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Catherine (Van Dyke) Benham (abt. 1702 - aft. 1792)

Catherine Benham formerly Van Dyke
Born about in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Kings County, Long Island, New York colonymap
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of — married 1721 in New Jerseymap
Descendants descendants
Died after after about age 90 in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey, United Statesmap
Profile last modified | Created 1 Aug 2012
This page has been accessed 1,415 times.
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Catherine (Van Dyke) Benham was a New Netherland Descendant 1674-1776.
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Contents

Biography

Catherine Van Dyke was born in 1702 in Flatbush, Brooklyn, Kings County, Long Island, New York, the only known child of Achais Van Dyke and Jannetje Lammers.

Birth

Catherine was born about 1702 in Flatbush, Kings, New York.[1][citation needed]

In July 1792, when she was about ninety, she died in Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, of unknown causes. She must have passed after 7 July 1792 because on that date her great-grandson, Benjamin Van Cleve, writes in his memoir, that he visited her.[2] He states that she is about 91 years of age and very childish [dementia?].[2] He also mentioned visiting great-aunts (daughters of Catherine) Mrs. Vanhorne, Betty Conover, and Anna Taylor.[2] A note at the bottom of the page states:
Catherine Benham, born Van Dyke, belonged to a family that was remarkable for its longevity. Her mother was living in 1772 at the age of ninety-nine.[2]

Marriage

John Benham married Catherine Van Dyke[1] before 1722, based on the birthdate of their first child. Children:

  1. John Benham (Giertie Van Dijck)[3]
  2. Peter Benham
  3. Anna Benham (Geertie Van Dyk)[4]
  4. Elizabeth Benham (Geertie Van Dyk)[5]
  5. Benjamin Benham
  6. Nealtie Benham
  7. Joseph Benham
  8. Mary Benham
  9. Catherine Benham
  10. Henderiekye Benham
  11. Hendrica Benham

Name

Catherine Van Dyke[6]

Other names/other wives of John Benham:

  • Geertje Benham (Van Dyke)
  • Geertje Van Dyke

Research Notes

The profile is one of two wives attached to John Benham of New Jersey. According to their profiles they both lived to after 1792, so was he married to both women or only Catherine Van Dyke?

According to a genealogy compiled in1975 by Alfred Andrews, John Benham married Catherine Van Dyke.[2] He further states that her mother was married to Benjamin Van Cleve (1683-1724) as his second wife.[2] She was called "Widow Van Dyke" (see pg. 489). In John Benham's will, dated 17 Aug 1784, he names his wife, Catherine.[7] The will also names the following children (and others):[7]

  • Grandson, John Benham, son of Peter
  • Son, Joseph Benham
  • Daughter, Anne Taylor
  • Daughter, Handerickye Vandike
  • Daughter, Elizabeth Covenhoven
  • Daughter, Catharine Vanhorne
  • Children of daughter, Mary Clayton, deceased, Robert and John Clayton
  • Salley, wife of Ammeriah Morris [relationship not stated]
  • Hannah, wife of William Van Cleave [relationship not stated]

The notes appearing below this line relate to the supposed other wife of John Benham, Geertje Van Dyke.


There are two contradictory accounts regarding the ancestry of Giertje Van Dyke, wife of John Benham of Monmouth County, New Jersey, that have appeared in print. On one hand, Teunis Bergen's Register of Early Settlers of Kings County states that Carel (Karel or Charles) Jansen Van Dyke and his wife, Lysbeth Aards Vander Hard were her parents.[8] Further, it is asserted that she had a husband previous to her marriage to John Benham:

Geertje, bp. May 8, 1681, in Flatbush, m. 1st Jan Romeyn of N. J., m. 2nd Jan Bennem of N. J.[8]

It should also be noted that if she was born in 1681, she appears to possibly be of the wrong generation to be married to John Benham (abt.1692-1784) at about age 40. She would have been about 65 years of age when the youngest daughter was born in 1746.

