Through intermarriage the Van Antwerps of Troy belong to what is believed by many genealogists to be one of the very oldest families in existence, the Clute. They are said to descend from Canute, King of Denmark, who conquered England. King Canute (Danish Knute) was born in 995 A.D., conquered England 1015, and eventually Norway 1031. His conquest of England was over the Saxon King Ethelred and his son Edmund, "Ironsides." Descendants of King Canute settled in Holland, and about 1645 came to America, the name passing through several changes until it reached the form now in use, Clute. The family coat-of-arms (obtained from Holland) is a shield with three crowns denoting the three crowns he wore, Denmark, England and Norway, a boar rampant, denoting his warlike character. The motto beneath meaning "Famous." This coat-of-arms may also be found on a stained glass window of the Dutch church at Schenectady, New York.
Daniel Janse Van Antwerpen (Daniel, son of Jan, from Antwerp), was born in 1635. In 1650 he was deputy schout fiscal at Fort Orange (Albany); in September, 1661, agreed with Adrian Appel (who was an innkeeper in New Amsterdam, and trader in Albany) to serve him "In all matters and affairs that are just and right" for one year for thirty-five beavers (one hundred and twelve dollars) and all expenses. In 1662 he was deputy at Altoona, on the Delaware river. He went to Schenectady very soon after its settlement, probably in 1665. He had much dealing with the Indians, and settled eight miles beyond the village, but took the precaution to build a stone walled house on the bank of the Mohawk, in the center of his "bouwery," where he and his friends were protected from hostile Indians, yet well in the path of trade along the Mohawk. The house being close to its bank, the Mohawk river furnished a route for reaching Schenectady. This house now exists essentially as it was with little changes. The early English surveys mark the house as Jan Danielse Van Antwerpen's, and itineraries of the Mohawk Navigation Company show the adjacent shallow in the river as Van Antwerp's Reef, where a struggle with the current was always expected. The "Van Antwerp House," the oldest in New York state, is not now (1910) in possession of the family, although negotiations are pending for its purchase. The village lot in Schenectady of Daniel Janse Van Antwerpen was on the east corner of Union and Church streets, which was occupied by him prior to 1671, when a confirmatory grant was made to him by Governor Francis Lovelace. He owned this lot until 1715, when at the age of eighty years, he released it to the consistory of the "Netherland Dutch Church," "good causes and consideration him thereunto moving," for the perpetual and sole use of the church. March 14, 1909, a white marble tablet, suitably inscribed to the memory of Daniel Janse Van Antwerpen, was presented to the First Reformed Church of Schenectady by Daniel Lewis Van Antwerp, of Troy, a descendant of the donor of the land on which the church is built. In 1680 land on the "Third Plat" was patented to him, one-half of which he sold in 1706. In 1676 he was one of the five members of the court of justices of Schenectady, and in 1701 was supervisor of the township. He married Maria, daughter of Symon Symonse Groot; children:
- Jan, married Agnieta, daughter of Harmen Vedder, and had eleven children.
- Simon, see forward.
- Daniel, married Ariantje, daughter of Gerrit Symonse Veeder, and had eleven children.
- Pieter, married Engettye [Engeltye?], daughter of Jan Mebie, and had twelve children.
- Arent, married Sara Van Eps, and had nine children.
- Neeltje, married Andries DeGraff.
- Rebecca, married Johannes Fort.
- Maria, married Nicholas Fort.
Of the Van Antwerps living in eastern New York, the greater portion are descendants of Symon, who founded the Schaghticoke branch of the family.
(II) Simon (Symon), second son of Daniel Janse and Maria (Groot) Van Antwerpen, bought land and settled in Schaghticoke (now Rensselaer county, New York), in 1710. In 1718 "The Commonalty (of Albany) have granted to Simon Danielse (Van Antwerpen), his heirs and assigns forever a certain small creek on the south side of his land to build a grist mill thereon, provided he grinds no wheat for boulting, except ye same be boulted within the city of Albany, for which he is to pay yearly after January, 1724, six skeple wheat yearly." He married, in Albany, December 22, 1706, Maria, daughter of Jacobus Peck. Children:
- Maria, married Sysbert [Gysbert?] Van Brakelyn;
- Lysbet;
- Rebecca, married Abraham De Forrest;
- Daniel;
- Sara May; married Phillip Winne;
- Daniel,
- Jacobus,
- Johannes,
- Lewis Simon and
- Margaret.
