Dirck Storm
Encyclopedia
Dirck Storm was an early colonial American
famous for composing the history of the Dutch
community at Sleepy Hollow
and beginning the community's records. His book "Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes Kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh
" is one of the nation's most valuable historical documents. Sometimes referred to as "Het Notite Boeck", the five-part book is a rare surviving record of Dutch Colonial American
village life in English-occupied New York
province.
, The Netherlands, in 1630. His family resided in Leyden, Holland, where they dealt in fine cloth. Historical records carry the Storm line back to Dederick Storm, who lived in Wyck, near Delft
, in 1390. The family may have been of Viking
stock since so many settled in the province of North Brabant
when the Vikings overran the Low Countries
before the year 1000.
At the age of eighteen Dirck went to Den Bosch to be clerk in his uncle's commercial office. On May 13, 1656 he married, in the church of St. Gertrude in 's-Hertogenbosch, Maria van Montfoort, daughter of Pieter van Montfoort, an old family of Delft and Leyden. By 1660, Dirck was named Town Clerk of Oss
ch in the Mayorate of 's-Hertogenbosch. Public service was part of the Storm family history, as Dirck's father was the City Clerk of Leiden and his grandfather was a lawyer in the Court of Justice of Holland, West Friesland
and Zealand
. When Protestant Holland was hit by a recession after the overthrow of Cromwell
in England
, Dirck set sail for the new world
.
to New Amsterdam
in New Netherland
onboard De Vos, which translates to The Fox. During the voyage, Maria Storm gave birth to a daughter. The ship landed at the foot of Wall Street
in mid-November 1662, in what is now Manhattan
.
. He held real estate, owned a tavern
on Beaver Street, and dabbled in inn-keeping. Later he was appointed Town Clerk in several communities in Breuckelen
; New Utrecht
, Bedford
, and Flatbush
. Many a land title and hundreds of genealogies are based on the clear, fine script of his records. Being a learned man, he also served as a teacher in some of these communities. He farmed land in Bedford and New Lots, and served as precantor to two of the Dutch churches in Breuckelen. In 1670, he was appointed Secretary of the Colony.
by the British
, who were setting up new governments at the time. There, he became the first Secretary and Clerk of the Sessions for Orange County, New York
. He was also the Voorleser of the Tappan Church. In 1693, he joined his old friend Frederick Philipse, and acted as tax collector for the vast manor
held by Philipse. Dirck and his wife were recorded as members of the Old Dutch Church
at Sleepy Hollow
as early as 1697, soon after the church was constructed.
was the first elder of the church and evidently kept a private memorandum book that is now lost to history. However, it was heavily drawn upon by Dirck Storm in composing "Het Notite Boeck."
class and under Dutch law, was allowed to buy his farmland in Sleepy Hollow
outright from the lord of the Manor, his friend, Frederick Philipse. His sons all were farmers but many of later generations were captains of their own boats on the Hudson River
. One such descendant, Capt. Jacob Storm, lived in the Philipse Manor
house which is now a museum. The old mill house was once his office.
. He is buried at the Old Dutch Church Burying Ground
in Sleepy Hollow, New York
.
Dirck Storm is the ancestor of many notable Americans, including the famous clergyman David Storm, deacon and elder of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
. Many Americans with the last name "Storm" or "Storms" can trace their ancestry to Dirck Storm.
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
famous for composing the history of the Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
community at Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
and beginning the community's records. His book "Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes Kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh
Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes Kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh
Het Notite Boeck der Christelyckes kercke op de Manner of Philips Burgh is a rare surviving record book of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow in Sleepy Hollow, New York....
" is one of the nation's most valuable historical documents. Sometimes referred to as "Het Notite Boeck", the five-part book is a rare surviving record of Dutch Colonial American
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
village life in English-occupied New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
province.
Birth and early life
Dirck Storm was born in UtrechtUtrecht (province)
Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...
, The Netherlands, in 1630. His family resided in Leyden, Holland, where they dealt in fine cloth. Historical records carry the Storm line back to Dederick Storm, who lived in Wyck, near Delft
Delft
Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
, in 1390. The family may have been of Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
stock since so many settled in the province of North Brabant
North Brabant
North Brabant , sometimes called Brabant, is a province of the Netherlands, located in the south of the country, bordered by Belgium in the south, the Meuse River in the north, Limburg in the east and Zeeland in the west.- History :...
when the Vikings overran the Low Countries
Low Countries
The Low Countries are the historical lands around the low-lying delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse rivers, including the modern countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and parts of northern France and western Germany....
before the year 1000.
At the age of eighteen Dirck went to Den Bosch to be clerk in his uncle's commercial office. On May 13, 1656 he married, in the church of St. Gertrude in 's-Hertogenbosch, Maria van Montfoort, daughter of Pieter van Montfoort, an old family of Delft and Leyden. By 1660, Dirck was named Town Clerk of Oss
Oss
Oss is a municipality and a city in the southern Netherlands, in the province of Noord Brabant.- Population centres :-Transportation:* Railway stations: Oss, Oss West, Ravenstein- The city of Oss :...
ch in the Mayorate of 's-Hertogenbosch. Public service was part of the Storm family history, as Dirck's father was the City Clerk of Leiden and his grandfather was a lawyer in the Court of Justice of Holland, West Friesland
West Friesland (historical region)
West Friesland is a historical region in the northern part of the Netherlands. It was located in parts of what now is Noord-Holland and the Waddenzee. The region was bordered by the rivers Vlie and IJ...
and Zealand
Zeeland
Zeeland , also called Zealand in English, is the westernmost province of the Netherlands. The province, located in the south-west of the country, consists of a number of islands and a strip bordering Belgium. Its capital is Middelburg. With a population of about 380,000, its area is about...
