de Halve MaenJournal of The Holland Society of New York

Spring 2010

survey made by Jacques Cortelyou, and sent by Director-General Petrus Stuyvesant tothe West India Company in Amsterdam on October 6, 1660, with additions concerningpersons, places,and events until the year 1699.The map indicates by name about seventy-five residents, single individuals, and headsof families who lived in Nieuw Amsterdam. The lettering, executed by hand indecorative style,includes such insets as the Hartger’s view of Manhattan, a Nativevillage, a sea monster, and local fauna.

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400-Year Anniversary Map of New Amsterdam/New York_______ copy/copies @ $200.00 each

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Please write your check to: The Holland Society of New York and mail to:20 West 44th Street, #509, New York, NY 10036

Spring 2010 1

PresidentColin G. Lazier

Treasurer SecretaryRalph L. DeGroff Jr. Rev. Everett L. Zabriskie III

Domine Associate DomineRev. Everett L. Zabriskie III Rev. Louis O. Springsteen

Advisory Council of Past PresidentsRoland H. Bogardus Kenneth L. Demarest Jr.Rev. Louis O. Springsteen Peter Van DykeWalton Van Winkle III William Van Winkle

W. Wells Van Pelt Jr.

TrusteesGeorge E. Banta Jr. William A. SnedekerAdrian T. Bogart, Jr. Henry N. Staats IVBromme H. Cole Peter G. Ten Eyck IICourtney Haff Samuel K. Van AllenAndrew A. Hendricks Patrick S. Van PeltDavid D. Nostrand Richard D. Vanderwarker IIIRobert D. Nostrand Charles W. WendellGregory M. Outwater Donald WesterveltDavid M. Riker Stephen S. WyckoffRobert R. Schenck Charles Zabriskie Jr.

Trustees EmeritiAndrew W. Brink David William VoorheesJohn O. Delamater John R. Voorhis III

Ferdinand L. Wyckoff Jr.

Burgher Guard CaptainSean F. Palen

Vice-PresidentsConnecticut-Westchester Todd and Stephen BogardusDutchess County George E. BantaFlorida Roland H. BogardusInternational Lt. Col. Robert W. Banta Jr.Jersey Shore Stuart Van WinkleLong Island William A. SnedekerMid-West Robert R. SchenckNew Amsterdam Samuel K. Van AlenNew England Charles Zabriskie Jr.Niagara Frontier David S. QuackenbushOld Bergen-Central New Jersey Gregory M. OutwaterOld South Henry N. Staats IVPacific Northwest Edwin Outwater IIIPacific Southwest Steven B. SnedekerPatroons Kipp Cronk Van AkenPotomac Christopher M. CortrightRocky Mountain Richard Conger Ten EyckSouth River Andrew S. TerhuneTexas Patrick S. Van PeltUlster County Kenneth Hewes BarrickloVirginia and the Carolinas James R. Van BlarcomUnited States Air Force Col. Laurence C. Vliet, USAF(Ret)United States Army Lt. Col. Adrian T. Bogart IIIUnited States Coast Guard Capt. Louis K. Bragaw, Jr. (Ret)United States Marines Lt. Col. Robert W. Banta, USMC (Ret)United States Navy LCDR James N. Vandenberg, CEC, USN

EditorDavid William Voorhees

Production Manager Copy EditorMary Collins Joy Rich

Editorial CommitteePeter Van Dyke, Chair

Andrew W. Brink David M. RikerKevin A. Denton Charles W. Wendell

de Halve MaenMagazine of the Dutch Colonial Period in AmericaVOL. LXXXIII Spring 2010 NUMBER 1

The Holland Society of New York20 WEST 44TH STREET, NEW YORK, NY 10036

IN THIS ISSUE:

2 Editor’s Corner

3 David Demarest’s and Marie Sohier’s1663 Sale of Property in Mannheim:Analysis of a Newly-Discovered Recordby David C. Major, John S. Major,Alfred Wolkomir, and Alexander von Thun

6 Abram Staes: Progenitor of theStaats Family of Albanyby Timothy Butler Staats andHenry N. Staats IV

13 Book Reviews

16 Here and Therein New Netherland Studies

17 Society Activities

19 In Memoriam

The Holland Society of New York was organized in 1885 to collect andpreserve information respecting the history and settlement of New Netherlandby the Dutch, to perpetuate the memory, foster and promote the principles andvirtues of the Dutch ancestors of its members, to maintain a library relating tothe Dutch in America, and to prepare papers, essays, books, etc., in regard tothe history and genealogy of the Dutch in America. The Society is principallyorganized of descendants in the direct male line of residents of the Dutchcolonies in the present-day United States prior to or during the year 1675.Inquiries respecting the several criteria for membership are invited.

De Halve Maen (ISSN 0017-6834) is published quarterly by The HollandSociety. Subscriptions are $28.50 per year; international, $35.00. Back issuesare available at $7.50 plus postage/handling. Send all address changes to TheHolland Society, 20 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036.EDITORIAL: 20 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036.Telephone: (212) 758-1675. Fax: (212) 758-2232.E-mail: Hollsoc@aol.com. Website: www.hollandsociety.org

Copyright © 2010 The Holland Society of New York. All rights reserved.

Cover: The Perils of the Atlantic Crossing. Willem van de Veldethe Younger, De Windstoot [The Gale], c. 1680, RijksmuseumAmsterdam.

2 de Halve Maen

Editor’s Corner

TECHNOLOGY IS RAPIDLY changing the cur-rent landscape of historical discourse. Computersprovide access to information and archival ma-

terials once available only to well-funded, dedicatedscholars. This is particularly true for New Netherlandstudies. For previous generations, language differencesand the remoteness of European archival collections cre-ated formidable barriers in New Netherland research.But today’s rapid-communications revolution is result-ing in a constant ongoing revision of our understandingof New Netherland.

This issue of de Halve Maen focuses on how thesechanging technologies have aided laypeople in uncov-ering their family histories. In the two essays presentedin these pages, the authors have availed themselves ofnew sciences to discover and refine information relat-ing to the early settlement of New Netherland.

It has long been known that the progenitor of theAmerican Demarest family, David DesMarest, arrivedin New Netherland in 1663 with his wife, Marie Sohier,and their four children. The family settled first on StatenIsland and then in New Harlem and eventually becamea large and well-known family in New Jersey. David C.Major and John S. Major produced in 2007 A Huguenoton the Hackensack: David Demarest and His Legacy, aproduct of fruitful years of research. Since that publi-cation, a colleague, Alfred Wolkomir, in the course ofinvestigations into other matters, became informed ofthe 1663 record of the sale of Demarest’s and Sohier’sproperty in the Mannheim, Germany, archives. The deedof sale, shown in this issue, and the discussion revolv-ing around it provide a missing piece in the story of theDemarest migration to the New World. At the same time,it also reveals how present-day rapid communicationsenable scholars, researchers, and translators, such asAlexander von Thun, to not only uncover this materialbut place it in a larger context.

In February 1642, New Netherland patroon Kiliaenvan Rensselaer offered a young Amsterdam surgeon acontract to serve as surgeon at the West India Companyfrontier outpost of Fort Orange for a period of six years.The surgeon, Abram Staes, would remain in the NewWorld and become the founder of the well-knownHudson River Valley Staats family. Abram’s descendantscontinued to play a prominent role in community af-fairs. Perhaps because of the family’s prominence,Abram Staes’s life became clouded by mystery andmyth. In their essay, Timothy and Henry Staats intendto set the record straight.

The origin of the Staats name is one of the many mythscovered here. Legend suggested that the name originatedwith a Captain Ghysen, who acquired the name as a re-sult of his naval exploits. The authors, in this essay,

place the Ghysen legend in its proper and surprisingcontext. Moreover, Abram Staes’s wife, Trijntgen, hasbeen the focus of much controversy. One such contro-versy arose from a story that she had died in a fire atAbram’s farm in Claverack during an Indian raid in1664. The authors reveal that this error not only resultedin mistakes about the number and names of Abram andTrijntgen’s children but in a mistaken assumption thatAbram had remarried.

But it is in the concluding section of the essay thatthe authors clearly reveal the impact technology is hav-ing in the resolution of historical and genealogical mys-teries. In the case of the Staats family, two distinct fami-lies of New Netherland descent bear the Staats surname.Over the centuries, the two families became increasinglyconfused, resulting in it becoming unclear which fam-ily member is descended from whom. Previously, it wasvirtually impossible to determine such relationships withaccuracy. But advances in genetic sciences and the cre-ation of the New Netherland Foundation DNA Projecthave helped to at last resolve an issue that has longplagued the two Staats lines.

At the end of their essay, the Majors write that thediscovery of the unknown Demarest deed suggests the“importance of continued archival research in establish-ing the histories of emigrants to New Netherland; thereare, no doubt, other documents in Dutch and Germanscripts yet to be discovered, transcribed, translated, andput into historical perspective.” As they point out, suchfinds are more likely to come to light as records are digi-tized, placed on the Internet, and, therefore, becomesearchable.

Despite this new research, we need to place the move-ment of peoples to New Netherland in context. NewNetherland lacked the rich gold, silver, and other valu-able ores of the Spanish empire, the sugar of the WestIndies, or the spices, dyes, and luxury wares of the FarEast. It was a poor, desolate, often rocky uncleared landwith cold winters and hot, humid, mosquito- and gnat-infested summers. Living conditions were harsh, theEuropean population was tiny and largely impoverished,and it would take several generations before their de-scendants would enjoy the comforts of civilized Euro-pean society. Our search to understand why such peoplewould be willing to give everything up to start anewunder such conditions is still waiting to be fully recov-ered.

David William VoorheesEditor

Spring 2010 3

David Demarest’s andMarie Sohier’s 1663Sale of Property inMannheim:Analysis of a Newly-discovered Recordby David C. Major, John S. Major,Alfred Wolkomir, and Alexander von Thun

David C. Major is Senior Research Sci-entist, Columbia University Earth Institute,Center for Climate Systems Research. JohnS. Major is a former Professor of EastAsian History at Dartmouth College, cur-rent Lecturer at the China Institute, NewYork, and an independent writer andscholar. Alfred Wolkomir is a surgeon inpractice in New Jersey. Alexander vonThun is a Ph.D. candidate in German lit-erature at Columbia University. The au-thors wish to acknowledge the invaluablehelp of Dr. Susanne Schloesser, Dr. AnjaGillen, and their colleagues at theStadtarchiv, Mannheim—Institut fürStadtgeschichte.

1 David C. Major and John S. Major, A Huguenot on theHackensack: David Demarest and His Legacy (Madison,NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2007), 41.2 Deyl, J. v (1663). Inwendiger plan der Statt Mannheimwie selbige anietzo gebawt und bewohnt wirdt, den 4Aprilis, Anno 1663. Mannheim, Stadtarchiv Mannheim,Kartensammlung Nr. 663.3 Mannheim, Stadtarchiv, “Ratsprotokolle, Jahrgang1662/63. Eintrag von 7. February 1663 (Mannheim,1663), 73–4. The transcription is by Line Huber,Stadtarchiv Mannheim—Institut für Stadtgeschichte.4 Information on the document is from Dr. SuzanneSchloesser, personal communication.

DAVID DEMAREST (des Marets),his wife, Marie Sohier, and theirfour children sailed from the

roadstead at Texel, the Netherlands, on theBonte Koe in April 1663. The Demarestfamily was bound for New Netherland,where Demarest became a well-knowncitizen, first of Staten Island and then ofNew Harlem. In 1677, he patented a largetract of land along the middle HackensackRiver—known as the French Patent afterthe land of origin of Demarest and hisHuguenot co-religionists—and movedthere in 1678. It is as a settler in New Jer-sey and the progenitor of a large and suc-

cessful Huguenot/Dutch family that he isbest known today.

