The Fulkerson Family Pages
Our Family Tree with Roots in Noorway
Family legend (communicated to Bob Fulkerson from two separate branches of the family, years ago) says that Dirck came to New Amsterdam from Bergen, Norway.
Grandfather Dirck's Norwegian origins are virtually a certainty, based on the fact he was often called Dirck De Noorman [Dutch: Norseman].
Several other immigrants in New Amsterdam were also called "De Noorman," and all were documented former citizens of Norway. A few of New Amsterdam's immigrants also were identified as having been citizens of Bergen.
At least 57 Norwegians settled in the colony of New Netherland between 1630 and 1674 ["The Norwegian Americans" by James M. Cornelius, Chelsea House Publishers, New York, NY, 1989, p. 31-32].
Why Did Dirck Leave Norway?
The honest answer, of course, is we do not really know.
During the 1600s Bergen, Norway, was controlled by German Hanseatic League merchants. Hanse, later spelled as Hansa, was the Middle Low German word for a convoy, and this word was applied to bands of merchants traveling between the Hanseatic cities whether by land or by sea. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection and aid.
By the time Dirck reached adulthood, the Hanseatic League was crumbling. Bryggen was one of the principal Kontore of the League. Much of the city was razed by accidental fire in 1476. In 1560, administration of Bryggen was placed under Norwegian administration, but Norwegian merchants did not not regain control of the port until after 1700.
The great majority of Dirck's personal and business dealings in the 1650s and 1660s were with Scandinavian immigrants.
One probable reason for Dirck's emigration to North America from Norway may have been that he had made an acquaintance with Peter Minuit, the New Netherlands colony's third director in as many years, who bought the whole of Manhattan Island from the Lenape, also known as the "Canarsee Indians," in 1626 for $24 worth of trade goods.
John Follesdal's book, Ancestors from Norway: An Introduction to Norwegian Genealogy Research, tells us that a Norwegian sailor named Sand acted as interpreter for Peter Minuit when he bought Manhattan island. There is a chance Sand had dealings with Dirck on some occasion.
Minuit and Assistant Director Isaack DeRaisieres were anxious to demonstrate their new colony had the resources and potential for industries....and especially a ship-building industry. By 1628 they imported a group of Scandinavian ship carpenters who knew how to make pitch from pine - a locally abundant resource - which was needed for caulking a ship's hull. This could place Dirck's arrival between 1626 and 1628.
Another possibility is that Dirck was part of a group of builders imported in 1625 by Dutch West India Company to construct houses in the colony. (In 1624, the first year of the New Netherlands settlement, most of the colonists lived "underground" in log-lined, sod-roofed dugouts.)
One family story tells of Dirck having voyaged to New Amsterdam via The Tyger, which was shipwrecked in 1613 and burned in the harbor. According to this account, Guillame Vigne, the dockmaster (later Dirck's father-in-law) rescued Dirck from the wreck. The timing of this incident, paired with this family legend, would then place both Vigne and Dirck in New Amsterdam from its earliest days.
Peter Minuit was Director of New Netherland from 1626 to 1631. He may even have attended the wedding of Dirck to his wife Christine Vigne in 1630 or 1631.
