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What do you call a craft that transports human beings to strange and alien worlds? A spaceship? The U.S. Starship Enterprise?
This is the story of a Dutch immigrant and his family who were passengers on Dutch West Indies ship de Vergulde Bever (The Gilded Beaver) on its fifth voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from Holland to New Amsterdam in 1661. The ship successfully sailed the route six times from 1656 through 1664.
On 8 May 1661, Frans Jacobszen van Oudewater, his wife Gertrude Gerrits and their two small children, Thys and Maritje, boarded de Vergulde Bever from its anchorage in the Zuiderzee. The next day the fully laden ship, including bags of sail-mail, with fifty-one passengers aboard set sail for New Amsterdam. Seventy-eight days later, the ship entered New York Harbor and dropped anchor off the coast of the southern tip of Manhattan, or the area of land that is now known as Battery Park.
That day a new era for Frans and his descendants commenced when the twenty-five-year-old and his family set foot on American soil. It must have been a joyous occasion for him. As attested by cannon fire report from the shoreline that greeted the ship as it entered New York Harbor surely, their arrival was a joyous occasion for New Amsterdam settlement inhabitants. Later that same year his second son, Thomas Franszen Oudewater, was born in New Amsterdam; he was baptized on Christmas Day.
The ship's manifest lists Frans and his family as hailing from Beest, Gelderland, Holland-most of the other passengers were similarly noted. However, they instead came from Oudewater, which was a town located in the province of Utrecht. The cause of the controversy likely stems from the sponsorship of Beest-originating passengers. In fact, Dominie Gideon Schaets, who came to America in 1652 from Beest to serve as an ordained minister of the Reformed Dutch Church, sponsored the passengers' voyage to America. The sponsorship practice remains the obvious reason his future parishioners listed on the ship's manifest were deemed to have originated from Beest. Furthermore, Frans' descendants adopted the surname Oudewater* or Outwater to denote, as was customary then, that part of Holland from which they originated.
Having clearly discovered one of the reasons Frans embarked on the perilous journey to America, that is, to freely practice his religious beliefs, we can only surmise another important motivation was to share in the bounty that America offered him as a young man with a wife and children to support. Moreover, the opportunity to own and develop his land as he saw fit must have been foremost in his mind even though he may have indentured himself for a number of years as recompense for the cost of his passage to New Amsterdam. What is clear is that owning land of any significant value in Holland was not a possibility for him.
Sadly, Frans' dream died with him when he passed away from an unknown cause less than five years after his landing in New Amsterdam. His wife promptly remarried in May 1665. She survived him for fifteen years.
At the age of nineteen, his daughter Maritje married Johannes Hendrick Spier. She bore him ten children and died at the age of sixty-four. Her youngest brother Thomas Oudewater, from whom I'm almost a direct descendant, fathered eight children with his first wife Tryntje Jans Bresteede. On 16 June 1686, the coupled married in New York City. He lived to be ninety-two-years of age. Tryntje passed away when she was only forty-years-old. Thys Oudewater lived for only forty-eight years and fathered only one child towards the end of his life.
However sorry we may feel about Frans' early demise his dreams for a new life for himself and his family lived on through his descendants. And we can trace many Dutch-Americans of historical note to some part of his or her lineage to him. His decendancy chart clearly demonstrates this claim.
It's important to note the direct involvement of New Amsterdam settlers in the development of constitutional democracy. The seminal act came about in reaction to widespread, social discontent, verging on chaos, extant after the ruinous Kieft's War. In reaction, West India Company Director-General Willem Kieft appointed an eight man comprised of leaders community to assist him in governance. Ironically, the citizen council later succeeded in petitioning States-General of Netherlands to replace him. Soon thereafter the council morphed at the hands of Adriaen van der Donck into the Council of Nine, which succeeded in establishing a representative government independent of the West India Company. Though short-lived as a result of the British conquest of the colony in 1664, representative government comprised of mainly common folk first appears here as a political force to be reckoned with by ruling classes.
Thereafter the American-Dutch community flourished primarily as a result of ad hoc representative government business communities that they first established to facility commerce and trade, especially in rural areas situated well away from New York. The early beginnings of the development of the American system of jurisprudence also takes root in these rural communities that continued to eschew the English common law standard in favor of the Dutch prosecutorial justice system after the fall of New Amsterdam.
