Lanaii Kline published this article in the August 2011 STFA newsletter. Now we have a new addition to our Founding Family portraits.

COLONIAL PORTRAIT: Isaac Stoutenburgh
Printed August 15, 2011
STFA Annual Newsletter
by Lanaii Kline

I came across a picture of an oil portrait of Isaac Stoutenburgh (1738-1799) painted in the latter part of the 18th century. He was Jacobus Stoutenburg’s first cousin once removed and the grandson of Pieter Stoutenburg’s son, Isaac.

The painting is not signed and the artist is not known. Isaac is standing and is wearing a brown coat and a powered wig.

Isaac was very prominent in New York City during the American Revolution as a colonel and later as a Commissioner of Forfeiture for the Southern District.

He was a member of the New York Senate from 1780 to 1787 representing Southern District (New York City area).

On June 12, 2011, this portrait of Isaac Stoutenburgh was an item (lot 661) at an auction in Camp Hill, PA.

Pieter (Peter) Stoutenburg was born around 1613 in Amersfoort, Utrecht Province, Netherlands. No details of his early years are available and he was said to have arrived in New Amsterdam the same time as Governor Kieft, March 28, 1638 however, this is uncertain. We do know that he has been described as a treasurer of New York City and an active citizen of New Amsterdam. He was nominated as schepen or magistrate on August 16, 1673 and became treasurer in 1676.

Peter married Aefje Van Tienhoven (b. ca. 1628 daughter of Lucas Cornelis Van Tienhoven and Jannetje Adriaense de Haes) about July 25, 1649 as the banns of matrimony were posted on this date. He served on the board of deacons of the Dutch Reformed Church and was an officer of the Dutch Church School.

According to Dutch Church records, Peter died in 1699 at the age of 86.

In 1673, Peter and his family lived on Broadway just outside the city wall. Unfortunately the house had been built too close to the wall and had to be torn down to strengthen the city’s defenses. His home bordered the home of Jan Vinje (Vigne) and other heirs of Adriana Cuvilje who was the widow of Jan Jansen Damen who is credited with bringing the first tulip bulbs to New Amsterdam in his pocket. His tulip gardens were famous throughout the city. The sites on which these two houses sat became well known and valued property and eventually became the site of the Presbyterian Church and later the Equitable Building. According to records, in 1686 Pieter lived near his daughter and her husband, Alburtus Ringo, on Heeren Gracht, oost syde (Broad Street, east side).

Peter Stoutenburg at one time owned two other properties in addition to the one mentioned in the Skyscrapers article. That property was the 2nd of the three properties that Peter owned.

In 1641 because of the Indian hostilities many of the inhabitants on the island squatted on land near the fort for protection. The Dutch West India Company decided to let the squatters be if they would improve the land and pay taxes. After six years, the company gave patents to each of the inhabitants that met the conditions of the agreement. Peter’s first lot was located in this area. He sold it at the end of 1655.

In 1656, Peter was living outside the wall on what today is the Equitable Life Building site. His home was on a part of the property that Jan Janszen Damen owned in 1638. His brother-in-law, Cornelis van Tienhoven, disappeared and was presumed dead in 1656. Rachel Vigne, van Tienhoven’s wife, owned the land adjacent to the Damen property. Also as Damen’s stepdaughter, she was one of his heirs in 1651. Peter may have moved to this lot so that he would be nearby to help his widowed sister-in-law with her farm. Peter and his wife, Aefje van Tienhoven, in Feb. 1662/3, became the guardians of Rachel’s children upon her death. By 1674, her children had each become of age.

Peter was forced to demolish this home in 1673 when the Dutch reclaimed New York. As this property was near the wall, the governor decided that the houses on the north side of the wall would impede the defense of the city. He was offered compensation. The company garden was subdivided into 5 lots. On May 22, 1674, Peter Stoutenburg, Willem van Vredenburg, Garret Janszen Roos, George Cobbet, and the Lutheran Church each purchased a lot. Peter was still a resident on this lot in 1686 when the minister of the Dutch Church made a list of its members.

When Peter first lived in the city, conditions were not very attractive. Country life in 1656 was probably much more pleasant. However, by 1672 the streets in New York were paved and the bad-smelling canals filled in making life in the city better for a man in his sixties.

Lanaii Kline has written a two-part article entitled "Who is Pieter Van Stoutenburgh?" (Part 2) that has more extensive information and a different view of the tulip debate.

Here’s a surprising bit of family history I happened to stumble across while researching Margaret Teller. It concerns another relative named Rebecca Watson who married Dr. Abraham Stoutenburg in 1784 and then later took their son and left the man. I was incredibly surprised by the openly judgmental attitude of the author of this piece. It’s one thing to know intellectually that women used to be viewed and treated differently than now, but quite another to have it expressed so blatantly in a published magazine. The statement that her leaving him was a “rash act” is a ludicrous assumption to make when the author admits that “all who knew the circumstances have long since passed away.”

A ROMANCE OF DUTCHESS COUNTY, NEW YORK

THE “OLD NORTHWEST” GENEALOGICAL QUARTERLY
April–July–October, 1910

ON October 17th, 1784, Rebecca Watson and Dr. Abraham Stoutenburg were married in a little Baptist Church at Bangal, Dutchess County, N.Y. It is believed that the bride came from Maine or Vermont, but the exact locality is not known.

