Pieter Stoutenburg the Man

Every family has stories about its ancestors. One side of my family is no exception to this. Several of my ancestors were in North America at the earliest part of the European settlement. Today, I am writing a post on my blog about just one of the family stories.

The story is that rich Pieter Stoutenburg was the first treasurer of New Amsterdam or the treasurer of the Dutch Colony. Other stories exist that he was treasurer when the British took control of New Amsterdam and that he had done such a good job that the British authorities retained him as treasurer.

I found this story repeated in books written in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Many of these books were written on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of a county, state or community and often included genealogies of the pioneer families. Then I found the same language repeated in genealogical and biographical magazines. Now, it's repeated in family trees posted on the Internet.

There is often some element of truth in most family legends. It's like the game of telephone. Each time the story is repeated it has little changes. The Pieter Stoutenburg story is no exception. Pieter Stoutenburg did at one time serve as a treasurer.

Some history :

Pieter Stoutenburg was born in 1613 in the Netherlands, probably in Utrecht Province based on his surname as there is a Stoutenburg in that province. I have not found any record of his arrival in New Amsterdam but he was married in 1649 to Aefje van Tienhoven in New Amsterdam. Tienhoven is a town in Utrecht Province as well.

The records in which he is mentioned don't record his name as Pieter van Stoutenburg. That did surprise me as the only other person in New Netherland at the time that Pieter was there is Jacobus van Stoutenburg. Jacobus lived near current day Albany and eventually went back to the Netherlands.

 Now back to the story:

New Netherland was established more like a corporate holding than a colony. The Dutch West India Company appointed members and employees to management roles in New Netherland. It wasn’t until Pieter Stuyvesant arrived that the Company assigned a resident of New Amsterdam to serve as a local treasurer on the Company’s behalf. Wilhelmus Hendrickse Beekman held that position until the defeat of the Dutch colony in September of 1664.

The British established a colonial government in New York and appointed a mayor of New York City. The mayor appointed a city clerk who served the role of treasurer of the city. Thomas Willit was the first city clerk in New York City. He served from 1665 to 1668 when Cornelis Steenwyck was appointed. Cornelis occupied that position until 1671. Thomas Delavall and Matthias Nicoll also served as city clerk in 1671. John Lawrence was city clerk in 1672.

The Dutch briefly regained control the colony between 1673 and 1674. The function doesn’t seem to exist in 1673. Sometime in 1674, Johannes Van Bugh, as Burgomaster/Mayor, served as treasurer of City of New Orange/New York City. New Orange was the name that the Dutch then gave to the city in honor of the Dutch House of Orange. That name didn't last long and the British again called the city New York.

In 1676, the British established the position, “The Treasurer of the City.” Pieter Stoutenburg was the first to be appointed to that position. He was succeeded by Willem Bogardus in 1679. So this is probably where the story that he was the first treasurer of New Amsterdam arose.

Since Pieter Stoutenburg was in his early 60’s when he was appointed Treasurer of the City of New York, it hardly makes sense that he was the first treasurer of New Amsterdam let alone the treasurer of the colony.

So what about the rich Pieter Stoutenburg?

Pieter had small burghers rights. The wealthiest residents or people in the highest positions within the Company had great burghers rights. Property taxes were based on ranking of each property as 1^st class to 3^rd class. Owners of 1^st class property paying the most and those whose property is classified at 3^rd class paying the least. Pieter’s property on the various tax rolls was classified at 3^rd class.

 

Given the tax records, I am not sure that I would call him rich. However, he certainly was a man of means and standing within the community. He served as orphan master protecting orphan rights, as guardian to his sister-in-law’s orphans, as elder in the church, and other roles.

 

To me, he sounded like a person who cared about the well-being of children, his community and his civic involvement. Those mean more to me.

45th Anniversary of the Internet

Today is the 45th anniversary of the beginning the Internet. It's a little less than 4 hours from the time on October 29, 1969 that my husband successfully accessed a computer at Stanford Research Institute from a computer at UCLA.

The first time that I recall an acknowledgment of this day in 1969 was in 1999. I began to receive calls at my office looking for my husband because it would be the 30th anniversary of the day on which he was able to connect his computer to another computer in Menlo Park, California.

I had just graduated in September 1969 from UCLA and my husband-to-be was a graduate student at UCLA. I joined the UCLA Alumni Association as a life member within a year of my graduation. My husband who earned three degrees from UCLA never did. It was my membership of the UCLA Alumni Association the precipitated these calls.

Through the influence of my father, I often found myself as the only female in a male dominated area of study, job, etc. I was the only female in my high school physics class. I was a mathematics major at UC Berkeley where I learned ALGOL and FORTRAN 2.

At UCLA, I joined the Computer Club in which I was one of two or three females during the time in which I was a member. It was at Computer Club that I met Charley. We had dated off and on for almost 3 years. In September 1969, we were at a wedding of an engineering student friend when we decided to become engaged to marry.

