Jan Bartram

Name

Jan Bartram.

Origin

Jan Bartram was from The Hague. His family may have originally been from Lütjenberg in Schlesswig-Holstein, where he owned property.[1]

Migration

On 20 August 1641, Jan Bartram received orders to return from Curaçao to the Netherlands on the Witte Kloodt.[2] His ship must have stopped in New Netherland, where he made his last will on 7 January 1642.[3]

Settlement

Jan Bartram was staying at the house of Barent Dircksen, a baker in New Amsterdam, when he made his will on 7 January 1642.[4]

Biographical Details

Jan Bartram was born at the Hague between say 1590 and 1615. He was probably at least in his early twenties when he remarried as a widower in 1638.[5] He was probably younger than fifty when he went to Curaçao as a sergeant in 1639.[6]

Jan Bartram must have died shortly after 7 January 1642, when he made his will before New Netherland secretary Cornelis van Tienhoven. Jan Bartram, born in The Hague, lying sick abed at the house of Barent Dircksen, baker, of sound mind, named his wife Catrina Lysinck from Coetsvelt as his heir. His possessions include his wages and houses and land that he owned at Lutjenburch in the Duchy of Holstein [present-day Lütjenburg in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany].[7] He died by 7 May 1642, when he was called Jan Bartram, deceased.[8]

Marriage and Children

Jan Bartram was first married to Duijffgie Baukessen. After her death, Jan Bartram from the Hague, soldier, living in the Cortelangestraet, registered his intentions on 18 December 1638 in the Dutch Reformed Church of Amsterdam to marry Catharina Leesinck from Coesfelt [Coesfeld in present-day Westphalia, Germany], the widow of Jan Pietersen IJsenach, who lived on the same street. They married on 2 January 1639 in Sloterdijk, just outside Amsterdam. The absence of provisions for orphans suggests they did not have minor children from their previous marriages.[9]

Children of Jan Bartram and Catharina Leesinck:

1. Catrina Bartram, born probably at Curaçao say 1639 (oldest daughter, parents married in January 1639).[10]
2. Johanna Bartram, born, probably at Curaçao say 1641 (second daughter, born before mother made provisions in July 1642).[11]

After Jan’s death, Catharina Leesinck remarried Pieter Jordaenszen from Lubeck [present-day Lübeck, Germany]. They registered their marriage intentions in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 3 July 1642.[12] The previous day, Catharina had made provisions for her children Catrina and Johanna Bartram, who would receive 300 guilders each when they came of age. She promised to raise the children with her future husband, Pieter Jurgens, surgeon.[13] He was called Jordaenszen in the marriage register and Jurgens in the records of the secretary.

Education

Jan Bartram was from The Hague and would have spoken Dutch. He could sign his name.[14]

Image

Enslavement

After Jan Bartram’s death, Catrijna Leesinck had a boy in her household. On 7 May 1642, Dirck Hartoogsen gave a deposition about a quarrel between Katrina Lysinck, widow of Jan Bertram, and sergeant Jacobsen. Jacobsen had called her a whore, said that her late husband did not father her children, and told her “u: Jongen soeckt mij te schandaliseeren” [your boy attempts to scandalize me], which Katrina denied.[15] The use of the word “jongen” [boy] instead of “soon” [son] suggests he was a servant rather than a son, consistent with the facts that Catharina apparently had no minor children when she married Jan Bartram,[16] and only made provisions for her two daughters by him.[17] The deposition does not mention the boy’s race, but the couple’s prior residence in Curaçao, a hub for the Dutch slave trade, raises the possibility that the boy was an enslaved African they brought with them to New Netherland.

