The Fulkerson Family Pages
Volkert Dircks, #6 of 9 of Dirck and Christina
Volkert Dircks was born in 1643 and baptised November 15, 1643 in New Amsterdam, New York, in Buswyck, Queens County. Volkert was the older of only two sons, and was the sixth of nine children of Dirck Volckertszen De Noorman and Christina Vigne. 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.
Volkert's baptism in the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam was witnessed by step-grandfather Jan Jansen Damen, Philip Grear, Maria Philips, and his uncle, Cornelis Van Tienhoven, whose title "Secretaris" appears in the record of the event.
Volkert was raised at Smit's Vly, close to Ann Street and Fulton Street, very near the Brooklyn Bridge. Sometime after 1646 his family moved across the East River to their new farm house at Noorman's Kill. His family may not have settled there permanently until the mid-1650's, after the Indian wars subsided.
In 1667 Volkert contracted with his father to work 200 acres of this farm, in exchange for eventually receiving title to the land. Volkert married Annetje PHILLIPS about 1668. Her father was Phillip LANGELANS, who had sailed from the Netherlands to New Amsterdam in 1659 on the ship "Faith" with his wife and two daughters. The other daughter was Marie, who married Grietje Dircks' son Jurian NAGEL. Jurian's aunt Annetje was thus also his sister-in-law, and Volkert's nephew was also his brother-in-law.
When the Dutch recaptured New York from the English in 1673, Volkert became a magistrate of Bushwick under the short-lived Dutch authority. The English and Dutch concluded a treaty in 1674 that returned New York to English control.
Volkert's name then appears on the 1675 and 1676 Assessment Rolls in Boswyck as Volkert Dierckse. In 1677 he was listed as a member of Dominie Van Zuuren's church, and in 1686 was commissioned lieutenant of militia [p. 147 of Cal. of Eng. Man.]. In the 1682 baptism of his daughter Lydia at the Flatbush DRC, his name was recorded as "Folkert Dircksen" and that of his wife was "Annitje Flippsen."
Volkert appeared on the 1683 Rate List of Bushwyck as Volkert Dircksen (assessed taxes for 200 acres). On 10 Aug 1684 he witnessed the baptism of niece Lisbeth, daughter of Peter Schamp and Janetie Dirks of Bushwick, at the Reformed Dutch Church of Flatbush. On 21 Nov 1686 the NY DRC showed a baptism for: "Jacop. Joost Dulje, Madleen Delefeebre, parents [witnesses:] Folkert Dircksen, Elisabeth Lodowycks."
Selling land in 1685 to Peter PRAA, Volkert shows up again on a land patent in 1687. In that same year he was listed on the roster at Bushwick when he took the mandatory oath of allegiance to England. On 9 Sep 1688 Volkert witnessed at the baptism of granddaughter Antie, daughter of Cornelius Cortelyou and Neltje Volkers, at Flatbush.
Many of Volkert's children moved to New Jersey after his death. It is also likely that his wife Annetje went with them, as an undated (approx. 1710) map of the Harlingen tract in Somerset County, NJ, shows the adjoining properties of "Anna Volkerse, Claus Volkerse, Dirck Volkerse and D. Volkerse" [the last entry may be son Philip, with the initial P miscopied as a D, but the evidence is that Dirck owned two lots there].
He died sometime in his 44th to 47th year, before the Kings County census in 1698. Based on the participants and description of the 1689 land transaction between Volkert's brother Jacob and son Dirck, he may already have died by July 1689.
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 Volkert'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.
