The Joris and Catalyntje (Trico) Rapalje Family

To write about this family is a distinct pleasure for me. A couple of weeks ago, I already wrote about their first daughter, Sarah, who was the first white child born in what is now the state of New York. Today I will tell you more about Sarah's parents and siblings. There is a wealth of information about this family on Wikipedia. Rather than repeat what Wikipedia has to tell about the Rapaljes, please treat yourselves to see pictures of the Rapalje property and many facts about their lives at wikipedia.org/wiki/JorisJansenRapalje.

Joris Jansen Rapalje and Catalyntje Trico were born in France but they were married in Amsterdam, Holland in January of 1623 in the Walloon Church. Their surnames are spelled here in the Dutch version. (French spelling: Rapareilliet and Tricault) The list of their children, all born in New York, is as follows:

1625 Sarah, our ancestor, the first white child born in NY 
1627 Maretje 
1629 Janetje
1635 Judith
1637 Jan
1639 Jacob, shot by Indians in Manhattan, age 4
1641 Catalina
1643 Jernonimus
1646 Annetje 
1648 Elizabeth
1650 Daniel, died soon after birth
1652 Daniel

Joris and Catalyntje sailed to America Jan 25, 1624, on board the Eondracht, arriving in the spring of 1624. Joris Jansen Rapalje was a first settler at Fort Orange (now Albany), New York. 

In 1626, Manhattan was selected as the official Company site in New Netherland and all the Albany families were ordered to move there. All the farmers in New Netherland concentrated on Manhattan. Joris acquired a plot of ground at what is now the foot of Pearl Street, his property abutting the East wall of Fort Amsterdam at the present Battery. Shortly after his arrival there, he was followed by his two brothers Antonie Janssen and Willem Janssen. In 1626, the population of lower Manhattan was 270 white inhabitants. Joris remained there 22 years. [What is the population of Manhattan today? Several million!!]

On Jun 16, 1637, Joris bought 167 morgen (335 acres) of land from the Kakapeyno or Pewichaas Indians called Rinnegakonck, on Long Island (now Brooklyn). On Jun 17, 1643, Governor Kieft patented his purchase. His woodlot was on a hill where Fort Greene Park is now located, and his meadowland on the level space upon which City Park is built, between Flushing, Park, Navy, and Edward Streets. A creek ran through a part of the property and emptied into Wallabout Bay, known as Ronnegagonck. Today there is little left of the creek which, in the course of time, has been filled in. For many years the old Wallabout Market stood on this property, and it was at this point (Wallabout Bay) where the British prison ships were moored during the Revolutionary War.

 Joris Janszen Rapalje is on the list of Flagon and Trencher 1607-1783, receiving his license before 1640. In Aug, 1641, he took a prominent part in public affairs, and was one of twelve men who represented Manhattan, Bruekelen, and Pavonia to suggest a means of punishment for Indians accused of a murder.

On Jun 12, 1647, he was listed as a sailor (chief boatswain) in Amsterdam. On Mar 16, 1648, his name was listed among others who were inn keepers and tapsters (owning a tavern) in the books of the burgomaster court, promising to observe the Mar 10, 1648 proclamation of Governor Stuyvesant regulating such houses.

He was a magistrate of Brooklyn in 1655 (appointed Apr 13), 1656, 1657, 1660, and 1662.

On Mar 1, 1660, he, along with his son-in-law Theunis Gysbert Bogaert, petitioned for permission to plant a village on the river opposite the Manhattans, in site of Fort Amsterdam, between the lands of Bogaert and a man named Kip, but the petition was denied. Bogaert at this time owned the lands patented to Hans Hansen Bergen. The location of the proposed village was between Brooklyn and Bushwick. (Gysbert Bogaert was our ancestor, Sarah Rapalje's husband).

On Apr 26, 1660, Joris Jansen Rapalje petitioned to be allowed to leave his house standing on his farm. This application appears to have been denied, because at this period an order had been issued for everyone residing outside villages to move to the fortified villages for safety from the Indians.

In Aug, 1661, Joris was appointed a member of the famous Council of Twelve Men who conferred with Governor Kieft in regard to the consequences of an impending war as a result of the murder of a Dutchman named Claess Swits, by the Indians, in revenge for the death of an Indian some twenty years previously.

On Aug 25, 1662, Joris Jansen Rapalje became a member of the Protestant Reformed Dutch Church of Brooklyn. He had been elected as a deacon in 1661. He died at an election of church officers Feb 21, 1663. He was buried in the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery in Flatbush, Kings County, NY. The cemetery is within the grounds of Erasmus Hall High School.

Catalyntje was also buried at the church cemetery in 1689. She was age 84 at death.

