Jan Vidito and Jannetje Jaspers ~ Life in New York In The 1600s

Last December I wrote about the Vidito branch of my family tree. I am connected to this line through my great grandmother, Leafy May Vidito, the mother of my maternal grandfather, Angus Grant. In that post I traced the line back to Jean Vittiteau, the first of this line to immigrate to the American colonies in the mid-1600s. He was a Huguenot who fled France due to religious persecution, first to Holland and then to New Amsterdam. According to the information I have been able to piece together I believe he is my 10^th great grandfather.

In last December’s post I gave a brief overview of each Vidito ancestor. Today I am going to focus on Jean Vittiteau and his family. One thing is for certain, there is a large variety of spellings for Jean’s name. First of all, there is the obvious variation of spellings for his first name: Jean, John and Jan. I am going to refer to him as Jan through the remainder of this post because most of the records refer to him as such. Then there is his surname, which there is a slew of spellings/misspellings for: Vittiteau, Vittito, Vittitoe, Videt, Vidette, Vedito, Vedette, Videtto, Vidithe, Widelte… and so on. This certainly makes it challenging to search for him, and in some records his surname was missing completely! Thankfully Alice L. Priest’s book: Vidito, John Vidito of New York City and His Descendant, A Huguenot Founder of an American Family; the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s database, americanancestors.org; and ancestry.ca have all been helpful in piecing together information on Jan and his family.

Below is a timeline for Jan and his family, and I’ve included notable events that would have had an impact on them, based on the time frame and location:

·        March 3, 1656:  Jean and Jannetje were married in New York, NY in the Reformed Dutch Church. The transcription reads “Jan Widelte, Van Condom in Vranckryck, en Jannetje Jaspers, Van Amsterdam”. This translates to Jan Widelte, from Condom in France, and Jannetje Jaspers, from Amsterdam. This is fantastic because it confirms they were both in New York by 1656.

·        Jan 21, 1657: Jannetje Jaspers is a witness to the baptism of Marie, child of Carel Margen and Cathalyntie Hendricks. The other witnesses were Jan and Marie Pceck, and Claes Pauluszen.

·        Apr 11, 1657: Daniel Teneur appears in court requesting to build on the lot granted him by the city “but as it is understood he has sold the lot to Jan Videt contrary to order and also that the present middle door is regulated ‘tis finally received to inspect it.” (Alice L Priest’s book, p.23) I think Daniel’s last name may be misspelled because there are records for a Daniel Terneur in New York, NY during the same time as Jan Vidito.

·        Apr 13, 1657: Jan Videt is admitted to be a Small Burgher. He is the 20^th name on the list; one copy has him listed as “Jean Videt, Frenchman” and the other has him listed as “Jean Videt, French Tailor”. This confirms he is French, and that he is a Tailor.

·        Apr 26, 1657: Jan Videt’s request to build on Daniel Teneur’s lot is rejected because “’tis decreed as the lot is cut in two, and a corner house is to be on it, that such little houses cannot be placed there.” (Alice L Priest’s book, p.23)

·        Jan 27, 1658: Baptism of Jan Vidette and Jannetje Jaspers’ daughter, Anna Marie in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witnesses were Mattheus de Vos, Marie Polet and Anna Bayard.

·        Aug 4, 1660: Baptism of Jan Vidette and Jannetje Jaspers’ son, Jasper in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witness was Francois Allard.

·        Jun 13, 1662: “in the City Hall. Peter de Rymer, plaintiff v/s Jan Videt, defendant. Deft. in default”. (Alice L Priest’s book, p.23)

·        Jun 20, 1662 (Tuesday): “In the City Hall. Pieter de Rymer, ptf, v/s Jan Videt, deft. Pltf, demands from deft, seven guilders and costs. Deft. acknowledges the debt; says he shall pay, as soon as he receives money. The (illegible) Court order deft. to pay pltf.” (Alice L Priest’s book, p.23) This gives us insight into his financial situation, which appears to be a little grim.

