealand. And in 1657 the family was back in Haarlem. On May May 3rd, 1657 “Anthony de Mil, formerly of Vlissingen, and at present residing here at Haarlem,” appointed Pieter van der Voort of Haarlem guardian of the minor children of his late sister “Grietje Antonis…widow of the late Johannes Reynders.”[xi]

The next child we know of from the notarial records was born and baptized in Haarlem. The translated entry reads:

21 August 1657 Father: Anthony de Mil of Haarlem Mother: Elisabeth van der Liphorst

ANNA Witnesses: Jacob van de Water & Elisabeth van der Schalcken


On May 15, 1658) the de Mille family left for America.[xii] Anthony de Mille and his family sailed from Amsterdam in Holland for New Amsterdam in New Netherland on the ship De Vergulde Bever (The Gilded Beaver).[xiii] The family included Anthony, his wife Elisabeth van der Liphorst, and their children, Maria (aged 4) and Anna (9 months).[xiv]

However, this soon changed. In quick succession Anthony and Elisabeth added three sons and another daughter to their brood.


7 December 1659 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van der Liphorst

ISAAC Witnesses: Govert Loockermans & Neeltje de Nys


12 October 1661 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van Liphorst

PETRUS Witnesses: Johannes van Brugge & Cornelia de Peyster


30 December 1663 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van der Liphorst

SARA Witnesses: Hendrick van de Water & Ytie Strycker


14 March 1666 Parents: Anthony de Mill Lysbeth van der Liphorst

ANTHONY Witnesses: Johannes de Peyster & Catharina Roelofs


It is remarkable that most of the baptismal witnesses named above had Flemish names, although Govert Loockermans is the only one actually born in modern-day Flanders (Turnhout).[xv] The last three named – Van Brugge, de Peyster, and van der Water – all belonged to the Haarlem-Flemish diaspora that resettled in New Netherland.[xvi]

Once in New Netherland, Anthony de Mille earned his daily bread (literally) as a baker. It is possible that de Mille was even involved in baking Sinterklaas cookies for the half-Flemish Maria van Rensselaer http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2011/12/flemish-claim-to-sinterklaas-in-america.html While baking seems to be a safe occupation, de Mille did seem to get into trouble. Noted New Netherlands historian Dr. Jaap Jacobs cites an example where de Mille (whose name is incorrectly transcribed as “de Milt”) is fined 150 guilders for baking bread lighter than regulations.[xvii]

Anthony de Mille’s will, dated May 27, 1689, was proved December 10, 1689, and confirmed by Governor Leisler January 4, 1690. The will names him “a merchant living in the City of New York, and a widower.” It mentions his children and his housekeeper, Mary Winter [as heirs]. While locally prominent to various degrees, none of these de Milles ever reached real prominence. Little did they all know that one day a direct descendant would claim the world stage.



Endnotes


[i] There appears to be a great deal of misinformation floating around on DeMille, his birthplace, his ancestors, etc. (from websites – cf http://www.geni.com/people/Anthony-Demill/6000000000609950526 and http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~jmthompson/Roads/familygroup/fg03_203.htm ). Thus, the genealogies associated with these names are always suspect unless one has the documentation as verification. So,permit me to offer a disclaimer: with the exception of the sources I include below, I am not able to verify the full genealogical contents of Louis de Boer’s article.

[ii] Haarlem was besieged by the Spanish and after capitulating, the surrendering Netherlandic troops were butchered and the city sacked by the Spaniards. In 1577 the Agreement of Veere was signed that granted equal rights to both Catholics and Protestants. The accord lasted for a year before Catholicism was forbidden. The ebb and flow of the Dutch Revolt/Eighty Years War is difficult to follow and not treated in any recent books in English that I am aware of. The two best authorities (in English) are Geoffrey Parker, The Dutch Revolt, (Norwich: Penguin Books, 1977) and Pieter Geyl, The Revolt of the Netherlands, 1555-1609, (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1980). Sadly, Jonathan I. Israel, The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477-1806, (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), fails miserably for anyone who seeks to understand the timeline of the period. Israel also appears shockingly oblivious to the major contribution of Zuid Nederlanders to the rise and greatness of the Dutch Republic.

[iii] Please see a nice article here on the Flemish influence on Haarlem (in Dutch): http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4324/nieuws/article/detail/1083652/2010/01/16/Vlaming-in-Haarlem.dhtml . For the definitive overview in Dutch on the Flemings in Haarlem, see also P. Biesboer, et.al., Vlamingen in Haarlem, (Haarlem: De Vrieseborch, 1996).

[iv] Unfortunately I have been unable to locate a single reference to such a book anywhere. This leads me to wonder if the good Mr. DeBoer might have mistranscribed the reference. The only document that I am aware of is Pieter van Hulle’s 1642 Memoriaal van de Overkomste der Vlamingen hier binnen Haarlem. Incidentally (and unfortunately) Van Hulle’s “Memoriaal” is not on Google books.

[v] See Geoffrey Parker, The Thirty Years’ War, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1984).

