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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01068 6449
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1
General Robert Anderson
"Long after Fort Sumter shall have crumbled away, brightly will stand forth the example of Anderson as that of a soldier true to his standard, and of an Ameri- can true to his country."
Historic Ilomes and Institutions
AND
Genealogical and Family History
OF
NEW YORK
BY
WILLIAM S. PELLETREAU, A. M.
Member of Long Island Historical Society; Author of " Old New York Houses," "Early Long Island Wills," " Records of Southampton, Long Island," "History of Smithtown, Long Island," etc., etc.
"It is a thing of no small importance to possess the relics of our ancestors, to practice the same sacred rites, and to be buried by their side."-CICERO.
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK CHICAGO
1907
22.50 (trots)
1146109
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
THE DISCOVERY 1
CHAPTER II.
THE SETTLEMENT 7
5
CHAPTER III.
THE DUTCH GOVERNORS
18
CHAPTER IV.
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE EARLY CITY
27
Jau them. B.
CHAPTER V.
THE FIRST NEW YORK DIRECTORY 37
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST LETTERS FROM NEW NETHERLAND
52
CHAPTER VII.
FORT AMSTERDAM
62
CHAPTER VIII.
THE DUTCH CHURCH
75
INTRODUCTION
The number of books, relating to the history of New York, which have been written in recent years, by no means exhaust the subject. To do so would require a series of volumes larger than the encyclopaedias, and far more numerous. Some of the most valuable works are monographs upon particular sub- jects, admirably written and carefully prepared, and in some cases lasting memorials to the names of the authors. The great characteristic of the city has been its constant change. In con- versation with an aged man he informed us that he had seen houses built in the days of Peter Stuyvesant, and within his recollection every house south of Wall street had been destroyed or rebuilt. The same may be said of families. Of the " Knick- erbocker" names found in the list made by Dominie Selyns, senicely a tithe remains, and can be found in our present city directories. Their descendants however still remain in collateral branches and are proud of their "Knickerbocker" deseent, though no longer bearing the ancient names. The most proml- inent descendants of the Bavards are not Bavards, and the wealthiest and most distinguished descendants of the famous Governor of New Amsterdam, are not Stuyvesants. If within the limits of these volumes any new facts have been given, or if anything can be found which would otherwise have been lost, the object of the anthor will be fully satisfied. It has been our desire to embrace as many families as possible who have been connected with the advancement of the city, whether they are of the ancient race, or newer arrivals. On the other hand,
INTRODUCTION
the ancient families fill a larger space, and genealogy has been made a conspienons feature. It will doubtless be noticed that some of the most prominent families are "conspicnous by their absence," but their history has so often been written, that it would be impossible to make any valuable addition.
WILLIAM S. PELLETREAU.
Southampton, L. I.
Genealogical and Family History.
CHAPTER I.
THE DISCOVERY.
The discovery of America is the boundary between the Mid- dle Ages and modern history. A numerous train of adventurers followed the track that the great Columbus had shown, and for a while the governments of Spain and Portugal were the rulers of all that was known as the Western World. The Pope, in the plenitude of his then existing power, assumed the authority to divide between these two nations all lands not yet discovered, and greed for gold, which was the inspiring spirit of their ad- venture, soon led to the conquest of those lands which abound- ed with precious metals and promised boundless wealth to the conquerors in return for their exposure and toil. But the true nature of the newly discovered lands was not known till long years after. To the early Spanish voyagers, America was but a distant portion of the Indies, and the name of Indians, which was given to the inhabitants, took its origin from this error, which though long since exploded. is still perpetuated in memory by the name which is likely to endure when the last relic of abor- iginal life has vanished from the continent.
When at last it dawned upon the minds of Enropeans that America was indeed a continent which interposed between them and the Indies, it then became the object of search to find a pass- age through or around the new found lands, which should be a
Vol. I-1
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
shorter route to that far distant land. It was for this purpose that every bay and river along the Atlantic coast was carefully explored in the vain hope that some one of them might be the anxiously songht for passage to the far-off South Sea, across which their vessels might sail to what was then the synonym of wealth, the Indies.