·        Aug 28, 1662: Baptism of Jan Vedite and Jannetie Jaspers’s son, Francois in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witnesses were Francois Velyn and Roose Nelle.

·        Aug 29, 1663: Baptism of Jan Vedette and Jannetie Jaspers’ son, Francois in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witnesses were Francois Selyn and Marie Dopsen. As there are two Francois with very similar birth dates, it is possible there has been an error in the recordings of the event, and they are one and the same person. However, it is also possible, that the first Francois died within his first year, and they bestowed the same name on their next born child.

·        Sep 8, 1664: New Amsterdam is seized by the British and the name is changed to New York in honour of the Duke of York.

·        Oct 21^st, 22^nd, 24^th, 26^th, 1664: Jan Videt is one of the “Names of the Dutch who swore Allegiance after the surrender of New York”. (Alice L Priest’s book, p.23)

·        Apr 19, 1665 (Wednesday afternoon): “List of Burghers and Inhabitants of this City that are Assessed:” (to supply/pay for lodging of soldiers) “…The Cingel or City Hall; (Ten names, Jan Videt the third, 1 (illegible)orin.)”

·        May 20, 1665: Baptism of Jan ----- and Jannetie Jaspers’ son, Pieter in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witnesses were Nicolaes Dupu and Annetje Abrahams.

·        Oct 15, 1666: Jannetje Jaspers was a witness to the baptism of Johannes, son of Hendrick Vandoesenburg and Marritje Hendricks. The other witnesses were Pieter Janszen Van Werckendam and Evert Duicking.

·        Oct 24, 1666: Baptism of Jan (blank) and Jannetje Jaspers’ daughter, Jannetie in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witnesses were Jan Gerdyn and Hester Vincent.

·        Dec 7, 1667: Baptism of Jean Vedette and Janneken’s son, Hester is baptized in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witnesses were Jan Gerdyn and Hester Vincent.

·        Oct 12, 1670: Baptism of Jean Vidithe and Janneken Jaspers’ son, Thene in the Reformed Dutch Church. The witnesses were Thene Gayneau and Lydia Metrou.

·        1673: The Dutch briefly regained the city

·        Nov 1674: The Dutch relinquished control of the city to the English in accordance with the Second Treaty of Westminster.

For those of you who like me, hadn’t heard the term Small Burgher before, it is part of a system New Amsterdam had between 1657 and 1668 to guard the citizens’ commercial interests against non-resident trade. The two titles were Great Burgher and Small Burgher. It basically created an aristocracy since the title Great Burgher was hereditary, and awarded them access to the highest public positions in the colony. That being said, it is viewed as having been built on democratic principles because any citizen could become one, depending on a few rules and the payment of a fee. In 1657 there were 20 Great Burghers and 216 Small Burghers. Over time these numbers grew.

Unfortunately, this is where the document trail ends for Jan and Jannetje. I know their son, Jasper, who is my 9th great grandfather was living in Greenwich, Connecticut by 1686, but as to whether he moved there on his own or with the rest of his family is unclear. As per usual, I don’t feel done, and wish I had been at least able to find documentation of their deaths, to confirm if they had stayed in New York or not.

Until next time, happy hunting fellow gene geeks!

Sources:

New England Historic Genealogical Society (americanancestors.org):

·        The American Genealogist, Record 1933, Vol. 10, p.42

·        New York, NY: Parents and Witnesses at Baptisms in the Reformed Dutch Church, 1639-1801, pp. 44, 48, 57, 66, 70, 79, 84, 89, 99

·        New York, NY: Marriages in the Reformed Dutch Church, 1639-1801, p.20

Vidito, John Vidito of New York City and His Descendants: A Huguenot Founder of an American Family, by Alice L. Priest

Ancestry.ca

Wikipedia.org

iloveny.com