Egbert MEYNDERSE (1635 – 1684) was Alex’s 10th Grandfather; one of 2,048 in this generation of the Shaw line.

Egbert Meynderse (Meynderts, Meindersle, Meyndertsen) was born in 1635 in Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.  He married Jaepe (Jacobje) JANS in Holland, He emigrated with his wife, child and servant in Feb 1659 on De Trouw (the Faith) from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam; sailed on 12 Feb 1659, arrived New Amsterdam before 5 May 1659.   Egbert died in 1684 in Kingston, NY.

Jaepe Jans was born in 1645 in the Netherlands. Her parents were probably not Roeloff JANS (1602 – 1638) and Anneka [WEBBER?] (1605 – 1663) because Roeloff died about 1637.  However, the Jans family has an interesting legend about the descent of Anneke Jans from the Royal Line of William the Silent (see below).  There is also a family legend to lost title to 63 acres of Manhattan real estate which I tell on Thomas WEBBER‘s page.  Jaepe died in Kingston, NY.

Children of Cornelis and Jaepe:

In 1663, Egbert leased a house on Bridge Street in New Amsterdam.  Today,  Bridge Street is a street located in the lower part of the New York City Borough of Manhattan and runs two blocks between State Street and Broad Street, and is split in two by Whitehall Street.

Click Here for Google Maps Satellite View of Bridge Street

In the 17th century city of New Amsterdam, the Dutch created two canals, one at present day Broad Street (then called “Princegracht” or Prince Canal) and one at present day Beaver Street (then called “Heeregracht” or Gentleman’s Canal). One of the three bridges crossing the “Prince Canal” at that time was at the end of Bridge Street (Dutch: Brugstraat), thus giving the street its name.

CITY CLERK, CITY OF NEW YORK. Translation of Register of Walewyn van der Veen Notary Public of New Amsterdam 1662-1664, p. 68]:

This day, the 30 March 1663, before me Walewyn van der Veen, Notary Public, admitted by the Right Honble Director General and Council, residing at Amsterdam in New Netherland, and before the undernamed witnesses, appeared the worthy Anthony Jansen van Fes, called van Salee, to me the Notary known, who declared to have leased, as he hereby doth, his house and lot standing and situate in the New Bridge Street, between the houses of Hendrick Kip and Hendrick Jansen Smit, to Egbert Meyndersen who also appeared and accepted the said lease, and that for the term of two consecutive and following years, beginning the first of May 1663, and ending on the same date 1665, for which lease the tenant shall be bound to cover the said house with good tiles at his own expense, to wit:

He shall defray the expense of the tiles and back thereunto required together with the labor-wages, on condition that the tenant shall, over and above his occupation, receive from the lessor thereto, in January of the coming year 1664, one hundred and sixty-two guilders, ten stivers, payable in wampum or corn in the value thereof, and fifteen vuyren plank; further, the wood work and dependencies with the builder’s wages belonging to the frame of said roof shall be at the expense of the lessor.

It is therefore conditioned that the lessor shall enjoy at his convenience in said house a suitable sleeping place, and may store therein one or two Chests; all which aforesaid the appearers promise each for himself punctually to perform and observe under bond of their respective persons and properties, submitting the same to all courts and judges. Thus done and executed at the city aforesaid, in the presence of Resolvit Waldron and Jacobus van de Water, witnesses hereunto invited who have subscribed these presents with the appearances and me the Notary on the date as above:

This is the mark made by the own hand of ANTHONI JANSEN VAN FES, EGBERT MYNDERS, RESOLVERT WALDREN, JACOBS VAN DE WATER.
12 June 1663 gave engrossed copy hereof to Anthony Jansen.

5 Sep 1664 – Egbert Meynderse signed a “Remonstrance of the People of New Netherland to the Director-General and Council,” advising the Dutch of the colonists’ intention to surrender to the English who were about to invade. Soon afterwards, the English seized control of what is now known as New York.

Roelof Janse was born in Maesterland (now Marstrand), Norway, about 1602, and died in New Amsterdam about 1637. Anneke Jans was born in Vleckere, Norway (now Flekkerøy, Flekkerøy Is., Vest Agder, Norway), in 1605, and died in Beverwyck (now Albany, New York), on February 23, 1663. She was buried in the churchyard, Beaver and Hudson Street. They were married in Amsterdam Reformed New Church, Amsterdam, Holland, on Friday, April 18, 1623. She took the name Anneke Janse. She is the daughter of Jonas/Johan and Tryntje (Roelofs) _____.. They had six children

My GRANDMOTHER wrote:

I wish I remembered more about Oliver WEBBER [her great-grandfather (1797 – 1862)].  He had merchant ships, my mother referred to him as “merchant prince” wich was a typical Maine expression.  He was of Dutch descent and his family were early citizens of Manhattan Island when it was Dutch.  The Webber family throughout the country had a long and involved lawsuit over property in that area.  My Uncle Dana COLEMAN gave money to that for years (Unsuccessful)

Thomas WEBBER, our first Webber immigrant really did have merchant ships, though he was English, not Dutch and was not related to Wolfort Webber or Anneke Webber Jans, though they were real people.

Not only are the blood lines sketchy at best, but the stories of riches from William the Silent and title to hundreds of millions of dollars of prime Manhattan real estate are all false legends anyway.  I wonder how much money Uncle Dana put into this scheme.

Anneke Jans Bogardus Story

Most authors of historical manuscripts, articles and books on the early settlement of New Amsterdam have seldom discussed her family origin, but some have cautiously implied that she was descended from William the Silent (1533 – 1584), Prince of Orange, who later became William the Tenth of Orange and William I of Holland.

