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Vol. lxi No. 2

Tublijhed by The Holland Society of^ew Tor{

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The Holland Society of New York

122 EAST 58th STREET, N E W YORK, N.Y. 10022

P r e s i d e n t Arthur R. Smock, J r .

Advisory Council of Past Presidents: Bruce S. Cornell John H . Vander Veer Kenneth L . Demarest Thomas M . Van der Veer Walter E. Hopper Gerri t W . Van Schaick James E. Quackenbush Carl A. Willsey

V i c e P r e s i d e n t s : New York County H a r r y A. van Dyke Long Island Adrian T . Bogart Dutchess County Kevin A. Denton Ulster County Kenneth E. Hasbrouck Patroons John S. Van der Veer Central New York John F. Marsel lus Old Bergen County, N.J Rev. Wil l iam J . F . Lydecker Essex, Mor r i s Counties Daniel S. Van Riper Central New Jersey Kenneth L . Demarest , J r . Connecticut-Westchester I larrold W . DeGroff New England Tweed Roosevelt Potomac David A. Voorhees Florida, Fast Coast Theodore P. Schoonmaker Florida, West Coast John L. Brouwer Niagara Frontier Chase Viele Mid-West John P. Schermerhorn Pacific Coast Paul H . Davis Virginia and the Carolinas Kendrick Van Pelt South River Will iam M . Alrich Old South H . John Ouderk i rk Texas Branch Rev. Robert Terhune United States Army Col. William T . Van Atten, USA (Ret.) United States Air Force Maj . Laurence C. Vliet, U S A F United States Navy Lt. C mdr . Richard W . D e M o t t United States Marines Lt. Col. Robert W . Banta, U S M C

T r e a s u r e r : S e c r e t a r y : J a m e s M . Vreeland Rev. L o u i s O . Springsteen

D o m i n e : A s s o c i a t e D o m i n e : Rev. Dr . H o w a r d G . Hageman Rev. L o u i s O . Springsteen

T r u s t e e s : William M . Alrich Tweed Roosevelt Frederick W . Bogert James M . Van Buren, 11 Clifford A. Crisped, | r . John H . Vanderveer Ralph L. DeGroff, Jr . H a r r y A. van Dyke John O . Delamater Peter Van Dyke-Richard C. Deyo Stanley L. Van Rensselaer William B. Deyo, Jr. Daniel S. Van Riper Huber t T . Mandeville |ohn R. Voorhis, 111 Robert D. Nostrand ~ Peter ( i . Vosburgh David Riker Ferdinand Wyckoff

Trustees Emeritus: Charles A. Van Patten

John A. Pruyn

Kditor: Rev. Dr . Howard G. Hageman

Editorial Committee: Clifford A. Crisped, J r . , Chairman

Frederick W. Bogert James M . Van Buren, II Andrew Brink John H . Vanderveer David M . Riker David Will iam Voorhees Rev. L o u i s O . Springsteen

B u r g h e r G u a r d C a p t a i n : E x e c u t i v e S e c r e t a r y : Stephen Wyckoff M r s . Barbara W . Stankowski

Organized in 1885 to collect and preserve information respecting the early history and settlement of New Netherland by the Dutch, to perpetuate the memory, foster and promote the principles and virtues of the Dutch ancestors of its members, to maintain a library relating to the Dutch in America, and to prepare papers, essays, books, etc. in regard to the history and genealogy of the Dutch in America.

I he Society is principally organized of descendants in the direct male line of residents of the Dutch Colonies in America prior to or dur ing the year 1675. Inquiries respecting the several criteria for membership are invited.

De Halve Maen, published by the Society, is entered at the post office at Poughkeepsie, N . Y . Communications to the editor should be directed to the Society's address, 122 East 58th Street, New York, N .Y 10022 telephone 212-758-1675.

Copyright © T h e Holland Society of New York 1988.

ISSN 0017-6834

The Editor's Corner This spring we have been treated to all kinds of Swedish

exhibits, ranging from nothing less than a royal visit to art shows, visiting choirs and various historic exhibits. All of this was in commemoration of the 350th anniversary of the settle­ment of New Sweden on Delaware Bay. Dur ing his recent visit to Finland, President Reagan spoke about the Finns as having been among the earliest colonists in North America. All of this must have come as a surprise to many Americans who were unaware of any Scandinavian strand in our history.

It was in the spring of 1638 that two vessels from Sweden sailed up the South River and planted Fort Christina under the auspices of the New Sweden Company. Its director was Peter Minuit who had served the Dutch West India Company as Director of New Netherland until his recall in 1632. H e was therefore well acquainted with the land he was settling because the South River was part of New Netherland and an early Dutch settlement had been located on High (Burlington) Island further up the river.

Swedish mercantile interests had the same problem as the Dutch, a failure to lure many permanent colonists to the new settlement. There was, however, one great difference. For some centuries Finland had been annexed to Sweden, but num­bers of Finnish people were unhappy with Swedish rule. A large number of those who came as settlers in New Sweden were therefore Finns. That fact must have been what President Reagan had in mind when he spoke about a Finnish settlement in North America; the settlement was Swedish but contained a large number of Finns.

Of course, as Peter Minuit well knew, the land on which New Sweden was built was claimed by the Dutch. Governor Kieft in New Amsterdam soon found out about it and sent several ineffectual protests. Kieft was succeded in 16+7 by Peter Stuyvesant and the whole scene changed dramatically. From the outset he was convinced that the new Swedish colony was built on Dutch land. There is no time here to tell of all the skirmishing that took place between New Sweden and New Netherland, but simply to record that on September 1 5, 1655 New Sweden surrendered to New Netherland and the short story of New Sweden in America came to an end.

Or did it? Many of the Swedish and Finnish farmers who were living in new Sweden chose to take an oath of loyalty to the Netherlands and the West India Company. Any of their descendants today would be eligible to join the Holland Society. In addition to Dutch, Walloon, Huguenot and German ances­tors (not to mention some Italians) our ranks may well contain some Swedes and Finns. What a magnificent foreshadowing of the United States New Netherland was!

Incidentally, the Editor hopes that our readers notice that all the articles in this issue of our magazine, with the exception of Mr . Stryker's, have been written by members of the Society.

IN THIS ISSUE

Search for an Ancient Dutch Family Bible 1

Common Progenitor of a Riker and Lent Family 6

Who Were the Walloons? 8

Dutch New York Described in 1920 Guide Book ... 9

Society Activities 11

Here and There 11

In Memoriam 12

Cover: The cover picture is the Strijcker Family Bible after repair of all pages including cleaning and restorative treatments to the leather and metal before reassembly and rebinding. (See article page 1)

DC

HALVE MAEN VOL. LXI • NO. 2 J U N E 1988 NEW YORK CITY

Search for an Ancient Dutch Family Bible by William N . St ryker 1987 W . N . Stryker

Two items belonging to Pieter Strijcker (1 653-1 741), were subjects of great personal interest to me; one being his "silver hilted sword" referred to in his Will and the other being his Bible containing the written record of his family. After I had begun the search for these two additional artifacts, it came as a great surprise when I discovered an article in the 'New York Times' dated January 25, 1941 titled: "Stuyvesant Bible Here For Exhibit". The article started out by stating; "When Peter Stuyvesant left Holland he carried a sword and a family Bible." The similarity to my own search for the same two artifacts of Pieter Strijcker was astounding and suggested that a general Dutch tradition was involved.

Regarding the Strijcker Family Bible, Garret Stryker is recorded in the 1887 "Genealogical Record of the Strycker Family" as owning the "old Strycker family Bible" and residing on the Jan Strijcker land patent in Flatbush Brooklyn. This was across the street from the Dutch Church which had been built there by Commissioner Jan Strijcker, the family founder, in 1654. That book failed, however, to identify the Bible's first owner, and the reference to Jan implied that Jan Strijcker, Pieter's father, was the original owner.

The thought of searching for this artifact, which had be­longed to the first Strijcker generation in America, was an extremely intriguing challenge to me. I took on the challenge. Although I had no assurance that the Bible was still extant, let alone traceable, I decided to record the events of my search as they unfolded, without any preknowledge of the ultimate outcome, in order to give the reader as close a view as possible of what I consider to be the excitement of search and discovery. My quest to find and photograph the original Strijcker family Bible now begins.

Launching the search for facts, I found that Garret Stryker died in 1903 leaving a widow and two daughters. Their descen­dants were later mentioned (but not named) by Mabel Spell in the N Y G & B Record for October 1951 (pg. 196), as resid­ing on the original Strijcker land patent and owning the Pieter Strijcker Family Bible. In fact, this reference gave the Bible's

William N. Stryker is a resident of Alexandria, Virginia and is employed by the United States Department of Defense. He is also the author of a three volume history of the Stryker family in America, completed after twenty-five years of research.

