| Notes |
- From "The Hoagland Family in America"
Origin of the Name; Early Settlement in America
There is a pleasant flavor of antiquity in the Hoagland name. We donotclaim to have cleared its origin of all obscurity, and yet we reachahighly probable conclusion in the light of certain plain historicfacts.
1. At the period of the emigration to America, Hoogelandt wasanestablished family name of considerable antiquity in theNetherlands;since we trace it back at least a century in Zeeland andUtrecht, andquite as far back in a collateral line of the viscountsand governors ofDormael in Brabant (governor also of Gissendam andother places), whoclaimed descent from the ancient lords Hoogelant.
2. These lords Hoogelant bore a coat of arms having three crownsacrossthe upper part of the escutcheon, on field Azure, and on lowerhalf avine branch, with grapes pendant between two leaves, on a fieldargent.
3. The name being derived, like the great majority of surnames, fromacountry or locality, as its signification (highland) plainlyindicates,must originally have been written "van" (from) Hoogelant;although theterm "van" had evidently fallen into disuse long beforethe emigration tothis country, as was the tendency after it's officehad ceased with thedeath of the original bearer, whose descendants, ifborn elsewhere, couldnot strictly be designated as from Hoogelant.Traces of it, however, arefound in the sixteenth century; Jasper vanHoogelande being named aspresiding counsellor in the court of Utrechtin 1534, and Eeuwoud vanHoogelnde, bailiff of Middleburg in 1540.
4. The family had spread and formed several distinct branches inHolland;because those of the name who emigrated to America came atdifferentdates and from different localities, spelled the namedifferently, andalso dispensed with the use of the "van"--thisomission and evidence, initself, of the antiquity of the name in thosebranches.
5. The derivation of the name, or rather the locality whence itwasderived, seems sufficiently apparent; though, in the absenceofexhaustive research, it must be accepted rather as an inferencefromcertain facts which appear, than as of itself a fact foundexpresslystated. Haagelant, a district of Brabant--so named, as issaid, from theDutch haage, a hedge or thicket, and because it aboundedin these--seemsto bear some relation to the old lordly family referredto, as Dormael ofthe viscounts was in that vicinity. The balance ofprobability is,however, that the more extensive and famous district, adivision of DucalPrussia, known anciently as Hocherland, but nowcalled Oberland (bothnames signifying the highland, in dutchhoogeland), has a paramount claimas the source of the family name.
In the thirteenth century, Hocherland, in common with all Prussia,wasinvaded and subjugated by the Teutonic Knights, who improvedandbeautified that fertile country by tillage and by guildingtheNetherlands, many of that people, and among them some persons ofrank,removed thither (number fleeing from troubles growing out of themurderof Count Florence V. in 1296), and aiding greatly in thesettlement andChristianization of that country, and withal, foundingthe handsome cityof Holland, in the district significantly calledPrussian Holland. After a possession of nearly three centuries, the country,includingHocherland, revolted, and took up arms against the Knightsand theiradherents, great numbers of whom, being defeated in variousbattles,abandoned the country, which in 1525, formally submitted tothe King ofPoland. Undoubtedly not a few of these exiles made theirescape to theNetherlands. It might be, with no ordinary pride, thatsome of thesebattle scarred warriors, representatives of a Knightlyorder, which hadwon laurels by its achievements in Palestine, as wellas in Hocherland,should, on finding a new home in Holland, distinguishthemselves as vanHoogeland, that is, from Hoogeland.
This may not impress others as it does the writer (Riker), aftergivingconsiderable attention to the local history and the migratorytendenciesof those people. The question is not how the nameoriginated--it must betraced to some wanderer from "Hoogeland," who inhis adopted home calledhimself, for identification, van Hoogeland (orHoochland, as hereafter tobe seen, and which retains German feature);but the only real question iswhere that Hoogeland was. There was, as we know, a village named Hoogland in the provinceofUtrecht and near the city so called; but we can hardly believe thatafamily name so widely spread over the Netherlands--judging fromtheincidental mention of it at Amsterdam, Haarlem, the Hague,Maerseveen,Utrecht and Middelburge--could have had a common origin atthis obscurevillage, nor do we find in Holland any other village, townor districtknown by the name of van Hoogland or the Hoogland; and yet,as late asthe period of colonial emigration, persons from that land orplace(whatever situated) were still finding their way to the ports ofHolland,and thence to this country.
