
A
genealogical
record for
William Henry McGillivray(336)
was done on May 1, 1941 for the purpose of proving his descendancy
from Anneke Jans Bogardus. They believed there was a great deal of wealth to
be inherited and there was a mad scramble to prove their kinship
from amongst an incredibly large number of descendants. I have been told that
the land where the Woolworth Tower stands, Wall Street and also Trinity Church
(both in New York) was part
of this inheritance. Family lore states that Anneke Jans Bogardus' will stated
that the land that Trinity Church stood on would remain in the
city's care for 99 years at which point it would be split between
her heirs. I have learned through reading various accounts that
the land was most likely taken from the Jans heirs by England
during the revolution and Trinity Church, now a corporation, kept
control of it long afterwards. The heirs have managed to bring
several lawsuits against the church, New York state and New York
city. Supposedly, someone in Texas was successful in receiving
some sort of compensation. For another excellent site with additional information,
please
check
out
this
site:
http://walter.gilbert.name/gen/htmfile/3854.htm The
below information was taken from many sources. I only offer this information
for your reading pleasure. I do not know if she was or was not really the daughter
of the Prince of Orange and I'm not expert enough on the subject to make that
decision for anyone. It seems that some have had this story passed down through
generations and truly believe that she was of noble blood. Others swear that
she was actually Norwegian. When she married Jans, the wedding banns shows that
she was born in Vleckere in Norway. Click
here for a picture of that banns. Proponents
of the nobility stance
argue that she may have been born there but that she was a bastard child of Wolferd
Webber regardless. Perhaps we'll never know. In any case, please review the information
below with an open mind and come to your own conclusions.


Just recently P. Saxton provided me with the following pictures. She states: "My great grandmother Myrtle Converse is from the Ohio side of this family her letters and newspaper clippings start 1909 and go thru 1923. As I understand she was present at a court hearing in Indinapolis IN in 1923. Thank you for your page about this. I have been able to put what I have in some context. You made things about her clear. I also have a 13 page doc. done by a researcher, Ethel Kelsey, as to our Anneke." These are pictures of Anneke Jans Bogardus and Reverend Everardus Bogardus taken from oil paintings.
The following information has been gleaned from five different
sources (so far).
In a Minneapolis newspaper article about 1930 the heading reads "....has covered 300 years, and hasn't yet come to its climax,
links Minneapolis with the adventures of a wrathful Dutch Prince,
and a Princess who eloped with a farmer's son and raised pigs
on the site of Gotham." Here are a few paragraphs from that
article:
Anneka was a prince's daughter" but she eloped with a farmer.
She chose the love of a peasant's son even though it entailed
a life of hardship in a wild, strange land. She gave up her home,
her friends and her country. In the fury of his wrath at the willfulness
of his youngest daughter, old Prince Wolfert swore that neither
she nor her descendants unto the sixth generation should ever
touch one guilder of it. That strange will is recalled today"for
six generations of the descendants of Anneka and Roelof have passed
and the seventh"who were to fall heir, to Prince Wolfert's
quixotic will may come into their inheritance, but not as the
heirs of Prince Wolfert, but as the heirs of Anneka Jens, the
girl who placed love above wealth and position and who endured
a life of hardship in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam.
For the little 62 acre farm in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam
with her husband sought to tame from its native wilderness has
produced a crop of skyscrapers, stores and
tenements which makes the denied inheritance of Prince Wolfert
a joke. In the passing of 300 years or more, the desolate farm
of the immigrant bride has become an estate whose settlement has
formed one the of the greatest legal disputes of all times. Its
value is so great that it can scarcely be appraised. The Trinity
Church corporation now owns the land which once comprised Anneka's
farm and the farm of her neighbor, Peter Wikoff. Some of the buildings
that stand on this property are the Woolworth building, the highest
in the worlds" the Standard Oil offices, 26 Broadway; the
Singer building, Wall street; the Morgan office, the United States
subtreasury and historic Trinity church. The ground alone is estimated
to have a value of not less than $1,000,000,000. [picture: Looking
south at the Jans Farm]
Does the ghost of Anneka Jans, "a little woman with merry
eyes beneath her Dutch cap and a fondness for bright clothing," according
to her biographers, walk historic Duane street, once a lane through her
farm, dreaming of the joke that she has played
upon her wrathful father and his seventh generation will? For
the seventh generation of Anneka's descendants has arrived and
some of them are seeking to prove their right to an estate of
unestimated value while Prince Wolfert's will is only vaguely
remembered as the threat of an angry old man.
It is believed by 80 descendants of Anneka Jens and Peter Wikoff,
banded together in "The Descendants' Association" that
the climax of the romantic story of the runaway princess and her
62 acre farm is about to be written.
The article goes on to say that there are hundreds of descendants,
four that are known in Minneapolis and several in the Northwest
(and this doesn't even include us!) There was a convention in
Indianapolis, IN for the Descendant's Association. Also, a description
of the farm, also called the King's Farm, the Duke's Farm and
the Queen's Farm, reads as such: "...it extended from Warren
street along Christopher street. The Hudson river forming the
base of a kind of unequal triangle. Wouter Van Twiller, the Dutch
governor of New Amsterdam, granted this tract in 1636 to Roelef
Jans, five years after his arrival in America."
From Anneke Jans Bogardus and Her Farm, Nash, New York, 1896,
pages 49-61:
In the year 1630, when Pieter Minnuit was Governor or Director
General of New Netherlands, under "the Right Honorable Prudent
Lords, the Lords Directors of the United Provinces of the Netherlands," there
landed at New Amsterdam a sturdy Dutchman named Roeloff Jansen. He had
been a man of some position, and even of official
standing, in his native town of Maasland.
The spirit of adventure, however, was abroad. Emigrants of high
and low degree were leaving old homes for new fields of enterprise
and industry. Bold discoverers were revealing new wonders of the
sea and land., and bringing to light the hidden mysteries of the
geographical world. New maps were planned; new enterprises stimulated
the curious or the avaricious. ....
.......Roeloff Jansen caught the spirit of unrest. He had a strong
young wife, willing to brave the seas, and a little family, and
there was a future to make for them; so they bade farewell to
the fatherland and sailed for the Dutchman's new field of adventure
and fortune, "Nieuw Nederland."
Jansen procured a position as one of the superintendents at Rensselaerswyck,
on the Hudson, the great territory granted as a patroonship to
Kilian van Rensselaer, the rich diamond polisher of Amsterdam.
Jansen's name was perpetuated there in that of the kill or creek
called "Roeloff Jansen's Kill," which runs in the Hudson
River between Red Hook and the present city of Hudson.
After a sojourn of a few years, filling the duties of his post
under the patroon's agents at Rensselaerswyck, Jansen seems to
have moved with his family to New Amsterdam, having obtained from
Director Van Twiller, in 1636, a ground brief or patent for the
farm or Bouwery of about sixty-two acres which has been for nearly
two hundred years a prominent bone of contention.
Roeloff Jansen did not long enjoy his new possessions; he was
called to another world about the year 1637 or 1638, leaving behind
him five sturdy little children, and a buxom, attractive widow,
then and now widely known as Mrs. Annetje or Anneke Jans.
...and within a year of her bereavement the subject of our monograph
could boast of being the wife of one of the most prominent and
remarkable characters in the early history of our city. [Domine
Everardus Bogardus]
The widow, however, was of a prudent turn of mind, and before
her marriage to her new husband she took care to make a property
settlement of her estate. Her marriage settlement is still among
our archives. By it she settled 1000 guilders upon her children
by the first marriage out of their father's estate. The settlement
thus concludes: "She, Anna Jans, and E. Bogardus also promise
to bring up the children, with the help of God, decently, provide
them necessary clothing and food, keep them at school, let them
learn reading, writing, and a good trade." ..
