Author: Ed and Don Guenther

Written: 2020

Mattheus Blanshan(1606-1688)

Mattheus was born in 1606 in the former province of Artois, France to Leonin Blanchan and Isabeau LeRoy and was baptised in the village of Neuville-au-Cornet in Artois.  He married Magdeleine Joire from Armentieres on October 15, 1633. Magdeleine was the daughter of Petrus  Joire and Jacoba Le Blanc. Magdeleine was baptised Catholic but Mattheus was a Huguenot. The Huguenots were French Protestants from the 16th and 17th centuries, many of whom migrated to other countries due to religious persecution in France. Some time before 1647, Mattheus and Magdeleine moved to England. By 1651 they were in Mannheim, in what is now Germany, probably persuaded to go there by the new tax laws and provisions made to induce Huguenot merchants and manufacturers to help rebuild that territory. 

Blanchans in America, 1660

In 1660, Mattheus and Magdeleine Blanshan came to America on the “Gilded Otter,” arriving in New Amsterdam (New York City) on April 26 with three of their children: Magdalena, Elizabeth and Matthew, ages 12, 9, and 5. Mattheus was listed on the passenger list as an agriculturist (farmer). They arrived at Wiltwyck before December 7, 1660.(Ulster County Historical Society, Kingston, N.Y., ADDRESS of the Hon. A. BRUYN HASBROUCK, LL.D., delivered before the Society October 17th, 1859. Page XXXIV). 

Blanchans Welcomed to New York

It appears that all American Blanchans originate here with Mattheus and Magdileine Blanshan. A prestigious family in Europe, they had fled European religious persecution and came to America. “Riker’s History of Harlem”, New York, 1881 states: “Governor Stuyvesant welcomed them and gave Blanchan a letter to Sergeant Romp at Esopus directing him to provide accommodations for them. They arrived there and Domine Blom, also having arrived, it was a solace to pious Blanchan, for all that he had suffered with the loss of his property in his native place and at Armentieres in Flanders as well as elsewhere, to sit down with his family at the Lord’s Supper on the ensuing December 25th.” 

A House in Wiltwyck(Kingston), 1664

He was granted a Deed of Confirmation by Governor Nicholls on June 18, 1664 “for a house and lot of ground lying and being at Wiltwyck, at Esopus.” Governor Nickolls was the first English colonial governor of New York province. Wiltwyck is now the city of Kingston. He acquired considerable property at Esopus. Sometime prior to April 25, 1663 the family helped to establish the village of New Dorp, which was destroyed by the Esopus Indians in June of 1663. New Dorp is now the city of Hurley, nearly 100 miles up the Hudson River from New York.

Kathryn Blanchan(1627- 1713)

Kathryn Blanchan DuBois Cottin was born October 27, 1627 at Wicres, France. She  married Louis Du Bois(1622- 1696), son of Chretian Du Bois of Wicres, in the French Church at Mannheim on October 10, 1655. ancient, noble family of the realm. After his and Catherine’s immigration to New Netherland in about 1661, he was a farmer, merchant, magistrate and leading citizen. 

Chretien Maximillian DuBois De Fiennes(1597-1655)

Chretian DuBois was a Comte, something like a Count, and was a Lieutenant in the French army. He was born in 1597 in Wicres, Artois, Pas de Calais, France and died before Oct 10, 1655 there about 58 years of age. He was the son of Antoine DuBois and Anne Cousin, and was married to Jeanne Masic Brunel Françoise le Poivre. 

Chretien an Important Man in France

Chretien DuBois lived in the village of Wicres, outside of Lille. Documents from the Archives Départementales de Lille indicate he was bailli(an officer with wide judicial, financial, and military powers.), lieutenant, greffier & receveur of the Comté of Coupigny(a clerk to a court). 

With the destruction of many of the records of the Heugunots, it can only be surmised that Chretian was of the French nobility. Chretian DuBois was a Huguenot gentleman. It is believed that he owned an estate in Wicres, Northern France.

Though Chetian was a Huguenot he lived and died in Wicres. The persecution there was severe and drove many out. Chretian DuBois and Jeane Masic Brunel had Louis on October 27, 1626. 

Louis DuBois(1626-1696)

Louis fled Catholic persecution following the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in France to Mannheim, Germany, around 1650. 