JORIS JANSEN RAPALJE
BORN: 28 Apr 1604 in Valenciennes, Nord, France
MARRIED: 13 Jan 1623 in Amsterdam, Holland
DIED:   21 Feb 1662 in Long Island, NY
Buried: Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery at Flatbush, Kings County (Brooklyn), NY

CATALYNTJE TRICO
BORN: 1605 in Prisches, France
DIED: 11 Sep 1689 in Wallabout, Long Island, NY
BURIED: Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery at Flatbush, Kings County (Brooklyn), NY
SOURCES: Footnote: Brøderbund Software, Inc., Family Archive #17, Ed. 1, Birth Records: United States/Europe, Birth Records AAI Birth Records Extraction (Release date: December 23, 1993), Internal Ref. #1.17.1.27091.17.(birth of Joris); Joris is listed as a Huguenot ancestor represented in the membership of the Huguenot Society of New Jersey; Brøderbund Software, Inc., Family Archive #17, Ed. 1, Birth Records: United States/Europe, Birth Records AAI Birth Records Extraction ;"Genealogies of New Jersey Families" Vol I Families A-Z. Pre-American Notes on Old New Netherland Families (From the Genealogical Magazines of New Jersey) by Joseph R. Klett. Brooklyn Village, Long Island, NY, History, by Peter Ross; NY Lewis Pub. Co. 1902; Bergen, Teunis G., "Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N.Y.", S.W. Green's Son, Printer, Electrotyper and Binder, New York, 1881. Reason attached to person: Pg. 234 says, "Joris Jansen [Rapalie], . . . emigrated in 1623; m. Catalyntje dau. of Joris Trico of Paris; d. about 1665. . . . Issue: Sarah Jorise, Marretje Jorise, Jannetje Jorise, Judith Jorise, Jan Jorise, Jacob Jorise, Catelytje Jorise, Jeronemus Jorise, Annetje Jorise, Elizabeth Jorise, and Daniel Jorise."; Bogart Family, Tunis Gysbert Bogaert and Descendants Citation: Bogart Family, Tunis Gysbert Bogaert and Descendants; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175182404/joris-janszen-rapalje; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joris_Jansen_Rapelje; 375th Anniversary of the Eendracht and Nieuw Nederland (The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society);  The History of Brooklyn Navy Yard (Brooklyn Navy Yard );  Joris Jansen Rapelje genealogy at longislandsurnames.com;  Prominent Families of New York, Nicoll & Roy Company, The Historical Company, 1897; Annotated Bibliography on Rapalje Family (Cindy Walcott.Updated November 1998) 

Antonius and Anna Maria Schardt and daughter

The daughter of this couple, Elizabeth Schardt, married into the Barnhisel family that you have been reading about in our family history for the past year or so.  The information about  17th century folks is quite scanty, as happens when a family historian like me reaches back this far in time. As I mentioned to you recently, I will be closing this particular Mackey Family History blog as soon as I finish writing about a few of our 9th Great Grandparents. Not only are records scarce for the people who lived in the 1600s and further back in time, but to find what records are available, it's necessary to know the language of the country of any ancestor's residence.  In the case of the Barnhisels, The Hysell/Hisel Group hired a German professional genealogist (Andrea Fink) who lives near Bad Kreuznach, to find the church records that I cite in this story. [Many of the Barnhisel descendants shortened their name to Hysell or Hisel, thus the name of the Barnhisel family association of the United States is called "The Hysell/Hisel Group".] I was a member of this helpful group c. 1990-2015.

Antonius and Anna Maria were married around 1615 in probably Kreuznach, Rheinland, Germany (pictured above, as it looks today. Bad signifies that it is a spa town...bad=bath, I think) and had at least one child, our ancestor, Elizabeth Schardt, who was born in 1617 in  Kreuznach, Rheinland, Germany. Elizabeth and her future husband and family were members of the Lutheran Church in Kreuznach. 
  
ANTONIUS SCHARDT
BORN: 1585 in   ,Rheinland, Germany
MARRIED:  c. 1615 in Kreuznach, Rheinland Germany
DIED: aft 1629 in Kreuznach, Rheinland, Germany

ANNA MARIA (unknown surname)
BORN: 1587 in   ,Rheinland, Germany
DIED: unknown death information
SOURCES: Hisel/Hysell Genealogy Group; Pg. 48 of researcher, Charlene Bernheisel's copies of Connie Boyer's compilation: Hans Bernard Hausele, Elizabeth Schardt's husband, is mentioned in "Beed- und Zinssbuchern" and information about his widow in 1675 and 1689 in Kreuznach; Update of Connie Boyer, "Bernheisel/ Barnhisel Families" to include the research of German genealogist, Andrea Fink re Lutheran Church records of the Barnheisels of Kreuznach, Germany.

GIJSBERT and AERTJEN (BASTIAENS) BOGAERT and family

Now we begin to learn about our ninth great grandparents, born in the late 1500s in European countries. (This will be the last generation that I will write about, for our Mackey Family History.) 





