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)