USA > New York > Schenectady County > Schenectady > A history of the Schenectady patent in the Dutch and English times : being contributions toward a history of the lower Mohawk Valley > Part 17
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In 1727 Willem, son of Claas Willemse Van Coppernol lived in Green street.
ARENT VAN CURLER.
The acknowledged leader of the little colony at Schenectady in 1662, was Arent Van Curler. He came over in 1630 as superintendent of Colonie Rensselaerswyck, and continued in office until 1646, besides acting as colonial secretary. In 1643 he married Antonia Slaaghboom, widow of Jonas Bronck,t and soon after settled on the "Flatts," above Fort Orange. Here he remained until the spring of 1662, when he took up his residence at Schenectady and where he remained directing and furthering the interests of the settlers until his unfortunate death.
Having accepted an invitation from De Tracy, the Governor of Canada to visit Quebec, on his journey he embarked in a canoe on Lake Champlain and being overtaken by a storm was drowned in July, 1669 .¿ No man of his time had so fully won the confidence and esteem of the red men as Van Curler, and to honor his memory they ever after addressed the Governor of the Province by his name. His character for kindness and humanity was known even to the French in Canada, many of whom he had rescued from the hands of the cruel Mohawks;§ to perpetuate his memory they gave the . name of Corlaer to Schenectady.
Juffrouw Van Curler continued to reside in Schenectady until her death about the beginning of the year of 1676. On the 27th Jan., 1673, in con- sideration of the loss of her husband in public service, and of her house, barns and corn by fire, Governor Lovelace licensed her to trade with the Indians, it being thought also that her license would stop the quarrels of the other two tapsters, Cornelis Cornelise Viele and Acques Cornelise Gautsh [Van Slyck], the Indian. |
* Deeds, v, 417.
Jonas Bronck in 1639 became proprietor of 500 acres of land in what is now Morrisania, Westchester Co .- Bolton's Westchester Co., II, 395. # O'Callaghan's Hist. N. N.
§ Col. MSS., III, 395.
| Orders in Council, p. 127; Eng. MSS., XXIII, 149 ; Col. Doc., II, 652.
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169
Adult Freeholders.
The Governor's order on her application is as follows:
'. Upon ye Request of Antonio Van Curler of Schanechtide presented to " His Honor ye Governor, that having not long since received a very great "Losse by ffire, there may for her Reliefe bee so farr indulged as to have " licence to sell some Rumm to ye Indyans, as also some quantity of Powder "and Lead; the Premises being taken into serious consideration, It is " ordered that in regard to the very great Losse and Damage sustayned by " the said Antonia Van Curler in having her House, Barnes and Corne " destroyed as by her is set forth, as also the Losse of her Husband, Arent " Van Curler while hee was employed in his Majties Publick Service, Shee, " the said Antonia his widdow shall have free Lyberty and Licence for yo " space and term of one whole yeare and two Months after the date hereof, " That is to say, from the first day of Aprill next untill the 29th day of " May wh. shall bee in the yeare'of Or Lord 1674, to sell and dispose of to " the Indyans or others in and about Schanechtide in Rumme one hundred " Anckers and in Lead to the value of two hundred Beavers or 1,000 weight; " But for Powder in this conjuncture of time during the Warr, Its thought "inconvenient any Extraordinary Liberty should be granted therein."
By order, &c.
" The matter of difference between ye two Tappers [C. C. Viele, and A. " C. Van Slyck] at Schanechtide, not thought fitt any order shall be made " therein further, this Liberty to the Widdow probably being a mean to " defeat both their Expectations."
Her will was admitted to probate in New York city and letters of admin- istration were issued to Willem Beeckman, Jan. 15, 1676 .* On the 5th of April, 1681, he reported the proceeds of her estate to be fl. 10,805-17 in beavers [$4,322.34] ;- debts, fl. 21,171-7 [$8,468.54] ;- preferred debts, fl. 4,600-6 [$1,840.12], leaving fl. 6,205-11 [$2,482.22] for other creditors.
