Abraham de Rycke, I

New Amsterdam - Immigrants

Migrated to New Amsterdam (Now New York) 1638 from Holland. The family had a history of living in Gelderland at Lent on the Rhine.

Abraham Rycken, as the name was spelled at the time, or Riker as it is spelled now, migrated to this country from Holland in the year 1638. A few years later he settled in Newtown, Long Island where he lived until he died.

An armorer in the Dutch service, sailed about 1638 with his wife Grietie Harmenzen dau. of Hendrick Hamenzen, for New Amsterdam, where the Ryck Van Lent clan prospered. On 8 May 1640, Abraham received a patent for land at Wallabout Bay in Brooklyn, but apparently did not settle there because he is shown living on Broad Street in New Amsterdam on land he bought on 16 Apr 1643. 'In 1654, Abraham obtained, through his wife, the grant of Harmenzen lands in the "Poor Bowery" [Newtown], where he established a family homestead. It contained about 140 acres, between Flushing Bay and Astoria [Steinway district of Queens, LaGuardia Airport]. In 1664, Abraham received a patent from Peter Stuyvesant for Riker's Island, expanding the Ryken holdings in Poor Bowery.

Most of his children were baptized in Fort Amsterdam and were members of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam. Two sons died in infancy.

http://members.fortunecity.com/labach/rykeranc.htm#i5427

Abraham Rycken