Lake Maxinkuckee Its Intrigue History & Genealogy Culver, Marshall, Indiana

Bogardus family  



Bogardus Family From One Township's Yesterday's Corwin:

It seems that the Bogardus family of our own story must have had, through inheritance, a very substantial claim, if any existed at all, to the Jans estate, news of which was headlined in the press during several generations. To the accompaniment of no small display of public interest, the case was revived from time to time. The stupendous value of the estate, which waxed so fat and mighty with the advance of the years, became a dream of untold wealth, dwarfing the most fantastic and fairy-like of all the proverbial king's ransoms, dwarfing even the golden dreams of Wolfert Webber, though paralleling Webber's dreams come true. You may ask, who was Wolfert Webber? The answer: He was the father of Anneke Jans, who took as her second husband the Dominie Bogardus. And from these distinguished Dutch folk of centuries ago descended, as directly as co uld be desired, the Bogardus folk of Maxinkuckee's shores.

There was once a worthy burgher, Wolfert Webber by name, who "lived in the ancient city of the Manhattoes." Descended was he from old Cobus Webber of the Brille in Holland, "one of the original settlers, famous for introducing the c ultivation of cabbages, and who came over to the province during the protectorship of Oloffe Van Kortlandt, otherwise caller the Dreamer." The family continued "in the same line of husbandry." Indeed, the "Webber dynasty continued in uninterrupted succession;" and "quietly and comfortably did this excellent family vegetate under the shade of a mighty buttonwood tree, which by little and little grew so great as entirely to overshadow their palace. The city gradually spread its suburbs round their domain."

At length, Wolfert "swayed the sceptre of his fathers," and "to share the cares and sweets of sovereignty, he had taken unto himself a helpmate, one of that excellent kind called stirring women." And "thus reigned and vegetated Wolfert Webber over his paternal acres. peacef ully and contentedly." The old Dutch tale goes on. Now enters Captain Kidd, the pirate, and his crew, and buried treasure. Wolfert dreams golden dreams of discovering immense treasure in the centre of his garden. He steals from his bed at night, digs and devastates his garden, with its phalanx of cabbages, whose ranks are soon slaughtered by the relentless treasure seeker. He digs and digs, night after night, and when he awakes at last from his dream of wealth, the year has declined and he realizes he has raised no crop to provide for the leap, and severe winter that follows. Then those who have followed the tale will recall that there is more pirate gold. Mud Sam, the Black Fisherman, enters into the plot, and finally, though Wolfert grows poorer and poorer, finds no buried treasure of the pirates, and takes to his bed to die, he rouses and comes to life again when another sort of fortune falls into his lap. We are told how "a great bustling street passed through the very centre of the Webber garden, just where Wolfert had dreamed of finding a treasure. His golden dream was accomplished; he did indeed find an unlooked-for source of wealth." Building lots were laid out. Instead of a paltry crop of cabbages, he reaped an abundant crop of rent. And "it was a goodly sight to see his tenants knocking at the door, from morning till night, each with a little round bellied bag of money, a golden produce of the soil."

Now, the family records of the Bogardus and Spangler descendants in Union Township relate that "Annekke Webber was a granddaughter of William, Prince of Orange, Founder of the Dutch Republic. Her father was Wolpert (Wolfert) Webber. Annekke married, in Holland, a scientific farmer named Roelleff Jens. They came to America from Holland about 1620. The Dutch Colonial Company sent Jens to America to manage their grant of land near Albany, New York. When his contract expired, Jens moved to New Amsterdam (now New York City). In or about 1630 he received from the Holland United West Indies Company, a citation for certain lands (about 62 acres) on Manhattan Island. Jens died in 1637. The widow Annekke in 1638 married the Dominie Bogardus, a Dutch preacher. The said Bogardus purchased the property adjoining that now left by the former husband, Jens. Mrs. Bogardus' nephew, Arnot Webber, had purchased the property adjoining those above named, and leaving a will in which he devised the same to his aunt, Annekke Jens Bogardus, which Properties taken together constitute 192 acres."

