Ancestral embarrassment or entrepreneur? (America's first prostitute)

June 19, 1:52 AMAlbany Genealogy ExaminerMeri Rees

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This year, 2009, marks the dual 400th anniversaries of English Captain Henry Hudson’s discovery of the river that now bears his name, and Frenchman Samuel de Champlain, the first European to discover one of the great lakes that was later named for him.

The excitement of these quadricentennials have cities and towns across New York State busy  planning celebrations all year long. It has also opened an awareness of historical proportion and people are dusting off their genealogies to see if any of their ancestors may have been a part of that history. If you are one of these people and happen to have the name of Grietje Reiniers (sometimes Reyniers), you may be related to America’s first prostitute.

John Reiners, writer for Hernando Today, explains his relationship to her and his feelings about the discovery. He writes, " I happened upon Grietje Reiniers (sometimes Reyniers) on the Internet, and that she had immigrated to the "USA" before the Dutch formally surrendered "New York" to the British in 1674. The Daughters of the American Revolution were not yet formed. I quickly notified my children that their ancestry predated the DAR! What an elite group they are. I had an ancestor who was here before the British. Do you have any idea what it's like to have your DNA in an "American" before the Brits were here and yet not being an American Indian? Nevertheless, little did I know where this story was going."         

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