Matthys Barent Swaim 1621-1682, Immigrant

I think it's so much fun to write about our Dutch families, few and far between though they may be. This line brings in New Amsterdam, and early New Jersey, and Frederick County, Virginia, as well as North and South Carolina, none of which are our "typical" New England roots.  But then, by now we've learned our family has a varied background, which makes it both fun and more challenging to trace. 

But I digress.  This post is about the immigrant.  I must state that most of this information came from a 542 page book available online as a PDF, authored by Joe Mullane, Lloyd B. Swaim, and Marjorie Decker Johnson.  All the credit for the research, as well as my undying gratitude, goes to these folks who were so generous as to share their years of work with us, and all mistakes and misinterpretations are mine alone.

So how cool is it to have Dutch ancestors on Staten Island, before England took over the settlement?  I think it's very cool indeed.  Matthys was born in 1621 in Leerdam, Holland, to Barent Swaaem and Sybilla unknown.  He married, as his second wife, Scytje Cornelise in probably late 1658 or early 1659.  He and his first wife had several children, with only two surviving.  In 1661, the new family, including two sons and then toddler Anthony, arrived on the ship "St. Jan Baptiste".  They first had lodgings in block D, house 4 in New Amsterdam while looking around for land to occupy.  Matthys, along with many of the other passengers on the ship met with Peter Stuyvesant and two councilors on August 22, 1661 and asked that they have a village and land laid out on Staten Island, as they wished to settle there.  It was so agreed.

This was still very much frontier country.  Native Americans made frequent raids at the time, there were all sorts of wild animals (wolf, deer, probably the occasional bear or panther), and in addition to maintaining personal safety, the families there would have to clear land and make it their own.  Matthys must have been successful as a farmer and well liked, for he was elected a magistrate in 1673 and was involved in some court cases that included some of his neighbors.  Other than that, and the baptism of some of his children at the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam, we know little of his life.

At his death, probably in November of 1682, he had achieved a good life for his family.  His estate is valued in guilders and I haven't found a chart to convert that to English money of the time, but he had more furnishings in his home, more animals than many of our New England ancestors, and some pewterware. There is no mention of books in his inventory.  Matthys had survived adversity and given his family a good start in their life in the New World.

The line of descent, subject to paragraph 1 above, is

Matthys Barent Swaim-Scytie Cornelise
Willem Thyszem Swaim-Mary Larzelere
Elizabeth Swaim-Christopher Nation
Joseph Nation-Jerretta Vickery
Elizabeth Nation-Christopher Myers
Phoebe Myers-John Adam Brown
Phoebe Brown-Fremont Holbrook
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Jacques Larzalere, Immigrant

Now, how much fun is this?  A Holbrook ancestor, apparently from the area of northern France-Belguim-the Netherlands, who lived in Flatbush, New York as early as 1677!  This is not our typical New England, or even Maryland, ancestor!  What's up with this man?

Well, I wish I knew more than I know, but I am so, so grateful to Joseph F. Mulbane who has done extensive research on this family.  The purpose of his research was not so much to talk about our Jacques, as to try to document his children.  He has done an admirable job, and much of what I am writing here comes from his research.

We don't really know when Jacques was born, or where.  I've seen suggestions that wherever he was born, he probably went to Antwerp with other members of his family, who may or may not have been escaping religious persecution, and who may or may not have originally had a name of Largillier, or something similar.  Based on the birth dates of his children, he was probably born sometime around 1650, and was in the New World, at Flatbush, in 1677.  This was a few years after the English took over New Amsterdam and the surrounding area, but still early in the history of New York.

He was married, probably in 1667, to Marie Granger or Grancon (Mulbane uses "Granger" but says he has not found documentation for either name), but we don't know whether that was on the other side of the ocean or here.  The couple soon began having children, and at the same time, Jacques was working very hard to support them. In 1683 he was taxed in Flatbush (now part of Brooklyn, New York City) for horses, cows, hogs, and 60 acres of land.  

The Dutch, which we can consider this family to be, in terms of culture if not birth, have a reputation for keeping extremely clean, neat-looking homes so it is fun to consider what the home of Jacques and Marie looked like.  Was it frame, or brick?  Did it have the typical overhand of the second story, and the "Dutch" split door?  What about the typical porch area?

As far as we can determine, the couple had children named Jacob, Nicholas, Anthony, Michael, Magdalena, Maria, and possibly Margaret. 

We don't know what happened to Jacques, but he was dead by 1687. Although even the oldest child would have been not yet 21 at the time of his father's death, Maria didn't remarry, as she is described as his "relict" at her death in 1693 or 1694 (dates are confusing.)  Her estate was valued at 277 pounds, 15 shillings, 6 pence which included various farm animals and the 60 acres of land, now described as  of "two lots of land and meadow".  It also included a sword, which may have been left from Jacques's supposed military duty . The relative prosperity of the family was continuing, which is a good thing as some of the children may have still been as young as 10 years of age. 

This is pretty much what we know of Jacques, other than a comment that he and his wife transferred to the "French church".  I haven't figured all this out yet, but there may have been a French reformed church as well as the Dutch Reformed church, and presumably an established English church by this time.  There are still lots of questions about Jacques, and many of his ancestors would love to find his family in Antwerp, or France, or wherever it was that he was born.  I'd love to know that, and I'd also love to know more about his life here. For instance, was he educated, and did he educate his children? What is the reference to the "French church"?  And was he happy that he'd decided to come to American?

The line of descent is:

Jacques Larzalere-Maria Grancon or Granger
Maria Larzalere-Willem Swaim
Elizabeth Swaim-Christopher Nation
Joseph Nation-Jerretta Vickery
Elizabeth Nation-Christopher Myers
Phoebe Myers-Adam Brown
Phoebe Brown-Fremont Holbrook
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants