400 YEARS IN North America -- Our Family in New Amsterdam

400 YEARS IN NORTH AMERICA

OUR FAMILY SETTLES NEW AMSTERDAM (NEW YORK)

“The Rest of the Story”

In 2019, I was researching early immigrants in our family tree in anticipation of the 400 year commemorations of the first American colonies. In this process,, I discovered a coincidence (a trick of fate) that left me amazed.  I wanted to share this improbable story with all of my family; and to that objective have written this Post. Please forgive me for holding the hooker until the end.

The distinguished gentleman in this portrait is Dr. Claes Peterszen,, who was a renowned physician and magistrate, and a major investor in the Dutch West Indies Company.  Dr. Peterszen was nicknamed Dr. Tulp (Tulip) because of the flower painted above his office door, and it is under that name that he appears (as we see him here) in  Rembrandt’s painting, “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp.”  On or about the 24th day of January, 1624, Dr. Peterszen participated in a ceremony of momentous historical and personal consequence.  

On that day, Dr. Peterszen was tasked with administering the oath of allegiance to the West Indies Company to 30 families of Walloon refugees who had agreed to become the first settlers of the colony of New Netherlands.  Each of these men and women had agreed to exchange six years of service to the Company for grants of land in the colony.  A few couples were older, but most were in their teens or early 20’s.  The company had been careful to recruit an equal number of males and females, but not all were married when they embarked.  Four couples would be married at sea, and one was married on Jan. 21, four days before their ship sailed. 

As the Dutch entered what is still known as the “Golden Age” of their nation, most natives were enjoying the comforts and prosperity flowing into the Netherlands.  They were not eager to depart on dangerous adventures and hardships.  However, the Netherlands was filled with Religious Refugees fleeing oppression in other parts of Europe.  The pragmatic tolerance of the Dutch made this emerging nation a center for refugees. 

The 30 Walloon families standing before Dr. Peterszen had, until recently, been residents of the University Town of Leiden.  They were originally from the area we know today as Belgium, and spoke a Romance language (Walloon) closely related to French.  As Protestants, they had fled the Catholic forces of Spain and France to find refuge in the Netherlands along with other persecuted groups.  Their fellow refugees included Flemish (speakers of a form of Dutch, also from Belgium), Jews (both Sephardic and Ashkenazi), and English Puritans and Separatists.  

In Leiden, the Walloons and the English refugees lived in close proximity and shared the same church building for their services.  Both groups were primarily employed in the flourishing textile industries.  A few worked as printers, during a time when 1/2 of all the books published in the world were printed in Leiden. The Walloon families were neighbors and co-workers with the British religious refugees who had sailed on the Mayflower to Plymoth 4 years earlier in 1620.  Led by William Brewster, the Pilgrims had declined an offer by the Dutch to settle in the area they claimed as New Netherlands, and instead opted to join the Virginia Colony in Jamestown (founded in 1607).  Poor navigation brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth rather than Virginia.  

Notable among the Walloons pledged to the Dutch West Indies Company that day was Peter Minuit (Minnewit) who would later serve as Director/Governor of the New Netherlands from 1626-1631, and who firmly established the settlers on the Isle of Manhattan.  Minuit was neither a settler nor an employee of the Company.  He had offered his services as a volunteer.

Of the 30 families pledging their allegiance under Dr. Peterszen’s direction, two are of special interest — Guillaume (Guleyn) Vigne (Vienje) and his wife Adrienne Cuvelier, and Joris Rapalje and his new bride Catalina Trico.  Guillaume, Adrienne, and Joris were all natives of the ancient  city of Valenciennes. Known for its manufacture of lace and textiles, Valenciennes was a site of frequent religious warfare and persecution.  Many of the city’s Protestants fled to the Netherlands for refuge, and helped establish the lace textile manufacturing industries.  

