Epke Jacobse Banta ¹

  General Notes:

# Immigration: 12 FEB 1659 America
# Note: Epke Jacobse, his wife and five sons sailed from Harlingen on the ship De Trouw.
# Occupation: Epke Jacobse purchased the town mill and became the miller 29 DEC 1671 Jamaica, New York
# Occupation: A document registered at Barradeel identified Epke Jacobse as a miller 8 OCT 1656 Minnertsga, Friesland, Netherlands
# Note: One of the children of Epke and Sitske had been baptized by a Catholic priest.
# Residence: in the villages of Oosterbierum and Minnertsga BEF 1659 Netherlands
# Residence: in Flushing and also in Jamaica, Long Island and Hackensack, New Jersey
# Event: was the ancestor of the builder of a house built as late as 1703 Misc ABT 1703 Peramus, New Jersey
# Note: This house was occupied by descendants of Epke Jacobse until it burned in 1942.
# Event: probably did not use the surname BANTA; the earliest record in Misc 22 AUG 1696 Hackensack Dutch Reformed Church, Hackensack, Bergen Co, New Jersey
# Note:

From 1696, the surname of the sons of Epke Jacobse appeared sometimes with just the patronym Epke and other times as Banta, until after a few years the surname Banta was used only," according to the book "A Frisian Family: The Banta Genealogy." Several "Patriots of the American Revolution" in New Jersey surnamed Bonta were presumed to be the descendants of Epke Jacobse.

Elsa M. Banta included the following in her book "Banta Pioneers" - "Recent information received from the Archivist at the States Archives in Friesland at Leeuwarden reveals that the father of Epke Jacobse, Jacob Epkes, signed his name 'Jacob Epkes te (at) Bonta' in 1640. This name was believed to have been derieved from the farm named Bonta (various spellings were common) in which Epke's grandparents had their residence." This was the only record of the name Bonta or Banta located in the Netherlands.

# Event: He moved his family from New York to Migrated ABT 1675 Bergen, (Jersey City) Bergen Co, New Jersey
# Note: Two of his sons were married in Bergen in 1678.
# Event: The mill that Epke Jacobse ran burned; another party replaced it. Event 24 JAN 1675 Jamaica, New York
# Event: A document identifies Epke and Toetske as residents of Minnertsga. Document 24 MAY 1655 Court of Barradeel, Province of Friesland, Netherlands
# Event: A document mentions a loan made to Epke Jacobse and his wife Tietske. Document 28 AUG 1657 Court of Barradeel, Province of Friesland, Netherlands
# Note: The loan was actually made about March 28, 1657. Epke pledged their house, mill and windmill yard as security for the loan. It was customary to secure a loan with a mortgage on property.
# Event: Epke and the famous John Lawrence, later Mayor of NY City, were appointed to appraise an estate. Appointed 1669 New Amsterdam, New Netherland, New York
# Event: Epke and his wife Tietske Dircksdr (Tietske, dau of Dirck) had purchased a house at Oosterbierum. LAND 15 SEP 1652 Court of Barradeel, Province of Friesland, Netherlands
# Note: They had made the first payment and taken possession on May 1, 1652. Annual payments were to be made in the future.
# Event: A document cites terms of the sale of the house at Oosterbierum by Epke and Tietske. LAND 14 FEB 1655 Court of Barradeel, Province of Friesland, Netherlands
# Note: The buyer was obliged to make annual payments each year on May 1st.
# Event: Epke purchased 183 acres of land near Hackensack. LAND JUN 1681 New Jersey
# Note: He and his sons were among the earliest settlers of Hackensack.
# Event: Epke Jacobse purchased 240 acres of land from Governor Lawrie. LAND 9 JUN 1686 New Jersey
# Event: Epke was appointed magistrate of the Special Court of Oyer and Terminer. Office 18 FEB 1679 New Jersey
# Note: The first session was held on the first Tuesday of March, 1679. John Berry was the chief magistrate. Other members of this court were Lourens Van Buskirk and Elias Vreeland. The court was empowered to try all cases brought before it. John Berry, a large landowner, also was a member of the council of Sir George Carteret, Governor of New Jersy. Descendants of Epke Jacobse married the descendants of other members of this court.

Epke married Sitske Dirksdr about 1650 in The Netherlands. (Sitske Dirksdr was born about 1630 in Holland and died about 1675.)