Prior to leaving for the New World,Demarest had spent more than a decadein Mannheim, where he had gone (fromMiddelburg, the Netherlands, with pos-sible unknown intermediate stops) to helprebuild a city devastated in the ThirtyYears’ War. He was present in Mannheimat least by 1651 when the baptism of hisson David was entered into the recordsof the French Church.

In a recent biography of Demarest, twoof the authors of this article, David C. Ma-jor and John S. Major, reported havingbeen unable to identify Demarest’s andSohier’s property in Mannheim.1 The vanDeyl map of Mannheim did not list themas property owners as the map was madein April 1663, by which time Demarestand Sohier would have left the city for theNetherlands.2 However, recently, one of theauthors of this article, Alfred Wolkomir, inthe course of investigations into other mat-ters in the Mannheim archives, was in-formed of the February 1663 record of thesale of Demarest’s and Sohier’s property(Figure 1). Thanks to the staff of theStadtarchiv—Institut für Stadtgeschichte(City Archive—Institute for City History)in Mannheim, we have now had this docu-ment precisely identified and transcribed

from the original (Figure 2).3The form of the document is of interest.

The German words, which are in early NewHigh German, are written in the old scriptcalled Fraktur. The French names and Latinwords in the document, on the other hand,are in Latin cursive script. This was a com-mon mixture at the time and was calledKanzleischrift, or “office script.” Frakturis no longer used in Germany (a modernversion endured into the twentieth century)and is not legible to readers of modernGerman.4

In this note, we now provide what webelieve to be the first translation into En-glish of this record (Figure 3) and also showthe exact location of the property on thevan Deyl seventeenth-century map ofMannheim (Figure 4) and on the modernmap of Mannheim (Figure 5). As shownin the two maps, the corner on which the

Figure 1: Record of the sale of David Demarest’s and MarieSohier’s property in Mannheim, Germany, February 7,1663. Used with permission, Stadtarchiv Mannheim.

4 de Halve Maen

Stadtarchiv Mannheim, Ratsprotokolle, Jahrgang 1662/63(geführt vom 25. November 1662 bis zum 31. Dezember1663), S. 73/74

Eintrag von 7. Februar 1663

[Seite 73]

Samstag, den 7ten Februar nachmittagsumb ein Uhr. Praesente [= anwesend] beide regierend[e]Herren Bürgermeister und zweie Stattschtreibersextra ordinarie.

Erklärte David des Marets und MarieSoyhier dessen Hausfrau, dass sie ihreBehausung in der Bentzheimer Gasse auf demEck der Clignetsgasse samt einen da-neben gelegenen lehren Platz* so er absonder-lich taxieren lassen**, beforchendt [= benachbart] in der Bentz-heimer Gassen Jean le leu, in der Clignets-gasse 75 Sch[uh] lang auf Christoffel Wagener stoßendwie solche stehet und gelegen ist,zu kaufen geben und verkauft haben, anFrau Anna de Caux weiland HerrnPierre Ancelinx see[ige] Wittib [= Witwe], auch allenDeren Erben und Nachkommen, vor und umDie Summe von Einhundert Reichs-Thaler sage 100 Rthlr gemeiner teutscherWehrung, welche Summa VerkäuferBekante empfangen zu haben, und als voll-kömblich bezahlt und befriedigt zu sein.Sie Fr[au] Käuferer deswegen beständigstDarüber quittierend. Verkaufen[Seite 74]Das Haus samt dem Platz und allemZugehörigen Recht und Gerechtigkeiten, als einAusgetauschtes Erbe vor [=für] frei ledigund recht eigen, mit Versprechung ge-wöhnlicher Werschaft [= Gewähr] und Schadloshal-tung, treulich und ohne gefährde.

Dem Almosen erlegt der Fr[au] Käufer 50 xr [= Kreuzer]Verkäufer 25 xr

David des Maretsverkauft sein Hausan Madame Ancelin

* 26 Sch[uh] breit und 100 Sch[uh] lang.

** und vermöge H[errn] Zollschreiber Hartesheims Quittungbezahlt habe,

Mannheim City Archive, Minutes of the City Council- meetings, years1662/63 (kept from November 25th 1662 to December 31st 1663), pp.73/74.

Entry: February 7th 1663

[page 73]

Saturday, February 7th, 1 pm. Both governing mayors and two townclerks extra ordinarie in attendance.

David des Marets and his wife Marie Soyhier declared that they hadvalued their lodgings in Bentzheimer Gasse [lane], located at the cor-ner of Clignetsgasse, including an adjacent empty square* to the ex-tent the latter was to be deemed a separate entity**. On BentzheimerGasse, the lodgings are adjacent to those of Jean le Leu, while ex-tending 75 ft. on Clignetsgasse until reaching [the property of]Christoffel Wagener. They offered for sale and sold this property toMrs. Anna de Caux, formerly known as the widow of the late PierreAncelinx, including all her heirs and descendants, for the amount ofone-hundred Reichsthaler, read 100 Rthlr, of standard/common Ger-man currency. [The] Seller professed to having received this amountand to being completely and satisfactorily remunerated. [The] Seller[page 74] therefore acknowledges permanently the sale of the houseincluding the adjacent space/square and all legal obligations/dutiesand rights.

The buyer provides alms of 50 Kreuzer

The seller provides alms of 25 Kreuzer

David des Marets sells his house to Madame Ancelin

* 26 ft in width, 100 ft in length

** And having paid the fee of the city’s tax collector, Mr. Hartesheim

Figures 2 and 3: German transcription,left, by Line Huber, and translation intoEnglish, right, by Alexander von Thun, ofthe record of the sale of David Demarest’sand Marie Sohier’s property in Mannheim,Germany, February 7, 1663.

property is located can now be added toother stopping points of Demarest pil-grims in Europe, including Beauchampsin Picardy and Middelburg and Texel inthe Netherlands.

The property sold by Demarest andSohier is described in the property recordas their house at the corner of Benzheimer

Gasse (lane) and Clignetsgasse, includ-ing a neighboring lot. This property theysold to Anna de Caux, widow of the latePierre Ancelinx, for the amount of 100Reichsthaler (i.e., Reich dollars; the sameword is used as both singular and pluralin German). The property is described asbeing adjacent to that of Jean le Leu in

the Benzheimer Gasse and that ofChristoffel Wagener in the Clignetsgasse.

This property is definitely identified bylocation in the van Deyl map. The newownership is noted on that map by the in-dustrious van Deyl less than two monthsafter the record date of the transaction. Onthe van Deyl map (Figure 4), the property

Spring 2010 5

5 Dr. Suzanne Schloesser, personal communication.6 Information on currency is from Dr. Suzanne Schloesser,personal communication.7 Major and Major, op. cit., 23, 78–9.

Figure 4: The van Deyl map of Mannheim, April 4, 1663. See text descriptionfor the location of Demarest’s and Sohier’s property.

is shown at the given intersection, listedunder the name of Pierre Ancelinx; theadjacent property of Jean de Leu is alsoshown, as is the property of ChristoffelWagener, denoted by the key f 7. TheDemarest property was on the southwestcorner of the intersection of the twostreets. It appears on the van Deyl map—to our eyes—as on the northeast corner,owing to the fact that the van Deyl map isoriented with south at the top. On themodern map of Mannheim (Figure 5), theproperty is marked as in quadrant S4, atthe southwest corner of the quadrant.5 Theuse of a system of quadrants (“dieMannheimer Quadrate”) began in the sev-enteenth century, and since the nineteenthcentury, the quadrants have been used asdescriptors of locations within the innercircle of the city, with street names fall-ing out of use.

The price of the property, 100Reichsthaler, is, of course, difficult tocompare in value to modern currencies.6

A Reichsthaler was not a coin but rathera unit of currency used to allow compa-rability among the currencies of differentcities and regions. The currency inMannheim at the time of Demarest’s andSohier’s departure was the Gulden, di-vided into 60 Kreuzer. A Reichsthaler, inMannheim, was worth 1 Gulden 30Kreuzer. A very approximate measure ofthe value of the property sold can be ob-tained by considering that in 1680, sev-enteen years after the property transaction,a day laborer in Mannheim made 16–20

Kreuzer per day. Thus, 100 Reichsthalerwould represent from about 450 days oflabor to about 563 days of labor; in thelatter case, this would be close to twoyears of a day laborer’s wages, at six daysper week. The total received by Demarestand Sohier would have been a significantresource for their journey to NewNetherland.

The clear sense of the verbs used in therecord indicates that Demarest and

Sohier were present at the transaction,and we therefore now know that theydid not leave Mannheim prior to Feb-ruary 7, 1663. They, thus, must havemoved relatively quickly fromMannheim to the Netherlands, possi-bly stopping—although this is notknown—in Middelburg to visit rela-tives and friends. The record also bol-sters the overall interpretation ofDemarest’s life and character given inthe recent biography;7 he was a pros-perous man, adept at balancing the ben-efits and risks of new opportunities. Hearrived in the New World as a personof some substance.

The discovery of this record suggeststhe importance of continued archivalresearch in establishing the histories ofemigrants to New Netherland; thereare, no doubt, other documents inDutch and German script yet to be dis-covered, transcribed, translated, andput into historical perspective. In thefuture, such finds are more likely tocome to light if and when records inscript are digitized and, therefore, be-come searchable.

Figure 5: Modern map of Mannheim, with the location of Demarest’s andSohier’s property shown in quadrant S4.

6 de Halve Maen

Timothy Staats is a retired adjunct assis-tant professor of orthopedic surgery atthe school of medicine at University ofCalifornia at Los Angeles. Henry Staatsis a retired advertising executive. The au-thors thank Sean Staats, Gjef StadtsClaussen, the Stadsarchief Amsterdam,and the New Netherland Project, espe-cially Janny Venema, in the preparationof this essay.

THE STAATS FAMILY name is oneof the older surnames dating fromNew Netherland. Several distinct

families bear the name Staats, complicat-ing the genealogies of those with the sur-name. This essay on Abram Staes, whoarrived at Fort Orange (present-day Al-bany, New York) in 1642, is intended toresolve some of the myths, correct errors,

Abram Staes:Progenitor of the Staats Family of

Albanyby Timothy B. Staats

and Henry N. Staats IV

1 Doopregister, January 19, 1620, Bron 40, p. 71 Her.Nieuwe Kerk, Stadsarchief Amsterdam [hereafter citedas GAA].2 Wedding Banns of Abram Staes and Trynte Jochemse,January 9, 1642, DTB 457, p.149, GAA.3 Abraham II, born 1665, died 1739, and Abraham III,baptized May 30, 1697, died young; and Abraham III,baptized July 28, 1700, John Dern, ed., Albany Protocol,WC Berkenmeyer’s Chronicle, 1731–1750 (Ann Arbor,MI, 1971), 565.4 Albany Protocol, 564n; Marriage and Banns, DTB 414,p. 208, GAA. References for the family background arein ACA NOT. ARCH 21-M Folio 7, GAA.

and elaborate on the known family his-tory of his Staats descendants.