Domine Evarardus Bogardus, the second husband of Mrs. Anneke Jans,
came over from Holland in the year 1633 with Wouter Van Twiller,
who succeeded Pieter Minuit as Director-General of the little
Dutch colony. He was the second established clergyman in the settlement,
and was a man of education and intellect, as well as one of a
very determined and independent character. His position was an
important and distinguished one. He held his trust directly from
the directors of the Company in Holland and when he differed from
the local government in matters either of a moral or political
nature, he did not hesitate to assert his opinions and enforce
his views openly and vigorously.
[There are several paragraphs describing his character and adventures
which I have chosen to leave out for the sake of brevity]
...Domine Bogardus met with a sad ending. He bade farewell to
his wife and children for a visit to the vaderland, and took passage
in the ship Princess, in the year 1647. ...the vessel mistook
the channel, and both Kieft [a rival] and the Domine perished
by shipwreck on the rocks off the coast of Wales.
Not long after the Domine's decease, Mrs. Bogardus determined
to leave New Amsterdam and settle among her early friends on the
Hudson. She accordingly took up her residence at Beverwyck, now
the site of part of the present Albany, and sold her house in
New Amsterdam. She was at this time, doubtless, a lady in very
comfortable circumstances for those times. Besides her farm and
her two houses, she was the proprietor of many acres of land near
the present village of Newtown, on Long Island, and also at Hell
Gate, where she owned eighty acres granted her in 1654. She acquired,
also, land at Beverwyck, and from the provisions of her will we
may conclude that she was quite well to do in the world.
She must have lived several years at Bverwyck, and died there
in the year 1663, about thirty years after her arrival in the
province. Her will was made at Beverwyck before Dirck Van Schelluyne,
the notary, and two of her friends, Rutger Jacobs van Schoonderwert
and Everet Wendell, as she lay, according to the recitals in the
will, "on her bed in a state of sickness, but perfectly sensible
and in the full possession of her mental powers, and capable to
testate, and recommending her immortal soul the Almighty God,
her Creator and Redeemer, and consigning her body to Christian
burial." Her remains were interred in the yard of the old
Dutch church in Hudson Street in Albany, and there they still
are.
The article continues to list her children, their marriages and
what they were left by her will.
Continuing on page 54-
The farm called the Domine's Bouwerey, which has been the subject
of much contention, was granted by Governor Van Twiller to Roeloff
Jansen and his wife in 1636. It was then in a very rough state,
and had never been cultivated.
The grant was confirmed in 1654 by Director Stuyvesant, by a patent
to Mrs. Annetje Jans, as widow of Everardus Bogardus.
The description in the patent from Stuyvesant is in two portions,
bounded together northerly by the partition line of "old
Jan's land," by the Cripple Bush and "the Kalckhoeck," westerly
by the river, and southerly by the posts and rails of
the Company's land.
On the 27th March, 1667, three years after the occupation by the
English, Governor Nichols made a confirmatory patent to the heirs
of Mrs. Bogardus, reciting the original grant form Van twiller.
The boundaries in this his patent are of two pieces, one bounded
on 'old Jan's land' and the swamp on the north and east, the river
on the west, and by a line drawn from the house by the strand
side on the south. The other piece, adjoining and south of the
former, is bounded south by the fence of the land belonging to
the Company, and by the 'Chalke Hookoe" on the east. The
Kripplebosh, or swamp, above referred to, was one of the outlets
of Fresh-water Pond, in the rear of the present City Hall; it
covered the land now occupied by the lower part of Canal Street,
and was afterward known as part of Lispenard's meadows.
As transferred by the above patents, the farm is described as
consisting of 32 morgens, or 62 acres.
The description given would comprehend a tract between a line
drawn near the north side of Warren Street on the south, and Canal
Street, or perhaps Desbrosses Street, on the north, on the west
by the river, and on the east by a series of irregular lines west
of Broadway.
The southern boundary was the Company's. Duke's or King's or Queen's
farm, as it was variously termed, running from Fulton Street north
to Warren Street, and bounded by the river and Broadway.
This term King's or Queen's farm in subsequent conveyances and
patents was supposed to include, and it seems to have been conceded
in most of the actions brought, the Domine's Bouwery above described,
although properly the latter was no part of the Company's or King's
farm.
[Once again the book goes into great detail over various patents
and boundaries. Three heirs had deeded over sixty-two acres to
Colonel Francis Lovelace. This deed did not include the share
of Cornelius Bogardus, who was deceased at the time]
It will be remembered that in 1673, two years after this deed
was given by the heirs to Governor Lovelace, the Dutch recovered
possession of New Amsterdam from the English by a sudden attack,
and held it about a year. On its restoration to the English in
1674, under the Treaty of Westminster, Governor Andros, representing
the Duke of York as proprietor, took possession of the farm in
his behalf, and, as it is understood, seized and confiscated,
in behalf of the Duke, Governor Lovelace's estates, including
this Bouwery.
The fact of this deed having been given by the heirs to Governor
Lovelace seems to have been for a long time forgotten. In December,
1785, it was discovered by the Trinity Church trustees, and its
contents communicated to some of the heirs as if it was a complete
answer to their claims.
[various leases were made until]....In 1697 Governor Fletcher
leased "the King's Farm" to the corporation of Trinity
Church, for a rent of sixty bushels of wheat, for seven years
from August 1, 1698. ...but Queen Ann, by an order in June, 1708,
confirmed the vacating act of 1699, and not the act repealing
it, and resumed possession of all the lands for the crown.

In 1700, Lord Cornbury, who was a zealous protector of the Established
Church, leased the Queen's farm to Trinity Church for as long
a period as he should be Governor, and in 1704 Trinity church
sublet it to one George Ryerse for five years, at a rent of £30.
We now come down to the grant in fee of the year 1705. We find
the church in actual possession, under the lease from Lord Cornbury,
of what they claim as not only the old Company's or Duke's farm,
extending from Fulton Street north to Warren Street, but also
of what was comprehended under the name of the Domine's Bouwery,
extending north to Canal Street.
In the year 1705 the grant was made to the church under which
they claim to hold adversely and in hostility to all other interests.
It was patent from the Colonial Governor, Cornbury, as acting
for Queen Anne, to the corporation of Trinity church of the tract
known as the Queen's farm, as then in the occupation of George
Ryerse, bounded easterly partly by Broadway and partly by the
common and partly by the swamp, and westerly by the river. It
will be observed that there are no boundaries given on the north
or south. [picture: The church in the Fort]
Once again there are several paragraphs that I have omitted, please
refer to the book if you would like more detail. There is another
chapter just on the lawsuits. Basically it says that Trinity Church
property was obtained from the crown by misrepresentation and
deception; the dissenting citizens include Bogardus descendants.
The city of New York put forward its claim and the State has not
been idle in asserting its rights as owner paramount, succeeding
to the rights of the British crown. Basically, what the heirs
are claiming is that the ground called Domine's Hook or the Bouwery
was never part of the Duke's or Queens farm, and therefore did
not pass under the grant from Queen Anne, but that Trinity Church
was merely an intruder on the Bogardus region and possession,
except that in 1785 it bought out the right of Cornelius Bogardus
in the property for £700, and then went into a regular unrestrained
possession, but which possession was merely as tenant in common
with the other heirs. It appeared in the evidence that the church
had never put on record the above-mentioned deed from Cornelius,
and had kept it somewhat secret. The claimants averred that the
deed was concealed because the church feared that its legal effect
would be to establish it as tenant in common with the other heirs.
Page 847-
Lately an old Dutch Bible, alleged to have belonged formerly to
Mrs. Anneke Bogardus, has come to light in the hands of one Miss
Harriet Van Atten, of Glenville, Schenectady County, a direct
descendant of Pieter Bogardus, a son of the old lady, to whom
it is stated to have been given by her. On the strength of this,
and pair of gold earrings that once belonged to her venerable
ancestor as personal property, application was recently made to
the Surrogate of Albany for letters of administration upon the
personality of Mrs. Anneke Bogardus.
The Surrogate of Albany County refused to entertain the application,
and the matter is now on appeal to the General Term of the Supreme
Court from his decision. If letters of administration are granted,
the intention is to open the legal battle again, and to claim
an accounting from Trinity Church.