She was mentioned in the will of her father, Charles Vandike, of Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey, on 1 December 1732, as "Gerty Remine (or Romine).[9]

Geertje's children with Jan Romeyn, as found in the records of the Reformed Dutch Congregations of Freehold and Middletown, Monmouth, New Jersey:[10]

  • Elizabeth Romeyn, b. 19 Feb 1709/10
  • Geertie Romeyn, b. 18 Nov 1711
  • Christoffel Romeyn, b. 16 Aug 1713
  • Peter Romeyn, b. 8 Apr 1716
  • Janneke Romeyn, b. 22 May 1720

Early researchers claim that Jan Romeyn died in 1723:[11]

1723 Nov. 25. Romine, John, of Freehold, Monmouth Co. Administration on the estate of , granted to John Pintard. Lib. A, p. 267
1724 May 16. Inventory of the personal estate, £30.14.6, incl. a large Dutch Bible 12s.; made by John Campbell, Samuel Layton and William Job. Sworn to by Jno. Paintard, principal creditor and administrator of the estate.

However it is impossible to tell from this information alone that this record refers to this particular John Romeyn or another of the same name. There is no mention of a widow or any children, just his main creditor who also served as the executor. It would seem likely that his widow, Geertje, would have remarried sooner rather than later since she would have had very young children. However, when her father died in 1732, she was still called Gerty Remine (or Romine) indicating that she was likely still married, or the widow of John Romeyn.[9] FindaGrave gives his deathdate as 10 March 1763 without naming a cemetery.[12]

It must also be noted that according to church records, John Benham and his wife Geertie Van Dyke had their first child baptized at the Dutch Reformed Church, Freehold, New Jersey on 8 April 1722.[10][13] This is before the death of John Romeyn. The source for this information is not currently available online and should be checked at a FamilySearch library to see if the mother was properly named.

The second theory is that Catherine is an anglicization of the name, Geeritje. Is seems a bit of a stretch, but some researchers use Geeritje Van Cleef as an example.

"... Geertje ... in later years she was recorded as Carch(e); Geertje was pronounced Care-sha (GMNJ 46:114), so that spelling was the phonetic rendition of her name, which more often was anglicized as Charity ..."[14]
"... The Catherine Van Cleaf, "relict of William," who died 11 November 1842 ... may have been his widow ... this was more likely an erroneous recording or transcription of burial data of Carche Van Cleaf ..."[14]

According to Behind the Name, Geertje is a Dutch form of Gertrude, not Catharine.[15] Catharina or Cato would be the Dutch name equivalent to Catherine.[15] Further, Yvette Hoitink, in her blog states the same thing.[16]


The following information was probably a copy/paste job from another website and placed on this profile, so must be rewritten. It also may not belong with this profile.

Sentences in italics have been rewritten above with inline sourcing. The number following each "mini" paragraph is a reference to the source list at the bottom of these notes.

Two contradictory accounts regarding the ancestry of Giertje Van Dyke, wife of John Benham of Monmouth County, New Jersey have previously appeared in print. The first account is found in Early Settlers of Kings County by Teunis Bergen. In his article on Carel (Charles) Van Dyke, Bergen supposed that Carel's daughter Geertje, baptized 8 May 1681 at the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church, was married first to Jan Romeyn of New Jersey and that John Benham was her second husband.1This supposition is half right, as shown by the will of Charles Van Dyke of Monmouth County dated 1 Dec. 1732 and proved 11 March 1734.2 In his will he named, among others, his daughter Gerty "Romine". The records of the Freehold Dutch Reformed Church show that Jan Romeyn and his wife Geertie "Van Diik" had children baptized there from 1709 to 1720.3 John Romeyn died prior to 25 Nov. 1723, when administration was granted on his intestate estate.4 In contrast, John Benham and his wife Geertie Van Dyke had their first child baptized at Freehold on 8 April 1722,5 indicating that they were married by 1721. Thus John Benham was undoubtedly married to his wife Giertje Van Dyke before Jan Romeyn died. In addition, Jan Romeyn's widow was still being called Gerty Romine by her father in 1732, at which time John Benham had been married to his wife Giertje for over 10 years. Furthermore, as will be shown in the next paragraph, Giertje (Van Dyke) Benham was born about 1701. She was thus approximately 20 years younger than Giertje (Van Dyke) Romeyn. This evidence makes it quite obvious that Jan Romeyn and John Benham were married to two different Giertje Van Dykes. The second account relating to the ancestry of John Benham's wife appears in The Andrews, Clapp, Stokes, Wright, Van Cleve Genealogies by Alfred S. Andrews. This book contains the assertion that John Benham married Catherine Van Dyke, whose mother married Benjamin Van Cleve.6 The use of the name Catherine for John Benham's wife, instead of Giertje, is due to anglicization of her name.7 The information on Catherine is stated to have come from the Bible of another Benjamin Van Cleve, the son of John and Catherine (Benham) Van Cleve. He was thus the great-grandson of John Benham and four generations removed from the Benjamin Van Cleve who married John Benham's wife's mother.

