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. He strictly forbade them to trade with the Indians.13

The farm on which Teunis worked, ‘de Hoogeberch,’ was located near Mill Creek,14 which enters the Hudson a little south of the present bridge. He worked there as a farmhand for about eight years, growing and harvesting both summer and winter grain, caring for the cows and fattening the hogs. Finally in 1646 an opportunity arose. That year his boss, farmer Michiel Jansz, moved to New Amsterdam, and Anthony de Hooges, then acting manager of Rensselearswyck, leased the farm to Teunis for a year, and then for another year.15

The manor, meanwhile, was in process of changing. When the original patroon, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, died in 1643, Jan van Wely and Wouter van Twiller, guardians of his underage sons, took control. They had a different vision for Rensselaerswyck. In 1648 they sent over Brant Aertsz van Slichtenhorst with map and plans to relocate the community to the west side of the river. The site was just north of the fort at the strategic intersection of two Indian trails - the Mohawk Trail coming from the northwest, used by the Indians to avoid the falls at the lower end of the Mohawk River, and the River Trail coming from the north along the North (Hudson) River. He started immediately. Settlers began moving over and he relocated the church, which had been the minister’s house in Greenbos, to the Patroon’s storehouse near the fort. The manor was doing well. By 1651 there were 18 farms stocked with 128 horses and 151 heads of cattle, two tobacco farms and over 200 inhabitants.16

11 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 336. 12 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 355-376. Gives the ship’s log describing the long rough passage. Interesting reading. 13 Venema, Rensselaer, Chapter 8. 14 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 769, footnote 28. 15 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 815. 16 Janny Venema, Beverwijck, A Dutch Village on the American Frontier 1652-1665, 2003 [Venema, Beverwijck], 47-49 Venema, Rensselaer, 257. Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 828: Johannes Megapolensis, church services in his house.

3 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers

Back on October 15, 1648, the newly-arrived director, Brant Aertsz van Slichtenhorst, gave Teunis, now in his mid-20s, a six-year lease to a small farm on the ‘south end of Greenbos.’ It was 6 morgens (roughly 12 acres) ‘of old land forming part of the farm of Teunis Dircksz van Vechten’.17 This may have been in anticipation of his marriage.

Teunis gets married.

Around 1649, Teunis married Lysbeth van der Lindt,18 the teenage step-daughter of Jan Verbeeck of Greenbos. Their wedding bands would have been posted three times prior and the ceremony held either in the Patroon’s storehouse, just north of the fort, or in the Verbeeck’s house. Since their minister left that summer, the ceremony may have been preformed by a magistrate.19 The two had known each other for about seven years.

Lysbeth was eleven when she sailed with her mother, step-father and a maid servant in 1641. They had been given special treatment on board; the directors of the Amsterdam Chamber had instructed the skipper to permit them, as well as fellow passengers Anthony de Hooges and widow Geertje Nannicks and her children, to sleep and eat in the ship’s cabin.20 They sailed on July 23, arrived in New Amsterdam on November 29, and probably over-wintered there waiting for the ice to melt on the river. It was a quicker more comfortable crossing than Teunis had experience. Lysbeth’s father Esaias van der Lindt had died in Amsterdam when she was young and her mother Maeke/Mayken (pet name for Maria) Dames (Adams) Vissenburg had married second Jan Verbeeck, a tailor, originally from Breda, about 50 miles south of Amsterdam, who was some 14 years younger than her mother. He and Jan Michielsz had recently been given ‘the exclusive right to exercise their trade as tailors.’21

Teunis and Lysbeth began their life together at the south end of Greenbos next to or on a portion of Teunis Dircksz van Vechten’s farm. They did not live there long. On January 26, 1650 he was allowed to leave and was promised a house in some other area. Teunis was still having problems three days later, for on January 29 he reported that the house was “not habitable on account of the smoke which made it necessary for him to lead his wife outdoors,” so on March 17, 1650 Director van Slichtenhorst sold him for ƒ125 a small house south of the Fifth Creek (Patroon Creek) on the west side of the river north of the fort.22 It was a good move. A report on the manor a year later, in 1651, reveals that his former farm, which had been leased to Cornelius van Nes, was ‘poor’ with only 3 horses and no cows. In contrast, the 30-morgen farm of Teunis Dircksz was ‘one of the best’ with 11 horses and 14 cows.23 Dircksz had been part of Teunis’ problem. Among other things, he had called our Teunis a thief and a rascal and struck him on the head for having leased his six morgans, had called Director van Slichtenhorst an old gray thief and a rascal, had called Dominee Megapolensis (the minister) an

17 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 815. 18 Gustave Anjou, Ulster County, N.Y. Probate Records, in the Office of the Surrogate, and in the County Clerk's Office at Kingston NY, 1906, Vol.1, 74: Joint will: July 21 1677 ‘Theunis Cornelisse (his mark) and Leysebeth van der Lenden.’ The name Swart is in the text. Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 815: ‘his wife’ is mentioned in January 29, 1650. 19 Pearson, History, 365: ‘Under the Dutch government of New Netherlands, marriage was considered a civil contract, and might be confirmed (bevestight) either by a magistrate or by a minister of the Gospel. Preliminary to such confirmation however, due notification of intention of marriage was required. The banns were published three Sundays or market days, by the minister of the church where the parties resided or by a magistrate in court, after which the marriage could be confirmed by any minister or magistrate on presentation of a certificate (attestatie) of such publication. No particular place was required for the marriage ceremony; — sometimes it was performed in church, at other times in private houses.’ Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, p.828: Johannes Megapolensis (dominee). 20 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 555,556: Instruction to the skipper. 21 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 826. Jan Verbeeck. For Esaias van der Lindt see Chapter 6. 22 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 815: ‘a small house south of the fifth creek, formerly occupied by Barent Pietersz and Jan Gerritsz, deceased.’ 23 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 739: farm inventory, 824-5: Cornelis Hendricksz van Nes.

4 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart informer, threatening to stab him, had fought two men, had let two horses stand in front of Jan Verbeeck’s house in severely cold weather without cover or food, and had ordered a man to ﬁre off his musket causing soldiers from the fort to have to cross the river. For this he was prosecuted in 1651.24

Teunis and Lysbeth settle north of the fort.

The couple settled south of Fifth (Patroon) Creek in a small house formerly occupied by two men in charge of two of the Patroon’s mills, a saw and possibly a grist mill.25 Teunis may have helped with the mills.

Problems between the Manor and the Company were festering. Peter Stuyvesant, director-general of New Netherland, became upset with the patroon’s settlers relocating so close to his fort; he claimed that the land within 3,000 feet of the fort was his domain. Van Slichtenhorst paid no attention and continued the relocation. In 1651 the directors of the West India Company in Amsterdam finally stepped in and officially supported Stuyvesant’s claim. When Van Slichtenhorst refused to accept it, Stuyvesant put him into prison, then declared the area north of the fort to be a village, which he named Beverwyck (Beaver District), and gave it its own court. Stuyvesant, basically, just continued what Van Slichtenhorst had started.26 Since Teunis was already living in the area, he was allotted one of first house lots.27

The village of Beverwyck established.

