Simon de Ruine is one of those ancestors I'd just love to see, in person, and share a day in his life. I'm not sure on which side of the ocean I'd like to be with him, but probably in the New World, since he was one of the first settlers of Harlem (yes, that Harlem) and had a fascinating set of neighbors. He was probably fascinating, too, although not a lot is known about him.
He referred to himself as a "Walloon", which means he was likely from the southern part of what is now Belgium or the northern part of France, not far from the German border. He is reported to have come from Valenciennes, which is right on the border between Belgium and France, and this area did speak the language known as Walloons when Simon would have lived there. Actually, Valenciennes would have been a good place for him to have lived, because he was a Protestant, a Huguenot, and they were persecuted in France. Belgium wasn't much safer, so in his youth or early manhood he went to Holland, where he remained for 15 years and where he was permitted to practice his faith.
He was born in 1631, with his father's name given as Jean de Ruine but no further information is known about him. It is possible that he lost his family in the persecutions, or in war, or due to disease. He married twice in Holland. His first wife, whose name has not been found, gave birth to two daughters who stayed in Simon's family. His second wife was Magdalena Van der Straaten, who was from Hainault.
The family was young when they emigrated from Amsterdam to New Amsterdam, in the New World, and three additional children were born to them here. They settled first in New Amsterdam, then moved to help form the settlement of Harlem, and finally went to what is now Flushing, Queens County, New York. To us, it would just be a crowded hour or so of travel to go from one location to another but these were wilderness areas and they would have needed to have started from scratch at every location. From what I've read, though, they would not have built log cabins, but would have built homes in the Dutch tradition from the start.
Simon died at Flushing on June 12, 1678 and his wife died at about the same time although I am not sure of the documentation for that statement. He had certainly lived an interesting life! He probably spoke at least two languages, Walloon and Dutch and perhaps more. He had lived in France, Holland, and New Amsterdam, and helped found two settlements in the New World. He probably was a member of the military, as there were Indian attacks during this time and he would have been needed to help protect the settlements. By the time he died, the Dutch settlements were under English control, so here was another culture he had to learn, or at least learn to co-exist with them. I think Simon was probably quite a flexible man.
The line of descent is:
Simon de Ruine-Magdalena van der Straten
Jacomina de Ruine-Jean Demarest
Maria Demariest-Jacobus Slot
Benjamin Slot-Sarah Demaree Demarest
William Lock-Elizabeth Teague
Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom
Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge
Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendents
The second line goes:
Simon de Ruine-Magdalena van der Straten
Maria de Ruine-Samuel Demarest
David Demarest-Mattie De Baun
Samuel David Demarest-Lea Demarest
Sarah Demaree Demarest-Benjamin Slot
See above
There is also a third line, but it's too confusing to add here!
Showing posts with label De Baun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label De Baun. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Monday, August 25, 2014
Beeks line: Joost De Baun
Joost De Baun was probably born as Joseph De Beaune in Beaune, Cote d'Or France, about 1643. Beaune is located in the east central section of France, west of Switzerland. He and it is believed his family were staunch Protestants and at the time of his birth, Protestants had some protection in the Catholic country of France. However, the tradition is that he was the only member of his family to escape torture and massacre by the dreaded Inquisition. He is believed to have fled to Flanders about 1670, where he married, with his wife living only a few years.
This much is tradition and supposition, as far as I can tell, because I have found no documentation for any of these "facts". I would love to be able to sit down and talk with Joseph/Joost, to ask him if this is a fair representation of his early life. It sounds like it could have the makings of a good book or even a movie, with danger, persecution, flight, a first tragic marriage, and religious faith all playing a role in the story. I'd love to know how he made his escape, and why he went to Flanders rather than to Switzerland, which geographically was much closer, or even to Germany, as others before him had done. I'd also love to know what he did for a living. Beaune is in the middle of Burgundy wine country, and if he had been trained in some aspect relating to wine, what did he do when he went to Flanders? He obviously had learned to read and write, (see later in post) so perhaps he was a clerk, or perhaps he had enough family or church connections to be a merchant of some sort.
Sometime in the next few years he went from Flanders to Middleburg, on the Zeeland islands of Holland. Joseph changed his name in Holland to Joost De Baene, and he married Elizabeth Drabbe or Drabba, who was from Holland. Her ancestry has not been traced as far as I can find, except that her father's name is believed to be Thomas. They married about 1681, and by 1683 were the parents of their first child, Jacobus. (There are reports that the marriage didn't take place until 1684 and occurred in the New World. So again, we are not really sure of this much and would dearly love to find some documents from the time period to settle some of these questions once and for all.)
Joost and presumably Elizabeth and Jacobus left Holland in 1683 and immigrated to Bushwick, Long Island, New York. We don't know whether it was for religious, economic, or other reasons that they chose to immigrate, but they were part of a large number of "Dutch" families that came during the 1600's. He quickly became clerk of the small settlement of Bushwick, but a year later moved to New Utrecht, Kings County, New York, where he was clerk as well as schoolmaster and reader of the Reformed Dutch Church. (New Utrecht is now part of Brooklyn, which is part of New York City, but at the time it was just a village, founded in 1657 as a largely Dutch community).
