By Jared L. Olar
March 2019
The Dutch surname of Van Tienhoven (or Van Thienhoven) is toponymic, designating a family from the village of Tienhoven in the Netherlands. In fact, there are four villages of that name in the Netherlands. Three of them are in the province of Utrecht -- Tienhoven in Everdingen, Tienhoven in Stichtse Vecht, and Tienhoven aan de Lek (formerly a part of South Holland) -- while the fourth is Tienhoven in North Holland. It is impossible to say which Tienhoven was the place of origin of our Van Thienhoven family. The Van Thienhoven family was prominent in the history of the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, but -- as explained below -- it is more accurate to say that the surname was "notorious" rather than merely "prominent." A simple genealogical account of the family may be found in the online account entitled "Descendants of Lucas Van Tienhoven (Allison/Mathews Line)." That bare sketch is fleshed out by various other sources, including a profile of the sordid career of Cornelis van Thienhoven (c.1601-c.1656) at the website of the Historical Society of the New York Courts, and Emily Steelman Fisher's article on the descendants of Dr. Lucas van Thienhoven published in The National Genealogical Society Quarterly 1918.
1. LUCAS VAN THIENHOVEN, ancestry unknown. Lucas' wife was named JANNETJE ADRIANCE DE HAES, born 1580-85, died after 1651 in Breuckelen, Utrecht, Holland, daughter of Adriaen de Haes. Lucas and Jannetje had two sons and a daughter:
-- ADRIAEN VAN THIENHOVEN
-- AEFJE VAN THIENHOVEN, married Pieter Stoutenburg.
2. CORNELIS LUYCASZ VAN THIENHOVEN, born circa 1601 in Breuckelen, Utrecht, Holland.
2. CORNELIS LUYCASZ VAN THIENHOVEN ("Cornelius"), born circa 1601 in Breuckelen, Utrecht, Holland, disappeared 18 Nov. 1656 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, and subsequently declared legally dead. Cornelis married RACHEL VIGNE, baptised 16 March 1622 in Leiden, Zuid-Holland, the Netherlands, died 1663 in New Netherlands, daughter of Ghislain and Adrienne Vigne. Cornelis and Rachel had five children -- two daughters and three sons. Dutch Reformed Church records in New Amsterdam (New York City) record the following baptisms of their children:
1646 10 June Jannetje, Cornelis Van Tienhoven, Secrts. Wit.: De Hr. Willem Kieft, gouvneur, Adriaen Nuvielle, Jannetje Adriaens. 1649 17 Jan. Lucas, Corn. Van Tienhoven, Secretaris. Wit.: Jan Janszen Damen, Adriaen Van Tinehoven, Adriaentie Kuypers. 1653 12 Jan. Cornelis, Cornelis Van Tienhoven, Fiscael. Wit.: Cornelis Van Werckhoven, Brion Nuton, Capt., Sara Roelofs. 1655 1 Jan. Johannes, Corn. Van Tienhoven, Fiscael. Wit.: Jan Vinge, Maria Vinge. 1657 20 May Jannetie, Cornelis Van Tienhoven, Fiscael, Rachel Vinge. Wit.: Olof Stephenszen Van Courtlt., Pieter Stoutenburg, Tryntie Rodenburg, Marritie Varrevanger.
Cornelis, an employee of the Dutch West India Company, held several important offices in the colonial government of New Netherlands, including bookkeeper for the Company 1633-1647, the Company's surveyor 1647-1652, and Receiver General 1649-1652. Cornelis was appointed Secretary of New Netherlands in 1651, and held office as colonial Schout-fiscael of New Netherlands and New Amsterdam during the years 1652-1656. Though he was a man of influence and authority in New Netherlands, morally he was deeply flawed and thus his life in the New World is a long, unremitting tale of inhuman cruelty, sexual debauchery, and drunkenness. The Historical Society of the New York Courts supplies the following biographical sketch of Cornelis' life and career:
Cornelis van Tienhoven was born in Utrecht, the Netherlands, around 1601. An employee of the Dutch West India Company, he sailed to New Netherland in 1633 with the new Director, Wouter van Twiller. Van Tienhoven served as the Company's bookkeeper from 1633-1647, the Company's surveyor from 1647-1652, and the Receiver General from 1649-1652. In 1651, he was appointed Secretary of New Netherland and held office as Schout-fiscael during the years 1652-1656. Van Tienhoven owned an estate where the present-day streets of Pearl and Maiden Lain are located.