We don’t know if the two couples knew each other in Valenciennes or Leiden, but they would certainly come to know one another aboard the crowded ship and among the small population of the New Netherlands.  Guillaume and Adrienne were older.  They were married about 1610 in Valenciennes, and subsequently immigrated to Leiden.  They had three daughters who sailed with them to the New World.  Their oldest, Christine (or Christina as she is sometimes called) was born between 1610 and 1613, probably in Valenciennes.  Maria was born about 1613 in Valenciennes or Leiden.  Rachel was born after the family reached Leiden, and was baptized on March 16, 1623 in the Leiden Walloon Church.  Thus, when the family sailed from Amsterdam, we can estimate that Christina was about 13, Maria about 11, and Rachel about 2.  

The Vigne family may have had more knowledge of their destination than their companions.  After Henry Hudson’s initial voyages, the premier explorer of the mid-Atlantic area was the Dutchman Adriaen Block.  Block’s most important, and final, voyage of exploration was made in 1614 (10 years before the settlement).  The details of his explorations are chronicled in his writings, and demonstrated by the historic 1614 map of the region.  Among the men who accompanied Block were four brothers Francoys, Leonard, Paulus, and Steffan Pelgrom.  Their father, Gheeraert Pelgrom had two wives.  The first, Antonia van Dijcke was the mother of the two elder boys; while the second, Susanna Cuveilier was the mother of the younger two.  Though no conclusive evidence has been found, it is believed that Susanna and Adrienne Cuvelier were related, and that the Vigne’s decision to join the 1624 expedition was fueled by information related through family ties.

In contrast to the Vigne’s who were probably in their early to mid thirties, Joris Rapalje and Catalina Trico were still in their teens.  The clerk of the Walloon Church of Amsterdam, who recorded their marriage on January 21, 1624, gave their ages as 19 and 18.  They were both illiterate and made their marks on the page.  No parents or guardians signed the marriage register.  This has been interpreted as indicating that the bride and groom were probably orphaned and alone in the world (or at least alone in Amsterdam).  It is not known if Joris and Catalina knew one another before leaving Leiden.  Their hasty marriage 4 days before their ship embarked for the New Netherlands, was specially arranged by the Dutch West Indies Company, at the couple’s request.  

As reported there were 30 families traveling to settle in the New Netherlands.  The total number of immigrants was about 120.  In addition to the settlers, there were soldiers hired by the Company to protect the settlers and man fortifications to be built at selected sites.  This group was divided between two ships — De Eendracht and Nieuw Nederland.  De Eendracht is usually translated as “Unity,” meaning one; while Nieuw Nederland is easily recognized as New Netherlands.  De Eendracht (Unity) sailed on Jan. 25, 1624.  We know that Joris and Catalina sailed on the De Eendracht.  There is no clear evidence on which ship Guillaume, Adrienne, Christina, Maria, and Rachel made the voyage on.  The Nieuw Nederland set sail on, or shortly after March 30, 1624.  Both ships followed the same course, attempting to make safe crossing while avoiding Spanish, Portuguese, or French privateers.  

The Atlantic crossing took three to four months depending on wind conditions. From Amsterdam, they crossed the inland sea, and then entered the North Sea.  They stayed well off the Canary Islands and the coast of North Africa.  Using the trade winds, they sailed westward north of the Bahamas, and up the Atlantic Coast of North America.  The geographical feature on which they keyed their voyage, was the wide estuary of the river Henry Hudson had named Mauritius, but which most sailers called by the name we use today — the Hudson River.

Noten Island or Nut Island (today known as Governor’s Island) was the initial staging area for the settlers.  Here we understand the passengers from De Eendracht awaited the arrival of the Nieuw Nederland.  The small tear-dropped shaped island was covered with walnut and chestnut trees.  Across the Bay from Nut Island, was the Island the Mohawks called “Ganono,” which translates as “place of reeds.”  But the name we know it by is based on the Delaware name, “Mannahata” which translates as “hilly Island.”  While waiting for the second ship, the settlers explored a land rich in fish and shellfish, including oysters, clams, mussels, conchs and periwinkles.  They hunted the abundant wild fowl which included many varieties of ducks.  In addition to the nuts,  they found strawberries, pigeon berries, and wild grapes.  

