The Craftsmen

Long before the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, my ancestors migrated to North America from Europe. It’s hard to imagine how they could support themselves in an unfamiliar and untamed land, but some arrived as experienced craftsmen with skills that were greatly in demand as more and more settlers arrived. Others learned a skill after they got here. For the most part, these trades are very different from work people do today.

Pilgrims in Massachusetts

Francis Eaton, carpenter (I am still confirming this ancestry)

Francis Eaton was my only ancestor to come on the Mayflower with the English Separatists who settled in Plymouth (Massachusetts) in 1620. With him on the Mayflower were his wife Sarah and son Samuel. Francis, a carpenter, was born in England, date unknown. His carpentry skills were undoubtedly in demand since the Pilgrims had to build all their homes. Unfortunately, Sarah was one of many who died in 1621, and Francis married a second wife who also died. In 1623, Christian Penn arrived on the Anne. She became his third wife around 1625, and they had three children: Rachel, Benjamin, and Christopher. Francis died on November 4, 1633, and Christian married Mayflower passenger Francis Billington the following year.  My descent is through Benjamin Eaton.

Giles Rickard, Sr., weaver (I am still confirming this ancestry)

Giles Rickard Sr., born about 1599 in England, arrived in Plymouth on the Speedwell in 1637 with his wife, Judith Cogan-King, and three children. On December 4, 1637, he was granted seven acres of land in Plymouth, where he served on several grand juries and was chosen to be constable in June 1658. Though he was granted a license to have an ordinary (a tavern), he was also a weaver–one involved in textile production. He died about 1684 in Massachusetts. I am descended from his son Giles Rickard, Jr.

John Barrowe, cooper (I am still confirming this ancestry)

Born in Yarmouth, England, in 1609, John Barrow sailed to Massachusetts in 1637, probably on the Mary Ann, with his wife, Anne Thompson Barrowe. Shortly after arriving, they settled in Salem. John had several ways of supporting his family; one of them was working as a cooper. A cooper made barrels, vats, buckets, tubs, troughs, and churns out of wood pieces held together with hoops. John and Anne were the parents of my ancestor Robert Barrowe, born in 1639, but Anne died soon after the birth. By 1665, John had moved to Plymouth, where he died in 1691. 

John Stockbridge, wheelwright

John Stockbridge, born about 1607 in England, was not technically a “Pilgrim,” but his biography is listed in Genealogies of Mayflower Families, Vol. III, available at the Ancestry website. This source discusses at length some of the controversies regarding baptism that divided people in the church. The claim is made that John came to New England for economic, not religious, reasons. There is no evidence he belonged to the church, but his first wife, Ann, is listed as “Goodwife Stockbridge” in the church records of Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1637.  His second wife also accepted the church’s teachings, despite John’s dissatisfaction with the government in Scituate. He was fined more than once for his “contemptuous speeches,” but his “usefulness as a wheelwright” protected him from being punished more severely. In 1646, he is mentioned in land transfers as “John Stockbridge, wheelwright.” Wheelwrights built and repaired wooden wheels, so it may be that most people did not have the knowledge or the means to do this themselves. He was later party to the purchase of a sawmill, which must have been a help to him in his work as a wheelwright.  I am descended from his daughter Mary Stockbridge by his third wife, Mary Broughton. This daughter married Benjamin Singletary in Essex County, Massachusetts, in 1678.

Nathaniel Briscoe, tanner

The maternal grandfather of Mary Broughton Stockbridge (mentioned in the preceding biography) was Nathaniel Briscoe, born in Missenden, England, in 1595. The surname is also sometimes seen as “Biscoe”. In Watertown, Massachusetts, Genealogies and Histories at Ancestry.com, he is described as “the rich tanner”. Tanners were responsible for treating the hides or skins of animals to make leather. Nathaniel had come to Watertown around 1640 and was always politically active. Like John Stockbridge, he was a rather contentious person. For example, he circulated a pamphlet complaining about the way ministers were supported financially. By 1651, he was so fed up with the “religious intolerance” and not being allowed to vote as a “freeman” due to his Baptist beliefs that he returned to England, where it is believed he died. His wife, Elizabeth Honor Briscoe, born in 1600, had passed away before he left, but Nathaniel’s grown children remained in Massachusetts. He later wrote to his son-in-law that he would rather be in Massachusetts if people were allowed freedom of conscience.

