VAN SICKLEN HOUSE



17 Neck Road

	On ground that was originally part of the northwest square of s'Gravensande 
there stands an ancient house built partly of rough stone. It is forty-two feet 
long and thirty-one feet wide. Within, it has heavy oak beams twelve by fourteen 
inches, wide fireplaces and a narrow flight of steps that climbs against its 
north wall.

	Ever since a realtor of the 1890s publicized it as "Lady MOODY House," it 
has been the subject of much controversy. As far as can be learned, it was never 
Lady Deborah's house and Gravesend tradition points to another site as that of 
her home. However, according to accounts in the Brooklyn Hall of Records, its 
lot and the one adjoining it on the west were given to her on 18 November 1646. 
After her death, Sir Henry MOODY sold this property to Jan Jansen VER RYN on 
11 May 1659 for the use of his son Abraham. On 10 March 1663, VER RYN sold the 
lots and the building on one of them to Ralph CARDELL. 

In his will of 10 June 1681, CARDELL left the property to his wife Elizabeth who 
married Thomas BAYLISS in 1688-89.

	BAYLISS	 sold it to Isaack HASELBURY, a weaver, and Richard GREGORY on 
11 February 1688-89. He died that same year. On  17 March 1690, Elizabeth married 
HASELBURY. GREGORY passed out of the picture and on 24 February 1701, HASELBURY 
sold the property to Nicholas STILLWELL Jr. who on 9 January 1701 conveyed it to 
Ferdinand or Fernandes VAN SICKLEN Jr.

	On 15 June 1737, after VAN SICKLEN'S death, it went to his son Ferdinand who 
married Maria VAN NUYSE. This Ferdinand left the land to his sons John and Abraham 
and to his daughter Cornelia, wife of Cornelis ANTONIDES.

	A VAN SICKLEN descendant claims that the old house was built by the two brothers, 
who were farmers and fishermen, in 1770. But again according to the records, John 
VAN SICKLEN inherited the easterly lot, the one on which the old house stood, and 
Abraham the westerly. There was a written agreement between the two brothers and 
their wives that the well on the property was to be used by both families.

	It was, no doubt, on the westerly lot that the house was built which dated from 
the mid-eighteenth century and which stood until about 1920.

	John died 13 August 1841. He left the easterly lot with its house to his son 
Ferdinand who sold it to Thomas HICKS, 13 January 1842. HICKS sold it to William E. 
PLATT, a real-estate broker of the '90s.

	Platt and his wife renovated the house, lived in it for a time and then sold it 
to Bert M. COLES. Its present tenant, Miss Anna ANDERSON, an Englishwoman, longs to 
see it preserved as an historic shrine.

	Whether this house was built by VER RYN, as I am inclined to think, or by Ferdinand 
VAN SICKLEN Jr., who can say? It is certainly a very old building and could easily have 
been erected as early as 1660.

	Ferdinand (sometimes written Fernandez) VAN SICKLEN Jr. was the son of Ferdinando 
VAN SYCKLEN who immigrated to New Netherland in 1652. Ferdinando settled in New 
Amsterdam. where he married Eva ANTONISE. In 1677 he was living in Flatlands where 
he was a member of its church and where he took the oath of allegiance in 1687. 
His children were :
Reinier, 
Eva (who married Jan BORQET), 
Johannes, 
Margrietje (who married Jan Albens TERHUNE), 
Susanna (baptized 1 May 1681), 
Cornelia (who married Jan Cornelisz BANTA), 
Jannetje (supposedly who married Adriaen LAEN), and 
Fernandez or Ferdinand Jr.

	Ferdinand married Geenje
Flatbush. .

	Eva ANTONISE, wife of Ferdinando, was the daughter of Anthony Jansen VAN SALEE 
and Gretje REINIERS.

	Anthony JANSEN was also known as VAN VAES and VAN FEZ. He was in New Amsterdam as 
early as 1633 when he owned a house and lot there. As he and his wife were continually 
at odds with their neighbors, they were .banished as disturbers of the peace on
17 April 1639.

	On 7 May 1639, Anthony JANSEN was granted land on Long Island. This tract lay in 
what later became Gravesend and New Utrecht. On it, he made his home until December 1669 
when he sold the property and returned to Manhattan.

	In 1670, when a widower, he married Metje GRAVENRAET. He died about 1676 leaving 
four daughters: 
Ann, 
Cornelia, 
Sara and Eva.


VAN SICKLEN CEMETERY
Gravesend, Brooklyn



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