The Dutch West Indies Company was eager to ensure its claim to all of the area, and believed that this was best accomplished by placing settlements strategically on primary river-ways. Since the most immediate source of riches in the new colony was fur trading, the Company also desired to place settlements in strategic trading locations. Therefore, leaving 8 soldiers to hold the mouth of the Hudson, they distributed the 30 families across three settlements.  They placed two families and six soldiers at a settlement on the Connecticut River (which they called the Fresh River).  Then they settled two families and 8 soldiers on the Delaware River (which they called the South River).  The remaining 26 families and soldiers, were sent about 150 miles up the Hudson River (which they referred to as the North River).  

We know that Joris and Catalina were in this last group of settlers, and we believe that the 5 Vigne’s were also.  In 1614, Dutch fur traders had built a fort, which they called Ft. Nassau on an Island, located where the Mohawk River flowed into the Hudson River.  The intersection of the rivers was a key gateway for native peoples, and an ideal place for a trading post.  Ft. Nassau was destroyed by a flood in 1618, and the rebuilt fort was named Ft. Orange.  The Dutch settlers, including the Vigne and Rapalje families, spent two years at Ft. Orange (which would become the city of Albany).  

For shelter, the newly arrived Europeans initially dug square pits in the ground and lined them with wood, and covered them with bark roofs.  They planted crops, and in the first fall harvested grain, “as high as a man.” That winter (1625) they bought 5,295 beaver pelts and 463 otter skins.  

In that same year (1625), the marriage of Joris and Catalina bore fruit; their first child, a daughter, was born.  Sarah Joris Raphalje was the first European child born in what would become the State of New York.  Thirty years later, Sarah would refer to herself, the “first born Christian daughter of New Netherland.”  That same year, Guillauame and Adrienne added a son to their growing family.  Named Jan, he was the second European child, and first male born in what would be New York.  

During these two years, the first Director of the Colony, William Verhulst, proved corrupt and inapt.  In the meantime, the Walloon adventurer, Peter Minuit, had explored widely, and then returned to Amsterdam, taking with him samples of dyes, drugs, gums, herbs, plants, trees, and flowers. In Jan. of 1626, Minuit left Amsterdam to return to New Netherlands, where he landed on May 4.  Shortly after his arrival, a council of settlers met and voted to banish Verhulst and his wife.  The Colonists then voted to make Minuit their new leader.  

Minuit moved quickly to purchase the Island of Manhattan, and christened what he intended to be the capital city — New Amsterdam.  He then traveled up-river to deal with a developing crisis at Ft. Orange.  He gathered the settlers from this distant outpost, and transferred them to Manhattan, leaving only soldiers and fur traders.  Similarly, he recalled the settlers from the other two outposts on the Fresh and South Rivers.  He brought all the settlers together on the southern tip of Manhattan Island, and proceeded to build a fort at that location.  In addition to the wall (from which Wall Street takes its name), the newly resettled Walloons built two windmills, one for grinding grain and one for sawing lumber.

Both the Vigne and Rapalje families would build houses on Pearl St. near the fort.  Eventually both families would also own land and establish homes in the village of Breucklen (Brooklyn) on the long island across the bay from Manhattan.  Of the 30 original Walloon families brought by the Dutch to the New Netherlands, only 4 would survive, remain in the New World, and leave descendants.  The Vigne and Rapalje families were among these four.  Their survival against these odds is remarkable of itself.  However, what would happen 312 years later is, at least to me, more remarkable.

THE REST OF THE STORY —

On Nov. 14, 1938 (312 years after the Dutch settlers moved to Manhattan), on Wilmer H. Jackson wed Myrtis Lee Heard, in Pitkin, LA.  The groom was a descendant of Joris Rapalje and Catarina Trico through their oldest daughter Sarah Joris Rapalje (the first daughter of New Netherlands).  The bride was a descendant of Guillaume Vigne (Vienje) and Adrienne Cuvelier through their oldest daughter Christina Vigne.  Over three centuries after they swore allegiance to the Dutch West Indies Company and sailed into the unknown to settle a New World, the descendants of these two Walloon families met and were wed.  

