The Fulkerson Family Pages
Our Famous Uncle Jan
Self-portrait of
Jan Havickszoon Steen in 1670.
Dutch painter Jan Havickszoon Steen, born in 1626 in Leiden, Holland, was the same age as our Uncle Jan. At the time of the painting of this portrait, assuming they were born the same year, both men would have been about 46 years old.
Jan Steen may have dressed similarly and had an appearance much like our own uncle Jan Vigne. If, instead, Jan was actually born in 1614, then he would have been about 56 at the time of this painting.
Damaged Pea Crop
A Lawsuit Lost
The son of Frans Clasen appeared in the municipal court of New Amsterdam in 1656, when Jan Vinje accused him and his schoolmates of trampling his peas and corn crops. Jan Vinje admitted he had beaten the boy since "he could not catch any other than him."
Clasen's son arrived home black and blue. The court ruled that the boy had already received enough punishment for his deed, and Vinje, by his actions against the child, had “destroyed his rights” to sue for damages.
A ferule and a cane, as well as the rod, were common disciplinary tools and were considered to be less severe than a whip.
Numerous family histories claim Jan Vigne as part of the Fulkerson family. Two sources (page 171 of History of the Huguenot Emigration to America, Volume 1 [1885], Charles Baird, and page 40 of Transactions of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina [1908]) mention him as the first European male born in New Netherlands, with his birth having been in the year 1614--at one time there was also a bronze plaque in the Town Hall, naming him as the such.
Birth Year Debated
There is debate, though, about the birth year of Grandmother Christine's younger brother, Jan [Jean] Vigne.
Some genealogies record Jan as being born shortly after the Vignes' arrival in the colony in 1624 or 1625. Others theorize Guillame may have been one of the very first settlers in the area on a previous expedition, and that Jan's birth year in the new territories, instead, was 1614. A history compiled by Bill Decoursey of Minnesota, indicated Gulian Vigne as having been an officer at the site of New Amsterdam in 1613, has led to the speculation of an older age for Jan.
Baptismal records of the Vigne sisters back in Leiden, Holland, in the 1620's seem to make the older age scenario unlikely. Still, there could be the remote possibility that Guillaume and his family had traveled back and forth between Holland and the new territory prior to the family's final leaving of Leiden--that, perhaps, they had accompanied Adriaen Block during earlier expeditions.
Jan Vigne is mentioned in the Journal of Jasper Danckaer, in the section called "The Journal of Our Travels Through New Netherland," [ed. by Bartlett Burleigh James and J. Franklin Jameson. New York, 1913] recorded in an entry of 24 Sept. 1679, translation from Dutch: section 48: "We conversed with the first male born of Europeans in New Netherland, named Jean Vigne. His parents were from Valenciennes and he was now about sixty-five years of age." The first European child born in New York is definitively recorded as Sara (or Sarah) Rapalje, daughter of Joris Janszen Rapalje and Catalina Trico--Sarah was born in June 1625. With the assumption Sarah was born prior to Jan, a birthdate for him after the year 1625 appears most likely. (Through maternal lines, there is absolutely a connection between the Rapaljes and the Fulkerson family. Several lines descend from this early branch.)
Jasper Danckaer's description of Jan's belonging to the Vigne family certainly appears to identify the Jan he encountered as "our" Uncle Jan; but, Did Jasper Danckaer incorrectly guess Jan to be 10 years older than he actually was? Perhaps years of hard living had made Jan appear more aged.
It is not known exactly where Jan was born, as the original settlers of New Netherlands tended to move often. It is also possible that he was born at present-day Albany, or in the territory now known as Connecticut, or at the place we now call New Jersey. The Nieu Nederlandt's passengers were scattered to all of these places for a short time before returning to the safety of Manhattan Island after the "Indian troubles."
It is believed Danckaerts overestimated Jan Vigne's age - he would have been, then, about 55, and not 65 years old, in 1679.
Jan's true age may also be roughly substantiated by the fact that Jan was still in school in 1635, according to a prenuptial agreement in which his future step-father, Jan Jansen Damen (who married Jan's mother Adrienne following Guillame's death), promised to feed and clothe him and ensure he attended school. Therefore, Danckaerts estimation of Jan Vigne's age appears to have been quite wrong.
The husband of Jan's sister Rachael, his brother-in-law, Cornelis Van Tienhoven, had been from Utrecht, so it perhaps he was involved and may even have recommended this venture. It's also likely, knowing the characters of Damen and Van Tienhoven, that both of these men wished the only male Vigne heir would leave New Netherland and never return.
In a somewhat shocking May/December romance, Jan Vigne married Emmerentje Gosens Van Niewerzluys [during her lifetime there were numerous spelling variations for every part of her name] in Utrecht in 1645, when he was 21. She was the widow of Lambert Wolf and already about 40 years old. Her children by Lambert were daughter Aeltgen (1627), daughter Gysbertgen (1628) and son Herman (1631). Jan moved into her home on Oude Gracht in the Jacobsbridge section of the city. There the couple had three more children: Johannes in 1646 (probably died in infancy), Johannes (2nd, 1647, also died young) and Gosen (1648). We do not know Gosen's fate. If records for him could be found, an entire new branch might be added to our family lineage.
Jan returned to New Netherland in the spring of 1647. While there, his stepfather Jan Jansen Damen trusted him to collect on some payments from the Dutch West India Company upon his return to Europe. One bill amount of 1000 guilders, dated at Fort Amsterdam on 15 July 1647, was signed by Peter Stuyvesant for money counted out and delivered by Jan Jansz Damen to the Director. Another 350 guilders for provisions delivered by Jan Jansz Damen to former Director Kieft were chargeable to the Directors of the DWIC in behalf of "Jan Vienje."
If we imagine a man like Steen, but with a more weather-worn face, and a bit more grey in his hair, we may get a glimpse of Our Uncle Jan.
Although Jan Steen lived in Leiden, it is unlikely his family would have interacted with the Vignes who were Walloons--Jan Steen remained a lifelong Catholic.
A Colonist's Childhood
Jan grew up on the Vigne farm, just north of what is now Wall Street. We know there was a precipitous falling-out among the family after his stepfather Jan Jansen Damen moved into the house. Damen evicted two of Jan's married sisters and their husbands in 1638 (including our patriarch Dirck and his wife Christina), and a year later his presence or influence may have pushed the third sister, Rachel, into marrying the scoundrel Cornelis Van Tienhoven when she was just 16 years old. It's difficult to pass judgment on this situation, however, since contemporary social standards did make Jan Jansen Damen master of the house.
Jan Vigne may have sought an early exit from his stepfather's realm - by the age of 21 he was across the Atlantic and living in Utrecht, a city in Europe in the Netherlands.
Bill's history is mentioned in Bob Fulkerson's original Fulkerson.org website, but without a citing link. If someone could find the site and provide that link, we will insert it on this page.