Joost and Elizabeth lived here for about 15 years, raising their family of five children. Jacobus, Karel (Charles), Matie, Christian, and Catherine would have kept their parents busy, and since Joost was the school master we can assume that the boys and hope that the girls learned to read, write, and "cipher". The family was also active in the Dutch Reformed Church there. For three years in this time period, family life may have looked a little different. Joost was removed from his posts in 1689 due to being on the "wrong" side of a political dispute, but was returned to all his offices again in 1692. We don't know he provided for his family during this time period. In 1698, the family moved to New Rochelle, where he had apparently gone to be the schoolmaster, and was also one of the surveyors of fences. He acquired land in 1698 and then sold in at the end of 1701, and moved on to the area around Rockland Lake, in Rockland County, NY. Perhaps he taught school here, too.
The family made one final move, to the Huguenot colony near Hacksensack, New Jersey, where farming was their source of income. Joost may have felt more at home here, with the Huguenots, but we wonder about his Dutch wife. Fortunately, by now the Dutch Reformed church at Hackensack felt like home to both of them. He served as elder and as church master, and was instrumental in getting the steeple raised on the church building. Joost died sometime between 1718 and November of 1721, and Elizabeth is believed to have died about 1724.
He left a heritage of a strong religious faith, a desire for freedom, and the love of learning to the four children who survived him. He also left the mystery of his early years, and the sadness that we may never know who made up his first family-his father, mother, and siblings.
The line of descent is:
Joost De Baun-Elizabeth Drabbe
Matie De Baun-Samuel Demarest
Samuel David De Maree-Lea Demarest
Sarah De Maree-Benjamin Slot
William Lock-Elizabeth Teague or Tague
Sarah Lock-Jeremiah Folsom
Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge
Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Harshbarger children. grandchildren, and great grandchildren
This much is tradition and supposition, as far as I can tell, because I have found no documentation for any of these "facts". I would love to be able to sit down and talk with Joseph/Joost, to ask him if this is a fair representation of his early life. It sounds like it could have the makings of a good book or even a movie, with danger, persecution, flight, a first tragic marriage, and religious faith all playing a role in the story. I'd love to know how he made his escape, and why he went to Flanders rather than to Switzerland, which geographically was much closer, or even to Germany, as others before him had done. I'd also love to know what he did for a living. Beaune is in the middle of Burgundy wine country, and if he had been trained in some aspect relating to wine, what did he do when he went to Flanders? He obviously had learned to read and write, (see later in post) so perhaps he was a clerk, or perhaps he had enough family or church connections to be a merchant of some sort.
Sometime in the next few years he went from Flanders to Middleburg, on the Zeeland islands of Holland. Joseph changed his name in Holland to Joost De Baene, and he married Elizabeth Drabbe or Drabba, who was from Holland. Her ancestry has not been traced as far as I can find, except that her father's name is believed to be Thomas. They married about 1681, and by 1683 were the parents of their first child, Jacobus. (There are reports that the marriage didn't take place until 1684 and occurred in the New World. So again, we are not really sure of this much and would dearly love to find some documents from the time period to settle some of these questions once and for all.)
Joost and presumably Elizabeth and Jacobus left Holland in 1683 and immigrated to Bushwick, Long Island, New York. We don't know whether it was for religious, economic, or other reasons that they chose to immigrate, but they were part of a large number of "Dutch" families that came during the 1600's. He quickly became clerk of the small settlement of Bushwick, but a year later moved to New Utrecht, Kings County, New York, where he was clerk as well as schoolmaster and reader of the Reformed Dutch Church. (New Utrecht is now part of Brooklyn, which is part of New York City, but at the time it was just a village, founded in 1657 as a largely Dutch community).
Joost and Elizabeth lived here for about 15 years, raising their family of five children. Jacobus, Karel (Charles), Matie, Christian, and Catherine would have kept their parents busy, and since Joost was the school master we can assume that the boys and hope that the girls learned to read, write, and "cipher". The family was also active in the Dutch Reformed Church there. For three years in this time period, family life may have looked a little different. Joost was removed from his posts in 1689 due to being on the "wrong" side of a political dispute, but was returned to all his offices again in 1692. We don't know he provided for his family during this time period. In 1698, the family moved to New Rochelle, where he had apparently gone to be the schoolmaster, and was also one of the surveyors of fences. He acquired land in 1698 and then sold in at the end of 1701, and moved on to the area around Rockland Lake, in Rockland County, NY. Perhaps he taught school here, too.
The family made one final move, to the Huguenot colony near Hacksensack, New Jersey, where farming was their source of income. Joost may have felt more at home here, with the Huguenots, but we wonder about his Dutch wife. Fortunately, by now the Dutch Reformed church at Hackensack felt like home to both of them. He served as elder and as church master, and was instrumental in getting the steeple raised on the church building. Joost died sometime between 1718 and November of 1721, and Elizabeth is believed to have died about 1724.
He left a heritage of a strong religious faith, a desire for freedom, and the love of learning to the four children who survived him. He also left the mystery of his early years, and the sadness that we may never know who made up his first family-his father, mother, and siblings.
The line of descent is:
Joost De Baun-Elizabeth Drabbe
Matie De Baun-Samuel Demarest
Samuel David De Maree-Lea Demarest
Sarah De Maree-Benjamin Slot
William Lock-Elizabeth Teague or Tague
Sarah Lock-Jeremiah Folsom
Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge
Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Harshbarger children. grandchildren, and great grandchildren
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