Keeping Staatses and Abrahams in or-der. The name Staats has variations suchas Staas, Staes, Stadts, and Staets, all fromthe Latin root status (to stand or remain),which acquired the meaning “of the state”in medieval Germanic languages. Theprogenitor of the Staats family of Albanyis Abram Staes.1 In 1642, the clerk forAbram’s wedding banns wrote Abram’sname as “Abraham Staats.”2 Abram, how-ever, wrote his name as “Abram Staes”throughout his life. In New Netherlandrecords, he is also called MeisterAbraham, Mister Abram, Captain Staes,and Major Abram Staes. Abram will havea son, Abraham II, born in 1665, and agrandson, Abraham III, born in 1700.3

Abram Staes was baptized on January19, 1620, in Amsterdam. He was the sev-enth child of the ten children of IsaacStaes and Sara Lauwers. Isaac, a merchantfrom Antwerp, had a brother, Jochem, asister, Catharina, and several stepbroth-ers and sisters. Isaac’s father was HansStaes, a merchant from Hamburg, thenDanzig, and then Antwerp.4

Spring 2010 7

In 1635, Abram completed, at the ageof fifteen, training as a surgeon-appren-tice with Amsterdam surgeon Jan Eckius.5

According to historian Donna Merwick,Staes subsequently served as a ship’s sur-geon in the Netherlands, although docu-mentary evidence for this has not beenlocated.6 In 1642, surgeon Jan DircszBrim recommended Staes as a “well-trained surgeon” to Kiliaen vanRensselaer, a director of the AmsterdamChamber of the Dutch West India Com-pany (WIC).7

The West India Company and, in par-ticular, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, was look-ing to invigorate development in the FortOrange region of the North (Hudson)River with an infusion of settlers. On Feb-ruary 1, 1642, Van Rensselaer offeredAbram a contract with exclusive right tobe surgeon at Fort Orange for the WestIndia Company for a period of six years,from 1642 to 1648, and allowed him tomaintain the right to conduct mercantileactivities within the company’s rules.8

Trijntgen Jochemse. On January 9,1642, Abram Staes published his weddingbanns with Trijntgen Jochemse.Trijntgen’s sister, Nelletje, and a JanJacobs, who carried a note fromTrijntgen’s mother, Trijntgen Gerrits, giv-ing permission for her daughter to marry,both witnessed the banns.9 Abram re-ported that both of his parents, Isaac Staesand Sara Lauwers, were deceased and thatDirk Janzs, his “uncle and a surgeon,” wasa witness for him. In this document, Staes

stated that his age was twenty-four andthat he was a surgeon; Trijntgen reportedthat her age was eighteen.10 In his 1642contract with Kiliaen van Rensselaer,Abram also stated that he was twenty-fouryears old.11 Abram, however, was born inJanuary 1620 and Trijntgen Joachimse in1622, making Abram twenty-two at thetime of the marriage and Trijntgen twentyyears old in February 1642.12 WhyAbram’s age is misstated in the contractand both his and his bride’s ages are mis-stated in the banns is unknown. One pos-sible explanation, however, is that the ageof majority in seventeenth-century Hol-land was twenty-five for males and twentyfor females.13 Abram married without aguardian’s permission.

The marriage banns raised anotherquestion regarding the relation betweenDirck Janzs., the uncle who witnessed themarriage, and Abram. Previous genealo-gies did not mention Dirck. A review ofthe wedding banns, however, clearlyshows that Jansz. was both an uncle anda surgeon, but the exact manner in whichhe was related to Abram was unknown.Communication with Janny Venema, au-thor of Beverwijck: A Dutch Village onthe American Frontier 1652-1664, pro-vided a clue.14 A query was subsequentlysent to the Amsterdam City Archives ask-ing if Jan Dircksen Brum, the surgeonwho recommended Abram to Kiliaen vanRennselaer, was the father of, or relatedto, Dirck. This question was raised be-cause the Dutch patronymic system cre-ated the possibility that Jan Dircksen

Brumer might be Dirck’s father.Amsterdam records proved that there wasno family link between Brumer andDirck.15 Instead, further archival investi-gation revealed that Dirck had marriedMargeriet (or Gretchen) Staes, the fifthchild of Hans Staes, Abram’s grandfather.Gretchen was a daughter from the secondmarriage of Hans Staes to ElisabetHonckelboer.16

Amsterdam domine Reverend JacobusLaurentius married Abram and Trijntgen.It was also Laurentius who recommendedJohannes Megapolensis as the first Re-formed minister at Rensselaerswijck-FortOrange to Kiliaen van Rensselaer.Megapolensis traveled to New Netherlandaboard the same ship, den Houttuyn, asAbram Staes.17 Laurentius, coincidentally,also married Joachim Gijsen and TrijntgenGerritsz, Trijntgen Jochemse’s parents.18

Joachim Gijsen, 1578–c. 1642, Fatherof Trijntgen Jochemse. Who wereTrijntgen’s parents? A Staats family leg-end holds that a Vice Admiral JoachimGijsen (or Ghyse) captured a ship full ofgold and that the Staats name originatedwith this Vice Admiral. That the legendwas known in 1885 is well documented.In that year, George Washington Schuyler,

5 Archive 366 Chirugyns Guild Inventory 254, p. 41, scan25, GAA.6 Donna Merwick, Possessing Albany, 1630–1710: TheDutch and English Experiences (Cambridge, 1990), 105.Staes is recorded as a captain of the Burgher Guard at FortOrange on June 7, 1657, at age thirty-seven. Charles T.Gehring, Fort Orange Minutes 1652–1660 (Syracuse,NY, 1990), 299.7 A. J. F. Van Laer, trans and ed., The Van RensselaerBowier Manuscripts (Albany, N.Y., 1908), 678 [hereaf-ter cited as VRBM].8 VRBM, 617.9 Wedding Banns, January 9, 1642, DTB 457, p. 149,GAA.10 Ibid.; DTB Marriages 990/158, October 26, 1642,Nieuwe Kirk, GAA.11 VRBM, 678.12 DTB 40 folio 160 (1622), GAA.13 Sir Johannes Wilhelmus Wessels, History of the Ro-man-Dutch Law (Grahamstown, Cape Colony, 1908),419–20.14 Communication with Dr. Janny Venema, August 20,2009.15 Communication with Dr. Jan E. A. Boomgaard, Octo-ber 28, 2009.16 Wedding Banns of Hans Staes and Elisabet Honckelboer,August 9, 1605, DTB 431, p. 168 NK & ACA NOTARCH 21-M fol. 7, GAA.17 VBRM, 606-608, 609.18 Wedding Banns of Gijsen and Gerritzs DTB 416 folio228 and DTB 411 page 411 (1605), GAA.

Wedding Banns of Abram Staes and Trijntgen Jochemse, January 9,1642 (Stadsarchief Amsterdam).

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who questioned this legend, wrote: “Fam-ily traditions are oftentimes curious andinteresting but seldom trustworthy,” witha note reading

Another and probably equally vera-cious tradition is that the Staats fam-ily are descendants from a certainRear Admiral Joachim Ghyse, whocaptured a Spanish fleet and as a rec-ompense was given the name ofStaats and a Coat of Arms engravedon a gold gorget.19

In this case, the legend is based on anhistorical figure, Joachim Gijsen. Refer-ences to Gijsen are found in Johannes DeLaet’s 1644 history of the Dutch WestIndia Company from 1623 to 1636, withmention of Gijsen’s progression in navalrank, in works by naval historiansJohannes Cornelis de Jonge, M. C.Mollema, and G. Engelbert Gerrits, in aletter of Hugo Grotius, and by HesselGerritsz, a seventeenth-century cartogra-pher and friend of Johannes De Laet andinterviewer of Dutch navigators and seacaptains.20 A history of the West IndiaCompany in the seventeenth century men-tions Gijsen and his stuursmen, RinkePieters van Amelandt, citing a 1626 work

describing the string of islands from theAntilles to Puerto Rico.21 The abovesources show that Gijsen captured a Span-ish ship or ships, received a gold medaland chain for bravery and courage, wasshipwrecked on Grand Cayman Island in1629 and saved all 122 lives of his crew,and built a new ship and sailed them tosafety.22 It is stated that the new ship sailedto “Virginia” (New Netherland) and wassold there, although this particular inci-dent has not been corroborated by primarysources. Further reading of De Laet’s textsuggests an alternative end of the leakyCayman.

In his wedding banns in 1612, JoachimGijsen states that he is from Hamburg andwas born in about 1579.23 His bride,Trijntgen Gerrits, states that she is twenty-eight years old, an age confirmed in bannsof her previous marriage to BarteltBarteltsen seven years earlier. In the ear-lier wedding banns, she states her age astwenty-one.24 In Joachim’s 1612 weddingbanns with Trijntgen, Gijsen states hisoccupation as “boatman” and that he isthirty-three years old. Petrus Brunick pre-sents written permission from Gijsen’sfamily in Hamburg for the wedding.Gijsen purchased a house on

Gouldabostraat in Amsterdam in 1623 andreports his occupation as Stuursman, orsteersman, which translates in period na-val terms as first mate, or assistant to thecaptain.25 The wedding banns, purchaseof house, and sale of house are evidenceof his personal life and his occupationworking at sea.

It is at this first historic intersectionwhen Joachim Gijsen’s personal historyand his naval career are proven. Neatly,Joachim Gijsen is reported to be aStuursman by Johannes De Laet (1644).Mollema lists Joachim Gijsen on the Rollof Honor in 1636. Whether Mollemameant that Gijsen had died or retired isnot understood, as the “Roll of Honor” inDutch seaman’s language refers to thetime of the actual roll of the ship fromstarboard to port and back to starboard,during which all hands respected a fallencomrade.

By the end of his naval career, JoachimGijsen apparently reached the rank of viceadmiral.26 His rise to this position in light19 George Washington Schuyler, Colonial New York(Volume 2): Philip Schuyler and his family (New York,1885), 173n.20 Johannes De Laet (1644) reprinted in 1930-1936 by HonoreNabor Deel I, II, III, IV. Het Iaerlyck Verhael van Joannes deLaet 1624-1636, J. C. de Jonge, Geschiedenis van hetNederlandsche zeewezen, 2 vols. (Haarlem, 1858-1862), 1:218, M. C. Mollema, Geschiedenis van Nederland ter Zee, 4vols. (Amsterdam, 1939-1942), 4: 13 (appendix), G. EngelbertGerritsz, Gedenkstuk van Nederlands Heldendaden Ter Zee(Amsterdam, 1831), 293, Hugo Grotius, 3 January 1639(3921), Briefwisseling van Hugo Grotius. Deel 10, B. KL.Meulenbroek, editor (Den Haag, 2009), 20n10, and HesselGerritzs, Journaux et Nouvelles tirées de la bouche de marinshollandais et portugais de la navigation aux Antilles et SurCotes du Brésil. (1626), Archives of Brazil, Rio De Janeiro.21 Henk J. den Heijer, De Geschiedenis van de WIC(1621-1791) (Zutphen, 1994; revised ed., 2002).22 R. C. Smith, The Maritime Heritage of the CaymanIslands (Gainesville, FL, 2000).23 On July 21, 1612, “appeared before Albert kornelis andJoh[annes] Mathijssen, commissioners, Jochim Ghisen ofhamborgh, sailorman, old 33 years, living in theHaerlemmerstraet, presenting his father’s permission bythe hand of petrus brunick, notary in hamborgh, on oneside, and Trijn Gerritsdr. ,widow of bartel bartelsen,living as before, declaring having been widow for 4 years,on the other side . . . ,” DTB 416, p. 228, GAA.24 1st Wedding Banns of Trijntgen Gerrits gives her age.1605 DTB Marriages DTB 411 p. 44125 “We Symen van Der Does and Jacob Reael, aldermen inAmstelredamme, make known that Setge Pieters, sailor, ap-peared for us and states to have sold, charged and remitted toJochum Ghijssen, steersman, a house and yard standing in theGoutbloemsstraet adjacent to him the appearer on the west-side and Hans Dircxsen on the eastside, reaching from the streetin front backwards unto marritge cornelis, widow of Posgen (?)de visscher . . .”, Barent Claessen Turcxscheboer and ReynierHilles, boatman, (also appearing) as guarantors, dated May23,1623, toeg. nr. 5062, inv. nr. 30, folio 154-154v] A1: (folio154), GAA.26 “Roll of Honor,” Mollema, Geschiedenis van Nederlandter Zee , 4: 13 (appendix).

Frontispiece from G.Engelbert Gerritsz,Gedenkstuk vanNederlandsHeldendaden TerZee (Amsterdam,1831).

