The Starr Family of America

[Hahn-Powell-Ford.FTW]

Dirck Holgersen, or Dirck Volckertsen Noorman, was from Norway. We do not
know when he came to New Netherland. He was, however, one of its early
settlers. The claim of J. H. Innes (J. H. Innes, New Amsterdam and Its
People.) and others that Holgersen is the same person as Dirck
Vockertsen, in Hoorn, who chartered a ship to carry on trade with New
Netherland, is unfounded. Equally unfounded is the claim that he is the
brother of a contemporary Cornelius Volckertsen, in New Amsterdam.

The fact is that there was a Dirck Volckertsen and a Cornelius
Volckertsen in Hoorn, who as early as 1614 had mercantile interests in
the New World, but remained in the Old. There was also a Dirck
"Volckertsen" (Holgersen), and a Cornelius Volckertsen in New Amsterdam.
These were not brothers: the sources do not indicate that they had any
particular interests in common; that they either associated at the usual
family gatherings or gave any other evidence of consanguineous
relationship. Cornelius was probably Dutch, he was never called Cornelius
Holgersen. Dirck Volckertsen can be a Dutch name. (As early as 1522 a
Dirck Volkertzoon Coornhert, known in the annals of theology, saw the
light of day). Dirck Holgersen was a Norwegian, as is indicated by the
cognomen "Noorman," so frequently given to him in the sources,
(Dirck=Hendrick or Didrik). Whenever he is called "Volckertsen," a
corruption of "Holgersen" is evident (J. O. Evjen, Nordmænd i Amerika i
det syttende Aarhundrede, in "Folkebladet" (Minneapolis), February 2,
1910. Cornelia Volckertsen was fined in 1642 for having kept a disorderly
house. Simon Volckertsen was whipped, and banished from New Amsterdam in
1644. Neither of these nor a Henry Volckertsen, mentioned in a
contemporary document (1635), appears to have been Scandinavian.)

Dirck Holgersen married, before 1632, Christine Vigne, a daughter of
Adrienne (Ariantje) Cuville and Guillaume Vigne, Walloons from
Valenciennes in the north-eastern part of France. Adrienne and Guillaume
had four children: Jan Vigne, who was probably the first white child born
in New Netherland; Maria, who was married to Abraham Verplanck;
Christine, the wife of Dirck Holgersen; and Rachel, the wife of Cornelius
van Tienhoven. Guillaume died before 1632, when Jan Jansen Damen married
his widow (The Records of New Amsterdam, 1653–1674. II., p. 349, note.).

Jan Jansen Damen did not like the husbands of his stepdaughters, because
they would not leave him master of his house. In July, 1638, he brought
suit against Abraham Verplanck and Dirck Holgersen: "On motion of the
plaintiff the defendants were ordered to quit his house and to leave him
master thereof." Dirck, however, charged Jan Damen with assault and
furnished witnesses who testified "regarding an attempt of Jan Damen to
throw his step-daughter, Christine, Dirck's wife, out of doors."
(Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, I., p. 163.) The published sources
give no information as to how the matter was settled.

On May 1, 1638, Holgersen gave a note to Director Kieft for 720 guilders
($288, in present value $1,152) (Ibid., I., p. 2. ). On May 18, 1639,
Kieft leased to him a "bouwery and stock on halves." (Ibid., I., p. 8.)

On January 2, 1642, the Fiscal arrested Gerrit Gerritsen and Dirck
Holgersen for stealing rope from the yacht of the West India Company.
Gerritsen was brought, in chains, to the guard house; Holgersen was
ordered not to leave until the case had been decided. Two weeks later
Holgersen declared, on oath, that he had bought the rope of Gerritsen in
good faith. The court now ordered that Gerritsen and the sailors of the
yacht "Reael" should appear on the next court day "in order to determine
by lot which of them shall be punished, or meanwhile satisfy the Fiscal."
(Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, I., pp. 78, 79.)

In November, 1642, Holgersen conveyed to Govert Aertsen a house and lot
on Manhattan Island. (Ibid., I., p. 33.)

