Gerrit (Jansen) van Vorst (1618 - 1642)

Descendants

Died 1642 at about age 24 in New Netherland

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Gerrit (Jansen) van Vorst was a New Netherland settler. Join: New Netherland Settlers Project Discuss: new_netherland

Conflation

Gerrit was married to Geertruy Jacobs and they had a son named Jan, perhaps pre-record, and then had a son named Jacob.

1642 03 Jul Jacob, Gerrit Janszen. Wit.: Mr. Joost Van de Bogardt, Annetje Loockermans. ^[1]

Gerrit is then thought to have been killed in a drunken dare. ^[2]

"A certain savage chief named Hacquinsacq, who was considered as heedless even by the savages themselves, having been intoxicated with brandy by our men, being asked whether he was able to make a good use of his bow and arrow when in that state, in reply pointed his arrow at a certain man called Gerrit Yansz, a servant of the deceased Mr. van Nederhorsts, whom he actually killed, asking whether he was able to or not." ^[3]

Geertruy Jacobs, widow of Gerrit van Vorst, then goes to court on 16 Apr 1643 to assure the future of her children, Jan Gerritsen and Jacob Gerritsen van Vorst, before she marries Rouloff Jansen (de Haes?) ^[4]

• 1643 19 Apr Roelof Janszen, j.m. Uyt Noordwegen, en Geertruyd Jacobs, Van Emmenes, Wede. Van Gerrt. Jaszen. ^[5]

Garrit and Geertruy's son Jan is believed to have married Sara Waldron.

• 1662 09 Jul Jan Gerritszen Van Voorst, j.m. Van N. Nederlt., en Sara Waldron, j.d. Van Amsterdam. ^[6]

Jacobus Gerritse van Vorst of Albany, that married Sara Jellis Fonda, is thought to be their son Jacob.

It is not clear where the Gerritsz/Vanderhoff family of Delaware became attributed to this Gerrit but the names conflict.

Biography

Name

Garrit Jansen VanVorst

Birth

Born 1618 in Corlears Hook,New Amsterdam,Noord Holland,Netherlands

Marriages

1. Possible first marriage : Marriage-Trouwinschrijving date-datum:03-06-1621 Utrecht: Gerrit Janssoon van Voorst en Aeltgen Adriaens van Kesteren Remarks- Opmerkingen: Tamborijn van de Guarde van sijn Genade Graeff Ernst van Nassau ^[7]

Event

Event: New York, New York

Type: Arrival Date: 1639 Age: 20-21

Event: New York, New York

Type: Arrival Date: 1642 Age: 23-24

Death

Died 1642 in New Amsterdam,Dutchess,New York, USA

Date: 1642 Place: New Amsterdam, Dutchess, New York, United States

Age: 23-24

Research notes

Note: The Compendium of American Genealogy, Frederick Adam Virkus, p69: "Van Voast (Van Vorst), Gerrit Janszen (1618-1642), from Holland ante 1639, settled at Corlear's Hook, New Amsterdam, New Netherlands.Married Geertryud--".

History of New Netherland, Vol. 1, Callaghan, pp263-4:

"An Englishman, residing on Staten Island, in the service of De Vries was killed shortly after; and in a few days following, Gerrit Jansen van Vorst was also slain, while engaged roofing a house "behind the cul", as Newark Bay was called, in the colonie of the Lord of Nederhorst". [Book III, 1642]

Documentary History of New York, Vol. IV, pg.150:

An Indian having been intoxicated with brandy by our men, being asked whether he was able to make good use of his bow & arrow when in that state, pointed his arrow at a certain man called Gerrit Yansz, a servant of the deceased Mr. van Nederhorsts, whom he actually killed...

Van Vorst Papers, Schenectady Library:

It was sometime during the year 1642 that Gerrit Janszen Van Vorst entered history in his own right. He was up on a roof in the New Jersey settlement of Achter Col, doing a thatching job. Nearby some of his neighbors were busy getting a Hackensack Indian thoroughly drunk. Next they began teasing him, telling him he was too drunk to be able to shoot straight. Rising to the dare, he aimed at the handiest target: Gerrit Janszen, perched up against the sky. Despite the load of brandy taken aboard, the Indian's aim was sure. The arrow killed Gerrit.

