USA > New York > Famous families of New York; historical and biographical sketches of families which in successive generations have been identified with the development of the nation, Vol. II > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
His policy has been that which has marked the great divines of his race-that of a patriot upon all national matters, a civic
58
Potter
leader upon municipal questions, a tireless advocate of educational reform and progress, and a resolute worker in philanthropic enter- prises. During a life of the hardest kind of work, he has found time to publish several books of literary excellence and general value. His most notable work of recent years has been his states- manlike effort to harmonize the interests of labor and capital, and to Christianize the "Submerged Tenth," in both of which cases his endeavors have met with gratifying success.
The Rev. Eliphalet Nott [1837] was a graduate of Union Col- lege (1861), and of Berkeley Divinity School (1862). In 1866, he President was made professor of ethics at Lehigh University, and Eliphalet N. in 1871 President of Union College, and afterwards President when the college was made into a university. In 1884, he declined the Bishopric of Nebraska to accept the Presidency of Hobart College. He died on February 16, 1901.
Professor William Bleecker [1846] was one of the great educators of the country. He was graduated from Columbia Professor with high honors in 1866, and thereupon entered the
William B. celebrated School of Mines of that university, where he took the degree of E.M. in 1869. For two years he was assist- ant professor of geology, and at the same time served as a geol- ogist upon the State Geological Survey of Ohio. In 1871, he became professor of mining engineering and metallurgy at Wash- ington University, St. Louis, Mo. No one stands higher among the scientific experts of the land, nor enjoys a greater esteem among the learned societies of this country and Europe. In 1888, he was made President of the American Institute of Mining Engineers.
It would be difficult to surpass the record of the Potter family so far as intellectuality and mental achievements are concerned. It is difficult, indeed, to equal it. The record of the main branch is longer and marked by a greater number of distinguished men, but it may be questioned whether, in general, they have attained the high levels of their New York kinsmen. They have achieved fame in the pulpit as orators, and in the cathedral chair as execu- tives and organizers. In science, pedagogy, architecture, music,
-
59
Potter
literature, and at the bar, they have won enviable reputations for that high ability which borders upon genius.
In national and civic affairs they have been marked by patriot- ism, humanity, and philanthropy, and in private life they have been characterized by a culture, refinement, and grace which have made them leaders of society for a hundred years.
IRapalje
61
ginsongns 19312 B Imors
Jacob Rapalje From a steel engraving
XXVI
RAPALJE
ELIGIOUS forces are potent factors in the breaking up of old and in the establishment of new communities. The wars between the Romanists RIORA and Huguenots of France are an in- SECV teresting exemplification of this fact, especially to an American student. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes NON INFE drove tens of thousands of the Re- formed faith into more liberal coun- tries, and of these a considerable portion crossed the Atlantic and set- tled in the Dutch colonies of America, where they soon became a large and influential element in the community.
Among the first settlers in the New Netherlands, was Joris Janes de Rapalie, a noble Huguenot of La Rochelle, France, better known under the Dutch form of his name, Jan Joris Jan Joris, Rapaelje. His family had been distinguished in the Founder history of Brittany from the middle of the eleventh century. In this romantic province they owned large estates, and were famous for their valor and patriotism. Many of them took part in the Crusades, while others achieved distinction in the French wars at home and abroad. They were among the first converts to the Reformed faith, and paid the usual penalty for their non-con- formity. Some were killed, while the majority were forced to flee to Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland.
63
64
Rapalje
Joris was among those who escaped to Holland. Here he remained a short time, and then, with a company of venturous men and women, he took passage in the ship Unity of the Dutch West India Company, and arrived in New Amsterdam in 1623, being one of the earliest settlers. He stayed a short while at New Amsterdam, and then went to Fort Orange, now Albany. Here he remained three years, and returned to New Amsterdam, where he lived until 1637. In June of that year he bought a large tract of land from the Indians on the Long Island side of the East River, and there made his permanent home. The tract was of 335 acres, and included a large part of what was called the Walla- bout. He was a man of high integrity, and a few years after his arrival in Brooklyn he was made a magistrate. He married Cata- lina Trico, daughter of Joris Trico of Paris, by whom he had eleven children: Sarah [1625], Marritje [1627], Jannetje [1629], Judith [1635], Jan [1637], Jacob [1639,] Catalyntje [1641], Jeroni- mus [1643], Annetje [1646], Elizabeth [1648], and Daniel [1650].
