The New York genealogical and biographical record (Volume 74) online

and had :

i. Geertje 6 , born February 10, 1784, married Christophel Van

Ripen (82).
ii. Johannis", born February 11, 17S9.
iii. Aeltje", born January 9, 1791, married Peter Earle.
iv. Sara", born June 25, 1795.
v. Annetje", born March 15, 1798.
11. vi. Johannis , born August 27, 1802, died February 17, 1837.

10. Helmigh Van Houte (John H. b , Helmigh 4 , Johannis Helmigse 3 ,
Helmigh Roelofse 2 , Roelof) married Callyntje (Catharine), daughter of
Gerrit Van Ripen (60), December 7, 1799. She married, 2d, January 3,
1829, Jacob Zabriskie, whose first wife, as mentioned above, was Catrintje
Van Houten, and died at the house of her daughter, Jane Tise, October
19, 1856, not, as stated in the "Land Titles," f before her father, who
died August 31, 1837. The children of Helmigh 1 ' and his wife Catharine
were :

i. Catharine 7 , born September 20, 1800; married John G. Vree-

land (171).
ii. John H.', born August 27, 1803, and died October 31, 1807,
according to the lists ; but his tombstone states that on the
latter date he was aged 4 years, 2 months, and 1 week,
iii. Gerrit', born September 10, 1806 ; died, unmarried, September
8, 1832.

*See " The Huguenots on the Hackensack."

f P. 76, note. In the " List of Births" the name of Gerrit's first wife, Catrintje
Van Wagenen, who was the mother only of his first child, is given as the mother of
four others, including Catlyntje, who were in fact the daughters of his second wife,
Catrintje Van Ripen ; but this is corrected in the Van Ripen Genealogy in the " His-
tory." He and his second wife had one daughter not mentioned in the Genealogy,
viz., Jannetje, born in October, I79i,and baptized in Hackensack, January 22, 1792,
the witnesses being Nicholas Toers and his wife Jannetje Van Rypen (58), aunt of
the child's mother.



1896.] The Van Houten Family 0/ Bergen, N. /. jgg

iv. Rachel', married Garret Newkirk (44).

v. Elizabeth V. R. 7 , born July 23, 181 1 ; married Jacob Greenlief.
vi. John H. 7 , born April 29, 1814 ; married Eliza Cubberly, and
removed to Berlin, Wis.
12. vii. Jane 7 , born November 7, 18 16 ; died in Jersey City, November
13, 1888.
viii. Helmigh, born January 12, 1821, must have died in infancy.

11. Johannis* Van Houten (Johannis 5 , Johannis', Johannis Helmigse 3 ,
Helmigh Roelofse 2 , RoeloP) married Sally Mandeville, December 2o[
1821, and had :

i. Nicholas M. 7 , born March 11, 1822 ; removed to the vicinity

of Belleville, N. J., and married there.
ii. John 7 , born April 13, 1825, married Emma Franks, and

removed to Illinois.

12. Jane 7 Van Houten (Helmigh 6 , John H. 6 , Helmigh 4 , Johannis Hel-
migse 3 , Helmigh Roelofse 2 , RoeloP) married Richard, son of George
Tise, and Sarah,* daughter of John Peter Van Houten, of Pompton,
N. J., son of Peter Van Houten and Rachel Lyons. Jane 7 and Richard
Tise had children :

i. Rachel Demarest 8 Tise, married, 1st, Charles Lawton Wash-
burn, of Raynham, Mass., J who died February 7, 1857,
and had Charles Lawton Demarest 9 Washburn, B.S.,
Rutgers, 1875 ! 2 ^» Matthew Joseph Ramsey, of Pittsboro,
N. C, and had Edmund Payton 9 Ramsey,
ii. Sarah Catharine* Tise.

iii. George 8 Tise, served in the Civil War in the Twenty-first

Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, in 1862-63 '< married

Rachel Amelia, | daughter of Harrison Wallis, of Bladens-

burg, Md., and had George 1 ' Tise, died unmarried, June

17, 1890; Mary Wallis 9 Tise, and Natie Van Houten 9 Tise.

iv. Garret Van Reypen* Tise, died, unmarried, October 9, 1887.

v. Abraham Martin 8 Tise, died in infancy.

