The Kip Family

(Transcribed from Holgate's American Genealogies, beginning on page 49)

AMONG the members of the Association entitled "The Company of Foreign Companies," as having been organized in 1588 for the purpose of exploring a north-east passage to the Indies, around the coast of Asia, was an individual named Hendrick Kype, ancestor of a highly respectable family in the State of New-York. He left Amsterdam with his family and came to New-Netherlands in 1635. Returning to Holland, however, soon after, he died there. His sons, remaining in this country, seem to have had considerable enterprise; for we find them securing large tracts of land and holding prominent stations in the government of the colony, as far down as the time of its conquest by the English in 1664. In 1647-49, when Governor Stuyvesant, to remodel the government, organized a popular assembly, composed of nine men, chosen from among the people, who should co"perate with him and his counsel in the administration of the government, Hendrick Kip, one of these sons, was among those selected for the purpose. Jacobus (James) Kip, another son, was secretary to the Council of New-Netherlands, and obtained a grant of land on the island of Manhattan, about two miles above the City Hall, on what was afterward called Kip's Bay. Here, in 1641, he erected a house of bricks, imported from Holland, a part of which was afterward rebuilt in 1670 and 1696. Five generations of the family were born here. A few years since, on the opening of Thirty-fifth street, on the line of which it stood, the house, at that time the oldest on the island, was taken down. In the following generation, we find the family purchasing from the Esopus Indians, on the east side of the Hudson, where Rhinebeck now stands, a tract of land extending four miles along the river and several miles inland. The original deed, which is still preserved, is dated July 28th, 1686, and signed by three Indian chiefs, Ankony, Anamaton, and Callicoon. Two years after, a royal patent dated June 2d, 1688, was granted by His Excellency Thomas Dongan, Governor of the province of New-York, under the name of the Manor of Kipsburgh, in confirmation of the Indian title. One fifth part of this manor was afterward sold to Colonel Henry Beekman, through whose granddaughter, the mother of Chancellor Livingston, it passed into the Livingston family. About three hundred acres of this property are still held by the Kip family, under the original deed. It seems that, while a part of the family adhered to the British cause during the Revolution, Jacobus Kip, of Kip's Bay, was a staunch Whig, his son having joined the American army. His residence for a short time was Washington's head-quarters. It will be recollected that on Sunday, September 15th, 1776, the British, under Sir William Howe, landed at Kip's Bay, and, after a skirmish with the Americans in the rear of Mr. Kip's house, they took possession of it, and, for several years, it was occupied by British officers as their head-quarters.

Jacob Kip, of Kipsburg, became a captain in the British infantry; and of another member of the family, we find the following account in Bolton's History of Westchester County, vol. ii. p. 254:

"The command of the loyalist rangers afforded Colonel de Lancey facilities for communicating with his old associates in this section of the country, and was the means for inducing some of the landed gentry to take an active part in the contest. This was particularly the case with Samuel Kip, Esq., of a family which, from the first settlement by the Dutch, had possessed a grant of land at Kip's Bay, and in other parts of New-York island. Having been always associated with the government, and from their landed interests wielding an influence in its affairs, they were naturally predisposed to espouse the royal cause. In addition to this, Mr. Kip's estate was near to that of Colonel de Lancey, and a close intimacy had always existed between them. He was therefore easily induced to accept a captain's commission from the royal government, and embarked all his interests in this contest. He raised a company of cavalry, principally from his own tenants, joined the British army with the colonel, and from his intimate knowledge of the country was enabled to gain the reputation of an active and daring partisan officer. For this reason he was for a time assigned to a command in the loyalist rangers. In one of the severe skirmishes which took place in Westchester County, in 1781, Captain Kip, while charging a body of American troops, had his horse killed under him, and received a severe bayonet wound. He survived, however, several years after the war, though, like his friend de Lancey, a heavy pecuniary sufferer from the cause he had espoused."

The following is a list of the municipal offices the family have held in the city of New-York, under the different forms of government, during the last two hundred years, taken from the corporation records:

Schepens, (or justices,) Hendrik Kip, 1656; Jacobus Kip, 1659, 1662, 1663, 1665, 1673, 1674. Common councilman, Johannes Kip, 1694. Aldermen, Johannes Kip, 1685, 1687, 1691-93, 1696, 1697; Jacobus Kip, 1709-28; Leonard Kip, 1820, 1821. Assistant Aldermen, Samuel Kip, 1729-31; Samuel Kip, 1807, 1808; Leonard Kip, 1817-19.

Most, if not all, of the Kips' baptisms and marriages, of the parties who remained in New-York City, are recorded in the records of the Dutch Church, and are copied in Valentine's Manual of the Common Council, New-York City.

