Caty Hoeper / Hupper etc who md 1780 Albany NY Jonathan Rees/Race
This is a long and fairly complex post so I hope you can bear with me to the end if you are a Rees / Race or Hoppe / Hopper / Hooper researcher.
This couple, Jonathan and Caty,lived in Claverack and Hudson, Albany (Columbia Co from 1786)NY for the rest of their lives except for one short time, according to the Revolutionary War pension application of Jonathan made about 50 years after his marriage.
During the first 20 years or so of their marriage they christened several children at churches up and down the Hudson River, and at virtually each christening Caty;s maiden name was spelled differently, making it difficult to determine the exact spelling of her maiden name.
Caty exact maiden name and her parents’ names have been a problem for researchers for years, but I think I have now discovered those answers.
Note that all of the following is proven fact, unless otherwise noted,except whether or not Caty / Catherine who married Rees was a daughter of the couple mentioned.
There was a certain Hoppe / Hopper clan of families, whose surname was often misspelled in records, who lived from the 1600s in New Jersey, New York City and Orange Co NY (mostly in the part that later became Rockland Co).
Also in Warwick, Orange Co lived some Sanford families, including Ezra Sanford who in December 1772 had married Annetje Hopper at Warwick.
Annetje Hopper was a daughter of Matthias and Aeltje (Kuyper)Hoppe / Hopper who had married in NY City in November 1741,
Matthias was born in March 1720 and his wife Aeltje was born in June 1725 in Sleepy Hollow, Westchester Co NY, or Feb 1722 in Hackensack New Jersey.I have more on the Kuypers going back to her great grandfather.
By more than coincidence I think,Jonathan Rees / Race and wife Caty “Hoeper”’s daughter Sarah married in 1815 Claverack a certain John M. Sanford.
It seems almost certain that John M. Sanford is in some way related to the Sanfords of Orange Co, particularly to Ezra,and that his mother-in-law Caty “Hoeper”was related(probably as a sister) to Annetje Hopper who married Ezra Sanford, but that connection has yet to be proved beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Because Caty “Hoeper” married in 1780 it is virtually certain that she was born no later than 1766 and probably some few years earlier.
As it happens, the children of Matthias and Aeltje Hoppe / Hopper were christened close enough together that Caty could not be their daughter, and thus a sister of Annetje Hopper Sanford,unless Caty was born after the last recorded child of Matthias and Aeltje, which was Lambertus in 1758,and given the pace at which they had christened the first several children the next child expected to be christened would have been in 1760.
Unfortunately the discovered christenings end in 1758 with Lambertus and Matthias himself died by mid 1760 when the widow Aeltje remarried, so we don’t know for sure that Caty was born to Matthias, perhaps posthumously, and her mother did not or could not christen her for some reason, or did christen her in some church where the record has not been found.
There is another alternative father and mother of Caty, as described below,but the version above seems so perfect because of the dual Sanford connections.
There is one more unlikely coincidence in this scenario and that is Mary / Maria / Marritje Hopper, who was a sister of Annatje Hopper who married Ezra Sanford.
In October 1796 at the Claverack Dutch Reformed Church, Jonathan Rees & wife Caty (HUPPER) christened their daughter Sally Rees,witnessed by Jonathan Herdick & Helletje Herdick.
ON THE SAME DATE AT THIS SAME CHURCH,Hendrick Schermerhoorn & wife Caty (Hardick) christened their daughter Maria, witnessed by Jan Herdick & his wife Maria HOPPER, using her maiden name in church records as was the Dutch custom.
I propose that this was more than coincidence, and that Caty, the wife of Jonathan Rees, was the youngest sister of Maria, wife of Jan Hardick, and also sister of Annetje Hopper Sanford, wife of Ezra,or at the very least that Caty was in some way related to the known sisters Annetje and Marritje.
CATY’S ALTERNATIVE PARENTS
There is a known recorded birth of a Catherine who was born / christened at the right time to possibly be the future husband of Jonathan Rees.
In May 1742 Jan HAPS and wife Elisabeth Kaasby christened three children at the Rhinebeck Flats Dutch Reformed Church in Dutchess Co NY.It is supposed that these three children were not triplets but had been born over the past few years and this couple had not had the opportunity to christen them because of no nearby church.
The Rhinebeck Flats church had been in operation since June 1731 and its records begin from August 1731 and there is no record of this couple’s marriage there or earlier christenings, so it is supposed that they had just recently moved to this area in May 1741.
They proceeded to christen a total of twelve (12) children beginning in May 1742 through June 1760 when they christened their last known child, Catrina.
There are no other records of them in Dutchess Co so far as I know, but after 12 children it is not surprising that they did not christen any more.
The husband’s name was variously spelled Jan / Johan / Jhon (sic) HAP / HOP / HAPS / HOPS, and the wife’s name was Elisabeth / Elizabeth CASEBY / CASBY / KAASBY.
So far I cannot find any parents for either of them, and in my opinion Catrina(one of the many Dutch spellings for Catherine)probably was not the future wife of Jonathan Rees.But you never know, and that’s what makes genealogy so interesting and at the same time so frustrating.
I have much more info on all of the families involved in the first scenario above, for the interested reader, and would be happy, nay anxious, to send it along if requested.Please do let me know.And I would welcome your opinions, suggestions, comments, corrections, etc.
Graham Louer
[email protected]
Plano TX
Married 60 years next November and proud of it