Notes |
- Lineage: Elizabeth10, Gilbert9, Lodowick8, Gysbert7, Lodowick6, Gysbert5, Johan4, Johann3, Derick2, Henric1
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UPDIKE, c.1295-1723 Related Families: Renwalts | Zailen | Ryswick | Van Wesek | Smith | Wightman
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Migration: Wesel, Rhineland, PRUS>New Amsterdam, N. NETH>Washington Co., RI
(1) Henric Op Den Dyck, born about 1295 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, was father of:
(2) Derick Op Den Dyck, born about 1340 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died 1419, was father of:
(3) Johann Op Den Dyck, born about 1380 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died 21 March 1458/1459, was father of:
(4) Johan Op Den Dyck, born 1420 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died about 1505; married Ida Renwalts, born about 1422 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, daughter of Engelbrecht Renwalts. Parents of:
(5) Gysbert Op Den Dyck, born about 1447 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died 1513 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, was father of:
(6) Lodowick Op Den Dyck, born about 1492 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died 27 May 1571; married Aletta Zailen, born about 1494 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia. Parents of:
(7) Gysbert Op Den Dyck, born 1528 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died 19 April 1585; married Maria Ryswick, born about 1526 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia. Parents of:
(8) Lodowick Op Den Dyck, born 1565 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died about 1615; married Gertrude Van Wesek, born about 1567 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia. Parents of:
(9) Gysbert Lodowick Op Den Dyck a.k.a. Gilbert Updike, born 25 September 1605 in Wesel, Rhineland, Prussia, died 1666 in Narraganssett, Washington Co., Rhode Island; married 24 September 1643 in New Amsterdam, New Netherlands, Katherine Smith, born 1624 in Narraganssett, Washington Co., Rhode Island, died 1664 in Narraganssett, Washington Co., Rhode Island, daughter of Richard Smith.
Gysbert was employed at Dutch West India Company, possessed of Coney Island, Cow Neck and he was sheriff of Newtown, Flushing and Jamaica, New Netherlands. He was also innkeeper. He gave up his lands to the English and moved to Rhode Island in 1669. Parents of:
Elizabeth, born 27 July 1644, died 26 April 1716 in Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island; married Geroge Wightman, born 4 November 1632 in Burton-On-Trent, Staffordshire, England, died 7 January 1722 in Kingstown, Washington Co., Rhode Island.
(Dave Simonds Legends)
GYSBERT OPDYCK.
(Son of Lodowick op den Dyck)
Baptized in Willibrord's Church, Wesel, Germany, Sept. 25, 1605,. by his parents Lodowigh op den Dyck and Gertrudt van Wesek. Came before 1638, to New Amsterdam (New York); there married Catherine Smith, Sept. 24, 1643. Remained among the Dutch in New Netherland until the English capture in 1664. During a great part of these thirty years, was an officer of the Dutch West India Company;------Commander of Fort Hope, Commissary, one of the Eight Men, Marshal, Tithe-Commissioner, frequently sat in the Council, and assisted in making Indian treaties. Owned a residence on Stone Street, N. Y., the whole of Coney Island (part of which bore his name), a farm at Hempstead and another at Cow Neck, Long Island.
Gysbert signed his name op d Dyck in his two autograph signatures which have come down to us, Jan. 25, 1644, and Aug. 19, 1649; the same form of signature to his deposition on the Hempstead records at Roslyn, April 3, 1659, is probably also in his own hand. This is the very form in which his his father's name was written at the baptism of Gysbert in Wesel. The Pastor at Wesel informs us that this d always stood for den, thus the op den Dyck which Gysbert's ancestors had been called in Wesel since 1283, and probably earlier. The Dutch Church records in New call him often op ten Dyck, which also was a frequent format The Dutch documents and official records spell his name as op Dycj, or more frequently Opdyck; the latter form has been followed by the translators and the historians, and it will be followed by us as it was doubtless the name by which Gysbert was generally known among the Dutch here. His Rhode Island descendants, associating with only English-speaking people wrote their name Updick, and finally Updike; and they wrote Gysbert in its English form, Gilbert.
The New England books describe him as "a German physician of some celebrity who settled on Lloyd's Neck, L. I., and came to Rhode Island when Col. Nichols reduced N. Y. in 1664." This is probably derived from the authority of his great-great grandson Wilkins Updike of R. I., but we have doubts about Gysbert ever having been a physician. However, there is truth in other portions of this tradition, and there may be in all. Perhaps a confusion has arisen from the title "Doctor," which in German is a degree of learning and not of medicine. Gysbert may have been graduated with the German degree of Doctor from the Wesel Academy, then famous in Europe. He was well educated; his associations, official positions, reports, even his signature, show this. He must have spoken German from his birth, Dutch from his emigration, and English from his marriage.
He is often called Mr., and Sieur, on the Dutch records, titles of unusual respect in those days. He was a friend of Gov. Kieft, Secretary van Tienhoven, Fiscal de la Montagne, and Burgomaster Cregier, all of whom officiated as sponsors at the baptisms of his children; and he himself was in demand as sponsor for baptisms of the children of others. Gysbert must have been attractive to both young and old. At the age of 38 years he won the heart of the young English maiden, and the marriage met the approval of her father Richard Smith, a man of standing and wealth and so scrupulous that he once refused his consent to the marriage of another daughter to an Englishman who later became Sheriff of Flushing. At a time when Director Kieft and the citizens of New Amsterdam were in bitter conflict, Gysbert, although an official and friend of Kieft, had the entire confidence of the people. His repeated appointment as Commander of Fort Hope, and the incident at the Stadt Huys, show that he was a man of known courage, yet wise and prudent. In all the many difficulties and trying situations of the early Dutch settlement, he bore himself creditably. ( American Descendants of the Wesel family, Charles Wilson Opdyke, 1889)
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