History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 58

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 58
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 58

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eur deputies, as the day for the business ; we have, therefore, re- ved to notify you thereof, conunanding you to attend here at the lagud, duly provided in all things, as the case requires, on the even- ing of the twenty-first instant, in order to appear on the next day for the purpose aforesail, before the above mentioned lords, our deputies, who will then proceed to business. Wherein fail not; giving notice lu re of to the other patroons, planters, who are also interested in the aft said diff ren (s.'

" Done 13th May, 1634.

The matter was not so easily settled as some of the contestants imagined. Although the other patroon ?. Van Rensselaer, Blommcart and Godyn, had acqui- esced in the demands of the " outs," the patroon of Pa- vonia, although never having complied with the letter or spirit of the " freedoms and exemptions," was not so easy a Dutchmau to deal with ; and it was not until after repeated trials to negotiate that he finally ac- ceded to the demand, and sold his colonies to the company for the sum of twenty-six thousand florins.2 Thus Mr. Paauw ceased to be both a patroon and a disturbing element in New Netherlands.

First Form of Government in New Nether- erland. - Of whatever importance to the prosperity of the Fatherland were the conquests of the West Indies from the Spanish, Portuguese and natives, they were not left to the arbitrary whims of the con- querors and naval commanders. No; the States-tien- eral established, about the year 1629, some articles of order and goverment, whose prompt and faithful execution they required in the conquered places.

They authorized the different departments of the West India Company to appoint a council of nine persons, who should be intrusted with the command of the whole.4 The precautions which had been taken to secure its sueeess may be seen from the privileges and exemptions for patroons, masters and private individuals, who shall plant colonies in New Netherland, or import there any cattle, etc., from March 10, 1628.5

The following were the principal points :

"The West India Company should reserve to itself besides the fur trade, the island of Manhattan also, both to cultivate it and to erect there a place for stuple commerce, while the colonists were privileged to settle four miles along the coast, or along unvigable rivers, or two miles on both sides of these ; provided, they did satisfy the natives for the lands of which they had taken possession.

"The colonists might navigate along the whole count of Florida to Newfoundland ; provided, they imported their merchandise to the Man- hattans and paid a recognition of five per cent.

"They were privileged to sail for fishing cod all along the coast of New Netherland ; provided, they carried it directly to Italy nud paid six guilders per last to the company.

" Whenever they took any somels of the enemy within the limits of this grant, they were holden to conduct them to the Fatherland, enjoy. ing there two-thirds of their value.

" The edonies were further entitled to send from each river or island a deputy to the Council of the director-general and huis councillors in New Netherlands."

1 \ Y Colonial MISS , p. 77

3 A florin is equal to, forty cents

" From toll N Y. Hist. soc., N. S., vol. i. p. 93.

4 Great Plaand Book, t. it. p. 123.

" This Is to be found in the Notulen of the Uxpartment of XIX., in Mar h, 1 24. These two wore acjarately published in Amsterdam in 1631.

The States-General added another restriction to these measures of the West India Company for the encouragement of merchants and colonists, viz., when they published, in the year 1638, an order and regulation in conformity with which all armed vessels, privateers, were permitted to sail from the United Netherlands within the limits of the grant to the West India Company, "except the coast of Africa, Now Netherlands, and all other places whatsoever to which the company was trading."6

CHAPTER VI.

Arrival of Kieft-Appointment of (licers-Officer Salaries-Deed from Kieft to Plauck-Lease of ( smpany's Farm ut l'avonsa-Lease of com- many's Bouwerie at Hoboken-Lease of Land ou Staten Island-Trib- nte Demanded from the Fudiany-In lans Ujgur the Tax Levy-Difi- culties with the Indians-The Iroquois Supplied with Arms and Ammunition-The Manhattan Indians Offended-Kieft Anticipate> Trouble, and Orders the Dutch to Arm Themselves-The Ratitans Wrungfully Accused , attacked by Kieft's Soldiers-The Raritaus attark De Vries on Staten Island-River Indians attack thy Raritans -Meeting called-Twelve chosen, the First Representatives of the People-Indians Betrayed by the Dutch Petition to Kieft The Massacre at Pavima-Retaliation by the Indians-A Supposed Peace Treaty-Kieft calls for Assistance-Another Treaty.

