Roelof Rycken (1667- )

Roelof Rycken was baptized 10 Jan 1667 in New Amsterdam, the last child of Ryck Hendricksen and his second wife Annetje Hendricks. He is the 8th great-grand-uncle of my son-in-law. Nothing more is known about the four children of the second marriage; they probably did not reach maturity.

Ryck was a carpenter, and had come to New Netherland from Arnhem in the Netherlands with his first wife Judith and two children Hendrick and Gosewijn, between 1651 and 1657.  His last child was baptized in Arnhem in 1650, and he was listed as having received small burgher rights in New Amsterdam on 6 June 1657.⁽¹⁾  Apparently only two children survived from the seven that were born in Arnhem (six baptisms have been found, no baptisms for Gosewijn)⁽²⁾

Judith died in 1658, and Ryck appoints guardians for the two children, in which he states their ages (which at least for son Hendrick does not correspond with his baptismal date). In 1661 he petitioned for land on Staten Island. From this petition, we actually know where in New Amsterdam he lived: on the Prince Gracht (click for a map on the Gothamist website)

There was another Riker Family in New Amsterdam (the one Riker’s Island is named for), and the two were originally quite frequently confused. They are however, quite separate families.

This is another story of loss (so many children died young), but also of persistence: Ryck and his two sisters are the ancestors of many people alive today in the US: Rikers, Hoppers, Van Schaicks, and many other surnames as well. They are part of the history of New York, New Jersey, and the rest of the nation.

(1) Small Burghers of New Amsterdam: New Names, Carolyn Nash. Vol. 141, #1, 2010, pg. 25-38, The New York Genealogical and Biographcal Record.
(2) The baptismal dates come from Maria Jean Pratt Hopper. The Hopper Family Genealogy. New York: n.pub., 2005. I have not myself looked at the Arnhem Baptismal books yet