The New York State Archives in Albany houses many colonial Dutch records. Among those records is an account book of the West India Company, which includes payments for passage to New Netherland from 1650 to 1664. This is a great source of information about New Netherland ancestors.
Example: Teunis Kraij
This entry for Teunis Kraij translates to:
Teunis Kraij from Venlo, debit for passage and victuals when he came here on the ship Draetvat [Wire Cask] on 2 April 1657 AD, skipper Jan Jansen Bestevaer: fl. 36:0:-
For his wife: fl. 36:0:-
For his 4 children, 2 under 10 years old: fl. 108:0:-
Also for a hand and maid: fl. 72:0:-
[total] fl. 252.1
The record gives a range of information:
- The name of the main passenger
- The place of origin
- The composition of his household
- The ship they traveled on
- The date of arrival in New Netherland.
The record allows you to see who else arrived on the same ship, which could indicate a prior relationship.
The entry shows that the price for passage was 36 guilders per adult and children over 10 years old, and that children under 10 years old could sail for half price.
Abstract
This list has been abstracted in the 1902 Year Book of the Holland Society of New York, and is available via the Internet Archive. The abstract includes the names of the passengers and whether they traveled with wives and children organized per voyage.
The abstract omits payment details which can be informative to deduce the age of children. The abstract can help to see if your ancestor is mentioned in the records, after which the original record should be consulted for the full information.
Where to find the original record
The record has been digitized and can be found at the New York State Archives website (identifier: NYSA_A1810-78_V14_0083).
- West India Company, list of emigrants from Holland to New Netherland from 1654 to 1664, with their accounts, debit and credit, fol. 3, Teunis Kraij voyage (2 April 1657); vol. 14, Dutch colonial administrative correspondence, 1646-1664, series A1810, New York State Archives, Albany, New York; consulted as digital images, New York State Archives (http://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/ : accessed 4 October 2019), identifier: NYSA_A1810-78_V14_0083.
Hat tip to Chris Brooks for suggesting this topic.
About Yvette Hoitink
Excellent explanation!
Hello Yvette.
Thank you for this very interesting and helpful article. It allowed me to search the index and then find the digital record relating to one of my wife’s ancestors, Beertien Dircks who emigrated to New Amsterdam in 1660 (page 70 of the digital records). Her sister Egbertien was listed immediately after her.
In the example entry for Teunis Kraij, the word “van” before Venlo is very easy to read. In Beertien’s entry, the word before Drente is less clear, but does not appear to be “van”, I see the same word in some other entries. Do you know if another word was used in the early records to mean the same thing as “van” or from? Or could it be that the writer of Beertien’s entry (and some of the others!) simply used a fancier script?
Thank you for your invaluable work helping people like me to tap into the wealth of Dutch genealogical material. It’s been an enjoyable learning experience.
Michael
Interested in the Slover and Schermerhorn families.