WILLIAM KIEFT, the third director-general of New Netherland, arrived at Manhattan, March 28, 1638, in the vessel " Herring," one of the West India Company's ships, of two hundred and eighty tons burthen, carrying two metal, sixteen iron and two stone guns. Upon his arrival he found demoralization upon every hand; the fort that had been built about three years before, at a heavy expense, was in a state of decay,-open at every side, the guns off' their carriages,-the public buildings out of repair, and everything around displayed the most utter ne- glect.

His first step on the assumption of the reins of gov- ernmient was to organize a Council, of which he should retain the entire control. With this end in view, he appointed to a seat in the board Doctor Jo- hannes La Montague, a learned Iluguenot gentleman, to whom he gave one vote, while he reserved two for himself.7 Cornelius Van Tienhoven, a native of Utrecht, and one of the oldest residents of the prov- inee, was promoted from book-keeper of monthly wages to colonial secretary, with a salary of about two hundred and fifty dollars per annum and sundry fees, and Ulrich Lupokl was continued as schout fiscal or sheriff, and attorney-general.

Appointment of Officers .- Among the other officers appointed by Kieft, we find the names of Claes Van Elsland and David Provoost, commissaries of pro-

6 Grent Phicard Book, t i. p. 599,

" The dato of Kleft's arrival is in Alh. Rec., 1. 89. Dr Lars gives the tonnage of the " Herring." Dr. La Montagne must have arrived in the spring of 1437. He had a daughter born at sea, Jan. 26, 1637, of the Island of Madeira.

ARRIVAL OF KIEFT.

vi. wons; Andreas Hudde, first commissary of ware- ; Jacob Van Curler, inspe tor of merchandise; Laurens Haen, assistant inspector of merchandise ; Jacob Stoffelson, overseer; Michael Evertsen, chuk of the en-toms; Wybrant Pieterson, superintendent of mor- chandise ; William Breedenbent, under-sheriff . Philip de Truy, court messenger ; Gerrit Schult and Hans Kierstede, surgems; Hans Steen, midshipman ; Jan Jansen, gunner ; Frederick Lubbertsen, first hoat- swain ; Nicolas Kom, sergeant ; Hendrick Pietersen, mason ; Gills Vander Gouw and Thomas Walraven, house carpenters; Tyman Jansen, ship carpenter ; Gysbort op Dyck, commissary at Fort Good Hope; Jan Jansen Van Upendam, commissary at Fort Nassau, where Peter Mey acted as assistant ; Bastaen Jansen Crol, who came out about the year 1624, was still commissary at Fort Orange, where Direk Stipel acted as wacht-meister er "serjent"; and Adrian Direksen, assistant commissary, to which charge he was appointed because he spoke correctly the language of the Mohawks, and was " well versed in the art of trading with them." The Rev. Everardus Bogardus continued to officiate as clergyman at Fort Amster- dam, where Adam Korlanston was school-master .?

Officers' Salaries. - The following were the sala- ries of some of the above-named officials, which is somewhat less than salaries for the same work two hundred and forty-six years later.

La Montagne, as member d Lemuil, thirty-five gui'ders, or fourteen dollars per month.

The book-keeper of monthly wagry thirty-six guilde, r $14 40 per month, and two bund 1 guildery, or eighty dd una year, for board. Mason, thirty guilders, og eight d dlar per month.

Gunner, sixteen gullders, or . per mos .

Commitary of tures, thirty-en guilders jur month

Carpenter, eighteen guilder, of $7.20, a I one hundred gul dery a year lor board.