On April 3, 1645, he obtained a grant of twenty-five morgens (fifty

acres) on East River and Mespath Kill (E. B. O'Callaghan, History of New
Netherland, I., p. 583.). He sold a portion of this, September 9, 1653,
to Jacob Hay (Haes), (Ibid., I., p. 278.) who appears to have married his
daughter Christina.

On July 2, 1647, he was given power of attorney by Albert Govertsen to
receive money from the West India Company (Calendar of Historical
Manuscripts, I., p. 38.).

On June 2, 1649, he gave a lease of land to Joehem Calder. This lease is
signed by three Norwegians. It reads as follows:

"Before me, Cornelis van Tienhoven, Secretary of New Netherland, appeared
Joehem Calder of the one part, and Dirck Holgersen, of the other part,
who in presence of the undernamed witnesses, acknowledged and declared
that they had in all love and friendship mutually entered into and
concluded a certain contract in regard to the lease of a certain tract of
land on the condition hereuntowritten:

"Dirck Holgersen leases to Jochem Calder a certain lot of land, situate
on Long Island, together with the land heretofore leased by him, Dirck,
to Jochem Calder, for the term of twenty consecutive years, commencing
Anno 1651 and ending Anno 1671. The Lessee shall have the land rent free
for the first six years, and during the other fourteen following years
shall pay, annually, for the use of said land, which big and little he
shall cultivate and improve as he thinks proper, the sum of one hundred
and fifty guilders in such pay as shall then be current. All the expenses
that the Lessee shall incur in building, fencing and whatever else is
necessary shall be at the charge of the Lessee, who shall make such
improvements as he will think fit; and if it happen that he, the Lessee,
should die, it is stipulated that the Lessor shall not eject the wife or
descendants from the land against their will. The fences and other
improvements, of what nature soever they may be made by the Lessee, shall
at the termination of the twenty years, belong to the Lessor, his heirs
and descendants in full propriety without disbursing anything thereof.

"For further security and the performance of this contract, parties
pledge their respective persons and properties, submitting to that end to
all Courts and Judges.

"In testimony this is signed by the parties with Jan Nagel and Peter
Jansen Noorman witnesses hereunto subscribed, this 2d of June Anno 1649,
New Amsterdam.

"This is the X mark of Dirck Holgersen made by himself."

"This is the + mark of Jochem Calder made by himself."

"This is the PI mark of Peter Jansen, witness, made by himself."

"Jacob Kip & Jan Nagel Witnesses." (New York Colonial Documents, XIV.,
p. 115.)

On March 22, 1651, Holgersen sold to Peter Hudde and Abraham Jansen a
parcel of land on "Mespachtes Kill opposite Richard Bridnels" twenty-two
morgens, one hundred and thirty-six rods. We give the deed of sale below:

"Before me, Jacob Kip, in the absence of the Secretary appointed by the
Honorable Director-General and Council of New Netherland, appeared Dirck
Holgersen, an inhabitant here who declared that he sold and conveyed, as
he does hereby, to Peter Hudde and Abraham Jansen, in company, a certain
parcel of land situate on Mespachtes Kill opposite Richard Bridnels,
formerly the property of one Cornelia Willemsen, containing according to
the groundbrief, twenty-two morgens, one hundred and thirty-six rods;
which land he, the grantor, conveys to the said Peter Hudde and Abraham
Jansen, in company, in one, true, free, and right ownership, therefore
renouncing the right and property had thereto, with authority to enter
on, cultivate and use the said land free and unmolested, on condition
that the reservation mentioned in the ground brief in regard to the
acknowledgement of the Lords and Patroons of this country be complied
with; placing the said Peter Hudde and Abram Jansen in his stead, real
and actual possession of the land aforesaid, and renouncing all
pretension thereto henceforth, and for ever he promises to hold fast and
inviolable this his deed and conveyance under bond as by law provided.

"In testimony I have signed this with the witnesses, this 22d of March,
Anno 1651, New Amsterdam in New Netherland.

"This is the mark of Dirck Holgersen made by himself.

"Jacob Jansen Huys, witness.