By 1969, it was clear to me that I was probably going to marry this guy. I was cooking dinner for him four week nights a week. I was including his laundry with mine when I did mine. I was a bit miffed when his clothes were soiled by crawling in the space below the raised floor in that computer room of October 29, 1969.

Ira Flatow asked Charley last Friday if he had any idea of what that night meant in 2014. He said that he had no clue. Charley's response it right on. The only thing that I remember of that time was wondering why the ARPA contract couldn't afford to buy Charley coveralls so he didn't harm his clothing while crawling under the floor.

Oldest House in Hyde Park - William Stoutenburgh Home

The Stoutenburgh-Teller Family Association is the proud owner of the oldest house in Hyde Park, New York. The house was built in the latter half of the 18th Century by William Stoutenburgh, son of Jacobus Stoutenburgh, the first settler of Hyde. Park. The area was known as Stoutenburgh and Stoutenburgh Landing.



William Stoutenburgh Home - Photo at FDR Presidential Library
Oldest home in Hyde Park, NY

Donations through the years have helped to support the maintenance of this old house. This year this old house needed more maintenance than expected. A member of the Family Association offered to match donations to the Association between now and October 31st up to $25,000.

If you are a descendant of Jacobus Stoutenburgh, descendant of his grandfather, Pieter Stoutenburg, or a person who loves to preserve pieces of colonial history, please consider sending a contribution, however large or small, to the Stoutenburgh-Teller Family Association, PO Box 365, Lenoir City, TN 37771-0365. Your donation is tax-deductible.

Make the check out to the Wm. Stoutenburgh Historic Homesite and write "Challenge" in the memo area of the check. Although the matching offer expires on October 31, the Family Association is happy to receive donations at any time.

The Man with An Identity Crisis

When I add a person to my family tree by marriage, I like to include his/her parents. When a female is added through marriage, I ofttimes find it a challenge to identify her parents. Once I identify her parents, I like to include some basic information, such as, when and where her parents were born and died.

My relative, Harry E. Richardson, was married to Frances by 1930. Trying to identify her parents was a challenge. As I dug deeper in, I learned the names of her parents. It wasn't easy because her father seemed to have an identity issue.

Christian Strohm was born 1871-1872 in Michigan. He was enumerated with his parents 1880 in Elmwood Township, Leelanau County, Michigan at the age of 8. His father was born in Wurtemburg, Germany and his mother, in Baden, Germany.

In the 1900 Census, he was enumerated as Christ Strohm and born in November 1871. He had been married for 2 years at that time. The young couple were living in Elmwood Township.

In 1910, the family was living in Blair Township, Grand Traverse County, Michigan. In the 1910 Census, was he recorded as Christopher Srohm (sic) and is a farmer who owns his farm outright. Frances is the youngest child in the household.

I found the change in his name a bit strange and credited it to the enumerator. But then I found that he was enumerated as Christpher in 1920 and in 1940. However in the 1930 Census, his name was written as Chris J. Strohm.

His obituary in the Traverse City Record-Eagle in entitled, "Christ Strohm, Pioneer, Dies." and his gravestone reads, " Strohm, Chris J. 1872 - 1958."

He used the name Chris In the 1903-1904 Traverse City and Grand Traverse County Directory. But by the next directory, he is recorded as Christopher Strohm. Christopher Strohm is listed in the various directories between 1904 and 1927.

Christian, Christopher, Christ, Chris Strohm may you rest in peace.

How Did Frederick E. Hyde Fjord Get Its Name?

The trustees of the Stoutenburgh Family Burying Ground in Hyde Park, New York, are mapping the location of gravesites and identifying how those buried there are connected to Jacobus Stoutenburgh and his wife, Margaret Teller. I was asked if I could find out more about Frederick E. Hyde and his wife, Susannah Stoutenburgh Hyde, who are buried in the cemetery.
 
The task was an easy one for me as I already knew who she was and her connection to Jacobus and Margaret. However, I really didn’t have much information about her husbands. Frederick Hyde was Susannah’s second husband. The things that I learned about her first husband will make for a post another time.
 
I located the couple in the 1925 New York State Census and also in the 1930 and 1940 US Censuses. He had no occupation indicated in any of the three censuses. The 1940 Census indicated he had income from sources other than wages and that he had completed five years of college. The couple traveled to Europe often as I found them on the passenger list of several sailings.
 
When I searched for Frederick E. Hyde at Google, I received several hits but not what I expected.
 
There is a fjord on Greenland called Frederick E. Hyde Fjord. It is at least 150 kilometers in length (a bit over 93 miles in length). The fjord is the northernmost fjord on the island with its mouth on the eastern side of the island opening on the Arctic Ocean. The shores of the fjord are apparently ice-free during the summer as seen in photos on the Internet.
 
