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At the time of
the first Dutch and English settlers, Long Island was occupied by a
number
of Indian tribes.For the most part these tribes were peaceful and
friendly
toward the newcomers. War like action on their part can be traced to
outside
influences;cruelty of the settlers, usually Dutch, under the government
of
Director-General KIEFT,goading by the warlike tribes of Connecticut and
the
Hudson Valley, and the fire-water of the Europeans.Lion GARDINIER was
on
good terms with all the tribes but in particular the Montauks under the
leadership
of the Sachem WYANDANCH.Following the battle at the mouth of the Mystic
River,Conn.,
where Englishmen attempted to settle on land bought by the Dutch from
the
Indians,WYANDANCH came to GARDINIER to ask if he were "angry with all
the
Indians," and offered to pay tribute to the English in the interest of
peace
Then began a close relationship and sincere friendship between Lion
GARDiNIER
and the Montaukatts.Not long after, GARDINIER bought from WYANDANCH,
for
a large black dog,a gun,some powder and shot, and a few Dutch blankets,
the
island of Honchonock, which has since borne the name. Gardiner' s
Island.
WYANDANCH
had already given GARDINIER in recognition of GARDINIER's chivalrous
rescue
of his daughter the entire territory later known as Smithfield and
finally
Smithtown.
"When MIANTONOKAH,
chief
of the Narragansetts tried to draw the Montauketts into plots against
the
English, they repeatedly disclosed to their new friends the plans of
their
hereditary enemies WYANDANCH at his death made him (GARDINIER) the
guardian
of his heir, the young WEONCOMBONE, and during the regency of his
mother,
the Sachem-squa, her acts were valid only as confirmed by GARDINIER."
WYANDANCH,
the Great Sachem of Long Island,died in 1659. (History of Long Island
from
its Discovery and Settlement to the ?resent Time by Benjamen
F.Thompson,3rd
edition, N.Y.,Robert H. Dodd 1918)
The
young Indian girl WUCHIKITTAWBUT, stolen on her wedding day by
NINIGRET, Chief
of the Narragansetts and rescued by GARDINIER became the wife of Jan
Cornelius
VAN TASSEL and was known from then on as CATONERAS.
After
their marriage, Jan Cornelius and Catoneras claimed ownership of part
of
Long Island and settled on the North Shore of the Sound at a place
called
Eaton's Neck in Suffolk County. Cornelius Jensen Van tassel was
selected
to represent the Long Island Indians before the commissioners appointed
to
settle the wars among the Pequots,Narragansetts and other tribes and
was
present at meetings of the Commissioners held at Boston and
elsewhere.Only
one child of this marriage is known, Jan Cornelius, the first of the
family
born in America and whose indenture papers establish the probable year
of
the family's arrival in the New World Catoneras died shortly after her
father's
death in 1659.
The
son, Jan Cornelius, married Annetje ALBERTS,daughter of Albert
KONING.baptised 3 June 1640, and lived in Midwont (Flatbush). He
appears in Flatbush records as Jan Cornelissen,Jan Janssen,J.C.,and
variously TEXEL, VAN TEXEL and VAN
TASSEL. Among the records concerning land transactions of Jan Cornelius
are:
1661,12 March -
Grant of
60 morgens (120 acres) in Flatbush.
1664,26 October -
Later
allotted in persuance of patent at Flatbush 23 morgens (46 acres) on
the
south side of the bowery of Bastel CLASSEN. The holding was plain land
and
salt meadow. This was sold on 20 January,1670 to Auchs Janse Van
MYSE.(Liber
A page 15 Flatbush Records)
1670,14 March -
Allotted a building lot at Flatbush which was sold the following May to
Hendrick KIP.(Liber
A Flatbush Records)
1685-Survey of tract
of
land east of the town of Huntington, Long Island allotted to him by the
Indians.(Calendar
of Colonial Minutes page 45)
1685,8
October-Papers before
Council for patents at Haverstraw. (Calendar of Colcnial Minutes page
106)
1685,13 October
Granted land east side of Hudson next to S. Van CORTLANDT.(Calendar of
Colonial Minutes
page 45)
1695 - Jan Cornelius
VAN
TASSEL and Lucas TIENHAVEN request license to purchase Indian land on
Hackensack
Creek in Orange County. Survey of land purchase ordered. (Calendar of
Colonial
Minutes page 106)
VAN
TASSEL had requested 100,000 acres. The Council felt this was too much
and
agreed that each was to have 1000 acres.(Calendar of Colonial Minutes
page
109)
1702-Jan Cornelius
VAN
TASSEL and Other5 request license to purchase Indian lands in Suffolk
County,Long
Island. (Calendar of Colonial Minutes page 167)
1705- Petition for
Patent
4 miles wide on the Sound "From the Sound running into the wood 6 miles
or
thereabout. (Land Papers page 77)
The
original form of the family name, "Van Texel" - of Texel indicates that
the general ancestor was born, or for a time resided on the well known
island of that name, situated off the coast of Holland.
