Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Evert Pietersen Keteltas

Male Bef 1620 - Aft 1686  (> 68 years)


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  • Name Evert Pietersen Keteltas 
    Born Bef 1620  , , Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died Aft 1686  New York City, New York, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I5912  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Family Hillegond Joris,   b. Bef 1617, of Hoorn, North Holland, Netherlands Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Aft 1686, New York City, New York, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age > 71 years) 
    Married Abt 16 Jun 1669  Reformed Dutch Church, New York City, New York, New York, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F2512  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Zabriskie, George Olin, "The Jan Cornelisen Van Hoorn/Van Horne Family," The American Genealogist, Vol. 46, No. 1 (January 1970), pp. 47-51:
      "The introduction to a companion article ("Christian Barentsen Van Horn,"TAG, supra, 43:193 f.) mentioned the confused state or previously published accounts of the various Van Horn/Van Horne families. That article and this discuss the two families which trace their lineage back to immigrant ancestors who at times used a Van Hoorn surname. The source of the Van Horne name in a third family is not evident. It is covered by Mrs. Elsie O. Hallenback in her Our Van Horne Kindred (n.d. but ca. 1960). It stems from two brothers, Cornelius and Abraham Van Horne of Whitehouse, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Their father was Matthew Cornelisen Van Jutland and their mother Fytje Adams Brouwer, whose first husband was Evert Hendricksen. Mrs. Hallenback's book is a revision of Our Kindred which was a historical record collected and published in 1888 by her grandfather, Abram Van Horne.
      In his book Abram Van Horne places Cornelius and Abraham of Whitehouse as children of Abraham Van Horne . . . of the Jan Cornelisen family. This Abraham did have sons Cornelius and Abraham, but they do not appear in their father's will or other contemporary records, and apparently died young, but relationship to this particular Abraham Van Horne of New York City was considered essential. For, shortly after the Civil War, there developed among the descendants of the Whitehouse brothers, a claim to a fortune left by this Abraham. He supposedly [he really didn't] out-leased much of his property in New York City for 99 years in a haphazard manner. These leases became far past due and if and when the titles to these lands were restored, each descendant would presumably reap a huge fortune. So the story went.
      One member of the family later reported that her father gave $104 during the years 1877 through 1880. He went to New York in 1876 with a man named Van Horne, "I cannot recall his first name." Her father reported that the fortune was there but "we would have trouble to get it, but it is ours, the Van Hornes." Her father's Van Horne visitor was probably Abram Van Horne of Auriesville, New York, compiler of Our Kindred.
      For many years various attempts were made by members of the family in Pennsylvania to obtain this fortune. On 28 Feb. 1925 the Daily Record of Stroudsburg, Pa., announced that "Distribution of the Van Horn Millions Has Begun." It reported that a Mrs. Annie M. Mallon, of Pawtucket, R.I., and formerly of Scranton, Pa., and her son David Morgan "will receive $1,000,000 each from the estate." Extremely odd, as Mrs. Mallon was only an -in-law, and not a blood relative of Abraham Van Horne of New York, "the founder of the estate."
      Ten days later, on 11 March 1925, at the call of the Reverend Francis M. Marvin, whose account we are now following, between 500 and 600 persons from several eastern states gathered at Stroudsburg and organized "The Greater Heirs of the Abraham Van Horn Estate Association," later renamed "The Van Horn Heirs Association." Subsequent investigation showed the said "estate uncollectible, unsubstantiated by any facts other than a letter from an attorney, Mr. Watson." Nevertheless, the association at its "reunion" on 4 July 1925 directed its officers to investigate "to the bottom" all possible leads. At the reunion of 3 July 1926, Marvin reported that the Abraham Van Horne and other claims were without foundation, but further investigations were ordered. Finally, on 5 July 1927 the organization, in line with reality, was changed from "The Van Horn Heirs Association" to "The Van Horn Historical and Genealogical Research Association of Pennsylvania."
