Two brothers of the name of Swart were among the early settlers of Schenectady; — Frederic Cornelise, who was proposed by Secretary Ludovicus Cobes in 1676 as one of the magistrates of the village, and Teunis Cornelise from whom all the families of this name in this vicinity are descended.
After the death of the latter about 1680, his wife Elizabeth Lendt or Van der Linde (150-1) married Jacob Meese Vrooman of Albany; he died about 1690, and Oct. 14, 1691 she again married Wouter Uythoff of Albany.
Teunis Swart occupied the lot on the east corner of State and Church streets, 170 feet front on the former and 200 feet on the latter street, until his death; and was succeeded in possession of it by his widow and son Cornelis, who early removing to Ulster county conveyed it in 1692 to his brother-in-law Claes Laurense Van der Volgen, reserving for his brother Esaias Swart a lot of forty feet front on Church street from the north end.
The deed is dated Jan. 4, 1692, conveying the lot of Teunis Cornelise Swart, granted to and in the name of Jacob Meese Vrooman [second husband of Elizabeth, widow of said Swart] by the magistrates of Schenectady, according to deed of date Feb. 7, 1682/3, by Wouter Uythoff [third husband of said Elizabeth] and said Elizabeth to Claas Laurense Van Purmerent [alias Vander Volgen], — "being a corner lot over against the church (te weten de kerk), (150-2) two hundred feet long [on Church street] and one hundred and seventy feet broad [on State street] having des heeren Straeten (150-3) [State and Church streets] on the south and west and to the east Jan Labatie according to deed of date Feb. 7, 1682/3; excepting a piece conveyed to Esaias Swart by deed of July 30, 1681." (150-4)
His farm on the bouwland granted to him by patent Jan. 15, 1667, confirmatory of that given by Gov. Stuyvesant, June 16, 1664, describes it as "a certain parcel of land at Schenectady over the third creek or kil [Poenties kil] marked with number ten, to the east of number nine and number six, to the west of number nine and number eight, to the south the hills and to the north the river south-west and by west, — in breadth 64 rods and containing 48 acres or 24 morgens, 576 rods." (150-5)
This being the middle allotment of the bouwland was a double farm, extending from the river to the sand bluff or hill and was divided nearly into two equal parts by the river road. It was sold by the Swart family about 1692 (except the southernmost eight acres which Jesaias Swart held) (151-1), to Claas Lourense Van Purmerend alias Van der Volgen, Teunis Swart's son-in-law, who conveyed the northerly half lying between the road and the river, to Claas Janse Van Boekhoven. (151-2) The latter dividing this portion comprising eleven morgens, into equal parcels by a line running from the road to the river, in 1693, conveyed the westerly half to Catharine Glen, wife of Gerrit Lansing (151-3); and the easterly half to Dirk Arentse Bratt, his stepson. (151-4) Bratt's portion passed to Wouter Vrooman in 1741 (151-5); and in 1757, Adam, son of Wouter Vrooman conveyed the same to Isaac Vrooman. (151-6)
Teunis Swart also had a pasture on the north side of Front street, consisting of two and a half morgens of land, which was confirmed to him by patent Sept. 10, 1670, — "now in the occupation of Teunis Cornelys jonge pointee, lying the pasture or Weyland, having on the south [East] Gerrit Banckers on the north [west] Barent Janse [Van Ditmars] — in length 92 rods, breadth by the river side 15 rods and by the high way [Front street] 17 rods." (151-7) This lot commencing at or about the New York Central railroad, extended along the street easterly 210 feet Eng., and was conveyed in 1715 to Jan Mebie by Cornelis eldest son of Teunis Swart. (151-8)
Notes
(150-1) Deeds, III, 88, 310; IV, 35.
(150-2) The church which then stood at the junction of Church and State streets was from the beginning used as a watchhouse and continued to be so used nearly one hundred years. ['te blok huys (te weten de kerche) = the block house that is to say the church. — M'M.]
(150-3) [Heeren Straeten = public streets. — M'M]
(150-4) Deeds, IV, 34, 35.
(150-5) Patents, 309.
(151-1) Deeds, III, 310.
(151-2) Deeds, IV, 34, 35.
(151-3) Deeds, IV, 37. Catharina Glen before her marriage with Lansing, was the widow of Cornelis, son of Barent Janse Van Ditmars, former husband of Van Boekhoven's present wife (Mrs. Bratt). This parcel of land probably came to Catharina Glen as part of her inheritance from her first husband.
(151-4) Deeds, IV, 38.
(151-5) Wills, Court of Appeals office.
(151-6) Deeds, VII, 261; wills of Cornelis Vander Volgen, 1735; of Lourense Claase Vander Volgen 1739; and of Wouter Vrooman 1748, in Court of Appeals office.
(151-7) Patents, 754.
(151-8) Toll Papers.