Tulip Mania

One has to doubt un-"sourced" information about ancestors (much of which is myth, or a kernel of truth combined with wishful thinking, and some of may be an educated guess). So take a big dose of skepticism medicine here, as I am about to embark on a journey that likely is a few cups of myth, a gallon or so of wishful thinking, a pinch of an educated guess, and a few grains of truth.

One of the homes that can be identified on the Castello Map of 1660 is that of Pieter Stoutenburgh.(i) And therein lies the hero of our possible myth. In the 1800s, there was a flurry of small-run family history books published (what we might today refer to as vanity press). In early history books, as well as these family histories, we find a tale about Pieter. It seems that he has widely been credited with being the first person to bring tulips to the new world - in his pockets no less! I don't know about you, but those trips across the pond could run from 34 days (the Vergulde Vever in 1658) to well over a year (the Rensselaerswijck in 1636/37) (ii) on the high seas! I probably would have had a whole lot of things on my mind other than pretty flowers. And while there are a number of sources that say the story is true, none of them provide any support for the assertion. So if you are inclined to be gullible, it is time for an anti-gullibility inoculation.

While it could just be active imaginations that have given Pieter Stoutenburgh the role of “first to tulip” on these shores, it is plausible - there might be just a wee pinch of educated guess in there, and maybe a grain of partial truth. The Tulip Craze hit Holland in the 1630s, with everyone speculating left and right in the beautiful flowers. At the peak of the craze, in February of 1937, the price of a single tulip bulb could be driven to as much as 10 times the income of a skilled craftsman. (iii, iv)

It's COLD in them thar hills!

It has been soooo cold! I sometimes claim that I left Minnesota after my first year on the job there it snowed eighteen inches on Halloween – and I am only half joking. I really hate being cold. Okay, that is Part 1 (stay with me on this). Part 2 is that I realized I never delivered on my I might “turn to Willem Abrahamse Tietsoort and his battle with a bear on Manhattas (Manhattan),” in my earlier posting (New Years Eve). So just keep those “Parts” in mind as you struggle hopelessly to find the common thread in today's post. 

Willem & the Bear (via some background information) 

Abraham Willemszen and Aechtje Jans had a son, Willem Abrahamse Tietsort, who was born in 1648 and baptized 2^nd August of that year in Nieuw Amsterdam.ⁱ Abraham, who was a carpenter, was tragically killed in a duel on 12^th November 1649. He died on the 13^th,ⁱⁱ leaving his 18 month old son and a pregnant wife. His wife remarried the widower, Pieter Casparszen van Naerden sometime between 1649 and 1652 (when her first child with Pieter Casparszen was born). Essentially our Willem was raised by his stepfather. One can imagine that Pieter took his new role to heart, and raised the boy as his own, teaching him the “manly” arts of hunting and fishing. 

Relaxed - kind of...

Well, in the brief hiatus I spent some time in a log cabin with no TV. Yes, boys and girls, you heard me right - there was no television set. Much like our ancestors, we had to make due with a variety of parlor games. So I got to thinking, what type of parlor games did the settlers of New Amsterdam play, assuming they had the time? So I did what any red blooded 21st century person would do - I googled it! What I found really interesting is that the game of Double Dutch - which is now a competitive varsity sport in New York's public schools - (you know the one - two jump ropes) was probably played by the people who lived in New Amsterdam at the time of the Castello Map.  If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself by clicking Double Dutch. 

Keep your hands off their pigs!

I am a - hmmm - what should I call it? A semi-amateur genealogist. Well, actually, I am a victim of the genealogy bug, a disease... it is addictive. I don't even want to mention how much I have spent buying out of print books that contained one obscure fact or another on my (however many greats) grandparents.

Although I had a minor brush with the bug before, I really caught it when I saw a copy of the Castello Map of 1660. The map had identifiable houses denoted on it in New Amsterdam, what we now know as New York City. When I found that a number of these people were grandparents (with varying numbers of "greats" affixed), I became chronically infected.

One of these families was Hans Dreper (or Dreeper) and his wife, Marritie Pieters, who had a house and tavern on the corner of Here Gracht and Stadt Huys Laan. These two were quite the characters, and apparently (given the records I found), were a wee bit attached to their pigs...