Our Immigrant Ancestor Juriaen Westfall

THIS PAGE IS BEING REDESIGNED AND UPDATED

The Story of Juriaen van Bestvael/Westfall

The Dutch Discover America

On September 12, 1609 the Dutch explorer Henry Hudson, for whom the Hudson River was named, was the first European to discover Manhattan and the upper reaches of the river.  The area was not colonized for another twelve years until the Dutch West India Company was formed in 1621.  Three years later, and four years after the Pilgrims arrived in New England, the first permanent settlement was made by Dutch and Walloon¹ families at Fort Orange on the Hudson River.  The colony was named New Netherland and encompassed the lower eastern part of New York State. The colony was controlled by the Dutch trading company and managed in Amsterdam by a board of directors.  The chief concern of the Dutch West India Company was conquest and trade with the Indians, not colonization and agriculture.  The welfare of the people living in the colony was of secondary importance.  At first the province was a series of trading posts on the Hudson at Fort Orange (Albany), Esopus (Kingston) and Manhattan.  These posts engaged mainly in fur trade with the Native Americans.

Among the stockholders of the Dutch West India Company was Kilian van Rensselaer, a wealthy jeweler in Amsterdam.  He became one of the directors early in the history of the company.  Van Rensselaer was convinced that the reliance on hunting and trading alone would cause loss and damage to the company.  He advocated restricting the fur trade and setting up agricultural communities to help colonize the province.  New Amsterdam would then become a valuable supply station for ships going to the West Indies.

Van Rensselaer and other supporters of this plan drew up an agreement defining the kind of farming colonies they wished to create in New Netherland.  Those participating in the venture had to be stockholders and were called patroons.  In 1630 and 1631 Van Rensselaer bought land from the local Native Americans on the east bank of the Hudson River, from near Albany south about 22 miles.  The farming colony he established was named Rensselaerswyck.  Today the name and the boundaries of the colony still survive as the county of Rensselaer in up-state New York. 

The Netherlands showing the approximate location of Leiderdorp.  The German state of Westfalen shares its border with Belgium and the Netherlands (click on picture for larger image)

Rensselaerswyck

Rensselaer cultivated some of the land for himself through servant farmers.  Other parts he leased to both servant farmers and freemen.  Van Rensselaer sent farm implements, livestock, building supplies, workers, farmers and merchants to New Netherland at his own expense.  By 1646, when Kiliaen died, there was a population of about one hundred people from all over Europe at Rensselaerswyck.  More than a dozen different languages were spoken.  Van Rensselaer never visited New Netherlands and conducted the affairs of the colony through letters from Amsterdam.  These were always long, rambling and were confusing and often contradictory. This distant management resulted in many disputes with his officials and servant farmers, one of whom was Juriaen Westfall.

An amazing amount of information is known about Juriaen because his name is found in numerous documents related to New Netherland.  He arrived in Rensselaerswyck in 1642 aboard the ship De Houttuyn commanded by Adriaen Dircksen Houttuyn. Kiliaen van Rensselaer sent the Rev. Johannes Megapolensis to be the pastor of the Dutch church in Rensselaerswyck. The Reverend carried a letter from Rensselaer to the skipper about the payment for the passengers on the De Houttuyn.

Kiliaen van Rensselaer to Domine Johannes Megapolensis

His reverence will please look after my people and goods who in the name
of God now go over in the ship "den Houttuyn".
The persons who sail are the following:

Domine Johannes Megapolensis,
Machtelt Willems, his wife, Hillegont,
Dirrick, Jan, and Samuel, his children;
Abraham Staes, surgeon [and] his servant;
Evert Pels, beer brewer; … his wife, [and] his servant;
Cornelis Lambertsen van Doorn;
Jochim Kettelheun;
Johan Helms van Barlt;
Johan Carstensen van Barlt;
Juriaen Bestvael van Luijderdorp;
Claes Jansen van Waelwijck;
Paulus Jansen van Geertruijdenbergh;
Hans Vos van Badens;
Juriaen Pauwelsen van Sleswyck; (in the margin)Hendrick Albertsz van
Londen, 29 years old, Geertruijt Dries van Doesburch, his wife, 23 years old,
Hendrick Dries, 21 years old, her brother.