"Gerrit Jansen, witness.

"To my knowledge —— Jacob Kip, Clerk.

"This day the 28th of March Anno 1651, the Hon'ble Petrus Stuyvesant and
Council of New Netherland approved this foregoing proof of the purchase
of the land mentioned, and accordingly the conveyance above executed by
Dirck Holgersen in favor of Peter Hudde and Abraham Jansen is held valid.

"In testimony this is signed by the Hon'ble Director-General; dated as
above, Manhatan in New Netherland.

"P. Stuyvesant." (Ibid., XI., p.
137f.)

On September 18, 1651, Holgersen conveyed to Roelof Teunissen, a Swedish
sea captain from Göteborg, a house and lot in Smith's Valley on Manhattan
Island. He had had this place since 1645, and built a house upon it. It
must have stood upon the whole or a part of the site of the modern
building, No. 259 Pearl Street (Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, I.,
p. 55. J. H. Innes, New Amsterdam and Its People, p. 323).

http://ssdi2.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/il.nfo/query=davenport/doc/
{@811}? ****

On September 9, 1653, Holgersen conveyed to Jacob Jansen Hey (Huys or
Haes) twenty-five morgens of land, with a valley of six morgens,
"beginning at the hook of Mespacht's kill, Long Island, and thence
running S. S.W. along the river."158

On October 15, 1653, he sold a lot to Hage Bruynsen, who was from Sweden.
This lot was situated on Smith's valley, "fronting on the strand or
highway."159 On February 16, 1654, he brought suit against Hage Bruynsen
for payment of this lot.160 On October 15, 1655, he was taxed fl. 10.161

Under date of October 25, 1655, the court minutes contain the following
entry with respect to Holgersen:

"Reyer Stoffelsen vs. Dirk Holgersen. Defendant in default. Default was
granted only for the payment of fl. 9 (?), now due since three years."162
Under date of November 8, the same year, the minutes state: "Sybout
Claesen, as att'y for Reyer Stoffelsen, pltf. v|a Dirck Holgersen, deft.
Delta. 2d default. Being for payment of fl. 8 belonging to Reyer
Stoffelsen. Requests sequestration and satisfaction. The Court ordered,
as Dirck Holgersen is in the second default, that he deposit the said fl.
8. within 8 days in the Secretary's office."163

The next lawsuit in which Holgersen was involved was due to his having
wounded a cooper in a fight. We shall give the history of this case,
following as much as possible the version of the court minutes:

[Jan. 8, 1656] "Jan de Perie pltf. vs Dirck de Noorman deft. Pltf.
exhibits pursuant to the order of 18th Dec. last, two separate
declarations, one of Jan Fredricksen and one of Paulus Heymarts, by which
it appears, that Dirck de Noorman attacked him, the pltf., and chased him
from the Strand to the Clapboards, as is more fully detailed in the
certificates rendered before Notary de Vos. Requesting as before that the
deft. be therefore condemned in the time lost by him and Surgeon's fees.
Deft. says that he was not the first to draw his knife, but that the
pltf. had forced him to do it, he having first struck him on his shoulder
with a knife, which he also broke having struck his truss, and afterwards
tried to kill him with a naked dagger. The court ordered the deft. to
prove his statement by the next Court day."164

Several months passed, and the case was still pending. Schout d'Silla
then made the demand, October 30, 1656, that "the Court appoint
Commissaries to take information in his presence as to how Dirck
Holgersen wounded Jan Perle. The request being deemed just, Schepens
Jacob Strycker and Hendrick Kip are appointed Commissioners."165

On December 11 "Jan de Pree" requested "by petition, that Dirck Holgersen
be ordered to settle with him for the pain, surgeon's bill, and loss of
time which he incurred from a stab in the side received from said Dirck.
Whereupon is endorsed—The petitioner may summon his party at the next
Court day, and then, if he thinks fit, institute his action."166

A week later "Jan de Pree" renewed his demand in writing. Schout d'Silla
maintained, however, that "the plaintiff has no cause of action, as he
began the quarrel, and wounded the defendant by sticking a knife in his
body. And whereas the defendant is in default, the plaintiff was ordered
to summon him again, and then to prove his statement."