William the Silent of Orange portrayed by Adriaen Thomas Key (ca. 1570–1584)

William the Silent was born in 1533 and married four times. In addition to the legitimate children by each of his wives, he is known to have had a mistress named Eve Elincx and a son educated under the name of Justin of Nassau, but the “legend of Anneke Jans” also claims that he also had a morganatic wife, Annetgen Coch, by whom two children were born whom he named Sara and Wolfert Webber. Then, supposedly, Wolfert married Tryntje Roelofs (or Jonas) and had three or four children: Wolfert (b. 1602), Marritje (b. 1603), Anneke (b. 1605), and perhaps Ariaentje.   Records have proven that Marritje was a sister of Anneke but there is no evidence to prove that she had a brother Wolfert or a sister Ariaentje.  Even further, claims have been made that there is a long-lost bank account with a vast balance that was created for Sara and Wolfert, now simply awaiting discovery by their heirs.

A morganatic wife was a woman of inferior social status who married a man of royalty or nobility with the understanding that any children would be legitimate and acknowledged as his, but that neither she nor they would have any claim to his rank or property. It was common and acceptable for at least high royalty to have morganatic wives.

It is then claimed that Anneke Webber married Roelof Jansen and thereafter was known as Anneke Jans. Numerous published items have unwittingly and without proof thus woven an intricate and detailed family relationship among early Webber-Sybrant-Selyns-Cocks-Wallis families to conveniently strengthen the legendary, yet spurious, descent of Anneke Jans from the Royal Line of William the Silent.

There is not any credence whatsoever to this fabrication , and it is hoped future generations of Anneke Jans’ descendants will view this legend as “early American folklore”. There is not a single thread of evidence to support the descendancy of Anneke Jans from William the Silent.

The Central Bureau of Genealogy in The Netherlands, which is regularly pestered by Americans seeking information about their “royal” ancestor, Anneke Jans, attributes the origin of the myth to a book written in 1894 by Charles H. Browning: Americans of Royal Descent. Some people regard this book as a valuable genealogical tool while others claim that some of the lineages were purposely concocted mislead people, supporting such scams as the Trinity Church/Anneke Jans land claim which lined the pockets of several generations of unscrupulous lawyers.

Notwithst anding the foregoing, Anneke Jans was indeed a very real person, although her fame is not due to any personal degree of importance during her lifetime. It should also be noted, incidentally, that there was a considerable number of Jans, Janse and Jansen families of this time period —with many daughters named Anneke or Annetje—but there is no evidence of any relationship to Anneke who is the subject of this book. Nevertheless, millions of Anneke’s descendants have become mesmerized by the illusions of great wealth which surfaced long after her death in 1663, stemming from the disputed title to 62 acres of land she inherited from Roelof Jansen in early New Amsterdam and now the heart of New York City and compounded by stories of fortunes found in European banks left by her royal grandfather to her seventh generation descendants.

Yet the questions remain: “Who was Anneke Jans? Where did she come from? And what was her station in life?” From the Amsterdam (Holland) Reformed Oude Kerk marriage intentions of April 1, 1693, it is recorded that Roeloff Janssoon, born in Maesterland (Marstrand, on the island of the same name, Goteburg Och Bohus, Sweden— but in Bohuslan, Norway until 1658), a seaman, aged 21 years, having no parents (to grant parental permission), assisted by Jan Qerritsz., his nephew, residing three and a half years at the St. Tunis gate, on the one part: and Anna Jans, born in Vleckere, Norway Flekkeroy, on the island of the same name, Vest Agder, Norway), aged 18 years, assisted by Trijn Roeloffs, her mother, residing at the same place, of the second part. The marriage record of Roelof Janz (hereafter cited as Jansen) and Anna Jars was dated April 18, 1623 in the records of the Amsterdam Reformed Niew Kerk. it has been concluded by some that the give name of the father of Anneke Jans was therefore Johan. Jan oriohannes. The first three children of Roelof Jansen and his wife Anneke Jans are recorded as being baptized in the Amsterdam Lutheran Church as follows: Lijntje, baptized July 21, 1624, witnesses: Annetgen Jans, Stijntgen Barents, Sara, baptized April 5, 1627, witnesses: Assueris Jansen, Stijntje Barents, and Trijntje, baptized June 24,1629, witnesses Cornetis Sijverts, Trijntgen Siewerts.

Roelof Jansen was among the first immigrants to New Amsterdam and in 1630 was commissioned to farm land in the new colony of Rensselaerswyck for $72 a year. Roelof and Anneke, together with their two children, a party of colonists and probably Anneke’s mother and sister, set sail on March 21, 1630 from the Texel for New Amsterdam aboard the ship “Eendracht”, arriving on May 24, 1630. While at Rensselaerswyck, Roelof and Arneke were parents to two additional children, namely: Sytje, born about 1631 on de [aets Burg” farm and Jan, born about 1633 at the same place. The family resided and worked at Rensselaerswyck until about 1634, or later, when they moved to New Amsterdam. Their sixth child, Annetje, was born about 1636 in New Amsterdam and probably died as a child sometime after 1642.

Children

1. Marijken Egbertse MEYNDERSE (See Cornelis Lambertsen BRINK‘s page)

2. Jannetje Egbertsen

Jannetje’s husband Andries DeWitt was born in 1657 in New Amsterdam. His parents were Tjerck Claessen DeWitt and Barbara Andriessen. Andries died 22 Jul 1710 in Kingston, Ulster, New York.

Sources:

http://www.hopefarm.com/brink.htm

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=1254038&st=1

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/7103948/person/145365305

http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/ships/nnship31.shtml