| Notes |
- MICHIEL BASTIAENSEN, of whose history up to his emigration in 1663 we have before spoken, had, so far as known, five chn., viz.: Reyer, b. 1653; Metje, b. 1655, who m. Hendrick Kiersen; Annetie, b. 1658, who m. John Odell (ancestor of the Fordham Odells); Bastiaen, b. 1662; and Aefie, b. 1665, in N. Y., who m. Jacques Tourneur. Reyer Michielsen, named in some curious proceedings, under 1674, m. in 1686 Jacomina, dr. of Jan Tibout, and settled in the town of Fordham. He took part in building the church there in 1706, and a stone bearing his initials may now be seen in the carriage-house wall of Mr. Moses De Voe, who took it from the foundation of the old church, which stood upon Mr. D’s farm. Reyer d. in 1733, æ. 80 yrs., having had eight chn. to wit: Michiel, Reyer, Hendrick, Teunis; Hannah, who m. Leonard Vincent; Mary, who m. Benjamin Haviland; Sarah, who m. Joseph Haviland; and Jane, who m. Benjamin Corsa. The sons of his son Michiel (being Reyer and Michael) retained the name of Michaels, but other of Reyer's sons took the patronymic Reyers. Hence have descended the two families of Westchester co., and other sections of this State, named Ryer, and Michael, or as also written McKeel or Mekeel. The name Reyer is said to come from ridder, a knight.
Bastiaen Michielsen, always so styled in the town books, though in the church records usually called Bastiaen Kortright, remained in H., where he m. in 1689 Jolante, dr. of John La Montagne, dec. On Sept. 19, 1701, he bought from Peter van Oblienis, a tract of land at Sherman's Creek, laid out to Oblienis in 1691, as lot No. 20. This became the well-known Kortright farm, which continued in the family till 1786. It was originally ten morgen, or twenty acres, and is so rated on the town books for the next half century; but this was exclusive (for meadows were never taxed) of the adjoining marsh, or the morasse creupelbos, of the original description. And then, be it remembered, the allotments of 1691 generally overran the estimate, and this lot lying isolated was not likely to be an exception. This brought it up to 45 acres, 27 perches. Here Bastiaen Michielsen built and lived till very aged; at least, his name in the tax lists runs down to 1753. He also owned two pieces of meadow at Kingsbridge, bought of the town by Joh. Vermilye, Apl. 1, 1693, and on the same date transferred to Bastiaen, to whom the town gave a deed Jan. 4, 1700. Bastiaen Michielsen Kortright had issue, as far as appears, Michael, b. 1697; Johannes, b. 1702; Aefie, who m. John Devoor; and Rachel, who m. Isaac Delamontagne. Johannes Bastiaens, as he is properly styled in certain deeds, but calling himself (after his fa.’s patronymic) “Johannes Michelson Kortright,” m. Aeltie, dr. of John Vermilye, 2d. He was a weaver, but succeeded to the farm at Sherman's Creek, which in a mortgage given Jan. 9, 1768, he describes as No. 20, and 10 morgen, and by the original boundaries of 1691. Within a year after, he removed to N. Y., and having lost his wife, appears to have d. ab. 1775. His son John Courtright, as he wrote his name, m. in 1774 his cousin Aefie, or Effie, dr. of John and Aefie Devoor, of Hoorn's Hook, and was last of the family to own the ancestral farm; of which he made sale, May 24, 1786, to Cornelius Harsen, who conveyed it Jan. 3, 1804, to Jacobus Dyckman, whence it came to his son, the late Isaac Dyckman. It was included in the tract of 128 acres (being part of said Isaac's estate) called the George Tract, which was parcelled into lots, and disposed of by public sale, Oct. 14, 1868.
Riker, James. Harlem (City of New York): Its Origin and Early Annals, Prefaced by Home Scenes in the Fatherlands; or, Notices of Its Founders Before Emigration. Also, Sketches of Numerous Families, and the Recovered History of the Land-titles. New York, NY: James Riker, 1881.
