weeden-straat pg The Straatmakers,aka Stratenmakers,immigrated from Holland in the early 1600s.Elizabeth Eckerson,a descendant, born 24 Nov1781,married William J. Weeden.Their daughter, (Henrietta, Hester, Hetty,)born 17 July 1799, is the connection to the Utters,as she married Silas in1819 in Warwick, N.Y,just across the border from Vernon Township, N.J.

Note 1: The names Eckerson, Ackerson and Acker may be used interchangeably,as has been done in family records.
Note 2: After years of uncertainty, the husband of Elizabeth Eckerson has been found to be William J.Weeden (not G.) in a copy of the family Bible.Correction made:Dec 2002.His date of death was not 18 Dec 1822,but 18 Dec 1851, according to an excerpt from HISTORICAL PAPERS, Warwick, N.Y.1933,sent by Jennie Sweetman.

A Few of  Dirck Straatmaker's Descendants

1-Dirck Straatmaker (abt.1620- d. 25Feb.1642/43 ) -------------------------Dirck and his wife are killed by Indians.
 sp: Unknown (bet. 1601and 1626-d. 25 Feb.1642/43)
    2-Jan DircksenStraatmaker (abt. Feb.1642/43 - 1729) -----------Dirk's infant son  is saved and reared by Classie Teunis.
    sp: Geesje Gerrits (abt 1646-)
        3-Dirck Jansen Straatmaker(bet.1661 and 1686- )
        sp: Tryntje Buys (bet 1662 and 1687- bet 1718 and 1777)
            4-Geesje Straatmaker(bet 1686 and 1710-)
           sp: Jan Cornelius Eckerson (b.abt.1699-d.aft.1745)
                5-Gerritt Eckerson (24Feb.1742 or 1743-)
                sp: Dirckje Springsteen (bet 1727 and 1752 - d 5 Feb 1830)
                    6-Elizabeth Eckerson (24 Nov 1781-bet 1806 and 1875)
                    sp: William J. Weeden (b. 1768-d. 18 Dec. 1851)
                       7-Henrietta Weeden  (17July 1799-14 Nov 1891)
                       sp:Silas Utter ( 10 May 1795-26 Feb 1856)
                            8-Henry Silas Utter (2 Apr 1835-7 Apr 1916)
                           sp: Julia Card (25 Aug 1835-9 Feb 1908)
                                9-Sylvester Utter (14 Dec 1859-1 Mar 1922)
                                  sp.2: Elizabeth Clark (5 Feb 1863-9 Aug 1915)
                                    10-Jessie Utter (23 Jun 1894-8 Oct 1986)
                                     sp: Seaman Hartman Gray  (13 Jun 1895-20 Nov 1973)
                                       11-Donald Gray (3 Sep 1925-)
                                          sp: Gertrude E.Kimmerly (7 Aug 1925-)
                                             12-Donald George Gray (23 Dec1952)
                                                sp:Barbara Newton (2May 1952)
                                                  13-Eric Scott Gray (2 Jan 1983-)
                                  10-Elizabeth Utter  (1891-26 Jan 1982)
                                     sp: Jack Moore ( 3 Aug 1887-2 Dec 1971)
                                        11-Jack Moore
                                          sp: Ruth ?
                                        11- Bette Moore( 5 Apr 1925-abt 1980)
                                          sp1: William Gavin (abt 1922-abt 1961)
                                             12-William Gavin
                                            12-John Clark Gavin
                                            12-Elizabeth Gavin
                                          sp2: George Staples
                                            13-Victoria Staples
                              9-sp.1: Marie E. Banta ( 18 Apr.1856- 29 Jan.1888)
                                 10- Anna Utter ( 27 Sep.1879-11Jan.1922)
                                      sp: Edward Bennett (8 Jan.1879-5 Dec.1934)
                               11-Ronald Bennett ( 8 Mar.1918)
                                          sp: Stella Mott (5 Aug.1918)
                                            12-Ronald Bennett, Jr. (15 Nov.1939)
                                              sp: Linda McGinn
                                               13- Susan Marie Bennett (12 Jan. 1959)
                                                sp: Stephen Perkowski
 
 

The Massacre at Communipaw

We do not know when Dirck Straatmaker and his wife came to this country, but we do know that they owned land at Communipaw (a section of Jersey City,N.J.) and lived there. The morning after the Indian massacre of Feb.25, 1642/43, Dirck and his wife went to the scene. She was carrying her son Jan, who was less than a year old. The fact that there is no record of his baptism at New Amsterdam suggests that they might have been new arrivals. The soldiers, who accompanied them there, had to leave and warned Dirck of the Indians, but he replied,”There is no danger. If there were a hundred savages, none of them would hurt us.” As the soldiers were leaving they heard a shriek, and upon returning found Dirck mortally wounded and his wife dead. The child was saved and was raised by Classie Teunis in New Amsterdam.Had it not been for this young woman who "adopted" Jan ,the Straatmaker -Weeden-Utter line, as we know it, would never have existed.

Ref: 1. N.Y. Genealogical and Biographical Record,Vol.56, pg.262
        2.FHL Book #-974.7/B2N

.
 

DIRCK STRATENMAKER and his wife had one son,JanDircksen Stratenmaker, born about 1642/43. On Feb.19, 1659 Classie Teunis asked the Orphanmasters for money owing to her  for boarding him for sixteen years (MOM-J-74). He joined the  Bergen church Dec. 30,1665 (D-626), and seems thereafter to have been a resident of Bergen, till he moved to Tappan. On Jan. 14, 1666 (M-2), he married Geesje Gerrits the sister of Guert Gerrits.  This was the second marriage recorded at Bergen. On March 24, 1686 he was one of the Tappan patentees and built a house there in 1700 (Hits. Ref. Ch. Tappan-2,30-, 3). On March 18, 1698, he gave a quit-claim' to the tract at Communipaw owned by his father (W-58). His wife having died on Feb. 11, 1700 (D-162), he married second, banns published,Jan.27, 1707 (M-159), in Feb., 1707 (H-30), Neeltje Buys (Buys Family No. 8), widow of Jan Harmens Coerten and Jacob Vigoor. On Oct.12, 1708 he and his wife were received by letter at the church in Tappan (Hist. Ref. Ch. Tappan-143). It is not known when he died.

Ref.   Family Tree Maker WFT CD#3.-Descendancy Chart
        N.Y.Biog. and Gen. Society Publication, Vol.56, page 263