" As to the Van Houten family," says Mr. Winfield, in the "Land

Titles, "§ "I have gathered the following: Helmigh Roelofse married

Jannetje Pieterse, Sept., 1676. The 'Van Houten' was afterwards

added as a family name. Houte, or houten, means wooden ; from hout,

wood. Roelofse had ten children, among whom was Johannis, born

Oct. 28, 1696, married Helena, daughter of Johannis Vreeland, and

died Dec. 18, 1768. This is the Van Houten named in the Field

Book. He left one son, Johannis, baptized June 17, 1735, married

(1st) Altje, daughter of Hendrick Sickles, (2d) Rachel De Maree, and

died Oct. 31, 1807, leaving Johannis, Sara, Helmig, Catrintje, and

Aegie. Catrintje married Jacob Zabriskie."

Among the " Van Houten Papers " is a certified copy of the will of

* No. 74S5 in " Descendants of Peter Willemse Roome," by P. R. Warner
[New Vork, 1S83J. She gave me the names of her father and his parents.

t See pamphlet genealogy of the Washbuins of Raynham, by Hon. Elihu B.
Washburne [iSsg],

X Her mother. Mary Goldsmith, was the grandniece of George Clinton, after-
ward Vice-President of the United States, who was surveyor to the commissioners
who partitioned the common lands of Bergen.

§ P. 320, note.



19O The Du Bois Family 0/ Ulster County, Aew Fork. [October,

Helmigh 4 (" Hellemagh," " Halmah ") Van Houten, " farmer," dated
October 18, 1803, annexed to the original letters testamentary, issued
December 3, 1803, to " Hallemigh Van Houte, one of the executors in
the said testament named," which nominates "my son John Van
Houten and my grandson Halmah Van Houten " as executors, and
devises variously to them and to " my two granddaughters Catharine
the wife of Jacob Zabriskie and Effee the wife of Mindert Garribrants. "
This will is cited in the " Land Titles," * but incorrectly, as Catharine
and Effee are called the daughters of the testator.



THE DU BOIS FAMILY OF ULSTER COUNTY, NEW YORK.



By Holdridge Ozro Collins, of Los Angeles, California.



The Du Bois family is one of the oldest of the noble houses of Coten-
tin, in the Duchy of Normandy. The heraldic records at Paris com-
mence the genealogy with Geoffroi du Bois, a knight banneret and a
companion of Duke William in the conquest of England in 1066.

In "America Heraldica " the arms, etc., are given as follows, viz.:
Arms — Argent, a lion, rampant, sable, armed and langued, gules. Crest —
between two tree stumps vert, the lion of the shield. Motto — Tiens ta foy.

In the "Du Bois Reunion," at page 38, is emblazoned another coat
of arms, entitled "Original Du Bois Arms," and described as follows:
"Arms d'or, a l'aigle eploye de sable ongle, becque de gueles ; " but I
have been able to find no authority for the use of these arms in connec-
tion with the family of Chretien Du Bois.

Chretien Du Bois, the father of Louis and Jacques, was a Huguenot
gentleman of the family of Du Bois Seigneurs de Beaufermez and de
Bourse, having an estate at Wicres, in La Bassee, near Lille, in French
Flanders, now Artois.

Louis was born October 27, 1627, and the mutilated baptismal record
at Wicres shows that two other sons of Chretien Du Bois were baptized
severally on June 18, 1622, and November 13, 1625. One of these was
Jacques, and probably the other was named Albert.

The baptisms of these three sons are all of the records extant of Wicres
referring to the children of Chretien, but it is certain that he had also two
daughters, Francoise and Anne, for the records of the church of the Wal-
loons, at Leyden, Holland, show that his daughter Francoise was married
on April 20, 1649, t0 Pierre Biljouw. By this marriage she had two
daughters, Marie, baptized at Leyden March 3, 1650, and Martha, also
baptized at Leyden February 8, 1652. Marie came to Kingston, where
she married Arendt Jansen, with the approval of her uncle Louis, whose
consent is signified in the marriage contract dated June 3, 1670.

