Brant van Troyan
The Fire of Troy with Captain Jochem Pietersen Kuyter arrived at New Amsterdam July 1639.
1 Laurens Duyts 2 Magdela Michiels 3 Pieter Andriessen 4 Jonas Bronck 1 Laurens Duyts Laurens Duyts came over to New Netherland in 1639 in the ship "de Brant van Trogen". Among his fellow passengers were the Danes Captain Jocem Pietersen Kuyter, Jonas Bronck and Pieter Andriesen. Duyts and Andriesen were to work for Jonas Bronck: to clear a tract of five hundred acres, which Bronck had purchased from the Indians. Duyts thus became one of the pioneers of the present Borough of Bronx. He was commonly knows as Laurens Grootshoe (Big Shoe). He was born in Holstein in 1610. He married Ytie Jansen. By her he had three children: a daughter, Margariet, who was baptised on December 23, 1639, the sponsors being Gerrit Jansen of Oldenburg (perhaps he was Ytie's brother), Teuntje Joris and Tyntje Martens; a son, Jan, who was baptized on March 23, 1641; another son, Hans, who was baptized in 1644. Jochem Pietersen Kuyter was sponsor at the baptism of the boys. Duyts appears to have been farming in different places, leasing the lands he tilled. In March 1654, he had a land dispute with Francoys Fyn. Fyn had a certain parcel of land lying on Long Island over against Hog Island (now Blackwell's Island). Duyts had sold this without Fyn's knowing it, claiming it was his own land. Duyts leased for some time the bowery of the Norwegian woman from Marstrand, Anneke Jans. He was to pay her two hogs in rent. As he had paid only one, he was sued, in May, 1658, by Aneke's son-in-law, Johannes Pietersen Verbrugge, later mayor of New York, and was condemned to deliver the hog to the plaintiff. Duyts's moral life does not deserve mention. But in order to show how Laurens "Big Shoe" trampled upon the laws of decency and how such a lawbreaker was punished, we relate that Laurens Duyts of Holstein received a most severe sentence from Stuyvesant on November 25, 1658. For selling his wife, Ytie Jansen, and forcing her to live in adultery with another man and for living himself also in adultery, he was to have a "rope tied around his neck, and then to be severely flogged, to have his right ear cut off and to be banished for fifty years. Laurens died at Bergen, New Jersey, about 1668. His son, Hans, lived at Harlem in 1667. Also the other son, Jan, lived there. Hans had a daughter, Cathrine, who at the age of fourteen (1688) was married to Joost Paulding from Holland. Paulding went to Westchester. He was the ancestor of John Paulding, one of Major Andre's captors. 2 Magdela Michiels See 'Calendar of Dutch Historical Manuscripts, E. B. O'Callaghan, (c) 1865, page 9, Register of the Provincial Secretary, July 7 1639. 3 Pieter Andriessen a Dane, from Bordesholm in Holstein, came over to New Amsterdam in 1639, in the ship "de Brant van Trogen". Among his fellow passengers were other Danes; Captain Jochim Pietersen Kuyter, Jonas Bronck (?) and Laurens Duyts. Duyts and Andriessen were to work for Jonas Bronck in Morrisania, the presnt borough of the Bronx. Bronck had advanced the two men about 121 florins to pay their board on the ship. On October 19, 1645, Pieter Andriessen got the patent of a lot behind the public tavern on Manhattan, that is on Hoogh Straet. On the same date he obtained a patent of '74 morgens, 327 rods of land on the East River, opposite Hog Island, east of Domine's Hook. The house which was erected upon this farm was nearly opposite the foot of the present Fifty-fifth Street on Manhattan Island. Andriessen owned, it would appear, some cattle before he became an independent landowner. When working in Morrisania, he bought live stock. Under date of October 15, 1641, we find a receipt of his "for a milk cow from Philip de Truy on shores" His farm must have frequently been visited by men who passed his house on the river, for he had a tavern there as early as 1648. Besides being a farmer and a tavernkeeper, he also was a chimney sweep. We do not know much about his movements. When he was in the city, he likely left his farm in care of his negro slaves. He had not been long in this country before he had, like many other early settlers, his hands in a lawsuit, and that against a woman. We have a notice of this under date of August 9, 1642, when he sued Aeltje Jouwes for slander. The result of the proceedings was, that Aeltje "begs pardon of the plaintiff in court". 4 Jonas Bronck He arrived here in 1639, having made the voyage in his own ship, called Fire of Troy, manned by himself, accompanied by a friend who was an officer in the Danish army, Capt. Joachiem Pietersen Kuyter. They each brought their family and a number of herdsmen or farmers, as their cargo was cattle. Jonas Bronck, who arrived at New Amsterdam in 1639, and whose name is perpetuated in Bronx Borough, Bronx Park, Bronxville, in New York, was a Scandinavian, in all probablility a Dane, and originally, as it seems, from Thorshavn, Faroe Island, where his father was a pastor in the Lutheran Church. Faroe then belonged to Denmark-Norway and had been settled by Norwegians. The official language of the island in Bronck's days was Danish. For a long time, writers were diligently searching for the antecedents of Jonas Bronck. Bronck may have been a Swede if we judge by the name alone, for the name of Brunke is well knows in Sweden. This possibility receives some support in the fact that a relative of Bronck, likely his son, Pieter Jonassen Bronck, made mention of a Swedish woman in his will, Engeltje Mans. He gave her husband, burger Joris, power of attorney to collect some debts. There thus appears to have been ties of relationship or friendship between Engeltje Mans and the Bronck family. (see articles Pieter Bronck, Part II., and Engeltje Mans, Part III.) Of course the fact that Engeltje Mans resided in Sweden does not necessarily made her Swedish, though we have classified her as such. As to the first Brunke in Sweden - he died in 1319- Swedish annals regard him as a foreigner. Brunkeberg, north of Stockholm has been names after him. Jonas Bronck, again judging by the name, may have been a Norwegian.
Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York
O'Callaghan; Brodhead; and Fernow (editors) Weed, Parsons & Co, Albany, New York, 1880
Transcribed by Alice M. (Stansfield) Herzberg a member of the
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
28 April 2008
The new ISTG logo was created by Patty McCormack, 2007.
The old Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild logo, which is still used in part on this site, was designed and contributed by Pat Walker and Sheila Tate.
The logo and other genealogical graphics are available on tee shirts, mousepads and tote bags from: AncesTees.
ISTG does not profit in any way from the sale of these items.
Copyrights, Trade Marks, & Registered Trade Marks within this web site are protected under international copyright law.All rights reserved by the respective holders of any ™ © ® included within this site. 1998-2007
ISTG™ NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in whole or part in any format for presentation, distribution or profit by anyone without the express written consent of the Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild. Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild is independently owned.