Although deeply disliked by the citizens of New Amsterdam, Van Tienhoven strongly influenced Directors Kieft and Stuyvesant. In 1643, the representatives of New Amsterdam's citizens, the Twelve Men, declined to support Director Kieft's war plan against the local Native American tribes. Reputedly, at a dinner held in February, 1643, Secretary of State Van Tienhoven produced a petition requesting the Director to attack two groups of local Native Americans who had sought refuge from Mohawks in the Dutch settlements at Pavonia and Corlear's Hook. Three of the Twelve Men (Jan Jansen Damen, Abraham Ver Planck and Maryn Adriaensen) were present, and they signed the document. Director Kieft chose to regard this document as an authorization of the assembly of the Twelve Men to go to war, and immediately ordered Van Tienhoven to organize an attack on the Native American people sheltering at Pavonia. Van Tienhoven led the soldiers stationed at Fort Amsterdam in an attack on the night of February 25 and brutally massacred some eighty Native American men, women and children. This was the beginning of Kieft's disastrous Indian War.
The Dutch parliament, dismayed at the conflict between the settlers and the Native Americans, recalled Director Kieft to Holland in 1646 to testify concerning the war. Director-General Peter Stuyvesant was appointed in his place. Stuyvesant's rule was repressive and when he banished two leading citizens from the colony, they returned to Holland and brought Stuyvesant's maladministration in the colony to the attention of the Dutch parliament. Stuyvesant was ordered to appear before the parliament, either in person or through an agent, and Stuyvesant appointed the sharp-witted and eloquent Van Tienhoven as his representative to the Hague. At the hearings, Van Tienhoven's strategy was to discredit the Nine Men.
Van Tienhoven spent the winter in Amsterdam and the Dutch West India Company marked their appreciation of his "long and faithful services," by renewing his appointment as Provincial Secretary, appointing him to a second office, Receiver General of Revenue, and granting him a well-stocked farm in New Netherland. During this time, although he had a wife and family in New Amsterdam, Cornelis Van Tienhoven seduced a young girl named Liesbeth Jansen Croon, the daughter of a basketmaker, and lived with her openly during the time he spent in Holland. The Dutch parliament ordered Van Tienhoven to report to the Hague on April 28, 1651, where he was arrested on charges of adultery, but released upon payment of a fine. Although disgraced in the eyes of the Dutch community, Van Tienhoven persuaded Liesbeth with promises of marriage to sail with him to New Netherland. When the ship reached New Amsterdam, Van Tienhoven's wife Rachel was waiting on the dock and Liesbeth, the victim of deception, filed a charge in court against Van Tienhoven, but it appears that a settlement in her favor was not obtained.
When the Schout, Hendrick Van Dijck was removed from office in 1652, Cornelis van Tienhoven was appointed to replace him. The following February, when burger government was instituted in New Amsterdam, Director-General Stuyvesant appointed Van Tienhoven to act also as the city's Schout, much to the dismay of the population.
In 1655, Director-General Stuyvesant and the Company's soldiers traveled to the Delaware valley to negotiate with the Swedish settlers there. In his absence, tribes from the North River moved through New Amsterdam on their way to fight rival tribes on Eastern Long Island. The appearance of Native Americans in New Amsterdam frightened the town's residents, and when an Indian woman gathering peaches in an orchard was found murdered, some of the Native American men killed the alleged murderer. The settlers, led by Van Tienhoven, attacked the Indians and killed many of them, whereupon the Native Americans withdrew to Staten Island and New Jersey, where they killed the colonial settlers and destroyed their farms. When the authorities in Holland learned of the massacre on Staten Island , they demanded that Van Tienhoven be removed from office, and banned his future re-employment by the Company. Nicasius De Sille was appointed Schout of both New Netherland and New Amsterdam in his place.
Not long afterward, Van Tienhoven was charged with embezzlement and while his case was pending, he disappeared, leaving behind his pregnant wife and three children. Although Van Tienhoven's hat and cane were found floating in the Hudson River on November 18, 1656, his body was never located and many believed that he had absconded. Meanwhile, the Stuyvesant Administration issued an order to seize his papers and had an inventory of his property taken.
