John Reiniers has written an article in Hernando Today that
describes the embarrassment of finding an ancestor who was a bit less
than an upstanding pillar of the community. As John writes, "It came as
quite shock to me that one of my Dutch ancestors was known as 'Manhattan's first and most famous prostitute.'"
Yes, if your ancestry includes anyone in New Amsterdam in the 1630s,
now is the time to pull out your pedigree charts and look for the name
Grietje Reiniers (sometimes Reyniers). It seems that she had quite a
few children but the fathers are not well documented. We can assume
that most of these children married and spawned more generations,
resulting in many thousands of descendants of Grietje Reiniers being
alive today.
We all have a few unsavory characters hanging around in our family
trees. I would suggest they are the more delightful and interesting
ancestors!
You can read this interesting story at http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2009/jun/16/ancestral-embarrassment-or-entrepreneur.
I think that he needs to retake US history. The British were not in New Amsterdam (New York) yet but Jamestown was founded in 1607 and the Pligrims arrived in 1620.
Posted by: dorothy greene | June 18, 2009 at 08:19 AM
I couldn't agree more! I too descend from Grietje and love telling the story of my pirate ancestor. Several books have been written that feature her, including a novel based entirely upon her life. I highly recommend this wonderful updated history of New York: The Island at the Center of the World, by Russell Shorto, and The Drowning Room (Grietje's story), by Michael Pye.
Doris
Posted by: dorisw | June 18, 2009 at 09:10 AM
The article doesn't explain how John Reiniers, whose father came to the USA from the Netherlands in 1920, is descended from a woman who emigrated to the New World in 1630. Did she or one of her descendants return to the Netherlands?
Posted by: Caroline Gurney | June 18, 2009 at 10:00 AM
one of 2 husbands was well known - Anthony "the Turk" Van Salee Jansen a known pirate, married 16 December 1629 on ship. She did emigrate to Nieuw Amsterdam. Tons of descendants (Southard, Van Sickle with variants, Van Driest, Johnson/Van Barkaloo/Barkaloo, Emans/Emmons
Like other commenter, that writer needs to re-take history class!
Posted by: W. David Samuelsen | June 18, 2009 at 12:48 PM
My husband is descended from Grietje, and I find her very interesting. I have a note by my computer that says, "I am no more responsible for what my ancestors did then they are responsible for what I do."
Posted by: Sandra Trapp | June 19, 2009 at 09:51 AM