Settlers in New Netherland

Philippe Antoni Du Trieux II, worsted dyer

Philippe Du Trieux was born in July of 1586 in Roubaix, France, which is now part of Belgium. In 1615, he married Jacquemine Noirett, and they had four children. After Jacquemine died in 1620, Philippe married Susanna Du Chesne in Leiden, Holland; their families had come to Leiden to escape religious persecution in France. The Netherlands was enriched with the arrival of these new immigrants because they were highly skilled craftsmen and artisans. Philippe was among these skilled workers; he was a worsted dyer–a dyer of wool yarn. In 1623, the Dutch West India Company decided to take settlers to the Delaware Valley near the Connecticut River. Philippe and 29 other families sailed in the spring of 1624 on the ship Nieuw Nederland but ended up going to a different location than planned: New Amsterdam (now New York City). The families settled on Manhattan Island, and Philippe became an employee of the Dutch West India Company. He later served his community in other capacities and had at least nine more children. Sometime before September of 1653, Philippe died, and Susanna died in 1654. I am descended from their daughter Susanna, who married Evert Wendell.

Jochem Wesselse, baker

Jochem Wesselse (1579-1681) was born in Hamburg, Germany. Very little is known about him, but he married Geertruy Hieronimus and had at least one child, Catrina. Though they were among the earliest settlers of Rensselerswyck (now Albany), they later moved to New Amsterdam. Jochem was a baker, and, obviously, his skills were in demand, regardless of where he lived. Everybody eats bread! He made a will around 1680 and died not long after. Geertruy was born in the Netherlands in 1579, but her date of death is unknown. Catrina (1620-1703) married Abraham Staats, a surgeon, fur trader, and community leader in Fort Orange, Rensselaerswyck, now Albany.

Goosen Van Schaick, brewer

Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick was born in Utrecht and came to New Netherland in 1637 under contract to Patroon Killian Van Rensselaer. After seven years of service, he went back to Holland but returned to New Netherland in 1646 on the ship Rensselaerswyck. Goosen was interested in the fur trade and was also involved in the real estate market. In 1664 he and Philip Pieterse Schuyler purchased the “Halve Maan”– land– from the Indians. Within this patent is Van Schaick Island, where the Van Schaick Mansion was built by his son Anthony. In 1675, Goosen and Pieter Lassingh purchased Harmen Rutger’s brewery on the Exchange Block; subsequently, Goosen became a brewer. A brewer, of course, makes beer, which was probably a necessity in that time and place. Goosen’s first wife was Geeritje Brantse Van Nieukerke, mother of my ancestor Sybrant Goosen Van Schaick. After she died, Goosen remarried. Due to his two marriages, he was the patriarch of a large and prominent family in Albany. At his death, sometime before 1679, he left a substantial estate to his second wife and to his ten children living in Albany.

Immigrants to Virginia and South Carolina

Salvator Muscoe, Sr., stone mason

As far as I know, Salvator Muscoe is my only Italian ancestor. According to Doug Garnett of the Garnett Family Registry, Salvator was a stone cutter, or stone mason, born in 1645 in Sicily. He went to London following the Great Fire of 1666 because workers with his skills were in demand to rebuild the city. He worked under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren in the construction of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Salvator immigrated to Virginia around 1685 and settled near one of the Garnett families living there. Sometimes there is confusion about the details of his life due to the fact he had a son also named Salvator. Both Salvator Sr. and Salvator Jr. had daughters named Elizabeth who married Garnetts. I am descended from Elizabeth, daughter of the elder Salvator. Elizabeth was born about 1680 and married Thomas Garnett, born about 1675. They lived in St. Anne’s Parish, Essex County, Virginia.