Of these Sarah, the eldest, was the first female child born in the New Netherlands. In honor of this fact, the authorities pre- Sarah, the sented her with a tract of land on the Wallabout ad- First Girl jacent to her father's farm. Sarah was a woman of great talent and physical vigor, and during her long life was the acknowledged social head of Brooklyn. She was twice married, her husbands being Hans Hansen Bergen and Tunis Gysbert Bogaert. By these unions she had fourteen children, becoming thereby the maternal ancestress of the Bergen and Bogart families of Long Island.
Jeronimus, in the second generation, was a man of promi- nence in both New York and Brooklyn. He was a farmer and Jeronimus merchant, Justice of the Peace, and a deacon of the
Brooklyn Church. He owned several small craft, with which he supplied the market of New York with produce, and turned an honest penny by carrying freight for his neighbors. He accumulated considerable property, and left his children well provided for. His wife was Anna, daughter of Tunis Denys, by whom he had six sons and three daughters.
65
Rapalje
Daniel, the youngest child of Joris, was a man of high char- acter and of a strong religious nature. He took comparatively little interest in public affairs, but devoted his time and Daniel wealth to church work. He was an elder of the the Devout Brooklyn Church the larger part of his life, and made it a point of duty to visit regularly all the places of worship belonging to his denomination. The church records of that period speak of him in very high terms, and ascribe the prosperity of his denomination largely to his generous aid. He married Sarah Klock, daughter of Abraham Klock, by whom he had six children.
In the third generation were several male members of ability and influence. Tunis [1671], son of Jeronimus, was active and versatile, having been a farmer, stock-raiser, merchant, Tunis
and sheep-owner. He was an enthusiastic churchman, the Deacon and served as deacon of the Brooklyn Church for many years. He married Sarah Van Vechten, by whom he had seven children.
Jacob [1679], son of Jeronimus, married Sarah Brinckerhoff, daughter of Abraham Brinckerhoff, by whom he had a large family. He settled in Raritan, N. J., where he founded the New Jersey branch of his race.
Cornelius [1690] married Joanna Antonides, daughter of the Rev. Vincentius Antonides, by whom he had many daughters, nearly all of whom grew up and married advantageously. He resided in New York, and from his branch came the Rapaljes who married into the New York families of that period.
Jeronimus [1682] was a prosperous land-owner, shipper, and merchant, who was active in religious and philanthropic affairs, and who served twenty-five years as a trustee of the Jeronimus, town of Brooklyn. He took delight in good roads and Town-trustee bridges, and was marked by great fidelity to his trusteeship. He married Hilletie Van Vechten, daughter of Hendrick Van Vechten, by whom he had five children.
Daniel, son of Daniel [1691], settled in Newtown, where he established the Queens County branch of the family. He married Aletie Cornell, daughter of Johannes Cornell, by whom he had ten children. He was a prosperous farmer, and founded an estate VOL. II. - 5.
66
Rapalje
which grew to large proportions, under the management of his descendants.
In the fourth generation, the male descendants began to change from agricultural to mercantile pursuits. In the meantime, the growth of Brooklyn and New York had enhanced the value of farm property and of garden produce, so that nearly all the sons were quite well to do. George, son of Tunis, bought property in Bedford, which was then developing into a very prosperous village. He improved it, so that its value almost doubled during his lifetime. He married Elizabeth Remsen, daughter of Joris Remsen, by whom he had five children- Sarah [1722], George [1724], Tunis [1726], Rem [1728], and Phœbe [1731].
Jeronimus and his brother Derrick (sons of Jeronimus) fol- lowed their uncle Jacob and migrated to New Jersey, settling first at Raritan and afterwards at Brunswick. Each married, the former having two sons, Cornelius and Tunis, and the latter, George and Jeronimus.
Daniel, son of Daniel, was the thriftiest member of the family. He was very successful in business, and eight years after his father
died bought the paternal estate at Newtown. He man- Judge Daniel aged it with prudence and amassed great wealth. He was a magistrate of the town, and held many positions of honor and trust in the ecclesiastical, commercial, legal, and social world.
