Jan de Wit

Abt 1600 - 1699  (99 years)

• Name	Jan de Wit  [1, 2, 3, 4]
  Arrival	166	New York, New York, United States
  Birth	Abt 1600
  Baptism	21 Oct 1604	Netherlands   [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  FSID	LL4F-TBX
  Death	31 Mar 1699	Ulster, New York, United States
  Person ID	I45439	footsteps | Bunker
  Last Modified	30 Jul 2025

  
  

  Father	Cornelius Janson,   b. Abt 1575
  Relationship	natural
  Family ID	F24872	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	F25046	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	30 Jul 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.

  
  

• Photos

  __Imigrated

  
  

• Sources

  [S155] Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefs tukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www./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 [S155] Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefs tukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www./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 [S155] Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefs tukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www./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 [S155] Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefs tukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000, "Nederland, Indexen van de Archieven, Primaire Archiefstukken (BS en DTB), 1600-2000", FamilySearch (https://www./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