Sedore and Anna Boekhout
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Family of Coonradt Sedore and Anna Boekhout compiled by John A. Brebner for the Friends of Sandbanks 26th October, 2020 Generation One 1. Coonradt Sedore #152168, b. c. 1732 in Germany?,1 occupation Tailor, d. December 1792 in Tarrytown, New York, USA,1 buried in Sleepy Hollow, Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York.1 . Extracted from geni.com, unidentified user, JUN 2019 Edited by John Brebner, November 2019 About Coonradt Sedore: COONRADT SEDORE was born about 1732 in "Hooghduytsland,"' i.e., Hochdeutschland, or Germany. He died after 1800 probably in Rensselaer County, New York state. He was married on 6 July 1755 at Tarrytown, Westchester County, N.Y., to Antje Boeckhout. She was baptized there on 17 April 1733, and may have died after Coonrad, 5 15th child (of 16 children) of Jan ? Boeckhout (1682-1785) and his first wife Marytje Bancker (1691-1755). Her parents resided at Phillipsburg, as the northwestern corner of Westchester County was then called; Phillipsburg in fact extended across the line into Putnam County to the north and Dutchess County still farther to the north, counties created later. His Name, His Origins: Coonradt arrived in America from Germany about 1752. He spelled his first name as "Coonradt" to the end of his life. One of his grandsons named for him, Stephen's son, a resident of Wayne County, N.Y., signed his name the same way in 1845. Coonradt's descendants appear to have been the only Sedore family in the country over the next eighty years or so. By the second quarter of the 19th century, others by the name began arriving from Germany. For example, about 1836 a "John Sedora," born about 1808 "in Germany," came to the United States, settled in Herkimer County in central New York, and raised a large family (1850 U.S. Census). Judging from the surname, which is not of German derivation, the family may have come originally from Bohemia. The name could be a variant of the Czech surname Czidor, sometimes spelled in Germany Cedor. A Czech family named Czidor which settled in the United States in the early 20th century changed its spelling to "Sedore." Coonradt was one of many Germans who settled in the 18th century among the Hudson Valley Dutch and promptly became hollandized. In New York Province his name was usually written "Coonradt Saddor" or "Soddore.” In the Tarrytown, N.Y, church records, it appears as "Coenraat Saddoor" and once, in 1765, as "Coenraet Cedoer." He lived for many years in what was then called Greenburgh, Westchester County, N.Y. Greenburgh comprised the area now made up of the towns of Dobbs Ferry, Hastings-on-Hudson, and Tarrytown. His Occupation, Place of Residence, and Position in Society Coonradt was a tailor.6 Since he had arrived in America no later than his 22nd birthday, he no doubt had acquired his tailoring skills through the excellent apprentice system already then prevailing in Germany. Therefore, he may have brought with him a talent in demand in the new world. (It is easy to forget in the late 20th century that, until the 19th century, every single garment had to be tailored.) Soon after his marriage in 1755, Coonradt began training in Capt. Jan Boeckhout's company of militia in Westchester County. The captain was probably his father-in-law. Although 76 years old, his father-in-law was still serving as a militia captain as late as 1758. The captain could also have been Coonradt's brother-in-law, Jan Boeckhout, who was 39 years old in 1758. On 15 April 1758 Coonradt enlisted for the French and Indian War in Capt. Jonathan Fowler's Company of the New York Militia. He is described as 5'8", with grey eyes and a round face. The 17-year old Jan Boeckhout, son of Coonradt's 1 brother-in-law Mathias Boeckhout, enlisted on 19 April in the same company and is described as 5'7", grey eyes, round face, and ruddy freckled complexion. Whether Coonradt saw action against the French has not been determined. During the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783, four of Coonradt's six sons reached age 21. Their service records show they resided in an area that in 1788 became Yorktown, Putnam County, to the north and Stephentown (later Somers), Dutchess County, N.Y, still farther to the north, and therefore must have been tenants of the huge manor owned by the Philipse family. The tenants were staunch patriots during the Revolution, whereas the Philipse' were loyalists. As a result, the lands of the manor were appropriated and divided among the tenants. Later in the war his sons Isaac and Frederick are listed with the