The groom was the son of Col. Tobias Stoutenburg, of Hyde Park and New York City, and of Catharine Van Vleck, daughter of Abram Van Vleck. He was the grandson of Judge Jacobus Stoutenburg, of New York City, Philipsburg Manor and Stoutenburg (Hyde Park), his wife being Margaret Teller, of Teller’s Point, the daughter of William Teller and her grandmother was Sarah Radoff, the official interpreter of the Algonquin Indians.

The father of Judge Jacobus was Pieter Van Stoutenburg, gentleman of New Amsterdam, born in Holland in 1618. Pieter was the rich treasurer of the colony and was one of the prominent burgesses of New Amsterdam.

Thus we see that the bride entered a prominent family and was no doubt envied by the fair maidens of Hyde Park, where she went to reside with her distinguished husband. A son was born to this couple and was named Abram for his distinguished father.

Some months later when the physician was away from home attending to his practice, Rebecca Watson Stoutenburg disappeared from her home taking with her the infant son, and rumor said that she was jealous of one of the doctor’s fair patients. Search was made for the missing ones without avail, and a few years later the physician married again, supposing his first wife dead.

Years passed and Rebecca Watson also married again, as her husband, Abram Stoutenburg died in 1794. Her second husband was a Chitister and of his parentage nothing is known. Within a few years he died and when we hear of Rebecca Watson again she is known as the "Widow Chitister" and lived with her son, Abram Stoutenburg and his wife, Mary Mitchell, near Schuyler’s Lake, N.Y.

Many children came to call her grandmother and to them she told of their prominent ancestors and that their father should be a wealthy man instead of a poor carpenter, never seeming to blame herself for the trouble that had come to the family.

In 1834, Abram Stoutenburg died and was buried at Havana, N. Y., and Rebecca disappeared again. Her grandchildren were small and they only knew it was supposed she returned to her girlhood home. She took with her the family Bible which contained very valuable records both in Dutch and English. Where she died and was buried not one of her descendants knows.

Search has been made for the lost Bible without avail.

A large reward would be given for its recovery could it be found. Some old papers published at the time Rebecca Watson’s leaving Hyde Park may contain a key to unlock the mystery surrounding this romance, but if so it is hidden away where no one will see it and all who knew the circumstances have long since passed away. Yet the consequences of the rash act of one woman has clouded the lives of more than fifty of her descendants.

An articled entitled "Call Themselves the Anneke Jans’s Heirs" published in The New York Times March 18, 1896 (as published in the Chicago Chronicle March 13) details the formation of a group which laid claim to millions of dollars in interest to the Trinity Church property. These vicinities, along with a parcel of "Peter Stoutenberg" are detailed on a map of land use in 1610-1664 Manhattan on page 31 of The Historical Atlas of New York City by Eric Homberger, Henry Holt & Company, NYC, 1998.

Two years later this group aspired to international endeavors by laying claim to a legacy alleged to be worth billions of dollars. A Pacific Coast Association was formed in addition to the International Union of Heirs of Anneke Jans Bogardus. Descent from William the Silent, Prince of Orange (Johann Van Oldenbarneveldt’s contemporary) was claimed and a resolution was made to send a committee to Holland to "look after" the heirs interests there. Chapters of Anneke Jans Bogardus Heirs Association raised funds to back their legal efforts.

The Will of Anneke Jans, widow of Roeloff Janse and Everhardus Bogardus, was made January 29, 1663 and is printed in Abstract of Wills volume 28, pp. 487-90.

Lawsuits failed to produce and lack of proof brought no success to these endeavors, however as recently as 1996 efforts continued, and the subject provides interesting reading. Further research, which colors outside the lines of the Stoutenburgh sagas, seems to parallel our history and enrich our understanding of the history of the residents during this period.

I seek documents and old maps relating to the early days of Manhattan to add to our magnificent collection.

Ila Malloy

This article is reprinted from the 2009 edition of the Stoutenburgh-Teller Family Annual Newsletter. We would like to encourage our readers and newcoming family members to support our continuing efforts. Become a member of our Association and be part of our success.

Reprinted by Lanaii Kline from
The Kingston Daily Freeman,
Saturday, August 20, 1949, Page 3

Harry Stoutenburgh (Violin Maker)

When the Woodstock String Quartet played its concert at the Woodstock Town Hall for the benefit of the village Methodist Church recently, it was the former garage mechanic from West Hurley who made the music possible. The entire concert was played entirely on instruments made by Harry Stoutenburgh, descendent of one of the oldest Hudson valley families, whose fame as a violin maker is growing steadily.

The decision to give a concert using Stoutenburgh instruments had its beginning one humid July afternoon when Ernest Drucker, first violinist of the quartet, paid a visit to the West Hurley workshop. Mr. Drucker, a former member of the world-famous Busch String Quartet, found that his fine old French violin would not respond and thought that the heat or dampness had affected its tone. Stoutenburgh took the instrument and began to examine it. Meanwhile some instruments hanging in the glasslined case attracted Mr.Drucker’s attention.

“They’re mine,” said Stoutenburgh, “made them myself.”

“May I try one?” asked the violinist.

“Help yourself,” replied the laconic maker. The master violinist tucked one after the other under his chin and gave them the test. His doubtfulness soon modulated to real interest and admiration. Why did they sound so well, so clearly and resonantly when the summer, the hottest in years, had drawn a veil over the voice of his own instrument fashioned by one of Europe’s finest makers, he wondered.

Stoutenburgh didn’t know because like so many artists, he couldn’t put his finger exactly on what makes a work of art. But his instincts know, and Stoutenburgh instruments are being played increasingly in orchestras throughout the country. This visit by Drucker led to visits by other members of the quartet and the decision to play the benefit concert on instruments made by the West Hurley “Stradivarius.”