The curateurs of Arent Van Curler's estate, were Dr. Cornelis Van Dyck and Johannes Provoost of Albany.t
Van Curler's home lot in the village was a portion (probably the whole of the easterly half) of the block bounded by Union, Church, Front and Washington streets. After the death of himself and his widow, with- out issue, this lot was divided into four smaller portions and sold ; the occupants of these parcels were as follows :
The lot on the corner of Union and Church streets, 100 by 264 ft., was occupied by Ludovicus Cobes, in 1684 ; from him it passed to Catrina
* Bolton's Westchester Co., II, 283.
+ Proceedings of Justices Court Albany, I, 20, 51; Deeds, III, 104.
22
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
Otten, wife of Gerrit Symonse Veeder, and remained in his family or connections until after the beginning of this century.
Before the year 1684 Maria, widow of Jan Peeck, lived on the lot immediately north of this, being the west corner of Front and Church streets. Adam Vrooman early came into possession of this parcel. It was here that he so bravely defended his house against the attack of the French and Indians in 1690. In 1718, he conveyed it to Pieter Quackenbos.
The lot next west of the Veeder lot, 50 feet front on Union street and extending through the block 400 feet to Front street was owned by Symon Groot, the first settler, in 1669, and was still in the family in 1790.
The lot next west of Groot's and of the same dimensions, was owned by Benjamin Roberts as early as 1669; from him it passed to Reinier Schaets, , who was killed here in 1690; in 1701 Gideon, the son of Reinier, sold it to Albert Vedder, son of Harmen Albertse, the first settler .*
Owing to Van Curler's great services in extinguishing the Indian title and in procuring a survey and the patents for the lands, he received more than a double share of the choicest land on the Great flat [and village].
The confirmatory patent for this farm was issued to his widow on the 4th of May, 1668, the description being as follows:
" A certain parcel of land at Schenectady lying to the south-east of the " Great creek or kil [Binne kil] to the north of the woodlands, to the South " west of a certain small creek [Sand kil, now Mill creek], containing 114 "acres or 57 morgens and thirty rods, as granted Aug. 19, 1664, by Governor "Stuyvesant to said Arent in his lifetime."+ This land was bounded ac- cording to this description, north-east and south by the Great creek, now the Binne kil, by " a certain small creek," subsequently called the "Sand kil," now Mill creek and by the woods on the sandy bluff; on the west side it was bounded by Pieter Andriaense Van Woggelum's and Catalyntje De Vos' [Bratt's] farms numbered respectively four and one. The Schenectady car works stand on the extreme western boundary of Van Curler's farm, the west fence of the yard being a portion of the dividing line.
After Van Curler's death in 1667, this farm passed to his widow, who continued to reside here until her death in 1677.
The estate being insolvent was sold by the administrators, Cornelis Van Dyck and Johannes Provoost, in 1681, to pay the debts. It was divided
* Patents, 647 ; see also Roberts, Schaets and Vedder.
+ Patents, 535.
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Adult Freeholders.
into at least five parcels. The westernmost parcel, on a part of which stand the Schenectady car works, was sold to Sweer Teunise Van Velsen, the town miller. After his death in 1690 it fell to his stepson Barent Wemp. The second parcel next east of the lane leading past the car works, was bought by Gerrit Gysbertse Van Brakel, and later in 1741 was divided by east and west lines into three lesser parcels owned by Johannes Abrahamse Truax, Robert Yates and Jacobus Vedder. The third parcel was owned wholly or in part by Isaac Cornelise Swits; the fourth by Barent Wemp and later by his son Jan; and the fifth and largest parcel comprising 20 morgens was purchased by Adam Vrooman and his brother Jan, the former the easterly half next the village and the latter the westerly half.
JORIS AERTSE VAN DER BAAST.
