Tjerck Claessen immigrated to America in 1650. Recorded on the register of marriages of the Reformed Dutch Church of New York City is the entry that on April 24, 1656, Tjerck Claessen de Witt van Grootholdt en Zunderlandt married Barbara Andriessen van Amsterdam. Zunderlandt was a district of Westphalia on the southern border of East Friesland. Tjerck was a navigator, trader, farmer, and co-owner of the sloop St. Barbara. Their son Andries was born in New York City. In accordance with Dutch custom he was named Andries after Barbara's father, the second son Klaes for Tjerck's father, a younger son Lucas for her brother.

In the spring of 1657 the family moved to Albany, where Tjerck purchased a house and lot. He took possession of land in Wiltwyck on May 1, 1661. That year while living in Esopus Tjerck also received rents from land inherited from his father in East Friesland, Netherlands. In 1667, when Tjerck opposed the British occupation of Kingston, Capt. Broadhead beat him and threw him in prison for keeping Christmas Day on the customary Dutch day instead of the English day. In 1668 Tjerck refused to take the British oath of allegiance.

Ulster records show that Tjerck owned Negro slaves and two sloops that sailed the Hudson and along the Atlantic coast. He had a house, barn, stables, orchard, and calves' pasture in Esopus.

Tjerck's will is dated March 4, 1698. In his will written in Dutch Tjerck left his property to his wife and after her death to his sons Andries and Tjerck. They were to divide it in 12 equal shares for each of his children. In addition Jan and Jacob each received 500 bushels of wheat, and Lucas inherited one-half of the sloop. Tjerck also mentioned Rachel and her husband Cornelis Bogardus and also Jannetje and her husband Cornelis Swits. Tjerck left about $8,000 in personal property to his heirs.

Sources:
Genealogies of the First Settlers of Albany, pp. 42-43.
History of Ulster Co. by N. Sylvester, pp. 169, 186.
"Olde Ulster," vol. 8 , p. 18.
Ulster Co. Wills, RKAA of Deeds, p. 252.

Tjerck Claessen DE WITT

b. abt 1619/1620, Saterland, Hesephalia, Netherlands,
m. 24-Apr-1656, in Ref. Collegiate Dut. Ch., New Amsterda, Barbara ANDRIESZEN, b. abt 1630, Amsterdam, Noord Holland, Netherlands, d. 6-Jul-1714, Kingston, Ulster Co., NY.
Tjerck died 17-Feb-1700, Kingston, Ulster Co., NY.
Tjerck Claessen DeWitt was born at "Groatholdt" in Zunderland, Westphalia, about 1620. He had two sisters, Taatje and Emmeretie and a brother, Jan Claessen DeWitt.

1. Andries DEWITT b: 1657 in New Amsterdam, NY
2. Taatje DEWITT
3. Jannetje DEWITT
4. Klaes DEWITT
5. Jan DEWITT
6. Gertruy DEWITT
7. Jacob DEWITT
8. Rachel DEWITT
9. Peek DEWITT
10. Tjerck DEWITT
11. Marritje DEWITT
12. Aagje DEWITT b: in Albany, N.Y.
13. Has Children Lucas DEWITT b: 1674 in Kingston, Ulster Co, N.Y.
baptisms DRC New Amsterdam

~• Appears:
1665 Mar 01; Marten Hofman, Emerensje Hofman; Annetie; Jerck Claeszen de Wit, Annetje Croesvelt

Pronounciation of the name is as if written Cherrick; The form "Claeszen" used in the Dutch Record was the formal spelling. That as well as Classen, signifies that Tierck was the son of Claes or Nicholas.

"Groatholdt" signifies Great Wood; Zunderland is probably Saterland, a district of Westphalia on the southern border of East Friesland.

Tierck is a Frisian form of Theodoric. In the New York Dutch record of the baptism of at least two of his children, the form Tierck is used. In Dutch, the letters i and j, at least when preceding a vowel, are interchangeable.

Tierck Classen himself wrote id Tierck as appears from signatures in Albany County Clerk's Office; the parties themselves signed the early records of conveyance and other instruments. A signature of Tierck Claessen, in a firm hand, in which some of the characters resemble German script, appears in Book of Deeds No. 2, Page 263, Albany County Clerk's Office.

