Anneke Janse ¹

   Another name for Anneke was Anneke Jans Webber.

  General Notes:

Anneke Jans was born in 1605 in Vleckere (Flekkeroy) Norway and was the daughter of Tryntje Jonas (also known as Catharine Jonas and Tryntje Roelofs. Her father's name was probably Johan or Jan. She had one known sister, Marritje who died in 1677 and was married three times ( Tyman Jansen, Dirk Corneliszen Van Wensveen and Govert Loockermans).

Anneke's first husband was Roelof Jansen, born about 1602 in Norway and died in New Amsterdam (NYC) about 1637. Her second husband was the well educated Domine Everardus Bogardus born in 1607 in Worden, Holland. He arrived in New Amsterdam in 1633 and married Anneke in March of 1638. After the death of her second husband, Anneke and her children moved to Beverwyck (now Albany, NY) to be near her daughter Sijtje, wife of Pieter Hartgers.

Anneke died in February, 1663 at her home in Beverwyck that was located near what is now State and James Streets in downtown Albany. (See picture of plaque)

Descendants of Anneke Jans Bogardus are estimated in the millions and many have had dreams of great wealth over the disputed 62 ares of land she inherited from her first husband, Roelof Jansen. The land, located in Manhatten, includes parts of Greenwich Village, So-Ho and Tribeca and considered to be worth "billions". Her will, dated January 29, 1663, is recorded in the Albany County Clerk's Office, Albany, NY.

The following from "Descendants of General Robert Bogardus" by Maria Sabina Bogardus Gray is a snapshot from the past of Anneke and her husband, Everadus, as they appeared on their way to church in New Amsterdam (New York City).

"The Dominie, a large portly dignified man, with a determined grave expression on his Dutch face, relieved by a kindly eye and a benignant smile, is clad in a long black serge coat with large black buttons running to the bottom; a broad black-felt hat covers his brow and black worsted stockings encase his sturdy legs. On his arm is his wife, Anneke Jans, in waist-jacket of dark cloth with little pendant tails behind. Her dress skirt of ample fullness is of purple cloth, which covers apparently as many petticoats as Mrs. Bogardus could conveniently wear. Her neat colored stocking with clocks on the side are encased in high-heeled shoes, be tokening that she is a person of consequence; in her hands is her silver-clasped bible, brought with her from the Old Country; from her girdle on one side, depends by a silver chain, the psalm book and on the other side hangs a purse embroidered by her own skillful hands. Thrown over one arm is her yellow and red rain hood to protect against a possible shower."

Other interesting excerpts found in this book are as follows:

Anneke was also described as most comely and fair to look upon, being rather small in stature, well shaped, sprightly and attractive."

"She was famous for her use of herbs as nature's remedy and for this special ability she was no doubt indebted to her capable mother, Catharine Jonas".

Another source has described Anneke as a small, well-formed woman with delicate features, transparent complexion with bright and beautiful dark eyes. She had a well-balanced mind, a sunny disposition, winning manners and a kind heart.

From "Anneke Jans Record' Vol 1 April 1896 No. 1 NYS Library 929.2 B6735:
"The cradle in which Anneke Jans Bogardus rocked her children is still in existence. This cradle has been handed down to successive generations and at one time was owned by the mother of Washington Irving. This famous historian slept many a night in the old Dutch cradle."

An article appearing in the Knickerbocker News, Albany, NY, May 10, 1943, states the Albany Institute of History and Art would be displaying a chest from 1630 owned by Anneke Janse and considered to be the oldest documented piece of furniture in this country.

Another article appearing in the Knickerbocker News, Albany, NY, June 6, 1926 mentions a fiddleback chair once owned by Anneke Jans.

A detailed genealogy of Anneke's descendants can be found in:
Dear "Cousin": A Charted Genealogy of the Descendants of Anneke Jans Bogardus (1605-1663) to the 5th Generation by William Brower Bogardus.




Dutch Woman In New Amsterdam

Anneke Webber was an early Dutch colonist in New Amsterdam and New Netherland. She was born in Norway in 1605. She married Roeloff Jans in Amsterdam, Holland, on Friday, April 18, 1623. They had six children. Her name became well-known because of the many lawsuits concerning her farm, which was claimed by her heirs and the Trinity Church in New York City.

The Dutch West India Company founded the colony of New Amsterdam\emdash later New York City\emdash in 1625 as a place to defend river access to the company's fur trade operations in the Hudson River, which extended to the colony of New Netherland\emdash later New York state.

