Dirck Theuniszen Quick
Sex: M
Individual Information
Birth: 26 Jul 1648 - , , NY
Christening:
Death: Bef 1702
Burial:
Cause of Death:
Parents
Father: Theunis Thomaszen Quick (Abt 1600- ) 5
Mother: Belijtgen Jacbus (Abt 1604- ) 5
Notes
General:
CHR-DEATH: Arthur Craig Quick, A GENEALOGY OF THE QUICK FAMILY IN AMERICA; 1625-1942; South Haven and Palisades Park, MI, privately pub; p. 4; Port Jervis Historical Society Library, NY. CHR: New Amsterdam Dutch Church.
COMMENTS: In 1698 he swore allegiance to King William in Westchester Towne.
SPOUSE: Dirck married in 1672 to either Hannah, Johannah, or Anna Jans, or Anna Hodge or Anna de Hooges.
DESCENDANTS: Many tall tales have been written about a grandson of Dirck's, Tom Quick. The following summary is from THE TOM QUICK LEGANDS by Vernon Leslie, pub. in 1977 in Middleton NY by T. Emmett Henderson, and available in the Port Jervis NY Library. Tom Quick's father Thomas Quick, son of Dirck, was born about 1690 in NY. Thomas was bound out as apprentice to John King, shipwright, for 7 years from 1 Nov 1702, and was to be taught to write and cypher, and at the end of his apprenticeship was to receive one each axe, adz, maul, saw, chisel, and mallet.
On 22 Dec 1713 Thomas married Margriete (Grietje) Dekker, bap. on 4 Oct 1691, dau. of Gerrit J. Dekker and Magdaleentje Schut. They had 10 children, one of whom was Thomas Jr (Tom), b. 19 Jul 1734.
Thomas Sr was killed near Milford PA by the Indians 17 Jan 1756 in front of his son Tom, and was later scalped and robbed.
In 1764 Penn's Indian Commission was offering bounties on dead Indians--men, women and children. During the Revolution, the British paid bounties to Indians for the scalps of American patriots.
Tradition said that the Quicks had always been friendly and hospitable to the Indians. But the three events above set the climate for Tom Quick's blood lust to kill Indians. He supposedly swore to find his father's killer. The tale is told that 40 years later he did, a Delaware named Mushwink, with whom Tom had been boyhood friends. A drunken Mushwink told Tom he had killed his father, and produced buckles and cufflinks that had belonged to the murdered man. Tom murdered Mushwink.
The story goes that Tom had vowed to kill 100 Indians, but by his own death had killed "only" 99. Sometimes called "The Avenger" or "Indian Slayer," Leslie asks if Tom was a hero, or a psychopathic killer? There is a monument to him, "Avenger of the Delaware," in Milford. One can stay at the Tom Quick Inn, or just dine there, as we did. Time has dimmed the horrible deeds, and Tom the murderer had become good for business in Milford.