The Netherlands was a bastion of liberal thought in Europe during the time of the New Amsterdam experience. Liberal thinkers and philosophers, such as Descartes, sought asylum in Holland then-moreover, it's unlikely that Spinoza wouldn't have lasted long anywhere else. There's no doubt that Dutch powers that be were thus somewhat predisposed toward enlightened and rational thought in reaction to the representative government movement in New Amsterdam. Had Spain ruled the settlement instead, the nascent political ideal would surely have been ruthlessly nipped in the bud at first sight.
Another aspect of representative government, that is, religious freedom, that stands today as a hallmark of modern democracy nearly perished in infancy during the latter history of New Amsterdam. Not so ironically, however, in 1657, the Amsterdam-based directorate of the Dutch Indies Company overruled Director-General Peter Stuyvesant after he decided to ban religious freedom. In the company's management mind, this was not a good way to promote their business ventures, particularly because they desperately needed fresh supplies of new immigrants to exploit from all walks of religious creed, including theretofore persecuted Quakers and Jews.
The New Amsterdam experience would form the basis not only for the Constitution of the United States but also for democracies that later developed in Europe and other parts of the world. There is simply no precedence in modern history to refute that claim prior to the advent of the Dutch New World culture. More than three and a half centuries later, newly-emerging democracies utilize the social contract template their society pioneered and developed to govern themselves. It's plain to me that Thomas Jefferson embraced these principles as set out to draft the Declaration of Independence.
During the Revolutionary War, Frans' descendants fought on the side of the Continental Army. One, from whom I'm almost a direct descendant, served with distinction. His name was Captain John (Jan) Outwater and he led the Bergen County Militia Regiment as Regimental Commander from the time it was first mustered in 1777 until the end of the war. After the war he became one of the United States of America's first judges and New Jersey Assemblymen (he's credited with introducing the first American suffrage legislation). His distant-cousin Dr. Thomas Outwater served with distinction as a battlefield surgeon.
It would be difficult indeed to quantify the magnitude of Frans' contribution to the New World through his descendants by his just being intrepid enough to board de Vergulde Bever to follow his dream of a better life for himself and his family. All I can definitely state is that the roots of his descendancy today are profound and widespread in every respect throughout the United States and Canada. Today two of his descendants serve as trustees of the Holland Society of New York.
Over the course of three hundred-fifty since his arrival, a mighty oak did indeed grow from the acorn of democracy that was New Amsterdam as a result of him and others who shared his vision of the future. New York grew to become the center of the modern world, vastly outstripping European and rival colonial capitals in political and economic power and prestige well before the end of the 20th century. From a backwater and seedy Dutch settlement comprised mainly of outcasts and dreamers, ordinary men from all walks of life and from every nation on the globe armed with hard-won liberty, abundant capital and innovative ideas prospered in this fertile cultural milieu where they would have failed elsewhere.
Without question, an astonishing and unprecedented period in human history was surely served up from America's Melting Pot society that was prepared there. However, in learning from that lesson, we can only conclude that the seeds of our society's destruction will be sown in the relatively infertile ground of self-serving and ineffectual privilege and status quo. This grave and sober realization is never more relevant as we witness today the decline of America and the astonishing emergence of China as potentially the dominant force in world politics within the next decade. Less than twenty years ago, I would have said that occurrence was an absolute impossibility. Moreover, Chinese capital markets now rank above both the combination of American and European capital markets with respect to capital formation power. Even less than five years ago I would have said that occurrence was also an absolute impossibility.
To assure continuance, Americans must strive ever more vigorously to preserve their vision of freedom for the sake of posterity. And we must not ever lose sight of our roots as a free and democratic nation for to do so is to forsake our ancestors' contribution in building the greatest nation on earth, one incremental step at a time, for over three centuries. All who share in our vision of freedom are welcome to contribute as they did with their blood, sweat and tears.
We must realize that forces inimical to our brand of freedom and democracy wish nothing more than to expunge our heritage from our collective memories in order to finally defeat us. Though I'm not prone to gratuitous American flag-waving, I would vigorously wave mine in their faces at the overt first show of any disrespect toward our sacred inheritance.
Much like the perilous voyage of de Vegulde Bever that brought intrepid Frans and his family to America, we too sail toward a new world order that promises to liberate every aspect of our existence. Futurists, particularly Ray Kurzweil, today tell us that the shoreline of our evolution into this dominion is just over the troubled horizon ahead. Taking the first step onto this terra incognita, however, will be only for the bravest of brave souls, especially since there'll be no turning back afterward.