About this time the conflict of English and Dutch spelling brought about a curious change of the name. Heretofore it had been spelled Rapalie; now, on account of slurs cast upon the Dutch Knickerbockers, the family adopted the Holland spelling. They could not agree, however, upon the form, and no less than three versions appeared. The largest number accepted Rapalje, while two other groups employed Rapaelje and Rapelje respect- ively. The French particle of place, "de," was now omitted altogether.
Folkert [1719], son of Tunis, resided at Cripplebush, and devoted himself to horticulture. He married Matilda Polhemus,
The Rapalje Family Bible, in Possession of Henry S. Rapalje, Esq.
B. IL
56 Ir st Dugh Var Tibugsy Onbinit's Chien
conits in Her Com
BIBLIA
p. M. g.7.
in Bt Fais
00
De gantiche IL Schrifture vervattende alle de Canoniské Bus ken des Oudes en des Nerimeu TESTAMENTS.
List de Mivelpronchebake tilen us oile
Jord Rapelle is about met the ryte
yborentment ler Anno 11 Low Gogh April, Jord goal of Newwe by the
by JACOB en HENDRIK KEIR
XXX
Title-page of the Rapalje Family Bible and Page Showing Family Records
!
67
Rapalje
daughter of Cornelius Polhemus, by whom he had one son and three daughters.
In the fifth generation, Major Daniel [1748], son of Johannes and grandson of Daniel, was a brave Revolutionary soldier. Upon the breaking out of the war he took up arms, served as lieutenant during the conflict, and reached Major Daniel the rank of major at its close. The British holding the western end of Long Island, he was compelled to fly the country, and did not see his home until after the British troops had evacuated New York. He married Agnes Bergen, daughter of Johannes Bergen, and had a large farm at New Lots. His children were John, Daniel, Samuel, and Michael.
From this branch are descended several men of distinction. His grandson, Williamson, was a skilful portrait painter and a pros- perous man of affairs. His great-grandson, Daniel Williamson, [1836], was educated at Rutgers, and after graduation Artist entered the theological department and took orders. As soon as he was ordained he offered his services to the Foreign Daniel the Missionary Society, which sent him to the Amoy Mis- Evangelist
sion, in China, of the Reformed Church in America. Here he labored for over thirty years, building up a large and faithful con- gregation of Chinese converts. The work accomplished by Dr. Rapalje and his heroic assistants borders on the marvellous. When he went there in the early sixties, the place was the most notoriously evil on the China coast. Superstition was rife, and the Tong-An district, just back of the city of Amoy, had supplied pirates to the China Sea from time immemorial.
The good doctor determined upon invading the latter field. He organized all the missionaries of the district into a compact whole and assigned to each a specific duty. He established preaching centres throughout the large territory and placed sev- eral at the more important points among the rough populace of Tong-An. For many years the task seemed fruitless, and then it began to bring forth a harvest. Chapels, schools, and, finally, churches, were founded. In 1890, the turbulent district had be- come quiet and orderly, and the evangelists found themselves
68
Rapalje
supported by fifty native exhorters of ability and courage. Then began the foundations of a college on the Island of Kulang-Su, and, in 1895, several hundred children attended the schools of Dr. Daniel and his associates.
Rem [1728], the son of George, took up mercantile life in New York, which he made his residence. Here he amassed a hand- some fortune, and finally retired from business and settled in Pel- ham. He married Ellen Hardenbrook, by whom he had issue.
His son George [1771] was graduated from Columbia
George the Scholar in 1791, and admitted to the bar in 1794. He had a large practice, but finally confined his work to the management of his estate, especially after 1805, when his father died, leaving him a fortune. He was a man of strong literary tastes, and de- voted his leisure to travel and study. He published many mono- graphs upon special topics, and, in 1834, a volume upon his travels. He married Susan Eliza Provost, daughter of Bishop Provost.
George B., grandson of George, who was a grandson of Joris, was a famous character in his time, and was noted for his strange ill-luck. His grandfather, George, was drowned in New York Bay in 1781, his cousin George in 1795, and his uncle George, in 1799, met a similar fate. This singular coincidence of a man, his son, and grandson, each bearing the same name and meeting the same doom, attracted great attention. George B. was a talented business man and prospered from the first. In his youth he fell in love with a very beautiful girl named Miss Sherred, and became affianced to her. A month before the wedding-day she fell sick, and died on the very night she was to have been married. From that time on the young merchant was a changed man. He gave up all society, especially that of women, and found his solace in the excitement of trade. He lived amid the humblest surround- ings in order to accumulate wealth, and invested his gains with great shrewdness. Before his death he owned numerous houses and lands between Thirtieth and Fortieth Streets, Eighth and Eleventh Avenues. His cousin, George Bernard [1784], was a merchant of high standing and wealth in the first half of the nineteenth century.