It is to be remembered that the said Hendrick Albertsen for his three,
Abraham Staes for his two, Evert Pels for his three, must pay the skipper, Adriaen
Dircksen, for their board in the same manner as all the other freemen, but
that board of the farm hands is charged to me.
N.B. The bookkeeper in the colony must regularly see to it that the board
of the freemen is charged to their account, as Director Kieft sometimes charges
it with that of other people in one lump to the patroon..."

Of interest is Evert Pels whose name often appears in documents connected with Juriaen Westfall. Pels married his wife Jannetje (Jane) Sijmons in Amsterdam in 1641.² Pels' unnamed "servant"³ was someone in the employ of Pels, not necessarily an indentured servant. In June 1642, shortly before he sailed for New Netherland, Evert Pels signed a contract with van Rensselaer in Amsterdam allowing him to operate a brewery in the colony.⁴ Evert Pels was from a family of long time brewers of beer in Stettin, Pomerania.

The ship De Houttuyn departed Holland on June 6, sailed up the Hudson from Manhattan and arrived in Rensselaerswyck on August 11, 1642. Of the twenty-three persons aboard, all except the minister and three "freemen" and their families, were servants or employees of van Rensselaer, including "Juriaen Westvael van Luijderdorp."

Members of the Dutch colony were from many parts of Europe, including England, Scandinavia, Germanic Europe, France and Spain.  Once in America, all were expected, even forced to join the Dutch Reformed Church and speak Dutch in business and legal transaction.  By the second generation the descendants of the original settlers were thoroughly Dutch in language, religion and customs.  Although, as with all "melting pots," we can assume that many retained at least some customs of their former homelands.

---

²Van Rensselaer Bowier manuscripts, being the letters of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, 1630-1643, and other documents relating to the colony of Rensselaerswyck. Translated by A.J.F. van Laer, archivist. pg. 605, Http://books.google.com
³Virginia Carpenter Jansen, "Westfall Ancestry of the Jansen Daughters, Our New Netherlands Immigrant Ancestors", Chapter 27, March 2002, http://webpages.charter.net/gjansen/famwes.htm
⁴Van Rensselaer Bower manuscripts pg. 679

---

Although Juriaen was listed as from Liederdorp that does not necessarily mean he as a native of Holland.  Westfall researchers Virginia Carpenter Jansen and Stephen Westfall have found evidence that Juriaen was born in Stettin, Pomerania, which today is part of western Poland on the border with Germany.  According to the parish register, Jeurgen (George) Westfall was baptized in the St. Jacobi Church in Stettin on March 12, 1621⁵, the son of Joachim Westfall and Elizabeth Utecht.⁶  Supporting this theory that Juriaen was originally from Stettin is the fact that Evert Pels and Jochem Kettelheym were from Stettin and Grimmen near Stettin.  Both men were aboard the De Houttuyn with Juriaen.  Their names are found in several documents of the colony, often along with his.⁷  If the baptism in Stettin was that of our ancestor, he was twenty-one years of age when he arrived in America.  This seems much more likely than the fifteen that at least one family historian has claimed.

On August 13, 1642, two days after his arrival in Rensselaerswyck, Juriaen began drawing wages from the colony.  Although he is listed as a "servant" farmer he probably was not an indentured servant in the usual sense of the word.  He was basically a hired hand obligated to Rensellaer⁸, probably by some sort of contract

Shortly after Juriaen Westfall's arrival in the New World he and his companions were forced to defend their new homes against the Indians.  The governor of New Netherland was resident Director General Wilhem Kieft, appointed by the Dutch West India Company.  In 1641 Kieft started a four year war between the colonists and the Native Americans.  The conflict decimated the province and many farms were destroyed along with badly needed crops.  In 1645 peace was made with the Native American tribes on Long Island and along the Hudson River.

