Pieter Jonase Douw

(IV) Captain Petrus Douw, son of Jonas Douw and Magdalena Petrus Quackenbush, was baptized at Albany, March 24, 1692, and died at his home in Greenbush, August 21, 1775. He was the sole surviving son of his father, and became a man of great importance throughout the province. He was a member of the twenty-seventh council and general assembly of the Province of New York, "begun and holden at the house of Jacob Dyckman in the Out Ward of the City of New York."

Family

Captain Petrus Douw married, at Albany, October 8, 1717, Anna Van Rensselaer, born at her father's home, known as Fort Crailo, Greenbush (Rensselaer, N. Y.); was baptized February 2, 1696, and died at Greenbush, March 29, 1756. Her father was Major Hendrick Van Rensselaer, born in Rensselaerwyck, October 23, 1667, died in Greenbush, July 2, 1740, who married, in New York City, March 19, 1689, Catharina Van Brush, born in New York, baptized there April 19, 1665, died in Greenbush, December 6, 1730. Petrus Douw and Anna Van Rensselaer had nine children, six of whom lived to marry and raise families which became prominent wherever they settled.

Children:

Magdalena, born August 1, 1718, died October 12, 1796; married, May 29, 1740, Harmen Gansevoort, son of Leendert (or Leonard) Gansevoort, and Catrina De Wandelaer, who was baptized at Albany, April 20, 1712; died there, March 7, 1801; by whom:Sara, baptized June 17, 1741; Petrus, baptized January 16, 1743; Anna, baptized October 19, 1744; Anna Gansevoort, died August 9, 1794, aged 49 years 10 months, 3 days; Catarina, baptized October 25, 1747; Petrus, baptized July 16, 1749; Leendert (or Leonard), baptized July 14, 1751; Hendrick, baptized September 22, 1753; Hendrick, baptized June 5, 1757; Catarina, baptized October 15, 1758.

Volckert Petrus, born at Wolvenhoeck, Greenbush, March 23, 1720, died there, March 20, 1801; married, Albany, May 20, 1742, Anna De Peyster (see forward).

Hendrick, born April 13, 1722; died December 17, 1756.

Catrina, born March 23, 1724; died January 1, 1811.

Maria, born December 25,1725; died August 17, 1759; married, December 2, 1750, at Albany, Johannes Gansevoort, son of Leendert Gansevoort and Catrina De Wandelaer, born at Albany, April 3, 1719, baptized (Bible record), April 7, 1721; died at Albany, November 28, 1781; by whom: Catrina, baptized June 9, 1751, Leendert, baptized January 14, 1753; Leendert, born June 3, 1754, died December 16, 1834; Annatje, baptized July 31, 1757.

Margarita; born October 2, 1729; married, December 21, 1752, Dr. Henricus Van Dyck, son of Cornelis Van Dyck and Maria Bries, who was born October 2, 1726; by whom: Cornelis, baptized December 9, 1753; Maria, baptized March 21, 1756; Anna, baptized November 5, 1758; Petrus, born April 29, 1760.

Anna, born February 20, 1732, (Bible record); baptized February 5, 1732, (church record); married, Albany, June 3, 1761, Gerardus Beekman, of New York City; by whom: Petrus Douw, born September 2, 1762, died February 23, 1835, married Hannah ————, who died April 3, 1849, aged eighty-three years; Jacobus (James), born December 29, 1766; Gerardus, born August 5, 1767; Anna, born September 16, 1769, died October 3, 1821; Maria, born August 18, 1773; Gerardus, born October 27, 1775.

Elizabeth, born December 1, 1733; married, January 21, 1764, Johannes Beeckman, son of Martin Beeckman and Gertrude Visscher, who was baptized March 11, 1722; will proved July 12, 1790; by whom: Martin, baptized November 15, 1767, died young; Petrus, baptized August 19, 1769, died young; Martin, baptized May 5, 1772; Petrus, baptized March 15, 1775, married Magdalen Van Rensselaer.

Rageltje, born February 27, 1736, died August 4, 1806.