Johann Philip ensminger, blacksmith

Johann Philip Ensminger, born in 1727 in Waldambach, Alsace, France, immigrated to Pennsylvania as a child with his parents, Peter and Mary Catherine Trautmann Ensminger. He was the fourth generation of Ensminger men to be a blacksmith. His great-grandfather, Philipp Ensminger, Sr. (1640-1712), age 20, was listed in the 1662 tax records for Grafschaft Lützelstein, which included Waldhambach.  His occupation is listed as schmeidwerks. A schmied is a smith (blacksmith) and werks means works. Johann Philip’s grandfather, Philipp Ensminger, Jr. (1666 – post 1730), worked as a blacksmith who shoed horses in Alsace. Johann Philipp’s father, Peter Ensminger (1694-1739), was a blacksmith, too, and practiced that trade both in Alsace and in Pennsylvania. However, blacksmiths do more than shoe horses. They are really metalsmiths– hammering, bending, and cutting metal to make grills, railings, grates, tools, cooking utensils, weapons, and chains, among other things. After the death of his father, Johann Philip married Catherine Margaret Kissinger, supported the American Revolution, and moved to Virginia, where he worked as a blacksmith, raised at least ten children, and died in Monroe County. This area is now in West Virginia.

john dickey, Linen draper

One of the strangest professions I’ve ever heard of is linen draper. Basically, this is the job title for someone who sold cloth or linens–a dry goods merchant. 

According to Grover Dickey’s book John and Alexander Dickey, Immigrants, 1772, this was John Dickey’s job in Larne, County Antrim, Ireland, before he and his son Alexander arrived in South Carolina on the ship James and Mary. They received warrants for land surveys in 1773, and John Dickey’s land was 150 acres in Berkley County. Obviously, they had to do some farming, but I do not know for sure that John continued to work as a linen draper. John died in York County, South Carolina, in 1788. His son Alexander (1746-1832) served in the American Revolution and married Ann Wiseman, also an Irish immigrant. 

John mcvey, millwright

Long-time McVey researcher Vern Taylor believes that John McVey (1737-1823) was probably born in Scotland and came to America as a soldier in the French and Indian War.  He and his (unknown) first wife had four children and lived in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Virginia). I am descended from their son Samuel Lewis McVey. After John’s first wife died, he married Sarah Snedigar and had twelve more children. John was given leave to build a mill on his land in 1787 and then worked as a millwright. A millwright’s responsibilities might have included installing, repairing, dismantling, assembling, or moving machinery, as well as constructing any of a variety of types of mills–flour mills, sawmills, or paper mills. The idyllc scenes of mills that are often seen in artwork might make one think that a millwright’s life was easy. However, looking at a diagram showing how complicated the machinery could be, it becomes clear that a millwright actually had to be very knowledgeable about  many things. John moved to Kentucky later in life, but records are unclear as to whether he died in Kentucky or in Virginia.

These examples give a simple overview of some of the crafts and trades our earliest American ancestors learned. Technical and practical skills are always needed, but not always appreciated.  I am looking forward to finding more information about other ancestors  and the crafts and skills that helped them to support their families and contribute to the welfare of the whole community.

Note: All illustrations are in the public domain.

Copyright © 2019 K Steele Barrera. All rights reserved.

The Dutch Immigrant Ancestors of Abraham Vandal

Revolutionary War veteran Abraham Vandal was a Dutchman from New York who fought in both the Battle of White Plains and the Battle of Long Island. He later settled in the region that became Fayette County, West Virginia.  Abraham pronounced his surname, Wendell, with a “V” sound, so the Continental Army spelled it with a “V”. His descent was from the first settlers of New Netherland, who had immigrated to the New World a century before he was born. Some had lived in New Amsterdam (New York City), and others had settled at Fort Orange (Albany).  To learn more about life in 17th century New Netherland, please see the historically accurate L. F. Tantillo paintings.