Frederick E. Hyde Fjord is located on a peninsula known as Peary Land. The 28th Meridian West crosses through the fjord.

Peary Land

 
The Peninsula is defined by the Arctic Ocean to the north, east and west and by two fjords to the south. The mouth of Victoria Fjord is on the western side of Greenland, and the mouth of Independent Fjord is on the eastern side. Frederick E. Hyde Fjord divides Peary Land into North Peary Land and South Peary Land.
 
Other than physical descriptions of the fjord, I wasn’t finding anything that told me how the fjord got its name. Some of my earlier research revealed that Dr. Frederick Erastus Hyde and his sons, Benjamin Talbot Babbitt Hyde and Frederick Erastus Hyde, Jr., were members of several scientific institutions.
 
Dr. Frederick Erastus Hyde was member and benefactor of the Linnaean Society, the American Museum of Natural History and the American Association for the Advancement of Science among others. Frederick Erastus Hyde, Jr. and his brother, Benjamin Talbot Babbitt Hyde, were also members of the some of the same organizations as their father. They also financed explorations in the American Southwest between 1893 and 1907. I found no evidence that the brothers were involved with explorations elsewhere.
 
I recalled from my school years that Robert E. Peary had been the first to reach the North Pole. Given that the northernmost part of Greenland is called Peary Land, I decided to see what I could find out about Peary and his expeditions. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Robert Edwin Perry explored the area in 1892, 1895 and 1900.
 
Searching in Google Books I found many recently published books about Peary’s expeditions and also some that studied whether Peary was or was not the first to reach the North Pole. I was delighted to find a digitized book written by Robert Peary himself entitled, Nearest the Pole: A Narrative of the Polar Expedition of the Peary Arctic Club in the S. S. Roosevelt, 1905 -1906.
 
Reading page 329, I learned how Frederick E. Hyde Fjord got its name.
 

EXPEDITION OF 1898—1902

"Arrived here at 10:30 P. M., May 20^th, from Etah via Fort Conger, and north end of Greenland. Left Etah March 14^th. Left Conger April 15^th. Arrived north end of Greenland may `3th. Reached point on sea-ice latitude 83° 50’ N., May 16^th.

On arrival here had rations for one more march southward. Two days dense fog have held me here. Am now starting back.

With me are my man Matthew Henson; Ahngmalokto, an Eskimo; sixteen dogs and three sledges.

This journey has been made under the auspices of and with funds furnished by the Peary Arctic Club of New York City.

The membership of this Club comprises: Morris K. Jesup, Henry W. Cannon, Herbert L. Bridgman, John Flagler, E. C. Benedict, James J. Hill, H. H. Benedict, Fred’k E. Hyde, E. W. Bliss, H. H. Sands, J. M. Constable, O. F. Wyckoff, E. G. Wyckoff, Chas. P. Daly, Henry Parish, A. A. Raven, G. B. Schley, E. B. Thomas and others.

R. E. Peary

Civil Engineer, U. S. N."

 

The book includes a chapter on the Peary Arctic Club. Frederick E. Hyde was one of the founding members and was elected as its first vice president. Morris Jesup was elected President and apparently is the person for whom Cape Morris Jesup is named. The cape is located at the northernmost part of Greenland.

 

Most of the founders of the Peary Arctic Club were born between 1830 and 1850. Frederick E. Hyde was born in 1844 while his son, Frederick, was born in 1874. Based on the ages of the founding members, I believe that the Dr. Frederick E. Hyde was one of the founding members and that is for him that the fjord is named.

Klondyke Bogardus

One of the surnames that I trace is Bogardus. Anneke Jans married Evarudus Bogardus in the early half of the 1600s in Nieuw Amsterdam after the death of her husband, Roelof Janszen. Roelof and Anneke had a daughter from whom I descend. After the death of her first husband, Anneke Jans married Domine Bogardus and had four sons. That makes the Bogardus descendants my cousins.

The other day, I came across a Tomás Andrew Morales Bogardus. I was so intrigued with this name because it was not typical of names that I had encountered as I researched the Bogardus family. Based on Hispanic naming traditions, I suspected that Tomás Andrew Morales Bogardus was born in one of the southwestern states in the United States.

Indeed he was. He was born in California around the same time as my own children were born. So I was curious to figure out how Tomás was connected to Everardus Bogardus. I still have work to do to make the connection, but as I was doing my Google searches, I came across a Klondyke Bogardus.

What an odd given name! I found lots of things about him. He spent his life in Lima, Ohio. One of his great-granddaughters fell out of a second or third floor window in Cleveland when she was the age of three.

Klondyke seems to have been a clerk at the Lake Erie & Western Railroad Company. He was born in 1897 in Lima, Ohio.