Jan Strijcker and Jan Snedeker were commissioned by Peter Stuyvesant to oversee construction of the Midwout Dutch Church in Flatbush in 1654. 'Phis is the third building of the oldest church on Pong Island and is diagonally across the intersection from the Strijcker family homestead on Flatbush Avenue.

publication date as 1662 and the publisher as "the widow of the late Paulus Ravenstein", and listed the Pieter Strijcker family records which were found written inside. Although the family record was that of Pieter Strijcker, the publication date of 1662 was when Pieter was only 9 years old, hence the original owner was likely to have been Pieter's father Jan Strijcker. Jan came to America in 1652. However, the record

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shows that he was one of a group of Dutch colonial leaders that was sent to Holland to represent New Amsterdam at a conference sometime afterwards. It appeared at first that Jan may have returned to America in 1662 with the family Bible. But, this has subsequently been disproved as we shall see later.

The article by Mrs . Spell further stated that the Pieter Strijcker house referred to in his Will was torn down about 1845 and replaced with a "second building, part of which forms the nucleus of the dwelling still occupied by the descen­dants who own Pieter Strijcker's Bible". Upon my own per­sonal inspection of the site in 1986, it appears that the second building was a 2-3 story apartment house. This neighborhood had sadly deteriorated.

My neighbors and close friends, Irving and Joan Heym-ont, have shared with me in my daily progress in this search for the family Bible. They ironically used to live near Flatbush and Joan attended Erasmus Hall High School across Flatbush Avenue from the old Dutch Church in the mid-1930's. When I told her of the street address of the Strykers, she marveled that she had walked right by their home every school day. Then Irving popped in with, "Well, William. Had Joan only known that you were going to be born twenty years later and grow up to look for these people, she could have knocked on their door and found out all you needed and photographed the Bible record pages for you. Now, I call that an extreme lack of hindsight on your part."

But the search was on. A check at the National Archives revealed Garret Stryker's 1900 census record showing the following information; he indeed had had two children, Flor­ence and Violetta. Violetta had married Onward Mott and had two children, Garret {b. 1894) and Lillian (/;. 1892) Mott. They all resided at the old Strijcker homestead lot on the N E corner of Flatbush and Church Avenues at 873 Flatbush Ave­nue. This is diagonally across the intersection from the old Dutch Church.

The next question was; Who lived at the address in 1951 when the Bible was found there by Mabel Spell? My tedious search of ' The New York Times', including obituaries, pro­duced no references to Eliza, Violetta, Florence, Lillian or Garret to the present day, so a check of the city directories and phone books was in order.

At the Library of Congress, I secured a pass allowing me access to all of the appropriate stacks normally closed to the public. I first searched the extant Brooklyn City Directories, which included 1900 through 1912 and the year 1933. I discovered the progression of the family from 873 Flatbush Avenue to 10 Martense Street and fnally 26 Martense Street with Garret S. Mott residing in the rear of 26 Martense Street in 1933, Garret and Eliza Stryker having both died by that time.

The whole neighborhood was changing as I went from volume to volume. The Martense Matriarch died at the age of 100 ending the last farm in Flatbush and Martense Street was cut through the farm parallel to Church Avenue and the Strykers moved around the corner to Martense Street, keeping the Flatbush Avenue property to rent out as stores.

Next, I searched the Brooklyn telephone directories for the years near 1951 but found no Garret Mott listed. Who was living at 26 Martense Street in 1951 when Mabel Spell visited? Had Garret Mott died? Did Lillian marry? and to whom?

I was shown by the librarian where an index of street addresses could be found and I looked forward to looking up 26 Martense Street and seeing who indeed had resided there

in 1951. However, the books I was directed to only began in 197 1, twenty years too late, and 26 Martense Street was listed as a Chinese dry cleaning establishment with no Motts or Lillians nearby.

My next stop was the National Archives to find the 1910 census record for the family. The later censuses are not yet open to the public record. Garret and Lillian were still too young to be married then so I did not expect that record to help me in any significant way. However, it was a known record, so I felt I should add it to my growing collection. And it turned out to be worth finding, but finding it was not an easy chore. The 1910 census, it so happens, is not indexed. So, I had to look through the same Enumeration District, hoping it had not changed since 1900. It had! So, next I tried to find the same ward # 2 9 hoping that this identifier was the same for the neighborhood that it had been in 1900. It was! After searching many frames for Martense Street, I came upon the family group. The record showed that Onward Mott had died and Violetta had married again to Robert Dodge, an owner of a 'Gents Furnishing Store' and that they had not had any additional children. It also showed that Florence was still single at age 40.

Back to the Library of Congress to search the 1951 phone books for a Dodge at 26 Martense Street. However, none was to be found! I then searched back in time in the phone books to find when the Motts and Dodges last lived there and still none were found, even in 1933 when the City Directory listed Garret Mott and Violetta Dodge as living at the rear of 26 Martense Street! A search of the Brooklyn city directories again showed that Robert Dodge apparently died in 1911 right after the census was taken, as the Dodge Gents Furnishings Store at 879 Flatbush Avenue, was called Earl & Co. Gents Furnishings in 1912 and then John Johnston Gents Furnish­ings in 1913 and even in 1933 it was still a mens' clothing store at the same address called The Lewis Shop. Exhaustive searches of all records for these subsequent owners failed to establish any family relationship to Lillian or Garret Mott!

I had now searched every known local source for every pertinent name for all appropriate time periods, without being able to learn whom Mabel Spell had visited in 1951. I had finally reached what I thought was an impasse and conceded that all I could do next was to go to the Surrogate Court in Brooklyn and see when the property was sold and by whom. But, as I was walking through the stacks to leave, I just happened to glance fortuitously out of the corner of my eye as I was passing by a row of shelves, and faintly recognized the handwritten word "Brooklyn" on the spine of a hefty volume that was partially out of the shelf. Had I not paid attention to that glance, my search would have proven almost impossible to resolve without going to the Brooklyn Surrogate Court. The book turned out to be one of a complete set of Brooklyn Address Telephone Directories from 1900 through 1984. I had been directed to the wrong set of these volumes the day before. Finding these books proved to be the key to finally being able to break the logjam, though what I found when I first opened them was a major shock and setback.

I pulled out the volume for 1951 annd looked up 26 Martense Street to see who had the phone there, and in what seemed to be an everlasting confusion, I saw the name: "Stryker, Mrs . G.". Logic dictated that this was absolutely impossible. Mrs . Garret Stryker would have been 120 years old in 1951! I hastily checked all years and discovered to my horror, that Mrs . G. Stryker is listed at 26 Martense Street for every year up to and including 1960! Then, the only

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possible explanation occurred to me: Eliza Stryker had her phone installed about 1910. The family never bothered to change that number or name for fifty years even though she and certainly her daughter Violetta Dodge had died. A quick check of the regular Brooklyn telephone directories showed that indeed, Mrs . G. Stryker was at 26 Martense Street through 1960. No one had ever been able to look up the phone number of Garret Mott, Violetta Dodge, Florence Stryker or Lillian ( ) for the entire time period!

So, I still did not know who actually lived there in 1951. Now, I had to don my detective's hat and hope to get lucky. I copied the list of the entire Martense Street residents for 1960, the last year that Mrs . G. Stryker is listed, and also 1984, the last year of the volumes. Then I searched the list of every house in the vicinity for any names that were there in both 1960 and 1984, hoping to be able to locate someone who was still living there who might remember the family. My doubts were high, as I knew what in the last 26 years, just about everybody in that neighborhood had left because of its deterioration. But, unbelievably, there was one name that appeared in common. It was at the address next to 26 Martense Street, around the corner on Martense Court. 1 hurriedly placed a call to "Jos Fennell". An elderly and very kindly lady answered and I learned that she and her sister were the two daughters of the long deceased Jos and Margaret Fennell; that they were born in their house and were probably the last native residents of Flatbush left. I asked her about the Strykers, Motts and Dodges. After much thought, all she could re­member was that the Strykers were somehow connected with a real estate firm. She said she would ask her sister for infor­mation when she came home later that day, saying that her sister's memory was much better than her own. She also said that the Stryker house at 26 Martense Street was an old wooden mansion, torn down in 1961 to make way for the current apartment house at 32 Martense Street. We exchanged nostal­gia and many pleasant memories and I thanked her for her help.

