She was married to Jean Cottin WFT Est. 1641-1674.

She was married to *Louis DuBois on 10 Oct 1655 in Mannheim, Germany. Louis DuBois, bp. at Lille, parish church of Wicres, France, 10-21-1626 (sp. Jacques du Bois & Rogeau); d. at Kingston, N.Y. 6-23-1693; m. at the French Protestant Church at Mannheim, in the Pfalz, German Palatinate, 10-10-1655 CATHERINE BLANCHAN, b. Artois, France c1629, d. at Kingston, Ulster County, N.Y. during the year 1713, dau. of MATTHYS BLANCHAN & MADELINE BRISSEN JORISSE.

Catherine Blanchan DuBois m. 2nd at the age of 63, JEAN COTTIN, merchant of Kingston, who had previously been schoolmaster at New Paltz. The First Dutch Church at Kingston records that Louis DuBois' grave was in the churchyard, but his tombstone has long since disappeared....

It has been generally accepted that Louis DuBois accompanied Matthys Blanchan and Antoine Crispell (from Mannheim to Kingston in 1660], but Riker suggests that he probably came with his brother-in-law Pierre Billious the following year. Blanchan, Crispell, and DuBois all received grants of land in Hurley, near Kingston, obtaining ground briefs on 4-25-1663.

On the 10th of June 1663, Hurley and part of Kingston was burned by the Indians, and the wife of Louis DuBois and three children were among those who were carried away captive. Three months afterward an expedition under Captain Krieger, sent from New York, recovered the captives, by surprising the Indians at their Fort near the Hogabergh in Shawangunk.

From Ralph LeFevre's "History of New Paltz", Fort Orange Press, Albany 1909:

"The story (of the rescue of the Indian captives) which is dear to the Huguenot heart of New Paltz, is that when Captain Krieger and his company directed by an Indian, attacked the savages at their place of refuge near the Shawangunk Kill, they were about to burn one or more captives at the stake, and the women commenced singing the 137th Psalm, which so pleased the red men that they deferred the proposed death by torture. In the meantime Captain Krieger's band, with Louis DuBois and others, arrived and rescued the captives from a horrible death. Louis DuBois is reported to have killed with his sword an Indian, who was in advance of the rest, before the alarm could be raised. Captain Krieger's report says nothing of this. However, as the tradition contains nothing irreconcilable with the Captain's report which deals mainly with the fighting done by his soldiers, it is interesting to keep the tradition alive as it deals more upon the condition of the captives."

E.M. Ruttenber, the Orange County historian, states his objections to the tradition as follows:

"The story was repudiated as a statement of fact, first, on the authority of Indian customs. We do not recall a single instance where a woman was burned at the stake by the Indians. They killed female prisoners on the march sometimes when they were too feeble to keep up but very rarely after reaching camp. Mrs. DuBois and her companions had been prisoners from June 10th to September 5th, or nearly three months before they were rescued from captivity. During all that time they had been guarded carefully at the castle of the Indians, and held ransom or exchange, to which end negotiations had been opened. The Indians asked especially for the return of some of their chiefs who had been sent to Curacao and sold as slaves by Governor Stuyvesant. Second: Documentary evidence concerning events of that period is entirely against tradition. The written record is, that when the Dutch forces surprised the Indians, the latter were busy in constructing a third angle to their fort for the purpose of strengthening it, instead of being engaged in preparations for burning prisoners. The prisoners were found alive and well, and no complaint is recorded of any ill treatment, not even their heads had been shaved and painted as had been customary. Every night, says the record, they were removed from the castle to the woods, lest the Dutch should recover them before negotiations for their release were consumated."

Among the Huguenot settlers at Kingston, at this time, was Abraham Hasbrouck. He had served with Edmund Andros in the English army. He was a native of Calais, had emigrated to Mannheim, and in 1675 to America, settling finally in Esopus.

The Huguenots, being desirous of forming a settlement of their own, were indebted to some extent to the acquaintanceship of Abraham Hasbrouck with Edmund Andros who was Colonial Governor at this time, having been appointed to that office when the colony of New York passed from the Dutch to the English in 1665.

These French settlers longed for a settlement of their own where they could speak their own language, worship in their own church, and be in a community where they could govern themselves according to their own choice. The traffic with the Indians in furs was becoming less profitable. It was becoming more and more necessary to follow the occupation of cultivating the soil. The fertile lowlands of the Wallkill had undoubtedly been in the mind of Louis DuBois as an ideal place to establish the French community. The mountains and forest lining the valley most certainly must have reminded the Huguenots of their native country in French Flanders, and the Meuse Valley through which they escaped to the Pfalz.