The two Indian trails became the main streets of the new village. The Mohawk trail (present-day State Street) became Jonckerstraet (gentlemens street)28 and the river trail (present-day Broadway) became Handelaersstraet (merchants street) or simply ‘the street.’29 By the end of 1653 over 74 lots had been allotted. There were inns/taverns, bakers, brewers, blacksmiths, carpenters, masons, gunstockmakers, coopers, and wheelwrights. The court met in the fort, church services were in the Patroon’s house next to the fort, and there was a guard house at the north end of Jonckerstraet where the Mohawk trail entered the village.30

Teunis’ house lot was on the east, or river side, of Handelaersstraet just north of a creek (roughly the northeast corner of present Broadway and Maiden Lane.) 31 His home was probably the typical one-room building with the kitchen and built-in corner bedstead at the far end. There would also

24 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 819. 25 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 815: To Teunis a small house formerly Pietersz & Gerritsz, dec.; 832: Jan Gerritsz, ‘Oct. 11, 1646 Jan Gerritsz Timmerman and Baerent Pietersz entered into a new agreement with de Hooge whereby the ﬁrst two men jointly took charge of the saw mill, and Jan Gerritsz alone of ‘both the mills’ [sawmill and grist-mill?]....‘ 26 Venema, Beverwijck, 50-57. 27 Venema, Beverwijck, 433. 28 Wikipedia: Jonkheer: A person untitled but high ranking. (Similar to gentleman.) 29 Venema, Beverwijck, 61: ‘Broadway often was referred to as ‘the street,’ and later sometimes as Handelawersstraet, Coestraet, or Brouwersstraet (Merchants Street, Cow Street or Brewers Street). 30 Venema, Beverwijck, 53, 54 (map of house lots), 80-81. 31 Venema, Beverwijck, 461: ‘Teunis Cornelisz alias Jonge Poentie’.

5 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers have been an attic and cellar and possibly an attached barn at the rear.32 His house was on the south end of his lot, for he sold the northern portion to Willem Fredericksz Bout, a carpenter. Bout built a horse mill and mill house on his portion.33 To the north of Bout lived Jacque Tysz van der Heyden, a master tailor. North of him was Frans Barentsz Pastoor, a brewer, and at the end of the street, where the river trail entered the town, was the home of Jan Verbeeck.34 In 1657 a ‘Teunis Cornelissen’ asked permission to build another house on his lot.35 The lack of a third name implies this was our Teunis Cornelisz, because, for the other two men, Teunis Cornelisz Slingerlant and Teunis Cornelissen Spitsbergen/van der Poel, the third name was usually added.36 This second home was probably larger than the ﬁrst, with the gabled end facing the street.37

Lysbeth’s mother Maeke and step-father Jan Verbeeck lived just up the street at what is now the southeast corner of Broadway and Steuben.38 Verbeeck was active in the community. He had been a member of the Rensselearswyck court and in Beverwyck served as a magistrate, church elder, member of the consistory, orphan master and treasurer to receive excise money, his name appearing frequently in the records.39 He did well. His home, in 1657, was two planks in length, a plank being about 16 Rhineland feet. Attached was a sixteen feet square kitchen with a chimney and oven and on the lot were two gardens, a well and a hogsty.40

Teunis’ family grew quickly. First to come was little Marytje, then Cornelius, Esaias, Neeltje (Cornelia), Pieternella, and Jacomyntje (Jemima) (not necessarily in that order).41 42 43 44 (The others would have been born after the move.) With each birth, on one of the ﬁrst Sundays, Teunis and Lysbeth would have the baby baptized by the minister, Dominee Gideon Schaets, and afterwards host a baptismal meal and party in their home.45 The children’s schooling began early. From age three to six they learned their letters, the prayers, then they started spelling. Then came the reading of religious texts, such as ‘Our Father.’ They then moved on to more spelling,

32 Jonathan Pearson, Early Records of the City and County of Albany and Colony of Rensselaerswyck,’ Vol. 2 (1678-1704) 1869, revised by A. J.F. van Lear 1916, [Pearson, Early Records, Vol.2]{Internet Archive} 12: ‘many of the houses in the village were still of the Dutch farmhouse type, meaning that the fore part of the house was occupied as a dwelling while the rear part served as a barn...although not on Jonkers.‘ 33 Jonathan Pearson, Early Records of the City and County of Albany and Colony of Rensselaerswyck, Vol. 1 (1656-1675) 1869. [Pearson, Early Records, Vol.1] {Internet Archive}, 404 [Slingerlant] inserted in error], 405. Jonathan Pearson, Early Records of the City and County of Albany and Colony of Rensselaerswyck, Vol. 3 (Notarial Papers 1660-1696) [Pearson, Notarial Papers] {Internet Archive}, 198 (sells mill in 1662). 34 Venema, Beverwijck, 461-462. 35 A. J. F, Van Lear, Minutes of the court of Fort Orange and Beverwyck 1657-1660, 1923, Volume 2 [Van Lear, Minutes, Vol. 2] {Internet Archive}, 11: ‘Teunis Cornelissen’. 36 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 846: Spitsbergen arrived in 1654, was a member of the Rensselaerswyck court. Venema, Beverwijck, 351: Slingerlant is still in Albany in 1682. 37 Venema, 64-72: ‘Houses’. (An interesting discussion of houses and their layouts.) 38 Venema, Beverwijck, 462. 39 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 826: Jan Verbeeck. Van Lear, Minutes Vol. 2, 61-242: Ren’wyck court April 10, 1653 for two years. Pearson, Early Records, Vol.1, numerous pages. Venema, Beverwijck, 126, 146, 246, etc. 40 Venema, Beverwijck, 66, 72. 41 Anjou, Vol.1, 74. Footnote: ‘TCS and Elizabeth Lendt (van de Linden) had issue: i Cornelis b.1652; ii Esais b.1653; iii Teunis; iv. Frederic; v. Adam; vi Marytje (m. Claas Laurense Van de Volgen); vii. Jacomyntje (m.2 Pieter Viele, m2 Bennoy Arentse Van Hoek and 3. Cornelius Vynhout).’ 42 Pearson, History, 151: ‘Teunis Cornelise Swart had three sons who lived to maturity and had families, Cornelis the eldest who removed to Ulster county, Adam who settled in Kinderhood, and Esaias or Jesaias who remained in Schenectady’. 43 Neeltie, Pieternella and Jannetje are not named in either of the above. They are shown to be Swarts by either their marriage record or the baptism record of their children. That the eldest son was born in 1652 implies that one of the daughters was the ﬁrst born. She was most likely Marytje named after her grandmother. Neeltje was not yet 60 in 1714 so born c.1655 or later; Jacomyntje was age 53 in 1713 so born 1660; Jannetje was the youngest; Pieternella married c.1680, so a younger daughter. 44 The affectionate ‘tje’ was often added to the end of the name (Marytje) and nicknames used the end of the name (Neeltje was the affection form of Cornelia). 45 Venema, Beverwijck, 137.