The following is a quick summary of the descent of Myrtis Lee Heard from Guillaume Vigne and

Adrienne Cuvelier.

The following is a quick summary of the Descent of Wilmer Jackson from Joris Rapalje and 

Catalayntie Trico:

ADAMS Y-DNA -- OUR STORY

ADAMS Y-DNA — OUR STORY

Long, long ago in a land far away — there lived a man.  We will call him simply “H.”  We can only speculate as to the place and time of H’s birth, but 3 things we know about him.  First, at his conception, mutations occurred on the Y Chromosome  passed to him by his father.  The mutations occurred at sites identified by modern geneticists as L901 and M2939.  These mutations, referred to as Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (or SNPs), were passed on to his sons.  We know that H’s fathers and grandfathers came out of Africa as a part of a large group of migrants designated by geneticists as HIJK.  But after H’s birth, his male descendants could be differentiated from all others by these identifying SNPs.  And finally, we know that H had sons, and that his sons had sons, and that his male line has continued unbroken for almost 50,000 years, and that today the descendants of H are numbered in the millions.

Our best guess is that H lived in South or South-West Asia, and that he lived approximately 48,500 years ago.  Among H’s male descendants three are known to us today.  They are known because like H, they experienced mutations on their Y chromosome and these mutations were passed to their sons and their sons’ sons.  For simplicity, and with total lack of creativity, we have named these three founding fathers H1, H2, and H3.  There is a suggestion that a 4th H group (currently called H0) may exist, but there is little information.

In the language adopted by geneticists, H is a Y-DNA Haplogroup defined, like all Haplogroups, by the presence of a series of SNP markers on the Y chromosome. H1, H2, and H3, are Sub-clades defined by a terminal SNP, the SNP furthest down in the Y chromosome phylogenetic tree.  

Recognition of three H subgroups is relatively recent.  What is now H1 was previously the only recognized representative of the H Haplogroup.  The Haplogroup we now recognize as H2  was previously categorized as Haplogroup F3.  This error was largely based in geography.  The descendants of H1 are by far the most numerous members of the H Haplogroup, and they are almost exclusively native to South Asia, South west Asia, and South east Asia, especially in India, Sri Lanka, Napal, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, where they constitute a majority of the male population.  H3 has far fewer members, but is found in the same geographical areas.

It is worth noting that after over 40,000 years, one branch of the H1 sub-clave (designated as H1a1a) did migrate out of East Asia. During the Middle Ages (about 1000 to 1500 A.D.), the H1a1a descendants of old H migrated into the Middle East and spread across Europe.  There they were called Romani, or more commonly Gypsies.  

As noted above, the majority of the male descendants of old H were early inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent (where they still live).  HOWEVER, at least one of H’s sons (or sons of  his sons, etc.) migrated west and eventually north into Neolithic Europe.  Only recently have geneticists become aware of the relationship of the European H2  men (whom they were categorizing as Haplogroup F3) to the H3 and H1 men of the Indian subcontinent.  This recognition is so recent that many references only mention H1 when discussing the Haplogroup H.  This can create multiple misunderstandings for Europeans who belong to Haplogroup H2.  Since the H1 and H2 Y-Haplogroups drifted apart thousands of years ago, they differ on many evolutionary adaptations and physical characteristics, related to their other 22 chromosomes; but their Y-DNA continues to carry evidence of their common male ancestor (old H).

Analyses of Y-DNA from ancient skeletons allow us to trace the migrations of H2’s sons.  Between 7,350 and 6,750 years ago, a descendant of H2 lived at Motza in what is now Isreal. Other ancient skeletons with H2 Y-DNA have been found in sites in Turkey, Hungry, Bulgaria, Spain, France, Austria, and Germany.  H2 men were in the Anatolian area of Turkey in Neolithic times (between 6,500 and 6,200 years ago).  They were certainly in Europe between 5,852 years ago, and 2,080 years ago.  From the frequency of H2 skeletons in early settlement sites, it appears that the proportion of H2 males was higher in ancient than in modern times.  