[vi] A good online source and summary of the history of the Palatine as it relates to immigrants to America in the 17th century can be found here: http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/palatines/palatine-history.shtml

[vii] See Dr. J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek, 1572-1630: Een demografische en cultuurhistorische studie, (Sint-Niklaas, Danthe, 1985), “Tabel XXI: Immigratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden-Samenvatting”, p.214. Dr. Briels shows that several other cities which contributed large numbers of immigrants to America – Leyden and Middleburg each had more than 50% immigrants from modern day Belgium in 1622. Even Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Gouda were reckoned to have more than 30% Zuid-Nederlanders. For Dr. Briel’s analysis of the composition of the Flemish influx to Haarlem during this time see ibid, pp.107-116.

[viii] In this respect De Boer is not basing his claim on statistics. Dr. J. Briels, Zuid-Nederlanders in de Republiek, 1572-1630: Een demografische en cultuurhistorische studie, (Sint-Niklaas, Danthe, 1985), “Tabel XXI: Immigratie in de Noordelijke Nederlanden-Samenvatting”, in his “Tabel II: Immigratie in Haarlem – 1578-1609. Bron: lidmatenboeken van de calvinistische gemeente” p.112, refugees from Gent (234) and Antwerp (225) far exceeded those from Brugge (60). Even Tielt (76), Menen (75), Roeselare (74), and Kortrijk (66) exceeded those listed as from Brugge. However, the greatest number (453) simply said they were from “Vlaanderen”.

[ix] De Boer goes onto say: “In the old Abbey-Church of St. Michel at Antwerp there is a tombstone with the following inscription (translated): ‘Here lies buried, Francois de Mil, Lord of Westerem and Faerden.” Mr. de Boer goes onto offer an inscription at the church and other details. Unfortunately, the closest example to a church that fits that description that I am able to uncover is this church in Antwerp: http://www.topa.be/site/216.html. The Wikipedia description is a bit clearer: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Michielsabdij_(Antwerpen) However, according to the history, the church was demolished by Napolean’s troops preparing for a crossing of the English Channel in the 1790s. So it is very hard to place the actual details of this transcription. Parenthetically, the fief that this Francois de Mil was theoretically suzerain over appears to be now a part of Gent, not Antwerp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Denijs-Westrem .

[x] In the Haarlem Art Museum there is an oil painting of a Maria van der Liphorst who appears to have been a sister. Their mother’s maiden name was Van Brugh or Van Brugge. See http://wingetgenealogy.com/tree/family.php?famid=F2642&show_full=1

[xi] Louis de Boer cites Document #280 of the City Archives of Haarlem as the source. Per de Boer, this was notarized by W. van Kittensteyn and witnessed by Anthony de Mil and Jan Thomas van Son). For an interesting look at the importance of notaries in the lives of Netherlanders and New Netherlanders see Donna Merwick, Death of a Notary: Conquest and Change in Colonial New York, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999). Note that the main protagonist in Merwick’s tale, Ludovicus Cobus, is a native of Herentals, in the Province of Antwerp.

[xii] Ship sailings can be found online here http://immigrantships.net/newcompass/pass_lists/listolivetree2.html for New Netherland bound passengers.

[xiii] The ship passenger lists for those sailing to New Netherland at this time can be found here: http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/nn/ships/

[xiv][xiv] The family name was mis-transcribed as “de Mis”. Also on board was Jan Evertsen from Lokeren, East Flanders. See http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nnship05.shtml For a detailed (and crisply accurate) genealogy and documentary trail of Jan Evertsen of Lokeren and the Ten Eyck and Boel families of Antwerp, please see Gwen F. Epperson, New Netherland Roots, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994), especially pages 3-4 for Jan Evertsen, Appendix C, “The Ten Eyck-Boel European Connection” (pp.123-129).

[xv] The 400th anniversary of Govert Loockermans’ birthday is July 2nd, 2012. I intend to have a blog post about Loockermans completed by that time.

[xvi] The de Peysters were originally from Gent. The Van Brugges originally from Brugge. The Van der Waters may also have been from Brugge. The van de Waters participated in De Mille family baptisms both in Haarlem and in New Amsterdam. Johannes Van Brugges has been listed as a relative of the De Milles, according to de Boer.

[xvii] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Leiden: Brill, 2005), pp.248-249: “Baker Anthony de Milt [sic] was accused by the Schout Pieter Tonneman of baking bread that was too light in weight. De Milt did not deny that his bread was below standard, but maintained that this was not deliberate. According to him the batch had been left in the oven for too long. His explanation was supported by his assistant, Laurens van der Spiegel, who declared that the bread had been in the oven for four hours, an hour longer than normal. This had happened while De Milt [sic] was out on business and Van der Spiegel was busy in the loft. Furthermore, the batch consisted of only forty loaves instead of the usual seventy. And since bread from between sixty and seventy schepels [about fifty bushels] of grain had been baked during the previous days, the oven was very hot. The result of all this was that the bread became too dry, and consequently weighed less than it should have. Other bakers consulted by the court stated that this was a plausible explanation. Burgemeesters and Schepen nonetheless sentenced De Milt to a fine of one hundred and fifty guilders, but rejected the demand by Schout Tonneman that he be banned from baking for six weeks, probably because they were convinced that this was not a case of deliberate attempt to defraud.” Parenthetically, while I am generally delighted with the breadth and scope (and scholarship) of Dr. Jacobs’ New Netherland, his book retains the critical flaw of many Dutch-centric books: ignoring or glossing over the contributions of the Flemish.