Being naturally charged to solve this search, I went back to the Library of Congress and looked at the address directories for the 'real estate' office. I was surprised to see that Miss Fennell's memory was of over fifty years ago because Knorpp Realty Corp. at 877 Flatbush Avenue existed from the 192()'s through 1937! I checked the Brooklyn city directories next and, sure enough, found Robert G. Knorpp and his wife Lillian residing at 26 Martense Street. The entire family was now finally determined! The Knorpps lived in the main house while the rear entrance was for a second family group consisting of Lillian's single brother Garret Mott and their mother Vio­letta Dodge and Florence Stryker.

The next day I spoke with the other Fennell sister who was also very pleasant and helpful. Now the progress was steamrolling. She related that: "dapper" Robert Knorpp died in 1937 and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. They owned the real estate business as well as Knorpp Candy Company on Atlantic Avenue. One item that the candy company made was a candy button with the phrase Happy Birthday on it. These were bought by the neighborhood to put on birthday cakes for their friends. In I960, Lillian Knorpp and Garret Mott, neither of whom had any issue, moved to Garden City, Long Island. About 1968, Miss Fennell happened to meet Lillian on Flatbush Avenue one day as they still owned the Flatbush store property, and Lillian told her that she and her brother had found a nice apartment in Manhattan near Broadway and West 8th Street. Then about 1970, the Garfield's Cafeteria, occupying Lillian's store property on Flatbush Avenue, filed

for bankruptcy as Miss Fennell saw the poster in the window announcing the proceedings. She learned that Garret had to handle the sale of the 99-year lease to Manufacturers Hanover Trust, as Lillian had suffered ill health with either a stroke or heart attack.

Armed with this data, the search was closing fast. A final trip to the Library of Congress to see the Manhattan City Directories proved rewarding. Lillian Knorpp was listed at 20 E. 9th Street from 1973-1982. A phone call to one of the other tenants revealed that this building was the Brevoort East Apartments. I copied the pages and phone numbers anyway and expected that the only course left was to obtain their Wills from the Manhattan Surrogate to see where the Bible had gone. All that remained of Lillian and Garret was probably in Greenwood Cemetery.

As expected, one last phone call to Greenwood finally brought this lengthy search for descendants to a close. Garret S. Mott had died in 1975 and Lillian V. Knorpp in 1982. One cannot help but pause for a moment to reflect on the fact that the trail of every single descendant of Garret and Eliza Stryker had led me finally to the common grave. There was not one life remaining. WThere indeed did all of the personal family memories, effects and the heritage of this entire branch of the Stryker family now repose? And how much of it was lost simply because there were no children to hear the stories and pass them on?

My next step was a trip to the Manhattan Surrogate's Court in New York City. There I found the Wills of Garret Mott, 1975 and Lillian Knorpp, 1982. As there was, unfortunately, no mention of the 325-year-old Bible in cither Will, 1 pro­ceeded by assuming that Lillian was the last owner, she being the sole heir of her brother's estate, and that one of her heirs might know what became of the Bible. I began by phoning the estate executor. A very kind and distinguished gentleman, he related that he remembered an old family Bible in the estate but was not sure where it had gone. 1 le very kindly researched his files and referred me to another heir whom he knew had collected some of the family mementos during the estate settle­ment. In fact, I received a nice introductory letter from the executor the following week stating that he had called the heir and learned that he did have the family Bible and was very interested in my photographing its record pages.

With hopes at their highest, I phoned the heir, who is another very hospitable gentleman. But, the walls came tumbl­ing down as he told me the following story: Lillian Knorpp had permitted the Bible to be displayed only once in public about 1938. (This had to be the 1941 exhibit by Holland House, NYC in which the Peter Stuyvesant Bible and 300 Dutch artifacts were open for public viewing. I only fortuitously had discovered the New York Times article for this exhibit as I mentioned at the start of this saga.) As a result of the exhibit, the heir claimed that Lillian was given a letter which verified that the book was the oldest Bible in the United States at that time. The heir had seen the Pieter Strijcker family Bible in Lillian's home in Garden City in addition to a large cabinet which bore the carved inscription: "STRIJCKER, 1595"!! This most likely was a piece of furniture brought to America by Jan Strijcker in 1652!! This was the first reference to this cabinet anyone had ever known.

However, (and it was a huge 'however') when the Knorpp estate was broken up in 1982, the heir specifically looked for these two items, but they had mysteriously vanished! For the last ten years of her life, Lillian Knorpp was paralyzed and had nurses in and out of her apartment. Anyone could have

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taken the ancient artifacts. Even several appliances were mis­sing after she had passed away. The only items the heir had managed to salvage out of the estate auction at Tepper Galleries, were a 19th century later-generation Peter Stryker family Bible, boxes of unidentified photographs, paintings of various Stryker family members, and a group of sermons printed in Dutch in 1595 and bound in 1607.

Though gravely disappointed, I thanked the gracious heir who offered these items to be photographed for my records, and I proceeded to call the Library of Congress Rare Book Collection and the National Museum of American History to try to compile a list of collections and museums which may have somehow acquired the lost family Bible and cabinet. I was quickly referred to the National Union Catalog, an auto­mated data base of nationwide museum and library book col­lections. Through this computer system I was able to locate several books of Psalms and a New Testament, all published by "the widow of the late P. van Ravesteyn in 1662". Fortu­nately, the estate executor had given me a paper on which Lillian Knorpp had printed an exact copy of the family Bible's first page.

"Title page of the 1661 van Ravestein Bible printed at Amsterdam in the Netherlands."

Pulling at straws, but logical ones, I thought for a moment, and surmised that if indeed Mrs . Knorpp had prized the artifacts as much as they deserved, she may have seen to it that they were placed in good hands after all, and that perhaps they had not been stolen. On the chance that I may have been correct, I proceeded to phone each heir of Lillian Knorpp's estate to ask if they knew anything about the Strijcker family Bible. Several heirs had died and their spouses knew nothing of the book. Others were quite unaware of the family Bible's existence and my doubts grew greater.

Then one last phone call lifted up my hopes once again. For purposes of arbitrary reference, "heir # 2 " was very under­standing and receptive to my quest as I heard the response: "Well. Just before she died, Lillian did give me some things and I think perhaps a Bible. They're tucked away and Pd have to search them out to see if they are what you're looking for".

Though trying not to permit any further false hopes, I could not suppress the inescapable logic before me: Since there were three old books in the estate according to the first heir: (1) Pieter Strijcker's family Bible of 1661, (2) the sermons of 1595 and (3) the family Bible of the 1800's; and the first heir had two of them in his possession; the only remaining family Bible of 1661, considered to be the most valuable of the three, must surely have been the one that Lillian entrusted to heir # 2 , possibly along with the 1595 Strijcker cabinet. The logic appeared even more evident when I noticed that heir # 2 appears on a family chart sent to me by the executor which Lillian Knorpp had written in 1981. It included the families of Garret and his brother Henry Stryker. So, Lillian had givenn the Strijcker family Bible to her closest relative on the Stryker side. Heir # 2 was Mrs . Elizabeth Hascall. She had been given both the family Bible of 1 66 1 and another sermon book also dated 1595 bearing inscriptions identical to those copied by Lillian Knorpp. The cabinet was recalled but its whereabouts remains unknown.

Mrs . Hascall kindly consented to my request to examine and photograph the books. The Pieter Strijcker family Bible contains Old and New Testaments including an Apocrypha. Several large quadrifold maps of the World and the Holy Land adorn it throughout. The pages are of 50% linen-rag paper 1 ()" X 1 5" and the book is 5" thick weighing 13 pounds. The covers are of wood bound in leather that is very ornately tooled in rectangular designs with elegantly stamped brass corner plates, two clasps and a center brass plate. Each corner and center plate has initials "P L" and a raised central area. Some of the raised areas on the brass plates have been worn through from use.

I was able to discern the history of this Bible from writings inside. The first known owner was Domine Casperus Van Zuuren, born in 1648 in Holland. H e graduated from the University of Leyden in 1668 and brought the Bible to the New World in 1677. There he preached in the churches on Long Island (Flatbush, New Utrecht, Brooklyn and Flatlands) until returning to Holland in 1685. The first records in the Bible are of his family. Before sailing for Holland, he sold the Bible to Pieter Strijcker for 120 guilders and it has never been out of the family. It has been handed down through ten generations which are partially reflected in the record inside: Pieter Strijcker, Pieter Stryker, Peter Stryker, Garret Stryker, Peter Stryker, Garret Stryker, Violetta Stryker Mott, Lillian V. Knorpp, Robert and Elizabeth Hascall, and David Stryker Hascall.

