You can find a complete copy of Finding Our Wooden Shoes, Parts
1 and 2 including the copy of the Master Family Tree Draft #47 (with the living
folks blocked out) at http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc and then type Cozine in the 1st Search Box, and then click on
the 1st search bar.
Finding our
Wooden Shoes
James B Cozine
Fall 2006
Just
how many Ancestors are there?
Everyone knows that you double the number of ancestors in
each generation and that after 10 generations you have 1024 ancestors. If you keep
going with the doubling generation after generation you will reach a point
where you would be related to everybody on the planet at some point in time. So
the pyramid theory of doubling after about 10 generations seems to start
working backwards because as many as 80% of the marriages that far back were
between 2nd cousins... there just wasn't that many people in the total
population and in ones hometown not to be a relative in many cases. So very
soon you have the same set of ancestors showing up twice on your family tree.
We even have a case of this with Samuel K Cozine, where his
wife Inez Bell Sandusky had
The Diamond theory is now what genealogical researchers
follow to try and converge back to the very few ancestors that would be our
families' Adam and Eve.
Most family researchers can't go back even 10 generations
and the ones that do can’t get past the middle of the 1500s, so DNA may well be
the tool that takes us back to the very location of our families' prime
ancestors. I hope I live long enough to learn such things. So far I have
learned that the male inherited Y chromosomes get carried forward from
generation to generation with almost no change. On the Phylogenetic (human
genetic) Tree I belong to the Haplogroup R 1 b 1 which is the most common
haplogroup (branch) among the European populations ‑ no surprise there.
This use of Y chromosome markers is only now really beginning to be used in any
meaningful volumes. (My 1st 10 markers of 25 analyzed at Family Tree DNA are
given below.) ‑ www.familytreedna.com
SELF
2
PARENTS
4
GRANDPARENTS
8
GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
16
GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
32
GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
64
GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
128
GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
256
GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
512
GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRF‑AT‑GRANDPARENTS
1024
GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
X
G‑G‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
X
G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
X
G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
X
G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑G‑GREAT‑GRANDPARENTS
Loci
Designation DYS# 393 390 19/394
391 385a 385b 426 388 439 389‑1 392 389‑2
My
Y‑chromosome Allele 13‑‑24‑‑13‑‑‑
10 ‑ ‑ 11 ‑ ‑ 15 ‑ ‑ 12 ‑ ‑12 ‑
12 ‑ ‑ 13 ‑ ‑ 13 ‑ ‑ 29
Folklore &
Other
thoughts
Of interest
The origin of our Family & Name
Our Family
It seems certain to me that our
The Veluwe region, west of the
Caveat: What we offer here in this section is
speculation and opinion from the few pieces of the puzzle we can see.
Vernon S. Cozine (1904‑1984) of San Diego, Calif. back
in the late 1960s believed we were connected to the Van de Hell family and that
he had found that the name Van der Hell means "from the poppies"
which probably meant from Flanders (in modern day Belgium). Four brothers ‑
Knights of the Veluwe were said to have come to The Netherlands in abt. 1350 as
found in an old NYG&B Record. This entry is likely from the 1940 Vol 71, pg
131 'Notes on the pre ‑ American Genealogy of the Van Rensselaer Family’
(see ‑ Where did they come from?) Their names were: John, Gerrit, Cosyn
(Casijn) and Hendrick (van der Hell),
The old Van der Hell Castle (or manor house) built in the early
l300s was between Nijkerk and Putten in the present
In those days we can understand that you didn't say you were
Dutch because The Netherlands really didn't exist as a country yet. (Read the
short history section)
Note on the prefix van der (or de) ‑ it often denotes
an origin in the old southern states of the
There are other stories handed down in the various branches
of the family that we are of French ancestry ‑‑ There are many
associated families and a few wives of French descent in the family history but
our male line is likely free of any French ancestors. (See folklore tales)
Because the trail of records for our progenitor Cosyn
Gerritsen is hard to search before 1640 we have looked at the noble families of
the Putten district for earlier records where our name is found ‑ the Van
der Hell, and Van Oldenbamevelts and their related families. The well known Van
Rensselaer family that had so much to do with
Here are some points of interest to support the basic claim
of a Putten origin.
This passage is in the introduction to the book ‑ The
Van Rensselaers in
Mr. A J F Van Laer, New York State Archivist and a Dutch
authority, wrote: 'Owing to the sandy soil and the peculiar isolation of the
district of the Veluwe (in Gelderland) where the Van Rensselaer estate called
Rensselaerberg was located, estates in that region remained for generations in
the same hands and can in some cases be traced to a very remote antiquity, in
fact almost to the time of Charlemagne.' (b 742‑d 814)
Mr. Eugene Schuyler, a historical researcher of high repute,
says ’that Rensselaerberg was originally Reddergoed, the possession of which
conferred nobility.' It lays half way between Nykerk and Putten, a short
distance from the
(This family having owned and lived on their property near
Rensersberg for over two hundred years before our Cosyn Gerritsen was born.)
From the NYG&B Record of 1926 (pgs 220‑232) in an
article about Kiliaen van Rensselaer we can find the following points of
interest:
In
Though already owning the ancestral family property, van
Rensselaer, in 1620 bought in addition the estate of Crailo near Huisen to
which he added a large stretch of un‑reclaimed land. He personally
carefully supervised the work on his
The Van Rensselaer wall mounted tombstone over the grave
vaults of twin brothers Captains Hendrick and Johan Van Rensselaer (they died
1601 & 02) in the crypt of the Church at Nykerk is most interesting in that
it shows the coat of arms of a number of the families in their blood line ‑‑in
the quartering practice we see, one quarter is the Hell family while another
carries six fleur‑de‑lis (of France) and is located paired with the
Hell Family with the name ‑ Bylaer or van Bijlaer. (Note: This was also
the CoA for the Van Twiller family.) Byler (Bylaer, Bylar) was the name of a
farm ‑ estate in the neighborhood of Barneveld. The family, or families,
holding this farm in tenure assumed its name for a family cognomen (last name).
This derivation of a surname is quite prevalent in the Netherlands and among
the names mentioned in this van Rensselaer article, a large number are
traceable to such farm - estate (van Rensselaer, van Byler, van Norden, van
Wenckum, van Twiller, van Kayenbeeck, van Luxoel, van Corler, etc.) ‑
this note from NYG&B Record Vol 71 pg 350.
By the way, the coat of arms for the three families ‑
Van Rensselaer, Van Hell and Van Oldenbarnevelt are the same and all originally
from the district around Nykerk and Barneveld, meaning they likely had common
ancestors. (See notes on Coats of Arms). The van Byier family belongs also to
such a group, which all bear the same arms, namely six fleur‑de‑lis
(3‑2‑1). The origin of this group may be traced to a district
between
More
on the Van Der Hells from the Armory of American Families of Dutch Descent by
William J Hoffman as found in the NYG&B Record Vol 71, 1940, starting on
page 129.
