Anneke Jans

Date: 12 Feb 2017 [unknown]
Location: Nederland

Contents 1 Research notes 1.1 Romanticized story-Webber tale-about Parents-Objects 1.2 Notes 1 1.3 Story of the Webber-Bogardus families 1.4 About her Parents 1.5 Note 2 1.6 Genealogy Roadshow Segment

Research notes

Romanticized story-Webber tale-about Parents-Objects

Notes 1

SOME historians weave about Anneke Janse a romance that reads like a fairy story. It is such a delightful tale one would like to believe it, and it is with the greatest regret one opens histories that tell us her royal birth, in the King's palace, may or may not be true, and that the Princess may after all be just an attractive Dutch girl.

Tradition says Anneke Webber was a direct descendant of William the Silent, Prince of Orange. William of Orange had two children by a secret marriage whom he christened Sarah Webber and Wolfert Webber. Wolfert married Tryntje (Catherine) Jonas, and they had three children, Wolfert, Anneke and Marritje. The fairy story tells us of the Royal Grandfather's great displeasure when Anneke married an agriculturist named Roeloff Jansen, a respectable man but not of Royalty. To William the Silent's displeasure is attributed Anneke's migration to America and the royal fortune left in trust to future generations.

Ruth Putnam, in the Half Moon Series, says, "Anneke Janse came of a respectable, but common family in Masterland Holland (probably Maasland) near Rotterdam," and adds, "there is no foundation to the rumor she descended from Royalty."

Whatever her birth, romance followed her to this country. After the death of Roeloff Jansen, Dominie Bogardus, one of the foremost citizens of New Amsterdam, "was so charmed by the Widow Jansen, he was willing to assume the care of her five children." They lived on Winckel Street, in one of the best houses in the village, had a garden bordered with box, the gayest flower beds in New Amsterdam, and a knocker on their door from Holland.

Anneke Webber was born in Holland (some say in the Kings Palace ) in 1604. She married Roeloff Jansen, and in 1630 came with him and her Mother and Sister Marritje on the bark "Pear Tree" to America. They went first to Beverwyck (now Albany) where Roeloff Jansen was employed as bouwmeester (chief farm superintendent ) by Patroon Van Renssaelear. In 1633 the family moved to Manhattan Island where in 1636 a tract of land was obtained from Wouter Van Twiller, Director General of the Dutch West India Company. This land consisted of 62 acres west of Broadway, lying along the Hudson River, from the Battery past Park Row; land said to be the most valuable in the whole world today. Soon after receiving the land grant, Roeloflf Jansen died, and as her home was a mile from the fort and without protection from the Indians, the widow with her children moved into the village of New Amsterdam. Anneke took the feminine form of her husbands name: "Janse."

The grant of land obtained from Governor Van Twiller was reconfirmed after the death of Roeloff Jansen, by Governor Stuyvesant. After the capture of the province by the English, the grant was confirmed to the heirs, who in 1671 sold the land to Governor Lovelace, who turned it over to the British Crown. During Queen Annes reign it was given to Trinity Parish, N. Y. At the time of the sale one of the heirs did not sign the deed and this flaw in the conveyance of the property was made the basis of the famous litigation by the heirs of Anneke Janse, against the Trinity Corporation.

In 1638 Anneke Janse married Everardus Bogardus, the Minister of the Reformed Dutch Church. At the time of her second marriage she is described as "a small, well-formed woman with delicate features, transparent complexion, and bright beautiful eyes. She had a well bal- anced mind, a sunny disposition, winning manners and a kind heart."

Anneke's attractiveness was at least once the cause of trouble. A woman, imagining a slight by the Ministers wife, made public comments on the manner in which Mrs. Bogardus lifted her skirts, "to show her ankles.' Suit was brought, and the slanderer fined, as Anneke convinced the Court she was protecting her wedding finery when she held up her skirts at muddy crossings. The defendant was not only fined, but her husband was ordered to pay his overdue subscription to the Dominie's Church.

Anneke Janse's mother, Tryntje Jonas was a professional nurse, employed by the Dutch West India Company. She has the distinction of having been the first medical woman to exercise her profession on Manhattan Island.

After the death, by shipwreck, of Everardus Bogardus, in 1647, Anneke moved back to her first home — Albany — where she died in 1663. A bronze tablet upon the Mechanics and Farmers Savings Bank, at the northeast corner of James and State Streets, marks the site of her home.

