African Founders , a recent publication by David Hackett Fischer, discusses Anthony Jansen van Salee (1607-1676), known as the “Black Mohammedan.” His mother was of African origin, and his father was Jan Jansen van Haarlem, known as Reis Mourad the Younger, a highly successful Dutch pirate in Algeria and Morocco. Anthony and his brother or half-brother, Abram Jansen van Salee (d. 1659), were early settlers in New Amsterdam, now New York City. Their surname “Van Salee” refers to their origin in the Republic of Salé in modern Morocco. Anthony had considerable landholdings in Manhattan and later, after some disputes with other Dutch settlers, in Brooklyn near Coney Island. Abram lived in Brooklyn as well. Anthony’s descendants largely married into other Dutch families of the area, while Abram’s descendants largely married other people of African descent.
Abram’s descendants are treated through the 20th century in a three-part article by Register editor Henry B. Hoff, published in 1990 in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, titled “Frans Abramse Van Salee and His Descendants, a Colonial Black Family in New York and New Jersey.” The last section refers to several descendants of Abram Van Saleee through his great-great-great-granddaughter Maria (Van Salee) De Grasse: “her sons and sons-in-law included a minister, a doctor purported to be the first black member of a U.S. medical society, two Civil War veterans (one in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteers, the subject of the [then] recent movie Glory), and a wealthy Newport hotel owner and civil rights activist.”
However, descendants of Anthony Van Salee have been mentioned in several works without specific lines of descent. Fischer’s work African Founders states: “Among their descendants were a progeny of Vanderbilts, Whitneys, Frelinghuysens, two Dukes of Marlborough, President Warren Harding, Humphrey Bogart, and Jaqueline Bouvier Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy told New York genealogists that she had known about a line of descent from Anthony van Salee, but had been informed that he was a Jewish gentleman. The genealogists did not pursue the subject.”
A 1972 article by Hazel Van Dyke Roberts titled “Anthony Jansen Van Salee 1607-1676,” also in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, provides genealogical detail on Anthony, his wife Grietje Reyniers, their four daughters, and their husbands. It also asserts an even more cryptic list of descendants: “Among [Anthony and Grietje’s] descendants were one and possibly two governors, an Episcopal Bishop, a Rector, a United States Senator, who was for a time acting Vice-President of the United States, and whose son was in the House of the Representatives at the same time.”
Of course, I wanted to find out how many of these individuals were Van Salee descendants with their specific lines of descent. Hazel Van Dyke Robert’s list of descendants is a bit too cryptic to know who she is referring to, but I believe the “acting Vice-President” refers to Samuel Lewis Southard (1787-1842), a U.S. Senator from New Jersey, and President pro tempore of the Senate from 11 March 1841 to 31 May 1842. When William Henry Harrison died on 4 April 1841, Vice-President John Tyler assumed the presidency, and the office of Vice-President was left vacant until the following election. As President pro tempore of the Senate, Southard would have presided over the Senate and was referred to as “ Acting Vice President.” (This practice stopped after the Presidential Succession Act of 1886.) However, none of Southard’s sons were Representatives in 1841—although his father Henry Southard had been a U.S. representative from New Jersey from 1801-1811 and 1815-1821, as well as his brother Isaac Southard from 1831-1833. Samuel Lewis Southard also served as Governor of New Jersey and U.S. Secretary of the Navy.
Now to examine the descendants of Anthony Van Salee as claimed in African Founders. The ancestor table of Warren G. Harding in Ancestors of American Presidents takes Harding’s ancestry back to Anthony’s daughter Sarah Antonise Jansen and her husband John Emmons. The path to the Vanderbilts (and by extension the Whitneys and Dukes of Marlborough) is nicely summarized in an article in our former magazine NEXUS by Scott C. Steward and Richard Evans: “ Family Connections of Cornelius Vanderbilt (II) and Alice Gwynne Vanderbilt.” The Frelinghuysen connection arrives early, as Anthony’s great-granddaughter Eva Terhune married the German immigrant to New Jersey, Rev. Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghysen (ca. 1691-ca. 1747).
However, the claims of descent from Humphrey Bogart and Jackie Kennedy appear flawed. A fairly detailed ancestor table for Bogart appears on the Rich Hall’s website FamousKin, and while the actor certainly has many ancestors in New Amsterdam, no Van Salee descent is evident. Bogart’s ancestors Joris Jansen Ralaljie and Catalyntje Trico are mentioned in the 1659 probate of Abram Van Salee, but as executor and witness, not relatives.