This coveted tract of land has not only been the subject of forensic
battle, but bone and sinew have been engaged in the contest; heads
have been broken and shots have been fired in support of the claim
of the redoubtable and indefatigable heirs.
This famous character has been so long and so prominently before
the public, it would hardly be expected that much of interest
respecting her could be found at this day. But in delving among
the public record, we continue to find new facts, which aid in
developing her history. She was among the first immigrants that
came to settle the manor of Rensselaerswyck and arrived in 1630,
with her husband Roeloff Jansen Van Maesterlandt, who came out
with his family as farmer to the patroon at a salary of seventy-two
dollars a year. Five or six years afterwards the family was settled
at New Amsterdam, now New York, where he received a patent from
Governor Van Twiller in 1636, for 31 morgens, or 62 acres, of
land, lying along the North river. About this time he died, and
in 1637 or 1638, Anneke married the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, the
first settled minister of the place. He died in 1647 and she returned
to Albany, where her residence was on the east corner of State
and James streets. She died in 1663, and was buried in the churchyard
on Beaver and Hudson streets, now the site of the Second or Middle
Dutch Church.
Anneke had eight children, four by each husband, of whom three
daughters and three sons married and had families, and their descendants
at this day are in truth a multitude. [then goes on to list the
children]
_____________
1 O'Callaghan's New Netherland, I, 433.
2 This is the only baptismal I remember to have met with that
has "ke" for "je". Anettje signifies, when
applied to children, little Anna; and in all cases is a term of
endearment.
(Footnotes from original text)
The account below was taken from a book I no longer remember but
probably akin to the New England Genealogical Register or a book
on famous persons pp. 116-117 and it lists as it's sources: Harpers
Monthly Magazine for May 1885, Anneke Jans Bogardus: Her Farm,
and how it became the Property of Trinity Church, New York, Nash,
New York, 1896; Sandford's Chancery Reports, vol. iv., pp. 633-672;
Schuyler's Colonial New York, vol. ii.:
JANS, yans, ANNEKE or ANNETJE (?-1663).
An early Dutch colonist of New Netherland, famous because of lawsuits
concerning her farm between her heirs and the corporation of Trinity
Church, New York city. She emigrated from Holland to New Netherland
with her husband, Roeloff Jansen in 1630. In 1636 the latter obtained
a grant of 62 acres of land on Manhattan Island, extending from
the present Warren Street to the neighborhood of Desbrosses Street,
and lying between Broadway and the Hudson River. Soon afterwards
Jansen died and she married the Dutch dominie Everardus Bogardus
(q.v.). In 1654, after her husband's death, she secured a patent
to the farm in her own name, and later removed to Albany, where
she died leaving her property to be divided among her eight surviving
children. After the English had taken possession in 1664 all property-holders
were required to secure new titles for their lands. Accordingly,
the heirs secured a new patent for the farm from Governor Nicolls,
on March 27, 1667. Four years later, March 9, 1671, the property
was sold to Governor Lovelace, all of the heirs signing the deed
of transfer except the wife and child of Cornelius Bogardus, a
son of Anneke and her second husband who had died in 1666. It
is largely upon this omission that the subsequent suits have been
based. Upon the recall of Governor Lovelace(q.v.) the Government
confiscated the Jans farm and subsequently granted it to Trinity
Church by a patent sealed on November 2, 1705. In 1719 Cornelius
Brower, a descendant of the Cornelius Bogardus whose heirs had
not signed, took forcible possession of a portion of the farm,
and on being evicted began an action against Trinity church, which
was decided against him. In 1757 he made another unsuccessful
attempt. Another Cornelius Bogardus took possession of part of
the estate in 1784, and held it until he was evicted by the courts
in 1786. His son John brought suit in 1830 to secure one-thirtieth
of the farm and a proportionate share of back rents. In order
to secure the money necessary to carry on this suit, he sent circulars
to all the descendants of Anneke Jans asking them to contribute,
which they did most liberally until 1847, when judgment was again
given for the church. Since then there have been several other
suits brought by the heirs, but they have been uniformly decided
in favor of the defendants.
William Henry McGillivray
May 1, 1941.
Anneka Jans Bogardus1
Anneka Webber, daughter of Wolferd Webber, Fourth King of Holland,
whose father was William, Prince of Orange, was born in the King's
mansion in Holland in 1605. She was married to Raelof Jans2 in
Holland in 1624. They emigrated to America in 1633. He died in
Beneryek, New York, in 1637, and she married the Rev. Everardus
Bogardus in New York, Jan. 29th, 1638. She died at her home in
Albany, New York, in 1663, at the age of 53 years.
Anneka Webber was the grandmother3 of the King of Holland, Prince
of Orange, or William the Fourth. Her father's name was Wolferd
Webber and her mother's name was Annetyie4 Koch Webber.*
Anneka Webber Jans married Rev. Everardus Bogardus, Dominie Bogardus,
Pastor of the First Reformed Church at New Amsterdam, arrived
in N.Y. April, 1633, on the ship Southbury from Holland. He was
married to Anneka Raelof Jans, Jan. 29, 1638. He sailed from N.Y.
Aug. 18, 1647, on the ship Princess for the Fatherland.
Heinrich Koch, born May 28, 1510, in Holland. Made will 1599.
Married Neisgen Selyns in 1584. Made will 1610.
- Issue -
| Jans |
baptized |
1585 |
|
| Annetgen |
" |
1587 |
Married Hans Lenard 1605 |
| Annetgen[5] |
" |
1589 |
Married Wolferd Webber July 8, 1600 |
| Lartzgen |
" |
1591 |
Married Justen De Bener 1612 |
- Issue -
| Hendruk |
baptized |
July 3, 1601 | |
| Bartelmus |
" |
Nov. 19, 1602 | Died in infancy |
| Wolfer, Jr. |
" |
Jan. 10, 1604 | Married Anna Wallace April 7, 1631 |
| Bartelmus |
" |
Nov. 20, 1605 | Died in infancy |
| Neisken |
" |
May 30, 1607 | |
| Angzieta |
" |
June 15, 1708 | |
| Barbara |
" |
June 5, 1610 | Died in infancy |
| Barbara |
" |
Aug. 30, 1612 | |
| Hester |
" |
Nov. 9, 1614 | |
| Bartelmus |
" |
Dec. 18, 1616 | |
| William |
" |
Dec. 17, 1617 | |
| Sara |
" |
Dec. 27, 1618 | |
| Johannes |
" |
1620 |
Anneka Webber, Born in Holland, 1605, Married Raelof Jans, 1624.
- Issue -
Sarah Jans, Born 1626, Married Hans Kierstede,
June 29, 1642.
- Issue -
Catherine Kierstede, Born 1660, Married Johannes
Kip, June 29, 1681.
- Issue -
Jacobus Kip, Born 1682, Married Catherine Dellact, Dec. 14, 1704.
- Issue -
Johannes Kip, born 1705, Married Margaret Vanetten, 1723.
- Issue -
Eva Kip, Born 1728, Married Isaac Delmatree,
Feb. 1, 1752.
- Issue -
Johannes Delmatree, Born Feb. 26, Married Betsy Lester, July 17,
1793
- 2 -
Johannes Delmatree - Betsy Lester (Cont'd)
- Issue -
Anne Mariah, Born Mar. 15, 1795, Married Robert
Hudson Feb. 4, 1814.
He was a major in war of 1812 in Canada. Born Feb. 28, 1785, in
one of these four cities or towns: Marlborough, Bolton, Northboro,
or Worcester; probably Worcester is the right place. All are in
Massachusetts. He died Feb. 1, 1875, in Saginaw, Michigan.
Children:
| George Merit, |
Born |
Jan. 5, 1815 |
in |
Henehenbrook |
Canada |
| Eliza Maria |
" |
Sept. 9, 1817 |
" |
" |
" |
| Henry Smith |
" |
July 13, 1818 |
" |
" |
" |
| Susannah |
" |
Mar. 5, 1820 |
" |
" |
" |
| Joseph Albert |
" |
Mar. 9, 1822 |
" |
" |
" |
| John |
" |
Oct. 6, 1823 |
" |
" |
" |
| William |
" |
Aug. 11, 1825 |
" |
" |
" |
| Benjamin Lester |
" |
Sept. 13, 1829 |
" |
" |
" |
| Frederick Brick |
" |
June 14, 1831 |
" |
" |
" |
- Issue -
Henry Smith Hudson[6] , Born July 13, 1818 in Henehenbrook,
Canada.