The first mention in this country, of Tjerck Claessen DeWitt, the ancestor of the DeWitt family, is found in the "Trouw Boeck" or Register of Marriages of the Reformed Dutch Church, of New York City, where it is recorded that on the 24th day of April, 1656, "Tjerck Claessen DeWitt van Grootholdt' en Zunderlandt," married "Barbara Andriessen van Amsterdam." Zunderlandt has not been definately located, but is probably Saterland, a district of Westphalia, on the southern border of East Friesland.

It seems, from the records, that he was connected with the distinguished DeWitt family of Dordrecht, Holland, but the line of connections doesn't appear yet. He had a wax seal engraved with the coat of arms borne by Jan DeWitt, the Grand Pensionary of Holland. Undoubtedly, he brought this seal over with him, and it may have belonged to some forefather.

For a short time after his marriage he lived in New York , but in the spring of 1657 he moved to Albany, where he had purchased a house and lot. In accordance with Dutch custom, the first son was named Andries, baptized in New York 1657, for Barbara's father; the second son was Klaes, baptized 1664, for Tjerck's father; a younger son Lucas, for her brother.

In September, 1660, he exchanged his Albany property with Madame de Hutter, for land in Wiltwyck , "possession to be given May 1, 1661." He probably took possession at that time, as in September, 1661, he appears as plaintiff in an action at law before the Schepens Court of Wiltwyck, and on October 11th the same court ordered the Sheriff to pay him three and a half schepels of wheat in eight days and seven more in one month.

From this time until his death, he resided in Kingston and Hurley, and some of the land which he purchased is still in the hands of his descendants.

That he was a man of considerable means is shown by the fact that in 1661 he was taxed 125 guilders to pay for building a church in Esopus.

In 1662 he owned No. 28 of the "new lots."

June 7, 1663, when Kingston and Hurley were almost entirely destroyed by the Indians, his eldest daughter, Taatje, was taken prisoner, but was soon rescued. She afterward married Captain Matthys Matthyssen.

During the winter of 1664 there was much sickness in Esopus [Kingston]. Fever took hold of the people and prostrated half the place. But this did not prevent men from gathering their money. Roeloff Swartwout sold a horse to Tjerck Claessen DeWitt, which was taken to the latter's barn, but the ex-sheriff, becoming dissatisfied, took it away secretly. He was sued for the property."

In 1667, when the British sent Capt. Broadhead and 13 soldiers to take possession of Kingston, he was one of those who opposed British occupation and among the complaints made afterward by the burghers was the following: "Capt. Braodhead has beaten Tjerck Claezen DeWitt without reason and brought him to prison. Ye reason why Capy. Broadhead abused Tjerick DeWitt was because he would keep Christmas day on ye day according to the Dutch and not on ye day according to ye English observation."

He refused to take the Oath of Allegiance required of heads of families by the English in 1668. He appears to have been well to do; he brought servants to Kingston. The records of Ulster Co., NY, show that he owned negro slaves and possessed two sloops which sailed the Hudson and along the Atlantic coast, carrying on trade at various places, and that he left about $8,000 in personal property.

On 8 Apr 1669 he was given permission to build a house, barn and stables on land between Kingston and Hurley.

Because he refused to pay an Indian wages due, the court banished him and fined him 600 guilders; but the banishment was rescinded, the fine remitted and he was ordered to pay a reasonable sum to the complaining Indian - about 80 cents.

June 25, 1672, Governor Lovelace deeded him "a parcel of bush-land, together with a house, lot, orchard, and calves' pasture, lying near Kingston, in Esopus."

October 8, 1677, Governor Andros deeded him a piece of woodland, containing about fifty acres, at Kingston in Esopus, "to y' west of y' towne."

February 11, 1679, he was one of the signers of a renewal of the Nichols treaty with the Esopus Indians.

In 1684 he signed "the humble petition of the inhabitants of Esopus in the County of Ulster," praying that there might be "liberty by charter to this county to choose our owne officers to every towne court by the major vote of the freeholders." This petition was addressed to Col. Thomas Dongan, Governor-General.

It greatly offended the authorities, and the signers were arrested and fined. Thus early in the history of the country arose the questions of local self-government and the right of suffrage. They were easily answered then.