In his autobiography, Abram W. Bogardus, the pioneer who came to Union Township and settled at Maxinkuckee, certified: "My father's name was Henry Hudson Bogardus. My mother's name (her maiden name) was Hannah Brundage. My father had four brothers. Their names were Robert, John, Abraham and James. He had three sisters. Their names were Catherine, Jane and Phoebe. Catherine married John Swartz. My grandfather's name was Fredrick Bogardus. He married Rachel Wicks, a daughter of Patty Wicks. My grandfather lived near Fishkill and near Stonykill, New York. He was a grandson of one of the four boys named in the will of Annekke Jens Bogardus, the widow of Everardus Bogardus," who was the Dominie of the Second Established Church in New Netherlands (or the second pastor, it, has elsewhere been stated, of the church in New Amsterdam). Everardus Bogardus died December 27, 1647. Anneke Jans died in Albany, New York, in 1663.

History tells us that Anneke Jans, the Dutch colonist in America, came from Holland to New Netherlands in 1630 with Roeloff Jansen, her husband, who secured in 1636 a grant of 62 acres of land, reaching from the Hudson to the present Broadway and from a point near Desbrosses Street to Warren Street, in New York City. In 1654, Anneke, upon the death of her second husband, Everardus Bogardus, obtained in her name a patent-right to the tract. In 1671 the land was sold by the heirs to the English Governor Lovelace. Three of the heirs, however, did not sign the document. Subsequently the property was confiscated by the English government and deeded to Trinity Church corporation (1705). From 1749 the possession of the property was subject to numerous suits by the heirs, based chiefly on the omitted signatures, and all decided for the defendants.

A translation of the will of Anneke Jans Bogardus is in the possession of the family in Union Township. Much of the property bequeathed by the will, it is asserted, was held wrongfully by Trinity Church. The will was drawn up January 29, 1663, and states that Anneke was the widow of Roelleff Jens of Masterland (Holland), and now (1663) the widow of the Reverend Everardus Bogardus, residing in the village of. Beverwyck (Albany). She "nominated and instituted as her sole and universal heirs" her children, etc., and made the "express condition and restriction, that her four first born children shall divide between them out of their father's property the sum of one thousand guilders, to be paid to them out of the proceeds of a certain farm, situated on Manhattan Island, bounded on the North River," and so on. The will was made at Beverwyck in New Netherland.

The family records state that Wolpert Webber had two children: Annekke and a son whose name at present is unknown.. And the heirs of Annekke Jens Bogardus "are now entitled to their share of the vast fortune now held in the Bank of Holland." Early in 1895 a suit was commenced by the Governor (or government) of Holland to confiscate this money, claiming that the time for distribution was long since passed and that the heirs were no longer entitled to it. The bank contested the case and won the suit, the courts deciding that the heirs still had the right to the property. This decision was rendered in July, 1895.

There were two hundred years of suits seeking the fortune. Different heirs at different times and during every generation have formed companies which tried to prove their claims to the much disputed property, but without avail.

Leaving this phase of the family history, we shall turn our attention for a brief spell to the settlers who came to Union Township.

It has been said that Abram W. and Frances Bogardus came to Maxinkuckee before the Spanglers did, perhaps in the 'fifties or even earlier. An early map indicated a hotel or tavern (the Allegheny House) on the south side of the road in Maxinkuckee. and A. W. Bogardus as the owner.

Abraham 'Abram ' Wicks Bogardus was born April 30, 1807, near Fishkill Landing, New York, and died April 13, 1888. Burial: Oak Hill Cemetery Plymouth, Marshal , Indiana, His wife, Frances, was born October 5, 1807, and died September 6, 1871. Burial: Oak Hill Cemetery Plymouth, Marshal , Indiana

Abram and Frances were married July 13, 1837. They had two children.

    1 Marietta was born May 13, 1843, and died November 8, 1843.

    2 Harriet Ann alone grew to maturity. She was born in Springfield, Ohio, September 3, 1840, and lived there until six years of age. She came with her parents to New Palestine, Ohio, lived there till fifteen years of age, then accompanied her parents to Maxinkuckee. She lived at Maxinkuckee and Plymouth most of the time thereafter. In '65 she married Peter Spangler, moved to Plymouth, and lived there until the death of her mother, when she moved back to the old home to take care of her father. She united with the Christian Church at Maxinkuckee in '35 or '36. Her death occurred at Maxinkuckee, J uly 27, 1909.


