Married Life, Anna:

Jan Derick and Anna may have had ten children: Andries (cr. 1691), Dirck (cr. 1693), Jan Albertse Bout (cr. 1695), Pieter (cr. 1698), Elizabeth (cr. 1699), Jan Hermitien Coesvert (cr. 170d), Anna Pieterse (cr. 1707), Abraham (cr.1709 –Raritan, NJ.), Jan Jane (cr. 1710), and Femmetje “Fammichyen” (cr. 1716).

Jan Derick and Anna apparently lived in Brooklyn, NY, until 1699.

Erskine/Marrs Jeen Leeper, 1997, page 184 says, “(Jan Derick) moved from Brooklyn, NY, in 1699, to Somerville, NY (?); 1704 to Somerset Co, New Jersey; then to Raritan, NJ.”

It is interesting to note here that there is no Somerville shown on the current map of New York. There is, however, a Somerville, NJ, which is only a few miles east from Raritan in Somerset County, NJ. Somerset County is in north-central New Jersey due west of Staten Island, NY. Raritan is on the western outskirts of Piscataway along the Raritan River. The Raritan River enters the bay more or less directly across the Hudson River from Brooklyn, NY.

The Encarta Encyclopedia says, “Somerville (New Jersey), borough, seat of Somerset County, north central New Jersey, on the Raritan River... The community, settled by Dutch farmers in 1683, was once known as Raritan and received its present name in the early 19th century...”

In the Somerset County (NJ) Historical Quarterly, Vol. VI, page 84, it says, “…Jan settled in 1701 in Somerset Co. on the Royse tract south of the Raritan [river], buying 1,025 acres...”

Joel Hager provides interesting, related information here on his website. He says, “John Derick Workman started the move west in 1699 when he moved from Brooklyn Heights, NY, to Somerville, New Jersey. By the year 1704 he had located in Raritan, New Jersey where he remained for a number of years. He then moved to Pluckemin, NY (actually NJ) where he erected a long old-fashioned house made of logs that was known for many years as the ‘Workman Homestead.’ Here a descendant, Jan Woertman, known as Squire Wortman (sic) (due to the fact that he owned 500 acres) entertained the patriots, Gisbert Sutphen, Aaron Melick, and Colonel Stephen Hunt when they met to plan their resistance to the British army a year before the Declaration of Independence was signed. It was here, too, that Jan Wortman, trained by his father in the family trade as a blacksmith, shod the horses of George Washington and his entourage during the Revolutionary War. The Woertman tradition in America had been one of civic loyalty. Richard John (Derick Jans) had begun it in 1673 when he became an officer of his own in Brooklyn. John Derick (Jan Derick) continued it as Justice of the Peace in New Jersey. Squire Jan Wortman, his nephews, and sons planned and worked for the revolutionary forces.”

Hager also gives an account (in his note 1 under Dirck Jans) of the Raritan Valley by a Dutch explorer. He says, “As early as 1650, a Dutch explorer, Cornelius Van Turnhover, described the area around Somerville and Raritan, New Jersey where John Derick Workman and his family moved in 1699 as follows: A valley where the fattest deer roamed and 60-pound turkeys could be had for the shooting. This land, he said, was the pleasant and handsome place a man had ever seen. Huge pines, oaks, chestnut, and hickory trees grew there and a glistening river (Raritan) meandered through the meadows and fields of corn.”

In 1709, Jan Derick and Anna were still living in Raritan when their son Abraham was born.

Hager says that Jan Derick and Anna remained at Raritan for a number of years before moving on to Pluckemin, NJ, where he built a log house which was named “Workman Homestead.”

There is a Pluckemin, NJ, just a few miles north of Raritan which is almost certainly the same place.