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of his German origins must be kept inperspective. Germans were consideredforeigners in the Dutch Republic and, assuch, were excluded from higher officeswithin the Dutch military forces. But, asDutch historian Th. van Deursen notes,“German seaman quickly became so nu-merous and consequentially indispensablethat they were sometimes placed on thesame footing as Netherlanders.”27 Gijsendid indeed fight in many battles and cap-tured treasure and prize ships for the WestIndia Company. In 1639, when his daugh-ter, Nelletie, married, Gijsen is present asa witness at the wedding. In 1640, whenhis son, Gerrits, marries, Gerrits’s mother,Trijntgen Jochemse, states her husband isin the “employ of the Company.”28 Thissuggests that Gijsen was still alive in1640. Some accounts say he fought in theBattle of the Duins in 1639 and 1640. ByJanuary 12, 1642, when Trijntgen marriesAbram Staes, Gijsen, however, is notpresent.

In 1654, Trijntgen Gerrits, “widow ofJoachim Gijsen,” is forced to sell thehouse on Gouldabostraat.29 In this type ofdocument, the transport of real estate be-fore the court (because one could not payone’s debts) was given to the buyer (andusually also to the seller). Before this tookplace, deeds of forced real estate trans-ports were registered by the copying of

the contents by the town in their registerswithout signatures. Trijntgen had beensentenced on April 20, 1655, by theCommissarissen van Kleine Zaken (Com-missioners of Small Cases) to pay 190guilders to a Jacob AdriaensenSwartepaert. Obviously, on April 20,1655, Trijntgen was alive, as she was triedas a person. Hence, she was also alive onJanuary 17, 1654. The sale is made toHendrick Hendriks. It is known thatTrijntgen Gerritsz was alive when this salewas completed, since she was served thedocuments.”30

The documentation gathered onJoachim Gijsen was presented to Dr.Jan Boomgaard, director of theAmsterdam City Archives. In responseto the question “How many men inAmsterdam were named JoachimGijsen during the chronological periodof time from 1579 to 1654,” he wrotethat only “one man [who] was namedJoachim Gijsen would fit this chronol-ogy.”31 This information, primary ref-erences of Gijsen’s naval career, mar-riage, and other records, prove Gijsen’srelationship to Abram Staes as his fa-ther–in-law and not as the progenitorof the Staats family. Hence, the Staatsfamily legend is true, with one correc-tion: Gijsen neither received the nameStaats nor gave it to the family.

Abram Staes’ and Trijntgen Jochemse’sArrival in New Netherland. On June 3,1642, Abram Staes sailed on the ship denHouttuyn from Amsterdam (or Texel) forNew Netherland, arriving at Fort Orangeon August 4th. The list of the passengerson Den Houttuyn included DomineJohannes Megapolensis with his wife,Machtelt Willems, and children Hillegont,Dirrick, Jan, and Samuel; Abraham Staes,surgeon, with his servant; Evert Pels, beerbrewer; and others.32 Trijntgen, however,does not appear on this list. Thus, there ismuch speculation about when Trijntgenarrived at Fort Orange. The three knownships that arrived at Fort Orange between1643 and 1645 do not show her presencein their departure from Texel or their ar-rival at Fort Orange.33 If she did not ac-company her husband in 1642, the advan-tage for Abram Staes would have been theopportunity to get a house in order at FortOrange.

Morevoer, the first child of Abram andTrijntgen was born in 1645. If Trijntgenarrived earlier than 1644, the questionremains: when? Complicating the issueis the weather in the Hudson Valley. TheHudson River was frozen and impassiblefrom about November to at least Marchof each year. Nine-month gestation cal-culations and knowing about the fewships that arrived in Fort Orange from1642 to 1645 limit the possibilities for herarrival—not to mention that she is notlisted as being on any of the ships. Thiscombination of factors greatly reduces thechances that she did not accompany herhusband to Fort Orange in 1642. We sim-ply do not know when Trijntgen Jochemsearrived at Fort Orange.

The Children of Trijntgen Jochemse andAbram Staes. Abram Staes and Trijntgen

27 A. Th. van Deursen, Plain Lives in a Golden Age:Popular Culture, Religion and Society in Seventeenth-century Holland (Cambridge, 2003), 32-33.28 DTB 454 p. 230 (1640).29 Registers van kwijtscheldingen van bij executieverkochte huizen, schepen en obligatiën (toeg. nr. 5061,inv. nr. 2168) The certificate made July 10, 1655, of theexecutiekwijtscheldingen is a deed of forced sale.30 Communication with A. Stoop, translator, StadsarchiefAmsterdam, November 2009. Registers vankwijtscheldingen van bij executie verkochte huizen,schepen en obligatiën (toeg. nr. 5061, inv. nr. 2168). toeg.nr. 5061, inv. nr. 2223, pp. 104-106.31 Communication from Dr. Boomgaard, November 2009.32 VRBM, 605, 623.33 A. J. F. Van Laer, Settlers of Rensselaerswyck, 1630-1658 (Albany, 1908), 27–35.

Reconstruction of the layout of Fort Orange in 1645, showing House No 7.

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Jochemse were married for close to fifty-one years, from 1642 to 1694.34 Duringthat period, they had seven children, fourboys and three girls, all of whom reachedadulthood:1. Sarah, born 1645, died 1693. She mar-ried Johannes Provoost in 1690.2. Catharina, born 1647, died unknown.She married [?] Bruyn in November 1683.3. Jacob, born 1650, died September 1709.He married Ryckie Van Derts.4. Jochem, born April 4, 1654, died Janu-ary 12, 1712. He married first AnnetjeBarentse Reijnders (1660–1707) in April1678 and second Francina Leisler.5. Abraham II, born 1665, died 1740. Hemarried Elsie Wendell on April 9, 1696(twelve children, including Abraham III,born 1700).6. Samuel, born May 1657, died 1715. Hemarried first Johanna Reijnders on Novem-ber 28, 1684, and second Catharina(Howarden) Bedlo on May 7, 1709.7. Elisabeth, born 1660, died June 5, 1737.She married first Johannes Wendell on June5, 1657, and second Johannis Schuyler onApril 2, 1655. 35

Records of Abram Staes and TrijntgenJochemse in Fort Orange. Upon arrivalat Fort Orange, Abram Staes took up resi-dence in House Number 7.36 Trijntgenmade herself heard in a complaint filedin 1648 that asked the court to not allownew homes to be built within cannon shotof the fort as a matter of communitysafety.37 This matter was considered andapproved to the displeasure of some butnot by the owner of the house that wasaccidentally hit by cannon shot. Ironically,Abram, as a magistrate, in August 1658,purchased for the community two smalliron cannons, presumed to be three-pounder cannons.38 The cannons wouldhave had a point-blank range of 300 yards

and a maximum range of 3,000 yards. Itcan be said that a cannon of this sizewould indeed reach the distance to theedge of the forest, from Fort Orange adistance of some 200 yards.39

After Abram and Trijntgen settled intotheir house, Abram began his six-yearcontract as surgeon at Fort Orange andRensselaerswijck, with its thirty or sofamilies. His time was not totally devotedto surgery or medicine. He is mentionedas co-treasurer of Beverwijck in 1652. InNovember 1656, Abram is mentioned asa captain of the Burgher Guard.40 On April15, 1653, when asked to assist with thetask of surveying the land, Abram Staeshelped the commissary appointed byBrant Slichtenhorst, including CornelisTheunisz van Westbroeck, Volckert Jansz,and Johannes Dijckman, in measuring andrecording lot sizes and road layoutsaround Fort Orange, including atRensselaerswijck and Beverwijck.41 Hebecame a magistrate in 1652, 1657, 1658,1661, and 1662. He was also elected asReformed church elder in 1658 and 1660,and served as a member of the consistoryin 1659, 1663, and 1664.42 He was atrusted and respected member of the com-munity in legal matters, having learnedto speak the Mohawk language fluentlyenough for both Mohawk sellers andDutch land purchasers to trust him totranslate and create contracts suitable toboth parties, he being known to be im-partial and helpful.43 His knowledge of

native languages may also explain hissuccess in the beaver trade. In 1657,Abram is listed as having 3900 beaverpelts in the account of the commissary.44

Staes was also an astute land buyer,owning many properties in and aroundAlbany.45 Janny Venema writes “Consid-34 The Will of Abram Staes, filed in 1683 and proved byhis wife, Trijntgen Jochemse, October 23, 1694, Abstractof Wills, Liber 14A.35 Albany Protocol, 564n. Henry N. Staats III, StaatsFamily Tree, circa 1960.36 Record of Abram Staes selling house within Fort Or-ange, October 27, 1655, Early Records of the City andCounty of Albany and Colony of Rensselaerswyck, J.Pearson, trans. (Albany, 1869), 195; Paul Robert Huey,“Aspects of Continuity and Change in Colonial DutchMaterial Culture at Fort Orange, 1624-1664“ (Ph.D.Diss., 1988), 728. J. W. Bradley drawing from in “BeforeAlbany.” Drawing in dissertation shows house No. 5belonging to Abram Staes. In this drawing, it is labeledNo. 7, but its location is identical to the other reference.37 Charles T. Gehring, Correspondence, 1647-1653(New Netherland Documents) (Syracuse, NY, 1999), 70.38 Staes “declared and attested that in the year 1657 hebought and received from the worthy Jan Dareth a smalliron piece, for which he paid four beavers at eight guildersapiece,” Early Records of Albany, Vol. 4.39 Benerson Little, The Sea Rovers Practice (Dulles, VA,2005), 251.40 Charles T. Gehring, trans. and ed., Fort Orange CourtMinutes 1652-1660 (Syracuse, NY, 1990), 96, 300.41 Ibid, 4.42 Venema, Beverwijck: A Dutch Village on the AmericanFrontier 1652-1664 (Albany, 2003), 442.43 Early Records of Albany Notarial Papers 1 and 2,1660-1696, Vol. 3, A. J. F. Van Laer, trans. and ed.,(Albany, 1918), 553. Indian Deed to Volckert Jansen andJan Thomassen for Nanoseck Islan, January 25, 1661, “inthe witness of the truth of which, the contents…have beentranslated to Nanoseck by Abraham Staats and……”Ibid., 50.44 Charles T. Gehring and Janny Venema, Fort OrangeRecords 1654-1679 (Syracuse, NY, 2009), 94.45 Venema, Beverwijck, 257.

A bronze three-pounder cannon,probably from FortOrange, 1630s.Courtesy of theNew York StateMuseum.

Hudson River sloop(minus the side rudder).Reconstruction by LenTantillo.

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ering that Staets now owned importantpieces of property at both the very west-ern and very eastern ends of Jonckerstraet,and that years later the little alley at theside would be called ‘Staets Alley’: couldthis have been the possible origin for thename ‘State Street’ which is presentlyused ‘Staets Street’?”46

Moreover, Staes was a skilled sloopskipper on the Hudson River. An earlymention of his sailing relates to his trans-porting Petrus Stuyvesant to Esopus in1658.

. . . before we arrived at the said Kil, tofollow one after the other, not to anchornear me before night-fall and not toshow upon deck any soldiers or at leastas few as possible. While we thus ledin the yacht of Master Abram Staats, illluck would have it, that in entering theKil at low tide we run aground.47

Staes’s sloop carried people, cargo,military personnel, and equipment fromFort Orange (later Beverwijck and Al-bany) to New Amsterdam and places inbetween. An area on Staats (Papscanee)Island, once the landing point for manycraft, is still obvious from the terrain.

Myth of Trijntgen’s Death and Abram’sSecond Marriage. Trijntgen Jochems hasbeen the focus of much controversy. Oneerror has been the stating of her death ina fire at Abram Staes’s farm in Claverack(Klaverack) during an Indian raid on July7, 1664.48 The error over Trijntgen’s al-leged death in Claverack has resulted inmistakes about the number and names ofAbram’s and Trijntgen’s children as wellas the suggestion of an alleged secondmarriage of Abram to the widow Catrina,wife of Albany baker Jochem Wesselse.

