USA > New York > New York City > A discourse delivered in the North Reformed Dutch Church (Collegiate) : in the city of New-York, on the last Sabbath in August, 1856 > Part 5
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terials for the History of the State, collected a large amount, now de- posited in the Secretary's Office at Albany. From the documents he gathered in Holland, and the papers in the State department at Al- bany, he has digested and prepared a volume which exhausts the subject, and is of standard value. It is hoped that his health may be spared, and leisure may be supplied to him that he may be enabled to prosecute the work to its completion, and realize what is now a desideratum. In one or two of the chapters of the volume there is a succinct reference to the Reformation contest in the Netherlands and the Republic of Holland, in her character and progress, and to its Reformed Church. It is a matter of gratification that the author is a son of our own Church.
A volume has recently been published by the Board of Publication of our Church, with the title, "HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH," by Rev. D. D. Dem- arest of Hudson. It gives a sketch of the Reformation in Holland, the rise and organization of the Reformed Church, and traces it down to the period of the colonization in America in 1620. It then gives the history of our Church here to the present time. A view is given of the history and characteristics of our doctrinal standards and system of Church governments. The present condition is exhibited as to her ecclesiastical organizations, her literary and theological institu- tions, and the different Boards of the General Synod, etc. It is a duodecimo volume of 250 pages, judiciously executed, and well adapt- ed to meet the inquiries as to the history and character of our Church. It well deserves to be extensively circulated.
[NOTE B.] The Purchase of Manhattan in 1626.
[Page 22.]
ONE of the most important incidents in the History of the State of New-York is the purchase by the Dutch of the site of its present metropolis from its aboriginal savage owners. Soon after the discov. ery of the North River, by Hudson, the Hollanders formed settle- ments on its banks, at what is now Albany, and on Manhattan Island. In the spring of the year 1626 Governor Peter Minuit, under instruc- tions from the Dutch West-India Company, opened negotiations with
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the savages for the transfer to the Hollanders of the Island of Man- hattan, which, from its admirable position, they foresaw would become the centre of their American commerce, and the capital of their Province of New-Netherland. They desired to superadd to their original title, by discovery and occupation, the higher right, by honest purchase. Minuit accordingly made a treaty with the sav- ages by which they ceded to the Dutch the Island of Manhattan, then estimated to contain twenty-two thousand acres, for the value of sixty guilders, or about twenty-four dollars of our present currency.
This interesting event is illustrated in a picture painted for Dr. James Anderson of the city of New-York, by Wm. Ranney. The transaction is represented as occurring at the southern extremity of the island, near what is now the Battery. In the distance are the high grounds of Staten Island, with the nearer shore of Governor's Island in front, while a ship is lying at anchor, having apparently just arrived from the sea. The principal figure in the foreground is Director Minuit, attended by the Provincial Secretary, Isaac de Rasieres, the schout or sheriff, the kranck-besoecker, or " consoler of the sick," who supplied the place of a regular clergyman, and other officials connected with the colonial administration. The dresses of these persons are all faithfully copied from authentic representations of the Dutch costume of that period. The red men, in their savage attire, with their squaws and children, are engaged in examining, with wonder and delight, the trinkets and European cloths which Minuit delivers to them as the consideration for the purchase. In the back- ground is a rough cabin, with its Dutch occupants-the forerunner of the magnificent edifices which now adorn New-York-while the virgin forest, yet unsubdued by the colonists, stretches unbroken to the northward. The treatment of the subject is natural and probable ; the figure of Minuit, especially, is well studied and is finely brought out by those of the savages who surround him. Of these the kneel- ing figure of an Indian girl is perhaps the most pleasing.
This scene, which places the character of the Dutch settlers of New- York in so honorable a light, is worthily commemorated in Dr. An- derson's picture. Neither Plymouth nor Boston can point to such an incident in their history. The Dutch enjoy the illustrious distinction of giving the example to Europeans of honest dealing with the abo- rigines who owned the land they wished to possess ; and the purchase of Manhattan, in 1626, was only imitated when Penn, fifty-six years afterwards, bought the site of Philadelphia from the Indians, under the famous elm tree at Shackamaxon.