Gijsbert was born in 1593 in Schoonerswoerd, Utrecht, South Holland, Netherlands. He married Aertjen Bastiaens about 1622 in Heikoop, Vianen, South Holland. Their children are as follows (all born in South Holland):

1625 Theunis, our ancestor
1627 Aalkien, their only daughter
1629 Neeltchen
1631 Abraham
1633 Joris
1635 Adrian
1641 Johannes

Aertjen died in 1646. Then Gijsbert, and probably his children, emigrated to New York state soon after her death. Gijsbert lived to be age 91. He died in Catskill, Greene County, New York.

GIJSBERT THEUNISZN BOGAERT
BORN: 1593 in Schoonerwoerd, Utrecht, S. Holland, Netherlands
MARRIED: abt 1622 in Heikoop, Vianen, South Holland, Netherlands
DIED: 1684 in Catskill, Greene, NY

AERTJEN BASTIAENS
BORN: 1597 in Heikoop, Vianen, S. Holland, Netherlands
DIED: 10 Dec 1646 in Heikoop, Vianen, S. Holland, Netherlands
SOURCES: Legacy NFS Source: Aertjien Bastiaens - Citation: Ancestral File (R), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Copyright (c) 1987, June 1998, data as of 5 January 1998, Family History Library, 35 N West Temple Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 USA; Researcher, M. Watefall for the death date of Aertjen.

JOHN and PHILLIP (SOLE) SALES and DAUGHTERS

First cousins, John  and Phillip Sales were married on the 11th day of August in 1625 at the St. Lawrence's Parish of Little Waddingfield, Suffolk, England. Their two daughters were born and baptized at this same location:

Our ancestor, Phoebe, was baptized 1 May 1626 
Sarah, was born in 1628

In 1630, this small family boarded a ship in Laversham, Suffolk County, probably the Talbot, of the Winthrop Fleet bound for Boston, Massachusetts. Sadly, John's wife, Phillip and little daughter, Sarah died on the journey. Only John and Phoebe landed at Boston. In 1631, John's name is on the list of members of the First Church in Boston. But soon after, John was accused of stealing some produce and became indentured to a Mr. Coggeshall, and so was Phoebe, for several years. 

Needless to say, John and Phoebe were not happy in Boston. So, they moved to New Amsterdam and enjoyed their time there among the Dutch people. In 1638, John's occupation was as a planter at Manhattan Isle.

John married a widowed woman, Maria Robberts around 1640, when he was about 45 years old.  The land that he had acquired was commonly known as "old Jan's land", marked 37 on the farm map. "Jan" is how the Dutch spelled his first name.

"To Tonis Nyssen [his son-in-law, Phoebe's husband], the half of all the means he leaves behind" is how John worded the main part of his will that he wrote on the 17th of April in 1645. He evidently had been wounded somehow and was sickly at the time that he wrote his will. His widow married a new husband in August 1645 so John died sometime between his will date and her new marriage date.

JOHN SALES
BORN: abt 1598 in Norfolk, England
MARRIED: 11 Aug 1625 in St. Lawrence's Parish, Little Waddingfield, Suffolk, England
DIED: aft 17 Apr 1645 in Brooklyn, New Amsterdam, NY

PHILLIP SOLE
BAPTIZED: 28 Feb 1602 at All Saint's Church, Bury St. Edmonds, Sudbury, Suffolk, England
DIED: 1630 at sea (North Atlantic Ocean)
SOURCES: FamilySearch.org Church Records 1630-1865 Colonial Society of Boston, Massachusetts; Church Records of Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam and New York; Theunis G. Bergen, "Early Settlers of Kings County", pgs 94 and 95.

THEUNIS BOGAERT and SARAH RAPALJE and Family

Today I am excited to tell you the story about our eighth great grandma, Sarah Rapalje, because she was the first white child born in what is now the state of New York!

In 1624, a ship with 30 Protestant Walloons (French-speaking people from what is today southern Belgium) landed in New Netherland. These folks were hired by the West India Company to trap furs, especially of the beaver and otter. The parents of Sarah Rapalje, Catalyntje Trico and Joris Rapalje, were included in this adventure. Eighteen of the men, with their wives, Joris included,  were sent to the location near present-day Albany. Under the direction of the Dutch, these men built a new Fort Oranje (the Dutch spelling of the fort) about five miles south of the confluence of the Mohawk River and the North River. Before this newer Fort Oranje was built, the former fort had served as a trading post from about 1617. That Fort Oranje was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland.  Both forts were named in honor of the Dutch House of Oranje-Nassau.

After Joris and Catalyntje settled into their new environment and built their log cabin, they had their first child, our great grandmother, Sarah, who was the first child of European settlers in New York State, on the ninth of June in 1625! 