The power of Spain and Portugal precluded all attempts on the parts of the northern nations to make discoveries in South America, or to the south of Florida, the story of whose diseov- ery by the heroic adventurer, in his vain quest for the fountain of youth. seems a fragment from the realm of fable. But expe- ditions from France and England soon found their way to the northern coasts of the New World, and, in 1524, Giovanno da Verazzano, a Florentine navigating in the service of Francis II of France, made a voyage along the eastern coast of what are now the southern and middle states of the Union, and, from the account which he gave, it was long believed that he was the first to enter the harbor of New York. The researches of modern his- torians have done much to throw doubt upon the claims of dis- covery attributed to him. It is certain that no results followed his discoveries, no colonies were planted, and for long years his voyage seems to have been forgotten. In the year 1497 Sebas- tian Cabot, a navigator in the service of England, sailed along the American coast from the 38th to the 58th parallel. This was the origin to the English claim which was destined in after years to be sustained by the strong arm of military and naval power, the benefits of which we as a nation now enjoy.
It remains to state the circumstances, under which the Dutch became the founders of the first settlement of the territory now comprising the state of New York. An association of merchants was established in Holland, having for its objeet the long cher- ished scheme of finding a route to China. The Company of
3
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
Foreign Countries had, in the year 1594. equipped three vessels to make the search. After a long and tedious voyage they re- turned without success. In 1595 seven more vessels tried the same experiment, but with no better success. The next year the Council of Amsterdam undertook the enterprise, and sent two vessels on the hopeless search. One of these was shipwrecked on the stormy coast of Nova Zembla, and its pilot, the famous Barentz, found a watery grave, while the other returned, driven back as it were by the Spirit of the Storms that seemed to guard the entrance to the Eastern World.
A sudden change in the direction of these attempts was soon after made by an unlooked for circumstance. One Cornelius Hontman, "a shrewd Hollander," being in Portugal, took occa- sion to gain all the information he could from the navigators of that country respecting the Indies, and especially concerning the newly discovered route around the C'ape of Good Hope. Be- ing looked upon with suspicion, he was arrested and fined. As the payment of the fine was beyond his means, he wrote to sev- eral merchants in Amsterdam, narrating the circumstances, and proposing that if they would pay the fine. he. in return, would communicate to them the information he had gained. This of- fer was accepted. and in 1595, a fleet of four vessels sailed from the Texel, under the command of Houtman and others, bound on the southern route to the Indies. At the expiration of two years and four months they returned with their object accom- plished. and richly laden with the products of that far-off land. The success of this enterprise led to the formation of other com- panies, and the rivalry between them was so great that in 1602 it was rendered necessary to unite them all. and hence the origin of the great Dutch East India Company, which in after years astonished all Europe with its extensive power and dominion.
4
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
In the meanwhile a company had been formed in London for the purpose of exploring the Arctic for a new route to China. To accomplish this they planned three expeditions- one to the north, one to the northeast and the third to the north- west. To conduct these expeditions they employed Henry Hud- son, "a man about whom we have all of us heard so much and
The Half Moon.
know so little." but who has left a name as enduring as any on the rolls of fame. In the employ of this company he made two voyages, both of which were unsnecessful, and they declined to take any further risk, and refused to equip the expedition for a third voyage. Hudson then went to Holland, and after some ef- fort enlisted their sympathies in favor of his scheme. The Am- sterdam Directors finally succeeded in getting a majority of votes in its favor, and they fitted out a small vessel called the
5
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
"Half Moon," and gave the command to Hudson, the whole of whose life, as known to us, is embraced in the short period from April 19, 1607, to June 21, 1611. The terms upon which he made the voyage, so famous in its results, show too plainly not only the economical shrewdness of the Directors, but his own neces- sities as well. For his outfit and for the support of his wife and children he was to receive a sum equivalent to $320. If he did not live to return his wife was to have $80, while, if he was suc- cessful, the Directors were "to reward him in their discretion." Thus started by the Dutch East India Company he sailed from the Texel on May 6, 1609, with a crew of twenty men who were partly English and partly Dutch. After a long and tedious voy- age he arrived upon our shores, and on the 12th of September entered the Bay of New York, as a new discoverer.
"His bark the only ship, Where a thousand now are seen."