The Rapalje Estate, 35th Street and North River Redrawn from an old print
!
69
Rapalje
In the sixth generation, George, the son of Daniel, grandson of John, was distinguished as a merchant and philanthropist. He was a moving spirit in the charities and church organ- George the
izations of the early part of the nineteenth century. Philanthropist He married Sarah Elizabeth Staples, by whom he had : Ellen Maria, George Augustus-who was educated for the Protestant Episcopal Church, but died before he was ordained,-Sarah Eliza- beth, and Henry Staples, architect, who is the head of the present branch of the family in New York.
In the seventh generation, Jacob [1788] commands attention. He began his business life as a clerk in New York, where his energy and courtesy soon made him liked by his em- Lieutenant ployers. At the outbreak of the War of 1812, he enlisted Jacob and became a lieutenant of artillery. He made a good record as a soldier, and the regimental order-books which he wrote are still in existence and bear testimony to his administrative ability. At the close of the war he started business in Charleston, S. C., where, in 1816, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of State. In 1825, he returned to Brooklyn, where he soon became a leader in the City Council.
He labored for the widening and improving of Atlantic Avenue, and advocated the present South Ferry. In 1837, he invented a machine with which he proposed to clean the streets of New York. His invention was far ahead of the age. It did the work well, but it aroused the fierce enmity of the street sweepers of the time, who formed a mob, chased the inventor a mile, and destroyed the machine. It was fully twenty years before his idea was taken up and made a part of the street-cleaning equipment. In the forties, with Cornelius J. Bergen and Alexander Bergen, he started a movement which resulted in the laying out of Carroll Park and the reclamation of the marsh lands in South Brooklyn.
This measure changed what before had been an unhealthful territory into a fashionable neighborhood and paved the way for the Erie Basin and the great manufacturing establishments which now are so striking a characteristic of that part of the bor- ough. He developed the district of Newtown known as Laurel
70
RRapalje
Hill, and gave it its poetic name. With J. S. T. Stranahan he was one of the first to advocate the establishment of Prospect Park, and lived to see the first steps taken towards the realization of that project. He married Elizabeth Van Mater, by whom he had seven children. Of his sons, the eldest, Gilbert Van Mater, became a prominent citizen of Staatsburgh, Dutchess County, and the youngest, Augustus, remained in New York and Brooklyn.
More than thirty of the family have been prominent mer- chants in the metropolis, and during the Civil War over eighty espoused the cause of the Union. The Rapaljes are notable for the vigor of their members, the large size of their families, and the preponderance of male over female issue. In this respect they tower over the other old families of the State with but one excep- tion, the Schencks. The strength and health of the race is accompanied or manifested by lightheartedness and geniality. This is modified by a strong religious nature, which expresses itself in enthusiastic church work. More than one hundred and fifty Rapaljes have been deacons, vestrymen, and trustees in the churches of the Greater New York. In the beginning, they were stalwart pioneers, and assisted in the settlement of at least fifty towns in New York and New Jersey. In their next stage, they were skilful farmers, graziers, and carriers. In the third, they were able merchants, owners of real estate, clergymen, and professional men. In peace, they have always striven for local improvements and municipal reform, and in war, they have been active supporters of the nation. They have cared little for office or title, finding their chief joy in the performance of their duty -domestic, social, and civil.
George Rapalje From a photograph in possession of Henry S. Rapalje, Esq.
TRemsen
71
٠٠جبن
XXVII
REMSEN
HE history of the old New York fami- lies, and especially those of Holland blood, is full of quaint features, re- sulting from the projection of Dutch customs into the New World. No- where can a better illustration be found than in the family names of the seventeenth century. To the present generation the patronymic is all-im- portant. We reproduce it exactly as it is transmitted from the past, no matter how incorrectly our forebears may have spelled it. The good Knickerbockers had no such feeling. In them the filial qualities seem to have been much stronger than they are with the people of to-day. The son and daughter took the father's first name and added to it "s," "se," or "sen," to express filial relationship, and gave little thought to the final name of their sire. In some cases they seemed to tire of a family name and adopted a second, with the seeming approba- tion of the members of their race. Thus the Lents and Suydams are really Rikers.
