WIFE

Aefje (Baefje) Pieters

CHILDREN

Petronella Eldricks Cleine

According to www users.crocker.com "Banns for the marriage of Uldrick, bachelor from Hessen, and Baefje, spinster from Amsterdam, were published 28 June 1641 at the Reformed Dutch Church of New York. Uldrick came to New Amsterdam as a soldier and was in the colony as early as 22 May 1640 when he acknowledged a debt of 38 Carolus guilders to harmen Abrahams Costerius to be taken out of his wages. On 6 August 1642 he bouth a small house and garden in New Amsterdam. Later the same month he gave testimony, both time signing his name. On 19 May 1643 he witnessed a document in New Amsterdam. He then disappeared from the records of the colony until 25 October 1653 when he was granted a house and lot in Beverwyck. Baefje was a tavern keeper in Beverwyck and appeared frequently in court records from 1654 until 1671, often to collect unpaid debts from customers. She was evidently the primary provider for her family. Uldrick appeared in court records without an occupation, although he contracted in 1668-69 to be a cowherd. As with many New Netherlands residents, verbal and physical violence were sometimes present in cases involving Baefje and Uldrick, like the following:

4 April 1656 Jan de Dekere, commisary and officer here, plaintiff, against Baefgie Pieters, because the defendant last Sunday a week ago treated him, the plaintiff, very badly and by closing her door interfered with and impeded him in the exercise of his office, wherefore the plaintiff demand that the defendant be condemned to pay a fine...

5 September 1657 Ulderick Kleyn, plaintiff, against Eldert Gerbrantsen, defendant. The plaintiff complains that the defendant, last Wednesday, being the 29th of August, called his wife a woman who had been flogged and branded on the scaffold at Amsterdam and said that she had whored around with the "malle boer" and "hageboom" named Jacob Klomp. the defendant answers that the plaintiff's wife called him a scoundrel and a thief and his wife a whore....

Ulderick and Baefje received assistance from the deacons of the Albany Dutch Church in 1656 and from 1660 to 1669. The goods they received included cloth and articles of clothing, food, blankets, soap and wood. In addition, the deacons paid 129 guilders to a surgeon for curing Ulderick in 1666. In partial payment, Ulderick and Baefje performed such tasks as taking in boarders, cleaning the church, and stringing sewant (pieces of shells used as currency). The deacon's records indicated that the couple had at least a son and a daughter. Prior to 1 April 1679 Baefje married as her second husband Jan Roelofse de Goyer, who may possibly have been from Gooiland in North Holland. Jan had lived in Albany prior to moving to Schenectady about 1670. The marriage was not entirely harmonious, as the following court records indicate:

1 April 1679 Baefje Pieters says that a separation of bed and board has taken place at Schenectady between herself and her husband, Jan Roelofse, as it is not possible for her to live any longer with him.

5 December 1682 Jan de Goyer signs a bond in which he promises to live in a Christian and decent manner with his wife, and shall not maltreat her any more, "nor hereafter give her any occasion to complain about me if she does not give me any occasion to do so. Also that I shall avoid drunkenness and lead a sober and decent life as a Christian man should."

Jan died in the Indian massacre of Schenectady 2 May 1690. It is not known when Baefje died.