6 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart reading, grammar and difﬁcult words. Reading was important. They needed to be able to read and understand the bible. Writing came later and was not for everybody. Per historian Janny Venema, ‘writing required skillful and controlled handling of the quill, which demanded intensive guidance by the teacher.’ Consequently, many people could read but were not able to write.46

Teunis and Lysbeth attended church regularly, for it was expected. In 1657 the church had 160 members, but 300 to 400 people attended the services. One did not have to be a church member to received the services of the church. The Dutch were Calvinist. To them the church directed the spiritual life of a community and the state (here the West Indian Company) saw that the people obeyed, the two worked together. The church was a public institution there to serve the whole community and was obligated to baptize every child, marry any couple who were baptized, and bury the dead, irrespective of religion. The minister’s salary was paid by the Company and usually only church members occupied the government jobs.47

Teunis appears to have been a solid, capable man who paid his bills and didn’t get into trouble, for his name rarely appeared in the records. As a young man, he devised a distinctive four-arrow mark for his signature.48 He was only a minor player in the fur trade, as seen by a petition he signed with his mark on May 27, 1660, mentioned below, so he must have had some other sort of income. He may have been in the carting business. In 1655 ‘Teunis Corn. van Vechten,’ approached the court that he might ‘be authorized and have the privilege to drive the cart, to the exclusion of others.’ Carts were the principal means of transporting commodities into and around towns and was generally performed by the lower classes. The court decided ‘to defer the matter until the home coming of the honorable general and, in case the going around with the cart be granted to any one in particular, to procure that he shall be the ﬁrst in line for the position.’ Nothing further about his request appears in the Beverwyck records, nor anything else about carts.49 50 It was not uncommon for villagers to have several occupations,51 so having lived near mills he may have been somehow connected with that business.

Beverwyck’s very existence dependent on the fur trade with the natives. The Indians would trap the beavers and other animals during the winter and bring the furs into the fort during the summer months to trade for European goods brought over in ships from Holland. These Indians, the Mohawks (Iroquoian), were free to move about and even lodge in the homes of the villagers. Now second generation, they had became dependent on the Dutch goods just as the Dutch depended on the furs. Summers were active, busy times in the village and relations with the Indians were relatively good. But soon precautions needed to be taken.

In 1655, three years after the village was established, the Delaware Indians (Algonquin) attacked the lower Hudson area around New Amsterdam in what is referred to as the Peach War. Beverwyck was not attacked, but it served as a wake up call, and the community decided to build a blockhouse at the intersection where people could assembly in case of an emergency. It was a heavy wooden structure with a canon mounted behind loopholes in the overhanging balconies. It also became their church. The women sat on the ground ﬂoor and the men in the balcony. On top was a large weather vane in the form of a rooster and the windows were stained glass with the coat of arms of the current patroon, Jan Baptist van Rensselaer, and several magistrates.52

46 Venema, Beverwijck, 148-154: ‘Education’. 47 Venema, Beverwijck, 131-139: ‘Church and State’. 48 Pearson, ‘Early Records, Vol.1, 79. This is the only book that copies the actual marks. 49 Van Lear, Minutes, Vol. 1, 233: ‘There was read a petition of Teunis Corn[elisz] van Vechten.‘ 50 Edwin G. Burrows, Mike Wallace, Gotham: a history of New York City to 1898, 1999, 85, 93,140, etc. (cartmen). 51 Venema, Beverwijck, 315: ‘a person would be involved in several trades at one time.’ 52 Venema, Beverwijck, 81-85.

7 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers

One of the survivors of the Peach War who chose to relocate in Beverwyck was Albert Gysbertsz van Heerde, a wheelwright with a wife, four children and a man-servant, ﬂeeing from Staten Island. He settled across the street from Jan Verbeeck, at the southwest corner of present Broadway and Steuben Street, just up the street from Teunis and Lysbeth.53 It is believed that young Arendt Jansz Prall, whose family also survived the massacre but settled in the Manhattans, may have begun his apprenticeship with Gysbertsz here in Beverwyck. [Years later Teunis’ great-granddaughter Mary Whittaker would marry Prall’s grandson, Aaron Prall.]

The Indian trade, which supported the community, reached a high point in 1656 and 1657 then it suddenly declined. Over hunting and trapping as well as intertribal warfare amongst the Iroquois nations interrupted the trade.54 In 1657 when times were good, Teunis built his new house mentioned above. But by 1658 the hard times had set in and on May 21, 1658, ‘Teunis Cornelissen, alias young Poentie,’ was taken to court by Hendrick Jansz Reur. The reason for the suit, unfortunately, is not given. Teunis defaulted. He defaulted again two weeks later.55 The court was still meeting in the Company’s trading house in the fort.56

Also during the good times, Jan Verbeeck sold his house and moved down the street to the center of town. He put his house up for sale at public action on January 10, 1657, and it went to Claas Hendricksz, the highest bidder, for ƒ1812 (ƒ = Dutch guilder). Payments were to be made ‘half in good whole merchantable beavers and the other half in good strung sewatt, at ten guilders the beaver.’ Unless Verbeeck had another lot of the same value, Claas Hendricksz, a carpenter, was just a middleman, for on July 18, 1657, Jan Baptist van Rensselaer paid the same amount, ƒ1812, to Jan for his ‘lot lying in the village of Beverwyck,’ he had already paid ƒ1208 up front.57 Also on January 10, 1657, Jan sold at auction a lot located up present-day Steuben Street at the hill to highest bidder Hendrick Andriessen for ƒ1010. 58 59

The Verbeeck’s new home was on Handelaersstraet just north of the junction. Jan and Claes Jansz, also from Breda, purchased adjoining houses on the east, or river, side of the street, the Jan Tomassen patent, from Claes Hendricksz, who had recently acquired the land from Tomassen. Both Jan and Claes had problems paying, most likely due to the sudden drop in fur trade and on September 10, 1658 the case ‘Claes Hendricksz plaintiff vs Jan Verbeeck defendant’ was heard. ‘The Plaintiff demanded payment of ƒ1500 in beavers for the plaintiff’s house sold at auction. Defendant admits the debt and says that he has not refused to pay but that he has no beavers at present. He promises to pay in six weeks. Court orders defendant to pay as promised.’ It wasn’t until in 1661, after Hendricksz’s death, that Jan received title to the land.60 This would be his home for the next 40 or more years. The last known record of Maeke, however, is in 1648. That year on June 8, 1648 she was in New Amsterdam for a baptism. The mother, Geertje Nannick, had come over in the same ship with her as a young widow and had married several more times. Geertje soon after moved to Rensselearswyck and married Willem Fredericksz Bout,61 who purchased the northern portion of Teunis’ lot, as mentioned above.

In 1659 the Delaware Indians again attacked, this time at the Esopus (Kingston), about 50 miles down river, where families from the Beverwyck area had recently established farms to grow much needed grain. Several of the farmers were killed, so director Stuyvesant had the others move their homes up a nearby plateau and

53 Venema, Beverwijck, 468, 469. 54 Venema, Beverwijck, 203. 55 Van Lear, Minutes, Vol.2, 114, 116. 56 Venema, Beverwijck, 98. 57 Venema, Beverwijck, 462. Pearson, Early Records Vol. 1, 12: Claae Hendrickse; 38: purchased by Rensselear. 58 Venema, Beverwijck, 475. Pearson, Early Records Vol. 1, 13. 59 Venema, Beverwijck, 450: Claes Hendricksz van Schoonhoven, carpenter, died 1658. 60 Venema, Beverwijck, 460. Pearson, Early Records Vol. 1, 29-30 (Tomassen to Hendricksz); 293: ‘Willem Jansz Stol, husband and guardian of the widow of Claes Hendrickse, dec.’ to Verbeeck. Van Lear, Minutes, Vol. 2, 156,157: court case. 61 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 829: Willem Fredericksz , 838: Geertje Nannincks.

