JOHN MARSTON

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Born in England¹ around 1628², John Marston (the future accidental founder of the Masten name) sailed for America around 1644. He got there by signing up with the Dutch West India Company. At the time, life in the Netherlands was great, so actual Dutch citizens weren't exactly lining up to get eaten by bears or shot with arrows in an unknown wilderness. England, however, was miserable, broke, and sliding into a brutal civil war. The Dutch capitalized on this by hiring entire regiments of desperate English mercenaries to do their dirty work. In exchange for risking his life guarding trading posts in New Amsterdam, John got free food, guaranteed wages, and a horrific transatlantic boat ride.

The gamble paid off. On October 19, 1645, Governor Willem Kieft handed John a nice chunk of land in Flushing, Long Island³. John successfully transitioned from "hired muscle" to "upstanding pillar of the community," eventually becoming the Constable of Flushing in 1658⁴.

On October 27, 1650, John married Dievertje “Deborah” Jans at the Reformed Dutch Church in modern-day Lower Manhattan⁵. Dievertje was a native of North Holland born abroad in about 1632. 

John and Dievertjie had five children: John, Cornelius, Elizabeth, Tryntje (a cute Dutch way of saying Katherine), and Ezekiel. But as the kids grew up, they geographically grew apart:

• Team Marston: The eldest son, John, and two surviving siblings stayed in NYC area and kept the “r” in their English last name.  One sibling, Ezekiel, passed away at age 9, with his “r” intact.
• Team Masten: Cornelius packed his bags for Ulster County, settled in Kingston, and officially became a Masten—directly establishing the lineage of Herman Wolf’s 5th great-grandfather.

The story takes a dark turn in early 1671, when both John and Dievertje died in close succession. The tragedy left behind four children between ages 13 and 18. Their family friend, John Hinchman, was named as a guardian immediately prior to John’s death, and stepped in to take the traumatized kids into his own home. By April, the courts officially ordered Hinchman to take over the Marston estate before it could be "impaired" or looted. 

True to his stubborn British roots, John Marston flatly rejected the aggressively fair Dutch custom of dividing an estate equally among all his children. Instead, he hoarded the entire family homestead and slapped it exclusively onto his two teenaged sons, John Jr. and Cornelius, to be unlocked when they hit the age of 21. As for his daughters, Elizabeth and Katherine? Their grand inheritance consisted entirely of a single gold ring and a silver thimble⁶. Don’t spend it all in one place, ladies.