Andris Souplis, 1634-1726, immigrant to Germantown, PA

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Germantown, Philadelphia, PA
Surname/tag: Bellangee; Cresson; Delaplaine; Dewees; Fry; Hendrix; Hoedt; Keyser; Levering; Loof; Rittenhouse; Ruttinghousen; Telner

ANDRIS SOUPLIS, THE IMMIGRANT by Andrew R. Supplee

PERTINENCE, PURPOSE AND METHOD

This article is pertinent to the founding of Germantown, Pennsylvania by Dutch, German and French Mennonite, Quaker and Huguenot immigrants who settled there beginning in 1683. Andris Souplis (1634-1726) was a French Huguenot, a weaver, the first sheriff of Germantown, and the progenitor of Supplees in America.

The article attempts to identify Andris’ close associates in order to discover the following basic unknowns about his immigration to America: 1) his ports of departure and arrival, 2) the dates of the voyage, 3) the name of the ship, and 4) the family name of Anneke his first wife. Supplee family genealogists have not been able to find this information to date. Perhaps other genealogical publications, letters, diaries, or histories about the families of any of these associates of Andris contain the desired information.

This research suggests that Andris’ wife may have been Anneken Keyser born of an Amsterdam Keyser family. She is only mentioned in a Keyser family genealogy as having died in 1681 [without marrying or emigrating to America]. A historian suggested that in genealogical histories if a known family member was lost in the historical record, that person might simply have been claimed to have died. Such might be the case with Anneken.

It is likely that Andris married Anneke [family name possibly Keyser] in Europe before emigrating. This Keyser marriage is nowhere confirmed in these sources, not in the genealogy by Charles S. Keyser: "The Keyser Family Descendants of Dirck Keyser of Amsterdam," Phila. 1889.

INVITATION TO ADD INFORMATION

This article may contain all that is known about Andris in America; readers who have any additional documented information specifically about Andris in America are invited to post comments in the "public comment" box. The author may amend the article with documented information posted by readers.

THE DIRCK KEYSERS OF AMSTERDAM AND GERMANTOWN, PA

Dirck G. Keyser, Sr. of Amsterdam did not emigrate. He married Cornelia and their children were:

1. Dirck Keyser, Jr. born 1635 in Amsterdam, died 1714 at age 71 in Germantown, PA (Gtown). He was the founder of the Keyser family in America. In Amsterdam he was a manufacturer of silk wares; 2. Gerrits Dirck Keyser born and died in Amsterdam; 3. Tobias Dirck Keyser born and died in Amsterdam; and 4. Anneken Keyser, year of birth? Died 1681 in Amsterdam (K121-122). [The date and location of Anneken's death may be questioned.]

Dirck Keyser Jr. married 1) Elizabet ter Himpel in 1668 who died in 1681 in Amsterdam. Their children were: 1. Dirck [3rd] emigrated to Gtown; 2. Pieter (Peter) Keyser born 1676 in Amsterdam, arrived in NY at the age of 12 [1688] and died 1724 in Gtown; and 3. Elizabet died 1681 [in Amsterdam]. Peter married Andris' daughter Margaret Souplis in 1700 in Gtown and they had a daughter Anneke named after Margaret’s mother.

Dirck [Keyser Jr.] a Mennonite, was still in Amsterdam when he married 2) Johanna Snoek [in 1682] who died in Amsterdam in August 1686. At age 53 Dirck Jr. emigrated and arrived in the fall of 1688 in NY with Dirck [3rd] and Pieter by his first wife and Johanna by his second wife. Johanna died on her way from NY to Gtown in September 1688 at age 5 (source all: K121-122).

Dirck Jr. may have come to Gtown from New York in 1688 (D511n. 19; D30n. 106). He is listed as an officer of Gtown in June 1691 (D239). He was a witness to Andris’ purchase of 50 acres in Gtown (Lot #18) in May 1690 (D536). He was in Gtown in 1702 and 1704 (D317,323,325). He owned Lot #22 in Gtown towards Bristol and near the Krisheim Line according to a deed signed in Rotterdam in 1688/89 (D456,458,542). The deed was for 25 acres in Gtown (Lot #22, parcel A) which was confirmed from Dirck Sipman to Dirck Keyser in 1692 (D542). Keyser acquired Lot #22, parcel B, 25 acres, from Cornelius Seivers (Siverts; Sioerts) in 1688, probably signed in Rotterdam, confirmed in 1692 (D542). Dirck Keyser [Jr.] was a silk merchant and a Mennonite in Amsterdam who arrived in Gtown by way of New York in 1688. Andries Souplis was a Gtown resident in 1689 (P130-131). Dirck Keyser [Jr.] and his son Dirck [3rd] were in Gtown in October, 1704 (P160). Dirck witnessed the deed of Andris’ lease of 50 acres in Gtown in 1686 (D536). [But Andris was in NY and Dirck was still in Holland that year?]

Andris’ daughter Margaret Souplis married Dirck Keyser Jr.’s son Peter Keyser(D649); their children: 1. Andrew Keyser of Gtown, a blacksmith, married Hannah; 2. Peter Keyser of Worcester Township, a tanner, married Susannah; 3. Jacob Keyser of Gtown, a mason; 4. Margaret Keyser Conrads married Cornelius Conrads, a weaver; and 5. Derick Keyser of Gtown, a cordwainer (all D542n. 65).

Peter Keyser, husband of Margaret Souplis, was a member of the first Mennonite church in Gtown – a log house built by 1708. A stone meetinghouse was erected about 1714 (P174-175).