Overear, thirty goilder, or twelve dollars per month

Indian interpreter, twelve galldere per month, and one hundred guil- der- a year for heart

House carpenter, thirty six gullders per month.

Thegovernment having been thus far organized, or, rather, reorganized, Kieft proceeded to introduce some order into the affairs of the colony, which had been for a few years past in a chaotic state, Those of the colonists or immigrants desiring land were provided for, and good titles given. Kiett's first con- veyance of land in what is now Hudson County was to Abraham Isnaesen Verplanck (sometimes written Pianek),4 who took up a tract of land at Paulus

1 Four brothers of the Evertsen family, named Jacobus, 5 dekert, Myn- deri and Arendt (relatives el thas Michael, lived in primperuus circum- stancen, monte in Pasento, and some on Manhattan I-la 1, onno lu38. They cultivated to love with great site on ; one of them also had a tan- Dery. Arendt was afterwardla a celebrated Dutch captain w the Sound, where he captured a veral revele belonging to the New England colonies. Many respectable families of the name are still on this territory.

"0'T alleghan's " New Netherland," vol. 1. JSI

·Att. Rtec. II. 14.

4 Ile was probably n near relative of Jacob Albert's Planck, first sheriff of Hannolaver County, N. Y., then warten Resolverwork. Hela rep- revented as having been a wealthy, as well as an excellent farmer, and to have been the proprietor of a large dairy

Hoeck. At this time and under the judicious man- agenout of Kieft, there was every prospect that settlements would multiply and the trade of the country beln rossed.

This day, date un written la for me formu li su Tl nhoven, voc- atary of New Netherland appeared the HI. rath. Wie and Pradeut

font the pour | 1 a certain parve of han], elled " uw lek, Punte we twarl f the Island Manhaten at 1 : ut ward if Shestu ding from the North riser into the valley, which rue are und it the , which fand Vr. haft has sold to Abraham Planck, who alwecken Pledgest have le nghitl +hf esmillan Ifer the sun: ffivr hund=d and fifty guille the guilderent a etter, whichwas the formal An en Plauch

the first at the Fair \ 1638, the mee-inl A F' nul the panl & # Sat Instalment et the Fatr \. 1640 . ant In case he remain n default f pay - wul tituto him If on bail and principal for the joir haser, pr mining I . pay the at rumaid + 18 free if not any changes Forall if with of said the purchaser and bernd-man pledge their in mons and property, real all goes nul, present and future, without exception, andomleting & the I'r widell court of I Hund and te all other Courte, Jaders ind Inatice and in acknowledgement and token of the truth, there procents a cui sed by the partie respectively.

" Thus deur ut Fort Austenlam In > N. the first day of May 16. " JA E l'LINK, AIRAT PIAN K."

The following copies of leases were found among the miscellaneous papers of New Jersey Historical Society, entitled " Colonial settlements on the Hud- son River":

"I.FASE. Y Thr COMPANY'S FARM AT PAV ININ IN. J. TO JAN EVERTSEN. BUT.

" This day the 20th July 13, before me, Cornelis van Tienhoven, Secre tary of New-Neth rland, appeared the Hotble Wine atal Prudent Mr Wil- Imam hlen, Hdirector-General of New Artherland, of the one part and Jan Evertsen Bout, of the , ther part, wh i Amicably agreed and contracted for the Case of the Bouwery hitherto occupied by the abovenamed Jan Evert- M n. situate Int Pavoni and belonging to the N Fe Ja I-Din tom .f the Pris. W. I. Con pany ( Dege of Amsterdam), in winter name and behalf Mr Kieft has Irased the abovenamed Bouwery to Jan Evertsen, who also nok su>w Joelson to have hired it, on the following conditions and te reis

" First Jan Evertons shall have the use of the house, land and every- thing belonging thereto on the Bonwery for mis coucutive year from the date hereof, and during this time he shall be bound to keep in order the tilling and appartenances of the Bouwery at hisown expense, with- ont laying dal therefore to anything at the expiratich of the mld sx

" The mid Jan Evertsen abull dullver yearly during the term of his lean, to the And Mr. haft of his meerof the fourth part of the crop. whether of corn or other produce, with which God shaft faver the *il, alma every year two tone of strong beer and twelve capone, free of exj'la. Fir all of which the parties ph Ige their respe tiv perm ns and property, che

" Done in Fort Aretoplam on the day and year aluve written. " JAN EVARTERY DU r.

