Van Antwerp Farm in Niskayuna

The historian from Niskayuna, NY sent me some additional information after my post and questions from the other day.

First, there’s this 1866 map of Niskayuna.

If you zoom in on the map, you see two J. Van Antwerp properties marked. Based on a few data points, this should be John H. Van Antwerp (1818-1899). His descendants would be Daniel Janse Van Antwerpen (1635-1715) to Simon Danielse Van Antwerpen (1685-1746) to Johannes S. Van Antwerpen (1726-1763) to Philip Van Antwerpen (1787-1841) to John H. Van Antwerp. Records say that John H. Van Antwerp bought the property from Simon Van Antwerp in 1841 which would likely be his uncle Simon Pieterse Van Antwerp (1811-1842).

One of the key facts that ties this together is that the Champion family owned the land at a future point. Austin L. Champion (1841-1914) married Deborah Van Antwerp (1842-1930) who was John H. Van Antwerp’s daughter. You can also see the J. Champion farm near the Van Antwerp farm on the zoomed in view.

You can also see on the map the term “SH” at the bottom left of the zoomed in view which stands for school house. The schoolhouse on the map was one of the “common schools” in Niskayuna and was probably a one room log cabin school that may or may not have been called “Van Antwerp School.”  The first with that name was a one room schoolhouse built around 1877 and later expanded to two rooms.  The current Van Antwerp School dates to 1910 and has been expanded many times since there.  It is currently one of the town’s middle schools and the home of the offices for the Niskayuna School District.  

In a description of the house that is there at 1725 Van Antwerp Rd., it says that it has handblown glass windows with hand-hewn timbers and that the rear of the house is original with a large fireplace and small stairway. It says it sits on 5 acres of land.

If I have my geography right, I think this lines up with the original Schenectady patent that describes the land for Daniel Janse Van Antwerpen. We also know that the property in the city was at Union and Church, and I know at least one of the roads in the map above in Union.

Of course, we also know that Daniel Janse Van Antwerpen donated some of the land (i.e., his land in the city) to the church in 1715. I’ve seen other notes that say that Jan Danielse Van Antwerpen (his son) owned property next to his so this may be his property.

This view shows the church property along with the current Van Antwerp Road (bottom right). You can also see Union Road.

Still more work to be done here to figure this out and make sure this aligns with the Jan Mabie house and the land being sold to him in terms of geography.

[Added] So…building on that, this view shows the Van Antwerp farm from above, the church, and the Jan Mabie House (1100 Main St.). You can also see where the island is from prior posts (Northwest of the Church).

You can also go back to the 1690 Schenectady map.