He called himself " an Amsterdam boy;"* by trade he was a surveyor and in 1689 clerk or secretary of the town. In 1670 he bought of Bastiaen De Winter a lot 100 by 200 feet on the south corner of Church and Union streets, where in 1690 he was slain by the French and Indians.t He also owned Jan De La Ward's great island in the Mohawk. Pieter Bogardus, attorney for his heirs, sold all his real estate in 1699 to Gysbert Marcelis of Albany. The description in the deed mentions Joris' great island in the Mohawk between Claas Graven's Hoek and Scotia and the adjacent small islands except Kruisbessen and Spuyten Duyvel islands; which said island consisting of 15 morgens was bought of Jan De La Warde, also three mor- gens of land on the north side of the river for a hofstedet adjoining the land of the widow of Claas Graven.§ On the 23d of June, 1714, Mar- celis obtained a patent confirmatory of this purchase, in which the property is described as-" a great island called Joris Aertse's island in the Mohawk " river above Schenectady between Scotia and the land called Graven's hoek " containing 30 acres with a house lot in the town of Schenectady, having " to the north and west the high street [Union and Church], to the east " Pieter Van Olinda's lot and to the south the lot of the heirs of David " Christophelse, being a corner lot [south corner of Union and Church " streets] ;- as also all those small islands about the said great island called " Joris Aertse's island in the boght or bay between the land aforesaid called
* Doc. Hist., III, 115. + Deeds, II, 790.
# Hofstede - country house, a Farm House and its accompanying garden orchards etc. ; a country homestead .- M'M.]
§ Deeds, rv, 140, 264.
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
" Claas Graven's hoek and the said Scotia, excepting only two islands " within the said bounds, one whereof, is called Kruisbesse island and the " other Spiten divel ;- as also six acres of land upon the main on the other " side of the river, abutting on the east side of the land called Claes Graven's " Hoek in possession of his [Graven's] widow, for a hofstede, or place to " build a house and barn and for an orchard and garden."* As Gysbert Marcelis did not become a resident of Schenectady, it is probable that he sold the home lot on the south corner of Church and Union streets about 1714 to Caleb Beck.
The Great island was sold to Nicholas De Graaf who dying about 1796 left it to his sons Jesse and John,t Van der Baast also owned a pasture lot on the north side of Front opposite Jefferson street, which he purchased of Symon Volkertse Veeder, 27 Feb., 1670, " in length 75 rods bounded on the " west by Gerrit Bancker, north by the river-breadth 15 rods,-east by the " common pasture and on the south by the common boswegh " [Front street ].t.
FRANS VAN DE BOGART.
He was a son of Harmen Myndertse Van de Bogart, who came over to New Netherland in 1631, as surgeon in the ship Eendracht.§
Frans was born in New Amsterdam in 1640, came to Schenectady among the early settlers and was killed in the massacre of 1690. His son Claas (and probably the father also) owned a lot in the village on the north side of Front street (near the north gate), having a front of 131 Amsterdam feet on the street and 51 feet on the river. This parcel of ground comprises the lots of the late Gen. Jacob Swits, Henry Rosa, and John McMichael. |
His farm lay on the south side of the river at and below the Saratoga railroad bridge, and a portion of it still belongs to his descendants .**
* Patents, 1673.
+ Mortgages, XII, 95.
# Deeds, II, 795-7, [Boswegh = wood road, road into the woods -M'M.]
§ For notices of Surgeon Van de Bogart, see O'Callaghan's Hist. N. N., I, 434, 441 ; II, 585 ; Dutch MSS., 1, 44; II, 24; VII, 120-1; Albany Rec., I, 41; Valentine's Man. , 1863. Doc. Hist., II, 74, 115, 200; IV, 135 ; Deeds, IV, 313.
I Toll Papers ; Deeds, v, 199.
** Toll Papers.
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Adult Freeholders.
CLAAS LAURENSE VAN DER VOLGEN, alias VAN PURMEREND.
Claas Laurense, one of the first settlers in 1662, married Maritie, daughter of Teunis Cornelise Swart, and had nine children, the most of whom attained maturity and left families.
His village lot comprised the lots now occupied by Van Horne Hall and Myers' stores, having a front on State street of 105 feet.