One of the earliest and best known immigrants was Evert Jansen Wendell. Evert was born at Emden, a town situated at the mouth of the River Ems, which had been part of Hanover and Prussia at various times. His family had lived in Rynland, where they fled to escape persecution by the Duke of Alva. Sometimes his name is shown as Evert Janzen/Jansen. He served with the Dutch West India Company 1640 to 1642, came to New Amsterdam, and then married Susanna Du Truiex. He lived in New Amsterdam for about five years before moving to Fort Orange (Albany). On Feb. 8, 1647, he bought a lot in Fort Orange, where he was a ruling elder of the Dutch Church (1656), Orphan Master (1657), and magistrate (1660-1661). In these capacities, among others, he appears in several court cases listed in Fort Orange and Beverwyck Court Minutes 1648-1652.  Evert was buried under the old church then standing at the corner of Yonker and Handelser (State and Broadway) in Albany. In some records he is listed as a cooper. Because of the prominence of Evert and his descendants, much was written about them in the early history of New York, and it is not difficult to construct an almost complete family history.

Two of his immigrant ancestors were Major Abraham Staats and his wife. He was listed on the ship Den Houttuyn, which sailed June 1642 from Holland to New Netherland.  Only Abraham’s name is shown–Abraham Staes, surgeon–but he paid for two people and ended up in Ft. Orange. Later, he began trading with the Indians for beaver pelts. The Abraham Staats house is said to be the oldest house in Rensselaer County, standing where the Kinderhook Creek flows into the Hudson River. The house had been built in 1640, before he arrived, but he made an additional land purchase from the Mohicans.  He has been classified as a non-resident proprietor although he lived and practiced medicine in Fort Orange and served on the council as president. The Court Minutes for 1648-1652 of the Colony of Rensselaerswyck indicate that he held the office of raetspersoon (member of the local council) from Feb. 5, 1643 to Apr. 10, 1644, and from that time was Presideerende, or presiding officer. Around 1648, he was also a skipper on the North River, commanding the sloop Claverack, plying the waters between New York and Albany. He married Catrina Jochemse (daughter of Jochem Wesselse.) Some have reported that Abraham had two wives – Tryntje Jochems and Katrina Wessels. However, I suspect they are the same person since Tryntje is a nickname for Katrina. His will states: “In the name of god, Amen. Appeared before me, Robert Livingston, of Albany, on the 21 day of April, 1683, Major Abraham Staats, who leaves his estate to his wife, Tryntjie Joachims, during her life, and then to his children, Sarah, Isaac, Joachim, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Abraham Staats, Jr. and to Bruyne, son of Catharine Staats, deceased.”

Jacob Theunizen De Kay married Hellegonde Quick, who was born in New Amsterdam (New York) in 1640. Jacob, however, was born in Thuyl, Netherlands, in 1633.  He married Hellegonde in the New Amsterdam Dutch Church in 1658, and they eventually had seven children.

Johannes Pieterszen Van Brugh and his wife, Catrina Raeleffse, were both born in the Netherlands. Some information about them can be gleaned from Johannes’s will of 1696: “Johannes Van Brugh, Sr., New York, December 22, 1696, merchant, ‘being weake in body,’ calling to mind that all Flesh must yield unto Death.  Leaves all estate to wife Catrina during her life or widowhood. Whereas our daughter Elizabeth Rodenbergh, now wife of John Donaldson, of New Castle in Delaware, has due unto her the like proportion as her sister Lucretia Rodenbergh, as by her . . . marriage with said John Donaldson dated March 29, 1691, the same is to be paid.”  The will also leaves to son Peter Van Brugh a tract of land he had purchased for him on the Delaware River, next to John Donaldson’s . The rest of the estate went to children, Elizabeth Donaldson [his wife’s child by first husband], Helena, wife of Teunis De Kay, Catrina, wife of Henry Renssellaer, Anna, wife of Andrew Gravenoet, Johanes, and Mary, wife of Stephen Richards.