In July 1644 Juriaen Westfall is mentioned as a servant of Michael Jansz.⁹  In January 1646, Juriaen Bestval and Jochem Kettelheym took over the remaining term of the lease from Evert Pels of a farm on Papscanee Island in theHudson. The term of the lease was for seven years until May 1, 1653.¹⁰

Kiliaen van Rensselaer died in Amsterdam in 1646 and the title of patroon passed to his son, Jon (Johan) Baptist Rensselaer. Some years later Juriaen became a farmer in the service of Governor Peter Stuyvesant. Peter Stuyvesant was appointed as governor of New Netherland in 1647 and given charge of all Dutch possessions in America. Director General Kieft was relieved of his post because of his disastrous war with the natives. Stuyvesant arrived in New Amsterdam on May 11, 1647. He quickly began a series of reforms. Some were beneficial to the colony, strengthening the Dutch foothold in America. However, he was heavy handed and dictatorial. His iron fist and difficult personality soon made him many enemies He forbid the sale of liquor to the natives. An important source of income for many settlers, his orders were usually disregarded. He punished those who would not conform to the Dutch Reformed church.  He did not allow the people of the colony to have a share in the government. Instead, he named a council of nine men to advise him.  He soon became a very unpopular ruler.  Stuyvesant also insisted that the independent colony of Rensselaerswyck be placed under his jurisdiction.  This led to conflicts with the West India Company and Jon Baptist van Rensselaer, son and heir of Kiliaen van Rensselaer.

The court in Rensselaerswyck was a counsel of men appointed by the patroon.  In December 1648, Evert Pels was summoned before the counsel of justice, "… for having wounded Thomas Jansz, also because he or his servant took another man's cow without his consent; on account of having beaten Claes Tyssen; on account of his delivered grain which he received from Broer Cornelis for his labor and which was delivered to Evert Pels which he Pels admitted, on aforesaid date; on account of wages earned by Claes Tyssen and breaking of the pease [sic]; because of the abusive language used by his wife in addressing the director [Brandt van Schlictenhorst] for all which he must make answer on Thursday next being the 17th of this month." At his appearance before the counsel, Pels was ordered to pay the money he owed Claes Tyssen, plus expenses.¹¹ A few days later Pels was summoned again before Director Schlictenhorst concerning wages Pels owed Claes Tyssen.  Pels had given Tyssen two skins, which the Director stated was unacceptable.  On December 21, Anthony DeHooges served notice to appear on Pels by tacking it on Pels' door.  That same day Jochim Kettelheym and Jurian Bestval, "servant of Evert Pels" were summoned to give testimony on the case against Pels.¹²

Although Evert Pels held a position of authority in Rensselaerswyck, he was obviously a bit of a trouble maker.  After he and others left Rensselaerswyck for Esopus (Kingston) some years later, he was responsible for touching off another conflict with his Native American neighbors by leading an attack on them due to a misunderstanding.

In March 1649, Evert Pels officially transferred a lease of his farm to Juriaen Bestvaal.   In June, Thomas Jansz filed another complaint against Evert Pels for payment of a surgeon's fee for treating the wounds Pels had caused in the incident of the previous year.  Evert Pels' defense was that he should not be required to pay because Thomas Jansz was just as guilty as he was.¹³

In December 1649, Juriaen and Jochim Kettelheym were summoned by the Director for default on their lease payment.  A year later, in December 1650, Director Schlictenhorst attached money in the hands of "Jeuriaen Bestval," which Juriaen owed Kettelheym. The money was for a claim against Kettelheym by the Director, probably for the lease payment for that year.¹

Sometime during the year 1650, Maritje (Mary) Hansen was bound out to a tavern keeper in Rensselaerswyck by her father.¹⁵  The Hansen family had arrived in the colony sometime shortly before this.  Mary Hansen was the future wife of Juriaen Westfall.  They were married about 1654.

