YORKS-YERKS-YERXA FAMILY GENEALOGY

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Three modern-day familys, the YORKS, the YERKS, and the YERXA, are descended from the immigrant, Paulis JURCKXEM, who came to the Kingston area of New York, as a boy of about 12, in 1642 from Texel in the Netherlands. Paulis worked as a servant for the Michael JANSZ family for several years, and then, apparently, married a daughter of the JANSZ family, Christina (Styntie) JANSE. Paulis and Christina had at least five children, three girls and two boys, all born in the Kingston / Albany area.

There have been four other children ascribed to them in the IGI files: Hilletje-1661, Dirk-1666, Eegie-1668, and Christine-1670, but it has been determined, now, that these really are children of Paulus Pietersen & Tryntie Martens. These children were born in New Jersey at times that Paulus & Christina were still in the Albany, NY area, according to court records.

There also is some question about the year in which Paulus died. Some genealogists have listed his death as early as 1679, but he was present at the baptisms of his first two grandchildren in Jan. 1681 and April 1682. In August 1682, both Paulus and Styntie are listed as members of the RDC of New York City. He is also listed as a Freeholder in the City of New York on Oct 22, 1683. In 1686, Styntie is shown in the RDCNY census as being a widow living in the Poor House on Broad Street. So, it would appear that Paulus died sometime between 1683 and 1686, and probably in New York City.

From Albany, the family moved down into New Jersey, and then back into the Haverstraw area and across the Hudson into the Philipsburgh area. Many of the early YORKS family members are buried in the burial ground at the Old Dutch Church at Sleepy Hollow.

The spelling of the Dutch name, JURCKXEM, went through changes when the English controlled the area, becoming spelled as YORKS and YERKS. Around the time of the Revolutionary War, a branch of the family that were Loyalists, moved up into Canada and their name took on the spelling: YERXA. Some of the YERXA family eventually moved back into Eastern Maine.

Some of the YORKS line lived in Haverstraw on the west bank of the Hudson River and then migrated out into the frontier area around Montgomery in Orange County, NY. In 1820, Andrew YORKS, a direct descendent of Paulis YURCKXEM, married Jane Martin YORKS/YERKS in The Red Brick Church in Montgomery. This church is still standing and still in use. Jane was the daughter of Nicholas YORKS/YERKS and Esther CRANS, but I have been unable to locate either a birth record or a record of the parents of Nicholas. Andrew and Jane are my gg-grandparents.

Herman YORKS, a son of Andrew and Jane, married Clarissa Sophia BOWERS in or around Claryville, NY. Herman served in the Civil War as a teamster driving ammunition wagons to the front lines. After the war they picked up their family, along with some of the Bowers and moved westward to Illinois, then back into Ohio, finally ending up in Northern Michigan in Grand Traverse County, which is my home of homes.

I have found no mention of a Nicholas in the JURCKXEM line, prior to this time. There was, however, a Nicholas GEORGE (YORG/YORK) who came to this country in the Palatine migration in 1711, but again, I have had no success in tracing Jane's father back to this Nicholas.

If anyone has any information on Nicholas YORKS/YERKS, I would appreciate an Email message. Thank you.

I will build more charts on the descendents of Paulis, but I do not have the time to sit and do it all at once. So you may want to check back occaisionally to see what is new. Return to top of page.

I have opened a "DUTCH GENEALOGISTS RESOURCE HOME PAGE" containing links to other Dutch genealogical data from my files, as well as listings of some of my books, and links to other genealogical web sites. You can access this DUTCH RESOURCE PAGE here.