An even more lurid account of Cornelis van Thienhoven's crimes, debauches, and sickening, violent atrocities against the Native American tribes may be found in Tobias Seamon's article, "While He Flatters He Bites", published in The Morning News (WARNING: Seamon's account is not for weak stomachs!).
Cornelis and Rachel had five children:
-- JANNETJE VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 10 June 1646 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, died young before 20 May 1657 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands.
3. LUIJKAS VAN THIENHOVEN ("Lucas"), baptised 17 Jan. 1649 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands.
-- CORNELIS VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 12 Jan. 1653 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands.
-- JOHANNES VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 1 Jan. 1655 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands.
-- JANNETJE VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 20 May 1657 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, married John Smith.
3. DR. LUIJKAS VAN THIENHOVEN, M.D. ("Lucas"), son of Cornelis and Rachel van Thienhoven, baptised 17 Jan. 1649 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, died before 30 April 1714 in New York City. At some point between 1661 and 1670 in New Amsterdam, Lucas married TRYNTJE BORDINGH, baptised 5 Nov. 1651 in New Amsterdam, died circa 1693 in New York City, daughter of Claes and Susanna Bording. Lucas and Tryntje had five sons and five daughters. Information on Dr. Lucas van Thienhoven and his wife and children is presented in "Descendants of Lucas Van Tienhoven (Allison/Mathews Line)." Further details are provided by the genealogical account of Dr. Lucas van Thienhoven and his descendants compiled by his descendant Mrs. Emily Steelman Fisher of Reedville, Virginia, published in The National Genealogical Society Quarterly 1918, Vol. VII, Oct. 1918, No. 3, pages 44-45. (Fisher no doubt was ashamed of Lucas' father and chose to start the lineage with Lucas instead.) This is what Fisher says about Dr. Lucas Van Thienhoven and his children:
Dr. Luijkas Van Thienhoven the subject of this sketch was of Holland-French extraction. His father was a native of Holland. His mother's family were of Valenciennes, France.
Dr. Van Thienhoven was born in New York City, January 17, 1649.
He was a freeholder, and lived on Lang, or Long Street the present site of Pearl street, between Broad and Whitehall Streets. He married (in New Amsterdam) Tryntje Boardingh,
born 5th mo., 1651. She was a daughter of Captain Claus Boardingh and his wife Susannah Lees.
Dr Van Thienhoven made a will April 5, 1706. He died 1714 and the will was probated April 30, 1714, Liber 8, p.149.
In his will, he makes mention of his wife, two sons, and five daughters, also two granddaughters, daughters of Johannes Dumsiteene and dau. Rachel, to whom he leaves eighty
(80) pounds. He makes wife, son Nicholas, brother-in-law Adrian Mann, and Kinsman William Huddlestone executors, "With full power to sell."
Children of Luijkas and Tryntje Van Thienhoven:
1. Nicholas
2. Cornelius
3. Susannah
4. Cornelia
5. Elizabeth
6. Rachel
7. Sara
The following brief genealogical notes on Dr. Lucas van Thienhoven are presented under "Notes and Queries" in The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (Jan. 1881), Vol. XII, No. 1, page 50:
Lucas Van Thinehoven, son of Cornelius Van Tienhoven and Rachel (Vigne) his wife, was a surgeon of repute in the city of New York. He left a will dated April 15, 1706. Proved April 30, 1714, and recorded in N. Y. Surrogate's office in Liber 8 of Wills, page 337. He names in his will his children Nicholas, Susannah, Cornelia, Sara, Elizabeth, Cornelius, and "the two children of my daughter Rachel dec'd by her husband John Dumartaer." Appoints his wife Katharine, his brother-in-law Adrian Man and his kinsman William Huddleston, executors.
The children of Lucas and Tryntje were:
-- CLAES VAN THIENHOVEN ("Nicholas")
-- SUSANNAH VAN THIENHOVEN
-- RACHEL VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 23 Dec. 1671 in New Amsterdam, married John Dumartaer.
-- CORNELIA VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 9 Oct. 1678 in New York City, died after 1748, married John Haldron.
4. SARAH METJE VAN THIENHOVEN, born 1 Jan. 1681 in New York City.
-- JOHANNES VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 20 June 1683 in New York City.