The
only important estate or manor in the immediate vicinity of Nykerk was castle
Hell, about a mile from the Renselerberg. The ancient family van der Hell
derived its name from that estate. It was one of the very few old noble
families of the district around Nykerk. Since olden times its members appear as
signatories on documents among the nobles of the Veluwe. In about 1326 Gerrit
van der Helle is mentioned among the ministerial of the Count of Gelre (
We
find the van der Hells among the higher district officials, such as sheriff,
richter and schepen, and they were undoubtedly in olden times one of the foremost,
if not the foremost, family of the district around Nykerk. Their arms must have
served as an inspiration for other families of the neighborhood, ‑ the
van der Hell coat and crest were borne by no less than seven families.
A
relationship with the three noble families, Van Der Hells, Van Rensselaers and
Van Oldenbamevelts must have existed in these times with our ancestors. They
are the source of our name and they were likely the employers, land lords to
our tenant ancestors. We did an extensive search for a Van Oldenbarnevelt
family connection for our ancestors a few years ago as this appeared the most
promising, but it failed to receive any support from the researchers of that
family. (See the page on the Van OBs.)
One
other family of stature, the Van Corlaers also had an estate near Putten, not
far from Nijkerk and appears interrelated with these noble families and also
had descendants emigrate to New Netherlands in the same period as our Cosyn
Gerritsen. Gosen van Curler was the schout, or sheriff, of Nijkerk in 1593.
It
appears that Cosyn Gerritsen had important family friends and this can be seen
as aiding him in the days before English rule in
http://home.hccnet.nl/w.h.v.hell/kasteel.hell.html
The Castle Hell (a modern painting
ca. 1930 from an etching ca. 1730 Theses notes from a detailed Family work by
Mr. A Vos from
Kampen:
In Putten, situated on the
This House of Hell was a castle, surrounded by walls and
canals. The history goes back to around the year 1300 (abt. 1326). Around 1379
the castle was occupied by Gerrit van der Helle. In 1559 the inhabitant was mentally
deficient (dementia). His family had known about this and blamed his wife for
his condition. They were afraid that the inheritance would go to the wrong
persons so a case was brought in court that lasted almost 40 years. In 1867 the
property was purchased by Mrs. Cornnilia Maria d'Hanges, d'Yvoi. She lived in Salentein, south of Nijkerk.
Klein Hell
Road sign
Great Hell
to Hell
Farm Hell
From the Street name Book of Putten abt 1983
pgs 117‑8
A
translation from Dutch
Great
Named after the farm
' Great Hell' the original (site of the castle Hell) ‑ just like 'Little
Hell' (on
In the book 'Present
state of United Netherland' by Wagenaar (1741) it is mentioned that Heel or
Hell was a lord’s house between Putten and Voorthuizen. In that time it must
still have had the character of a castle and manor house.
Accepted can become
that the castle, that also in a list, dating from 1815, still shows as a lords
house, in the course of the 19th century it was demolished and it has been
replaced by a farmstead. The tracks of the canal (and moat) system are still
observed around the farm.
Just like the castles
Aller and Cannanburg the castle Hell in 1372 was captured and devastated by
Earl Jan van Blos.
The castle Hell takes
its name from the knight line Van Hell or Van der Hell. Several persons from
this line held the castle as a feudal estate. The line Van Hell at the time
could speak for themselves. Members from the family
Van Hell held important functions. In 1379 Gerrit van der Hell got the
"Goet ter Hellen" (goet is old Dutch and
means county - seat) on pawn (commission?). After him follows
his son‑in‑law Carselis van Aller (1402). Daughter Nesse
(van Aller) marries with a van der Hell, This marriage remained childless and the
county - seat proceeds on to a cousin Hendrick van der Hell. By legacy the
county - seat splits up. Members of the families Van Hell and Van Dompseler
become pawned. In 1505 the whole county ‑ seat appears to have been
pawned to a renowned character from the family Van Hell, namely Herman van
Hell. He was one of the most important soldiers of Duke Karel van Egmond,
stationed as a hopman (old military rank ‑ analogous to a Captain today)
in
The marriage was
childless and they (his family members) feared that Anna would enforce bemakingen
(very old Dutch term meaning 'testament') for the benefit of her family (over
his). To prevent Herman in his feeble mindedness from signing donations or wills
that for the family would be unwelcomed Herman's brother and sister destroyed
his seal stamp. Anna de Ridder however immediately had a new golden stamp made.
In secret a Will was formulated where transfers were made to a certain Antonie
van Dompseler, who Anna in its plot had knowledge of. Antonie would later on
transfer the half of the county - seat to Jan de Ridder van Walenborch, Anna's
cousin. Under pretense the manor house Hell was leased, Antonie van Dompseler
became involved with the property.
Then Herman van Hell
died in (1574) and this flared up the fight for the inheritance. Jan refused,
against the appointment, to leave (castle) Hell. Van Dompselers demanded the
caste. Jan de Ridder called in the aid of the landdrost (an old
Dutch official ‑ a chief magistrate in rural districts). A certain
Gijsbert van Dompseler dislodged, with the help of two groups of Hoogduitse
marksmen (gunmen), Jan de Ridder from the caste Hell. Van Dompselers occupied
the castle and for their part by the landdrost with its servants and ten
Haeckschutters (a Haeck or Haakbus is a short stocked firearm, the predecessor
to the musket used in this time; schutters were marksmen ‑ [gunmen]), Van
Dompseler was surrounded. They succeeded however to come into the castle. The
county magistrate (landdrost) put on the chest of Gijsbert van Dompseler the
fire rudder (loaded and light gun) under exclamation "Lox" ‑
quickly you are caught! However the marksmen of the Van Dompseler's blew on
their fire rudders (trigger fuses) and that gave cause for the county
magistrate to hastily and unsuccessfully leave.
There followed a long
standing lawsuit. Eventually after forty years the proceedings ended, Jan de
Ridder lost and at that time the property passed on to the children (and heirs)
of Herman van Hell (the soldier), meanwhile Antonie van Dompseler died.
The property (Castle
Hell) in 1633 once again came into the hands of members of the family Van Hell.
For a long time the castle (again) remained in this family.
In 1792 (Castle)
Hell's possession passed on to Gijsbert Janssen van de Munt, who held different
functions in the governing board of the office during the French (Napoleonic)
time. In 1867 (the farm) Great Hell became the possession of Freule (a noble
title) Cornela Maria d'Hanges d'Yvoi, living on the Salentein.
