Sweer Theunisen van Velson

Biography

Sweer Teunisen first settled in Beverwyck New York, later moving to Esopus (Kingston), where he remained for some years. In 1664 he married Maritie Myndertse, widow of Jan Barentse Wemp. He received a conveyance of land from Madam Johanna De Laetj Ebbingh, at Lubberde's landt (Troy), in 1669 according to a contract with Jan Barentse Wemp. In 1665 he sold to Jan Cornelise Vyselaer and Lucas Pieterse Coeymans, a saw mill and two morgens of land on the Poesten kil. He received a patent in 1667 for a lot on the west corner of Broadway and Van Tromp street, Albany, 9 rods square (108 feet), which he sold in 1678, to Wouter Aertse, having previously removed the house to Schenectady.

Schenectady’s first industry was a grist mill built in 1666 by Sweer van Velsen, who was later granted the right to make flour. He received permission to start the first business in Schenectady and went on to build the first grist mill in the settlement, on Mill lane; which was carried away by a flood and rebuilt in 1673. In consideration of his loss he was allowed to take an eighth instead of a tenth as toll.

The following is his petition to the Governor for redress of grievances:

"Petition of Sweer Teunise to the Governor wherein he states that he did build at Schenectady a corn mill and made a contract with the comonalty 28th Jan. 1669, by which it was agreed that he should enjoy all the i. e., on Tuesdays, all the corn that was to be ground and if he could not grind it all that day he was to grind the day after, for which he was to receive the 10th or 8 stuivers sewant per skipple, or 4 stuyvers sewant for malt; No other mill was to be erected as long as he did accommodate the people with good meal. After about two years an extraordinary high flood carried off his mill; he engaged to rebuild the mill and completed it before July, 1673, at which time a new covenant was made whereby in consideration of his great damage it was agreed he should have the 9th, or 10 stuyvers sewant the skipple and enjoy all the rights of the first contract; and whereas certain persons possessed of envy and malice did send him certain new regulations ordering him to take the 10th, or 8 stuyvers sewant, notwithstanding your humble servant triumphing and winning the Process with Lewis Cobes, your schout, the Court releasing me of the same."

Now said Teunise petitions to have his rights confirmed and ratified by the Governor and Council.

About the same time, van Velson leased the section to the south of the Poesten Kill, known then as Lubberde’s landt, from Johanna de Laet Ebbingh. She was Johan de Laet’s daughter, who had inherited a tenth of the Rensselaerswyck estate – “excepting the lord’s right” – in 1674 and only recently married Jeronimus Ebbingh.

In 1676 Van Velsen was made one of the magistrates of the village. During the 1680s, he led a group that vied for power with the original fifteen Schenectady patentees seeking acceptance at the provincial level. In 1684, Governor Thomas Dongan granted letters patent for Schenectady, encompassing about 80,000 acres, to five new trustees: Schermerhorn, William Teller, Sweer Teunessen Van Velsen, Jan Van Eps and Myndert Wemp.

In the massacre of 1690 he was slain, with his wife and four negro slaves, leaving no heirs here, though there were many of his name in Ulster county.

After Van Velsen, Van Eps and Wemp were killed in the Schenectady massacre of 1689 and Teller (an old man who moved to New York in 1692 where he died in 1700), Schermerhorn became the sole trustee of the Schenectady Patent.

-information gathered and compiled by Robert William Moon-

From “Forty-second Cousins” by Joyce Brown.

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References

• https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2021/05/early-dutch-farms-at-troy/
• https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nyalbany/pearson/preface.html
• http://genealogytrails.com/ny/schenectady/marriages.html
• https://www.schenectadyhistory.org/resources/patent/vanvelsen.html
• https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~rbillard/schenectady_marriages.htm 166? ?? ???; Sweer Teunise Van Velsen; Maritie Myndertse, wid Jan Barentse Wemp; 1664 ?? ???; Sweer Teunise Van Velsen Alias Van Westbroek; Maritie Myndertse, wid. of Jan Barentse Wemp
• https://albany.nygenweb.net/gene.htm “… After his death in 1663 his widow Maritie Myndertse married Sweer Teunise. He had two surnames, Van Velsen and Van Westbroeck.
• “Forty-second Cousins” by Joyce Brown. The Amherst Island Beacon, Issue 340, July 2006. Page 18. < PDF >
• https://frostandgilchrist.com/getperson.php?personID=I27413&tree=fr...