Four persons of the name of Hoogland emigrated to this country duringtheDutch rule. These were:
Cornelis Dircksen Hoochlandt, found here as early as 1638, andpreviouslyof Amsterdam, as various records show;
Christoffel Hoogland, from Haarlem, whose name first appears uponourrecords in 1655;
Dirck Jansen Hoogland, who came out in 1657 from Maerseveen; and
Cornelis Andriezen Hoogland, who emigrated from the Hague in 1658.
We have found no direct evidence of blood relationship between anyofthese persons, though the name Dirck, common to three of them, mightseemto indicate it. And as Christoffel (or Christopher) called hiseldest sonDirck, that was probably his father's name, and the fatherof DirckJansen being named Jan, the two fathers (said Dirck and Jan)could havebeen brothers also of Cornelis Dircksen--and all this inharmony withdates and fixed rules of Dutch nomenclature. But whilethis is possible,such agreement touching Christian names, so much inuse as were these,may be merely accidental; and there is not observedthat friendlyintercourse between the several families, and especiallythat betweenChristopher and the others, which would be expected whereso close arelationship existed. As to the friendship afterwardssubsisting betweenDirck Cornelissen (son of Cornelis Dircksen) andDirck Jansen, as shownin their business dealings with each other, itmay have come about verynaturally through marriage, by which meansthey did become related, andDirck Cornelissen, though the younger ofthe two, became an uncle toDirck Jansen. Furthermore, Cornelis Dirckenand Christopher had differentways of spelling their name (the oneHoochlandt, the other Hooglandt),which does not favor a nearrelationship.
A few words will tell all we know of Cornelis Andriezen Hoogland. Hewasa tailor from the Hague, and sailed from Amsterdam from NewNetherland inthe ship Gilded Beaver, May 17, 1658, his friend Willemvan Vredenburgh,also from the Hague, coming with him in the same ship.Soon after theirarrival here they are found serving as soldiers, andin 1660, togetherwent with Stuyvesant against the Esopus Indians,which expedition endedin a treaty. On June 16, 1661, they receivedhonorable discharge from theservice, and the remission of theirpassage money to this country. A fewweeks later Hoogland married AefjeLeonarts, widow of Jan Perie (withchildren Marie and Marinus Perie, ifthen living, aged five and threeyears), and the following year adaughter was born to Hoogland, and namedWillemtje. Cornelis seems tohave entered again into the militaryservice, and proved a goodsoldier, as his pay was increased from June29, 1662. From this date nofurther trace of him has been found, and itis quite probable that hereturned to Holland, in 1664, with the Dutchforces. Vredenburghremained here, where he married just after theconquest, and has manydescendants.
The other three Hoaglands remained in this country of theiradoption,bought land, married and had families. To trace the historyof theseseveral families in their many branches is the object of thiswork.
It is well, however, before addressing ourselves to these personalandgenealogical records to make some note concerning the land towhichthese, our three forefathers, came, and to inquire also why theyleft theland of their birth. surely they did not emigrate because ofreligiouspersecution, nor yet for any fault with the laws of their"Stadt", norfor any misdeed on their part. None of these thingsentered into thereason why they encountered the perils of thetrackless ocean, and thegreater perils of an unknown land. The primereason and possibly the onlyone to be given in answer to our query is:They came to America in orderto better their worldly prospects andcondition.
Manhattan Island, the landing place of our worthy Dutch ancestors,was,in 1633, merely a small trading depot for those engaged in buyingandshipping furs. There were but few houses, and the best of thesewere ofhewn plank, roofed with thatch; the others were simple huts ofbark orsod. Only smally clearings were to be seen, and a few patchesofcultivated ground. "The fur trade absorbed what there was of energyorindustry
In that year (1633) Wouter Van Twiller was appointed Governor oftheProvince. He arrived early in the Spring in the shipZoutberg,accompanied by a force of one hundred and four soldiers. VanTwiller didnot prove himself well qualified to manage the affairs ofsuch a colony;yet, when he was removed, in 1638, the good burghers ofManhattan Island,by reason of the increased population and the manyimprovements which hadbeen made in the town, proudly named it NewAmsterdam; and from this datethe town has continued its growth untilit has become the Americanmetropolis, and a rival of the largest citesof the Old World. During the governorship of Van Twiller, Andries Hudde, one ofhisCouncil, in partnership with Wolfert Gerritwen, purchased fromtheIndians a tract of land on Long Island, and at about the same timeJacobVan Corlear bought an adjoining parcel, and on the 16th of July,1636,Van Twiller himself secured a still larger portion. These threepurchasesare the earliest recorded. They included about fifteenthousand acres ofthe very finest agricultural lands, and wereafterwards sold in smallparcels to the settlers of Midwout (Flatbush)and New Amersfoort(Flanlands). they were long designated on the mapand descriptions of thetime as "Van Twiller's Flats."