The papers relating to the Paltz Patent are among the most cherished possessions of the Huguenot Historical Society of New Paltz, N.Y., Inc. They are written in Dutch and preserve a unique example of fair dealing between red men and white. LeFevre's History gives the translation as follows:

Contract of Sale
"By approbation of his Excellency Governor Edmond Andros, dated April 28, 1677, an agreement is made on this date, the 26th of May, of the year 1677, for the purchase of certain lands, between the parties herein named and the undersigned Esopus Indians.

"Matsaysay, Nekahakaway, Magakahas, Assinnerakan, Wawawanis, acknowledge to have sold to Lowies du Booys and his partners the land described as follows: Beginning from the high hills at a place named Juffrous Hoock, lying in the Long Reach, named by the Indians Magaatramis, then north up along the river to the island called by the Indians Raphoes, then west toward the high hills to a place called Waratahaes and Tawaentaqui, along the high hills south-west to Moggonck, being described by the four corners with everything included within these boundaries, hills, dales, waters, etc., and a right of way to the Ronduyt kill as directly as it can be found, and also that the Indians shall have the same right to hunt and to fish as the Christians, for which land the Indians have agreed to accept the articles here specified:

"40 kettles, 10 large, 30 small; 40 axes, 40 adzes; 40 shirts, 400 fathoms of white net-work; 300 fathoms of black net-work; 60 pairs of stockings, half small sizes; 100 bars of lead; 1 keg of powder; 100 knives; 4 kegs of wine; 40 oars; 40 pieces of duffel (heavy woolen cloth); 60 blankets; 100 needles; 100 awls; 1 measure of tobacco; 2 horses - stallion, 1 mare.

"Parties on both sides acknowledge to be fully satisfied herewith and have affixed their own signatures ad ut supra.

Louwies Du Booys Matsaya x his mark
Christian de Yoo x his mark Waehtonck x his mark
Abraham Haesbroecq Seneraken x his mark
Andrie Lefeber Magakahoos x his mark
Jan Broecq Wawateanis x his mark
Piere Doyo
Anthony Crespel
Abraham Du Booys
Hugo Freer
Isaack D. Boojs
Symon Lefeber

...

In 1686, Louis DuBois, who had been the leader of the settlement returned from New Paltz to Kingston, where he purchased a house and lived at this location ten years until his death in 1696.
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From Ulster County Surrogate's Record, Liber BB, p. 323:

Translation of the Will of Catherine Cottin from the French. The will was dated 7-23-1712, pr. 12-10-1713.

"Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth, Amen. I, Catherine Cottin being very sound of mind and memory and having for my husband Jean Cottin, merchant living at Kingston in the County of Ulster, Province of New York, considering that the hour of death is unknown to all human creatures, and having recommended my soul to my creator, the omnipotent God and to my Savior and Redeemer and by the merit of His son Jesus Christ I believe I will be saved and have remission of my sins and hope for the resurrection of the Just by this virtue of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ to attain the Kingdom of Heaven prepared by His Spirit, of my following words it is my Testament and my last Will for that which concerns the temporary goods which it has pleased my God by His Grace and Benediction to give me during all the time I have Lived and resided with my husband Jean Cottin (to the effect) that I would have the third part of the profit which God has given us together by his bounty, with my said husband Jean Cottin since the hour of our marriage up to the first trespass, therefore, I wish and it is my Will, very justly, that the franchise dated September 22, 1702, which I gave to Rachel, which is her name after having been baptized, shall be observed and shall be of full force and virtue from the first word of the page to the last word, and the said Rachel shall have and take after my death, my said third part of the profit, 30 pieces of Eight, and the other things which are stated in the said indenture, and she shall take before my children can divide my third part of the profit and also, I wish and it is my Will, being very just, that the indenture dated August 17, 1709, which I gave to our negress Dina shall be observed and guarded in full force and virtue, and also it is my very just Will that the donations dated March 10, 1697, which I made to my daughter Sarah for all my clothing, one chest, shall be observed and guarded in full force and virtue. Also I give to the Walloon Church of Kingston, 20 pieces of eight which to take after my death in my said third part of the profit and this to aid in assisting the poor, and for all that which concerns my third part of the profit, it shall be to Abraham DuBois and Jacob DuBois and David DuBois and Matthew DuBois, and the two sons of Isaac DuBois, to them together I give them which they take after my death in my said third part of the profit, one fourth part, and to my said daughter I give to take after my death the two other fourth parts of my said third part of the profit to her alone, and for their inheritance of my said third part of the profit, all these children shall take in good merchandise and trade goods, each in proportion to their part, for this effect I have chosen my husband Jean Cottin whom I hereby constitute Executor of my present Testament and last Will who shall be bound by the above conditions and who shall render account six weeks after my death and deliver to each his part as is specified hereabove, and it is my last Will, and I have hereby signed, sealed, and delivered this present in my proper hand in presence of two witnesses, made at Kingston, July 23, 1712.

