THE JANSEN VAN SALEE AND EMANS FAMILIES: This tale would probably make a great series for cable TV. It is a doozy!
Jan Jansen Van Haarlem was known as Murat Rais, The Admiral of the Barbary Coast Pirate Fleet. The career of Jan Jansen Van Haarlem is fascinating.
Jan's origins were typical of his time. He was born are reared in Haarlem in the Netherlands. He married and fathered a daughter, Lysbeth, and most likely two or three other children. [According to the Shoemaker Genealogy site the other children may have been two sons named Symon and Hendrick and a second daughter.] The young man eventually abandoned his Dutch family. Jan chose the life of a merchant seaman, and the adventure began!
He would be known by many names over the next four decades: Captain John, John Barber, Little John Ward, Caid Moroto, Morat, Morat Rais, Murad, Murad Reis, Mutare Reis, Morato Reis, and Murat Reis.
About 1600, Jan sailed into the port of Cartagena, Spain. Here he met and married a Mudejar Muslim woman named Margrietje. It is believed she was employed by a Christian Spanish noble. The Mudejares were Muslims who helped the Spanish defeat the Moors in 1492 and remained in the employ of the Spanish nobles. Jan started a second family in Spain - four sons, one of whom was Anthony van Salee.
In 1605 Jan sailed from La Rochelle with letters of marque to capture Spanish pirates from Duinkerken [Dunkirk] on the coast of France. Duinkerken was a base of operation for Spanish privateers. [A letter of marque was authority given to private persons to fit out an armed ship and use it to attack, capture, and plunder enemy merchant ships in time of war.]
The Mudejares and Moriscos [Christian Moors] were expelled from Spain in 1610. Jan Jansen probably moved his family to Salee, Morocco. This was the place of settlement for most of the refugees.
In 1618 Jan Jansen was captured by corsairs at Lancerote in the Canary Islands and taken to Algiers, Algeria. Jan joined the corsairs and sailed with Van Veenboer [Sulayman Rais.] Van Veenboer "quit to shore" that same year and Jan became captain [Rais] of his ship. When attacking Spanish ships, Jan flew a Dutch flag; otherwise he flew the red half moon of the Turks.
Algiers made peace with some of the European nations in 1619. This forced Jan to set up his base in Salee. Salee declared itself a semi-independent pirate republic and became the home base of the "Sally Rovers." Jan was elected Admiral of the corsair fleet and president of the city. He had about seventeen fast corsairs built for his fleet.
Jan converted to Islam in 1622 and becomes a renegado [a European who joined the Turks.] In November, he sailed into the port of Veere, Zeeland, under a Moroccan flag and claimed diplomatic immunity. There Jan was reunited with his Dutch family. His wife and children tried to persuade him to return home. [It is likely that he had been supporting his first family, even after abandoning them.] Several Dutch seamen, in opposition to the government, joined Jan's crew and he returned to sea, attacking several French ships.
About 1623 Sultan Moulay Ziden laid siege to Salee. Unable to capture the city, the sultan appointed Jan Governor of Salee. The next year Jan married one of the sultan's daughters to cement their friendship. [Although this was Jan's third marriage, only two were recognized by Islam. The first marriage to a Christian woman did not count. There may have been children from the marriage to the Sultan's daughter.]
Jan captured a Spanish ship in 1626 and sold it in Veere, Zeeland. The next year he set up his base of operations in Algiers. He led a raid on Reykjavik, Iceland and returned to Algiers with booty and 400 captives to sell as slaves.
Jan sent two of his sons, Abraham and Anthony, to Amsterdam, Noord Holland, The Netherlands to escape a 1629 famine in Morocco. Anthony left Amsterdam for New Amsterdam, New Netherland and married Grietje Reyniers on board ship.
Jan Jansen led the sack of Baltimore, Cork, Ireland in 1631 and returned with booty and 108 captives to sell as slaves. He participated in a truce between Sultan el Walid and Louis XIII in 1635. Jan was captured by the Maltese Knights that same year. He escaped from the Maltese Knights five years later. Jansen was appointed Governor of Oualidia in southern Morocco upon his return home.
Jan was appointed Governor of the Castle of Maladia on the west coast of Morocco and was visited by daughter Lysbeth and her husband in 1641. This was the last year of record for Murat Rais. Following his death, the old privateer was buried in an unmarked grave, according to Muslim custom.
Anthony Jansen Van Salee, son of Murat Rais, was Of Dutch origin. Young Anthony joined his father in career and religion, Islam. He would return to Europe as a sea captain for Spain and venture to America. He and his wife would be outcast for their reputations and his faith, only to return and become pioneers at Gravesend.