February 13, 1685, 189 acres of land were conveyed to DeWitt by the Trustees of Kingston.

June 6, 1685, he claimed 290 acres of land lying upon the north side of Rondout Kill, and known by the name of "Momboccus" in Ulster County. This was laid out for him by Phillip Welles, a surveyor, and was granted to him by patent, May 14, 1694.

March 4, 1689, he was chosen one of the magistrates of Ulster County, having previously held other offices.

Tjerck Claessen DeWitt died at Kingston, February 17, 1700. By his will, which bears date the 4th day of March, 1698, and which is written in the Dutch language, he leaves his property to his wife for life; at her death one-half to go to his oldest son, Andries, and one-half to his youngest son, Tjerck, in trust, "provided that the same shall be appraised by impartial persons on oath," and divided into 12 equal shares, one share to be given to each of his children, their heirs or assigns. In addition to the equal share he gave to Andries some lands at Koksinck and Kleine Esopus, to Jan and Jacob each five hundred bushels of wheat, and to Lucas the one-half of a sloop which he had built the year previous. The legacy to his daughter Rachel is subject to the condition "that my said daughter's share shall be decreased 100 pounds for the benefit of my heirs, which is what my daughter's husband, Cornelious Bogardus, owes me for the one-eighth of a brigantine, desiring, however, that the child of the said Bogardus, named Barbara, shall receive, out of the foresaid 100 pounds, 50 pieces of eight." The legacy to his daughter Jannetje, the wife of Cornelius Swits, is "with these conditions, that if my aforesaid daughter shall die without leaving any children, then all the said part shall be the property of my heirs, to be equally divided between them."

A copy of his will appears in Volume 8 , pg 18 of "Olde Ulster" in library of Holland Society, 90 Wall Street, New York, NY.

per DeWitt-Peltz, A Supplement to Peltz-DeWitt , p. 346: Mr. A.J.F.van Laer, a native of Holland, for many years State Archivist, recently retired, supplies the following valued information-

"When I revised Jonathan Pearson's translations of the two volumes of Notarial Papers in the Albany County Clerk's Office , I made an effort to locate the birthplace of Tjerck Claessen De Witt, which in the marriage records of the Dutch Reformed Church of New York is given under date April 24, 1656, as 'Grootholt in Zunderlandt', and which according to Schoonmaker's History of Kingston, p. 477, is 'supposed to be Saterland, a district of Westphalia, on the southern border of East Friesland.'

"I conclude this is a mistake and the Zunderlandt has nothing to do with Saterland, but is a misreading of Emberland. In the first place, Tjerck Classen had a sister Emmerentje De Witt, who in the record of her intended marriage in 1664, at New Amsterdam to Marten Hofman is given as 'from Esens in Embderlt', and secondly, in a power of attorney, dated June 9, 1661, given to his brother-in-law Jan Albertsen, Tjerck Claessen speaks of land inherited by him at 'Oosterbemus in Oost Vriesland.'

The latter is a small place on the coast of East Friesland, opposite the island of Baltrum, which on the map of 'Emden & Olderborch, Comit,' in Mercator's Atlas of 1619, is given as 'Oosterbeus'. This place is situated near Esens, only a few miles N.E. of Emden, and accounts for all the places mentioned in the various documents and also accounts for the fact that the first known ancestor of the DeWitt family had the Frisian name 'Tjerck,' which is equivalent to the Dutch name Dirck, or Diederick.

"It would be interesting to see whether the original marriage record of 1656 in the Dutch Church at New York actually has the name 'Zunderlandt,' or whether this mistake was made by the clerk who transcribed the record for the printer.

"Emden, the seaport in East Friesland which was heavily bombed in the last war, was in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries a place of refuge for Dutch Protestants, who fled there from Spanish inquisition. The place was under the protection of the States General of the Netherlands, who maintained a Dutch garrison there. The place looks like a Dutch city and has a large Dutch Reformed Church, where some of my own ancestors, the immediate descendants of Hohan van Laer, who in 1533 fled from Oldenzaal, in the province of Overyssel, Netherlands, are buried. I visited their tombs in 1910, but fear that they were destroyed in the last war.

