DESCENDANTS OF CORNELIUS BARENTSE VANWYCK AND ANNA POLHEMUS BY ANNE VANWYCK ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK TOBIAS A. WRIGHT PRINTER AND PUBLISHER 1912 TO THE l!lan Wpck iarotberu an'IJ §ilstcru of \lmerica THIS RECORD IS RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED HOPING OMISSIONS MAY BE SUPPLIED AND MISTAKES RECTIFIED CHANGE OF CALENDAR In some dates there may be found a discrepancy of eleven days. This is due to the 0. S. (old style) and N. S. (new style) of calendar. Many would not accept the new style for a long time, not wishing to be cheated out of that number of days, and some recorded both ways at times. THE SYSTEM Every person in the book has his or her individual number, which first appears in small figures on the side. When they have issue there is a + mark and later on their number appears in bold type at the head of a section. Thus Abraham, No. 10, page 39, is carried out under No.- IO, page 58. His descendants may be traced down from number t:> number in the same way. To trace backward, take for example Henry Floyd Van Wyck, Jr., No. 1894, page 342. His father's individual number, as we see from the heading is No. 1394. We find this in small type on page 272, where you will find him the son of No. 841, which appears in small type on page 200. This shows him to be the son of No. 371. THE TULIP The National Flower of Holland The first Tulip came to Holland from Constantinople, 1560. It was so much admired the rich people of Amsterdam sent to Turkey for more. From that time they grew to be a rage, and the Tulip mania ran so high that fortunes were made and lost by it. The Tulip bed was the pride of the Dutch Dame. No home in Holland and no garden was complete without the Tulip. A large bed of these gorgeous colors, ,vas next to the house in the garden at West Neck. Although the flowers were pretty, I did not know the history attached to them. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGR Miss Anne Van Wyck Fronlispieu Henry Onderdonk, Jr. 7 Jan Van Wyck • 12 Castle at Wijk bij Dourstede 12 Pilgrims to Jerusalem 20 Van Wyck Coat-of-Arms 23 Prattenburg 27 Van Wyck Monument 30 Ending of Cornelius Barentse Van Wyck's Will 33 Dutch Reformed Church and Parsonage, Flatbush 34 Map of C. B. Van Wyck's Farm 35 Theodorus Van Wyck's House, Long Island 39 Cornelius Van Wyck House, Fishkill 47 Judge Theodorus Van Wyck Homestead 59 Dutch Reformed Church, Fishkill 6o Rombout Presbyterian Church 61 Montfoort Marriage Certificate 67 Barent Van Wyck House 68 Teller House 73 Major Richard Van Wyck Homestead 74 Dutch Church at Hopewell 75 Dutch Church Yard, New York 87 Fae-simile of Pewter Plate 88 Col, John Brinckerhoff House 92 Hewlett Arms 104 John Hewlett House • 105 Capt. Abraham Van Wyck Homestead 108 Gerretsen's Tide-Mill, Gravesend, L. I •• 110 Cortelyou Homestead Ill Col. Jacob Griffin House . 121 Homestead of Cornelius C. Van Wyck Corndius C. Van Wyck . 124 Letitia Adriance Van Wyck I Theodorus William Van Wyck 127 Eliza Van Wyck 135 Gen. Abraham Van Wyck 136 Susan Haight Van Wyck • Gen, Abraham Van Wyck House 137 Homestead of Barent Van Wyck, the Younger 143 Abraham Van Wyck, West Neck 146 Sarah Cortelyou Cornell • 148 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS-Continued PAGE Herriman-Wickes House . 150 Col, Richard C. Van Wyck 158 Col. Richard C. Van \Vyck House 159 Susan Van \Vyck Storm • 167 John C. Van Wyck House 168 Recorder Pierre C. Van \Vyck 172 Stephen l\liller Van \Vyck 187 John Van \Vyck Homestead • 196 Theodorus Van \Vyck 199 Theodorus Van \Vyck Homestead • 200 Mary Van Wyck Fleet 203 Sarah l\l. Hewlett Van \Vyck • Residence of Mrs. Joshua H. Van Wyck 2o6 Anne Van Wyck, in youth l Mayor Robert A. Van Wyck • 208 Gen. Charles H. Van \Vyck 227 Theodorus Van Wyck Brinkerhoff . 229 Joris Dircksen Brinckerhoff's Secretary • 230 Judge Anthony Van Wyck 231 Alexander Walsh, Jr. 249 Rear-Admiral A, W. Weaver 259 Jacob Soutuart Van Wyck 26a Rev. Abraham J. Van Wyck 262 Richard T. Van Wyck 263 Jeffrey Van Wyck Homestead. 266 Jeffrey Van Wyck 267 Whitehead H. Van Wyck 275 Judge Augustus Van Wyck 279 Samuel H. V. W. Manis • 282 Morris P. Ferris 310 View from site of Johannes Van Wyck Homestead 383 Reformed Dutch Church, Jamaica 384 Johannes Van Wyck's Signature 385 Gen. William E. Van Wyck • 40-1 Mayor Cornelius Van \Vyck Lawrence 407 Henry Lawrence Van Wyck of California 416 Map of Dutchess County showing Family Homesteads 438 Lake SucCPSS 442 Maps of Van Wyck Lands, Queens County . ~;. 