I’ve written about an ancestor on my maternal tree, my 10th great-grandfather Robert Coles, who was publicly shamed for drinking alcohol. He was made to wear a scarlet letter “D” in the 1630s in Boston. On my paternal tree, I’ve found another ancestor who suffered a similar public humiliation in early Dutch Brooklyn, New York.
Tracing back through early Dutch settlers of the Kingston New York area on my paternal side, I have an 7th great-grandmother named Rebecca Traphagen who was born in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY but married Pieter Pietersen Oostrander in Kingston. Her father was Willem Janszen Traphagen, who was born in Lemgo, Germany but was an early resident of Bushwick. It was in Bushwick that Willem ran afoul of the local authorities. A document in the New York State Archives recorded the Dutch colonial council minutes of 1664. It reads: “Sentence. William Traphagen, for insulting one of the magistrates of Bushwick, to appear, with uncovered head, before the court of Bushwick,and, in the presence of the fiscal, to beg pardon of God, justice, and the injured person, and to pay 13 guilders to the overseers of the poor there,with costs”.
Apparently, an “insolent” letter had been written to the magistrates of Bushwick by a man named Jan Willemsen Van Iselsteyn, which charged that the magistrates had no legitimate power. Traphagen was caught carrying the letter. Iselsteyn seems to have gotten the more harsh sentence, as he was tied to a stake in a public square with a bridle in his mouth, wearing a sign on his chest that read “Lampoon writer, false accuser and defamer of its magistrates”. After serving this sentence, he was also banished from Bushwick. Traphagen, while still tied to a stake, wore a sign saying just “Lampoon Carrier”, but he was also made to pay court costs and was exiled from Brooklyn.
Traphagen relocated to the Kingston, NY area, where he lived until his death some time after 1685. He left his land and farm equipment to his three sons, while “the remainder of his estate was to be divided equally among this five children, with my Rebecca named: “The rest of my Estate whether in horses cows hogs either young or old or household stuff shall be equally divided amongst my three sons And my two daughters (to witt) Helena who is married unto Jan Boerhans of Kingston And Rebecca who is married unto Peter Peterson of Hurley.”
Sources
- A History of the city of Brooklyn and Kings County by Stephen M. Ostrander, Vol. 1 1894 (the author also descends from Pieter Oostrander)
- New York State Archives. New Netherland. Council. Dutch colonial council minutes, 1638-1665. Series A1809. Volume 10.
- Ulster County, N.Y. probate records in the office of the surrogate, and in the county clerk’s office at Kingston, NY, American Record Series A.:- Wills. Volume I
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