Holgersen now summoned a Jan Peeck, his wife Mary, and Perie's servant,
Jan Fredricksen, to appear in court and testify to the truth of what they
saw and heard transpiring between himself and Jan Perie.167

The court minutes record the following concerning the testimony of Jan
and Mary Peeck:

[Jan. 27, 1657.] "Dirck Holgersen, pltf. v|s Jan Peeck and his wife,
Mary, defts. Pltf. requests that defts., whom he has summoned as
witnesses in the case between him and Jan Perie, cooper, would please
testify to the truth. Jan Peeck therefore declared that in the morning as
he lay abed, he saw Jan Perle and Dirck Holgersen playing at dice
together on the floor for a…and heard Jan Perie, while playing, give
Dirck Holgersen frequently the lie, whereupon Dirck Holgersen
contradicted, and a fist fight followed: and as he, deponent, said to
them that he could easily sell his wine without trouble, they went away,
without his knowing anything more. Mary d' Peeck, also heard, confirms
the declaration of her husband above given and declares she afterwards
heard Jan Perle say, "There's Dirck the Noorman, who has a box of seawan
in his sack, and he should play or the D…should take him"; also, that Jan
Perie's man told her, he saw his master thrust his knife into Dirck
Noorman's truss. Dirck Holgersen answers in writing Jan Perie's demand,
concluding that the pltf. John Perie's entered demand be dismissed and he
be condemned the costs. Whereupon asked if he have further evidence, he
says, Yes; Jan Perie's man, but that the others have been to him, and he
is gone away. Wherefore the case is postponed."168

What Perie's servant testified is seen in the following:

[January 29, 1657.] "Dirck Holgersen v|s Jan Fredericksen, Jan Perie's
servant, deft. Pltf. requests, that deft. shall testify to the truth
before the Court as to what he saw relative to the drawing of the knife
between him pltf. and Jan Perie. Therefore aforesaid deft. appeared in
Court and declares he saw, on coming out of the house, Jan Perie and
Dirck Holgersen standing opposite each other, each with a knife in his
hand, and that Dirck Holgersen thrust first, and stabbed Jan Perle in his
belly, and that Jan Perle then thrust with the point of the knife on
Dirck Holgersens truss, and saw Jan Perle afterwards chase Dirck
Holgersen with a dagger. And further he cannot declare."169

The case was begun in December, 1655. It concluded June 29, 1658, when
Holgersen, who was then city carpenter, consented to pay the fine for
wounding Jan Perle.170

Holgersen, in the mean time, had been having other litigation. On
February 8, 1656, he had been sued for a canoe which he had found on his
land, had repaired and would not surrender before he had been paid for
repairs and salvage. The court minutes state:

"Dirck Claessen Portebacker, pltf. v|s Dirck Holgersen, deft. Pltf's wife
appeared in Court, says that she has missed a canoe, which she purchased
from Peter Van der Linde and after seeking for it everywhere, finally
found it before deft's house and land, who refused the same to her,
notwithstanding reasonable salvage was offered. Requests the Court
condemn him to deliver it. Deft. says a certain canoe was brought by some
Englishmen on his land, and as the same lay a long time there without a
person coming after it, he found, that it was very much out of repair. He
repaired it and rebuilt it. Offers to give it up to the pltf. on the
condition that she will pay him for the repairs, wages, and salvage.
Parties being heard, the Court referred the parties to Lambert Huybersen
Mol, and Cornelis Jansen Clopper to value the labor and repair expended
on the canoe, and if possible to reconcile the parties, or to report to
the Board."171

On April 3, 1656, Holgersen was sued by Symon Joosten for a debt. The
Fiscal "remained bail for the payment." Holgersen was ordered "to make an
assignment when the Fiscal undertakes to pay."172