From the Street name
Book of Putten abt 1983 pg 255
A
translation from
It was named after Cosijn van Oldenbarnevelt, vicar of the
Saint Crucifix altar in the
Cosijn van Oldenbarnevelt was a son of Claus van
Oldenbarnevelt Ernstzn, born 1522 or 1523, count of dikes (in charge of the dikes)
from the polder (lowlands) Arkemheen, collator of the saint crucifix alter in
the church in Nijkerk (a town just to the west of Putten), deceased in 1587.
The mother of Cosijn van Oldenbarneveldt was named Nelle van
Wenckum.
From the marriage of Cosijn Oldenbarnevelt with Jannetje
Snapper his two children are known:
* Cosijn van
Oldenbarnevelt. He lived also in Putten and died in 1605, married on
Alijd Voeth.
* Brinkje van
Oldenbarnevelt in the late summer of 1636 died of the plague. Married on
Cosijn van Oldenbarnevelt had a sister who about 1578
married with Ernst van Hennekeler, owner of the good Hennekeler and church
warden in Nijkerk.
Moreover had Cosijn one brother named Ernst van Oldenbarnevelt. This brother was the count of dikes of the
lowlands Arkemheen, collator of the vicar the saint Cross in Nijkerk.
In 1571 he committed manslaughter upon Reyner Bernts at
Putten, for which he was acquitted in 1587. Since then he resided in Putten.
His youngest son, also called Ernst, was wedded with Andrea
Collerts and joined in the knightship of the Veluwe. He was awarded with the
property "Voor De Dyck" below Putten (the explanation beside
Voordijk).
A family relation existed with the raadspensionaris (the
political leader of the state) Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, who was beheaded in
1619. The Oldenbarnevelt's from Putten gave a statement in favor of John van
Oldenbarnevelt during his trial. (added note: He was
the son of 1523 Gerrit Rwyersz van
According to some, the name van Oldenbarnevelt was derived
from the similar called estate, the farm Oldenbarnevelt situated near
Barneveld, where originally a number of hedge roads joined. Others think that
the name originated from a younger branch. Originally named Barnevelt they
called themselves the "Olde" Barnevelt. In their turn they named the
estate Oldenbarnevelt. Here the problem of the chicken or the egg arises. (End
of text from the Street Name Book)
Note: The Cosijn given name can be seen in the family before
this as follows:
1364
Cosijn van Oldenbarnevelt
m ‑ unknown
1400
Ernst Cosijnsz van 01denbarnevelt
m
‑Magiete in 1421
1422
Reijner Ernst van Oldenbarnevelt
m ‑ Catharina De Wijse in 1447
1458
Claus van Oldenbarnevelt
m ‑ Aleid Jansdr van Lockhorst
in 1487
1490
Reijer van Oldenbarnevelt
m ‑ unknown
1522
Claus van Oldenbarnevelt Ernstzn
m ‑ Nellie van Wenckurn
Our Name
It is found spelled in the following ways in the
In the Old World Cosijn is sometimes shown as Casijn from
father to son ‑ (see discussion below on name origin). Other Old World
variations or double names are: Calsijn, Causijn, Coesijns, Coesqnse, Coezijn,
Coseyns, Cosijns, Cosijnse, Cosijnsen, De la Cosine, Cousijn, Cousijnse,
Cousijnsen, Cousin, De la Cousine, Couzij, Couzijn, Couzijnse, Couzijnsen,
Cozijn, De la Cozijne, Cutzien?, Karsijns?, Karzijn?, Koezijnse, Kozijn.
The name in its early spellings Cosijn, Cosyn, etc. clearly comes
from a very small region of the North Veluwe in the Province of Gelderland and
next to it in Utrecht Province, The Netherlands.
It is only seen as a given name until after our ancestors
left The Netherlands. Only the Nobles, Regents and wealthy families were using
family names in those days, and even then it was not always the rule. Common
folk used patronymic naming.
We can see the name back to Cosijn van Oldenbarnevelt b abt
1368 in Nijkerk and four more generations of his descendants. Later Cosijn van
Oldenbarnevelt who married Jannetje Snapper in 1567 in Putten is seen. They had
a son named Cosijn and his grandfather Claes van Oldenbarnevelt also used the
name Cosijn b 522 ‑ d 1587. They were from
The name is mainly seen in this small area, in a triangle
among the following three municipal districts ‑ Nijkerk, Putten and
Barneveld in those early generations. (The towns of the same names are less
than 12 miles apart.)
Some other sightings of the name at this time are:
*In Harderwijk a
Lubbert Casijn, a captain of Harderwijk held tenure on the Renseler farm‑estate
(about 6 acres) in the 1630s
*In
Barneveld a Cornelis Gerrits Cosijn is found born abt 1614 who marries Grietje
Dirckx b abt 1618 in Gaderen. Thy have a son Gerrit
Cornelisz Cosijn
*In
Renswoude just south of Barneveld) in
Is seen. His father owned half of the estate
'Nieberg, the only other information found indicates he had 8 morgans of land
in 1536 and likely only
had daughters. (From the Van Overeem
genealogy)
*In
Sliedrecht,
Bann ‑ no further use
of the name found.
*In
Schoonhoven,
*Aegidius
Cosijn and Cathearina Duerinckx had a son Frans Cosijn b abt 1585 d Mar 1653 in
Temse, East Flanders, Belgium (only 10 miles
SW of Antwerp). Frans married Cathalijn Truyman b abt 1586 d Feb 1647, they had
only daughters, Cathalijn b 1628 and Francisse b 1631 so the name daughters
out. ‑ ( it is the only record found outside The Netherlands)
In researching 15th
Century Dutch names only two entries offered a possible meaning of the name;
‑ Cosyn was the
Flemish equivalent of the French Cousin ‑ (see Dauzats) and
‑ Cosijn was
the variant of Casijn (from online database of the Meertens Institute of Dutch
Culture in Amsterdam) ‑not user friendly! http:/vww.meertens.knaw.nl/voornamen/VNB/
A short translabon
is: This comes from the holy name Coesin (pronounced Kozijn) as a variation of
the first name Casijn, a medieval byname/nickname of Nicasius, which is
found mostly in Gelderland province.
Other notes:
The name is derived
from the old Greek male name ‑ Nicasius
which directly
translates to 'The Conqueror' or 'Victor' and its use can be traced back to
abt. The year 250 with its first variant showing up in the 12th century in Zuid
(south) Netherlands as Casis, then Casijn in the mid 14th Century in both the
Van Oldenbarnevelt and Van Der Hell families. Other variants are Nycasis, Sijn,
Zijn, Casekin.