On the next day he commenced his sail up the river that bears his name. The sailing up the river was mostly drifting with the tide and anchoring when it ebbed. The first day it seems as if eleven and a half miles were sailed, and the first an- chorage was nearly opposite Spuyten Duyvil creek. From that place was visible a high point of land "bearing north by east," and about five leagues distant. This is supposed to be the Hoek mountain, above Nyack. This was called by the Dutch, in later years, Verdrietig Hoek, or Tedious Point, perhaps from the length of time that it took to pass it unless the wind was very favorable. The English called it "Point No Point," from the fact that when once reached its character as a point of land at once vanished and it appeared as a long mountain. On the 14th the wind was favorable, and they sailed some thirty-six miles, passing the Pallisades and reaching the Highlands. No wonder the historian of the voyage ( Robert Juet, the mate) re-
6
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
marks, " The land grew very high and mountainous." Beyond these they saw high mountains that "lay from the river." and denotes their view of the "Blue Mountains," now called the Catskills. From this they drifted up to where the city of HInd- son was in after years, and here the river grew narrower, with shoals and small islands of meadow, as they are today. At this point the great navigator saw that his voyage was a failure, so far as its avowed object was concerned. He found himself in a river, and not, as he had hoped, in a strait which opened to the Pacific. llis return down the river, his quarrels with the na- tives, his noticing the productions of the country, the "great store of goodly oaks, and walnut trees and chestnut trees, New trees and trees of sweet wood," their difficulty in sailing throngh the Highlands, "because the highland hath many points and a narrow channel and hath many eddy winds" (as many shippers of sloops and schooners found to their sorrow in later years) ; the sanguinary encounter with the Indians, in which some were slain, and their reaching the harbor which they had left, about the first of October-all this is not a twice-told but a ten-times told tale. On October 4th they bid farewell to their discoveries and sailed straight for England, "without seeing any land by the way," and on the 7th of November the small but ever fam- ons "Half Moon" arrived at Dartmouth.
In the next year, while upon another voyage of discovery, Hudson was set adrift in an open boat by his mutinous crew, and never heard from afterwards. No man can ever see his grave, but Hudson's Bay. Hudson's Straits and Hudson's River are the monuments which will keep his name in everlasting re- membrance.
CHAPTER IL. THE SETTLEMENT.
When Henry Hudson returned to Holland, he brought with him no news of a newly discovered passage to India or China; but he did bring an account of a newly discovered land which promised great rewards to the trader and adventurer. Many things lead us to believe that almost immediately vessels owned by private individuals sailed for this new land of promise, where they could be free from any interference on the part of Spanish or Portuguese. Of these private voyages we know but little. and who were the commanders and who they were that sailed with them, are as nnknown as the brave men who lived before Agamemnon's time.
A gleam of light upon what was probably the first attempt at settlement has been discovered in recent years. Among the many religions seets that arose in the early part of the seven- teenth century was one called the Labadists. They professed a sort of mysticism. "regulating their lives by the divine light of the inner man, and seeking to bring together all the elect of God separate from the world into one visible church which as they said, 'like a city set upon a hill, could not be hid.'" In doctrine they held the tenets of the Dutch Reformed Church, but they also maintained other opinions, and adopted practices not recognized by the authority of that church. Its founder, Jean de Labadie, was born near Bordeaux, in 1610, of a good family, and was an enthusiast, believing himself to be inspired by God and chosen by him to build up his church on earth. Orig- inally a Jesnit, educated in the college of that order, and or-
S
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
dained a priest, he developed great powers of eloquence and at- tained high honors. He became distinguished for his zeal, and insisted upon the necessity of reading the Holy Scriptures, and caused a large number of copies of the New Testament in the French language to be sold. It is not strange that his views in regard to the Jesuits should have undergone a change. He aft- erwards became connected with the Jansenists, to whom the Jesuits were bitter enemies ; in 1650 he totally abjured the Cath- olic religion and was ordained a Protestant minister, and his followers took the name of Labadists, and were very numerous. He afterwards went to Denmark in order to enjoy full religions toleration, and died there in 1674, "satisfied that his mission on earth was accomplished and the church established." His fol- lowers seem to have resembled the Quakers more than any other sect.
