Jan Wouters Van Der Bosch

New Amsterdam - Immigrants

New Netherlands was not a colony of the Netherlands. It was the product of a stock company established by the Estates General of the Netherlands.Its purpose was to produce a profit for its stockholders. While it was chartered by the Estates General, the Dutch legislative body which was subject to the King and Queen of Orange, the company administered the colony with all the authority of a monarch. Its colonists did not enjoy all the civil liberties of the citizens in The Netherlands,who at that time in history, led the world in freedom of the individual. In New Netherlands, there was no representative government as there was in the Netherlands. The company appointed the governor and vice governor. The governor was answerable only to the Dutch West Indies Company.The facts that the citizens of the Netherlands had ample employment available and that their enlightened rights such as freedom of religion were guaranteed, resulted in the slow growth for the colony. here was little reason for the people of the Netherlands to undertake the long and hazardous sea voyage and the rigorous life of a colonist.

At the beginning of its existence,the company offered large land holdings to stockholders who agreed to colonize their holdings. These large land holders were called Patroons. They intended to work the land with indentured laborers. The indentured workers were like vassals under the feudal system that was dying out in Europe, except that they would be freed from their indenture in a set number of years. Then they could obtain their own land and work for themselves. This plan failed as very few could be recruited to work for the Patroons. For this reason, after consulting with the Estates General, the company in September, 1638, issued a proclamation which marked the beginning of a new era. The right to hold land in free proprietorship was thrown open to all potential colonists.

The company offered the land at very attractive terms, with other inducements such as free transportation, and a house and a barn. Under this arrangement the colony began to grow and prosper.The Netherlands claim to the colony was solid and rested upon the voyage of Henry Hudson, chartered and paid for by the Dutch East Indies Company in their search for a northern passage to the Far East. On this voyage, he sailed up the river subsequently named the Hudson river in his honor. He thought it might be the sought after northwest passage to the far East. When he arrived at fresh water he realized this was not the passage, but the mouth of a large river. He, thereupon, claimed this newly discovered land for the King and Queen of the Netherlands.

The English had two colonies on the North American continent, Virginia and New England. They had claimed the entire coast of North America but insisted that these two colonies maintain one hundred mile separation between themselves. In this one hundred mile coastal area, the Dutch West Indies Company established its colony,New Netherland. This was to lead to later disputes between the English and the Dutch. Henry Hudson discovered the Hudson river in 1609. By 1623 the Company had delivered the first colonists to the new colony. There were but eighty colonists in this group who arrived on the Dutch ship Goede Vrouw (Pleasant Wife) in 1623. It took this small craft, whose keel length was but one-hundred feet, over seven weeks to make the journey across the Atlantic ocean. Since that time, the company tried hard to induce new colonists to New Netherland, including distributing brochures. a brochure that caught the eye of one Jan Wouters Van den Bosch.

• Jan and family were getting ready to leave for the city of Amsterdam.they were to catch their ship that was going to the new world, for it was leaving at one in the afternoon on February 12, 1659. They began loading all their earthly belongings, that they were going to take to the new country, on a sled. Their neighbors arose early the next morning to help them finish loading their belongings ,and to wish them God's help for a safe voyage across the Ocean. It was a typical winter's day. As the light of dawn shown through the storm clouds, the wind was blustery and the snow was lightly falling.The sled slowly moved ahead and Jan and his family began their move away from their home in the Netherlands forever, as they began their great adventure heading for New Amsterdam in the New World. they traveled through the countryside the next two days arriving late in the afternoon of the 11th. they spent the night in a local Inn full of anticipation of what was to come the next day.

When they arrived at the dock at seven the morning of the 12th, Jan and his wife looked with awe upon the ship "De Trouw" (the Faith), that would be their home for the next six to eight weeks. It was the largest ship they had ever seen. 170 feet in length, it had a 49-foot beam, two decks, a high stern, and a low bow. It had three masts and a long bow sprint, to take the greatest advantage of the winds. They were told that their captain would be Captain Jan Bestever.

