The 1653 Manhattan Skyline
On September 3, 1609 the English explorer Henry Hudson, on behalf of the United East India Company, entered the area now known as New York in an attempt to find a northwest passage to the Indies. He searched every costal inlet and, on the 12th, took his ship, the Halve Maen (Half Moon), up the river which now bears his name, as far as Albany and claimed the land for his employer. Although no passage was discovered the area turned out to be one of the best fur trading regions in North America
By 1624 the first Dutch colonists began settling the area around New York harbor. In 1626 director of the Dutch West Indies Company, Peter Minuit, bought Manhattan Island from the Lenape Indian tribe and built Fort Amsterdam on the southern tip of the Island. The colony eventually became known as New Amsterdam.
Many of our Dutch ancestors came to the new world as a part of this enterprise. They arrived between 1643 and 1652. Martin Cregier was a Frenchman who served as a military leader and owned a tavern and other businesses near the old fort. Christoffel Hoagland was a prominent merchant and landowner. Thenius Quick was a mason and helped build some of the early structures in New Amsterdam. Johannes Nevis was University educated in Holland and became a merchant in the New World. Adriaen Hegaman was also University educated and began his career as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church. He became the largest landowner in Flatbush on Long Island and later became a teacher in the First public school in that community. Jan Stryker was a gunsmith and a founder of Flatbush. Pieter Van Woggelum married a Mohawk Indian Princess and was an early landowner in the Mohawk valley.
Hoagland Family Ancestors
The Hoaglands are on teh Andrew side of our family. My 3rd great-grandmother Elizabeth Hoagland is descended from Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam who arrived in the New World in the mid-17th century. The first immigrants settled on the southern tip of Manhattan as a part of the New Amsterdam colony. Over the next three generations their descendants spread out to settle what is now Brooklyn. the next two generations moved to central New Jersey, where they lived during the Revolutionary War. Two of her great-grandfathers , Jacobus Quick, and Edward Bunn, were Revolutionary War soldiers. A generation after the war my 2nd great-grandfather, Abraham Hoagland, moved his family west from New Jersey to Michigan in 1825 where they joined the Mormon church during its early years.
Following are biographies of some of our 17th century Dutch immigrant ancestors:
The following is from “The Hoagland Family in America” by Daniel Carpenter Hoagland:
“Our earliest known Hoagland ancestor was Harme Hooghlandt born about 1550. Hoogland is a village in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands.
His grandson son was Harme Dircksz Hooghlandt born circa 1607 at Rijnsburg, South Holland close to the city of Leiden and died October 1677. He married Jannetje Deynoot who was born circa 1610 at Rotterdam on August 17, 1632 at Rotterdam. Their banns were published on August 1, 1632.
The Deynoot family removed to Rotterdam about 1580 – 1584 due to religious and economic reasons. Also, a war was being fought between Spain and the Northern Provinces of the Netherlands. Most of the 80 year war took place in the southern provinces (Flanders, Antwerp and Ghent). The Deynoot’s were members of the Remonstrant Church which was more liberal than the Dutch Reformed Church. Jannetje’s brother Daniel resided at Haarlem and was one of the regents of the Old Man House, the home for the aged.”
His portrait is to be found in a painting depicting regents of the Old Man House of Haarlem which was painted by Frans Hals (1580 – 1666).
Christoffel Hooghlandt (1643-1713) and Catrina Creiger (1645-1715)
Another immigrant ancestor was Christoffel Hooghlandt who was born 1634 in Haarlem, Holland, and died February 8, 1684 in New Amsterdam. He married June 23, 1661. “It was formally announced from the pulpit of the church in the fort.” to Catrina Creiger (a.k.a. Tryntie – a Dutch habit of forming a diminutive by dropping the first syllable); born 1645 in New Amsterdam; baptized December 31, 1645 died about 1713 in the Flatlands (Long Island)
Catrina was the daughter of Captain Martin Cregier (born about 1614 in Toulouse, France – died between 1713 – 1715 in the Mohawk Valley (Canastagione, New York) and Lysbet Jans.
From the George Q. Cannon Document Collection:
“Christoffel Hooglandt was born in Holland in 1634. (Christoffel, in English Christopher, was often shortened to Stoffel, the Dutch being much given to abbreviating names. Hence this Hooglandt is often called in the records “Stoffel Hooglandt”. There is something pleasant about these good old Dutch names borne by our worthy ancestors. And they meant something, too as, Christopher, the Christ‑bearer).
He came from Haarlem to New Amsterdam when but a youth. He was clerk for a mercantile house, and it appears that on his coming of age he commenced business for himself. In 1655 his name appears on the records of the Bargomasters and Schepens Court. We infer from the previous silence of the records regarding him that he had but lately arrived in this country. He next comes to our notice on the 16th of March, 1661, when he united with the Dutch Church in New Amsterdam. Evidently, he had been well educated, and was of a good family.
The next notice of him is on April 24, 1661, when he stands as witness at the baptism of a child of Martin Abrahams, who had arrived here a year before from Bloemendael. One June 23d ensuing, his intended marriage with Miss Catrina Cregier, a young woman born here in 1645, and the daughter of Capt. Martin Cregier, a noted officer under Kieft and Stuyvesant, was formally announced from the pulpit of the church in the fort. This alliance was not only calculated to give young Hooglandt a social standing, but shows that he was even then held in esteem. He must have already obtained some prominence as a merchant, because, on October 21, 1661, he and Hendrick Willemsen, baker, “as having a better knowledge of bread,” were appointed by the Court of Burgomasters and Schepens to put in force an ordinance passed on that date regulating the quality, weight and price of bread, and the forbidding of bakers ”To bake any more Koeckjes, jumbles or sweet cake.”
