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Gerrit SEGERS

Male Abt 1620 -


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  • Name Gerrit SEGERS 
    Birth Abt 1620 
    Gender Male 
    Notes 
    • (1) Miller, Phyllis J., "The Garrison-Gerritsen and Segers Descendants of Gerrit Segers," The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 124, No. 3 (July 1993), pp. 135-137:

      A young soldier named Gerrit Segers (Segertsen, etc.) was present in New Amsterdam by 1646. Later he is found in Albany and on Long Island in Gravesend and New Utrecht. There are no records of his marriage or the births of any of his children, but from other evidence it is reasonable to believe he did marry and have children. These children used the patronymic Gerritsen, and in subsequent generations that became the family name, usually anglicized to Garrison. At least two of Gerrit's grandchildren, however, adopted his patronymic, Segers, as their surname.

      The family of Gerrit Segers has long been confused by genealogists with another contemporary Gerritsen/Garrison family. Both families were found in New Utrecht and on Staten Island, and some members appeared on record together, so it was inevitably presumed they were related. This writer's article "The Garrison-Gerritsen Descendants of Gerrit Jansen van Oldenburg alias Gerrit de Mof" (REC. 124:1-9) sets forth the genealogy of the other family and sets the stage for the presentation of Gerrit Segers' descendants.

      The Segers descendants of Gerrit Segers have also been subject to genealogical confusion; an attempt to distinguish them from the family of the contemporary Albany settler Cornelis Segerse van Voorhout (some of whose descendants took the surname Egmont), was made by Richard Schermerhorn Jr. in THE RECORD 47:10-12.

      In addition to the two surnames and the confusion with other families, this study was complicated by the fact that the first three generations of this family moved about a great deal, leaving records in at least six counties of New York as well as in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

      GERRIT SEGERS was born about 1620, since he was twice called a "soldier, aged about 26 years" when testifying before the Council in New Amsterdam on behalf of Gerrit Douman in December 1646. This is the first record of him that has been found (Arnold J. F. van Laer, trans., New York Historical Manurcripts: Dutch [hereafter NYHMD], 4:351, 953-54). His birthplace is unknown. As with many of the early Dutch, records on Gerrit Segers are scarce, but sufficient to give a glimpse of the man, his life and family.

      On 26 January 1647 Crigier Pisker and Gerrit "Seers" leased from Cornelis van Tienhoven a parcel of land at Breuckelen, for four years, Gerrit signing as "Gerryt Serdts" (NYHMD 2:387-89). It is believed that this was Gerrit Segers, but there is no other record connecting him with this property.

      Council minutes of 15 November 1647 tell us that Jonas Jonassen and Gerrit Segersen, both soldiers, had dared to steal some fowls by night from the hennery of Cornelis Volckersz, and killed a hog. Jonas was condemned "to ride a wooden horse" on three consecutive days with a fifteen-pound weight attached to each foot. Gerrit, on the other hand, was "at present a fugitive," and there is no record that he was ever punished (NYHMD 4:468).

      On 6 March 1650, Gerrit Segers was again in New Amsterdam, when he with Anna Claes and Willemtie Claes witnessed the baptism of an unnamed child of Michiel Martenszen (or of Martenazen himself) at the Dutch Reformed Church (BDC 27). The identity of the two women is uncertain.

      In 1654 Gerrit appears at Fort Orange (Albany), where on 25 August "Gerrit Segertsen having made a request for a building lot, the matter is postponed until the return of the honorable committee"; it was again postponed on 20 October, with no further mention (Charles T. Gehring, trans., Fort Orange Court Minutes 1652-1660, New Netherland Documents Series vol. 16 pt. 2, 1990, pp. 151, 159). Carsten Carstensen, whose daughter would marry Gerrit's son Frederick, applied for land at the same time. Gerrit's move to this northern settlement is explained in a New Amsterdam court record of 5 July 1655: Matys Capito sued Evert Pels for 37 guilders which Gerrit Segers owed Capito when Pels hired Segers to go to Fort Orange to work. But Evert Pelt replied that Segers had worked for him only 14 days and owed him (Pels) 20 guilders (RNA 1:328).