- Of Oblinus' companions on board the de Bonte Koe (Spotted Cow), Demarest went to Staten Island, Journee and Bogert to Brooklyn, and the Bastiaensen brothers to Stuyvesant's Bouwery, though they all soon after came to Harlem. The Bastiaensens, it may be observed, were the ancestors of the entire Kortright or Courtright family, in the States of New York and New Jersey, and also, through other branches, of the families of Ryer and Michiel (now Mekeel and McKeel, -- a Dutch metamorphosed into a Hibernian name!) of Westchester and other counties of our State, and that of Low, in Somerset County, New Jersey but distinct from the Lows of Ulster county, named in a preceding note.
source: Riker, James. Revised History of Harlem: Its Origins and Early Annals. New York: New Harlem Publishing Company, 1904.
- Michiel Bastiaensen, of whose history up to his emigration, in 1663, we have before spoken, had, so far as known, five children, viz.: Reyer, born 1653; Metje, born 1655, who married Hendrick Kiersen: Annetie, born 1658, who married John Odell (ancestor of the Fordham Odells); Bastiaen, born 1662, and Aefie, born 1665, in New York, who married Jacques Tourneur.
source: Riker, James. Revised History of Harlem: Its Origins and Early Annals. New York: New Harlem Publishing Company, 1904.
- Michiel Bastiaensen (Van Kortryk), born 1620, at Leerdam, Holland, also married and removed to the village of Schoonrewoert, not far from Leerdam, where his children Reyer, Metje, Annetie, and Bastiaen were born, his fifth child. Aefie, born in Harlem. They all came in the Spotted Cow in 1663, with Jan and his family, and soon came to Harlem, later making their home at Fordham.
source: Abbott, John Howard. The Courtright (Kortright) Family Descendants of Bastian van Kortryk, a Native of Belgium who Emigrated to Holland about 1615. New York: Tobias A. Wright, 1922.
- On Oct. 11th, 1671, John Archer executed at Harlem sundry new leases for farms at Fordham, viz.: to Hendrick Kiersen, Aert Pietersen Buys, and Cornelis Viervant; making the rent payable to Cornelis Steenwyck, of New York, to whom Archer, on Sept. 10th, 1669, had given a mortgage on his lands for 1100 gl. in wampum. Another mortgage to Steenwyck in 1676, for 2400 gl. Sewant, ultimately gave him the full title and possession of the Manor of Fordham, which passed under his will and by certain deeds to the Dutch Church at New York.
In getting possession, the church met with great opposition from the town of Westchester. This led in 1688 to a forcible entry by the officers and friends of the former. Elijah Barton, dwelling “near Harlem River, within the bounds of Westchester, at the house that formerly Aert Pietersen lived in,” was with his father Roger Barton engaged “to keep possession for and in behalf of the town of Westchester,” when on July 16, in the afternoon,” there came a great company of men with Nicholas Bayard of New York,” demanding admittance. This being refused, Reyer Michiels and Teunis De Key, at Bayard's word, broke open the door, and the Bartons were ousted and roughly handled. With Bayard were also Nicholas Stuyvesant, Johannes Kip, Isaac van Vleeck, Michiel Bastiaens, his wife, and sons Bastiaen and Reyer Michiels, Hendrick Kiersen, and Jacques Tourneur. Also “in the exploit” was Hannah (or Anna Odell) wife, of John Odell. Hendrick Verveelen and Jacob Valentine were there too. The Westchester authorities issued a warrant July 20, to “take the bodies of the said Reyer Michiels, with the said complycetors.” But the church maintained its hold, and the lands were ultimately sold off in parcels between the years 1755 and 1760.
source: Riker, James. Harlem (City of New York): Its Origin and Early Annals, Prefaced by Home Scenes in the Fatherlands; or, Notices of Its Founders Before Emigration. Also, Sketches of Numerous Families, and the Recovered History of the Land-titles. New York, NY: James Riker, 1881.
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1620 - 1663 (~ 44 years)
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