RIKER, Mary

Notes:

John Riker, son of Abraham, married Geertie, daughter of Teunis Wiltsee of Newtown, and after living some years at the latter village removed, in 1744, to Closter, then Rockland County, New York and now Bergen County, New Jersey where he had bought a farm. The next year he erected a house on the spot where his grandson, Jacob Riker, later resided. Mr. Riker and his partner were members of the Dutch church, and they yet live in the memory of their descendants as devout Christians. He survived his partner two years, and died in 1783, at over 90. He left issue:
1. Abraham,
2. John,
3. Gerardus,
4. Deborah, married Daniel Martine,
5. Margaret, married Cor. Blauvelt ,
6. Mary, married John Bell,
7. Elizabeth, married Abm. Blauvelt, and
8. Catherine, married John Lawrence and John Ryder.
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John, born Oct. 25, 1736, served both in the French War and as a patriot in the Revolution. At the age of fifty he married Margaret Blauvelt. He owned the paternal farm, was a kind and worthy gentleman, and died Oct. 6, 1828, at 92. His children were Jacob and Gertrude, twins and Abraham. Gertrude married Michael Hines. Abraham married Grace Gracie. Jacob, born Aug. 19, 1786, married Leah, daughter of Martin Paulas, and resides on the ancestral estate at Closter.
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The Will of John Rycken dated June 21, 1765 says it is the "Will of John Riker of Orangetown, New York".

John — WILTSEE, Geertruy. Geertruy (daughter of WILTSIE, Theunis Hendricksen and BARKMAN, Divertje Wilkes) was born 25 Apr 1698, Newtown, Queens County, New York; died 1781, Closter, Bergen County, New Jersey. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Baptized in Flatbush, Newtown, New York, April 25, 1689 and buried in 1781 at Closter, Bergen Co., New Jersey.

Notes:

Baptized December 26, 1655 in New York, New York and buried in PoorBowery, Family Cemetery, N ew York.
Abraham Riker, son of Abraham,1 was born in 1655, in New Amsterdam, andon Jan. 10, 1682, marr ied Grietie, daughter of Jan Gerrits VanBuytenhuysen, of New York, by his intermarriage wit h Tryntie, daughter ofJan Van Luyt, of Holland. He proved to be a man of intelligence, andinh eriting the paternal estate, added considerably to the extent of hislands, his most importan t purchase being that of a third of the Tuderpatent, on Nov. 2, 1688. His estate he settled o n his sons, Abraham andAndrew, Nov. 10, 1733, and having been for a number of years entirelyb lind, he suddenly recovered his sight, and almost immediately expired,Aug. 20, 1746, in his 9 1st year. A rude slab marks his grave in thefamily cemetery at the Poor Bowery. Mrs. Riker di ed Nov. 15, 1732, at 71.Their children were Catharine, Margaret, Mary, Abraham,3 John, Hendri ck,Andrew, and Jacob. Of the daughters, Mary married Hasuelt Van Keuren, ofKingston. Margare t married in succession Peter Braisted, Thomas Lynch,and Anthony Duane, father of the Hon. Ja mes Duane, afterwards mayor ofNew York. She had no children and died Jan. 8, 1775, in her 90t h year. Aninteresting obituary of this lady is contained in Rivington's New YorkGazette, of J an. 12, '75. Jacob, the youngest son, born in 1702, marriedMay 25, 1729, Catherine, daughte r of Rev. Samuel Pumroy, and settled inNew York, where for many years he conducted a bakery i n Beekman Street.When that city became a prey to the enemy in the Revolution, he retired,firs t to Long Island and then to Rhinebeck, where he died in 1778. Hischildren who attained to ad ult years, were Lydia, born 1732, marriedCapt. Isaac Sheldon; Abraham, born 1734, Margaret, b orn 1740, marriedCapt. Abraham Riker; Catharine, born 1742, married successively Capt.Denni s Candy, and Cornelius Bradford; and Elizabeth, who married Capt.George Collins. Abraham, th e only son, pursued his father's occupation,and married Oct. 29, 1757, Sarah, daughter of Hen ry Rousby, a son ofChristopher Rousby by his intermarriage, in 1703, with Sarah, widow ofth e noted Capt. Wm. Kidd. Mr. Riker died respected, during theRevolution. His widow, a lady o f intelligence and exemplary piety, (aswas also her grand-mother, Sarah), died in 1802, at 6 2 years old. Theyleft issue, Sarah, born 1768, married John Walgrove, ornamental painter,an d father of Effingham W. Walgrove, of Dobb's Ferry, New York; Emma born1772, married Willia m Whitehead, Esq., late president of the CommercialBank, of Perth Amboy; and John, born 178 0 who removed to Philadelphia.