In January 1651 the Director again attached money in the hands of Juriaen in the case against Kettelheym. This was probably the same default from the previous December.¹⁶  For several years Jurian, Kettelheym and Evert Pels are cited several times by the Director as in default of their lease payments.  All land in Rensselaerswyck was owned by the patroon.  Freemen and servant alike were required to lease their farms from the patroon.  Many simply refused to pay and without an adequate way to enforce their will, there was not much that the authorities could do about it.  This seems evident from a letter from Governor Stuyvesant to the Rensselaerswyck patroon in September 1651.

"From Director Peter Stuyvesant to Rensselaer:  [Some lines destroyed] ... greetings, [I] cannot obtain money for restitution so that we are compelled to ask you for right and justice in the matter.  In case of further refusal, be pleased first to ask him in a friendly way in my name and that of Juriaen Westval what he [Rensselaer?] may have advanced or paid for it and it will be restored to him by me or Juriaen Westval.  For the present nothing else but our hearty greetings.  Commending you to God's care and protection, I remain, Honorable, Prudent, and Very Discreet Sir, Your affectionate friend, P. Stuyvesant."¹⁷

Through the rest of 1651, several citations were issued by the director of Rensselaerswyck against Jeuriaen Bestval, Evert Pels, Jochim Kettelheym and others and their properties were attached for unpaid leases.¹⁸

In February 1651 Jon Baptist van Rensselaer, as patroon of Rensselaerswyck, ordered an inventory of animals in the colony. On the list are Thomas Chambers, Juriaen Bestval and Evert Pels. Chambers was a wealthy English carpenter who seems to have been a neighbor of Juriaen's in both Rensselaerswyck and later at Esopus (Kingston) until Juriaen's death about 1667. The inventory of the farm of Juriaen Bestval consisted of the following:¹⁹

"Animals found on the farm of Jeuriaen Bestval, the 14^th day of February 1651"

HORSES and ages -
1 black mare 12 years old
1 brown mare 7 years with a star
1 black mare with a star, 6 yrs
1 black mare about 3 yrs
2 black stallions, 3 yrs
2 black stallion colts with blazes, 1 yr
1 brown stallion colt, 1 yr

CATTLE and ages -
1 red cow about 11 yrs
1 spotted cow, 8 yrs
1 red cow. 7 yrs
1 red heifer, 2 yrs
1 red heifer calf, 1 yr

Dissatisfied with obligations to the patroon and the inability to actually own the land he farmed, Thomas Chambers purchased land below Rensselaerswyck from two members the Esopus tribe in June 1652.  Thomas Chambers was "a person well-fitted to initiate a movement to unencumbered land ownership in the Esopus."²⁰ Soon, Juriaen, Evert Pels and others followed Chambers down stream the Hudson River to the new settlement on the east bank of Esopus creek.²¹

The Esopus Settlement

In September 1654 Juriaen was granted a patent for 32 ½ morgens (65 acres) of land at Esopus.  The text of a land grant at Esopus dated March 27, 1657 to the widow of Johan de Hulter describes her land as adjacent to land of Juriaen Westfall.²²

For the next several years the settlement at Esopus was plagued with raids by angry Native Americans.  The Esopus settlers were ordered to leave their farms in 1656 for protection at larger settlements. On May 1, 1658 a group of Esopus tribal members gathered at Roundout Creek to celebrate a victory in a ball game.  The celebration included a ten gallon keg of brandy, sold to them by their Dutch neighbors.  By dusk, they were roaring drunk.  One of them fired a musket and accidentally killed Harmen Jacobsen who was standing on a yacht moored on the river.  During the night they set fire to the house of Jacob Adrijensen who fled with his family to the safety of the same yacht.  Violence and drunkenness because of a victorious college ball game, where have I heard that before? The next day, Chambers set a letter to Governor Stuyvesant requesting troops be sent for protection.

Subsequently, a nasty full scale war broke out between the Esopus tribe and their Dutch neighbors.  The natives had many grievances with the white settlers.  Members of their tribe had been kidnapped and sold as slaves.  Indian workers on Dutch farms were often beaten because they were considered lazy.  Some whites refused to make payments promised for land they were granted by members of the tribe.  As these grievances accumulated, violence erupted.