But the efforts to colonize New Netherland were faltering. On June 7, 1629, the rules for settlements were relaxed. The first ship of colonists arrived in New Amsterdam on May 24, 1630, the only ship to arrive that year. On board were Roeloff Jans and his wife, Anneke Jans, and their two daughters.

Roeloff was commissioned to farm in the new colony for $72 a year, and the family moved up the Hudson River to the village of Beverwyck\emdash now Albany, New York. Their last two children were born on de Laets Burg Farm on the east bank of the Hudson.

Roeloff hadn't been a successful farmer, and he was replaced. The family then moved to New Amsterdam, where Roeloff became an employee of the West India Company.

In 1636, Governor Wouter Van Twiller granted to Roeloff and Anneke Jans a 62-acre farm, or Bowerie, on Manhattan Island just outside the limits of the New Amsterdam Settlement, between present-day Broadway and the Hudson River. Roeloff was contracted by the West India Company to farm the plot. He died shortly thereafter and Anneke inherited the land.

Dutch women had more property rights than their other female colonists in the New World. Prenuptial agreements were common at New Amsterdam, and they enabled women with money and/or property to keep their wealth after they married. Anneke Jans wrote one of the first prenuptial agreements, and later drafted them for her daughters, as well.

In March 1638, she married Reverend Everardus Bogardus, the second minister of the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam. They had four sons. He died at sea on September 29, 1647.

After learning of her husband's death by drowning off the coast of Wales, Anneke moved from her house near the Fort in New Amsterdam back to Beverwyck, where she had a house on land adjacent to property owned by two of her sons from her first marriage.

Anneke Jans died at Beverwyck on February 23, 1663, leaving her property to be divided among her eight surviving children. Her will includes the 62 acres on Manhattan Island. She was buried in the churchyard at Beaver and Hudson Streets.

After the English took possession of New Amsterdam in 1664, all property-holders were required to obtain new titles for their lands. Anneke's heirs secured a new patent for the farm from Governor Nicolls on March 27, 1667.

On March 9, 1671, the farm was sold to Governor Lovelace. All of Anneke's heirs signed the deed of transfer, except the wife and child of Cornelius Bogardus, Anneke's son who had died in 1666. And that omission caused all the subsequent legal problems.

In 1674, the Duke of York (who later became King James II) confiscated the Jans farm. In 1705, Queen Anne granted the farm to Trinity Church (the church itself was at the southernmost tip of Manhattan), and it became known as Trinity's Lower Farm.

In 1749, Cornelius Brower, a descendant of Cornelius Bogardus (whose heirs had not signed the deed) took possession of a portion of the farm. He was evicted, and filed suit against Trinity Church, which he lost. In 1757, he made another unsuccessful attempt.

In 1784, Cornelius Bogardus, great-grandson of Anneke's son Cornelius, claimed one-sixth of the Lower Farm. His grounds were that no one from his great-grandfather's family had agreed to the sale, and one-sixth of that land should belong to his heirs.

He took possession of a house on the farm and built a fence around it. The church hired men to remove and burn the fence. Bogardus then burned some of the church's fence. He was evicted by the courts in 1786. The courts always ruled that the church held legal title to the land.

The land had been of little value when New York's northward expansion reached it, but by 1800, the swamp on the property had been drained, and the land improved to the point that commercial buildings and private dwellings had been built on it.

Cornelius Bogardus' son John brought suit in 1830 to obtain one-thirtieth of the farm and a portion of back rents. He raised the money necessary to carry on this suit by sending circulars to all the descendants of Anneke Jans asking them to contribute, which they did. But in 1847, a judgment was again made in the church's favor. Several other lawsuits since then have ended with the same result. ^{3 4}

  Noted events in her life were:

• Immigration: From Amsterdam, Holland, 24 May 1630, New Amsterdam, Albany County, New York, USA.

Anneke married Roelof Jansz van Maesterlandt on 27 Aug 1623 in Maesterland, Bohusland, Norway. (Roelof Jansz van Maesterlandt was born about 1602 in Maesterland, Bohusland, Norway and died about 1637 in New Amsterdam, Albany County, New York, USA.)

Anneke next married Dominie Everardus Bogardus on 21 Jun 1638 in Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands. (Dominie Everardus Bogardus was born on 27 Jul 1607 in Woerden, Utrecht, Netherlands, died on 27 Sep 1647 in Swansea, Wales ² and was buried in Body lost at sea.)