Married Ellen Fairbairn, (Born June 22, 1821, Died April 25, 1902.)
Mar. 9, 1842, in Ottawa City. He died Feb. 14, 1893 in Bristol,
Canada.
Children:
| Mary Jane Hudson |
Born |
Dec. 16, 1842 |
in |
Bristol |
Canada |
| Joseph Albert Hudson |
" |
Feb. 2, 1845 | |||
| Annie Hudson |
" |
Apr. 22, 1847 | |||
| Eliza Hudson |
" |
June 2, 1850 |
Died |
June 7, 1850 |
|
| William Hudson |
" |
Dec. 23, 1851 |
in |
Bristol |
Canada |
| Robert Hudson |
" |
Dec. 23, 1851 |
" |
Bristol |
Canada |
| Benjamin Smith Hudson |
" |
Feb. 5, 1855 | |||
| John Hudson |
" |
Sept. 2, 1857 |
Died |
Oct. 8, 1857 |
|
| Frances Alice Hudson |
" |
Sept. 23, 1860 | |||
| John Henry Hudson |
" |
Sept. 19, 1865 |
Died June 27, 1926 |
Spokane |
Washington |
| William Henry | Born | Nov. 4, 1865 | in | New Market | Canada |
| Edward James | " | Nov. 19, 1867 | in | Thornbury | Canada |
| Edward James | " | Jan. 22, 1870 | in | Port Arthur | Canada |
| Alexander | " | Jan. 28, 1874 | " | " | " |
| Ellen Jane | " | Aug. 18, 1876 | " | " | " |
| Benjamin | " | Aug. 26, 1879 | " | Staples | Minnesota |
| George | " | Aug. 26, 1879 | " | Do. | Do. |
| Mary Jane | " | Dec. 15, 1881 | " | Do. | Do. |
The following was found on the web site: http://users.ids.net/~reveritt/jans2.htm
from "Stubborn for Liberty, the Dutch in New York" by Alice P. Kenney chapter entitled "Recovering the Dutch Tradition"
p.243-245. Transcribed by Cheri Branca. Edited and tagged by Rolland Everitt.
.....Also centered on a woman, interestingly enough, was a cause celebre which made a wide public aware of the Dutch. Anneke Janse, her husband Roelof, their two small daughters, and Anneke's sister and their mother, a midwife, all apparently from Norway, were among the first settlers of Rensselaerswyck in 1630. But Roelof, a seaman, did not prosper as a farmer, and his women folk disposed of quantities of household goods -- quite possibly in the Indian trade --so the family left the Patroon's service in 1634 before the completion of their contract. But Roelof died in 1636, soon after they settled on a farm in Manhattan, and in 1638 Anneke married Domine Everardus Bogardus. Soon after this marriage she became involved in a colorful incident in which some of her husband's political opponents caused her to be arrested for indecent exposure in the streets of New Amsterdam. Anneke's defense was that while passing the blacksmith shop -- the seventeenth century equivalent of a gas station as a male gathering place -- she merely tidily lifted her skirts to keep them out of the filth which had accumulated in the street. This defense was accepted, and the incident illustrates one use to which sensation-starved frontier colonists put their courts and also the the earthy humor and broad practical joking which was often a feature of Dutch civic controversy. Thereafter Anneke became the mother of four Bogardus children, in addition to her five by Roelof Janse. After her second husband's death at sea, she went to Fort Orange to live with her married daughter and "make a living" --presumably at the fur trade, since this was the principal occupation of the town. At her death in 1663 she left a modest estate, of which part, which descended to her four surviving children by Roelof Janse, was the 62 acre farm on Manhattan Island which she had inherited from him.
It was this farm which, over two centuries later, made Anneke famous. After a number of transfers, the land became the property of Trinity Church, and, with the rise in property values on lower Manhattan, immensely valuable. But in one of these transfers, one of Anneke's minor grandchildren had inadvertently been omitted from the deed. His descendants discovered this fact about 1750, and between then and 1847 sued repeatedly and unsuccessfully to break the church's title to the land. In spite of these legal defeats, the myth would not die; another suit was instituted in 1909, and in the next quarter century the cause attracted much publicity. Lawyers, genealogists, and promoters who scented an opportunity to make a fast buck thereupon started searching for all the living descendants of Anneke Janse, who turned out to be more numerous even than descendants of the passengers on the Mayflower. Finally, the Legislature passed a special act quieting the title and forbidding any further suits, on the grounds that similar irregularities would have called most titles dating from the seventeenth century into question. It also became clear that if the heirs had won, there would be so many of them that the share of each, even in the vast wealth in dispute, would have been less than the contributions many of them were induced to make toward the expenses of litigation.
In the course of this litigation, there grew up an even more astonishing legend about Anneke's origins. All the evidence now available indicates that she and her husband were both ordinary people, born in Norway (though perhaps descended from Dutchmen in the Baltic trade). The legend, however, made Anneke out to be the granddaughter of William the Silent who had displeased that prince by her insistence on marrying a commoner; nevertheless, he placed her share of his fortune in trust for her descendants in the seventh generation. This fortune was reputed to have accumulated to the sum of 100 million dollars in the early twentieth century. It is difficult to see how this story gained credence in the face of its glaring inconsistencies, but this mythic fortune was as glittering as the other, and only very recently has a patient genealogist finally dispelled the last shreds of it. According to this myth, Anneke's father, a son of William the Silent by a secret marriage, was named Wolfert Webber, and a New Netherlander of this name (from whom Irving doubtless derived his character) was her brother. It has now been proven, however that this Wolfert Webber and his father of the same name, a respectable Amsterdam wine merchant, had no connection with either William the Silent or Anneke Janse.
The following was taken from papers in the possession of Dee Wilson Click Here
[copied as typed in the original]
Book 9291, Page 582 B8251 Americans of Royal Decent
William of Nassau, 9th Prince of Orange and Sovereign Count of the State of Holland and Zealand, M., 4 times, and had (issue, by each wife, he M, First Anna D. Egmont D. 1558, daughter of Maximillian County De Buren and Leedam; M., 2nd 24 August 1561, Ann Daughter of Maurice, the Famous Electro of Saxony; M 3., Charlooette De Bourdon of the house of Montpensier and M; 4th Louise De Coligny, daughter of Admiral De Castellon, and had by her Frederic Henry aonly son Stadtholder of Holland who succeeded his half brother, who D.S.P. as Prince of Orange, and who was Father of William II, Prince of Orange, who is a daughter of King Charles I, of England and had William III; Prince of Orange, who M, Lady Stuart (daughter of James, Duke of York, afterwars King James II; and became King of England. William 9th Prince of Orange, was Father of; 2 Ann M. Wolfert Webbert, of Wolferthoson in Holland had: 3rd Anneka Webber D, 1663 in Albany, N.Y. She came to New Amsterdam with her brother, Wolfort Arnont, who D, 1715, in 1649 she M, first Reloff Jansen Van Measterlandt he came from Maaslond in 1630, to Rensselaerwyck, and settled in 1636 in New Amsterdam, where he got a patent for sixty two acres of land, which have been for two hundred years the subject of a law suit, Anneke Weber M, 2nd Jan. 29th, 1635 Domine Everadus Bogardus a Clergyman who came to America in 1633, and was lost at sea in 1647, she had four children to each husband, the family is as follows;
Compiled by Browning
New York Genealogical Abstract.
By first marriage of Anneke Webber.
1-Roaloff Jans, Married in Amsterdam, Holland in 1624 and Born in 1605. Married to Anneke Webber. Their marriage is on record in Vonmasterland, Holland, and had four children.
Their Issue.
1-Sarah Born 1626 in Holland, Married Hans Kierstede, In N.Y.
