The following is a quote from a publication "The Ancestry of Garret Conrad VanWagenen in the Five Collateral Line of Pells" published in 1946 by Frank L. VanWagenen. "Son Hendrick Vosberg Pels was captured by Indians in a raid along with several others. When they were rescued he refused to accompany them home having decided to remain with the Indian girl he "married". What became of him is not recorded. Some doubt the veracity of this statement." The information I have goes on: "A study of correspondence between various persons living in the Esopus, with the Governor of New New Netherlands reveals Pel';s (Evert Evertson Pels husband of Jasnnetje Sijmons) part in an unfortunate episode with the Indians. On the night of Sept 20, 1659, a group of Indians, eight in number, having worked all day shelling corn for one of the settlers, succeeded in obtaining a quantity of liquor upon which they became drunk. Late that night they made their way to the stockade, and created a disturbance of such proportions that many of the settlers became enraged. A group of eight or ten of their number, including Pels, attacked the Indians with musket and axe, seriously wounding several, and drove them off. All evidence points to the fact that the settlers were entirely unjustified in their actions, and it is not surprising that i brought to a head the long smoldering hatred and distrust which had existed for a long time between the Indians and settlers. Ensign Smith, in command of a detachment of soldiers which had been sent to protect the settlement, made plans to return immediately to New Amsterdam with his men, as a protest against the unwarranted action of the settlers. He was prevented from doing so, by a ruse, and sent a messenger, Sept 21 to New Amsterdam with news of the outbreak. The messenger was escorted to the river by an armed guard of several men, including a few villagers, on of them was Pels' son. On their return from the river they were set upon by the Indians, most if not all of them, being captured. Besieging the fort with about 500 men and failing to capture it after several days the Indians in retaliation for the attack of Sept 30, forced eight or nine of their captives to run the gauntlet. Those who survived this and subsequent beatings, were burned at the stake. Five escaped this fate, two by ransom, one by exchange, one by escape and Pel's son who was later adopted by the tribe. (See Docs. v 13, pp 114-121). Pels' son was said to have taken an Indian wife, and to have had children by her. In commenting on this Sylvester in his History of Ulster County Part 1 page 39 adds that by virtue of Pels' son having lived with the Indians, and of having taken one of their number for a wife the Pells Family have as much right to boast of as the descendants of Pocahontas" Various histories have included in their contents accounts of the foregoing. Among them are Schoonmaker's History of Kinston, NY; Sylvester's mentioned above and O'Callaghan's History of New Netherlands vol 2 pp 394-397 I presume this is the occasion referred to in the quotes below. This matter has little to do with the age of consent for marriage, since it was not a civil marriage, Indians did not recognize civil marriage then, why would they? The impression given in the quotes was that he stayed with them long enough to have several children so this did not happen over night, and the exact date of his birth is lost in the mists of time, it is suggested he was born in about 1645, but he could have lived with the Indians for many years As far as the history of the Pels family goes, I have the boys name recorded as Hendrick Vosberg Pel's and show he had an older sister named Annetje. If they followed the usual naming system that would put Anna as the mother of Evert and Hendrick as the given name of his father. I do not yet have those details, does anyone? The couple did not seem to have followed conventional naming patterns at all, we have Jannetje's siblings and there is no pattern there either. And where did the surname "Pels" come from? - tons of unanswered questions here! This we do have as the earliest document about Evert Everest Pels and his wife: THE MARRIAGE OF EVERT PELS, Contributed by Robert G. Cooney, Jr (appeared in April 1991 NYG&B Record) "With the assistance of John VanWeezep, the following records were found at the Family History Center SLC: Appeared as before Evert Everts Pels from Statijn, sailor, aged 25 years, living in the Hasselaersteeg, having no parents {living in Amsterdam}, accompanied by his uncle Pieter Smit, and Jannetje Sijmon’s daughter, aged 18 years, living in the same place, accompanied by her mother Diavrtje. 31 {sic} November 1641. (Amsterdam film 1132051, Vol 475 Huwelijks Aangifte {Marriage intentions for all Dutch Reformed Churches in the city}.) Agnes VWC On Feb 19, 2007, at 1:02 AM, dutch-colonies-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > > The issue here is a boy who was living among Indians (I assume > Algonquins) > and at what age did males wed in that society? I haven't the > faintest idea, > but I certainly cannot say without study whether 17 was too young. > > Among the colonial Dutch in the 17th century, the normal age for > marriage > was 21 for males and 18 for females. If a girl was as young as 16 > when she > married, she was most likely pregnant. If she were younger than > that, the > ----snip--- > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Donna Stark" <donnaStarkKy@fewpb.net> > >> In that time period it was not unusual for a young boy to take a >> wife. >> Girls >> even married at 12, 13 and 14, so take that into consideration. >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "l. s." <lemaes63@msn.com> >> >> >>> Hello, >>> I am wondering if anyone knows any more about this person. I am >>> wondering >>> how the name Hendrick was given to this "boy" The one who was taken >>> captive by the Indians in 1659. It was written he took a wife >>> among the >>> Indians. But, looking at the possible birth day for this boy, he >>> would >>> probably be only 16-17 years old. His parents married Dec. 1641. >>> Even if >>> he was an early baby, he would be quite young to take a bride. Is it >>> possible he may have been called Pels "boy", ----snip---