| Notes |
- Possibly arrived in New Amsterdam/Hudson Valley via Brazil about or before 1654 as he appears in Early Records of Albany, New York - Esopus. Settled in Beverwyck.
Frans Clauw/Klauw' appears in the records as follows:
1654 He testified in a land court case that he was present in Esopus for the harvest of 1654.
(Early Records of Albany v3:54)
1656 Frans Pietersz fined for drinking in a Tavern on Sunday.
(Minutes of Ft. Orange v1:260)
1659 Suit brought by Van Breman demanding wages; attacked Frans Pietersen at Ft. Orange, before many witnesses, slashing his hat and clothing with a knife. Van Breman fined 100 fl. and to pay for damage to clothing.
(Court Minutes of Albany v2:175, 188; v3:163)
1660 By this time he was at his mill site on the Upper Hudson near Kindeerhook.
(American Genealogist, Oct. 1971, p.195)
1662 'Frans Pietersz Claw' made agreement with Van Breman to deliver logs to his mill.
(Early Albany Records, v3:158)
1664 He purchased a copper kettle and a horse of Peter Bronck, for whom he had surveyed land on the west side of the Hudson. The kettle had belonged to Jantie, the Irishman, who was found murdered, by the Indians, and his house burned.
1670 First mention of wife of Frans Clauw, Elsje (her surname was not given).
1673 Frans Clauw purchased a lot in Albany from Peter Winne .
1680 Sluyter's and Danker's Tour or as given by Dr. Clough, Jasper Danckaerts 'Journal' pub Scribner's 1913 (see Pearson p. 31) mentions a visit to Kinderhook where there was a creek on which was established a sawmill where a man lived who was usually called, 'Kind Van Weelde' (Child of Luxury or Wealth), for he had formerly been such a one but now was not far from being a Child of Poverty. This man showed them the mill, located on a Creek, on a waterfall. They also saw wonderful crystals in the water, embedded in layers in the rock. (Soft calcite & of no value). Though not mentioned by name this man was Frans Pietersz Clauw.
(Pearson: 1st Settlers of Albany, N.Y., p31)
1683 & after -- Among names of Church members in New albany 'Frans Pietersz Clauw' and 'Elsje Fransen Clauw.'
(Dutch Ref. Ch. Albany p7, 13)
1684 Elsje, wife of Frans Pieterse was the subject of a suit because she declared a colt did not belong to the defendant. The case was dismissed without damages but with a warning to Elsje to hereafter mind her own business.
The Hudson, by Carl Carmer
1684 Land case between Peter Bronck/Marte Gerritse van Bergen. Land purchased from the Indians about 1666. 'Frans Pieterse,' age 61, testified that he surveyed the flat land of Cochachky in the presence of Gerrit Schlichtenhorst (deceased), Jan Verbeek, commissary, and Johannes Provost, secretary. Measuring first 60 morgans (over 120 acres) for Jantie, the Irishman, and the rest of the flat land to the trees for Pieter Bronck. The Commissary paid for the 60 morgans and the rest by Bronck.
1686 In the redistribution of Land, Frans Klauw was assigned a fair plot between Kinderhook and the Hudson. This was in addition to the land he already held.
1686 Sponsor for grandson -- 7 Nov. 1686, Frans, son of Hendrik Franse Clauw. Albany, N.Y.
(Dutch Reformed Church Records p41)
1699 Freeholder in Kinderhook. Both Franz and his son Jurraien Clauw sign an oath of Allegiance to King William of England.
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From the Journal of Jasper Danckaerts (copy saved in archive.org account):
p217-218
May 1st [1680], Wednesday. We began early to load, but as it had to come from some distance in the country, and we had to wait, we stepped ashore to amuse ourselves. We came to a creek where, near the river, lives the man whom they usually call the Child of Luxury, [This was one Frans Pieterse Clauw, who had come out to Beverwyck (Albany) in 1656[54]] because he formerly had been such an one, but who now was not far from being the Child of Poverty, for he was situated poorly enough. He had a saw-mill on the creek, on a water-fall, which is a singular one, for it is true that all falls have something special, and so had this one, which was not less rare and pleasant than others. The water fell quite steep, on one body, but it came down in steps, with a broad rest sometimes between them. These steps were sixty feet or more high, and were formed out of a single rock which is unusual. I reached this spot alone through the woods, and while I was sitting on the mill, my comrade came up with the Child of Luxury, who, after he had shown us the mill and falls, took us down a little to the right of the mill, under a rock, on the margin of the creek, where we could behold how wonderful God is even in the most hidden parts of the earth; for we saw crystal lying in layers between the rocks, and when we rolled away a piece of the rock, there was, at least on two sides of it, a crust or bark, about as thick as the breadth of a straw, of a sparkling or glassy substance, which looked like alabaster, and this crust was full of points or gems, which were truly gems of crystal, or like substance. They sparkled brightly, and were as clear as water, and so close together that you could obtain hundreds of them from one piece of the crust. We broke some pieces off, and brought them away with us as curiosities. It is justly to be supposed that other precious stones rest in the crevices of the rocks and mines as these do. I have seen this sort of crystal as large and pointed as a jaunt of a finger. I saw on, indeed, at the house of Robert Sanders as large as your list, thought it was not clear, but white, like glassy alabaster. It had what they call a table point. Robert Sanders has much of this mountain crystal at his farm, about four miles from Albany, towards the Cahoos, on the east side of the river, but we have not been there…
Franz Pieterse Klauw is described by Pearson in “Contributions for the genealogies of the first settlers of the ancient county of Albany, from 1630 to 1800”:
"Clauw (Klauw), Fraus Pieterse, carpenter, in Beverwyck as early as 1656, of Kinderhook. 1683, had two son's, Hendrick aud Jurriaan. He was called the ‘Kind Van Weelde’, but in 1680 lived at Kinderhook in great poverty."
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Abt 1623 - Aft 1699 (~ 77 years)