The following statements are false according to the sources provided. None of them allude to Grietje Van Dyke being the same as Catherine Van Dyke.

That John Benham's wife Catherine, named in his will dated 17 Aug 17848, is identical to Grietje (Van Dyke) Benham is proved by the memoirs of the younger Benjamin Van Cleve. In his memoirs he tells of a trip to New Jersey in 1792 during which he visited various relatives, including his Great Grandmother Benham, 91 years old.9 He also visited his mother's aunt, Betty Conover, calling her his Great-Grandmother Benham's daughter.10 This relationship is confirmed by John Benham's will, in which he names Betty Conover as his daughter "Elizabeth Covenhoven".11 Since Elizabeth "Bennem" who married Garret Covenhoven by License dated 26 Feb. 175912 was baptized on 5 Oct. 1734 as the daughter of Jan "Bennem" and Geertie Van Dyke,13 Great Grandmother Benham can be no one other than Giertje (Van Dyke) Benham. Since the younger Benjamin Van Cleve knew his great-grandmother when he was an adult, it is likely that Giertje herself was the source for the statement in his Bible regarding her mother's marriage to the older Benjamin Van Cleve. Even so, a statement in a family Bible cannot be guaranteed to be true simply because there is a reasonable likelihood that the information came from a knowledgeable source. Additional evidence should be sought to validate the statement whenever possible.
Supporting evidence which proves the identity of Giertje (Van Dyke) Benham's parents comes from what is known about the older Benjamin Van Cleve and his wife, Giertje's purported mother. Benjamin, son of Jan and Engeltje (Laurens) Van Cleve, was baptized on 25 Nov. 1683 at Flatbush. By 1705 he was married to Hendrickje, daughter of Dirck and Elisabeth (Van Nuys) Sutphen, who had been baptized on 18 Dec. 1681.14

Hendrickje, however, had been married before. Her first husband was named Peter, as shown by her father's will dated 4 Sept. 1702.15

According to The Sutphen Family and Bergen's Early Settlers of Kings County, her husband Peter was the son of Thomas "Tiercke" or Tiercksen.16,17

This raises the possibility that she and her first husband were the parents of John Benham's wife Giertje. But if, in fact, they were her parents, why is Giertje's surname Van Dyke and not Tiercke or Tiercksen? The answer lies in the use of patronymics by the Dutch, a practice which continued for many years after New Netherlands became New York. Some families adopted their patronymics as their surnames, but many did not.18

It was therefore possible that Thomas Tiercksen's family was one of the many that used a surname distinct from their patronymic.

A separate line of inquiry in the search for Giertje Van Dyke's parents included a search through published Van Dyke genealogies. In one of them, Van Dycks by Richard W. Cook, there is a page on the family of Thomas Tiercksen!19

Thomas Tiercksen came to New Netherlands in 1652 and married Engeltje Jacobs about 1671.20

His family is included in this Van Dyke genealogy because Thomas Tiercksen's son Tierck used the surname Van Dyke.21

Even though Tierck is the only member of this family to appear in later records, it is reasonable to conclude that his siblings would also have considered Van Dyke to be their surname. Among Tierck's siblings was Pieter, baptized 10 June 1674 at the New York Dutch Reformed Church, who married Hendrickje Sutphen.22

It is likely therefore that if Pieter and Hendrickje had a daughter, she would have used Van Dyke as her surname.

Clearly, this information regarding Hendrickje Sutphen's first husband makes the statement from the Benjamin Van Cleve Bible highly credible. Pieter and Hendrickje were probably married about 1700. Their daughter Giertje was born about 1701, and was about twenty years old when she married John Benham. She could well have been Pieter Tiercksen/Van Dyke's only child. After Pieter's death, Hendrickje married Benjamin Van Cleve. They moved to Monmouth County, New Jersey by 1711 when they had a child baptized at Freehold.23

Benjamin Van Kleve and wife Hendricke were the witnesses for the baptism of John and Giertje (Van Dyke) Benham's first child, Jan (John), on 8 April 1722,24

demonstrating the close relationship between the two couples. It is also noteworthy that John and Giertje Benham named their second son Peter, undoubtedly after her father.25

Taking all of the evidence into account it is virtually certain that Giertje Van Dyke, wife of John Benham, was the daughter of Pieter Tiercksen/Van Dyke and Hendrickje Sutphen.