On May, 1666 he was living in the Hooge Street, supposed to have been a part of the present Pearl Street, west side of Broad, his lot being described as “Hoogland’s Corner, front to ye bridge, 50 feet to ye Pearl Street.” His dwelling stood on the Pearl Street side. The bridge was that crossing the canal, which at that date ran through Broad Street. He was also the owner of other property in the city. On May 24, 1669, being at this time an Aldrman, he purchased from WilliamVan Borden a house and lot “outside the Land Gate (at Wall Street and Broadway) and south of the house of Gerrit Hendricksen, the blaauw boet,”and there he spent the remainder of his days. He also bought land near the house of the noted Capt. Jacob Leisler from ex‑Governor Stuyvesant.” In 1676 two farm lots (Government grants) were surveyed for Mr. Hooglandt upon Staten Island. He was also the owner of several tracts of land in the States of New York and New Jersey.
On March 12, 1676, being “Monday in the afternoon about five o’clock,” Mr. Hoogland and his wife Catharine Cregier‑‑” the testator sickly and the testatix going sound of body”‑‑made their joint wills which was drawn up by William Borgardus, Notary, and witnessed by their friends, Francis Rombonts and Paul Richard, Merchants. (The wife of Wm. Borgardus is said to have been Sarah Cregier, sister to the wife of Christopher Hoagland). It provided for the ultimate and equal division of the property among their present children, Dirck, Harman, Martins Christopher and Francis De Groot Hoogland: and “the children which they may by the blessing of God get in the future.” The wisdom of this last provision became obvious when another son was born to them four years later, and whom they named Harman, the first child of that name having died. Surviving eight years, Mr. Hoogland attained again the position of Alderman in 1678.
His death took place on February 8, 1684, when he was probably about fifty years of age. Catrina was then a resident of Pearl Street, her father, Capt. Cregier, occupying the same adjoining premises.
On October 3, 1688, the widow Hoogland signed a marriage contract with Rocloff Martinsen Schenck, a prominent and wealthy resident of Flatlands, to whom she was married on the 9th of November following. She thereupon removed with her younger children to “The Bay,” as Flatlands was familiarly called, and where she was still living September 4, 1704, the date of Mr. Schenck’s will. There her youngest son, Harman, spent his life.”
Children of Christoffel and Catrina:
Harmanus Hooglant was born February 18, 1681 and baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam. He died November 8, 1771 at Flatlands – Long Island. He was an elder of the church at Flatbush in 1710, 1712 and 1716 he owned and occupied a house near the Flatlands church. He owned other property and owned one or more slaves. He married between 1702 – 1706 Alida Jansz Van Dyckhuysen (also spelled Alyday) born circa 1684 and died April 25, 1706. On April 25th, Harman paid 24 gl. for grave and pall for his wife.
Their son (the grandson of the immigrant) Harmanus Hooghlandt (son of Harmanus Hooghlandt and Adrianna Stoothuff) was born January 1, 1725 at the Flatlands baptized died January 25, 1806 and was buried in the Hoagland Cemetery, South Branch, Somerset County religion both were members of the Neshanic Reformed Church as of September 13, 1776.
He married Styntie Van Gelder (Styntie is short for Christyntie) born December 22, 1734 baptized January 26, 1735 at New Utrecht. Witnessed by Cornelius and Christyntie Vanderhoven. died March 25, 1798 age 64 years Daughter of Hendrick Van Gelder (circa 1709 in Flatbush) and Annatje VanderVoort (circa 1713 in Bushwick) Family bible record has her name as Stinche.
Several years after their marriage, they moved to Somerset County, New Jersey. They purchased 189 acres on the road that leads from Flaggs to South Branch. His farm joined his brother’s, Christopher and Harmanus. There is a record of a purchase of 128 1/2 acres of land by Harmanus Hoogland, of Hillsborough, in 1784, from Jeronomus Vanderbilt for the sum of 768 pounds, 19s, 11d. See Somerset county record A 123 – this land was located just across the river from Neshanic Station.
The Hoagland land was in Flaggtown, Somerset County, New Jersey. The Hoagland Cemetery is no longer in existence. From an entry in Find-a Grave:
“Late 18th century – early 19th century burying ground that was located on the old Hoagland farm in the Flagtown section of Hillsborough Township, NJ. Headstones that were still standing in December 1934 were transcribed and recorded by Walter P. Coon of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey, and published January 15, 1937 in the Somerset Messenger-Gazette. He did note some illegible broken stones. The cemetery has since been plowed over.”
Their son was Lucas born April 24, 1753 at Flatlands, Long Island, NY, baptized April 29, 1753 at Flatbush Reformed Church. Witnesses – Lucas Voorhees and Christina (nee Vandervoort) Voorhees, wife of Lucas. died May 22, 1821
He had a farm on the South Branch of the Raritan River in Hillsborough Township. He occupied the farm which his father owned before him, and also had about 225 acres near Branchville, which came to him by marriage. That which came to him by marriage was on the other side of the South Branch. The former 189 acres was bought from his father, Harmanus, for 1000 pounds on February 1, 1800. The land bordered Martin Hoagland and Christopher Hoagland’s land (son of Christopher of Flatlands and a nephew of Martinus who was brother of Harmanus). Martin and Harmanus were sons of Harmanus and Adriana.
He married Mary Bunn on December 1772. She was born March 15, 1755 in Branchville and died August 14, 1835 according to family bible record. Her will was signed on May 21, 1829 and proved August 24, 1835.
She was the daughter of Squire Edward Bunn (1730 – January 3, 1796) of Branchville and Catherine (1736 in Bridgewater – July 12, 1799 age 63).