ANDRIS SOUPLIS’ IMMIGRATION

A source that might mention Andris’ emigration to America is "Pierre Cresson, Picardy France to Staten Island New York …" by Elmer Garfield Van Name, typescript 1968 perhaps in the Historical Society of Pennsylvnia (HSP) (D12n. 28). Andris was admitted a burgher & denizen of NY [in September 1685] (P131,133).

Andris is listed among French immigrants who left New York in the early 1690s (D12n. 28; P134,136): Jacobus (James) Delaplaine and his brothers-in-law Eve Bellange and Casper Hoet (Hood) the latter one who emigrated from Helmershausen in Hesse, Germany; Gerrit Hendrix [Gerhard Hendricks] de Wees [and his wife Zytien]; Anthoni Loof; and Andris Souplis (D12n. 28).

Pennypacker states that Casper Hoedt (sic), a tailor in NY, married [in 1686] Elizabeth the daughter of Nicolas De La Plaine and Susanna Cresson who were French Huguenots. James De La Plaine, probably a son of Nicolas, came to Gtown from NY prior to 1692 and married Hannah Cook in a Quaker (Friends) ceremony. Susanna, a daughter of Nicolas De La Plaine, married Arnold Kassel in 1693 (P134,136; the notes of Walter Cresson are the source of this information; PP34). These are probably all names to associate with Andris Souplis.

Gerrit Hendricks de Wees and his wife [Zytien] were the parents of Lamber Gerrits who was apprenticed to Andris Souplis [as a weaver?] starting in October, 1692 (P296-297). See further here for a De Wees family genealogy (Sources DE) including the New Amsterdam, NY period: 1663-1690.

DENIZATION, NATURALIZATION & FREEMAN

Denization bestowed upon a foreigner the status of being a subject of the English monarch. Naturalization made an alien a natural-born subject and retroactively bestowed all the rights that a natural-born subject possessed from the time of birth. Freeman status effectively naturalized an alien, allowed him to elect and be elected, and was tied to property ownership (D481-482).

Andris Souplis was admitted a burgher and denizen of New York City in September 1685 (P133) [his document of denization: Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Magazine Vol. 18, No. 2, (1950) p.78]. Andris Souplis, Derick Keyser Jr, Derick Keyser 3rd, and most of the Gtown familiar names were naturalized and made freemen in May 1691 (D483-484). Owing to a change in British colonial policy, the Gtowners submitted a second naturalization petition in 1706. This included Andris’ son Barthelomeus Supply (sic) and the Dirck Keysers, but not Andris [who may have moved away from Gtown by this time] (D491).

THE DERIVATION OF LOT #18 IN GERMANTOWN

In 1682 Dirck Sipman, a merchant of Krefeld in the county of Meurs on the border of Germany, acquired 5,000 acres from William Penn (P2; D622). This deed was executed in London in March 1682 and Penn obliged Sypman (sic) to settle families in PA (D467). Sipman never emigrated to America (PP27). In 1683 Sipman sold 200 acres to Jan Simens, a linen weaver in Krefeld who with his wife and family were required to settle on the land and pay a yearly ground rent. This deed, signed in Rotterdam, is on D460. Siemens and his wife Merkje Williams Lukens (sister of Jan Lukens) were one of the original 13 families to sail to America on the “Concord” in 1683 and settle in Gtown (D535). [Andris was not.]

Simens died after he arrived in PA and the 200 acres in Gtown descended to his heirs: his wife Marieke Williamson Lucken, her new husband William Strepers (they married in 1685), and her son Peter Simens who took the surname Jansen or Johnson as was the custom among Mennonite families on the Lower Rhine. Peter was born in Krefeld, Germany in 1682 (D535). William’s brother Jan lived in Kaldkirchen, Germany (D612).

In [August 1686 (M v)] William and Marieke Strepers sold 50 acres in Gtown to Andris Souplis (Lot #18), subject to a yearly ground rent with the first payment due in March 1690. The deed was witnessed by Dirck Keyser. [Duffin 2008 p. 297 says the original deed survives in the Germantown Historical Society (GHS) Archives, but the librarian/archivist in 2018 could not find it there.] This sale was confirmed in October 1692 (D297). In 1696 Andris sold the same 50 acres to Christian Warmer subject to the aforesaid ground rent (D307,535).

Andris’ lot was in Gtown, not in neighboring Crefeld, Sommerhausen or Krissheim (D296). Andris’ immediate neighbors were: Lot 14, 50 acres in 1690, Paul Kastner —Lot 15, 25 acres in 1686, Isaac Dilbeeck, weaver —Lot 16, 30 acres in 1689, Enneke Klostermans, wife of Francis Daniel Pastorius —Lot 17, 25 acres in 1689, John Doeden, cooper —Lot 18, 50 acres in 1686, Andres (sic) Souplis [Andris paid the first rent to Wm. Strepers in 1690] (D536) —Lot 19, 50 acres in 1687, William Ruttinghuysen (Rittenhouse), papermaker —Lots 20 and 21, 50 acres in 1690, Gerret Hendricks de Wees & Zytien, his wife —Lot 22, Parcels A & B in 1688-89, Dirck Keyser (all lots “towards Bristol” D530-542)

Ruttinghuysen moved from NY to Gtown with his sons Gerhard, Nicholas (Klaus, Klaas) and daughter Elizabeth in 1688 (P162-163). Ruttinghuysen sold Lot #19 to Arnold van Vossen in 1700 and part of it became the site of the stone Mennonite Meeting House and cemetery in 1714. In other words, Andris’ lot was next to the later meeting house and cemetery [which may still exist] (D538). Rittinghuysen (sic), a Mennonite minister from Brioch, Holland built the first paper mill on a branch of the Wissahickon Creek, made paper for William Bradford and died in 1708 at the age of 64. His forefathers manufactured paper in Arnheim (PP27).