-- CORNELIS VAN THIENHOVEN (1st.), baptised 20 Sept. 1685 in New York City, died young.
-- CORNELIS VAN THIENHOVEN (2nd.), baptised 18 Nov. 1688 in New York City, died young.
-- LYSBETH VAN THIENHOVEN, baptised 12 Nov. 1690 in New York City.
-- CORNELIS VAN THIENHOVEN (3rd.), baptised 27 Aug. 1693 in New York City.
4. SARAH METJE VAN THIENHOVEN, daughter of Lucas and Tryntje van Thienhoven, born 1 Jan. 1681 in New York City, baptised 12 Jan. 1681 at the Dutch Reformed Church of New York City, died in 1744 (before 1 March 1744) in Leeds Point, Great Egg Harbor Township, Burlington County, New Jersey. Sarah married first on 14 Aug. 1699 in New York City to a Dutch colonist named JACOB BALCK, born 1681, died at some point between 1703 and August of 1707 probably in New York City. Sarah and Jacob had two daughters, Metje Balck, born 19 Aug. 1701 in New York City, and Katherine Balck, born 3 Aug. 1703 in New York City. (See The National Genealogical Society Quarterly 1918, Vol. VII, Oct. 1918, No. 3, page 45) After Jacob's death, Sarah remarried on 9 Aug. 1707 in New York City to another Dutch colonist named JOOST SOOY, born 16 April 1685 in the Netherlands, perhaps in Amsterdam, died 28 Sept. 1737 in Lower Bank, Burlington County, New Jersey. Joost, whose name is the Dutch version of "Joseph" or "Joses," was a merchant mariner, and came to America from Holland about 1705 in the employ of the Dutch West India Trading Company. Joost and Sarah had four sons -- their firstborn, born probably in 1708, is unrecorded and must have died soon after birth, but the rest were all baptised in the Dutch Reformed Church in New York City, whose baptismal records show the following:
11 Aug. 1708 Pieter Ament, Elizabeth Van Thienhove, parents; daughter Elizabeth; witnesses Joost Soij & wife Sara [Van Thienhoven] 25 Aug. 1708 Susanna Van Thienhove, mother; son Jan; witnesses Joost Soij, Cornelia Van Thienhove 3 July 1709 Joost Soy, Sara Van Thienhove, parents; son Joost [later called Nicholas after his godfather?]; witnesses Nicolaas Van Thienhove, Cornelia Van Varik -- jon. docht. 25 Oct. 1710 Joost Soy, Sara Van Thienhove, parents; son Joost; witnesses Pieter Ament, Tryntje Van Thienhove 3 Aug. 1712 Joost Soy, Sara van Thienhove, parents; son Luykas; witnesses Cornelus Van Thienhove, Elizabeth Ament 12 Sept. 1716 Roberd Cheklen, Catharine Mortier, parents; son Roberd; witnesses Sara Van Thienhove, Johannes Mortier [widower of Sara's sister Rachel] 23 June 1723 Arent Van Hoek Lowz., Catharina Balk, parents; son Louwerens; witnesses Pieter Ament, Sara Soois [Catharina was Sara's daughter from her first marriage to Jacob Balck]
A few years after the birth of Joost's son Lucas, Joost was living in Monmouth County, New Jersey, as noted in Genealogical Record of the First Settlers of Monmouth and Ocean Counties and their Descendants, which says, "Joos Sooy is named in Monmouth as a witness 1716, and in a power of attorney 1719 from him to Sarah Sooy and Cornelius Sienhinen. He lived for a time at Middletown and was styled yeoman. He was m. to Sarah Balk or Balch, (widow of Jacob, daughter of Lucas Van Tienhoven and Tryntie Bording) Aug. 19, 1707, as appears by the records of the Dutch Reformed Church at New York." In the same period of time, Joost was named in the estate inventory of Lawrence van Hook, Esq., late of Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey, which mentions a "Bond of Yoos Sooy due 1st March, 1718 50--00--00," indicating that Joost owed money to Lawrence van Hook's estate (Unrecorded Wills and Inventories Monmouth County, New Jersey).