8 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart surround the settlement with a palisade, similar to the palisade surrounding the Indian villages. That prompted the magistrates of Beverwyck to build a palisade around their village as well. The stockade wall was built of posts and horizontal planks to a height of eight boards and had seven bastions. Those living along the river, such as Teunis, had to fence their river front. A one-time tax of 3 guilders for each chimney was ordered paid.62 The wall was roughly along present Steuben, Pearl, and Beaver streets and the river.63

With the stockade came new restrictions. The court began prohibiting the use of brokers or runners, placing strict fines on those who did. The villagers had been use to sending runners into the woods to influence the Indians coming in to trade. In May of 1660 twenty-five men, the principal traders, petitioned the court saying ‘that the Christians are again about to run into the woods....to get the trade entirely into their hands, which can only tend to the general decline or utter ruination of Fort Orange and the village of Beverwyck.’ Teunis, signing with his mark, and forty-four other men responded asking that trade be open to Dutch as well as Indian brokers, so that ‘many a poor person could earn a beaver and the community would be better served.’64 This prohibition and other dissatisfactions led some in the village to relocate.

In 1661 a number of families moved south to the Esopus region where director Stuyvesant had enlarged the small stockade and made it an ofﬁcial village called Wildwyck (Wild District) with its own court. Teunis and others chose to move northwest to a new village called Schenectady.

The Swarts move to Schenectady.

Schenectady is a Mohawk word for ‘the place beyond the open pines,’ referring to the plateau between present Schenectady and Albany or the trail running through it. The Indians used the trail to portage their goods from the Mohawk River to the Hudson River to avoid the rapids and falls of the lower Mohawk River. The river ﬂats, where the trail cuts away from the Mohawk River, were well suited to farming.65

In 1661, under the leadership of Arent van Curler, Teunis and over a dozen other men, many originally from Rensselaerswyck, established the new community. On July 27, 1661 three Mohawk sachems came in to Fort Orange and, signing with their unique animal shaped marks, transfered the land at the ‘Great Flats’ over to Van Curler.66 Teunis probably moved up that summer, but settlement was slow. On April 6, 1662, Van Curler wrote the director that he and his associates had taken possession of the ﬂats and were now engaged in construction of houses, mills and other buildings, but the lands needed to be surveyed before planting could begin. Stuyvesant stalled wanting the settlers to promise not to trade with the Indians. All trading had to be done in Beverwyck. In 1663, to satisfy the director, fourteen men signed a petition promising they would not trade with ‘the savages.’ Five, including Teunis, signed with their mark.67 Finally in the summer of 1664 the surveying of the farms was completed.68

62 Venema, Beverwijck, 93. 63 Venema, Beverwijck, 28: Gives a picture of earliest known plan of Albany. 64 Van Lear, Minutes Vol. 2, 255: principle traders; 267: May 27 1660 ‘the mark of Theunes Cornelissen’. The earlier petition of the principle traders (p.255) lists ‘Theubis Cornelissen’ with no mention of a mark, so this was one of the other Teunis Cornelisz. 65 The Old Mohawk-Turnpike Book, Charles B. Knox Gelatine Co. Inc. Edition of. Put on the internet by Fulton and Herkimer/Montgomery county volunteers. http://fulton.nygenweb.net/history/turnpike/Schenec2.html Schenectady. This website covers Schenectady history in an interesting and easy to read format. 66 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 1, 373: the deed. 67 Pearson, History, 15: ‘The mark X of Turnis Cornelisse [Swart].’ Pearson added the name Swart for identiﬁcation. He did the same for nine others, implying Teunis did not go by the name Swart at that time. 68 Burke, 19. The Old Mohawk-Turnpike Book: Schenectady. Schenectady Digital History Archives http:// www.schenectadyhistory.org/ This website provides access to information on the early settlers, Pearson’s books, etc.

9 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers

Just as the settlement was getting started, the English, in the fall of 1664, took New Netherland from the Dutch. The English continued the ‘no trading with the Indians’ order and Schenectady continued to be a satellite of Albany, the name the English gave to Beverwyck. New Amsterdam became New York City, Wildwyck became Kingston, but little Schenectady was able to keep it’s Indian name.

Teunis was now around 40. He knew Van Curler, the leader, well. They emigrated to the new world around the same time, both in their teens. Curler was a kin of the Van Rensselaers and, although young, took over the management of the manor. He was highly respected by the natives and went on several excursion into Mohawk country and had an Indian child.69

They built their village on the south bank of the river. It consisted of four square blocks. Each block had four lots, allowing each associate a corner lot. They surrounded the village with a palisade made from the nearby pine trees. The trunks had been spiked and two sides hewed ﬂat so they ﬁt together tightly after being place in a trench. In the center were two cross streets, today’s Church & Union. The space just inside the wall, the rondweg, was left clear for patrolling. A gate on the north wall lead to the river and a gate on the south wall lead to the mill and farms.70 The streets had no names. Later, the rondweg became Albany (now State), Handalaars (now Washington), Ferry, and Front. Front did not bend north as it does today. This sketch71 is supposed to represents the stockade in 1690. The blockhouse was originally thought to be on the northwest corner facing approaching Indians.72 In the 1670s the Albany magistrates advised the villagers to build a blockhouse, surrounded by a palisade, on the higher ground in the northeastern corner of the stockade (at present Ferry, Front and Green Streets) and in 1687 the governors proposed a fort be constructed there. The sketch does not show that fort.73

Teunis’ house was at the South Gate. His lot was the southwest corner of the southeast block and ran 200 feet along present Church Street and 170 feet along present State Street.74

Along with a house lot, each original settler received farm land on the river ﬂats to the west, pasture land along the river to the east and northeast, and a garden lot just outside the South Gate near Mill Creek (now covered over) and the Binne Kill (an ancient river course, then a creek, now covered over). This map shows the farms on the Great Flats.75 Teunis’ 48-

69 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 817:Arent van Curler, Sailed Dec. 1637 age 18. The Old Mohawk-Turnpike Book, Arent Van Curler, Founder of Schenectady. Venema, Beverwijck. 169. 70 Pearson, History, 58-59. The Old Mohawk-Turnpike Book: Schenectady. 71 Stockade Association: Stockade History website: sketch. http://historicstockade.com/?page_id=206 72 George S. Roberts, Old Schenectady, 1904 {Internet Archive}, 37: ‘The ﬁrst blockhouse was at the junction of Front street and Washington Avenue, that being the point which would be ﬁrst attacked by Indians.’ 73 Susan J. Staffa, Schenectady Genesis, How a Dutch Colonial Village Became an American City, ca. 1660-1800, 2004, 74, footnote 2: Discusses the location of the blockhouse; p.62: page has an excellent, very detailed map of the village. 74 Pearson, History, 150: ‘Teunis Swart occupied the lot on the east corner of State and Church streets, 170 front on the former and 200 feet on the latter street, until his death.’ 75 Stockade Association: Stockade History. http://historicstockade.com/?page_id=206.

10 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart acre farm (bouwery #10) was a long narrow lot extending southwest from the river to the sand bluff. The farm was ofﬁcially granted to him by Stuyvesant on June 16, 1664 and conﬁrmed by English Governor Richard Nicolls on January 15, 1667.76 Poenties Kill (kill is a Dutch word meaning creek) ran along his property.77 The farms were in two parts, one near town and the other further away. Teunis’ farm, in the center, was the only one connected.