All these lots are shown on a map on the back endpapers of Duffin 2008 and are located today fronting on Gtown Ave. between E. Washington Lane and E. Haines Street. The meeting house is shown on Lot 19 to be on Gtown Ave. Across Gtown Ave., lots with the same numbers that were aligned with those above are called lots “towards Schuylkill.” The owners of these during the same period were: #14: Peter Schumacher; #15: Andrew Griscom, Susannah Brandt and Jacob Telner; #16: Claus Tamsen; #17: Hans Milan; #18: Henry Frey, John Doeden and Mary Margaret Zimmerman; #19: Johannes and Arnold Cassell, to Hans Milan and in 1705 to Peter Keyser; #20: George Walker and Arnold Cassell to Aret Klincken, weaver from Dalem, Germany; #21: John Silans, carpenter to Peter Clever, husbandman; #22: no lot (all lots “towards Schuylkill” D567-581). Henry Frey was a servant of Gerhard Hendricks (the other) and both were from Altheim, Alsace (P118).

ANDRIS’ CHRONOLOGY IN NEW YORK CITY (NEW AMSTERDAM) & GERMANTOWN

1685 Andris in New York City made denizen [were others denizized with him?]; the document denizizing Andris was signed on Sept. 17, 1685 by Lt. Gov. of NY and Vice Admiral Thomas Dongan at Fort James on the southern tip of Manhatten near present Battery Park (PGSM);

1686 Andris acquired Lot #18 in Gtown from William and Marieke Strepers (D536);

1688 Dirk Keyser moved from NY to Gtown (D511n. 19);

1690 Andris payed first rent on Lot #18 to William Strepers (D536);

1691 Andris made freeman of PA and elected first sheriff of Gtown (D483, 497; D57, 293; P287); the Penn grant of Freeman dated May 1691 identified Andrees (sic) Souplis as a “high German” and Dirrck (sic) Keyser as a “low German” (M vi);

1691 Elected sergeant or crier of the General Court (D239-240);

1692 Andris and Anneke witnessed the Fry [Frey]-Levering marriage [original document at HSP];

1692 Andris took on Lambert De Wees as his apprentice (DE-I,17; P296-297)

1692 Andris exchanged some land with his neighbor John Doeden; the Court of Record confirmed his receipt of the deed of 50 acres from William and Marieke Strepers (D296-297);

1696 Andris sold Lot #18 to Christian Warmer (D536). Deed of sale delivered to Warmer February 1697 (D307) [In 1706 John Kelpius, an intellect known as “the hermit of the Wissahickon,” lay dying in the house of Christian Warmer (P230)].

Major p. v cites a source that claimed that a map of 1688 showed that Andries Suply (sic) owned tract no. 24 on O Street in Gtown. According to the Duffin source there was no early Lot #24; there were only 23 lots “towards Bristol” and 21 lots “towards Schuylkill” (D544, 581). There were only 8 lots in each of Krissheim and Crefeld (D507, 620).

In a document "Beschreibung Pennsylvania," dated October 1685, but published in Leipzig in 1700, Francis Pastorius lists additional settlers in [or on the way to?] Gtown who were not mentioned among the original 13 families: Paul Wolff, Jacob and Peter Shumacher, Johannes Kassell, Gerhard Heinrich [De Wees], David Sherkges, Wigert and Gerhard Levering, Isaac Sheffer, Andreas (sic) Souplis, William and Claus (Nicholas) Rittenhause, and Dirck Keyser, [Jr.] (B187; Theodore Webber Bean, "History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania" 1884 p. 133, online). This Pastorius document is one of the two earliest documents indicating the arrival of Andris in America by 1685. He was denizized in NYC in September 1685, but he wasn’t necessarily in Gtown that year. He didn’t acquire land from William and Marieke Strepers until 1686 and didn’t pay first rent until 1690.

OFFICIALS OF GERMANTOWN, MAY 1691 CHARTER OF INCORPORATION

The first officials of the General Court elected in 1691 were: BAILIFF– Francis Daniel Pastorius; BURGESSES–Lenert Arrets, Thonis Kunders, Abraham, Dirk Isaacs and Herman Isaacs op den Graeff, Jacob Telner, and Reinert Tisen; COMMITTEEMEN—Herman von Bon, Isack Dilbeck, Jan Doeden, Jacob Isaacs van Beber, Aret Klincken, Jan Lensen, Abraham Isaacs op den Graeff, Heivert Papen, Peter Schumacher, Jr., and Dirck Sellen; CLERK—Paul Wolff; RECORDER—Arnold Cassell and Isack (sic) Jacobs van Bebber; SHERIFF—Viet Scherkjes and Andres (sic) Souplis (also D293) [Succeeded by Jacob Schumacher in 1692] (D57,297); CONSTABLE—Peter Keurlis and Jan Lucken; BEADLE & CRIER—Wolter Seimens; TREASURER—Francis Daniel Pastorius; CROWNER—Jacob Schumacher; OVERSEER OF THE WAYS—Dirk Keyser, Isack Schaffer, Peter Schumacher, Sr., and Hans Peter Umstet; OVERSEER OF THE FENSES—Johannes Bleickers, Henrick Bucholtz, Dirk Keyser, Thonis Kunders, William Levering, Hans Milan, Dirck Sellen, William Streypers, Claus Tamsen, Reinert Tisen, and Abraham Tunis (all D54-61, 238); SERGEANT OF THE COURT or CRIER—Andres (sic) Souplis (D239-240)

CHRONOLOGY OF GERMANTOWN

1680 Charles II charter to William Penn;

1683 Penn granted land to Germans of high and low Germany;

1689 Penn granted charter of Gtown;

1690 2,950 acres north of Gtown were divided into the three districts of Krisheim, Sommerhausen and Crefeld (PP31);

1691 Charter affixed with seal and first session of the General Court; Gtown granted to self govern;

1707 Gtown’s independent government was abolished and the community became part of Phila. (D238, 563n. 85);

1714 Part of Lot #19 (towards Bristol) was dedicated to the stone Mennonite meeting house and cemetery (D538). Its location is shown on the back endpapers map of Duffin 2008 to be on the north side of Gtown Ave. A sketch of the meeting house is on P175 and a photo is on P168.

