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Archiver > Dutch-Colonies > 2003-08 > 1061383080


From: "RMH" <>
Subject: [D-Col] inheritance customs and guardians
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2003 08:38:00 -0400


Could someone explain when the policy of appointing guardians for minor
children left fatherless came into practice? And is this a Dutch custom, or
did it arise after the Dutch customs had given way to the English?

Specifically we are wondering about the Tappan Patent, and the three shares
in it that Jan Pieterse Haring purchased. JPH died in 1683, his wife
remarried in 1685, and when the patent issued in
1686/7, new husband Daniel DeClerk's name appears in place of JPH, and the
two oldest sons, Peter and Cosyn, are listed as the other two shareholders.
Son Peter was not yet 21 when the patent issued, but Cosyn was still only 17
(these old style/new style dates are just about the last straw!).

Was it legal for the young sons to be named patentees when they were yet
minors at the time the patent was presumably being drawn up?

The only other person named in the patent who may have been a minor is Jan
DeVries Jr. I think we on the list have determined that Budke was in error
in identifying the Jan DeVries in question. There was some self-government
within the black community in NA, and Budke says that Jan DeVries was a
"captain" among the blacks, and that he and the son, born in 1647, were the
patentees. I think we are on safe ground in saying that the Captain was the
Dutch sailing captain and his son was therefore half Dutch. The "captain"
was not a patentee - his son born 1647 was, along with presumably the next
generation son.

Your thoughts appreciated.

Regina Haring
Nanuet, NY
http://www.dutchdoorgenealogy.com


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