Calling Rapaljes, Rapeljes, Raplees and all descendants!
Get ready for some surprising encounters when you visit the Brooklyn Museum’s beloved period rooms this February, when several of the rooms will be the site of a group show called Playing House, which I’ve been working on with curator Barry Harwood. Artists Ann Agee, Anne Chu, Mary Lucier, and Betty Woodman will be creating “activations” in several of the rooms by installing their own artworks on and around the existing furnishings. The four artists will create both discordant and harmonious juxtapositions, encourage dialogues between past and present, and alter the visitor’s perception of the rooms and of their own art works.
A future blog post will take a more detailed look at the different projects and a behind-the-scenes look at their installations, but first we want to reach out to our online community on behalf of one of the participating artists, Mary Lucier. She is descended from a Dutch family from the same 17th century colonial period as the original occupants of the Brooklyn Museum’s Schenck Houses, where her works will be installed. For part of her project, Lucier wants to add a few new branches to her family tree. If you are a Brooklynite from WAY back, Mary Lucier wants to hear from you:
Joris Jansen de Rapalje and Catalyntje Trico and…you?
During the 1600s and 1700s, severe persecution and even massacres by Catholics, forced many Huguenots (French Protestants) to leave Europe for what was then “New Netherland,” an area including Manhattan, Brooklyn, and land farther up the Hudson River. Included in this migration were numerous Dutch families as well, and as they established life in various colonies, they began to intermarry.
The Terpenning family, Dryden, New York area, c. 1895. Sarah Rapalje's 6th and 7th great grandchildren. Photograph courtesy of Drew Campbell.
In 1624, a young refugee couple, both around 19 years old, left Amsterdam aboard the Eendracht, bound for New York harbor. Their names were Joris Jansen de Rapalje and Catalyntje Trico. Upon arriving in New York, they sailed up river to found a new colony, which would eventually become Albany. After hardships and skirmishes with the Mohawks, the Rapaljes decided to return to New York two years later, settling in Wallabout, an area in what is now Brooklyn. They brought with them an infant girl named Sarah, reputed to be the first European child born in New Netherland (1625).
Sarah married twice (once to Hans Hansen Bergen, who died at age 27, and then to Teunis Bogeart) and had a total of 15 children, setting in motion a vast lineage of descendants that includes Humphrey Bogart, Tom Brokaw, Gov. Howard Dean, myself, and possibly you! By now there are estimated to be at least a million descendants of these lines, many of whom may know little about their Dutch/Huguenot ancestry and nothing about the people to which they are purportedly related.
For my “activation” in the Schenck Houses of the Museum’s Period Rooms, I will create a mixed-media video and sound environment that will investigate the subject of cultural identity through a personal exploration of my own ancestry, using recorded performances in situ, references to literature and other historic texts (including various family trees such as the Schencks), and audience participation.
To that end, I am appealing to all Rapaljes, Rapeljes, Raplees, and all descendants (regardless of the name) to send me information that I may use in my museum installation. Please let me know your particular connection or line of descent and please send a high-quality photograph (tiffs or jpegs only please; I can’t use or return original prints) of yourself, your grandparents, family groups, whoever you like, for me to display on the mantel in one of the Museum’s period rooms. Please also indicate that you give me, Mary Lucier, and the Brooklyn Museum, permission to use these photos for this purpose.
Please send all material to marluc@aol.com.