Captain Martin Cregier (1617-1713) Elizabeth Jansz (1623-1661)
One Cregier genealogy states that he had been a Huguenot refugee from Borcken, Holland and from Toulouse, France. Martin Cregier (Krygier), the first Burgomaster of New Amsterdam, having distinguished himself as a fearless warrior, retired with Gov. Stuyvesant into private life.
There were actually 2 burgomasters of New Amsterdam: Martin and Arendt Van Hattem. They were sworn in on February 2, 1653 along with five schepens and a secretary. He may have settled at Canastagione, now Niskayuna (Albany county, NY), on the banks of the Mohawk River. In the retired spot, he died in the early part of 1713. His descendants continued to own the homestead in Niskayuna well into the 1900’s.
New Amsterdam was the first permanent settlement by the Dutch West Indies Company in 1626. In the same year, Fort Amsterdam was constructed. In 1628, the settlement consisted of 270 persons. In a tax list of New York City for the East ward, made about 1703, is the name of Captain Cragror [Cregier] who had 1 male 16-60; 2 females; 2 female children; and 1 female slave. den 31 dict . [Dec] Marten Cregier Tryntie Cornelis Van Tienhoven, Secrts., Olof Stephenszen Van Courtlant, Ariaen Dircks, Sara Roelofs, h. v. Mr. Hans Van Kierstede. Pieter Montfoort baptized Jannetje May 8, 1646.
“Martin Cregier, patriot, captain and burgomaster, will be remembered for his great activity in the civic and military life of New Amsterdam. From a humble beginning, as a trader and tavern keeper, he showed such ability that he came to serve in almost every civic capacity and his skill, bravery and love of adventure raised him to the Captain-Lieutenancy of the West India Company” Before coming to New Amsterdam, Martin lived in Borcken, where his son, Frans, was born, and Amsterdam where his daughter, Margrietje, was born. Borcken may have been a village in the province of North Brabant, Holland.
Martin came to New Amsterdam with his wife, Lysbeth Jans, and at least 3 children prior to April 5, 1643 (when their daughter, Catherine, was baptized). He entered into the service of the West India Company. On August 4, 1649, Martin Kregier, late sergeant to Gerrit Vastrick, petitioned for 1,271 guilders and 19 stivers due him from that company at Amsterdam. On March 4, 1649, he had been listed as lieutenant in a company of burgher officers of which Jacob Couwenhoven was captain.
Martin was at first a trader in America. On September 2, 1643, there is a record of him discussing the price of beaver. On July 15, 1644, he sent 50 beavers to Holland for sale. On December 4, 1646, he signed partnership papers with Kieft, acting for the West India Company, and 9 others which indicate he owned 1/16th of the small French-built frigate, “La Garce,” which sailed as a privateer under the control of the Dutch government, preying upon Spanish barks and returning to New Amsterdam with copper, Negroes, coral, wine, tobacco, ebony, sugar and the spoils of war.
Cregier was captain of a sloop which sailed between Albany and New Amsterdam, called the “Bedfort” with which in later years he traded along the Delaware. His trading activities were not confined to New Netherlands. In 1651 and 1652, there were letters from Lion Gardener of the Isle of Wite the mention Martin. As early as February 1683, Martin had a sloop on which he conducted trading ventures to New Castle, Delaware. He traded with “Natives or others in those parts.” On March 27, 1675, after the British reoccupation, Gov. Andros sent a message to the Schout of New Castle by Capt. Kriegiers Sloop.
As early as 1647, Martin was a tavern-keeper in New Amsterdam. There were three inns located near the fort and overlooking the green. One was operated by Peter Kock, the Dane, at # 1 Broadway, and another owned by Martin who was Peter’s neighbor and another across Marketveldt, the new name for Bowling Green, on Stone Street. This tavern was later called the ‘King’s Arm Tavern’ and at the time of the Revolution, it was called Burns’ Coffee House. As late as 1860, there was still a tavern on the spot, then being known as ‘The Atlantic Garden.’
On May 18, 1643, he was given a ground-brief – a house and garden north of the fort on the west side of the Heere Wegh (Broadway) opposite the open space before the fort which later became Bowling Green (located at the present #3 or #9-11 Broadway). It was the first lot on De Heere Straat on the left side of Bowling Green, some 87 rods in perimeter. In 1643, when Broadway was starting to resemble a street, Martin built the second tavern (#9-11 Broadway). There was a tavern on the site till 1860. On March 10, 1645, Jan Jansen van den Ham declared that Martin was bequeathed a house by his friend Sergeant Martin Ael (lot was #14-16 Broadway). His friend wrote his will while lying in bed wounded during the night between March 5th and 6th.
On February 25, 1656, he petitioned the council for leave to build on his lot west Broadway. The house was supposed to be a 2 story building with window in the high peak and the crowstepped gables being turned towards Broadway. It was taller and narrower than his neighbors – possibly due to the narrowness of the lot which was broader at North River and narrower at The Great Highway. The house was completed by September 15, 1659, when “the newly built house and lot of the Worshipfull Burgomaster Marten Cregier” are referred to by his neighbor Jacobus Backer. On January 3, 1664, a malicious servant, a negress named Lysbet Antonio or Antonis, set fire to the house.
The year 1664 marked the surrender of New Netherlands to the English and New Amsterdam became New York. On January 11, 1664, Martin conferred with the reckless Captain John Scott about the latter’s claim to Long Island. On February 21, he contributed 100 florins towards the fortification of the city. On September 8, he signed the Articles of Capitulation of the Surrender of New Netherlands and New Amsterdam fell to the control of the British. Captain Cregier said that he would provide powder, but, for fear the Dutch soldiers would suddenly attack the English on account of the surrender, he had two kegs of powder brought to his house instead of on board the ship Gideon then the soldiers sailed.