DIFFICULTIES THAT DEVELOPED IN GERMANTOWN

Most of the Crefeld emigrants were weavers, still pursuing the occupation of the Waldenses of Flanders. There was difficulty in getting the corporate offices filled; they would do nothing but work and pray and their consciences made them opposed to swearing “oaths and courts” and would not suffer them to use harsh weapons against thieves and trespassers. Many refused to hold public office. In 1692-93 the Keith “Impudent Rascal” Affair erupted in the community. Peter Schumacher and Casper Hoedt were among those who signed the certificate of the quarterly meeting at Phila., reporting the affair, that was taken to London (PP32-33).

ORIGIN OF SOME IMMIGRANTS TO GERMANTOWN

From Kriegsheim in the Palatinate, Germany: Gerit Hendricks de Wees & [Zytien] (D512), Isaak Schefer & Gertrude (D526), Heinrich Bucholz & Mary (D527n. 51), Hans Peter Umstett (D513n. 26). Many arrived on the ship “Francis and Dorothy” in October 1685 (D527n. 51; 526n. 48).

The ship “Francis and Dorothy” brought Kriegsheim emmigrants (although all of Dutch descent) to Gtown in October 1685 including [the other] Gerhard Hendricks and wife Mary with servant Heinrich Frey, and the Peter Schumacher family (P118-120). PMHB implies the ship brought Peter and Barbara Umstat (sic), Peter Schumacher, Garret and Mary Hendrix, and Henry Fry from London to Phila. (PMHB 337-338).

From Krefeld, Meurs, border of Germany: Dirk Sipman, the op den Graeff brothers, linen weavers, Peter Keurling (Keurlis) , weaver, Lenart Arrets, weaver, Dennis Konders, dyer, Jan Simons, weaver, Jan Lensen, weaver, Jan Lutken (John Luken), Abraham Teunisz [Tunis] . They bought lots 1-7 (towards Bristol) in Gtown (D499-508). Paulus Kuster, a mason and Mennonite, came from Krefeld with his wife Gertrude and sons Arnold and Hermannus. Gertrude was a sister of William Streypers (P136). Jacob Isaacs van Bebber, a Mennonite, arrived in 1684 (D10-11n. 20). Francis Pastorious when in Krefeld enlisted Thones Kunders and Dirck, Herman and Abraham Op den Graeff to emigrate. At Rotterdam on the way to America they bought from Jacob Telner 2,000 acres [somewhere] in Pennsylvania (D149).

Krefeld, County of Meurs and Kaldenkirchen, north of Frankfort, and Kriegsheim, and Sommerhausen, south of Frankfort, are shown on a map on D5. The linen weaving industry spread from Flanders, the area north of Paris of which Picardy was a part (P255).

From Rotterdam, Holland: Benjamin Furly was Wm. Penn’s agent in Rotterdam for the sale of lands (P2 note 5, second 1). From Amsterdam, Holland: Dirk Keyser [Jr.] (D12n.27). From Tondern, Germany: Paul Wolff (Wulf) arrived in 1685 (D11n. 21). From Mulheim on the Ruhr, near Holland: next to Crefeld (sic), Mulheim sent the largest number of emigrants including Wigart and Gerhard Levering [Anna Levering's marriage to Henry Frey in 1692 was witnessed by Andris and Anneke] (PP26). There was also an Anneke, daughter of Evert in den Hoffen from Mulheim, who may have been buried in the Mennonite graveyard on the Skippack (PP37). From Dalem, Holland: Arent Klincken arrived in Gtown in 1687 (PP26).

Jacob Telner of Krefeld arrived in NY about December 1684. He was (a Mennonite) and a merchant in Amsterdam who superintended the emigration of colonists (P125; D10-11n. 20). He moved to Gtown in 1685 (PP21); he had [previously] been in PA between 1678 and 1681 (PP4; P2).

SHIPS THAT BROUGHT GERMANTOWN IMMIGRANTS

In October 1683 the ship CONCORD brought the original 13 Gtown families (33 persons) probably all from Krefeld (P4-5; D10, D493). The ship sailed from London (PMHB331) [and landed in Phila.]. The 13 heads of families were: 1. Lenart Arets married to Streypers’ sister, Agnistan (P4; PMHB331); 2. Abraham Isaacs Op den Graeff married to Trientgen Jansen (D6n. 5); 3. Dirck Isaacs Op den Graeff married to Nolcken Vijten (D6n. 5); 4. Herman Op den Graeff married to a Van Bebber daughter (P4); 5. William Streypers (he later married Marieke Williamson Luken); 6. Thones Kunders (Tunis Conderts) married to a Streypers sister (P4); 7. Reynier Tyson (Rynier Tissen); 8. Jan Seimens (Simons) married to Merkje (Mercken, Marieke) Williamson Lucken sister of Jan Luken (D6n. 5); 9. Jan Lensen; 10. Peter Keurlis; 11. Johannes Bleikers; 12. Jan Luken; and 13. Abraham Tunes married to Beatrix Klincken (D6n. 5).

