Abraham Okie

ABRAHAM·OKIE son of Abraham Ouke (Okie) and Mary Young was bp 11 May 1761 at New Brunswick DC, his grandmother Antje Oke being the sponsor. He died in New York City 3 October I803 at his residence 163 Greenwich Street "of the prevailing fever'".(Gazette of the U.S., 4 October 1803. Pa. Gen. Soc., Phila.)

Abraham Okie married Elizabeth Penier, probably born 1758, daughter of Peter Penier and Margaret Dunster. Abraham Okie appears on the 1790 census in New York City living in West Ward with 2 males under 16 arid 6 females
In the 1800 census of New York City he appears with 2 males under 16, 1 male under 45, 3 females under 10, 2 females under 16 and 1 female under 45. He is listed as a tailor in the 1793 Directory of New York City as well as in the letters of administration following his death. He apparently was not a member of the New York DC but four of his children were baptised there, without witnesses, When Abraham died at his home, 163 Greenwich Street, others of his family followed in quick succession: Sally Okie on 5 October; Mrs. Mary Okie on 6 October, John Okie, probably his youngest brother on 13 October. On l4 October there was an Elizabeth Okie also reported deceased (all in Gazette of th U.S.) who may have been either his wife Elizabeth Penier or his daughter Elizabeth. It is probable that it was his wife since no other death date has been found for her.
n.c. They all “died of the prevailing fever”. Several yellow fever epidemics struck Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York in the 18th and 19th centuries. They killed more than 9% of the population of Philadelphia in 1793. Some 100,000 to 150,000 deaths in total. It took five members of this Okie family in less than two weeks in October 1803".

Abraham died intestate. Letters of administration were granted 8 November 1803 in New York: City to Joseph Clement Delacroix “son-in-law of Abraham Okie of' the City of New York, taylor, deceased." (Lib. 8 p 126;·N.Y. County). Howard Okie of Berwyn, Pa., a descendant of Abraham Okie, has in his possession an undated 19th century letter which states that Mary Okie married Clement Joseph delaCroix and had thirteen children. There have been no baptism nor marriage dates found for a daughter Mary. Caroline Okie Browning Trainer in Genealogy of the Browning-Okie Families (privately printed, no date, state that Abraham’s daughter Elizabeth married delaCroix and died 1836. If Elizabeth did marry dela Croix, she was only 15 years old when her father died and she must have been a recent bride.

Clement Joseph de la Croix was the son of Joseph de la Croix distiller, and his wife Maria Joseph, both from France, who had lived in Philadelphia in 1790 (Census record), but in New York City on Greenwich Street, just a few doors from the Okies, after l805 ·(N.Y. Directories). Joseph dela Croix died in 1839 ae 89 and Maria Joseph 16 December 1836 ae 83 years. Clement Joseph dela Croix is mentioned in his father’s will of 15 April 1839 as being "of Philadelphia". (N.Y. County Wills Lib. 79:546)

Although Abraham Okie died intestate in 1803 and Clement Joseph delaCroix was administrator of his estate, no estate settlement papers have been found. The dela Croix and Okie families were apparently close friends not only in New York, but in Philadelphia as well, for the name is carried forward into settlement of the estate of Abraham in 1836 in Philadelphia.

Of Abraham’s5 children Abraham Jr, was 19 in 1803 when his father died, Elizabeth 15, Charles 13 and there were possibly other children younger. No guardianship or later records for any of these children have been found with the exception of Abraham Jr.

Issue, all bp N.Y. DC with no witnesses, but as the children "of Abraham Okie and Elizabeth Penier",

i. Abraham b. 6 December 1784 bp 6 February l785
ii. Sarah b 11 November 1786 bp 21 January 1787
iii. Elizabeth b 4 October 1788 bp 16 November 1788
iv. Charles b 30 August 1790 bp 7 November 1790
v. Possibly Mary
vi. Possibly Lydia

Source: Untitled lineage of Aucke Janz van Nuys (C. 1621-1698), unknown author, privately printed circa 1950, transcribed by Eligio Gael Rodriguez, May 2016.