The Fulkerson Family Pages
Grietje Dircks, #1 of 9 of Dirck and Christina
Grietje (Margaret) Dircks was born c 1633 in New Amsterdam, New York, in Buswyck, Queens County. Grietje was the first of seven sisters and the first of the nine children of Dirck Volckertszen De Noorman and Christina Vigne. (Grietje was short for Margrietje or Margaret. It should not be confused with the similar name Geertie, which was Dutch for 'Charity.' (There was a 'Geertie Dircks' also in Manhattan and whose name appears in records during the 1600s. Grietje and Geertie were separate individuals.) Note that Amsterdam, New York, is a small town upstate in the vicinity of Schenectady; whereas New Amsterdam was renamed New York after the English Duke of York in 1665.
Grietje would grow up to marry three different husbands, becoming mother to eight children.
On our previous site, Fulkerson.org (maintained by Bob Fulkerson prior to his passing), Bob shares this information about Grietje:
On 26 December 1649, Grietje Dircks married First Sergeant Jan Hermanszen Schutt (born c 1627 in Lubeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany), son of Hermann Schutt.
A soldier, Schutt was killed by Indians in 1652. Schutt and Grietje had one child, Fytie (a.k.a. Phebe), who was baptized 23 Apr 1651.
1. Fytie (Phebe) Schutt, born c 1651, baptized 23 April 1651.
Fytie Schutt would become matriarch of the Conselyea and Van Cott families.
Only one year after Schutt's death, Grietje would enter her second marriage, this time to Sergeant Jan Nagel Von Limberg. Their wedding took place 27 September 1652.
Upon marrying Jan Nagel Von Limburg, Grietje moved in with him in a house "on the north side of Hoogh Straet opposite the [City] Hall" previously been owned by a friend of Grietje's father Dirck, Claes Carstensen. Children born in this home were:
1. Jurian Nagel, born c 1653 and baptized 28 Sept 1653.
2. Christina (Styntje) Nagel....born after May 1655, baptized 26 Sept 1655.
Only five years later, Grietje found herself widowed once again. At the time of her third marriage, Grietje dispensed her three children's inheritances from their fathers to them through an action on 28 May 1658 in the New Amsterdam Orphans' Court. Appointed as guardians to administer the estates were Abraham Verplanck (husband of Maria Vigne, Grietje's aunt and sister to Grietje's mother Christina) and Andries De Haas (a baker).
Grietje's third marriage would be to Barent Gerritsen Van Swol/Van Flaesbeck on 11 March 1658.
1. Margrietie Barends, born c 1658, baptized 4 Dec 1658.
2. Femmetje (a.k.a. Phebe) Flaesbeck, born c 1661, baptized 23 Jan 1661
3. Johannes Flaesbeck, born c 1664, baptized 20 July 1664.
4. Sarah FLAESBECK....born c 1665.
Minister Everardus Bogardus served the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam from 1633 to 1647. It is likely Bogardus baptized all the children of Dirck and Christina except the last two.In 1647 Bogardus left New Amsterdam for Europe aboard The Princess, but, along with the ship and all its passengers, was lost at sea in the Bristol Channel.
Wilhelm Kieft would have been the Dutch Director-General in charge at the time of Grietje's birth. Kieft served as teh sixth Dutch Director-General of the colony of New Netherland from 1597 to 1647. Kieft became infamous for his attacks on the Raritan/Lenape tribes and the subsequent deterioration in relations between colonists and Native Americans that nearly resulted in the destruction of New Netherlands (see Kieft's War). With Bogardus, Kieft perished aboard The Princess, but, along with the ship and all its passengers, was lost at sea in the Bristol Channel, off the coast of Swansea, Wales, enroute to Amsterdam to defend himself against charges stemming from his attacks. Rev. Bogardus, who perished with him on the Princess, was to have testified against him.
The Children of Grietje Dircks and Sergeant Jan Nagel Von Limburg:
The Child of Grietje Dircks and Jan Hermanszen Schutt:
The Children of Grietje Dircks and Barent Gerritsen Van Swol/Van Flaesbeck:
This portrait, A Young Woman Wearing Pearls, from the 1600s Emilian School (Bolognese), depicts a woman who lived in the era of our ancestor. No doubt, as a woman of means, her wardrobe was likely much more sophisticated than that of a child grown up on the frontier in the New World of the Dutch colony in New York.