The latter days of Martin Cregier’s life were still active. Under the English Governor, Richard Nicolls, in 1668, the men of the city were listed, divided into two companies and ordered to appear upon departure of the governor. Cregier was made one of the captains on August 17, 1668. In 1670 and 1672, he was made captain of a foot company, both under Governor Lovelace. On July 30, 1670, a commission was issued to Martin to be captain, Goovert Lookermans, lieutenant, Stephans Van Cortland, ensign, of a company at New York. A commission was also issued to Captain Martin for a company in his city.
Later in 1686, it is said that he retired to Albany where his son, Martin, was living and where Martin already owned property. One biographer said of Martin: “He was a pleasant, intelligent, and able personality, a born leader. Apart from his tavern, he ran a prosperous shipping business. Official appointments had been heaped on him since his arrival around 1643 — firewarden, orphanmaster, militia commander — and ten years later he became the first burgomaster of New Amsterdam, a function he would frequently fulfill and which he had relinquished upon taking command of the vital campaign at Esopus. It was to become the crown of his career…”
Johannes Nevius (1627-1672) Adrianentje Bleijck 1637-1689)
Joannes Nevius (circa 1627 – circa June 1672) was the third secretary of New Amsterdam under the Director-General of New Netherland. He became the first secretary of New York City under the English.
Nevius was baptized March 14, 1627, at his father’s church in Zoelen, in Guelderland, just north of Brabant. He moved with the family to Venlo in 1634. Sometime before 1646, the family moved to Kampen (the father may have been dead by that point).
Nevius entered the University of Leyden in 1646. In 1651 (or possibly 1650), he sailed to America, probably leaving from Amsterdam. When he landed in Manhattan, it contained perhaps 1,000 inhabitants. Peter Stuyvesant was governor. The village was called Manhattoes until 1653, when it was incorporated as the city of New Amsterdam.
Joannes Nevius was probably a merchant when he first arrived. The first record of him in Manhattan is March 3, 1652, when he witnessed a baptism. On March 13, 1653, he was assessed 100 guilders to help pay for the city’s defensive wall. On September 1, 1653, he was appointed arbitrator in a suit for wages.
On November 18, 1653, he married Adriaentje Bleijck (Ancestor). On November 22, 1653. She was from Batavia in the East Indies; born about 1637 in Batavia Dutch East Indies; died about 1686 and was buried Brooklyn Churchyard NY.
Johannes owned a lot at what is now 80 Broadway and may have had his house there. This land was taken from him by the city on May 3, 1657, for a parade ground. On November 30, 1654, he appeared in court as attorney-in-fact for his father-in-law, who was defendant in a suit regarding the construction and outfitting of a ship, the Nieuwe Liefde. This suit dragged on for several years.
December 8, 1654, Joannes Nevius was named a city Schepen (filling the term of a Schepen who had been murdered). There were five city Schepens and two Burgomasters, who sat as magistrates and city council in the Court of Burgomasters and Schepens at the Stadt Huis, or city hall.
October 1657, he was sworn in as City Secretary. He resided in the Stadt Huis (71 & 73 Pearl St.). He kept the minutes of the Court of Burgomasters and Schepens, recorded deeds, and prepared official documents. He was also vendue master, i.e., he conducted all public sales (for a fee of 3 guilders per transaction), and he was law librarian. From this time, started spelling his name consistently “Joannes” instead of “Johannes.”
On July 22, 1658, he conveyed his house and lot on Pearl St. to Cornelius Steenwyck. September 6, 1664, the British took New Amsterdam and renamed it New York. In October, all the inhabitants were required to swear an oath of allegiance to King Charles II. Joannes Nevius continued as City Secretary under the British. On June 12, 1665, the city government was restructured after the British model of mayor, aldermen, and sheriff. On June 19, it was found that the City Secretary could not keep minutes in English, and on June 27 Joannes resigned his position.
The Nevius family moved out of the Stadt Huis and onto Hoogh (High) Street. Not much is known about his whereabouts or activities from 1665 to 1670. By about 1670, Joannes Nevius and family were on the other side of the East River in Brooklyn, leasing and living in the ferry house there. He ran the ferry (probably hiring ferrymen) and a tavern in the ferry house.
Joannes Nevius died in May or June 1672. By June 10, 1672, his wife signed a petition to hold the ferry house as “widow.” Following Dutch custom, his grave was probably unmarked and its location is now unknown.
Adriaen Hegeman (1625-1672) Catherine Margettes (1628-1690)
Adriaen Hegaman was born about 1624 in Elburg, Gelderland, Holland and died Abt. 1 Apr 1672 in Flatbush, Kings Co., Long Island, NY. He married 7 Mar 1648/49 in Sloten (near Amsterdam), North Holland to Cathrine Margetts the daughter of Joseph Margetts and Anna Jans van Waardenburg. Catherine was baptised 4 Feb. 1625 in the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam. We are descended from their fifth of nine children: Denuyse “Denys” Hegeman (Ancestor) who was born in Flatbush, NY in 1658. He married Luccretia “Grace” Dollen (Ancestor) who was born in Permaquid, Maine.
Adriaen Hegeman was the son of Rev. Hendrick Hegaman (1595-1637) and Martigen Van Marle. Rev. Hendrick Hegeman was born in Harderwijk, Holland. He graduated from the University of Franeker in Holland and served as the minister of the Vorchten Dutch Reformed Church from 1624 until his death in 1637. Shortly after Hendrick’s death, his widow remarried the new minister of the church and young Adriaen was sent to Elburg to live with relatives on Egalantier Street. In addition to his early schooling he was trained as a silk weaver. The trade was passed down through successive generations of Hegemans/Hagamans.
