Notes for Luur Jacob Luursen Van-Kuykendall:

Notes from Georgia Mayne GAMayne@aol.com 10/97:

Emmigrated1646 from Gelderland, Holland to Fort Orange, New York. Death date may have been 4/28/1655 in Fort Orange, New York. (10)

Notes of Karen Stone list death year as 1656.

Was a mason. (57)

"Jacob, our first ancestor in America, was born in or near Waginengen, Holland, the son of Luur (last name unknown). He married Stynje Douwes in Amsterdam on August 28, 1638; Stynje was from Enkhuisen, Holland, born in January 1617, the daughter of Douwe Wiggersz and Agniete Coensen. I have included a copy of Stynje's baptismal record and their marriage intentions from archives in Amsterdam. A 1662 fire in the town hall of Wageningen prevents us from finding any older records on Jacob Luursen or his family.

In 1640, Jacob, Stynje, and their baby daughter Styntie arrived in Fort Orange, New Netherlands (now Albany, New York) on the ship "Princess" owned by the Dutch West India Company. Since 1629 this company had set up patroonships whereby wealthy Dutch could obtain huge tracts of land if they successfully colonized the area. One such patroon was Kiliaen Van Rensselaer whose holdings included most of present-day Albany, Columbia, and Rensselaer counties. Rensselaer had his business office in Amsterdam but his home was in the Gelderland province from which the Luersens came, so it is likely that Rensselaer personally recruited the brothers and gave them land leases to ensure that they would become permanent settlers. Rensselaer's patroonship is mentioned as the only one that lasted into the 1700's.

Jacob and his brother Urbanus (with wife Jannetie Claes Boanes) came to America to work for Rensselaer, possibly as mechanics. However, some of my records include details of shipping by the Dutch West India

Company in which Jacob Luersen is specifically mentioned as an officer. New York Historical Manuscripts contains a September 6, 1641 declaration of officers of the ship The Angel Gabriel who urged the captain to head for New Netherlands because of the disabled condition of their ship, signed by Jacob Luersen as Chief Boastswain. Another account dated January 1, 1648, tells of a complaint filed against Roulaf Cornelius who inflicted five wounds on Corporal Jacob Luersen as the Corporal was trying to separate Cornelius and Casper Steinmetsel during a quarrel.

Jacob, like other Dutch settlers, was granted a lot in Beverwyck near Fort Orange on October 25, 1653. Records show that he built a house and had a garden there until his death on April 29, 1655. He was survived by his wife Stynje, daughters Styntie, Jacobyntie, and Agneit, and only son Luer." May have died in Beverwyck, New Netherland. (60)

Spelling may be Luursen. May be Jacob Luursen Van Kijkin-tdal or Jacob Luursen Van Wageningen. It may also be Luyersen or Leurszen. Spelling was rough then and it shows up many different ways. Kijk-in'-t-dal was the original Dutch spelling for a place in Holland near Wagenengen. The name was Americanized to Kuykendall.

Per Ron Kuykendall:

Jacob Luyersen, his wife Styntie Douwes, his brother Urbanus Luyersen, and Urbanus' wife Janntje Claes came to New Netherlands in 1646. Jacob was a corporal in the military at Fort Amsterdam. By 1647 Jacob was no longer in the military. Urbanus was a mason and he and Jacob spent some time in the employee of the General Privileged West India Company of the Chamber of Amsterdam.

The following is a passage from a Master Thesis written by Anne Kuykendall Delany August, 1942.

Jacob Leuirszen Van Kuykendall, of whom all the Kuykendalls in this country are descendants, came to this country in 1646. He came to the Dutch colony of New Amersterdam, settling at Fort Orange, which is now Albany, New York. He had lived in Gelderland, Holland in the vicinity of Wagenengen. He probably came in the employment of the Dutch West India Company. the affairs of that company were at that time under the supervision of Killiaen Van Rensselaer, a rich dealer in diamonds and pearls in Holland. He sent over many people from Holland to develop the land. Jacob Leurszen Van Kuykendall was from the same section of Holland as Rensselaer. This first ancestor is thought to have been in the employment of the company until the time of his death in 1656. It is not known if he was married when he came to America: at any rate the name of his wife is not known.

It is interesting to note that the name of Kuykendall was not used until almost fifty years after the first Kuykendall came to this country. The last name of a person, even as late as the seventeenth century, was not used unless the person was considered very prominent or held a high position in the community. At the time of his arrival in America, there was in use what is called a patronymic or father name. The family name corresponded to what is now the surname, but was often the name of the ancestral home and was preceded by the word Van, meaning from. It appears that the Dutch about this time preferred the use of the patronymic. In precisely the same way the first ancestor's name was Jacob Leurszen and he came from Kuykendall or Kijk-in'-t-dal. It is thought that Kijk-in't'dal is a locality near Wagenengen which lies on a high hill on the bank of the Rhine River, and commands a good view of the river. Therefore, he was Jacob Leurszen from Kuykendall, but the Leurszen and the Van were dropped and the present name of Kuykendall retained.

Compiled by Gene Kuykendall, 1997

Jacob Luurszen and Stijntje Douwes had a son, Luur Jacobsen (son of Jacob) baptized in the DRC of New Amsterdam (NYC) in 1650. Only the father's name was recorded at that baptism.

A child Christijntje, baptized in Amsterdam on January 17, 1838, had been considered the first child of our Jacob and Stijntje. However, this should be questioned: The baptism took place seven months before our Jacob and Stijntje were married and, although the mother was a Stijntje Douwes, the father is recorded as Jacob Jansz.

Jacob soon moved his family up the (Hudson) river to Fort Orange, the oldest and largest Dutch trading post in New Netherland. Jacob first took the pledge of allegiance to the Patroon of Rensselaerswyck, then received a grant of land from Governor Stuyvesant in the newly formed village Beverwyck (now Albany, NY). Jacob's name appears often in the court records of Fort Orange, he seemed to have had a penchant for getting into minor troubles. Church Deacons' records show Jacob died there in 1655.

In the Dutch Manuscripts of New York there is mention of a Corporal Jacob Luurszen receiving multiple stab wounds attempting to break up a fight in New Amsterdam. The staff of the New Netherland Project confirm that The West Indies Company maintained it's own militia and employed young civilian men as its soldiers. Since the records do not show any other Jacob Luurszen in New Netherland this must be our Jacob. Could these stab wounds have contributed to his early death (age 39)?

There is strong evidence that Luur had two sisters born at Fort Orange. Agniet Coens Jacobsen (named after her maternal grandmother) who married Dirck Cornelissen Keyser and Jacomyntie Jacobsen who married Thomas Van Der Merken. There are many instances of cross sponsorship at baptisms among these families. The (poorly kept) records of the first Dominie of the Fort Orange DRC were thrown out by his successor so there are no baptism records to verify these sisters. There is no evidence of any brothers of Luur. A Teunis Jacobsen has been suggested to be a son of Jacob and Stijntje but the evidence doesn't seem to support that.

Jacob's widow, Stijntje married Claes Teunissen who later moved the family inland to a more remote area known by the Indian name, Esopus also known by the Dutch name, Wiltwyck (now Kingston, Ulster county, NY). Claes and Stijntje's names appear in both Fort Orange and Wiltwyck records.

There is no compelling evidence of any children born to Stijntje Douwes in her second marriage to Claes Teunnisen. No record has been found of when Stijntje or Claes died. We know only that Stijntje is last mentioned in Kingston church records in 1682 and Claes in 1700. There were clearly two different Claes Teunissen's in the records of New Netherland, so beware in researching Claes.