CATTOLON COTTIN (Seal)
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From "The Early History of Kingston & Ulster County", by Marc Fried:

"In the spring of 1662 a petition for the allotment of farmlands and establishment of a new village at Esopus was received by the director-general from a number of the inhabitants of Beverwyck [Albany], and after consideration it was resolved to lay out a new settlement and accomodate the petitioners as far as possible. The 'New Village' or 'Nieuwe Dorp' probably was settled not long thereafter, on the Esopus Creek, two and one-half miles southwest of Wildwyck. This was the village that later was given the name of Hurley. In addition to the Beverwyck petitioners, a number of the inhabitants of Wildwyck received lots and farmlands at the New Village, as well. Among these were Louis DuBois and Antoine Crispell, later patentees of New Paltz, and Albert Heymans Roosa." (pp. 52-53)

"On Thursday, June 7, 1663, between eleven and twelve o'clock, when nearly all the men were at work in the fields, a large number of Indians began entering Wildwyck from different points, in bands, dispersing among the dwellings in a seemingly friendly manner, under pretense of bartering a little maize and some beans. The visitors had been in Wildwyck about a quarter of an hour when some people on horseback rushed through the mill gate crying out 'The Indians have destroyed the New Village!'. The Indians at Wildwyck then commenced a general attack on the bewildered inhabitants, murdering them in their houses with axes and tomahawks and firing on them with guns.... In the meantime, the New Village had suffered a similar fate. The entire settlement was burned to the ground, except for a new unroofed barn, a rick, and a small stack of reed. Here, according to the official report, there were three men killed. There were no wounded, but a man and thirty-four women and children were carried off by the Indians. In Wildwyck twelve men (including three soldiers), four women, and two children were reported dead, with ten women and children taken prisoner. Eight men were injured, one of whom died nine days later of his wounds. Twelve houses were burned. Hendrick Jochemsen (Schoonmaker) was 'very severely wounded in his house [in Wildwyck] by two shots at an early hour.' A child of Schoonmaker was among those taken prisoner from the New Village. Also taken captive from the New Village were the wife and three children of Lambert Huybertsen (Brink), two children of Albert Heymans Roosa, the wife and child of Antoine Crispell, and the wife and three children of Louis DuBois...." (pp. 61-62)

"Another tradition has it that as the whites neared the fort, 'Lewis DuBois, whose ardor in the pursuit could not be excelled, moved on at the head of the party, more agile and strong than the others, thus rendering him the most noticeable of their number. An Indian secreted behind a tree, just at the moment he was discovered by DuBois, let go his arrow upon him. Luckily, however, it missed its mark and DuBois with the power of a lion immediately sprang upon him and with his sword killed him on the spot.' Another story has DuBois killing a sleeping Indian scout somewhere in the vicinity of Nescotack (the present Libertyville). Let it suffice to say that it is highly unlikely that Captain Cregier would have allowed any of his party to go sneaking out ahead without authorization, at the possible endangerment of the entire army, or that he would have failed to mention a significant incident that occurred en route. Yet another story is that, as the surprise attack on the Indians at their fort commenced, Louis DuBois's wife Catherine (a captive of the Indians), in a moment of confusion, began running with the Indians and was recalled by the voice of her husband, who cried to her 'Stop, 'trene, or I'll shoot you.' This story could conceivably be true; it does not seem subject to proof or disproof." (pp. 92-93)

"On October 10 [1663], while Louis DuBois was fetching his oxen which had gone back of Juriaen Westphaelen's land, three Indians who lay hidden in the bushes leaped forth, with the intention of taking DuBois prisoner. One of the Indians wounded him slightly with an arrow, whereupon Louis, having a piece of palisade in his hand, struck him a heavy blow so that the Indian staggered back. Louis then escaped through the kill to the village and reported the incident. A force was immediately sent to attack these Indians, but the latter had taken flight and retreated into the forest. Brink (IV,301-2) suggested that this incident, described in Cregier's journal, may be the source of the legends concerning DuBois killing an Indian near or en route to the Indian fort in Sepbember." (pp. 103-104)