This bit of tragic horseplay almost precipitated a war with the local Indians, & the story is retold, in several fragmentary versions, in a series of complaints sent back to Holland formally denouncing the laxness of the current New Netherlands government. Gertrude, the widow Van Vorst, soon remarried.

But our chief concern is with the two fatherless boys--one, Jacobus very probably an infant in arms.

Van Vorst Papers, a Memorandum:

The earliest of these was Gerrit Janzen Van Vorst, probably settled on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River at Corlear's Hook about 1639, & killed by an Indian arrow in 1642.

He left two sons who were progenitors of Van Vorst families in New York City& in upstate Albany & Schenectady.

Gerrit Janse married, probably in Holland, Geertruyd Jacobs. On his death in 1642, he left two infant sons:

1. Johannes
2. Jacobus.

His widow Geertruyd Jacobs or Jacobuse, who had come from Emmenes (Eemnes), near Amersfoort, Holland, subsequently married Roeloff Jansen Haes. (Dutch Settlers of Albany Year Book.)

Jacobus Gerritse was baptized at New Amsterdam 3 July 1642. (Albany Collections, Vol. IV.)

New York Historical Manuscripts:Dutch; 51C, Vol. II, pp115-116:  :Settlement by Geertruyt Jacobs, widow of Gerrit van Vorst, on her children of their portion of their father's estate, April 16, 1643, at New Netherland, Fort Amsterdam.

Geertruyt Jacobs from Emmenes [a village in the province of Utrecht, near Amersfoort] declared that she intended to marry Rouloff Jansen, from Norway, that she promised to pay each of her minor children, Jan Gerritsen & Jacob Gerritsen van Vorst, their patrimonial estate, when they reached the age of majority, to each 75 guilders.

Per Bonnie Ferguson:

The ones who went to NJ (Cornelis & Henry) is not our line and so far we cannot prove a relationship, but think he might be a cousin to Gerrit Janse Van Vorst. Gerrit Jans had two sons by Geertury Jacobs which was his second marriage.

His first wife he md in Utrecht in 1621, and I don't know if he had any children by her. We can't find the marriage record of Him and Geertruy Jacobs, only his first marriage.

Jan Gerritse VV b abt 1640 ( not positive, but close).

He and Geertury immigrated the best I can figure in 1641 with one infant son Jan and Jacobus was born in New Amsterdam.

Jacobus Gerritse was bp 3 Jul 1642 and Gerrit was killed that fall leaving Geertury with two young sons, and they are listed in the orphans book. But the Cornelis and Henrick are not our family!

On 8 Feb 1999 I recieved this from Mariram Klassen from the Netherlands: mwk@casema.net, Today I visited the Rijksarchief of the province of Utrecht and found some information that may interest you. :Gerrit Jansz van Voorst, living in the Lange Lauwerstraat in the town of Utrecht, married 6 Mar 1621 in the Calvanist Jaobchurch in Utrecht with Aaltgen Adriasens Kesteren from Utrecht. He was at the time 'tamborijn van de sijn Genade Gradff Ernst van Nassau', roughly translated: drummer of the guard of count Ernst of Nassau ( Nassau is a noble family, related to the Dutch Royal House) I think that this is an earlier marrige to the same Gerrit Jansz van Vorst.

The second marriage with Geertury Jacobs I couldn't find. Research in Eemnes ( in former days wa also spelled Emenes) is not easy, because the church registers are starting too late to find there people. Nederhorst den Berg is a village situated about ten kilometers from Eemnes, in the province Noord-Holland, I know nothing about the Lord of Nederhorst, but maybe I will find something when I visit the provincial archives of Noord-Hollad in the near future.

