Annitge Pieters

Name

Annitge Pieters.[1] Her common name complicates identification.

Origin

Annitge Pieters lived in Amsterdam prior to her departure to New Netherland in 1655. In the 1650s, the Amsterdam almoners who oversaw the care of poor orphans paid residents to house and feed the children. There were two girls named Annitge Pieters in the care of the almoners, both aged fourteen in 1652, when the orphan masters first asked children whether they would be willing to go to New Netherland. One girl had been placed with Trijn Pieters from the time she was eleven years old, first at the Mandemakersteeg and later at the Schans [fortification] at the Catersteeg.[2] The other girl was living with Judick Plaque, the wife of Andries Not in the Elantstraet.[3] It is unclear which of these two orphan girls was the seventeen-year-old Annitge Pieters who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1655.

Migration

Annitge Pieters was one of seventeen teenaged and young adult orphans who were brought to New Netherland from Amsterdam in 1655.[4] The orphans probably sailed on the Waegh, a war ship sent from Amsterdam to New Netherland in the summer of 1655. On 26 April 1655, Amsterdam promised to send one of its largest and best ships, the Waegh, armed with 36 cannon, to sail with 200 men to deal with the Swedes on the South River [the Delaware].[5] Annitge Pieters is not explicitly mentioned as a passenger, but other orphans sent over by the almoners travelled on that ship.[6]

Settlement

Annitge Pieters lived in New Amsterdam, where she married and had her child baptized.[7] In February 1660, she and her husband lived in a small house that was apparently not in great repair. Their landlady Teuntje Straatmans sued Annitge’s husband, who was behind in rent. He argued that the house was leaky, which Teuntje denied. She said he knew how small the house was, since he had lived there before. The court ordered him to pay five guilders rent for the five weeks he had lived there.[8]

Biographical Details

Annitge Pieters was born, perhaps in Amsterdam, say 1637–1638. She was seventeen years old when she arrived in New Amsterdam in 1655.[9] Her patronymic indicates her father’s first name was Pieter. She died at an unknown time after 15 December 1660 (baptism of child).[10]

Marriage and Children

Anneken Pieters from Amsterdam registered her intentions to marry Matthijs Muller from Diedenhoven [present-day Thionville, France] at the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 14 March 1656.[11] She was one of several young women who arrived as orphans in New Netherland and who married soon after arrival, which would earn them twenty-five morgens of land.[12] 

Child of Annitge Pieters and Matthijs Muller:

1. Pieter, son of Matthijs Mulder and Annetie Pieters, baptized Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam 15 December 1660 (witnesses: Bartel Meuwis, Fredrick Hendricks, Belitie Lodowijcks).[13]

Education

Raised in Amsterdam, Annitge Pieters would have spoken Dutch.[14]

Church Membership

Annitgen Pieters married and had her child baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam.[15]

Associations

Annitge Pieters was sent over to the colony along with Trijntge Pieters, Trijntge Jans, Jannitge Dircx, Lijsbet Jans, Dieuwer Volckerts, Lijsbet Gerrits, Debora Jans, Marritge Hendrix, Catalijntge Jans, Guillame Roelants, Jan [—?—], Mathijs Coenraetsz, Hendrick Thomasz, Pieter Stoffelsz, Otto Jansz, and Jan Hendricksz.[16] She may have known some of them in Amsterdam and would have gotten to known them all during the voyage to New Netherland. She also knew Bartel Meuwis, Fredrick Hendricks, and Belitie Lodowijcks, who witnessed her son’s baptism,[17] and Teuntje Straatmans, their landlady.[18]

Literature

Scott, Kenneth. “Orphan Children Sent to New Netherland.” Halve Maen 49, no. 3 (October 1974): 5–6. The article discusses several groups of orphans that were sent to New Netherland, and lists those brought over in 1655, including Annitge Pieters.

Source Editions

Fernow, Berthold, ed. Documents Relating to the History of the Early Colonial Settlements Principally on Long Island. Vol. 14. Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York. Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1853. Translation of the letter from the burgomasters of Amsterdam regarding the orphans sent to New Netherland (pp. 325–26).

