Name: Guillaume (Guleyn) VIGNE

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Birth: abt 1589 Vlaenciennes, France

Death: bef 30 Apr 1632 New York, Kings, NY

Jean DE LA VIGNE (abt 1560 - abt 1622)

Guillaume (Guleyn) VIGNE (abt 1589 - bef 1632) & Adrienne (Arriaentje) CUVELIER (abt 1588 - 1655)

Christine VIGNE (abt 1614 - abt 1665) & Dirck VOLKERTSEN (abt 1610 - abt 1660)

Oersetlie (Ursula?) DIRCKS (abt 1628 - aft 1672) & Anthony Janz Van WESTBROOK (abt 1625 - 1672)

Annetje WESTBROOK (aft 1658 - ) & Michael DEMOTTE (abt 1649 - )

Maria DEMOTT (1678 - ) & Hendrick ATEN (abt 1661 - 17 Jul 1750)

Adrian (Aderyon?) ATEN (4 Sep 1695 - 10 Dec 1757) & Jacobje MIDDAGH (1693 - 16 May 1782)

John (Jan?) ATEN (22 Dec 1732 - 1790) & Elizabeth BADYN (1733 - )

Cornelius ATEN (18 Jan 1766 - 21 Mar 1857) & Sarah (Sally) BELL (13 Feb 1770 - Jun 1856)

Aaron Kimble ATEN (18 Feb 1812 - 9 Sep 1901) & Dorcas GLASS (25 Jan 1814 - 1892)

Ellen Arminda ATEN (17 Dec 1849 - 6 Mar 1919) & Moody ROBINSON (1850 - 1938)

Alvina Irene ROBINSON (25 Jan 1875 - 21 Apr 1963)

Adelia Gertrude ROBINSON (1878 - 1973) & Newton COFFEY (1875 - 1969)

Leo Newton COFFEY (1901 - 1998) & Elsie Maureen WALKER (1903 - 1983)

Misc Notes:

Memo: His Father:

Film No. 1035615.8, "Howell Family", page 322. His father was a Walloon minister. He fled to Holland during the Spanish Inquisition and was minister in Amsterdam from 1585 to 1622.

The following info was found at

http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:686652&id=I2765

and seems to tie our ancestor Christine to the Vigne (Dutch = Vienje) family together better than other sources:

"Dirck and Christine lived on her parents' farm, at the south end of Broadway, until 1638. Christine's father died in 1632, and Dirck and his mother-in-law were named executors of the will, as recorded below:

"We, the underwritten, William WYMAN, blacksmith and Jan Thomaisen GROEN, as good men do attest and certify that before us appeared Dirck VOLCKERSON, the Norman and Ariantje CEVELYN, his wife's mother in order to agree with her children by her lawful husband, deceased; she gives to Maria VIGNE and Christine VIENJE, both married persons each the sum of 200 guilders as their share of their father's estate. To Rachel VIENJE and Jan VIENJE both minor children, each the sum of 33 guilders, under the condition that with her future husband, Jan Jansen DAMEN, she shall be held to keep the said two children in good support, until the come of age, and that she shall be obliged to clothe and feed them and make them go to school as good parents are bound to do."

FROM WWW.FULKERSON.ORG

The name Vigne means "vine" in French, and is most often associated with vineyards for making wine. Vigne is pronounced VIN-YEH , with neither syllable accented.

The Walloons were French-speaking Protestants from the southern Netherlands region that is now Belgium and northern France. In the 1500's and 1600's it was subjected to protracted wars involving Holland, France and Spain. A 12-year truce beginning in 1609 provided some respite, but the truce was not renewed when it expired in 1621. Another unsettling factor in that region was the desire of the Catholic French monarchy to convert or kill the Protestant population living within and along its borders. Many non-Catholics fled after having their property confiscated.

Guillaume and Adrienne were born in Valenciennes about 1586-1590. They married sometime around 1610, and emigrated to Holland by 1623. In that year they were in the city of Leiden, which was a protective and tolerant haven from war and prejudice. After they began living among the Dutch, the Vigne name was changed to Vienje. Guillaume became known as Willem Vienje and Adrienne as Ariantje Vienje. [The "-je" ending in the Dutch version of their name was also pronounced as "-yeh."]

The Vignes were one of 30 Walloon families selected by the Dutch West India Company to establish a permanent settlement in New Netherlands [New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Connecticut]. The original Company plan was to send only five or six men to set up a fur trading post on Manhattan Island. The addition of the Walloon families may have been a late change to the plans. Perhaps the families volunteered when they heard of the colonization plans. After all, the Walloons were a displaced people who had become refugees in crowded little Holland. There was no land available to them - the Dutch had run out of land and had just started to reclaim land from the sea.