My science fiction novel, Puramore - The Lute of Pythagoras, takes the reader on a fanciful and, I believe, profound trip through a scenario that could possibly lead to such an apotheosis for mankind. In this instance, however, the vessel is only the human soul or spirit whose destination is a union with the infinite mind of Creation.
I think that America has failed to fully recognize and appreciate New Amsterdam's wonderfully profound contribution to our American heritage. In the way of absolution, I recommend the declaration and establishment of an annual New Amsterdam Memorial Day. Perhaps it would be celebrated as an official nationwide holiday on the 27th of August, the day the British took formal control of the colony.
Recommended reading: The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America by Russell Shorto (ISBN13: 9781400078677)
ANCESTRAL CHART - My Frans Jacobszen van Oudewater Lineage* (Generational parentage starts with Father/Mother coupling to issue.)
1Frans Jacobszen van Oudewater (c. 1635-1665) - Father
.....Gertrude Gerritts (c. 1635-1680) Mother (1)
2...Thomas Franszen Oudewater (c. 1661-1753) - Son/Father
.......Tryntje Jans Bresteede (1666-1706) - Mother (2)
3......Jacob Franszen Oudewater (1696-1728) - Son/Father
...........Martynje Bertholf (1708- unknown ) - Mother (3)
4........John (Jan) Outwater, Capt. (1746-1823) - Son/Father
.............Hendrickie Lozier (1745-1827) - Mother (4)
5...........Jacob Outwater (1769- before 1870) - Son/Father
.............Elizabeth Brinkerhoff (1773- before 1860) - Mother (5)
6.............John Jacob Outwater (1794-1880) - Son/Father
..................Harriet Lozier (c. 1795- before 1880) - Mother
7............... George Outwater (1832-1897) - Son/Father
.....................Sarah Tripp (1850- unknown) - Mother (6)
8...................Neona Outwater (1878-1962) - Daughter/Mother
........................Wesley T. Collins (1877-1959) - Father (7)
9......................Lowell Outwater Collins (1900-1981) - Son/Father
...........................Marjorie Emily Wood (1906-1966) - Mother (8)
10.......................Roger Wood Collins (1930-2010) - Son/Father
..............................Bonnie Jean Brule (1930-living) - Mother (9)
11...........................Steven Wood Collins (1952-living) - Son
*I am indebted to Kenneth Outwater who compiled the family tree from Frans through George Outwater. Without his prodigious genealogical expertise, I may never have discovered my Outwater ancestral relationship, which he confirmed many years ago.
*Oudewater (Old Water) was the birthplace of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609) who was a professor of theology at the University of Leiden from 1603 until his death. He founded the Remonstrant movement that refuted Reformed Dutch Church pre-destination doctrines. It appears that movement later influenced Spinoza and Adriaen van der Donck, who was a University of Leiden graduate. His theological principles led to the formation of the Methodist Church in England in 1844.
The first Dutch Master painter, Aelbert van Ouwater (1410/1415-1475), hailed from Oudewater. Two of his paintings hang in the Metropolitan Museum of New York and one, Raising of Lazarus, in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. Spaniards took Raising of Lazarus back to Spain as war booty after the bloody siege of Haarlem in 1573.
(1) Gerrits: Early Dutch immigrants who appear to hail from Oudewater, Holland.
(2) Bresteede: Tryntje's father was Jan Janszen van Bresteede. He was born in New Amsterdam in 1624. He skippered several passenger ships that brought Dutch and German immigrants to New Amsterdam. His voyages include: April 1657, in the ship Droetvat; December 1657, in the ship de Vergulde Bever; February 1659, in the ship de Trou, which at this time seems to be his own vessel; December 1659, in de Trou; December 1660, in de Trou; March 1662, in de Trou; and January 1664, in de Trou. He maintained an important business/political relationship with Peter Stuyvesant after becoming prosperous in the shipping business.