In 1679 Jaspar Dankars and Peter Sluyter, two of the Labadists, came to America and made an extended tour. Land- ing in New York, they labored to make converts, and among them was Ephraim Hermans, the oldest son of Angustine Her- mans, famous in the early history of our city. The journal kept by the two Labadists has been translated by Hon. Henry C. Mur- phy, to whom all readers of history owe a debt of gratitude, and has been published by the Long Island Historical Society. In this journal occurs the following interesting statement :
"While in their company we conversed with the first male born of Europeans in New Netherland, named Jean Vigne. His parents were from. Valenciennes and he was now about sixty- five years of age. He was a brewer, and a neighbor of our old people."
According to this, Jean Vigne must have been born in 1614, which is the very earliest period compatible with the sojourn of any Hollanders upon the island of Manhattan. In later years
9
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
Jean Vigne was a man of distinction, and the owner of a large tract of land on the north side of Wall street. In 1655 he was one of the schepens of New Amsterdam, and belonged to the class of great burghers. He died without issue in 1691. Pre- vious to the discovery of this journal, the credit of being the first white child born in New Netherland was given to Sarah de Rapaljie, who was born June 9, 1625. If the statement is true, and there seems no reason to doubt it, Jean Vigne was the first child born of European parentage in the United States, north of Virginia. The company of which his parents were a part must have been among the very first to avail themselves of the infor- mation brought home by Hudson, and sailed with the intention of making a settlement. Vessels for trading purposes only had, however, sailed for this region before, their principal object be- ing to procure furs, with which the land abounded, and which could be obtained from the natives, in exchange for articles of trifling value. In 1612 a ship was fitted out by Henry Chris- tiansen and Adriaen Block, and although they sailed in the same vessel, they made one Ryser the captain. Their voyage was successful, and they returned with a cargo of peltries. and bringing with them two of the natives, sons of chiefs. They then fitted ont two ships, named the "Fortune" and the "Tiger," the former under the command of Christiansen, while Adriaen Block was captain of the latter. They are supposed to have sailed early in 1613. Upon arriving on the American shore Christiansen formed the idea of establishing a trading post to which the Indians could bring the skins for a market. Acting upon this, he made a landing and erected several small houses, roofed with bark. Such were the first habitations of civilized men upon the island of Manhattan. It is a matter of interest to know the exact location of these few houses, and it is believed that the building No. 39 Broadway marks the spot. In the mean-
10
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
while. Adriaen Block had either returned to Holland or had gone with his ship on a further voyage of discovery.
While Christiansen was engaged in making his new settle- ment. an English armed vessel sailed into the harbor. It was the only one left of three which had been sent to attack the French settlements in the Bay of Fundy. The captain of this ship promptly asserted the claim of England, and the new settler had the choice of seeing his settlement destroyed or of paying a small tribute in recognition of the English claim. Under the circumstances the latter was chosen, and the English captain returned home, comforted by the thought that he had main- tained his country's claim. Christiansen then went up the river. and erected at what is now Albany, a fort, which was the first fortification built in the territory embraced in the Empire State. It was upon an island in the river, and he named it Fort Nassau.
While his partner was engaged in building this fort, Adriaen Block. with the "Tiger," was lying at anchor in New York bay. The ship took fire and was entirely destroyed. He immediately undertook the difficult task of building a new vessel, and in the spring of 1614 he completed a ship of sixteen tons burden, thir- ty-eight feet keel. forty-four and a half feet "over all," and eleven and a half feet beam. To that little vessel, in which very few would now be willing to risk an Atlantic voyage, he gave the name of "Onrust" er "Restless." With this he began new explorations. Sailing up the East river, he was fortunate enough to escape the dangers of Hell Gate, and entered Long Island Sound as the first discoverer. He coasted the northern shore, entered the harbor of New Haven, which the Dutch called in after years " Rodenberg, " or " Red Hill." sailed up the Connecticut, which, in contradistinction to the salt waters of the Hudson, he named the "Fresh Water river." Returning to the Sound and advancing to the east, he discovered the island
11
GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
that still bears his name, and was the first to establish the fact that Long Island was an island in reality, and not a part of the main land. Continuing to advance, he coasted the New England shore as far as Salem. Upon his return, when near Cape Cod, he fell in with the ship of Christiansen, who, by a strange fate had been killed by one of the Indians whom he had taken to Holland, and his ship was returning home under the command of one Cornelius Hendricksen, whom some have supposed to be the son of the unfortunate settler. Here they exchanged vessels. Cornelius Hendricksen was directed to proceed with the "Restless" to make further discoveries, while Block, with the other vessel, sailed for Amsterdam to report the result of his adventures. He never returned to the scene of his discover- ies, or visited the regions he had explored. He entered the service of the "Northern Company" which was chartered in 1614, and in 1624 he was made commander of a fleet of whaling ships, and this is the last we know of Adriaen Block. One of the results of his voyage was the making of what is known as the "Figurative Map," upon which Long Island appears for the first time as separated form the main land, and its insular posi- tion became fully known.
