John Nelson

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1719, Mamaroneck, Westchester, New York

Notes:

"He served on the grand jury of Dutchess County in May 1746; was overseer of Crum Elbow Precinct April 1749." ["Dirck Jansz Van der Vliet of Flatbush, New York"]

John married Elizabeth Davenport on 25 Dec 1739 in Fishkill, Dutchess, New York. Elizabeth (daughter of Thomas Davenport and Sarah Leggett) was born in Jun 1721 in Cold Spring, Putnam, New York; died on 10 Feb 1747 in Crom Elbow Precinct, Dutchess, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Elizabeth Nelson was born in Jan 1747 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York; died on 2 Oct 1787.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 1761, Highlands, Dutchess, New York

Notes:

"Francis Nelson, youngest son of John and Hendrickje (Vander Vleet) Nelson, was born, probably in Mamaroneck, about 1691; died after 13 November, 1750. Until about 1 May 1716, he resided at Mamaroneck ('The Place of Rolling Stones'), at that time he purchased of Colonel Caleb Heathcote, lands in the Manor of Scarsdale, and shortly removed thereto. He was assessor of Scarsdale in 1723. He conveyed, by consent of his wife Ann, 8 October 1733, all his lands in Scarsdale, which he had purchased from Colonel Heathcote, to William Barker of Mamaroneck; and removed to the Highlands of Dutchess County, which had been accomplished by the 31 August. 1736. He purchased of his brother, Polycarpus, an interest in the Great or Lower Nine Partners, a certain tract of land (vide supra). Mr. Nelson was one of the first commissioners of roads for that part of Dutchess which is now Putnam County, 1744. In 1747 Francis Nelson's name disappears from the tax-list of the South Ward of Dutchess County, and in 1750 it last appears on the County Records." [The Nelson Family]

Francis married Anne. Anne was born about 1690. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"There is a strong tradition held by the different branches of this family that Francis' wife's name was Mary Skinner, and there may be some semblance of truth in their belief, but on the 8 October, 1733, if the instrument be correct drawn as entered on the county records, his wife was Ann. Francis may possibly have had two wives, surely there were children aplenty for any two women to mother (14), and as Ann's name does not appear until late in the life of Francis, it may be that the legendary Mary Skinner was the first, and Ann later." [The Nelson Family]

Notes:

Also known as "Jan Nelse", "Jan Elizen", "Jans Elsen", "Jan Nelsie", etc., all Dutchified versions of his English name. [The Nelson Family]

John and Hendrickje Nelson removed to Mamoroneck before 1683. ["Dirck Jansz Van der Vliet of Flatbush, New York"]

"John Nelson may have emigrated from Norfolk, England, between the years 1660 and 1665. A short time after his arrival in America, he settled in Flatlands. There, he married Hendrickje, the daughter of Dirck Jans van der Vliet. He moved to Mamaroneck before July 1697. There he served on the grand jury of Westchester County in 1699; was overseer of Mamaroneck in 1697; and constable in 1699. He died after 1713. Descendants lived in NY, NJ, OH, and elsewhere." ["Descendants of John Nelson and Hendrickje Van Der Vliet"]

"John Nelson, the ancestor of the Nelsons of Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam Counties, NY, was plaintiff in a suit against Thomas Sprey, of New Amsterdam, 17 January, 1670. (Court Minutes of New Amsterdam. V. 278). For a time, at least, he resided at Flatbush, but had removed to Mamaroneck, Westchester Co, before 27 July, 1683, on which date he purchased lands from John Richbell and Ann his wife (Westchester Deeds, A. 20) and he was an administrator, with James Mott and Ann Richbell, of the estate of John Richbell, the first patentee of what later became the manor of Scarsdale. John Nelson's home-lot adjoined the land of Robert Penoyer, and is so described in a deed from himself and wife Hendrica to William Pierce, 2 April, 1694. On 28 January, 1707, he conveyed to his 'eldest son,' Polycarpus, a house, lot of land, and orchard, in Mamaroneck, in consideration of which the son was to pay his 'nephew', Richard Rogers, (Ibid., D, 179, 180.) He served on the grand jury of Westchester Co, 1 August, 1688; as overseer of Mamaroneck in 1697, and as constable in 1699, and his name frequently appears in the records as a member of various town committees, and always with the prefix of 'Mr.,' a designation of some distinction at that period. He died after 28 March, 1713, at which time he was a witness to a deed of John Pell, Sr., brother of Thomas Pell, second lord of the manor of Pelham. A low hill in the town of his adoption perpetuates his name. It was made historically memorable during the Revolution for the surprise and defeat, by Colonel Smallwood, of a large body of the British stationed thereon under Major Rogers." ["Notes on the Nelson Family", appendix to The Journal of the Reverend Silas Constant, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Yorktown, New York by Emily Warren Roebling, edited by Josiah Granville Leach. Philidelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1903.]

John Nelson named his eldest son Polycarpus; Polycarpus, in turn, gave a number of his own offspring names such as Absalom, Tamar and, most notably, Mahar-Shalal-Hash-Baz Nelson. About that, Cortez Nelson's The Nelson Family, published in the 1890s, passes on a family legend which probably need not be taken very seriously:

"Recalling a previous statement that the names in the [Nelson] family indicate its Puritan origin, it will not be amiss, at this time, to explain the origin of the name 'Polycarpus'. Tradition [has it] that John Nelson emigrated from the town of Norfolk, England, between the years of 1660 and 1665; and that the ship he embarqued in was driven by stress of weather upon the coast of France. The passengers were distributed among the peasant along the coast and in the smaller towns until such time as the ship could be repaired and proceed on her way. It appears, however, that John Nelson was given quarters in the family of a French physician, Polycarpus by name, and with him John stayed until the ship sailed. Agreeable to his Puritanic principles, John Nelson offered to reimburse Dr. Polycarpus for his kindness toward himself and others, but Polycarpus refused any payment whatever, but made this one request of John Nelson, that when he was married and settled in his American home, that John should name his first-born son, Polycarpus. How well John kept his word of promise will be seen later on; but no account remains by which we can ever know that John Nelson ever informed Dr. Polycarpus that he had given that name to his first-born son."