"The Frisians early in the Middle Ages settled all along the Dutch coast. They were predominant in the northern part of the present province of Noord, Holland, which for a long time retained semi-independence and became known as West Friesland, in contradistinction to the province of Friesland on the east side of the Zuider Zee, of which Leewarden is the capital, and the territory in Germany, which is known as East Friesland. In the 17th century West Friesland was combined with the northern part of the province of Holland, but still retained administrative independence and became officially know as 'Holland and West Friesland'.

When the Netherlands became a kingdom, in 1813, the name West Friesland was dropped and the territory of 'Holland and West Friesland' was named 'Noord Hooland', the remainder of the ancient county or province of Holland, in which the cities The Hague, Rotterdam, Leiden and Delft are located, being named 'Zuid Holland'.

"West Friesland, therefore, was never a separate province of the present Kingdom of the Netherlands."

---

He probably emigrated from near Esens in Ostfriesland in the early or mid-1650s. He married Barbara Andriessen in Manhattan on April 24, 1656. Apparently, though, they never baptized any children there.

We know that as early as February 1656 Tjerck was in court in Albany for fighting and for keeping company with Lutherans; we also know he lived there after he was married.

It seems likely that Tjerck and Barbara baptized their first children in Albany. Marriage and baptism records from Albany before 1683 have been lost.

On November 20, 1658, Tjerck arranged to lease his house in Beverwyck to Arent Isacksz from May 1, 1659, to May 1, 1660. In September 1660 he traded his Albany property with a Madame de Hutter , in exchange for land in Wiltwyck , “possession to be given May 1, 1661” .

In 1661 Tjerck was taxed for the erection of a church in Hurley, not far from Kingston. By September 1661 Tjerck had already appeared in court in Wiltwyck .

On February 12, 1662, Tjerck and Barbara baptized a daughter, Jannetjen, in the Kingston Dutch Reform Church . By 1662 they owned No. 28 of the “New Lots” at Kingston.

On May 28, 1663, Tjerck also bought a lot in Beverwyck from Harman Tomassen, though he doesn’t seem to have moved there . On June 7, 1663, Kingston and Hurley were almost entirely destroyed by the Indians; Tjerck fought valiantly in their defense, and his daughter Taatje was kidnapped, along with three other children. She was soon rescued.

Between then and 1668, Tjerck and Barbara baptized three more children in Kingston, where they apparently continued to live in town.

In September 1664 the British took control of New Amsterdam and renamed it after the Duke of York; Colonel Richard Nicolls took over as Governor. In 1667 Tjerck opposed the British occupation of Kingston and “refused to keep Christmas on the day according to the English observation, but according to the Dutch.” For his recalcitrance he was beaten.

In 1668 Tjerck refused to sign the oath of allegiance administered by the British, though a “John” DeWitt and Andries DeWitt did sign it.

On January 24, 1669-70 , the new British Governor, Colonel Francis Lovelace, issued a permit to Tjerck to let him “erect a house and barne with convenient outhouses for his cattle upon his own land at Esopus, lying betwixt Hurley and Kingston,” noting that Tjerck previously had permission from Governor Nicolls to do this and on that promise had provided all the materials to get started. This land was on the Kingston-Hurley road; the house still stands today, with a beautiful view of the valley of the Esopus Creek.

On June 25, 1672, Governor Lovelace officially deeded Tjerck the “parcel of bush land, together with a house, lot, orchard and calves’ pasture, lying near Kingston in Esopus.” The deed was a confirmation of Tjerck’s title to the land, now that he had built on it.

New Amsterdam was recaptured by the Dutch on August 7, 1673, but in February 1674 the Dutch agreed to give the colony back, and on October 11, 1674, Captain Antony Colve officially handed over control to the new English Governor, Major Edmond Andros.

On October 8, 1677, Governor Andros deeded Tjerck a piece of woodland, containing about 50 acres, at Kingston in Esopus, “to the west of the towne.” He had other property too.

Tjerck and Barbara had six other children whose baptisms were not recorded in Manhattan or Kingston. It seems likely they were baptized in Hurley, in the church he had helped pay to build—not too far from the house and farm he built around 1670. Their last daughter, Aefje, was baptized in Kingston on January 14, 1684.