". MAURITS JANSEN, WITHIS."

" IKAKE OF THE COMPANY'S BREWERY AT HOMURREN TO HENDRICK COR- NELIANES VAN VI IST

"This day, date underwritten, before me, C ruchu van Tonburun, Sucre- tary in New . Netherland on Inhalf of the Pris W 1 Company appeared the Honorable and Prudent Mr William Kieft, Fre for General In New- Netherland, of the one purt, und Hendrick l' helieen van V-tet " of the

1 %. J Hist. Sor. Rer

"Cornelis van Vont had been the manager of Michiel Pasuw's (pr ature) plantations, until they were bought in by the company. (ser De Vries' Voyagen. )-ED.

910

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

other part, who acknowledged in presence of the undersigned witnesses to have mutually agreed and ancably contracted for the lease of the Bouwery situated at Hoboken until now occupied by the said Hendrick Cornelissen and belonging to the Malde Lords-Directors of the Priv. W I Company. Depe of Amsterdam, in whose name and behalf the Honble Din for Kieft learn the raid Bunwery to Hendrick Cornelleen aforesaid, who also acknowledges having hired the saine on the following terms and , onditi :14 -

" Hendrick Cornelnen van Vorst shall for the period of twenty consecu- tive years from the date hereof use, cultivate and plant the said Bouwery .d make further during the years of his lease, such disp ation of the 1.url and the buildings thereon and everything appertaining to it, as a good and faithful tenant ought to make.

. The tenant shall cause to be erected on the Bouwery a barn and all other necessary buildings at his own expense, the Company delivering to him www bri ks to build the chimney. All they buildings shall belong to the Company at the expiration of the lease, without the tenant having any claim or title to them.

" It is further expresly agreed, that the lesser of any of his descendant- shall be į referred at the end of this lease, to others, if the saul Bouwery Le sold or again let.

' The wid Hendrick van Voorst shall pay during the years of his lease to the sand Honble Mr. Kieft or the representative of the Company every year the fourth part of the crop, with which God muy bless the land, either in sheaves upon the field or us it may b . dermed most advantageous, and twelve cupons.

'. The lessee shall surrender the lund nosown, as he now receives it.

" For all of which the parties pledge their respective persons and prop- erty, ett

" Done at Furt Amsterdam, this 12th of March, 1639,

" WILLIAM KIKTT.

" HEYNDRICK CORNELISSEN VAN VORST.

agreed, that

" ULRICH LEEVOLT

begin on the lot

of January 1610."

"LFASE LY LAND ON STATEN-ISLAND,

" Before me, Cornelis van Tienhoven Secretary of New-Netherland, ap- peared Thomas Smith, who, in presence of the undersigned witnesses acknowledged to have hired from David Pietersen de Vries a plantation and buildings on Staten-Island for the time of six consecutive years, to wit from the Id of January 1610 tu the first of January 1645, for which Thomas Sunth in to pay to David Pietersen or his successors as rent 150 pounds of good, cured tobaren yearly If M Smith, or any one in his lwhalt, should improve the buildings now on the plantation or erect new Dnes, David Pietersen shall be held to receive them at the expiration of the and six years at the valuation of good and impartial men and pay the Buid Smith for them accordingly.

" Done this 7th of January 1+40, at fort Amsterdam.