A little history of
the Zuider Zee (South Sea) that forms the northern boundry of Gelderland and
Putten may help explain the use of the name here. In Roman times there was
already a body of water in this location called Flevo Lake. It was much smaller
and the connection with the North Sea was limited so this area was inhabited in
much the same way as the Zeeland province. In the 12th Century and after a
flood in 1282 that broke through the barrier dunes near Texel the name
Zuiderzee came into use. An even more massive flood occurred December 14,1287,
when the seawalls broke during a storm, killing over 50,000 people. This was
known as the Saint Nicasius'flood because it occured on the annual Catholic
Feast Day of Saint Nicasius. (Today it is more often called the St. Lucia's
flood.) Nicasius was the Archbishop of Rheims, Gaul (now Reims, France) who was
given sainthood for his martyred death in the year 451 at the hands of
barbarians from Germany as they plundered the city. (This name variation may
be the extent of the often claimed French oriain‑connection?)
As far as any French
name Cosine is concerned, it probably does mean ; cousin, feminine would be
cousine.
In Dutch there is a
word Kozijn (old sound as our name) ‑ that is a kind of window frame – there
are three types; a Kruiskozijn, a Bolkozijn and a Kloosterkozijn, according to
the book ‑T h e Hudson Valley Dutch and Their Homes ‑ page 244. When my brother and I, along with our
wives went to Holland and visited Putten in 2000 we were told on three separate
occasions that our name had the meaning of a wooden widow sill or frame.
Some notes on Dutch
spelling ‑‑ The following letters were virtually interchangeable in
medieval Dutch ‑ c and k, j and y, and f and v.
Some of the changes
from Old Dutch (sometimes called Low German) to Modern Dutch that appear so
many times in our name are: 's' became 'z' ‑ but old 'z' become 's' ‑
they appear to remain interchangeable even today; 'ij' or 'y' became' i'; ‘k’ became
'c'.
In 1934 modern Dutch
was simplified further and now it is hard to find researchers willing to work
on the old Dutch records. Not only because of the changes in the language but
reading old script hand writing is also a challenge that will soon tire the
eyes.
How the 'e' got added
to our name I don't have anything more to offer than to blame it on the
British, yet the same spelling evolved over time into a family name in The
Netherlands without their influence?
Some notes on Dutch
names
Patronymics was the
most common naming custom or way to identify someone based on the father's
name. The patronymic was formed by adding ‑ se, sen or zsen for a son and
daughters would very often have an ‑x or dr added. An individual could
also be known by his place of origin, like 'van Putten' or by a nationality.
(Van in the large majority of instances is the birth place but strictly
speaking in marriage and proclamation records means that this was the persons
last place of residence. In olden times in the Old World people did not change
their place of residence as often as is a common occurence now.) Others were
even given names later based on their personal characteristics or occupation.
Outside the regent and noble families the use of family names was not needed in
The Netherlands till around 1811.
The Dutch were also
in the habit of using diminutives. Shortened names were in use for both boys
and girls. One endearing diminutive that needs to be understood right away is ‑
je or tje. This suffix is like calling a boy 'Junior' or a girl 'small/younger'
.
Pronouncing our name
Over the generations
and branch separations an Americanization seems to have taken hold in about
half the branches. The Dutch pronounce our name with a strong or long ‘I’ sound
(as in 'design'). This is also the way most of the lines that stayed in the
NY/NJ area say it. This likely comes from the old spellings like Cosyn where
the 'y' had the two dots above (an umlaut), giving it the ‘I’ sound. While our
line has always said our name the new way since the days in Kentucky, with an 'e'
sound as in 'magazine', there are two 4th cousins living right here in Las
Vegas each saying if differently.
A Definition ‑
The Umlaut accent marks are two small dots over a letter.
The umlaut is a form
of vowel alternation, a sound change that transforms one vowel into another in
the Germanic languages. In umlaut, a back vowel is modified to the associated
front vowel when the following syllable contains [ I ] or [ j ] (the sound of English <Y>).
Three spellings of our name remain active among the
descendants of Cosyn Gerritsen living in the United States and Canada. Cozine, Cosine and Cozean. A DNA test was
made to confirm the Cozean line. We have a match on 9 of the 1st 12 markers and
a one step match on the other 3. Its close to a near match. (see master family
tree ‑ hard copy in this mauscript or visit the website
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/‑cozine/)
Now there are other
lines that have their origins in the same small area of Gelderland Province ‑
the Cozijnsen family name is in use in at least six Dutch provinces and a
branch came to America in the 1870s and now use the spelling COZENE. There is
no known connection with our ancestors. ‑ their progenitor was Lubbert
Jansen Cousijnse (17201783).
There are other
Cosijn, Cosijnen and like surnames in The Netherlands including one with a coat
of arms found in the Armorial. ( I can see no logic for a connection with any
of these.) A Dutch census in 1947 showed the heavy concentration of the 241
Cozijnsen, 131Cosijn(s) and 80 Cozijn(s) families in: Gelderland (119) and
Utrecht (85), and the job rich areas of Zuid Holland (71), and Noord Brabant (54),
the rest in Amsterdam/ Noord‑Holland. Just to confuse things a little
more we can see today a few families in the U.S. and Canada using the old Cozyn
spelling ‑ they appear to have been from the Netherlands, having migrated
in the mid 1800s. But the most confusing find of all is the few families in the
U.S. using the Cosyn spelling ‑ they appear to have English 'Cousins' ties
back to the mid 1600s? (Again I see no connection with either of these
families.) Also a new word Cosyn has the meaning of Co-Synthesis
in techno talk these days.
African American or black lines of Cozines.
It is clear that various lines of the New World Cozines had
a few slaves or free black domestics and that they can be found living and
working with our ancestors over a number of early generations in very limited
numbers.
The first slave ownership evidence in our line can be seen
in the will of our Jacobus (1687 1739). He gave his son Gerrit 3 slaves and 1
slave to our (to be Rev.) Cornelius Cosine in his will proved in 1739. This is
the only slave owership in our direct line.
The oldest slave census showing a slave in a household is:
1755 Gerrit Cosyn (half‑brother of our Rev Cornelius)
in Flatbush, L. I., NY ‑ one male by the name of Henry (no family name).
Cornelius has sold his Bushwyck. L. I. farm and moved to NJ by this time.
In the appendix of this work you will find my effort to
build a draft Master tree of the black lines ‑ over 95 percent of these
folks are from the CORZINE to COZINEs ‑‑ that is, prior to about
1900 they were Corzines but then started dropping the 'r' out of the name ‑‑
Their origins appear with the plantation owning Corzines of North Carolina ‑
There is no relationship with the CORZINEs and our ancestors. I have stopped
researching them ‑ but from time to time will encounter some information
and note it.