It was undoubtedly owing to the circumstance of Chretien's being
identified with the Huguenot faith that an attempt was made to obliterate
the public records of the family, and to destroy all evidences of his con-
nection with the nobility of France.

The religious persecutions in Artois induced Louis and Jacques to
abandon their country, and Louis went to Mannheim in the Palatinate,
Jacques going to Leyden, where he became a manufacturer of silks and cloth.

* P. 313, note.



1896.] The Du Bois Family of Ulster County, New York. rn[

In 1663, Jacques married Pieronne Bentyn, by whom he had the fol-
lowing children, all born in Leyden, viz. :

Marie, baptized April 2, 1664.

Jacques, baptized March 29, 1665.

Marie, baptized October 3, 1666.

Jean, baptized October 30, 1667.

Anne, baptized August 11, 1669.

Jehan, baptized July 25, 1671.

Pierre, born March 17, baptized March 18, 1674.

The following is from the records of the Town Hall at Leyden. viz. :

"April 6, 1663, Jacques Du Bois, young man, from near La Bassee,
accompanied by Philippe Du Bois, his cousin, was betrothed to Pieronne
Bentyn, young miiden from near Lille, accompanied by her sister, Mary
Bentyn, also present as witness."

The marriage was solemnized in the Walloon Church, where is still
extant the following record, in French, viz.:

"Betrothed April 6, 1663. Married April 25, 1663.

"Jacques Du Bois, j. h. , d'aupres La Bassee, et Pierronne Bentyn,
j. f., d'aupres de Lille."

In 1675 Jacques with his wife and three sons joined his brother
Louis in Esopus, his letters of dismissal from the church of the Walloons
at Leyden being dated April 15, 1675. He died the following year, and
very soon thereafter his widow married John Pietersy. Jacques, or Jaco-
bus, married Susanna Legg, and Pierre married Jeannetje Burhans.
Jean was living in Ulster County in 1692, when he and his brother Jacobus
were received into the membership of the Kingston Church on confession
of faith ; but his fate is unknown, and there is no certain evidence that he
left any descendants.

At Mannheim Louis Du Bois was thrown into intimate relations with
Mathese Blanchan and Christian Deyo, like himself Huguenot refugees,
the former from the vicinity of his father's estate, and the latter from
the neighborhood of Calais. His association with Blanchan was destined
to be lasting, for on October 10, 1655, he was married to Catharine,
daughter of Blanchan and wife Madeline Jorisse.

The following record is yet extant in the old Protestant Evangelical
Church of Mannheim :

"Oct. 10, 1665, Louis Du Bois, fils du feu Chretien Du Bois, vivant
de Wicker, pres de La Bassee, d'un part, et Catherine Blanchan, fille de
Mathieu Blanchan, bourgeois de Mannheim, d'autre part, ont et6 maries
en l'eglise Francaise de Mannhein le 10 Oct., 1655." Translation :

" Louis Du Bois, son of the late Chretien Du Bois of Wicker, near La
Bassee, of the one part, and Catherine Blanchan, daughter of Mathew
Blanchan, citizen of Mannheim, of the other part, were married in the
French Church at Mannheim, the 10th of October, 1655."

Two sons were born to him at Mannheim, viz. : Abraham, on Decem-
ber 26, 1657, and Isaac in 1659. All of his other children were born in
America.

On April 27, 1660, Mathese Blanchan, with his wife Madeline Jorisse,
his daughter Maria, and her husband Anthony Crispell, and three children,
embarked in the Dutch ship Gilded Otter for New Netherland, and
arrived at Wiltwyck before December 7, 1660, for on that date Domine
Blom recorded their presence at his first celebration of the Lord's Supper.



IQ2 The Du Bois Family of Ulster County, New York. [October,

Late in the summer of 1660 Louis Du Bois, with his wife Catharine Blan-
chan, and his two sons Abraham and Isaac, and other Huguenots, arrived
at Wiltwyck, and in 1662 Blanchan, with his two sons-in-law, Louis Du
Bois, Anthony Crispell, and their families, removed to the New Village, or
Hurley.