Adriaen Hegeman was the grandson of Jacob Hegeman (1575-1625) from Harderwijk, Holland (1575-1625) and Antigen Feith. Adrian was the great grandson of Lambert Hegeman (1545-1611) from Harderwijk, Holland and Erewetije Hoecolm. Lambert Hegeman was the brother of Col. Wolter Hegeman, the hero of the Seige of Bronkhorst.
At the time of his marriage in 1649 he was a silk-worker (syreder), of Egelantier Straet, Amsterdam, and his wife was of the Oudezijds Achterburgwall. They were still in Amsterdam on 15 January 1651, when their second son Joseph was baptized in the North Church, but were in New Netherland before 9 March 1653, when their third son, Jacob, was baptized in the New York Dutch Church. The only known document mentioning Adriaen Hegeman between these dates, drawn 21 Feb. 1652 at Elburg, and published by Melssen, states that “Dionys Hegeman, acting for himself and for his brother Adriaen Hegeman by notarial proxy given at Amsterdam, provide[s] a guaranty for the estate of the late Gualtherus Hegeman, in his life minister of Doornspijk [in the municipality of Elburg], in favor of his creditors”; this document, unfortunately, is not explicit regarding Adriaen’s place of residence at the time. But given the unlikelihood of a transatlantic voyage with a pregnant wife in the winter of 1652-1653, we may infer that in all probability the passage was made no later than 1652.
By about 1653 he resided in New Amsterdam and on April 25, 1661, he obtained a patent for 50 morgens, with plain and meadow land in addition, in Flatbush, to which he removed. He helped settle Flatbush (Midwout) Kings County, on the west end of Long Island, where he was appointed sheriff (schout) of four of the “five Dutch towns” in Kings County. The four towns being Flatlands, Brooklyn, Flatbush, and New Utrecht. He and his wife were the ancestors of most of the Hegemans of New York and New Jersey. During his lifetime he acquired more than 350 acres of land and became the largest property owner in the Village of Flatbush.
This 1661 deed, signed by Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherlands, conveyed a plot of land in the village of Vlack Bos (Flatbush) to Adriaen Hegeman, an early Dutch settler. In 1784, Peter Lefferts (1753-1791) married Femmetie Hegeman (1760-1847), an ancestor of Adriaen. After their marriage, Peter arranged to purchase 100 acres of the original Hegeman plot, thus enlarging the Lefferts family’s Flatbush homestead. After this transaction, the original deed passed into the hands of the Lefferts family.
Adrian Hegeman also helped to establish the Old Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church and School. A bronze plaque honoring him as a teacher is attached to Erasmus Hall High School in the general area of where the old school once stood. Erasmus Hall High School is located across the street from the church and cemetery on Flatbush Ave. A public elementary school is named in his honor as well. He also served as the first “shout” or Mayor of the five villages which would eventually become Brooklyn.
The bronze plaque reads: On this site was opened the first public school in Midwout (now Flatbush) by the authority of the Director General and Council of New Netherlands, January 29, 1658, Adriaen Hegeman, teacher 1659-1671.
Jan Stryker (1684-1770) Margrietje Schenck (1687-1721)- Gunsmith and Founder of Flatbush
Jan Stryker (sometimes spelled Strycker) was born in Ruinen, Netherlands in 1615. He married Lammertje Seubring on 30 Apr 1679 in New York and they had 8 children (most of their birth dates are unknown). Jan was a gunsmith and made armor. In January 1643, he and his brother, Jacobus, were granted land in New Amsterdam by the Dutch West India Company, under an agreement they would bring twelve families to the colony at their own expense. It’s not known how this offer played out, but in 1651, Jacobus migrated to New Amsterdam and Jan moved there in 1652.
Jacobus was a portrait artist, known to have done paintings of four people: himself, Jan, Adriaen Van der Donck and Governor Peter Stuyvesant. All were thought to be painted during the years 1653-1655. The portrait of Jan shows a bearded man of about 40 years-old, proud and confident. The painting is in the possession of the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Pieter Adriaense Soogemackelyck Van Woggelum (1655-1724) AkTok (1613-1678) Mohawk daughter of Caniachkoo
Pieter Adriaense Soogemackelyck Van Woggelum was born 1627 in Woggelum, Near Alkmaar, Holland, and died after June 07, 1681 in Albany, NY. He was generally called “van Woggelum” probably after the village of that name near Alkmaar in the province of North Holland. His nickname was Soogemackelyck which translates to “So Easy” or “So Easy Going” for his easy going personality. He immigrated to the Dutch colony in America ca. 1650. There, he married a Mohawk Indian princess. Tradition says that she was the daughter of Caniachkoo, the Sachem of the Third Castle of the Mohawks in 1635. Where she is listed in the records she is known as the ‘wife of Pieter.’
This connection makes us descendants of the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk Indian tribe.
Pieter and his brother, Jacob Adriaensen, with their mother, were early settlers of Beverwyck, NY; both were inn-keepers. Pieter Adriaense was apprehended by the revenue officer, Johan de Dekkere, in 1656 for refusing to pay the excise on his sales of wine, beer, etc. but escaped; he denied the right of the officer of Fort Orange to collect this excise in the Colony where he lived and in this he was sustained by the Patroon.
In 1664, he received a patent for a bouwerey and home lot at Schenectady, which he sold in 1670, to Helmer Otten for 35 beavers, after Otten’s death his widow married Reyer Jacobse Schermerhorn, and this bouwerey thus acquired has remained in this family until present time.”
Dutch and German Ancestors on the Fike Side of the Family
John Phillips’ Dutch Ancestors
John’s father was descended from prominent Dutch founders of the New Amsterdam Colony. John’s second great-grandfather was Fredrick Philipse a wealthy Dutch immigrant who became one of the wealthiest men in North America. Fredrick’s oldest son died before his father and the property was inherited by other members of the family. All the Phillips families remained loyal to Britain at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War and were forced to forfeit their property and wealth at the end of the War.
