Family of Maria Brouwer and Isaac du Trieux (Truax, Truex)

Maria Brouwer was probably born between 1655 and 1665 at Beverwijck (now Albany, New York). She is probably a daughter of Willem Brouwer and Lysbeth Drinckvelt, although without a record of baptism or estate proceedings for Willem or Lysbeth, the relationship cannot be stated with complete certainty. Other then the fact that Maria lived at Albany and Schenectady, New York, the only other circumstantial evidence that links her to Willem and Lysbeth, is that Maria had children named William, Elizabeth and Eva (the later name belonging to a known daughter of Willem and Lysbeth Brouwer). At best we can only say that, Maria is probably a daughter of Willem Brouwer and Lysbeth Drinckvelt.

Maria married Isaac du Trieux before 1683 as their first known child, Abraham, is stated to have been born in that year (H. S. F. Randolph, "The House of Truax," NYGBR 57 (1926): 337). The first recorded baptism of a child of Maria Brouwer and Isaac is that of son, William, 23 May 1686 at the Albany Reformed Church. The published record gives William's father's name as "Isaac Tjercks" and his mother's name is not recorded. A published account of the family can be found in the above referenced, "House of Truax," by Howard S. F. Randolph, which appeared over several issues in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record in volumes 57 and 58 (1926 and 1927). The family is believed to have consisted of eight children, with confirming baptism records for five. Three children, Abraham, Eva and Maria, are presumed children of Maria Brouwer and Isaac du Trieux. Descendants are found with the surname TRUAX or TRUEX. A Family Group sheet is online.

Isaac was baptized on 24 April 1642 at the Reformed Dutch Church at New Amsterdam, as "Jsaacsen" son of Philip du' Trieux. His mother's name is not recorded. It has long been assumed that Isaac is the son of the elder Philip du Trieux who came to New Netherland in 1624 aboard the Nieu Nederlandt, commanded by Cornelis Jacobszen May. This makes the du Trieux/Truax/Truex families one of the first families to have settled in New Netherland. There is some uncertainty as to whether Isaac is in fact a son of the elder Philip and his second wife Susanna du Chesne), or of Philip's son, also named Philip, who was baptized at the Walloon Church at Leiden on 10 Feb 1619, a son of the elder Philip's first wife, Jacqueline Noiret. Surviving records cannot settle this question, and until or unless more specific evidence is presented, the belief that Isaac was a son of the elder Philip and brother to the younger, will be accepted.

There is no record of Isaac's death, nor is there an account of an estate settlement. In 1706 his widow, Maria obtained permission from the trustees of Schenectady to sell 8 morgens of land from the "second flat." Therefore, we know that Isaac died in, or before, 1706. This is also the last known record for Maria. She does not appear as a sponsor for any children of her presumed siblings, Hendrick and Elizabeth.

BGB 100