Notes

On the eastern bank of the Hudson river, about a mile below Albany, was a point of land, which was known in 1717 as Wolven Hoeck, because it was infested with packs of wolves. It was a beautiful location otherwise, covered with a heavy growth of elms and sycamores of enormous growth, and it was there that the wolves came down to the shore to drink. Captain Petrus Douw selected this spot for the location of his home, and building a house there in 1724, named it Wolvenhoeck. His great-great-granddaughter, Mrs. Mary Lanman Douw Ferris, has made considerable research to learn all she could about the family homestead, which descended for many generations in the family, and from these discoveries one may form an excellent impression of the quaintness of the old place. The original house was a story and a half high, and well spread out on the ground. It was built of wood, and bricks brought from Holland, it is said, as ballast in a sailing vessel, and the roof was shingled with white fir. The top of the gable wall was notched into corbel steps, and the black fore bricks of the kiln were laid, alternating with yellow ones, to make checks on the gable fronts. The roof sloped from the ridge pole and dormer windows broke its uniformity. The heavy, wooden, outside shutters swung upon massive iron hinges, with a crescent cut near the top to admit the early light. Above the front door was a free-stone slab with the initials "P. D., A. V. R.," cut into it, they being the first letters of his own and his wife's name. The front wall was pierced at places for the use of muskets in case of a sudden emergency, for at that period there were frequent attacks at the hands of savage Indians; in fact, a particularly desperate raid was once made upon the place by what were called the River Indians, coming from below. The front door of this house was divided into two parts across the middle. The upper half, which usually swung wide open in the summer months, had two bull's-eyes of glass, so as to light the hallway, and was graced with a heavy, brass knocker, brought from Leuwarden. The lower half had a heavy latch. The great hall was to some extent a living room, and through its center was the hoist door, through which wheat was hoisted by employing a crane, for storage in the loft, for every house of any pretensions had its cock-loft within the steep roof, where house slaves slept, and also used for storage purposes. A little to one side was a staircase with a flight of steps leading to the loft. Over the front door was a shelf with steps by which it might be reached, and here was placed the tobacco box. The rooms were wainscoted to a height of about three feet, excepting the diningroom, which had a chair-board running about it. The windows were of small, diamond-shaped panes of glass, set into leaden frames. Chintz calico formed the curtains, put up without cornices. The only carpet in service was in the parlor. The chairs were stiff, straight, high-backed, covered with haircloth, similarly to the claw-footed sofa, which were all ornamented with triple rows of brass nails. These articles of furniture were of San Domingo mahogany, and reckoned of value in the present age. Very interesting were the stand with a turning top, and a small table with claw feet, holding the family Bible, in which accurate records were entered by father and son. Hanging on the whitewashed walls were oil portraits of those left in the Fatherland, some painted by Frans Hals and Gerhardus Douw. The tiles in the chimney-jamb were laid in cement, made from powdered clamshells, displaying pictorial designs of scriptural nature, brought from Leuwarden. The fireplace was so large that one might easily stand therein, and it held a hickory log eight feet long; the brass shovel and tongs standing at the corners, brought from Harlem. Over the mantel was a long glass separated in three divisions by strips of moulding, and alongside hung the bellows. On each side of the chimney was a sort of alcove with low benches. Between the front windows was a sconce. The Dutch tea-table stood in one corner, upon it spread a linen cloth, once the property of Anneke Jans, Mrs. Douw's great-grandmother, The china was of delicate texture and was valued highly, for it was brought all the way from China in the sailing vessel of Captain Stewart Dean, of Albany, on the first journey ever made to that far country by a vessel docked at Albany. It was made to order, with initials worked into the pattern. The napkins in use were spun at home. These and other napery were kept in an oaken, iron-bound chest. Back of the living-room was the "meister's bedroom," containing an enormous bedstead, with its four corner posts handsomely carved and an elaborate canopy above, a fringed valance to match hanging below. The sacking bottom was pierced with holes bound with linen thread, and by this means it was stretched by a stout rope to corresponding pegs in the framework. Back of this room was a small library and office, a large mahogany desk with numerous pigeon-holes and books above, being the principal piece of furniture beyond the heavy, comfortable armchair. Off the library was the dood kamer, or death chamber, where those of the family who died were placed until the funeral ceremony was held. These ceremonies were made events of great importance, and the little silver spoons, marked with initials, given on that occasion, are still treasured as heirlooms. It is related that when Judge Douw died in 1801, a keg of wine which he had prepared for that specific occasion was brought out. He had it spiced so carefully under his directions that many of the guests, having imbibed too freely, had to be carried to their homes on ox-sleds.

The Wolvenhoeck house was surrounded by a circular stockade. It stood twelve feet high, and was made of oak posts which had been pointed and bolted to transverse timbers, having a gate, pointed on both the upper and lower sides, which was raised by weights in a gallows frame. Many Indian treaties were executed inside this little stockade, and at such times the chiefs and their squaws slept on their buffalo robes inside the limits, while their band found shelter under the trees along the river bank.

It was while he was living here that General Abercrombie's army was encamped in 1758 opposite his house, while recruiting before proceeding to Ticonderoga. They dug from the steep banks to form places wherein to hang their kettles and perform their cooking, and these holes were pointed out as curiosities until nearly 1900, when the elements and improvements of the river had eradicated most of them.

References

• http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=54697629
• http://www.schenectadyhistory.org/families/hmgfm/douw.html
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: May 13 2020, 0:56:01 UTC