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From:
Subject: Re: [D-Col] Jacob Bries
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 19:44:20 +0000


To David Lear and all --

David Lear wrote:

"I am looking for information on the family of Jacob Bries, b. ca. 1681 in
Somerset Co., NY. He married Mary Teller and had at least one daughter
Elizabeth, b. 1707 in Somerset Co., NJ, who married Hendrick Fisher. Was
Marretje Bries, wife of Jacobus Beerman his sister."

I have delayed replying to this Jacob Bries query, hoping that someone more
knowledgable would come forth.

Bries genealogy is rather scant to come by. There were two separate colonial
Bries families, one associated with Albany, the other with Long Island. There
are some useful publications concerning the Albany family. The patriarch of each
of the two families was named Hendrick. The founders of the Long Island family
were Hendrick Volckertson Bries and his wife Geertje Claes [Van Schouw].

There is no relationship of the Long Island family with the Albany family.

In your query you state that Jacob Bries was born ca. 1681 in Somerset County,
New York. This seems unlikely.

Some genealogies have him born ca. 1681 in Somerset County, New Jersey. This
also is unlikely.

The persons with the surname Bries associated with Somerset County, New Jersey
are descended from Volckert Hendricksen Bries of the Long Island family and his
brother Cornelis. I say "associated with" because a number of people belonging
to the Dutch Reformed Church in Somerset County actually lived nearby at
Piscataway or Raritan Landing in Middlesex County.

The Elizabeth Bries of Somerset County, NJ who you cite as daughter of Jacob
Bries and Mary Teller, and who married Hendrick Fisher, is the ancestor of the
famous artist Georgia O'Keefe.

Georgia was also descended from a number of persons mentioned frequently on the
D-Col list:

Pieter Claesen Wyckoff
Symon Jansen Van Arsdalen
Claes Corneliszen Van Schouw (twice)
Roelof Martense Schenck
Wolfert Gerritszen Van Couwenhoven
Cornelis Lambertszen Cool
Dom. Johannes Theodorus Polhemius

Georgia's ancestry can be found at

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nnnotables/zgtok.html

Jeremiah Field in the chart is descended from Elizabeth Bries and Hendrick
Fisher.

There is a dearth of actual data for Volckert Hendricksen Bries after he married
Neeltje Jans at the Flatbush (Long Island) Dutch Reformed Church on 31 October,
1680. After Neeltje died, he remarried to Elizabeth Paulus on 4 June, 1695 at
which time he was still living at Brooklyn on Long Island. Volckert's brother
Cornelis married Sarah or Saartje Paulus.

By 19 October 1703 Volckert and Elizabeth had moved to New Jersey as shown by
the baptism of their daughter Elizabeth.

The Bries genealogies which I have examined show this Elizabeth to be the one
who married Hendrick Fisher, but with no proof.

You say that Jacob Bries was born ca. 1681. The only known child of Volckert
Hendricksen Bries by his first wife, Neeltje Jans, was named Hendrick and was
also born about 1681. No other children of Volckert are known until after his
second marriage in 1695, a seemingly unlikely situation. Brother Cornelis had
no known son named Jacob.

Elizabeth Bries and Hendrick Fisher named a child Volckert and another one
Neeltje. Although this might suggest that Elizabeth descended from Volckert and
his first wife Neeltje, it does not exclude the possibility that she was the
Elizabeth who was daughter of Volckert by his second wife Elizabeth Paulus,
since another daughter of this second marriage was named Neeltje.

In other words, the daughter Neeltje Fisher, as a clue, could have been named
for a mother, Neeltje Jans, or a sister Neeltje Volckertse Bries.

I would grant that Volckert might have had a son Jacob born about 1681 in the
Brooklyn area of Long Island, but with no proof as yet found.

You ask if Marretje Bries, wife of Jacobus Beerman was sister to Jacob Bries. I
think that thia is unlikely.

This Marretje and Jacobus had a child Geertje baptised 5 February, 1714 at the
New York Dutch Reformed Church. Other records of that church mention Ida Bries,
Catharina Bries and Tryntje Bries and these are in the same time period. There
is an assoication with the Kip family in some of the baptisms.

Catryna Bries, Catharina Bries and Tryntje Bries occur in records of the Albany
Dutch Reformed Church from 1696 to 1723. There is a Marytje Bries, Jr. at an
Albany baptism on October 30, 1710 and a Marretje Bries much earlier. There are
also members of the Kip famly in the Albany church records.

Catherina and Marretje appear to be children of Antoni Bries of Albany.

The Marretje Bries who married Jacobus Beerman could possibly have been the
Marytje Bries, Jr. of the Albany DRC record in 1710.

The Ida Bries, Catharina (Tryntje) Bries and Marretje Bries in the New York City
DRC records seem not to relate to the Long Island family.

If you know anything more about Marretje Bries and her husband Hendrick Beerman,
it might help. Or if you know more about Jacob Bries and his wife Mary Teller.

Hopefully, someone will read this and add more or correct it.

Best wishes,
Frank S. Crosswhite

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