John married Hendrickje Van Der Vliet about 1670 in Flatbush, Long Island, New Netherland. Hendrickje (daughter of Dirck Jansen Van der Vliet and Lÿnke Aerts) was born before 3 Apr 1643 in Well, Gelderland, Netherlands; was christened on 3 Apr 1643 in Well, Gelderland, Netherlands; died after 2 Apr 1694. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1707, Mamaroneck, Westchester, New York

Notes:

Or Herske; or Vander Vliet; or Hendrica Vander Vliet.

"[I]t is my belief that the name 'Hannah Reco', as shown on the 1713 (?) census is simply the census-taker's misunderstanding of the Dutch woman's pronunciation of 'Hendrickje'. The connecting of a Hannah Reco to an Indian chief, as shown in Bolton's History of Westchester County, (and quoted in Davis's Westchester Patriarchs) has no documentation at all, so far as I am aware." [Elizabeth Stuerke]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Abt 1613, Nederhemert, Gelderland, Netherlands
• Alternate death: Aft 29 May 1689, Flatbush, Kings, New York

Notes:

Also called Dirck Jansz Van der Vliet.

Emigrated 1663 on de Bonte Koe (the Spotted Cow).

"Commissioned 25 Oct 1673 as Ensign of the Amersfor (Flatbush) militia under Capt. Elbert (Stoothof) and Lieut. Roelif (Schenk)." (Perry Streeter)

From Teunis G. Bergen, Register, in Alphabetical Order, of the Early Settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N.Y., From its First Settlement by Europeans to 1700, New York, 1881:

"Settled in Flatbush, where he obtained Nov. 24, 1654 [sic -- this must actually mean 24 Nov 1664] a patent for 25 morgens, as per Col. Man. On assessment rolls of Flatbush of 1675, '76, and '83; magistrate in 1679, '80, and '81; member of the Reformed Dutch church in 1677 and deacon in 1680; on Gov. Andros's patent for the New Lotts of 1677; and took the oath of allegiance in said town in 1687. Jan 15, 1679/80, he and his w. Gerrtje made a joint will, which is recorded on page 95 of Lib. AA of Flatbush records."

From Perry Streeter, "Dirck Jansz Van der Vliet of Flatbush, New York," 1999, 2003:

"DIRCK JANSZ VAN DER VLIET was probably born in Nederhemert, just west of Well, a village on the south side of the Bommelerwaard in Gelderland, Netherlands in 1612/13; he died Flatbush (now Brooklyn, Kings County, Long Island), New York after January 1679/80 when he made his will there. Dirck was married three times in Well: 'Dirck Jansen van der Vliet, j.g. van Nederhemert [and] Catelÿn Aerts, j.d. te Wel' 17 July 1642; 'Dirck Jansen van de Vliet, wedr van Lÿnke Aerts [and] Huybert Geeritsen, j.d., beiden te Well,' 10 January 1647; 'Dirck Jansz, van der Vliet, wedr van Huÿbertgen Gerrits, te Wel, [and] Geertgen Gerrits, j.d. te Wel,' 21 May 1654.

"The West India Company account book...shows that 16 April 1663 Dirck Jansen Van Vliet [sic] was charged for the passage on de Bonte Koe of his wife Grietje [sic] Gerrits and two children 9 and 4 years old (Book KK, p. 74; HSYB 1902: 25). When Dirck took the oath of allegiance in 1687 he stated he was in the country 23 years, as did his sons Jan (DHNY 1:659), but it is likely that both should have said 24 years, and that Dirck arrived shortly before the rest of his family.

"The two children on de Bonte Koe must have been Jan and Hendrick; Herske (Hendrickie) apparently came over at another time, while Gerrit remained behind and Gerardus must have died young. The immediate descendants of Dirck Jansz Van der Vliet can be traced in Bergen's Early Settlers of Kings County; none of the later accounts of the family are worth mentioning."

From the Find a Grave entry for Dirck Jansz Van der Vliet:

"The Dutchman Dirck Janse is the progenitor of the Vliet family in the United States. The 'Van Der' portion of the name was dropped by his sons prior to 1700. The Vliet family is distinct from the Van Vliet family that kept the 'Van', meaning that the Vliets and the Van Vliets are two different families.

"For Van Vliet family genealogies see, 'A Genealogy of the van Vliet Family in America', by Allison van Vliet Dunn, circa 1970. For Vliet family genealogies see, 'Some of the Vliet Family of New Jersey', by Claire Ackerman Vliet, 1946.

"The Van Der Vliet and Vliet family relationship proof was obtained through DNA analysis. The analysis may be viewed on the Internet at: http://www.halcyondays.com/flatt/. There is more information about Vliet family DNA at:
http://www.familytreedna.com/public/flattfleetvliet/default.aspx?/publicwebsite.aspx."

Dirck married Lÿnke Aerts on 17 Jul 1642 in Well, Gelderland, Netherlands. Lÿnke died before 1647 in Netherlands. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Also known as Catelÿn, Lÿntie, Lyntje, etc.