A little of information about Gerrit Jansz van Vorst: "Tamborijn van de guarde sijn Genard Graeff Ernst van Nassau" address Lange Lauwerstraat ( name of the street in Utrecht) married 6 Mar 1621 Utrecht Jacobskerk (name of Calvinistic Church in Utrecht) with Aaltgen Adriaens van Kesteren, descended from Utrecht.

I tried to find a marriage with Geertury Jacobs, but found nothing in the marriage-registers of Utrecht. Maybe they married elsewhere in the Netherlands. Nederhorst is a Knight's farmstead (I hope that is the proper translation of the Dutch "ridderhofstede") in the municipality of Nederhorst den Berg. It is near Eemnes.

York Historical Manuscripts Vol II Section 51C marriage:

1. Aaltgen Adriasens Kesteren from Utrecht 6 Mar 1621 Utrecht Jacobskerk ( name of a Calvinistic Church)

Colonial History NY 1: 411:13, 11- Gerrit Janse Van Vorst was possibly a servant of the Lord of Nederhorst who was probably sent to New Netherlands in 1641 and in 1642 while thatching a roof he was killed by an Indian in the Colony of Achteer.

E. B. O'Callaghan, History of New Netherlands, v I pp 263-278: In the fall of 1642, there had been some incidents of violence by renigade Indians. After some traders had stolen a dress of beaver skins from an Indian whom they had previously stupefied with brandy, he vowed revenge. An Englishman in the employ of David De Vries was killed shortly after, and in a few days following, Gerrit Jansen Van Vorst was also slain, while engaged in roofing a house.

The chiefs of the tribes, desiring peace, offered restitution to the Dutch, but it was refused by Kieft.

In Feburary 1643, in spite of the warning of cooler heads such as Johannes La Mantagne and Davied Pietersen De Vries, who counselled patience, humanity and kindness to win over the Indians, Kieft, at the urging of a militant group led by Jan Jansen Damen, Abraham Planck, and Maryn Andriessen, ordered a pre-emptive sneak attack on the Indians at Pavonia. Over one hundred twenty Indian men, women and children were slaughtered in their sleep. According to one account, "Sucklings were torn from their mothers breast, butchered before their parent's eyes, and their mangled limbs thrown quivering into the river or the flames. Babes where hacked to pieces while fastened to little boards...their primitive cradles.....others were thrown alive into the river, and when their parents, empelled by nature, rushed into save them, the soldiers prevented them landing, and thus, both parents and offspring sunk into one watery grave. Children of half a dozen years, decrepit men of three score and ten, shared the same fate. Those who escaped and begged for shelter the next morning, were killed in cold blood, or thrown into the river. Some came running to us from the country, having their hands cut off; while some lost both arms and legs; some were supporting their intrails with their hands, while others were mangled in other horried ways too horried to be conceived. And the miserable wretches, as well as the Dutch, were all the time under the impression that the attack had proceeded from the terrible Mohawks".

This senselessly violent act by the Dutch soldiers infuriated the previously peaceful Indians surrounding New Amesterdam, and this was was to prove troublesome to the white colonists (both Dutch and English) in the future.

The dismay felt by the Indians following this massacre were expressed in the words of an Indian Sachem of the Manhattans, addressed to Ambasador David Pieterse de Vries at a subsequent peace conference: "When you first arrived on our shores, you were often in want of food. We gave you our beans andour corn. We let you eat our oysters and fish; and now on a recompense, you murder our people. The men whom who left here at your first trip, to barter your goods until your return, we cherished as we would our own eyeballs. We gave them our daughters for wives, and by these they have had children.

There are numbers of Indians who come from mixed blood from the Indians and Swannekins (white men). Your own blood have you spilt in the villanous manner".

E.B. O'Callaghan, History of New Netherlands v I p 169: Tradition says that Gulyen Vigne's wife, Ariaentje Cuvilje, had been endowed by her schismatic forebears with a violently rebellious streak, and it was reported in Holland that she played football with Indian's heads brought to Fort Amsterdam after Kieft's unholy attacks in 1643.