The list of "Freemen made in the Third Year of the Mayorality of Robert Walter Esqr." records the admission of "Joost Sooy, Mariner" as a Freeman on 30 July 1722-23. A special Act of the New York Legislature, dated 6 July 1723, listed about dozen men who were to be made citizens there -- Joost Sooy's name appears next to the name of John Peter Zenger on that list (Colonial Laws of New York 2: 164-67; Chapt. 444). It is noteworthy that Joost's wife Sarah was in New York that same month to serve as godmother for her grandson Louwerens van Hoek [van Hook], son of Sarah's daughter Catherine (Balck) van Hoek. Sara's son-in-law Arent van Hoek later served as an administrator of Sarah's estate after her death in 1744.
The "Sooy Book" of BassRiverHistory.org summarises Joost Sooy's life after the birth of his children as follows:
"Joost and his family left New Amsterdam shortly after his three children were born, settling in Monmouth County, N.J., on the Cheesequake Creek. He was naturalized a loyal citizen of the province of New Jersey by special act of the New Jersey legislature. He sailed down the New Jersey coast, entered the Mullica River, and settled in Washington Township at what is presently called Lower Bank, the second white settlement in South Jersey. Fort Nassau on the Delaware was the first. There he and his sons purchased thousands of acres from Samuel Driver and became prominent citizens in the area. He and his wife, Sarah, are buried on the property that was his plantation and is now the abandoned Pacemaker Yacht Company."
The 1750 will of Charles Morgan of Middlesex County, New Jersey, mentions his "plantation . . . where Yose Soey formerly lived, on Cheasquake Creek." The grave of Joost Sooy is now one of three burials at the Cavileer-Sooy Memorial Site, three gravestones on a raised patch of ground surrounded by the parking lot of a defunct boat company. The memorial is all that remains of Joost's colonial plantation. Joost's gravestone inscription reads: "Here lyes interr'd the body of Yoos Sooy who depart'd this life the 28th September Anno Do 1737 Aged 51 years 5 months _ Days." There is no gravemarker there for Joost's wife Sarah, and in fact it is unlikely she was ever buried in Lower Bank, since she was living with her son Nicholas at Leeds Point at the time of her death -- most likely she is buried in that area. Sarah died prior to 1 March 1744, when Joost Sooy and Nicholas Sooy "sons of Joost Sooy and Sarah his wife . . . Late Deceased" were invited to take administration of the estate. In a document dated 25 March 1745, Sarah is referred to as "late of Great Egg Harbour." It seems both Joost Sooy and his wife Sarah died intestate, and on 25 March 1745 Sarah's son-in-law Arand Van Hook and Isaac Anderson were appointed administrators of the estate, Joost Jr and Nicholas having refused administration in a document dated the __th of March 17__ [numbers unreadable]. Joost and Sarah's youngest son Lucas is not mentioned in any of these documents, indicating that he had probably predeceased his parents.
This photograph from page 124 of Henry Beck's 1963 "Jersey Genesis" shows Fred Noyes at the grave of Joost Sooy, in a field on Joost's former plantation, prior to the construction of the now defunct Pacemaker Yacht Company that paved over almost the whole of that field except for Joost's grave and the graves of two other New Jersey colonists. The photo, featured at BassRiverHistory.org, is from the William Augustine collection at Rutgers University Library.
The children of Sarah by her two husbands Jacob Balck and Joost Sooy were:
-- METJE BALCK, born 19 Aug. 1701 in New York City.
-- KATHARINA BALCK, born 3 Aug. 1703 in New York City, died after Jan. 1778, married Arent Van Hoek (Arand Van Hook).
-- JOOST SOOY, born circa 1708, died in infancy.
-- NICHOLAS SOOY, baptised 3 July 1709 in New York City, New York, died between 17 March 1777 and 21 March 1778, married Jean Ingersoll.
-- JOOST SOOY JR., baptised 25 Oct. 1710 in New York City, New York.
-- LUKAS SOOY ("Luke"), baptised 3 Aug. 1712, probably died young as he is never mentioned in the will and probate records of his mother in 1744.
Van Thienhoven Genealogy Resources:
Cornelis Luycasz van Tienhoven", at The Historical Society of the New York Courts. "While He Flatters He Bites," profile of Cornelis van Theinhoven published in The Morning News. Luijkas Van Thienhoven, M.D., with some Sooy descendants of Dr. Lucas van Thienhoven.