Copyright 2012 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction in any format permitted without my express, written consent.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

The Establishment of Nieuw Nederland



This post will be a brief one. Last night I gave a presentation at De Orde van den Prince in New York City called "Vlamingen in Nieuw Nederland". It is a superb group that deserves sponsorship.

My presentation is in powerpoint and for those of you interested in it, please contact me and I will send it to you.

That said, I am posting today because it is the anniversary of the granting of the right to trade in North America to group of Northern and Southern Netherlanders (i.e., Flemings) based in Amsterdam. These adventurers, who even before Emanuel Van Meteren's publication of Hudson's voyage in 1611, swarmed the Hudson River estuary trading and fighting for animal (especially beaver) pelts, were the creators of the name "Nieuw Nederland" (New Netherlands). Below I post the English translation of the document by E.B. O'Callaghan. The names in bold are Zuidnederlanders (Flemings).



"On October 11, 1614 ”The united company by whom they had been employed, lost no time in taking the steps necessary to secure to themselves the exclusive trade of the countries thus explored, which was guarantied to them by the ordnance of the 27th of March [1614]. They sent deputies immediately to the Hague, who laid before the States General a report of their discoveries, as required by law, with a figurative map of the newly explored countries, which now, for the first time, obtained the name of ‘New Netherland.’ A special grant in favor of the interested parties was forthwith accorded by their High Mightinesses, in the following terms:




'The States General of the United Netherlands to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting. Whereas Gerrit Jacob Witsen, former burgomaster of the city of Amsterdam, Jonas Witsen and Simon Morissen, owners of the ship called the Little Fox (het vosje), Captain Jan de Witt, master; Hans Hongers, Paul Pelgrom, and Lambrecht van Tweenhuysen, owners of the two ships called the Tiger and the Fortune, Captains Adriaen Block and Hendrick Christiaensen, masters; Arnoudt van Lybergen, Wessel Schenk, Hans Claessen, and Barent Sweetsen, owners of the ship Nightengale, (Nochtegael), Capt. Thuys Volckertsen, merchant in the city of Amsterdam, master; and Pieter Clementsen Brouwer, Jan Clementsen Kies, and Cornelis Volckertsen, merchants in the city of Hoorn, owners of the ship the Fortune, Capt. Cornelis Jacobsen Mey, master, have united into one company, and have shown to Us, by their petition, that after great expenses and damages, by loss of ships and other perils, during the present year, they, with the abovenamed five ships, have discovered certain new lands, situated in America, between New France and Virginia, being the seacoasts between 40 and 45 degrees of latitude, and now called New Netherland:'






[p.75]
'And whereas, they further represent that We did, in the month of March, publish, for the promotion and augmentation of commerce, a certain consent and grant, setting forth that whosoever should discover new havens, lands, places, or passages, should be permitted exclusively to visit and navigate the same for four voyages, without permitting any other persons out of the United Netherlands to visit or frequent such newly discovered places, until the said discoverers shall have performed four voyages, within the space of time prescribed to them for that purpose, under the penalties therein expressed, &c., and request that We should be pleased to accord to them due testimony of the aforesaid grant in the usually prescribed form: '




'Wherefore, the premises having been considered, and We, in our Assembly, having communication of the pertinent report of the petitioners relative to the discoveries and finding of the said new countries between the abovenamed limits and degrees, and also of their adventures, have consented and granted, and by these presents do consent and grant, to the said petitioners, now united into one company, that they shall be permitted exclusively to visit and navigate the above described lands, situate[d] in America, between New France and Virginia, the seacoasts of which lie between the 40th and 45th degrees of latitude, and which are now named New Netherland, as is to be seen on the figurative maps by them prepared; and to navigate, or caise to be navigated, the same four voyages, within the period of three years, to commence from the first day of January, 1615, or sooner, without it being permitted, directly or indirectly, to any one else to sail, to frequent, or to navigate, out of the United Netherlands, those newly discovered lands, havens, or places, within the space of three years, as above, on penalty of the confiscation of the vessel and cargo, besides a fine of fifty thousand Netherlands ducats, for the benefit of said discoverers.





'Provided, however, that by these presents We do not intend to prejudice or diminish any of our former grants and concession; and it is also our intentionthat if any disputes or differences should arise from these concessions, that they shall be decided by ourselves. '




[p.76]
'We, therefore, expressly command all governors, justices, officers, magistrates, and inhabitants, of the aforesaid United Netherlands, that they allow said company peacefully and quietly to enjoy the whole benefit of this our grant, and to interpose no difficulties or obstacles to the welfare of the same. Given at the Hague, under our seal, paraph, and the signature of our Secretary, on the 11th day of October, 1614.'”