Jackie Kennedy’s claim is even more strange, as she appears to have hardly any colonial ancestors in New Amsterdam. A detailed ancestor table appears in the Autumn 2016 issue of Executive Papers (journal of the Hereditary Order of the Families of the Presidents and First Ladies of America). Of Jackie’s ancestors in the fifth generation born between 1794 and 1821, one is born in France, one in Philadelphia, two in Maryland, four in England, and four in Ireland. One of her three American-born ancestors, Philadelphia-born ancestress Louise Catherine (Vernou) Bouvier, is also the daughter of a French-born father. The only ancestry taken to the 17th century in the ancestor table is through her Maryland forebears. There is one ancestor, Dr. Jacob Sanderse Glenn (1686-1746), who was born in Schenectady, New York and later moved to Delaware and ultimately Maryland, where he married and left descendants. The New York connection for this ancestor was only recently discovered by Alexander Bannerman, the editor of this journal, and while it does provide Jackie Kennedy with a descent from King Robert III of Scotland, there is no connection to the Van Salee family. Dr. Glenn’s father’s parents were from Scotland, while his mother, who was baptized in New Amsterdam in 1651, was of Dutch and Walloon descent.
So, where did the claim about Bogart and Kennedy come from? African Founders cites a page on WikiTree which no longer asserts that they are Van Salee descendants, but an archived version of the page from 2016 does, as well as other connected pages on the same website. These pages cite a PBS Frontline page by Mario de Valdes y Cocom on the Van Salee family as their source. I immediately saw a red flag in the summary of Jackie Kennedy Onassis’ Van Salee descent:
“Either Professor Hershkowitz, or Tim Beard, former head of the Genealogical Department of the New York Public Library related this incident regarding van Salee genealogy. At the time the Kennedy administration began implementing its civil rights agenda, the New York Genealogical and Historical Society approached Mrs. Kennedy hoping to discuss the opportunity her African ancestry, through the Van Salees, could have in possibly assisting her husband to realize his social goals regarding race relations. Mrs. Kennedy insisted on referring to the van Salees as ‘Jewish,’ and the New York Genealogical Society did not push the subject further.”1
As this article is not even clear on which of these two (now deceased) men related this incident, and without any clear way for this descent to even be possible, I believe that this entire story has dubious credibility. As shown on my chart below, the 11th Duke of Marlborough married his second wife Athina Onassis in 1961, herself the former wife of Aristotle Onassis, who married Jackie Kennedy in 1968. This is a tangential connection at best, and would not have even existed at the time when Jackie was First Lady. If anyone has any plausible theories for how Jackie Kennedy or Humphrey Bogart could be Van Salee descendants, I would love to hear about them.
The chart below shows the several selected Van Salee descendants that can be proven:2
Notes
1 Leo Hershkowitz (1924-2017) authored an article on Anthony Van Salee in New York History, October 1965, Vol. 46, No. 4 (October 1965), pp. 299-310, entitled “The Troublesome Turk: An Illustration of Judicial Process in New Amsterdam,” available on JSTOR. No mention of later Van Salee descendants are stated in this article.
2 Sources for chart (in addition to works already mentioned): David M. Ryker, Genealogical and Biographical Directory to Persons in New Netherland; Emily Frelinghuysen McFarland, The Frelinghuysen family in New Jersey, 1720-1970; Ralph K. Potter and Brian A. Smith, Early Southards of New York and New Jersey.
A fascinating post as a springboard from an illuminating book. Hackett Fisher’s African Founders make a worthy bookend to Albion’s Seed. As with indigenous people, there so much more I hope to learn about the genealogy of enslaved persons.
The detail in his earlier books, and in the extened backnotes, is amazing. And the undergaduate and gradutae students who did that work needed to be credited more prominently. Great reads and illuminating: Paul Rever’s Ride and Washington’s Crossing. (The Champlain book, not so much.)
thanks Michael!
What amazing genealogy as always from Christopher Child. So many connections between so many names. Our Dutch Americans are often under-studied, making this even more interesting. Mr. Bannerman’s work is always in depth, interesting and relevant! Thank you for this enlightening post!
Thank you!
Here’s another on-line treatment of Humphrey Bogart’s ancestry with no Van Salee family members indicated
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nnnotables/zhubo.html Great chart because even though I’m not a Van Salee descendant, I have distant cousins listed (my dad descends twice from the Terhunes and twice from two of Sophia Johnson Vanderbilt’s ancestors and Alice Claypoole Gwynne Vanderbilt and my mom are both descendants of Joseph Claypoole, 1677-1744). Plus, apart from that, it’s just a great chart!
