Philippe Anton DuTrieux

Well I am going to go back quite a bit further then I usually do, this time with an ancestor from my Mom’s side of the family, through her grandmother Mary Belle Fryar Fraley’s line.  My 12^th great-grandfather was Philippe Anton DuTrieux, who was born sometime in July or August of 1586 in Roubaix, Nord, Nord-Pas de Calais, France.  It is not known at this time who his parents were and I also do not know where the month, year or place of birth came from originally, but a number of genealogist have this in the records they have found for him, long before I started looking or even knowing about his existence.  My French and Dutch aren’t that great, so I have not done any looking for him myself in France or the Netherlands.  The following shows a map of Roubaix that I found online.

The DuTrieux’s were Walloons, who some say were people of Celtic or Roman stock in northeast France, in present day Belgium, French speaking, who became Protestant in large numbers during the Reformation.  This small area of Europe, which at the time was under Spanish rule, was marked by bloodshed, repression and widespread loss of life.  Many of the DuTrieux family fled and some found sanctuary in England, while a large family group went, in exile, to the Netherlands.  In the Netherlands, which had recently declared its independence from Spain, the DuTrieux’s and other Walloon families settled in Leiden and Amsterdam.  As skilled artisans, these Walloons found employment, assistance, civil and religious freedoms, among these was my Philippe Anton DuTrieux, who was known as a dresser of plush or mock velvet and also as a worsted dyer.

On May 10, 1615 at the Walloon Church in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands Philippe married Jacquemyne Noirett who was born in 1593 in Lille, Nord, Nord-Pas de Calais, France the daughter of Arnould Noirett and Barbe DuChesne who were also Walloons.  They became the parents of four children before Jacquemyne died, shortly after the birth of their fourth child along with that child.  These four children were: Philippe DuTrieux 1616-before February 1619; Marye DuTrieux 1617-after 1670; Philippe DuTrieux 1619-before September 1653 (He may also have been killed by the same Indians who killed his father.); and Madeleine DuTrieux 1620-before March 1620.

Philippe DuTrieux obtained an Act of Betrothal on July 17, 1621 to marry second, Susanna DuChesne a Huguenot from Sedan, Ardennes, Champagne-Ardenne, France and she is the line I come through, not the first wife.   Susanna was baptized June 30, 1602 in Sedan, and was the daughter of Pierre DuChesne and Anne Fabri.  The betrothal record states that Philippe was a widower, aged 34 years, occupation worsted dyer, living in the Runtstreat and Susanna was from Sedan, aged 20 years, orphan, assisted by her cousin Jean Pinson, living in the Bisschopstreate.  Philippe and Susanna were married after their banns were published on August 8, 1621 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.  The following shows a map of Sedan, France and the area Susanna was from, you can see that she was only to the east a little ways from where Philippe was from in Roubaix, which when I map quested it is about 136 miles.

Philippe and Susanna became the parents of ten known children, the first being born in Amsterdam before they left for America and the rest in New Amsterdam a Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in present day New York.  These children were the following: Gerome DuTrieux 1623-before March 1624; Sarah DuTrieux 1624-1692, married Isaac de Forrest; Abraham DuTrieux 1626-1662, married Rosella Hester (They were my 11^th great-grandparents and I still haven’t found her maiden name yet.); Susanna DuTrieux 1628-1660, married Evert Janse Wendel; Marie DuTrieux 1630-????; Jan DuTrieux 1632-????; Rachel DuTrieux 134-????, married Hendrick Van Bommel and then Dirk Janse de Groot; Rebecca DuTrieux 1636-????, married Symon Symonse de Groot; Isaac DuTrieux 1642-before 1706, married Maria Williamse Brower; and Jacob DuTrieux 1645-1710, married Elizabeth Post.

The Dutch West India Company was beginning to establish and to develop international commerce and to serve as a military arm of the Netherlands and it is with this group that my Philippe DuTrieux soon joined.  On Wikipedia I found a brief outline about this company.  “The Dutch West India Company was a chartered company (known as the "WIC") of Dutch merchants.  On June 3, 1621 it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the West Indies (meaning the Caribbean) by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.  The area where the company could operate consisted of West Africa (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Americas, which included the Pacific Ocean and the eastern part of New Guinea.  The intended purpose of the charter was to eliminate competition, particularly Spanish or Portuguese, between the various trading posts established by the merchants.  The company became instrumental in the Dutch colonization of the Americas.”  Philippe and his family along with 29 other families, largely of Walloon stock, entered into a contract with the Dutch West India Company to relocate to America in 1624.  The following picture which I found on Wikipedia, shows The West India House on the Herenmarkt in Amsterdam, headquarters of the West Indian Company from 1623 to 1647.  The picture is a modern day picture as you can tell from the bikes and is attributed to "West-Indisch Huis" by S Sepp - Own work.  Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:West-Indisch_Huis.jpg#/media/File:West-Indisch_Huis.jpg

Philippe DuTrieux had long wanted to come to the America’s and so he and Susanna received a certificate of transfer from the church in Leyden on March 9, 1624 and came to America on the ship ‘New Netherland’ which sailed from Amsterdam in March 1624, with the Captain being, Cornelius Jacobs May of Hoorn and the ship arrived in New Netherland (the America’s) towards the end of May or the first part of June sometime.  This ship sailed with 30 families, mostly Walloons and the captain of this ship, is who Cape May, New Jersey was named for.  When the ship returned to the Netherlands, the captain reported the following: "That everything there was in good condition, meaning in New Amsterdam.  The colony has begun to advance bravely and continues in friendship with the natives.  His cargo on the return voyage consisted of 500 otter skins, fifteen hundred beavers, and a few other things, which were in four parcels, for 28,000 some hundred guilders, on the return trip.”  Their ship would have looked similar to these that I found online at: http://ancestorsbeforeus.blogspot.com/

Philippe and Susanna and their children had the honor of being some of the first citizens of what is now New York.  In 1638, Philippe DuTrieux was appointed Court Messenger or Marshall, by Governor Kieft and on May 22, 1640 he received a patent for the land adjoining Secretary, Cornelius Van Tienhoven’s farm, in Smith’s Valley on Manhattan Island.  Philippe’s land is one of the few early settlers whose land can be easily located, even though he did not take out a patent until 1640, he probably owned it long before that time, since he had been there in the area since 1624.  From the book, “New Amsterdam and It’s People” by J. H. Innes in 1902, I found the following pages that mention my ancestor, Philippe DuTrieux and the land where he lived in present day Manhattan.

Philippe was well known in the New Amsterdam area thankfully, and that helps in knowing more about him as well.  If he had been just a lowly servant or some such, I doubt I would have ever been able to find much about him or his family.  As it is I still don’t know who his parents were, but maybe someday there will be old records that are found hiding, in some old building, that will tell me who they may have been, until then I will keep my eyes open for any clues as to their identity.

Philippe was the father of at least fourteen children and of these fourteen children, at least three died as infants and possibly more.  Philippe and his son, Philippe were both killed by Indians, so the stories go, some say the same day and others say possibly at different times, either way they both died sometime between July 23, 1649 and September 8, 1653 which are dates that both were mentioned in a few different records.  The last date says that Susanna DuTrieux, widow of Philippe is transferring some land, so we know he is dead by September 8, 1653 for sure.  Philippe’s wife Susanna was still living in 1654 and most records say it was September the 8^th in either the year 1660 or 1670 that she died, I have not been able to find anything that says a year or a month and day, so I can’t say for certain but I do know she outlived her husband, Philippe.

My ancestors have been here in America for a very long time, and I am proud to say I am one of their many, many descendants.