Meier & Matson Family History

Meier Family History
referred to as “head farmer of Tack”. Relations with the Indians were not good at that time, and the New Netherlands
director-general, Petrus (Peter) Stuyvesant, urged an agreement which the settlers there signed, May 31, 1658, to erect a
palisaded village and demolish their separate dwellings.
A brief war with the Indians, known as the First Esopus War, began after soldiers and settlers senselessly shot three
Indians in September 1659. An uneasy peace treaty was signed in July 1660. Despite the tense situation, the
community kept growing and was named Wiltwyck by Stuyvesant in 1661. Then, in June 1663, Indians attacked the
village, massacred a number of residents, took others as prisoners, and burned many homes. The record states that Aert
Tack was never seen again. A second peace treaty was concluded with the Indians in May 1664, and later that year an
important step was taken by Jacob Jansen. But before that, English forces seized New Amsterdam, September 8, 1664,
and 17 days later Wiltwyck came under the authority of the Duke of York. The state of New Netherlands and the city of
New Amsterdam were both renamed New York. The name Wildwyck fell into disuse, and the town was again generally
referred to as Esopus.
The baptism and marriage registers of the old Dutch church of Kingston, N. Y. contain the following marriage record:
“Jacob Jansen of Etten, in Brabant, and Annetje Arians of Amsterdam, deserted wife of Aert Pietersen Tack, both
residing here in Wiltwyck. First publication of Banns, 28 December 1664; second, 4 January 1665; third, 11 January
1665.” Records concur that they were married January 11, 1665, the ceremony being performed by Domine Hermannus
Blom of Wiltwyck.
As was common in those days, Jacob assumed the name of his birthplace, and after the publishing of the banns, he was
known as Jacob Jansen von Etten (from Etten) later, the von became Anglicized to “Van.” His wife was Annetje
Gelvins, interpretation of old Dutch records by experts reveals. Her name was written in several ways, including Annetje
Adriantse Gelvins and Annetje Adriantse Kam. These led genealogists to say that her father’s name, therefore, was
Adrian and his last name Gelvins or Kam.
The nature of a number of difficulties involving her first husband, Aert Pietersen Tack, emerges through a sequence of
court cases beginning in 1662. There were several problems with employees over wages, and that November (1662) he
mortgaged the grain crop to be harvested the following year. Tack apparently left before the fall of 1663, either as the
result of the Indian raid or under cover of it. His wife harvested the grain and was enjoined by creditors from using the
harvest (except that which the court ordered her paid for her work in harvesting). In May 1664, further evidence of Tack’s
indebtedness, in this case, for cattle appeared. In July, the court took steps to condemn Tack’s property for his absenting
himself, and to sell it to satisfy a list of creditors.
In October of 1664, Jacob Jansen (Van Etten), a farmhand of Tack, sued for wages due him. The following month, Jacob
himself was sued to collect a debt of wheat which he admitted but explained that he couldn’t pay due to being sick with
fever. He was granted time until the Tack estate was settled, when he presumably could collect wages due him. In
January 1665, Annetje Ariaens requested relief from her debts because her effects had been sold “on behalf of creditors
of her absconded husband”. That same month, Jacob again requested the court that he be paid his wages from the estate
in the amount of “388 guilders heavy money in wheat”. He was told
he could be paid after prior preference creditors were satisfied. Jacob was still having some financial problems in
March 1666, when he was sued for not having paid his house rent of one schepel (about ¾ of a bushel) of wheat per
month for 13 months. As late as March 1668, when he was sued for wheat due on the purchase of a house and lot, he
could not pay because his wife’s estate had been sold to satisfy her former husband’s creditors.
After that, his financial situation apparently improved. In 1670, there is mention of Jacob Jansen Van Etten as a resident
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