Sources in BOLD have been consulted and used above as needed:

End Notes
1. Register of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, New York, 1881 by Teunis Bergen, p. 334.
2. Published New Jersey Archives, First Series (hereafter N.J. Archives),Vol. 30: Calendar of Wills 1730-1750.
3. "Records of the Dutch Congregations of Freehold and Middletown" as published in the Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey (hereafter GMNJ), Vol. 22, pp. 5 & 85.
4. N.J. Archives, Vol. 23: Calendar of Wills 1670-1730.
5. GMNJ, Vol. 22, p. 87.
6. The Andrews, Clapp, Stokes, Wright, Van Cleve Genealogies, 1985 by Alfred Stokes Andrews, p. 397.
7. Another example of the name Giertje being anglicized to Catherine is that of Giertje (Bennet) Van Cleaf, wife of William Van Cleaf, who is called Catherine Van Cleaf in the record of her death. See Van Cleef Genealogy, 1976 by Wilson V. Ledley, C.G., pages 189 and 235.
8. N.J. Archives, Vol. 35: Calendar of Wills 1781 - 1785.
9. Andrews, Op. Cit., p. 657
10. Ibid.'
11. N.J. Archives, Vol. 35: Calendar of Wills 1781-1785.
12. New Jersey Marriage Licenses, 1665 - 1800, 1900 by William Nelson.
13. GMNJ, Vol. 23, p. 92.
14. Ledley, Op. Cit., p. 24
15. New York Surrogate's Office Wills, Liber 7, p. 419, as printed in New York Historical Society Collections, Vol. 25, 1892. In the will the second name of Hendrickje's husband is apparently illegible, as the transcriber used "----------" instead.
16. Bergen, Op. Cit., p.291.
17. The Sutphen Family, 1926 by William G. V. Sutphen, p. 3.
18. For a detailed discussion of the use of patronymics and other Colonial Dutch naming practices, see Genealogical Publications of the National Genealogical Society, Vol. 12 "Dutch Systems in Family Naming, New York - New Jersey", 1954 by Rosalie Fellows Bailey.
19. Van Dycks, 1954 by Richard W. Cook, corrects many of the errors found in previously published accounts of the Van Dyke families of colonial New Netherlands, New York and New Jersey. The family of Thomas Tiercksen Van Dyke is found on page 9.
20. Ibid, p. 9
21. Ibid, p. 20. He appears on the 1706 assessment list of New Utrecht as Derick Van Dyck, was a member of the Kings County militia in 1715 as Cherik Van Dick and signed his mark to his will in 1749 as Tierck Van Dyck. Perhaps coincidentally, John Benham, Sr. was an Ensign in the Kings County militia in 1715.
22. Ibid, p. 9.
23 GMNJ, Vol. 22, p. 31.
24. GMNJ, Vol. 22, p. 87.
25. Peter is undoubtedly the "son of Jan Benham" baptized at Freehold on 1 Jan. 1725, as he married Anne James prior to 1748 (The Benham Family in America, 1954 by Georgiana N. Randall, p. 332)
- The Ancestry of Giertje (Van Dyke) Benham, By James R. Henderson