This
surname,
the latinized form of which was Texelius, had become fixed upon the
family
long before the Dutch established a trading post upon Manhattan Island.
The
family also had a coat of arms which was recorded.
Among
the
very early settlers in the New Netherlands from Holland was a member of
the
Van Texel family. He was generally known as Cornelis Jansen, that is,
Cornelis
son of Jan. Once only, and that in a legal document, a copy of which is
hearafter
given, does his full name appear. He is the first American Ancestor.
The
year of
his coming cannot be exactly fixed, as the records of that time are
incomplete.
But he must have come over in one of the Dutch vessels which commenced
trading
with the Indians shortly after Hendrick Hudson, in 1609 sailed up the
River
which bears his name, and could not have arrived in this country later
than
1624. In all probability he came over a few years earlier. From papers
examined
it is the belief that he came here from the province of North Holland,
in
the Netherlands.
The
following agreement, the original of which was contained in Volume one
of the Dutch Colonial Manuscripts, on file in the Archives Room of the
New York State Library
in the Capital, Albany, N.Y., until it was burned in the great fire of
March
29, 1911, which partially destroyed the Library. It reads as follows:
"This
day, date underwritten, in the presence of the underwritten witnesses,
have
amicably agreed and covenanted in manner as followeth:
Cornelis Jansen
Van Texel binds his son, Jan Cornelissen, to Hendrick Harmensen, and
for
the term of seven consecutive years; who also acknowledged to have
accepted
the above named Jan Cornelissen for the above mentioned term, with the
express
promise that he, Hendrick Harmensen, shall take care of the boy, as if
he
were his own son, during the seven years aforesaid. Also Cornelis
Jansen
shall not have power to take his son from the above named Hendrick
Harmensen,
but only whenever the above mentioned time shall be expired.
"For
all
that is aforesaid, parties on either side shall, at the expiration of
the
aforesaid years, have no claim the one against the other, nor any
manner
of demand.
Although the
volume containing the original contract was burned, a copy of it, made
by
Dr. E. B. OCallahan, for the state, is now on file in the manuscript
section
of the State Library.
When
Cornelis
Jansen Van Texel came to the New Netherlands he went to Long Island,
where
he resided, so far as known, the rest of his life. From a study of
papers,
copies of which will hereafter appear, we learn that Jansen married an
Indian
girl named "Catoneras", the daughter of the Sachem or chief of a tribe
of
Indians which then lived on , and claimed ownership to that portion of
Long
Island, situated along the north shore, or sound, about Eaton's Neck in
Suffolk
County."
Jan
Cornelius and Annetie had at least 8 children. All the children were
baptized in the
First Dutch Church of New Amsterdam. In 1687 while living in Orange
County,
he took the oath of Allegience and some time before the census of 1702
he
crossed the river to live at Van Cortlandt Manor in Westchester
County.The
Indians called the place Meahagh, the Dutch called it Verplanck's
Point.Just
to the east was Appainaghpogh and it is from Appamaghpogh that the tax
collector
recorded "Received from J.C.VanTassel, by the hand of Stevan Courtlandt
sum
of nine pounds, first of four first taxes and of such proportions of
the
same as become payable out of Westchester County and town of Appamnepoe
I
so received the 31st July 1694. "signed Chidley Brorie, Col.(Leber B of
Deeds
page 231 Westchester County Registers Office)
In
their petition to join the church at Sleepy Hollow they state they have
nine
children but only eight are registered.Jan Cornelius died in 1704 and
both
he and Annetie are buried in the Sleepy Hollow Churchyard, Tarrytown
Westchester
County,New York.