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[NOTE C.] Dom. Selyns' Fist of Ulembers in 1686. [Page 24.]
WERE we to copy this list it might interest many who delight to search into the " olden time" and trace the names of their ancestry or of honored and well known families, and the locality of their resi- dence at that time. To others, however, it would prove dry and un- interesting, and space can not be afforded for it. It may be gratifying to mark the arrangement of the streets in which the families were resident at that early period. We give the Dutch names of the streets found in the list, their translation into English, and their present locality. The whole number of members on this list is five hundred and sixty, distributed as follows : De Breede Weg, (Broadway,) 56; Beurs straat, (Exchange street,) at present Whitehall street, 13; Paerl straat, (Pearl street,) now Pearl street, between State and Whitehall sts., 34; Lang de Strand, (along shore,) now the north side of Pearl street and Hanover Square, between Whitehall and Wall sts., 67 ; Lang de Wall, (Wall street,) 22; Nieuw straat, the present New street, 18; Bever straat, (Beaver street,) between Broadway and Broad street, 16 ; Markvelt straat, (Marketfield street,) 9; Brouwer's straat, (Brewer's st.,) now the part of Stone street between Whitehall and Broad sts, 16; Brug straat, (Bridge street,) 15 ; Heeren Gracht, (Gentlemen's Canal,)-the term gracht, or canal, was given to what is now Broad street, because a canal ran through the middle of it-oost zyde, (east side,) 37; Heeren Gracht, west zyde, (Broad street, west side,) 49; Hoog straat, (High street,) now the part of Stone street between Broad and William sts., 62; Slyck straat, (Ditch street,) now South William, formerly Sloat Lane, 5; Prinsess straat, (Prince street,) now Beaver street, between Broad and William, 15; Koning straat, (King street,) now Pine, 8; Smit straat, (Smith street,) now William street, below Wall, 28; Smit's Vallei, (Smith's Valley,) on the road along the East River shore, above Wall street, 29; over het versche water, (beyond the fresh water,) which was after- wards called the Collect, 47. There were seven in the Deacon's house for the poor, in Broad street. One is noted as buiten de landt poort, (beyond the land gate,) that is, on the present Broadway, above Wall, only one. There are seven placed at a more remote dis- tance. The above is given to show in what a small part of the lower portion of the city the more compact portion of the popula- tion was comprised in 1686.
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[NOTE D.] Succession of the Ministers
OF THE COLLEGIATE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK.
THE names of the ministers in succession have been referred to in the Discourse, and from Dr. Laidlie to the present time very brief characteristic notices of the deceased ministers are inserted. It may be well to give a tabular view of the line in succession, so as to meet the eye at once.
EVERARDUS BOGARDUS, from 1633 to 1647
JOANNES BACKERUS,
1648 “ 1649
JOANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, -
66 1649 " 1669
SAMUEL DRISIUS, - 66 - 1652 " 1671
SAMUEL MEGAPOLENSIS, - 1664 " 1668
WILHELMUS VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN, 1671 " 1681
HENRICUS SELYNS,
1682 " 1701
GUALTERUS DUBOIS, - 1699 " 1751 HENRICUS BOEL, - 1714 " 1754 -
JOANNES RITZEMA, -
1744 " 1795
LAMBERTUS DE RONDE, -
1751 " 1796
ARCHIBALD LAIDLIE,
« 1764 " 1779
JOHN H. LIVINGSTON, - - 1770 " 1810
(Elected Theological Professor at New- Brunswick-died, 1825.)
WILLIAM LINN, -
1786 " 1808
(In 1805, by reason of failing healthı, he retired from the active duties of the ministry and removed to Albany, where he died in 1808.)
GERARDUS A. KUYPERS, - 1789 " 1833.
JOHN N. ABEEL,
1795 " 1812
JOHN SCHUREMAN, - -
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1809 " 1811
(Chosen Professor in Queen's (now Rut- gers) College-died, 1818.)
