Jacob Janss Verdon (abt. 1605 - bef. 1634)

Born about 1605 in La Rochelle, Manche, Basse-Normandie, France [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Marie (Thomas) Badie — married about 1630 in New Amsterdam, New Netherland

Descendants

Died before Nov 1634 before about age 29 in New Amsterdam, New Netherland [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile managers: New Netherland Settlers WikiTree [send private message], Paul Lee [send private message], and Kathy Ferdon [send private message]

Jacob Janss Verdon was a New Netherland settler. Join: New Netherland Settlers Project Discuss: new_netherland

Biography

Jacob Verdon is mentioned only twice in the records of New Netherland. Everything known about him in the New World comes from those two records or through inference from the other persons named in the records.

An error in the transcription of the first record has led to numerous false reconstructions of the family. O'Callaghan's Calendar of Manuscripts ^[1] transcribed the record as:

1663 March 1. Petition. William Williamsen Bennet, Thomas Verdon, Adam Brouwer and Adriaen Willemsen, coheirs of Thomas [error!] Vardon, praying that Paulus van der Beecq, husband of said Vardon's widow, may be obliged to account for their paternal estate.

Totten ^[2] pointed out that the mention of "Thomas Vardon" should have been "Jacob Verdon." He reported the error to the New York Archivist whose reply included a quotation from the petition:

Shows with due reverence [Willem] Willemsz Bennet, also in the name of [Thomas] Verdon, Adam Brouwer and Adri(aen) Willemsz, respective brothers [i.e., step-brother and brother] and brother-in-law, and associates (but on account of the present unfitness of the road absent) jointly sons and son-in-law of Marritje Tomas, first widow of Jacob Verdon, thereafter of Willem Adriaensz Bennet and at present married to Pau[lus] Van der Beeck. [All parentheses and brackets in the quotation are Totten's.]

This passage describes the relationships to several other persons:

• "Maritje Tomas": Jacob Verdon's widow, since remarried to "Willem Adriaensz Bennet" and then "Pau[lus] Van der Beeck".
• "[Willem] Willemsz Bennet", a son of Maritje and her second husband.
• "[Thomas Verdon", a son of Jacob and Maritje.
• "Adam Brouwer", the husband of a daughter (Magdalena)^[3] of Jacob and Maritje.
• "Adri(aen) Willemsz", a son of Willem.

So, the gist of the record was that the Verdon children (from Maritje's first marriage) and the Bennet children (from Maritje's second marriage) were suing to ensure that their anticipated inheritance would not be redirected to the Van der Beeck children (from Maritje's third marriage).

The second record had been published in Hoffman's excerpts of the Amsterdam notarial abstracts, but the utility of the record had gone unnoticed until analyzed by Macy. ^[4] The record was translated as follows:

Dirck Cam and Claes van Elslandt, both having been long in the service of the West India Company in New Netherland, declare at the request of Wouter van Twiller, formerly director there in the name of the Camp[an]y, that they have known him in New Netherland and that they had also been council members in Fort Amsterdam on 18 November 1634 when the director had Marritgen Thomas, widow of Jacob Janss, from Rochel, summoned on account of some names which she had called him because he was supposed to have spoken dishonorablv to her. Before the council she declared that Wouter van Twiller said or did nothing of the sort.

Macy argued that it was extremely unlikely that a town as small as New Amsterdam could contain two women named Mary Thomas, both widowed from a man named Jacob.

Accordingly, we can begin with this family group to follow a trail of inferences in the pursuit of evidence of Jacob Verdon:

• Jacob Janss Verdon, husband, born in "Rochel," deceased by November 1634
• Mary Thomas, widow (subsequently remarried twice)
• Magdalena Jacobs Verdon, daughter
• Thomas Jacobs Verdon, son

The dearth of records regarding Jacob Verdon suggests that he never came to New Netherland and many secondary sources state that possibility. However, both of his children were recorded as natives of New Netherland--Magdalena in her marriage record ^[5] and Thomas in his oath of allegiance. ^[6]

By inferring their birth dates, we can gain some constraints on the life of Jacob:

• The first child Magdalena was married to Adam Brouwer Berkhoven in 1645. Given the shortage of eligible women during that period, we can estimate a range for her birthdate: 1624 (if she married at age 21) to 1632 (if she married at age 13). Magdalena's last child was baptized 7 May 1678, ^[7] so we must favor dates late within that range, say 1631.