Oswald Seidensticker's “The Settlement of Germantown" in Der Deutsche Pioneer is online. He found that by 1692 all the original 13 families, except Jan Lenson, associated with the Quakers. The Quaker meeting house was built in 1686, the year after a fire (PP26).

Francis Pastorius arrived in Phila. aboard the AMERICA in August 1683 (P56-57). He married Ennecke Klosterman in Nov. 1688. In a letter to his children he described himself as “melancholic, gentle, sobrietous, solitary, studious, doubtful, shamefaced, timerous, pensive, constant, true, slow witted, oblivious, etc.” He died Sept, 1719 (P2 note 12; note 5. Second 1). He had been to Krefeld where he persuaded Thomas Kunders and the three op den Graeff brothers to emigrate. All were weavers of linen (P149).

In 1686 the JEFFRIES, Thomas Arnold master, from London, brought Johannes Cassel with Arnold, Peter, Elizabeth, Mary, and Sarah (PMHB329).

In October 1685 the ship FRANCIS & DOROTHY also brought Heinrich and Mary Bucholz and Hans Peter and Barbara Umstat, the latter family from Krefeld (P128). [Note origin contradiction regarding Umstat in Kriegsheim paragraph above.]

1682: the WELCOME brought William Penn and Quaker immigrants to Delaware Bay; no obviously recognizable Gtown names were among the passengers (T246).

1685: the HENRY & FRANCIS brought 125 Scottish prisoners and religious dissenters to Perth Amboy, NJ; no obviously recognizable Gtown names were among the passengers (T421).

1687: there is a large list of persons who took the Oath of Allegiance in Kings County Provence of NY between Sept 26-30, 1687; few Gtown names obviously recognizable – perhaps Pieter and Jan Strycker, Gerrit Jance Strijker and Hendrick Thyssen (T426-428).

THE CHILDREN OF ANDRIS AND ANNEKE

Upon fleeing religious persecution by Catholics in France, Andris went to Holland where he married a [German?] (R507). Andris married Anneckie (sic) probably in Holland before 1682 (B177). Their children and spouses:

1. Margaret b. 1682 in NYC (B177; Mi) m. 1) Peter Keyser 1700 in Gtown 2) Michael Eccard ca. 1724 (B177; M i, M 1);

2. Ann b. after 1682 (B177) m. Charles Yocum year & place? (B177; M i, M 1);

3. Andrew b. 1685 in Gtown (B177); m. 1) Anna Stackhouse year & place? (B177; M i, M 1); 2) Deborah Thomas ca. 1717 (B177; M i, M 1);

4. Bartholomew b. before 1688 (B177) m. Mary Magdaniels 1718 in New Jersey (B177; M i, M 1);

5. Jacob b. after 1688 m. Elizabeth VanZandt Enoch (B178, 181, 186; M i, M 1).

Notice how early the birth years of Margaret, Ann & Andrew – and location?

Peter Keyser, born in Amsterdam Nov. 26, 1676, married Sept 4, 1700 in Gtown PA, Margaret Souplis, born 1682, daughter of Andrew (sic) Souplis, [later?] a burgher of New York, and his wife Anneke Souplis, and died in Gtown in 1724. Anneke died sometime after 1692, the year that she witnessed the Frey-Levering marriage in Gtown (R507; B186; M ii). Peter's father Dirck Keyser died in Gtown in 1714 (G488). Peter, a shoemaker, bought 3 acres of Lot #19 (towards Schuylkill) fronting on Gtown Ave. in May, 1705 (D578).

Margaret’s second husband after Peter Keyser was Michael Eccard, mason, of Gtown (D649, 641, 542n. 65). Margaret and Michael owned lot #22 (towards Bristol), inherited from her father-in-law Dirck Keyser [Jr.], until about 1744 when it went to Margaret and Peter’s children (D542n. 65).

ANDRIS’ SON ANDREW SUPPLEE

Andrew Supplee [his spelling], son of Andris [and Anneke], was born about 1685 or 1686 [in Gtown]. His father Andris bought real estate in Upper Merion Township, then in Phila. County but now in Montgomery County, in March 1707 and July 1708 – in all 150 acres -- to provide homesteads for his sons Andris and Jacob (CR-3,265). Charles Yocum sold him the first tract and Peter Yocum [Charles’ father] sold him the second; both tracts were on the Schuylkill River about 14 miles north of the City of Phila. [These purchases followed Andris’ purchase of 50 acres in Aronameck from Peter Yocum in 1697 (B183; CR-3,263), and all purchases occurred ten years after Andris sold Lot #18 in Gtown in 1696 (D536).] Andrew’s two lots in Upper Merion became the site of the later Swede Furnaces by 1904 (R507).

Andrew Supplee also purchased 150 acres in Norriton Township from Isaac Norris. The deed for this property is recorded in Deed Book 5, p. 358, Phila. County. In about 1736 Andrew moved from his Upper Merion tract to the one in Norriton, the site of the later [by 1904] Norris City Cemetery. [In 1739 Andrew sold 50 acres from his father’s estate in Aronameck, where his step mother Gertrude had lived, to John Bartram (M ii-iii).] When he died [in 1747] Andrew’s remains were placed in a vault, adjoining the Supplee school house, which were later moved to the Norris City Cemetery (R507).

http://my.ancestry.com/viewer/f3ac0db5-88aa-4da6-ad52--e3flb7d253 has photographs of Andrew’s grave stone in the Norris City Cemetery both before and after restoration. It is flat with the ground and may be the stone that covered the original vault.

