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This genealogy focuses on the families who migrated to the colony of New Netherland (and its main city, New Amsterdam) in the early and middle 17th century. These are the progenitors of the Van Nice family that lived near the Allens in Putnam County, Indiana in the 1840s and 50s. It was there that Tandy Allen and Joanna Smith Van Nice married in 1856 and immediately moved to Tandy's new homestead in Lucas County, Iowa.
The (more or less) complete story of these Dutch settlers is told in Acceptible Risk: the story of our ancestors in New Netherland, a compilation put together by Philip Allen in 1997. Copies are available for the cost of reproduction - contact him at the address below.
The short version of the story is that during the years after the pilgrims established the Plymouth Colony in Massacheusetts, entrepreneurs in various cities in the Netherlands set about the business of doing the same along the Hudson River. Over a period of several decades, hundreds of individuals and families came to what is now New York harbor and settled either in the village of New Amsterdam (at the southern tip of Manhattan Island) or up the river at Fort Orange (later Albany). Within a few years of the colony's start, people were moving across to Long Island, clearing farms and forming such villages as Breuckelen (Brooklyn), Midwout (later Flatbush), Nieuw Utrecht, and Amersfort (Flatlands). They came for a variety of reasons, most of which are familiar to casual students of American history: economic opportunity, to escape religious persecution, and to keep their sons out of the recurring wars in Europe. Some came directly from Holland, some from France or Germany by way of Holland, and a few by way of settlements in the Caribbean and Brazil. A few have interesting stories, occasioned by personal foibles, daring adventures, or family traumas. Some of these stories are documented here. Acceptible Risk has everything that we've been able to find out so far.
As a "Dutch" colony, New Netherland ceased to exist in 1664 when the British laid claim to the area. Behind this takeover was the fact that English settlers had been coming in increasing numbers and King Charles II was prevailed upon to grant title of the area to his brother James, then Duke of York. When confronted by the British Navy, the Dutch leadership capitulated for lack of an effective military response. With this peaceful, if less than enthusiastic transfer of power, things continued much as that had, except under British authority.
A note on names: The Dutch practice of adopting last names based on place of origin has vastly complicated the business of names. Van Nice is variously rendered as Van Nice, Vannice, Van Nuys, Van Nuyce, and even Nyssen or DeNyse. We have not systematically reconciled these variations in this database, but rather used the name most usually encounter in sources. Also, indexing has been done both with and without the "van". If you don't find a name where you expect to, keep looking!
A note on the structure of this genealogy: Reunion has produced Family Cards and Person Cards. The links below will take you to Family Cards. Clicking on a parent or child of the featured couple will take you to another Family Card. Clicking on either the husband's or wife's name will take you to the Person Card, which often will have additional information on them. To return to the Family Card, click on the link in the page Footer.