• Thomas would have married Barbara Inbroeck prior to the baptism of their first child on March 19, 1656.^[8] Assuming that he was aged 21or more in 1655, then he could have been born about 1633, a typical two years after his sister.

Also, we can approximate the date of wife Mary's second marriage--before 1638, probably about 1636--from what is known about the birthdates of the children from that marriage.^[9]

In 2011, Macy published ^[10] a remarkable analysis of the report of a 1679 interview with the family of the then-living settler reputed to be "the oldest European woman in the country." Macy makes a persuasive argument that this woman was Aeltje Braconie, the mother-in-law of Jacob Verdon. The old woman was reported as living in the country for about 50 years. That would suggest that she arrived in New Amsterdam about 1628-29. (Macy believes 1628 to be the more likely year because there is no record of any ships arriving in 1629.) She and her husband, Thomas Badie, could have brought their daughter and only child, Mary Thomas, with them. Alternatively, Jacob and Mary could have married in the Old World, and emigrated to New Amsterdam, bringing the widowed mother-in-law with them.

These inferences and constraints suggest that Jacob and Mary could have arrived in New Amsterdam in 1628, married either before or after the date of arrival, bearing both of their children in New Amsterdam, with Jacob dying there before November 1634.

For purposes of this profile, that scenario has been used, with the understanding that future evidence might favor other alternatives.

Birth

The deduced date for the birth of his first child is about 1631. So we can estimate his birth date as somewhere between 1600 and 1610. He was born in "Rochel," which is often taken to mean La Rochelle, France. Macy reported that the index of the Reformed Church records in La Rochelle includes no Verdons in the appropriate time period and suggested that Jacob might have been born in a nearby village. Until 1628, La Rochelle was the stronghold of the Huguenots, so it is possible that Jacob Verdon was a Huguenot. He was the son of a man named "Jan" (or, if French, "Jean").

Marriage

Inferring from the birth date of his first child, he married Mary Badie, sometimes called Mary Thomas sometime between 1628 and 1630, possibly in New Amsterdam, possibly in the Old World. She was the daughter of Aeltje Braconye by her first husband, Thomas Badie.^[11]

Children

• Magdalena Jacobse Verdon, born about 1631 in New Amsterdam. She married Adam Brouwer Berkhoven in 1645.
• Thomas Jacobse Verdon, born about 1633, in New Amsterdam. He married Barbara Van Imbroeck about 1655.

Death

Before 18 November 1634, probably in New Amsterdam.

Unproven Claim

Various secondary sources have claimed, in nearly identical words, that Jacob was the Secretary of the Dutch West India Company, suggesting that he was a corporate officer. So far, no primary or near-primary record has surfaced to verify that claim. It would seem unlikely that an officer vital to the transactions of a company meeting in Holland would reside in the New World. Assuming that there is some nugget of truth in the claim, it seems more likely that he would have been a secretary--an employee--in the court of New Amsterdam.

A Find-A-Grave entry [ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/76501669/jacob-verdon ] asserts that Jacob is buried in the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. However, the text of the sketch states that the place of death is unknown. The sketch provides no photo, citation, or other evidence of the claim.

Incorrect Claims

Totten^[12] pointed out that Bergen^[13] gave an incorrect account of the Verdons, omitting Jacob entirely, on pp. 112-113, but gave a contradictory and correct account on pp. 29-30.

