Captain Claes Hendrickszen Lock: Prominent 17th-century sloop owner in the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam

Claes Hendrickszen Lock, our 9th great-grandfather, (also spelled Claes Lock or Claes Hendricksen Lock) was a Dutch immigrant, sloop captain, merchant, and civic/military participant in New Netherland (later New York) during the mid-to-late 17th century. 

Biographical Details

• Birth and Origins: Circa 1646–1649 in Amsterdam, Netherlands (listed as “jm van Amsterdam” [young man from Amsterdam] in his marriage record). His parents are unknown in surviving documents.
• Death: Before 5 April 1692 in New York (his wife is called “last widow of Claas Kock [Lock]” in her father’s will that date). 
• Spouse: Kniertje (or Cuiertje/Cniertie) Hendricks (baptized 24 October 1649; died after 1728), daughter of Hendrick Willemsen (a baker in New Amsterdam) and Femmetje Joosten. She was the widow of Walraven Claerhout (married 1668; he drowned 21 June 1670 while aboard one of Lock’s sloops). They married 18 October 1671 in the Reformed Dutch Church, New York.
• Children (all baptized in the New York Reformed Dutch Church; these match what Gemini listed):  
• Femmetje (bapt. 20 Oct 1672) m. Dirck Andriessen  
• Catryntje (bapt. 2 June 1675) m. Jochem Verscheur  
• Margrietje (bapt. 20 Dec 1682) m. Joost Schomp  
• Hendrick (bapt. 16 May 1686; likely died young)  
• Adriaentje (bapt. 14 Nov 1688; likely died young)
• Kniertje had one earlier child (Belitje) from her first marriage. 

Maritime and Merchant Career

Lock was a leading sloop owner and trader on the Hudson River route between New York, Albany (Beverwijck/Fort Orange/Willemstadt), Esopus (Kingston), and the South River (Delaware). He first appears in Albany-area records around 1655–1662.  

• Vessels: Owned the Vergulde Hoorn (Gilded Horn; documented 1662, with skipper Arien Claessz), the Hester (1679), and the Sarah (master in 1684).  
• In 1674 he signed an agreement among sloop owners to regulate traffic and freight charges using a lottery-style pooling system based on vessel size/weight.  
• He frequently acted as arbitrator or examiner in trade disputes and appears in Albany court records for shipping lawsuits (1668–1673). 

Military and Notable Actions

• Second Esopus Indian War (1663): Served under Director-General Peter Stuyvesant; on 29 August 1663 he and Thomas Lodewyck Lewis were ordered to remain in the Esopus area until further instructions. 
• Rescue Mission (circa 1667): Contracted to travel to the New Haven Colony (Connecticut) to retrieve Albrechie (Albrechtje) Hendricks, a woman held captive by Native Americans since the 1655 uprising (she was a sister in a group of three Hendrickse sisters taken at Yonkers). This appears in Albany/Fort Orange records and his WikiTree sources. 

Civic Roles and Residence

• Contributed 200 florins (24 February 1664) toward fortification of New Amsterdam.  
• Taxed (10 November 1676) to fund the New City Dock and other debts; listed as a city creditor (1676/77).  
• Residence (1677–1686): House at the corner of Heere Graft (Broad Street) and Bever Graft (near the Market) in lower Manhattan. Confirmed in 1686 Dutch Church membership list by Domine Henricus Selyns. 

• Kniertje lived long after Claes (into the 1720s) and left a will mentioning some of the children.

Our lineage:

Captain Claes Hendrickszen Lock 1646-1692

9th great-grandfather

Margrietje Lock 1682-1771

Daughter of Captain Claes Hendrickszen Lock

Joris (Joost) Schamp 1704-1752

Son of Margrietje Lock

Margrietje Joost "Margaret" Schamp 1739-1773

Daughter of Joris (Joost) Schamp

Rhoda McDonald DNA match 1773-1859

Daughter of Margrietje Joost "Margaret" Schamp

Job Groom 1795-1823

Son of Rhoda McDonald DNA match

Sarah Groom (Grooms) 1815-1858

Daughter of Job Groom

Sophia Boyd 1836-1908

Daughter of Sarah Groom (Grooms)

David Jackson Bailey 1865-1949

Son of Sophia Boyd — great-grandfather

Sources:

From: Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs: Claes Hendrickse, was in Albany in 1665; owned a sloop in 1674; master of sloop "Sarah," plying Albany to New York City in 1684; married Cuiesje Hendricksen, widow, at New York, in 1671.

From: 468 NEW NETHERLAND DOCUMENTS: [SALE OF HALF A YACHT BY DAVID PIETERSZ SCHUIJLER TO CLAES LOCK] Appeared before us, undersigned magistrates of Albany, colony of Rensselaerswijck and Schaenhechtede, Davidt Pietersz Schuijler, who declared that he has ceded, conveyed and made over in true, rightful and free ownership to and for the benefit of Claes Locq, his heirs and descendants, or his assigns, the grantor’s certain half yacht which he has acquired together with said Lock, and which presently is in possession of the same, and this by virtue of a bill of sale thereof; acknowledging that he has been fully satisfied and paid for the said half yacht through the hands of him, Claes Locq, the last penny wit the first, without he, appearer, having the least claim upon it anymore; giving therefor plenam actionem cessam and full power to Claes Lock and his heirs, to dispose of it as he might do with his patrimonial effects, promising to protect and free the said half yacht from all actions, trouble, and claims of each and every person as is right, and moreover, nevermore to do nor to let anything be done against the same, either with or without law, in any way, under an obligation according to law. Done in Albany the 29th of October 1668. Davijet Schuijler R. V. Rensselaer Abram Staas

From: Find A Grave MEMORIAL ID 182949941):

Claes Hendrickszen Lock married Kniertie Hendricks, daughter of Hendrick Willemszen and Femmetie Joosten, at Reformed Dutch Church, New York City, New York, on 18 October 1671.

Witnessed the baptism of Johannes de Nys, son of Pieter de Nys and Giesje Idens, on 27 August 1671 at Reformed Dutch Church, New York City, New York, (sponsors Adriaen Corneliszen, Claes Hendrickszen Lock, Marritje Loockermans).

Witnessed the baptism of Cornelia Dirckse Van der Clyff, daughter of Dirck Janszen Van der Clyff and Geesje Hendricks, on 17 December 1671 at Reformed Dutch Church, New York City, New York, (sponsors Claes Hendrickszen Lock, Grietie Hendricks).

Ibid., page 104. Cornelia; parents: Dirck Van der Cleef, Geesje Hendricks.

Children by Kniertie Hendricks:

1. Femmetje Claese Lock

2. Catryntie Claese Lock b. 2 Jun 1675

3. Margrietie Claese Lock

4. Hendrick Claesz Lock

5. Adriaentie Claese Lock

Claes Hendrickszen Lock died before 5 April 1692; (mentioned as deceased in the will of his father-in-law Hendrick Willemsen).

New York (County) Surrogate's Court Abstract of Wills on File in the Surrogate's Office, City of New York (Vol. XI, unrecorded wills prior to 1790), Collections of the New York Historical Society (New York: Printed for the Society, 1903), pages 4-5.

Bio includes data from The Brouwer Genealogy Database.