The oldest record where I see a Cozine of color by name is
in The New York City Directory of 1840 ‑ Robert Cozine ‑ Laborer,
102 Sand St.,Brooklyn.
Closing
Many of the soundex files want to include us with the
English 'Cousins' and the various spellings thereof and this leads to some
confusion while researching. My view is our name has nothing to do with the
wider family name of Cousins in either English or French.
Little potential is seen to trace our family name back any
further than what we have to offer in this manuscript, but the researcher with
the right skills may be able to go back another generation or two with the
genealogy using the old Dutch records. Please try.
DNA Update 24 April 2007
Cozean and Cozine
Further testing was done that expanded the number of markers to 25 with the
results being a match of 20 of 25 and the other 5 being each a one step
mutation. Since this still left some doubt and offered no further
clarification, we asked the folks at Family Tree DNA to give us their learned
opinion. The question being ‘if the two test results between Jack COZEAN and
Jim COZINE would support the assumption that they were 8th cousins once
removed’.
Their detailed reply said NO. Extracts from the reply are:
“With a genetic distance of 5, we would be inclined to say they are not
related. -- They differ on two very slow-moving markers (DYS19 and DYS391),
which is also quite unusual between related individuals. -- 8-9 generations
seems to be a very short period for the number of mutations we’re seeing.”
Is
there a Family Coat of Arms?
A little background
Arms were an adjunct of and a sign of the possession of
certain social positions. Without going into the question of the origin of
coats‑of‑arms it may be stated that the first arms ‑ that is
a specific coat belonging to a definite family
‑ are first found during the later part of the 12th century in
what is now the northern part of France and the southern part of Belgium and
that from there the custom spread to all of Europe. The use of arms in the
Netherlands was more prevalent than hardly any other country in Europe. One of
the reasons for this is, that it was the custom for the schepens ‑ the
city and county magistrates ‑ to affix their wax seal to all deeds and
papers attested to by them. If a person who had no arms was made a Schepen
(alderman) he was obliged to assume one. Hence the large number of Dutch arms.
Here is an important note:
In many instances CoAs were assumed ‑ in some cases
even several generations before a surname had been adopted. Such arms descended
through all the male lines of the family, even if some generations later, in
different branches, adopted different surnames. Consequently certain families
with different surnames but using the same arms can be seen, then in such
families it may be able to trace their forbears to a common ancestor in the
male line (if these arms were used before the year 1600).
The 'Armorial General' by J. B. Rietstap, (written in
French) is a monumental work, and is for all general purposes the main printed
source for Coats of Arms.
The preceding Coat of Arms is found in Vol 11 plate CXXXV
(and/or page 470) for the 'COSYNS (of Utrecht).
The objects on the Cosyns shield are used very frequently in
Heraldry, but I would have expected to see some carry over from the Van der
Hell, Van Rensselaers or the Van Oldenbarnevelt families symbol from the
tradition of quartering (carrying over designs from the old parental and new
maternal blood lines to make a new CoAs for that generation). So my view is, this
is not related to our family. It is interesting to see that one of the
Corzine family researchers picked up this design as that of their ancestors and
that this CoA is found in 1942 notes in the Cozine family file at the NYG&B
Society in New York City.
The description given in that file is: The bell shape design
is known as VAIR, and is usually blue and silver, but in this case blue and
gold. The term comes from the fur of a small animal which was much in request
(demand), and comes from latin ‑ varus. The roses are known as 'heraldic
roses' and are usually drawn in just that way. These are silver; and the barbs
are green, the field behind the roses is gold (based on the coding in the
Armorial).
Other shaded color coding (from the Armorial) is as follows:
Small dots = gold, white = silver, horizontal lines = blue,
vertical lines = red, horizontal lines with vertical lines or black = black,
angle top left to bottom right lines= green, angle top right to bottom left
lines = purple, vertical broken lines = flesh color, vertical lines with angle
top right to bottom left lines = blood color. In later crests, natural colors
were used for some the pictures, i.e. a sea or sky would be blue, trees/plants
would be green etc.
So if this is not connected to us then what might be?
If there is any Coat
of Arms that we could to be associated with in some extended way, from the
noble or regent class families involved, then it would
Have to be the one which is common to the families where our
name is found.
Described as ‑ A
shield of Gules (a red field) with a cross moline (anchor cross) of Argent
(white or silver), Crest ‑ a wicker basket issuing flames (In the
Armorial General Vol 11, pg. 552 this is shown as a steel basket in error) Also
described for the Van Der Hells ‑ In (a) red (field) a silver anchor
cross; crest, a blue basket with silver above edge and foot, from which golden
flames with a black looking devil's head. ( see insert)
The following details
come mainly from a 1933 NYG&B Record ( Vol 64 starting on page 3 ) article
'An Armory of American Families of Dutch Descent'.
It is a well known fact that in Dutch heraldry
that certain pieces where especially prevalent in several well defined parts of
the country. Not the least of these was the basket issuing flames as a crest
and the cross moline as arms in the Western part of the Veluwe (a part of
Gelderland) in and around the town of Barnevelt.
No less than 9
families bear the identical arms (in several cases colors and all)
1 ‑ Most
prominent of the Dutch American families was the Van Rensselaers of
Putten/Nykerk. It is shown by the wax seal of John van Rensselaer
"hopman" (Captain), in Wijk bij Duurstede, May 26 1585 and on the
seal of Henrick van Rensselaer, Nov 1, 1614, landowner of the Veluwe.
2 ‑ The most
prominent of these families that didn't come to New Amsterdam was the family of
the famous Dutch statesman John van Oldenbarnevelt. 3 ‑ and other
branches of this family simply called van Barnevelt.
4 ‑ Then the
family van Helle (van der Hell, van der Helle, etc.) also bears these arms. The
manorial castle of Hell was situated about 15 minutes (1 mile) from the
Renselersberg, which
gave its name to the van
Rensselaer family. Hendrick van Helleis mentioned on Nov. 29, 1435 as a judge (
richter) of the Veluwe and sealed with these arms. This family added however to
the already curious crest a man's or devil's head peeking over the side of the
basket, the entire crest being no doubt an allusion to the surname.
5 ‑The family
van Estvelt (van Essvelt, van Eswelt) taking its name from the village of
Estvelt (now Essen) situated between Barnevelt and Klootwijk, bore the same
arms.
6 ‑ So did the
well‑known family van Dompselaer (van Dompseler, van Domsler) as is shown
by the seal of Hendrick van Dompseler "scholtus", Sheriff of
Barnevelt in 1566. The name of this family appears also as Donseler van Hell
and van Dompselaar alias van der Hell. The hamlet of Dompselaer is situated not
far from Wijk‑bij‑Duurstede.