Thanks Marc for the link!
My wife and I are 10th cousins and descended from Southworth’s. But she is descended from John Alden and I am descended from a pirate.
Craig Conly
Fascinating history. How interconnected we all are. I see the name De Grasse in Abram Van Salee’s line. Any relation to the well known astrophysicist, Neil De Grasse Tyson?
Thanks Barbara. Interesting question. The George DeGrasse on the chart above was born about 1780 in (according to the 1850 census) “Calcutta” (Kolkata), India. An 1891 article claimed George was the protege and adopted son of the “celebrated Count de Grasse of Paris, France” (Admiral Count Francois-Joseph-Paul de Grasse-Tilly [1722-1788]), hero of the American Revolution, which Henry Hoff found unlikely, as there is no evidence the Count de Grasse was ever in India.
Regarding Neil deGrasse Tyson, his middle name derives from the maiden name of his paternal grandmother, Altima (deGrasse) Tyson (1897-1982), who was born in St. Croix, Virgin Islands. I have not traced Altima’s ancestry further.
Thanks! Always interesting.
I’m not sure why you changed the spelling of our name. It was Jan Emans then. And Emans continued into the 18th and 19th and 20th and now 21st centuries. And to me. ??
Thank you for your comment. The surname, from the sources I cite above, was written as Emmons or Emans depending on who was was writing it.
This other post I wrote discusses how surnames could be written differently – https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2022/01/round-and-round/ – and in that period, there wasn’t a right or wrong way.
Also, depending if the person spoke Dutch or English, surnames could be be “Anglicized” or “Dutchified” as I discuss here – https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2017/02/algonquinization/
So you’ll see his name written as “Jan Emans” or “John Emmons.” A genealogy was published in 1983, “An Emmons Genealogy,” on his descendants by Corwin J. Emmons and Wilbur D. Emmons, from a branch that continued the English variation of the surname, which notes in their intro – “Jan (John) Emans Sr. (d.1715) probably emigrated from The Netherlands to Gravesend, Kings County, Long Island, New York during or before 1645 and married twice. Descendants (most spelling the surname Emmons, some spelling it Emmans, Emans, etc.) lived in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Indiana, Florida, Texas and elsewhere.”
https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/108875?availability=Family%20History%20Library
I believe your information on Jan Jansen van Haarlem’s second wife, Anthony and Abraham’s mother is incorrect. Margaret al-Qartagnatiya, also known as Princess Margritje En’ Nasir (1580-1669) was born in Cartagena Spain. She was of multi-ethnic background called Morisco, and most likely Arabic not African. Many confirmed descendants of Anthony have no African DNA, but do have Middle Eastern DNA. It is suggested that Margritje was one of the many daughters of the Dey of Morocco at a time when Jan was an admiral for that Leader.
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Thanks for your comment. Could you please share your sources for your information on Margritje and the DNA results for descendants?
I described Anthony and Abraham’s mother “of African origin” as her ancestors were in North Africa. Commercial DNA tests break down ethnic origins differently, Ancestry differentiates “North Africa” from other west African areas such as “Senegal,” Mali,” “Ivory Coast & Ghana,” and “Cameroon, Congo & Western Bantu Peoples,” while 23andMe differentiates “North African,” “Sub-Saharan African,” and “Western Asian & North African.”
My basic internet research can be summed up as follows…..
Using the description “of African origin” can cause confusion, as shown with the comment in this discussion from a woman being surprised she has Mulatto ancestors. Arab expansion can be better understood by reading about the Arab conquests from the 7th century, the Persian Wars, Byzantine and Sassanian Empires in 600AD, and also by looking at a map of the Mediterranean. Expansion focused on the costal areas around this ocean. The entire circumference of the Mediterranean Ocean is a large area which includes Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Spain to name a few, and there were “northern” and “southern” clans. The term morisco has had different meanings throughout its existence (hundreds of years) depending on who is using the term. When Christianity was spreading throughout Europe, and (Arab origin) Muslims were told convert or get out, the new “converts” in Spain who did not leave, were called Moriscos. I put converts in “” because, many of these converts, converted publicly, but privately were very much muslim. Later, the term was also used to describe people of mixed race, possibly a Spaniard and a negro(wikipedia term)who created light but still dark skinned children. In colonial Spanish American times the term Morisco was sometimes combined with mullato. Anthony was called a Turk or The Turk because of his dark skin and Muslim upbringing.