- E.B. O’Callaghan, History of New Netherland, pp.74-76






Copyright 2011 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction without my explicit, written consent.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Annetje Loockermans - Flemish Mother of America



Today, March 17th, is the birthday of Annetje Loockermans. In her day (the 1640s to the 1680s), in Nieuw Nederland, she was the supreme arbiter of fashion, taste, and polite society. It is thanks to her that we today celebrate Christmas with the tradition of Santa Claus. But she was much more than simply a purveyor of popular customs or the colonial equivalent of Ms. Manners. Annetje Loockermans brought civilization to New Netherland. More importantly, she literally gave birth to the elite of America. As such she deserves first rank recognition as a Flemish Mother of America.



Turnhout and the Loockermans


Next year, 2012, the Flemish city of Turnhout celebrates 800 years of municipal existence. Plagued by wars, civil unrest and emigration, Turnhout has yet retained a history worth recording. Yet, despite all the hoopla attendant to its long existence, Turnhout strangely seems to have forgotten the contributions of some of its sons and daughters to the world stage. (Although the Knack Editor Karl Van Den Broeck is working to correct this.) One of those daughters, Annetje Loockermans, was the pre-eminent lady of New Netherland society from the 1640s until her death in 1684.


As Mrs. Van Cortlandt (she married an ex-enlisted soldier with that fine surname and made him a man of stature) Annetje Loockermans is credited with having brought the Netherlandic tradition of celebrating Sinter Klaas (Saint Nicholas) to America – and this at a time when the Puritans of New England had outlawed the celebration of Christmas. [1] More importantly, her North American offspring today literally number in the millions and include the elite of business, government and academia from the past four centuries. [2]


What do we know of this “Flemish Mother of America”?



Sint Pieterskerk in Turnhout where Anna Lokermans (Annetje Loockermans) was baptized a Catholic in 1618

New Netherland


Anna/Annetje was born March 17, 1618 and was baptized a Catholic in Sint-Pieterskerk in Turnhout. [3] At the time, many Flemish Protestants outwardly conformed to Roman Catholic Church practice while clandestinely observing some version of “reformed” Christianity. It is possible – given her family’s later prominence in the (Calvinist) Dutch Reformed Church in New Netherland (something not easy to attain [4] ) – that her family had long been crypto-Calvinists whose worship and beliefs were kept hidden from their neighbors and the authorities. [5]


Regardless of their Roman Catholic baptisms, her Flemish siblings and half-Flemish children would later become prominent members of the Dutch Reformed Church in the North American Dutch outpost called New Netherland. [6]





Like her brother Govert Loockermans, part of Annetje’s success must be attributed to her force of character. Later the strength of familial ties through her brother Govert’s wife, the noted and respected widow of Jan de Water [7] , Adriantje, (who was a niece of Gillis Verbrugge, head of the largest trading house in Amsterdam doing business in New Netherland and her brother’s boss) also helped. But in the end it was Annetje alone who carved herself a place as the leading lady of Nieuw Nederland.


It is uncertain when Annetje first came to America. My suspicion is that she joined her brother Govert Loockermans when he returned to New Netherland late in 1641. For it is not until she had married in 1642 that we begin to read about her in New Netherland chronicles.


Annetje’s husband was a rising merchant known as Oloff Van Cortlandt. Van Cortlandt was a first-generation Netherlander (his parents were Scandinavians), who had been a common WIC soldier for at least a few years before striking out as a “freeman” [someone who was neither employed by nor contractually tied to the West India Company]. Their first introduction may have come through Annetje’s brother Govert, who was a successful merchant, a fighting man, and of similar age (more about Govert to come in a future post).



By the early 1640s Van Cortlandt was a man destined for great things. “Oloff Stevensz van Cortlant" [8] had been [the] store-keeper for the Company and deacon of the church [but not until after marrying Annetje Loockermans in 1642]; later he was burgomaster of New Amsterdam.” [9] It is difficult to know how much of Van Cortlandt’s success can be attributed to Annetje. But perhaps like all good marriages, their strengths were complementary and the sum of the two was greater than individually they could have hoped to accomplish. [10]




But Annetje did not need a marriage to further her family connections. If anything she already had a strong network. Annetje’s brother, Govert’s wife’s sister (in other words, Annetje’s sister-in-law by marriage through her brother Govert) had married Jacob van Couwenhoven. [11] “Jacob van Couwenhoven had come out in 1633 [on the same ship as brother Govert's first voyage] and resided at first at Rensselaerswyck; he was afterward of note as a speculator and a brewer in New Amsterdam.” [12]


Incidentally, both Van Couwenhoven and Loockermans worked as agents for the Verbrugges. Nor were they alone. “Family ties linked most of these factors to their masters in Amsterdam. Johannes de Peijster, dispatched by the Verbrugges to New Netherland to assist Govert Loockermans, was described by Seth Verbrugge as ‘my wife’s uncle’s sister’s son, of good background’.” [13] So through Govert’s wife, Annetje was also connected to a powerful Amsterdam merchant family (of Flemish origin).




