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Archiver > Dutch-Colonies > 1998-07 > 0899511270


From: Dorothy Koenig <>
Subject: Re: Brooklyn's First Settlers-DRC Church records
Date: Fri, 3 Jul 1998 17:14:30 -0700 (PDT)


John, Thank you for the chance to extol the fortitude of my ancestor --
Johannes Theodorus Polhemius -- who was a missionary in Brazil. When the
Portuguese recaptured Brazil from the Dutch in 1654, a fleet of ships was
sent from Amsterdam to return the Dutch expatriates to the Netherlands.
The ship that Pastor Polhemius was on was captured by Spanish pirates.
That pirate ship was in turn captured by a French privateer. The French
sea captain didn't want passengers aboard so he dumped grandpa Polhemius
and 26 Jews "large and small" (children and adults) off at New Amsterdam.
Peter Stuyvesant was delighted to have an ordained minister delivered to
his door because -- as you said -- the inhabitants of Long Island were
grumbling that they had to row across the river to go to church.
Stuyvesant sent them the good Domine. Here is how the Brooklyn churches
are listed in Russell Gasero's "Historical Directory of the Reformed
Church in America":

BROOKLYN (Bushwick) Org. 1654, Pastor J.T. Polhemus 1654-1676
BROOKLYN (Flatbush; First Midwout) Org. 1654, Pastor (same)
BROOKLYN (Flatlands) Org. 1654, Pastor (same)
BROOKLYN (Gravesend) Org. 1655, Pastor Johannes T. Polhemus 1656-1660
Pastor Henricus Selyns 1660-1664 ...
BROOKLYN (Midwout) Org. 1660 Pastor J.T. Polhemus 1656-1660
Pastor Henricus Selyns 1660-1664 ...
BROOKLYN (New Utrecht) Org. 1677, Pastor Casparus Van Zuuren 1677-1685

The Genealogical Publishing Company in Baltimore published in 1983 "Old
First Dutch Reformed Church of Brooklyn, New York. First Book of Records,
1660-1752'. These were translated and edited by A.P.G. Jos van der Linde.

The Year Book of The Holland Society of New York for 1898 included a COPY
made by a 19th-century researcher, Henry Onderdonk, of the records of the
Flatbush DRC records. This is not a scholarly resource but better than
nothing!

The earliest records of the Flatbush Church are no longer in existence.
Those that are extant have *just* been published in a scholarly edition by
The Holland Society of New York, "Records of The Reformed Protestant Dutch
Church of Flatbush, Kings County, New York. Volume I, 1677-1720.",
translated and edited by David William Voorhees. (Dr. Voorhees is a
Professor of History and Editor of the Holland Society's quarterly, "De
Halve Maen"). The price is $60.00 plus $6.50 for shipping and handling.
It can be ordered from The Holland Society, 122 East 58th Street, New
York, NY 10022-1939.

Heritage Books, Inc. of Bowie, MD, has reprinted Henry R. Stiles'
three-volume classic, "A History of the City of Brooklyn, including the
Old Town and Village of Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick, and the village
and city of Williamsburgh" (1867) -- reprinted in 1993. Volume I contains
much information about early settlers.

One must never leave out Teunis G. Bergen's "Register of the Early
Settlers of Kings County, Long Island". He made some errors and leapt to
some wrong conclusions, but often his work can serve as a jumping off
place in the search for documented sources.

John, the baptism of your Adriaen Hegman took place on 14 March 1686 in
New York City as you have said. Perhaps the Flatbush Church was "between"
pastors, and Hendricus and Adriaentje might have wanted to make sure their
son was baptized in a timely fashion. Here are the dates of the Pastors'
tenure in the Flatbush Church:

1654-1676Johannes T. Polhemus (he died in 1676)
1664-1669Johannes Megapolensis
1660-1664Henricus Selyns
1677-1685Casparuus Van Zuuren
1686-1694Rudolphus Varick
etc.

I can't explain the overlaps. Dorothy

* * * * * * * * * * *
Dorothy A. Koenig
<

On Fri, 3 Jul 1998, John F. Hagaman wrote:

> wrote:
>
> > I too would be interested in a book about the Brooklyn first settlers.
> >
> > Also, does anyone know of a URL for the Brooklyn DRC at that time.
> >
> > Thank you! Pat
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> Even though there was a DRC in Flatbush at the end of the 17th c., I'm
> not sure whether it had a minister or whether it did baptisms. For
> example, my ancestor Adraien Hegeman was born in Flatbush in 1685 but
> baptised at the Dutch Reform Church in New Amsterdam (NY), a very long
> way from Flatbush. I suspect it was an all day trip to get to New
> Amsterdam from Brooklyn 200 years before the Brooklyn Bridge. The family
> would have to travel several miles by wagon, then take a small boat to
> lower Manhatten. Would Hendricus and Ariaentie Bloedgoedt his mother
> risk a dangerous trip across New York harbor for a baptism if there was
> a Domine in Flatbush? Nettie Weaver and Dorothy Koenig probably have the
> answer to this one.
>
> The DRC New Amsterdam records are on line thanks to Theodore Brassard
> at
> http://www.altlaw.com/edball/dutchbap.htm
>
> John Hagaman
>
>
>
> ==== Dutch-Colonies Mailing List ====
> MILITARY RECORDS-and how to use them:
> http://www.avana.net/~lhaasdav/military.html
> Bureau of Land Management-SOME STATES-busy, keep trying...
> http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

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