52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks (16): From the Netherlands to New Netherland to New Jersey with my 8-great grandfather

I have to admit that I’ve skipped back to the very early days of my family tree again because I wanted to “use” one of my early ancestors who came from the Netherlands to New Netherland to introduce some history I’ve just learned recently. I know, kind of a roundabout way to get there, but what the heck. If you have the patience to read a little about someone who made some intriguing life decisions nearly 400 years ago, you’ll be treated to this historical tidbit at the end.

In order to find an ancestor who fit the bill – lived in the part of New Netherland that became New Jersey instead of New York – I traced back on one of my many x-great grandmothers and then went way back 10 or 11 generations (I’m the 11^th in this case) to find Epke Jacobse Banta, my 8-great grandfather on my mother’s side. (Did you know that we all have 1024 8-great grandfathers?! And that they are likely to have contributed to in the order of 250,000 descendants!!)

Once I found Epke Jacobse, it wasn’t difficult to find information about his life, even though it was so long ago. I am really, really blessed by all the digging into records done by previous genealogy sleuths, much of which is now online. And I suppose if he’s left that many descendants, it’s not so surprising that at least one of them would have gone digging.

I’m going to summarize and paraphrase information that is available in several places, including familysearch.org and wikitree.com

The first interesting “fact” about Epke is that his birth is reported in a few places as “about 1627”, but there is a definitive record of his christening in 1619. I’m going to go with the 1619! As well, his death is listed as 1690 in a few places, but since two sources have reported his gravestone in New Jersey as having the date being 1688, I’m going with the 1688. These are good – and common – examples of what I wrote about in Week 3, Separating out fact from fiction.

So, here are some of the interesting bits I’ve found. Epke Jacobse Banta was born in 1619 in northern Netherlands, in Minnertsga, Friesland. In 1650 he married Tietje Dircksdr, in nearby Harlingen, Friesland, Netherlands. He is recorded as having been a farmer, but he was also a windmill owner and had been a miller in both Minnertsga and Oosterbeirum in the 1640s and 1650s. Court records indicate he and his wife bought a house in Oosterbeirum in 1652, but sold it at a loss in 1655, returning to Minnertsga. When his mother died in 1652, she left an inheritance to him, which was held in trust by his father until after February 1656.

On October 8, 1656 he was arrested, brought before the Public Prosecutor, and fined for permitting a Roman Catholic priest in his home to baptize his child. Catholicism was illegal in that part of the Netherlands at that time, just as Protestant religions were illegal in other pars of Europe. Since the family were recorded as upstanding Dutch Reform Church members once they got to New Amsterdam, one can only assume that they had learned from this experience that sometimes compromise isn’t such a bad thing.

It is not known why Epke and his family left the Netherlands for America (except for the religious bit!), but he is known to have had financial problems. He and his family left the Netherlands in late 1658 or early 1659 from Harlingen on the ship “DeTrouw” (meaning “Faith”) for New Amsterdam. Although this sailing took place at a time of the year when sailing across the Atlantic was usually very harsh, records indicate that the ship sailed from the Netherlands south to the Canary Islands, then to the West Indies and north along Virginia to New Amsterdam arriving on February 12, 1659. Even taking this route, Epke and Tietje must have had awfully compelling reasons to make such a trip, especially at this time of the year, with five small children — Cornelius, 6 yrs; Seba, 4 yrs; Hendrick, 3 yrs; Derrick (Dirck), 2 yrs; and Weart, 9 mos. Just stop and try to imagine what this trip must have been like – in 1659 – with 5 very small children, crossing the Atlantic in a sailing ship to an unfamiliar destination. I can’t imagine making that trip with 5 kids that young on a luxury liner in 2024!

The Banta family sailed under contract with the Dutch West Indies Company, which governed the settlement of New Amsterdam and was anxious to increase the Dutch population. When Epke came to America, it was under the following intriguing agreement with the Dutch West India Company:

1. Obey all Company orders.
2. Agree to live wherever told, for six years.
3. Help in all community projects.
4. Sell all export merchandise to the Company.
5. Agree not to sell at a profit, the products they make.
6. Plant only what they are told to plant.
7. Not to trade with outsiders or reveal to them the business and profits of the Company.
8. Pay a yearly rental in farm produce, for farm and home, in addition to the Company’s regular share, for 10 years, after which time taxes must be paid for the support of the Provincial Government and the military expenses of the Fort.
9. To remain a true Calvinist, as a member of the Dutch Reformed Church.
10. Any items needed may be purchased at the Company Store, and charged against the purchaser’s account, to be paid for in produce.

In accordance with the above, Epke was apparently told to open an Inn and Tavern, because when he arrived at Vlissengen (now Flushing, NY), on Long Island, he did indeed become an innkeeper, first in Flushing and then in Jamaica, where he became a miller. Quite a different image from what Flushing and Jamaica, NY are like now!

Subsequently, sometime before 1675, he moved to Bergen (now Jersey City, NJ). In 1681 he purchased land at Hackensack and with his sons became some of the earliest settlers in that village. In 1686 Epke Jacobse (also recorded now as Jacob) purchased another 240 acres north of what is now Cherry Hill. Much of his original purchase was subsequently deeded to Hendrick Brinckerhoff, whose family continued to own the land for 200 years.

(Source: WikiTree)

Epke became known as an upstanding and respected citizen of Bergen, and on February 18, 1679 he was appointed as a Magistrates Assistant to the Court of Oyer and Terminer, under Captain John Berry. The Court, on which Epke served, met semi-annually and had jurisdiction of all indictable crimes. Interestingly, despite his position with the courts, Epke Jacob was arrested in 1686 by the Sheriff of Bergen Co., with other land owners for rioting and for refusing to obey the King’s authority. He died in Hackensack, Bergen, NJ in 1688.

There are two words in the final two sentences describing Epke Jacob’s life in the New World that speak to the reason behind me looking for his history: “King” and “NJ” (New Jersey). For, of course, when the Banta family arrived in New Amsterdam in 1659, under the auspices of the Dutch West Indies Company, they arrived in a newly settled place that was under Dutch control. But a short 5 years later, in 1664, the English took control, and after a bit of going back and forth, that control became permanent. So, it’s not as surprising as it may seem that many “respectable” citizens would be deemed by the new “masters” to be rioting and refusing to obey the King’s authority, even if it was officially under the King’s authority that Epke’s appointment was made in 1679. They were Dutch!

Epke Jacobse Banta (Source: WikiTree)

Also, both the history books and nearly every other writer reminds us that New Amsterdam was renamed as New York when the Brits took over, in honour of the Duke of York. They also remind us of that for the naming of New York State. But, of course, New Netherland included what is now New Jersey as well as what is now New York. It was fellow blogger (and runner and author) Roy McCarthy, from Back on the Rock, who pointed out to me after a previous ancestor post that New Jersey was named after his current homeland of the Isle of Jersey. I grew up near all these places, am fairly up on my history, and I had never, ever heard this. So, I thought the least I could do is share this bit of history with you.

From Roy:

“It was Sir George Carteret who renamed New Netherlands to New Jersey in 1664 – the de Carteret family are alive in kicking at St Ouen’s Manor here in Jersey to this day.”

Of course, I googled this history immediately, and, straight from the horse’s mouth (aka nj.gov):

On June 24, 1664, James, Duke of York, granted Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret, ownership of a swath of land between the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. The charter referred to these lands as “New Jersey” in honor of Carteret’s defense of the English Channel island of Jersey during the English Civil War.

And thus ends our history lesson for this week. Thank you, Roy.