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Mrs . Hascall also owned the Dutch sermon book which contained five decades of sermons by Hendrickus Bullingarum of Zurick, published "by Abraham and Isaac Canin at Dor­drecht in the countryside by the toll bridge in 1595", which I also examined. The history of this book was also partially discernable from writings inside and the Reformed Church history. The first recorded owner appears to have been Pieter Dorville (or Dorvelle) in Holland, who gave it to Domine Vincentius Antonides in 1705. Antonides was born in 1670 and came to New Amsterdam in 1705 with the book, pastoring at Flatbush, Bushwick, Flatlands, Brooklyn, New Utrecht, Gravesend and Jamaica, Long Island until his death on July 18, 1744. On September 25th, 1744, Peter Stryker (son of Pieter Strijcker) acquired the book. It also has reamined in the family ever since, following the same ownership as the Bible. These sermons are a two-volume set and are the only known copies of this 1595 edition in the world. There exists a first printing in Dutch dated 1582 in the British Museum and a set printed in English in 1 587 at the Library of Congress.

Mrs . Hascall and her son David Stryker Hascall most graciously agreed to my proposal that I take the artifacts and see that they are professionally restored. They presented the heirlooms to me on September 1, 1986. I am now engaging the services of professional book restorers to recondition, repair and preserve these artifacts. Once they are restored properly, they will be placed in the Rare Book Collection of the Library of Congress for professional care and safe storage. In this way, the books can be viewed under supervision, by any family member and their preservation will, at last, be assured. I am also compiling a thorough restoration report including detailed photographs which document the processes used in preserving the two ancient books.

THE BIBLE FORMAT The format of this Bible is extraordinarily large. The title

page reads: "Bible of the Complete Holy Scriptures containing all of the Canon books of the Old and New Testaments. Now, for the first time, made available by the command of the Right Honorable Gentlemen of the States General of the United Netherlands. Contents formed from the resolutions settled by the National Synod which was held at Dordrecht in the years 1618 and 1619. . . .In Amsterdam, published by the widow of the late Paulus van Ravestein in the year 1661."

Then follows the Netherlands publishing license issued to the widow of "Paulus Aertsz van Ravesteyn" in 1656 signed on the page for authenticity by the Netherlands' Secretary for official State Bibles, Jan Stoffelson Van Zwoll. Next is the States General's description of this version of the Word of God issued in 1637 by Cornelius Musch. This is the only copy of this edition known to exist. The Library of Congress has a similar printing which differs in that it was printed on smaller size pages; it contains no maps and the brass corner plates are far less ornate. Hence the Strijcker Bible is the only known copy of the deluxe edition of the Ravestein Bible in 1661.

Pieter Strijcker's Initial Inscription Follows: This sample of Pieter Strijcker's handwriting in gothic

script Dutch compares exactly with his signature found on his Last Will and Testament shown earlier, and is the only inscrip­tion in the Bible that appears to be made by him.

16 ° 3£cmt alfoo Ittf fjttft 4 E ^ 3 9 | I»creit0cljaljt/bat^pfljn"um!grjg^tec' tim^onegcgetalKCft/ POP &at ott c*

"God bo love.d thz woild, that ha gave. u.4 hib only Son, bach that uohozvai b<Llizv£.b in Him bhatl have, availabting Hit."

John 3:16. This profound verse illustrates the superb work of the translators of the Dutch National Synod 1618-1619. Their dili­gence resulted in the "Staten Bible" being accepted by all the major factions of Calvinism in the Netherlands."

Transcription: "A° 1684 April 16 heb ick Pieter Strijcker deze bijbel gekost van Dominie Van Zueringe gewesen predekant van de 4 dorpen voor de somma F 120 gulden zeewant."

Translation: "In the year 1684 April 16; I, Pieter Strijcker purchased this Bible from Dominie Van Zuuren, the former minister of the 4 villages, for the sum of 120 guilders monetary exchange."

The following were entered as the events happened by Peter Stryker, Jr (19):

1741 11 June our father Pieter Strycker died at the age of — years, 7 months and 1 1 days.

1 746 October 27, my brother, abovenamed Barent died. 1758 June Lybitje, wife of Barent Stryker died. 1739 Aug 19, Hendrick Stryker died. 1763 Sep 14 Lammetje, wife of Christianus Lupardus

died. 1770 Aug 18 Jar. Stryker died.

Upon completion of the Bible restoration process I had the following template bound into the beginning of the book:

—COMMENDED TO T H E FUTURE—

In September 1986, I had the good fortune to locate and acquire this 325-year-old Dutch Bible of the Strijcker family. For ten generations, it has remained in the family ownership and has acted as a connecting thread of the family lineage. Today, I am perusing a book that has come down through history and has survived all of the changes that have accompanied the passage of over three centuries of time. I have applied the state of technology of this age in order to give this book, for the first time in its existence, a restored and preserved strength. Now it has afresh start and is better suited for its continued travels in time into the unknown future. How much farther will its travels extend and what unimaginable changes in lifestyles, technologies and human endeavors will it encounter? Certainly Man's probing of space and the advanced medical sciences which are accepted so readily today would have been incomprehensible to the first minds that owned this book. We, of my generation, would probably also enjoy a similar lack of understanding of things which you consider com­monplace.

Regardless of what the future holds, one thing will be steadfast and changeless: the simplest of messages carried by this Bible, reflected in John 3:16: "Cod so loved the world, that he gave us his only Son, such that whoever believes in Him shall have ever­lasting life."

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Common Progenitor of a Riker and Lent Family By David M. Riker

One of the most interesting phenomena in colonial Dutch genealogy is the descent of two or more families with different names from a common progenitor who migrated to New Netherland in the 17th century. This occurred numerous times and was generally caused by the fact that many immigrants to New Netherland did not have a permanent family surname. The role of fixing this permanent surname usually fell to the immigrant's descendants although sometimes it may have been beyond their control. Under such conditions one brother took one family name and another a different surname.

One example was the immigrant, Abraham Rycken, who was given a patent in 1640 for land on Long Island, granted to him in 1 63 8. Six years later he received a grant for a house and garden on the Heeren Gracht (canal) in New Amsterdam which he sold in 1652'. By 1655 he was back on his Long Island Bouwery, known as "the poor farm", near present day Astoria, Queens, and later added an island in the East River which became known as Rikers Island. For a short time in 1656 Abraham was engaged in the fur trade on the South (Delaware) River and visited Fort Casimir (New Castle, De­laware). His wife was Grietje Hendricks, daughter of Hen-drick Harmensen.2

Abraham Rycken and his wife had the following children: (1) Ryck, born about 1638, married Catrina, daughter of Harck Syboutsen (ancestor of the Cronkhite family) and Wyntje Teunis; (2) Jacob, baptized 14 October 1640 (at New Amsterdam), died young; (3) Jacob, baptized 18 October 1643, married 23 September 1663 (at New Amsterdam) Catalyntje Elslandt and had one child, Harpert, baptized 9 October 1 665 (at New Amsterdam) who probably died young; (4) Hendrick, baptized 17 February 1647 (at New Amster­dam), died young; (5) Marytje, baptized 21 February 1649 (at New Amsterdam), married April 1699 (at New York) Sybout, son of Harck Syboutsen and Wyntje Teunis; (6) Jan, baptized 25 July 1651 (at New Amsterdam), married 26 November 1691 (at New York) Sara Schouten, widow of Paulus VanderBeeck and daughter of Jan Lucaszen Schouten and Sara Janse. They had four children baptized at New York; Abraham, Helena, Elizabeth and Elizabeth; (7) Aeltje, bap­tized 9 November 1653 (at New Amsterdam), married 7 November 1680 (at New York) Jan Hermansen and removed to Cortlandt Manor; (8) Abraham, baptized 26 December 1655 (at New Amsterdam), married 1 0 January 1 682 (at New York) Margrietje, daughter of Jan Gerrits van Buytenhuysen and Tryntje Janse van Luyt; and (9) Hendrick, baptized 28 September 1662 (at New Amsterdam), married Catrina, daughter of Jan Cornelise van Texel (ancestor of the Van Tassel family) and Annatje Alberts.1

As a descriptive surname, Abraham Rycken always used his patronymic name of Rycken or its contracted form of Rycke, meaning son of Ryck. Ryck is an abbreviation of Ryckaert, a Dutch equivalent of the English name Richard. It is apparent that Abraham and his ancestors in the Netherlands had not thought it necessary to establish a permanent family name.4

The unique nature of colonial Dutch genealogy was not thoroughly understood in 1851 when James Riker, a genealogist, wrote his family history. Riker had not recognized Rycken as a patronymic and assumed it to be a surname in the

English fashion. H e attempted to establish a European family with roots going back to the Crusades and entitled to a particular coat of arms. Riker incorrectly included all persons in New Netherland using the name Rycken in the same family and falsely assumed that all persons in America with the surname Riker were descended from Abraham Rycken.*

There are several ways to identify a patronymic surname. First, does the name end with one of the standard patronymic endings such as z, en, s, se, sen or szen? Second, was one of the older sons, who would have been named for his grand­father, given a name which formed the basis of the patronymic? Third, did any of the descendants assume a different permanent surname? In the case of Abraham Rycken, all of these conditions existed.

Ryck Abrahamse, the oldest son of Abraham Rycken, was known as Ryck Abrahamszen in the records of the New York Reformed Church where he and his wife Catrina were members until about 1686. In 1684, Ryck Abrahamse, his brother Jacob Abrahamse, brothers-in-law Sybout and Jacob Harcksen and Teunis and Jacobus DeKay received a patent from Lieuten­ant-Governor Thomas Dongan for land in the upper part of Westchester County, just north of Cortlandt Manor.". Offi­cially known as the Royal Patent of Sachus, but commonly called "Ryck's Patent", it ran from Verplank's point on the Hudson River and the boundary with Stephen Van Cortlandt's land a few miles north to Magregere Brook, now covered by the streets of Peekskill, New York. Ryck Abrahamszen and his brother Jacob settled on this land about the year 1686. Ryck was an Elder at the Sleepy Hollow Dutch Reformed Church at Tarrytown, New York from 1698 to 1713. Known at first as Ryck Abramse at Sleepy Hollow, he was soon after­wards called Ryck Abramse van Lent and by the time he wrote his will in 1720 his name had been anglicized to Ryck Ab-rahamsen Lent. It is likely that the village of Lent in the Province of Gelderland was the original home of Abraham Rycken in The Netherlands. Ryck Abrahamse Lent died about 1723, his will dated 30 March 1720 and proven 8 March 1723.

Ryck Abrahamse van Lent and his wife Catrina had the following children: Elizabeth, bapt. 25 March 1673 (at New York), married Maritie, Thomas Hyatt; (2) Abraham, bapt. 12 May 1675 (at New York), married 24 Dec. 1698 Anna Catrina, daughter of Adolph Meyer and Maria Verveelen of Harlem. H e inherited his father's property at the poor bouwery on Long Island and returned there to live near his Rycke cousins where he died on 5 February 1746; (3) Ryck, bapt.

CharlesT. Gehring, ed. and Trans., "New York Historical Manuscripts Dutch—Land Papers, p. 12, p. 18, Gen. Pub. Co., Baltimore 198(1. 2James Riker, Jun., "A Brief History of The Riker Family," Pub. 1). Fanshaw, N.Y.C 1851.

"Marriages in The Reformed Dutch Church, New Amsterdam-New York City," Col­lections of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society- Vol. IX; "Baptisms in the Reformed Dutch Church, New York," Collections of The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, Reprint The Cregg Press 1968.

William J. Hoffman, "An Armory of American Families of Dutch Descent Riker-Lent-Suydam", New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 67, p. 58.

David M. Riker, "A Second Riker Family", New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 1 15, p.23.

Hugh S. Austin, "The Riker-Lent Family", manuscript, dated 1971; Nelson B. Lent, Lent/Van Lent Family in The United States, 1903.

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16 April 1698 (at New York), married Mary, daughter of Johannes Gerretse Blauve't,"died in Westchester County prior to 1720; (4) Harck (Hercules), bapt. 6 August 1681 (at New York), married Cornelia, daughter of Jacob Van Wert. H e inherited his father's property in Westchester County where many of his descendants resided, and died in 1766, his will dated 10 April 1765 and proven 13 November 1766; (5) Margaret, baptized 18 May 1684 (at New York), married Thomas Benson; (6) Catherine, born about 1685, married Joseph Jones; and (7) Wyntie, baptized 25 May 1 687 (at New York), probably died young.

Jacob Abrahamse, the second oldest son of Abraham Rye-ken, used his patronymic name all his life and died in Westches­ter County about the year 1715 without descendants.

Hendrick Abrahamse, the youngest son of Abraham Rye-ken, settled at Cortlandt Manor about 1685 and was a member of the Sleepy Hollow Dutch Reformed Church at Tarrytown. Hendrick was known by his patronymic up to about the year 1699, after which he was called van Lent like his brother Ryck. The one exception was a baptism at New York in 1684 of his son Abraham where he was called Hendrick Rycke, probably influenced by his brother Abraham who had previ­ously married there as a Rycke.

Hendrick Abrahamse van Dent and his wife Catrina had the following children : (1) Hendrick, baptized 9 July 1681 (at New York), married 16 Aug. 1715 (at Sleepy Hollow) Sarah, daughter of Nathan Bailey, died in 1766; (2) Abraham, baptized 12 March 1684 (at New York), married Maritie, daughter of Francois Depew; (3) Jan, baptized 16 June 1686 (at New York), married 15 March 1715 (at Sleepy Hollow) Marytie, daughter of William de Ronde; (4) Anna, baptized 13 March 1689 (at New York), married 1706 Card Davids; (5) Jacob, born about 1695, married about 1721 Elsie, daugh­ter of William de Ronde; (6) Cornelia, born about 1697, probably married Cornells Webber; (7) Antje, baptized 24 April 1699 (at Sleepy Hollow), married 7 October 1721 Matthys, son of William de Ronde; (8) Albert; and (9) Rachel.

Abraham Abrahamse, the next to the youngest son of Ab­raham Rycken, was called Abraham Abrahamszen Rycke when he married at the New York Reformed Church in 1681, an example of the use of a double patronymic common in The Netherlands, meaning Abraham the son of Abraham who was the son of Ryck. Shortly afterwards he dropped his own patron­ymic using Rycke as a permanent family surname, which was anglicized to Ryker during the first half of the next century and to Riker by the time of the American Revolution. A branch of the family which migrated to Kentucky about the time of the Revolution. A branch of the family which migrated to Kentucky about the time of the Revolution still uses the name Ryker.

Abraham Abrahamse Rycke and his wife Margrietje had the following children*: (1) Catherine, baptized 1 1 December 1682 (at New York); (2) Margaret, born about 1684, married first Pieter Braisted, second Thomas Lynch and third Anthony Duane; (3) Mary, baptized 1 9 December 1686 (at New York), married Hasuelt van Keuren of Kingston; (4) Abraham, bap­tized 25 May 1691 (at New York), married Geesie, daughter of Johannes van Alst and resided on his father's estate on Long Island; (5) John, born about 1693, maried Geertie, daughter

"First Record Book of Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow and now The First Reformed Church of Tarrytown, NY, "Yonkers Historical and Library Association 1901; Hugh S. Austin, "The Riker-Lent Family," manuscript, dated 1971.

James Riker, Jun., "A Brief History of The Riker Family", Pub. D. Fanshaw, N.Y.C. 1851.

of Teunis Wiltse of Newtown, L . I . , removed in 1744 to northern Bergen County, New Jersey, died in 17 83, his will dated 21 June 1765 and proven 28 October 1783; (6) Hen­drick, born about 1696, married 20 October 1722 (at New York) Elizabeth, daughter of John Peek, died 27 July 1761; (7) Andrew, baptized 8 October 1699 (at New York), married 13 November 1733 Jane, widow of Denis Lawrence and daughter of John Berrien, died 12 February 1763; and (8) Jacob, baptized 1 July 1702 (at New York), married 25 May 1729, Catherine, daughter of Rev. Samuel Pumroy, lived in New York City and died in 1778.

The remaining son of Abraham Rycken, Jan Abrahamse, was called Jan Abrahamszen when he married in the New York Dutch Reformed Church in 1690, but soon followed the example of his brother Abraham and was called Jan Rycken at four baptisms at the church during the next eight years.

The reason these brothers assumed different permanent surnames is unknown, but one possible theory is that there was a lack of communication between families since Ryck, Jacob and Hendrick lived in upper Westchester County while Abraham and Jan lived on Long Island during the surname transition period. There is also the possibility that a surname was imposed upon them by local officials who found the patron­ymic system confusing.

It is important to remember that most colonial Dutch did not view family surnames as we do today. The meaning of a family surname has taken on added importance in the last 1 50 years with the development of hereditary and genealogical societies and interest in a family coat of arms. Many of the colonial Dutch did not have this tradition and probably looked upon family surnames as an added burden. The fact that the use of patronymics continued for such a long period after the arrival of the immigrant in New Netherland illustrates their lack of interest in a permanent surname. The patronymic nam­ing system of the colonial Dutch, however, was a victim of anglicization as the English considered this custom confusing and worked for its abandonment.

