Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick

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Goosen Gerritse (occasionally Gosen Gerritsz) was born in Utrecht during the first quarter of the seventeenth century. He came to New Netherland in 1637 under contract with the Van Rensselaers. Over the next decades, other family members followed. As a result of two marriages, he was the patriarch of a large family that became prominent in Albany and its hinterland under the name of Van Schaick

After more than a decade in Rensselaerswyck, Goosen Gerritse gravitated toward the fur trade and was present at the initial distribution of houselots in Beverwyck in 1652. Subsequently, he owned several more properties in Beverwyck/Albany and was an active participant in the regional real estate market. Additionally, he was a brewer and also was known as a tanner.

His first wife was Geertie Brants Peelen. Following her death, he married Anna Lievens in July 1657. By 1668, the second marriage had produced six children.

Headed for Holland, Goosen Gerritse filed a joint will with his wife in May 1668. He called himself the "Commissary in Albany." It left a substantial estate to his second wife and then to his ten living children.

Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick lived for a number of years afterwards and still was entering into real estate transactions as late a 1675. He was dead by 1679 when his widow was identified as the head of their Albany household.

Generations of descendants were named in his honor!

biography in-progress


notes


the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Goosen Gerritse Van Schaick is CAP biography number 3928. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. The principal resources for his life are VRBM and Janny Venema's book entitled Beverwijck. The latter contains substantial biographical material culled from existing resources.




first posted: 5/30/06; updated 3/29/10