Louis du Bois’s Reason for Leaving France, (The National Huguenot Society, 2014)

Louis DuBois Marries Kathryn Blanchan

Louis married Kathryn Blanchan(1627-1713) in Mannheim, Germany, on October 10, 1655. Many of the French who had come to Germany married Dutch and German women. Not so with Louis, Kathryn was French.

America, 1660

France to Germany to America

Louis and Kathryn DuBois crossed the Atlantic in 1660 with their two sons Abraham and Isaac. Many were fleeing both Roman and Royal persecution.They no doubt sailed from Holland in a Dutch vessel. Arriving in New Amsterdam, there were only about two hundred houses in what is now New York; forests and trees were predominant in this wilderness.The Dutch immigrants built a stockade, a literal wall  of defense in New Amsterdam in 1685.  A street ran along the wall, which became Wall Street. The 12-foot  wall was built to protect the Dutch against attacks from pirates and various Native American tribes, and to keep other potential dangers out of the establishment. It was dismantled in 1699.

Up the Hudson River to Wiltwyck(Kingston), 1660

Louis, with family and friends, traveled up the Hudson River about 90 miles where they settled in Kingston. Indians, some friendly and some violent, were throughout the region. It was early American wilderness in New York State.

Louis the Walloon Fighter

A Walloon was a designation for a French/Belgium group of people. Louis was a Walloon. He was known as a fierce fighter.

The Esopus Indian War, 1863

It all started when a group of about 10 young trouble hunting Dutch men crossed the river and murdered some drunken Esopus Indian braves, also young and hunting trouble. It was a recipe for disaster. The Esopus chief had spoken of the difficulty they had controlling the young men. The Dutch fared no better. On top of this, the immigrants had sold into slavery about 20 of the Indians who were being held after recent Indian wars. 

In June of 1863 the Dutch sought to have a peace talk with the Esopus Indians, but the Indians tricked them into having no weapons at the talk. 

Kathryn DuBois Taken Captive

The Esopus Indians had had enough. They raided the Dutch settlement of Hurley and Kingston and burned much of it to the ground, taking 45 women and children captive. One of these captives was Kathryn Blanchan, the wife of Louis duBois, along with their baby daughter Sarah. It was June 7, 1863.

After 3 months of captivity in the Catskill Mountains the Indians decided to burn the captives, but when the torch was to be touched to Kathryn Blanchan she raised her voice in psalms, particularly the 137th Psalm. At this point the Indians were enchanted by her singing and demanded more. The rescuers heard her voice also and came quickly. Louis DuBois came with soldiers and rescued them, and then attempted to exterminate the Esopus Indians. These events are noted in Captain Kreiger’s journal, as Kreiger was part of the rescue party. A treaty agreement was reached with Esposus in 1665.

Joost Van Meter’s Adventure

A young boy who was one of those captured, Joost Van Meter, age 7, reportedly thinking the whole thing a great adventure. This is not surprising when one studies the activities of the Van Meter family. As an adult Joost would later marry Sarah DuBois, whose mother Kathryn was one of the captives(Van Meter, James T., Capture by the Esposus Indians, Minneapolis, MN).

Hurley, 1669

By 1669 Louis had moved his family to nearby Hurley, which was in the same colony as Kingston. He was appointed magistrate by New York’s second governor, Francis Lovelace, an English Royalist.

Louis DuBois began the slave market in Kingston when he purchased two African slaves in 1674.

New Paltz, 1677

Louis founded New Paltz, New York, along with a few other Huguenot immigrants. He purchased the land from the Esposus Indians in 1677. Here they built a Walloon church, a reformed church, where Louis was the first elder.

DuBois ‘stone fort house’, built by one of Louis’ sons, on Huguenot Street in New Paltz, New York, in 1705, now serves as a visitor center and museum.

Huguenot Street

The original settlement of Louis DuBois and his fellow immigrant founders survives today as Historic Huguenot Street, a National Historic Landmark District. 

Louis Returns to Kingston

Louis himself eventually returned to Wiltwyck, by then known as Kingston, where he died prior to his will entering probate on June 23, 1696. Kathryn, his widow, remarried, and in her will freed two of her slaves. She married Jean Cottin, the schoolmaster. 

Louis Dubois Death, 1696

Louis DuBois died in 1696 in Kingston, New York. Both Kathryn and Louis are buried in the Kingston Church Graveyard. Their memorials still stand. They had Sarah in 1662.