Following the massacre of the Indians by the Dutch soldiers at Pavonia, Araentje Cuvilje, "Van Tienhoven's mother in law, forgetful of those finer feelings which do honor her sex amused herself, it is stated in kicking about the heads of the dead men which had been brought in, as bloody trophies of the midnight slaughter".

«b»History of New Netherland «/b»1642 , New York, NY In the fall of 1642, there had been some incidents of violence by renigade Indians. After some traders had stole a dress of beaver-skins from an Indian whom they had previously stupefied with brandy, he vowed revenge. An Englishman in the employ of David De VRIES was killed shortly after; «b»and in a few days following, Gerrit Jansen Van VORST was also slain, while engaged roofing a house.«/b»

The chiefs of the tribes, desiring peace, offered restitution to the Dutch, but it was refused by KIEFT. In February 1643, in spite of the warning of cooler heads such as Johannes La MONTAGNE and David PietersenDe VRIES, who counselled patience, humanity and kindness to win over the Indians, KIEFT, at the urging of a militant group led by Jan Jansen DAMEN, Abraham PLANCK and Maryn ADRIAENSEN, ordered a pre-emptive sneak attack on the Indians at Pavonia.

Over One Hundred and Twenty Indian Men, Women, and children were slaughtered in their sleep. According to one account, "Sucklings were torn from their mothers' breasts, butchered before their parents' eyes, and their mangled limbs thrown quivering into the river or the flames. Babes were hacked to pieces while fastened to little boards --- their primitive cradles! --- others were thrown alive into the river; and when their parents, impelled by nature, rushed in to save them, the soldiers prevented their landing; and, thus, both parents and offspring sunk into one watery grave. Children of half a dozen years; decrepit men of threescore and ten, shared the same fate.

Those who escaped and begged for shelter next morning, were killed in cold blood, or thrown into the river. Some came running to us from the country, having their hands cut off; some lost both arms and legs; some were supporting their entrails with their hands, while others were mangled in other horrid ways too horrid to be conceived. And these miserable wretches, as well as many of the Dutch, were all the time under the impression that the attack had proceeded from the terrible Mohawks." :This senselessly violent act by the Dutch Soldiers infuriated the previously peaceful Indians surrounding New Amsterdam, and this act was to prove troublesome to the white colonists (both Dutch and English) in the future. :The dismay felt by the Indians following this massacre was expressed in the words of an Indian sachem of the Manhattans, addressed to Ambassador David Pieterszen de VRIES at a subsequent peace conference: "When you first arrived on our shores, you were often in want of food. We gave you our beans and our corn. We let you eat our oysters and fish; and now for arecompense, you murder our people. The men whom you left here at your first trip, to barter your goods until your return, we cherished as we would our eyeballs. We gave them our daughters for wives, and by these they have children. There are now numbers of Indians who come from the mixed blood of the Indians and Swannekins (white man). Your own blood have you spilt in this villanous manner."

E. B. O'Callaghan, HISTORY OF NEW NETHERLAND, v.1, pp.263-278. «b»Van Vorst killed by an indian «/b»1642 , Schnectady, NY Hoping this is correct information.NEW NETHERLAND. 268 The immediate completion of this church was, however, chap. doomed to be interrupted by the spirit of faction, and continued ^-^ misunderstanding with the aborigines, the progress and ruinous consequences of which it becomes our duty now to relate. Shortly after the conclusion of peace with the Wechquaes- queeks in the spring of this year, Miantonimo, chief of the Narragansett tribes, whose ambitious spirit aimed at sover- eignty over all the eastern Indians, visited the neighborhood of the Dutch settlements with a band of one hundred warriors, with a view, as it was represented, to urge the Indians into a general conspiracy against the English and the Dutflh. So full, throughout the land, were men's minds of fear at the re- port of the intended massacre, that the strangest alarms seized hold of all, and a man could not halloo in the night, but it was supposed that he had fallen into the hands of the Indians, and was tortured by them unto death.