So, what I’m trying to explain is whether or not Ancestory or 23andMe calls people living in Morocco or Algeria of African origin, I think there is more to be learned about that distinction. That is why my initial thought is because Anthony was raised Muslim and there are current authenticated descendants of Anthony who do not have “African DNA”, but do have Spanish (Iberian peninsula) DNA, this shows Margarit (mother of Anthony) was from ancestors in Spain who were possibly moriscos; moriscos meaning Arab origin Muslims who “converted” to Christianity.
Smithsonian Magazine Sept/Oct 2023 has an article “Journey to Spain’s Last Moorish Kingdom”, it’s a good read!
Also, my comments are not meant to boast my knowledge or disparage anyone, I simply welcome further discussion/exploration of My 10th great grandparents Jan Jansen van Haarlem and Margritje and their successive generations in America. Thx
That is correct. I am a direct descendant of Jan Janszoon the pirate and his first wife, who was of Moorish/Spanish descent. She was not African. His son, Antony, the “Turk”, married a Dutch woman, Grietje Reyniers, who gave birth to Sara Antonise Emans, through which our genealogy can be traced. Genealogical testing shows not a trace of African ancestry, rather DNA from the Iberian peninsula, which means Janszoon’s first wife was Spanish or Portuguese. We have no other ancestors who were from this part of Europe. I would be happy to share my DNA results.
I downloaded my FTDNA test to Gedmatch and did some further testing. I have a small % of African DNA.
I downloaded my DNA raw data to Gedmatch and ran some tests. I have some African DNA. Anthony Van Salee was my maternal G.G.F.
I have recently began researching my ancestry in the past 6-8 months and found out that Anthony is my 9th great Grandfather on my mom’s side. It was a total shock to find this and the wildest part is that i am also a Mullato. I had no idea we had more of them on my mother’s side since i thought her line to be totally caucasian. James Atwell Goff is the ancestor i have that connects Anthony to me.
Helena De Vries, the wife of Abram Frans Van Salee, was the daughter of my ancestor. Thank you for the valuable information.
Helena De Vries: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/De_Vries-1010
My project this winter, when the weather gets cold and I dive into my latest research project, is to find out more about Abraham and Fortuyn. Who was she? Were Abraham and Fortuyn married in the Dutch Reformed Church? Was she one of the first free black citizens of New Netherland in the 1640s/50s? Was her son with Abraham free? How did the take over of New Netherland (Manhattan) by the British from the Dutch affect the families that descended from Abraham? Who arrived in the new world first Anthony or Abraham? Did the distinction of being a Muslim continue? They were, I think, the first Muslims in the new world.
My ancestors come from the Anthony side.
I appreciate the comments relating to the mother of the Van Salee brothers. While there are numerous websites claiming her specific identity, I haven’t seen any that really cite specific sources. A page on Geni that Kathy emailed me has the following summary:
From Belkacem Oussala September 30, 2019
… “ as far as the sources about Margarita are concerned, they are in Morocco in the archives of the family al Shaabi who are the manager and curator of the Saadi Dynasty, you could consult them on the spot, and to see with the head of the current family it is called Sheikh Mohammad Al-Shaabi it is in the village of Azarif, I myself spent 13 years of research on my tree and discovered a lot of things which are not not to publish in the big days, which is a pity because there is a lot of things on the genealogy in the Saadian periaude, there is all the biography and even that of Margarita that I had translated into French.”
I’d interested in more research on the mother (or mothers’) identity. Both brothers were from Salé, in present day Morocco, North Africa. I would also point out that saying anything certain about the identify of an early 17th century person from autosomal DNA results from certain present-day descendants has its shortcomings, as there is not any easy way to determine where one may have received any given amount of their atDNA after so many generations (as we are talking about a woman or women who had sons, this cannot involve mtDNA). One needs to consider the overall ancestry of any person, who has thousands of ancestors at that point, and not every ancestor will still be represented in their living descendants’ atDNA.
Google “How I’m Related to Jackie Kennedy by Vicky Moon/ Genforum. Jackie is related to Anthony Van Salee by marriage not blood. I wrote the story.
My FTDNA shows no African. I downloaded my FTDNA raw data to Gedmatch to do further testing and most of the tests show a small % of African DNA. Anthony Van Salee was my maternal 10th G.G.G. I descend from his daughter Sarah.