Teunis’ pasture was 2-1/2 morgens (about 5 acres). It lay northeast of the village on the river where the railroad tracts now cross. It was between the tracts and present River Street, and was described as being 92 rods deep with 15 rods along the river and 17 rods on the highway.78

Teunis worked the ﬁelds during the day and returned to his home inside the stockade at night. In the spring the ground was prepared and by May the wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat and peas were planted. By September the crops were gathered. Then came fall plowing and sowing of winter wheat and the butchering of hogs. Teunis also did his civic duties by serving as a magistrate in 1672 and 1676.79 Lysbeth, meanwhile, was busy with the children and still having babies. It was here that little Teunis, Frederick, Adam and Jannetje were likely born.

Albany’s minister visited every three months or so to marry the young adults, baptize the new born and administer the sacraments, but no records have survived. He most likely held services in the blockhouse. Those wanting more frequent services, like Sander Glen, had to leave for Albany Saturday morning and would not arrive back until Monday night. Farmers, like Teunis, could not take that much time away from work. It was not until the early 1680s, after Teunis had died, that the ﬁrst settled minister arrived, and with money donated by Sander Glen a church was built at the South Gate next to the Swart’s home. It would also serve as the town hall and a watchtower.80

Meanwhile, in 1672, the village was given its own court to handle lesser cases.81 The court was probably held in the blockhouse until the church/blockhouse was built be at the South Gate. The no-trading-with-the- Indians law remained in force until well into the 1700s. Villagers were prohibited from importing goods they could ‘swap’ with the Indians for pelts. Homes would be searched for contraband.82

76 Pearson, History, 150. ‘Gov. Stuyvesant June 16 1664, a certain parcel of land at Schenectady over the third creek or kill [Poenties kill] marked with number ten.‘ Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 301: in deed Vrooman to Josias (Esaias) Swart in 1685/6. Gov. Nicolls granted Jan. 15, 1667 77 Pearson, History, 61 fn. ‘The Poenties Kil is the brook (dry a large part of the year now [1883], forming the western boundary of the Van Eps farm on the river road, about a mile west of the city....Many years since the Poenties Kill was connect with William Tellers Killetje by an artiﬁcal canal duy along the foot of the san hill beginning near Col. Campells residence, and both streams now ﬂow tothe river in one channel.’ 78 Pearson, History, 151: pasture Sept. 10, 1670 ‘now in the occupation of Teunis Cornelys jonge Pointee..’ 79 Burke, 58-59: farmer’s life; p.163: magistrates,‘Teunis G.[sic] Swart’. There is no list before 1669. 80 Roberts, 76: church build 1684, minister arrived 1682; 160: church built 1682; paster came in 1684, site at junction of State, Water and Church streets and Mill lane. Staffa, 30: places the church in front of the gate. Pearson, History 150: Feb. 7 1782/3 the Swart’s lot was described as being ‘a corner lot over against the blockhouse.‘ 81 Staffa, 25. 82 Roberts, 33-35.

11 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers

Teunis made periodic trips into Albany. On August 31, 1665, he was there to buy an old mare from the estate of Jan Reyersz. Standing as surety were Jan Verbeeck and Dirck Teunisz who were also there buying livestock. They had known Reyersz for years. He had arrived in Rensselaerswyck in 1640 and was from the Utrecht area.83 The next year, however, when neighbor Willem Fredericksz Bout needed a clear title to his portion of Teunis’ Albany town lot, Teunis had Jan Verbeeck serve as his attorney, probably to avoided a trip. Bout sold the property the same day, September 8, 1666, to Jan Clute. Bout had previously (1662) sold his horse mill to Jeremias van Rensselaer.84 A year later, on July 28, 1667 Teunis was back in Albany to sell his Albany home to Jan Evertsz.85 In 1674 he was invited to attend the internment of Jeremiah van Rensselaer, son of the original patroon. ‘Teunis Cornelis Swart’ and over a hundred other men were on the invitation list for the October event.86

Around 1670, Lysbeth, now close to 40, gave birth to their last child, Jannetje. Around the same time, the older children began to marry and start their families. The ﬁrst to marry appears to have been Neeltje, who at about age 15 married around 1670 Willem Abrahamsz Tietsoort, a young blacksmith in his early twenties, who had recently moved up from New York City. The lack of a settled minister was no problem, for the Dutch considered marriage a civil contract, which could be handled by one of the magistrates who lived in Schenectady. The couple could then live together as man and wife until a minister made his periodic rounds and a religious ceremony was performed.87 The couple settled just outside the village wall on the north side of the road leading to Albany (at present State & Erie) and started the Tietsoort/Titsworth family in America.88

The next daughters to marry were Maria and Jacomyntje. Maria married Claes Laurensz van der Volgen and began the Vandervolgen family. Their home fronted 105 feet on the road to Albany and lay just west of the Tietsoorts.89 Jacomyntje married Peter Cornelisz Viele whose home was inside the stockade. His lot was described as fronting 200 feet on the highway with Bent Bagge (Benjamin Roberts) on the west side and on the east the woodland (the hillock?). This would place it at the southwest corner of Front and Church, where his mother Maria Du Trieux had a lot. Peter farmed the eastern half of the Second Flat on the north side of the river, thus up present Route 5 about four miles. His brother was Cornelius Cornelisz Viele, a licensed tapster, who operated an inn at the south end of the village near the Swart’s home.90

Teunis dies and Lysbeth remarries and returns to Albany.

On July 21, 1677 Teunis and Lysbeth had a will drawn up. It was written in Dutch and has been transcribed as follows: "Near noon about 7 o’clock (!) before me, Lodevicus Cobes, Secretary of Schenectady and for the undersigned witnesses, appeared the worthy Theunis Cornelisse Swart and Elizabeth van der Linden

83 Pearson, Early Records, Vol.1, 79. Van Lear, Bowie, 823: Jan Reyersz from Houten, [near Utrecht]. 84 Pearson, Early Records, Vol.1, 404 ‘Mr. Jan Verbeeck, attorney for his brother-in-law Theunis Cornelisse [Slingerland] who declares...he had granted to Willem Bount....’ Pearson mistakenly inserted ‘[Slingerland]’; 405: Bout sale. Venema, Beverwijck, 461: Bout 1662 sale. 85 Venema, Beverwijck, 461: ‘Being whole patent to Teunis Cornelisz. about 7 rods broad...’ 86 List of those invited: ‘Theunis Cornelis Swart‘. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/lists/list1674jvrfun.htm: . 87 Roberts, 44. ‘When two young persons decided to marry, that decision was in the eyes of the community marriage....’ 88 See Chapter 3: Willem Abrahamsz Tietsoort. Neeltje was under age 60 in 1714. 89 Pearson, History, 173: ‘His village lot comprised the lots now [1883] occupied by Van Horne Hall and Myers’ stores, having a front on State Street of 105 feet.‘ Staffa, 69: ‘it was a large lot with a big farmhouse on it, just west of the present [2004] Wedgeway Building on the west side of Erie Blvd.’ She identiﬁes the Tietsoort lot as ‘a large lot owned by Reyer Schermerhorn but no one lived on it.’ 90 Pearson, History, 69 (2nd ﬂat). 708-9: Viele, Staffa, 30,39 (Benjamin Roberts’ Norwegian name was Bent Bagge), 40.