Fredrick’s manor house and other buildings still exist and are open to the public as museums. If you are in the New York City area you can visit the properties and gravesites.
Frederick Phillipse (1627-1702) Margaret Hardenbrook (1633-1692)
Fredrick, son of Philippus Douwes and his wife Ebel/Ibel Feddricks, was baptized on 08 Mar 1627 in Bolsward, Friesland. His family was of Bohemian descent. He arrived in America as early as 1653.
In 1662, he married the energetic Margaret Hardenbrook (our ancestor), widow of Peter Rudolphus De Vries, a merchant-trader of New Amsterdam, who left her a large fortune. Margaret Philipse went repeatedly to Holland in her own ships and bought and traded in her own name. Philipse soon became the richest man in New Amsterdam; and soon after Margaret’s death remarried, in 1692, another heiress, Catharine van Cortlandt, widow of John Derval, and daughter of Olaff Stevensz van Cortlandt.
Beginning in 1672 Philipse and some partners started acquiring land in what was to become lower Westchester County, New York. When the British took over the Dutch colony in 1674, Philipse pledged his allegiance to the Crown and was rewarded with a title and manorship for his holdings, which ultimately grew to some 81 sq mi (210 km) (210 km²). Serving later on the Governor’s executive council, he was subsequently banned from government office for conducting a slave trade into New York.
His manor house, built in 1682, altered and enlarged by his grandson, is still standing; and is now used as the Town Hall of Yonkers. The original staircase was brought from Holland. The house was surrounded by fine trees and gardens in its early days. Philipse also had two hundred and forty square miles.
In 1685 Philipse imported about 50 slaves directly from Angola on his own ship. He was also a known trading partner of Madagascar pirate-merchant Adam Baldridge, employing traders like Thomas Mostyn and John Thurber to make the New York-to-Madagascar voyages. In the 1690s, Baldridge supplied many of the slaves traded and owned by the Philipse family; in return Philipse sent Baldridge guns, alcohol, and other supplies much in demand by pirates.
After swearing allegiance to the English and later being granted his manorship from them, he built in 1693 the first bridge connecting New York City with the mainland, erecting King’s Bridge over the Spuyten Duyvil at Marble Hill. He also began construction of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow. Although this project had financing, work likely progressed slowly and was completed in 1685. Philipse built a simple residence in today’s Getty Square neighborhood of Yonkers, New York near the confluence of the Nepperhan River with the Hudson. Later it was expanded by his descendants into a full-fledged mansion, Philipse Manor Hall. The neighborhood of Kingsbridge, Bronx, is named for his bridge over the Harlem River.
In 1699 Fred and Catherine built the church at Fredericksborough (Sleepy Hollow) where he built, in 1683, Castle Philipse, a stone fortification for protection against the Indians.
Upon his death, Philipse was one of the greatest landholders in the Province of New York. He owned the vast stretch of land spanning from Spuyten Duyvil Creek, in the Bronx (then in lower Westchester County), to the Croton River. He was regarded by some as the richest man in the Colony. His son Adolphus acquired substantial land north of modern Westchester sanctioned as the royal Philipse Patent. Stripped from the family after the Revolution for their Tory sympathies, the some 250 sq mi (650 km) tract became the present-day Putnam County, New York.
Philipse died in 1702 and is buried with his two wives in the crypt of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow.
Margaret Hardenbroek De Vries Philipse (1631-1686-90), was not a typical colonial woman. She was financially independent & very successful as a merchant & ship owner in her own right. Margaret sailed back & forth across the often harsh Atlantic to manage her financial affairs. Much of her independence stemmed from the fact that she was part of the Dutch society that settled early New York. New Amsterdam as a Dutch society did afford women the independence to work and did not completely strip them of their capital and resources when they married.
She was born in Elberfeld in the Rhine Valley of Westphalia in Germany, the daughter of Adolph Hardenbroek and his 2nd wife Maria Katernberg who were in Bergen, New Jersey before 1662 and took the oath of allegiance to England in 1665. She was living in the Dutch colony of New Netherland by 1659, having been sponsored from near Dusseldorf in Rhenish Prussia. by her brother Abel Hardenbroek who signed an indenture to work for the Ten Eyck family in New Amsterdam.
Margaret was 28 when she married her first husband, Pieter DeVries (1603 – 1661), on Oct. 10, 1659. DeVries, a wealthy, widowed merchant-trader, was 28 years older than his new bride. Within the year, the newlyweds had a daughter, Maria, who was baptized Oct. 3, 1660. During the same year, Pieter DeVries also died, leaving a considerable estate. After Pieter’s death in the spring of 1661, Margaret immediately took over his business as a shipper, merchant, and trader. She shipped furs to Holland in exchange for ready-made Dutch merchandise, which she sold to the residents of New Amsterdam.
Margaret’s second husband was Frederick Philipse (our ancestor), a rising power in the economic, social, and political life of New Amsterdam. Just as they were to be married in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam, the Court of Orphan Masters requested Margaret to present an inventory of her child’s paternal inheritance. The wedding could not take place until she gave the Orphan Masters, who protected the inheritance rights of children who had lost a parent, a complete and accurate accounting of the financial affairs of her late husband Pieter Rudolphus de Vries. Because her late husband’s business records were in disarray, Margaret could not produce acceptable accounting.
Frederick Philipse, desperate to save his pregnant fiancée the humiliation of an out-of-wedlock birth, eventually signed a pre-nuptial legal document stating that he would make the child Maria De Vries an heir equal with any children he would have by Margaret Hardenbroek. They were finally allowed to marry, and their 1st child Phillip was born three months later in March of 1663.
