|
The earliest known ancestor of this
family line is Jeronimus Trico who was born about 1580 in an area of western
Europe that is now within the French Department of Nord.
Nord is
located in the far north of France. It was
created from the western halves of the historical counties of Flanders and Hainaut (the
eastern halves being in Belgium), and
the Bishopric
of Cambrai. Jeronimus married Michele Sauvagie around
1600. Jeronimus
died in 1606 at the age of about 26 years.
It is probable that the place of his death was the village of Prisches*,
located within the aforementioned Department of Nord, France.
Catalyntje Trico,
the daughter of Jeronimus and Michele Trico, is
our 8th great-grandmother. We
believe the she was born 1605 at Prisches*. She married Joris Jansen Rapalje, [1604-1662], a native of Valenciennes in the Department of Nord. This event took place in Amsterdam, Holland, on January 21, 1624, just prior
to their departure for the New World.
Catalyntje and Joris
were part of the Huguenot refugee colony that came over
from Holland to New Netherland, in 1624, on the ship to bring
the first immigrants to this new colonial province.
The ship was the “Eendracht
”, also known
by its translated name of “Unity’ or “Concord”. Upon their arrival in New Netherland they
were deposited at Fort Orange, a place that would eventually become Beverwyck, and later Albany, New York. Their
daughter Sarah Rapalje born
July 9, 1625 is reported to have been the first white female child born in
New Netherland. Over the next
twenty-five years the couple would produce another twelve offspring. Catalyntje and Joris with
family removed to New Amsterdam in 1626, where they purchased a lot and built a
house on Pearl Street just outside of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. This
event was eventually confirmed to him by deed March 13, 1647, which also
notes that he kept a tavern at that location. In 1637 Joris
purchased 335 acres on Long Island along with "some merchandise" from the
local Native-Americans. This transaction was confirmed by deed from Governor Willem Kieft on June 17, 1643. He later moved to this
plantation named "Rinnegacknock"
located on Wallabout Bay. He was
appointed Magistrate of Breuckelen, now called Brooklyn, on April 13, 1655. Joris Jansen Rapalje
died in 1662. Catalyntje
Trico lived on until 1689 when she died at "Rinnegacknock".
This lineage continues through our 9th
great-grandmother Marretje Joris (Maria) Rapalje, born 1627. Maria was the second of Joris and Catalyntje Rapalje’s eleven children, and first of their children
born at New Amsterdam.
*The
utilization of Priches is based upon the marriage
record of Joris Janssen Rapalje
and Catalynie Trico which states that Catalynie Trico’s place of birth as Pris,
Waesland. The Waasland
is a region in Flanders, Belgium. It is part of the provinces of East
Flanders and Antwerp. In the north,
it borders with the Netherlands. The other borders of the Waasland are with the Scheldt and Durme
rivers. Research shows that the
aforementioned area does border on, and in some locales includes, what was
the old County of Hainaut.
Unfortunately the Waasland is not at all
associated with the Walloonian culture. As such it is very possible that the
either the person writing the record or the person providing the
information considered Waasland as synonymous
with the area known as “French Flanders.”
French Flanders is a part of the historical County of Flanders in
present-day France. The region today lies in the modern-day region of
Nord-Pas de Calais, the department of Nord.
The region now called French Flanders was ceded to the Kingdom of
France, and became part of the province of Flanders and Hainaut. That Catalynie’s
place of birth was at a place called Pris, in a
region much larger that the Waasland of
today. Research shows that there is
not a populated place in present day Belgium, France, Netherlands, or
Luxembourg with the name of Pris. The most promising place for of birth for
Catalynie is Prisches a
village in the Nord department in northern France located only 25 miles
from Valenciennes. The following brings to this conclusion:
(1) the first four letters in the
spelling are “Pris”, The place is located
near where Joris
Janssen Rapalje was born, and the place is well
within the the old County of Hainaut.
|