Christian Deyo came to Wiltwyck about 1677. He had five children,
all of whom were born in France or Germany, viz.:

Anna, born 1644, married Jean Hasbrouck, and came to Wiltwyck in
1672.

Pierre, born between 1646 and 1650, married Agatha Nickol 1672.

Maria, born 1653, married November 17, 1676, Abraham Hasbrouck,
brother of Jean.

Elizabeth, married Simon Le Fevre 1678.

Margriet, marriedAbraham Du Bois, eldest son of Louis, March 6, 1681.

Louis Du Bois, known as Louis the Walloon, and his father-in-law
Blanchan were granted by patent considerable tracts of land in Hurley,
where they both lived in the most intimate family associations until the
final removal to New Paltz. Du Bois was occupied principally in agri-
cultural' pursuits, while Blanchan followed his avocation as a distiller.

On January 24, 1663, Evert Pels and others, commissioners of Wilt-
wyck, and Roeloff Swartwout, "Schout" of Esopus, made a report to
Governor Stuyvesant upon the evils of selling liquor to the Indians, in
which they said : " We enquired and found at the house of Loweys Dubo,
a Walloon, living in the new village, half an anker of distilled water, which
had not been reported at this place and had been made by his father
Mathew Blanchart. For the reasons given before, the Court confiscated
it, because some mischief might result from it."

The supplying of ardent spirits to the Indians always entailed misery
upon those natives, as well as misfortunes upon the early settlers, but the
matt'er did not then meet with general disapproval. The very great profit
resulting to the white men from the traffic and the general use of liquor
among themselves caused them to consider it an article of legitimate com-
merce, and blinded them to the great evils resulting from its indiscrimi-
nate distribution^ The opinions of the time are pretty well reflected in a
letter from Governor Thomas Dongan to M. De Denonville, in which he
says : "The Missionary Fathers if they please, but do me justice, can
give you an account how careful I have bin to preserve them. I have
ordered our Indians strictly not to exercise any cruelty or insolence against
them and have written the King my master who hath as much zeal as any
prince living to propagate the Christian faith and assure him how necessary
it is to send hither some Fathers to preach the Gospell to the natives allved
to us, and care would be then taken to dissuade them from their drunken
debouches, though certainly our Rum doth as little hurt as your Brandy,
and in the opinion of Christians is much more wholesome ; however to
keep the Indians temperate and sober is a very good and christian per-
formance, but to prohibit them all strong liquors seems a little hard and
very turkish. " (Doc. Hist. N. Y., vol. i., p. 227.)

It would seem that Louis Du Bois never forgot the superiority of his
birth, or the deference that was paid in his native land to persons of gentle
blood, and he brought to his new home a spirit of independence and im-
patience with any attempt to control the freedom of his own personal con-
duct.' Many instances are found in the records of his disputes with the



1896.] The Du Bois Family of Ulster County, New York. 193

military and civil authorities, and open resistan ce t ac t s iendin°- to inter-
fere with what he considered his immunities froi.-n restraint, and, so far as
I have been able to discover, he seems to have 1. maintained his liberty of
action with remarkable success.

On June 7, 1663, occurred the Indian massacre, when the New Vil-
lage was entirely destroyed, and only the heroic defence o^f the " Schout, "
Roeloff Swartwout, Cornelius Barents Slecht, and others, saved Wiltwyck
from a like fate. . The wife of Du Bois and his three sons, Abraha..rn, Isaac,
and Jacob, Crispell's wife and child, and two children of Blanchan wo*"- e
carried off, and remained captives with the Indians for three months.
The story of the rescuing expedition, under the command of Captain Martin
Kregier, is one of the most interesting of the episodes in the history of
early New York. Blanchan, Crispell, and Du Bois all served as soldiers
in this campaign, and tradition as well as the official report of Captain
Kregier has perpetuated the reckless intrepidity with which Louis Du
Bois hastened to the rescue of those so dear to him.

