JAN PIETERSEN HARING



That his family was from Hoorn was confirmed in 2005 in a communication
to historian Firth Haring Fabend from the archivist at the Westfries Archives
in the Netherlands. He says:

"Indeed Jan Pietersz Haring was present in Hoorn on May 25, 1680 when the
Hoorn notary Cornelis Nopper wrote his notarial deed. This deed
concerned the inheritance of Ariaantje Claas, widow of Cornelis Pietersz
Metselaar, a brother of Jan Pietersz Haring who was one of the
successors."

"A metselaar is a brick layer. A 'successor' in this sense means that JPH was
one of his brother's heirs. It is amazing that this record survives, as 90%
of the seventeenth-century records in Westfries have disappeared."

It's interesting that the surname "Haring" was used to refer to JPH
at this date, when surnames were not all that common. Note that he
was referred to as "Jan Pietersz Haring of New Netherland". Although
he probably only lived in this country for little more than 20 years, he
made significant contributions, most especially as the leader of the
Tappan Patent group, which acquired 16,000 acres of an area that
straddles the present New York/New Jersey line, on the west side
of the Hudson River.

Jan Pietersen Haring married Grietje Cosyns as her second husband at
Whitsuntide in 1662. Whitsuntide (i.e. White Sunday, from the custom
of wearing white on that day) is Pentecost (in Dutch, Pinxster). The
record of this marriage has not been found, and this information is
from family records. The Haring Family Notebook is available
on this website. The original is now in the manuscript collection of
the Library of the DAR in Washington, D.C. The Notebook states that
theirs was the first marriage at the New Dutch Church on Stuyvesant's
Bowery in New York. Do. Henricus Selyns ministered both in Brooklyn
and at Stuyvesant's Bowery from 1660 to 1664, but it is not known at what
date a church building was constructed. There is nothing, however,
that contra-indicates the Notebook record of the marriage.

Her parents, Cosyn Gerrits and Vroutje Gerrits, are recorded as members
of the New Amsterdam church in the late 1650's. During the time that
Domine Selyns ministered on Sunday evenings at Stuyvesant's chapel at
the Bowery, Cosyn and Vroutje must have been members there, because
it is recorded that they rejoined the New Amsterdam church after Selyns
returned to the Netherlands because of the illness of his father. This record
appears in the membership lists between the entries for 1664 and 1665.
Daughter Grietje Cosyns is listed separately there, and at that time
she was already married to Jan Pietersen Haring. On October 28, 1668 JPH
himself joined the New Amsterdam church as Jan Pieterszen Hearing, but his
name never appears in the Stuyvesant Chapel records, which are themselves
found with the records of the Brooklyn church.

Jan Pietersen's name appears in the records for the first time at the birth
of his second child and first daughter, Vroutje, in 1667. The baptism of his first
child, his son Pieter, does not appear. It should be noted that his birthdate
August 13, 1664, as recorded in the Haring Family Notebook, was after
Do. Selyns had returned to the Netherlands. The last baptism performed
by Do. Selyns was July 20, 1664, and the next baptism recorded was
October 16, 1666, so there is an obvious gap in those records. JPH and Grietje
had six more children (including Vroutje) - a total of four sons and three daughters,
all of whose baptisms are recorded in the Dutch Reformed Church records of New York.

Grietje Cosyn had been married previously to Harmen Theuniszen on
19 April 1654. They baptized a daughter Vroutje in 1658, but this child
did not survive.

Jan Pietersen Haring served as a schepen - the Court Minutes of New Amsterdam for
1674 read as follows:

"From the nomination made by the Outside People beyond the Fresh Water,
the W:Court with the approbation of the Honorable Governor General, have
elected and confirmed as Magistrates for the ensuing year:
     Jan Pietersen Haaring,
     Adriaen Cornelissen, Old Schepens
     Jacob Pietersen de Groot,
     Wolphert Webber, New Schepens
Which aforesaid Magistrates are hereby authorized and empowered, after
having taken the customary oath at the hands of the W:Court here, to
govern the Outside People in their district according to the instruction
granted them to this effect: - further regulating themselves according to
all such orders and instructions as shall in addition be given them from
time to time. Done, City Hall of the City N: Orange 2nd October 1674.

Schepens received a salary and were entitled to the Great Burger Right,
which meant they could run a business, carry on a trade, vote and run for office.
They were empowered to give final judgment on all cases involving sums of less
than a hundred guilders and had full power in all criminal cases.

There is a record in the Andros Papers dated 1676 of a group of men applying
for land which reads as follows:

25:94
[LIST OF APPLICANTS FOR LAND]

The names of the persons For Land upon Manhatens Island.

Imprimis.

Wolferd Webber Constable
Jno. Peterson: wheelemaker
   (note: these two names are bracketed together with the number 2)
Arien Cornelius Son
Tunis Edisse
Bastian Elson
Henry Corneliusson
Spunge Yonson
Claus Manuell a Negro
Jon: DeFreeze Molatt
William Antonis Molatt
David Defore and his son Jon: Defore 2
Garrat Cozensee
Solomon Peterse
Andrews Vriance
Old Mingoe:
Severeene Laurenson
Ebbert Foctuse
Arnold Webber
Assent Negroe
Michaell Negroe
Old Franciscoe Negroe
Lewis Smith Negroe
Jon. Bennue
Daniell Clarke
Theophilus Elsworth
Clement Elsworth
Marcke de Susswaie Senior
Marcke De Susswaie Junion
Marten Hardwen

[ENDORSED:]  Persons for land upon
                            Manhatans Isl.
                            1676
____________________________________________________

Then in the Andros Papers in 1677/78 there is a note
referring to:

"The Land of Wolford Webber
and Jon: Peterson Hering
knowne by the Name of
The Land Hills"

"Land Hills" should properly read "Sand Hills".

This brief reference does confirm that the "Jno. Peterson: wheelemaker"
of the previous application for land was indeed Jan Peterse Haring,
and that the land was granted.

JPH's father-in-law Cosyn Gerritsen is known to have been a wheelmaker,
and whether JPH learned the trade from him, or had apprenticed to learn
it earlier is not known.

JPH's most significant accomplishment was as the head of the group of
13 families who purchased the land known as the Tappan Patent. The deed
to purchase the land from the Indians was in 1681/2, and the final grant was
in 1686. Unfortunately JPH died without settling on the land. His widow
married Daniel DeClark, a man 12 years her junior, in 1685. The house in
Tappan most commonly known as the DeWint House was built for Grietje
by her third husband, with the date 1700 over the door - it is the oldest house
standing in Rockland County.

Jan Pietersen Haring died on December 7, 1683.