In 1692, he bought the lot on the east corner of State and Church streets, -170 feet on the former and 160 feet on the latter street. This lot was originally granted to Teunis Cornelise Swart, by patent of date Jan. 15, 1667; on his death, his wife Elizabeth married Jacob Meese Vrooman, of Albany, to whom the magistrates of Schenectady gave a deed of the same, of date Feb. 7, 1683. Vrooman dying, his widow again married Wouter Uythoff, with whom she united Jan. 4, 1692, in a conveyance of said lot to Claas Laurense Van Purmerend [alias Van der Volgen], - it " being a " corner lot over against the Blockhouse (te weten de kerk)*, 200 feet long " [on Church street]-170 ft. long [on State street], having south and west " des heeren straett [State and Church streets], and to the east Jan Labatie," according to deed of Feb. 7, 1683; excepting a piece conveyed to Esaias Swart, by deed of July 30, 1681. This latter parcel was taken from the rear of the whole lot, 40 ft. front on Church street and is now number 31 and owned by Mr. Marten De Forest.
His farm on the bouwland was No. 10, which was conveyed to him 25th April, 1692, by Wouter Uythoff (third husband of Elizabeth Van der Linde), and said Elizabeth for 540 beavers, -"the bouwery, lot [in the " Village], house, barn and rick of the late Teunis Cornelise Swart, -the " bouwery being No. 10 over the third [Poenties] kil, to the east of Nos. 9 " and 6, to the west of Nos. 9 and 8 from the hill to the river Southwest by " west, 64 rods wide; comprising 24 morgens 576 rods as granted by pat- " ent 16 June 1664 and confirmed Jan. 15 1667."
The half of this bouwery north of the road, comprising 11 morgens, Van Purmerend alias Van der Volgen, sold to Claas Janse Van Boekhoven, Jan. 4, 1693; for £147, current money of the Province.
The next day, Jan. 5, the latter sold the easterly half of said 11 morgens to Dirk Arentse Bratt, for £782.t
* [To wit the church .- M'M.]
t [Des heeren straaten - the public streets .- M'M.]
Į Deeds, Iv, 34, 35. § Deeds, Iv, 38.
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
LAURENS CLAESE VAN DER VOLGEN.
He was son of Claes Laurense Van der Volgen; at the destruction of the village in 1690, he was carried away captive to Canada by the Indians, with whom he remained several years, acquiring a perfect knowledge of their language and customs.
He was thirteen years of age when adopted by the Indians. Having obtained permission to visit Schenectady, with the promise of returning, his relatives remonstrated with him, but he was firmly determined to go back until his sister cut off his scalp-lock in his sleep. When he awoke and found his lock gone, he asked who had done it. "I," said his sister. " I am disgraced," said he, "and must remain till it is grown." Before that time he became reconciled to the white man's mode of life, and never again resumed his Indian habits .*
He became an expert and trusted interpreter for the Province, which office he held until his death in 1742. In 1701, Abraham Governeur, speaker of the Provincial Assembly, prayed Gov. Nanfan to use no inter- preter for the Indians but Lawrence Claessen, the sworn interpreter.t His salary was £30 until 1734, when it was raised to £60. He married first Geertruy, daughter of Claas Van Patten, and secondly Susanna Welleven Sept. 18, 1722. His will was made Aug. 30, 1739, - proved October, 1742,¿ and he died Jan. 10, 1742, leaving ten children living.
His village lot was the eastern half of his father's lot ; now the site of the Myers' block, he also owned " the hindmost [west] part of the five plains "[Fifth flat] containing 12 morgens more or less situate in the Woestyne on " the north side of the Mohawk river come to me by the trustees of Schonegte- " day,"- valued at £200, which farm he bequeathed to his eldest son Claas.
The natives also gave him the half of "five small islands in the Maquase " river att Canastagiowne containing about five or six acres between Rosen- " daal & Cornelis Tymesen's," the lower half,-" in consideration because " he takes much pains in interpreting."§
* Tradition in the family.
+ Legislative Coun., 161, 385, 516; Col. MSS., XLVII, 166, 168.
¿ To his eldest son Claas he left " my good [gold] seal ring;" to Neeltie " the silver. cup marked L. V. V."; to Maritie " one silver spoon come from the deceased Jannitie Kroon," etc. Will, Court of Appeal's office.
§ Col. Doc. IV, 906, 574. [See Five Small Islands ; Van Eps.]
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Adult Freeholders.
