Dutrieu Coat of Arms
"Do Right and Fear Nothing"
Dutrieu Coat of Arms "Do Right and Fear Nothing" |
The Du Trieux family were Walloons, people of Celtic stock in northeast France (present day Belgium), French speaking, who became Protestants in large numbers at the Reformation. This small area of Europe, which at the time was under Spanish rule, was marked by bloodshed, repression and wide-spread loss of life.
Many of the Du Trieux family fled. Some found sanctuary in England and a large family group went, in exile, to the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, which had recently declared its independence from Spain, the Du Trieuxes and other Walloon families settled in Leiden and Amsterdam. As skilled artisans, these Walloons found employment, assistance, civil and religious freedoms. Among these was Philippe Du Trieux, born ca. 1586 at Roubaix in what is now France.
By 1614, Philippe Du Trieux was a skilled craftsman in Amsterdam, serving as a dyer. In 1615, in the Walloon Church of old Amsterdam, he married Jacquemine Noiret, a fellow Huguenot, from Lille, France. In 1620, Jacquemine died, leaving Philippe with three small children [Marie, Philippe Jr., and Madeline, who died in infancy--mjt]. Philippe, in 1621, married Susanna Du Chesne, a Huguenot from Sedan, France. To them was born a son, Gerome, in the fall of 1623 [Gerome died prior to Philippe�s emigration in 1624--mjt].
In the meantime, the West India Company was being established to develop international commerce and to serve as a military arm of the Netherlands. A brisk fur trade had developed in the Hudson Valley region of America, and in 1623 the West India Company made the decision to occupy the land between the Delaware Valley and the Connecticut River with permanent settlers.
Philippe and his fellow Walloons had long been seeking the means to settle either in North or South America. His family, along with 29 other families largely of Walloon identification, entered into a contract with the West India Company to relocate to America.
Philippe and his family
[wife Susanna and
children Marie and Philippe Jr.--mjt] departed the Netherlands at the beginning
of April 1624 on the ship "New Netherland" and arrived at present
day New York in mid-May. He and his fellow emigrants came as
free men and were granted freedom of conscience in all religious
matters.
Upon the purchase of Manhattan Island in 1626, all Dutch and Walloon settlers were gathered from their original 1624 settlement points and brought to Manhattan. There, Philippe and Susanna�s family continued to expand [four daughters and three sons, all of whom had children--mjt]. He became an employee of the West India Company and served until his death as the court messenger or marshal. He owned a home on Beaver Street, near the Fort, which he sold in 1643, having acquired a sizable farm along the East River in 1640.
This first landholding on American soil today is the site of many Commercial ventures, the most famed of which is the Fulton Fish Market. The land is located near the southern tip of Manhattan. It is on the shore precisely south of the Brooklyn Bridge.
If you visit the site, be sure to spend time at nearby Battery Park. There rests a beautiful monument erected in 1924 to honor the emigrants of the ship "New Netherlands. Donated by the people of the province of Hainaut in Belgium, the tercentennial observance was supported by the leadership of four nations: Belgium, the Netherlands, France and the United States.
Emigrant Philippe Du Trieux is much of record under the Dutch on early Manhattan Island, as are some of his children and his sons-in-law. [There are many records of Philippe's various legal activities--see Philippe's Legal Activities--mjt.] Philippe and his eldest son, Philippe Jr., were killed in 1652.
Jennifer's Genealogy Page