      Prior to this, Marvin and his co-worker, W. H. Siglin, submitted their "claims" to a lawyer for review. These claims were: (1) that "many, if not all of the Van Horn and Van Horne descendants in this country through marriage, which we hope to show through our genealogical proofs," were entitled to the Anneke Jans Bogardus "fortune" in New York City; (2) that the claim to land in the Harlem section of New York City "is a claim in which the Van Horne and Van Horne descendants are interested through a direct marriage with the grantees"; (3) that the discredited Abraham Van Horne claim should be extended to include all Van Homes shown in the 1703 census of the City of New York; and (4) that "Anna Maria Jansen, wife of Cornelius Jansen Van Horne and first [sic] Van Horne in this country shared with her brother Wolfert Webber and her sister Anneke Jan Bogardus in legacies both in Holland and America."
      In 1929, using these "claims" as facts, even when contrary to obviously factual evidence, Marvin published The Van Horne Family History, a work which we have been following as stated, but which has been called "Marvin's illfounded suppositions." He leaned heavily on the three Van Horn/Van Horne accounts published by C. S. Williams without giving credit, and with alterations when such were necessary to fit Williams' accounts into these "Van Horn claims."
      In 1911 Williams had published accounts of Joris Jansen Van Horne and Christian Barentsen Van Horn and in 1912 he published an account of Jan Cornelis Van Hoorn in which he failed to insert correctly Joris Jansen Van Hoorn as a son. He denied (p. 97 of his book on Christian Barentsen) the right of any person named Van Horn to claim descent from Jan Cornelis Van Hoorn, yet Marvin's book shows most if not all of the Van Horns and most of the Van Hornes of the Whitehouse family, including himself, as descendants of Jan Cornelisen Van Hoorn and, in turn, his eldest son, Cornelis Jansen Van Hoorn.
      The purpose of this article is to compile a factual account of the early generations of the Jan Cornelisen Van Hoorn family. One small branch of this family came into contact with a branch of the Christian Barentsen Van Horn family at present Jersey City. Other branches lived in central New Jersey, near, but not in close contact, with the Van Hornes of Whitehouse, New Jersey. Thus the real task is not so much one of separating the various Van Horn/Van Horne families, but of weeding out the untruths in the accounts of Marvin and, to a lesser extent, those of Williams and others.
      Williams, and Marvin in turn, apparently thought that every Jan Cornelisen in New Amsterdam was Jan Cornelisen Van Hoorn. He lists items of information that do not apply to him and other items that may or may not apply. If we depend only on direct identifiable evidence, little can be said about Jan's activities in New Amsterdam. His date of arrival is unknown, his land holdings uncertain. On 23 June 1645 he did receive land grants on the south side of Marketfield Street, and he may have had other land within the city proper. On 20 April 1661 he bought a water mill from Abraham Pietersen, miller, located "on the fresh water" near present Foley Square (Holland Soc. Yearb. 1900, 132).
      On 4 Oct. 1647 he signed a power of attorney to Jan Jansszen of New Amsterdam to receive money due him in Amsterdam. A Jan Cornelisen served as a school teacher in New Amsterdam but there is no evidence which indicates that he was Van Hoorn. In September 1664 (N.S.) Jan Cornelis Van Hooren joined with other citizens of New Amsterdam and vicinity in asking Pieter Stuyvesant to surrender New Amsterdam (and thus all of New Netherland) to the British without fighting to defend it (Col. Docs. of N.Y. 2:250). Williams and Marvin say he signed the oath of allegiance to the British Crown in October 1664, but his name does not appear on the printed list of signers. He was granted small burgher rights on 14 April 1657. He is shown in an undated entry on the membership list of the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam (N.Y. Gen. & Biogr. Rec. 9:43). The position of his name on this list may indicate that he joined the church as early as 1659. His wife, Hillegond Joris, joined the church on 2 July 1662 (ibid. 75), and both of these may have been re-entries or on summary lists of members. Hillegond Joris and a Jan Corneliszen whom we may assume was her husband appear together on 12 July 1654 and he last appears on the baptismal register, 25 July 1666.