While Netherlandic society – and of course the norms of New Netherland itself – allowed a great deal more equality between the genders, at the end of the day 17th century colonial society did make gender distinctions. Later descendants, regardless of whether they echoed wishful beliefs or family lore, believed Annetje held first place among the women of New Netherland. “There was an unwritten law among the Dutch women, that some member of the family should be acknowledged as a leader, whose influence was unbounded and whose dictates were obeyed without question. The sister of Govert Loockermans [Annetje Loockermans] was one of these autocrats, and it was mainly due to her energy that her entire family emigrated to America.” [14]



For me at least, the documentary evidence of Annetje prodding Govert onto a privateering vessel to cross the Atlantic (or, even more unlikely, taking ship for New Amsterdam before Govert in 1633) does not exist. Still, Annetje was someone who at least among her descendants is remembered as a person who got things done. For example, Annetje Loockermans is credited by her myriad descendants as having been the driving force behind the first municipal improvements in New York City: the paving of the dirt streets with cobblestones. [15] Her descendants likewise credit her with other domestic innovations such as a space-saving folding bed. [16] Modest accomplishments to be sure but still indications of intelligence, drive and resourcefulness.



If snippets of information are any standard to go by, Annetje Van Cortlandt nee Loockermans was close to her half-Flemish daughter, Maria Van Rensselaer nee Van Cortlandt. Both were married to men considered two of the most powerful in New Netherland. Still, both women exerted influence in their own right as well as behind the scenes. It may very well be, as a late 19th century descendant claimed, that Annetje Loockermans and her peers “governed their husbands…” [17] However, if they did, they showed exceptionally strong wills: neither husband ever struck his contemporaries as 'hen-pecked' or weak-willed. While Annetje’s daughter Maria Van Rensselaer is worthy of a bio in her own right, together, mother and daughter were clearly a force to be reckoned with. Jointly they are anecdotally credited with helping to avert a bloodbath by convincing their husbands not to forward monies to a useless battle against the mercenaries and English freebooters who captured New Netherland in 1664. [18]






After Annetje


The documentary and historical trail left by Annetje Loockermans the person is sparse. But I think it is fair to say that Annetje Loockermans did more than act as a spur to her husband. Nor was she simply an ornament for polite society, a 17th century version of an Upper East Side socialite, or even an innovative pioneer woman (although she was all of those too).



One measure of any person’s mark in this world is how their children and grandchildren have fared in the world. Annetje Loockerman’s real legacy (to me at least) is the contribution her offspring have made to society and history. On that basis this Turnhoutse lass did quite well in fact. First, Anna’s female offspring married well.


First and foremost among Annetje’s female descendants in both accomplishments and affinity was her daughter Maria Van Courtlandt. The half-Flemish Maria married the equally part Flemish Jeremias Van Rensselaer, grandson of the patron of Rensselaerwijck. Their patroonship was in fact the only real feudal estate to survive the Revolutionary War (up until 1839). More importantly, Maria proved her mettle as a 27 year-old-widow, raising 6 young children on a huge estate, dealing with every aspect of the business while literally fighting off conniving relatives, hostile Indians, and French invasions. All this while crippled with a debilitating handicap. Truly a model of the “pioneer woman”. [19]


Margaret Kemble Gates, Great-grand-daughter of Annetje Loockermans and wife of the British General who started the American Revolutionary War by attacking Lexington & Concord in April, 1775



Later generations found equal prominence. Margaret Kemble (great grand-daughter) married General Thomas Gage (British general at the start of the Revolutionary War). Gage is best known perhaps as the British general who ordered the redcoats to march on Lexington and Concord, thereby triggering 'the shot heard around the world' and the opening of the American War of Independence. While choosing a losing side in a war is not much of an accomplishment. Sticking with someone whose fortunes have waned, “’Til death do us part” certainly is.



Elizabeth Schuyler 3rd great grand daughter of Annetje Loockermans and wife of Alexander Hamilton


The elegant and intelligent Elizabeth Schuyler (3rd great grand-daughter) married Alexander Hamilton (aide-de-camp to George Washington, Founding Father of the United States, 1st Secretary of the Treasury, etc.). As the bastard son of a distant relative, she might have easily rejected his proposal for marriage but weathered considerable societal criticism to marry the man. Elizabeth Schuyler not only ‘stuck by her man’ when he was illicitly meeting other women (including her sister) but when Aaron Burr’s dueling pistol felled her husband in 1804, she raised their eleven children alone.




Elizabeth’s contemporary, Harriet Livingston (3rd great grand-daughter) married Robert Fulton (inventor of the steam engine and protege of Benjamin Franklin), while not as well known, had perhaps a more tranquil life. But it was several generations before a family tradition known as Sinter Klaas (and today Santa Claus) was transmitted through several generations to the world.






Catherine Eliza Taylor (5th great grand-daughter) married Clement Clarke Moore (author of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”). Arguably one of the things Flemish women have given the world yet, with traditional Flemish modesty, avoiding acclaim for their contribution to world culture.




Last here (although by no means least in the line), Anna Livingston Street (6th great grand-daughter) married Levi Parsons Morton (22nd Vice President of the United States under Benjamin Harrison). Morton was also the Ambassador to France during the construction of the Statue of Liberty and drove in the first rivet. Of course at this level of remove it is hard to judge whether any generational memory of Annetje Loockermans remained. But this nicely ties back to my roots. The village of Morton Grove, IL, just a few miles south of where I live, is named after him. [20]





And what of the male line? Of Annetje Loockermans’ immediate male descendants, two deserve special notice. One son, Stephanus Van Cortlandt became the 1st native born mayor of New York City. A second son, Jacobus, followed Stephanus footsteps and became only the 2nd native born mayor of New York City.