As a result, Governor Stuyvesant ordered the settlers to build fortifications and the sixty or seventy men, women and children move their homes closer together within a single palisaded area.²³ That year, Stuyvesant personally staked out a site for a fort at Esopus.  The circular fortification erected was six hundred thirty feet in circumference and contained a guardhouse.  Stuyvesant left two-dozen soldiers at the settlement for protection.  Juriaen and others returned to their farms. After visiting the Esopus settlement, Stuyvesant decided to establish a farm of his own at the location. It seems that about this time Juriaen exchanged his servitude to Van Rensselaer for service to Stuyvesant.

In September 1658 Sergeant Andrew Lowrensen sent a report of conditions in Esopus to Governor Stuyvesant.  He wrote, "As to Jurryen Westfalen, he thinks he will come down by the first opportunity and see whether he can agree with your Excellency about the rent of the farm here.  But, the oxen would be of no service to him at present.  He will speak about it more in detail with your Excellency."²⁴

The next spring in May 1659, the sergeant sent another report to Stuyvesant, "George Westphal does his best to plow the land and fence it.  I have lent him 69 pounds of bacon, as he needed provisions.  The oats are in the ground, all which your Honor has sent, the spring wheat came too late and the land is fenced nearly all the way round, the plowing continues since your Honor has sent the oxen.  The oxen, in which your Honor is privately interested, draw well.  He has sold his cows by order of your Honor.  I have delivered the iron and ropes, which your Honor has sent.  No more at present, except to commend your Honor to the protection of the Almighty God."²⁵

Problems with their Esopus tribal neighbors arose again in September 1659.  At the end of the corn husking, Thomas Chambers rewarded his Native American hired farm hands with a bottle of brandy.  During the celebration, one of the farm hands fired a harmless powder charge.  Ensign Dirck Smitt, the officer in charge of the soldiers at Esopus, sent a patrol to investigate.  When they returned they reported that it was only "heathen frolic" at Chamber's farm.  Smitt had orders not to inflame hostilities with the natives and decided not to interfere.   Unfortunately, some of the Esopus settlers, led by Evert Pels and another man, had different ideas.  The group of disgruntled settlers started towards Chamber's plantation yelling, "We'll slap their mouths."  Armed with axes, muskets, and cutlasses they attacked the celebrating Indians, killing and wounding several.

Ensign SMIT was thoroughly disgusted with the behavior of the people he was trying to protect. Governor Stuyvesant had authorized Smitt to withdraw his soldiers if the Esopus settlers caused more trouble with the natives. Thomas Chambers and others pleaded with him to stay. Unsure of what to do, he sent a man down the river to New Amsterdam to inform Governor Stuyvesant of crisis and ask for his orders.  Veteran soldier Harman Rosecrans and a group of several others escorted the messenger to his canoe.  Coming back to the stockade at the settlement, they escorts ran into an Indian ambush. Four men escaped, but Rosecrans and twelve others, and Sergeant Andrew Lowrensen who Ensign Smitt had sent to lead the group, surrendered without firing a shot and were captured.  Several of the captives were forced to run the gauntlet and then tortured to slow death by fire.  Seven of the prisoners were held for ransom. The lucky son of Evert Pels caught the eye of one of the Indian women and was adopted into her tribe.  Rosecrans somehow managed to escape.²⁶

On April 9, 1660 Ensign Smitt wrote from Esopus to Stuyvesant's secretary Van Ruyven with details of the skirmish with the Indians and the disposition of certain farm products.  He wrote, "I beg to inform your Honor, that I have received from Mathias Roeloff's wife here 20 schepels of wheat for your Honor and from Skipper Vlodder or out of his yacht 145 schepels of spring wheat, of which Jurryen Westphalen, your Honor's farmer, has received 50 schepels."²⁷ The following month Ensign Smitt reported, "I have to inform your Honor in regard to the spring-corn, which we sowed, that Thomas Chambers has 100 schepels of barley and peas in the ground and Jurryaen Westphalen your Honor's farmer, has in the ground 100 schepels of spring-wheat and barley, as well as peas and oats."²⁸

