The family name of Bogardus is derived from the Dutch, "boomgard," an orchard; signifying, therefore, one who kept an orchard or possessed one of particular account, being the same as "boomgaerd," of which "bogaerd" is its concentrated form, "boom," tree, and "gaerd," yard. From this original "Boomgaerd" all the family names, such as Bogaert, Bogardus, Bogaart, Bogart, Bogard and Bogaerd have been formed.
(I) Everart Bogaert was born in Woerden, in the province of Utrecht, south of the Zuyder Zee, in the year 1607. At the age of twenty, on the twenty-seventh day of July, 1627, he entered the Leyden University for the study of theology. About the time of his graduation, he Latinized his name, as seemed to be the custom among the young Dutch theologians of that period, and from 1631 until the present day he is known in history and appears in all records as Everardus Bogardus. He was ordained a regular minister of the Dutch Reformed church, January 11, 1632, just five years after he had entered Leyden University. In the minutes of the synod of North Holland, at Alckmar, August 17, 1632, his name appears on the list of ministerial charges of the Classis of Amsterdam, as being sent to New Netherland, and further research reveals the fact that he was commissioned by the "Lords Directors of the Honorable West India Company of the United Provinces of the Netherlands," to minister to the spiritual needs of the colony at New Amsterdam.
He sailed from Amsterdam on the ship "Zoutberg," of twenty guns, with a military escort of one hundred and four soldiers. On this same ship with Dominie Bogardus was Director General Wouter Van Twiller, these two men who held their trust directly from the company and were to be most important personages in the distant colony, were thus conveyed with especial distinction to the province of New Netherland. For nine years after his arrival in the spring of 1633, Dominie Bogardus preached in the little wooden church built for him in New Amsterdam; a few years after, a new and somewhat larger edifice of stone was erected within the enclosure of the fort, and he conducted his services there.
For fourteen years Dominie Everardus Bogardus was a faithful and beloved minister in the colony of New Amsterdam (now New York City), on the island of Manhattan. During this period he carried a heavy burden of responsibility; to this fact the records give ample evidence. He was the most learned man in the community to whom all turned for advice and counsel. With the courage of his convictions he was absolutely fearless in the discharge of his duty. He had been sent to New Amsterdam with the special mission of attending to the spiritual welfare of the colonists, and although he was not the authorized director of provincial affairs, he was forced through stress of circumstances to assume the material care, oftentimes, of the little flock of which he was, in very truth, the good shepherd. Valentine says: "Full justice is yet to be done his memory."
In 1638 Everardus Bogardus married Anneke Jans, the widow of a farmer, Preloff Jansen, by name.
In July, 1647, Dominie Bogardus sailed on the ship "Princess" for Holland, his special object in taking the return voyage to the Netherlands being his desire to report before the Classis of Amsterdam, and also before the representatives of the West India Company, in order that he might vindicate himself regarding certain charges, unjustly made against him, by the jealous and villainous Director General Kieft. Valentine says: "The amount of important business which he was expected to transact, while in the mother country, in behalf of his parishioners, evinced the continued respect and confidence of his people."
The "Princess," however, was fated never to cast anchor in the home port of Amsterdam. In the darkness of a September night, in 1647, the captain had somehow lost his bearings, and in the fury of a gale the little ship was driven on the rocks to her destruction, off the southern coast of Wales, and Everardus Bogardus, together with eighty fellow passengers, perished beneath the waters of Bristol channel.
After the death of her husband, the dominie, Anneke Jans, with her family, returned to Beverwyck (Albany), and there bought a residence on the north side of Yonkers (now State) street, where she died in 1663. Just previous to her death she made her famous will, which provided for the disposal of her estate, both personal and real, which was considerable in amount. It included in the real property, the farm of sixty-two acres — called the "Dominie's Bouwerie," reaching from Broadway to the Hudson river, and from Warren to Christopher streets, in New Amsterdam (now New York City), all of which was afterward claimed by the corporation of Trinity church and became the subject of unending litigation by the heirs of Anneke Jans Bogardus, who have sought to possess the land which they considered their rightful inheritance.
