NOTES: Banns for the marriage of Uldrick, bachelor from Hessen, and Baefje,
spinster from Amsterdam, were published 28 June 1641 at the Reformed
Dutch Church of New York. Uldrick came to New Amsterdam as a soldier
and was in the colony as early as 22 May 1640 when he acknowledged a
debt of 38 Carolus guilders to Harmen Abrahams Costerius to be taken out
of his wages. On 6 August 1642 he bought a small house and garden in
New Amsterdam. Later the same month he gave testimony, both times
signing his name. On 19 May 1643 he witnessed a document in New
Amsterdam. He then disappeared from the records of the colony until 25
October 1653 when he was granted a house and lot in Beverwyck. Baefje
was a tavern keeper in Beverwyck and appeared frequently in court
records from 1654 until 1671, often to collect unpaid debts from
customers. She was evidently the primary provider for her family.
Ulderick appeared in court records without an occupation, although he
contracted in 1668-69 to be a cowherd. As with many New Netherland
residents, verbal and physical violence were sometimes present in cases
involving Baefje and Ulderick, like the following:
4 April 1656 Jan de Dekere, commisary and officer here, plaintiff,
against Baefgie Pieters, because the defendant last Sunday a week
ago treated him, the plaintiff, very badly and by closing her door
interfered with and impeded him in the exercise of his office,
wherefore the plaintiff demands that the defendant be condemned to
pay a fine...
5 September 1657 Ulderick Kleyn, plaintiff, against Eldert
Gerbrantsen, defendant. The plaintiff complains that the defendant,
last Wednesday, being the 29th of August, called his wife a woman
who hed been flogged and branded on the scaffold at Amsterdam and
said that she had whored around with the "malle boer" and "hageboom"
named Jacob Klomp. The defendant answers that the plaintiff's wife
called him a scoundrel and a thief and his wife a whore....
Ulderick and Baefje received assistance from the deacons of the Albany
Dutch Church in 1656 and from 1660 to 1669. The goods they received
included cloth and articles of clothing, food, blankets, soap and wood.
In addition, the deacons paid 129 guilders to a surgeon for curing
Ulderick in 1666. In partial payment, Ulderick and Baefje performed
such tasks as taking in boarders, cleaning the church, and stringing
sewant (pieces of shells used as currency). The deacon's records
indicated that the couple had at least a son and a daughter. Prior to
1 April 1679 Baefje married as her second husband JAN ROELOFSE DE GOYER,
who may possibly have been from Gooiland in North Holland. Jan had
lived in Albany prior to moving to Schenectady about 1670. The marriage
was not entirely harmonius, as the following court records indicate:
1 April 1679 Baefje Pieters says that a separation of bed and
board has taken place at Schenectady between herself and her
husband, Jan Roelofse, as it is not possible for her to live any
longer with him.
5 December 1682 Jan de Goyer signs a bond in which he promises to
live in a Christian and decent manner with his wife, and shall not
maltreat her any more, "nor hereafter give her any occasion to
complain about me if she does not give me any occasion to do so.
Also that I shall avoid drunkenness and lead a sober and decent life
as a Christian man should."
Jan died in the Indian massacre of Schenectady 2 May 1690. It is not
know when Baefje died.
[from: The Family of Ulderick Kleyn and Baefje Pieters, by Henry B.
Hoff, F.A.S.G., F.G.B.S., NYGBR, Apr. 1988]
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