A similar illustration is afforded by the distinguished Remsen family, which for more than two centuries and a half has been prominent in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and other districts of the Empire State. Their family name is Vanderbeek or
73
74
Temsen
Vanderbeeck, meaning "of the Brook." The family belonged to the nobility of Germany and of the Netherlands at a very early period. The first reference to them in the ancient chronicles was in 1162 A.D., when the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa pre- sented a valorous knight of their race with a handsome coat-of- arms. From that time up to the present century their name has been frequent in the annals of both Germany and Holland, where they earned honor by courage in war and public services in peace.
The founder of the race in America was Rem Jansen Vander- beeck who came to the New Netherlands in 1642. He was a Rem Jansen farmer, and in addition a skilful blacksmith. At that Vanderbeeck time the young men of Holland were obliged by law the Founder and custom to learn a regular trade in addition to their ordinary calling. This was done for the protection of the com- munity in the event of inundation by the sea or of beleaguerment by a foreign army. Soon after Rem's arrival he espoused Jannetje, the handsome daughter of Joris Jansen de Rapalje, and settled in Albany, then Fort Orange. He took up a farm, opened a forge, and prospered in both callings. He was a man of powerful physique and sweet disposition, a good-natured, laughing giant, who won the affections of young and old. A kind husband and a loving father, he soon had ample opportunity for the use of both virtues, having a family of which fifteen grew up and married.
He accumulated property and would doubtless have remained in his first home but for the rumors of an Indian uprising. He had no fear for himself, but much solicitude for his little ones. At the same time, his father-in-law, Joris, bought a large estate at the Wallabout, and added his persuasion to the other incentives for removal. Rem complied and took up a fine tract of meadow and marshland at the Wallabout, which was held by the family more than two hundred years. In Brooklyn he was as popular as at Fort Orange. Shortly after his arrival, he was made an official, and during the second Dutch administration he became a magistrate. Of his fair wife a family tradition says that in her babyhood she with her Indian nurse sailed across Buttermilk
75
Remsen
Channel in a Dutch washtub. That body of water between Governor's Island and Brooklyn, which now floats an ocean steamer, was then a shallow estuary, which at very low tide could be waded across by a grown man.
Rem died in 1681, and at his funeral his fifteen children with their wives, husbands, and children were present. It was a seven- days' talk in New York, and made so deep an impression upon the public mind that it is probable both his offspring and the public considered the dead man as a greater personality than the race of which he was a member, and so induced the adoption of Remsen as a family name from that time on. The sons were Jan, Joris, Rem, Jacob, Jeromus, Daniel, Abraham, Isaac, and Jeremias. Of the daughters, Anna married Jan G. Dorlandt, Hildegond mar- ried Aris J. Vanderbilt, Femmetie, Joseph Hegeman, Jannetje, Garret H. Van Nostrand, Catalina, Elbert Adriense, and Sarah, Martin Adriense.
The members of the second generation left the paternal home- stead and established themselves at various points. Jan [1648] became a resident at Flatbush, as did his brother Jan of Daniel. Joris settled in Brooklyn, near the ferry. Isaac Flatbush [1673] became a Brooklynite. Rem, Jr., went to Flat- Abraham
of Newtown bush. Jeremias retained the homestead, and Abraham settled in Newtown. No less than six of the sons left families which became the nuclei in the next generation of large and influential branches.
In this third generation, Rem, the son of Jan, removed to Staten Island, where he became a wealthy farmer and justice of the peace. John and Isaac, the sons of Isaac, settled Rem at Oyster Bay, where they were the founders of a the Justice powerful clan. Rem, the son of Rem, was a distinguished church- man in Brooklyn, whose chief interest in life was the education of his children. Besides the ordinary tuition of the schools, sup- plemented by instruction at home, he had each apprenticed to a trade. When the youths came of age he gave them each a por- tion of his estate so as to start them in life. The sons settled in New York, where they founded an important branch of the family.
76
Remsen
They were seven in number, and seemed to act always upon the rule of "all for one and one for all."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.