Payment in Poultry It was a common practice in New Netherland for rent of

land to be paid in poultry which was highly prized by the Dutch settlers. For example, the Dyckman property at the upper end of Manhattan Island was rented to its first tenant for two hens a year payable over a period of seven years. The patent of 100 morgens (about 200 acres) made to Andries Hudde in that part of Manhattan known as New Harlem (present Harlem area of New York City) called for the payment of "a tenth part of the produce cultivated on the land after ten years" as well as "a pair of capons (to be given) to the Director of the colony for the holidays."

New Amsterdam's First Church Structure The contract for "the church in the fort" at New Amster­

dam, the first to be erected for religious services, was drawn up and signed in 1642 by Director-General William Kieft and the two builders, John and Richard Ogden. The cost was to be 2,500 Dutch guilders to be paid in cash, beaver skins or merchandise. If the finished building was satisfactory to Kieft, 100 guilders would be added as a bonus. The church was completed in 1645 and was in use until 1741 when it was destroyed by fire.

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Who Were the Walloons? by The Editor

There is a good deal of confusion occasioned by the fact that two distinct French speaking groups came as immigrants to New Netherland. The Walloons, basically French speaking Protestants from the southern Netherlands of the sixteenth century, had fled to the northern Netherlands for freedom of worship. As Dutch citizens they were in New Netherland virtually from the beginning. Writing to Amsterdam on 11 August, 1628, Jonas Michaelius, the first domine in New Amsterdam, describes his parishioners.

The Walloons have no French service on Sundays. The service is only in the Dutch language, for those who understand no Dutch are very few. . .Some of them- live far away and could not well come in time of heavy rain and storm, so that it is not advisable to appoint any special service in French for so small and uncertain a number. . .Nevertheless, the Lord's Supper was administered to them in the French Language and according to the French mode, with a sermon which I had before me in writing since 1 could not trust myself to preach extemporaneously in French.

Evidently Walloons were part of New Netherland from the beginning to the extent that the first church service in New Amsterdam was held in both Dutch and French.

1 gather that by the seventeenth century religious immigration from the southern to the northern Netherlands had pretty well ceased and the Walloons had become an integral part of Dutch society, though often retaining a preference for their own language.

King Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 produced another flood of French immigrants to the Netherlands. Commonly called Huguenots, they had started leaving France some time before 1685 when it began to be obvious that the Edict under which they had enjoyed a measure of toleration in France was going to be revoked. They also came in large numbers to the new world, not only to New York but to colonies as different as Massachusetts and South Carolina. The difficulty comes in distinguishing them from the Walloons. I have excerpted the following from a recent history of the Walloons in the Netherlands. I hope it may be helpful to our readers in keeping the two groups straight.

The history of the Walloon Churches is closely linked to that of the Dutch Reformed Church of which it is an integral part. We know how from the first days of the Reformation, the new ideas found numbers of adherents among the inhabit­ants of the Seventeen Provinces and how Emperor Charles V tried in vain to stop the spread of the new movement. The inflexible and cruel Philip II outdid the rigors of his father. Torture became more frequent and more barbaric, but he accomplished nothing by it. Favored by national feeling, the Reformation continued to make new progress.

Although harshly persecuted, Protestants organized more or less Calvinist conventicles clandestinely even in the southern provinces (present day Belgium and the north of France). These formed the first Walloon churches. It was one of their ministers, Guy de Bres, who drew up for them the famous Confessio Belgica in 1561. Written in French, it was modeled after the confession of faith of the Reformed Churches in France and was later adopted by all of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. . .

The number of Reformed Christians continued to grow and here and there their services began to be held publicly. But the voice of the oppressed demanding freedom to worship God in their own way never reached the throne. With the help of the nobility who were more polite than reliable, there was an attempted armed resistance, but it failed; the troops of the Reformation were defeated. In the name of King Philip, the Duke of Alva took over the reins of government and blood flowed in torrents. By his own confession he was responsible for the death of 18,000 people and that total does not include those who were massacred by his soldiers. Thus it was that thousands of Protestants fled abroad, seeking refuge in Eng­land, East Friesland, the Palatinate and Cleves. . .

In 1 572 the capture of Brielle by the sea beggars was the signal for a general insurrection in the provinces of Holland and Zeeland, led by the Prince of Orange. For a long time these two provinces were the only ones to struggle against Spanish tyranny. Only in 1576 did other provinces begin to share in the struggle and the Union of Utrecht was formed in 1579. As we know, the struggle lasted for a long time with periods of both success and failure.

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During the course of this struggle, whenever a town was liberated, Reformed Walloons sought refuge there in large numbers. In fact, after the bloody terror that had prevailed under the Duke of Alva, his successor, Alexander Farnese, began a new policy, one of total destruction. H e gave the Protestants their choice between abjuring their faith or exile. Some in fact did give up their faith, but most preferred to leave their country and seek refuge in the northern towns which were no longer subject to Spanish domination.

When they had a sufficiently large number in one of these towns, they formed a French speaking congregation, distinct from the Dutch congregations which had welcomed them. The first such congregation was established in Middleburg in 1 574. Refugees from the south had poured in to such an extent that three ministers were necessary. Walloons were also found in all the great cities of Holland. A church was formed in Amster­dam in 1578 and saw its numbers markedly increase in 1585 with the arrival of refugees from Anvers. In Eeiden French services began to be held in 1581, but it was only in 1584 when 450 refugees arrived from Bruges with their minister and their consistory that a congregation was officially formed. Harlem welcomed a number of Walloon refugees also. A congregation was formed there in 1586 with Jean Taffin, a refugee from Anvers, as minister.

For a while the congregations in Rotterdam and the Hague had to depend on a minister from Delft, but in 1590 and 1591 they succeeded in forming independent churches which became important centers for the refugees. Thanks to its indus­try, Rotterdam offered them new ways of making a living while in the Hague there was the presence of the court. In a short time, Louise de Coligny invited an ever increasing group into the chapel in the House of Parliament.

But Holland and Zeeland were not the only provinces to welcome the Walloon refugees. . .In the north there were often magistrates who asked the Synod to establish a Walloon congregation in their towns. They wanted this human capital which they believed could be useful in the development of their communities. They offered them church buildings, helped them find a pastor, granted them long term tax exemp­tions. In the seventeenth century there was a total of 43 Walloon

congregations in the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

In 1685 the 26 congregations which remained had to wel­come, with the assistance of the States General, the Huguenots, a new group of refugees who flowed into the Netherlands from every corner of France.

In fact, many of them had begun to arrive before 1685. Many French Protestants, forseeing what was going to happen if they remained in their country, left it to be able to practice their religion in peace. Proof of this contention can be found in Louis XIV's edict of August, 1669 which, just to prevent such an exodus, expressly forbade any of the king's subjects to leave the kingdom without permission. Needless to say, it did not succeed in stopping the emigration. In the years just before 1685 and especially after it, the emigration from France assumed enormous proportions.

The Edict of Revocation of 1685 enjoined all ministers who did not wish to become Roman Catholics to leave the kingdom in two weeks. Of the 600 pastors estimated to have been in France at that time, 363 took refuge in the Netherlands. More than 40 came to Amsterdam and about the same number to Rotterdam. The States of Holland guaranteed them all salaries and insofar as possible, places in which to work. 16 pastors were salaried in Amsterdam, 7 at Dordrecht, 7 at Harlem, 6 in Delft, 8 in Leiden, 5 in Gouda and 2 in Schiedam. Other refugees pastors were found in the major towns of just about every province.

As for the laypeople, the edict forbade their leaving the country under penalty of serving in the galleys lor the men, imprisonment and confiscation of all property for the women.

In spite of these threats, many tried to leave and more than 100,000 succeeded.

The United Provinces welcomed a great number of them. As early as 1684 Amsterdam counted more than 2,000 French refugees and a few years after the Revocation of 1685, there were 15,000. They were in many towns in the country, not merely in Holland and Zeeland.

. . .These French refugees were everywhere welcomed with touching generosity. All of the towns and all of the churches, moved by the painful situation of the new arrivals, often with everything lost, rivaled each other in their acts of charity to the Huguenots. . .

In Holland, as in England and Germany, many of the refugees not only abjured their nationality, but changed their French names to their Dutch equivalents. Leblanc became deWitt; Dujardin became Tuyn or van den Bogaard; De-schamps was now van de Velde; Dubois became van den Bosch; the Sauvages became de Wildes; Legrand became de Groot while Dumont was transformed into van den Berg.

