Captain Frans Janse Bloodgood (ca 1623-1676)
and Lysbet Jans (1637-1730)
Frans Janse Bloodgood and Lysbet Jans are our 8th great grandparents by this path: RWA → Vera Esler Abbott → Martha Tappan Esler → Emily Harned Tappan → Samuel Harned → Sarah Bloodgood Harned → Gach Bloodgood → William Bloodgood → John Bloodgood → Frans Janse Bloodgood and Lysbet Jans
Frans Janse Bloodgood and Lysbet Jans were from Gouda, South Holland. (The 15th century town hall in Gouda, South Holland is pictured above.) Bloodgood is not a common name in the U.S. and Frans Janse was the only member of his family to emigrate; it is believed that all the Bloodgoods in the U.S. are descended from him. The name had several spellings: Bloodgood, Bloetgoet, Goetbloet, but was Anglicized to Bloodgood. The parents of Lysbet Jans are not known.
The birthdates of Frans Janse and Lysbet are not all that certain, but they seem to have married in 1654, had two children born in Holland, and then left for New Amsterdam and were in Flushing, Long Island by 1659.
Frans Bloodgood arrived in Long Island just a few years before the English takeover of the colony in 1664. Although 1664 was the date of English takeover, there had been English settlers in the area since the mid-1630’s. The English seemed to understand how important the Dutch settlers were to the business and shipping interests in the area, and there was not so much of a taking over of the population as a melding.
The English continued many of the Dutch practices, one of them being the position of schout who served primarily law enforcement functions something like a sheriff. In 1674, Bloodgood was named schout of the inhabitants of the primarily Dutch towns of Flushing, Heemstede (Hempstead), Rustdorp (Jamaica), and Middleburgh. One of his duties was to warn inhabitants of the approach of any enemies. He was not a member of the military, but came to be referred to as Captain Bloodgood.
Captain Bloodgood was a carpenter by trade and a builder and was prosperous in business. He and his wife reared eight children.
Perhaps as part of his duties as schout, he was involved in a skirmish with Indians in December 1676 and was mortally wounded dying perhaps the same day he was wounded. His will dated 29 December 1676 states he is sorely wounded and just briefly leaves his estate to his wife.
Lysbet Jans remarried to Wouter Gijsbrechtsz. She lived in Long Island until her death in 1730. John Bloodgood, the seventh child in the family, is our ancestor.
Family group sheet for Frans Bloodgood and Lysbet Jans: http://sites.rootsmagic.com/colonialgenealogy/family.php?f=381
Sources:
Dobson, John Blythe. (2007). The earliest generations of the Goetbloet alias Bloetgoet family. New Netherland Connections, 12, 12-15.
Parker, Annie Bloodgood. (1917). Captain Frans Bloodgood of Flushing, Long Island and some of his descendants. Publications of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 7(3), 229-241.