12 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart

his wife, -- the longest liver to have bonds, book-debts, money, gold, silver, coined and uncoined, jewels, clothing, linnen, woolen, household-good. “If the survivor should marry, one half to go to their” children, begotten by them, and if so should happen that both the testators should die without having married again, the minors shall be brought up from the proceeds of the estate. Signed: Theunis Cornelisse (his mark) and Leysebeth Van der Lenden. Witnessed by Sweer Thonissen (the mark) & Douwe Aukes.”91

Teunis apparently died in early 1680. Following the Dutch custom, his cofﬁn would have been laid out in the home and carried from there to the grave by the men. The women remained in the home where spiced wine and cakes were served. The men rejoined them after the burial.92 It is unclear if the graveyard just inside the south wall existed at that time, if so he would have been buried there. He was in his late 50s.

Teunis had been ill. From various deeds we learn that son Esaias helped care for his father and after his father’s death helped his widowed mother for a year. Lysbeth bought out her children and on January 3, 1680/81 put the Schenectady farm, No. 10, up as collateral on a loan of ƒ464 from the deacons of the Reformed Church in Albany, and on June 30, 1681, for his service to her, she gave son Esaias eight acres (the southwest portion) of the farm and a section of the house lot (the northern portion on Church). She sold the rest of the farm land to son-in-law Claes Laurensz van der Volgen for 540 beavers.93

Around 1681, Lysbeth married Jacob Meesz Vrooman and moved to Albany, undoubtedly taking the younger children with her. She was in her early 50s. Jacob, a carpenter/surveyor age about 60,94 was a bachelor, or at least had no children. He had arrived in Beverwyck around 1663 with his married brother Hendrick Meesz Vrooman, joining their brother Pieter Meesz Vrooman, a carpenter, so he arrived after the Swarts moved to Schenectady. Lysbeth most likely met him through his brother Hendrick, who lived in Schenectady outside the stockade on the road to Albany, where the present railroad station is located at what is now State and Broadway.95 96

Albany, or New Albany as they referred to it, had changed since Lysbeth had last lived there. The stockade had been enlarged and every householder had been required to build a stone sidewalk in front of their house. All new homes had to have brick fronts and pan tile roofs. The old fort had been abandoned and a new fort, Fort Albany, was built on the hill at the head of Jonckerstraet. Water from a spring was now piped to several fountains providing clear fresh water.97 Church services, however, were still being held in the blockhouse. This sketch illustrates how the village may have looked in 1686.98

91 Anjou, Vol.1, 74. 92 Roberts, 45, 47. 93 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 99, 300-301, 351-353. Pearson, History, 150, 151. 94 Anjou, Vol.1, 74. 95 Jonathan Pearson, Contributions for the Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany from 1630 to 1800, 1872 [Pearson, Contributions] {Internet Archive}, 146: Vrooman ‘the present site of the N.Y. Central R. Road depot.‘ 96 Staffa, 69: Hendrick Meeze Vrooman lot was ‘west side of the present [2004] railroad depot lot to Broadway, then called Lang Gane (“Long Lane”).’ 97 Diana S. Waite, Albany Architecture: a guide to the city, 28. 98 ‘Albany 1686’ by L. F. Tantillo 1986, based on Roemer Map of 1698. Colonial Albany Social History Project. http:// www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/charter.html Go to the website for an enlarged view.

13 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers

This map of Albany (north is to the right) was drawn from memory in 1696 by chaplain John Miller who, when his ship was captured by French privateers on a return trip to England, had had to throw the originals overboard.99

Jacob’s home was on the east side of Handlers Street (Broadway) near the bridge (not shown on map) just south of the blockhouse and junction, where the park is today. It was described as being on the Coestraet (Cow Street, another name for Handlers) between Hans Hendrix and Barent the miller, and was new and not yet been fully paid for when Jacob in June of 1682 used it as collateral for a debt his brother Peter owed Hendrick Cuyler and Abraham d’Peyster, due to Peter’s having married Volkje Pieterse, the widow of Gerrit Janse Stavast. Jacob made good the debt in 1686 after his brother’s death. On February 2, 1682/3 ‘the house where he lived in Albany,’ was described as being between Jan Salomonse and the house of Hans Heyndrix, when Jacob obtained a loan from the deacons of the Reformed Church. And, in 1691 Jacob referred in his will to ‘my house by the bridge formerly Dom Scheats.’ Dominee Gideon Schaets (who died in 1691 at age 83) married a New York woman in 1683, and that year, 1683, Rev. Godredius Dellius arrived to be his assistant. In 1697, after Jacob’s death, Dellius’s home, per the census, was between Jan Salomonse and Hans Hendricks.100 101 It is possible that Jacob, a carpenter, had several houses in that area.

Lysbeth’s new home was near her step-father, Jan Verbeeck, whose house was a short distance up Handlers Street, just past the junction. He was now in his late 60s. Her mother had most likely died by this time.

Jacob was taking on a large responsibility. On February 2, 1682/3 he obtained the loan from the Reformed Church, mentioned above. As the ‘husband and guardian of his wife Elizabeth d’Lint,’ he borrowed a sum of £120 Boston money in the form of 282 heavy pieces of eight to be repaid with interest in two years. Along with his house he used two payments (100 beavers per year) from the sale of the Schenectady farm to Claes Laurensz van der Volgen as collateral. He would still owe on this debt in 1688.102 Meanwhile on February 7, 1682/3, the Swart’s house lot in Schenectady was conveyed over to him.103

99 Stefan Bielinski, Reverend John Miller. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/m/jmiller.html. 100 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 156-8: Peter’s debt; 176: loan from church. Albany Heads of Families June 1697 Census: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/census1697.html#055. 101 Pearson, Contributions, 146 (will). Pearson, Early Records,Vol.1, 23 footnote; Schaets. ‘house was on the east side of Broadway between State and Beaver streets near the bridge. 102 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 176, 177: loan from church, follows with ‘Memorandum: On Dec. 21, 1688, this special bond was canceled and another in English given in the sum of two hundred and forty-seven heavy pieces of eight.....’ 103 Pearson, History, 150: Swart’s lot was granted to Jacob Meese Vrooman by magistrates of Schenectady, deed dated Feb.7 1682/3.

14 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart

Lysbeth and Jacob were active members of the Albany Dutch Reformed church; their names appear on the 1683 membership list along with his brother Pieter (who dies in 1684) and wife Folckje.104 The records of the church were still being recorded in Dutch using patronymic and maiden names.

In 1683 the colony of New York was divided into twelve counties and Albany County, the northernmost, was formed with Albany as the seat of government. To the south was Ulster County with its courthouse at Kingston, about 50 miles down the Hudson River.