There are no records of Andrew’s marriage to Anna Stackhouse; their first child, Hance, was born in July 1714. Andrew’s will, dated May 28, 1747, is recorded in the Phila. Register of Wills, Will Book H, p. 403 (R507).

ANDRIS SOUPLIS IN ARONAMECK (LATER KINGSESSING TOWNSHIP, NOW PHILA.) ON THE SCHUYLKILL [PARTLY THE LATER BARTRAM PROPERTY]

Before or after Andris moved to Aronameck his daughter Ann married into that community [date?], and in March 1697 Andris acquired 50 acres from Ann’s father-in-law, Peter Yokum. As in Gtown there was also the commercial weaving industry in Aronomeck (CR-3,263, 265).

Gertrude [Enochson or Stressinger or Mansoon] was born about 1650 in Sweden. She was married four times to: 1. Garrett Enochs; 2. Harman Enochs, Garrett’s brother; 3. Lasse Bartilson; 4. Andris Souplis (marriage by March 1697). Jacob Souplis married Elizabeth Enochs, a daughter of his stepmother Gertrude (CR-3,263). Gertrude named her daughter Elizabeth Enoch Souplis in her will dated Oct. 5, 1737 proved Nov. 20, 1738 (B185).

1697: In March Peter Yocum sold 50 acres of his Aronameck land to Andrew Supplee (sic) [aged 63], a French Huguenot widower who married the Swedish widow Gertrude [Mansson] Enochson (B183; CR-3,263; M vii). Gertrude Mansson Enochson (in her fourth marriage) married Andris by March 1697 [Phila. Deed Book E 5-7]. She died in 1734 about 88 years old (B186).

1707: In March Peter Yocum sold 50 acres to Andrew Souple (sic) [age 72] for 40 pounds (B183; CR-3,265; M vii). [This land was on the Schuylkill River in Upper Merion.]

1708: In July Charles Yocum [Ann Souplis’ husband] sold 100 acres in Upper Merion for 42 pounds to Andrew Souple (sic) [age 74], weaver (B183; CR-3,265). Ann Souplis married [date?] Charles Yocum a Swedish neighbor to the south and the son of Peter Yocum who may have been a member of the old Swedish settlement called New Sweden, a short-lived colony (1638-1655) of colonists from Sweden, Finland, Germany and elsewhere (F4, S56). [Charles] Yocum was a weaver like Andris and there were others in the area which suggests that commercial weaving was going on in the vicinity of Bartram’s Garden 1700-1720 --- probably home weaving with looms set up in individual homes (F4). Souplis is mentioned only briefly in Peter Stebbins Craig’s history about the Swedish colonial settlement: “The Yokums of Aronameck in Philadelphia, 1648-1702.” National Genealogical Society Quarterly vol. 71, no. 4 (Dec. 1983) pp. 243-279. This is CR-3.

1724: Andrew Supplea’s (sic) will was dated March 25, 1724. According to the will, Margaret seems still to have been married to Peter Keyser (B184-185). The will was witnessed by Anthony Klinkson, Durk Janson, Edward Sedgwick, William Bissell, and Christopher Wilt (R507).

1726: Andris died at age 92 and his will was probated March 20, 1726 (B183-184). The will is in Book E, Sec. No. 29, page 26 in the office of the register of wills, Phila. (R507) and is reproduced on B185. In probably March Andris was buried in the church cemetery at the Wicaco Church. This church was initially a log structure first constructed as a blockhouse in 1666 by the Swedes. It was converted to a church in 1677 and a more substantial structure was constructed on the same site and dedicated in July 1700. Today the church is the Gloria Dei Old Swede’s Episcopal Church standing on the original site now located at Columbus Blvd. and Christian Street, Phila. Gertrude Suplea (sic) stated in her will written Oct. 1737 that she desired to be buried at [Wicaco] Church by her late husband (B185).

1737: Gertrude Supplee (Suplea) was assessed in 1734 with 40 acres in Kingsessing Township (B184). Her will, dated 1737 and proved 1738, is recorded in Will Book F, page 78, Phila. (R507) and is also reproduced on B185. She lived in Kingsessing Township according to her will which was proved in 1738 (B185). She died before 1738 (M 1).

1739: In April Andrew Supplee, the son and sole surviving executor of Andris’ will, sold 50 of 175 acres to John Bartram, renowned botanist and plant collector. Bartram was 40 years old at the time and Andrew was 54 years old (M ii-iii). Andrew and Peter Keyser were executors, but Peter died in 1724, before Andris (M 1). The will is on B184-185.

ARCHAEOLOGY IN JOHN BARTRAM'S GARDEN

The 50 acres from Peter Yocum to Andris Souplis in 1697 was a parcel of “flats poplar tree and broken land.” The date that Andris moved to his new property on the Schuylkill River and where his home was situated on the parcel is unknown. Of sound mind and body, he died at the plantation in 1726 at the age of 92 (H25-26). Andris’ second son, Andrew, sold a 50-acre parcel to neighbor John Bartram in April 1739. Bartram later sold the southern portion of Andris’ land south of the location of present 56th Street [in Philadelphia] (F2).

Bartram’s Garden, a 45-acre National Historic Landmark site is the oldest surviving botanical garden in the U.S. (S53). In 2014 a team of archaeologists from URS Corporation, San Francisco, opened 74 square-meter excavation units and dug one trench in one acre of the undisturbed south meadow area a few feet from the Schuylkill River edge. The team’s principal investigator was Matthew Harris of Philadelphia (S53-54).