Story of the Webber-Bogardus families

Anneke Webber Jans Bogardus. Grandmother of Annettie Bogardus, who married Jacob Brouwer.

I WOLFERT WEBBER: Born, 1582, Holland. Married, 1600, Tryntje (Catherine) Jonas. Tryntje Jonas Webber, died, 1646.

Children of Wolfert and Tryntje Jonas Webber:

• Wolfert, Born, 1602.
• Anneke, born, 1604.
• Marritje.

II ANNEKE WEBBER: Born, 1604, in Holland. Died, 1663, Albany, N. Y.

Married,

• 1. , Roeloff Jansen, in Holland.
• 2. 1638, Everardus Bogardus, in New Amsterdam.

Children of Everardus and Anneke Janse Bogardus:

1. Willem Born, Nov. 2, 1639, New Amsterdam.
2. Cornells Bap., Sept. 9, 1640, "New Amsterdam.
3. Jonas Bap., Jan. 4, 1643, New Amsterdam.
4. Pieter^ Bap., Apr. 2, 1645, New Amsterdam.^[1]

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Roelof Janse was born in Maesterland (now Marstrand), Norway, about 1602, and died in New Amsterdam about 1637. Anneke Jans was born in Vleckere, Norway (now Flekkerøy, Flekkerøy Is., Vest Agder, Norway), in 1605, and died in Beverwyck (now Albany, New York), on February 23, 1663. She was buried in the churchyard, Beaver and Hudson Street.

They were married in Amsterdam Reformed New Church, Amsterdam, Holland, on Friday, April 18, 1623.

She took the name Anneke Janse. She is the daughter of Jonas/Johan and Tryntje (Roelofs)^[2]

About her Parents

Anneke Janse's mother, Tryntje Jonas was a professional nurse, employed by the Dutch West India Company. She has the distinction of having been the first medical woman to exercise her profession on Manhattan Island.

Most sources agree on her mother being the midwife Tryntje Jonas (see, for instance, page 269 of The iconography of Manhattan Island 1498-1909)^[3]

Anneke's father was not Wolfert Webber, despite lists such as the following: Children of Wolfert Webber and Tryntje (Jonas) Webber:

• Wolfert, Born, 1602.
• Anneke, born, 1604.
• Marritje.

Tryntje is shown in many trees as having married twice: to Wolfert and to Jan Janse. However, documentation is needed, as Anneke's birth is prior to Wolfert's death.

Birth: Date: ABT 1604/1605 Place: Flekkeroy Island, Norway

Anneke Webber was born in Holland (some say in the Kings Palace) in 1604 .^[4]

