Jessé De Forest is our 9th great grandfather by this path: RWA → Vera Esler Abbott → William Esler → Anna Elizabeth Van Winkle Esler → William Van Winkle → Elizabeth Douw Van Winkle → William Janszen Douw → Sarah De Forest Douwe → Hendricus De Forest → Issac De Forest → Jessé De Forest
The Walloons who came to New Netherland were from a French-speaking area of what is current day Belgium. This area was part of Gaul in the Roman era. The area was then infiltrated by waves of various Germans over the next few centuries. One of these groups, Salic Franks, pushed southward. Eventually, these groups of peoples became demarcated with the southern group developing a language that became French and the more northern group retaining a Germanic language that would later be Dutch. These two broad groups were Flemings in the north and Walloons in the south.
The area of Wallonia was traditionally Catholic, but Jessé De Forest became part of the new Protestant religion. He and his family traveled to Leiden, Holland and became involved with the English Puritans who had also traveled there seeking religious freedom (at least for their religion). Jessé became the leader of about 50 families of Walloons who sought to emigrate and go to America. The original plan was to settle in the area of Virginia in the English colonies and permission was sought for this. Although the Virginia Company agreed to the settlement, the company set a provision that the 50 families could not all settle together in one place: they needed to be dispersed. De Forest did not want that so he then petitioned the Dutch and was given permission to start a colony in New Amsterdam, New Netherland. By this time, De Forest was leading a group of 60 families of Walloons and other Dutch Protestants. The initial group of 30 families, without Jessé De Forest, left for the New World and arrived in New Netherland in May, 1624. De Forest did not travel with the group as he was in South America involved with the Dutch and their plans to try to take over the area that is now Brazil. Part of this involved scouting possible areas for settlement. While on this expedition, De Forest died on 22 October 1624, apparently from complications from sun stroke, along the banks of the Oyapock River along the border of what is now Brazil and French Guyana. It was not until 1636 that three of his children Rachel, Henri, and Isaac (our ancestor) made the trip to New Netherland.
Jessé De Forest was born in 1576 in Avesnes in what is now Nord, France. He married Marie De Cloux in 1601 in Sedan, France. They had six children while living in Sedan and four more children after relocating to Leiden.
Click here to see family information: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/Genealogy_Abbott_Feld_Family/individual.php?p=2822
Inscription on the Monument: Walloon settlers who came over to America in the Neu Nederland under the inspiration of Jessé De Forest