Sarah's first husband was Hans Hansen Bergen who died in 1653.
Sarah's  second husband, Theunis Bogaert was born in Holland in 1625. He emigrated from there in 1652. He and Sarah were married in 1654. They had the following children. All but two were born in New York. The two who were born in New Jersey are marked below:
1655 Aertje
1657 Catalyntje, our ancestor
1660 Neeltje
1661 Aeltje
1665 Annetje
1666 Grietje in N J
1667 Adriaen N J
1668 Gysbert
1670 Aertje
unk. Cornelis

Theunis was a magistrate of Brooklyn in 1667 and again in 1673. In 1665, he was a Representative of Brooklyn in the Hempstead Convention. Here are a few words from Wikipedia about that convention:
The Hempstead Convention was a ten-day assembly where 34 delegates met starting on February 28, 1665, "to settle good and known laws" according to a letter by newly appointed Governor Richard Nicolls, the first English colonial governor of the Province of New York. Towns were invited to send two delegates who were "the most sober, able and discrete persons" chosen by taxpayers at their respective Town meetings.

Nicolls opened the Convention by reading the Duke's Patent and his own commission. He then announced laws similar to those in New England, with one critical difference. They were less severe "in matters of conscience and of Religion." Blasphemy and witchcraft, for instance, were not included among the eleven capital crimes. 

After Sarah died in 1685, Theunis took a second wife, Grietje Jans. He died in 1699 in New Amsterdam.

THEUNIS GYSBERTSE BOGAERT
BORN:   1625 in Schoondrewoerd, Utrecht, Holland
MARRIED: 19 Aug 1654 in New Amsterdam, Montgomery, NY
DIED:     1699 in New Amsterdam, Montgomry, NY, age 74
SARAH JORISE RAPALJE
BORN: 9 Jun 1625 in Fort Orange, Kings, New York
DIED: 1685 in Brooklyn, Kings, NY
SOURCES: Theunis' birth at Family Search.org, Ancestral File, a family group record (AFN: 8VPP-TF); Sarah's birth at Broderband Family Archives # 17, Ed.1, Birth Records: US/Europe, AA1, Birth Extractions, Date of Import: 5 Aug 2007; CD#101, US/Europe, Births on CD #2; Legacy NFS Sources: Family genealogies; Death citation: Internet, ancestry.com; Register of the early settlers of Kings County.

Related Reading from Wikipedia: Sarah Rapelje was the daughter of Joris Jansen Rapelje (1604-1663) and Catalina Trico (1605-1689), who were Walloon Calvinists who sailed on board the ship Eendracht from the Dutch Republic in 1624. The Rapeljes arrived at a site along the Hudson River where they helped build one of the first Dutch settlements, Fort Orange, where Sarah Rapelje was born on July 9, 1625. Fort Orange would eventually become the fur-trading town of Beverwijck, which itself would later become Albany, New York. In 1626, Manhattan Island near the mouth of the Hudson River was bought by Dutch settlers from local Native Americans, and the Rapelje family were sent to help with the settlement of New Amsterdam on the island's southern tip. Joris Rapelje later bought land on Long Island, across the East River from New Amsterdam, in the village of Breuckelen (the basis of modern Brooklyn) and eventually moved to Wallabout Bay.
Sarah Rapelje married Hans Hansen Bergen in 1639 with whom she had eight children, seven of whom lived into adulthood, until Bergen died in 1653. In 1654 Rapelje married Teunis Gysbertse Bogaert (b. 1625, Heicop, Dutch Republic - d. 1699, Breuckelen, New York) with whom she had seven more children. Through their youngest child and only son, Guysbert, she is the 7th-great grandmother of actor Humphrey Bogart. On April 24, 1660, New Netherland Governor Peter Stuyvesant named Bogaert a magistrate of New Amersfoort and Midwood. In 1663, Bogaert was appointed a magistrate in Breuckelen, succeeding his father-in-law Joris Jansen Rapelje, serving in that capacity until 1673. Bogaert also served as a magistrate of Bushwick between 1664 and 1665, and was a representative of Breuckelen in the Hempstead Convention of 1665.
Rapelje died in 1685 in Boswijck, a village that became the modern Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn. By the time Rapelje died the New Netherland colony had been ceded to the English in 1664, and was rebranded the Province of New York.
Rapelje's chair is in the permanent collection of the Museum of the City of New York, a gift of her Brinckerhoff descendants. Brooklyn's Rapelye Street is named for the family. Sarah Rapelje herself was granted a large tract of land in the Wallabout in Brooklyn by Dutch authorities for being the first European Christian female to be born in the New Netherland. The family owned extensive property in the area of present-day Red Hook.

Her descendants include Joseph C. Hoagland (1841-1899, president of the Royal Baking Powder Company, and the British television presenter Clare Balding (born 1971).