Hendrick Hendrickzen Kype, Jr., born about 1628, at Amsterdam, Holland, grandson of the first Hendrick, m. at New Amsterdam, (New York), February 29, 1660, Anna de Sill, daughter of Nicasius de Sill, who was a person high in official position in this country. For a time, this couple, as Hendrick himself already had for several years, lived at New Amstel, (New Castle), on the South, or Delaware River, in Delaware, where at least two of their sons, Nicasius and Petrus, were born. Their other children were: Cornelia, bap. June 12, 1661; Catharine, bap. November 9, 1664; and there may have been more. It was during this Hendrick's time, perhaps about 1650, that the name Kype was Anglicised to Kip. The positions Hendrick H. Kip held at New Amstel were: Great Burgher, 1657; One of the Council, 1659; Commissioner, 1660. His business was that of a brewer. He settled, with his family, at Pollifly, near Hackensack, N. J., about 1690.

Nicasius Kip, (b. about 1660, d. in latter part of 1712), son of Hendrick H. Kip and Anna de Sill, m. at Bergen, December 20, 1691, Antje Breyant, (daughter of Pieter Cornelisse Breyandt and Hendricktje Arents), who was baptized at New York, September 10, 1671. Both Nicasius Kip and his wife were admitted to membership in the Hackensack Church September 22, 1694. Both were witnesses to a baptism October 4, 1712, soon after which Nicasius died; since on October 10, 1713, at Hackensack, his widow married Isaac Van Gysen, widower of Hillegond Kuyper. Nicasi Kip was elected deacon in the Hackensack Church April 16, 1695, and May 4, 1699, in each instance serving two years, his successor the first time being Jan Berdan May 2, 1697, and the second time David Demarest, May 21, 1701. In 1705, this Nicasius or Nicausie Kip, for 150, bought of Gerhard Lydekker, a tract of land at Pollifly, and on that tract afterwards, as long as he lived, was his home. His children were:

1. Hendrick, b. about 1693.

2. Pieter, b. about 1695.

3. Isaac, b. February 4, 1697; bap. between February and April, 1697.

4. Cornelis, b. December, 1699; bap. January 1, 1700.

5. Jacob, bap. December 14, 1702.

6. Annatie, bap. January 3, 1706.

7. Catarina, bap. September 12, 1708.

8. Elizabeth, bap. March 11, 1711. All the baptisms here mentioned occurred at Hackensack.

These eight children married as follows:

1. Hendrick, m. July 24, 1714, Geertruy Van Dien, b. about 1697. Both admitted to church membership at Hackensack, April 2, 1715.

2. Pieter, m. March 5, 1720, Elsie Van der Beek, bap. December 29, 1700, at New York. Both admitted to church membership at Hackensack April 1, 1721.

3. Isaac, m. March 30, (or, as Corwin says, April 21), 1723, Willementee Berdan, bap. June 5, 1703. He was admitted to church membership at Hackensack September 27, 1728; she, April 1, 1721. He died September 21, 1771; she, June 29, 1772.

4. Cornelis, m. September 17, 1720, Eva Berdan. He was admitted to church membership at Hackensack September 27, 1728. She, October 12, 1717.

5. Jacob, m. April 6, 1728, Helena Berdan. Both received into church membership at Hackensack February 18, 1731.

6. Annatie, m. September 2, 1726, Lucas Albertse Van Voorhees, bap. February 26, 1699. She was admitted to church membership at Hackensack October, 1723.

7. Catarina, m. October 15, 1727, Dirk Terhune, bap. July 26, 1702. Both admitted to church membership September 27, 1728.

8. Elizabeth, m. November 19, 1731, Hendrick Brinkerhoff, bap. November 9, 1710. Corwin says, Jan Hopper. This was probably a second marriage.

The three Berdan women who married the Kip brothers were sisters. (See Berdan notes). The fourth of these children, Cornelius, who married Eva Berdan, was the first Kip or Kipp, so far as we know, who was connected with Preakness, and he is the one who began to spell his name with two p's. As we have seen, this is the man who was partner with George Du Remos, his brother-in-law,

in the purchase of the 600-acre tract in Lower Preakness, already described.

Cornelius Kipp, of Lower Preakness, so far as we know, had four children, and apparently, but one son.

1. Nicholas, b. September 15, 1726, who died December 3, 1808; m. February 14, 1757, Leah Mandeville, of Pompton Plains. This Nicholas, also called Nicausey, was evidently the elder, who, at the age of seventy-five years, took his seat in Classis, as the first representative of this church in that capacity, after its organization, in 1801.

2. Mary, bap. October 23, 1726. Nicholas and Mary were twins.

3. Willemyntje, bap. July 18, 1731.

4. Lena, bap. May 30, 1736; m. Jacob Van Houten.

Nicholas Kipp, who married Leah Mandeville, had children as follows:

1. Eva, who married, (1) Boice, (2) Van Houten. The Boice children went to Nova Scotia; the Van Houten children, to Sussex County, N. J.

