Jacob Jacobson Van Der Veer

Jacob Van der Veer

• Birth .~1630
• Death: . 30 Mar 1699
• 1687/8 Resurvey Map of Jacob Van der Veer’s Island Plantation - https://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000000241393614?album_type=photos_of_me&photo_id=6000000094738044821

Spouse

• Married: . ~1655 to Catherina Jans Brassert, born in Sweden ,bur. 9 Feb 1720

Children

• William Vandever was born in 1656 in Manhattan and died 8 October 1718 on Van der Veer’s Island. He had no children. He mar- ried Alice Smith [English], daughter of Francis Smith of Kennet Township, Chester County, Pa. The will of William Vandever, innkeeper, of Brandywine Ferry, proved 13 October 1718, bequeathed £5 to the Swedes’ church and left all of the remainder of his estate to his wife Alice. She then married Samuel Kirk on 8 January 1720. In her will of 12 March 1731/2, she devised to her husband Samuel Kirk the ferry and adjoining lands for life, after which they were to go to Jacob Vandever, Jr., son of Cornelius. The tombstone of Alice Kirk states that she died 13 March 1732 at the age of 63 years.
• Cornelius Vandever was born about 1658. His wife Margareta, whom he married by 1681, was probably the daughter of Olof Fransson of the Bought [Verdrietige Hook]. When old Olof Fransson conveyed 50 acres of his land to his grandson, Cornelius Vandever signed a bond on 20 July 1687 to give his per- sonal security to the transaction.
• John Vandever born by 1665, was married and had one child by 1693 when three persons were listed in his household in the Crane Hook church census. He died intestate before 1713 when Judith Vandever, described as the daughter of the late John Vandever, was a sponsor at the baptism of Zacharias and Helena Derrickson's child. Subsequent deeds conveying his former land to Philip Vandever identify four married daughters
• Jacob Vandeverwas born by 1668. He moved to Boughttown in Upper Penn’s Neck, Salem County, New Jersey, c. 1692 when he married Catharine, the widow of Andrew Bartlesson. She was buried 1 December 1716. He next married Catharine, the widow of Stephen Tussey, on 12 December 1717. The will of Jacob Vandever of Penn’s Neck was dated 15 August 1726 and proved 7 December 1726. His widow Catharine died before 23 January 1727/8 when the inventory of her estate was filed.
• Helena Vandever married Zacharias Derrickson, son of Olle Derrickson, c. 1701. Over the next sixteen years she had nine children, all of whom grew to adulthood and married. She died about 1734. Her husband remarried and died in 1748.
• Another daughter, name unknown, married Johannes Casperson of Upper Penn’s Neck about 1695. He was described as German in 1714 when he gave land on which the Swedish church was to be built. His will of 14 November 1733 was proved the following January, naming seven children:

Source - Swedish Colonial News, Volume 3, Number 10 Spring 2009, Preserving the legacy of the New Sweden Colony in America - http://colonialswedes.net/images/Publications/SCNewsSpring09.pdf

Jacob & Catharina Van der Veer and their Vandever Descendants

Among the passengers on the Golden Shark when it left Göteborg on 15 April 1654 was a young woman named Catharina who expected, like the other passengers, to go to the New Sweden colony. The ship had been scheduled to leave with Governor Risingh and the Eagle, but its departure was delayed by repairs. The ship never did arrive in New Sweden. Instead, it landed near Staten Island on 12 September 1654 and was confiscated by Governor Stuyvesant three days later. Catharina therefore found herself alone in Manhattan.

She was soon befriended by a Dutch cor- poral, Jacob Van der Veer. After giving birth to a child by him, she was banished to the South River in 1657, probably because of adultery. Van der Veer deserted his Dutch family and fol- lowed her. Now a sergeant, he served under Willem Beeckman at the old Swedish fort at Christina (now Wilmington). In 1660, Jacob Van der Veer sought permission to return to the fatherland in the spring, but Stuyvesant persuaded him to stay. Jacob bought a tavern in New Amstel, but after the English conquered the Dutch in 1664 and renamed the Dutch town New Castle, Jacob was banished from the town for his insolence toward the court. He sold the tavern in 1665 and purchased over 100 acres of land north of the Christina River from a former Dutch soldier, Walraven Jansen de Vos. who then occupied the former land of Governor Johan Risingh at “Timber Island.”
Jacob Van der Veer was granted a patent for this new land by Governor Francis Lovelace of New York on 25 March 1669 and later expanded it to 535 acres through an addition- al grant from the New Castle court in 1677, which was confirmed by a new survey under William Penn on 29 January 1684/5.

Jacob and Catharina made their home on the island (renamed Jacob Van der Veer’s Island) on the north side of the Brandywine River – an area later known as Brandywine Village. Disputes with the Stedham family, who claimed part of this land, were finally resolved in favor of the Van der Veers by arbitration on 12 May 1688. A week later Jacob was granted the right to build a grist mill, using the water of the Brandywine.

Until his later years, Jacob Van der Veer was in frequent trouble with the New Castle court. The justices wrote in 1679 that he had “always been a troublesome, mutinous person and one of a turbulent spirit, from the begin- ning, always contending with and opposing authority, for which various and other his mis- demeanors he formerly was banished from this town and his wife from New York.” In 1675, he was accused as being the “ringleader” in the refusal of the Swedes and Finns to improve the dike of Justice Hans Block. He and his two eld- est sons were fined 20 guilders apiece for their refusal to work on the dike. In 1679 he was fined 200 guilders for fraud, having sold a bag of feathers to which he added a stone to falsify the weight. He was constantly in debt and at one time, in 1686, his goods were seized and he and his family were turned out of their house for non-payment of debts.

Jacob's will dated 15 Apr 1698, prv 1699

Jacob Vanderveer is believed to have been born in The Netherlands about ~1630. When and how he arrived in America is unknown as well as his parentage in The Netherlands. His wife Catherina, states in later years the she has been in the country as long as Jacob, since 1656. He was in New Amsterdam in 1655 and (later) married to Catherina Brassert, who on 3 Oct 1655, baptized their daughter Elizabeth (born out of wedlock?) in the Reformed Church of New Amsterdam. In 1660, he was a Sergeant stationed at Ft Altena, previously known as the Swedish fort Ft Christina, located in what is now known as the Wilmington, Delaware area. During that year he requested that he be discharged so that he might return to The Netherlands. However, on 8 April 1661, Gov Stuyvesant granted him a lot located near Ft Altena. In 1684, Jacob was awarded another land grant near the Brandywine Village settlement (Wilmington,Del). Later he acquired a land patent to an island and the family ran a ferry from this area for some years. In 1683, Cornelius and Jacob, assuming this to be the brothers and Jacob's sons, took the Oath of Allegiance to the English Crown. Some lines of this family use the VANDIVER spelling today.

Source http://www.colonialswedes.org/forefathers/Van_der_Veer.html

Sources

• Swedish Colonial News, Volume 3, Number 10 Spring 2009, Preserving the legacy of the New Sweden Colony in America - http://colonialswedes.net/images/Publications/SCNewsSpring09.pdf
• Dr. Peter Stebbins Craig, who resides in Washington, DC, is a Fellow of both the American Society of Genealogists and the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. He is the Historian of the Swedish Colonial Society and a Forefather Member. One of his ancestors was Peter Jochimsson, who arrived on the Fama in 1643 and estab- lished the Yocum family in America. He is also descend- ed from Olof Stille, Sven Gunnarsson and Jonas Nilsson.