Meet the Mother: Catalyna Trico
- fawnbrokaw
- Jun 28, 2024
- 7 min read
Catalyna is an iconic OG (original grandmother) to millions. I don't know if a single blog post can scratch the surface. A whole book devoted to her would be appropriate... more on that in a future post.
Catalyna Trico (sometimes called Catalyntje/Catalina/Tryntje/Catelyn with surname Tricot/Triko, Tricault) was born July 14 (?) 1605 in Prisches, Province of Hainault, Spanish Netherlands. Today it is in France—in the Nord département in the Hauts-de-France region—about 1.5 hr drive southeast by car from Valenciennes, where her husband Joris was born.
Her father, Jeronimus Tricot, died the year after she was born. Catalyna's family name, Tricot, is a type of jacquard fabric so that was likely her father's occupation in textile manufacturing. With so many deaths between Catalyna and Joris' family during 1605-6, it's my conjecture there was plague and/or famine, or perhaps a crack-down of the Spanish Inquisition.
Her mother, Michele Sauvagie, was twice widowed. Her first husband was from Valenciennes like Joris. We know Catalyna had an older sister named Marie (Mary) Flamens who was a witness at Catalyna and Joris' marriage. Their mother was absent so it's unknown if their mother died or was living elsewhere and couldn't travel.
Catalyna's sister Marie lived in Amsterdam. She married a silk merchant named Philippe de la Fontaine (sometimes called Wicart/Wijcar). Marie married well—to a wealthy merchant—not just a journeyman. Perhaps she had her own ideas of a good life for Catalyna- one of a bourgeois merchant's wife, like herself.
Catalyna clearly had her own vision for her life. She and Joris married so hastily before boarding their ship, there wasn't even the customary 3 weeks announcement of the marriage banns. Was it love at first sight? Was it a marriage of convenience to escape some other situation? In any case, her sister stood by her at their marriage ceremony and was the only family in attendance.
I've mentioned Joris made wool, her brother-in-law traded in silk, her father made tricot jacquard- Catalyna was likely trained in some sort of fabric craft. I read that the Monfoort family (who settled with Catalyna in Joris in New Netherland) worked in passmenterie- an early French bobbin lace. In my novel, she is trained in a workhouse how to do such work.
Lace was in great demand- for both men and women's elaborate collars and cuffs. There are many portraits of women at their lacework at the time.
But what use is lace when you're tossed about in a ship designed to transport casks and trunks, not people? Or when she arrived to dry land and they had to brave the elements until they made earthen dugout bark-clad houses? Evidently, Walloons were among the first to make rag-rugs in the colony, noted as "an advanced degree of comfort."
Like Joris, Catalyna wasn't well educated but she made up for that in vigor, perseverance, and ingenuity. Some sources said she learned the Algonquin and Haudenosaunee dialects of the Natives who came to trade pelts.
Many sources say she was illiterate, at least at the time of her marriage, because she signed with a mark and not a signature. Reading was of great importance to the Dutch Reformed Church. It marked the Protestant breakaway from communion with God being dependent on church authorities like the Pope. The Netherlands had the highest rates of literacy in this period, especially for girls because when they became mothers they would be expected to teach their children to read the bible. It's my theory she could read, if not write. She later knew (or had learned) ciphering/ arithmetic because her book-keeping was used in a New Amsterdam court case to prove a debt. My theory is that her early education would have emphasized homemaking and skills that could earn her money like cooking, laundry, mending, or lacemaking.
Catalyna is such a remarkable figure because she became the living record of those early days. She gave 2 depositions in her golden years about their arrival.
She's quoted that the Natives "came & made covenants of friendship with Commander Adrien Jorise there, bringing him great presents of beaver or other peltry & desired that they might come & have a constant free trade with them which was concluded upon & said nations came daily with great multitudes of beaver." The Natives "were all as quiet as lambs & came & traded with all the freedom imaginable." The full testimonies are quoted at the end of this post.
Earlier than those depositions, the visiting Labadist Jasper Danckerts wrote of Catalyna in his journal in 1678: "She is worldly minded, living with her whole heart, as well as body, among her progeny, which now number 145, and will soon reach 150. Nevertheless she lived alone by herself, a little apart from the others, having her little garden, and other conveniences, with which she helped herself."