. When Protestant Holland was hit by a recession after the overthrow of Cromwell
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Dirck set sail for the new world
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
.
New Amsterdam
In the fall of 1662 he emigrated, with his wife Maria and three children, ages six, four and one from the Mayory of Den BoschMeierij
The Meierij van 's-Hertogenbosch was one of the four parts of the former duchy of Brabant, the others being the areas of Leuven, Brussels and Antwerp. It got its name from the Bailiff of 's-Hertogenbosch, who ruled the area in the name of the Dukes of Brabant...
to New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam
New Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City....
in New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
onboard De Vos, which translates to The Fox. During the voyage, Maria Storm gave birth to a daughter. The ship landed at the foot of Wall Street
Wall Street
Wall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
in mid-November 1662, in what is now Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
Town clerk and farmer
Apparently, Dirck was a very busy man, and a bit of an entrepreneurEntrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
. He held real estate, owned a tavern
Tavern
A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, and in some cases, where travelers receive lodging....
on Beaver Street, and dabbled in inn-keeping. Later he was appointed Town Clerk in several communities in Breuckelen
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
; New Utrecht
New Utrecht, Brooklyn
New Utrecht was the last of six towns to be founded in what is today the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. It was named after the city of Utrecht, Netherlands. In 1652 Cornelius van Werckhoven, a surveyor born in Utrecht and a principal investor in the Dutch West India Company, began purchasing...
, Bedford
Bedford, Brooklyn
Bedford is a community in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, centered approximately at the corner of modern-day Fulton Street and Franklin Avenue.Its name is better known today as part of the larger community of Bedford-Stuyvesant...
, and Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
. Many a land title and hundreds of genealogies are based on the clear, fine script of his records. Being a learned man, he also served as a teacher in some of these communities. He farmed land in Bedford and New Lots, and served as precantor to two of the Dutch churches in Breuckelen. In 1670, he was appointed Secretary of the Colony.
Sleepy Hollow
In 1691 he was sent to TappanTappan, New York
Tappan is a hamlet in the Town of Orangetown, Rockland County, New York, United States located north of Old Tappan, New Jersey; east of Nauraushaun and Pearl River; south of Blauvelt and west of Palisades and Sparkill...
by the British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
, who were setting up new governments at the time. There, he became the first Secretary and Clerk of the Sessions for Orange County, New York
Orange County, New York
Orange County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area and is located at the northern reaches of the New York metropolitan area. The county sits in the state's scenic Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley...
. He was also the Voorleser of the Tappan Church. In 1693, he joined his old friend Frederick Philipse, and acted as tax collector for the vast manor
Philipsburg Manor
Philipsburg Manor is a historic house, water mill, and trading site located on US 9 in the village of Sleepy Hollow, New York. It is now operated as a non-profit museum by Historic Hudson Valley; an admission fee is charged...
held by Philipse. Dirck and his wife were recorded as members of the Old Dutch Church
Old Dutch Church
"Old Dutch Church" can refer to two buildings in the Hudson Valley region of the U.S. state of New York, both designated National Historic Landmarks:*Old Dutch Church , formally known as the First Protestant Dutch Reformed Church of Kingston...
at Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
as early as 1697, soon after the church was constructed.
Writer
On November 3, 1715, the church members selected Dirck Storm to begin recording the history of the church retroactively from 1697. Historic records show that they decided that Dirck was "the best informed and most competent member be chosen to make up a statement of events that led to the founding of the church." Abraham de Revier, Sr.Abraham de Revier, Sr.
Abraham de Revier, Sr. was the first elder of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow in Sleepy Hollow, New York when it was organized in 1697.He was one of the ninety-six original members of the church and was the patriarch of a leading family in the Sleepy Hollow community...
was the first elder of the church and evidently kept a private memorandum book that is now lost to history. However, it was heavily drawn upon by Dirck Storm in composing "Het Notite Boeck."
Legacy
Dirck was of the yeomanYeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
class and under Dutch law, was allowed to buy his farmland in Sleepy Hollow
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
outright from the lord of the Manor, his friend, Frederick Philipse. His sons all were farmers but many of later generations were captains of their own boats on the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
. One such descendant, Capt. Jacob Storm, lived in the Philipse Manor
Philipse Manor
Philipse Manor may refer to several places in Westchester County, New York:*Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, a building in Yonkers, New York, former residence of Frederick Philipse's descendants...
house which is now a museum. The old mill house was once his office.
Death
In May or June 1716 Dirck died at Tarrytown, New YorkTarrytown, New York
Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line...
. He is buried at the Old Dutch Church Burying Ground
Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Dutch Reformed Church , is a 17th century stone church located on Albany Post Road in Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States. It and its five-acre churchyard feature prominently in Washington Irving's...
in Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow, New York
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, about north of midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by the Philipse Manor stop on the Metro-North Hudson Line.Originally...
.
Dirck Storm is the ancestor of many notable Americans, including the famous clergyman David Storm, deacon and elder of the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow
The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Dutch Reformed Church , is a 17th century stone church located on Albany Post Road in Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States. It and its five-acre churchyard feature prominently in Washington Irving's...
. Many Americans with the last name "Storm" or "Storms" can trace their ancestry to Dirck Storm.