7 ‑ Another
family was the van Curler (Corlaer), Arent van Curler (who came to New
Amsterdam) belonged to a Nijkerk family.,His father was Juriaen van Curler and
his grandfather Goessen van Curler scholtis or sheriff of this city. The CoA is
the same but the crest is a dragon's head and neck Argent, languid Gules and
collared Or. The same arms are found on wax seals of Arent's grandfather and
also on those of Joachim van Curler, sheriff in Nijkerk in 1619.
Two other families
are seen using this arms in the 1700s but this is long after our ancestors have
come to New Amsterdam. (Barghuis [Berghuijs], and van Rookhusen)
No explanation of the
origin of arms is offered but the crest was likely tied into the name
Barnevelt. The first part of this word: barn is the same as the Dutch word
'brand' of which the word burn is the English equivalent, hence the flames.
The Motto of the Van
Rensselaers was "Niemand Zonder" (No one without it [the cross]).
Note: The cross
moline (anchor cross) is still the arms but a closed knight's helmet with a
surround of fancy feathers is used in the space between the top of the shield
and the crest, and has gold trim for the Van Der Hells while this is silver for
the van Oldenbamevelts. (A version of this is seen on the van Rensselaer
tombstone in Nykerk).
The earliest seal of
the van Rensselaer family dates back to 1554, while van der Hell seals antedate
this by more than two centuries. ‑ NYG&B Record Vol 71, pg 133
So
where did our ancestors come from before Putten?
We can assume that
Cosyn Gerritsen's father Gerrit Jans was born in or before 1583. Under the
Gelderland law, a youth remained a minor until he was 20 years old. But the
usual rules for men where they needed permission of their parents to marry
before the age of 25 (while for women the age was 20). So working backwards 25
years from Cosyn Gerritsen's birth ca 1608 would make for a 1583 year of birth.
In Jan 1631 when Cosyn wed it says his father was already deceased ( he would
have been 48 that year under our assumption). We will use this standard + 5
years in evaluating the various timelines.
The most often
mentioned story is ‑ That the family fled France at the time of the
exodus of the Huguenots ‑ca. 1572 ‑1587 after St. Bartholomew's Day
in 1572.
This would say that Gerrit Jans (Cosyn's father) was not yet
born or if he was, then he was just a child at the time of this exodus. Almost
all these families that left France and came to The Low Countries went to towns
in the Provinces of Holland and Zeeland, They did not come to Gelderland where
Spanish troops were garrisoned and fighting was going on from
time to time between the Dutch rebels and the Spanish. It was not till the
1590s that the Dutch
recaptured
large parts of the five provinces ‑ Gelderland, Overijssel, Drente,
Groningen and Noord Barbant.
(While this timeline can not be completely ruled out, it
squeaks and seems most unlikely – yet it is the one most often told.)
If
the ancestors of Cosyn Gerritsen did leave Flanders or Barbant then it was in
the time of the Protestant exodus of the Hasburg Netherlands not later than sometime
in the 1560s, but again it seems highly unlikely they would have come to Putten
in Gelderland.
My viewpoint is that
our ancestors have been in the service of the Van Der Hell, Van Oldenbarnevelt
or Van Rensselaer family since the time they became landed gentry in Gelderland
in the district of Putten in the mid 1300s or before. There are no remarks in
any of these three familiy histories, for as far back as they go, that say they
came from some other place.
A rough (and
confused) translation from old Dutch is a listing of the Knights (nobility)
from Geire around the year 1460, offered below. (from the publication of the
Historic Office in Utrecht No.31 ‑ year 1875 ‑ pages 364‑406
are the list of cities and knights).
This list is copied
from the files at Hilten in the yearbook 1993 (part 47), district 'Neder
Betuwe'. In this document is a description from the family Vander Capellen,
province Gelderland, Nbr. 278, copied 18th century.
This list is also
known as the old knights group from 1468, with small differences with the list
made in 1640.
Public officials,
Court of Justice from the Veluwe, same as the Betuwe shows the following names
from two cities:
City of Niekirken (New Church)
Cosyn van den Alden Bernvelde (likely Van Oldenbarnevelt)
Johan van
Aller van Stoutenberch
Johan van
der Helle ‑ cum fratribus ‑ (Latin ‑meaning with brothers)
Herman
John,
Gerrit, Cosyn and Hendrick
(This sure looks
like the 4 van der Helle brothers Vernon Cozine talked about.)
City of Putten
Hendrick van
der Helle
Ghysbert van
Wachtendonck
The French Connection
Is there a male side French Connection?
Here are some of the folklore tales that we have heard or
read about:
#1 From the book 'The New York of Yesterday ‑ A
descriptive narrative of Old Bloomingdale, page 306 printed in 1908.
"The Progenitor in this country was Gerrit Cosijnszen,
ie. Gerrit son of Cosijn."
"The tradition is that he was of French origin and came
here via Holland."
Comment ‑ This book was written by Mr Hopper Striker
Mott and at that time he was a trustee of the New York Genealogical &
Biographical Society, and many excellent works can be seen under his pen in
their quarterly publication ‑ The Record, he later became it's editor. It
is obvious that no further efforts were made to investigate the Cozine family
origin as the family had before this time already faded away and no longer was
considered prominent among the remaining early families.
#2 From the Cozine Family manuscript by J D Robinson, page
1, 1981.
"The Cozine name had its beginnings in France and
because of persecution for their church beliefs, they fled to Holland where there
is Dutch records showing the name back to the year 1500."
Comment ‑ The name, in its earlier spellings, can be
seen in Gelderland as far back as 1368 as detailed in a pervious section ‑
Our Name. (We agree with J D's statement up to the part about fleeing [ from
France] to Holland.)
#3 From a letter from Lucretia Wiley McAdams, Harrisville,
KY to Miss Belle Corzine, Columbus, In, dated 24 Jan 1946 "Three brothers
came from France to Holland, and from there to America. They left an immense
fortune in France, but after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes their lives
were no longer safe. These brothers came to Virginia, one to Kentucky."
She alludes to material at the Newberry Library, Chicago., IL. (Mrs McAdams is
a Cozine descendant of Mary Cozine b 1810‑ d 1892)
Comment ‑ The revocation of the Edict of Nantes bv
Louis XIV took place in 1685, 50 years after our ancestors arrived in New
Netherlandi.
#4 From the Denver Post newspaper of 20 June 1958.
"The celebrated search for the rightful (American)
heirs of the Marquis of Lede, of Ghent (Gent), Belgium, who died in 1792 ‑
Ferdinand Francis Joseph de Bette".