Note 2

Note: Yet the questions remain: “Who was Anneke Jans? Where did she come from? And what was her station in life?” From the Amsterdam (Holland) Reformed Oude Kerk marriage intentions of April 1, 1693, it isrecorded that Roeloff Janssoon, born in Maesterland (Marstrand, on the island of the same name, Goteburg Och Bohus, Sweden— but in Bohuslan, Norway until 1658), a seaman, aged 21 years, having no parents (to grant parental permission), assisted by Jan Qerritsz., his nephew, residing three and a half years at the St. Tunis gate, on the one part: and Anna Jans, born in Vleckere, Norway Flekkeroy, on the island of the same name, Vest Agder, Norway), aged 18 years, assisted by Trijn Roeloffs, her mother, residing at the same place, of the second part. The marriage record of Roelof Janz (hereafter cited as Jansen) and Anna Jars was dated April 18, 1623 in the records of the Amsterdam Reformed Niew Kerk. it has been concluded by some that the give name of the father of Anneke Jans was therefore Johan. Jan oriohannes. The first three children of Roelof Jansen and his wife Anneke Jans are recorded as being baptized in the Amsterdam Lutheran Church as follows: Lijntje, baptized July 21, 1624, witnesses: Annetgen Jans, Stijntgen Barents, Sara, baptized April 5, 1627, witnesses: Assueris Jansen, Stijntje Barents, and Trijntje, baptized June 24,1629, witnesses Cornetis Sijverts, Trijntgen Siewerts. Roelof Jansen was among the first immigrants to New Amsterdam and in .1630 was commissioned to farm land in the new colony of Rensselaerswyck for $72 a year. Roelof and Anneke, together with their two children, a party of colonists and probably Anneke’s mother and sister, set sail on March 21, 1630 from the Texel for New Amsterdam aboard the ship “Eendracht”, arriving on May 24,1630. While at Rensselaerswyck, Roelof and Arneke were parents to two additional children, namely: Sytje, born about 1631 on de [aets Burg” farm and Jan, born about 1633 at the same place. The family resided and worked at Rensselaerswyck until about 1634, or later, when they moved to New Amsterdam. Their sixth child, Annetje, was born about 1636 in New Amsterdam and probably died as a child sometime after 1642. In 1636 Roelof was granted thirty-one morgans (62 acres) of land (later confirmed to the widow of Domine Bogardus in her own name, Anneke Jans, on July 4, 1 654), described as a line drawn near the north side of today’s Warren Street on the South, and Canal Street, or perhaps Desbrosses Street, on the north; on the west by the Hudson River, and on the east by a series of irregular lines west of Broadway. This presently includes parts of the modem neighbourhoods of Greenwich Village, So-Ho and Tribeca in New York City. A tiny triangle of land at the intersection of Duane and Hudson Streets, now known as Duane Park, has been marked with a plaque proclaiming it to be “the last remnant of greensward of the Anneke Jans Farm.” It should be noted that this entire parcel of land, once owned by Anneke Jans, did not encompass the land upon which the Trinity Church of New York was later built, it being upon the southern most tip of Manhattan Island that had been granted to Trinity Church in 1705. It is the ownership of the Bogardus farm as shown above that eventually came to be disputed by subsequent generations of Anneke’s descendants as having been improperly conveyed to the Trinity Church Corporation. Roelof Jansen died shortly after his arrival in New Amsterdam and in March 1638 Anneke jans, then a widow, married Domine (Reverend) Everardus Bogardus. Domine Bogardus had previously arrived in New Amsterdam in April 1633 aboard the ship “de Southberg to succeed the ministry of Jonas Michaelis, thus becoming the second ordained minister of the Reformed Dutch Church in America. The 62 acres of land which Anneke inherited from her first husband, Roelof Jansen, acquired the name ‘Domine’s Bouwerie”. Combined in English days with the ‘Company’s Bouwerie” and granted to Trinity Church in 1705 by the Colonial Governor, Lord Combury, as a representative of Queen Anne of England, this questionable conveyance of ownership of the original property of Anneke Jans became the basis for repeated and hotly contested lawsuits initiated by her descendants to claim their apparent legitimate part-ownership. As recently as the 1920’s, when the property was then considered to be worth “billions”, some descendants were still attempting to obtain a favourable settlement from the courts, having been denied restitution in preceeding generations. Nationwide ‘Anneke Jans Bogardus Heirs Association” chapters were established to help finance the legal costs involved, and questionable lawyers obtained millions of dollars from gullible, presumed descendants, on the basis of undocumented or dubious genealogical evidence. Of course, none of the lawsuits were ever settled in favour of the descendant “heirs”. fn reviewing the facts again today, however, one could conclude that the heirs of Anneke Jans were treated unfairly, but it is also plainly clear that no such lawsuit should ever be initiated again because of the finality of the court judgements that were previously rendered. The following is an interesting and little known bit of recorded history about Anneke Jans. In the translation of Fort Orange court minutes, under an entry for Tuesday, February 2, 1 655, it is recorded that Claes Gerritsz, who had been summoned by the court and asked whether he knew who was guilty of bestowing the (nick) names then in circulation, declared he heard that Cornelis Vos had given the name to “Mother Bogaerdus house, “The Vulture World” (de Gierswerelt)”. The editor of the translated minutes, Dr. Gehring, noted that “it is difficult to understand the significance of these names beyond a literal translation” and that “the real meaning is probably obscured by allusions clear to the seventeenth century”. He went on to say ‘the actual intentions may lie in a deeper meaning that ties together an allusion evoked by this expression and a characteristic of the person involved”. Although this nickname might connote a negative impression of Anneke Jans, we do not know the circumstances surrounding its use and must not be quick to judge her character. In any event, she became the greatest grandmother to millions of descendants, many of whom were quite prominent, and thus contributed to the history of our nation. Anneke Jans died in Beverwyck (now Albany, New York) and although in this book and others her date of death is recorded as February 23, 1663, this is actually the date when her son, Jan Roelofszen, then 30 years old paid the church for the rental of a burial pall. She may have died a day (or days) earlier and perhaps even buried a day or more after February 23rd, but this is the closest date known regarding her death. The will of Anneke Jans, dated 29 January 1663, is on record in the original Dutch in the book of Notarial Papers, County Clerks Office, Albany, NY (a transcript of the text from John 0. Evjen’s book is given on the following page). Her descendants are now estimated to number in the millions, and future generations will be no less interested in proving their pedigree to this illustrious ancestor, via the children of her first husband, RoelofJansen, or her second husband, Domine Everardus Bogardus. or both, as has already been done. The children of Anneke Janse and Roelofs Jansen were surnamed Roelofs for the five daughters and Roelofszen for the one son, although only Sara, Trijntje (Catrina) and Sytje are know to have left producing families of their own. None were surnamed Jansen. The children of Anneke Jans and Domine Everardus Bogardus were all born in New Amsterdam and baptized in the Reformed Dutch Church, although the baptism of their first son, Willem, was apparently performed before the first recorded baptism (25 September 1 639). In addition to Willem, born 1639, Cornelis, Jonas and Pieter were baptized on 9 September 1640, 4 January 1643 and 2 April 1645, respectively. All were surnamed Bogardus although only Willem, Cornelis and Pieter left children who produced families with descendants living today.