It was in September before Captain Kregier learned definitely the loca-
tion of the Indian camp in the Shawangunk Mountains, and marching his
command with rapidity and secrecy, he succeeded in surprising the savages,
and, gaining a complete victory over them, he restored the captives to
their friends.

It is related that when approaching the vicinity of the encampment,
" Du Bois, in advance of the others, discovered an Indian within a few feet
of him, and partly concealed behind a tree. The savage was in the act of
drawing his bow, but from fear or surprise, missed the string, when DuBois,
springing forward, killed him with his sword, and without any alarm."

The troubles with the Indians continued, and the settlements of
Esopus were harassed by constant alarms and anxieties, so that Captain
Kregier was unable to withdraw his troops until January, 1664. In his
journal of the Esopus war under date October 10, 1663, he says :

"A detatchment was out in the field with the ploughmen, — they re-
turned about noon as it began to rain hard. Louis, the Walloon, went
to-day to fetch his oxen which had gone back of Juriaen Westphaelen's
land. As he was about to drive home the oxen, three Jndians, who lay
in the bush and intended to seize him leaped forth. When one of these
shot at him with an arrow but only slightly wounded him, Louis, having
a piece of palisade in his hand, struck the Indian on the breast with it so
that he staggered back, and Louis escaped through the kill, and came
thence and brought the news into the fort, whereupon two detatchments
were instantly despatched to attack them, but they had taken to flight and
retreated into the woods. And although a party searched for them an hour
they could not discover them ; they thereupon returned to Wildwyck."

During the campaign for the rescue of the captives the attention of
Du Bois and his friends was attracted to the beautiful valley of the Wall-
kill, and after the restoration of peace the Huguenot settlers entered
into negotiations with the Indians for the purchase of this spot, and
by deed dated May 26, 1677, in consideration of 40 kettles, 40 adzes,
40 shirts, 400 fathoms of wampum, 60 pairs of socks, ico bars of lead,
1 keg of powder, 100 knives, 4 ankers of wine, 40 guns, 60 coats,
60 blankets, 100 nails (?) and 1 schepel of pipes, the Indians conveyed
to Louis Du Bois, Christian Deyo, Abraham Hasbroucq. Andries Lefebre,
Jan Broocq, Peter Deyo, Louis Beviere, Anthony Crispel, Abraham Du



194 T,ie D " Bois Family of Ulster County, New York. [October,

Bois, Hugo Frere, Isaac D u Bois, and Simon Lefebre a tract of land on
the Wallkill, bounded on -the west by the Shawangunk Mountains. The
land is described in the r-onveyance by metes and bounds, and its extent
is a little uncertain, but' it was about 144 square miles. This deed was in
the Dutch language-, and it is now in perfect condition, on file in the
office of the Secretary of State af Albany. The totems of the Indians are
annexed to tKieir names. This purchase was approved by the Colonial
Government, and on September 29, 1677, Governor Edmund Andros
gramma a patent of the same lands to Louis Du Bois and his eleven asso-
ciates, two of whom were his sons, Abraham and Isaac.

In the following spring Du Bois, with the majority of the "Twelve "
and their families, took possession of their grant at the Wallkill, and estab-
lished a village which, in grateful memory of the kindness shown them in
their former harbor of refuge on the Rhine, they named "le nouveau
Palatinat, " or New Paltz. Unlike the other settlements of New Nether-
land, this colony was not established for purposes of trade or commercial
advantages. It was composed entirely of Frenchmen, thoroughly imbued
with the stern religious precepts of Calvin, and having for their purpose
the establishment of a community "solely for the enjoyment of religious
and civil freedom," under regulations to be prescribed by themselves.

"The civil government of the infant colony was wholly of their own
devising, and differed entirely from the system in vogue at Wiltwyck and
other Dutch municipalities. The twelve patentees — the 'Duzine, ' as
they were called — were constituted the legislative and judicial body of the
miniature state. The number was supplied, after the death of the original
members, by annual election. Decisions in all cases referred to them
seem to have been accepted as final; for though we must assume the
right of appeal to the Colonial Government, no such appeal is known to
have been made, or disputed boundary, or internal feud to have disturbed
the absolute harmony of the settlement. There was no civil government
other than that of the 'Duzine' in operation at New Paltz for a period
of more than one hundred years."