Fredericksburg Precinct of the Dutchess County Militia under Col. Henry Luddington, which places them in the new town of Somers. Whether Coonradt also was a tenant of the Philipse manor is not known. One sign he may not have been is the fact that the family into which he had married, the Boeckhouts, were on the other side of the social divide. His wife Antje's father, Jan Boeckhout, the owner of many slaves, held a large farm outright (not as a copyhold) that included what is now the town of Irvington- on-Hudson, N.Y. Her great-uncle, Mathys Boeckhout, after his career as a coastal ship captain, was Collector and Constable for Major Philipse' Upper Mills as of 1691. His Revolutionary Service: Coonradt enlisted in the spring of 1775 with his eldest sons Isaac and Stephen in the 1st Regiment, Westchester County Militia, Col. Joseph Drake commanding, and was assigned to Capt. Israel Honeywell's Company. We do not know how long his service lasted and whether he saw action. In July 1776 he and Antje witnessed the baptism of their grandson Coonradt, Isaac's son, at Tarrytown. By 1790 Coonradt and Antje had moved to Pittstown, Rensselaer County (then still Albany County), N.Y. (see "Sidon, Coonradt" in the census). Besides themselves, they had in their household two males 16 years or over, one male under 16, and a female. These probably were their married son Frederick with wife and son and their unmarried son Jacob. Their son Isaac and family in 1790 were living to the west, at Canajoharie, Montgomery County, N.Y.; their newly married son Stephen was living with his father-in-law, David Storms of Easton, Washington County, N.Y, nearby to the east; their son John had died in the Revolution in 1779; and their son Abraham appears to have died young. On 26 December 1792 Coonradt testified in support of his son Stephen's petition for bounty land for his Revolutionary War service. Others supporting the petition were Coonradt's son Jacob and Isaac Van Waert, Albert Awser (or Auser), and David See. The three came from well-known Westchester County families, which suggests that a colony of Westchester inhabitants may have migrated north to Rensselaer County after the Revolution at the same time as Coonradt and his sons. Coonradt and Antje were still in Rensselaer County in 1800 and had moved to the nearby town of Schaghticoke ("Sedere, Coenradt" in the census, page 774). The household comprised a male and a female born 1755 or earlier-Coonradt and Antje; two males born 1755-1774; one male born 1774-1784; one male born since 1790; and a female born 1755-1774. These appear again to have been their son Frederick and family and their unmarried son Jacob. In 1804 a Conrad or Coonradt Sedore witnessed the will of Joseph Hart at Greenburgh, Westchester County, N.Y. Our Coonradt, now at about 72, could have returned to Greenburgh on a visit or may even have moved back there. More likely, the witness was his grandson Coonradt or Conrad born in 1776, son of Isaac. (We learn from Isaac's 1845 statement in his Revolutionary War pension file that he had at least one child residing in Tarrytown in the 1830s.) Coonradt was probably deceased by 1810, when he does not appear in the census. His sons Isaac, Stephen (as part of Jacob's household), Frederick, and Jacob were living, respectively, at Rome, Oneida County, N.Y, Schaghticoke, Rensselaer County, N.Y, Fishkill, Dutchess County, N.Y, and Schaghticoke. None had a man or woman in his household old enough to have been Coonradt or Antje. Background of His Wife Antje: The last certain mention of Antje is in her father's will, written in January 1774. From the 1790 and 1800 Censuses, however, we can be reasonably certain she was still living then. Her father, who owned a large farm and many 2 slaves, continued to serve as a militia captain in Westchester County until 1758, although he by then was 76 years old. When he died in 1785, he was 103 years old and had 240 living descendants. His gravestone in the Sleepy Hollow Graveyard was still standing as of 1909 and has been called one of the curious sights of the place. At his death in 1785, his funeral is said to have been conducted "with all the éclat of the good old Dutch custom", for we find among the expenses of the administrator at the funeral the following items: invitations to the funeral - £0.8s, rum - £0.15s, sugar, pipes, etc. - £0.12s.3d, and wine - £l.ls."79 Antje's paternal grandmother, Lysbeth Pater, daughter of Jan Pater, was born about 1652 in Brazil, then a Dutch colony. Before marrying Peter Boeckhout she was the wife of Peter Roelofs of New Amsterdam and bore him five children.