On August 17, 1659, Juriaen Westfall and twelve others at Esopus sent a petition to Governor Stuyvesant and the Council of New Netherlands asking for a Dutch church to be established in Esopus.  They requested that the Reverend Harmanus Bloem, recently arrived from Holland, be appointed the pastor.  Juriaen and eight others signed the petition with their mark.  Juriaen's mark is a unique three-pronged fork or trident that is easily distinguished in all the documents he signed.  In response to the petition the church was established and Reverend Bloem was appointed the first regular pastor.  Among those who pledged to support the new minister was Juriaen Westfall and Thomas Chambers.²⁹ Chambers was an important figure in Esopus.  Although they were of a different social class, Chambers' name is often found with that of Juriaen Westfall and his family.

Juriaen Westfall and Mary Hansen were married probably about 1654.  Their names are found in church records for the baptisms of their children.  The oldest child was daughter Rymerick who married Thomas Quick in 1672.  Assuming that she was no younger than 16 she must have been born about 1656.  Son Abel was baptized in 1661.  The other four children were baptized between 1661 and 1666. Dutch children in the colony were baptized shortly after they were born, usually within a few days.

Before many years passed the settlement at Esopus was renamed Wiltwyck. In 1662, a survey was made of the village and the names of property owners entered into the public record.  Thomas Chambers and Juriaen Westfall are listed as proprietors of lots in Wiltwyck.³⁰

In 1663 a series of fierce attacks by Native Americans rocked the settlement. Continued attacks and Stuyvesant's severe inflexibility greatly weakened the colony.  When war broke out between the Dutch and the British, the people of New Amsterdam were ready to welcome British rule.  A stone fort and twenty cannons defended the city of New Amsterdam, but when British warships appeared in the harbor in 1664, the Dutch people refused to resist the invaders. Stuyvesant was forced to surrender without firing a shot, and New Amsterdam became New York. There was a brief period during the war between England and the Netherlands when the colony was again under Dutch control, but control soon returned to the English.

In December 1666 the new English authorities of the colony listed Juriaen Westfall as a grantee of land in Ulster County, New York.³¹ It was at this time the English renamed Wiltwyck as Kingston.  The Dutch, however, maintained their customs and religion for many years to come.  The British recognized Rensselaerswyck as a Dutch colony with authority invested in the patroon.  It remained so until 1849, the longest continued patroonship in America.

If the inhabitants of Kingston thought that the British had freed them from oppression with the capture of New York, they were soon disillusioned.  In 1667, during the "Mutiny at Esopus" they rebelled against atrocities committed by English soldiers.  Juriaen was among the citizens of Esopus who petitioned British Governor Nicolls for protection and restitution.³²  This is the last direct mention we have of Juriaen.  His youngest child was baptized in June 1666.  Although we have no record of Juriaen's death, certain conveyances and other historical documents of Ulster and Orange counties, New York indicate that he died about 1667.³³ Some claim the Juriaen was killed in an ambush while leading English soldiers to an Indian village.

Thomas Chambers came to New Netherland as a carpenter. Early on he leased land for a farm from Kiliaen van Rensselaer where the city of Troy now stands. Chambers later became an influential and prosperous citizen of Kingston. In 1672 British Governor Lovelace rewarded him for his services to the colony. His estate was named the Manor of Fox Hall and Thomas became the Lord of Fox Hall Manor.

It is my guess that he is the source of the family legend that says the immigrant Westfall ancestor was a lord or a peer. Juriaen and Mary's son John gave his name as, "John Westfall of Fox Hall in the Esopus" when he married Mary Cool (Cole) in 1683.³⁴  However, it is more likely John simply leased land from Chambers on Fox Hall. Perhaps as the story of John of Fox was handed down generation to generation, the true story was lost and the tale became a Westfall Lord or Peer.

Ronald N. Wall

Modified: 30 June 2019