JACOB BRODHEAD,
1809 “ 1813
(Called to Philadelphia-occupied other posts of usefulness-died, 1855.)
PHILIP MILLEDOLER, - - 1813 " 1825
(Chosen Professor of Theology at New- Brunswick-died, 1852.)
PASCHAL N. STRONG, 1816 " 1825
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PRESENT PASTORS.
JOHN KNOX,
- 1816
WILLIAM C. BROWNLEE, -
1826
THOMAS DE WITT, - 1827
THOMAS E. VERMILYE,
-
1839
TALBOT W. CHAMBERS,
1849
It is noted in the Discourse that Dr. Laidlie died in the Revolutionary War, when the congregation was driven out of the city, into the coun- try, at Red Hook, in 1775. At the close of the war the aged ministers, who officiated in the Dutch language, chose to remain in the place of their exile, were declared emeriti, and a handsome annuity for life was settled upon them. As very brief characteristic notices are given of the deceased ministers to the present time, since Dr. Laidlie, it is proper to add a few remarks on the line of the ministry previous to that time, from the earliest period. Of some, as Dom. VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN and BOEL, we have no materials except some of their correspondence with the Classis of Amsterdam, and the knowledge that they fulfilled their ministry in the confidence of their people. We have reason to be- lieve that all the ministers that came from Holland to this Church were regularly educated in the Universities, and were possessed of solid acquirements. The usefulness of the first minister, EVERARDUS BOGARDUS, was impaired by collisions which occurred between him and individuals, and the Governor. In 1647 he took passage for Holland to meet certain charges, presented to the Classis of Amster- dam, and make explanations. Governor Kieft went in the same vessel, which was lost at sea, and all were drowned. His descend- ants which remain among us are numerous. The Rev. JOANNES MEGAPOLENSIS first came out under the patronage of the Patroon of Rensselaerwick, and by the appointment of the Classis of Amster- dam to take charge of the church, at what is now Albany, in 1642. An adequate support was pledged, and it was stipulated that after five years he should be at liberty to return to the father-land. Dur- ing this period he had friendly acquaintance and intercourse with the Mohawk and neighboring Indians. He wrote a treatise on the Mohawk Indians, which was at the time published in Holland, and has been translated and published here. He was instrumental in saving one of the Jesuit missionaries from the extremity of torture and probable death by the Indians, and then took him to his own house and provided for his wants. He carried on a correspondence with Father Simon Lemoine, of the Jesuit mission, on the topics in controversy between the Roman and Protestant Churches, in the
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Latin language. When his five years expired, and as he was about to return to Holland, on his way stopping at Manhattan, he was im- portuned to remain and take charge of the church there, now vacant. Strongly pressed by the church and Governor Stuyvesant, he consent- cd, although his wife had already gone over to Holland. He died in a good old age, in 1669, having been in the early meridian of life when he came from Holland, the respected pastor of an important church there for many years.
SAMUEL DRISIUS became colleague pastor with Megapolensis, in 1652, having been selected on account of his knowledge of the French and English languages, that he might minister to the French and Eng- lish residents or visitors at New-Amsterdam and its vicinity. He had previously been pastor of a Reformed Dutch Church at Lon- don, which shows the estimate in which he was held. He speaks in his letters to the Classis of his going once a month to Staten Island to preach to the French. These French were Vaudois, or Walden- ses, who had fled from the severity of the persecutions in Piedmont to Holland, and were, by the liberality of the city of Amsterdam, provided for, and forwarded to settle in New-Netherland.
SAMUEL MEGAPOLENSIS was the youngest son of the pastor just noticed, and was a child when his father removed from Holland. He was sent to pursue his classical studies at Harvard University. at Cambridge, in Massachusetts. He afterwards went to the Uni- versity of Utrecht, in Holland, where he pursued a regular course of study for three years. He received licensure both as a minister of the Gospel and as a physician. He arrived here in the early part of 1664, and became a colleague pastor. In September of that year he was appointed by Governor Stuyvesant one of the commission- ers to negotiate with the British commissioners for the surrender of the colony. He returned to Holland in 1668, shortly previous to the death of his father.