Comment ‑ This has been researched by cousin Carolyn
Leonard in 2002 and found to be a popular lawyer scam game that went on for
most of the 19th and early 20th century ‑ Carolyn is a descendant of Alma
Belle Cozine b 1868. Carolyn even contacted the true heirs to this estate ‑
Cors De Gruijter in Belgium ‑ there is no Cozine family connection.
#5 From Garry Cosine (Gerrit Cosine 1928‑2002) of Moultonborough,
NH, Sept 2001.
"The Cosine's
are from the Alsace‑Lorranie area of France."
Garry also believed that Walter Scotty of Scotty's Castle
fame in Death Valley, CA was his grandfather Walter Scott Cosine b 1840.
Comment ‑ Gary died before we could discuss this but
nothing has ever been found to support either story.
#6
From the Corzine family researchers.
The progenitor of the Corzine lines in North America is
reported to be Peter CEURSEN, a soldier who came to New Netherlands in 1612. ‑
Comment ‑ The family tree of the Corzines, that I have
seen, is not defined enough before George Corzine and his marriage to Ann
Johnson in Jan 1697, Cecil Co., Maryland to be followed to any old world
ancestors. ( my view) They have many of our Cosyn ancestors as being the early
part of their line without rationale ‑ I see nothing from our side to
support a connection. The Corzines are of Dutch ancestry. They are likely the
name source of the black lines of Corzine/Cozines that came into existence in
the Northeast part of Texas about 1900 having migrated out of North Carolina.
#7 From John H Cozine's (1868‑1949) descendants of
Manorville,L. I., NY, the following text from a newspaper account dated 20
April 1917 (still have not found the original)
"In 1623 John Cozine and three brothers were sent by
the Dutch West India Company with a direct view of colonizing and under command
of Cornelius Jacobea Mey, and settled in New York. Forty‑four years
later, after the English had taken possession of New York, Colonel Francis
Lovelace appointed John Cozine Commissioner of eight cartmen and this
Commissionership was a stepping stone to the fortune that descended to his
heirs. Later considerable of his fortune that represented real estate, was
turned into cash through purchase by the Chandlers and Astors."
Comment ‑ Capt. Jan Jacobsz May sailed in March 1624
(some books say 1623) in the ship 'Nieu‑Nederiandt' (New Netherland) with
the first load of 30 colonist families. They were all Walloons, French speaking
Calvinist refugees from Barbant and Zeeland. Most were spread to the various
corners of New Netherlands to start farms but some did settled at Wall‑Bogt,
now Wallabout Bay on Long Island. Only a few names are known among these
families. His other claims in the post‑Dutch era have a foundation of
truth for the most part. Cosyn Gerritsen was still in Putten at this time ‑
till 1633
#8 From many cousins
The most often and widely told story is: "Two (or 3 or
4) brothers came from France."
But the timing and setting of this event is either unknown
or varies widely from the time of the of the Huguenots fleeing France after the
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris in 1572 to after our ancestors left The
Netherlands. (below is one example).
8A ‑ From Paul Barton Cozine 1884‑1983
A great movement of Protestants from all parts of France to
the town of La Rochelle began in 1573, over the next fifty years La Rochelle
become the pride of the French Protestants and the Huguenots. In 1627 ‑28
the French army laid siege to the city and about 1630 expelled all who did not
again accept catholicism, a great number went to Holland, England and Germany.
Comment ‑ This and the other look‑a‑like
stories appear to be a group history and not specific to the family line. It is
hard to imagine that Coysn Gerrits would leave the west coast of France in 1630
and go to Gelderland province in The Netherlands and then marry in Jan 1631.
Nor does it account for his father giving his town as Barneveld. There were a
number of true Huguenots among both the early settlers in New Amsterdam and the
Low Dutch families of Conewago and Kentucky. From these families we can see
intermarriages with the Cozines and this could well be the basis for this
folklore.
Closing
comments
All of these accounts of the family having a French origin
should be viewed with a degree of caution; no evidence is given to support them
and in eight years of research we have found nothing even suggesting it, that
looks convincing. It is said ‑ that often family tradition is notoriously
the great distorting mirror of genealogy.
There is an often told folklore story with the opening line
of three brothers coming to the New World heard by many genealogist to the
point that it is given comic standing ‑ That being the tale ‑ that
one brother went North, one went South and the other went West.
Could it be that this claim to have a French origin is as
simple as our name being a variant of Saint Nicasius, the Archbishop of Rheims,
Gaul (now Reims, France)? ‑ as detailed in a pervious section ‑ Our
Name.
Why
did he emigrate to New Netherlands?
Clearly Cosyn was influenced by his proximity to the Estate
of Killian Van Rensselaer, Councilor of the WIC, and his nephew, Wauoter Van
Twiller ‑ the soon to be Governor General of New Netherlands.
(The surname van Twiller is derived from an estate in the
neighborhood of Nijkerk in the township of Scherpenzeel called 'Het oude
Willaer'), The van Corlaers (also van Rensselaer family relatives who go to New
Amsterdam) could have been pushing Cosyn too. A considerable number of contract
labors who went to New Netherlands in the service of the Van Rensselaer and Van
Twiller families orginated in the neighborhood of Hilversum and Nijkerk, where
these families had estates. (from People of New Netherland by Rink). Cosyn was
likely recuited by Van Twiller for his farm in New Amsterdam.
The possibility of an extended family relationship to one or
all three nobel houses ‑ Van Der Hell, Van Oldenbarnevelt and Van
Rensselaer seems imaginable as well.
There is much evidence of a close relationship among these
three houses. For example Nelle Van Wenckum who married Killiaen van Rensselaer
was the daughter of Claes Van Wenckum and Engel Van Der Hell. This Killiaen van
Rensselaer was raised by his stepmother Andreesken van Oldenbarnevelt, whose
father Claes was also named Cosijn.
Even though this was the Golden Age of the new Dutch
Republic, the farm lands of the Veluwe region of Gelderland consisted mainly of
sandy lands or forrest. There was considerable prosperity in the northern and
western, so‑called sea‑oriented provinces, but not in the eastern
agricultural provinces. Agriculture was the principal source of income in the
central and eastern sections and was very traditional, conditions were
considered as downright bad at times. A look at the migration numbers shows
many of the colonist to New Netherlands were from Gelderland and Utrecht (see
next page). Often the taxes were so high on these farm lands that a family
farmer could hardly make his living from the land alone.
Much ado is often made in the history books about the
religious reasons why many left but it seems obvious that the social and
economic conditions had more to do with the decision of our Cosyn Gerritsen.