Occupation

On 4 January 1639, Jan Bartram was about to sail to Curaçao as a sergeant in the service of the West India Company. He owed the innkeeper Andries Deen at the Cortelangestraet 300 guilders for board and lodging and money to buy his gear. Andries Deen could garnish his wages from the West India Company until the sum was repaid.[18] The innkeeper lived at the same street where Jan and Catharina were living when they married, so they probably both stayed at Deen’s inn.[19]

At Curaçao, Jan was promoted to lieutenant-commander. According to a certificate of good conduct of 20 August 1641, Jan “discharged his duty on expeditions and on guard and as commander in such a way that nothing is to be said in criticism thereof.”[20] At Curaçao, Jan Bartram earned 1034 guilders, ten stivers, and ten pennies in wages, which had not yet been paid when he was discharged from his service on 20 August 1642. On 4 July 1642, Pieter Jurgens, as husband of Bartram’s widow, gave power of attorney to Elias de Raet to claim the money from the West India Company.[21] Jurgens seems to have anticipated his wedding vows, as he did not register his intentions to marry Bartram’s widow until two days later.[22]

Offices

Jan Bartram was lieutenant-commander at fort Curaçao in 1641.[23]

Holdings and Estate

Jan Bartram owned houses and land in Lutjenburch in the Duchy of Holstein [present-day Lütjenburg in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany].[24]

Church Membership

Jan Bartram registered his marriage intentions in the Dutch Reformed Church of Amsterdam in 1638 and married in the Dutch Reformed Church of Sloterdijk in 1639.[25]

Associations

Jan Bartram knew Wouter Machom, an ensign from Edinburgh [Scotland], and David Eduarts, a corporal from Wales. On 24 December 1638, both were about to depart from Amsterdam to Curaçao when Jan Bartram witnessed their acknowledgements of debts.[26] Jan Bartram also knew Andries Deen, an innkeeper at the Cortelangestraat in Amsterdam, who advanced Jan Bartram 300 guilders.[27]

Ten men signed Jan Bartram’s certificate of good conduct on 20 August 1641 at Curaçao: Jan Claesen van Campen, P. Stuyvesant, Hendric Gerritsen, Cornelis Claesen Heeringh, Albert Jansen, Brian Newtown, Otto Jansen van Norden, Mackum Marckrarly, Alexander Merchall, and Davit Eduwart (probably the Welsh corporal, above).[28]

Source Editions

Scott, Kenneth, and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, eds. Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1642–1647. Translated by Arnold J. F. Van Laer. Vol. 2. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1974. Pp. 3–5 (will), 21 (good conduct), 22 (order to sail on the Witte Kloodt), 34 (quarrel between Catrijna and sergeant Jacobsen), 48–49 (provision for children), 50 (power of attorney to collect wages). Scott and Stryker-Rodda identified the provision document as a marriage contract, but it only made provisions for the children, and only Catrijna and her guardians signed the document.

Citations

[1] Will of Jan Bartram, 7 January 1642, in New Netherland, register of the secretary of the province, vol. 2, 1642–1647, p. 3; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/10898), identifier NYSA_A0270-78_V2_003; citing series A0270-78, New Netherland Provincial Secretary Register of the Provincial Secretary, New York State Archives, Albany, New York. The first section of the will was damaged, but the content survives in a previous translation: Kenneth Scott and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, eds., Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1642–1647, trans. Arnold J. F. Van Laer, vol. 2, New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1974), 3–5.

[2] Exemplification of a certificate of good conduct given to Jan Bartram, 10 August 1641 (registered 8 March 1642), in New Netherland, register of the secretary of the province, vol. 2, 1642–1647, p. 3; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/10909), identifier NYSA_A0270-78_V2_012. The record is severely damaged. Text based on Scott and Stryker-Rodda, Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1642–1647, vol. 2, 21.

[3] Will of Jan Bartram, 7 January 1642.

[4] Will of Jan Bartram, 7 January 1642.