Everardus and Anneke Jans Bogardus had four children, all sons, who afterward became prominent and representative men in the colonies in which they lived:
- Willem, born in New Amsterdam in 1639; married (first) Wyntie Sybrante, in 1657, and had four children, Everardus, Sytie, Annetje and Cornelia. He married (second), in 1674, a Miss Walburga de Sille, and had Everardus, Lucretia, Maria and Blandina.
- Cornelis (1), see forward.
- Jonas, born in New Amsterdam in 1643, died after 1670, unmarried.
- Pieter, born in the brick parsonage of his father, in New Amsterdam, in 1645, died in Kingston, Ulster county, New York, in 1714. He married Wyntie Cornelia Bosch. Children: Evert, Shibboleth, Hannah, Maria, Antony, Rachel, Ephraim and Pietrus.
(II) Cornelis (1), second son of Dominie Everardus and Anneke Jans Bogardus, was born September 9, 1640, in the first parsonage, located on Brugh street, New Amsterdam. He was baptized in the wooden church which had been erected for his father years before. This unpretentious little building, with peaked roof, was situated near the bank of the East river, and on the lot adjoining the garden of the parsonage which is now No. 45 Pearl street. When Cornelis was a small boy of seven, his father having perished at sea, his mother leased the home, and, taking her children and all her household belongings with her, removed to Beverwyck (now Albany), where Cornelis lived with her and his brothers in what was a comfortable home in those days, situated on what was to be the chief street of the capital city, State street. The site of this home is now occupied by the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank. Cornelis (1) Bogardus married, in 1664, Helena Teller, born in 1645, daughter of William and Margaret (Donchesen) Teller. Previous to his marriage, Cornelius Bogardus bought a house from Willem Jansen, for which he paid "85 good, whole, merchantable beaver skins, reckoned at 8 gulders apiece, with which payment the grantor acknowledges he is fully paid and satisfied." This transfer was made on September 11, 1663. He lived to be only twenty-six years old, his demise occurring in Albany in 1666, only two years after his marriage. His widow, Helena (Teller) Bogardus, married (second) Jan Hendrickse Van Ball; she married (third) Francois Rombout. Cornelis (1) and Helena (Teller) Bogardus had one son, Cornelis (2), see forward.
(III) Cornelis (2), son of Cornelis (1) and Helena (Teller) Bogardus, was born in Beverwyck, or Fort Orange (Albany), October 13, 1665. Following his mother's second marriage to Jans Hendrickse Van Ball, little Cornelis (2) went to live with his uncles, Pieter and Jonas Bogardus, who were children of Dominie Everardus and Anneke Jans Bogardus. They were living at the time, in their home, adjoining on the east the residence in which their mother, Anneke Jans Bogardus, had lived during her lifetime, a site occupied in 1910 by the office of the Albany Evening Journal. When, several years later, Pieter Bogardus removed to Kingston, New York, Cornelis (2) accompanied him and there married Rachel De Witt, in 1691. She was a daughter of Tjerck Classen, son of Nicholas and Taatje De Witt, whose home in the Netherlands was in Grootholdt, district of Zunderland, in the southern part of East Friesland. Tjerck Classen De Witt came to America some time previous to the year 1656, and is the ancestor of the De Witt family in the United States. De Witt is one of the few Dutch-American names illustrious in the Fatherland. Grand Pensioner Johannes De Witt administered the government of Holland from 1652 to 1672. He and his brother, Cornelis De Witt, also prominent in civil and military life in the Netherlands, were killed by a mob at The Hague, following years of faithful service to their country. Tjerck Classen De Witt was their kinsman. He was married in the Reformed Dutch Collegiate church in New York city, April 24, 1656, to Barbara Andresson, from Amsterdam, Holland. In the spring of 1657 he removed to Beverwyck (Albany), where he resided until September, 1660, when he exchanged his Albany, or Beverwyck property with Madame De Hutter for land she had in Esopus (Kingston) New York, whither he removed. He was a magistrate of Ulster county in 1689, and held other prominent offices. He died in Kingston, February, 1701. His will, dated March 4, 1687, gave to his daughter, Rachel (De Witt) Bogardus, a twelfth of his whole estate, less one hundred pounds, which amount represented a sum which had been previously donated. A descendant of his, Maria De Witt, married Captain James Clinton, who afterward became a general in the American revolution, and their son, De Witt Clinton, one of the most prominent, energetic and beloved governors of New York state.