      On 5 February 1655 at a public sale at Fort Orange, Elbert Gerritse stood security for Gerrit Segerse, for fourteen rolls of tobacco (ERA 1:220-21). On 7 November 1657 Jan Jellissen Koock testified that Jan Van Bremen had employed Gerrit Segersen and another man to drive his "beasts" to Fort Orange from Katskil because there was no fodder at the latter place (ERA 1:58). This is the last record of Gerrit at Fort Orange. During his stay there his son Seger was born, since Seger's marriage record calls him "j.m. van N. Albanien" (young man from New Albany) (MDC 42).

      Gerrit now settled on Long Island, probably in New Utrecht, as his son Frederick's marriage record calls him a young man from that place (KgM 48). Frederick appears to have been born about 1658/9. On 31 January 1662 Gerrit Segers, "formerly employed on the land of Anthony Jansen," made a declaration that Jansen had leased him a tract of land at Gravesend, "to plant thereon, to cultivate and make use of for a certain time." This land was included in a sale by Anthony to Nicholas Stillwell, dated 9 February 1660, and the boundary was now in dispute. Gerrit signed his name to this document (New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, The Register of Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam 1661-1662, trans. Edmund B. O'Callaghan, ed. Kenneth Scott and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, 1978, p. 113).

      The Flatbush Town Court minutes of 4 May 1663 list Gerrit Segersz, plaintiff against Jan Hansz, defendant, but the plaintiff was absent and there is no further mention of the matter (Flatbush Town Records B:311). On 2 June 1664 the Deacons of the Dutch Church of Brooklyn paid nine guilders to Gerrit Segertsen of N[ieuw] Uytrecht; the reason for the payment was not given (New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, Old First Dutch Reormed Church of Brooklyn, New York, First Book of Records 1660-1752, trans. and ed. A.P.G. Jos van der Linde, 1983 [hereafter van der Linde], p. 185).

      According to Teunis G. Bergen, a "Gerret Seerjersy," laborer, is named in a 1670 Flatbush church record (KCo. 258), but the record could not be identified in the photocopy of the church records at the Holland Society of New York. It is uncertain whether Bergen read the name correctly, and whether it refers to Gerrit Segers. The last mention of Gerrit Segers is in the New Utrecht Town Records (1:317). A list dated 1677 of "the new lots as they were first laid out and as they are at present in fence and in possession" shows "Gerritt Segerse - one lot, conveyed to Thomas Sharte and by him to Jan Gisbertse, who has the same at present in possession." When Gerrit held the property is unclear, and could have been many years earlier.

      No record has been found that names Gerrit's wife. His probable children are as follows:

      i. Seger Gerritsen, b. around 1654 at Fort Orange.

      ii. Margrietje Gerrits, b. by 1656.

      iii. Frederick Gerritsen, b. about 1658/9 in New Utrecht.

      iv. Lambert Gerritsen, b. most likely about 1660/1.
    Person ID I43015  Frost, Gilchrist and Related Families
    Last Modified 26 Mar 2024 

    Children 
     1. Seger GARRISON,   b. Abt 1654, Fort Orange, New Netherland [now Albany, Albany County, NY] Find all individuals with events at this location
     2. Margrietje GERRITS,   b. Bef 1656
     3. Frederick GARRISON,   b. Abt 1658, New Utrecht, Now Part of Brooklyn, Kings County, NY Find all individuals with events at this locationd. Bef 9 Jan 1729, Salem County, NJ Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 71 years)
     4. Lambert GARRISON,   b. Abt 1661   d. Bef 22 May 1725, Richmond County, NY Find all individuals with events at this location (Age ~ 64 years)
    Family ID F18507  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 26 Mar 2024