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Hartman, Fytje Wesselse
d. 17 OCT 1697 Bergen, NJ
Family:

Spouse: Vreelant, Michiel Jansen

Family History:

Michiel Jansen and his wife immigrated aboard the "Het Wapen van Norwegen" arriving in New Amsterdam, Long Island, NY on August 04, 1638. They relocated to "Hoogeberch" farm which they had leased from patroon Killian van Rensselaer and Michiel was the "head farmer" from 1640 to 1646. His desire for a better life led him to take up fur trading with the Indians where he immediately came into conflict with the monopoly of the Dutch West India Company and charges of selling contraband munitions to the Indians and failing to pay duty on sold beaver skins were brought against him. His next venture was to set up a farmer's market in the neighboring town where he sold produce, fish and oysters. Michiel Janszen Van den Berg relocated to New Amsterdam in 1647 and Michiel Jansen Vreeland was soon appointed by the Governor as one of the "Nine Men" who served as his advisors. In 1648 he started raising horses and the following year was a signer of "The Remonstrance". In 1654 Michiel relocated to Cummunipaw, NJ. On September 15, 1655 the Indians set upon Pavonia, NJ in sixty four canoes, burning the settlement to the ground and killing all, except Michiel and his family. In 1656 Michiel declined his appointment as Vice Governor and complained that the Indian raids had deprived him and his seven children of seventeen years of labor. In compoensation he was granted a lot at Bever and Williams streets in New Amsterdam. On October 23, 1656 he opened a Tap Room on Pearl street, just south of Broad street, in Manhattan. He also reactivated his NJ farm as a cattle ranch. In June of 1658 he sold the cattle to the Amsterdam Colony on the Delaware River, then used some of the profits to buy land from the Indians in Bergen County, NJ. In 1660 Michiel Jansen Vreeland was living in Block J, house 15 at New Amsterdam, NY and was proprietor of the Brewhouse in Block M, property 3. Michiel Jansen Vreelandt began a new cattle ranch and served as First Justice. After his death Fytje continued to manage their vast holdings with the same gusto as Michiel. According to "Year Book of the Holland Society of NY Vols 1915": In the Vreeland family is found first Michael Jansen, son of Jan or John van Vreeland; then Michael Jansen van Schrabbekerke, the last being the familiar name of the church home town in Zeeland with which he was connected. Upon landing here, he first went to Rensselaerswyck, opposite Albany, and settled on the "Hooge Berg" (High Hill) farm; when he left there to come to New Jersey he was put down as Michael Jansen van der Burgh. Being a plain Dutchman, however, he dropped all the extra titles and stuck to the plain Jansen all the rest of his life. His children were all Michelsons, and it was not until the third generation in this country that the real and original family name was used by all of the Vreelands. MICHAEL JANSEN VREELAND, the common ancestor of the Vreeland family, came from Holland on the ship Het Wapen van Norwegen (Arms of Norway) in 1638. He owned a farm or polder in South Beveland, one of the islands of the Province of Zeeland, but his church home was in the village of 'sHeer Abtskerke, three miles from his farm, the common name of the village being Schrabbekerke. From here he went to Bergenop-Zoom, in Brabant, and took boat to Amsterdam, from whence he sailed in May, 1638, and arrived in New Amsterdam on August 4. Arrangements had previously been made with Patroon Killian van Rensselaer, who had been granted a large tract of land surrounding the present site of the city of Albany, on both sides of the Hudson River. Jansen leased the farm known as the "Hooge-Berg," located on an elevation immediately opposite the present city. His latent energy and enterprise were so confined by his work as a farmer that he branched out into fur trading with the Indians, and speedily came into conflict with the parent trust of the hemisphere, the Dutch West India Company [Records of New Amsterdam," Vol. 3, pages 36-41; Vol. 4, page 46]. Undismayed, Jansen brought the questions at issue into court and was later sustained on all the counts. Adding to the products of his farm the fish and oysters which were so plentiful in the adjoining waters, he found market in the city opposite and speedily acquired a fortune as fortunes went in those days, which he invested in cattle. When the Dutch colony was settling on the Delaware, Jansen supplied them with part of their cattle. One year after his coming to Communipaw, Governor Peter Stuyvesant took up the reins of government in New Amsterdam, and, being anxious to maintain a representative government, appointed nine advisers, Jansen being made the representative for the west side of the river. He must have proved to be a good adviser, because in 1656 he was offered the Vice-Governorship at Fort Orange, later Albany, but he declined the honor, preferring, evidently, to stay and work for his present constituency. As in Albany, the reputation of the fairness of his dealings with the Indians made him popular in Communipaw; his friendship with the red men acted in his favor during the awful times of 1655, when his family was exempted from capture or death. Early in the morning of September 15, 1655, about a thousand (according to another report, five hundred) Indians, in sixty-four canoes, descended upon New Amsterdam, then and later committing many depredations, which about nine o'clock in the evening resulted in a pitched battle, forcing the savages to retire mostly to Pavonia. Soon from the Manhattan shore they "saw the house at Harboken in flames. This done, whole Pavonia was immediately on fire and everything there is burnt and everybody killed except the family of Michiel Hansen. As a sample of the buoyancy of the pioneers' disposition the following may serve. Michael Jansen Vreeland apparently had lost everything and been ruined through the Indian uprising of 1655. But he did not lose any time in fruitless wailings. Immediately he set to work, rebuilding his destroyed fortune. After tranquillity had been sufficiently restored, he returned to his deserted Communipaw farm, where he engaged in cattle raising on a large scale. Amsterdam's colony on the South River (Delaware) was in need of cattle, and Director Stuyvesant, at the request of Director Alrichs, during the month of June, 1658, bought of Michael Jansen twenty-seven head of cattle of various descriptions and ages, together costing thirteen hundred and thirty guilders [Calendar of Dutch Mss., page 188].

Children:

Michelsen, Claes
Michelsen, Cornelius
Michelsen, Elias
Family History:

On August 30, 1665 Elias Michielsen Vreeland was appointed associate magistrate in Bergen, NJ. On August 18, 1673, the central authorities appointed Elias Michielsen Vreeland as magistrate. Three days later the newly appointed magistrates repaired to New Orange to take the oath, and at the same time were "told that the commanders shall visit their town on Sunday after the sermon in order to administer the oath of allegiance to all their people." On February 18, 1679, Elias Michielsen Vreeland, was appointed to a special Court of Oyer and Terminer to be held at Bergen.

Vreeland, Enoch Machielse

Vreelant, Hartman Michelsen
d. 18 JAN 1707 Bergen, NJ
Vreeland, Johannes Machielsen

Vreelant, Jannetje Michielse

Vreelant, Prytje Machielsen

Vreeland, Ariaantje Michelse
d. 22 SEP 1697 Bergen, NJ (d.s.p.)

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Copyright 2001 Richard Joseph Bucknum