36, 3S, 87, 102, 103 PROLOGUE The family oracles had passed away, and I awoke to the fact that I had no one to refer to regarding the past, and none for the children of future generations. "\Yith this in mind I remembered· "the Queens County Antiquarian," a citizen of our village whose ancestors had grown up with our fathers and grandfathers. To him I referred, and in his cheerful happy way he asked me, "What will you have?" This meant much for me, and I replied, "Anything that you will give me." The following day, much to my surprise, he brought me the record of marriages and baptisms of the early Van Wycks from the Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, Long Island, (a town in which I had lived from my earliest childhood). This opened up the chronology be­ fore us, and to the assistance of Henry Onderdonk, Jr., we are indebted (as well as many others of our county) for his researcheR. Following the above, our friend and kinsman, :Morris Patterson Ferris, passing through the churchyard at Fishkill and reading the obituaries of his ancestors, con­ ceived the idea of writing their genealogy. Needless to say we met, our object was the same. With the kind assistance of Tunis G. Bergen, of Benjamin D. Hicks, and of Judge Anthony Van "\Yyck, also of Theodorus Yan "\Yyck Brinckerhoff and his estimable sister, Mrs. Theodorus J. Van Wyck, who had earlier preserved the Holland Bible with its family record, I found a register of the genealogy of them 8 PROLOGUE which came up from the first, and found written therein " Nehemiah, VII Chap. 5 verse." Other cousins, who have not recognized the gather­ ing around the old Tree, will find their bough waiting for them, for all the Van Wycks of the early emigration are descendants of Cornelius Barentse Van Wyck and .A.nna Polhemus, and we take them all in. 1,Ve have the name, coat-of-arms, and Wyck bei Dourstede with its old castle for our inheritance. .A.NNE VAN WYOK. INTRODUCTION Before beginning our genealogy, let us make the acquaint­ ance of John Lothrop Motley, our friend the historian, and i;o with him farther back, even to the Fatherland : "You will find on the map, between France, Germany and the sea, a small triangle divided into two equal parts, called the Netherlands, Holland or Hollowland, and Belgium. Geograph­ ically they belong to both France and Germany. The deposits of three great rivers have formed this Delta thus made habitable for man, which the Romans described as not knowing if they were tenants of sea or land. After the lapse of ages the Rhine divides itself in two branches, like horns and holds within itself the triangular island of Batavia, the key to the whole country. It has never been ascertained who the original inhabitants were; Julius Caesar when he went to fight the barbarians of the North, found a territory on the left of the Rhine tenanted by a tribe of the Celtic family, they were a superior race and the bravest of all the Celts. The earliest history of the Netherlands was written by the conqueror. On the approach of Caesar the tribe scattered, lega­ tions of peace were the consequence. The German race, and the Batavian among the rest, formed an honorable alliance with the masters of the world. They were never conquered but were ever spoken of by the Romans with respect. They called the Batavians friends. The Batavian cavalry was famous throughout the Republic and the Empire ; they were the favorite troops of Caesar, and from his death the Batavian Legion was the imperial body guard. Their position was always an honor­ able one. 1 NTRODUCT I ON Beyond the Batavians at the North dwelt the Frisians of which the Netherland people have ever been compounded; dis­ similar in their tendencies, they have not stimulated the affini­ ties which existed and which should have been infused into the whole. The Frisians and the old Batavians are melted into one. Free Frisian whose name is synonymous with Liberty, blood relations of the Anglo-Saxon race, now occupy the north­ ern portion including the whole European territory of the Dutch Republic. In the 13th century a great physical convulsion sunk the Lowlands beneath the waves, the German Ocean rolled in, and the stormy Zuyder Zee began its existence. West Friesland became absorbed in Holland and a dangerous sea separated them from their relatives. Christianity had been planted there when Dagobert took pos­ session of Utrecht and founded the first Christian Church. To ·. the Britons they owe their conversion. Willibord, an Anglo­ Saxon monk, built churches in north Holland. He was soon afterward consecrated bishop. They refused the Papal yoke or the Feudal chain. After a lapse of centuries the Nether­ landers were again under a crown imperial.