There has been some question as to Anthony Jansen van Salee's heritage. Some sources report that he was a mulatto, others that his mother was Jan's first wife. If the account presented here, that Jan abandoned his first family and started a second in Spain with a Moorish woman is correct, then Anthony was indeed of mixed blood. [Were his bloodlines Dutch - Arabic or Dutch - Moorish?] Anthony listed himself as a seaman from Cartagena. Had he listed his home as Fez or Salee in Morocco, he would be advertising his connection with his father's pirate fleet. Whether Anthony was using his birthplace or covering his tracks is up to the reader to decide.
Anthony Jansen was born in Cartagena, Spain about 1607. His father had been a merchant seaman from Haarlem, The Netherlands. Cartagena was one of his ports of call. Here Jan Jansen met and married a Moorish woman and had four sons by her. Jan had left behind a family in Haarlem, a wife and at least a daughter, possibly other children. By the time Anthony had reached adulthood, his father had been captured by Moroccan pirates, converted to Islam, and had become the Admiral of the Sultan's fleet based in the North African town of Salee. Throughout the region Jan Jansen van Haarlem was known at Murat Rais. Anthony became a "seaman" and served in his father's fleet.
When a famine struck Morocco in 1629, Anthony and his elder brother, Abraham, were sent to safety in the Netherlands. Anthony continued his career as a seaman, listing his home as Cartagena, Spain. Anthony decided to try his luck in New Amsterdam and sailed for the Dutch colonial city in 1629.
According to the records of the Gemeente-Archief in Amsterdam Anthony married widow Grietje Reyniers of Wesel, Germany on 15 December 1629. Grietje was 27 and Anthony was 22. They were married on board ship enroute to New Netherlands. The shipboard marriage was probably more convenient for the couple due to Anthony being a Muslim. It would be an interesting marriage.
At the age of 24, Grietje had married 20 year-old Aelbert Egberts, a tailor from Haarlem, on 26 September 1626. Aelbert died before Grietje set sail for America.
In Amsterdam, Grietje had been discharged from her job as a waiting girl in Pieter de Winter's tavern for improper conduct. Anthony had been a pirate, a profession not regarded with favor by the Dutch, even though the sultan's ships were built and outfitted in The Netherlands.
The couple arrived in New Amsterdam in 1630. Anthony became an excellent and prosperous farmer. His troubles started in 1638, when Anthony and Grietje refused to pay their share of the Rev. Bogardus' salary and called the reverend and his wife liars. The Jansens were forced to apologize and pay their share of Bogardus' salary.
Jansen was sued for debt by Bogardus on 3 June and Hendrick Jansen sued Anthony for slander on the same date. On 30 September Anthony sued Bogardus for debt. An alleged report concerning Grietje questioning the father of her third daughter came about on October 6th. When told that the child was dark-skinned, Grietje was satisfied that Anthony was the father. [This story has recently been brought into question due to Anthony's Muslim upbringing and that faith's views on infidelity.] Throughout the rest of the year, Anthony was charged slander, bound to keep the peace and fined, and sued for the loss of a hog.
Grietje's previous dismissal from de Winter's tavern came to light on 21 March 1639. On the 30th she was charged with intoxication following a quarrel. Anthony charged Hendrick Jansen with calling him a rogue and a horned beast. Two people made declarations against Anthony concerning the death of his dog, which appeared to have been offered as a sacrifice. On 7 April the Jansens were charged with being "public disturbers of the peace."
They were then "banished forever" from New Amsterdam on 17 April, 1639. Instead of leaving the colony, the couple went briefly into hiding. Anthony sold his New Amsterdam holdings on 7 May. On 3 August Anthony was granted 100 morgens [200 acres] on Long Island that was to become the sites for Gravesend and New Utrecht, across from Coney Island on Gravesend Bay.* The purchase was confirmed 19 May 1643. Jansen was sued by Andries Hudde on 4 August and 27 October 1639, then lent Hudde three goats on 14 February 1640.
There were numerous other court cases in the years that followed..
In December of 1653, Thomas Southard, Anthony's son-in-law, brought suit against him. The action involved Annica's dowery and some cattle. Southard had Anthony imprisoned, but the governor and his council ordered an immediate release. David Prevost and Hendrick Kip, along with a third party were to decide the case at Anthony's request, to "avoid a tedious suit between father and son." The outcome is unknown, but the Southards moved to Hempsted and the Jansens remained in Gravesend.