They had their belongings transferred to the dock where the ship was anchored. Now, their belongings were loaded aboard the sailing ship. By nine a.m., the events of the day of departure went just as the officials had told Jan. As they lined up on the dock to be read the provisional orders, they fell into discussions with many of their fellow passengers with whom they were going to spend the next seven weeks in very crowded quarters. There were many children among the group of emigrants. Jan found that the men were of every occupation and from every area of Holland with some from Denmark. He met a baker, a tailor, a glazier, a miller, a mason and farmers and laborers, He himself a shoemaker. Every occupation a new colony needed seemed to be among the group. Many men had their wives and children with them, while some women were traveling with their children, to meet their husbands, who were already in New Netherlands. Then they boarded the ship and were instructed to find their bunks. As they found their bunks, they did their best to make their crowded quarters livable with the few things they carried aboard with them.. The ship would weigh anchor and be underway by two o'clock in the afternoon. they watched as the sailors got busy getting the sailing ship ready to weigh anchor. At exactly two in the afternoon, the sailing ship moved from its moorings and started its treacherous winter's voyage across the Atlantic ocean.

De Trouw (the Faith) departure is listed as "Amsterdam" with a destination of “Nieuw A'dam (New Amsterdam). This would not be the first trip for De Trouw. Between 1659 and 1664 De Trouw and her “Schipper” Jan Jansz Bestevair would make the crossing six times.

The first part of their ocean journey would take them out from the port of Amsterdam north along the Dutch coast to the island of Texel, the southernmost of the West Frisian Islands at the mouth of the Zuider Zee. "The Schiphol of the Golden Age" this is how the Reede van Texel can best be described. Especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth century it was very busy here. VOC ships, military ships, whalers and ships of the Dutch West India Company through their anchors out on the roads. They wanted to go to distant places, but leaving with a westerly wind was virtually impossible. Often they waited with dozens at a time for a favorable east or northeast wind.

 It could take weeks, and sometimes even months before they left.  After sailing from Texel, they would cross the North Sea and through the English Channel to Plymouth, or some other port in southern England. There, water and other provisions would be replenished, She would then take a southerly course to avoid the worst weather.

It would have been traditional to use the southern or “winter route” crossing. being Her first stop would be the Canary Islands. The first day out and under sail was through the southern part of the North Sea and the ocean swells were very heavy. All but a few on board were so sea-sick that they feared that they would never live to see the Canary Islands. But they lived on and as the ship moved southerly through the English Channel the seas quieted and all but a few recovered their health. Soon most were out of their bunks and on the deck even though it was cold and raining. The Canary Island port of call was a welcome relief from the crowded quarters on the De Trouw. Almost everyone left the ship to stretch their legs, and they found that the land seemed to be rocking for they still had their sea legs. The stop at the Canary Islands was a short one and soon they were on the second and longest leg of the trip.

  From the Canary Islands, the route continued south. She would sail south, until she entered the northeast trade winds “until the butter melts,” as one rule of thumb had it. This point was usually on or near the Tropic of Cancer. Thence the course was west, sailing before the trades.,the De Trouw sailed across the Atlantic towards the West Indies. The voyage was probably far from pleasant for Jan and his family.  The ship, being small, would pitch and lurch most of the time.  There were no private sleeping quarters; passengers slept in the hold or on a pallet on deck.  Passengers usually had to provide their own food and the means for preparing it, because of the small number aboard de Trouw, passengers and crew may have been served from the galley. The food aboard ship usually consisted of salt beef, salt pork, and salt cod; ship’s biscuits [hard tack]; oatmeal, dried peas, salt suet, butter, beer, cider, and water.  But biscuits soured and became wormy, the water became filthy, and much of the food became contaminated by the numerous rats and roaches.  Occasionally the diet was varied by catching a fish.”

The days must have seemed endless in such cramped quarters. The perishable food in the hold of the ship had to be eaten first so that their diet became more monotonous as the voyage progressed. As the days went by, Jan, his wife and daughter, were strained by the sameness of each day.

They would watch the sailors as they went about their work raising and lowering the sails on the three masts, climbing the rigging and a myriad of other tasks. It took nearly four weeks to cross the Atlantic to the West Indies, reaching a point north of the Lesser Antilles. After a short stop at one of the islands (most likely Sint Maarten or Port Purcell at Freebottom, Virgin Islands) to replenish their water supply. It was from here, the De Trouw steered a course toward the mainland to Virginia and then northward to the port of New Amsterdam, the capital of the Dutch West Indies Company colony of New Netherland.

As the ship sailed up the Hudson River between Staten Island and Long Island the passengers caught sight of the tip of Manhattan Island and New Amsterdam. They could see the fort and inside the fort the church, a giant windmill and houses mostly built of wood but some of brick. The fort lay where the two rivers converged at the tip of what is now known as Manhattan Island. As soon as the people in the fort saw the De Trouw, a flag was raised on the fort's tall flagstaff. The passengers offered up a prayer, thanking God they had completed a safe voyage. Everyone on board was on deck to see the very small city. As small as it was, the sight of the church tower and the giant windmill, plus the houses that looked just like the ones in the old country, except that they were mainly made of wood, buoyed the spirits of all on board.