The
exact date of the birth of Jan Cornelissen Van Texel, who is the first
American born Ancestor, is unknown, but judging by the apprenticeship
paper, a copy of which has been given, and the general custom in such
cases, it is the best
opinion that at the end of the term of seven years apprenticeship to
Hendrick
Harmensen, Jan Cornelissen was twenty one years old. From this it is
concluded
that he was fourteen years old in 1639 and was born in 1625. His father
was
born in Holland about 1600.
Jan
Cornelissen lived in Midwont (Flatbush) Long Island. It was there that
he married his wife, Annetje Alberts, and his children were born
there. His name appears
on the Flatbush records as Jan Cornelissen and as Jan Cornelissen Van
Texel.
On the 12th of March, 1661, he got a grant of 60 morgens (120 acres) of
land
at that place, and on the 26th of October 1664, his orchard is referred
to.
He was
later
allotted, in pursuance of the patent of Flatbush "23 Morgens (46 acres)
of
land in said town, on the south side of the bowery of Bastel Claessen,
with
plain land and salt meadow." He sold it January 20, 1670 to Aucke Janse
Van
Meyse. Liber A page 15 Flatbush Records. On the 14th of March,
1670,
he was allotted a building lot at Flatbush, which he sold the 15th of
the
following May to Hendrick Kip.
Not
long after
this sale to Kip, Jan Cornelissen removed with his family to
Westchester County,
and settled on the east bank of the Hudson River in that portion of the
present
town of Cortlandt which the Indians called "Meahagh." It later became
known
as Verplank's Point. The lands immediately east of "Meahagh" bore the
Indian
name of "Appamaghpogh." After Steven Van Courtlandt had purchased
Meahagh
and Appamaghpogh of the Indians, August 24, 1683, the whole territory
seems,
for a short time, to have been called by the latter name.
Jan
Cornelissen was for a time Collector of taxes for the town of
"Appomaepoe." One of his
receipts which is recorded in Liber B. of Deeds page 231, Westchester
County
Register's office, reads as follows:
"Received from John
Cornelious Van Texel, by the hand of Steven Courtland, the sum of nine
pounds, out of
the four first taxes, and of such proportions of the same as became
payable
out of Westchester County and town of Appamaepoe. I say received this
31st
of July 1694 Chidley Brooke Col."
Parts of the above were taken from the work of Daniel
Van Tassel entitled: "Genealogy of the
Van Texel/Van Tassel family in America, 1625-1900."
I am writing to make an important correction on your website
genealogy. It's regarding our ancestor Catoneras,
a Native American who had a child by Cornelius Jan van Texel.
I believe you are relying
on
the 1941 edition of Daniel van Tassel's genealogy of the family, or at
the
very least a newspaper article about the family in a Poughkeepsie
newspaper
dating from 1951. Daniel van Tassel corrected his error in a
later
edition (1951), but not emphatically, and it has persisted through lore.
Let me make my case:
We know from petitions to
governors
of NY colony that Catoneras was a full-blooded Native American, the
daughter
of a sachem, and laid claim to land at the base of Eaton's Neck.
We
can infer from the petitions that the land was sold out from under the
aboriginal
inhabitants by men who did not have permission to do so. The plot
described
corresponds to a plot of land described in the records of Huntington,
NY
as being sold by a sachem of the Matinecock band of Indians.
We also know from that
Wyandance, "grand sachem" of the Montauk tribe (whose homeland was the
eastern part of
Long Island, far from Huntington and Eaton's Neck), was much, much too
young
to have fathered Catoneras.
So here's the thing:
Catoneras was the daughter
of
a sachem, and it is extremely likely she belonged to the Matinecock
tribe.
It is possible that she
was
the daughter of Asharoken.
Her homeland was sold out
from
under her and her people by either the Montauks or by a
misunderstanding with
white settlers.
Wyandance could not have
been
her father, as he was too young and there is not a shred of evidence of
her
in his more well-documented life.
May I recommend?
Strong, John A. The
Algonquian
Peoples of Long Island From Earliest Times to 1700. Interlaken,
NY:
Empire State Books, 1970.
Martien, Jerry.
Shell Game:
A True Account of Beads and Money in North America. San
FranciscoL
Mercury House, 1996.
Ceci, Lynn. The
Effect of European Contact and Trade on the Settlment Pattern of
Indians in Coastal New York, 1524-1665. New York &
London: Garland Publishing, 1990