Another result was the granting of a charter to a company of men, consisting of Gerrit Jacobz Witssen, ex-burgomaster of Amsterdam, and the owners of the ship "Little Fox," "whereof Jan de Witts was skipper," and the owners of the two ships "Tiger" and "Fortune," and the owners of the ship "called the Nightingale," and giving them as a company the exclusive right to trade between the fortieth and forty-fifth parallels for four voyages to be made within three years, and to begin Jan- mary 1, 1615, and all other persons were strictly forbidden, under penalty of confiscation of their vessel and a heavy fine. In this charter, dated October 11. 1614, appears for the first
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
time the name "New Netherland." and in the same month and year the name "New England" was given by the English to the adjoining regions.
When the three years expired, other merchants claimed the privilege of trading with the new lands, each company de- siring the exclusive right. The original New Netherland Com- pany, however, continued to exist, and was actively engaged in trading. In February, 1620, they addressed a petition to Maurice, Prince of Orange, the Stadtholder of the Republic of the Netherlands. Their object was to establish a permanent colony. It was represented that "a certain English preacher, well versed in the Dutch language," was ready to found the new colony, and four hundred families were ready to go with him. This preacher was the famous John Robinson, and the families were English Separatists. This was very naturally considered the "golden opportunity" for founding a colony. The directors of the Company were willing to furnish free trans- portation and supply them with cattle. Had this proposal been embraced, New Netherland would have received the finest class of settlers that ever landed on American soil. This project was not favored by the government, the principal reason being that as all the territory was elaimed by England, it was un- advisable to colonize it with English settlers, even if they had adopted Holland as a dwelling place.
There is no better opportunity than this to relate briefly the history of the two great companies which, established in Holland, played so important a part in founding the colony of which our state is the successor. Holland had been for long years the great field of battle between Protestantism and Roman- ism. and in this strife, after a sanguinary struggle, the former conquered. The "Twelve Years' Truce," made in 1609, ren- dered the States of Holland free forever from the yoke of Spain
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
and Romanism. Even during the long war, Dutch commerce had vastly increased. Their ships sailed to every coast. The merchants who rescued Cornelius Houtman from imprison- ment in Portugal by paying the fine levied upon him, in return for the valuable information which he furnished, formed them- selves into a company and added others to their number, and the association was incorporated under the name of the "Com- pany of Distant Lands." In 1598 they sent a fleet of eight ves- sels, equally prepared for trade or war, which sailed for the Indian ocean and returned richly laden with the products of the eastern world. In 1600 another fleet of six vessels went to the East Indies and defeated the Portuguese in a naval battle. Many expeditions followed in rapid succession, and two of them even ventured on the long and dangerous voyage through the Straits of Magellan and across the Pacific; but most of them took the safer route around the Cape of Good Hope. Every effort was made by Spain to destroy the ships and break up the trade, but without success. One result of this profitable trade was the competition between the various companies of merchants. The voyages were long and dangerous, their vessels had to encounter the enemies of the republic, and the profits were greatly reduced. The only remedy for that was consol- idation, and they were all united in a single national organiza- tion under the name of the "General East India Company," which received its charter in 1602. Its capital was the immense sum (for those times) of 6,500,000 florins, or $2.600,000. The company had the privilege of making treaties with the bar- barons powers in the East Indies, and could carry on war and make conquest of territories and ereet fortifieations for the pur- pose of holding and defending them. The objeets of this com- pany were carried out with the utmost skill and vigor. During the same year a fleet of fourteen ships were fitted out and were
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