Gehring, Charles T., ed. Correspondence, 1654–1658. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003. This includes the translation of the correspondence about the children sent over in 1655, including the list of children (pp. 64–66).

Sypher, Francis J., ed. Liber A of the Collegiate Churches of New York, Part 2: Baptisms 1639 to 1697, Members 1649 to 1701, Marriages 1639 to 1701. Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015. Marriage (p. 493), baptism of child (p. 114).

Citations

[1] List of children sent from the almshouse to New Netherland, circa 1655, in New Netherland council, Dutch colonial administrative correspondence, vol. 12, 1654–1658, document 25; imaged, “Digital Collections” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/45209), identifier NYSA_A1810-78_V12_25; citing series A1810-78, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[2] Almoners (Amsterdam), lists of orphan children eligible for migration to New Netherland, circa 1652–1656, registration number 137, Annitge Pieters; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/d27fe62c-e13a-5f27-067f-656553aecf6b), images 21 and 57 of 67; citing call no. 437, Record Group 343: Archief van de Regenten van het Aalmoezeniersweeshuis en rechtsvoorganger [Records of the Regents of the Almoners’ Orphanage and Legal Predecessors], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[3] Almoners (Amsterdam), lists of orphan children eligible for migration to New Netherland, circa 1652–1656, registration number 807, Annitge Pieters; image 22 of 67.

[4] List of children sent from the almshouse to New Netherland, circa 1655.

[5] Letter from Amsterdam to Stuijvesant, 26 April 1655, in New Netherland council, Dutch colonial administrative correspondence, vol. 12, 1646–1664, document 18; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/45201), identifier NYSA_A1810-78_V12_18; citing series A1810-78, New York State Archives.

[6] Order for the punishment of a boy and girl in the service of Pieter van Couwenhoven for dishonesty, 4 January 1656, in New Netherland council, Dutch colonial council minutes, vol. 6, 1655–1656, p. 213a; imaged, New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/52560), identifier NYSA_A1809-78_V06_0213a; citing series A1809, Dutch colonial council minutes, New York State Archives.

[7] Marriage intentions of Matthijs Muller and Anneken Pieters, 14 March 1656, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, marriage register, 1639–1701, p. 593; imaged, “U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639–1989,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6961) > New York > Manhattan > Collegiate Church . . . > image 482 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey. Baptism of Pieter, son of Matthijs Mulder and Annetie Pieters, 15 December 1660, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 312; imaged, “U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639–1989,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6961) > New York > Manhattan > Collegiate Church . . . > image 214 of 1410.

[8] Teuntje Straatmans vs. Matthijs Muller, 24 February 1660, in Court of Burgomasters and Schepens (New Amsterdam), minutes, vol. 2, 1656–1660, p. 498; imaged, “Digital Collections,” NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://nycrecords.access.preservica.com/), identifier MSS0040_1_2_02, image 502 of 558; citing Minutes of Burgomasters and Schepens of New Amsterdam, series 1: Original Dutch records of New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam records, New York City Municipal Archives, New York City, New York.

[9] List of children sent from the almshouse to New Netherland, circa 1655.

[10] Baptism of Pieter, son of Matthijs Mulder and Annetie Pieters, 15 December 1660.

[11] Marriage intentions of Matthijs Muller and Anneken Pieters, 14 March 1656.

[12] Scott, “Orphan Children Sent to New Netherland.”

[13] Baptism of Pieter, son of Matthijs Mulder and Annetie Pieters, 15 December 1660.

[14] List of children sent from the almshouse to New Netherland, circa 1655.

[15] Marriage intentions of Matthijs Muller and Anneken Pieters, 14 March 1656. Baptism of Pieter, son of Matthijs Mulder and Annetie Pieters, 15 December 1660.

[16] List of children sent from the almshouse to New Netherland, circa 1655.

[17] Baptism of Pieter, son of Matthijs Mulder and Annetie Pieters, 15 December 1660.

[18] Teuntje Straatmans vs. Matthijs Muller, 24 February 1660.

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