Anthony was involved in several real estate transactions in New Amsterdam after his banishment. He bought and sold several lots and may have returned to New Amsterdam after renting his Long Island farm to Edmund Adley. Among his Long Island holdings were his farm [lot # 29] in Gravesend and land he bought from the Indians on 26 September 1651.
There were also long and quarrelsome disputes between Jansen and others involving the boundaries of Gravesend and New Utrecht.
Anthony must have converted to, or at least followed, Christian beliefs; for in a document dated April 1660, Jansen, Jan Emans [his eventual son-in-law], Nicholas Stillwell, and others complained that "the town had a licentious mode of living, and that desecration of the Sabbath and confusion of religious opinion prevailed. As a result, many had grown cold in the practice of Christian virtues." They requested that a pastor be sent to them. [A descendant of Anthony Jansen later sold a beautiful copy of the "Koran"[in Arabic], which was supposed to have belonged to the immigrant.]
Grietje died in 1666 and Anthony remarried in 1670 to Metje Gravenraet. All four of Anthony's daughters were by Grietje.
In May 1674 Anthony was charged with harboring a Quaker and fined 600 beaver pelts. His second wife claimed that she had let the Quaker stay overnight believing that the local authorities had granted permission. The fine was reduced to one pelt.
Anthony's brother Abraham is mentioned in 1643. He, brother Phillip Jansen, and Jan Jansen were partners in the privateer vessel, "Seven Stars" which landed at Jansen's Long Island farm. According to witnesses, the crew took 200 pumpkins. Abraham and Philip declared that there was only a small lot of pumpkins, cabbage and fowl.
Abraham fathered a child by a Negress and left them property, although he never married the child's mother. Abraham died in April 1659 at the home of Catalyntje Rapaljie, wife of Joris. Abraham van Salee was referred to as "Turk" and as "alias the mulatto" in 1658 when he was charged with not contributing to the support of Reverend Polhemus. He claimed to not understand Dutch.
Abraham, Philip and Jan Jansen were part owners in the privateer, "La Garce" in 1643-44. A Jan Jansen Van Ryn owned lot # 27 in Gravesend and Anthony owned lot # 29. In 1659, Jan Jansen purchased lots # 9 and # 10 for his son, Abraham and in February 1660, bought lot # 18 for his brother, Cornelius.
Anthony died sometime during 1676. His widow had produced an inventory and prenuptial agreement [stating that the "longer lived" was to retain full possession of the estate]. On 26 September of that year, Anthony's daughters and their husbands petitioned for their share of the estate and claimed the inventory to be incorrect. Apparently the petition was disallowed, as widow Maetje was granted letters of administration by Governor Andros on 25 March 1677.
The "life and legend" of Anthony Jansen van Salee had come to an end.
Sarah Jansen, third daughter of Anthony and Grietje, married Jan Emans. He was
likely the son of John Eman, a London goldsmith who arrived at James City, Virginia aboard the Bonny Bess on 24 September 1624. Eman was a notary public in York Co., Virginia in 1645. Young John was probably born about 1625 in James City.
It would appear that Jan Emans migrated to New Netherland with Lt. Nicholas Stillwell, possibly as one of his soldiers. Stillwell and Emans appear to have been close acquaintances. Stillwell arrived on Manhattan Island in 1639, but returned to Virginia where he was conscripted to fight Indians on 3 December 1644. Lt. Stillwell and some of his soldiers went to New Netherland afterwards. Emans may well have been among those soldiers. Stillwell was a noted citizen of Manhattan, Gravesend and Staten Island.
Jan Emans was one of the 39 petitioners for a grant of land for the village of Gravesend on Long Island, which was granted by patent 19 December 1645. Gravesend was recorded as a town in 1688. Emans was listed as a freeholder in 1656. On 12 April 1660, along with his brother-in-law, J. Kim, he signed an application for the appointment of clergymen for villages in Kings Co. Emans was a juror in 1677, a constable in 1678, Deputy Mayor of Gravesend in 1679, and clerk of courts from 1698-1702. In 1696 he was witness to a document and signed his name as "John Eman, Sr." John Emans, Sr. was listed on the 1698 Census roll as being of English extraction. According to the family genealogy, Jan Emans was a master cooper.
Jan Emans was married twice. The first, about 1660, was to Sarah Jansen. At least five and most likely seven children were born to Jan and Sarah: John, Jr., Andries, Abraham, Jacobus, Sarah, and probably Anthony and Hendrick.* [The latter two would have died prior to 1699.] Jan married for the second time about 1680 to a young woman named Engeltie. They had a daughter, Cornelia.
Jan's will was dated 7 August 1714 and proved 11 October 1715. This would probably place his death sometime in September of 1715.
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