Jan de Wit

Abt 1600 - 1699  (99 years)

• Name	Jan de Wit  [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
  Immigration	166	New York, New York, United States
  Birth	Abt 1600
  Baptism	21 Oct 1604	Netherlands   [1, 2, 3]
  Gender	Male
  FSID	LL4F-TBX  [6, 7, 8, 9]
  Death	31 Mar 1699	Ulster, New York, United States
  Person ID	I45679	footsteps | Bunker
  Last Modified	22 Jun 2025

  
  

  Father	Cornelius Janson,   b. Abt 1575
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F25033	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Engeltje Pietersdr,   b. 1600, Netherlands
  Children	+ 1. Pieter Jansen de Witt,   b. Abt 1626, Netherlands d. May 1705, Bushwick, Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United States (Age 79 years)  [Father: unknown]  [Mother: unknown]
  Family ID	F25207	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	22 Jun 2025

  
  

• Notes

  Jan was not a respected leader, was an indentured child, and was called a 'half-breed' by another Dutchman. There is also some evidence that Jan's father, Cornelius, returned to Holland where he married a Dutch widow who had other children and that they returned to Long Island where Cornelius found the son and took him to raise Dutch rather than leave him with the natives to be treated as a slave, the usual happening in that era with children of mix parentage. Moreover, Jan did not begin using 'Van Texel' until the English took New York and made all the Dutch families choose a family surname. He took 'van Texel' as it appears that his father, Cornelius Janson, was from the Dutch island of Texel, a stopping point where ships heading to sea picked up supplies and crew members. It is assumed that his father was a crew member on an early voyage and that is when he met and impregnated the native American. It was upon one of his return trips that he likely found out she had boy and seized the boy to be raised Dutch.

  
  

• Sources

  [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, (Penn. Genealogical Soc. Vol. 5. P. 37 and Vol. 7. p. 126; Somerset Co. Hist. Quarterly Vol. 3. page 175). Barent (3) Dewitt (p. 115) was born at some unknown place probably about 1675 and considered the second born son of Pieter (2) Dewitt and Sarah Albertse of Bushwick. He is first found of record at Tarrytown. N.Y., in Sleepy Hollow Dutch Church where he and his wife Sara had five children baptised 1697-1708. That his wife was Sarah Van Tassel, daughter of Jan Cornelia Van Tassel of Tarrytown and wife Cateronus, who is recorded as daughter or Wyandanoh, Sachem of the Montauk Indians. is reasonably evidenced by a recorded petition presented in 1705, by the children and heirs of Jan and Cateronus Van Tassel for a grant of land on Long Island inherited by Cateronus from her father. In this petition Barent Dewitt is named as husband of Sarah, daughter of Jan and Cateronus Van Tassel. Barent d'widtt and wife Sara were baptismal sponsors at Sleepy Hollow Dutch Church in 1702 and 1704 for children or Cornelia VanTassel and wife Aeltie Storm, who was daughter on Dirck Storm of Brooklyn. and was baptised Brooklyn Dutch Church. Oct. 31, 1680. Barent Dewitt and his family removed in about 1710 from Tarrytown, N.Y.. to Somerset county. N.J.. where at Six Mile Run Dutch Church, in the vicinity of NewBrunswick. he and his wife "Sarah Van Fasten” are of record as members in 1711. and where he was recorded as out-going deacon Oct. 11. 1711. and as elder of its consistory March 28. 1723. He has also been described as a "Circuit Rider," which might mean he was a lay reader. or perhaps an itinerant preacher and consoler of in the surrounding territory. [S322] FamilySearch.org, Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZTK-ZP9L : Tue Mar 25 14:10:25 UTC 2025), Entry for Jan Jansz and Pieter Jansz, 21 Sep 1604. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZTK-ZP9L [S322] FamilySearch.org, Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZTK-JN4B : Tue Mar 25 14:10:27 UTC 2025), Entry for Jan Jansz and Pieter Jansz, 21 Sep 1604. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZTK-JN4B [S322] FamilySearch.org, Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68MB-15HB : Tue Mar 25 17:16:24 UTC 2025), Entry for Jan de Wit, 5 May 1699. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:68MB-15HB [S322] FamilySearch.org, Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL63-J1SK : Tue Mar 25 01:27:37 UTC 2025), Entry for Pieter de Wit and Jan de Wit, 16 Nov 1674. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL63-J1QH [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Ancestry Family Tree. [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 07 March 2025, 19:56), entry for John Smith V (PID https://ark.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G72P-5H4 ); contributed by various users. https://ark.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:G72P-5H4 [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Place: New Netherland; Year: 1662; Page Number: 25. https://search.ancestry.com/collections/7486/records/1622751 [S273] FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch FamilyTree, Pedigree Resource File CD 9, (Salt Lake City, UT: Intellectual Reserve, Inc., 2000).