The exact date of Hans Coenradt’s
arrival in New Netherland is not known but we know he would have been among the
refugees fleeing Recife Brazil in April 1654. Presumably the family continued
on to New Netherland soon after arriving safely in the Netherlands. The first
record found indicating he was in New Netherland is dated in Albany (Fort
Orange) in early December 1655. [i] So sometime between
April 1654 and December 1655, Hans (and probably his entire family) arrived in
New New Netherland.
As New Amsterdam came into view
with its gallows and weather beaten wooden houses dominating a raw, windswept
landscape, the Barheit family must have had mixed feelings. New Amsterdam in
1654 was a frontier outpost filled with brawling sailors and rough-looking fur
traders. Over fifty grog houses catered to a never-ending stream of men
dropping in for a little fun on their way to or from Massachusetts or Virginia.
[ii]
Many researchers believe that
Barentje stayed behind in the Netherlands and arrived in New Netherland for the
first time in 1660. Records reveal that Barentje and two children left
Amsterdam between 22 December 1659 and 8 January 1660 on board the ship de
Trouw. The ship sailed into the harbour at New Amsterdam some time before 6
June 1660. [iii] However it is unlikely
that this was her Barentje’s first trip, since it occurred at least five years
after her husband’s arrival. Barentje more than likely returned to the
Netherlands on either business reasons or to visit family, and this 1660
arrival is her return voyage.
We find records of Barentje in New
Netherland as early as August 1658 when she was called a whore by Pieter
Jansen. Her sister defended her vigourously and Pieter took her sister to court
in New Amsterdam. [iv] This suggests that the
1660 voyage was not her first time to New Netherland.
The late Pim Nieuwenhuis’
abstracts from notarial documents in the Amsterdam Archives reveal that on 16
August 1659, Barentje was in Amsterdam conducting business on behalf of her
sister Teuntje. [v] It seems obvious that
Barentje, her legal affairs in order, then booked passage on the next ship to
New Netherland – de Trouw leaving after 22 Decemember 1659.
This is an excerpt from my book
The Barheit Family Revealed: A Genealogy of Hans Coenradt and Barentje Jans Straetsman, the Immigrant Ancestors of the Barheit Family of Albany New York available on CreateSpace and Amazon.com
Publication Date: Apr 21 2016
ISBN/EAN13: 1987938062 / 9781987938067
Page Count: 60
Trim Size: 8.5" x 11"
[i]
CFOB V1.1920 p.242 Hans was called as a witness in a case about stolen sugar
cookies
[ii]
They Came From Recife: the First Jews to Settle in America 1654. Dr. Kenneth
Libo Ph.D and Michael Skakun
[iii]
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nnship77.shtml
[iv]
RNA. Vii p 427. 27 August 1658. Pieter Jansen pltf vs Teuntje Straaatmans [sic]
deft. Pltf delivers in court certain written complaint for the insults and
abuse given him, pltf, by the deft. Deft. Admits having done so, but did not
threaten him with a knife, and says the pltf abused her sister for a whore and
her as one who steals. Plft denies it and says she, the deft., abused his wife
as a thief, and threatened him with a knife, which Leuntje Pieters knows. Deft
says the pltf abused her three times in the first instance. Parties charged by
the Court to keep themselves quiet and peaceable and whichever of the two
should begin again, shall pay 25 gl as a fine to the Schout
[v]
NNC. V. 5 No. 3. 2000 p 78. 16 August 1659. Not. H. Schaef, 1359/106. Barentje
Straetsmans, housewife of Hans Coenraets from Beerhey, now a free baker near
Fort Orange in New Netherland, being a sister of Theuntke [sic] Straetsmans
(the wife of Thielman Jacobsz from Caerick who sailed in 1646 on the ship Rhee
van Zeeland to Brazil and who died later in Gaudeloupe, now declares in the
name of her sister Theuntje Straetsmans now living in Manhattan, that she has
received a full account of the wages earned by her late husband. (Note that in
fact Thielman had not died in Gaudaloupe and reappeared some years later after
Theuntje had remarried as his widow)
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