I wrote about my 9th-great-grandmother, Catalyntje Trico Rapalje, before. She was a Walloon who, in January 1624, at the age of 18, got married and, just days later, migrated from Amsterdam to New Netherland. She and her husband, Joris Jansen Rapelje, sailed on the first ship of colonists, settling first in Fort Orange (Albany) and, two years later, migrating to the tip of Manhattan. Their daughter, Sarah, is believed to have been the first European child born in the colony.
Born in 1605, Catalyntje lived a long life and, in fact, was the only person known to have lived through the entire history of the colony of New Amsterdam, which became New York when the British took it over. Unfortunately, much of the history of New Amsterdam, including the records of the Dutch West India Company, was lost after the papers were sold for scrap.
But two documents did survive. Because of border disputes, officials were interested in learning about the early history of New Amsterdam/York, and they found an eyewitness to those early days: Catalyntje. The second deposition, made on October 17, 1688, when she was 83 years old, described the ship, the splitting up of the colonists, and their eventual settlement in Fort Orange, now Albany.
Unfortunately, the transcript is a summary rather than a word-for-word account of her life in the New World. Still, Catalyntje described the friendly relations with the local Indigenous tribes, as well as the successful trading and assistance the colonists received during their years at Fort Orange.
[T]he said deponent lived in Albany three years all which time the said Indians were all as quiet as lambs and came and traded with all the freedom imaginable, in the year 1626 the deponent came from Albany and settled at New York where she lived afterwards for many years and then came to Long Island where she now lives.
She had a remarkable memory and named the local tribes with whom they came in contact:
The Mahikanders or River Indians, the Maquase, Oneydes, Onnondages, Cayugas, and Sinnekes, with the Mahawawa or Ottawawaes Indians.
Unfortunately, these tribes clashed with each other and with the colonists, contributing to the decision to move downriver to Manhattan.
The details she recalled about those early days—events that had happened 62 years before the deposition was taken—are remarkable. She must have told her story over and over again to her children and grandchildren, and to anyone else who came to visit an original settler and was curious about the olden days.
To be a survivor, a mother and grandmother, a tavern keeper, and a farmer in a growing frontier colony took more than a little mettle. With so many stories of conflict between Indigenous peoples and colonists coming to the fore in the 17th century, it is especially interesting that Catalyntje remembered a time when relations were much friendlier.
Such a small glimpse into the past, but so meaningful.
Photo:
Catalina Trico Deposition: https://encyclopedia.nahc-mapping.org/document/deposition-catilyn-trico
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