USA > New York > Kings County > Williamsburgh > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 14
USA > New York > Kings County > Bushwick > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 14
USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > A history of the city of Brooklyn : including the old town and village of Brooklyn, the town of Bushwick, and the village and city of Williamsburgh > Part 14
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1 N. Y. Col. MSS., viii. 515, 516. 2 Ibid., viii. 563.
3 Ibid., viii. 705.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
by many as an excuse for their non-compliance in the matter of pay- ing the minister's tax. Sheriff Tonneman complained to the Coun- cil of abuse received, while collecting the tax, from Lodewyck Jong, Jan Martyn, Nicholas the Frenchman, Abraham Jansen, the mulatto, and Gerrit the wheelwright. They were summoned before the Council, where the excuses they pleaded-of one that he was a Catholic, and the other that he did not understand Dutch-were pronounced "frivolous," and they were each condemned to pay a fine of twelve guilders ($4.80).1 The principal malcontent, Jan Mar- tyn, " of Harfleur" (ante, p. 80), who attempted to hire the public bellman to go around and defame Councillor Tonneman, was obliged to beg pardon, on bended knees, of the Lord and of the court, and was fined twenty-five guilders ($10) and costs.2
The inflexible Governor finally brought matters to a focus with the refractory Breuckelen people, by issuing an order, on the 6th of July, 1658, forbidding the inhabitants of the three towns to remove their grain from their fields, until their tithes were taken or commuted-which commutations were ordered to be paid within three days. This order was complied with ; for when the Governor "put his foot down" in this manner, as was his wont, the people found it was useless to "kick against the pricks."
Previous to this time (1660), the only ministers of the Reformed Church in New Netherland were Megapolensis and Drisius, in the city of New Amsterdam, Schaats at Beverwyck, Polhemus at Mid- wout, and Welius at New Amstel. In the fall of 1658, however, a letter was sent to the Classis of Amsterdam of the Fatherland, by Messrs. Megapolensis and Drisius, giving an interesting account of the state of religion in the colony, and earnestly entreating that " good Dutch clergymen " might speedily be sent over.3 These let- ters awakened the attention of the Classis to the spiritual necessities of New Netherland, and earnest representations on the subject were addressed to the College of the XIX. And, although it was difficult to prevail upon any settled clergyman to leave his charge in Hol- land and brave the trials of a newly settled country, yet one Her-
1 N. Y. Col. MSS., viii. 563, 789, 804, 818.
2 N. Y. Col. MSS., viii. 825. 3 Brodhead, i. 643.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
manus Blom, a candidate for the ministry, was induced to come out to New Amsterdam. Arriving here about the last of April, he shortly after received a call from the prosperous village of Esopus (now Kingston); and having accepted it, returned to Holland to pass his examination before the Classis, and receive ordination. Meanwhile the people of Breuckelen, in view of the badness of the roads to Flatbush, and the inability of the Rev. Mr. Polhemus, on account of his age and infirmity, to bestow any considerable portion of his labor upon them, had petitioned the Governor and Council for permission to have a minister resident in their town. The application was favorably regarded,1 and when (March 1) Blom left Holland on his return to New Netherland, he was accompanied by the Rev. Henricus Selyns, under appointment to preach at Breuck- elen.2
Mr. Selyns was the son of Jan Selyns and Agneta Kock, of Am- sterdam, where he was born in the year 1636. Having been regu- larly educated for the ministry, he became, in due time, a proponent or candidate for full orders. "Tracing his ancestry, both on the father's and mother's side, clearly back, through a regular line of elders, deacons, and deaconesses, to the first institution of the Dutch Reformed Church as an independent establishment, and con- nected by blood and marriage with distinguished ministers of that church, he could not fail to imbibe its tenets and principles, and enter with confidence and honorable ambition upon the studies which were to fit him for its services."" Such were the antecedents of the man who, having accepted the call from Breuckelen, made through the Dutch West India Company to the Classis at Amster-
1 Nicasius de Sille, the Fiscal, and Martin Kreiger, one of the Burgomasters, were appointed as a committee of inquiry by the Governor, upon whose favorable report the required permission was granted.
2 The call of the Breuckelen church to Dominie Selyns was by him accepted, and approved by the Classis of Amsterdam, February 16, 1660 (-61) .- Brooklyn Church Records.
3 His paternal grandfather, Hendrick Selyns, was a deacon of the Amsterdam church in 1598 ; his father, an elder from 1639 to 1663 ; his maternal great-grandfather, Hen- drick Kock, a deacon from 1584 to 1595 ; his grandfather, Hans Verlocken, in 1587-90; while his grandmother, Agneta Selyns, was a deaconess for several years in the same church. Triglandius, Lantsman, and J. Nieuwenhuysen, celebrated ministers of the Netherland church, were also his cousins.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
dam, was, on the 16th February, 1660, peremptorily examined by that body, and admitted to the ministry with full powers,-engaging, however, to serve the Breuckelen church for the term of four years.