The most distinguished of the ministers who came from Holland was HENRICUS SELYNS. He first came in 1660, and officiated at Brooklyn, and Governor Stuyvesant's Bouwerie, or farm, the Gov- ernor stipulating to pay the portion for his services in his neighborhood out of his private means, and particularly committing to him the in- struction and religious benefit of the negroes. During the four years that he remained in that sphere he was greatly useful and highly esteemed. In the summer of 1664 he returned to Holland, and set- tled in a prominent place there. In 1670, on the death of Megapolen- sis, and the sickness and debility of Drisius, inducing a pressing want of ministerial service, a call was made upon Selyus with more
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than common urgency. The impression he had left by his previous ministrations was deep and strong. He, however, declined. After the death of Dom. Van Nieuwenhuysen, in 1681, the church at once di- rected a renewed and strongly enforced appeal, to which he favorably responded, and became sole pastor of the church from 1682 to 1699, when he received a colleague, and died in 1701. There is sufficient evidence remaining to show his systematic, industrious, and energetic ‹lischarge of his ministerial and pastoral duties, and that he gave a happy direction to the interests of the Church. He appears to have acquired much literary cultivation. He was in correspondence with eminent divines in Holland, and with ministers in Boston, in New- England, the Mathers and others. There is prefixed to Cotton Ma- ther's "Magnalia Americana" a Latin congratulatory poem of some length, signed, " Henricus Selyns, Ecclesiastes Neo Eboracensis." At the publication of John Elliot's celebrated Indian Bible he procured it and sent it to the Classis of Amsterdam. It could be wished that more materials had survived to elucidate his character and ministry.
GUALTERUS DUBOIS became a colleague with Selyns, in 1699, two years before his death. He was in his twenty-eighth year, the son of a distinguished minister, afterwards settled in the church of Amster- dam, and a graduate of the University of Leyden. He ministered in the church of New-York fifty-one years, He is said to have been a man of a quiet and peaceful spirit, and in seasons of difficulty to have exerted a happy influence to conciliate and heal. Respected in his pulpit exercises, prudent, judicious, and consistent in his practical ·course, and kind in his spirit, he won the affection of the Church and the respect of the community. He preached for the last time on the 25th of September, 1751. He designed to proceed to Bergen the next day, Monday, to preach and administer the Lord's Supper. But 'he was seized with illness in his study that Sabbath evening, which in a few days terminated in his death, having passed his eightieth year. His descendants are quite numerous.
JOANNES RITZEMA and LAMBERTUS DE RONDE were thoroughly .educated in Holland, and brought to their pulpit service full prepara- tion. They sustained a highly respectable character during their min- istry in New-York, and after leaving the city during the Revolutionary War, and remaining in their old age in the places of their exile, they sustained the same character of high respect paid to them during their whole lives.
The Consistory some years since resolved to obtain, as far as prac- ticable, portraits of their deceased ministers, and place them perma- nently in the Consistory Chamber. After diligent search the portraits
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of several of the earlier ministers were discovered and obtained. All in succession to the present time from Domine Dubois, thirteen in number, have been procured, and are arranged and hung on the walls of the Consistory Chamber of the Middle Church on Lafayette Place. Portraits of the ministers earlier than Dubois could not be found. It is designed that as death shall successively remove the pastors, their portraits shall at once find their places in the collection.
[NOTE E.] Fist of the Ministers of the Reformed Dutch Church IN NORTH AMERICA,
IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, FROM 1633 TO 1800.
[Page 25.]
