Does anyone have information on Jeronimus de la Croix of Amsterdam and New Netherland?

Question

Does anyone have info on Jeronimus de la Croix, who was on the trip into Mohawk and Oneida territory in 1634-1635 and has a profile at De_la_Croix-101? I'm trying to figure out whether he could be the father of Lecroy-149 (as shown there - tentatively). There are a number of records involving Jeronimus on Wiewaswie that might shed more light, but someone who reads Dutch is really needed to understand who was whom. Also, Jeronimus' father (Jeronimus the elder) looks like he came from Middelburg before Amsterdam (per his marriage banns to Margaret le Fevre from Antwerp, on October 13, 1612.) Any chance that records for him might be found in Middelburg that could trace the family back to France?

Answer 1

Familiar with the Amsterdam City Archives and the city itself, I started looking for his descendants. Residential addresses, choice of baptismal churches, real estate transactions related to death, etc., I keep puzzling, in the expectation that it will become clear which generation of 'Jeronimus' plays a role in this.

My knowledge of the old script is unfortunately not good enough, I leave that to others.

Also, through a Google search I came across an article from 1985, which deals with a fraud case: 'A Case of Fraud: The Dela Croix Letter and Map of 1634', of which I have included a link at the sources.

Comments

I love G2G. All of this additional information on the profiles is just great, including that you found the missing documents with Willem de Key. Thank you very much. I'll try to get that article "A Case of Fraud..."

Answer 2

Found two more sources in the Archives of the City of Amsterdam: concerning Manhattan and Fort Oranje. This time his French name is written as 'la Croice de Jonge'.

Op 26 oktober 1638 '''Jeronimus la Croice de Jonge''' eist de opdracht van 100 morgen land gelegen op het Eiland Manhates; hem in 1635 door de Raad aldaar aangewezen; Eilandt Manhates genaemt het Vlacklandt in Nieuw-Nederlandt

Op 26 oktober 1638 '''Jeronimus la Croice de Jonge''', de heren WIC Kamer alhier, te verzoeken vestiging over stuk land gelegen Westwaert aan ‘t Fort Orangien in Nieuw-Nederlandt

(Weblinks in biography)

Comments

La Croice. That is a great find. I couldn't find any records for La Croice on Wiewaswie, so that source does not seem to have everything. Now we have Jeronimus probably owning land in Manhattan and/or Fort Orange, though maybe not going back there.

Other interesting records you found were those tracing the family (and that of Cristina du Mouson (Mouson-3), the second wife of Jeronimus the elder) back to Middelburg. That appears to have been a first destination for many families, especially merchants, who were escaping the "Dutch Inquisition" in the 2nd half of the 16th Century. Wikipedia (in Dutch) says: "With the help of the many merchants who settled in the city from the Southern Netherlands, Middelburg was able to maintain its position by pursuing an active trade policy. The city was experiencing a great economic boom at that time. Middelburg was one of the main instigators in the establishment of both the VOC and the WIC."  https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middelburg_(Zeeland)

I suppose I'm getting too far ahead, but de la Croix seems like it MIGHT be one of the few families who can be traced back to France. 

Anyway, there were at least several people named de la Croix from Lille who were in Amsterdam at about the same time: 

Pierre at  https://gw.geneanet.org/pietercostarica?n=de+la+croix&oc=&p=pierre; and 

Jean at https://gw.geneanet.org/ecouvret? n=croix&oc=&p=ds.+jean+de+la

Also there were six people named "de le Croix" or "de la Croix" or similar from Tournai on the "List of the Condemned" by the Council of Troubles (1567-1576), and one from Laventie (out of a total of 12).

---

Middelburg, VOC and WIC are also 'red flags' for trading slaves. As is Amsterdam. I also found a connection to the city of Leiden, which became the centre of the production of textile ('laken').