Viele Records
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VIELE RECORDS 1613-1913 Being a Revised and Enlarged Edition of the Viele Genealogy published in 1909, under the title TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS WITH A DUTCH FAMILY Of NEW YORK COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY KATHLYNE. KNICKERBACKE.R VIE.LE. (Greduale of the Women'• Law Cllw of the University of New York; Member of the Society of Colonial Dames. of America, of the Society of Dau8hters of Holland Demas, of the Hu.quenol Society, ol lhe New York Genealoaical and Bioa,aphical Society, of the Dauahters of the American Revolution, E.tc.) NE.W YORK TOBIAS A. WRIGHT 1913 THE FAMILY OF VIELE In the preface to the Viele Genealogy published in 1909 all that could with any certainty be said regarding the origin of the Family of Viele was that the three original Viele brothers, Aernout, Cornelis and Pieter-who all bore the name of Cor nelisen-were by that token the sons of a Cornelis, "probably of a Cornelis who never came to this country." It therefore affords the compiler great satisfaction, in which surely every member of the family will share, to announce that this Cornelis has been found in the person of Cornelis Vol kertszen, who in 1639 was a well-to-do trader and tavern keeper in New Amsterdam. The baptisms of four of his children are recorded on the register of the Dutch Church in New York-Aernout, 1640, Cornelis, 1643, Jacomyntje, 1645, and Pieter, 1648. These dates very nearly correspond with the dates on which these three men twenty odd years later first took up land-thus indicating that they had arrived at man's estate-Aernout in Beverwyck in 1663, Cornelis in Schenectady in 1668, and Pieter in Schenectady in 1670. The wife of Cornelis Volkertszen was Marie du Trieux (de Truye), daughter of Philip du Trieux, a Walloon, and one of the earliest settlers of Manhattan, and Susanna de Scheene, his wife. Lack of New Amsterdam records previous to 1638 prevents us from knowing how much prior' to 1639 Cornelis Vo!kertszen was there. His patent on his lot on the "Great Highway" was granted him in 1642 (July 13), but as these patents were granted years after possession had been had, this date is not enlightening. Cornelis Volkertszen died in 1648-9. On Feb. 20, 1650, his widow married Jan Peek (in the Dutch Church in New Am sterdam), who continued with her the conduct of her first husband's tavern, combining this as Cornelis Volkertszen had done, with the occupation of an Indian trader. 6 THE FAMILY OF VIELE Marie du Trieux (de Truye) had four children by her second husband whose baptisms are recorded in the Dutch Church in New York and it is to a document preserved in the Albany Common Council Minutes (IV), that we are indebted for corroborative testimony that points out the relationship between the Vieles and the Peeks as distinctly as does the regbter of the Dutch Church in New Amsterdam point to Marie du Trieux as mother of the children of Cornelis Vol kertszen and Jan Peek, and thus establishes the certainty that the children of Cornelis Volkertszen all bear the name of Viele• Of this document more further on. This entry in the Dutch Church at Albany, N. Y., furnished the first clue to descent: "Folkert, child of Cornelis Vile. Wit.: Aarnout Vile. By Ariaantje Wendel." Why Folkert Volkert? Answer: Named for paternal grandfather, Volkert, father of Cornelius Volkertszen. The early Dutch named no child at haphazard. (Ariaantje was the third wife· of Evert Wendel, whose first wife was the aunt of Cornelis Viele.) Those who will refer to the preface of Prof. Pearson's First Settlers of Albany will learn how diflic-Jlt it is to establish the surnames of the first Dutch settlers. Pearson well says: "The majority of the first settlers used m.> surnames, some evidently had none. It is only after great familiarity with the early writings arid a careful noting of surnames as they are sometimes subscribed to wills, conveyances and other important papers that any connection can be established between a first settler and his later descendants. Individuals are often distinguished by personal peculiarities, trades, etc." . It is not surprising then that the origin of the name of Viele has been so elusive. A thorough search of all available authorities has revealed no town, no personal pecularity and but one trade from which the name could have been derived. It is stated in Johann Winckler's Niederlandscke Geslachtsnamer (Dutch An cestral Names), Harlam, 1885, that the Latin (late) Velius meaning a worker in flax or linen, especially a sailmaker, was a Dutch surname. This in the common Dutch