Laurens Claese was employed by Domine Freerman in translating pas- sages from the Holy Scriptures and from the liturgy of the Dutch church for the use of the Mohawks .*
BARENT JANSE VAN DITMARS.
He came to Schenectady as early as 1664, when he married Catalyntje De Vos, widow of Arent Andriese Bratt.+ His village lot was that of his wife,-Mrs. Bratt,-and his farm lay next west of hindmost farm No. 1, belonging to the Bratt's. The first lock on the canal west of the city, stands upon the southernmost line of his farm, which was the south-westerly half of Poversen originally granted to Benjamin Roberts.t
He also had a parcel of pasture ground on the north side of Front street, which was patented to him Sept. 10, 1670,-" a lot of ground at Schenectady " now in his tenure lying in the pasture or Weyland, having on the east the " lot of Theunis Cornelissen's [Swart], and on the west that of John " Labatie,- in length 92 rods, in breadth by the river side 15 rods and by "the highway [Front street] 17 rods."§ This lot commenced 509 feet English easterly from North street and extended along said street 210 feet English. Its easterly line reached the New York Central Railroad. In 1701 this lot belonged to Harmen Albertse Vedder.
By a former marriage Van Ditmars had a son Cornelis, who married Catharina Glen; after his death she married Gerrit Lansing, Jr., of Albany. As her dower (?) Claas Janse Van Boekhoven, who married her stepmother Catalyntje De Vos Bratt, conveyed to her one quarter part of bouwery No. 10, consisting of 5} morgens of land."
In the massacre of 1690 both Van Ditmars and his son were killed.
JACOBUS VAN DYCK.
He was son of Cornelis Van Dyck, " Chirurgeon " of Albany, and grand- son of Hendrick Van Dyck, schout fiscaal at New Amsterdam under Stuyvesant's administration. Having studied medicine with his father, he
* A copy of this work is in possession of one of his descendants now living in Indiana.
t The marriage contract was made Nov. 12, 1664; see Braat.
# See Roberts, Vielè, Douwe Aukes.
§ Patents, 755.
| Deeds, Iv, 37.
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History of the Schenectady Patent.
settled in Schenectady where he practiced his profession until his death. He married Jacomyntje, daughter of Johannes Sanderse Glen, Oct. 25, 1694, and had two children,-Elizabeth and a son Cornelis who followed his father's profession, and inherited his possessions.
Dr. Van Dyck was surgeon of the fort at Schenectady at one shilling a day.
His house lot, 153 feet front and 105 feet deep, was on the west side of Church street, 106 feet north from State street. This lot was sold to him July 7, 1713, by Jan Baptist Van Eps for £10 [$25], and is described in the deed as " bounded east by the street [Church] 153 feet, south by the "lot of the heirs of Andries Bratt, now in possession of Harmanus Vedder, " 101 feet,-west by lot of heirs of Andries Bratt, now in possession of "Arent Bratt 145 feet, and north by the lot of Reyer Schermerhorn, now " in possession of Helmus Veeder, 109 feet ........ eleven inches to the foot,- " of which said Van Dyke has had possession since 1698."*
VAN EPS.
Dirk Van Eps married Maritie Damens and had two children, Johannes and Lysbet, who became the wife of Gerrit Bancker, of Albany. After Van Eps' death his widow married Hendrick Andriese Van Doesburgh, and had a daughter Jannetie, born in 1653, who married Marten, son of Capt. Marten Cregier, and settled in Niskayuna. And in 1664 Maritie Damens married her third husband, Cornelis Van Ness, of Albany. She had lands in Albany, Niskayuna and Schenectady,-which after her death were dis- tributed among her three children.
Johannes Dirkse Van Eps, the eldest son of Maritie Damen and Dirk Van Eps, married Elizabeth Janset and had three sons and four daughters, all of whom left families save one, who with his father was killed in the massacre of 1690.
He was one of the five magistrates of the village in 1676 and 1678, and named one of the five patentees in the Dongan patent of 1684.
His nome lot in the village was on the north corner of State and Church streets, comprising one quarter of the block,-200 by 225 feet. This lot together with bouweries No. 2 on the bouwland, were purchased for him
* H. Yates' Papers ; Deeds, v, 217.