Cornelis (2) Bogardus was an owner of a vessel which he employed in the carrying trade along the Hudson river from New York to Albany, and possibly to more distant points along the coast. In 1700 he returned to Albany, his birthplace, remaining there for a few years. He was made a "Freeman" of that city, and became prominent in its affairs. Later on he accompanied Captain Nicholas Evertsen on a raid in the colonial service against a band of French privateers off the coast. This occurred in 1704. He died in the spring of 1718, in Kingston, New York. Children:
- Helena, born April 17, 1692, in Kingston.
- Jennekin, born in New York City, May 13, 1694.
- Barbara, born in Kingston, December 15, 1695.
- Cornelis (3), born in Kingston, January 8, 1699, see forward.
- Rachel, born in Albany, April 27, 1701.
- Catharine, born in Kingston, August 29, 1703.
- Margarita, born in Kingston, September 22, 1705.
- Hendricus, born in Kingston, September 28, 1707.
(IV) Cornelis (3), eldest son of Cornelis (2) and Rachel (De Witt) Bogardus, was born in Kingston, New York, January 8, 1699, died February 12, 1758. He married Catharine Tudor (in Dutch, Toeter), daughter of Captain John Tudor. Shortly after his marriage he removed down the Hudson and settled in Fishkill, Dutchess county, New York, on land situated in the "Rombout Precinct," or Patent, the vast estate of eighty-five thousand acres belonging to his aunt, "Madame Brett" (Catharine Rombout; see Brett family). He had received an unusually fine education for those times, which permitted him to assume a position of prominence in the growing colony on the east shore of the Hudson, and also enabled him to be of great service to Madame Brett, who had become a widow, and possessed of a family of children dependent upon her guidance. It is likely that Madame Brett may have urged him to settle in Fishkill, realizing that he was a man who would be influential in wisely conducting her large affairs in the Precinct, and upon whom she could safely depend. The records testify that he was a surveyor in Fishkill, and it is known that he became a man of property, building a house in the town, where to this day his descendants have continued to possess the land. Children of Cornelis (3) and Catharine (Tudor) Bogardus:
- Mary, born April 12, 1722, in Kingston; married Isaac Vantine.
- Rachel, born April 2, 1724; married Thorn Pudney.
- Cornelis (4), born April 26, 1726; married, January 4, 1753, Margaret Phillips.
- John, baptized December 27, 1728; married Maria Du Bois.
- Hubert, born November 29, 1729; died in infancy.
- Francis, baptized October 10, 1731; married Maria Losee.
- Catharine, baptized June 23, 1736; married John Wilson.
- Helen, baptized May 15, 1737; married Isaac Lawson.
- Lewis, born October 9, 1738; see forward.
- Matthew, baptized September 10, 1740; married Abigail Ferguson.
- Jenneka, born September 6, 1743; married Eli Pearson.
- Humbert, born in 1746.