"On April 25-27 [1667] a special court was held at Wildwyck by three persons commissioned and sent there by Governor Nicolls. The court heard evidence from Brodhead and the soldiers concerning the 'mutiny', and also heard the complaints of the inhabitants against the military. Among the latter are recorded the following: Tjerck Claesen de Witt was beaten by Captain Brodhead and imprisoned because de Witt would observe Christmas on the day customary with the Dutch, and not on the day accorded by English custom; Albert Heymans Roosa, waiting for the smith to repair for him a broken coulter or plow iron, was assaulted and wounded outside the house of Louis DuBois, by five soldiers, and was afterward imprisoned; Roeloff Swartwout was assaulted one day in the street by a soldier; Hendrick Cornelissen Lyndraejer was wounded in the belly by the soldier William Fisher on February 16/26 and died five days later of the wound. Coming to the house of Louis DuBois, Captain Brodhead took an ancker of brandy and threw it upon the ground because DuBois had refused him free brandy; DuBois was forced by Brodhead to give him brandy, and when DuBois's wife came to Brodhead's house to demand payment, the captain drove her out of the house with a knife, calling her many bad names, and told her that were she not with child he would cut her." (p. 121) Children were: Abraham DuBois, Abraham DuBois, Isaac DuBois, Jacob DuBois, Sara DuBois, *David DuBois, Solomon DuBois, Rebecca DuBois, Rachel DuBois, Louis DuBois, Mattheus DuBois, Magdalena DuBois.

She was married to Jan Focken Heermance WFT Est. 1667-1693.

She was married to *Peter Cornelius Low on 27 Oct 1668 in Kingston, New York.⁽²²⁷⁷⁾ From "Ulster County Probate Records", page 35:

"Pieter Cornelisse, for whose later will see Pieter Cornelisse Low, came from Holstein, Febr. 1659, in "Faith,"..."

[Note: The ship "Faith" was known, in Dutch, as "de Trouw".
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From "The Early History of Kingston & Ulster County", by Marc Fried:

"On January 27, 1676, Cornelis Woutersen appeared before the court secretary, and declared 'having agreed to make for Pieter Cornelis a piece of work, according to the following plan: Cornelis Woutersen shall make a shed, built of stone, viz. cliff-stone, 8 feet high, back of the house, 20 feet wide, 25 feet long, with loft and floor and doors and a transom-window, everything complete, roof, laths, rafters and shingles; with the only exception that Pieter Cornelissen shall furnish the shingles for the same and all materials as boards, nails, wood, stone and everything belonging to the same, and also, during the time shall provide him [the builder] with food and drink. And he [the builder] shall go to work next May. For which Pieter Cornelissen shall pay fifty schepels of wheat.' Pieter Cornelissen was the founder of the Louw (Low) family of Ulster County. The 'shed' built for Peter Cornelissen Louw still stands today. It forms the southeaster portion of the old ruin known as the Louw-Bogardus house, on the east side of Frog Alley or Converse Street in Kingston. The seams in the stonework plainly confirm the dimensions as specified in the contract. The building was erected just outside the north wall of the stockade, not far from the northwest corner. It was not long before Louw moved into the stone building, and it became his residence. Although the structure is referred to in the contract as a 'shed', it was obviously a substantial building, and was doutless planned as an eventual dwelling house." (pp. 140-141) Children were: Cornelius Low, Magdalene Low, Matthys Low, *Peter Low, Anna "Antje" Low, Abraham Low, Maria "Marytje" Low, Johannis Low , Jacob Low.

He was married to *Isabeau Leroy WFT Est. 1597-1626. Children were: *Matthys Blanshan , Anthoin Blanchamp.

She was married to Simon Frear WFT Est. 1651-1683.

She was married to Jan Matthysen Jansen VanKeu on 28 Sep 1667 in Kingston, New York. Children were: Magdalena Jansen, Mattys Jansen, Hendrick Jansen, Davit Jansen, Margriet Jansen, Sara Jansen, Catheryn Jansen, Maria Jansen, Thomas Jansen, Jan Jansen.

She was married to Antoine Crispel on 31 Jan 1659/60 in Mannheim, Germany.

