Fifteen hundred years ago, the people living in northern Europe were
just emerging from barbarism. For another thousand years Western
Europe lay almost dormant in the gloom of the Middle Ages. Most
common people lived in a state of poverty and oppression. The gradual
spread of Christianity, the Crusades, the Italian Renaissance, the
invention of printing, the Reformation, all contributed somewhat to
the amelioration of the lot of the majority of the population.

The discovery of America, a new world of limitless resources ready to
furnish land and homes for millions of people, inspired new hope for
many who had never known economic opportunity, civil liberty or
religious tolerance. Thus, the immigrant ancestors of most Americans
of European descent were fugitives from war, famine or religious,
ethnic or political persecution.

The 16th Century was a century of fruitless effort on the part of
England and France to establish colonies in the new world. But early
in the 17th Century little settlements of a permanent character were
made by the English and Dutch along the eastern seaboard at Jamestown,
New Amsterdam, Fort Orange, Plymouth and Boston.

Early among those who left Europe for the New World was an Albert
Albertsen who came to New Amsterdam probably in 1638. There are no
records of his family known to exist in Europe. Nor is there any
record of Albert Albertsen’s activities for his first dozen or more
years in America. Handicapped by the absence of such data we are
forced to begin with family legend in order to construct the story of
his youth, migration and settlement in America. Family legend (with
apologies to those who have written otherwise) about Albert can be
summarized as follows:

Albert Albertsen was born in 1615 or 1619 in Huinen, Province of
Gelderland, Holland. Though he came from Holland he was believed to be
of French Huguenot descent. His ancestors had lived in France for many
generations and in Holland for three generations. He, his father and
all his remembered ancestors were ribbon weavers by occupation. His
French ancestors may have been of noble rank or family origin. He
arrived in New Amsterdam in December 1637 on the Dutch ship Calmar
Sleutel. Although he had intended to establish a ribbon weaving
business upon arrival, he actually spent considerable time employed in
the service of the colony’s governor general. The first specific
record of any other occupation occurred in 1657 when he began farming
on a rented property near New Utrecht, Long Island. For whatever
reasons he seemed to be stubborn, quarrelsome and litigious in his
recorded behavior in the 1650 and 60ss. Sometime prior to 1648 he
married Geertje Dircks (Denyce?) and, together, they founded the
Terhune family.

My readings of the documented historical facts and circumstances
pertaining to Nederland, New Sweden and New Nederland at the time of
Albert’s migration indicate that this legend includes errors and
improbabilities, some obvious and others more subtle. Obviously,
Albert was not from Holland. Gelderland was not, and is not, a part
of Holland; Gelderland and Holland are two of the eleven sister
provinces of the Netherlands. (Pedantic point? Perhaps. But it
behooves us to treat the limited information available about Albert
with as much rigor as possible.) It appears doubtful that Albert’s
ancestors in France could have been both ribbon weavers and members of
the nobility. (“Good prices” already have been paid in vain trying to
prove a noble connection.) If, indeed, his name for the ship he came
on was Calmar Sleutel, then it was not a Dutch ship, it did not come
to America until 1638, and it did not bring him to New Amsterdam.

Not only did Albert never engage in the craft of ribbon weaving in New
Netherland; it’s almost a certainty that he had no such notion when he
decided to emigrate. Moreover, the several years he spent in service
to the governor likely were not voluntary in nature. The record of his
quarrels, civil disobedience and litigation reflect a disgruntled
existence.

If this revised paradigm of Albert is valid, then what motivated him
to leave behind a comfortable home and respected, lucrative craft in
peaceful Nederland to labor in privation and frustration for so many
years in the primitive colony?

This book seeks to square family legend with historical facts and
circumstances. The intention is to form a clearer and more plausible
portrait of our immigrant ancestor and his motives. His decision to
emigrate was the seminal event in our family’s history. Without that
seemingly inexplicable decision there would be no Terhune family.
Finally, this book does not presume to offer the conclusive
interpretation of Albert Albertsen and the Terhune family genesis.
More research is needed; dialogue, including criticism and
corrections, is invited and welcome.

To begin this story, it is felt that a description of the development
in France and Nederland of civilization, government and religion, from
the earliest times, would be of interest because of the influence
these had on Albert Albertsen’s family and his migration to the New
World. In pursuance of such an understanding the following two
background chapters include quotes from the pages of leading
historians of those far off times.

The above is the introduction to the book "A Terhune Family History and Genealogy" written and copyrighted by Charles Terhune Duncan. It is printed here with his permission.