[5] Marriage intentions of Jan Bartram and Catharina Leesinck, 18 December 1638, in Amsterdam, marriage intentions of the church, 1638, p. 586; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/a1106b01-9f5c-4ef3-a8fc-5d735bca9374); citing call no. 449, Record Group [RG] 5001: Archief van de Burgerlijke Stand: doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken van Amsterdam (retroacta van de Burgerlijke Stand) [Archives of the Civil Registration: baptismal, marriage, and burial books of Amsterdam (predecessors of the civil registration)], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[6] Acknowledgement of debt by Jan Bartram to Andries Deen, 4 January 1639, in Hendrik Schaef, notary (Amsterdam), minutes of transports, 1639, fol. 6r; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/9d6d21e2-adee-666d-e053-b784100a1840); citing call no. 1312, RG 5075: Archief van de Notarissen ter Standplaats Amsterdam [Records of the Notaries Residing in Amsterdam], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[7] Will of Jan Bartram, 7 January 1642.

[8] Declaration of Dirck Hartoogsen regarding quarrel between Catrijna Leijsinck and sergeant Jacobsen, 7 May 1642, in New Netherland, register of the secretary of the province, vol. 2, 1642–1647, p. 17; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/10919), identifier NYSA_A0270-78_V2_017b.

[9] Marriage intentions of Jan Bartram and Catharina Leesinck, 18 December 1638.

[10] Provisions for children of Catharina Lijsinck by her late husband, 2 July 1642, in New Netherland, register of the secretary of the province, vol. 2, 1642–1647, p. 3; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/10929), identifier NYSA_A0270-78_V2_022b.

[11] Provisions for children of Catharina Lijsinck by her late husband, 2 July 1642.

[12] Marriage intentions of Pieter Jordaenszen and Catharina Lisinck, 3 July 1642, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, marriage register, 1639–1701, p. 574; 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 465 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[13] Provisions for children of Catharina Lijsinck by her late husband, 2 July 1642.

[14] Marriage intentions of Jan Bartram and Catharina Leesinck, 18 December 1638.

[15] Declaration of Dirck Hartoogsen regarding quarrel between Catrijna Leijsinck and sergeant Jacobsen, 7 May 1642. Text partially based on Scott and Stryker-Rodda, Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1642–1647, vol. 2, 34.

[16] Marriage intentions of Jan Bartram and Catharina Leesinck, 18 December 1638.

[17] Provisions for children of Catharina Lijsinck by her late husband, 2 July 1642.

[18] Acknowledgement of debt by Jan Bartram to Andries Deen, 4 January 1639.

[19] Marriage intentions of Jan Bartram and Catharina Leesinck, 18 December 1638.

[20] Exemplification of a certificate of good conduct given to Jan Bartram, 10 August 1641 (registered 8 March 1642).

[21] Power of attorney from Peter Jurgen to Elias de Raet, 4 July 1642, in New Netherland, register of the secretary of the province, vol. 2, 1642–1647, p. 22; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/10930), identifier NYSA_A0270-78_V2_022c.

[22] Marriage intentions of Pieter Jordaenszen and Catharina Lisinck, 6 July 1642.

[23] Exemplification of a certificate of good conduct given to Jan Bartram, 10 August 1641 (registered 8 March 1642).

[24] Will of Jan Bartram, 7 January 1642.

[25] Marriage intentions of Jan Bartram and Catharina Leesinck, 18 December 1638.

[26] Acknowledgement of debt by Wouter Machom to Trijn Hendrics, 24 December 1638, in Hendrik Schaef, notary (Amsterdam), minutes of transports, 1638, fol. 98r; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/d0092ad0-85e8-1a7b-e053-b784100aab8a); citing call no. 1311, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam. Acknowledgement of debt by David Eduarts to Steven Dircksen, 24 December 1638, in Hendrik Schaef, notary (Amsterdam), minutes of transports, 1638, fol. 98v; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/d0092ad0-e762-1a7b-e053-b784100aab8a).

[27] Acknowledgement of debt by Jan Bartram to Andries Deen, 4 January 1639.

[28] Exemplification of a certificate of good conduct given to Jan Bartram, 10 August 1641 (registered 8 March 1642).

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