After this attempt to clarify things, let me again confuse them. The Dutch settlers in New Netherland never referred to the Huguenots as Franse but always as Walsche, the word for French speakers they had brought with them from home where, of course, they had known Walloons from the beginning. Thus the old records contain frequent references to the Walloon Church in New Paltz, a fact which should not be taken to mean that its members were not Huguenots!

Dutch New York Described in 1920 Guide Book A treasured possession of Holland Society President Arthur

R. Smock, J r . , is a small (three-inch by four-inch) leather-bound guide book, The Sidewalks of New York. This little volume, printed in 1923, contains a series of walking tours of New York City with old woodcut illustrations and tour maps. Dur ing the decade of the 1920's it was given to guests of the Bowman hotels in New York City (the Biltmore, Com­modore, Belmont, Ansonia and Murray Hil l Hotels) to ac­quaint them with the history and background of their surround­ings as they strolled about the metropolis.

The introduction refers briefly to "the first four families of Walloons from South Holland" and the fact that "in 1664 there were three hundred and fifty buildings put up in Man­hattan" but it is the first tour, "New Amsterdam and Modern Finance" that contains most of the descriptive data concerning the period when New York was New Amsterdam. Beginning at the Battery at the southernmost tip of Manhattan Island "bounded by the two rivers meeting in the bay and extending up to Wall Street" it informs the reader that "every pavement you cross follows exactly the path beaten out by Dutch wooden shoes, and every great building you wonder at, rests on a spot where once stood the cottage of a Van Dam or Maerschalk; or lies in the big field spaces on which these old Dutchmen used to gaze."

"In 1613," the reader is told, "four little cottages were clustered a few rods up from where you stand (No. 41 Broad­way). These were built by Adrian Block and his mates—ship­wrecked men who had escaped from their burning sloop, the 'Tiger'. But the first real settlers, four families of Walloons,

KJ\ arriving in 1623, came determined to stay. They multiplied their settlement to thirty houses in a short time and in ten years had completed the foundations of a fort."

"This was called Fort Amsterdam, and it remained through­out the life of the Dutch town, its military and social center. At that time the stretch of the park (Battery Park) spreading

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out before you now, was still under water and the old fort, on the site of the present Customs House, easily commanded the entrance to both (the) Hudson and East Rivers. Built of earth and stone and having tour bastions, it rose proudly above the small houses with their steeply sloping roofs. Here Peter Minuit used to hear law cases, usually telling the contestants that he would take three days to consider the case. Here Van Twiller enveloped all his counsellors and visitors in the smoke of that rare tobacco, grown at Sappokanican—the present Greenwich Village; here Governor Kieft planned his Indian raids, with such dire results; and here Peter Stuyvesant—that hardy, honest Dutchman—was compelled to surrender to the British."

Continuing the description, the guide book recalls that "the main gate of the fort opened on Bowling Green—the tiny triangular park at the foot of Broadway. The children played m this open space, the little girls with their many, many layers of petticoats and little boys with funny long trousers. The youths and maidens danced there around the maypole. Their elders met there and traded formally with the Indians. It was probably there that Governor Peter Minuit, in 1626, purch­ased the whole of Manhattan Island for $24, a big sum for the poor struggling frontiersmen. It was from this spot that the little haphazard paths grew into roads and then into our present-day streets."

"One of these old paths," according to the guide book, "ran over to the ferry which connected the old town of those days with the present Brooklyn. It followed the curve of the shore line—and became Pearl Street. The old bend it had to

THE OLD DUTCH CANAL ON BROAD STREET

take around the fort is still noticeable. Another path soon worn into a road was the present lower Broadway, going from the fort as far north as the present Park Row, near City Hall , passing thence into the wilderness, and coming out at Governor Stuyvesant's remote farm, his 'Bouwerie'—now St. Mark's

Place and 10th Street. A third distinct path was along the palisades of the town—none less than Wall Street! This was built as a defense against that 'lithe, aggressive race'—the New Englanders.

"Within the little town ran a canal, called the Gracht, now Broad Street, which the Dutch, of course, adored, and on which they built their choicest houses. From the canal to the Fort ran several little lanes. There was Beaver Street, the path beside a little creek which ended in a swamp; there was Stone Street, so named because it was the first to be paved (in) 1657; Bridge Street, leading to a crossing over the canal; and Mar-ketfield Street, once Petticoat Dane, and now one of the shortest streets in the city. Mill Street, now William (Street), was named for the old horse mill where the Dutch held their Sunday meetings, and near by were Tin Pot Alley (Fxchange Place) and Drain Dutch (Hanover Street).

"Outside the wall a few scattered lanes were beaten gradu­ally into thoroughfares. Maiden Lane, where the girls used to wash and bleach their clothes along the brook. . .still follows the curve of the little stream that flowed down this slope. A certain cartway, granted to Teunis de Kay, from the wall to the Commons (City Hall Park) became Pie Woman's Lane and now. . .is Nassau Street.

AN OLD DUTCH HOUSE

"In those days houses were renting for $20 a year, public wells were just being constructed, and the town was lighted by lanterns hung out at the end of a pole from every seventh house. Police protection consisted of one watchman; fast driv­ing was prohibited; and also the shooting of game within the city limits. Sanitary laws ordered that swine running at large be shot, and every householder was forced to sweep in front of his door every Friday morning! It was not until long after­ward, that the monthly stages between New York and Boston and the weekly packet to Staten Island connected the funny little town with the rest of the colonies.

"In the meantime, with its big clean Dutch matrons and its honest beer-loving fathers, the town gradually spread out, and, in 1664, without any bloodshed, fell into British hands. Then it fell back again to the Dutch and was called for a few months, New Orange. Again, once more, it became Fnglish, and from that time on, it lived fairly peaceably—on through the struggling Colonial days."

The remainder of the little 124-page booklet directs the reader to other sections of the city—Bowery Village and Stuyvesant Square, Greenwich Village and Washington Square, Chelsea Village and Gramercy Park—and ends with such "High Spots" of New York City as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, Gracie Mansion and other more modern landmarks to be seen and enjoyed.

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Society Activities

Dr. C. A. Weslager

Society Fellow Receives University Award Dr. Clinton A. Weslager, a Fellow of the Holland Society,

was presented with the University of Delaware Medal of Dis­tinction at a ceremony held March 3rd in John M. Clayton Hall of the University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware. The award was made to Dr . Weslager by J. Bruce Bredin, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University.

The presentation was held as a part of" a three-day seminar, March 3-5, commemorating the 350th anniversary of the establishment of Swedish colonies on the Delaware River. Among the speakers at the seminar was another Society Fellow, Dr . Charles T. Gehring of the New Netherland Project.

The leading authority on early settlements in the Delaware Valley, Dr . Weslager is the author of numerous books, monog­raphs, essays, reviews and articles (including two that have appeared in de Halve Maen) on the pre-colonial and colonial history of that region. In addition he has been the recipient of other awards recognizing his standing, chief of which was the honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters bestowed upon him by Widener University in 1986. He has served at various times as visiting professor at Wesley College, Bran-dywine College of Widener University and the University of Delaware. His latest book, The Swedes and Dutch at New Castle, relates the struggle between colonists from those nations for possession and control of a key settlement on the Delaware.

Alrich's Family to Hold Reunion The third annual Alrich's Family reunion will be held

October 7-9 this year at Port Penn, Delaware. The site selected for the family gathering is an area in which Peter Alrich, from whom all family members trace their descent, owned land. A fur trader, merchant and prominent official on the South River, Peter Alrich arrived before 1659. Those in­terested in attending the reunion should contact the Executive Secretary of the Peter Alrich's Foundation, William Alrich, 248 Upper Gulph Road, Radnor, Pennsylvania 19087.

Here and There With Members H e n r y V a n W o r m e r ' s daughter, Lisa Monique, a re­

cent Cum Laude graduate of Glassboro (New Jersey) State College, has returned from a six-week vacation in Europe where she visited, among other places, the Province of North Holland and the village of Wormer in that province from which her paternal ancestor, Laurens Janssen Van Wormer emigrated to New Netherland in 1659.

D a v i d A . B lauve l t and Mrs . Bl auvelt are the parents of a son, Devin, born February 29, 1988.

N o r m a n F . L e n t was honored March 1 8th by the New York State Society of Professional Engineers at their annual awards dinner-dance held at the Villa Victor, Syosset, New York, as Citizen of the Year. Congressman Lent who is cur­rently serving his ninth consecutive term in the U.S . House of Representatives for the Fourth District of New York, in a brief acceptance speech stressed the need for engineers to use non-technical language whenever possible in describing en­gineering problems.