On March 8, 1658, Holgersen and Maria Verplanck, his sister-in-law, were
sued by Claes van Elslandt, elder of the Dutch Reformed Church in New
Amsterdam, for not paying for a grave. According to the court minutes,
Claes van Elslandt claimed that "the defendants refused to pay the Church
money for a grave of their deceased mother," Ariantje, who died 1655.
(She was the mother of Maria Verplanck, and mother-in-law of Holgersen.)
The defendants replied that they had not refused, "as they have once paid
and counted the money to Cornelis van Tienhoven," their brother-in-law.
Claes van Elslandt was then asked, why he was so slow in collecting the
Church fees. He replied that Cornelis had said, "there are your fees, I
shall make it right with the Church wardens." The defendants claimed they
paid fifty guilders —thirty guilders in Holland currency and the
remainder in seawan. After hearing this, the court ordered that the heirs
in common should satisfy the Church wardens within a week.173 Holgersen
and his wife Christine were members of the Dutch Reformed Church in New
Amsterdam since 1649.174

In April, 1657, Holgersen acquired the small burgher's rights in New
Amsterdam.

In the same year he deeded to Roeloff Teunissen some property that had
been conveyed to himself on August 4, 1649. It was on the present west
side of Pearl Street, near the north corner of Lane.175

After the cessation of the Indian troubles Dirck Holgersen appears to
have removed to his farm at Norman's Kill. For in a deed of October 17,
1661, "Dirck Volkers, of Bushwyck, as husband and guardian of Christina
Vinge, daughter of the late Geleyn Vinge and Adriana Cuvilje," conveyed
to Augustine Herman, "his certain fourth part of the inheritance and
succession which belongs to him from his wife's parents, except the
eighth part of the fourth part of a little field to pasture cattle,
situated on the Maadge Paadje, in the rear of Lysbet Tysen" (Valentine,
Manual of…the city of New York, 1865, p. 686f).176

On March 9.4, 1662, some landowners of Bushwick, of whom Holgersen was
one, petitioned those in authority to get a road made through their land
at Bushwick.

In April, 1662, they petitioned the Director-General and Council to be
excused from fencing in their lands, "especially as wood is growing
scarce around there and hard to obtain, and the fences would cost a great
deal."

It appears that Holgersen gave some of his land to the village of
Bushwick.177 He was a magistrate of the place in 1681, and ensign of the
local militia in 1689. He was assessed there in 1675. But also the city
of New York taxed him fl. 5, in 1677. In 1671 his name is found on a list
of owners of houses and lots of the city of New Amsterdam. His property
was classed in "fourth class" property, no value being given.178 It was
situated on the west side of the present Pearl St., between Franklin
Square and Wall St., known at that time as Smith's Valley.

Dirck Holgersen had several children. On September 8, 1641, his daughter
Rachel was baptized, one of the sponsors being a Norwegian, Laurens
Pietersen Noorman; his son Volckert was baptized in November, 1643; his
daughter Ariaentje (Adrienne), August 21, 1650; his daughter Janneken,
December 7, 1653, when Pieter Jansen Noorman, a Norwegian, acted as
sponsor.

According to J. H. Innes, Dirck had also a daughter called Christina
Cappoens, who was first married to Jacob Jansen Huys (Hey, Heys, Hes,
Haes), a skipper who had lived in the West Indies. Her second husband was
David Jochemsen.

The entire tract of land which Holgersen had in Bushwick eventually "came
into the hands of the Meserole family, descendants of Dirck's daughter,
Christina, who held it until recent years, and may still have some
portions of it."179

Under date of December 14, 1643, the church record states that
Holgersen's wife acted as sponsor for a child belonging to Roland
Hackwardt. On June 5, 1650, both Holgersen and his wife stood sponsors at
the baptism of a child belonging to Jochem Kier (Kalder) and his wife
Magdalena, a Lutheran woman. Holgersen had leased some of his land to
Kalder in 1649. April 23, 1651, Holgersen stood sponsor for the child of
Jan Hennanszen Schutt and Margaritje Dennis.180 [Phil's Copy.FTW]

!"Early Settlers of Bushwick, LI, NY" by Provost. Member of Dutch Reformed
Church, New Amsterdam, NY. Compendium American Genealogy, V. 2l, p. 298.