2-Cathrina " in N.Y., Married Johanes Van Brugh.
3-Fytje " " " " to Peter Hartgers.
4-Jan No further trace.
By second marriage of Anneke Webber or Anneke Jans.
1-Dominie Everhardus Borgarus, Married in N.Y. June 21, 1638 to Anneke Jans. They had four children by this marriage in N.Y.
Their Issue.
1-William Bap. Sept. 9, 1638 Married to Wyntje Abrandts, Aug. 20, 1659 and had three children.
2-Jonas Bap. Jan. 4, 1643 He had no descendants.
3-Pieter or Peterus Bap. Apr. 2, 1645 Married to Wyntie Bosch in N.Y. Had one child.
4-Cornelius Married to Helena Teller in N.Y. Had one child.
New York Genealogical Abstract-
By first marriage
1-William Bogardus, Bap. Sept. 9, 1638, of New York, Married Aug. 20, 1659 to Wyntje Sybrantds of New York. They had three children in N.Y.
Their Issue-
1-Everardus Bap. Nov. 2, 1659
2-Tytje " Mar. 16, 1661
3-Anna or Anneke " Oct. 3, 1663 Married Jacobus Brower, son of Adam Brower, Apr. 30, 1682, Nine children.
Compiled by Bergen
New York Genealogical Abstract-
1-Adam Brower. Emigrated in 1642 to N.Y. from Coulon or Cologue, Married May 19, 1645 in N.A. to Magdalena Jacobs Verdon., He died about 1698, in N.A. resided in Br. N.
1-Pieter, Bap. Sept. 23, 1646, Married to Gertrud Jans in N.Y. Jan. 29, 1682. Had 10 children.
2-Jacob or Jacobus Bap. Maried to Anna or Anneke Bogardus Jan. 29, 1682. Had 10 children.
3-Aelije, Bap. Married to Josias Jansz Drats Apr. 30, 1682. Several children.
4-Mathys, Bap. Married to Marretje Pieters Wycoff, Had 8 chidlren.
5-William, Bap. Mar. 5, 1651 Married to Elizabeth Simpson May 18, 1690
6-Adam, Bap. May 18, 1662, Married to Angmetje Feb. 1692. Had 3 children.
7-Abraham, Bap. Married to Cornelia Halsyn, Sept. 15, 1692. Had 5 chidlren.
8-Nicolus, Bap. Married to Annetje Calsier or Coljer, Sept. 20, 1676 Had 5 children.
9-Maria, Bap. June 4, 1653. Married to Jacob Pietersyen, Oct. 13, 1676 Had 7 children.
10-Eytie, Bap. Married to Evert Hendrickson, Feb. 20, 1692. Several children.
11-Helena, Bap. Oct. 30, 1660 Married to Willim Hendrickson, Aug. 5, 1693. Had several children.
12-Anna Bap. She resided near Flatbush. No further trace.
13.-Sara Bap. July 13, 1692 Married to Thomas Smith, Sept. 23, 1692. No Decendants.
14-Rachel Bap. Married to Pieter Hendrickson, June 5, 1698 from Viers-Land. No Descendants.
Compiled by Bergen
2-Jacob or Jacobus Brower son of Adam Brower, Married Ap. 30, 1682 at Flatbush to Anna or Anneke Bogardus, he hails from Gowannus and she from N.Y. and had 10 children, he died in 1733.
Issue-
1-Sybrandt Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. 1682 Married to Sarah Weber, had 8 children.
2-Jacob Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. 1684 " " Pietronella De La Montaque in N.Y. Oct. 1799.
3-William Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. 1687 " " Marie Hermian May 29, 1719, No descendants in N.Y.
4-Everdus Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. Dec. 8th, 1689
5-Elizabeth Born " " " Nov. 15, 1694.
6-Adam Bap. " " " " Mar. 29, 1696 Married to Deborak
7-Hillegnont Bap. " " " N.Y. Dec. 27, 1697
8--Wyntie Bap. " " " N.Y. Mar. 8, 1701 (M. to Richard Pet1
9--Magdalene Bap. " " " N.Y. Mar. 8, 1704 (Married to Joost Veden June 1725 in N.Y.
10-Nicholas-Made his mark to document.
New York Genealogical Abstract-
2-Jacob Brower of N.Y. son of Jacob Brower and Anneke Bogardus, Married Oct. 1, 1709 to Pieronella De La Montaque of N.Y.
Issue
1-Jacob. Bap. In Brooklyn, Sept. 24, 1710 Married Maria De Lony, Had 6 children
2-Johannes Born in N.Y. Jan. 6, 1710 or 1711 ? Married Susanna Deroitleet or Durlje in N.Y. Oct. 9, 1734. Had 6 children.
3-Abraham (Born in N.Y. Feb. 6, 1712 Married June 1, 1743 Aolje Vengerld (twin)
4-Cornelia Born in N.Y. Feb. 6, 1712 No further trace. (twin)
5-Annetje or Antje Born in N.Y. May 5, 1714
6-Adam Born in N.Y. Dec. 1, 1716 Married Catharine Mitchel, Jan. 12
7-Cornelius-Twins Born in N.Y. Dec. 1, 1716 Married Mary Asker, two marriages Hester Boden, Aug. 10, 1736
Amanda Born in N.Y. Jan. 4, 1718 No further trace.
9-Peter) Born in N.Y. Mar. 9, 1720 No further trace.
10-Affer) " " " " 10, 1720 No further trace
11-Elizabeth-Born in N.Y. Feb. 20, 1722 No further trace
12-William " " " May 1, 1727, Married Margaret Van Sickle, Sept. 17, 1748/
13-Henry " " " Oct. 29, 1729 No further trace.
Compiled by L.A. Abbitt.
New York Genealogical Abstract-
2-John Brower or Johannes Brower, Bap. Mar. 19, 1710 of N.Y. son of Jacob Brower and Pietronella De La Montaque. Married to Susanna Deroilhet or Durljet in N.Y., Oct. 9, 1734, and had six children.
Issue
1-Susanna Bap. Sept. 5, 1735 Married to Samuel Demorse, Dec. 1, 1768
2-Annetje " Feb. 8, 1738 No further trace
3-Jacob " Mar. 26, 1740 Married to Margaretia Voelandt, July 26, 1750 something?
4-Antje Bap. Nov. 7, 1742 No further trace
5-Ellenor or Nelletjes, Born June 12, 1745, Married to Garrett Kip.
6-Johannes Bap. Dec. 2, 1747 Married Perkins Lambert in N.Y. Died Apr. 13, 1804. Had 7 children.
Jacob Brower Born Mar. 26, 1740 Married Margretia Vroelandt July 26, 1759. In N.Y.
Issue-
1-Paul Baptized Jan. 2, 1759
2-Jacob " Feb. 6, 1760
3-Abraham " Nov. 20, 1762
4-Marytje " Nov. 20, 1762
5-John " Oct. 14, 1764
6-Johannes " June 29, 1766
7-Petrus " Apr. 2, 1769
8-Margretia " July 17, 1770
9-Simion " Feb. 2, 1772
10-David " June 18, 1773
Paul Brewer, Bap. Jan. 1780. Married Grace Timson, 1785.
Issue
1-Mose, Born about 1786
2-Thomas
3-Nancy
4-Elizabeth
5-John Born Sept. 24, 1793
6-Rachiel
7-Hannah
8-Fannie Born about 1799
9-Samuel " " 1800
Fannie Brewer, Born 1799, Married Samuel Edwards Apr. 7, 1825.
Issue
1-Ellis Born Oct. 13, 1825
2-Levinia " July 28, 1828
3--Elizabeth " Jan. 1, 1831
4--Fleming " Feb. 7, 1835
5--Elmiria " Jan. 31, 1839
6-Jane " Mar. 11, 1840
7--Oscar " Mar. 21, 1844
Levinia Edwards, Born July 28, 1828, Married William Corson, June 1, 1848.
