Notes for: Adriaentje (Jantien) Jansen / Johnson
Her name was spelled many ways: Annatt (witness at a baptism on August 6, 1732), Areyaente, Areyante, etc.
The two paragraphs below were rewritten from an article in the Sebring Newsletter of May or July, 1989:
In an article in the Somerset County Genealogical Quarterly on December, 1985 titled "Bodine Wives" (on pages 236-237), the editor, Mr. Sisser, said that he was not able to identify Arriaentje's maiden name through the baptisms of her children by Abraham Bodine. Of their nine known baptisms, there were no witnesses at any of these. However, of the several times when Abraham and Arriaentje sponsored others, he noted that one was especially interesting. This was due to the unique male first name of Ouke. On November 22, 1724, "Abraham Bodyn and wife, Arriaentje" witnessed the baptism of "Oucke." He was the son of Jan Aersen. Interestingly enough, Abraham and Arriaentje named one of their sons by this unusual name. Since it was very prevalent that the Dutch had their relatives stand as witnesses at these baptisms and that they named their children after family members, the editor assumed it would be sage to consider that Ouke came from Arriaentje's family (this was not a Bodine name) and that Jan Aersen was in some way related to Arriaentje (not being related on the Bodine side).
Jan Aerensen/Aersen was married, about 1720, to Barbara Jansen, the daughter of Ouke/Auke Jansen. Auke Jansen, whose family ultimately took the surname Van Nuys, was the son of Jan Aukeszen and Barbara Provoost. They had married in 1673. Auke was the first son, born around 1674. He married about 1699 to Catharine. Her surname, by looking at the naming of their children and the witnesses to their children's baptisms, can easily be identified as Sebring. Catharine Sebring was born about 1678, the daughter of Jan Roelofsen and Ariaentje (Polhemus) Sebring. This Catharine Sebring is the one who married Auke Jansen. The first daughter was Arriaentje Jansen, named for her maternal grandmother. This Arriaentje married Abraham Bodine.
Now it looks like Adriantje may not be the daughter of Auke and Catherine Jansen. Dick Johnson has looked at this issue pretty closely. He said the following:
In your notes on Abraham Bodine you quote the Sebring Newsletter to the effect that the Adriantje Jansen who married Abraham is the daughter of Auke Jansen and Catherine Sebring. Also quoted is part of note [95] JANSEN JOHNSON which appeared in the Somerset County Historical Quarterly Vol. IV by WMJ ( Hackensack) which reports that Adeiantje Jansen is the daughter of Andres Jansen and lists the children of that marriage as Andrew, Martha, Maria, Adriadne (or Adriantje), Henry 1st, Mindred, Hannah, Dinah and Henry 2nd. This Andres Jansen lived in Middletown, Monmouth Co., NJ and his wife was Hannah Coerten a daughter of Mindert Coerten and Maria Pieters. He also had a son Coert who was mentioned in his grandfather Mindert Coerten's will. The descent of this Adriantje Jansen seems clear and the list of her siblings confirms the connection to Mindert Coerten. The real question, of course, is she the Adriantje Jansen who married Abraham Bodine? WMJ (Hackensack) seems certain that this is the correct connection but I don't know on what evidence. Do you have access to the Sebring information that suggests, or prooves, that Adrianje's parents were Auke Jansen and Catherine Sebring? I will appreciate any help you can give me on this problem.
And Dick later wrote this:
In looking through the Sebring Collections and the Van Nuys Genealogy I find neither of these references identify Adriantje's parents. The Van Nuys Genealogy does not list Adriantje as one of the daughters of Auke Janse Van Nuys and Catherine Sebring. I think Sisser made a reasonable stab at her identity but maybe I can run down something more If I can find out additional information of the WMJ (Hackensack) lead.
From: Renee Dauven [promine at web-ster.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Subject: John (Jaentien) Bodine
Hi Dave,
I don't know if this will help you or make things worse. I am not a Bodine researcher but I have been studying the Raritan Dutch Reformed Church baptismal records a good deal lately.
I noticed that on both of the following pages:
Isaac Bodine & Jannetje Maurits
Jacob Bodine and Elizabeth Sebring
you list a John (Jaentien) Bodine for both families. In the Raritan records, Jaentien is always a female name, not a male name. It appears to be a nickname for Ariaentje (with many spelling variations). Ariaentje in turn has been erroneously equated with Adrianetje (also with many spelling variations). It is the name of Elizabeth Sebring's mother.
This is the baptismal record from the Raritan Church for the daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Bodine:
Bodien, Jacob and wife--Jaentien. Witnesses: Ouke Jansen and wife
The witness is Ouke Jansen and his wife, Catryntje Sebring. Catrynte is the sister of Elizabeth. Ouke (Auke) and his wife also named a daughter Ariaentje. Here is her baptismal record:
- Jansen, Ouke and wife--Jaentien. Witnesses: Jacob and Maria Sebrige.
This is the young woman, Arriantje Janse, who will eventually marry Jacob Bodine's younger brother, Abraham Bodine.
I don't know what became of either of the Ariaentje(Jantien) daughters at this time but it might help to know that you should be looking for a female rather than a male and that the name may be given as Ariaentje rather than by the nickname Jantien or it may have been Anglized into Adrientje.