Louis’s Burial Record, Heritage

Sarah du Bois(1662-1726)

Sarah was born in 1662 at Hurley, Ulster County, New York. She was baptized September 14, 1664 as an infant in Kingston, New York. At age 18, On December 12, 1682, she married Joost Jan Van Meteren(1656- 1706) at New Paltz, Ulster County, New York. In about 1697 Sarah with her husband and family moved to Somerset County, New Jersey.

Sarah a Business Woman 

Sarah was active in the purchase of lands and was engaged in trading extensively with the Indians of the western frontier, thanks to her wandering husband Joost. Joost ran with the Indians and appears to have abandoned Sarah and her children to fend for themselves. Which Sarah did, buying and selling lands in her own good name, Sarah DuBois. She was widowed in 1706, but this was an afterthought. Joost was gone years before. He was a mountain man. Joost fought, lived with, and traded with the Delaware Indians.

Sara was described as ‘strange’ because she signed her name on business matters as DuBois rather than her married name of Van Meter. She knew business and apparently thought that the DuBois name was a more useful tool than that of her wandering husband. She became an extensive owner of land in the New Jersey area and then into Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley. An explanation for Sarah signing using her maiden name is that she wanted to be noted as being the daughter of Louis duBois. Some accounts have her father as having owned the land in New Jersey.

Sarah DuBois Descended From Duchess Elleanor of Aquitaine, 1137

Let’s go back almost 900 years to the summer of 1137, to a grand castle outside of Bordeaux. She’s beautiful- tall-elegant, with reddish blonde hair and beautiful blue eyes. 

She is the most sought after heiress in all of Christendom. She is headstrong, fifteen years old, ambitious, high-spirited, well-traveled and literate. She is Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitou. She married Louis VII of France and Henry II of England. The mother of two kings – Richard the Lionhearted and King John of Magna Charta fame. Eleanor counts Charlemagne and Kings of Italy as her earlier grandparents. Eleanor’s lineage is traced to Sarah DuBois.(Biography Author # 377 Mary Jamia Jasper Case Jacobsen, PhD, PsyD. http://www.njfounders.org/node/132)

Don Guenther at the Old Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church Graveyard in Elmer, New Jersey. Monument to Sarah and the DuBois Family. 

Joost died in Salem County, New Jersey on June 13, 1706 and Sarah on January 13, 1726. Sarah and Joost had nine children, including John Van Meter in 1683.

John Van Meter(1683-1745) married Margaret Mollenuaer(1687-1745). In 1715 they had Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Van Meter(1715-1792) married Captain Thomas Shepherd(1705-1776). In 1733. They had David. 

David Shepherd(1733-1795) married Rachel Teague(1735-1795). In 1758 they had Sarah.

Sarah Shepherd(1758-1832) married Francis Duke(1751- 1777). They had John in 1774.

John S Duke(1774-1849) married Catherine Hoover(1778-1813). John and Catherine had George in 1807.

George Duke(1807-1873) married Hannah Jackson(1809-1887). They had Matilda in 1843.

Matilda “Tillie” Duke(1843-1907) married William Stead(1833-1902). They had Alice in 1871.

Alice Stead(1871-1925) married Samuel Guenther(1867-1943). They had John in 1912.

John Guenther(1912-1991) married Geraldine Delsman(1916- 2012). They had 14 children.

Bibliography

Bergen, Tunis Garrett, Genealogies of the State of New York; Lewis Historical Pub. Co., 1913

Dietz,Theodore,  Dutch Esopus / Wiltwyck / Kingston Memories: Kindle, 2012

Le Fevre, Ralph, History of New Paltz, New York and its old families (from 1678 to 1820) : including the Huguenot pioneers and others who settled New Paltz previous to the revolution : with an appendix bringing down the history of certain families and some other matter to 1850. Albany, N.Y.: Fort Orange Press, Brandon Print. Co., 1909. Pp 9 -19.

Ulster County Historical Society, Kingston, N.Y., ADDRESS of the Hon. A. BRUYN HASBROUCK, LL.D., delivered before the Society October 17th, 1859.  

Shepherd, Frank C., History Genealogies Biographies of the Shepherd and Related Families Since their Coming to America More Than 280 Years Ago, 1948

Louis and Jacob DuBois, New Paltz, New York, Rue and Jones Press, 1875 

Riker, James, History of Harlem, New York, 1881

Rockwell, Rev. Charles, The Catskill Mountains and the Region Around, 1867

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