Issue
1-William Born May 1, 1849
2--Emma " May 26, 1851
3-Charles " Jan. 16, 1854, Married Mary Bickle Aug. 25th 1877
4-Daniel " Sept. 28, 1856
5-Fannie " July 26, 1859
6--Harry " Sept. 1, 1860
7--James " Sept. 2, 1868
8--Howard " Mar. 29, 1873
Charles Fleming Corson, Born Jan. 16, 1865 Married Mary Bickle, Aug. 25, 1877.
Issue.
1-Myrtle M. Born July 6, 1879
2-Roso " Dec. 9, 1880
----John " Dec. 9, 1880 (Twin)
3-Ida Elizabeth Born May 27, 1883
4-Martha Bowman Born Feb. 1886
5-Emma Born June 17, 1889
Additional handwritten notes:
John Corson had 3 girls
Dorothy Corson had one daughter Jeanne
Edyth Corson (changed name to Carson) married Carlos Rodrigues and had 2 sons
Alma Corson (also changed name to Carson) and had two sons
[I did not include living descendants of these families.]
ROELOF JANSEN.
Roelof Jansen arrived
at New Amsterdam by "de Eendracht," May
24, 1630.21' The
ship sailed from the Texel, March 21, 1630. He was to work in the colony of
Rensselaerswyck for $72 a year. He was accompanied by his wife Anneke
(Anetje) jans, his daughters Sarah, (Katrina) and Fytje. Until quite
recently it has been believed that Roelof Jansen and his family were Dutch.
In
the "Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts," (p. 56f. note) it is shown
by A. T.
F. van Laer, Archivist of New York State, that they were not
from "Maasterland," but from "Masterland" or "Maesterland," meaning
Marstrand,
which is on a small island off the coast of Sweden, near Goteborg
(Gothenburg). The editor and translator of "Bowier Manuscripts" concludes
therefore that jansen's family probably were Swedes. But why not Norwegians?
Marstrand belonged to Norway prior to 1658, and it is significant that Claes
Claesen and Jacob Goyversen, both from Flekker, Norway, sailed with Roelof
and work'ed with him on "de Lacts Burg." There were on July 20,
1632, only
three men on this farm: Jansen, Claesen, Goyversen, three Norwegians.
On July 1, 1632, Roelof Jansen was appointed schepens. The oath of the schepens, administered by the Schout to Jansen, and other schepens, among whom was Laurens Laurensen, anotherNorwegian, was as follows:
"This you
swear, that you will be good schepens, that you will be loyal and
seal to my gracious lord and support and strengthen him in his affairs as much
as is in your power; that you will pass honest judgment between the lord and
the farmer, the farmer and the lord, and in the proceedings between two
farmers, and that you will not fail to do this on any consideration
whatsoever.
"So help you God."
As schepen, Roelof Jansen got a "black hat, with silver bands.
As to Roelof's farming, but little can be said. Van Rensselaer, always
exacting in his demands, complained in a letter written July 20, 1632, to
Wolfert Gerritz, that it showed "bad management that Roeloff Jansen
could not
get any winter seed. I hope that he has sown the more summer seed."
Likewise in a letter
of April 23, 1634, to Director Wouter van Twiller, the Patroon said: "I
see that Roeloff Janssen has grossly run up my account in
drawing the provisions, yes, practically the full allowance [even] when there
was [enough in] stock. I think that his wife, mother, and sister and others
must have given things away, which can not be allowed. He complains that your
honor has dismissed him from the farm, and your honor writes me that he wanted
to leave it. It would thus appear that Jansen left the colony of
Rensselaerswyck in 1634.
Roelof Jansen moved with his family to New Amsterdam about 1634 or
a little later. In 1636 he received a groundbrief of thirty-one morgens of
land lying
along East River. "It formed a sort of peninsula between the river and
the
swamps which then covered the sites of Canal Street and West Broadway." Here
Jansen "probably erected a small farmhouse upon a low hill near the river
shore at about the present Jay Street; but he had hardly made a beginning in
the work of getting his bouwery under cultivation when he died, leaving his
widow the arduous task of caring vation when h for a family of five children
in a colony hardly settled as yet." Of Jansen's children, Sarah, Katrina
and
Sofia married in New Netherland (See the articles following). Annetje died
as
a child. Jan (Roelofsen) settled in Schenectady and was killed by the Indians
in the massacre of 1690.
Jansen's widow married again. The Dutch Reformed preacher in New Amsterdam Everardus Bogardus took her for his wife in 1638. See the article "Anneke Jans." Of all Scandinavian immigrants in early New York she is probably the best known.
From Scandinavian Immigrants In New York 1630 - 1674. by John O. Evjen
ANNEKE JANS From Scandinavian Immigrants in New York 1630 - 1674. by John O. Evjen
Anneke Jans arrived with her husband and three children at New Amsterdam
May 24, 1630. As we have seen in the foregoing sketch, she came from
Marstrand,
Norway. She was with her husband at Fort Orange until 1634 or 1635 when the
farnily moved down to New Amsterdam and settled on sixty-two acres of land,
which Jansen received in 1636. He died shortly afterward. Anneke was left
with five children, though she, no doubt received some aid from her
mother, Tryn
Jonas, midwife, and from her sister, Marritje, both of whom were in New Amsterdam.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer released her from what she owed him. In a letter of
September 21, 1637, to Director van Twiller he said: "I only have from
you the recommendation of the widow of Roeloef Janse, written to me hastily
and with few words and your oral greetings by Jacob Wolphertsen. I released
the said widow from her debt long ago. My reason for so doing I will tell you
orally, when we meet, God willing, in good health." In March, 1638, Anneke
was married to the Dutch Reformed pastor in New Amsterdam, Everardus Bogardus,
who in 1633 had come to New Amsterdam to succeed the ministry of Jonas Michaelis.
He had at the time a little church on the East River shore, or upon the present
Pearl Street, between Whitehall and Broad Streets, and adjoining it was the
parsonage. In addition to his clerical duties he assumed the cares of a landed
proprietor. In the marriage settlement, still extant, Anneke had provided for
the securing to her first husband's children the sum of 200 guilders each.
The sixty-two acres of land which she inherited from her first husband now
got the name of the "Domine's Bouwerie." "United in early English
days to the Company's Bouwerie, it formed part of the famous tract, which,
bestowed in the time of Queen Anne upon Trinity Church, in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries was the subject of repeated and hotly contested action
at law in which Annetje's name conspicuously figured." On August 12, 1638,
Everardus Bogardus, as the "husband of the widow of Roelof Jansen of Masterlandt" gave
Power of Attorney to Director van Twiller "to collect money due said
Jansen.
Anneke, no doubt, was now a lady of leisure compared to what she had been
when she was fanning with Roelof on de Laets Burlg. But her position as the
wife
of a parson was severely tested immediately after her second marriage. Anthony
Jansen from Salee and his wife, Grietje Reiners, were none too well disposed
to Domine Bogardus and Anneke. Grietie found an opportunity of circulating
the report that Anneke had given public offense. Anthony Jansen, whose tongue
vied with that of his wife, helped to spread the report. The matter came
before the Court. Mrs. Lamb's version of this case is as follows:
"
Mrs. Bogardus went to pay a friendly visit to a neighbor; but on getting into
the 'entry', discovered that Greitje Reinirs, a woman of questionable reputation,
was in the house, and thereupon turned about and went home. Grietje was greatly
offended at this 'snubbing' from the Dominie's lady, and followed her, making
disagreeable remarks. While passing a blacksmith's shop, where the road was
muddy, Mrs. Bogardus raised her dress a little, and Grietje was very invidious
in her criticisms. The Dominie thought fit to make an example of her; hence
the suit. Grietje's husband being in arrears for church dues, Bogardus sent
for him and ordered payment, and not getting it, finally sued for the amount." (See
Lamb, History of the City of New York, 1. p. 86).