      Jan died not long after that, for, with banns dated 16 June 1669, Hillegond Joris, as widow of Jan Corneliszen, married Mr. Evert Pietersen Keteltas, widower of Grietje Arents. He was a school teacher, and he and Hillegond lived in the old Van Hoorn home on the south side of present Stone Street, between William and Broad Streets in about 1674 and in 1686. At this time both were shown as members of the Dutch Reformed Church (Holl. Soc. Yearb. 1896:173; 1916:30). Hillegond was a midwife, and from 21 April 1655 was one of the official midwives of the city. She was recently called "the famous midwife" (Record 72:291). She appeared as a witness of the baptisms of numerous children, many of whom are of no traceable relationship to her, the first one on 27 Sept. 1643. On 7 March 1670/1 Evert Pietersen and wife Hillegon Joris asked the Court to "authorize some persons to compose if possible the differences arising between the above named Hillegont Joris and her children by a former marriage relative to their father's property." The difficulty must not have been serious or of long duration, for Hillegond continued to witness the baptisms of her grandchildren, the last time on 4 July 1683.
      Williams lists children for Jan Cornelisen Van Hoorn and his wife Hillegond Joris whom we cannot accept. They were baptized in the New Amsterdam Dutch Reformed Church as children of one or more Jan Corneliszens, all without names of their mothers and without place names for their fathers:
      Abraham, bapt. 8 Aug [should be Sept.] 1647.
      Abraham, bapt. 24 Oct. 1649.
      Judith, bapt. 25 Feb. 1652.
      Williams and Marvin both use these baptismal dates as birth dates, and Marvin adds a fourth child, Aefje, born 12 May 1654, and says that she married, first, John Tudor, and second, John Theobalds Sr. Actually it was a granddaughter, Aefje, baptized 31 Oct. 1673, who married Tudor and Theobolds. As for the two Abrahams and Judith, we are not certain of the identity of their father or fathers.
      Not one of the three children we credit to Jan Corneliszen Van Hoorn and Hillegond Joris can be clearly identified as such by direct documentary evidence. None was baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam. No probate has been found for either Jan or Hillegond. The conclusions which follow are drawn from existing records and are based on known customs. Witnesses at baptisms were usually relatives but at times were, instead, friends of the family. Children were usually named for close relatives, often the oldest for their grandparents.
      The marriage records of the three children indicate that Cornelis and Joris were born in Hoorn, in Noordt Holland, before the family left there. Neeltje, the third child, was born in Amsterdam, also in Noordt Holland:
      Children: . . .
      i. Cornelis Jansen. . . .
      ii. Joris Jansen. . . .
      iii. Neeltje Jans."
      A child named Vroutje was baptized 12 Dec. 1643 in the Dutch Reformed Church in New Amsterdam as the child of Hillegond Joris and without witnesses. On 7 July 1644, Tryntje Jonas, the official midwife, made a declaration "respecting a confession of Hillegond Joris as to the paternity of her child." On the 9th and 11th of July four persons declared that "Hellegond Joris had said that Jan, the pilot of the Seven Seas, was the father of her newly born child." On the 14th the Fiscal (Sheriff) brought suit against Laurens Cornelissen, skipper of the Maid of Enckhuysen, for (1) smuggling, (2) adultery with Hellegond Joris, and (3) speaking disrespectfully of the director-general (the second charge having been denied under oath on 28 July, it was dismissed) [Calendar of Dutch MSS 28, 89 f.].
      No further records concerning this child have been found. Williams and Marvin list her as a child of Jan Cornelisen Van Hoorn. Williams makes no comment while Marvin says she died without issue."