Abraham married VAN BUYTENHUYSEN, Greitie 10/10 Jan 1681/1682, Newtown, Queens, New York. Greitie (daughter of VAN BUYTENHUYSEN, Jan Gerrits and VAN LUYT, Tryntie) was born , Newtown, Queens County, New York. [Group Sheet]

Theunis married BARKMAN, Divertje Wilkes 23 Sep 1697, Flatbush, New York. Divertje was born Abt 1674, Long Island, New York; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Abraham Rycken or de Rycke, as his name is indiscriminately written inour early records, wa s the progenitor of the present Riker families inNew York, New Jersey, and other parts of th e Union; his descendants, inthe third generation, having assumed the present mode of spellin g thename. He is presumed to have emigrated in 1638, as he received in thatyear an allotmen t of land from Gov. Kieft, for which he afterwards tookout a patent, dated Aug. 8, 1640. Thi s land was situated at theWallabout, and now either joins, or is included within the farm o f theHon. Jeremiah Johnson. In 1642 Riker is found in New Amsterdam, where hecontinued to liv e many years upon premises of his own, on the HeerenGracht, now Broad-street. He was probabl y engaged in trade, for itappears that in 1656 he made a voyage to the Delaware River for the express purpose of purchasing beaver skins, then a leading article oftraffic. The voyage prov ed an unlucky one, for, as they were ascendingthe Delaware at night, the bark stranded near t he falls of that river.She was unloaded and after some time got afloat, during which operatio nthe passengers abode in tents on shore. Riker visited Fort Casimir, nearthe present New Cast le, and returned, unable to get any peltry. He andhis wife, Grietie, a daughter of Hendrick H armensen, were members of theDutch church, as appears by a list dated 1649, and most of thei r childrenwere baptized in the church within Fort Amsterdam. In 1654 Riker obtaineda grant o f land at the Poor Bowery, to which he subsequently removed,afterwards adding to his domain t he island known as Riker's Island. (Seepages 36, 64, 65.) Having attained to more than thre e score years andten, he died in 1689, leaving his farm by will to his son, Abraham. Hischild ren were Ryck-Abramsen, the eldest, who adopted the name of Lent,(see Lent genealogy); Jacob , born 1640, died in infancy; Jacob, born1643; Hendrick, born 1646, died young; Mary, born 16 49, married Sibout H.Krankheyt, afterwards of the manor of Cortlandt; John, born 1651; Aletta ,born 1653, married Capt. John Harmense, also of the manor of Cortlandt;Abraham,2 born 1655 , and Hendrick, born 1662. The latter also adopted thename of Lent. John married in 1691, Sar ah Schouten, widow of PaulusVanderbeeck, and their son, Abraham, born 1692, settled in Esse x County,N. J., where his descendants are to be found. Jacob united with hisbrother Ryck an d others in buying Ryck's Patent, in Westchester Countybut sold his interest in 1715 to his n ephew, Hercules Lent. He was thenliving at "Upper Yonkers," and is said to have died withou t issue.