The following is the record of the Edmond Bogardus family: Abram Wicks Bogardus had one brother, Edmond. Name: Edmond [Edward] C Bogardus Birth: 17 Aug 1819 - Hamilton County Indiana Death: 07 Oct 1883 - La Fountain,Wabash, Indiana Parents: Henry Hudson Bogardus, Hannah Brundage

married 02 Apr 1840 - Hamilton County Ohio MARY ANN MORELAND Birth 12 MAY 1820 in VIRGINIA D death 04 JAN 1911 in ,Wabash, INDIANA

They had:
    1 Rachel Bogardus Birth 27 MAR 1841 in HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO Death 12 AUG 1920 in MARION, INDIANA married PRICE HOWELL Birth 1831 in DARKE COUNTY, OHIO Death 1882 in MARION,INDIANA son of JEREMIAH HOWELL SR. and PHEBE PRIEST

    2 John Bogardus abt 1842

    3 Allen Bogardus abt 1845

    4 Henry Bogardus abt 18473

    5 Martha Bogardus Birth 16 Jan 1849 in Wabash County, Indiana Death 23 Dec 1879 in Wabash County, Indiana ; married 1823 – 1886? and Clarissa Coshow

    6 Joseph Bogardus abt 1851

    7 Levina Bogardus abt 1855

    8 Alfred Newell Bogardus was a native of Minnesota, born April 21, 1857 he married Argos to Evangeline Caillet.

    9 Mary [Ellen] Bogardus abt 1859 aet 6/12 1860 census



1850; Census Place: Springfield, Hamilton, Ohio; Roll: M432_685;
1860; Census Place: Wasioja, Dodge, Minnesota; Roll: M653_568; Page: 740;
1870; Census Place: Liberty, Wabash, Indiana; Roll: M593_367; Page: 109A;
1880; Census Place: Liberty, Wabash, Indiana; Roll: 315;
2 Alfred Newell Bogardus was a native of Minnesota, born April 21, 1857. At the age of six years he came with his parents from that State to Indiana. The family home was established in Wabash County, and there the boy spent his youthful years, was educated and learned his trade, adopting that of builder and architect.

A the "Bogardus Triangle appears on the 1898 plat map then owned by. L. C. [Lewis Cass] Dillon. Below it is stated: "moving from there to Argos in 1893, where they resided until 1899, they came to Culver and built a residence overlooking the lake" and the original owner of the land was Issac N Morris an account which is found in the 'One Township Yesterday's' - Corwin - which sheds more light onto the Bogardus property and ownership of it:
    Among these good rememberers is Miss Florence Morris, who of late years has been a resident of Plymouth. Miss Morris is the youngest daughter of Isaac N. Morris and Emily Thompson Morris, and is the only member of the family living.

    Ancient Maple Trees Believing that people of the present day wo uld be interested in the history of trees, Miss Morris tells us about some ancient maples, now landmarks near the shore of Lake Maxinkuckee. "My father, Isaac N. Morris," writes Miss Morris, "bought the farm on the north end of Lake Maxinkuckee in about the year 1850. The 160 acres of the farm on the north side of the road are now owned by the Dillon heirs; a few acres and the old farm house are owned by Mrs. A. N. Bogardus, and the rest by the Culver s and a few lot owners on Indiana Avenue. And the part of the farm on the south side of the road extended from the road to the lake and from the railroad east to the Academy, and is now owned by the Culver' s.

    "What I want to give, especially, is a history of the large maple trees on the north side of the road or street from the house owned by Mrs. Bogardus to the top of the grade, or, to be exact, to Colonel Rossow's lot. Likewise, I would mention the maple trees on the south side of the street, opposite Mrs. Bogardus' house, and extending east along the street to the Academy.

    "These large maple trees I have mentioned were set out by my father and two brothers, Milton and Edmund Morris, before the Civil War - - probably about 1858 or 1859.

    "I thought these trees were old enough to deserve mention. "Nearly every one calls that street Fac ulty Row, but the re­corded name of the street on the Plat is Indiana Avenue.