Even Director Kiefl became affected by these wild reports tosuch degree that he suspected the Indians not only of endeavoring to poison him, but even of making him the object of their diabolical incanta- tions.^

In this conjuncture of terror and distrust, some traders stole a dress of beaver-skins from a savage whom they had previ- ously stupified with brandy. He Was of the Hackingsack tribe, who inhabited the country opposite the Manhattans, on the western shore.

Enraged at his loss, on coming to his senses, he vowed to shoot the first Swannekin'^ he should meet. He more than kept his word.

An Englishman, re- siding on Staten Island, in the service of De Vries, was killed shortly after; and in a few days following, «u»Gerrit Jansen van Vorst«/u» was also slain, while engaged roofing a house " be- cansed this Temple to be built" Van der Donck. Judge Benmn, writing in 1817, says that when the fort was taken down " a few years since/' the marble slab, above alluded to, was found, with the Dutch inscription on it, buried in the earth, and then removed to the belfry of the church in Garden-street, N. Y., belonging to the Dutch Reformed Congregation.

On the destruction of the latter building by the great fire of 1835, this slab totally disappeared. Sommige van de omleggende Wilden practiseeide ons kruyt in den brant te steken, ende den Directeur te vergeven, ofte met haer duyvelerye te beto- veren, gelyck naderhandt haer quadewille gebleecken heeft, soo door efl^t all report Joumael van Nieuw Nederlant

Winthrop's N. Eng. il, 78, 79. «b»More on the Death «/b»In the fall of 1642, there had been some incidents of violence by renigade Indians. After some traders had stole a dress of beaver-skins from an Indian whom they had previously stupefied with brandy, he vowed revenge. An Englishman in the employ of David De VRIES was killed shortly after; and in a few days following, Gerrit Jansen Van VORST was also slain, while engaged roofing a house. The chiefs of the tribes, desiring peace, offered restitution to the Dutch, but it was refused by KIEFT. In February 1643, in spite of the warning of cooler heads such as Johannes La MONTAGNE and David Pietersen De VRIES, who counselled patience, humanity and kindness to win over the Indians, KIEFT, at the urging of a militant group led by Jan Jansen DAMEN, Abraham PLANCK and Maryn ADRIAENSEN, ordered a pre-emptive sneak attack on the Indians at Pavonia.

Over One Hundred and Twenty Indian Men, Women, and children were slaughtered in their sleep. According to one account, "Sucklings were torn from their mothers' breasts, butchered before their parents' eyes, and their mangled limbs thrown quivering into the river or the flames. Babes were hacked to pieces while fastened to little boards --- their primitive cradles! --- others were thrown alive into the river;and when their parents, impelled by nature, rushed in to save them, the soldiers prevented their landing; and, thus, both parents and offspring sunk into one watery grave. Children of half a dozen years; decrepit men of threescore and ten, shared the same fate.

Those who escaped and begged for shelter next morning, were killed in cold blood, or thrown into the river. Some came running to us from the country, having their hands cut off; some lost both arms and legs; some were supporting their entrails with their hands, while others were mangled in other horrid ways too horrid to be conceived. And these miserable wretches, as well as many of the Dutch, were all the time under the impression that the attack had proceeded from the terrible Mohawks."

«b»Death of «/b»"Shortly after the conclusion of peace with the Wechquaesqueeks in the spring of 1642, Miantonimo, chief of the Narragansett tribes, whose ambbitious spirit aimed at sovereignty over all the eastern Indians, visited the neighborhood of the Dutch settlements with a band of one hundred warriors, with the view, as it was represented, to urge the Indians into a general conspiracy against the English and Dutch."

During this time, a feeling of terror and distrust towards the Indians prevailed in the Dutch settlements of New Netherland. It was during this period of distrust that GERRIT JANSEN van VORST was slain.

A group of "traders stole a dress of beaver-skins from a savage whom they had previously stupified with brandy.

