Big Ole Frog

I went to the Wildlife Botanical Garden and ended up on the trail that is there, which ends at a wetlands pond.  There were some big ole frogs in that pond, too!  The rest of my photos...not that many...can be seen here. 

So yesterday I told you about the Scudder family.  John and Elizabeth had a daughter, also named Elizabeth.  Elizabeth married John Alburtis, who was the eldest child of Pietro Caesar Alberti/Alberto and Judith Janese  Manjie. This family name of Alburtis was variously spelled Allburtis, Alburtise, Al-Burtis, Burtis and Alburts.   

There is a reason why the name got mangled so badly and that is because Pietro was the first Italian to live in New Amsterdam, which became New York City.

It's a long story, as are most immigrant stories, but Pietro left his home near Venice, Italy and got a job as an aide to the Captain on the ship, "de Coninck David" (King David), which sailed from Holland to New Amsterdam.  He'd gotten into a dispute with the Captain regarding wages and the Captain threatened to throw him off the ship somewhere off the coast of South America, as they'd had several stops along the way, including Brazil.  Pietro managed to keep the peace until New Amsterdam, where he promptly left the ship.  It is said that he sued the Captain and finally reclaimed part of his unpaid wages.  

This was in June, 1635, the exact same time his future son's future wife was landing in Massachusetts. Who knew?  He didn't.  Anyway...He was a stranger in a strange land, the only Italian and the first Italian immigrant in the Colonies and at this time, New York was populated with people from Holland.  He didn't even know their language, or they his. 

Pietro did quite well for himself.  He married Judith, whose family were originally Walloons from Flanders and influential Dutch settlers.  They inherited a large home alongside a canal which ran through the present Broad Street in Manhattan.  They left that home and moved to the property he had bought on Long Island.  He was one of the first to grow tobacco there.  Albertus Avenue in Queens is a present day reminder of Pietro from all those years ago.    And a sad reminder that that area was once a totally new and dangerous frontier, is that Pietro and Judith were both killed in an Indian raid in 1655.  It is well established that Peter Caesar Alberti was the first Italian settler in New York state and the first Italian family to throw in his lot with the infant colonies that were to become the United States of America, together with many Italians who have come to this country since that time.


I am very proud to be descended from this couple.  This is the only known blood line outside of North Europe that I know about. I'm thrilled to have my one molecule of Italian - if that much.  


The Maiden Family of Virginia and Allied families, 1623-1991 by Sarah Rollins.