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- [S65] New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, NGBJ Oct. 1918 pp. 354-355, Tunis Denise of Freehold NJ.
From other authorities however, it can now be shown that Dr. Schenck was correct in saying that Tunis of Freehold was a son of Helena Cortelyou by her second husband Dionys Tunis or Teunessen, though not her son of the same name baptized April 2, 1692. An old Dutch silver-clasped Testament and Psalter, printed in 1758, shown me by the kindness of its owner, Mrs. Lilian Denise Snyder of Freehold, which was the property of her ancestor Daniel, son of Tunis Denise of Freehold and contains his family record, has upon a fly-leaf at the end of the book, the following entries, which though not giving his parentage, do furnish the long sought dates. They read thus: "In the year of our Lord one thousand and seven hundred and four, isth of June, Tunis Denise was born." " Tunis Denise departed this Life, the 10 Day of December, in the year of our Lord 1797." While it seems as if this record might be accepted as final authority for the birth-date of Tunis of Freehold, as well as for that of his death f the latter moreover being borne out by the date of the probate of nis will), the copies by Onderdonk in the Long Island -historical Society of the Reformed Dutch Church of Kings County Records, on the contrary, to which I turned for his bap- tism as well as for that of the other children of Helena Cortelyou and Dionys or Denyse Teunessen, as also for their marriages, again baffled me. For there the baptism of Tunis Denise, their second son of that name* was ^iven as on April 2, 169a, Dr. Schenck's date again, probably denved by him from this very source. Though these copies of the records of this Church of Kings County — while the best that remain — are incomplete, like the original, the absence of all corroboration of the Dutch Testa- ment entries could not fail to suggest that Tunis of Freehold might have been a collateral only of Helena and Dionys Teunes- sen, and that all clue to his parentage had hopelessly vanished in the general mist of Teunessens, Denises, and other variations of the name, were it not that the baptismal records are missing from 1 69 1 to 17 10. But the Kings County Real Estate Records remained still to be consulted, and there I found, in a series of documents, from the two last of which I now quote (in abridged version), mention of a third Tennis Denise, son of Helena and Dionys, as follows: — L,iber 4 of Conveyances, p. 257, Brooklyn Real Estate Records: "Nov. 3, 1780. I Taques Denyson of New Utrecht in Kings County on Nassau Island in the Province of New York, yeoman, am bound unto Hendrick Hendrickson my fifather-in-law (i. e. stepfather), and Helena Hendrickson, my mother," etc. * The first, baptized April 24, 1687, died young. Sec p. 93, Early Settlers of Kings County, by Teunis G. Bergen. igiS.] Tunis Denise of Freehold, New Jersey, ijo^-i-jgy. ice Ibid, p. 198. Bond. ^ "1717, Aug. 15. I Hendrick Hendrickson, of New Utrecht in Kings County, yeoman, am bound unto Jaques Teunissen of Town and County aforesaid in 400 pounds, the condition being if Hen- drick Hendrickson conveys to Jaques Teunissen all the right and title which by certain letters Patent the said Hendrick Hendrick- son now hath in and to a certain ferry at the Narrows between Nassau Island and Staten Island at decease of his now wife, or when her youngest son called Tennis Teunisen shall attain to the age of twenty one years, this obligation to be void," etc. Now, it being well known that Helena Cortelyou (the widow first of Nicholas Rutgerz Van Brunt, then of Dionys Teunessen), married (before Sept. 12, 1709)* Hendrick Hendrickson for her third husband, it seems in the absence so far as I can learn of any conflicting testimony, that "her youngest son Tennis Teuni- sen" who was under age in 17 17, may be identified beyond reasonable doubt with Tunis Denise of Freehold, who by the Dutch Testament entry was born June 15, 1704, and died Dec. 10, 1797,— and whose will we find in Trenton, N. J., probated Jan. 16, 1798. With this chain of evidence the case must rest. It is however strengthened in more than one point still to be men- tioned, nor does the change of the name " Teunis Teunisen " to that of Tunis Denise present a difficulty to any one having a slight knowledge of the peculiarities of the system of names among the Dutch. His brother Jaques Teunissen, also mentioned in the bond, became Jaques Denise. Morover, Bergen says that the children of Helena and Dionys Teunessen kept Denise as a surname, while that of his brothers' descendants became Teunessens in various forms of spelling. I may add that it is probable that part of the land in Mon- mouth County deeded Oct. 27, 1718, by Hendrick Hendrickson to "Jaques and Tunis Denise, both of New Utrecht," and described in the deed (see Brooklyn Real Estate Records, Liber 4, p. 204) is the same with that now known as the Tunis Denise place. f
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Descendants of Hendrick Willemsz
1704 - 1797 (93 years)
[1]