(V) Lewis, son of Cornelis (3) and Catharine (Tudor) Bogardus, was born near Fishkill village, Dutchess county, New York, October 9, 1738, and was baptized in Fishkill, May 27, 1739. He married Annie Mills, born October 12, 1745. Lewis Bogardus manfully contested for what he truly believed to be his lawful rights against the corporation of Trinity church, as did his brother, Cornelis (4) Bogardus. For many years he occupied a home in New York City, situated in the midst of land now partly covered by St. John's Square. This home, called the "Possession House," was located on a section of the celebrated "Dominie's Bouwerie," and, with the surrounding grounds, was enclosed by a substantial, high picket fence, and claimed by the Bogardus heirs as a part of their rightful inheritance. While Lewis Bogardus remained in this home on Manhattan island, he was not disturbed in his possession; but during his absence, while serving in the war of the American revolution, his wife and children, with all their household belongings, were forcefully evicted from their home by men acting under the authority of Trinity Church corporation. His service in the revolution reflects great credit upon his name. He enlisted early and served until the close of the conflict. He had inherited the fearless temperament of his illustrious ancestor, Dominie Everardus Bogardus, and while defending his country he never hesitated to perform any act requiring especial bravery. He served under Colonel Peter Gansevoort in the Third Regiment of the New York line of the Continental army, also as a member of the Du Bois regiment in the Levies, and again in the Dutchess county militia, a regiment of minutemen under command of Colonel, Jacobus Swartwort. After the close of the revolution, he returned to his country home near Fishkill, where he died January 12, 1808.
Lewis Bogardus and his wife, Annie (Mills) Bogardus, had a large family, and it is known that nine of their eleven children married. Children:
- Peter, born August 1, 1763; married Leah ————.
- Lenoir, born May 2, 1765; married Pasco Knoxen.
- Sarah, born May 8, 1767; married John Burtis.
- Sabina Polly, born June 1, 1769; married John Houghtaling.
- Robert, born May 22, 1771; see forward.
- James, born June 8, 1774; married (first) Martha Spencer; (second) Faith Rollo.
- Susanna, born August 8, 1776; married David Wager.
- Stephen, born March 17, 1781; married Sarah Tripp.
- Catherine, born February 14, 1785; married (first) ———— Nye; (second) Captain Howard; (third) ———— Sims; (fourth) ———— Holman.
- Elizabeth, born May 3, 1787, died June 3, 1790.
- John L., born May 17, 1790.
(VI) General Robert Bogardus, second son of Lewis and Annie (Mills) Bogardus, was born in his father's home in St. John's Park, New York City, May 22, 1771. His early days were passed amid the stirring scenes of the American revolution. The great things happening at that time no doubt had considerable influence upon a youth and went far toward developing an intensely patriotic character. The conversations of his parents, fraught with solicitude for the welfare of the infant republic, kindled in the sensitive nature of this intelligent lad an ardent desire to make a place for himself in the world. Not long after the termination of the war, his parents returned to their country home near Fishkill, and permanently located there. With an ambition born of a high purpose in life, Robert decided to remain in New York, where the best educational opportunities offered. It was there that he completed his studies with a thorough course in law, which profession he followed successfully throughout his life, rising to the highest round of the legal ladder, and becoming one of the most eminent lawyers of his day in the United States. Beginning with his early manhood, Robert was vitally concerned in the welfare and advancement of his native state, and the city of his birth, being one of its foremost and influential citizens for at least fifty years of his life. His name appears on the official city records early in the nineteenth century. He was one of the largest taxpayers as a holder of extensive property on Manhattan Island. His name is found inscribed on the corner-stone of the old City Hall as a member of the common council, who, with other civic officials, on May 26, 1803, celebrated the laying of this stone. He was a member of the convention framing the constitution of the state of New York, and it is said he drafted the document.
General Robert Bogardus had an interesting military career. In November, 1812, he was placed in command of the Third Brigade of the New York militia infantry, succeeding General P. P. Van Zandt, resigned. This command comprised the One Hundred and Forty-second Regiment, under Colonel Mapes; the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth, under Colonel Dodge; the Tenth, under Colonel Anderson; the Fifty-first, under Colonel Van Hook; the Eighty-second, under Colonel Strong, and the One Hundred and Forty-sixth Regiment from Staten Island. In July, 1813, General Bogardus resigned command of the Third Brigade of Infantry to accept the command as colonel of a volunteer regiment which was mustered into service as the Forty-first United States Infantry, under act of July 5, 1813. This was everywhere regarded as the "crack" regiment of New York City. His officers were: Lieutenant-Colonel, J. W. Livingston; captain, Alexander Hamilton; first lieutenant, J. M. Schermerhorn; second lieutenant, Alexander Clinton. When General J. P. Boyd took his departure from New York, Governor Daniel D. Tompkins reappointed Robert Bogardus to act as commander-in-chief of the Third Military District of New York State, and he held this position until the close of the war.