He was of the Hackingsack tribe, who inhibited the country opposite the Manhattans, on the western shore. Enraged at his loss, comming to his senses, he vowed to shoot the first "Swannekin" he should meet. He more than kept his word. An Englishman, residing on Staten Island, in the service of DeVries, was killed shortly after; and in a few days following, GERRIT JANSEN van VORST was also slain, while engaged roofing a house behind the Cul, as Newark Bay was called in the colonie of the Lordof Nederhost." Dutch settlers who had come to fear the Indians, used this event as an excuse to rid themselves of the Indian threat.

Their demand for revenge "for the Christian blood shed by the savages" led to the massacre of Indians at Corlaer's Hook and Pavonia, the night of February 25/26, 1642/43. Thirty Indians were slaughtered at Pavonia and eighty at Corlaer's Hook that night in response to the killing of the Englishman and GARRIT JANSEN van VORST. [E.B. O'Callaghan, HISTORY OF NEW NETHERLAND or NEW YORK UNDER THE DUTCH, 1846, pg. 263-269]

Sources

1. ↑ Thomas Grier Evans. "Baptisms from 1639 to 1730 in the Reformed Dutch Church, New York." In Collections of the New-York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Vol. II. New York: Printed for the Society, 1890.
2. ↑ Charles H. Winfield. History of the County of Hudson, New Jersey: From Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time. New York: Kennard & Hay Stationery M'fg and Print., 1874. 29-30.
3. ↑ E. B. Callaghan. "Extracts from a Work Called Breeden Raedt." In The Documentary History of the State of New-York; Arranged under Direction of the Hon. Christopher Morgan, Secretary of State., 66. Albany: Weed, Parsons &, Public Printers, 1851.
4. ↑ Arnold J. F. Laer, and Charles T. Gehring. "Settlement by Geertruyt Jacobs, Widow of Gerrit Van Vorst, on Her Children of Their Portion of Their Father's Estate." In Register of the Provincial Secretary 1642-1647, 79-80. Albany, New York: New Netherland Research Center and the New Netherland Institute, 2011.
5. ↑ Samuel S. Purple. "Marriages from 1639 to 1801 in the Reformed Dutch Church, New York" In Collections of the New-York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Vol. I. New York: Printed for the Society, 1890.
6. ↑ Samuel S. Purple. "Marriages from 1639 to 1801 in the Reformed Dutch Church, New York" In Collections of the New-York Genealogical and Biographical Society. Vol. I. New York: Printed for the Society, 1890.
7. ↑ Groom- Bruidegom: Gerrit van Voorst First name - Voornaam: Gerrit Patronymic- Patroniem: Janssoon Last name-Achternaam: van Voorst Bride- Bruid: Aeltgen van Kesteren Firstname- Voornaam: Aeltgen Patronymic- Patroniem: Adriaens Last name- Achternaam: van Kesteren
   • Source: Archieven.nl: Possible First Marriage Akteplaats: Utrecht Gezindte: Nederduits-gereformeerd (later Nederlands-hervormd) Toegangsnummer: 711 Burgerlijke stand gemeente Utrecht en van de voormalige gemeente Zuilen: retroacta doop- trouw- en begraafregisters Inventarisnummer: 93 Paginanummer: 105 Vindplaats: Het Utrechts Archief
   Aktedatum:03-06-1621 Huwelijksplaats:Utrecht

• NJGS. "Van Vorst." njgsbc.org. Accessed 03 Jun 2016. http://njgsbc.org/files/BCFamilies/BCFam-VanVorst.pdf PDF

• Source: S500014 Author: Henry Kemp Title: Kemp Web Site Text: MyHeritage family tree: Family site: Kemp Web Site: Family tree: 11363722-4 Type: Discovery Media: 11363722-4 Record ID Number: MH:S500014 Quality or Certainty of Data: 3 Data: Date: 12 AUG 2015 Text: Added via an Instant Discovery™

Acknowledgments

• This person was created on 06 August 2010 through the import of Lynch-Tree.ged.

• Van Vorst-62 was created by David Hunsley through the import of 2015 08 17 Hunsley b0b851_744994qbs23d0y5n1b055m.ged on Aug 17, 2015.