Source Notes

1. ↑ O'Callaghan, Calendar of Historical Manuscripts.., p. 245.
2. ↑ Totten, "Verdon Family Notes," pp. 105-106, corrects O'Callaghan's reference of "Thomas Vardon" to be "Jacob Verdon," provides additional text of the petition, and reports additional litigation.
3. ↑ Totten, p. 108
4. ↑ Macy, "Origins...," pp. 23-24; citing Hoffman, The American Genealogist (29:65-76, 146-52).
5. ↑ "Marriage Book...," p. 36, 19 March 1645, Adam Brouwer, from Ceúlen, and Magdalena Verdon, from New Netherland.
6. ↑ O'Callaghan, The Documentary History of the State of New-York, "The Roll of Those who Have Taken the Oath of Allegiance in Kings County," image 501ff, especially image 502 (of p. 429), "Thomas Verdon native".
7. ↑ Macy, "Some New Light...," p.26.
8. ↑ Macy, "Some New Light...," p. 27, footnote 36.
9. ↑ Totten, p. 107.
10. ↑ Macy, "Some New Light..."; citing the journal of Jasper Danckaerts, owned by the Brooklyn (formerly Long Island) Historical Society, translated by Henry C. Murphy.
11. ↑ Totten, p. 109.
12. ↑ Totten, p. 109.
13. ↑ Bergen, pp. 29-30, 112-113

Sources

• Bergen, Teunis G. Register in alphabetical order, of the early settlers of Kings County, Long Island, N. Y., from its first settlement by Europeans to 1700 : with contributions to their biographies and genealogies, comp. from various sources. New York: S. W. Green's Son, 1881. Online page images. Hathi Trust. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100327781 : viewed 2019.
• Macy, Harry Jr. "Origins of New Netherland Families--Verdon." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record (January 1992): 23-24.
• Macy, Harry Jr. "Some New Light on Aeltjie Braconie and Maria Badie." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record 142 (2011): 21-36.
• O'Callaghan, E. B., editor. Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany, N. Y.. Part 1, Dutch Manuscripts, 1630-1664. Albany, NY: Weed, Parsons and Company, Printers, 1865. Online page images. Hathi Trust. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008733945 : viewed 2019.
• O'Callaghan, E. B., compiler. The Documentary History of the State of New-York. Vol. 1. Albany: Weed, Parsons & Co., 1850. Online page images. MyHeritage. https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-90100-444266503/the-documentary-history-of-the-state-of-new-york-vol : 2019.
• Totten, John Reynolds. "Verdon Family Notes." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record LXIV (April 1933): 105-132.
• "Marriage Book of the Register of the Persons who are herein Recorded, and who were Married Here our Outside the City of New York--from the 11th December, 1639 to the 15th May, 1652." New York Genealogical and Biographical Record vol. VI (no. 1, Jan. 1875). Online page images. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/stream/newyorkgenealogi1875gree : 2019.

Supplementary Sources

• Chester, Chris, compiler. "Jacob Verdon" in The Brouwer Genealogy Database: A Resource for Descendants of Adam Brouwer, Jan Brouwer and Willem Brouwer. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~brouwergenealogydata/index.htm : accessed 30 April 2019.

Acknowledgments

This profile was completely rewritten on 28 April 2019 by Jim Moore incorporating recent relevant research.

The prior profile was the result of mergers of nine different profiles created as follows:

• The import of Smith-Hunter.ged on 10 March 2011.
• The import of Newman Family Tree.ged on 12 March 2011.
• The import of Lent_Vise_2011-05-11aa.ged on May 26, 2011 by Bryan Sypniewski.
• The import of Doering Family Tree.ged on Dec 19, 2011 by Teresa Harageones.
• The import of Harris.ged on Jun 6, 2011 by Wade Lippman.
• A profile entered by Paul Lee, Aug 7, 2011.
• The import of Johnson Family Tree 2011-08-24.ged on Aug 24, 2011 by Rosemary Palermo.
• The import of Beaman Family Tree.ged on 31 March 2011.
• A profile entered by Colin Bryant, Tuesday, April 15, 2014.