Tryntje Jans Ryckman

by

The New Netherland pioneer called Tryntje Jans (probably more formally "Catharina") was the wife and then widow of Jan Janse and the grand dame of the Ryckman family of early Albany. A number of similarly named contemporaries lived in Europe.

Based on a joint will filed in 1663, we know that this "Tryntje Jans" was a native of "Noorstrant in Oostlant" and, unlike her ailing second husband, she was of sound body at that time. Family-based resources estimate her birth as about 1626 and that she emigrated from Denmark to New Netherland about 1638.

Her first husband was Jan Janse [Ryckman], a resident of Beverwyck and the father of their son Albert Janse Ryckman. The joint will dated July 3, 1663 did not note any children with her second husband "Ellert Gerbertsz Cruif." Among the witnesses to that document was the enigmatic "Harmen Janse."

Beyond that document, we have not found additional information on the later life of the Ryckman family matriarch (perhaps the mother of only one) known as "Tryntje Jans." As with many New Netherland pioneers, we are beyond "diminishing returns" with this individual.


biography in-progress


notes

the people of colonial Albany Sources: The life of Tryntje Jans Ryckman has no CAP biography number. This sketch is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources.




first posted 3/10/15; updated 6/13/15