Anneke's second husband was a fearless and outspoken person. He was at variance
with Governor Van Twiller as well as with his successor Governor Kieft. He
accused Van Twiller of maladministration and in consequence was himself charged
with unbecoming conduct, and was about to depart for Holland to defend himself,
but was detained by Governor Kieft. He opposed Kieft's policy in regard to
the Indians, and in 1645 denounced him for drunkenness and rapacity. He was
therefore brought to trial, but compromised with Kieft. But the old difficulties
appeared again. In 1646 the Director and Council of New Amsterdam summoned
Bogardus to appear and answer charges against him. The "summons" is
as long as it is violent, likely the work of Kieft. We shall give a few extracts
from it:
"
. . . We have letters in your own hand, among others, or?t dated June 17, 1634,
wherein you do not appear to be moved ty the Spirit of the Lord, but on the
contrary by a feeling becoming heathen, let alone Christians, much less a preacher
of the Gospel. You there berate your magistrate, placed over you by God, as
a child of the Devil, an incarnate villain, whose buck goats are better than
he, and promise him that you would so pitch into him from the pulpit on the
following Sunday, that both you and his bulwarks would tremble. . . . "You
have indulged no less in scattering abuse during our administration. Scarcely
a person in the entire land have you spared; not even your own wife, or her
sister, particularly when you were in good company and jolly. Still, mixing
up your human passions with the chain of truth which has continued from time
to time, you associated with the greatest criminals in the country, taking
their part and defending them. . . . "On the 25th of September, 1639,
having celebrated the Lord's Supper, observing afterwards in the evening
a bright fire in the Director's house, whilst you were at Jacob van Curler's,
being thoroughly drunk, you grossly abused the Director and jochim Pietersen,
with whom you were angry. . . .
"
Since that time many acts have been committed by you, which no clergyman would
think of doing. . . . "Maryn Adriaensen came into the Director's room
with pr-determined purpose to murder him. He, notwithstanding, was sent to
Holland in chains against your will. Whereupon you fulminated terribly for
about fourteen days and desecrated your pulpit by your passion.... Finally,
you made up friends with the Director, and things became quiet . . .
In the summer of . . . (1644) when minister Douthey ad-ministered the Lord's
Supper in the morning, you came drunk into the pulpit in the afternoon; also
on Friday before Christmas of the same year, when you preached the sermon
calling to repentance.
"
On the 21st March, 1645, being at a wedding feast at Adam Brouwer's and pretty
drunk, you commenced scolding the Fiscal and Secretary then present, censuring
also the Director not a little, giving as your reason that he had called your
wife a , though he said there that it was not true and that he never entertained
such a thought, and it never could be proved "You administered the Lord's
Supper without partaking of it yourself, setting yourself as a partisan.
. ."
Such was the husband of Anneke Jans in the opinion of the highest official
in the land who himself was so hateful to the people that he was obliged
to resign. When Kieft returned to Holland, after the arrival of Governor
Stuyvesant
in 1647, Bogardus sailed in the same vessel to answer the charges brought
against him, before the classis in Amsterdam.
The vessel entered Bristol Channel by mistake, and struck upon a rock, going
down with eighty persons, among thenm Bogardus and Kieft. This happened on
September 27, 1647.
Anneke was thus widow for the second time of her days. No doubt she had borne
her share of the discomfort caused by the enmity between Kieft and Bogardus.
The following extract of a letter of Rev. Megapolensis in Albany, written
August 25, 1648. to the Classis of Amsterdam shows what she still had to
contend against,
and what was his opinion of the Kieft-Bogardus feud.
"
After the Lord God was pleased to cut short the thread of life of Domine Bogardus
by shipwreck . . ., his widow came here to Fort Orange . . . to reside and
make her living. She has nine children living, some by a former husband and
some by Domine Bogardus, and is also deeply in debt. She has, however, no wav
to liquidate her debts, nor means for her own subsistence, unless the West
India Company pay her the arrears of salary due her husband. Domine Bogardus
repeatedly asserted that a higher salary was promised him, before leaving Holland,
than he ever received here. . . "It is now about two years since I was
called upon by DirectorGeneral William Kieft, to settle the difficulties between
said Kieft and Domine Bogardus. I attempted several times to smooth the differences
which had arisen here, but all in vain. Domine Bogardus asserted that it could
not be done here, but that the matter ought to be laid before the Hon. Directors;
or even if it could be determined here, he would, nevertheless, be obliged
to go home, in order to demand, before his death, the salary promisd him, for
the maintenance and support of his family.... "He had been paid for a
considerable time only 46 guilders per month, with 150 guilders extra per year
for board money. . . "Annetje Bogardus . . . has requested me to write
to the Rev. Classis, in her name and in her behalf, in order that the Rev.
Classis, or the Deputies thereof, might, for the sake of a preacher's widow,
petition the Company for the money due her, to be paid to her or her attorney,
to enable her to pay her debts and support her family. . . ."
The letter of Megapolensis, it would appear, does not exaggerate her distress.
She had several little children to support, though three of her grown-up
daughters were married. Her house in New York was situate on what is now
No. 23 Whitehall
Street.
In 1652 she was enabled to buy a lot in Albany on the corner of James and
State Streets. Here she built a house and resided the remainder of her life.
It would
appear that her son-in-law Pieter Hartgers secured this property for her.
It was "bounded east bv land of Jonas and Peter Bogardus, and west by Evert
janse Wendell. Being 2 rods 81/2 feet wide, and 5 rods 9 feet long." On
June 21, 1663, after the death of Anneke, it was sold by the heirs to Dirck
Wessells. The price was "1,000 guilders in good merchantable beaver skins,
at 8 guilders a piece." (Collections of the New York Historical Society,
IV., p. 488). In 1654 she obtained from Governor Stuyvesant a patent in her
own name on the land she had inherited from her first husband. This Patent
reads as follows:
"
Petrus Stuyvesant, Director-General of New Netherland, Curacao and the Islands
thereof, on the behalf of their Noble High Mightinesses the Lords States-General
of the United Netherlands and the Honorable Directors of the Incorporated West
India Company, together with the Honorable Councillors, declare that We on
this day, date underwritten, have given and granted to Annetje Jans, widow
of the late Everardus Bogardus, a piece of land situate on the Island of Manhattan
on the North River, beginning at the palisades near the house on the Strand
it goes north by east up to the partition line of old jan's land is long 210
rods; from thence along the partition line of said Old jan's land it extends
E. by S. up to the Cripple bush (swamp) it runs S. W. long 160 rods front the
Cripple bush, to the Strand it runs westerly in breadth 50 rods; the land that
lies to the south of the house to the partition line of the Company's land
begins on the east side, from the palisades southward to the posts and rails
of the Company's land, without obstruction to the path, it is broad 60 rods;
long on the south side along the posts and rails 160 rods; at the east side
to the corner of Kalchhook is broad 30 rods; to the division line of the aforesaid
piece of land it goes westerly in length 100 rods; it makes alltogether 31
morgens." (Historic New York. Ed. by Goodwin, Royce and Putnam I., p.
84 f.)