Thomas Bogardus Sr.:
November 17th, 2011 at 7:53 am
I am a descendant of Everardus Bogardus and Anneke Jan Weber. They lived in Fort New Amsterdam in Manhattan. Let me know if you want some info on them. The name changed shortly before Everardus came to America in 1630: see below
Bogardus is a Dutch name. From Veenendaal, Woerden Utrecht,, Holland. In 1633 they arrived in New Amsterdam. Bogardus is Latinized form of Dutch “Bogard” shortened form of Van den Bogaard, a topographical name for someone living by an orchard, Dutch “Boomgaard,” or a habitational name for any of various places named with this word. Perhaps from “Bogaert.” __
Mary Lucier:
November 18th, 2011 at 11:06 am
Dear Thomas, Are you part of the lineage that produced Humphrey Bogart? That line joins Rapalje when Sarah Rapalje (daughter, b 1625) married her second husband, Teunis Guysbert Bogaert. I have not traced that line, but it is shown on a page devoted to Humphrey Bogart on the Genealogy Page of John Blythe Dobson. Please send any other information or pictures to my email, marylucier@aol.com, and I will respond. Many thanks, Mary Lucier
Richard Bergen Woodward:
February 18th, 2012 at 11:26 pm
My comment here is only to mention that there are some innacuracies in the background text above about Sarah Rapalje and Hans Hansen Bergen.
Given the administration of the colony, Joris Rapalje and Catalyntje Trico did not decide of themselves to go to Fort Orange or back to New Amsterdam (Manhattan), but were assigned by the adminstration. Sarah was born in Fort Orange. When the family moved to New Amsterdam in 1626, Joris Rapalje obtained a property on Pearl Street, abutting the Fort. Hans Hansen Bergen arrived in the colony in 1633,later married Sarah, and they then lived next door to her parents on Pearl Street. Both Joris Rapalje and Hans Bergen acquired land in Wallabout and later built homes and lived there.
Hans Bergen did not die at age 27. He and Sarah had eight children (one apparently died at birth) and the last of their children was born in 1653. Hans died in 1654. He was born circa 1610, thus making him about 23 when he arrived in the colony and about 43 when he died.
Hope this is helpful. I am really looking forward to the installation.
Adam Carrier:
June 10th, 2012 at 4:34 am
Joris and Catalyntje are my 10th great grandparents. Humphrey Bogart is my 9th cousin 2x removed. I have not been able to establish a connection other than in-laws to myself and Tom Brokaw, but as I understand, there was a lot of intermarrying between the Bogarts and the Brokaws.
Joanne Terpening Kerby:
July 29th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Joris Rapalje is my 10th greatgrandfather down through Sara to Annetje Hansen Bergen, to Antje Hoogland and Gerrit Lambertse to their son Theunis. I was in New York in 1998 but didn’t know about the displays about Sara at the museum so didn’t go see them. Hopefully I will get back there again. I tell my family members about it so they at least know it is there and can try to visit. As a youngster, I had very strong leanings towards anything french, including the language, design, colors, paintings, architecture, furniture, etc., but did not know of my French ancestry until I had been doing family history for many years. I am still finding more French lines in my pedigree. Thank you for keeping Sara’s possessions safe for showing to all her descendants.
April Ford:
September 28th, 2012 at 12:55 am
Hello Mary,
I am a 10g grandchild of Joris and Catalinje. I am descended from their 3rd child, Jannetje. I am also an artist and fascinated by genealogy, especially the aspect of “moving away.” By that, I mean how generation by generation, families grow out and away from each other until we no longer know of the existence of our ancestors and distant cousins. I suppose you have read “Island at the Center of the World?” There’s lots in there about Rapalje and Trico. I wish you the best for your piece (has it already come together?
If not, I will send you some pictures if you like.
April Ford
Kristen Masters:
April 8th, 2013 at 2:07 am
Hello Mary,
Joris Jansen de Rapalje and Catalyntje Trico were my 9g grandparents by their youngest son and 11th child, Daniel Dorise de Rapelje. My grandmother’s maiden name was Rapalje. Her older sister also named Sarah Rapalje (Born in 1898) was very interested in the Rapalje geneology and wrote the documents I have in front of me as I write this to you. Interestingly, she has the spelling of Rapalje changed to Rapelje from the birth of Sarah de Rapelje (June 9, 1625) and then back to Rapalje around the 1800′s. I discovered your blog too long after your request to be able to make timely contributions, but thank you for your interest and in keeping the Rapalje geneology information alive.