My 9th Great Grandfather was William (Willem) Westerhouse (Oesterhuijsen) Sr. 1610–1683. He was a Dutch Sea Captain/ship owner, physician and merchant. Thomas Witherington, was Captain of the merchant ship "Swallow" owned by William Westerhouse [Willem Oesterhuysen] (1610-1683). Westerhouse, born in Holland and was the father of Anne Westerhouse (1650-1709), the wife of Amos Garris I (1638-1684). Amos I was, of course, the grandfather of Amos Garris III (1702-1771), who was, in turn, married to Elizabeth Comfort Sharp (1710-1765), the great granddaughter of Captain Thomas Witherington, via her mother, Elizabeth Comfort Fitchett (1689-1735), and grandmother, Esther Witherington (1645-1716), Captain Thomas' daughter. The "Swollow" was originally named "St. Beninjo" when it was captained by William Westerhouse, on 17 Sept. 1647, as he arrived at New Haven, Connecticut, with a cargo of contraband weapons and powder to sell to multiple parties. At that time, not only was there the beginning of the English Civil War, but Indian warfare, religious warfare, and colonial nationalistic warfare in the competition between the British, Dutch, French, Spanish and Swedish. Sailing under a Dutch flag, the ship was about to be searched and impounded by Dutch authorities. Conveniently, it was "stolen" in the middle of the night by Dutch "pirates," depriving the Dutch of the evidence it needed to arrest and bring to trial Oesterhuysen. Later we find that the "St. Beninjo" has been renamed the "Swollow" and the Dutch captain has taken the name Westerhouse and settled in Northampton County, Virginia, where his ship is now captained by his friend, Thomas Witherington, while he resumes a career as a physician and merchant.
