Vandegrift History and Genealogy

The Vandegrift History and Heritage by Joanie

This is a synopsis of the genealogical history of Joan Lois Vandegrift born in March 1931.

There were two brothers that worked for the Dutch West India Company named Jacob and Paulus Vandegrift. Dutch West India Co. (WIC) was an import- export company shipping goods, farming supplies, and even people free and bond, to and from Holland to New Netherland and other Dutch occupied lands. Paulus and Jacob were ship captains importing and exporting goods to and from Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands to New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, and now New York.

Jacob is our forefather. He was christened Oct. 23, 1622 in Amsterdam, Holland, Netherlands. He came to New Netherland on the ship “Swol” that carried 22 guns and 76 men. This ship was abandoned, at New Amsterdam, because of age, in 1644.

Jacob had many jobs in New Netherland. He became a "Bottler, a "Measurer of Grain", a commissioned position in 1652, and a “small burger” or Magistrate in 1656. He lived in Bergen County NJ, in 1662. In May of 1662, he moved to Brooklyn, Long Island, and then to a strand on the North River, Hudson. There he was asked to account for the expense of quartering 100 English soldiers on the Dutch Burgers. On October 9, 1667, he received a patent from Gov. Nicolls for the land on the island of Manhatten, on the North side of the great creek (Harlem River). In 1668, he sold this track of land to one Isaac Bedloe and moved to Noordwyk on the North River, a piece of land he bought from his brother Paulus in 1671. Between 1671 and 1686 he moved to Newtown, Long Island and continued to live there until his death. He is believed to be buried in the Old Dutch Reformed Church in Newtown, now known as Elmhurst, Queens, Long Island.

Jacob married Rebecca Fredricks Lubbersten on July 19, 1648. They had 9 children:

Maritje(Margaret), Christine, Annetje (Anna), Leendert (Leonard), Nicholas, Frederick, Rebecca, Rachel, JOHANNES(John is our Forefather. The Father of Jacob and Fulkert brought to Bucks County, PA as Babies from NY)

JOHANNES and his three Brothers, sisters and brother- in- laws left NY sometime around 1696 with all of their children and migrated to Bucks County, Pa. The four brothers purchased land from Joseph Growden who had himself gotten the land from William Penn, by a land grant. The four farms totaled about 757 acres.

Johannes married Neelje(Cornelia) Volkers . They had 7 children:

FULKERT, and JACOB (Our forefather's plural because Jacob's grandson Abraham married his second cousin, Catherine, a granddaughter of Fulkert. Fulkert is one of Joan Lois Vandegrift's great, great......grandfathers on the maternal side. Joan's father's paternal lineage comes from Jacob) Abraham, Rebecca, Christiana, Helenah, and Esther.

Fulkert married Elizabeth Vansandt and had 9 children: Fulkert, John, Harmen, Jacob, Elizabeth, ABRAHAM, Alice, Cornelius, and Elinor.

Abraham married Femmentje Hufte and had 4 children: Elizabeth, Mary, Abraham, and CATHERINE born 1766. (Joan Lois Vandegrift’s great -great.. grandmother.)

Now JACOB married Charity(Catherine) Touley and they had 5 children: JOHN the Esquire, Bernard, Jacob, Catherine, and Elanor.

JOHN Esq. was born in 1723. He married Mary Praul in Nov. of 1750. They had 5 children: Jacob, John, Jane, Bernard and ABRAHAM born 1766.

So, ABRAHAM, grandson of Jacob, and CATHERINE granddaughter of Fulkert married and had 5 children: Mary, Phoebe, JOHN, Samuel, and Elizabeth.

Abraham's father gave Abraham a house on a tract of land being around 72 acres that was just for him and his descendants. These 72 acres is where Street Road is now in Bucks County, Pa. Street Road's former name was Indian Trail, long, long before Street Road was ever thought of as a name.

JOHN was born on the farm. He inherited his Father’s estate and married Suzanne Sipler. He was a democrat and member of the Presbyterian Church on Eddington Hwy which is now route 13.

John and Suzanne had 8 children: Jesse(died), Jesse II, MOSES, John, Philip (served 3 years in the Civil War and died Jan. 12, 1900, at 58) Samuel, Letitia ("Minnie" a spinster that never married said to have been a hermaphrodite) and George W. (George was nursed by our grandmother, until his death from cancer.)

MOSES was born June 5, 1840. He lived his whole life on the “Old Farmstead” sometimes referred to as “Vandegrift Terrace” He went to Eddington School and became principal of the Cornwell's Heights High school. He was a democrat and served two terms as Supervisor of Bensalem Township, once in 1888 and again in 1890.

Moses married Sarah Knight Jan. 26, 1870, and had these children: Eugene, Walter, Roland and Oscar(twins) Oscar died in infancy. Fannie, and RUSSELL.

RUSSEL L. was born Nov. 4, 1887. He only went to 3^rd grade in school. He loved to farm and is listed in the 1914 Farm and Business Directory as VANDEGRIFT, Russell (Mary) Farmer 058 Eddington Hwy H60(owns 58 acres).

Russell married Mary Lauderbough Smith and had 12 children: Russell, Moses (died in infancy) Doris, Thelma, Mary, Joe, Fred, Elaine(hit by a drunk driver at 8 yrs. Old) Sarah Knight (Sally), William (Perky), JOAN LOIS, and Rhoda.

Joan Lois Vandegrift married James John Hutton and had 7 children: infant death 1950, Patricia Ann, Deborah Joan, Jamie Lynn, Joan Lois, Wendy Lu, and Denise.