Records clearly show that Abram Staesdid indeed own a farm in Claverack, buthe was an absentee landlord. He rentedthe farm on August 17, 1660, to twoSwedish farmers, Christoffel Davidts andHendrick Eets. The lease states:

On this day, the 17th of August 1660,appeared before me, Dirck vanSchelluyne, notary public, and before thehereinafter named witnesses, MrAbraham Staets, trader in Beverwyck,of the first part, and Christoffel Davidtsand Hendrick Eets, farmers, of the sec-ond part, who acknowledged, he, theaforesaid Mr Abraham Staets, that hehad leased, and they, Christoffel Davids

and Hendrick Eets, that they had hiredof him a certain farm belonging to thelessor, lying in the Claverack, . . . nextlast day of September A. 1663:49

During the Indian attack in 1664, it wasone of the Swedish farmers, ChristoffelDavids, who was killed. The wife andchild of the farmer were carried away bythe Indians.50 The farmhouse which hadbeen burned, however, being of stone withwalls two feet thick, was later rebuilt andstill stands.

That Trijntgen did not die at Claverackis demonstrated by the following records.On April 19, 1671, she entered into anindenture of service for JohannesHubertson and, on April 10, 1676, enteredinto an indenture of service for JohannesDyckman.51 Moreover, on March 26,1683, Geertyrud Hierymonious, the wifeof baker Jochem Wessels, deceased, solda house belonging to her and her deceasedhusband.52 Although Wessels had beenmarried previous to his marriage withGeertyrud, she never remarried after hisdeath, nor is she ever referred to as Trynteor Catrina Wessels.53

Wessels never had a wife namedCatrina nor a daughter named Catrina.Following Wessels’ death, his widow,Geertryuud, proved his will in 1683. Inaddition, in that same year, 1683, theDutch Reformed Church of Albany cre-ated a list of members of the congrega-tion. Both “Abraham Staets” and “TryntjeStaets” appear on this list. 54

In addition to these records, AbramStaes wrote his last will and testament inApril 1683; he lists his wife, TrijntgenJochems, his living children, and the wid-ower of one daughter who had died as hisbeneficiaries. Trijntgen filed the probatein 1693, and Abram’s will is proved onOctober 23, 1694.55 This documentationleaves no doubt that Abram Staes re-mained married to Trijntgen his entire lifeuntil he died in 1693.

The approximate date of death ofAbram Staes is evidenced by a drawingdone by Henry Newman Staats III whileon a family vacation in about 1970. Thedrawing is of a “memorial” stone at StaatsIsland Cemetery, whose wording has since

The Staats House at Claverack (present-day Stockport), New York. WilliamStaats of Albany is in this photograph taken by Henry N. Staats IV in 2009.

46 Ibid, Early Records of Albany 1: 372,449,457; andERA 2: 137, 145.47 B. Fernow, “Governor Stuyvesant’s Journey to Esopus,1658,” The Magazine of American History with Notesand Queries, vol. 2 (New York and Chicago, 1878), 540.48 Stefan Bielinski, People of Colonial Albany, http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/s/abstaats.html (as ofMay 2010).49 Early Records of Albany Notarial Papers 1 and 2,1660-1696, 3: 29.50 Jeremias Van Rensselaer to Oloff Stevensen VanCortlandt, July 17, 1664, in A. J. F. Van Laer, Correspon-dence of Jeremias van Rensselaer (Albany, 1932), 356.51 Ibid., 379.52 Contract of Sale of house and lot in Albany betweenGeertyrud Hierymonious and Bay Crovelt, ibid., 553.53 David M. Riker, Directory to Persons in New NetherlandSupplement (2004), 375.54 Year Book of The Holland Society of New York, HenryL. Bogert, ed., (New York, 1904), 1.55 Abstract of Wills, Liber 14A, Collections of the New-York Historical Society (New York, 1893).

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completely weathered away. The memo-rial commemorates Abram Staes and isdated Oct 23, 16–, with an unreadablepoem inscribed. While there is no evi-dence that Abram is buried in Staats Fam-ily Cemetery on Staats Island, the age ofthe stone and the partial date seen in 1970on the marker are coincidental with thedate of the probate of Abram’s will.56

Two Separate Staats Families. OneStaats family mystery was resolved in2009. The issue revolved around the factthat there were two men named Staats inNew Netherland: Abram Staes, who ar-rived at Fort Orange in 1642, and JanJanse Staats. Jan Janse Staats was born inabout June 1643 in Brooklyn, Long Island,a son of Jan Pieterszen van Huysen (1605–1687) from Schleswig, Denmark (inpresent-day Germany), who died in Brook-lyn about 1687. How Jan Janse acquiredthe name Staats rather than Pieterszen isunknown, but this fact has resulted in con-flicting information in both Staats familytrees for 350 years. As the two Staats fam-ily histories became untangled, it seemsthat no matter where one looks in genea-logical and historical records, the twofamilies are confused. Or are they?

Previously, no attempt was made todetermine if there is a genetic relationbetween the Abram Staats and thePieterszen Staats families. In 2008, amember of the Pieterszen Staats (P-Staats)family became involved in the NewNetherland Foundation DNA Project.Sean Staats, representing the P-Staatsfamily, has a direct descent from JanPieterszen. Sean contacted HenryNewman Staats IV, a member of theAbram Staes (A-Staats) family, to encour-

age him to take a DNA test to determineif there is any relationship between thetwo families. Henry’s family lineage hadbeen certified by the Society of the Cin-cinnati of New York as well as The Hol-land Society of New York. Sean, mean-while, had carefully traced his family treeback to the Pieterszen-Staats family.

DNA samples were taken of both men,using cheek swabbing. The tests were atfirst inconclusive. Additional, more pow-erful DNA tests were thus conducted. Twopossible results could have been found:the Abram Staes family-line andPieterszen-Staats family-line Staats menare related as one Staats family or theyare not.

Following is an abbreviated look at thetwo Staats family trees.

The Abram Staes family line: HenryStaats IV, born 1945, the son of Henry N.Staats III, born 1919, the son of Henry N.Staats II, born 1888, the son of Henry N.Staats I, born 1840, the son of HenryStaats, born 1801, the son of Jacob Staats,born 1756, the son of Gerrit Staats, born1720, the son of Barent Staats, born 1680,the son of Joachem Staats, born 1654, theson of Abram Staes, who came to FortOrange in 1642.57

The Pieterszen-Staats family line: SeanEdward Staats, born 1971, the son of RayEldon Staats, born 1940, the son of PerryBranton Staats, born 1912, the son ofFloyd Abram Staats, born 1887, the sonof Abraham Staats, born 1857, the son ofJames Voorhees Staats, born 1822, the sonof Peter Staats, born 1783, the son ofPeter Staats, born 1738, the son of JohnStaats, born 1713, the son of Peter Staats,born 1690, the son of Jan Janse Staats,born 1643, the son of Jan Pieterson Van

Husum (Van Huysen) from Schleswig,Denmark.58

In the Henry N. Staats family, the DNAis predicted by the “Y” chromosomehaplogroup in R1B1b2. (The parenthaplogroup is R.) In the Sean Staats fam-ily, the haplogroup is I1. (The parenthaplogroup is I.) The ancestry of thehaplogroup R is R<P<-NOP<K<IJK(Abram Staats). The Haplogroup I ances-try is I>IJ<-IJK (Abraham PietersenszeStaats). In other words, the most recentcommon male ancestor on the paternalside would have been Haplogroup IJK inHenry Staats, which originated some40,000 to 50,000 years ago. The predic-tion of the outcome of these tests was re-fined by using an FTDNA testing proce-dure. The probability of there being a non-paternal event (NPE) is accepted as a 1.5percent chance. What the results of theseDNA tests mean for Henry N. Staats IV(Abram Staats family) and Sean EdwardStaats (Abraham Pietersensze Staats fam-ily) is definitive: there is zero percentprobability that Abram Staes and JanPieterszen were related.

Conclusion. This paper provides littleknown facts about Abram Staes as wellas the use of DNA testing to prove thattwo families bearing the same surnameare not related and, in the process, hopesto correct some errors and myths in thehistory of the two Staats families.

Above: sketch by Henry N.Staats III, c. 1970, during visitto Staats Island Collection ofHenry N. Staats IV. Right:Staats Island House, c. 1980.

56 Drawing by Henry N. Staats III, 1970. Date inscriptionfrom memorial stone in Staats Island Family Cemetery,Collection of Henry N. Staats IV.57 Application records of Henry N. Staats IV, The HollandSociety of New York.58 Application of Sean Staats, 2009, The Holland Societyof New York.

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Charles T. Gehring and Janny Venema,trans. and eds., Fort Orange Records,1654–1679 (Syracuse University Press,2009).

ALBANY, NEW YORK, may notbe “The Island at the Center ofthe World,” but the importance

of Fort Orange/Beverwijck as NewNetherland’s second center of governmentcannot be doubted. From 1652, this ju-risdiction gathered importance as the furtrade and other ventures attracted Euro-pean settlers into the upper Hudson. Set-tlers of energy and ambition gathered, anda court became necessary for regulatingtheir affairs. The records of this court,under successive vice directors and com-missaries, could not be more importantto historians, family researchers, and ge-nealogists. Many original Dutch recordssurvive, and it is essential that they befully available in the most reliable andclearly-presented translated texts. This iswhat we have in the present volume, thesecond of two, its predecessor beingGehring’s Fort Orange Records, 1656–1678 (Syracuse University Press, 2000).

Translation is a meticulous, time-con-suming exercise with its own professionalstandards. In light of improved linguisticskills and historical awareness, earlier ef-forts are often seen as inadequate. Thesevolumes had been translated by JonathanPearson (1869), whose work was revisedby A. J. F. Van Laer (1916–1919), buttoday’s historians require not just “goodenough” but the best possible texts uponwhich to base their interpretations. WhileI am unable to judge these translationsfrom Dutch into English, it is reassuringto have the testimonial of a recent histo-rian. Jaap Jacobs writes in The Colony ofNew Netherland, A Dutch Settlement inSeventeenth-Century America (CornellUniversity Press, 2009) of The NewNetherland Documents Series: “The earlytranslations are defective in many places,whereas the modern translations byCharles Gehring . . . are of an outstand-ing quality” (p. ix). This volume’s tran-scriptions for translation have the addedstrength of Janny Venema’s native Dutch,together with her achievements—compa-rable to those of Donna Merwick—as one

of Albany’s leading social historians.Her hand is detected especially in Ap-

pendix A concerning ambiguities of theDutch descriptions of property locationsin Fort Orange. This matter is critical,since successive efforts begun byJonathan Pearson and A. J. F. Van Laer toreconstruct early Albany from land trans-fer records are still inconclusive. There isno Costello Plan for Fort Orange and ad-jacent land ownership, so the tentativemap based on that first published in TheDutch Settlers of Albany Yearbook of1926 is still open to revision and augmen-tation. Archaeology may assist, but deci-sions rest on the written word. Ambigu-ities of description, which seem to datefrom the time they were recorded in thesedocuments, must be clarified if the fullsocial and economic implications of whosettled next to whom and in what succes-sion are to be understood. Unfortunately,those who do not read Dutch will havedifficulty grasping the subtleties thatVenema’s quotations illustrate. Nonethe-less, historians are alerted once again to anunfinished task. Albany and vicinity needssomething like Francis W. Sloat’s NewAmsterdam Map Indexes-Pre 1700 Maps,published in 1995 by The Holland Society.