In the early 1680s, two of Lysbeth’s children, Pieternella and Cornelius, married into Kingston families. Pieternella, in her early 20s, married Gerrit Adriaensz van Vliet, in his early 30s; their ﬁrst child was baptized in Kingston on August 28, 1681.105 She was in Albany with her mother for the next birth, for on September 9, 1683 in the Albany church ‘Lysbeth Van de Linden’ presented for baptism Arien, child of Gerrit Arisz; the witnesses were ‘Cornelius Teunisz’ and ‘Jan Verbeeck’.106 The Van Vliets had arrived in 1662, just before the English take-over, and were then living up Esopus creek in the farming community of Marbletown, southwest of Kingston. They were from Utrecht, so the families may have known each other in the old country.107 Cornelius marred around 1683, at around age 30, Jacomyne Fynhout, the teenage daughter of Cornelius Arentsz Fynhout [Vynhout, Finehout, etc.] of Kingston. They settled in Albany.108 Her father, per his marriage record, had been born at Fort Orange,109 so it is tempting to think that he was the son of Arent Pietersz who, as a boy or teenager, arrived in the same ship as Teunis and had worked for Teunis Dircksz van Vechten and others.110 He married in Kingston in 1667 and continued to live there so his daughter Jacomyne had grown up in Kingston.111

Son Esaias married Eva van Woert, daughter of Teunis van Woert of Albany. As mentioned above, in 1681 he received from his mother the northern portion of the Swart’s town lot, 40 feet fronting on Church Street and running 163 feet deep, and eight acres of the farm. The land was deeded to him again on February 23, 1685/6 by Jacob and Lysbeth (signing Lysbeth Vrooman), the transcribed record spelling Esaias’s name as Josias. The deed described the eight acres as adjoining the land of Claes Laurensz, so Claes was already working his portion of the land by that time.112

That the allotment of the house lot given to son Esaias equals about one ﬁfth is interesting. Teunis is credited with ﬁve sons, but only Cornelius, Esaias and Adam are said to have reached maturity and to have had families.113 It would appear that the other two sons, Teunis and Frederick, may still have been living in 1681. They are not listed among those killed or captured in the 1690 massacre. Nothing more is know about them.

104 Holland Society of New York: Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Albany, New York, 1683-1809 [Holland Society] Marriages http://aleph0.clarku.edu/~djoyce/gen/albany/part1.html#. 105 Roswell Randall Hoes, Baptismal and Marriage Registers of the Old Dutch Church of Kingston, Ulster County, New York, {Internet Archive}, 14: Aug 26 1681 ‘Gerrit van Vleet’ & ‘Pieternel de Bruen’ baptize baby Cornelya. All other references give her name as Pieternella Swart. 106 Holland Society: Baptisms: 1683 Sept. 9. Arien, of Gerrit Arisz. Wit.: Cornelis Teunisz, Jan Verbeek. By Lysbeth Van der Linden. 107 Hoes 508: 1684 ‘Jan van Vliet, j.m. born in the “stigt van Uytregt” [Diocese of Utrect]’ married Judith Hussey. 108 Cornelius Fynhout Nov. 22 2009 (no contributor’s name): http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rclarke/ page1/fynhout2.htm. 109 Hoes, 502. Van Lear, Minutes Vol.2 192: Albany 1659 charged with having been in the woods to fetch Indians for trade. 110 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 814: Arent Pietersz ‘generally referred to as Arent Pietersz Jongen (the boy)’; p.810: there is also Arent Andriesz, tobacco planter, de Noorman. 111 English Translation of Dutch Colonial Records a.k.a. “Kingston Paper” [TDR] 1:422 (marriage), etc. 112 Pearson, History, 152. 113 Pearson, History, 151,152.

15 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers

In the winter of 1690, on January 15, in Albany, Adam, the youngest son, married Metie Willemsz van Slyck.114 The wedding was apparently attended by most, if not all, of his brothers and sisters and they thus avoided the horrible massacre in Schenectady.

Schenectady Massacre

Around midnight on February 8/9, 1690 the French and their Indian allies attacked, burned and destroyed the village of Schenectady. The raiders found the gates open with no guards on duty. Approximately sixty people were killed, around twenty-seven were taken prisoner and others ﬂed into the woods and escaped to Albany. About 40 houses and 22 barns were destroyed.115 Lysbeth’s daughter Maria’s eldest son Laurens van der Volgen, age 13, was carried off, the youngest to be captured. (He would remain with the Indians for eleven years.) Daughter Jacomyntje’s second husband, Bennony Arentse van Hoeck, was killed. Daughter Neeltje’s husband, Willem Tietsoort, was severely wounded and said to have barely escaped with his life.116 There is no record of any of Lysbeth’s children being killed.

Four of Lysbeth’s children, Cornelius, Neeltje, Jacomyntje, and Adam, relocated at this time to the Kingston area, where their sister Pieternella (Swart) Van Vliet lived. Cornelius’ wife Jacomyn Fynout died sometime after the birth of a child in 1693,117 and he married next Anna Maria Decker.118 He continued to lived in Kingston till his death in 1722 at age 70.119 Twice-widowed Jacomyntje married next Cornelis Fynhout, father of Cornelius’ first wife and also continued to live in the area. In 1699 she conveyed the Viele farm in Schenectady to her only surviving son Lewis Viele.120 Newly-wed Adam settled first in nearby Wagendall (Rosendale) then Kingston, but around 1706 moved up the Hudson to Kinderhook in present Columbia County, apparently to be with his wife’s family.121 Neeltje and husband William Tietsoort lived first in or near Kingston then moved to the Minisink region of the upper Delaware River, an area linked with Kingston, it’s only access to a market. In 1713 they moved to Poughkeepsie on the Hudson river in Dutchess County.122 Pieternella and husband Gerret van Vliet in 1709 moved from Marbletown to Fishkill in southern Dutchess County. Esaias and his sister Maria van der Volgen, waiting for news about her son, returned and help rebuild Schenectady.

Lysbeth’s husband, Jacob, suffered a great loss in the massacre as well. His brother Hendrick Meesz Vrooman and son Bartholomous were killed and burned and son Adam’s wife and child were shot, brains dashed against the wall and two other children, Wouter and Barent, were taken captive, to be recovered ten years later.123 Having no children of his own, this was Jacob’s family. The shock must have been overwhelming.

114 Holland Society: Marriages: 1690, Jan. 15. Adam Antonisz Swart, y.m., of Sch. and Metje Willemsz Van Slyk, y.d., of N.A. 115 History of the City and County of Schenectady, N.Y., Originally prepared in 1887 for use in the public schools of the city, now revised and brought down to date, 1913, 16-20 http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofcitycou00sche#page/n5/mode/ 2up.: Simple easy to read history. Digital History: The Schenectady Massacre. An account by Robert Livingston (1654-1728) http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/documents/documents_p2.cfm?doc=238. List of those killed and captured: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vanepsgenealogy/schmass.html. (There is more to the massacre than is given here and the year should be 1689/90, since the English, until 1752, began their new year on March 25.) 116 Pearson, History, 174 (Vandervolgen), 71(Van Hoeck). See Chapter 3: Willem Abrahamsz Tietsoort. 117 Hoes, 40: 1693 Apr 23: Laurents, Cornelis Swart & Jacomyn Fynhout -- Cornelis Fynhout Jacomyn Swart. 118 Hoes, 46: 1695 Dec 25 Teunis, Cornelis Swart & A. Maria Deckers - Arent Teunisse, Lysbet Maston. 119 Pearson, History 151fn. 120 Cornelius Fynhout, rootsweb (above). Pearson, History, 208. 121 Hoes, 525: son Willem’s marriage records says he was born in Wagendaal; 61: 1701 dau. born in Kingston. Pearson, History, 152: 1707 Kinderhook. 122 See Chapter 4: Willem Abrahamsz Tietsoort. 123 List of those killed and captured: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vanepsgenealogy/schmass.html.

16 Chapter 1: Teunis Cornelisz van Vechten Swart

Jacob had a will drawn up on July 20, 1691. He died soon after and on September 22, 1691 the will was proved. In the will he mentioned he had no children and named his wife Elizabeth his executrix, she was to occupy ‘my house by the bridge, formerly Dom Schaets’.124 As was customary with the Dutch, Lysbeth remarried soon after.