    "The maple trees on Morris Street from Indiana Avenue south to the Maxinkuckee Inn were set out by my brother, Edmund Morris, in the year 1884.

    "I deeded away the last bit of the Morris farm to the Culver s in 1932 and moved to Plymouth."


The Bogardus house was probably built in 1899, when they came to Culver from Argos and it is stated that "built a residence overlooking the lake and this would most likely be 301 North Shore Lane 'Martini Lane'

Sometime after 1908 the Bogardus' purchased the property as on the 1908 plat map L. C. [Lewis Cass] Dillon still appeared as the owner of it. and by 1922 the property was in Evangeline ogardus's name


The Bogradus triangle as it is subdivided down today as.


He was a contractor and builder - this ad appeared in the Culver Citizen of 1903


    DEATH OF ALFRED N. BOGARDUS

    Prominent Citizen of Culver Passes Away Friday—Large and Impressive
    Funeral Under the Auspices of Plymouth Commandery,
    Knights Templar, and Masonic and K. of P. Lodges

    .....April 6, 1905 Culver Citizen


On 22 August 1878 he was married in Argos to Evangeline Caillet. At the first, with his bride, he made his home at Maxinkuckee moving from there to Argos in 1893, where they resided until 1899, when they came to Culver and built a residence overlooking the lake. This, today, is the homestead of the widow. Alfred Bogardus died April 7, 1905, aged nearly forty-eight.

Sir Knights W. C. PETERS, Major SKINNER, E. VonEHRENSTEIN and Bert VANDIEN, went to Culver in an automobile to attend the funeral of their brother Templar, Alfred BOGARDUS. Saturday, April 8, 1905 The Rochester Sentinel

both buried at Culver Masonic Cemetery

The children of Alfred and Evangeline Bogardus:
    1 Lulu A. Bogardus who died January 25,1912;
    2 Irene Bogardus Birth: 1881 Death: 1963 who resides with her mother near Culver Military Academy; both buried at Culver Masonic Cemetery
    3 Ralph E. BogardusBirth: Aug 1884 - Indiana married Estella E [-?-] Birth abt 1889 in Indiana ; of Gary, Indiana;
      Edmund L Bogardus Birth abt 1907 in Indiana
    4 Garland Webster Bogardus deceased;
      On 17 Jul 1909, Garland married Mary Olive Hays in Marshall Co. Birth: 10 Dec 1887 - Bement, Piatt, IL Death: 1936 - Culver, Marshall, Indiana, Parents: daughter of Abraham 'Abram' Hays and Nancy Ellen Wilkin (See Hays family) They had three sons together--
        William W. Bogardus birth 1910 in IN Death 1936 in Culver, Marshall, Indiana

        Thomas Newell Bogardus Birth 29 Sept 1911 in IN Death 7 Jan 1999 in Clark County, Ohio

        Robert O. Bogardus Birth 1913 in IN Death 1936 in Culver, Marshall, Indiana


      Garland and Olive are on the 1910 Census, living in Culver on the same street as Olive's parents. Garland gave his occupation as "merchant / lunch room".

      Garland and Olive with their three sons are on the 1920 Census, still living in Union Twp., where Garland was farming. On his 1917 WWI registration, Garland also gave "farmer" as his occupation, and indicated that he suffered from "heart trouble".

      both buried at Culver Masonic Cemetery

    5 Clark Bogardus of Culver Birth: Apr 1889 - Indiana married Eunice [-?-] Birth: 1885 Death: 1948 both buried at Culver Masonic Cemetery


Census data:
1870 He is listed with his parents Liberty twp. Wabash, Indiana; Roll: M593_367; Page: 109; Image: 218.:


1880 Union twp., Marshall, Indiana; Roll: T9_297; Page: 199; Enumeration District: 108.


1900 INDIANA MARSHALL UNION TWP
Series: T623 Roll: 392 Page: 214a/14B; Enumeration District: 82.


1910 - Union, Marshall, Indiana; Roll: T624_370; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 114


1920 - Union, Marshall, Indiana; Roll: T625_456; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 182


1930 - Union, Marshall, Indiana; Roll: 617; Page: 15B; Enumeration District: 17;