Maritje Williamse van Alen

Maria Teller V. A. Van Ness by Stefan Bielinski

Maria Teller was the daughter of New Netherland pioneers Willem and Margaret Donchasen Teller. She probably was born during the 1640s.

Her first husband was Beverwyck and Albany trader Pieter Van Allen. The marriage produced several children before his death in 1674. In 1676, she was a widow and was called "Maria Lookermans." At that time, she was petitioning the Albany court to prosecute her late husband's debtors on her behalf.

In February 1677, she married (maybe for the third time) Gerrit Van Ness after signing a pre-nuptual agreement protecting her widow's holdings. Over the next decade, she appears to have given birth to a number of Van Ness children who were baptized in the Albany Dutch church where she was a member. These Van Nesses were Albany residents.

Maria Teller Van Allen Loockermans Van Ness was dead by March 1715 when Gerrit Van Ness filed his will. That instrument superceded a joint will probabaly filed after 1708 - when she still would have been alive. Her son, Willem Van Allen, was a prominent Albany resident.

Source: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/bios/t/mateller6616.html