He was married to Margaret Classen VanSchoohoven on 30 Mar 1679. Children were: Matys Blanjan , Nicolaus BlanJean, Cornelia Blanchan, Magdalena Blanjean, Catheryne Blanchamp, Elizabeth Blangean, Nathaniel Blanchan, Margriet Blanschjan.

She was married to James William Quinn Private. She was divorced from James William Quinn Private.

She was married to Benjamin Hazen on 25 Jul 1717 in Of Rowley, ESSEX, MAss.

He was married to Mary Lestina Shippee on 15 Mar 1857. Children were: Cora Lizzie Blanchard, Lucy Ellen Blanchard , Rosco Emerson Blanchard, Ryland Ashley Blanchard, Homer Alston Blanchard , Newton Eugene Blanchard.

She was married to Stuart Farnham Jillson Private. Children were: Lance Stuart Jillson, Earle Farnham Jillson, Candis Ann Jillson, Pamela Sue Jillson.

He was married to Lena LeBarron Private. Children were: Male Blanchard.

She was married to Nathaniel Wood on 14 Sep 1725.

She was married to Nathaniel Wood on 14 Sep 1725.

She was married to Charles Morey WFT Est. 1779-1815. Children were: Eaton Morey.

She Private-Begin Private.⁽⁶⁰⁾ She was divorced from Robert George Bisceglia Private. ⁽⁶⁰⁾

She was married to Moses Briggs about 1749 in Rhode Island. Children were: Pardon Briggs, Rhoda Briggs, John Briggs.

She was married to Richard Parker Private. Children were: Betty Gene Parker.

He was married to Catharina Baajaard WFT Est. 1669-1703. Children were: Cornelia BlanJean.

He was married to Harriet Jillson on 19 Dec 1852 in Norwich, Conn.. Children were: Dwight R. Bland , Byron R. Bland.

He was married to Anna WFT Est. 1814-1830. Children were: David R. Bland .

She was married to Aaron Bean on 18 Nov 1841.⁽¹⁵⁵⁸⁾

She was married to Jabez Brown on 23 Dec 1667.^{(8) (2284)}

She was married to Jabez Brown WFT Est. 1661-1685.

She was married to Thomas** Eames in 1662.

He was married to Annetje Freer on 17 Mar 1737/38.

He was married to Marietje "Maria" Hornbeck on 10 Jun 1710. Children were: Margriet Blanjean , Matheus Blanjean, Matheus Blanjean, Anna Blanjean, Margrieta Blanjean, Nathan Blanjean.

He was married to Veronica Lantz WFT Est. 1816-1847.^{(8) (2293)}

He was married to *Magdalena Brissen Jorisse WFT Est. 1623-1653. From "Matthew Blanchan In Europe and America", by Ruth P. Heidgerd, published by DuBois Family Association, New Paltz, New York, 1979:

"The antecedents of Matthew Blanchan are deduced from the record of a marriage contract dated April 12, 1649, recorded at the Walloon or Strangers' Church of Canterbury England, between:

"Anthoin Blanchamp, son of the Late Leonin, and the late Isabeau LeRoy, his father and mother, assisted by Mathieu Blancham, his brother; and Martinne Valque, daughter of Jacques, assisted by Jaque Valque (Valke), her brother, and Mathiew Marheim."(1)

"Isabeau LeRoy was probably closely related to Jonas, son of Nicholas LeRoy of Armentieres, who married at the same church October 26, 1595, Judith, daughter of Pierre de Maretz (Demarest). It is notable that both LeRoy and Demarest names appear in the early records of the French congregation at Mannheim. Also from the Strangers' Church is found under November 19, 1654:

"Anthoine Blanchon and Martine Baete have had baptized their son named Mathieu, who had for godfather Mathieu Blanchon and for godmother Marie Desoprie."

"According to his testamentary deposition given below, Matthew was born at Noeuville-au-Corne, parish of Ricame, about six miles southeast of St. Pol-sur-Tournoise, and some thirty miles due north of Amiens. Some time before 1635, he moved to Armentieres, very near the Belgian border, and married Magdeleine Jorisse or Joire. The recent translations of the Mannheim records make us wonder if this was a patronymic. In one place her name is given as "Madeleine Serge" and we wonder if her father's name could be Joris Serge. Did his family, perhaps, have something to do with the development of that twilled fabric so important to the textile industry around Lille? That is sheer speculation....

