Chapter 1 Teunis Cornelisz Van Vechten Swart
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CHAPTER 1 Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten ‘jonge poentie’ Swart (est.1622-c.1680) Teunis, while still in his teens, emigrated to the Manor of Rensselearswyck in the Dutch colony, New Netherland, where he spent his first eight years as a farmhand, then leased his own farm on the manor and married. He then settled across the river in Beverwyck (Albany) where he was a small-time fur trader. Later in life he moved to and help found Schenectady on the Mohawk River where he farmed. He was living in Schenectady when the English took the colony from the Dutch. His nickname ‘jonge poentie’ is found linked with his name in the records of all three communities, providing proof that it is indeed the same person, and his will gives his name as Swart and confirms that he did indeed marry Lysbeth van der Lindt. His widow remarried and moved back to Albany, then married a third time. Teunis (Anthony) was born in the Netherlands in the early 1620s. We know this, because the first known record of him, when he arrived in New Netherland in 1637, refers to him as ‘Theunis Cornelissen van der Vechten Jongen.’1 ‘Jongen’ is Dutch for lad or boy.2 We know his father’s name was Cornelius, for the Dutch used the patronymic system for last names, however he did not have a brother Frederick living in Schenectady, as some publications state. The record was referring to Teunis.3 Teunis was apparently related to, possibly a cousin of, Teunis Dircksz van Vechten who went by the alias ‘poentie.’ Our Teunis went by the alias ‘jonge poentie.’ ‘Jonge’ here probably meant young or junior. Per historian A. J. F. Van Lear, both our Teunis and Teunis Dircksz ‘probably’ came from Vechten, a small village southeast of Utrecht.4 Here the Vecht River, flows north through Utrecht to the former Zuider Zee. Dutch genealogist, Rev. Marcel Kemp, who in the 1990s studied the New Netherland farmers from the Utrecht area, suggests that Van Vechten was a family name, not a name of origin, and that these two men were possibly cousins, sons of brothers Dirck Woutersz of Woerden, wheelwright, and Cornelius Woutersz of Haarlem, who were the eldest sons of Wouter Dircksz of Leechwyde, outside Utrecht.5 If this is the case, our Teunis Cornelisz came from Haarlem, Holland. The bible record of Teunis Dircksz van Vechten records that his son Dirck Tuenise was born 1634 ‘in’t Sticht van Utrecht,’ the Bishopric of Utrecht.6 If the diocese in 1634 included its 1 A. J. F. Van Lear, Van Rensselaer Bowier manuscripts: being the letters of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer 1630-1643 and other documents relating to the Colony of Rensselaerswyck, 1908 [Van Lear, Bowier Manuscripts] {Google Books}, 815. 2 1.) Bab.la online dictionary: ‘jongen’ is lad, boy or son and ‘jonge’ is young. 2.) Dingman Versteeg, New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, Kingston Papers, Vol. 2, 756: ‘Jonge can be translated as young or junior. It can refer to the younger of two persons with the same name, whether or not they are related.’ 3 Jonathan Pearson, A History of The Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times, 1883 [Pearson, History], 149. ‘Two brothers of the name Swart were among the early settlers of Schenectady. Frederic Cornelise, who was proposed by Secretary Ludovicus Cobes in 1676 as one of the magistrates of the village, and Teunis Cornelise from whom all the families of this name in the vicinity are descended.‘ The Andros Papers 1674-1676, 1989 {Internet Archives}, 425: July 31 1676; Nomination of Magistrates for Schenectady gives ‘X Theunis Cornelissen Swart,’ not Frederick. 4 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 815: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten ‘probably came from Vechten, a small village southeast of Utrecht’; 819: Teunis Dircksz van Vechten ‘presumably from Vechten near Utrecht.’ 5 John H. van Schaick, Utrecht Farmers in the New Netherland, from M.S.F. Kemp’s ‘Krommerijners in de nieuwe wereld’, New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, [NYG&BR] (1996) Vol. 127, 92. 6 Jeanne F. J. Robison & Henrietta C. Bartlett, Genealogical Records, Manuscripts, Entries of Births, Deaths, and Marriages Taken from Family Bibles 1581-1917, 268: Dirck Tuenisen Van Vechten and wife Jannetie. Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers historic boundaries, it is possible that the Van Vechtens came from Overijssel Province (formerly the Oversticht) where another Vecht river, flowing out of Germany, enters the Swartswater near Hasselt, the birth place of Kiliaen van Rensselaer. Our Teunis chose the surname Swart. As of yet, there is no solid proof that identifies Teunis’ parents. The above is included here to assist others who are able to explore further. When our Teunis first arrived in New Netherland in 1637 as a young lad, his name was written ‘Theunis Cornelissen van der Vechten Jongen,’ as mentioned above. Not until 1647, when he was an adult and able to lease a farm, does his alias, variously written ‘jonge poetien,’ ‘jonge poentie’ and ‘poyntgen’ first appear.7 John H. van Schaick who translated Kemp’s work says ‘peon’ in Dutch is the diminutive for cad or bounder so may have meant scamp or scalawag. Teunis Dircksz is shown to have been a trouble maker, as seen below, but there is nothing to indicate that our Teunis Cornelisz ever was. A present-day website defines ‘poen’ as money.8 Why there was an alias is unclear. It was not needed to distinguish between the two men; their father’s names did that. The name continued to be associated with Teunis will into his 40s. If the two Teunises were cousins, our Teunis most likely heard stories about the new colony from Dircksz, who was around ten years older. Dircksz had gone to New Netherland as a teenager and worked in the Manhattans outside of New Amsterdam for Pieter Bilevelt, a farmer for the Dutch West India Company. His boss was recalled in 1632.9 Dircksz apparently returned home at that time and married, for his son Dirck, as mentioned above, was born in the Diocese of Utrecht in 1634. Soon after, our Teunis was recruited by Kiliaen van Rensselaer. Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643) was born in Hasselt, on the Swartswater River in Overijssel Province, the son of Capt. Hendrick van Rensselaer and Maria Pafraet. Orphaned young, he was apprenticed to a diamond dealer in Amsterdam. He prospered and became one of the early subscribers of the Dutch West India Company, founded in 1621. When the Company, desiring to attract settlers, offered land to any member who could transport fifty adults within four years, Kiliaen was interested. He sent a representative to the colony to purchased from the Indians a large tract of land, about 700,000 acres, on both sides of the North (Hudson) River surrounding the Company fort, Fort Orange (present-day Albany). He then sent several settlers with farm equipment and cattle. Conflict with the Company soon developed but he continued to send settlers, a few at a time, and to set up a government, stocking the farms at his own expense. By 1636 three farms had been established. The center of his large manor was a little farming community, Greenbos, meaning pine woods, (now the town of Rensselaer) on the east side of the river across from and a little south of the fort. The manor was named Rensselaerswyck (Rensselaer’s District) and as owner of the manor Kiliaen had the title ‘patroon.’ He died, however, in 1643 without ever seeing the manor he spent so much time planning.10 7 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 815: ‘Between 1647 and 1656 he is referred to as Thunis Cornelissen alias jonge Poetien, toenis Cornelisz poyntgen and tunis Cornelisen Jonge poentie.’ 8 Van Schaick, 92. On line translator: en.bab.la. 9 Janny Venema, Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643), Designing a New World, 2010 [Venema, Rensselaer], 252. Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 819. 10 Venema, Rensselaer, Chapter 8. 2 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart In the fall of 1636, young Teunis was in Amsterdam ready to leave. He may even have met with Van Rensselaer at his home on the east side of the Keizersgracht between Hartenstraat and Wolvenstraat. On October 6, 1636 Kiliaen wrote to Gerard de Forest that “Yesterday forenoon our people left here for the ship, taking with them all necessary papers....”11 The ship, De Rensselaerswyck, set sail from Texel, an island off the north shore of North Holland, the main starting off point, two days later, on October 8, 1636. With Teunis were 37 other passengers, including six women, three of whom gave birth during the voyage. The men included carpenters, a millwright, and a smith, but were mainly farm hands from all parts of the Netherlands and some from Scandinavia. It was a rough winter crossing. They did not arrived in New Amsterdam until March 4, 1637. They waited there three weeks for the ice to melt on the river. New Amsterdam was just a tiny village then, having been established just twelve years earlier. On Thursday, March 26, 1637 De Rensselaerswyck headed up stream arriving at Fort Orange on April 7th.12 Kiliaen van Rensselaer now had the fifty adults needed to secure his manor and there was a sawmill up and running. By 1640 there were eight farms, a gristmill, and young Arent van Curler had arrived and was serving as secretary and bookkeeper. By 1642 there was a brewery and an established minister. Van Rensselaer had purposely positioned his settlement on the east bank of the river away from the fort, so the farmers could focus on farming.