In her 2006 book The Women of the House, Jean Zimmerman explains that Margaret chose to establish the partnership with her 2nd husband according to the census, crafting the age-old prenuptial contract that explicitly denied a husband unlimited power over his wife. As a she-merchant, who already ran an independent trading concern, Margaret needed the control of her finances. Entering into her marriage under usus ensured that the property she brought to the marriage, the house lots in Manhattan and Bergen, ships that now included the “New Netherland Indian”, “Beaver”, “Pearl” and “Morning Star”, and her furniture, plate and linens would remain hers. She would continue as a ‘free merchant of New Amsterdam’, as court transcripts described her.
Margaret & Frederick Philipse went on to have 4 children together in addition to Maria (also known as Eva): Anna, Philip (our ancestor), Adolphus, and Rombout, who died in infancy. Adolphus, who never married, followed in his father’s business assuming control of his overseas trading operations. Their son Philip was also involved in cross-Atlantic shipping and trading and was later sent to Barbados in the West Indies. In Barbados, Philip married the daughter of the governor of the island. His wife died shortly after the birth of their only child, a son. Frail Philip died the following year. Their young son Frederick was sent back to New York, to be raised by his relatives. We are descended from Phillip’s second wife, Elizabeth (Lysbeth) Ganesvoort.
Extent of the original Philipse land holdings
Philipsburg Manor House at the Upper Mills. 381 N Broadway, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591
.
The lower mills manor house is also open to the public at 29 Warburton Ave, Yonkers, NY 10701. The southwest corner, the oldest part of the structure, was built around 1682 by Dutch-born merchant and trader Frederick Philipse, the first Lord of Philipsburg Manor, and his wife Margaret Hardenbroeck.
During Philipse’s life, the building was used primarily as a stopover point on the long journey up and down the river between his home in New Amsterdam and the northern parts of his estate. His grandson, Frederick Philipse II, the second Lord, and his great-grandson, Frederick Philipse III the last, successively enlarged and enhanced the building, making it the primary family residence.
On November 28, 1776, nearly five months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the start of the American Revolution, Frederick Philipse III and over 200 of his contemporaries signed a document declaring their allegiance to the British Crown and their unwillingness to support the Revolutionary cause. Because of his Loyalism, Philipse was branded a traitor and placed under arrest on orders signed by General George Washington. He was held in Connecticut for a time but was given special permission to travel back to Yonkers to settle his affairs on the condition he was not to aid the British cause. In violation of his parole, he and his family fled to British-occupied New York City and later to Great Britain, leaving their estate and Philipse Manor Hall behind to be attained in 1779. The vast majority of the Philipse Patent became today’s Putnam County, and other large parcels went to Dutch New York businessman Henry Beekman.
John Phillips’ 3rd Great-grandparents were Dutch Immigrants to Beverwyck (Albany). This is a biography of the couple:
“Leendert Phillipse Conyn (1620-1704) was of Dutch descent and an early settler in the village of Beverwijck, Dutch colonial Albany. Leendert Phillipse married Agnietje Casperse Stynmets, the daughter of Caspar Stynmets of New Amsterdam. Baptism of a daughter, Annetje Leendertse [Conyn], was recorded in the baptismal records of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam on October 23, 1652. It is unlikely she was either the youngest or the oldest of the children.
The precise date of the family’s arrival in Beverwijck has not been established. Leendert Phillipse received a patent for a lot in Beverwyck in early 1654. He was one of only twenty inhabitants likely to have received a patent that year. On May 19th he was summoned to appear in court concerning an officer’s claim the lot was not built upon within the appointed time. Leendert claimed he was given permission to delay building by Harmen Bastiaensz, a surveyor selected by a committee appointed by the court at Beverwyck. The court decided to continue the matter until the next session to be held June 16th and summoned Bastiaensz to appear. Bastiaensz failed to appear and apparently, the court ultimately ruled in Leendert’s favor.
By December 1656, in addition to his residence, Leendert owned at least one additional house in Beverwyck, which he rented out. This arrangement resulted in a lawsuit. In the court proceedings that followed, the renter acknowledged he was subletting the property and agreed to give the proceeds to Leendert Phillipse.
Seven months later, on the 10th of July 1657 at Fort Orange, Leendert Phillipse purchased additional property consisting of a house, lot and garden in the village, described as being bound on the east by the river, the south by Jan Tomassen [Mingal], the north by Pieter Bronck and the west by the common road. He continued to own this property at least through July 1676. Leendert Phillipse was a resident of the third ward of Albany much of his life.
The surname Conyn seldom stood alone in the public record in the mid-17th century. It wasn’t until the closing decades of the century that it routinely appeared. The patronymics system of naming was in widespread use by the Dutch at the time and continued for decades to come; and so Leendert Phillipse Conyn was commonly known simply as Leendert Phillipse. Additionally, the se tagged onto the end of the middle name, identifies him as “Leendert, son of Phillip.”
Conyn appears to have a Dutch origin meaning rabbit. Some researchers suggest that Coney Island in Brooklyn, acquired its name from the Conyn Family. While this is unlikely, “The Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch West India Company, The Old WIC 1621-1674” shows the island as Conyn Island. Some observers read this as Conyn, Conyne or Coneyn. These variations and many others were in common use by the descendants of Leendert Phillipse over the generations that followed.
Leendert Phillipse Conyn described himself in the public record as a master tailor. He was one of sixteen tailors serving the community during the period 1652-1664. In at least two of those years, 1661 and 1664, he is referred to as a master tailor. In two other years, 1656 and 1659, documents indicate he was working as a tailor in the community. In the remaining eight years, while not specifically mentioned as a tailor, he was most likely still working as such.
