As detailed in
A History of the Schenectady Patent in the Dutch and English Times "The first land settled upon west of Scotia was the Hoek. This farm was taken up by Claas Andriese De Graaf, the first settler. After his death, which took place before 1697, his widow, Elizabeth Brouwer, leased it to Jonathan Stevens and Daniel Mascraft. (
70-3)"
If I am reading the Schnectady Patent correctly, the year of settlement was 1660; Claas would have been about 32 years old.
Claas is believed (in some documentation) to have been the son of
Andries de Graef, who arrived in New Amsterdam (now Manhattan) in 1624 aboard his own boat - the Claas Aaron.
My family - Tom, Hannah, and Darren are
seemingly directly descended from this man; my task is to document this connection.
We visited this land; on it now stands a historic house, the Flint House, which is currently closed to the public. The De Groff men seemed comfortable and happy on their ancestral lands; Darren at one point got quite thoughtful - perhaps sensing the historic flavor of the day or maybe he was just hungry?
Claas Andries lived on this land for 37 more years; after his death his wife rented the land to farmers who maintained it. It is through his son Jesse that I believe my children to continue the De Groff name.
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