I HAVE hesitated to insert the subjoined list of ministers of the Re- formed Dutch Church from its first planting down to 1800, as it con- sumes much space, and will prove uninteresting to a large proportion of readers. Some of my ministerial brethren, however, have advised me to insert it, as the outlines can not readily be procured. After 1800, the published Minutes of the General Synod, and the more recent history of the progress of our Church, and the succession of its ministry within the memory of those living, will readily supply the information desired on those points. I have made the chronological list as full and accurate as materials in my possession could enable me. In some cases I was unable to ascertain the precise time of the beginning and duration of the ministries. Where stated, a slight mistake may have occurred, but I believe they will be found unim- portant. It will be seen that the progress which was slow during the prevalence of the preaching in the Dutch language, became increased towards the latter part of the century, and with the beginning of the present century. As that language became into general, and soon into total disuse, its progress became accelerated. One thing has escaped the recollection of our ministry, the efforts taken for mission- ary labor during the latter part of the last century. As early as 1789, the Rev. Jacob Jennings went to Virginia, and labored in Hardy county. A church was organized at Hanover District, on the
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Susquehanna, in 1792. The Rev. P. Labagh was sent as a mission- ary to Kentucky, immediately after his licensure, in 1796, when he organized a church in Mercer, where a number of Dutch families from New-Jersey had settled. For want of an adequate supply of minis- ters, these interests thus created wero suffered to languish and die. The church at Conewago, in Adams county, Pa., is referred to in the list in connection with two ministers. Several Dutch families from New- York had moved into the vicinity, and a Reformed Dutch Church was at once organized. After the removal of Mr. Brinkerhoff, in 1795, no supply came from our church, and it became a Presbyterian church. Other points of a similar nature might be furnished, having passed from the memory of our present ministry, and not found in printed minutes. But too much space has already been occupied here.
1633-1647. EVERARDUS BOGARDUS, at New-Amsterdam, now New- York.
1648-1649. JOHANNES BACKERUS, from Curaçoa. After a year he returned to Holland.
1642-1648. JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, at Rensselaerwyck, now Al- bany.
1649-1669. JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS, New-Amsterdam.
1652-1671. SAMUEL DRISIUS, New-Amsterdam.
1654-1676. JOHANNES THEODORUS POLHEMUS, at Midwout, now Flatbush, Flatlands, Brooklyn.
1658-1699.
GIDEON SCHAATS, Rensselaerwyck, now Albany.
1660-1664.
HENRICUS SELYNS, at Breukelen, (now Brooklyn,) and Governor Stuyvesant's Bouwerie, or farm. He went back to Holland in 1664, and then returned, being called to the church of New-York in 1682, and died in 1701.
1660-1664. HERMANUS BLOM, at Esopus, now Kingston. He re- turned to Holland.
Churches were organized at Bergen, and Staten Island, and Harlem, about this time.
1664-166S. SAMUEL MEGAPOLENSIS, at New-York. He returned to Holland.
1667-1680. LAURENTIUS VAN GAASBEEK, Kingston.
1671-1681. WILHELMUS VAN NIEUWENHUYSEN, New-York.
1677-1685. CASPARUS VAN ZUUREN, Kings county, L. I. Returned to Holland.
16S1. JOHANNES WEEKSTEEN, Kingston.
1683-1699. GODEFRIDUS DELLIUS, Albany.
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1683. 1684-1690.
The church at New-Paltz, Ulster county, organized.
PETRUS TASSCHEMACHER, Schenectady. Massacred by the Indians.
1685-1694.
RUDOLPHUS VAN VARICK, Kings county, L. I.
1687-1691.
LAURENTIUS VANDENBOSCH, Kingston.
1694.
GILLIAM BERTHOLF, Aquackenonk, and Hackensack, N. J.
The time of his death uncertain, probably about 1720. 1695-1698. JOHANNES PETRUS NUCELLA, Kingston, 1699-1702, at Albany.
1695-1702.
WILHELMUS LUPARDUS, Kings county, L. I .;
1699.
The church at Raritan organized by Dom. Bertholf, of Hackensack.
1699-1751.
GUALTERUS DUBOIS, New-York.
1700-1705.
The same from 1705-1741, Kings county, L. 1.
1702.
The church at Jamaica, L. I., organized.
1703-1709.
JOHANNES LYDIUS, Albany.
1706-1710.
HENRICUS BEYS, Kingston.
1705-1744.
VICENTIUS ANTONIDES, Kings county, L. I.
1709-1731. JOSEPH MORGAN, Freehold and Middletown, N. J.
1711-1732. 1711.
PETRUS VAS, Kingston.