In subsequent generations other remarkable men were born of her line. John Jay (2nd great-grandson - thru Jacobus' line - pictured above) negotiated the end of the Revolutionary War and became the 1st Chief Justice of the United States. James Fenimore Cooper (4th great-grandson), perhaps with some inkling of the contact his ancestors had with the Native Americans, was the author of a best-selling book of the American Frontier (and perhaps the first popular literature to portray Native Americans in a sympathetic light). The book was called “The Last of the Mohicans”. Another descendant of the same generation, Stephen Watts Kearney (4th great-grandson), became not only a hero of the Mexican War (1847-8) but also the liberator of California.




In the next generation another author surfaced. Herman Melville (5th great-grandson) became the author of “Moby Dick”. This book, like “The Last of the Mohicans”, was a “bestseller” of the 19th century and is considered a classic today. Three generations later, in a curious return to a trade dominant in New Netherland (furs) another descendant, John Jacob Astor (7th great-grandson) ran the American Fur Trading Company. Like his 7th great grand uncle Govert Loockermans, Astor turned his fur riches into landed wealth. One of the richest man in mid-19th century America (and the first multi-millionaire) his name remains a synonym for wealth.



Annetje’s descendants also pursued other paths. Montgomery Clift (8th great-grandson), a name largely unknown by today’s Generations X, Y, and Z was a leading man movie actor from the 1940s-1960s. Another descendant of that same generation was the globally known Cyrus Vance (8th great-grandson). As the Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter he sought peace in the Middle East.






The extended Loockermans family did not do too poorly either. In New Netherland Anna’s niece and namesake Anna Loockermans (Anna senior’s brother Pieter’s daughter) married Adam Winne (the son of Gentenaar Pieter Winne/Winnen – see my post on the Gentenaars of New Netherland). [21] Perhaps because of the unique combination of two Flemish ancestries (!), their offspring proved the most illustrious: Theodore Roosevelt (President of the United States - pictured above) and Eleanor Roosevelt (First Lady of the United States and wife of Franklin Delano Roosevelt).



Just as Annetje led New Netherland’s “society”, her brother, Govert Loockermans (1612-1671), was a leader in the political, economic and military circles of the colony. Govert Loockermans rose from very modest beginnings, attained great financial success, held numerous offices (civil, military, and religious), and died the richest man in New Netherland – if not of all of North America. [22] But his story is for a later post.




Anna Lokermans was born March 17th, 1618 in Turnhout. Annetje Loockermans was married February 26th, 1642 in New Amsterdam. Anna Van Courtlandt nee Annetje Lokermans/ Loockermans died April 4th, 1684 in New York City, surrounded by her family at the end of a life well lived. The fact that she and her husband passed away within months of each other underscores the close tie between them and the example of a married couple who became “one flesh”.



So if you visit New York City and pass a street, a train station, or a manor house with the Dutch name “Van Cortlandt”, remember that it was a woman from Turnhout who at made an equal if not greater contribution to the propagation of that family name and to the great fortune of America. My next post will bring us back to New Netherland and reconnect the Loockermans, the Mohawks, and the Flemish Protestant émigrés.




Endnotes


[1] See http://www.pilgrimhall.org/bradfordjournalchristmas.htm Downloaded March 17, 2011.



[2] See the excellent online outline of the descendants of Govert’s father, Jan Loockermans here: http://lunar.arc.nasa.gov/printerready/science/geography_items/carters/craters_r.html December 10, 2010. This data was presumably culled from the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.



[3] "In Turnhout worden de doopregisters bewaard van Godefridus Lokermans (2 juli 1612) en zijn zuster Anna (17 maart 1618), kinderen van Jacob Lokermans en Maria Nicasius. Ook hun broer Pieter (geboren 5 oktober 1614) liet sporen na in zijn geboorteplaats. In de Sint-Pieterskerk op de Grote Markt van Turnhout, waar Anna en Godfridus (De Latijnse naam Godefridus werd in het protestantse Noorden al snel Govert) gedoopt werden, rust nog steeds een van hun nazaten." E-mail correspondence from Karl Van Den Broeck dated October 10, 2010.



[4] Church membership was not something easily attained. “Those who were members [of the Dutch Reformed Church] upon their emigration to New Netherland, or when they removed within the colony, had to produce a certificate of membership from their previous congregation.” Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: a Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Leiden: Brill, 2005), p.290. Please note that this was a fairly elite group. “Although the Reformed Church was the public church [of New Netherland], its membership remained low at less than 20 percent of the [European] population.” Ibid, p.478. The total European population at 1664 has been variously estimated at between 9,000 and 10,000 individuals. Thus, less than 2,000 of the European inhabitants were members of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1664.



