Jannitge Dircx

Name

Jannitge Dircx was an orphan from Amsterdam who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1655.[1] Her last name, Dircx, is a patronymic, indicating her father’s first name was Dirck.  

She likely was the Janneken Dircks from Hoorn who married Michiel Rombouts from Amsterdam on 9 October 1655 (see Marriage and Children).[2] 

Origin

Jannitge Dircx lived in Amsterdam prior to her departure to New Netherland in 1655.[3] She may have been from Hoorn originally.[4]

In the 1650s, the Amsterdam almoners who oversaw the care for poor orphans paid residents to house and feed the children. Jannitge Dircx was one of these “kostkinderen” [board children].  She boarded with Susanna Carbensiel at the Rockin in Amsterdam, near the Regulierstoren (a tower of an obsolete city gate), from age sixteen to nineteen. They lived above a woman who sold stockings.[5] 

Migration

Jannitge Dircx was one of seventeen teenaged and young adult orphans who were brought to New Netherland from Amsterdam in 1655.[6] 

From 1650 onward, the Amsterdam magistrate planned to send orphans to New Netherland, to lower expenses for the children’s upkeep and help populate the colony. They would only send children who were of sufficient age, robust health, and willing to go. In 1652, the Amsterdam almoners interviewed the children under their care to determine who wanted to go to New Netherland.[7] Jannitge Dircx was among the first children to volunteer to go to the colony, when she was sixteen years old. On five separate occasions, Jannetje expressed her willingness to depart. She even visited the almoners’ office to apply.[8] The first Anglo-Dutch War (1652–1654) delayed the plans.[9] Jannitge was finally sent over in 1655, at age nineteen.[10]

She probably sailed on the Waegh, a war ship that was sent from Amsterdam to New Netherland in the summer of 1655. On 26 April 1655, Amsterdam promised to send one of their largest and best ships, the Waegh, armed with 36 cannon, to sail with 200 men to deal with the Swedes on the South River [Delaware].[11] Jannitge Dircx is not explicitly mentioned as a passenger, but other orphans sent over by the almoners travelled on that ship.[12]

Settlement

Jannitge Dircx’s place of residence within New Netherland is unknown. She may have moved to Fort Orange, where her possible husband Michiel Rombouts appeared before the court in 1657.[13]

Biographical Details

Jannitge Dircx was born about 1636. She was nineteen years old when she arrived in New Netherland in 1655.[14] She died at an unknown time after 1655, probably in New Netherland.

Marriage and Children

It is likely that she was the Janneken Dircks from Hoorn who registered her intentions to marry Michiel Rombouts from Amsterdam on 9 October 1655.[15] Other young women who arrived as orphans in New Netherland married soon after arrival, which would earn them twenty-five morgens of land.[16] The timing of the marriage, shortly after Jannetje Dirckx’s arrival, suggests this was the same person, although this bride was from Hoorn, not Amsterdam. Her common name complicates identification. If this was the same woman, she was apparently originally from Hoorn.

Education

Jannitge Dircx lived as an orphan in Amsterdam, and would have spoken Dutch. As a poor orphan, it is unlikely she received much education. Girls in her position were typically taught domestic skills, like sewing or housekeeping.[17] 

Holdings and Estate

Orphan children brought to New Netherland were entitled to twenty-five morgens of land. Boys would only receive that after they worked in service for several years, but girls would be given the land when they married or when they finished their contracts.[18] The prospect of land ownership made the young girls attractive marriage partners. Although it is likely Jannitge Dircx received land upon marriage, no known record documents the grant or location.

Associations

Jannitge Dircx boarded with Susanna Carbensiel in Amsterdam between the ages of sixteen and nineteen.[19] Jannitge Dircx was sent over to the colony along with Trijntge Pieters, Trijntge Jans, Lijsbet Jans, Dieuwer Volckerts, Annitge Pieters, Lijsbet Gerrits, Debora Jans, Marritge Hendrix, Catalijntge Jans, Guillame Roelants, Jan [—?—], Mathijs Coenraetsz, Hendrick Thomasz, Pieter Stoffelsz, Otto Jansz, and Jan Hendricksz.[20] She may have known some of them in Amsterdam and would have gotten to known them all during the voyage to New Netherland.

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 Jannitge Dircx.

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. pp. 325–326. Includes a translation of the letter from the burgomasters of Amsterdam regarding the orphans sent to New Netherland.

Gehring, Charles T., ed. Correspondence, 1654–1658. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003. pp. 64–66. This includes the translation of the correspondence about the children sent over in 1655, including the list of children. However, Jannitge Dircx’s name and age are omitted.

_____, ed., Fort Orange Court Minutes, 1652–1660. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 1990. pp. 302, 307. Translation of the court case of Michiel Rombouts vs. Poulus Jurcksen.

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] Marriage record of Michiel Rombouts and Janneken Dircks, 9 October 1655, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, marriage register, 1639–1701, p. 592; 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 481 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[3] Almoners (Amsterdam), lists of orphan children eligible for migration to New Netherland, circa 1652–1656, registration number 516, Jannitge Dircx; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/d27fe62c-e13a-5f27-067f-656553aecf6b), images 5, 21, 37, 43, and 52 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.  

[4] Marriage record of Michiel Rombouts and Janneken Dircks, 9 October 1655.

[5] Almoners (Amsterdam), lists of orphan children, circa 1652–1655, entries for Jannitge Dircx, no. 516.

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

[7] Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America (Leiden, Netherlands and Boston, Massachusetts: Brill, 2005), 83–86.

[8] Almoners (Amsterdam), lists of orphan children, circa 1652–1655, entries for Jannitge Dircx, no. 516.

[9] Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, 85–86.

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

[11] 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.

[12] 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.

[13] Michiel Rombouts vs. Poulus Jurcksen, 14 June 1657, in Court (Fort Orange), vol. 16, part 2, 1652–1658, p. 75; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/54119), identifier NYSA_A1876-78_V16_pt2_0073; citing series A1876, New York State Archives, Albany, New York. Also, Michiel Rombouts vs. Poulus Jurcksen, 26 June 1657, in Court (Fort Orange), vol. 16, part 2, 1652–1658, p. 82; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/54124), identifier NYSA_A1876-78_V16_pt2_0081.

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

[15] Marriage record of Michiel Rombouts and Janneken Dircks, 9 October 1655.

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

[17] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, 84–85.

[18] Kenneth Scott, “Orphan Children Sent to New Netherland,” Halve Maen 49, no. 3 (October 1974): 5–6.

[19] Almoners (Amsterdam), lists of orphan children, circa 1652–1655, entries for Jannitge Dircx, no. 516.

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

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