" The said Smith shall clear as much land as is necessary for 200 palli- sadea.

" THOMAS SMYTHE.

" Witnesses

JABRAM PLANCK. ABRAHAM PAGE.

" In my presence

" CORNELIS VAN TIENHOVEN, Secretary."

less. Knowing nothing of the wild and savage natures of the sons of the forest, he consoled himself with the idea that they were as much subject to his caprices as were the mild-natured and thrifty Dutch, over whom he had supreme control.

The Indians felt that a grievous wrong had been committed by the Swannckins1 in their dealings with them; and socially they had not only been ig- nored, but scorned. And well might they live in fear of the coming time when, unless they defended themselves now, while their enemies were yet few, they should be driven from their homes and the graves of their fathers.

Tribute Demanded from the Indians .- Regard- less of the situation of affairs, Kieft, in a mo- ment of avaricious weakness, placed a match to the train, and hastened an explosion that might otherwise have been averted. Sept. 15, 1639, a year and a half after his arrival in the country, he issued an ediet demanding of the Indians a tribute or tax levy, consisting of wampum, maize and furs, and in case of the unwillingness of the Indian to bring forth from his small treasure, Kiett proposed to employ all necessary force at his command with which to re- move any reluctance on the part of the red man of the forest. A more foolish and uncalled-for exhibi- tion of avarice was never perpetrated upon the hu- man race.

These free sons of the forest, who were born free men, scouted the idea of becoming slaves to the avarice of a Dutchman, who had not only cheated them out of a large portion of their hunting and fishing grounds, but now proposed to demand tribute of what they had left. In speaking of Kieft, they said, " He must be a mean fellow," for "he has not invited us to live here, that he should take away our corn." 2

They had extended their simple, yet hearty hospi- tality to the strangers who had come from an un- known land, and now their guests would impose upon them a degrading tribute. They had endured many rebutl's, and suffered many inexcusable eneroachments from the domineering and grasping dispositions of the whites, and now they were to be forced to con- tribute what before they had willingly given or sold.3

Kieft's Weakness .- Although Kieft was a reformer in many respects, yet, like our modern reformers, he Indians Oppose the Tax Levy .- To meet the impending danger and resist the threatened imposi- tion, the Indians were not wholly unprepared. Com- mercial intercourse, social familiarity and domestic service among the settlers had acquainted them with the habits, dispositions and numbers of the whites. Their skill in the use of the guns they had obtained was powerless for good when importuned by those of his political houschold. He had granted favors to one and another in the shape of offices and lands. To Abram Isaacsen Planck he had sold Paulus Hueck for the trifling sum of two hundred and fifty guilders, and to Jan Evertsen Bout he leased the company's farm in Pavonia, and to De Vries he gave the whole | in exchange for peltries made them confident in ot Staten Island on which to establish a colony.

Although he was director-general of New Nether- land, where every one was supposed to be . ulyject to his command, yet he was in the country of a race of people of whom he knew comparatively nothing and seemed to study their natures, character and habits

" From " relwonnack," "the salt people," because they came across the salt water (Moulton, 1. 205). At first the Indian called the Dutch Woupnd Lennappe, -that is, "the white people."

2 Valentine's " History of N. Y.," 41.

3 Winfield's " Ilist. Hud. Co., N. J.," 27.

the I use shall

" MAURITS JANSEN.

" It is further

911

DIFFICULTIES WITH THE INDIANS.

their strength, and their sense of right convinced them of the justice of their cause .! Honer they were not in a mood to submit to every indignity and out- rage which the impolitie Kieft would heap upon them.

They refused to pay the contribution, because thesol- diers in Fort Amsterdam were no protection to the say- ages, who should not be called upon for their support ; because they had allowed the Dutch to live peaceably in their country, and had never demanded recompense; because, when the Hollanders "having lost a ship there, had built a new one, they had supplied them vietuals and all necessaries, and had taken care of them for two winters, until the ship was finished," and therefore the Dutch were under obligations to them; because they had paid full price for every- thing they had purchased, and there was, therefore, no reason why they should supply the Hollanders now " with maize for nothing ;" and, finally, said the savages, because, " if we have ceded to you the coun- try you are living in, we yet remain masters of what we have retained for ourselves." ?