Leendert’s occupation as a tailor is further substantiated in an October 17, 1656, lawsuit in the Court at Fort Orange for the loss of a pair of black cloth sleeves given to him by Isbrant Eldersen for alteration. In testimony that followed, Leendert acknowledged receipt of the sleeves and testified that they had been stolen from his place of business. In settling the dispute, the court ordered Leendert to restore the sleeves in question or pay eight guilders cash for them.
Leendert Phillipse is also referred to as a master brewer, contributing at least in part to the early success of the Gansevoort family’s brewing business. On other occasions, he is referred to as a fur trader.
On June 7, 1658 he, along with others, was granted a permit to employ Indians as brokers in the woods for the purchase of furs. Later, on May 25, 1660, he petitioned the Court asking that no Christian brokers be allowed to “roam through the woods,” and that Indian brokers only be allowed in the Indian trade. And, in fact, six days later the Court directed that no brokers be allowed in the Indian trade, but that the Indians be allowed to offer their beavers for sale in town wherever they pleased.
Leendert Phillipse was included in the March 1679 list of persons who were to keep in repair the posts set around the town fence. He and his wife Agnietje were also enumerated in the Albany census of June 1697. He was a member of the Reformed Dutch Church of Albany in the 1683 List of Members, and occasionally served as a baptismal witness. He signed the Loyalty Oath of 1699 bearing true allegiance to King William.
Leendert died in Kings County, New York in 1704. Why he was there at the time of his death instead of Albany County, as well as his association with Kings County, has not been fully explained. His ties to that area, contained within the public record, include the previously mentioned baptism of his daughter Annatje in the Reformed Church at New Amsterdam some five decades earlier.
For whatever reason he was in New York at the time of his death, Agnietje his widow remained in their third ward residence in Albany through at least 1709.
Their daughter Maritje Leendertse (Conyn) Gansevoort was born between 1646 and 1650 in Beverwyck, New York. She was the daughter of Leendert Phillipse Conyn (1620-1704) and his wife Agnietje Casparse (Stynmets) Conyn (1635-1708). In 1670 in New York, Maritje married Harmen Harmense Gansevoort. A Maritje Leendertse (Conyn) Gansevoort biography appears in the Colonial Albany History Project (CAP #7699, by Stefan Bielinski). Maritje died in 1743 in Beverwyck, New York. Originaly, she would have been buried out of the Dutch Church, but after the establishment of the Albany Rural Cemetery, her remains would have been moved there in the 1860’s. “Tradition holds that the remains were loaded on wagons and carried out Northern Boulevard to their present location in Menands.” (Burying the Dead in Early Albany). CHILD: Lysbeth (Elizabeth) Gansevoort (1672-1742). CHILD: Leendert Gansevoort (1683-1762).
Maritje’s husband was another Dutch immigrant Harmen Harmanse Gansevoort born during the 1630s. He is believed to have been a native of Westphalia, emigrated to New Netherland, and to have appeared in Beverwyck (later Albany, New York) by 1657. He married brewer’s daughter Maria Conyn and was the patriarch of the Albany Gansevoort family.
In his earlier days, he may have kept a brewery south of the Normanskill and also owned land at Catskill. Marrying into a brewing family, by 1677 he had purchased a houselot on what became the east side of Market Street where it intersected with Maiden Lane. In 1679, he was identified as an Albany householder. In 1684, his Albany taxes were in arrears. In 1697, his riverside Albany household included six children. By that time, he had become a member of the Albany Dutch church. Previously, he had been a Lutheran.
Called “Harme de Brouwer,” he built a brewery on his riverside property and was among seventeenth century Albany’s most prominent brewers. He also engaged in the fur trade and was brought to court for not paying the “tapping excise.” In his later years, he was called on by the city government to perform various tasks.
Originally, Harmen was a Lutheran. Then he attended the Dutch Church. When Harmen died in 1708 in Albany, New York, “he was buried in the Lutheran cemetery…” (Stefan Bielinski. However, these graves were moved to the Albany Rural Cemetery in the 1860’s. “Tradition holds that the remains were loaded on wagons and carried out Northern Boulevard to their present location in Menands.” Lutheran church records for 1708 noted the passing of Harmen Harmanse, “a very old man more than 80 years,” and that he was buried in the Lutheran cemetery in the Fall.
Their daughter Lysbeth was the second wife of the son of the immigrant and landowner Frederick Philipse. Since Phillip pre-deceased his father the family and their descendants did not inherit the vast landholdings on the Hudson River.
Phillip Philipse was John Phillips’ great-grandfather. During his life he left the family’s large landholdings near New York and re-settled on lands he purchased on both sides of the Mohawk River West of Schenectady and East of Fort Johnson in an area now known as Cranesville, about a mile East of the village of South Amsterdam. The plantation was known as Willike or Willege. The legal description was “. . . Eight Morgan[s] of Lowland along the said Mohawk River and so along the side of the Land of Abraham Philipse to the Road called the Willow Flatt and the one third part . . . of 100 acres of Wood Land adjoining and belonging to the said Willow Flatt . . . also a tract of low land above the house adjoining to Colyers Kill containing five morgans and all the adjoining woodland”
Phillip and Lysbeth’s son Harmanus Philipse was born in 1684. The settlers of Willow flats suffered attacks fror the French and their Indian allies during the 1670s and 1700s. Schenectady and surrounding farme were attacked several times with the town itseld burned to the ground in 1690. The county population declined from 2,016 in 1689 to 1,459 in 1698.
Harmanus married a German widow Marietje Ursula Lapp. Ursula’s first husband died on the ship Hartwell during their journey from Germany to the colonies in 1710. They were part of the German Palatine migration of 1709-1710. Ursula was listed as head of household in 1711 and married Harmanus in 1712.
Harmanus and Ursula were John Phillips’ paternal grandparents. Their son John Phillips married Catherine Mary Middleton in Schenectady. And their son John Phillips is the Revolutionary War soldier.