General Bogardus was one of Governor De Witt Clinton's staunchest supporters in the Erie canal project, and naturally aided in bringing it to a successful issue. He was a member of the legislature in 1811, and state senator for five sessions, beginning in 1827. He was in the highest sense "a man among men," throughout his public career, and no less in his own home, where he was a most loving, unselfish, and devoted husband and father. His residence in New York was first in Cherry street, where he resided a great many years, and later at No. 501 Broadway, where he erected the handsome mansion which was his home until his death, September 12, 1841.
General Robert Bogardus married, in New York, in 1792, Maria Sabina Waldron, who was born in 1774, her death occurring in New York City, January 3, 1855. She was the daughter of Oliver and Sarah (Jay) Waldron, both parents having descended from old and representative families of New York City. Children:
- Sarah Jay, born in New York City, January 10, 1794, died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 14, 1860; married, in New York City, December 14, 1814, Commodore Foxhall Alexander Parker, of the United States navy.
- Archibald Robert, born in New York City, 1797, died in 1850.
- Maria Sabina, born in New York City, 1798, died January 23, 1855.
- William Henry, born in New York City, 1805, died in 1850; married, in 1830, Jane E. Robertson.
- Wilhelmena, twin of William Henry, died in infancy.
- Laurentini, born in New York City, September 16, 1806, died in South Norwalk, Connecticut, October 8, 1880; married, March 16, 1831, Arthur Henry Snowden, born June 4, 1802, died September 24, 1893.
- Ethelbert, drowned while yet an infant.
- Alonzo, born in New York City, June 12, 1808, died April 20, 1887; married, May 15, 1834, Emma Livingston, born August, 1817, daughter of Henry and Ann Eliza (Van Ness) Livingston, and a direct descendant of Robert Livingston, first "Lord of the Manor."
- Aspasia, twin of Alonzo, born in New York City, June 12, 1808, died February 11, 1885; married, in New York City, January 26, 1835, John Bayard Snowden, born near Utica, New York, August 4, 1808, died October 22, 1863, in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Washington A. H., see forward.
(VII) Washington A. H. Bogardus, youngest son of General Robert and Maria Sabina (Waldron) Bogardus, was born in New York City, March 7, 1811. His preparatory education was acquired in private schools. He studied law in the office of his father, but despite a natural aptitude for the legal profession, he preferred not to practice it. He married Ruth Fitch, born in Canaan, August 7, 1815, died March 1, 1894, daughter of Caleb Mayhew and Temperance (Davis) Fitch, of Columbia county, New York. Caleb M. Fitch, born July 22, 1779, was the son of Cyperan and Ruth (Rand) Fitch. Following their marriage, May 15, 1834, Washington A. H. Bogardus decided to locate in the town of Mentz, Cayuga county, New York, where he built a handsome residence, which he named "Locust Hill," and they resided there until 1856, when he returned to New York City and purchased a house on Sixty-fifth street, which he made his home until his death, January 12, 1887. Though never actively engaged in business, he devoted much of his time to the affairs of his estate. He always occupied a prominent and influential position in the community in which he lived, and was greatly respected. He had but one child, Robert, born February 21, 1835, see forward.