Up to this time the inter ourse between the Dutch and Indians had been quite friendly, and with the opening of the fur trade in the spring of 1640 prosperity loomed up on every hand, aud New Neth- erland promised to become the " Eldorado " of the time. The Indians were allured to the homes of the whites, and thus a friendly feeling sprang up which soon brought the Dutch into contempt with the Indians, who, not always being treated with im- partiality, naturally became jealous. Some of the Indians were also employed as domesties by the Dutch, which unwise conduct only produced evil.

Difficulties with the Indians,-The Dutch, in their avidity to procure peltries, neglected their cat- tle, which, straying away without herdsmen, injured the unfenced fields of the Indians. Finding this the cause of much complaint, Kieft issued a proclama- tion requiring all the inhabitants whose lands ad- joined that of the Indians to inelose their farms, so as to prevent trepass upon the red man's crops. The evil, however, continued, and the Indians avenged themselves by "killing the cattle, and even the horses," of the Dutch.

The Iroquois Supplied with Arms causes Jeal- ousy in other Tribes .- One of the most unhappy results during Kieft's administration was the sup- plying Indians with fire-arms, to them a new weapon of defense. The Iroquois warriors from the day they first reeniled before the arquebuses of Champlain dreaded the superiority of the Europeans. At first they considered a gun "the devil," and would not touch it. But the moment they became acquainted with it and accustomed to its use they were eager to possess it, and no merchandise was more valuable to

them. For a musket they would willingly give twenty beaver skins, and for a pound of powder they were willing to barter the value of ten or twelve guilders.

Knowing the imprudence of arming what they feared might turn out to be a for, the West India Company, in wise sympathy with the English govern- ment, had declared contratuind the trade in fire-arms, and had even forbidden the supply of munitions of war to New Netherland Indians, under penalty of death. But the lust of larger gains quickly overcame prudence, and the extraordinary profits of the trathe became generally known, and the "free traders " from Holland soon bartered away to the Mohawks enough guns, powder and bullets for four hundred warrior -.

The Manhattan Indians Offended .- The furnish- ing the Iroquois with arms and ammunition, while the Indians nearer New Amsterdam were under a more rigid police regulation, only excited more intensely their hatred towards the Dutch. The Iroquois, now conscious of their renovated power, not only carried open war into their enemies' country along the Great Lakes, but more haughtily than ever exacted tribute from the subjugated tribes between the Mohawk and the sea.3

While the Manhattans were brooding over what they deemed the unjust partiality of the Dutch towards the Iroquois, a new aud last feather was added to the weight already breaking their hearts. Kieft alleged that he had "express orders" from Holland, and unwisely determined to exact the contributions of corn, furs and wampum from the Indians in the vicinity of Fort Amsterdam, which he bad resolved upon the previous antumn. Athough the directors of the Amsterdam Chamber stoutly denied having ever authorized the measure, or even knew that Kieft had demanded a tribute from the Indians, the mis- chief had already been done.

Kieft Anticipates Trouble, and Orders the Dutch to Arm Themselves .- By the wild and unstable policy of Director Kieft, the Indians near Fort Am- sterdam had now become totally estranged. The Hollanders, said the irritated Indians, are materially men of blood ; though they may be something on the water they are nothing on the land; they have no great sachem or chief.' Kieft, perceiving the temper of the Indians in his neighborhood, and in apprehen- sion of a sudden attack, ordered all the residents of Manhattan and vicinity to provide themselves with arms, and at the firing of three guus to repair, under their respective othivers, "to the place appointed." properly equipped for service.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 58

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830