"Matthew Blanchan had his ear to the ground. Long before the treaty [of Westphalia] was concluded, he and his wife, with their daughters Catherine and Maria, had made their way to England. On May 16, 1647, there was baptized at the Strangers' Church, Canterbury: Magdelaine, fille de Mattieu Blanchan et Magdelaine Joore. Tem.: Pierre Lambert, Jacques Toulet, Magdelaine Descamps, Magdelaine Preuno." (2) ...

"Matthew was in Mannheim by 1651, along with enough Huguenots to form a separate French congregation. The next year, they obtained the services of Pastor Benedict de Besson, and Matthew was among the first deacons. The first elder was David Demarest, who later founded Hackensack, New Jersey.

"The five children of Matthew Blanchan and Magdelaine Joire were widely spaced. Matthew, Jr. was only six months old when his eldest sister Catherine married Louis DuBois, in 1655. A second sister, Maria, married Antoine Crispell on January 31, 1660. Almost at once [on April 27, 1660] the Blanchan family with their son-in-law [Antoine Crispell] set out for the New World. Catherine and Louis DuBois remained in Mannheim, where their son Isaac was born on May 14th (3). This family emigrated in 1661 on the "St. Jan Baptiste."

"Louis DuBois was born in Wicres, a hamlet eight miles southwest of Lille and about the same distance from Armentieres. Antoine Crispell came from "St. Guin", now Sanghin-en-Weppes, about two miles from Wicres. It is very possible that Matthew Blanchan first urged both young men to go to Mannheim.

"The complete passenger list of "De Vergulde Otter" (The Gilded Otter) which arrived at New Amsterdam April 26, 1660 under Captain Cornelis Reyersz Van der Beets, follows:

"...Mattheus Blanchand, farmer, from Artois, wife and three children, 12, 9, and 5 years old.
"The wife of Jan Adriaensen Van Duyvelant.
"Anthony Krypel, farmer, from Artois, and wife...."

"Blanchan also went to court over gossip to the effect that he had beaten a neighbor's pig. This was at the session [of the Wiltwyck court] held Tuesday, July 4, 1662. He obtained "vindication of his honor":

"Matthys Blanchan, plaintiff, demands vindication of his honor. Says that Juriaen (Westvael) told his wife that it was reported that Dirck Adriaensen said to her he had seen Matheu Blanchan beat Juriaen Westvaal's pig. Defendant, Juriaen Westvael, and his wife admit having heard this from Dirck Adriaensen, and state the Pieter Jansen also heard it. Defendant, Dirck Adriaensen, denies this, and says he did not say so. The Schout and Commissaries order Dirck Adriaensen to pay a fine of six gldrs. for the poor."

"Matthew Blanchan was fined by the Wiltwyck Court, at the session held Tuesday, February 12, 1664, for churning milk on a day of fasting and prayer:

"Mattheus Capito, Provisional Schout, plaintiff, vs. Mattheu Blanchan, defendant. Plaintiff demands a fine of fifty guilders from defendant because after the second beating of the drum, he churned some milk on the day of fasting and prayer. Defendant answers that the drum beat only once, and that he had no milk for his calf, and he never in his life did this before. The Honorable Court, having examined the Schout's complaint and the answer of the defendant, order defendant to pay six guilders, one-half for the church."

...

"That Matthew Blanchan was an aggressive and obstinate individual is quite apparent. Of the Reformed religion, he had abandoned property both in Flanders and in England to struggle for a living in a frontier settlement, for the right to worship his God in accordance with his own free conscience. A rugged individual, he labored for a hard-earned living for himself and his family and he demanded just payment from his debtors....

"On April 29, 1666 he was called as witness in a brawl between Albert Heymans Roos and a soldier, Francois Vreeman. He was witness in another case of assault between Jan Pietersen and Christiaen Pieterson. But on April 24, 1674, he was charged with similar violence:

"Maria Dops declares that her husband sent william Haton for a can of wine at Mattue Blansjan's and Mattue Blansjan said he needed grain, and took hold of aforesaid willem Hanton's hand, kicked him outdoors and beat two holes in his head with a stick."

"A fine of $100 was demanded, but Matthew defended himself "that Willem Haton wanted to force him to give him the wine, and that Jan Hendrie's wife said, Get the wine out of regard for me, and he pushed her outdoors. Afterward her husband came with grain, he gave him the wine and did not say a bad word to him. Further asks if he is not master in his own house."

"He was fined $36 in grain, and costs.

...

