A History of the City of Brooklyn and Kings County, Volume II.

by Stephen M. Ostrander

In a letter written from Holland to the Brooklyn "Eagle," Henry C. Murphy gave an interesting explanation of the chief characteristics of Dutch nomenclature. In the course of this letter Mr. Murphy said:—

"In order to show what difficulties the peculiar system adopted in this country (Holland), and continued by the settlers in our own home, throw in the way of tracing genealogies, it is to be observed that the first of these, in point of time, was the patronymic, as it is called, by which a child took, besides his own baptismal name, that of his father, with the addition of zoon, or sen, meaning son. To illustrate this: if a child were baptized Hendrick, and the baptismal name of his father were Jan, the child would be called Hendrick Jansen. His son, if baptized Tunis, would be called Tunis Hendricksen; and the son of the latter might be Willem, and would have the name Willem Tunisen. And so we might have the succeeding generations called successively Garret Willemsen, Marten Garretsen, Adrien Martensen, and so on, through the whole of the calendar of Christian names; or, as more frequently happened, there would be repetition, in the second, third, or fourth generation, of the name of the first; and thus, as these names were common to the whole people, there were in every community different lineages of identically the same name. This custom, which had prevailed in Holland for centuries, was in full vogue at the time of the settlement of New Netherland. In writing the termination sen, it was frequently contracted into se, or z, or s. Thus the name of William Barretsen, who commanded in the first three Arctic voyages of exploration, in 1594, 1595, and 1596, is given in the old accounts of those voyages, Barretsen, Barentse, Barentz, Barents; sometimes in one way, sometimes in another, indifferently. Or, to give an example nearer home, both of the patronymic custom and of the contraction of the name, the father of Garret Martense, the founder of a family of that name in Flatbush, was Martin Adriense, and his father was Adriæ Ryerse, who came from Amsterdam. The inconveniences of this practice, the confusion to which it gave rise, and the difficulty of tracing families, led ultimately to its abandonment, both in Holland and in our own country. In doing so, the patronymic, which the person originating the name bore, was adopted as the surname. Most of the family names thus formed and originating amongst us may be said to be of American origin, as they were first fixed in America, though the same names were adopted by others in Holland. Hence we have the names of such families of Dutch descent amongst us as Jansen (anglice, Johnson), Garretsen, Cornelisen, Williamsen or Williamson, Hendricksen or Hendrickson, Clasen, Simonsen or Simonson, Tysen (son of Mathias), Arendsen (son of Arend), Hansen, Lambertsen or Lambertson, Paulisen, Remsen,[55] Ryersen, Martense, Adrience, Rutgers, Everts, Phillips, Lefferts, and others. To trace connection between these families and persons in this country, it is evident, would be impossible, for the reason stated, without a regular record.

"Another mode of nomenclature, intended to obviate the difficulty of an identity of names for the time being, but which rendered the confusion worse confounded for the future genealogist, was to add to the patronymic name the occupation or some other personal characteristic of the individual. Thus, Laurens Jansen, the inventor of the art of printing, as the Dutch claim, had affixed to his name that of Coster—that is to say, sexton—an office of which he was in the possession of the emoluments. But the same addition was not transmitted to his son; and thus the son of Hendrick Jansen Coster might be called Tunis Hendrickson Brouwer (brewer), and his grandson might be William Tunissen Bleecker (bleacher)....

"A third practice, evidently designed, like that referred to, to obviate the confusions of the first, was to append the name of the place where the person resided, not often of a large city, but of a particular, limited locality, and frequently of a particular form or natural object. This custom is denoted in all the family names which have the prefix of Van, Vander, Ver (which is a contraction of Vander), and Ten, meaning, respectively, of, of the and at the.... The prefixes Vander or Ver and Ten were adopted where the name was derived from a particular spot, thus: Vanderveer (of the ferry); Vanderburg, of the hill; Vanderbilt (of the bildt, that is, certain elevations of ground in Guederhoff and New Utrecht); Vanderbeck (of the brook); Vanderhoff (of the court); Verplanck (of the plank); Verhultz (of the holly); Verkerk (of the church); Ten Eyck (at the oak); Tenbroeck (at the marsh)."

III
NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN FERRY RIGHTS

New York City's exclusive claims to the ferry rights are almost as old as Brooklyn itself. Brooklyn was settled in 1636, and in less than twenty years, and while there was but a handful of people on this side of the river, the ferry from Peck Slip to Nassau Island, at a point corresponding to the present foot of Fulton Street, had become a public question. In the natural course of things, New York had first started the ferry. When the English conquered New Netherland, and Peter Stuyvesant stepped down (with his wooden leg) from the governorship of New Amsterdam, the conquered province was patented by Charles II. of England to the Duke of York, who afterwards became James II., and in whose honor New Amsterdam was re-named New York. The Dutch Governor was succeeded by an English Governor, the Duke's representative, Nicolls; and Dutch traditions and codes were succeeded by the famous "Duke's Laws." The new Governor granted to the little hamlet of Brooklyn a patent confirmatory of that received from the Dutch Governor, a measure that was in conformity with the general policy of the conquerors.

This patent, after naming the patentees, and describing the bounds of the town, and bounding by the river, and not by high or low water mark, proceeded to say: "Together with all havens, harbors, creeks, marshes, waters, rivers, lakes, and fisheries." The charter adds: "Moreover, I do hereby give, ratify, and confirm unto the said patentees and their associates, and their heirs, successors, and assigns, all the rights and privileges belonging to a town within their government." Under this patent the town of Brooklyn first claimed the ownership of land between high and low water mark on the Brooklyn side, and an equal right with New York to erect and maintain ferries.

We find no adverse claim on the part of New York until nineteen years afterward, in 1686, when the Corporation of New York obtained from Governor Dongan a charter by which the ferries were granted to New York. But this charter says nothing about water rights, and expressly reserves the rights of all other persons and bodies corporate or politic. Moreover, Brooklyn in the same year secured from Dongan a patent fully confirming that of Nicolls. A similar confirmation was secured in 1691. But New York was still running the ferry, and to fortify its claims bought land on the Brooklyn side in 1694.