2. Henry, m. (1) Catrina Doremus. (2) Sarah Doremus.

3. Cornelius, b. June 18, 1762; d. May 3, 1840; m. (1) Christina Demarest, April 13, 1783; b. February 28, 1762; d. February 20, 1822. (2) Ann Concklin, widow, formerly Ann Bell, December 18, 1822; b. May 5, 1766.

4. Nicholas, b. July 25, 1780; d. January 2, 1856; m. Hester Johnson, who died May 22, 1859, aged 73. She was the daughter of John Johnson and Mary Cooper.

5. Annie, m. (1) John Vader. (2) David Hennion.

6. Catharine, m. Tunis Hennion, known as "Big Tune Hennion."

7. Elizabeth, m. Edward Jones, who lived on the Black Oak Ridge Road.

8. Mary, m. Garret Haulenbeck, M. D., who is buried at Pompton.

9. Leah, b. February 5, 1777, d. November 21, 1851.

Cornelius Kipp, b. June 18, 1762, had by his first wife, five children:

1. John, b. May 26, 1788; d. March 11, 1842; m. Jane Van Winkle December 22, 1811.

On February 2, 1653, Stuyvesant inaugurated the municipal system in New Amsterdam by the appointment of Arendt van Hatten and Martin Krigier as burgomasters, Paulus Leendertsen van der Grist, Maximilian van Gheel, Allard Anthony, William Beeckman, and Peter Wolfertsen van Couwenhoven as schepens; while the Director's prime favorite, Cornelius van Tienhoven was to add to his duties of provincial schout or sheriff those of the town as well, and Jacob Kip was made city clerk. Of the burgomasters, van Hatten was a wealthy trader and Krigier the captain of the burgher guard and the proprietor of a tavern opposite the Bowling Green. Of the schepens, Van der Grist, a retired sea captain who had a fine house on Broadway below the present site of Trinity Church, plied the vocation of grocer and haberdasher, and van Couwenhoven was a tobacco planter. Beeckman, whose name is perpetuated by William and Beekman Streets, was a tanner, and owned besides several farms, one of which lay in the neighborhood of a swamp now traversed by Beekman Street. Tenanted as of yore by tanners, the section is still called the "Swamp." Anthony was the agent of a large firm in Holland, and kept a store in the "ecclesiastical barn" formerly erected by Director General van Twiller. Here he carried on a retail as well as a wholesale business, for it is said that on a certain occasion he sold a hanger to Jan van Cleef "for as much as Anthony's fowls could eat in six months." Jacob Kip tilled a farm of 150 acres fronting on the East River at Kip's Bay, at the foot of the present 34th Street.

The burgomasters and schepens announced that they would hold their regular sessions every Monday at nine in the building hitherto known as the Town Tavern, but henceforth to be named the "Stadthuys" or town hall, at Coenties Slip. After the meeting had been opened by prayer, the magistrates proceeded to civic business. Record books were formally begun, and fines were imposed upon delinquent members: six stivers for tardiness of a half hour, twelve for tardiness of an hour, and forty for total absence. The burgomasters and schepens received no compensation other than the distinguished consideration of the community. A pew of honor having been set apart for them, every Sunday morning, preceded by that versatile functionary the bell-ringer, court messenger, grave-digger, chorister, and janitor of the town hall, who bore in addition to his other burdens the magisterial cushions of state, the city fathers assembled at the town hall and, with Director General Stuyvesant at their head, marched

Thus matters stood until the Revolution. The country was parceled out among great proprietors. We can trace them from the city of "New Amsterdam" to the northern part of the State. In what is now the thickly-populated city were the lands of the Stuyvesants, originally the Bowerie of the old Governor. Next above was the grant to the Kip family, called "Kip's Bay," made in 1638. In the center of the island were the possessions of the De Lanceys. Opposite, on Long Island, was the grant to the Laurence family. We cross over Harlaem River and reach "Morrissanea," given to the Morris family. Beyond this, on the East River, was "De Lancey's Farm," another grant to that powerful family; while on the Hudson, to the west, was the lower Van Courtlandt manor, and the Phillipse manor. Above, at Peekskill, was the upper manor of the Van Courtlandts. Then came the manor of Livingston. then the Beekmans, then the manor of Kipsburgh, purchased by the Kip family from the Indians, in 1686, and made a royal grant by Governor Dongan, two years afterward. Still higher up was the Van Rensselaer manor, twenty-four miles by forty-eight; and, above that, the possessions of the Schuylers. Further west, on the Mohawk, were the broad lands of Sir William Johnson, created a baronet for his services in the old French and Indian wars, who lived in a rude magnificence at Johnson Hall. All this was sacrificed by his son, Sir John, for the sake of loyalty, when he took up arms for the King and was driven into Canada. The title, however, is still held by his grandson, and stands recorded in the baronetage of England.