"His last will... was proved March 7, 1687/8,... preserved in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York in Liber 3-4, p. 85, is as follows:

"In the name of God, Amen. We Matthew Blanchan and Magdalen Goore, his wife, at present in good health" make this will. "If Matthew Blanchan happens to dye first, his wife shall continue in possession of all the property so long as she lives," and if the wife happens to die first, then her husband is to remain in possession for life. If either remarry, then he or she shall deed to the children one-half the estate. Upon the death of both, their son Matthew Blanchan shall have the farm at Hurley, with the house and four horses and four cows. The rest of the property both in England and America, is to go to their five children, Katharine, Maria, Magdalena, Elizabeth, and Matthew. "Dated at Kingston, August 22, 1671."



(1) Huguenot Society of London, Collections, vol. 5, part 3, p.725
(2) Huguenot Society of London, Collections, vol. 5, part 2
(3) Mannheim: Records of the French Congregation, unpublished typescript in library of Huguenot Historical Society, New Paltz.

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Riker's History of Harlem, New York, 1881 states:

"Matthys Blanchan was originally from Artois. He had been of some note in his Nouville le Conte. With him came his wife Madeleine Jorisse, three minor children, Madeline, aged 12 years, Elizabeth, aged 9 years, and Matthew, aged 5 years, born at Mannheim; also their daughter Maria wife of Antoine Crispel." They sailed on the 'Gilded Otter' the 27th of April 1660, arriving at Wiltwyck (later known as Kingston, New York) before December 7, 1660.

"Governor Peter Stuyvesant welcomed them and gave Blanchan a letter to Sergeant Romp at Esopus directing him to provide accomodations for them. They arrived there and Domine Blom, also having arrived, it was a solace to pious Blanchan, for all that he had suffered with the loss of his property in his native place and at Armentiers in Flanders as well as elsewhere, to sit down with his family at the Lord's Supper on the ensuing December 25th."


While the booklet "Matthew Blanchan in Europe and America" states that the Blanchans had 5 children, the Ancestral File of the Family History Library at Salt Lake City shows ten children of Matthew and Magdalena. This list includes 2 entries each for Matthew (Jr.), Elizabeth, Magdalena, and Maria, but with different birthdates on each entry. It is possible that there were additional children born who died in infancy, and who later had a sibling with the same name, but it is more likely that this list has accumulated by the recording of erroneous birthdates. There is one entry in this list, that of Anna Blanchan, born 1635 in Mannheim, who married Simon Frear, which cannot be explained as a duplicate. Perhaps, she also was married in Mannheim and came to America at a later time, so her existence was not known to Ruth P. Heidgerd or to Riker.
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From "History of New Paltz, New York", by Ralph Lefevre, 1903:

The Huguenots who founded New Paltz "left their native land, on account of religious persecution, and after a residence of a short period in that portion of Germany, known as the Paltz, or Palatinate, came to the New World, from 1660 to 1675. The history of the French Huguenots, in their own country for a century preceding, had been a history of blood. The Reformation had not been slow to take deep root, and among the names of French reformers is that of sturdy John Calvin, whose fame has spread wherever Protestantism has obtained a foothold; but while, party from political causes, the reformation succeeded in England and in the north of Germany, in France it had to fight, almost from the first, against the power of the court, the priesthood and the prevailing popular sentiment. Nevertheless the Huguenots numbers in their ranks many of the nobility and a great portion of the most intelligent people. Three civil wars had raged between the Catholics and the Protestants."

"The massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572, which was planned by Catharine De Medici, the wicked mother of Charles IX, the king, and was intended to destroy the Protestants at one blow, had but strengthened their hands. Although outnumbered, ten to one, by the Catholics, they had gallantly sustained themselves in arms, upheld, in part, by moral support from Germany, as well as more tangible aid from Queen Elizabeth, of England. The death of Henry III left the Protestant Henry, of Navarre, as the legal heir to the crown, but the Catholics were determined that no heretic should sit on the throne of France. For years Henry waged an unequal war for his inheritance, with a courage and a gallantry that made his name famous, but the odds were too great; he found himself forced to give up his religion or continue a hopeless contest. He chose the former alternative, declaring that 'the crown was worth a mass.' Shortly afterward, in 1598, he granted the celebrated Edict of Nantes, which secured to Protestants freedom of conscience and all political and religious rights."

