Gerrite Teunisz de Metselaer
Andries Hanse Scherb was our earliest Sharp ancestor. We always "knew" that this was our Dutch line. Living in Minnesota ("Land of the Swedes") my mom was always very proud of her Scandinavian heritage, but dad's attitide about not being Swedish in Minnesota was that he was lucky to have "dodged a bullet". Turns out that the people in the Dutch community Andries lived in called him "Andries Hanse Scherb von Schweden" - "from Sweden": Surprise!
HIs surname name was spelled many ways: Sharp, Scharp, Scherp, Scherb, &c. Andries Hanse was included in: "Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630-1674: Part III- Swedish Immigrants in New York"
Gerrite Teunisz de Metselaer now THAT'S a Dutch name. Her name translates to everything from Gerta or Gertrude Teunise, of the Mason. Her father may have been in Albany, New York, as early as 1641.
His name appears in a muster roll dated March 28, 1660 at Esopus, in Ulster Co, NY, for the first Esopus War. Derck/ Dirk Hendricks "de Sweedt" (also "Van Gottenburgh"), is on the list with him and shows up together with Andries in various instances. Andries (& Dirk) moved to Albany County, where he is described as, "yeoman of ye Great Flatt near Coxhacky". He & Dirk bought property near each other in Kinderhook, Columbia Co, from a local widow, across the brook from the VanAlstyne house.
The book, "A History of Old Kinderhook from Aboriginal Days to the Present Time" (1914) has numerous references to Andries. "These and other families to be named were Hollanders with the exception of a few Swedes notably the Scherp (Sharp) family after whom the vicinity of Mr Dudley Van Alstyne's present shop was at one time known as Sharptown."
I have not found any information about his emigration nor about the area in Sweden from which Andries Hanse Scherp comes. I wonder if he might be from Goteberg, where his friend Dirke is known to come from.
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