Lysbeth marries a third time.

On October 14, 1691, Lysbeth, now 61, married Wouter (Walter) Albertsz van den Uythoff of Albany,125 a baker. It was his third marriage as well. By his ﬁrst wife he had one child, daughter Elsje van den Uythoff, but he had no children by his second wife Elizabeth Hendrix Lansing who had six children by her ﬁrst husband Gerrit Fredericksz Lansing, also a baker. Wouter and this second wife, who signed ‘Elysabeth Hendrycke,’ made a joint will on June 4, 1678,126 but it is not known when she died. Her son Gerrit G. Lansing married Wouter’s daughter Elsje.127

Wouter was probably still living in his house with the bakery on the north side of Jonckerstraet just west of present-day James Street. He had purchased the lot in 1663.128 He is ﬁrst mentioned in the Beverwyck records in December of 1654, when he was paid for bread, so Lysbeth had known him when she was a young woman before she moved to Schenectady. At that time Wouter lived near the blockhouse/church on the river side.129 In 1697, per the census, he was living next to his step-son Hendrick Lansing.130

Meanwhile in Schenectady, son-in-law Claes Laurensz van der Volgen apparently wanted to sell part of the old Swart farm. In 1692 Lysbeth and Wouter gave him an ofﬁcial deed and he immediately sold ‘the northerly half lying between the road and the river’ to Claas Janse van Boekhoven. This left him with a small section from the road south to the bluff, the portion next to Esaias’ land.131

Back in Albany, the youngest child, Jannetje, married on July 2, 1695 Wouter Storm van der Zee,132 son of Storm Albertsz van der Zee and Hilligien Lansing. His mother, Hilligien, was Wouter van der Uythoff’s step-daughter; she may have named her son after him.133 The father, Storm Albertsz van der Zee, was the son of Albert Andriesz Bradt ‘de Noorman’ who had come over in 1636 in the same ship as her father Teunis Cornelius. Storm was born on the voyage during a storm, thus was named Storm van der Zee.134 The young couple lived first on Jonckerstraet near the new fort, per the 1697 census.135 On February 19, 1698/9 they purchased from Jan Verbeeck for ‘seventy-five beavers, to wit forty-five pound current money of this province’ Verbeeck’s home near the junction, described as ‘said Jan Verbeek’s house wherein he now dwells together with

124 Pearson, Contributions, 146. 125 Holland Society (Marriages): 1691 Oct. 14. Wouter Van den Uythoff, widr. of Elizabeth Henderiksz, and Elizabeth De Lint, wid. of Jacob Meesz Vrooman, both l. at N.A. 126 Pearson, Notarial Papers, 450: children: Aeltie, Gystertie, Gerrit, Heyndrick, Johannes and Hilletie Lansingh. 127 Stefan Bielinski: The People of Colonial Albany: Van Den Uythoff. http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/vd/ woavdu.html#. 128 Pearson, Notarial Papers, 210: Feb 7 1663 Wouter Albertsz van den Vuythoff (signed Wouter Aalbers), baker, bought from David Schuler, ‘the seller’s house lot and garden... bounded south and east by Sander Leenderstsen, north by street, west by Annetie Bogardus, deceased,’ for 104 good, whole beaver skins in installments. Venema, Beverwijck, 285: house on north side of Jonckerstraet. 129 Venema, Beverwijck, 285. 130 Albany Heads of Families June 1697, see above 131 Pearson, History, 151. 132 Holland Society (Marriages): 1695 July 2. Wouter Van der Zee, y.m., and Jannetje Swart, y.d., both l. at N.A. 133 Bielinski, Lansing: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/l/lansing.html. 134 Van Lear, Bowier Manuscript, 809, 810: Albert Andriesz. 135 Albany Heads of Families June 1697, see above.

17 Swarts, Tietsoorts, and Whittakers the lot and the adjoining alley.... on Brouwers straet’ (now Broadway) between the house of Marten Gerritse, deceased, and the heirs of Rynier Schaets, deceased.’136 This was a portion of the house lot Verbeeck acquired back in 1657. In 1685 he built a new house on his lot and sold the portion where his old house was to Rynier Schaets who built two new houses on his portion.137 Verbeeck was now in his mid-80s. Normally he signed his name, he now put a mark. He undoubtedly continued to live in the house with Jannetje and Wouter. He is said to have died about 1699138 and is referred to as deceased in 1702.139

Although the English had been in control of the colony for some four decades, Jan Verbeeck’s deed to Wouter Storm, as well as the Wouter van der Uythoff and Jacob Meesz Vrooman deeds were written in Dutch. They would not be transcribed into English until the mid-1800s and these particular deeds not published until 1916.140 We are grateful to Jonathan Pearson (1813-1887), A. J. F. Van Lear (1869-1955) and others for making these and many more records available.

Lysbeth was widowed again in 1699. Wouter took the loyalty oath on January 4th141 but in July of 1699 he is mentioned in the city records as being deceased.142

The last record of Lysbeth is in 1703 when ‘Elizabeth Delendt of Albany’ made a claim for bed linen loaned to two lieutenants that were never returned.143 She may then have moved to Kingston, for the will, which she and Teunis had drawn up back in 1677, was recorded in Ulster County in 1708.144 She was then in her mid-70s. She had lived quite a life.

Children: (not necessarily in this order): 1. Marytje Swart (est.1650- ) m. est.1676 Claes Laurensz van der Volgen (alias Van Purmerend) 2. Cornelius Swart (c.1652- ) m. est.1683 Jacomyn Fynhout; m2 c.1694 Anna Maria Decker. 3. Esaias Swart (1653- ) m. Eva van Woert. 4. Neeltje [Cornelia] Swart (est.1655-by1722) m. est.1670 Willem Abrahamsz Tietsoort. 5. Pieternella Swart (c.1657- ) m. c.1680 Gerrit Adriaensz van Vliet. 6. Jacomyntje [Jemima] Swart (est.1660- ) m. est.1675 Pieter Cornelisz Viele; m2 c.1686 Bennony Arentse van Hoeck ( -1690); m3 by 1693 Cornelius Arentsz Fynhout, widower. 7. Teunis [Anthony] Swart ( - ). Apparently died young. 8. Frederick Swart ( - ). Apparently died young. 9. Adam Swart (est.1660s-after1730) m. January 15, 1690 Metie Willemsz van Slyck. 10. Jannetje Swart (c.1670- ) m. July 2, 1695 Wouter Storm van der Zee.

136 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 384: Deed. 137 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 285: Deed. 138 Pearson Early Records, Vol. 1, 25: footnote: In 1697 he was eighty-ﬁve years old, and died about 1699. 139 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 262: May 1 1702, Wouter van der Zee discharged a mortgage of Jan Verbeek, dec’d. 140 Pearson, Early Records, Vol. 2, 7, 351: Only Dutch deeds were published from Deeds V. 4 which is largely in English. 141 Loyalty Oath -1699 http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/lists/list1699.html#5669. Wouter vander Zee also signed. 142 Bielinski. Van Den Uythoff (above). 143 NYG&BR, Vol. 120, No.3 July 1989, 137: Robert G. Cooney Jr and Harry Macy, Jr., The Netherlands Ancestry of Elizabeth De Lint, wife of Teunis Cornelissen Swart. 144 Anjou, 73, 74: no probate date is given. It is recorded between wills written November 6, 1707 and Aug 23 1708.