Walloons, the Inquistion and Murdered in an 'Indian Raid' - Visiting our Mainje and Alberti Heritage

A bit of an exciting update today. We've been looking at the Vandergrifts.  Let's take it back a bit further.

(remember, you can click on a picture to see a larger version)

And, specifically, let's look Jan Mainje, his wife Martha Chambert, their daughter Judith and her husband Pietro Caesare Alberti.

I really should do a full post on Pietro (Peter).   Rather than do that today, Let me just let his monument (in Battery Park, Manhattan) tell the quick story:

Today, I want to share just a bit about Jan (AKA John) Mainje (or Magnee depending upon the record) and his wife Martha Chambert.  According to numerous books (including The ancestry of a certain Burtis family), Jan and his wife were Walloons.

Quick time out for a super brief history lesson.  The Walloons (AKA French Huguenots)  were French Protestants (or French Calvinists).


It is believed the Jan and his wife faced persecution during the Spanish Inquisition and they ended up in the Wallabout area of New Amsterdam.  You know the area as Brooklyn.  

In 1643, about 1,500 Native Americans invaded New Netherlands (of which New Amsterdam was the capital).  Many ended up killed including Anne Hutchinson.  Take note of this because at some point, I plan on writing a post about our ancestors who were Anne Hutchinson followers in Massachusetts.  It really was (and still is) a small world!  

Anyhow, a militia was recruited to battle these 'Indians'.  During one of these battles in 1644, Jan Magnee was killed in Stamford, Connecticut 

Eleven years later, Peter (Pietro) and his wife Judith were killed in an early morning surprise attack by, most likely, the same Native American tribes.  It is said that hundreds, if not thousands of 'Indians' landed while most in New Amsterdam were still sleeping.  About a hundred died during the attack.  Peter and Judith's young children did survive but I've found no record as to how they remained safe.  There are court records trying to find them a home.  Martha married fairly quickly after her husband was killed.  Records show that her second husband, Pieter Linde was appointed guardian of the 'grandchildren' but he declined to take them in.