They had arrived at their new home in New Netherlands. Jan's daughter Sophia, was but three years old and would remember nothing of the old world where she was born, or the voyage. His exact burial is unknown, but family references point to Flatbush, Long Island, NY as his place of death.

Jan Wouters Van den Bosch Gender: Male Birth: 1638 Ravenstein, North Brabant Province, Netherlands Death: February 28, 1707 (69) Flatbush, Kings, New York, United States (natural) Place of Burial: New Jersey, USA Immediate Family: Son of Jan Bosch and Willhelmine Bosch Husband of Arentje (Arents) Van den Bos and Weintie Van den Bosh Father of Sophia (Van Putten) Van Dyk; Lambert Jansen; Hendrick Van den Bosch; Walter Johnson; Jacob Jansen; Rutger Johnson; Benjamin Jansen; Jacob Johnson; Judith Jansen; Jan Jansen; Sara Jansen; Cornelius Jansen; Styntje Jansen and Antje (Jansen) Jenner « less Brother of Hendrick Bosch and Johannes Terbosch

• Sources: Mahlon Johnson Association, genealogy book, & NE Historical and Genealogical Society.

Records of Early Settlers of Kings County, New York:

WOUTERS, JAN, of Flh, a master-shoemaker, b. 1638. Owned salt-meadows in Flh in 1667. July 2, 1678, he hired out his son Ruth (Rutgert) Janse, age 8 years, to his brother-in-law Lourens Jurianse for 8 years to do all kinds of service proper for a lad; Jurianse to board, clothe, and send to vening school said lad, and at the end of the term to furnish him with a good Sunday and every-day suit of garments of linen and woolen and also a milch cow, as per p. 30 of Lib. AA of Flh rec. Aug. 16, 1680, he sold to Anthony Wansair a lot and orchard in Flh, as per p. 131 of Lib. AA of Flh rec. Mar. 1, 1694-5, Jan Wouters of N. Y., shoemaker, to which place he appears to have removed, sold to Lammert Zichels, smith, a house and lot in Flh on the E. side of the highway, as per p. 204 of Lib. A of Flh rec.

Signed his name "Jan Wouters."

Jan emigrated from Raversteyn in February 1659 on the ship named Faith. In April 1665, he was listed as a Burgher and inhabitant of New Amsterdam. He owned salt meadows in Flatbush in 1667. Jan resided at Branford, Connecticut from 1671 to 1677. He took the Oath of Allegiance on September 26. 1687. His first wife was Annetje Arents. He remarried after her death to Wyntie Pierters Rutgers. His son was Walter, who had John Johnson who relocated to NJ, who is a direct descendant to Mahlon Johnson, to Mary Johnson, to Silas Byram Condict (FAG # Silas BYRAM CONDICT His wife was Hanna Royce, dau. of Nehemiah Royce.

• SOURCE: Mahlon Johnson Assoc. genealogy book, 1931 on genealogy chart at page 71/156.

-- http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=chan83&id...

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Millennium File Heritage Consulting Ancestry.com Operations Inc

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1,7249::10179073

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Millennium File Heritage Consulting Ancestry.com Operations Inc

GEDCOM Source

1,7249::10179073

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@R1050710867@ U.S. Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

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Document: The Documentary History of the State of New York [Albany, NY:, 1849]; Volume Number: Vol 1; Page Number: 659; Family Number: 27 1,2234::69167

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@R1050710867@ Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Gale Research Ancestry.com Operations, Inc

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Place: New Netherland; Year: 1659; Page Number: 20 1,7486::4578247

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@R1050710867@ New York City, Marriages, 1600s-1800s Genealogical Research Library, comp. Ancestry.com Operations Inc

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1,7854::197986

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Millennium File Heritage Consulting Ancestry.com Operations Inc

GEDCOM Source

1,7249::10179073

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ New York City, Marriages, 1600s-1800s Genealogical Research Library, comp. Ancestry.com Operations Inc

GEDCOM Source

1,7854::197986

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Gale Research Ancestry.com Operations, Inc

GEDCOM Source

Place: New Netherland; Year: 1659; Page Number: 20 1,7486::4578247

GEDCOM Source

@R1050710867@ U.S. Census Reconstructed Records, 1660-1820 Ancestry.com Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.

GEDCOM Source

Document: The Documentary History of the State of New York [Albany, NY:, 1849]; Volume Number: Vol 1; Page Number: 659; Family Number: 27 1,2234::69167