(III) Lewis Simon, son of Simon Van Antwerp, was born February 25, 1731, died December 11, 1824. He married, November 27, 1754, in Albany, Hendrika Fonda (Van Buren). They lived in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer county, New York. He served under Captain Peter Yates in the revolution, and did actual service in the Fourteenth Company, Albany Militia, from July 23 to October 13, 1779; and from May 17 to June 7, 1780; also from October 11 to November 24, 1781. In 1776 he was a member of the committee on correspondence and safety, city and county of Albany, Schaghticoke district (New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, 2nd edition; p. 127; Roster of State Troops, p. 495 ,Proceedings of [the] Albany Committee on Correspondence and Safety, p. 255, vol. 2 — 1776 (mss.); New York Calendar of Historical Revolution Papers, vol. 1, p. 324). Child: Douwe, mentioned below.
(IV) Douwe, son of Lewis Simon Van Antwerp, was born September 23, 1764. He married, December 26, 1783, in Schaghticoke, Maria (Marya) Van Den Berg. They lived in Schaghticoke. Children: Daniel Douw, mentioned below; Hendrikye, Cornelius, Louis, Wynant, Philip, Alida.
(V) Daniel Douw, son of Douwe and Maria Van Antwerp, was born in Schaghticoke, Rensselaer county, New York, February 14, 1800, died in Troy, October 9, 1875. He learned the carpenter's trade, removed to Troy, where he was in business as a contractor and builder. He was reared in the faith of the Dutch Reformed church, but on removing to Troy joined the Baptist church. He married (first) Cataline, born in Albany county, died in Troy, daughter of Martin P. and. Amy (Sweet) Winne, the former of Albany county, the latter of Sharpsburg, Vermont. She bore him three children. He married (second) Sarah L. Winne, half-sister of his first wife, born October 29, 1821, died in Troy, October 6, 1886. Children of second marriage:
- Louisa V., born in Troy, New York; married Ira Clark, born in Westminster, Vermont, died June 4, 1865; children:
- Louisa N., born 1860, died September 18, 1881;
- Sarah Irene, born in Troy, September 9, 1863; married, January 1, 1891, Edwin F. Burdick, and has Edwin Clark, Erma, and Marcus Lewes Burdick.
- Daniel Lewis, see forward.
- Lansing Winne, born in Troy, November 25, 1844, died in Chicago, Illinois, February 26, 1907; married Martha A. Miller; children: two died in infancy; William L., Martha, and Hannah Clayton.
(VI) Daniel Lewis, son of Daniel Douw and Sarah L. (Winne) Van Antwerp, was born in Troy, New York, August 30, 1842, and is now residing in the house in which he was born (1910). He was educated in private schools. He early entered the employ of the American Express Company, and was with them twenty-four years, from 1863 to 1887. He then became connected with the Troy Insurance Agency, established in 1858; in 1900 the agency was changed into a corporation, of which he is vice-president; the company transacts all forms of insurance. He served in Company H, Twenty-fourth Regiment, New York National Guard, and was under arms for twenty-four hours during the Troy riots. He is a member of the Exempt Firemen's Association, and an active worker in the Republican party. He was chairman of his ward committee fifteen years; clerk of the board of supervisors of Rensselaer county, and served as deputy internal revenue collector of the Fourteenth New York district, during the period covering the Spanish war. He is a member of the Masonic order; Sons of the Revolution, Troy Chapter, and actively interested in the railroad branch of the Young Men's Christian Association. He has been active in church work, is connected with the Fifth Avenue Baptist Church of Troy, and many of the organizations connected therewith. He married, February 14, 1866, Frances, daughter of George and Frances (Clute) Edson. Children:
- Fanny Louise, born in Troy; married, April 19, 1899, at Troy, Dr. Elias Allen Brown, born at Mannsville, New York, January 30, 1864, son of Joseph Brown; educated in the common and high schools, took the medical course at the University of New York, was graduated M.D., class of 1892; took post-graduate course at Bellevue Hospital, New York, and in 1892 began the practice of his profession at Troy, where he is now located in general practice (1910). He is a member of the city and county boards of health, and since 1900 county physician of Rensselaer county. He is an active Republican.
