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Balthazar DeHart, or de Haert as it is written in many of the old records, probably first arrived in New Amsterdam in the late 1650's. In 1661 "Nieuw Amsterdam" (The City of the Dutch West India Company in Nieuw Nederlandt) was a busy seaport with 1,500 citizens and 342 houses. Most of the houses were built with a brick gable end toward the street. A 1661 map shows Balthazar's house located along the waterfront (East River), just north of Town Hall (Stadt Huys). Margaret Stuyvesant Bakker's house was located about two blocks to the west on the Heere Gracht known as the Ditch. It is now known as Board Street. On the opposite shore (North, or Hudson River) were the homes of Balthazar Stuyvesant and Nicholas Stuyvesant.
The English looked with envy at this thriving town located at the southern end of Manhattan Island. Balthazar de Haert was one of the signers of the petition of the people of New Amsterdam to Director General Peter Stuyvesant when he refused to surrender the town to the English in September of 1664. After the surrender, he took the oath of allegiance to the English King. The English changed the name of the town to New York in honor of the Duke of York.
There is no known record of a marriage for Balthazar de Haert. If he did marry it was prior to settling at New Amsterdam. Perhaps he found no time for homelife what with his activities as a trader. He did, however, have two sons referred to in a translation of his last will as "Natural" sons. The oldest son Matthias was born about 1667 according to his gravestone inscription. His mother's name is unknown. The other son Daniel was born between 1669 and September 1671, the date he was baptized in the New York Reformed Church. Daniel's mother was Margaret Stuyvesant. She had been deserted by her husband, Jacob Backer, in about the year 1667. She was left with her husband's debts in a society which was still partly primitive. Fortunately for Margaret, she became engaged to Balthazar de Haert who had probably known her when Backer was in New York. She could not legally marry him until Jacob Backer was declared dead, as divorce was rarely allowed in the seventeenth century. It is apparent from two petitions filed by her creditors after Balthazar's death, and a land patent, that Margaret Stuyvesant never married Balthazar de Haert. If Balthazar's life had not been prematurely cut short in 1672, he probably would have married Margaret Stuyvesant.
Source: "The DeHart Family - Some of the Descendants of Balthazar de Haert, a Merchant of Early New York" By David M. Riker.
Bronnen :
- persoon : Abstract of Wills on File in the Office of the Surrogate of New York County" V.25, page 235
Daniel de Hart 1669-1753