Excavations revealed artifacts dating from 1680-1720 coinciding with the period Andris occupied the land. Excavated items included a redware dish with hand-executed sgraffito (etched color layers), ceramics, Staffordshire pottery, smoking pipes, a German Rhine Valley tankard top, and a brass furniture pull. Buildings constructed during Andris’ tenure were not located and could lie under later structures; debris from a few 19th century structures on the property could conceal more Souplis material (S56-58). The meadow remains unflooded today (S61).

The Souplis midden (rubble) was exposed only in Block A (sections? EU 58, 67, 68, and 69) within the northeast corner of the winter 2014 archaeological project area. Artifacts from this midden included the pipe bowl, a sgraffito redware pie plate and Staffordshire buff-bodied slipware. A plain piece of Delftware relating to the occupation of Andris was excavated next to Block A (H93). The character of the deposit was decidedly domestic, containing kitchen ceramics, window glass, animal bone, furniture hardware, and smoking pipes. It is likely that this buried midden would have been located close to a house or actively used domestic structure. The buried deposit occupied a topographical depression that was subsequently covered (H99).

SOME GERMANTOWN IMMIGRANTS BY WAY OF NYC: GERHARD [GARRETT] HENDRICKS DEWEES AND ZYTIEN, HUGUENOTS

Jan Pietre Dewees (“The Orphan”) did not emigrate. His son Gerhard [Garrett] Hendricks Dewees emigrated from Lieuwarden, Friesland, Holland to New York in 1688 or 1689. Lieuwarden was about 70 miles northeast of Amsterdam. Garrett married Zytien in Europe; they bought land in Gtown in 1690. The witnesses to their purchase were Isaac Schumacher and Paul Wulff. Garrett Hendricks and Zytien had the following children:

1. Wilhelmina Pietre Dewees born 1673 in Holland, moved from NY to Gtown in 1689 or early 1690. She married Nicholas Rittenhouse (Claus Rittenhuysen) in NY in 1689. Nicholas had lived in Arnheim, Holland, emigrated to the south Delaware River, then married in NY; 2. William Dewees, born ca. 1677 in Lieuwarden, settled in Gtown; married Anna Christina Mehls; 3. Cornelius Dewees born in Lieuwarden, married Margaret Koster; 4. Lewis Dewees born in Lieuwarden, a weaver, moved to Delaware; 5. Sarah Dewees; and 6. Garrett Dewees (Source for all: L1,4) The family was in Gtown in 1690 (BO10).

For a De Wees family genealogy see: Curtis De Wees and Jack C. Vaughn, “Garrett Hendricks de Wees (1641-ca. 1700), Part II: The New Amsterdam, NY Period (1663-1690),” De Wees Dewees Family Association Newsletter 1 (1992): 53-56 (D12n. 28).

THE OTHER GERHARD (HENDRIX) HENDRICKS FAMILY

There was a Gerhard Hendricks from Altheim, Alsace France along with his servant Henry Frey (P118). Andris and Anneke witnessed the marriage of Henry Frey and Anna Catherine [Catharina] Levering in Gtown in 1692 before Francis Pastorius, justice of the peace (B183 from Watson’s Annals of Phila. 1857, vol. ii, p. 29; B186; M vii).

1685: Gerhard Hendrix was French Huguenot or Dutch. He emigrated to Phila. on the "Francis and Dorothy" from Altheim, Alsace via London with Heinrich Frey, the family servant. Gerhard married Marie the widow of Jacques Cresson in Gtown this year (HU407). Francis Pastorius lists Gerhard Heinrich and Andreas (sic) Souplis as new Gtown settlers [or on the way] by 1685 (B187).

1688: Gerhard Hendricks, Dirck and Abraham op den Graeff and Francis Pastorius made the first protest against slavery [in the colonies]. The document was signed by Gerret Hendricks (P147; HU407).

JOHANNES AND ARNOLD CASSEL, NEIGHBORS TO ANDRIS IN GERMANTOWN

During his third trip to Germany in 1681 William Penn, a Calvinist missionary from England, traveled to Frankford and Kriesheim in the Palatinate where he preached in the German language that he had learned from his mother, she being Dutch from Rotterdam. He preached principles of faith that corresponded very nearly with those of the Mennonites who gathered to hear him: abstinence from swearing oaths, from waging war and from revenge. Among the listeners was Johannes Cassel. Penn informed them of the large tract of land in America that Charles II had granted to him in March 1681 for the purpose of settlement by colonists seeking freedom from religious persecution.

Johannes Cassel from Kriesheim, a weaver, led the first family of Cassels that emigrated. He sailed in 1686 in the ship “Jefries” and settled in Gtown in November where the Mennonites, of which the Cassel family were members, had a church and regular preaching. Simplicity of manner, plainness of dress, frugality, honesty, and economy were some of the characteristics of these people.

Arnold Kassel (sic) [son of Johannes] married Susanna Dela Plaine in 1693. Susanna was a daughter of Nicolas Dela Plaine and Susanna Cresson, French Hugenots, who came to Gtown probably from NY prior to August 1692 (P136). Johannes and Arnold Cassel (sic), father and son, were owners of Lots 19 and 20 “towards Schuylkill” (across Gtown Ave. from Andris Souplis’ Lot 18 “towards Bristol”) which they acquired by a contract signed in March 1686 in Frankfort, Germany. The contract states that they would sail to America by way of England, clear the 50 acres in Pennsylvania assigned to them and build improvements at their own cost (D576).

BELLANGEE AND DE LA PLAINE, FRENCH HUGUENOT IMMIGRANTS

Eves (sic) Bellangee came from the County of Poitou, France, emigrating first to England and thence to America between 1682 and 1690. Ives (sic), a weaver, married Christain de la Plaine at Friends Meeting in Philadelphia in 1697 (BO231).