[5] Just for the record, whether the Loockermans were crypto-Calvinists while in Turnhout or simply converted later when in Amsterdam, practice of Roman Catholicism in the (northern) Netherlands would have proved difficult. To quote the eminent historian Charles Ralph Boxer: “For over a hundred and fifty years after the relative triumph of militant Calvinism at the Synod of Dordrecht [1618-1619], Roman Catholics could not legally worship in public or in private, nor could they belegally christened nor married by a Roman Catholic priest. They were forbidden to give their children a Roman Catholic education, or even to send them abroad for the purpose of receiving one there. The wearing of crucifixes, rosaries or Roman Catholic insignia of any kind, the buying and selling of Roman Catholic religious books, devotional literature, prints and engravings, the saying or reciting of Roman Catholic hymns and songs, the celebration of Roman Catholic feast-days and holidays, were all forbidden by law. No Roman Catholic could hold an official post, whether municipal, university, legal, naval or military. Unmarried Roman Catholic women were not allowed to make a will; and any bequest to a Roman Catholic foundation was held to be null and void in law. In most places, the children of mixed marriages had to be brought up as [p. 138] Protestants, and there were so many other vexatious legal hindrances in the way of practising the Roman Catholic faith that, if these penal laws had been properly enforced, the liberty of conscience which was grudgingly allowed to Roman Catholics would have been almost valueless by itself. In addition to all these civil disabilities from which the Dutch Roman Catholics suffered, they were for long regarded by many of their Protestant compatriots as being real or potential traitors – from 1568 to 1648 in the interests of Spain , and from 1648 to 1748 in that of France.” C.R. Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800, (London: Penguin Books, 1990), pp. 137-138.



[6] Although baptized Catholic in Turnhout, Loockermans must have had some affidavit of his Reformed Church credentials (and they must have been deemed legitimate.) since he was married in a Reformed Church in Amsterdam and later became a prominent member of the church in New Amsterdam (e.g. churchwarden from 1655-1656). Interestingly, from 1624 (the first WIC settlers in New Netherland) to 1664 (when New Netherland fell to the English) 13 Dutch Reformed Ministers – including the Fleming Samuel Drisius – served in New Netherland. Of course only a fraction of those at any time served concurrently – even though there were 11 churches in New Netherland in 1664. For the source of this information and further details behind this, please see “Gerald F. De Jong, “The Education and Training of Dutch Ministers”, pp. 9-16 in Charles T. Gehring & Nancy Anne McClure Zeller, Education in New Netherland and the Middle Colonies: Papers of the 7th Rensselaerswyck Seminar of the New Netherland Project, (Albany: New York State Library, 1985). Of course, this does not include the hidden Lutherans, Catholics, Quakers, and others who either followed their conscience in private or met secretly in home services. A list of the clergymen – Dutch Reformed, Independent, and including Jesuit missionaries to the Iroquois – can be found in E.B. O’Callaghan, The Register of New Netherland 1626 to 1674, (originally published at Albany, 1865; Genealogical Company reprint at Baltimore, 1998), pp. 118-122.



[7] “Jan de Water, had been active with his brothers Isaack and Jacob in the Arctic trade…[and his family was] among the financial backers to a Swedish colony on the Delaware River promoted by disillusioned Dutch West India Company director Samuel Blommaert….[but he] subsequently disappeared at sea during a hurricane, [as captain of] the Kalmar Nyckel, lead ship of the two vessels the Swedish South Sea Company sent to the Delaware in 1637.” David William Voorhees, “Family and Faction: The Dutch Roots of Colonial New York’s Factional Politics,” pp.129-147 in Martha Dickinson Shattuck, Explorers, Fortunes & Love Letters: A Window on New Netherland, (Albany: Mount Ida Press, 2009), p.132.



[8] The spellings of “Van Cortlant” are also variable. I will use the most common version: Van Courtlandt.



[9] J. Franklin Jameson, “The Representation of New Netherland, 1650,” in Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elibron Classics Reprint, 2005), pp.285-354; p. 290.


[10] “A common soldier in the employ of the West India Company [when he arrived in New Netherland circa 1637-1638], Oloff soon added the patronymic “Van Cortlandt” to his name and began a meteoric rise to a position of prominence in [p.4] the nascent colony. Starting his office-holding career as an inspector of tobacco in 1640, Oloff, some six years later, became a member of the short-lived legislative unit known as The Nine Men. Oloff filled many posts on the municipal and provincial levels between 1640 and his death in 1684. He did not forget his military past, because among his various capacities he served as a colonel in the Burghers’ Corps, or municipal militia, helped improve the fortifications of Fort Amsterdam, and became a commissioner of Indian affairs for the province. While performing these duties, he acquired one of the great fortunes in the colony through his brewery activities.” Jacob Judd, The Revolutionary War Memoir and Selected Correspondence of Philip Van Cortlandt, (Tarrytown: Sleepy Hollow, 1976), pp.3-4.


[11] This Van Couwenhoven may have been part of the same extended family from which sprung the Vancouver family – of which “Van Couwenhoven” is an Anglicized version. Please see my “Was George Vancouver Flemish” http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2010/01/was-george-vancouver-flemish.html


[12] J. Franklin Jameson, “The Representation of New Netherland, 1650,” in Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elibron Classics Reprint, 2005), pp.285-354; p. 290.


