Philippe Gereardy

Date of birth might be 1600.

Date of death has also been (erroneously?) reported to be 1655.

biography

THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORICAL AND GENEALOGICAL REGISTER, Vol. 52
online at http://books.google.com/books?id=SL8UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA313

PHILIP GEREARDY OF NEW AMSTERDAM, Landlord of the City Tavern, and His Rhode Island Descendants by Charles Knowles Bolton, A.B., Librarian of the Boston Athenaeum

"In early colonial times settlers along the coast of Rhode Island carried on a considerable trade with the Dutch at the mouth of the Hudson. At New Amsterdam there were many well-known English and New England merchants. But on the shore of Narragansett bay few Dutchmen became permanent residents, although occasional marriages occurred. Through one of these marriages many New Englanders may claim descent from an interesting figure in old New York.

"Philip GEREARDY and his son Jan were perhaps not of the stuff from which some men would chose ancestors, but they were picturesque in a menner which was in harmony with their environment.

"1. PHILIP GEREARDY was an early inhabitant of Manhattan, where he contracted with Juriaen of Osnaburgh for a house. It seems that Juriaen did not build the house in the time agreed upon, for in the spring of 1641 two witnesses swore to the agreement and Philip obtained a judgment in his favor on the 13th of June. In a year or two he received a grant of a house lot on the north side of the first road from the fort to the ferry, on the present Stone street between Whitehall and Broad streets. This was known first as "the road," later a part of it as the Brouwer straat; it was the first street paved with stone, and the place of residence of the wealthy people of the town, such as Frederick Philipse of Philipse manor. Here Philip, his wife Marie POLLET, and their son Jan lived. May 24, 1644, Philip received by patent a double lot on the common highway, "on the east side of Broadway between Beaver Street and Exchange Place, 110 feet front by 230 feet deep."

"In 1642 a stone tavern for the accommodation of travellers was erected, fronting on the East river. It was south of the road to the ferry "in the present north-west corner of Pearl street and Coenties alley," wrote VALENTINE in 1853. As landlord of this tavern GEREARDY became a conspicuous man in New Amsterdam. Prize money was often left in his house for safe keeping. In January, 1642, he was in trouble for selling beer at a higher rate than that allowed by the ordinance, but was permitted to escape punishment. Not so three months later when he was again in trouble, this time for being absent from guard duty without leave. There is a fine irony in the sentence which couples his two vocations: "To ride the wooden horse during parade, with a pitcher in one hand and a drawn sword in the other." Philip had been released from this undesirable position scarcely a year when he was seriously wounded while conductiing Jan Jansen DAMEN home one night---probably after an evening spent at the tavern. DAMEN, a wealthy man and part owner of the privateer La Garce, defended STUYVESANT in Holland in 1649-50, and died upon his return in 1651.

"Meanwhile Philip did not always pay his debts, and Augustyn HERRMANS in October, 1644, complained of Philip's lack of attention to bills for wine. Little by little, however, he prospered; and when the city authorities, March 13, 1653, drew up a "list of the persons who shall provisionally contribute the following sums for the purpose of putting this city in a state of defence," he was slated for the moderate tax of fifty guilders. In 1653 the tavern was turned over to the magistracy for a city hall or "stadt huys"; and October 15, 1653, Peter Wolfertsen van COUWENHOVEN sold to Philip the lot "situate where the sign of the White Horse hangs out, right opposite the Winckel street, New Amsterdam." Van COUWENHOVEN and his older brother Jacob were leading brewers. Peter himself was Schepen for six years, and lieutenant of the militia company, a near neighbor of the GEREARDY family, and a witness at the christening of Philip's grandchildren. This property was no doubt acquire by Philip in order to continue his business. Philip and his wife were often witnesses at church christenings, and Philip was in 1646 appointed custodian of an estate and of orphan children.

"There is no direct statement that Jan GEREARDY was his son, but the evidence seems to be strong. The Rhode Island records to be mentioned later show that Jan was in the habit of going to New Amsterdam to trade with his father and mother. In all the Dutch records I find no person of his surname except Philip and Marie, who might therefore be the parents referred to. Philip and Marie, moreover, were witnesses at the christenings of Jan's children; and finally Philip, according to VALENTINE's History of New York, left his property to Jan. Very possibly Jan had sisters or aunts in New Amsterdam. Philip GEREARDY died between October 11, 1654, and January, 1656; and on November 5, 1656, at the Reformed Dutch church, "Mattheus de VOS, widower of Anna PETERS, and Maria POLLET, widow of Philip GERAR," were married.

"Matheus de VOS was keeper of the city hall (which as a tavern Philip had managed), a notary public and an active attorney about the courts. In former years he had been a soldier in the service of the company, and as late as 1653 was a cadet in company 4 of the Burgher corps. After his marriage he seems to have lived in the widow's house, where he continued his legal duties until his death in 1663."