Wisely, the original plan to present these“oldest surviving archival papers for theDutch community that eventually becameAlbany” was revised from three volumesto two. While the records from 1654–1679indeed make a large volume, it is not un-wieldy. Records from the administrationsof seven officials are included, the largestnumber being from the administration ofJohannes La Montagne from 1656 to 1664,when he was Deputy Director of NewNetherland and accountable to PetrusStuyvesant in New Amsterdam. By the timeof his regime, with the usual land transfersand other civic matters, such as excise farm-ing, affairs were running comparativelysmoothly in contrast to the earlier periodswhen notations of social disorder oftenobtrude. There is an early concentration ofrecords of sales of domestic goods and toolsas well as papers concerning Dutch rela-tions with native Mohawks, which alert theuser of this volume to its importance forsocial history. The more one reads amongthese factual, business-like papers, the more

the intent of establishing good managementin the North American wilderness becomesclear. The Dutch largely succeeded in main-taining order in their Fort Orange enclave,the best means of feeling secure amid theunknowns of a vast continent whose di-mensions were just becoming imaginable.

Should Holland Society members con-tinue to take interest in the publication ofsuch records? Many have ancestral con-nections to early Albany, and all dependfor genealogy on similar records fromother settlements, with which there was afrequent interchange of settlers. Owner-ship of property is an essential marker ofa settler’s success in making a place inthe new world. Family historians dependabsolutely upon access to the NewNetherland Document Series, which re-veal, for better or worse, the intertwiningsagas of many immigrants known fromships’ passenger lists and other evidenceof migration.

For every researcher, the test of a his-torical volume’s worth is its index, espe-cially difficult to make with such compli-cated cross-referenced material as this. Pat-ronymic naming is confusing, with unfa-miliar terms, places, and events often hardto judge among and to elucidate. It mighthave been clarifying to separate the crucialname index from other topics and dependmore on judgments about whether or notto include them. Computer indexing pro-grams help, but the acuity and judgment ofthe indexer count most. A perfect productis not to be expected, but it should go with-out saying that omissions, errors, and ty-pos ought to be reduced to a minimum. Yet,time may not be on the indexer’s side in apublication schedule. I will cite from in-dex entries familiar to me only a few in-stances needing emendation.

It may be too much to ask of a puristrendering of historical material that its in-dex give present-day equivalents for sev-enteenth-century names. Nonetheless, us-ers need every bit of help possible, andthe form adopted in volume 55 (2005–2009) of The Dutch Settlers of AlbanyYearbook has much to recommend it; e.g.,“Bratt (Bradt) Albert Andriesse(DeNoorman)” looks after the contingen-cies. Thus, in the present index, we aren’tsure whether Brat and Bratt are both of

Book Reviews

14 de Halve Maen

the Bradt family or, to cite a second in-stance, whether Isaack Foreest is the sameas Isaack de Forest/de Foreest in anotherindex entry. Consolidation—or a “see”reference—would remove any uncer-tainty. To use another example,“Hendricksz/Hendriks, Claes, VanUtrecht/van Wtreght/ timmerman” is notidentified as Van Schoonhoven/Schoonhoven/Scoonover, the surnamesby which his descendants know him. Thereferences on pages 589 and 607 couldhelpfully signal these latter-day names,although the text does not require doingso. The entry on pages 127–128 concern-ing “house and lot conveyed” refers toPhilip Hendricksz [Brouwer], not ClaesHendricksz Van Utrecht. The index page589 repeats references to a house ClaesHendricksz “exchanged” and “exchangehouses with J. J. Stoll.” Citing ClaesHendricksz’s widow, CorneliaFredericksz Cadmus, would help userswith the “deceased” references on pages182 and 184–185. There is a furtherunindexed reference to Claes on pages186–187 concerning expenses after hiswidow’s remarriage to Willem Jansz/Jansssen Stoll, as there were earlierunindexed references in the volume onpages 16 and 19. Claes Hendrickse’s ser-vant is indexed on page 95, but the refer-ence on page 97 naming him MewusHoogboom is only indexed underHoogboom, not in connection with Claes.

To take another significant Albany set-tler, Roeloff Swartwout, confusion occurswith Gerrit Swart, who appears in the in-dex just above it. Gerrit Swart was theRensselaerswijck schout, while Roeloffbecame schout at Esopus, causing confu-sion in references to him on pages 340and 454. A reference is missed to RoeloffSwartwout on page 144, as happens withreferences to Anthony de Hooges on page77 and Sander Glen on page 348. Whoknows what further scouring would re-veal? But given the difficulty of this far-off material, lapses aren’t to be wonderedat. Researchers need to be given heart,perhaps by inclusion of “helps” not re-quired by the text—a debatable questionamong indexers. In general, users of thenew collection of Fort Orange Records,1654–1679 are well served by the index.It offers entry points for searchers of allkinds into this intriguing era of NorthAmerican history making.

—Andrew Brink

Francis J. Sypher Jr., editor and trans-lator, Liber A 1628-1700 of The Col-legiate Churches of New York (GrandRapids, Mich., and Cambridge, Eng.:William B. Eerdmans, 2009).

CHRISTIAN CHURCHES SERVEDas the central institution in colonial

American communities. Not only did theyprovide spiritual and moral edification, butthey also supplied their communities withsocial relief, educational, and banking ser-vices. As Patricia Bonomi wrote in Underthe Cope of Heaven: Religion, Society andPolitics in Colonial America, “Churches inboth country and town were vital centersof community life, as government proc-lamations were broadcast from the pulpitand news of prices and politics were ex-changed in the churchyard.” This was astrue for the Dutch settlements as for theEnglish settlements in North America.

The Provisional Regulations of 1624gave New Netherland’s first settlers thestipulation that colonists were not to prac-tice any “other divine worship than thatof the Reformed religion in the way it isat present practiced here in this country,”although freedom of conscience was tol-erated. In 1625, the West India Companydirectors dispatched Bastiaen Jansz Krol,a ziekentrooster (comforter of the sick),to administer to the Reformed in NewNetherland, and in 1628, the ReverendJonas Michaelius arrived to formally orga-nize a congregation in New Amsterdam.The Reformed Dutch Church in Americadates its existence to Michaelius’s arrival.Unfortunately, the earliest records of thecongregation have disappeared. What dosurvive are the late seventeenth-centuryrecords kept by New York domineHenricus Selijns during his ministry of theNew York City Dutch Reformed churchfrom 1682 to 1701.

Selijns’s records, kept in a manuscriptbook of approximately 714 pages, areknown as Liber A of the Dutch Reformedchurch collections. (Although Liber A istraditionally referred to as records of theCollegiate Churches of New York datingfrom 1628 to 1700, the labeling is mislead-ing: in the original manuscript, the earliestrecords are copies made of now-lost bap-tismal records starting in 1639, and the ear-liest records in this published volume dateto 1668.) Since these records were writtenin Dutch, they have remained largely inac-cessible except to a handful of scholars,although abstracts were published in the

volumes of Edward Tanjore Corwin’sEcclesiastical Records: State of New York(1901), and the marriage and baptismalrecords have been published by The NewYork Genealogical and Biographical So-ciety. This present volume of a completetranscription with English translations ofLiber A, produced by the Historical Se-ries of the Reformed Church in Americain cooperation with the CollegiateChurches, is, thus, a welcome addition tothe growing compendium of colonialDutch-language documents being madeavailable for the English-reading public.

Francis J. Sypher Jr., who translated andedited this volume, has done an excellentjob in retaining the feel of the originalmanuscript in both transcription and trans-lation. The result is a rich portrait of theDutch Reformed community as it struggledwith the increasing pressures ofAnglicization in the 1680s and 1690s. Whatmust have been particularly galling to theReformed, for example, were the thanks-giving proclamations for the Roman Catho-lic King James II’s victory over the Protes-tant Duke of Monmouth in 1685 [pp. 156–159] and for the Queens’ pregnancy in1688, ensuring a Roman Catholic heir tothe English throne [pp. 170–171]. Con-cerns over the activities by such sectar-ians as Labadists [p. 81], Coelmanists [p.107], and others are also found in thesepages. In addition, Liber A contains detailedaccounts of the financial and legal activi-ties of the Manhattan Dutch Reformed con-gregation, including consistorial corre-spondence, ministerial contracts, andrecords relating to the funding for andconstruction costs of the new Reformedchurch building on Garden Street.

Especially significant among thesepages are the records pertaining to the Re-formed petition for [pp. 216–271], and thegranting of by English Governor BenjaminFletcher in May 1696, of the royal charterof incorporation of the church [pp. 18–49].With this charter, the city’s Reformeddomine, elders, and deacons, acting on be-half of the congregation, became an incor-porated entity. The charter granted the con-gregation the right and usage of its proper-ties unmolested, the right to practice itsecclesiastical affairs according to the con-stitutions of the Reformed churches inHolland as instituted by the 1618–1619Synod of Dort, freedom from molestationin the calling and induction into office ofits domines and officers, and the right toact as an incorporated body in the man-

Spring 2010 15

The cost of the scarf is $125.00 plus $10.00 for postage and handlingPlease make check for $135.00 payable to “SOCIETY OF DAUGHTERS OF HOLLAND DAMES” and mail to:Mrs. Robert W. Sheehan, 1220 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10128For questions go to <info@hollanddames.org>Please indicate below where the scarf should be mailed.Name: __________________________________________________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Telephone Number:______________________E-mail:______________________________________________________

Special instructions:

The Society of Daughters of Holland Dames, Descendants ofthe Ancient and Honorable Families of New Netherland, is

pleased to offer its Limited Edition scarf. This elegant 35-inchsquare silk twill scarf, designed by noted New York fashiondesigner Marisol Deluna, has an outer border of linked yellowtulips on an orange ground. Three of the corners have a stylizedtulip design taken from the stained-glass window depictingHenry Hudson’s ship, the “Half Moon,” the Dames presentedto the New-York Historical Society in 1909. The fourth cornerof the scarf holds the insignia of the Holland Dames. Images ofantique blue and white Delft tiles depicting scenes of everydaylife in New Amsterdam are set at angles above the four cornersof the scarf. A graceful scallop design and wreath of tulipsframe the center medallion containing the Society’s seal andfounding date of 1895.

LIMITED EDITION SCARFPRESENTED BY THE SOCIETY OF DAUGHTERS OF HOLLAND DAMES

agement of commercial and judicial affairs.Also included in this volume are lists

of the consistory members (minister, elders,and deacons) from 1668 to 1700, with notesrelating to the election of elders and dea-cons [pp. 230–265]. Missing from the vol-ume, however, are the marriage, baptis-mal, and membership records from 1639to 1700 in the original manuscript, previ-ously published by The New York Genea-logical and Biographical Society.

Mr. Sypher opens the volume with anexcellent historical introduction, biogra-phy of Henricus Selijns, and explanationof the volume’s transcription and transla-tion. Particularly enlightening is his ex-planation of the original Dutch text andthe peculiarities of Selijns’s script. Thevolume also includes detailed explanatorynotes about historical persons and events,a comprehensive bibliography, and anindex of names and places. It would havebeen helpful, however, if the index couldhave been expanded to include topicalentries as well. While the end product ishandsome, it is unfortunate that the pub-

lishers did not pay more attention to theillustrations, which are dark. Plate 8, Mapof Fordham [p. xlix], for example, isnearly impossible to see.

These shortcomings are minor, and Mr.Sypher is to be commended for produc-ing such an elegant work. Liber A 1628–1700 will be of great interest to studentsof New Netherland and colonial Americain general as well as the early history ofChristianity in America. The end result isan attractive volume that is a rich resourcefor colonialists, students of the Reformedchurch in America, and genealogists.

—David William Voorhees

William Arnold “Bill” Lansing, TheLansing Family Journey, 5 vols.(Bloomington, Indiana: Xlibris, 2009).

HOLLAND SOCIETY MEMBERWilliam Arnold “Bill” Lansing re-

cently published The Lansing FamilyJourney, a five-volume set tracing the de-scendants of Gerrit “Frederickse or

Gerritse” Lansingh and his wife, Eliza-beth Hendrickse Ten Cate. As he writesin his introduction, the genealogy’s inspi-ration originated with a small packet ofpapers “that described our father’s lineageback to our Great Grandfathers.” The re-sult is this massive genealogy of the Lan-sing family. From their six children whoimmigrated to New Netherland in the1650s, Mr. Lansing has identified morethan 6,000 descendants in New York andacross the United States.