[13] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Leiden: Brill, 2005), p.70.


[14] Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, The Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta: At Home and In Society, 1609-1760, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898), pp, 23-24.


[15] “It will be interesting at this point to pause a moment and to take a hasty survey of New Amsterdam at this period. The town was clustered about the fort, which faced Bowling Green, and is now occupied by a row of trans-Atlantic steamship offices. The northern limit of the city was at Wall street, where a fence of wooden palisades stretched across the island from river to river. Two gates, one at Broadway, the other close to the East River, were the only means of egress. These gates were guarded by sentries and were closed every evening, precisely at nine o'clock. Seventeen streets traversed the settlement, but of these all but three were little crooked lanes, determined, in all likelihood, by cows, that had their own notions regarding the nature of thoroughfares. The principal path was Pearl street, which skirted the [p. 143] shore, (Water, Front and South streets, at this period being still under water). Broad street, a ditch, extending almost to the present Sub-treasury, was crossed by two bridges and in appearance was a reminder of the Water streets of Old Amsterdam. Broadway was the relic of an old Indian trail and was not of much importance. Its western side was a stretch of farm land and the east was occupied by small houses, tenanted by tailors, bakers and other small tradesmen. None of the roads were paved at this time. A few years later, Madame Van Courtlandt, wife of Oloff Van Courtlandt, the Brewer, a worthy dame of Old Holland, who abhorred dust, began a series of complaints that resulted in a pavement of cobble stones along the lane in which she lived. People came from far and near to see the great improvement and laughingly called it "the Stone Street," which name it still retains at the present day.” The Judaens Society Addresses, 1897-1899, (New York: The Judaean Society, 1899), pp. 142-143


[16] “The houses were built of yellow and black Dutch bricks, giving the place the appearance of a city of checker boards. The gable ends faced the street and the roofs showed a series of "crow-steps" leading up to the chimneys, thus enabling the "sweeps" to reach without trouble, their destination. There were no stoves in the town, but the open fire-places bordered with tiles containing biblical scenes, offered abundant comfort and genial warmth. No carpets adorned the rooms but the parlor floor was covered with a layer of sand in which the "Goede Vrow" [Annetje Loockermans] drew all sorts of fancy tracings, this being one of her proudest accomplishments. In the reception room, there was a closet, built into the wall which, on being opened, disclosed a shelf and bedding, that were always [p. 144] ready for the sudden guest. This, no doubt, was the prototype of our modern Yankee folding bed. The Judaens Society Addresses, 1897-1899, (New York: The Judaean Society, 1899), pp. 143-144.


[17] Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, The Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta: At Home and In Society, 1609-1760, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898), p.131


[18] Mrs. John King Van Rensselaer, The Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta: At Home and In Society, 1609-1760, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1898), pp.117-118.


[19] “Maria Van Cortlandt Van Rensselaer (July 20, 1645-January 24, 1688/89) was born in New Amsterdam. Her mother was “well-connected” and her father was wealthy. When she was only 17 [April 27, 1662], Maria married Jeremais Van Rensselaer and moved to his landed estate near Albany. In their ten-year marriage they had four sons and two daughters. In 1624 [sic – actually 1674], her husband died and Maria had to assume responsibility of running and managing gristmills and sawmills on the 24-mile square [actually it was 528 square miles – 24 miles by 24 miles] property. In addition she had to hire workers and pay all the bills. She succeeded in getting a clear title to the property after the English ousted the Dutch in 1673. She was harassed by male family members who wanted to take over her land and business, but she prevailed. In 1685, a settlement was reached and she remained in charge of her estate as well as securing it for her children. Maria Van Rensselaer died at age 43. She had gained for her children the richest land patent in the colony. Marriages of her children created alliances with other important clans and established one of the most important families of early New York. She is an early model of a widow learning business skills to secure a future for her children.” The author of this piece somehow missed the fact that she suffered from a debilitating handicap that made it difficult for her to walk and confined her to bed for long periods on top of all the above. See http://www.nwhp.org/resourcecenter/pathbreakers.php downloaded March 17, 2011.


[20] See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_P._Morton


[21] Please see my earlier post on the Gentenaars of New Netherland here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/07/gentenaars-of-nieuw-nederland.html


[22] The exact amount of his wealth varies dramatically. “Gouvert Loockermans died in 1670, reputed the richest individual in North America. He was worth 520,000 Dutch guilders, an immense sum for the period in which he lived.” See the Biographical and Genealogical History of the State of Delaware, Volume 1, (Chambersburg, PA: J.M. Runk & Co., 1899), p. 93. More recently: “Merchant Govert Loockermans from Turnhout, Antwerp Province (Belgium), whose 52,702-guilder estate at the time of his death in 1671 made him New York’s wealthiest merchant.” David William Voorhees, “Family and Faction: The Dutch Roots of Colonial New York’s Factional Politics,” pp.129-147 in Martha Dickinson Shattuck, Explorers, Fortunes & Love Letters: A Window on New Netherland, (Albany: Mount Ida Press, 2009), p.131.


Copyright 2011 by David Baeckelandt. All rights reserved. No reproduction permitted without my express, written consent.