Neeltje Jans Damen

Notes:

"...she was the daughter of Jan Corneliszen and Sophia (Martense) Damen,
and her father's uncle, Jan Damen, owned the Wall Street section of lower
Manhattan, ...in the 20th Century the most valuable real estate in the
world. Michael adapted well to the heterogeneous culture of the
metropolis peopled by Dutch, French, and English immigrants; while still
in his twenties he was a magistrate at Brooklyn in 1679 (and again in
1691), ...serving also as a Lieutenant in the Foot Guard.

He and his wife sold their mill at Bushwick in 1695, and their home there
in 1699, (NYGBR-54), joining his father at Kingston; not long thereafter
they settled at Poughkeepsie. The 1714 Census shows their household as
composed of one male over 60, two males 16 or over and one under 16; one
female between 16 and 60, two under 16, and two slaves. Since Peter (3)
then had his own domicile, the two males were presumably Jan and Michael
Jr., with Damen (3), the youngest, under 16.

Neeltje married Michael Pieterse Palmentier in 1679 in Dutchess County, NY. Michael (son of Pierre Palmentier and Antonette Terrin) was born about 1654 in Karlsruher Landkreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; died in 1741 in New Utrecht, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Antoinette Parmentier was born before 27 Jul 1684 in New Utrecht, Long Island, NY; was christened on 27 Jul 1684 in Bushwick, Long Island, NY; died after 1749.
2. Pieter Michaelse Parmentier was born on 13 Jun 1680 in New Utrecht, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA; died in 1770 in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess, New York, USA.

Notes:

THE DAMEN FAMILY OF LONG ISLAND NY

Jan Cornelise Damen, was the common ancestor of the DAMEN family. In
1650 he left Bunnik, a village on the Ryn in Utrecht, for Long Island NY,
and married Fytie/Sophia Martens. The surname might be derived from
Demen, a hamlet in North Brabant where Jan most likely lived at one time.

On 29 Apr. 1655 he purchased a house and land adjoining that of Jan
Dirksen's in Brooklyn and by 1677 was keeping a tavern here. On 21 Aug.
1663 he purchased from Cornelis Hendrickse van Eens a farm on the West
side of the road in Flatbush NY. In 1667 he is recorded as a member of
the Reformed Dutch church of Brooklyn hailing from the Wallabocht. He is
on a patent of Brooklyn in 1677 and took the oath of allegiance there in
1687. In 1674 he apparently resided at Norman's Kil, and bought a farm at
Kyckuyt from Claes Claessen Smit. In 1686
he bought the main portion of the farm of Pieter Ceser Alburtis at the
Wallabocht.

He and his wife made a joint will dated 1 Sept. 1680 and probated 20 June
1707. Jan Damen voted at a town meeting in Flatbush NY on 19 Jan. 1703-04
and again on 12 Aug. 1704.

He was one of the signers of a petition in Brooklyn, New York in 1663:

"On the first of March in this year (1663), the following petition was
presented:

'To the Right Hon'ble Director-General and Council of New Netherland:
'Shew with due reverence and respect, the undersigned, neighbors and
inhabitants of the village of Breuckelen [Brooklyn], our Honors' obedient
servants, that there lies convenient to us a certain place near
Breuckelen fit to be erected into a new village, for our advantage, being
a woodland (as we) believe (is) known to your Honors, in which place
there is sufficient accommodation where twenty or thirty persons can have
a suitable place and lot; and as the valleys thereby furnish no nearer
place (than) those adjoining between the 3d and 4th kills, to supply the
cattle with fodder, and is also the nearest spot, therefore we, the
Petitioners, are under the necessity of turning to your Honors, humbly
praying and soliciting that the aforesaid requested place
may be granted to them, each his lot, as the valleys in the hay season
be far from here, and they seek the nearest, in order to bring in the
grass dry and in good condition (with God's blessing), for the
preservation of the cattle, and all that is annexed thereto, that
appertains to the farmers. Awaiting, therefore, a favorable answer, if
your Honors the Director-General and Council, in your wise discretion,
shall vouchsafe to grant the same, we remain your Honors' obedient
servants.

SOURCES:"REGISTER OF THE EARLY SETTLERS OF KINGS COUNTY, LONG ISLAND, NY
from its First Settlement by Europeans to 1700" by Teunis G. Bergen, 1973
pp 83-84;
ibid: pp 10, 51

"A History of the City of Brooklyn; including the Old Town and Village of
Brooklyn, the Town of Bushwick and the Village and City of Williamsburgh"
by Stiles, 1867, V. I, II, III pp 119-120.

"Revised History of Harlem: Its Origins and Early Annals..."James T. Riker

"Early Settlers of Bushwick Long Island, New York and Their Descendants"
Vol. 3, compiled by Andrew J. Provost Jr. 1955: pp 2, 24, 41

"Records of the Reformed Protestant Church at Flatbush" on microfilm
#0017663

"Utrecht Farmers in New Netherland" from M.S.F. Kemp's "Krommerijenrs in
de nieuew wereld" as edited and translated by John H. van Schaick, in the
New York Genealogical and Biographical Record of January 1996 vol 127, #1
and April 1996.

Jan married Sophia Fytje Martens in 1650 in NY, NY. Sophia (daughter of Marten) was born about 1640 in Netherlands; died in 1707 in Flatbush, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]