This impressive work also includesmore than 100 photographs, both histori-cal and from Mr. Lansing’s travels to oldfamily cemeteries and related sites, tran-scriptions of early documents relating tothe family, and a comprehensive index.The Lansing Family Journey is recom-mended to anyone with an interest in orassociation with this family’s valuablecontribution to American history. TheLansing Family Journey is for salethrough <http://www.amazon.com>.

—Mary Collins

16 de Halve Maen

Here and Therein New Netherland Studies

Eastfield VillageWorkshop

HISTORIC EASTFIELD VILLAGE inRensselaer County, New York, is

holding a three-day workshop, “TheDutch House in America: 1624-1830, Part2,” from August 9th through11th. The feeto attend is $455.00. Based on the enor-mous success of a similar program in2005, the workshop will take a close lookat “Dutch,” or lowland, houses and out-buildings in the former Dutch colony ofNew Netherland and examine Dutch cul-ture and how people lived and workedwithin these structures. Participants areencouraged to bring interesting items toshare. A large collection of original build-ing fragments and details will be on dis-play for examination. A period meal willbe held on the first evening of the pro-gram.

Speakers include Ruth Piwonka on theimportance of cloth in the early homes andlives of Dutch Americans, Brian Parkerand William McMillen on the survival oftwo urban Dutch houses—the 1723 PieterWinne House in Bethlehem, New York,and the 1728 Johannes Van OstrandeHouse in Albany—Meta Janowitz on NewAmsterdam houses and artifacts exca-vated in New York City, food historianPeter Rose on the influence of the Dutchon the American kitchen, Elric Endersbyon Dutch vernacular buildings in centralNew Jersey, John Stevens on early DutchAmerican buildings in the Hudson Val-ley and their Old World precedents, JamesDecker on the anatomy of the ElmendorphHouse and its evolution, Walter Wheeleron framing strategies utilized by later NewWorld Dutch carpenters in the period1770–1880, Douglas McCombs on earlyimages of Albany, and J. W. Bouchard onthe archeology of the development of theAlbany waterfront (1650–1850).

For fur ther informat ion , see<www.greatamericancraftsmen.org/workshops/classes.htm>. For an EastfieldWorkshops Registration Form, send an e-

Trying to Reconnect

The Holland Society of New York has lost touch with the followingMembers at their last known place of residence. Any information re-garding their current contact information would be greatly appreci-ated. Please inform The Holland Society office at <hollsoc@aol.com>,or call (212) 758-1675.

John A. Dembeck Hendrick Rycken SuydamNew York, New York Toronto, Ontario

John R. DuBois Peter Robert Van AkenWest Palm Beach, Florida Toronto, Ontario

Mark Stephen Hardenbergh Pieter M. van HoutenCleveland, Ohio Palm Springs, California

Michael James Hardenbergh Nicholas Shedid Van LoanFort Myers, Florida New York, New York

Johannes Paulus Perukel Dr. John P. Van TasselPoughkeepsie, New York San Diego, California

Edward Lewis Schenck Dirk Van ValkenburghBrooklyn, New York Washington, D. C.

John Volkert Whitbeck IINew York, New York

mail to <dcsapottery1@fairpoint.net> orcall (518) 766-2422. The mailing addressis Eastfield Village, Box 465, Nassau,New York 12123.

New Netherland Seminar

THE NEW NETHERLAND Seminar(formerly the Rensselaerswijck

Seminar) will be held on Saturday, Sep-tember 25, 2010, at the Huxley Theaterin Albany, New York. This year’s semi-nar will focus on the restoration of NewNetherland to the Dutch in 1673–1674and the little known period when theDutch regained control of their formerpossession. The following speakers willoffer perspective to this mostly neglectedperiod in New Netherland’s history: Joyce

Goodfriend, “Looking Backward, Look-ing Forward: the Dutch Restoration of1673/74 and the Narrative of Seven-teenth-Century New York History;” Den-nis Maika, “We shall bloom and grow likethe Cedar on Lebanon’: Dutch Merchantsin English New York City, 1664–1673;”Donald G. Shomette, “Raid on America,the Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672–1674;” David William Voorhees, “A Pro-visional Government: the Dutch Admin-istration of Governor Anthony Colve;”and Daniel Richter, “New NetherlandRestoration in the English Imperial Con-text of the Stuarts’ Restoration.” The NewNetherland dinner will be held on Satur-day evening at 5 p.m., with a cocktail hourand dinner. For further information, go tothe New Netherland Institute’s website at:<www.nnp.org>.

17

Society ActivitiesAnnual Meeting

SEVENTY-FIVE MEMBERS, Fel-lows, and Friends of The Holland So-

ciety of New York attended the Society’s124th Annual Meeting on Tuesday, April6th, at the Union Club in Manhattan. Presi-dent Colin Lazier called the meeting toorder at 5:30 p.m. He then asked PietQuackenbush to lead in the Pledge of Al-legiance to the flag of the United States.Following the invocation by SocietyDominie Everett L. Zabriskie III, Presi-dent Lazier called for a motion to waivethe reading of last year’s minutes. He thenreported that the Society had electedtwenty-five new members since the lastannual meeting. Member RobertQuackenbush accepted a rosette for hisgrandson Aidan Pieter Quackenbush.President Lazier also acknowledged JohnV. Banta, Ralph L. DeGroff Jr., MathiasDemarest, Cornelius deWitt III, Robert D.Nostrand, Richard G. Post, Frank J.Vanderbeek, and John R. Voorhis for fiftyyears of membership. Robert Nostrandwas present to receive his Fifty-YearMembership pin.

President Lazier then gave a brief ad-dress on the challenges and successes thathad faced the Society during the previ-ous year, including the sudden death offormer President John B. VanDerbeek IVat a young age. President Lazier also em-phasized a number of impressive high-lights, including the wide variety ofQuadricentennial Celebrations enjoyed bySociety Members, New Yorkers, and visi-tors to New York as well as the publica-tion of the second volume of FlatbushChurch Records. He then noted that theSociety will be celebrating its 125th yearand that a reordering of the Society’s or-ganizational life is in the process. Secre-tary Rev. Everett Zabriskie then read theNecrology, followed by prayer. TreasurerJames Van Wagner Jr. presented his re-port on the Society’s financial condition,followed by Trustee David Lent on VanWagner’s success in bringing clarity to thefinancial condition of the Society.

President Lazier then appointed as In-spectors of Election Joseph J. Hoagland,Rev. Everett L. Zabriskie III, William Van

Winkle, and Stephen S. Wyckoff andasked that Mr. Hoaghland serve as chair.Mr. Hoagland read the slate of Officers.There were 186 proxies for the slate and1 proxy abstention. The slate of new Of-ficers was declared duly elected. A pro-posal to temporarily suspend the By-LawsPursuant to Article V Section 1, relatingto prohibitions upon spending unre-stricted endowment for 2010 and 2011 aslong as such spending not exceed$250,000, was also passed. There beingno further business, upon motion, themeeting adjourned.

Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and a cashbar followed the business meeting. For thefirst time in the Society’s history, the An-nual Meeting Dinner was open to anyonewilling to pay. Following the traditionalParading of the Beaver, invocation, sing-ing of the Dutch and American nationalanthems, and toasts, the gathering satdown to dine. Following dinner, PresidentLazier introduced Dutch Consul Generalin New York City H. Gajus Scheltema,who made brief comments. President La-zier also noted those Members who hadtraveled the farthest to attend the gather-ing and families in attendance with twoor more family Members.

President Lazier then presented Hol-land Society Trustee and Treasurer JamesR. Van Wagner Jr. with the Holland Soci-ety Gold Medal of Achievement to aMember for his service during the pastyear in stabilizing the Society’s financialhealth during a period of national eco-nomic crisis. Mr. Van Wagner gave athoughtful acceptance speech relating tothe need for a healthy financial situationin order for the Society to accomplish thegoals set forward in its charter.

With the conclusion of the formal cer-emonies, Members, Friends, and guestsretired to an adjoining room to enjoy aninformal cheese collation and beer do-nated by HEINEKEN USA.

Potomac Branch Meeting

THE POTOMAC BRANCH of TheHolland Society of New York held a

meeting on Wednesday, March 24, 2010,at the Maryland Club’s historic clubhousein downtown Baltimore. Also invited to

attend were members of the HollandDames and their spouses. The eveningcommenced with libations and refresh-ments in one of the grand, interestingrooms covered in artwork on the secondfloor of the Maryland Club. Holland So-ciety Members, Holland Dames, Friendsof both societies, and their spouses, manyin shades of orange and blue, made ac-quaintances, exchanged news, or caughtup after a five-year absence of events.

Dinner, enjoyed among orange tulip cen-terpieces generously provided by Ralph L.DeGroff from the local “Dutch Connec-tion” florist, began with a brief address byBaltimorean and Holland Dames DirectressGeneral Mary W. Park. Mrs. Park spokeabout the current activities of the HollandDames and the recent Quadricentennial cel-ebrations in New York City. Branch Presi-dent Cortright then thanked his predeces-sor, David Vandenberg, for his organizingskills. During dessert, Mr. Cortright askedSociety Trustee and current Treasurer RalphL. DeGroff to introduce Alvin Bernard“Buzzy” Krongard so that he could sharehis experiences as executive director of theCentral Intelligence Agency (CIA) from2004 to 2006, during the George W. Bushadministration. Mr. Krongard, who had

President Colin G. Lazier, left,congratulates Society MedalistJames R. Van Wagner Jr.

Spring 2010 17

18 de Halve Maen

been a college roommate of Mr.DeGroff, is also a retired CEO ofBaltimore’s oldest investment firm, AlexBrown & Sons now Deutsche AlexBrown. Mr. Krongard provided a fasci-nating look into the inner workings ofthe CIA. He spoke about the vagaries ofthe intelligence world and its attendantdifficulties in a free society. At the endof his presentation, Mr. DeGroff pre-sented Mr. Krongard with a copy ofRussell Shorto’s book The Island at theCenter of the World.

Those in attendance included RalphL. DeGroff and his wife, Marion; FriendBetty Ann Kane and her husband, Noel;Holland Dames Directress General MaryW. Park and her husband, Dr. LeeCrandall Park; Potomac Branch Presi-dent Christopher M. Cortright and hiswife, Andrea A. DeLeon; Judson Smithand his wife and Holland Dame AprilSmith; Peter Van Dyke and his wife,Judy; George Van Dyke and his wife,Beth; Nancy Clark Smith; Louis VanDyke IV and Louis Van Dyke V; FeliciaStidham, Nancy Kern and John Marsh;and Pamela and Henry Felton.

Dr. Andrew HendricksKnighted

ON SEPTEMBER 7, 2009, in a spe-cial ceremony at the Dutch Con-

sulate in New York City, Holland Soci-ety of New York Life Member andTrustee Dr. Andrew Adam Hendricks,

along with 2001 Holland Society Medal-ist Captain William T. “Chip” Reynolds,was ordained a Knight of the Order of Or-ange-Nassau on behalf of Her Royal Maj-esty Queen Beatrix.

Dr. Hendricks, a Gold Medalist of TheHolland Society, actively supports researchin the previously neglected area of DutchAmerican studies. He is founder and chair-man of the New Netherland Museum in Al-bany, which, in 1989, constructed a full-sizereplica of Henry Hudson’s 1609 flagship,de Halve Maen (Half Moon) and overseesits continuing activities, directed by CaptainReynolds. In 1987, Dr. Hendricks endowedthe Hendricks Manuscript Award, given outannually by the New Netherland Institute inAlbany, New York, for the best manuscriptin early Dutch-American history.

