M. (1) 1639 in New Amsterdam, New Netherland
Husband: Hans Hansen Bergen
M. (2) 19 Aug 1654 in New Amsterdam, New Netherland
Husband: Teunis Gysbertse Bogaert
D. 1685 in Brooklyn, New York
Of all the sons and daughters of immigrants born in what is now New York, Sarah Jorise Rapalje was the first. Her birth, though not a momentous event when it happened, is worth noting after the fact — in a sense, she was the first true New Yorker.
Sarah’s parents were among the first boatload of colonists from the Netherlands, a group who were sent by the West India Company in 1624. Joris Jansen Rapalje and Catalyntje Trico had married just four weeks before they left for America. After the journey across the Atlantic, the ship sailed up the Hudson River, landing at Fort Orange (present-day Albany). This is where Sarah was born on June 9, 1625, likely in the bark hut that her parents first lived in.
When Sarah was 2-years-old, Peter Minuit made his famous purchase of Manhattan, and the settlers were brought down to set up the new colony. For about the next ten years, Sarah’s family lived at the southern tip of the island in a house her father built on Pearl Street. The family grew to eventually have eleven children. As the oldest, Sarah likely assisted her mother with taking care of her siblings, but her time in her parents' household was short. During the early days of the colony, marriageable women were few in number, so Sarah was married at age 14. Her husband was Hans Hansen Bergen, a tobacco farmer with a plantation in what is now Greenwich Village.
At her wedding, Sarah was presented with a medallion, which has been handed down over the generations. One side shows a 17th-century Dutch couple being blessed by a Christ figure with an inscription that translates as, “Behold this young woman whom I love and none other. She is my true one, my love and is next to God alone." The reverse side appears to depict Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the text reads, "May my Creator create us, whole flesh and bone into one." The medallion was at some point incorporated into the base of a tankard, and today it’s in the possession of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
The two-sided medallion given to Sarah on her wedding day.
On July 12, 1640, Sarah gave birth to her first child, and by the end of 1653, she had seven more. At some point, the family moved to a 400-acre farm in Brooklyn, where Hans died on May 30, 1654. As a widow with several children, Sarah needed a new husband, and on August 19th, she married a man named Teunis Gysbertse Bogaert. Seven more children were born to Sarah between 1655 and 1668. It's interesting that among her offspring were two sets of twins, one from each of her husbands.
Sarah seems to have been a prominent woman in her community, and she witnessed many baptisms of friends and family. The fact she was the first person born in the colony was said to be recognized by others; one story claimed that in 1656, she received some land from the colony leaders because of her status, but there's no known documentation of this.
Sometime during 1685, Sarah passed away, likely at her home in Brooklyn. Because of the large family she produced, she was said to have over a million descendants by the 20th century, and among them were Humphrey Bogart and Howard Dean. Along with the medallion, another of Sarah's possessions has survived: a chair that's in the collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
Children by Hans Bergen:
1. Anneken Hansen Bergen – B. 12 Jul 1640, New Netherland D. 1677, Long Island, New York; M. (1) Jan Clerq (~1641-1661), 8 Jan 1661, Flatbush, New Netherland; (2) Derck Jansen Hooglandt (~1635-1728), 8 Oct 1662, Flatbush, New Netherlands
2. Brecktje Hansen Bergen – B. about Jul 1642; M. Aert Theuniszen Middagh (~1635-~1687), 1662, Brooklyn, New Netherland
3. Jan Hansen Bergen – B. about Apr 1644; M. Jannetje Teunis (1648-?)
4. Michiel Hansen Bergen – B. about Nov 1646; D. 22 Jan 1731; M. Femmetje Denyse (1650-1734)
5. Joris Hansen Bergen – B. about Jun 1649; D. 22 Jan 1731, Brooklyn, New York; M. Sara Stryker (1649-1736), 11 Aug 1678, New York
6. Maritje Hansen Bergen – B. about Oct 1651; D. 9 Sep 1722, Brooklyn, New York; M. Jacob Rutsen (1651-1730), Ulster, New York
7. Jacob Hansen Bergen – B. about Sep 1653, Brooklyn, New Netherland; M. Elsje Frederiks (1658-1720), 8 Jul 1677
8. Catalyntje Hansen Bergen – B. about Sep 1653, Brooklyn, New Netherland; D. 20 Nov 1653, Brooklyn, New Netherland
Children by Teunis Bogaert:
1. Aertje Tunisen Bogaert – B. about 1655, New Netherland; M. Theodore Polhemius, 24 Oct 1677, New York
2. Catalyntje Tunisen Bogaert – B. 16 Dec 1657, Wallabout, New Netherland; M. Jan Teunise Van Middleswart (~1654-?), 16 Nov 1679
3. Neeltje Tunisen Bogaert – B. about 1660, New Netherland; D. young
4. Aaltje Tunisen Bogaert – B. about 1661, New Netherland; M. Charles Claasz, 11 Dec 1681
5. Antje Tunisen Bogaert – B. about 1665, New York; M. Joris Abrahamse Brinckerhoff
6. Neeltje Tunisen Bogaert – B. about 1665, New York; M. Cornelis Teunise Denyse, 22 Aug 1687, New York
7. Gysbert Tunisen Bogaert – B. about 1668, New York; M. Jannetje Van Arsdalen (~1667-1731), 16 Apr 1689, New York
Sources:
Sarah Rapelje (Wikipedia article)
Joris Jansen Rapelje (Wikipedia article)
The Island at the Center of the World, Russel Shorto, 2005
"14 Generations," New York Newsday, 23 Nov 1997
Genealogies of the New Jersey Families: Families A-Z, pre-American nots on old New Netherland families, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1996
GeneaStar: Famous Family Tree and Genealogy (website)