Oh...and the Peter Bodine that is often included in the family of Jacob and Elizabeth may not have existed. As far as I have been able to learn, the only evidence for him is from Daniel Sebring's will in which Daniel refers to his "nephews" and his "son-in-law". Just as hislanguage in the case of "son-in-law" actually refers to his step-son, Peter Bodine, I think that his language of "nephew" may actually include the category of "grand-nephew". Thus the Peter Bodine who is called a nephew is actually a grand-nephew, the son of Abraham Bodine and Ariaentje Janse. Abraham and Ariaentje can be proven to have had a son named Peter and Ariaentje was a daughter of Daniel's sister, Catryntje. Ariaentje was a niece to Daniel and any of her children would have been his grand-nephew.
Renee L. Dauven
***
-----Original Message-----
From: Renee Dauven [promine at web-ster.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 18, 2008
Subject: Re: John (Jaentien) Bodine
I'm probably not the best person to ask about the history of the church because it is a bit foggy to me too but as I understand it, the Raritan church was never actually in the village of Raritan, being built in the country, probably to be more central to several villages in the area. The land where the church was eventually was incorporated into the town of Somerville so sometimes you will see it listed as "Raritan (Somerville)". The Raritan church is also called the First Reformed Church and that may be the modern name. Three-Mile eventually becomes New Brunswick but I'm not certain if it was a similar boundary change situation or if it was because a larger congregation absorbed a smaller one or just a simple name change. I don't know if Six Mile was included in that or not.
While the Raritan, Reading and New Brunswick records are separate, individual sources, individuals from one area or the other may also appear in another set of records. While this may reflect a move, it can often be because one church or the other didn't have a minister at the time or the individual didn't like the current minister at one place and thus went to another. And sometimes, it might be because the minister was serving more than one congregation and might not have been 100% scrupulous about which book he recorded his information in. :) In any case, within the records there is no way to tell what area the individual actually lived in.
I can't help you much with the Bodines but I may be able to help you with Abraham Bodine's wife, Ariaentje Janse. Her father's name was Auke Janse. Auke is a nickname that has become a name in its own right, much like today Molly is considered a separate name from Mary and Nancy is separate from Anne. The closest equivalent to Auke in English is "Auggie", both being short for Augustine.
I have started but not finished a search of the Readington records to develop a family for Andries Janse but have not found any evidence that she belongs to that family.
Part of the problem is the name, Ariaentje. From what I have learned it is a Dutch name derived from the Greek, Ariadne. English had no equivalent name derived from the same source. English did have a male, Adrien, derived from Latin and then English borrowed the French feminized Adrienne for the female name. Dutch also had the male Latin derived name of Adrien but I'm not sure if they had a feminized version. English appears to have forced a false equivalence on the Dutch name Ariantje and turned it into Adriantje.
In the first 45 years of the Raritan records, the female "Adriantje" is used only once. The rest of the time the name is spelled either Ariaentje, Are Jaentien, or Jantien (with interesting variations). The Readington records seem to be more of a mix, although I haven't done a statistical count. Ariaentje does occur in those records but Adriantje seems to predominate.
Thus when our Ariantje makes her first public appearance at a baptism with her uncle, Jacob Sebring, it is in Readington and her name is written as Adriantje.
1722. Dec. 16. Claesen, Johannes & Elizabeth--Elizabeth. Witnesses: Jacob Sebring & Adriaentje Jansen
and again 20+ years later when she and Abraham baptize one of their own children in Readington:
1744. June 10. Bodyn, Abraham & Adriaentje Janse--Maria.
From her baptismal record in 1704 at the Raritan Church:
1704. Apr. 20. Jansen, Ouke and wife--Jaentien. Witnesses: Jacob and Maria Sebrige
to the last appearance in 1741, her name is almost consistently Arientje, with only few hiccups such as "Annatt", which could be a transcription error.
So...the short of it is, her name was Ariaentje Janse, and everything that I have makes her a daughter of Catryntje Sebring and Auke Janse. Fred Sisser was right. :)
Perhaps you can answer a question for me. At one baptism in Raritan, Abraham Bodine appears to use the surname "Layn":
"1730 Dec. 6. Layn, Abraham and Ariaentie--Jan."
Since Abraham Bodine and Ariaentje Janse were the only couple with those first names having children baptized at Raritan at the time, I have included it as being them. But I don't know what the significance of the name might be. Do you have any ideas?
Renee
The following came from Donna Tunison:
SCHQ 1915 p. 79
Jansen-Johnson.—"I have before me the July number of the Quarterly, which contains the 'Lane Families of Somerset County and Vicinity,' in which reference is made, on p. 213, to 'Covert' or 'Coart' Jansen (Johnson). Family records all speak of 'Coert' or 'Coart' Johnson, not 'Covert.' I believe the name is sometimes written 'Coetta' and 'Kort' The children of Andres (or Andrew) Jansen were: Andrew, Martha, Maria, Adriadne (or Adriantje), Henry 1st, Mindred, Hannah, Abraham, Dinah and Henry 2d. Henry was my great-grandfather, not great-great-grandfather as you have it. He was also the greatgrandfather of Governor John W. Griggs; also of Joseph Coult. I have a pretty complete list of his descendants, several
hundred in all. Adriadne (or Adriantje), married Abraham Bodine, whose daughter married John Thomson, the ancestor of the late Rev. Dr. John Bodine Thompson." W. M. J. (Hackensack).