HENDRICK HAGER, East and West Camp, in Columbia and Ulster county, and also in Schoharie.
1712-1723.
THOMAS BROUWER, Schenectady.
1712-1738.
PETRUS VAN DRIESSEN, Albany.
1712.
The church at Kinderhook organized by the Rev. P. Van Driessen.
1713-1754. 1716.
HENRICUS BOEL, New-York.
The churches at Poughkeepsie and Fishkill organized by Rev. P. Vas. The church at Claverack by Rev. P. Van Driessen.
1717.
The church at Three Mile Run organized. Afterwards located at New-Brunswick. The residence of the first Domine, Frelinghuysen, was at Three Mile Run. and his remains are there interred.
1719.
The church at North Branch, N. J., organized.
1719-1747.
THEODORUS JACOBUS FRELINGHUYSEN, at Three Mile Run, Raritan, North Branch.
1720. JOHN JACOB EHLE, Schoharie, and along the Mohawk. 1720. The church at Linlithgow, (Livingston's Manor,) organ ized.
1726-1740.
CORNELIUS VAN SANTVOORD, Staten Island. In 1740 he removed to Schenectady, where he died in 1752.
BERNARDUS FREEMAN, Schenectady.
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1726-1735. HENRICUS COENS, Aquackenonk, and Second River, (now Belleville,) N. J.
1726-1750. FREDERICH MUTZELIUS, Tappan, Rockland county. 1727-1735. JOHANNES VAN DRIESSEN, Kinderhook and Claverack. The same from 1735-1740 at Aquackenonk, N. J. 1726-1736. REINHART ERICKSON, Schenectady. Removed to Free- hold and Middletown, N. J., where he died in 1764. 1730-1755. ANTONIUS CURTENIUS, Hackensack, N. J. The same from 1755-1757, Kings county, L. I. 1732-1756. GEORGIUS WILHELMUS MANCIUS, Kingston.
1731-1738. CORNELIUS VAN SCHIE, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill. And from 1738-1744, Albany.
1731-1735.
GERARD HAEGHOORT, at Freehold and Middletown. Afterwards, from 1735-1754, at Second River, now Belleville.
1731. The church at Rhinebeck Flats was organized and sup- plied by Rev. C. Van Schie.
1731. The church at Newtown, L. I., organized.
1732. The church at Middleburgh, Schoharie county, organ- ized by Rev. G. M. Weiss.
1732-1737. GEORGE MICHAEL WEISS, Schoharie, and occasionally at Catskill and Coxsackie. Removed to Pennsyl- vania.
1740-1744. JOHANNES HENRICUS GOETSCHIUS, Jamaica, L. I. The same, 1744-1772, Hackensack and Schralen- burgh.
1734. The church at Wallkill, now Montgomery, Orange county, organized.
1736. The church at Rochester, Ulster county, organized.
1738-1755. JOHANNES SCHUYLER, Schoharie.
The same from 1755-1769, Hackensack and Schralen- burgh.
1742-1754. JOHANNES ARONDEUS, Queens county, N. Y.
1744. JOHANNES RITZEMA, New-York, Emeritus, 1784, died 1796.
1744-1756.
JOHANNES CASPARUS FREYENMOET, Minisink and Wal- peck, Sussex county, N. J., from 1756-1772, Smith- field and Mapakkemak, N. J., and from 1756-1772, Kinderhook, Claverack, and East Camp.
1745. Church at. Wawarsing, Ulster county, organized.
1746-1784. ULPIANUS VAN SINDEREN, Kings county, L. I.
1746-1756. THEODORUS FRELINGHUYSEN, Albany.
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1746. 1749-1753. 1748-1783. 174S-1792. 1749-1759. 1751. 1750-1779. 1756-1769. 1751.
The church at Marbletown, Ulster county, organized. JOHN FRELINGHUYSEN, Raritan.
JOHANNES LEIDT, New-Brunswick, N. J.
BENJAMIN VANDERLINDE, Paramus, N. J.
BENJAMIN MENEMA, Poughkeepsie and Fishkill. The church at Shawangunk, Ulster county, organized.
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