Socially the large majority of emigrants belonged to the 'Kleine Luyden'
(common folks). Under the old Feudal system the common folks either recieved
land (that they could not sell) in return for working in the manor in some
capacity, or were just serfs that worked the land for a noble, they were bound
to the land unless they were freemen. (Slavery did not exist in the Dutch
Republic so there were no serfs.) Freemen were usually in a trade and still
paid rent for use of the land. The only path open for true land ownership was
to become a colonizer or otherwise gain wealth to buy land.
The Dutch East India Company (EIC) was in direct competition
for colonizers to go to South East Asia and usually was preferred over the West
India Company (WIC) . It was well known that someone could make a small fortune
in a few years in the East Indies. Even within the WIC there was competition
for settlers to go to the New Holland sugar plantations in Brazil or the West
Indian Islands (in the Caribbean) where there was the chance to capture Spanish
treasure ships as well as plantation life. So New Netherlands was a poor 4th
choice with no gold or glory.
We can see that Reynier Jansz: van der Hell (1545‑1596),
who became an Amsterdam merchant & trade commissioner for the EIC, was
killed in Indonesia by natives Dec 5th, 1596. This could have served as a
warning not to go there for Cosyn Gerritsen.
So Cosyn must have
been in the employ or rented farm land from one of these noble families and
exposed to the sales efforts of the Van Rensselaer family as well as their
control over his future 'stay at home' prospects. It would be easy to think
that he was in Wouter Van Twiller's employ in New Netherlands before May 1639
when Aert Willemsz was engaged to manage Van Twiller's bouwerj on Manhattan
called the 'Commander's bouwerji' at
200 guilders per year. (but there is no proof of this)
We can also speculate
that Cosyn was likely in the Dutch Army during the years of the fighting with
the Spanish on the
One review of the
origins of the immigrant families in the 17th century was interesting to see in
that of the 900 family heads checked only about 51 % were from the Netherlands,
the others were 18% Germans*, 11% Denmark, 7% France, 6% Belgium, 5% Norway, 3%
Sweden. Those that came from The Netherlands were broken down as:
16
%
10
%
8
%
5
%
3
%
8
% from 5 other provinces
*Germans came
primarily from areas adjacent to the
A short ‑Ancient History of The
In 57 B.C.‑ the
In the 9th Century ‑ Emperor Charlemagne, a Low Lander
himself subdued the Friesians, Franks and Saxons and compelled them to embrace
Christianity (read the Catholic faith).
In the 9th and 10th centuries Feudalism had emerged as a
system of defense against invaders.
In 1348 most of
In the 14th century all of the area fell to the House of
Burgundy. In 1477 the population of
In 1482 the Hapsburgs gained the
During these turbulent times of the Reformation there were
many changing religious and political alliances, confusing even to read about
Now there is a need for some understanding of the events of
the late 1500s that would have bearing on the life of Cosyn Gerritsen's father
Gerrit Jans before son Cosyn was born.
In 1567 The Spanish army under the Duke of Alva moves into
the
In 1572 On April 1st, the Dutch rebels capture the city Den
Briel from the Spaniards, inspiring other elements in the
On August 24th the
tensions between Catholics and Calvinists (called Huguenots) triggered the
slaughter of Protestants by Catholics beginning in
In 1574 on Oct 3rd Rebels relieved the city of
In 1579 on Jan 23rd the first steps for the formation of the
In 1580 on 3 March the Spanish, through the treason of Count
Rennenberg, had taken the city of
In 1581 on July 26th Representatives of the rebelling Dutch
provinces adjured their oath to Philip ll comparable
to our American Declaration of Independence.
In 1582 the use of the Julian Calendar
was replaced by the Georgian Calendar we use today by the Pope and Oct 5th
became the 15th. But many of the non Catholic countries did not adopt this
calendar until many years later ‑
In 1588 on July 6th the Great Spanish Armada was defeated by
a combined English and Dutch force then, destroyed by a storm in the
In 1589 Henry IV founds the Bourbon dynasty in
In 1598 The Edict of Nantes gives legal recognition to the
Huguenots in
Tales of the
Rich and Famous
Cozine cousins
A tale of Fortune lost
Cornelius Cozyn (1696‑1765)
(son of Gerrit Cosynszen , son of Cozyn owned the Cozine farm in the
Bloomingdale area of Manhattan Island which covered all the land from the
Bloomingdale Road (now Broadway) to the Hudson River (high water mark) and from
53rd to 56th Streets. He moved there in Sept. 1741 owning a large house and the
farm. The house was located where
A folklore tale from one cousin is that the Cozines loaned J
J Astor money to get started in the fur business (178
7) and that J J Astor got the property by some slight
of hand effort from the young daughters of John Cozine‑ no evidence can
be found for either claim.
A tale of Fame
John Balm Cozine
(1749‑ 1798) (son of Jan (John) Cozyn, son of Cozynite Gerrits Cozyn, son
of Gerrit Cosynszen, son of Cozyn)
John was a lawyer in New York City. He was appointed
attorney for the Common (City) Council 4 Feb 1786 and was appointed an
Associate Judge on the New York State Supreme Court in 1798, but he died Sept
15th of yellow fever just before he could take his seat on the bench. (some
accounts refer to it in error as the Supreme Court of New York City) John
married Margaret Roosevelt on 1774, daughter of Oliver Roosevelt and Elizabeth
Lounsbury. (Of the same Dutch Roosevelt family that will give us two U.S.
Presidents).
He made his home and law offices in the same building in
lower Manhattan on Gold Street, with an entrance on Beeckman St. John and
Margaret were said to be socially very active and were said to be Friends with
Col. Troup, the Livingstons, the Hamiltons, John Jay, William Dunlap and
Charles Wilson Peale. John Jay signed his commission to the Supreme Court. John
Jay was his partner in land holdings in Vermont State and John Jay was a signer
of the Declaration of Independence and a well known statesman. Alexander
Hamilton was also a lawyer at the time and it is believed that when Mrs.
Hamilton had her portrait painted by Ralph Earl was when John Cozine had his
portrait painted as well, (1787) as a way to assist Ralph Earl to pay his debts
and get out of jail. The painting portrayed him in the robes of a counselor‑at‑law.
(This is the oldest image we have of any Cozine ancestor.) It is said that John
Cozine was an "able lawyer, and (a man) of much general information, (he)
is described as good humored and amicable, inclined to indolence, corpulence,
and high‑living." ‑ Martha J Lamb, History of the City of New
York (1880), pp. 491‑92. (1 guess we would say in today's use of the
language ‑ he was rather fat and some what lazy, but good natured an'
loved a party!)
John Cozine also wrote poetry and had some of it published.
According to Dunlap's History of the Stage ‑ "By strength of his
voice he once quelled a riot in the John Street Theatre". John Fennimore
Cooper, the author, was a law clerk in John Cozine's office.