This section of Long Island was indeed a choice spot for the locationofplantations and "bouweries." In many respects it reminded thesettler ofhis fatherland, and it is said that a propostion was earlymade to digcanals and erect dykes in that vicinity. No other portionof NewNetherlands had a larger Dutch representation that did the fiveLongIsland towns, Midwout, Breucklen, New Utrecht, New AmersfoortandGravesend.
As we note the character and location of this beautiful stretch ofland,we do not wonder that the newcomers to Manhattan were so eager tosecurehomes and farms in such a favored locatlity. High hills, coveredwithgiant trees, sheltered from the cold winds of the north; itsluxuriantfields, gently sloping to the shores of the outspreadingocean, and thegrandest bay of the world. Springs of pure water bubbledand ran intobrooklets; meadows, green with the richest of grasses,spread out theirunmeasured acres, while the fertile soil required butthe most primitiveforms of cultivation to yield ample returns to thehusbandman.
We may name 1636-7 as the date of the beginning of these towns,althoughDr. Strong, in his History of Faltbush seems to think that asearly as1624 there were a few scattered settlers. In 1647 thepopulation of theentire province of New Netherland was only about1200; and in 1673, whenthe English again returned to authority, it wasabout 6000. In 1698 acareful and systematic census by by counties wastaken, and the totalnumber of men, women and children, includingnegroes, was 18067. KingsCounty had 308 men, 332 women, 1081 children,296 negroes. Of these 294men had taken the oath of allegiance in theyear 1687, showing that allbut fourteen of the men were Dutchsettlers.
The first comers to New Netherland were as anxious to have churchandeducational privileges as were their Puritan neighbors. With VanTwillercame Dominie Bogardus, and the first schoolmaster, AdamRoelandsen.History has been well served by the church records kept bythe successiveDutch ministers; and no doubt our present public schoolsystem isindebted for its inception to the early schools of NewAmsterdam, wherethe expense of their support was met by a general tax.
The first church in New Amsterdam was built on a sightly spot, nearwhatis now Pearl street, between Whitehall and Broad streets. Itwasbarn-like in appearance, yet it seemed to satisfy the demands ofitsplain occupants for a number of years. Here, on Sundays, weregathereddevout worshippers to listen to their beloved Dominie. Thecame not onlyfrom New Amsterdam, but also from the distant Long Isalndtowns, and fromCommunipaw and Paulus Hoeck.
The Long Island members of this congregation soon found that thedistancewas too great for them; so, in 1654, the people of Midwoutbegan theerection of a church building for themselves, and invited theRev.Johannes Theodorus Polhemus to become their minister. This edificewasthe first building erected on Long Island for church purposes. Itwas inthe form of a cross, 60 by 28 feet in length and breadth, posts14 feetin height. The rear part was fitted up for the residence of theminister.The inhabitants of Brueckelen and New Amersfoort assited inerecting andsustaining this church.
The first dwellings of the settlers were no doubt as primitive astheIndian wigwam, a mere protection from the storm and cold. A littlelaterthe houses may have been of such style as that built forSchoolmasterRoelandsen, and agreement to build which is stillpreserved. It was"thirty feet in length, eighteen feet wide, eightfeet high; to be tightclap-boarded and roofed with reeden thatch; havean entry three feetwide, two doors, a pantry, slaapbanck, a stair caseand mantelpiece,--all to be ready by May 1, 1642. For this house theschoolmasterwas to pay a sum equal to about $140; one-half when thetimber was on theground, the other half when the building wasfinished.
By the commencement of the eighteenth century the well-to-do farmerhad acommodious and comfortable dwelling. The first story was of stoneorframe, covered with cedar shingles, and a long, picturesquelycurvingroof formed the porch and "stoop," making also a roomy garretor secondstory, often used for the storage of grain and meal. Thefamily roomswere all on the lower floor, of which the kitchen was theone principallyused. A huge fireplace very often extended across thewhole end of thisroom, and furnished all the necessary accommodationfor cooking andwarmth, affording light also during the long Winterevenings.
Some of these old-time buildings have been preserved, and not afewliving members of our worthiest families remember that theyweregraduated from such homesteads, and they now look back withlaudablepride and pleasure to the days spent amid those surroundings
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Abt 1560 - Yes, date unknown