The Vignes are believed to have sailed from Holland in April of 1624 on the "Nieuw Nederlandt" [or possibly on the "Eendracht," which means "Unity"]. Some of the other colonists, including Joris Janszen Rapaelje, were also from Valenciennes. The Vignes had three daughters, Christine, Maria and Rachel, when they sailed to America. Most of the 30 families must have had children, as the total number of new colonists was about 120. Upon reaching the Hudson River in mid-May, they found a French ship that was trying to claim the territory for the king of France. With the help of a smaller Dutch ship that arrived from the West Indies, they politely aimed their cannons and escorted the French ship out to sea. Cornelis May, captain of the "Nieuw Nederlandt," became the first Director of the New Netherlands colony.

Eight men were left at Manhattan to "take possession." A dozen families were deposited at the Delaware and Connecticut Rivers, and 18 families were taken up the Hudson to a site near present-day Albany. The first news back to Holland was that, "Everything was in good condition. The colony began to advance bravely, and to live in friendship with the natives." However, most of the families began their residence in the new land by digging seven feet into the ground to make wood-lined, bark covered shelters. They did not begin to build wooden homes until 1625. We don't know whether the Vignes spent their first year at the Albany, Connecticut River or Delaware River settlements.

In 1625, the Company sent over another ship with 103 head of cattle and off-loaded them on Manhattan Island. Along with the cattle came some home builders and more settlers, who were directed to establish six bouweries [farms] on Manhattan. Engineers began constructing Fort Amsterdam near the southern tip of the island, and laying out the streets for the town of New Amsterdam. The colonists who had been deposited at the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers were brought back to Manhattan Island. They were too few in number to be in such isolated locations. Over the next three years, all of the Albany settlers trickled back to Manhattan. In 1626 Peter Minuit [also a Walloon] arrived as the new Director. He brought more colonists and bought the rest of Manhattan Island from the Indians for 60 guilders' worth of minor trade items. By the end of 1628 there were roughly 275 people in and around New Amsterdam.

The Vignes established their Manhattan farm north of what is now Wall Street, along the East River. In 1624 or 1625, not long after their arrival, their son Jan was born. He was the first European male born in New Netherlands. [The first European girl born in New Netherlands was Sara Rapaelje*, in June 1625] Guillaume died about 1632. His two oldest daughters had already married by that time, Christine to Dirck Volckertszen, and Maria to Jan Roos. He left his wife with two minor children.

*LFC NOTE Sarah is also a “Coffey” ancestor!

Ariantje remarried, to Jan Jansen Damen, on May 7, 1638. Damen, sometimes referred to as "Old Jan," was a warden of the Dutch Reformed Church and also had a sizable tract of land west of the Vigne's. This union combined their previously-held properties, giving Adrienne and Jan ownership of a very large bouwerie. It extended from Pine Street north to Maiden Lane, and from the East River to the Hudson River. The following is the translation of the prenuptial agreement by Adrienne and Jan, concerning her children by her deceased husband, Guillaume Vigne:

"Dirck Volgersen Noorman and Ariaentje Cevelyn, his wife's mother, came before us in order to enter into an agreement with her children whom she has borne by her lawful husband Willem Vienje, settling on Maria Vienje and Christina Vienje, both married persons, on each the sum of two hundred guilders ... and on Resel Vienje and Jan Vienje, both minor children, also as their portion of their father's estate, on each the sum of three hundred guilders; with this provision that she and her future lawful husband, Jan Jansen Damen, shall be bound to bring up the above named two children until they attain their majority, and be bound to clothe and rear the aforesaid children, to keep them at school and to give them a good trade, as parents ought to do." This agreement was dated "the last of April 1632," but was not recorded until 7 May 1638. [New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, Volume 1, ed. and trans. by Arnold J. F. Van Laer. Baltimore, 1974, The editor, Van Laer, was of the opinion that the year 1632, given as the date of the document, is probably wrong and should be 1635 or later. The document was certified by William Wyman, blacksmith, and Jan Thomaisen Groen, and witnessed by Jacob Albertsen Planck who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1634 on the "Eendracht."]

Upon moving into the Vigne household, Damen found he had married into an extended family. Christine and Dirck were living there with their two young daughters. Maria's husband Jan Roos died in 1632, and she had married to Abraham Ver Planck in 1634. By mid-1638 they had 3 or 4 children. Altogether the household consisted of six adults and 7 or 8 children, and possibly a few slaves. On June 21, 1638, Damen sued to have Abraham Ver Planck and Dirck Volckertszen "quit his house and leave him the master thereof." Dirck countered with a charge of assault and had witnesses testify that Jan tried to "throw his step-daughter Christine, Dirck's wife, out of doors." In the following year, the third Vigne daughter married and left the household. She was only 16 when she married Cornelis Van Tienhoven, the 28-year-old Secretary to the Director.

During that bloody 1643 war with the Indians, a group of soldiers paraded through New Amsterdam's streets after an attack on a Canarsie village. The soldiers had beheaded some of the fallen Indians and carried the heads on long poles. As they paraded past Ariantje, one of the heads fell and landed at her feet. With a burst of enthusiasm she gave it her best kick and off it flew, to the dismay of many in the crowd who blamed her family for the war and also looked down upon her savage behavior.