(The Clute Line)
There were persons of this name of Clute who early became residents of Albany, or Niskayuna, Captain Jan Johannes and Frederick Clute. Captain Jan J. came to Beverwyck about 1656 from Nuremburg and became a trader and large landholder in Beverwyck, Lovenburg (opposite Hudson), and Niskayuna. He was a good friend with the Indians, from whom he obtained extensive grants of land. It is not known that he had any relatives here other than his nephew, Johannes Clute, who became his heir in 1683. Johannes, nephew of Captain Jan J., settled in Niskayuna, inherited from his uncle, Jan Clute. In 1704 he sold land to Frederick Clute, of Kingston, one hundred and fifty acres, and in 1707 lands to Robert Livingstone "to free himself from embarrassment." To add to his troubles he was taken prisoner by the Indians and carried to Canada. He married Baala Van Stechtenhorst [Baata Van Schlectenhorst?], by whom he had eight children. He was buried in Niskayuna, November 26, 1725.
(II) Frederick Clute came from Kingston to Niskayuna in 1703, and bought one hundred and fifty acres of land of Johannes Clute. What relationship existed between them, if any, is not known. All the Clutes of the Mohawk and Hudson Valleys, who claim early ancestry, are descendants of either Johannes or Frederick Clute. Frederick married Francyntje Dumont (or DuMonds), of Kingston; children, five of whom afterwards settled at Niskayuna:
- Margaretje, married Andries De Graff.
- Johannes, married Tarmeke [Tanneke?] Fonda.
- Anna Barber, married Abraham Fort.
- Jacob, see forward.
- Helena, married Johannes Quackenbos (2).
- Frederick (2), married Elizabeth ————.
- Walraven or Waldron, married Uriantje De Ridder.
- Sarah, baptized in Albany, February 19, 1707.
- Magdalena, baptized Albany, February, 1709.
- Pieter, married Ariantje Van Vraken [Van Vranken?].
- Anna Catrina, married Martin Van Olinda.
(III) Jacob, son of Frederick and Francyntje (DuMonds or Dumont) Clute, was born, it is believed, at Kingston, New York. He married Maria Brower, November 16, 1727, in Albany. Children, baptized in Albany: Neeltje, Fredericus, Pieter, see forward, Francyntje and Johannes.
(IV) Pieter, son of Jacob and Maria (Brower) Clute, was baptized in Albany, October 31, 1731. He married Catharina, daughter of Dirk Marselis. She was baptized February 15, 1736, and was a granddaughter of Ashaskerus, and great-granddaughter of Marselis Janse, born at Bommel, in Guilderland, Holland. Children, baptized, as follows: (This is the largest family recorded in the Doop Book):
- Maria, April 13, 1755;
- Maria (2), October 31, 1756;
- Dirk, November 20, 1757;
- Jacob, see forward;
- Maria (3), October 4, 1760;
- Jan Baptist, May 24, 1762;
- Pieter, January 15, 1764;
- Pieter (2), April 28, 1765;
- Elizabeth, November 22, 1767, married Matthew McKinney;
- Dirk (2), September 17, 1769;
- Dirk (3), December 2, 1770;
- Frederick, August 2, 1772;
- Frederick (2), December 25, 1773;
- Nicolas, December 24, 1775;
- Sarah, November 2, 1777, married Nicholas Marselis;
- Hendrick, April 14, 1789.
(V) Jacob, son of Pieter and Catharina (Marselis) Clute, was baptized March 4, 1759, died January 16, 1848. He served in the revolutionary war under Captain Nicholas Veeder and under Captain Jacob Vrooman. He married (first), Maria Huyck, and had children:
- Lena, born 1787;
- Catharine,
- Peter,
- Elizabeth, born May 26, 1793,
- Andrew Henry and
- Sara.
He (probably) married (second) Maria Van Schoonhoven, and had three or more children by her.
(VI) Frances, daughter of Jacob and Maria (Van Schoonhoven) Clute, was born about 1800, died 1847. She married George Edson in 1845, and had one child, Frances.
(VII) Frances, daughter of George and Frances (Clute) Edson, was born April 29, 1846, married, 1866, Daniel Lewis Van Antwerp, of Troy, New York (see Van Antwerp VI).
(VIII) Fanny Louise, daughter of Daniel Lewis and Frances (Edson) Van Antwerp, married Dr. Elias Allen Brown (see Van Antwerp VI).