I learned that the Klondike gold field in Alaska was opened in 1896. So it looks like Klondyke was named from this gold mine. At this point, I haven't been able to ascertain if any close family member had participated in the gold rush in 1896 or if he was named Klondyke as a joke.

A Stranger in the Cemetery

There is a gravestone in the Stoutenburgh family cemetery in Hyde Park, New York that doesn't seem to be a relative of that family. The deceased is Joseph Teel. So I began the quest to figure out who this person is and why he is buried in this cemetery. This is what I know:

He married Elizabeth Searle at Stoneham, Massachusetts on November 12, 1767 by Rev. John Searl. He was living in Medford, Massachusetts and she was living in Stoneham. Rev. Searl was the minster in Stoneham and apparently took his records with him when he was dismissed so I haven’t found any information for Elizabeth Searle.

I did find a 1919 Rhinebeck, New York newspaper article that mentioned him. The article is titled, “The last Survivors of the Revolutionary Pensions in Dutchess County,” by George S. Van Vliet. Apparently the 1840 US Census identified all the living pensioners of the Revolutionary War or surviving widows. Joseph Teel’s name is included in the list. He was 95 in 1840 and living in Hyde Park.

 The article indicated that he was a captain who fought at Bunker’s (sic) Hill, was in the Massachusetts line and was present at the surrender of General Burgoyne.

It said that Joseph Teel was an elder at the Hyde Park Reformed Church for many years. He died at the age of 98 in Hyde Park on February 14, 1843. The article also indicates that he was buried in the Stoughtenburg (sic) burying ground in Hyde Park.

The following is taken from Pages 406-407, Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Dutchess and Putnam, New York

This book also claimed that he was a captain in the Revolutionary War. I suspect that the writer of the newspaper article in 1919 obtained  that information from this book.

Joseph Teel and his wife, Elizabeth Searle, had a daughter, their only child. She was known as Elizabeth Dunbar Teel and married Cyrus Braman on December 25, 1793. She died at Hyde Park December 4, 1801. Joseph Teel apparently continued a close relationship with his son-in-law as he died at Cyrus Braman’s home. (A Census of pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services with Their Names, Ages, and Places of Residence, Returned by the Marshals of the Several Judicial Districts under the Act for Taking the Sixth Census, Page 105.)

Cyrus was born in Norwich, Connecticut on November 28, 1766 and died at Hyde Park, October 10, 1850 at his son-in-law’s home.

Joseph Teel purchased property at Rhinebeck in 1786. He apparently moved to Dutchess County about that time. His daughter and son-in-law were living in Norwich, Connecticut at the time but moved to Hyde Park around 1799 as Cyrus and his wife purchased property in Hyde Park from Phineas Eames November, 1799.
Cyrus and Elizabeth had four children: Joseph Teel Braman, Elizabeth Dunbar Teel Braman, John Adams Braman, and Cassandana Braman. The sons never married and Cassandana died 8 days after her mother at age 14 months. Elizabeth Dunbar Teel Braman married John Church of Yates County, New York.

There is conflicting information about Joseph Teel.

I found a house in Norwich, Connecticut named the Teel House. It was built as a hotel in 1789 and completed in 1790 by Joseph Teel of Preston. Both Norwich and Preston are communities in New London County, Connecticut. History of Norwich, Connecticut, from Its Possession by the Indians to the Year 1855, Page 535, says that Joseph Teel died and the hotel was run by his son-in-law, Cyrus Bramin, who put it up for sale in 1797. That house is currently for sale for $330,000.

It looks like Joseph moved to Rhinebeck in 1796 and his son-in-law was given the task of disposing of the property.

Then I found Joseph Teel’s application for a pension as a Revolutionary War soldier. The application claims that he was born April 4, 1745 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. It also indicated that he was not a captain. He served under 3 different Massachusetts regiments during the war. He was private and was elevated to that of a guard in the last regiment he served. Richard DeCantillon Stoutenburgh represented Joseph Teel in his application for a pension in 1832.

Cyrus Braman married Ruth Hitt after Elizabeth Dunbar Teel died. I looked at their offspring to see if I could find a connection to the Stoutenburgh family. I did not find any connection but I did note that their son, Samuel Hitt Braman, married Helen Van Vliet. The article in The Rhinebeck Gazette to which I reference above was written by George S. Van Vliet.

As it turns out, George S. Van Vliet is the first cousin once removed to Helen Van Vliet, wife of Samuel Hitt Braman. George included notes regarding some of the names in the 1840 list of pensioners. As I was piecing together the Braman and Teel families, I noted that several of the names for which notes were added also appeared in the Commemorative Biographical Record referenced above.

At this point, I think that Joseph Teel is buried in our cemetery because of his or the Braman family's friendship to the Stoutenburgh family. Cyrus Braman's property was between that of Dr. Bard's property and that of the Stoutenburgh family's property.