Genealogy Roadshow Segment

Leslie: I'm trying to find out if a story that's been passed down through my family is true, that Anneke Jans Bogardus is my ancestor grandmother.

Joshua Taylor: I have to tell you, I immediately wanted to have you on the show because of the question you asked. Amongst genealogists, this would probably be one of our most asked questions because Anneke Bogardus owned a huge piece of property in what is now New York City. So as you can imagine, there are so many others that all want a part of this prize. They all want a part of the legacy of Anneke Jans. So let's dive in and learn a little bit about this famous potential relative, Anneke Jans Bogardus.

Here is her story as far as we know. Anneke Jans Bogardus was actually born in Norway. We do not know a lot about her father but we do know that her mother was a midwife, and she married a fellow Norwegian, Roelof Jansen, in Amsterdam, and we actually have a copy of their marriage certificate.

Now this couple traveled to America in 1630 and Roelof Jansen, her first husband, died 7 years later. So she's now a widow and she's in New Amsterdam. So she's been taken from her home in Holland, she's married in Amsterdam, and now she's sitting in New Amsterdam, which today we know as New York City.

A year after her first husband passes away, she marries her second husband. So here we see [pictures shown, same as in biography] Anneke Jans and her second husband, Everardus Bogardus, who is a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church.

Now during her lifetime, she and her husband owned a property which included farmland in lower Manhattan. Well looking at a map [shows a hand-drawn map of New Amsterdam with streets and the Bogardus Farm plotted on it] we can actually see that researchers have worked out exactly where that property was. This property today is extremely valuable. Have you ever heard of Wall Street? Well Anneke's farm is where Wall Street sits today.

Now Anneke dies in Albany in 1663, 18 months before the Dutch ceded their colony to England. So she dies as a Dutch citizen. Now Anneke's will states that all of her possessions and the proceeds from her property were to be equally split among her children.

Now it was 12 years later that Trinity Church was founded on part of her old property. And Trinity Church became the first Anglican church in Manhattan and today the Trinity Corporation keeps control of its patch of real estate. Now acre for acre this is said to be the most valuable church yard and cemetery in the entire United States.

Now there is no record of Anneke's children or grandchildren working to re-establish any ownership of their old farmland. It is only her descendants, hundreds of years later, that went on the warpath to reclaim the property.

So we were able to trace your family back here to your 7th great-grandfather, Adam Brewer [1696 - Abt. 1769]. We know this is correct based upon a variety of probate and census and vital records. Adam's mother's [ Annatje "Anna" Bogardus 1663-] surname happened to be Bogardus. So when you look through the chart, Anna's father is Willem Bogardus [1639-1711] and Willem Bogardus was the son of Anneke Jans.

...As we know there's a lot of people that think they are [descendants] that really aren't. Now it's very unlikely that any court case now or in the future will be successful in getting money against Trinity Church. ...The church has always had a legally established right to the property.

Aired: 06/28/16 Expires: 07/29/16 http://www.pbs.org/video/2365749416/