would become Vilen, Vielen, Viele. Wilen (Vilen) is the way the sons of Cornelis Volkertszen first wrote their names according to the · oldest records. William Elliot Griffis who first pointed out THE FAMILY OF VIELE 7 Winkler's derivation of the name says: "It is thus connected with the very honorable trade which in olden times made the poetry of the sailing ship and caused things to go." It seems safe to consider this the origin of the name, since all signs point to Holland as the early home of the Vieles. The name which has since become Viele first attaches itself to the family in 1661 (Oct. 3 I) when Aernout Cornelise signs himself "Wilen" to a document in Albany. (Mun. Col., vol. IV, p. 295.) Examination of the early records will show that in most cases these first Vieles were designated Aernout, Aern out Cornelise, Cornelis, Cornelis Cornelise, without any surname. There is only one document to which Cornelis Volkertszen in New Amsterdam appears to have signed his name. This was to a paper approving of the election of the "Eight Men" in 1643. To this document he seems to have been able to sign his name, (which little more than half of the thirty-nine signers could do) but he wrote only Cornelis Volkertszen-Cornelis, son of Volkert. This was sufficient in the small settlement of about a hundred families to distinguish him. As: s;gning the name seems to have been a mark of education in which many settlers appear lacking, it is well to note that the sons of Cornelis Volkertszen could all write. The Dutch Domines in their records twisted this name al most beyond recognition as they did many others, so that on the register of the Dutch church in New York alone the names of those who by their Christian names are surely of this family are spelt in 13 different ways. In Ulster Co. the spelling of the name was for long almost invariably-Vielen or Fielen-while in Dutchess Co. the name became later Velie and Veley. In ,Albany County and vicinity where the family was most numerous and prominent the name was usually Viele and this last has become the accepted form of the name. Before giving the further facts regarding Cornelis Volkerts zen in New Amsterdam, 1639, it may be well to relate what is known of the Cornelis Volkertszen of Hoorn part owner of the Fortrty1t, the ship which sailed from Hoorn in 1613 1 under the command of Capt. Cornelis Mey on a voyage of discovery across the Atlantic ~o the shores of New Netherland. The 8 THE FAMILY OF VIELE compiler believes there is at least a strong probability that in both cases this is the same Cornelis Volkertszen, who, first a sailmaker, then a merchant (trader) of Hoorn, became later (when the West India Co. had monopolized the trade) a trader and tavernkeeper in New Amsterdam. It would only have re quired him to have been a young man in the early twenties in 1613 and a man of fifty odd in 1639. On this supposition the facts connected with Cornelis Volkertszen of Hoorn are here presented as they have been gathered from Colonial records. They may be of use at some future time to verify or refute the theory here advanced. It is well known that the States General of the Netherlands elated by the discovery of the Hudson river in 16og by Henry Hudson and his Dutch crew, promised special privileges to enterprising Dutchmen who would undertake similar voyages; that in 1613 certain merchants of Amsterdam sent over two ships to America and that the three owners of the sloop Forhtytl, men of Hoorn, sent out tlteir ship under the command of Capt. Cornelis Mey. On this voyage Mey sailed along the coast of Long Island and was one of the first to visit the neighborhood of Montauk Point (Brodhead's His. of N. Y.,p. 97.) In the following year ( 1614) Cornelis Volkertszen and the two other owners of the Fortttyn joined with· certain merchants of Amsterdam in claiming the promised special privileges to those who would venture forth and make discoveries that would rebound to the glory of the Netherlands. The States General granted them a charter which was to cover four voyages, to be made within three years. In this charter which bears date October 11, 1614, the land between Virginia and Canada is first called "New Netherland." (Brodhead's HiJ. of N. Y. State, p. 62.) So advantageous did this special charter prove that in 1620 when it became void its beneficiaries sought to have it renewed but the West India Co. was forming and received a monopoly of the trade of the Netherlands. In 1624 Cornelis Volkertszen is one of those who petition the States General for permission to send out a ship from Hoorn to the Virginias "for the space of a year." This is all of the records.