V a n Aken - Van Auken Family Meeting All descendants of the Van Aken, Van Auken family, in­

cluding those with the surnames of Van Nocker, Van Ocker, Van Acker and other derivations of the family name are cor­dially invited to attend the family reunion to be held August 20-21, 1988 at Kingston, New York. Those interested in attending should contact Ann C. Croston, 5 Ellsworth Avenue, # 1 A, Danbury, Connecticut 068 1 0 for further information.

March Meeting of Officers and Trustees

The Society's officers and trustees met at New York City's Union Club March 10th to discuss a number of matters in addition to hearing routine committee reports.

Following the customary opening prayer, President Arthur R. Smock, J r . , presented a brief summary of his activities which included attendance at dinners of the Society of Colonial Wars and the St. David's Society. He also noted that the Holland Society has resumed the practice of sending birthday greetings to the Queen of the Netherlands on her birthday (April 3 0). This year he proposes to present a resolution at the annual meeting to this effect. He also announced that a Branch President for the U.S . Navy, which has been vacant, has been found and that Lt. Commander Richard W. DeMott of San Francisco, California, will fill this position.

Following the reading of the necrology, Secretary Louis O. Springsteen reported only one death of a member since the last meeting and that the membership had declined in numbers to 921 as of this meeting. In his report, Treasurer James M. Vreeland noted that the decline in annual members had been offset to a degree by the conversion of five members from annual to life membership. He further reported that there had been only a minor loss in the Society's investment funds as a result of the stock market decline last October. Chairman Peter Van Dyke of the Finance Committee observed that income has risen since the last report due to the number of "sound, solid investments" made by the Society.

Reporting for the Committee on Historical Publications, Ralph L. DeGroff, J r . , told the trustees that the New Nether-

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land Project had, with funds furnished by the Society, purch­ased its printout and software equipment to enable them to publish translations of the Dutch documents. H e added that Syracuse University Press will be the medium through which the publications will appear and he is scheduled to meet with the Press, along with Charles Gehring and Peter Christoph of the New Netherland Project, to work out a contract.

Recent library acquisitions including a new Schuyler Fam­ily genealogy together with transcriptions of the Shokan Re­formed Church (organized 1791) and the Jerusalem Reformed Church at Feura Bush, New York (organized 1791) and sup­plements to the genealogies of the Banta and Van Sickle families have been added to the shelves of the library. Visitors to the Society library during the winter months included two students from Delft, the Netherlands, doing research on land extension plans in the New York harbor area.

In another committee report, Clifford A. Crispell, Jr . of De Halve Maen informed those present that the first 1988 issue of the magazine is in the mail. H e also noted that the magazine is distributed to three colleges and to approximately one hundred public libraries between Albany and New York City.

J O H N H . V A N D E R W E R K E N

John H . Van Derwerken, a member of the Holland Society of New York since 1955 died at the age of 81 years on May 22, 1987 at North Fort Myers, Florida. A descendant of Roeloff Gerritse Van Derwerken who came to New Amsterdam in 1663, he was born in Johnstown, New York on August 9, 1905, the son of John H . Van Derwerken and Lillian Lathers.

The Committee on Genealogy presented the following can­didates for membership after finding them qualified. All were approved by a vote of the trustees:

F r a n c i s H o e g h G o e l e t New York, New York

H o w a r d W e e k s H e n d r i c k s o n Tarrytown, New York

M i c h a e l Otto Spr ings teen Old Tappan, New Jersey

H o w a r d J a m i e s o n Spr ings teen Falls Church, Virginia

R e y n o l d s L e n t O n d e r d o n k Hartford, Connecticut

A d r i a a n L a t r o b e O n d e r d o n k Downingtown, Pennsylvania

R i c h a r d s o n D i x o n O n d e r d o n k Kingston, New York

J o h n G a r r i s o n S t o r m Brooklyn, New York

J o h n B a r c a l o w V a n D e r b e e k Aberdeen, Washington

C h r i s t o p h e r M a h r V o o r h e e s Wilmington, Delaware

For some years M r . Van Derwerken was President and Treasurer of the Baronet Litho Co., Inc. , at Johnstown, New York, a publishing firm specializing, among others, in books centered upon local and regional New York history. After retiring from business, he moved to North Fort Myers, Florida.

H e is survived by his wife, the former Rida Wessels. No further details have been provided by his family.

Report of the Committee on Genealogy

The following applications have been checked and found duly qualified for membership on or before October 8, 1987:

N A M E

Henry Dorris DeGrove, III

Peter Gansevoort Ten Ecyk, II

Egbert Milton Van Duzer

Langdon Van Norden, Jr .

William Frank Van Vranken

Charles Whiting Van Winkle

Justin Vance Wyckoff

Theodore Wyckoff

D E S C E N D E D F R O M

Pieter Adolfzen Van der Groeft 1657

Coenraedt Ten Eyck 1650 (about)

Abraham Pietersen (Van Deursen) 1629

Pieter Casparszen Van Naarden 1623

Claas Gerritse 1640

Jacob Walingen (Waligh) 1635

Pieter Claesen Wyckoff 1637

Pieter Claesen Wyckoff 1637

A D D R E S S

8407 Daffin Lane Jacksonville, FL32217

R .D . # 2 , Box 65 Voorheesville, NY 12186

Emmons Farms R .D . 4, Box 573A, Oneonta, NY 13 820

9 1 Cherry Valley Road Greenwich, C T 06831

1496 Village Rd., Apt. B Union, NJ 07083

1209 Winter Hun t Road McLean, VA 22102

3 1 1 Prospect Avenue Mamaroneck, NY 10543

515 E . D a v i d Drive Flagstaff, AZ 86001

In Memoriam

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Committee Assignments 1988-89

(Chairmen Underlined)

T R U S T E E S William Alrich, History and Tradition, Distinguished

Achievement, Genealogy Frederick W. Bogert, Genealogy, De Halve Maen,

Historical Publications Clifford A. Crispell, Jr., De Halve Maen, Endowment,

Library Ralph L. Degroff, Jr., Historical Publications, Endow­

ment, Scholarship John O. Delamater, Aims and Purposes, Law,

Memorial Church Service Richard C. Deyo, Meetings, Archives, Endowment William Deyo, Audit, Banquet, Law Hubert T. Mandeville, Banquet, Finance, Scholarship Robert D . Nostrand, Library, Archives, Distinguished

Achievement David M. Riker, Genealogy (Vice Chairman), De Halve

Maen, Membership Tweed Roosevelt, Distinguished Achievement, Aims and

Purposes, Banquet James M. Van Buren, II, Banquet, De Halve Maen,

History and Tradition John Vanderveer, Branches, De Halve Maen, Membership Harry A. Van Dyke, Archives, Banquet, Library Peter Van Dyke, Finance, History and Tradition, Meetings Stanley L. Van Rensselaer, Law, Audit, Historical

Publications Daniel Van Riper, Audit, Branches, Meetings John R. Voorhis, III, Aims and Purposes, Branches,

Membership Peter Vosburgh, Banquet, Distinguished Achievement,

History and Tradition Ferdinand L. Wyckoff, Scholarship, Branches,

Membership

E M E R I T U S John A. Pruyn, Aims and Purposes, Endowment, Meetings Charles A. Van Patten, Archives, History and Tradition

O F F I C E R S Rev. Howard Hageman, De Halve Maen (Editor),

Historical Publications, Memorial Church Service, Scholarship

Rev. Louis Springsteen, De Halve Maen, Memorial Church Service, Scholarship

James M. Vreeland, Endowment, Audit, Finance

P A S T P R E S I D E N T S John H. Vander Veer, Membership, Branches, Genealogy James E. Quackenbush, Banquet, Library Kenneth L. Demarest, Jr., Law, Meetings Gerrit W. Van Schaick, Branches

O T H E R S Hendrick Booraem, Jr., History and Tradition James P. Snedeker, Aims and Purposes, Audit David Nostrand, Aims and Purposes Kenneth Hasbrouck, Archives, Memorial Church Service Adrian T. Bogart, Jr., Branches David William Voorhees, De Halve Maen, History and

Tradition, Library Andrew Brink, De Halve Maen, Scholarship Arthur Van Dyke, De Halve Maen, Library Elmer B. Staats, Distinguished Achievement Chase Viele, Distinguished Achivement Rev. William Lydecker, Genealogy, Historical

Publications, Memorial Church Service George Olin Zabriskie, Genealogy Adrian T. Bogart, III, Aims and Purposes Kevin A. Denton, Law Charles Swartwood, Law Edward Vrooman, Law Robert G. Geolet, Library Walter Van Ness , Membership Paul H. Davis, Membership Frederick M. Tibbitts, Jr., Distinguished Achievement Jeffery Wyckoff, Scholarship

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