So many Winnes! John D. Winne

There are so many Winnes in Bethlehem history!

I've been trying to focus on Revolutionary War veterans William Winne and John D. Winne because they each have one of those blue and yellow historic markers.

John D Winne's marker getting a refresh August 2025

But I keep getting side tracked by a bunch of other Winnes.

Like Pieter D. Winne (1699-1759) and Rachel Van Allen Winne (1700-1775). Their old Dutch style farm house still stands on Creble Road. 

I took this photo in 2008.  It hasn't changed much in all of these years.

Or their son Daniel P. Winne's (1720-1800) house, that is currently at the Metropolitan Museum in N.Y.C. His wife's name is Jannetje DeForest (1722-1795). Follow the link for lots of good info on this type of architecture.

https://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/the-american-wing/period-rooms/dutch-room

This image is from the MET website referenced above. It shows a "conjectural rendering of the Daniel Pieter Winne House" built in 1751. 

Or how about their ancestor Peter Winne (1609-1693) who came here in the 1650s? He was known as "de Vlamingh" which is Dutch for "the Flemming" because he came from Ghent in Flanders (a Dutch speaking area now in Belgium) and people from Flanders were known as Flemmings.  He leased a mill site from the Patroon in 1677 and the creek it was on became known as the Vloman Kill or the Flemming's Creek. We still know it by that name today.  Between his two wives, Pieter had 14 children, 2 with Aechie Van Schaick (1612-1647) and 12 with Tannetje Adams (1638-1697)

Or how about Barent Winne whose dock on the Hudson River was a hub of commercial activity in the late 1800s? Or Esley Winne who built the iconic Four Corners building with its Mansard roof line that is currently occupied by I Love Books? Or John L. Winne who was town supervisor in 1883? 

How about the fact that if you look at the modern map, we've got Winne Road, Winne Place and Barent Winnie Road. All in Bethlehem.

I often reference the book Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem. If you do a word search on "Winne" you come up with 397 hits. If you count up the first names in the index (it uses spellings Winne, Winnie and Winney) there are 140 of them (Abraham, Adaline...Susannah...Willis). Oh, and there are three different Winne family burial grounds.

That sure is a lot of Winnes! 

How about we get back to our Revolutionary War veterans, William and John D.?

From what I can piece together, I believe they were both born here in Bethlehem (remembering of course that there was not an actual Bethlehem until 1793).  It looks like William's brother was John's father, so uncle and nephew.

Lucky for us John D. Winne's Revolutionary War service is well documented in his pension application. Below is a picture of one of the pages. And also lucky for us, it has already transcribed,

Pop over here for details, https://revolutionarywarpensions.tripod.com/winne.htm  

(Note the line that starts with 1776 Capt. William Winne's Company in Col. Henry Quakenbo's Regiment - it looks like he served with his uncle for several tours of a few weeks at a time.) 

His service is poetically described in this obituary. (I found this posted on Ancestry but cannot find a citation. )  

Here are some excerpts:

Another Sire of the Revolution gone

John D. WINNE, esq., died on 30^th ult. at the residence of his son, William I. Winne, in South Pearl street, Albany, after an illness of about 3 weeks. He died [full of] years and usefulness, in the 79^th year of his age....  He was a Soldier of the Revolution and [faithfully] served his country and in those times “that tried [men’s] souls.” The heights of Saratoga and Ticonderoga record his prowess and his dangers...for he was no holiday patriot, but encountered privations and difficulties ...  After the peace he was elected a member of assembly for this county, ...he also evinced his incorruptible honesty and ... love of freedom. His memory will ever be [??] in the hearts of his relatives, his friends, his neighbors and his country.

John D. (1758-1837) was the son of Daniel P. Winne and Jannetje DeForest. He would have grown up in the house that is now down at the MET. He married Agnes Van Wie (her name is sometimes spelled in the Dutch way, Agnietje) at the Dutch Reformed Church in Albany on June 22, 1786.  They had two children baptized there, Jannetje in 1787 and Hendrick in 1789.  

A family tree posted on Ancestry reports two children Daniel, born 1791 and John I, born 1799, that I cannot find a record for. 

The documents pick up again with the Records of the People of the Town of Bethlehem where John D. and Agnes are listed as having been received as members on December 19, 1795. They then had four more children baptized there: Maria in 1796, Abraham in 1800, William in 1803 and Unis in 1805. 

Another fun website out there is called Political Graveyard where, amongst 18 other Winnes of course, we find 

"Winne, John D. - of Albany County, N.Y. Member of New York state assembly from Albany county, 1814-15. Burial location unknown."

I do like the "burial location unknown part", because we do know where it is. Its off of Elm Avenue, in a wooded plot out beyond the field behind his historic marker.

Stay tuned for more on  John D's uncle William in the next post.