While there is no complete picture of the travels of the H2 men, and there are many controversies, it appears that they may have been among the earliest Cro-Magnon men to venture into Europe (about 40,000 years ago), moving north when the glaciers retreated and back to the south when the climate became cold again. One writer believes they were among the first men to enter Britain (which was covered with ice during much of the ice age).  

The H2 men almost certainly encountered the Neanderthals as they moved through Europe, and some of their descendants carry Neanderthal DNA (only 1-2% of Europeans natives carry Neanderthal DNA).  They were part of the Wandering Hunter Gather (WHG) people who moved in early to populate Europe.  They were probably never numerous.  Their presence as a percentage of the total population seems to have peaked in the Mesolithic period 7,000 to 9,000 years ago. Even then they were not numerous, compromising possibly 2% to 5% of the total population.   

H2 skeletal remains are found frequently in association with G2 remains.  G2 men were among the Neolithic farmers who brought agriculture to Europe.  Neither group is numerous among modern Europeans.  H2 men are estimated to represent approximately .2% of modern European men (that is about 2 out of every 1,000 men or only about 1 million European men in 2016).  

The H2 Y-DNA subclave is often designated as H2-P96 because P96 is the terminal SNP, (that is, the SNP furthest down in the Y chromosome phylogenetic tree).  H2-P96 is also characterized by mutations at L279; L281; L284; L285; L286 and M282.  H2 is subdivided into three recognized groups — H2a, H2b, and H2c.  That is, at least three of  the original H2’s male descendants had mutations which they passed to their sons.  While the characteristic SNPs for each of these subclaves have been defined, differences in time or place of origin or distribution have not been reported.  The low frequency in the population presents a stastical  challenge for this research.  H2a is characterized by mutations at FGC29299/Z19067; H2b by a mutation at Z41290; and H2c by mutations at Y21618 and Z19080.  When researching Y-DNA Haplogroup H2, it is important to know that there is also a Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroup H, not to be confused with the Y-DNA Haplogroup H.  

When David Adams received his Y-DNA results from Family Tree DNA, we were surprised to learn that he belonged to Y-DNA Haplogroup H.  Our initial research led to descriptions of H1 (often described as H, with no sub-clave distinctions), and we were initially convinced that some error had been made.  The European roots of our Adams Family were well established.  The probability that our family had its roots on the Indian subcontinent defied all we know.  

One of the verification steps David undertook was to have FTDNA test his autosomal DNA (called Family Finder by FTDNA).  As might be expected David’s autosomal DNA was a close match for Frances Ruth Jackson Freeman, the only other  known descendant of Levi Adams in the FTDNA data base.  David and Frances share 330 centimorgans of DNA.  In total David and Frances have  245 common matches, indicating that at least 245 other people who are related to both of them have been tested.  The closest match to both of them is Troyce Manner, (with whom they each share 133 centimorgans of DNA).  Troyce knows her great-great grandparents were named Adams, but had not traced them to Levi and Nancy.  

Even as David’s autosomal DNA was being tested, more information on the H Haplogroup was discovered.  When the information on H2 (formerly known as F3) was found, the mystery seemed solved.  Our male Adams line is from Europe -- as we knew.  The Adams male ancestors are among a relatively rare group of Neolithic people who entered Europe between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, and survived the ice age.  They  mingled with the Neanderthtals and may have been among the first to explore the British Isles after the retreat of the last ice age.  

Everything in this description is the result of relatively recent scientific discovery.  It is anticipated that the data base cited in this writing will be expanded and revised as new discoveries are made.  This represents the best information we were able to obtain at this time.  We look forward to revisions as more is known.

Any male Adams who is interested may communicate with David.  The Y-DNA of all the males in our family who carry the Adams name (sons of sons of sons of Levi Adams) should be virtually identical.  Therefore David’s Y-DNA is identical to that of his male Adams cousins, brothers, sons, grandsons, etc.  David’s Y-DNA is that of his father (Edward Lemoyne Adams),  his grandfather (Edward Henry Adams), his great grandfather (Francis "Frank" Marion Adams), and his great, great grandfather (Levi Annison Adams), and his great, great, great grandfather (Samuel G. B. Adams).