Catalyna has been misunderstood twice in records. In her marriage certificate, the cleric thought she said she was from "Paris." With her French accent to a Flemish ear, Prisches and Paris must have been difficult to discern. Thus, some histories erroneously claim she was from Paris. The second is that people doubted her memory of arrival because she said "1623 or 1624." This was not her memory at fault. She was offering that it depends if you followed the Dutch or English calendar at the time. The English followed the Julian calendar which started April 1, instead of the Gregorian which starts January 1. So that means they arrived before April 1, 1624. This backs up Danckerts' describing her as worldly. She knew the calendar discrepancy and offered both years to the Englishman taking the deposition.
Catalyna appears in New Amsterdam court records several times. I won't reveal too much because they're extrapolated into plot points in my novel, but I will say that she spoke her mind, which followed her conscience.
She was a strong woman in many ways. I feel like Danckerts' representation of her is what we would all wish for our golden years- a little garden, a little peace, with lots of family nearby.
The following is a transcription of Catalyna's testimonies:
O'Callaghan recorded in 1850 that Catelina Trico filed a deposition at public request on Feb 14, 1684/5:
"The Deposicon of Catelina Trico aged fouer score yeares or thereabouts taken before the right honoble Collo. Thomas Dongan Lent. and Governour under his Rlyll. hignss James Duke of Yorke and Albany etc. of N York and its Dependencyes in America, who saith and Declares in the prsens of God as followeth:
"That she Caine to this Province either in the yeare one thousand six hundred and twenty three or twenty fouer to the best of her remembrance, and that fouer Women Came along with her in the same Shipp, in which ship the Governor Arian Jorissen Came also over, which fouer Women were married at Sea and that they and their husbands stayed about three Weekes at this place and then they with eight seamen more went in a vessell by ordr. of the Dutch Governor. to Dellaware River and there settled. This I Certifie under my hand & ye seale of this province. THO. DONGAN."
On Oct 17, 1688, she also filed the following deposition at public request. The deposition was made to assist William Penn in his dispute with the Calverts over the boundary separating Pennsylvania and Maryland, later known as the Mason-Dixon line.
"Catelyn Trico aged about 83 years born in Paris doth Testify and declare that in ye year1623 she came into this Country wth a Ship called ye Unity wherein was Commander Arien Jorise belonging to ye West India Company being ye first Ship yt came here for ye sd Company; as soon as they came to Mannatans now called N: York they sent Two families & six men to harford River & Two families & 8 men to Delaware River and 8 men they left att N: Yorke to take Possession and ye Rest of ye Passengers went wth ye Ship up as farr as Albany which they then called fort Orangie.
"When as ye Ship came as far as Sopus which is ½ way to Albanie; they lightned ye Ship wth some boats yt were left there by ye Dutch that had been there ye year before a tradeing wth ye Indians upont there oune accompts & gone back again to Holland & so brought ye vessel up; there were about 18 families aboard who settled themselves att Albany & made a small fort; and as soon as they had built themselves some hutts of Bark:
"ye Mahikanders or River Indians, ye Maquase: Oneydes: Onnondages Cayougas. & Sinnekes, wth ye Mahawawa or Ottawawaes Indians came & made Covenants of friendship wth ye sd Arien Jorise there Commander Bringing him great Presents of Bever or oyr Peltry & desyred that they might come & have a Constant free Trade with them wch was concluded upon & ye sd nations came dayly with great multidus of Bever & traded them wth ye Christians, there sd Commanr Arien Jorise staid with them all winter and sent his sonne home with ye ship; ye sd Deponent lived in Albany three years all which time ye sd Indians were all as quiet as Lambs & came & Traded with all ye freedom Imaginable, in ye year 1626 ye Deponent came from Albany & settled at N: Yorke where she lived afterwards for many years and then came to Long Island where she now lives.
"The sd Catelyn Trico made oath of ye sd Deposition before me at her house on Long Island in ye Wale Bought this 17th day of October 1688. WILLIAM MORRIS Justice of ye pece'11
This is a wonderful summary of Catalyntje!