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 Millennium File Author: Heritage Consulting Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Compiled genealogy: Andrews, Alfred S. The Andrews, Clapp, Stokes, Wright, Van Cleve Genealogies, Fort Lauderdale, Florida: Self-published, 1975; database with images, Ancestry Sharing Link - (Ancestry Record 15790 #536 : accessed 4 May 2023); citing pg. 543. These records were copied from Benjamin Van Cleve's family bible which was in the possession of his grandson, David Van Cleve Baker of Portland, Indiana.
  3. Baptism of son Jan Benham: "New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660-1980", database, (FamilySearch Record: V5FY-886 : accessed 7 May 2023), Giertie Van Dijck's son Jan Benham baptism in 1722 in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey; citing FHL microfilm: 982040;.
  4. Baptism of daughter Anke Benham: "New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660-1980", database, (FamilySearch Record: FZ6W-JB2 : accessed 7 May 2023), Geertie Van Dyk's daughter Anke Benham baptism on 29 Jan 1727 in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey; citing FHL microfilm: 982045;.
  5. Baptism of daughter Elisabeth Bennem: "New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660-1980", database, (FamilySearch Record: V5FY-X4K : accessed 7 May 2023), Geertie Van Dyk's daughter Elisabeth Bennem baptism in 1734 in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey; citing FHL microfilm: 982045;.
  6. Ancestry.com. U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 , NOTE: Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, Louisville, Kentucky: National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution
  7. 7.0 7.1 Hutchinson, Elmer T., editor. Documents Relating to the Colonial, Revolutionary and Post-Revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey, First Series - Vol. XXXV; Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Administrations, Etc. Volume VI - 1781-1785, Trenton, New Jersey : MacCrellish & Quigley Co., 1939; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org : accessed 7 May 2023); citing pg. 41 (Lib. 24, p. 169; Lib. 26, p. 154).
  8. 8.0 8.1 Bergen, Teunis G. Register in Alphabetical Order, of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N.Y., New York: S. W. Green's Sons, 1881; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org : accessed 3 May 2023); citing pg. 333-334.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Honeyman, A. Van Doren, editor. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, First Series, Vol. XXX, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Administrations, etc., Volume II - 1730-1750, Somerville, New Jersey : The Unionist-Gazette Association, 1918; digital images, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/05009991/ : accessed 4 May 2023); citing pg. 496 [image 502 of 720].
  10. 10.0 10.1 Genealogical Society of New Jersey. "Records of the Dutch Congregations of Freehold and Middletown", The Genealogical Magazine of New Jersey, Vols. 22-38 (1947-1963): 22:2; 22:5; 22:31; 22:33; 22:59; 22:85; 22:87. NOTE: These are available at FamilySearch Libraries.
  11. Nelson, William, editor. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Volume XXIII, Calendar of New Jersey Wills, Vol. I 1670-1730, Paterson, New Jersey : The Pruss Printing and Publishing Co., 1901; digital images, Library of Congress (https://www.loc.gov/item/05009991/ : accessed 4 May 2023); citing pg. 87 [image 187 of 756], 394 [image 494 of 756].
  12. Find a Grave, database, (Find A Grave: Memorial #174024653 : accessed 5 May 2023), Memorial page for Jan Romeyn (1680-10 Mar 1763); Maintained by Atta Girl (contributor 51437935).
  13. Baptism of son Jan Benham: "New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660-1980", database, (FamilySearch Record: V5FY-88D : accessed 7 May 2023), Jan Benham's son Jan Benham baptism in 1722 in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey; citing FHL microfilm: 982040; no image.
  14. 14.0 14.1 Ledley, Wilson V. The Van Cleef Family, New Orleans : Polyanthos, 1976; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org; citing pg. 189, 235.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Campbell, Mike. "Dutch Names," Behind the Name, the etymology and history of first names, database (https://www.behindthename.com : accessed 7 May 2023).
  16. Hoitink, Yvette. "English versons of Dutch first names," Dutch Genealogy, blogpost (https://www.dutchgenealogy.nl : accessed 7 May 2023).

See also:

  • Scoudan, Fern Orr and Bowater, John. Benham - A Pedigree, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California: Self-pubished, 1989. NOTE: Copy in the Allen County Library
  • Ancestry Family Trees. Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. View

Acknowledgements

  • This person was created on 14 September 2010 through the import of 124-DeCoursey.ged.
  • WikiTree profile Van Dyke-231 was created through the import of WORCESTER_2012-07-31.ged on Jul 31, 2012 by Bob Worcester.
  • Thank you to Edward Askins for creating WikiTree profile Van Dyke-294 through the import of Askins Family (1).ged on Oct 17, 2013.tt-120|Patricia Prickett Hickin]] as manager for this profile on 30 May 2020.




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It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Catherine by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Catherine:

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In the notes section of the biography, good argument is given to support Pieter (Peter) Tiercksen/Van Dyke and Hendrickje Sutphen being the parents of Giertje (Catherine) Van Dyke, but she is attached to parents Achais Van Dyke and Jannetje Lammers. Can this be corrected to attach her to Peter and Hendrickje?
posted by Kelly Enzor