Facing Uncertainty
By Myra Vanderpool Gormley © 2018
On the eve of his voyage in 1641 to the New World, my ancestor, Anthony de Hooges, reflected on the “certainty of death, as well as the uncertainty of the hour” at which death would overtake him. He made out a Will even though he was single and only 21 years old. A week later, on 23 July 1641, he boarded den Coninck David (King David) in Amsterdam on a voyage to New Netherland where he was to begin a new job for the West Indies Company and a new life.
"Anthony de Hooges was baptized in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam on 14 December 1620, the eighth and last child born to Johannes de Hooges and Maria Tijron. Both of Anthony’s parents were probably Calvinist immigrants from the Southern Netherlands (likely from Mechelen and Antwerp, respectively, in what is now Belgium). The family was evidently solidly middle class: Johannes [de Hooges] worked as a bookkeeper for the West India Company and was a shareholder in that company as well.”[1]
Anthony de Hooges kept a journal of his long voyage. It begins: "In the year of our Lord 1641, the 30th of July, I commenced this journal in the name of the Lord. May the Lord conduct us to the place of our destination in order that on our arrival we may offer to the Lord the offering of our lips to His honor and our salvation. Amen."[2]
It was an unusually stormy passage and no doubt frightening to all aboard. It took four months to reach its destination. The ship set sail from Texel with about 35 or 36 other ships. On August 19, it reached Plymouth [England] where it stayed until the 30th. Setting sail again, this time with five other vessels, it passed the Madeira Islands on September 16 and 17 and on the 19th and 20th passed the Canary Islands, leaving the other ships, except for one galley, there. By October 4, it was running short of water. It reached the Leeward Islands on October 16th, and anchored at St. Christopher on the 18th. Here it took on water and remained until the 23rd.
On November 29, den Coninck David sailed past Sandy Hook and Anthony closed his journal saying: "At daybreak we ran to the sand point (Sandy Hook) and we rounded it too close. We got aground on a reef which had formed there within a year. After two hours we got afloat again. God be praised we suffered no damage and with good speed passed between the Hoofden (the headlands at the sides of the Narrows) and in the afternoon came to anchor at the Manhatens, in front of Smits Vly (on the East River). Thus the Lord delivered us at last, after much adversity, for which He be praised forever, Amen. — "Journal of Anthony de Hooges, of his voyage to New Netherland beginning 30 July ending 29 November 1641."[3]
For some passenger lists of ships to New Netherland/New York, including den Coninck David in 1641 see:
https://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nnship53.shtml
Six years later in New Netherland Anthony de Hooges married Aefje Albertsen “Eva” Bradt, adding some Norwegian to my family bloodline. They had four daughters and one son who was my ancestor, Johannes de Hooges (1654-1738), who married Margarita Post (1657-1700). See The POST Family of New York and New Jersey -- Descendants of Adriaen Crijne Post, by Lorine McGinnis Schulze online at
http://olivetreegenealogy.com/nn/surnames/post.shtml
Johannes de Hooges and Margarita Post were parents of six daughters and only one son, who died before reaching adulthood and thus the De Hooges surname has “daughtered out” in America. Johannes and Margarita’s daughter, Cathrina de Hooges married Wynant Vanderpool, my ancestor, in 1706.[4]
Anthony de Hooges probably has many living descendants today, as he had 25 grandchildren and 143 great-grandchildren, but they will be found under various other surnames, and spelled variantly, such as Bries, Hornbeck, Van Etten, Rutgers, Quick, Oostrander, Roosa, de la Montagne, and Vanderpool.
He is a fine ancestor to have because there are so many records written by him and/or pertaining to him available.
If you have New Netherland ancestry, perhaps he appears in your family tree, too.
[1] From the Introduction of The Memorandum Book of Anthony de Hooges, translated by Dirk Mouw; publication of the New Netherland Research Center and the New Netherland Institute, 2012. Retrieved from: https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/2713/5543/9527/DeHoogesTranslationFinal.pdf
[2] Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts (Albany: University of the State of New York, 1908), p. 580. Retrieved from: https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/4813/8679/0228/NY006011163_1908_VR_Bowier_Manuscripts.pdf
[3] Ibid
[4] Col. William Van Derpoel Hannay, compiler, Dutch Settlers Society of Albany Yearbook, Vol. 41 (Albany, New York: Dutch Settlers Society of Albany, 1966-1968), p. 12.
No comments:
Post a Comment