Albrecht Zaborowskij (also rendered Saboroweski;

anglicized Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as Albert Zabriskie; 1638–1711) of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

(present-day Poland and Russia) settled in what is now

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

on August 31, 1662.

Early life and emigration

Saborowski, a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

, was born in 1638, perhaps in the Prussian town of

Insterburg Chernyakhovsk (russian: Черняхо́вск) – known prior to 1946 by its German name of (Old Prussian: Instrāpils, lt, Įsrutis; pl, Wystruć) – is a town in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, where it is the administrative center of ...

. After the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

upheavals in Europe, he decided to emigrate to America, as one of the pioneers of European colonization within the area of present-day New Jersey. In 1662 "Albert Saboriski, from ''Enghestburgh'' Prussia" arrived on board the Dutch ship ''De Vos''(The Fox) to

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

(present-day

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New Amsterdam

Due to his good knowledge of Native American languages, mostly Lenape languages, he became a

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

and

mediator Mediator may refer to: *A person who engages in mediation *Business mediator, a mediator in business * Vanishing mediator, a philosophical concept * Mediator variable, in statistics Chemistry and biology *Mediator (coactivator), a multiprotein ...

in negotiations between the colonists and Native American tribes, specifically the

Lenape The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...

. He came into possession of a large estate within the

Province of New Jersey The Province of New Jersey was one of the Middle Colonies of Colonial America and became the U.S. state of New Jersey in 1783. The province had originally been settled by Europeans as part of New Netherland but came under English rule after the ...

and built a family residence in Hackensack (11,007 acres of land).

Family

His marriage to Machtelt Vanderlinde on January 8, 1677 produced five children born from this relationship: Jacob, Jan, Joost, Christian and Hendrick. Albert died in 1711 and was buried in Hackensack. He originated America's

Zabriskie Zabriskie is a surname, anglicized from Polish Zaborowski or Zabrzyski. Notable people with the surname include: People *Albert Zabriskie, originally Albrycht Zaborowski (1638–1711), American colonial settler * Andrew C. Zabriskie (1853–1916), ...

family, which produced several eminent descendants, such as Peter Zabriskie)son of Jan Zabriskie, Albrecht's second son
Peter Zabriskie (1721-1791)
was a resident of Hackensack, New Jersey and an ardent American Revolutionary. Peter opened his home to General George Washington as the Revolutionary Army retreated across the Hudson River from the battle of New York City. Peter Zabriskie served as a Colonel in the Revolutionary Army and was captured by the British Army. Legend has it that he said to the British upon hearing one of them exclaim, "Long live King George," "Yes, indeed! Long Live King George Washington!" Peter escaped his captors and lived on to be a Judge for Bergen County, New Jersey and moreover one of three Ratifying Signers of th

representing Bergen County, New Jersey. Other Zabriskie's of note were businessman

Christian Brevoort Zabriskie Christian Brevoort Zabriskie (October 16, 1864 – February 8, 1936) was an American businessman and vice president of Pacific Coast Borax Company. Zabriskie Point on the northeasternmost flank of the Black Mountains east of Death Valley ...

who was a partner of Francis Marion Smith)the founder of Twenty Mule Team Borax and for whom

Zabriskie Point Zabriskie Point is a part of the Amargosa Range located east of Death Valley in Death Valley National Park in California, United States, noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 mil ...

Death Valley Death Valley is a desert valley in Eastern California, in the northern Mojave Desert, bordering the Great Basin Desert. During summer, it is the Highest temperature recorded on Earth, hottest place on Earth. Death Valley's Badwater Basin is the ...

is named, George Olin Zabriskie, a genealogist and author: yet one who sadly omitted the names of any African-American Zabriskie's one of whom i
Peter J. Zabriskie)
graduate of Howard University and Envoy of John F. Kennedy to Africa for the Peace Corp Program, also Norma Damon Zabriskie-Heaton, a woman who worked with

Marshall Nirenberg Marshall Warren Nirenberg (April 10, 1927 – January 15, 2010) was an American biochemist and geneticist. He shared a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1968 with Har Gobind Khorana and Robert W. Holley for "breaking the genetic code" and ...

to decipher the

genetic code The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material ( DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets, or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links ...

. Quoting George Olin's "The Zabriskie Family": "In recent times a small branch of the family used a Zobriskie spelling, and a tiny western branch still uses Zabrisky. No living members of the family have been found who use Zabriski. Those using this spelling who responded to research queries are from recently immigrated families who have adopted this form of our surname. And mot all who use the regular spelling are true members of this particular family since some are newcomers and some are colored people. (It has been a real task to sort them out and exclude them from this history: and some of those listed a "unknown" may belong to these categories..).The Zabriskie Family - A Three Hundred and one Year History of the descendants of Albrecht Zaborowskij - (Ca 1638-1711) of Bergen County, New Jersey_page_11_

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaborowskij, Albert 1638 births 1711 deaths People from Hackensack, New Jersey People from the Duchy of Prussia Prussian emigrants to the United States People of New Netherland Immigrants to the Thirteen Colonies