Teunis (Anthony) Van der Poel was born in the Netherlands, but it is not known if his wife was born there. Teunis (Anthony) was in Beverwyk (Albany) from 1660 to 1687. He was a magistrate in 1671 and owned one-half of Constapel’s Island in the Hudson River. At the time he died, he still owned a home in Amsterdam. The will of Anthony Cornelis Van Der Poel follows: “In the name of god, Amen. The 17 June, 1687, in the 3rd year of our Gracious Sovereign, James the Second. I, Anthony Cornelis Van der Poel, dwelling at Watervliet in the manor of Rensselaerwyck, in the County of Albany, yeoman, being in health. I make void all former wills, and especially that will made by me and my wife, dated May 12, 1669. My will is that my wife, Catrina Janse Croon, shall remain in full possession of all my estate, for life. After her decease all estate, real and personal, to my three daughters Elizabeth, wife of Benony Van Corlaer; Mary, wife of Anthony Van Schaick; and Johana Anthonesse, wife of Barent Lewis. I appoint my son-in-law Anthony Van Schaick, Levinus Van Schaick, one of the aldermen of Albany, and John Lansing, tutors of my children.” The records of the Dutch Church in Albany show membership in 1683 of Teunis Van der Poel and Catryn Van der Poel. However, Catharina Jans Croon was a member of the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam (New York City) between 1649 and 1659.

Capt. Goosen Gerritt Van Schaik came to New Netherland about 1636 and was employed by Patroon Killian Rensselaer in 1637 to work for six years. Goosen went back to the Netherlands, but returned to New Netherland in 1646 on the Rensselaerwick. In 1648, Goosen was asked to accept the position of magistrate, which he agreed to do. He took the oath of office as a member of the court of Albany and was a deacon in the First Dutch Reformed Church.  Before he married his second wife, about 1657, he made a contract in which he reserved 6000 guilders from his estate for his four eldest children by his first wife.  In 1675 he and Pieter Lassingh purchased Harmen Rutger’s brewery. He died sometime before 1679.

Theunis Thomaszen Quick (1600-1666) arrived in New Amsterdam before 1636 from Naarden, Holland, but the name of the ship is unknown. Theunis was a mason and sometimes signed his name “de Matzelaer van Naarden” (the mason from Naarden). The spelling of the last name is sometimes “Cuyck” or “Kwik”. The records of the Dutch Reformed Church in New York City show church membership during the years 1649 to 1659 of Theunis de Metselaer (the mason) and Belitje Jacobs, his wife. It is not known if his wife was also an immigrant.

Joachim Wesselse and his wife, Geertruy Hieronimus, were both born in the Netherlands. Geertruy had been married before. Joachim was a baker whose name often appears in court records involving various suits. He made a will sometime between 1679 and 1681 and died shortly after.

Finally, the last of these immigrant ancestors of Abraham Vandal is Brandt Van Neukirke, born in the Netherlands about 1593. All that is known about him is that he was a magistrate. He died in New Netherland in 1644.

Several of these immigrants lived long enough to see New Netherland become New York, after the British took over in 1664.

Because the Dutch kept meticulous records of births, baptisms, weddings, and wills, it is not difficult to stitch together a detailed and accurate history. These people were literate, industrious, religious, and responsible.

Clayton Library in Houston has a wealth of materials for researching the history of New Netherland, and most of it has been translated into English.

*Ship photo courtesy of Charles Hield.

Copyright ©2017-2018 K Steele Barrera    All rights reserved

Sources:

Colonial Families in the U.S.  Accessed at Ancestry.com.

Evans, Thomas Grier, ed.  Records of the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam and New York. Gregg Press, 1968.

Gene Pool Individual Records. Accessed at Ancestry.com.

Pearson, Jonathan. Contributions for the Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany [NY], from 1630 to 1800. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1872.

Quick, Arthur C.  Genealogy of the Quick Family in America. 1942.

Records of the First Dutch Church in Albany. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1978.

Reynolds, Cuyler.  Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley. Clearfield Company, 1992.

Scandinavian Immigrants in New York 1630-1674. Accessed at Ancestry.com.

Van Laer, A. J.  Minutes of the Court of the Colony of Rensselaerswyck 1648-1652.

Van Scoyoc, Melwood. Descendants of Cornelis Aertsen Van Schaick. 1982.

Venema, Janny. Deacons’ Accounts, 1652-1674, First Dutch Reformed Church of Beverwyck/Albany/ New York. Picton Press.