Her will, dated January 29, 1663, and on record in the original Dutch in
book of Notarial Papers, in the County Clerk's office, Albany, reads as follows:
" Will of Anneke Jans Bogardus. - In the name of the Lord, Amen. Know all
men by these presents, That this day, the 29th of January, 1663, in the afternoon,
about four o'clock, appeared before me, Derrick Van Schelluyne, notary public,
in the presence. of the witnesses hereafter mentioned, Anneke Janse, widow
of Roeloff Janse, of Master Land, and now lastly widow of the Reverend Everhardus
Bogardus, residing in the village of Beverwyck, and well known to us, notary
and witnesses; the said Anneke Janse lying on her bed in a state of sickness,
but perfectly sensible and in the full possession of her mental powers, and
capable to testate, to which sound state of mind we can fully testify. The
said Anneke janse considering the shortness of life and certainty of death
and the uncertainty of the hour or time, she, the said Anneke janse, declared
after due consideration, without anv persuasion, compulsion, or retraction,
this present document to be her last will and testament, in manner following:
First of all recommending her immortal soul to the Almighty God, her Creator
and Redeemer, and consigning her body to Christian burial, and herewith revoking
and annulling all prior testamentary dispositions of any kind whatsoever,
and now proceeding anew, she declared to nominate and institute as her sole and
universal heirs her children, Sarah Roellofson, wife of Hans Kierstede; Catrina
Roeloffsen, wife of Johannes Van Brugh; also jannetje and Rachel Hartgers,
the children of her deceased daughter, Fytie Roeloffsen, during her life
the
wife of Peter Hartgers, representing together their mother's place; also
her son Jan Roeloffsen, and finally, William, Cornelius, Jonas, and Peter Bogardus,
and to them to bequeath all her real estate, chattels, money, gold and silver,
coined and uncoined, jewels, clothes, linen, woolen, household furniture,
and
all property what soever, without reserve or restriction of any kind, to
be disposed of after her decease and divided by them in equal shares, to do with
the same at their own will and pleasure without any hindrance whatsoever;
provided
never the less with this express condition and restriction that her four
first born children shall divide between them out of their father's property
the
sum of one thousand guilders, to be paid to them out of the proceeds of a
certain farm, situate on Manhattan Island, bounder on the North river, and that
before
any other dividend takes place; and as three of these children at the time
of their marriage received certain donations, and as Jan Roeloffsen is yet
unmarried, he is to receive a bed and milch cow; and to Jonas and Peter Bogardus
she gives a house and lot situated to the westward of the house of the testatrix
in the village of Beverwyck, going in length until the end of a bleaching
spot, and in breadth up to the room of her, the testatrix, house, besides a bed
for
both of them and a milch cow to each of them, the above to be an equivalent
of what the married children have received. Finally, she, the testatrix,
gives to Roeloif Kierstede, the child of her daughter Sara, a silver mug; to
Annetje
Van Brugh, the child of her daughter Catrina, also a silver mug; and to jannetje
and Rachel Hartgers, the children of her daughter Fytie, a silver mug each;
and to the child of William Bogardus named Fytie also a silver mug; all the
above donations to be provided for out of the first moneys received, and
afterwards the remainder of the property to be divided and shared aforesaid.
The testatrix
declares this document to be her only true last will and testament, and desiring
that after her decease it may supersede all other testaments, codicils, donations,
or any other instruments whatsoever; and in case any formalities may have
been omitted, it is her will and desire the same benefits may occur as if they
actually
had been observed; and she requested me, notary public, to make one or more
lawful instruments in the usual form of this, her, testatrix, last will and
desire. Signed, sealed, and delivered at the house of the testatrix in the
village of Beverwyck, in New Netherland, in the presence of Ruth Jacobse
Van SchoonAerweert and Evert Wendell, witnesses.
" This is the + mark of Anneke Janse with her own hand.
"
Rutger Jacobus, "Evert Jacobus Wendell. "D. V. Schelluyne, Notary
Public, 1663." (For this and other translations I am indebted to Collections
of the New York Historical Society, IV., p.487 ff.)
Anneke died March 19, 1663, and lies buried in the Middle Dutch Church Yard,
on Beaver Street. She was the first Norwegian "predikantsvrouw" (pastor's
wife), in New York. And of all the pastors' wives in New York
she has become the most famous. But this fame is due to chance and circumstance
rather than to Anneke herself. Mrs. Lamb says: "Although she (Anneke)
may not have seemed rich in the days when great landed estates were to be
bought for a few strings of beads, yet she is reverenced by her numerous
descendants
as among the very goddesses of wealth. She was a small well-formed woman
with delicate features, transparent complexion, and bright, beautiful dark
eyes.
She had a well-balanced mind, a sunny disposition, winning manners, and a
kind heart. . . "
Anneke Jans' fame rests on property and progeny. Her descendants are numerous.
Many of them are wealthy, some of them have been conspicuous in the litigation
regarding Anneke jans' farm. John Fiske speaks of this litigation as "one
of the most pertinacious cases of litigation known to modern history." (The
Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America, II., p. 32).
We have mentioned that Director Stuyvesant gave the heirs of Anneke a patent,
on the land in question, in 1654. This paten,, was confirmed in 1664 by Governor
Nicolls, after the English had conquered New Netherland. In 1671 five of
the heirs conveyd . the whole farm to Col. Francis Lovlace, then governor
of the
province of New York. In 1674 the Duke of York confiscated it, so that it
was the "Duke's Farm" until 1685, when with James' accession to the throne
it became the "King's Farm." In 1705 it was leased or granted by
the colonial authorities under Queen Anne to Trinity Church. One of Anneke'
s sons, Cornelius, had not joined in the conveyance of 1671 ; the heirs of
this son have claimed that his failure to join invalidated the sale and that
they therefore had a right to their share of the property. Between 1750 and
1847 not less than sixteen or seventeen suits in ejectment were brought against
Trinity Church by heirs who coveted the property. They were brought "with
such a persistency which seemed to learn no lesson from defeat. In tS47 Vice-Chancellor
Sanford decided that, after waving all other points, the church had acquired
a valid title by prescription, and all the adverse claims were vitiated by
lapse of time" (Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies, 11., p. 258).
Let us also quote from the article "Annetje Jans' Farm," in "Historic
New York" (I., p. 95):
"
Sixty-eight years after the sale to Lovelace, and thirty-one years after Queen
Anne's grant, the descendants of Cornelius Bogardus began to protest against
the occupancy of Trinity Church. There was a confused notion then as to what
they could claim, and this confusion has increased in the minds of the "heirs" during
two hundred years. The history of the repeated suits is long and involved.
No court has sustained the claims of the "heirs" for a minute,
and yet, with every generation, new claimants appear, though every possible
right
has long since been outlawed. Mr. Schuyler says in his Colonial New York:
'In view of the repeated decisions of the highest judicial tribunals and
of their
publicity, any lawyer who can now advise or encourage the descendants of
Annetje jans to waste their money in any proceedings to recover this property
must
be considered as playing on the ignorance of simple people, and as guilty
of conscious fraud, and of an attempt to obtain money under false pretenses.'
Mr. Schuyler made a close study of the subject, and is himself a distinguished
descendant of Roelof and Annetje jans."
As late as 1891 Trinity Corporation found it necessary to publish the following:
" To all whom it may concern:
" As letters are being constantly received from various places in the United
States making inquiries about suits pending against this corporation in respect
to its property, or about negotiations assumed to be on foot in respect to
the alleged claims of the descendants of Anneke jans or of other persons,
notice is hereby given that no such suits are pending, and no such negotiations
are
going on, and all persons who suppose themselves to be descendants of Anneke
jans, or otherwise interested in claims hostile to this corporation, are
cautioned against paying out money to any person alleging the pendency of such
suits
or negotiations."
Societies have been formed like the Anneke Jans Association, founded in Astor
House Library in New York, 1867, The Anneke jans International Union, etc.
But no organized endeavor has as yet succeeded in invalidating the claim
of the Trinity Corporation. It has continued to enjoy all the benefits and
revenues
of the vas+ I property to this day. No wonder that Trinity Church can contribute
more than four hundred thousand dollars a year to charity! Trinity Church
is Episcopal. It is the wealthiest church organization in America and it
is continually
reminded of it, even in the twentieth century. For as late as 1909 Trinity
Corporation was sued again by an heir of Anneke Jans. Mary Fonda wanted,
as heir, one per cent of valuable Trinity property. Regarding the descendants
of Anneke jans, see: I. Munsell, Collections on the History of Albany II.;
and The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. See also S. P. Nash,
Anneke jans Bogardus, her farm, and how it became the Property of Trinity
Church,
New York, 1896. Of the many prominent families which by ties of marriage
have augmented the genealogy of Anneke jans, Mr. Torstein jahr's article
in "Symra" mentions
Bayard, De Lancey, De Peyster, Gouverneur, Jay, Knickerbocker, Morris, Schuyler,
Stuyvesan", Van Cortland and Van Rensselaer.
For information on the Bogardus Family, please contact:
Anneke Jans and
Everardus Bogardus Descendants Association
1121 Linhof Road
Wilmington, OH 45177-2917
ph. # (937) 382 - 3803
A terrific site that you should check out regarding this family: http://www.otal.umd.edu/~walt/gen/htmfile/3854.htm