For the past twenty years, the NewNetherland Museum has sponsoredDutch–American programs in which stu-dents assist in sailing the Half Moon andlearn the history of New Netherland. TheMuseum also created fourh and seventhgrade curriculum on New Netherland thatare used in schools in New York State.School and visitor tours of the Half Moonare arranged by the Albany City VisitorsCenter and at maritime festival sites.Through Dr. Hendricks’ support, the HalfMoon has represented the State of NewYork in the 500th Columbus Tall ShipsCelebration in New York Harbor in 1992,the 2000 Millennial Tall Ships Celebra-tion in New York Harbor, and the 400th

Anniversary Celebration of the Foundingof New York. The Half Moon has also par-ticipated in many maritime festivals, mov-ies, and documentaries, including twoWalt Disney movies: “Squanto: An IndianWarriors Tale” (1994) and “The NewWorld” (2005). In March 2009, the DutchMint in Utrecht, Netherlands, minted acoin in honor of the New NetherlandMuseum and the 400th Anniversary ofHenry Hudson’s voyage.

Dr. Hendricks is the Medical Director ofSoutheastern Dermatology, PA, a derma-tology and cosmetic surgery practice inNorth Carolina. He is a graduate ofPrinceton University with a degree in phi-losophy and received his medical degreefrom the University of Virginia School ofMedicine in Charlottesville, Virginia. Hedid a residency and fellowship in derma-tology at the Johns Hopkins Medical Cen-ter in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Hendricksis author of many medical papers on dis-eases and surgery of the skin, hair, and nails.

Dr. Andrew Hendricks, left, and Captain William T. “Chip” Reynolds afterthe awarding of the Medal of the Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau atthe Dutch Consulate in Manhattan.

Ralph L. DeGroffJr., right, presentingPotomac BranchMeeting speaker“Buzzy” Krongardwith a copy ofRussell Shorto’sbook The Island atthe Center of theWorld.

Spring 2010 19

In MemoriamVan Dyke Burhans Jr.

The Holland Society of New York re-cently learned that Society Member VanDyke Burhans Jr. of Inverness, Florida,died on June 9, 2007. Mr. Burhans wasborn on October 31, 1919, in Brook-lyn, New York, the son of Van DykeBurhans and Martha CelesteSturzenegger. He claimed descent fromJan Burhans, who arrived in NewNetherland from Holland aboard deBonte Koe in 1663. Mr. Burhans joinedThe Holland Society in 1963.

Mr. Burhans graduated from DwightMorrow High School in Englewood,New Jersey, in 1937. He received anA.B. degree from Wesleyan Universityin Middletown, Connecticut, in 1941.Between 1942 and 1946, he served asa transport officer and radar officer.After World War II, he attended Bos-ton University College of Business Ad-ministration, from which he receivedan M.B.A in 1949. He subsequentlytaught economics at that school. In1951, he was called back to active duty,now as a captain in the United StatesAir Force, serving at Harvard Univer-sity as an assistant professor of AirScience and Tactics for the Air ForceROTC. He returned to Boston Univer-sity in 1954 as an instructor in econom-ics and later as an assistant professorof finance and investments. In his lasttwo years there, he also was Directorof Special Business Programs.

Mr. Burhans married Alice ElizabethGetz in Middletown, Connecticut, onApril 28, 1945. They had no children.

In 1963, Mr. Burhans joined the in-vestment banking and brokerage offirm Hornblower and Weeks of Man-hattan as the national director of train-ing. In 1967, he was made a generalpartner of brokerage firm Paine,Webber, Jackson Curtis in Manhattan,focusing on management training. Atthat time, his professional associationsincluded the American ManagementAssociation, the American Finance As-sociation, the American Society ofTraining Directors, and the FinancialAnalysis Society.

Charles Edward Post

The Holland Society of New York re-cently received notice of the death in2007 of Life Member Charles EdwardPost of Edgewood, New Jersey. Mr.Post was born on November 13, 1915,the son of George Edward Post andNellie Tanis. He claimed descent fromCaptain Adriaen Post, who came toNew Netherland from The Hague, Hol-land, by way of Brazil in 1655. Mr. Postjoined The Holland Society in 1996.

Mr. Post attended Paterson, New Jer-sey, High School and VocationalSchool. He graduated from the New-ark, New Jersey, College of Engineer-ing with an associate’s degree in chemi-cal engineering. He subsequently spenthis professional career as a textilechemist and dyer in management of tex-tile processing with Burlington Indus-tries.

Mr. Post married Gertrude Ottens inWyckoff, New Jersey, on August 6,1941. The couple had three children:Donald J., born on October 8, 1943, inMilwaukee, Wisconsin; Judith, born onMarch 23, 1951, in Manhattan; andCristin, born on December 26, 1961,in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Mr. Post was a member of theHawthorne, New Jersey, Gospel Church,where he served as an usher and staffworker. Other volunteer work includedserving as board member and presidentin 1995 of the David Ackerman Descen-dants 1662. He was a Republican. Mr.Post enjoyed gold and gardening.

Mr. Post is survived by his three chil-dren, Donald J., Judith Ackerman, andCristin; a nephew, Richard George Postof Vero Beach, Florida; and great-grandnephew, Robert D. Post Jr., ofEssex Falls, New Jersey, who is a mem-ber of the Burgher Guard.

Lloyd George Van Syckle

Holland Society of New York LifeMember and former Trustee and BurgherGuard Member Col. Lloyd Georg VanSyckle died in Wantage, New Jersey, on

October 19, 2008, at the age of eighty-three. Colonel Van Syckle was born onOctober 2, 1925, in Puerto Cortes, Hon-duras, the only son of Alvah Lloyd VanSyckle and Lillian H. Grothey. Heclaimed descent from Ferdenandus vanSycklin, who came to New Netherlandin 1653. Mr. Van Syckle joined TheHolland Society in 1961.

After graduation from Blair Acad-emy in 1943, Mr. Van Syckle enlistedin the U.S. Navy and, until 1946, sawactive duty in the North Pacific inChina and Japan. His post-war careerwas spent at the Picatinny Arsenal inDover, New Jersey, from which he re-tired in 1979. His total of thirty-sevenyears in government service includedtraining at Princeton University,Stevens Institute, and the U.S. ArmyWar College and career experience asan electrical engineer specializing inmunitions and intelligence. He held therank of colonel in the Veteran Corps Ar-tillery (helping for many years to shootoff the cannons at Battery Park in Man-hattan).

Keenly active in supporting histori-cal organizations, Col. Van Syckle, be-sides his Society activities, was a pastpresident of the St. Nicholas Society(and was awarded the President’sMedal for service) and a member of theSt. Andrews Society, the Order ofFounders and Patriots (past deputy gov-ernor, New York), the New Jersey So-ciety of Colonial Wars (past governor),Sons of the American Revolutions inthe State of New Jersey (past governor),the Netherlands Society of Philadel-phia, the Colonial Order of the Acorn,New York Commandry of the MilitaryOrder of the Loyal Legion of the U.S.,the Military Society of the War of 1812,Descendants and Founders of New Jer-sey, and the Sons of the AmericanRevolution. He also held membershipin the Washington Association of NewJersey and the Gavel Society.

Mr. Van Syckle married Anna DellaSimmons on October 27,1951, in Sus-sex, New Jersey. They had three chil-dren: Georgina, born on March 29,1955; Eloise Margaret, born on June24, 1957; and Lloyd George II, born on

20 de Halve Maen

May 23, 1963, all in Sussex, New Jersey.Colonel Van Syckle’s active interests

extended into many aspects of his com-munity. He served as a volunteer fire-man in Beemerville, Pennsylvania, andwas a member of the New Jersey PeaceOfficers Association and a life mem-ber of the Sussex County HistoricalSociety. He founded a Boy Scout Troopand was for eighteen years Clerk ofSession for the First PresbyterianChurch of Sussex, New Jersey. In ad-dition, he was a past master of theKittatinny Lodge 164 Free and Ac-cepted Masons, Branchville, New Jer-sey, past-commander of MolayCommandry 6 Knights Templar, PastDistrict Deputy Grand Master of theMost Puissant Grand Council of Royal& Select Masters of New Jersey, PastDistrict Deputy Grand High Priest ofthe Grand Royal Arch Chapter of RoyalArch Masons of New Jersey, three-times illustrious master of WashingtonCouncil 7 R&SM, past high priest ofBaldwin Chapter 17 RAM, and a mem-ber of Holland Lodge State of NewYork and the National Sojourners.Colonel Van Syckle also belonged tothe Army and Navy Club, Washington,D.C., and the Nassau Club, Princeton,New Jersey.

Colonel Van Syckle’s survivors in-clude his children, Georgina Snavely,Eloise Margaret Mulvihill, and SocietyLife Member Lloyd George Van SyckleII, of Ossining, New York, and fivegrandchildren. Funeral services wereheld on October 23, 2008, at the FirstPresbyterian Church of Sussex, NewJersey, with the arrangements made by

Pinkel Funeral Home in Sussex.

Porter Hoagland Jr.

Holland Society of New York Mem-ber Porter Hoagland Jr. died on Decem-ber 27, 2008, in Mystic, Connecticut,at the age of eighty-three. Mr. Hoaglandwas born in Manhattan on September8, 1925, the son of Porter Hoagland andMarjorie B. Stewart. He claimed de-scent from Christoffel Hoaglandt, whocame to New Netherland in 1654 fromHaarlem, Holland. Mr. Hoagland hadbeen a Member of The Holland Soci-ety since 1967.

Mr. Hoagland pursued a lifelong ca-reer of creativity and entrepreneurshipin electronics design and application.After graduating from Yale Universitywith a B.S. in electrical engineering in1950, he worked as Assistant Directorof Engineering at the Wicolator Com-pany in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1956,he founded his first business, theHoagland Instrument Company in RedBank, New Jersey, which designed andmanufactured overload relays and cir-cuit breakers for large industrial ma-chinery. In 1973, he established theHoagland Engineering Company, lo-cated at former train depots, first inNoank and then in West Mystic, withclients worldwide.

Mr. Hoagland was a life member ofthe Institute of Electrical and Electron-ics Engineers, a longstanding memberof the National Society of ProfessionalEngineers, American Council of En-gineering Companies, and the Yale Sci-

ence and Engineering Association.During World War II, Mr. Hoagland

served from 1944 to 1946 as an elec-tronic technician’s mate on landingships in the Western Pacific. From 1946to 1950, while at Yale, he served withthe U.S. Naval Reserve.

On June 30, 1951, Mr. Hoaglandmarried Cornelia Elizabeth Register inPlainfield, New Jersey. They had twochildren: Porter III, born on October 9,1955, and Matthew Register, born onJanuary 31, 1957, both in Red Bank,New Jersey.

Hands-on experience was as impor-tant to Mr. Hoagland as design and ap-plication. At different times in his life,he raced hydroplanes, flew single en-gine planes, and cruised the Atlantic.He was proud of his family’s boatingtradition, which began with severallarge yachts owned by his great-grand-father in Brooklyn, New York, ShelterIsland, New York, and Rumson, NewJersey, in the late nineteenth century.Mr. Hoagland enjoyed cruising with hisfamily along the Atlantic Coast inAppin II, a thirty-one-foot lapstrakecabin cruiser with a fly-bridge. Aftermoving to Connecticut, he kept atwenty-four-foot Eastward Ho motor-sailor at Noank and was a member ofMystic Seaport. Through his early sev-enties, he liked to scull an Alden podon the Mystic River.

Mr. Hoagland is survived by his wifeof fifty-seven years, Cornelia, sons Por-ter and Matthew, both of Plymouth,Massachusetts, four grandchildren, anda brother, George Stewart Hoagland, ofWilmington, Delaware.

Records of The ReformedProtestant Dutch Church of Flatbush,

Kings County, New York

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Deacons’ accounts of the Dutch Reformed congregations located in the present-day New York City borough of Brook-lyn. Includes transliterated Dutch text and English line-for-line translation.

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Volume IIMidwood Deacon’s Accounts

1654-1709

Translated byDavid William Voorhees