Nicholas Delaplaine married Susanna Cresson in 1658 (HSP). They were both French Huguenots of NY. Nicholas did not leave NY and died there ca. 1712. Among their children: 1. James Delaplaine settled in Gtown in 1691 and married Hannah Cook there in 1692; 2. Susanna Delaplaine married Arnold Kassell in 1639; 3. Christian (Crejanne) married Ives Bellangee, a French Huegenot, in 1697; and 4. Elizabeth married Casper Hoedt (Hood), a French Huguenot, in NY in 1686 (P134,136: PP34).

WILLIAM STREPERS (STREYPERS) & JAN SIMANS (SEIMANS)

William Strepers, Jan Simens, both from Krefeld, and others of the 13 original emigrant families collected in Rotterdam in June 1683. They sailed on the "Concord" and arrived in America in October the same year (PP7,9,19). Jan Simans died in 1685 and his widow Merkje married William Strepers in October 1685 (PP26). William and Merkje sold 50 acres, Lot 18, in Gtown to Andris Souplis in August 1686 (M v; D297). [In 2018 the deed could not be found in the GHS.] William Strepers had a sister Gertrude who was in Gtown in 1693, married to Paulus Kuster from Crefeld (sic) (PP34). He also had a sister named Agnistan, married to Leonard Aratts (sic), both were aboard the "Concord" (PMHB331).

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS & DIRECTION FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

Andris was in NY in September 1685. Duffin notes that the Dewees family (with the French Huguenots James Delaplaine, Eve Bellange, Casper Hood, Antony Loof, and Andris Souplis) left NY for Gtown in the early 1690s (D12n. 28). Dirck Keyser Jr. and his family arrived in NY in 1688 and Gtown the same year (P130; K121-122). What else can be learned from Andris’ circle of acquaintances in New York (New Amsterdam) who continued on to Germantown?

SOURCES

B— Bradford, Edward D. "Hansell, Roberts, Souplis/Supplee/Suplee and Collateral Ancestors of Edward D. Bradford." On line, revised by Annabella Richard 12/20/2016. https://silo.tips/download/hansell-roberts-souplis-supplee-suplee-and-collateral-ancestors-of-edward-d-bradford.

BO— Boyer, Carl 3rd. "Ship Passenger Lists, New York and New Jersey 1600-1825." Newhall, CA , 1978

C-- Cassel, Daniel Kolb. "A Genealogical History of the Cassel Family in America." Norristown, Pa.: Morgan R. Wills, 1896. 10-11 of 775 pages on line at: https://archive.org/stream/genealogicalhist00cass/_djvu.

CR— Craig, Peter Stebbins. 1) Swedish Colonial News, vol. 3, no. 3 (fall 2005); 2) “1693 Census of the Swedes on the Delaware”; 3) "The Yocums of Aronameck in Philadelphia, 1648-1702" authored with Henry Wesley Yocum, 1983.

D— Duffin, J. M. "Acta Germanopolis; Records of the Corporation of Germantown Pennsylvania 1691- 1707." Philadelphia: The Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, 2008.

DE--- Dewees, Curtis and Jack C. Vaughn. "Garrett Hendricks de Wees (1641-ca. 1700)" DeWees Dewees Family Association Newsletter, Parts I-III, 1992; Part I: The Germantown, Pa Period (1690-1701).

F— Fry, Joel, curator of Bartram’s Garden. A letter dated April 14, 2016, to Margaret Shakespeare, 4 pp. Bartram's Garden archives.

G— "Genealogical and Memorial Encyclopedia of the State of Maryland: A Record of the Achievements." Online: my.ancestry.com.

H— Harris, Matthew. "Phase II Archaeological Excavation at 36PH14 South Meadow Area of Historic Bartram’s Garden…" Burlington, NJ: URS Corp., 2013. Bartram’s Garden Archives.

HSP— "Dewees Family, Phila. County, PA..." Historical Society of Pennsylvania Call Number: Gen Le 147, closed stacks.

HU— Hull, William I. "William Penn and the Dutch Quaker Migration to Pennsylvania" Swarthmore College Monographs on Quaker History No. 2, 1935

K— Keyser, Charles S. "The Keyser Family Descendants of Dirck Keyser of Amsterdam" Philadelphia, 1889

L— LeMunyan, Mrs. Philip E. (ed. by Elwood Roberts} "The Dewees Family" 1902

M— Major, Charles. "Records of the Souplis – Supplee – Suplee Families." Norristown, PA, 1935.

P— Pennypacker, Samuel Whitaker. "The Settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania and the Beginning of German Emigration to North America." Philadelphia: William J. Cambell, 1899.

PP— Pennypacker, Samuel Whitaker. “The Settlement of Germantown, and the Causes Which Led to It.” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography [PMHB] 4 no. 1 (1880). [online at https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE100602]

PGSM— Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Magazine, 18 No. 2, (1950) p. 78.

PMHB— No Author. “A Partial List of Families who Arrived at Philadelphia Between 1682 and 1687,” PA Magazine of History and Biography 8 (1884): 328-340.

R— Roberts, Elwood. "Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania." (1904) vol. I, pp. 506- 509. [Online at: https://archive.org/stream/biographicalanna01robe#page/n17/mode2up] There is also a vol. ii pp. 251-257, but not on line.

S— Shakespeare, Margaret. “City Garden.” Archaeology, May/June 2014, 53-61.

T— Tepper, Michael, ed. "New World Immigrants" vol. 1, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1980