+ After her husband's death she married Gysbert Gerritse Van Brakel ; for her will see Van Brakel.
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Adult Freeholders.
April 29, 1664, by his step-father, Van Ness, at the sale of Philip Hendrickse Brouwer's property in 1664 .* The conveyance to him is dated April 25, 1667, and the patent April 29, 1667,-" to Jan Van Epps, son of Maritie "Damens, to confirm a conveyance to him made April 15, 1667, by Cornelis " Van Nesse, of a certain bouwery or farm at Schenectady on two several "parcels of land containing about 42 acres or 21 morgens 570 rods, as set " forth in the grondbriefe June 16, 1664, together with a house and lot and " another lot of ground and garden lying near the place where he inhabits " at Schenectady, being in breadth and length according as is Exprest in " the General's grant to him said Cornelis Van Nesse dated April 10, 1665."+ His eldest son Jan Baptist, inherited the above mentioned parcels of land.
JAN BAPTIST VAN EPS.
He was the eldest son of Jan Dirkse Van Eps ; was born in 1673, and married Helena, daughter of Johannes Sanderse Glen, in 1699, and had . eleven children, five sons and six daughters, all of whom save one, reached mature age and had families.
When Schenectady was destroyed in 1690, he was carried away to Canada, where he remained three years but finally escaped in the following manner :
" 1693 Feb. 8, Wed. about 2 o'clock afternoon we had the alarm from " Schenectady that the French and their Indians had taken the Maqas " castles ; soon after we had the news that a young man named Jan Bap- "tist Van Eps (taken at Schenectady 3 years ago), was run over from the " French, as they were to attack the first castle of the Mohogs, and came " to Schenectady, who related that the French were 350 Christian and 200 "Indians."}
During his captivity with the Indians he had acquired a knowledge of the Indian language and was subsequently often employed as interpreter and embassador to the Five nations.§.
"In 1701, the Mohawk sachems granted five small islands at Canasta- "giowne to Jan Baptist Van Eps and Laurens Claes [Van der Volgen], to " be equally divided between them."|
* See Ph. Hendr. Brouwer ; Deeds, II, 469.
+ Patents, 392.
# Col. Doc. IV, 16, 370, 497, 499, 559, etc .; Col. Mss., XXXIX, 73.
§ Col. MSS., XLII, 167.
| Col. Doc., IV, 906. [See ante, p. 77, Five small islands .- M'M.]
23
178
History of the Schenectady Patent.
In 1706 he was living on the east corner of State and Jay streets, the latter being his private lane leading to his land in the rear and along Coe- horne creek upon which he had a corn mill, situated a few rods above La- fayette street. His ample lot on the north corner of State and Church streets and hindmost bouwery No. 2, he subsequently sold to Arent Bratt and Jacobus Van Dyck .*
In Feb., 170} the trustees of Schenectady conveyed to Jan Baptist Van Eps, his deed being lost, " a lot at the east end of Schenectady bounded " south by the high street [State] in breadth 9 rods, west by Symon " Groot Jr., and the commons as far as Niskayuna high road [Union Street], " and so upward eastwardly to a great pine, and from thence south east to " ye hill [Prospect] to another marked tree, and from thence south to a kil " [Coehorne], which is his east [west] boundary, containing seven mor- "gens."+
The portion of this parcel fronting upon State street, extended from the west side of Jay street to Coehorne kil, nine rods or 108 feet ; on Union Street it extended from the lot of Mrs. Jackson No. 152, along the old Niskayuna road to the foot of Prospect Hill. That portion of this land fronting upon Union street came into possession of Isaac Quackenbos from whom it descended to his late son, Johannes and through his daughter to Abraham O .. Clute.
There was also conveyed to him another " lot on the south side and west "end of the town over the town bridge [in Water street], in length on the " south side 126 ft. bounded with the highroad [Water street], on the west " also the highroad, to ye north a small creek, to ye east Claas Van Boek- " hoven."} This lot was on the east corner of Water and Washington streets; in 1729, it belonged to Annatie, daughter of Jan Baptist Van Eps, wife of Ahasuerus Wendel.§
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