M. 11 Feb 1640 in New Amsterdam, New Netherland
Wife: Phoebe Sayles
D. about 1663 In Brooklyn, New Netherland
It’s hard to imagine, but there was a time when much of lower Manhattan was farmland. This is the story of a man who lived there named Teunis Nyssen. He was born in Bunnik, Netherlands in the province of Utrecht, roughly in about 1615. There has been speculation about who his parents were, but the information has not been confirmed.
The exact date of when Teunis arrived in America is unknown. The earliest record of him was in a court proceeding in New Amsterdam on July 15, 1638 when he filed a suit against a man named Gerrit Jansen over “delivery of a cow” (the case was ruled in his favor). This would suggest he was already established as a farmer, putting his arrival maybe a year before that date, if not earlier. A record of a 1639 transaction of property near the Hudson River mentioned that Teunis had once lived on that land.
On February 11, 1640, Teunis married Femmetje Jans, a girl who at the young age of 15 was the widow of a man named Hendrick de Boer. Teunis and Femmetje would have nine children born between about 1641 and 1655. She was originally from England, born with the name Phoebe Sayles. Her family had migrated to New England, but her father was somewhat of a trouble-maker there, and relocated to the Dutch colony with his daughter in 1638. His name was John Sayles which he changed to Jan Celes after he moved to New Amsterdam.
When Jan died in 1645, he left part of his farm to his son-in-law, Teunis. The tract of land, which was called “Old Jan’s Farm,” was located just above the present-day Canal Street in what would one day be the western end of Soho. The farm was surrounded by other farms and had frontage on the Hudson River.
Approximate location of Teunis' farm on today's map. Before landfill, it was waterfront property.
Teunis was involved in several other land sales during the next couple of years. On December 1, 1646, he bought a house on a lot located on the “great highway” (the early name for Broadway). It was “opposite the Company garden” and he paid 160 guilders for it. A few years later, on May 13, 1649, he sold the place to someone else. As for the farm he owned in Manhattan, he sold that on June 15, 1651.
At that point, Teunis seems to have left Manhattan. It’s believed that the family lived in Gowanus on land bounded by modern-day streets Carroll, President, 4th and 5th. Teunis returned to New Amsterdam for the baptism of two sons in April 1654. It isn't known if the boys were twins, or if they were born at separate times during years when the family didn't have easy access to a church.
Brooklyn and its surrounding towns became Teunis' home for the remainder of his life. He was a magistrate from 1658 to 1661, and he and his wife became members of the Brooklyn Dutch Reformed Church when it was founded in 1660. Teunis died before June 7, 1663, when his wife Femmetje was recorded on a document as a widow. She remarried later that year, but passed away on December 13, 1666. Teunis and Femmetje were ancestors of actor James Spader.
Children:
1. Jannetje Teunise — B. before 22 Dec 1641, New Amsterdam, New Netherland; D. 1734, New York; M. Titus de Vries (~1630-1689), 1660, Brooklyn, New Netherland
2. Marretje Teunise — B. before 3 Apr 1644, New Amsterdam, New Netherland; M. Derick Janse Woertman (1630-1694), 1660, Brooklyn, New Netherland
3. Annetje Teunise — B. before 18 Feb 1646, New Amsterdam, New Netherland; M. Jeronimus Jorise Rapalje (1643-?)
4. Elsje Teunise — B. before 10 May 1648, New Amsterdam, New Netherland; M. Gerret Snedeker (1640-1692), 2 Dec 1669, Brooklyn, New York
5. Femmetje Teunise — B. before 3 Apr 1650, New Netherland; M. Michiel Hansen Bergen (~1646-~1712)
6. Cornelis Teunissen Denyse — B. (probably) Gowanus, New Netherland; D. 3 Nov 1731, Raritan, New Jersey; M. Neeltje Tuneisen Bogaert (~1665-?), 22 Aug 1687, New York
7. Denyse Teunissen — B. before 12 Apr 1654, Gowanus, New Netherland; M. (1) Elizabeth Polhemius (1660-1683), 22 Oct 1682, Flatbush, New York; (2) Helen Cortelyou, 12 Aug 1685, New York
8. Jan Teunise Van Middleswart —B. before 12 Ap 1654, Gowanus, New Netherland; D. after 1742; M. Catalyntje Tunisen Bogaert (1657-1707), 16 Nov 1679, Flatbush, New York
9. Aertije Teunise — B. about 1656, (probably) Gowanus, New Netherland
Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N.Y., Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan, 1865
The Bergen family: the Descendants of Hans Hansen Bergen, Teunis G. Bergen, 1876
The Iconography of Manhattan Island, Isaac Newton Phelps Stokes, Victor Hugo Paltsits, and Frederik Caspar Wieder, 1915
Records of the Reformed Dutch Church in New Amsterdam and New York, Thomas Grier Evans, 1901
