M. (1) about 1648 in (probably) Flatbush, New Netherland1
Husband: Hendrick _______
M. (2) before 18 Nov 1659 in (probably) Flatbush, New Netherland1
Husband: Jan Teunissen Dam
D. before 25 Mar 1695 in (probably) Flatbush, New York1
When we think of the Dutch colony in America, present-day New York comes to mind. But for a short time in the mid-17th century, New Netherland had control of part of Delaware, and Catharina Cronenberg moved there with her husband.
The early years of Catharina’s life are sketchy. She was from the Netherlands, perhaps into what is now Germany, and was born before 1631. She married a man who we only know by the first name of Hendrick,1 and it isn’t certain which side of the Atlantic the wedding took place. They had one child named Magdalena,1 born in the Dutch settlement of Flatbush (there may have been others who died young). Then Hendrick seems to have died.
Catharina took a second husband, probably in Flatbush, by the name of Jan Teunissen Dam; it’s believed that they didn’t have any children together. The marriage record is missing, but their names were on a document dated November 18, 1659.1 Sometime earlier that year, they left Flatbush and relocated to the former colony of New Sweden,1 now called New Amstel, where land was more plentiful. They apparently hadn’t cleared the move with the Dutch authorities, because court records show that they got into trouble for it, and Jan was arrested.1
The colony of New Sweden included Delaware and parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Why would the Dutch authorities come down on a family wanting to live in a place of their choosing? Because New Netherland was run as a company, and the colonists were in some sense their employees. So in order to relocate, people needed permission, and Jan and Catharina apparently didn’t have it. A few days after Jan was taken into custody, he escaped, and then Catharina was brought in for questioning on November 22nd.1
A letter written by Wilhelmus Beekman to Director-General Peter Stuyvesant dated April 23, 1660 told of a man who worked for the authorities named Adries Lourens, who had been sent to where Catharina and her husband was.1 He referred to Jan, Catharina and their child as “fugitives,” and he brought them back with him to New Netherland. Beekman was the man in charge of New Amstel, and later during the 1680s, he served as the mayor of New York City.1
Wilhelmus Beekman.
Catharina and Jan didn’t stay in Southampton because records show that she bought property in Flatbush on August 22, 1679.1 She paid 3,000 guilders for a house, orchard and yard, with the option to pay in wheat or rye worth that amount of money. The plan was to pay in installments in 1680, 1681 and 1682, so that seems to be a deal to surrender 1,000 guilders worth of farm production each year, and then she would own it outright. There are records for three payments to the seller, with the only the third adding the detail that stated an amount of 500 guilders, and that it was her husband who paid.1 These documents also reveal that Catharina couldn’t sign her own name.
It isn’t known exactly when Catharina died, but it was between November 27, 1681, when her name was on a baptismal record,1 and March 25 1695, when husband Jan wrote his will.1 He left his estate to his step-daughter and her children, and he likely died by March of 1701.1
Child by Hendrick ______:
1. Magdalena Hendricks — B. about 1649, (probably) Flatbush, New Netherland;1 D. after 22 Apr 1716, (probably) Haverstraw, New York;1 (1) M. Cornelius Vonck (~1634-?), 26 Dec 1667, Southampton, Long Island;1 (2) Minne Johannis (?-1691), about Apr 1689, Flatbush, New York;1 (3) Achias Jansz Van Dyck (?-~1707), after 22 Dec 1693, (probably) Brooklyn, New York1
Source:
1 “Magdalena Hendricks, Wife of Cornelis Vonk/Vonck, and Her Mother, Catharina Cronenberg, Wife of Jan Teunissen Dam,” Carolyn Nash, The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 143, 2012