"In 1610 Henry met his death at the hands of an assassin, and the Protestants being left without a protector their troubles again commenced. In 1628 Rochelle, which had been their stronghold and had been in their possession for seventy years, was taken, after a siege of fourteen months, during which so desperate a resistance was made that the population of the city was reduced, by war and famine, from 30,000 to 5,000 souls. Notwithstanding that Rochelle was wrested from their grasp, while Richelieu managed the realm, yet this was done rather as a political measure, because Protestantism threatened to become a state within a state, than for the purpose of religious persecution. Richelieu was no bigot; in the thirty-years' war he aided the Protestants and the Huguenots could not complain much of persecution during his administration or that of his successor, Mazarin. But from the time of Mazarin's death, in 1661, when Louis XIV himself assumed the reins of authority, until the formal revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685, which was the last act in a series of persecutions, the Protestants of France suffered greatly. Before the formal revocation of the Edict whole troops of dissolute soldiers were let loose upon them, and frightful barbarities followed."

"Half a million of subjects of the French king left their native country and fled to foreign lands. Borne on this wave of immigration and prizing liberty of conscience above everything else, the brave-hearted men, who afterward settled New Paltz, fled across the frontier, and found an asylum in that part of Germany known as the Palatinate or Paltz-- the name being borne now only by a castle on the Rhine. Here they could not long remain in peace, for the armies of their cruel monarch, in the wars which he almost constantly carried on with other European powers, repeatedly invaded and ravaged the Palatinate. In 1664 an army under Tureene, one of his generals, desolated that province without mercy, and it may be at this time some of forefathers resolved to cross the Atlantic and escape from their merciless foes."

"At this time the Huguenots were flying to different portions of the New World, as well as Europe, for protection. As early as 1625 several families settled in New York, then in possession of the Dutch, and were the first permanent settlers. Others were to be found in Virginia, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and especially in South Carolina, where a large portion of the most honored names are of Huguenot origin. Scattered like leaves by the autumn blast, they were tossed hither and thither, and it is probably that by 1663 a score or more had found their way to Kingston--called Esopus by the Dutch--then a flourishing village. We know that Louis DuBois, who was one of the first New Paltz immigrants, had been there two or three years at least before that time. In 1663 Kingston was burned by the Indians, and the wife and three children of Louis DuBois, the Walloon, as he was called, were among those carried away captive."
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From "The Early History of Kingston & Ulster County", by Marc Fried:

"In the fall and early winter of 1668, the Wildwyck court heard evidence in an unusually bitter libel suit, brought by Tjerck Claesen de Witt against Mathew Blanchan, the father-in-law of Louis DuBois. DeWitt, a commissary of the court, demanded vindication of his honor, because Blanchan had called him a thief, and had said that he, de Witt, did not do justice as a commissary. Blanchan, in return, complained that de Witt had hated him for years.

In the course of the testimony, it was brought out that Blanchan, who owned the mill in Wildwyck, had for a long time refused to grind grain for de Witt, who, as a consequence, was forced to take ship to Albany in order to have his grain ground. De Witt claimed that Blanchan had said to others: '[Even] if he [de Witt] were starving he would not grind for him,' 'which', as de Witt complained, 'is no christian love.' De Witt admitted having said on one occasion, 'I have once assisted in putting out a fire in the guard house, which threatened to damage the mill. If it should happen against I would not even move a hand in assisting to put it out.' A witness testified that Blanchan had said that 'if he were master he would hang Tierck Claesen.'

The ill will between the two men had originated in an incident that occurred between them in 1663. At that time, too, de Witt was holding office as commissary. It was this incident that apparently prompted Blanchan to refer to de Witt as a thief. The court now ordered Blanchan 'to prove at the next session that ... Tierck Claesen is a thief, or by default he will have to expect such punishment as ought to be justly meted out to a thief.'

Blanchan's position in the argument was based largely on a misunderstanding of certain legal and political conditions existing in 1663, at the time of the incident that precipitated the feud. The court clarified the situation existing at the time, and absolved de Witt of any wrongdoing. In pronouncing sentence, the court ordered that Blanchan 'shall with uncovered head pray God and the court for forgiveness, and admit that he knows nothing concerning the person of commissary Tierck Claesen but what is honorable and upright, and to be banished during one year out of this jurisdiction as soon as the river is navigable, and besides is sentenced to pay a fine of 600 gldrs light money ... besides the expenses of the suit, and shall remain under arrest until the sentence shall have been carried out.'" (pp. 125-126) Children were: *Catherine Blanchan , Maria Blanchan, Anna Blanchan, Magdalena Blanchan, *Elizabeth Blanchan, Matthew (Jr) Blanchan .

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