Of course, one of their first labors of love, as well as of duty, was the
establishment of a church, which they called " l'eglise de Nouveau Pala-
tinat," but it appears that they had no regular pastor until 1683, when an
organization upon a permanent basis was effected. The following is a
translation of the first page of the church record, in the handwriting of
Louis Du Bois :

"The 22d of January, 1683, Mr. Pierre Daillie, minister of the Word
of God, arrived at New Paltz, and preached twice on the following Sun-
day, and proposed to the heads of the families that they should choose by
majority of votes, by the fathers of families, one elder and one deacon,
which they did, and chose Louis Du Bois for elder and Hugh Frere for
deacon, to assist the minister in guiding the members of the church that
meets in New Paltz ; who were subsequently confirmed in the said charge
of elder and deacon. This minute has been made to put in order the
matters which pertain to the said church."

This church so established in 1683 was "a French Reformed Church,
as strictly Huguenot as any association of protestant Christians in France."
During the first fifty years of its existence the records were kept in the
French language, the Dutch being used for the succeeding seventy years,
since which time they have been written in English.



Mersereau Family Genealogy. \ g c

MERSEREAU FAMILY GENEALOGY.



Henry Lawrence Mersereau, of New York.



There is a tradition, doubtless true, of the earlier history of this
family, who were Huguenot refugees from Saintonge, near Rochelle,
France, about 1685-88. The original manuscript, now in possession of
one of the family, has been published in Magazine of Daughters of Revo-
lution, April, 1892, Clute's "History of Staten Island," and Wilkinson's
" Annals of Binghamton." The original French family spelled the name
Mercereau (with c), and some branches use "c " now. Jan Mesurole,
who fled from Picardy, France, 1663, and settled in Brooklyn, is a dis-
tinct family name. There are records of Marcereau and Marceau and
Marceot as early as 1641 in Quebec, Canada (see "Genealogies" by C.
Tanquay), but they seem to have no connection with the New York or
Staten Island family, foshua and Daniel Mercereau came to New York
about 1688 with their widowed mother, sister Elizabeth, wife of Pierre
Masse\ and Marie, who married, July 16, r6o3. John La Tourette. Rec-
ords of marriages of these refugees, also births of children, are from
" Register of Eglise Francoise," of New York, recently published by the
Huguenot Society of America.

1. Joshua 1 Mercereau married, July 16, 1693, Marie Chadrayne. He
settled on Staten Island, and died May 23, 1756, aged 98 years and 5
months. They had certainly the following, and probably other, children :
i. Marie, baptized May 16, 1695.

3. ii. Joshua, born May 18, 1696.

4. iii. Paul, .

5. iv. David,



2. Daniel 1 Mercereau married, August 6, 1693, Susanne Marie Doucinet.
There are records of following children ; there were probably others :

i. Daniel, baptized August 18, 1695.
ii. Susanne Marie, born July 8, 1697.

iii. Marianne, born October 31, 1699 ; married Pierre La Tou-
rette.

3. Joshua 3 Mersereau (Joshua 1 ), born in New York City May 18, 1696 ;
died at Staten Island, August 9, 1769; married, October 21, 1727, Mary,
daughter of Jacob Corsen, of Staten Island, bom October 21, 1704, died
July 8, 1763. The will of Joshua Mersereau mentions his brother David,
his wife Mary, and his children by name. It was made July 7, 1756,
and one of the witnesses was Henry Chadrayne. There are in Richmond
County (S. I.) records of transfer of land June 16, 1732, June 10, 1737,
June 5, 1746, and many others. The records of birth and death of
Joshua, his father, mother, wife, and children are taken from an old
family Bible now in possession of one of the family at Union, N. Y.

8. i. Joshua, born September 26, 1728.

9. ii. Jacob, born April 25, 1730.
10. iii. John, born March 2, 1732.

iv. Elizabeth, born January 4, 1734 ; died May 2, 1736, in-
fancy.



196 Mersereau Family Genealogy. [October,