SOURCE :
Welch & Allied Families

The European progenitors of the American Rikers were originally Germans,resident at a very re mote period in Lower Saxony, "where they enjoyed astate of allodial independence at that da y regarded as constitutingnobility." The name had various forms, Rycken, de Rycke, de Ryk, Ri ecke,etc. One branch descends from Hans von Rycken, who perished in the FirstCrusade (1096) . The original arms of this branch are described asfollows: "The color of the shield (azure ) is emblematic of theKnighthood, the horns indicate physical strength, the golden stars astr iving for glory, and the white roses are symbols of discretion andfidelity." In 1225 the desc endants of Hans adopted as a new coat of armsthe escutcheon of their fee farm, Barrenhop, sig nifying in Lower Saxon aheap of bears; and hence there were bears' heads in their arms and cr est.The ancestor of another branch was Melchior yon Rycken, a cousin of Hans;and to a patrici an of this line resident in the city of Spire the EmperorLouis V in 1326 presented, for self- acquired honors, a new armorialdevice, the shield bearing crossed spears and a fish. This bra nch isknown as Ricker. Abraham Rycken or de Rycke. It is supposed (see Riker's"Annals of Newt own") that he sprang from a branch of the family which fortwo centuries was prominent and wea lthy in Amsterdam, Holland,subsequently meeting with reverses in consequence of its devotio n to thecause of its country in the gigantic war of independence with Spain.Others of the nam e who emigrated to New Netherland in the first half ofthe seventeenth century were Gysbert, R ynier and Hendrick Rycken; theonly one of these who left descendants being Hendrick, "who wa s theancestor of the Suydam Family, his sons assuming that name." AbrahamRycken in 1638 was g ranted land in the Wallabout by the DutchDirector-General Kieft, for which he took out a pate nt August 8, 1640. In1642 he was a citizen of New Amsterdam, residing there many years on the Heeren Gracht (now Broad Street), and it is supposed was engaged intrade. February 26, 1654 , he received the ground-brief of a farm near theArmen Bouwerie or "Poor Bowery," Long Island (???)a tract owned by thecorporation of the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, and so called beca useit was kept under cultivation by them for the benefit of the poor. August19, 1664, Governo r Stuyvesant, as one of his last official acts,conferred on Abraham Rycken the patent for th e whole of Hewlett's Islandin the Sound(???)an act which was confirmed by the first English G overnorNicolls on the 24th of December, 1667; this island has ever since beenknown as Riker' s Island. He was named as one of the proprietors ofNewtown in the charter granted by Governo r Dongan, November 25, 1685. Hedied in 1689, aged more than seventy years; married Grietie, d aughter ofHendrick Harmensen, who was the first settler of the "Poor Bowery," andthey had nin e children, most of whom were baptized in the old DutchChurch within Fort Amsterdam. The olde st of these was Ryck Abramsen, whotook the name of Lent, becoming the ancestor of the Lent Fa mily. Withanother brother, Jacob, he purchased a tract in Westchester County onwhich the vill age of Peekskill now stands.

Abraham — HARMENSEN, Greitie. [Group Sheet]

Jan — VAN LUYT, Tryntie. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

After his escape from the Jesuits, Hendrick returned to New Amsterdam where he was a sailor for a time and, with his brother Pierre, visited his family in Europe. "They must have been in Copenhagen, because Hendrick's name appears in the public records as 'HENDRICK MARTENSEN VANCOPENHAGEN". He served as a soldier at Fort Orange and Wiltwyck. He went to Quebec as an interpreter for the Mohawk Indians and became a member of their tribe. He married a daughter of their cheif November 20, 1658. They had one son born in 1659 named Robert Richard Wiltsee. Some time later Hendrick left his wife and son with the tribe and returned to New Amsterdam where he met and married Margaret Meyers. She was born at Fort Margaret, the Dutch Colony in Brazil. When her father died, she and her mother moved to Newtown, Long Island.
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HENDRICK MARTENSEN WILTSEE, son of PHILLIPPE and SOPHIA WILTSEE, married Margaret Meyers, widow of Herman Jensen and daughter of Jan Meyers and Teuntjie Straitman January 10th 1660. Margaret Meyers WILTSEE was born in the Dutch colony at Fort Margaret in Brazil and came to New Amsterdam with her mother after her father died in Brail. Margaret died June 26, 1704 at Newtown Long Island, New York. Margaret was Hendrick's second wife. His first wife had been the daughter of an Indian Cheif. They had one son ROBERT. After Margaret's death, Hendrick married his third wife Styntjie Christina Adriance. Hendrick Martensen Wiltsee died in 1712.
The children of HENDRICK MARTENSEN WILTSEE and Margaret Meyers Wiltsee were:
1. Sophia, born Dec. 11, 1661;
2. Jannetje, born January 7, 1663;
3. Barber born March 1,1665;
4. Marten born April 3,1667;
5. Hendrick born November 29, 1669;
6. Meyndert, born February 11, 1672;
7. Theunis born November 29, 1674; and
8. Jacob born March 18, 1676.

Hendrick married MEIJERING, Margrietje 10/10 Jan 1659/1660, Dutch Reformed Church, Newtown, New York. Margrietje (daughter of MEYRINCK, James and STRAITSMAN, Teuntje) was born 1633, Fort Margaret, Brazil; died 26 Jun 1704, Long Island, New York. [Group Sheet]