(VIII) Robert Bogardus, only son of Washington A. H. and Ruth (Fitch) Bogardus, was born in the town of Mentz, Cayuga county, New York, February 21, 1835. Until twelve years of age he received instructions from tutors at his home, but then entered the Red Creek Academy for Boys. Here he remained for several years, when he became a student in the famous Aurora school, and afterwards in the Fort Plain Institute. He was a close student, a great reader, and of an inventive turn of mind, several valuable patents testifying to his inventive genius, notable among which was one for a rotary engine and another for a refrigerator car. Robert Bogardus, during the autumn of 1853, when only about eighteen years of age, succumbed to an illness that nearly cost him his life, and ever after seriously impaired his constitution, so that although a man of unusual attainments, he was always, during the remaining years of his life, compelled to submit to physical limitations. In 1862 he made New York City his home up to within three years of his demise, when he removed to Rome, New York, in which city he died, June 3, 1901.
Robert Bogardus married, September 2, 1856, in Belleville, Jefferson county, New York, Martha Eliza Searles, daughter of James Harvey and Martha Gott (Ransom) Searles.. She was born in Ellisburgh, Jefferson county, New York, April 23, 1837. James Harvey Searles was born in Bennington, Vermont, May 4, 1806, and was the son of James and Abigail (Thurston) Searles. He married, May 4, 1830, Martha Gott Ransom, daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Porter) Ransom. Robert and Martha Eliza (Searles) Bogardus had two children:
- Maria Sabina, see forward.
- Washington A. H. (2), see forward.
(IX) Maria Sabina, only daughter of Robert and Martha Eliza (Searles) Bogardus, was born at the family country seat, "Locust Hill," town of Mentz, Cayuga county, New York, August 31, 1857. When she was five years of age, her parents removed to New York City, where she was educated. She married, November 9, 1881, William James Gray, of Albany, New York (see Gray V). Mrs. Gray is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, having had ten ancestors who served their country faithfully in its struggle for liberty, to whom she traces through direct lines. She is also a member of the Society of Mayflower Descendants, tracing to John Alden, Priscilla Mullines, Thomas Mullines (father of Priscilla) and Thomas Rogers. She has descended on her mother's side from the family of Governor Endicott, of early Massachusetts history, and eight of her ancestors participated in our colonial wars. An inmate of her beautiful home is her widowed mother, Martha Eliza (Searles) Bogardus, now in her seventy-third year, capable yet of life's keenest enjoyment.
(IX) Washington A. H. (2) Bogardus, only son of Robert and Martha Eliza (Searles) Bogardus, was born at "Locust Hill," November 22, 1858, died in Greenwich, Connecticut, November 7, 1902. He was prominent in business circles of New York City at the time of his death, being vice-president and general manager of the Tubular Dispatch Company and also general manager of the New York Mail and Transportation Company. He was a member of the Holland Society of New York, the Knickerbocker Yacht Club, the Indian Harbor Yacht Club of Greenwich, Connecticut, the National Union Club, and the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn, New York. He inherited the sterling qualities and characteristics that distinguished his great-grandfather, General Robert Bogardus. He was a most pleasing and popular speaker and platform orator. He possessed unusual personal magnetism that first attracted, while his fluent speech and happy mode of expression, coupled with endless resource of argument, wit, occasional sarcasm and great good humor, held and delighted his audiences. Having always had a decided preference for the profession of law, he decided in his later years to prepare for a legal career. He completed his studies and was admitted to the New York state bar in 1902, just before his death. His life promised a brilliant future, as he was eminently fitted by birth, education and environment to fill and adorn any position in life the years might have brought him. He married, in Chicago, Illinois, January 12, 1886, Mary Pauline Couch, born in Waterloo, Iowa, December 15, 1864, daughter of George William and Calinda (Hungerford) Couch. Children:
- Pauline Hungerford, born January 16, 1888; educated at Madame Veltine's school, Fifth avenue, New York City, and at St. Timothy's school near Baltimore, Maryland.
- Robert, born August 12, 1894, died October 3, 1894.
- Washington Everardus, born January 1, 1896; he is preparing for college at St. George school, near Newport, Rhode Island, having finished his course at the celebrated Fay School for small boys at Southboro, Massachusetts.