Jesse de Forest (1570 - 1626)
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Having
such deep Southern roots I was definitely interested to find an ancestor who
is considered one of the founding father’s of New York, so much so there is a
monument to him in Battery Park, New York City.
Jesse
de Forest was born around 1576 in Avesnes , France to Jean de Forest
and Anne Maillard. He married Marie du
Cloux on 23 September 1601.
As
was popular with many European Protestants at the time trying to escape
persecution, Jesse wound up in Holland .
In Leiden , Holland ,
Jesse did pretty well for himself. He
was a very skilled dyer of fabric and as family history has it, especially
black dye. Evidently, dying fabric so
that it actually stayed black after washing was a pretty specialized skill back
in the day. He served as lieutenant and
Captain under Prince Maurice of Nassau who lead
the Dutch rebellion against Spain . Jesse was also thrown into the mix with many
Pilgrim Fathers
(future
passengers on the Mayflower).
Jesse
wanted to bring a group of Walloon Huguenot families to the New World so he petitioned
the English Ambassador at The Hague to establish
a colony in Virginia . The ambassador said, sure but wouldn’t allow
Jesse’s group of Walloon families to settle together.
Not
happy with that deal, Jesse petitioned and received permission from the Dutch
East India Company to immigrate to the West Indies .
Drawing of Jesse de Forest
"our
said Captain died, much regretted by the Christians and Indians who had taken a
great liking to him."
The
group of settlers Jesse had organized back in Holland
arrived in New Amsterdam in 1624. Jesse never made it to New
Amsterdam himself but his daughter, Rachel, ended up marrying his
old friend, Johannes de la Montague.
Rachel and Johannes, who arrived back in the new world on the ship
called The Rennselaerswyck
in 1637, settled in New Amsterdam taking over her
brother, Henry’s tobacco plantation, Vrendal (what is known today as the upper
half of Central Park in New York City).
While
Jesse de Forest may have never set foot in New York his efforts to grow the colony
there grant him the Founding Father status.