(3) Bertholf: Guillium Bertholf emigrated with his wife Martina Hendricks Vermeulen from Sluys, Flanders, Netherlands to New Amsterdam in 1683. Originally a cooper by trade, he became an ordained minister and founded a branch of the Reformed Dutch Church. One of his churches became a historical landmark in the Washington Irving novel The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
(Revised History of Harlem (City of New York) by James Riker pp. 69, 350, 393, 407 & 791)
(4) Lozier (originally, Le Sueur): Originally a Huguenot, Francois Le Sueur was born in 1625 in Challe Mesnil, Normandy, France. He landed in New Amsterdam with his sister Jeanne on 10 Apr 1657. He settled in Flatbush, Long Island, New York in 1657 and wedded Jannatie Hildebrand Pietersen on 12 Jul 1659, in the Reformed Dutch Church, New Amsterdam. He left Harlem about 1663 and went to Esopus, accompanied by his sister Jeanne, who married Cornelis Viervant. Both she and her husband later returned to Harlem. Francois was living in 1670, but it is recorded that on 30 November 1671 his widow bound out her son Willenbrand who was then 8 years old so Francois must have died in 1671 in Harlem, New York.
He was related to painter Eustache Le Sueur, whose paintings now hang in the Louvre and Hermitage, opera composer Jean-François Le Sueur, naturalist Charles Alexander Lesueur and sculptor Hubert Le Sueur-all of whom hailed from the same region in Normandy.
(5) Brinkerhoff: Born in 1609, Joris Dericksen Brinckerhoff, who emigrated from Drentland, Holland, in 1638, with his wife Susanna Dubbels, settled in Brooklyn, New York, then New Amsterdam. See The Brinkerhoffs of America for further details.
(6) Tripp: One of about twelve children of John Tripp and Isabel Moses, John Tripp was born in Lincolnshire, England in 1610. He immigrated to America in 1636, He first settled in Boston where he was employed as an indentured ship carpenter. In 1641, he fled to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, probably to escape Puritans. The Portsmouth Registry of Freemen lists that him that year as a Gentleman so we can safely assume his voluntary servitude obligations ended before his arrival. John was an active member of his community and held at least a dozen important public offices (including Commissioner of the Colony).
At his death in 1678, his five sons inherited vast amounts of farmland he managed to acquire over the years since his arrival in Rhode Island. A few emigrated to New York shortly thereafter. His daughters married into over 100 Rhode Island families in subsequent generations.
Richard Tripp, the first noteworthy descendant of John Tripp with whom I'm related, was born in New York in 1822. His daughter Sarah E. Tripp married George Outwater somewhere around 1878. She died in 1920 in Kansas at the age of seventy.
Richard fought on the side of the Union during the Civil War. Many of his forebears, including his great-grandfather, fought on the side of the Whigs during the American Revolutionary War of 1776.
(7) Collins: Born in 1815, John Collins immigrated to America from England with his brother William sometime between 1830 and 1835. They first settled around Rock Island, Illinois. His descendants became printers, railroad engineers, farmers, merchants, military aviators and financiers.
The mutual fund company, Founders Depositor Corporation, that Lowell Outwater Collins started in the 1930s, now known as Founders Dreyfus Funds, is a subsidiary of Bank of New York. It's likely that he was related to Michael Collins, who was a crew member of the first NASA space mission to transport human beings to the surface of the Moon.
My father, Roger Wood Collins, was a military pilot for the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He later became a military test pilot while he served the remainder of his military career. Michael and my father were both born in 1930.
(8) Wood: John L. Wood emigrated from England to Ontario, Canada around the mid-1900s, perhaps before. His grandson, Hurlbert J. Wood settled in Colorado Springs, Colorado around the turn of the 20th century and became a prosperous baker and Freemason there. My grandmother attended Colorado College before her marriage to Lowell Outwater Collins, who was on the faculty as a French language instructor. My Wood ancestors appear to have originated from an English county situated close to Wales but actually not that far from Stratford-upon-Avon. I believe that further research will reveal that they were of mixed English-Welsh heritage. My suspicion in that regard is mainly predicated on my own observation as a child of my grandmother's exceptionally fierce independence, astounding intelligence and quintessentially poetic and lovely nature. William Shakespeare surely would have been smitten by the mere sight of her.
(9) Brule: The Brules were of French Canadian descent who settled around the Great Lakes region around the mid-1900s. The first ancestor to arrive on the North American continent emigrated from France, perhaps as early as 1604.
I currently reside in Costa Rica with my Costa Rican wife, who's practiced law here for the past twenty-five years. I pursued a career in the financial services industry for nearly fifteen years before setting out on my own as a writer and entrepreneur over ten years ago.
My debut science fiction novel, Puramore - The Lute of Pythagoras, was published last May. I'm currently writing the sequel, entitled The Retopians.
I'm an avid recreational scuba diver who enjoys travel, good books and writing.
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4524514.Steven_Wood_Collins
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