Person:Barent van Kleeck (1)

Barent Baltus was the progenitor of the Van Kleeck family in America and Canada. As a young man from Lipstadt, in Westphalia, in the present Germany, he married in Haarlem, Province of North Holland, The Netherlands, Sara Pieters, a young woman of Haarlem. About 4 1/2 years later, 29 January 1636, Barent B., as a widower married Mayken Quiters, a young woman of Haarlem. During the period 1651 Barent brought his family to the Dutch colony of New Netherlands, Midwout/Flatbush on Western Long Island. That Barent died before 19 November 1659 is evidenced by the fact that on that date a suit was brought against his widow for payment of masters wages amounting to six guilders. From this it is inferred that Barent Baltus was in some way identified with a shipping or maritime business although no confirmation of this had been found. The origin of the name Van Kleeck is unknown. While many of the old Dutch families derive their names from towns in Holland and from which the progenitor came, this does not hold true with respect to the name Van Kleeck. The name is unknown in Holland and cannot be linked to any town, village, diocese or locality. Van Kleeck as a surname first appears at the baptism of Peter, son of Baltus Barents, at Bergen, New Jersey, October 1685, and at the burial of a daughter in 1683, the father's name is shown as Baltus Barentse Van Kleeck.

1. ↑ <[email protected]>. Rootsweb's WorldConnect Project: Bob Juch's Kin.