Messrs. Blom and Selyns arrived at New Amsterdam, bearing let- ters to the colonial churches from the Classis at Amsterdam, in which the former were earnestly exhorted " not to depart from the usual formulary of baptism." Governor Stuyvesant, by whom alone all public functionaries, ecclesiastical as well as civil, could be accredited, was then absent at Esopus, negotiating a peace with the Indians ; and when that had been concluded, he paid a visit to Fort Orange. To both of these places the two young clergymen followed him, to deliver their letters,1 so that it was not until the 7th of Sep- tember, 1660, that Mr. Selyns was formally installed into the church at Breuckelen. " This ceremony," says his biographer, " measured by the usual standard of great events, was, indeed, insignificant ; but viewed as the first installation of a minister in what is now a large and flourishing city, the third in size in the United States, and as populous as the famous city of Amsterdam herself at the present day, it was one which deserved, as it received, the attention of the authorities in an appropriate and becoming manner. It was, never- theless, to that colony, an interesting event, and it was accompanied by proceedings calculated to give dignity and authority to the min- ister. The Governor deputed two of his principal officers to present the minister to the congregation-Nicasius de Sillé, a member of the Council, a man of no mean attainments, and well versed in the law, and Martin Krigier, burgomaster of New Amsterdam, who, on sev- eral important occasions, was the envoy of the Governor to the ad- joining English colonies. After the presentation, Dominie Selyns preached his inaugural sermon, and then read the call of the Classis and their certificate of examination, with a testimonial from the ministers of Amsterdam, declaring that during the time he had dwelt among them, he had not only diligently used the holy ordi- nances of God for the promotion of his own salvation, but had also often edified their church by his acceptable preaching ; and, more-
1 N. Y. Col. MSS., xiii. 81, 84, 131, 132 ; xiv. 58.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
over, had, by his life and conversation, demeaned himself as a godly and pious man-a character which he never forfeited."1
On the 7th, a letter was forwarded, " by a respectable person," to the Rev. Mr. Polhemus, informing him of Mr. Selyns' installation in the church at Breuckelen, and thanking him in courteous terms for his labors and attention to the congregation. This attention was appropriately acknowledged by the venerable pastor, who, on the 12th, sent to the new incumbent a list of church-members resid- ing within this vicinity, numbering in all twenty-seven persons,
1 On this occasion the Rev. Henry Selyns addressed the church as follows :
" I have appeared before you and the Consistory, according to the usages and ordi- nances of our Church, and now surrender to you my letter of call of the Honorable Classis of Amsterdam, together with the approbation of the Honorable the Directors of the Chamber of Amsterdam, also my classical and church attestations, which, with my call, appertain to your church." (Brooklyn Church Records.)
The above-mentioned " Letter of Call" is as follows :
" Whereas, it is indispensably required that the honor of God and the salvation of men be promoted to the best of our abilities, and that for this end religious meetings should be instituted and encouraged by the pure preaching of God's werd, the lawful administration of the sacraments, the public invocation of the name of God, and what- soever else belongs to a dutiful worship ; and whereas, the situation of Breuckelen, in New Netherland, requires that a duly qualified person, as a lawfully ordained minister, should be sent there, who can there execute the ministerial functions in every particu- lar in conformity with the Church government and the word of God, and in unison with the laudable usages of the Reformed Churches in this country, and who is able to maintain and defend these: Therefore it is that we, ministers of the word of God, and elders of the Church of Christ, belonging to the Classis of Amsterdam, after the invo- cation of the name of God, and in His fear, and with the approbation of the Noble Directors of the West India Company, and after a careful examination in the principal doctrines of the Reformed Christian Church, and after we had received satisfactory evidence of a pious life, and talents requisite for the gospel ministry, and after he had signed the Netherlandish Confession, the Christian Catechism, and the Canons of the National Synod, have, with the laying on of hands, ordained the reverend, pious, pru- dent, and learned minister, Henricus Selyns, to preach, both on land and water, and in all the neighborhood, but principally in that place (Breuckelen), the holy and only saving doctrine of the word of God in its purity ; to administer the sacraments, as insti- tuted by Christ, with propriety ; publicly to lead the prayers of the congregation, to keep them (with the aid of his Consistory) in good order and discipline, all in confor- mity with the word of God, and the Canons of the Netherlandish Church, and the Christian Catechism : requesting all our brethren to acknowledge him as a lawful brother and ordained minister of the gospel of Christ ; to honor him for the sake of his ministry ; and to assist him, whenever it is in their power ; so that he may labor un- molested (i. e., by worldly cares, etc.), and cheerfully, in glorifying God's name, and in the conversion and salvation of souls.
" May the Almighty God, who has called this minister to the service of His Church, enrich him more and more with all talents, and with the blessings of the Holy Ghost ; so that his labors may be crowned with abundant success, to the glory of His name
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
inclusive of one elder and two deacons.1 The population of the vil- lage at this time was 134 persons, in thirty-one families ; and the bounds of the new Dominie's charge included " The Ferry," " The Waal-boght," and " The Gujanes." Measures were taken for the speedy erection of a church, and in the mean time the congregation worshipped in a barn. As the people were not able of themselves to pay his entire salary, they petitioned the Council for assistance ;?
and the salvation of men, and reward and adorn him, at the appearance of the Great Shepherd of sheep, with the unfading crown of immortal glory.
" Done in a Classical meeting in Amsterdam, on the 16th of February, 1660.
" In the name, and by order of all,
" PETRUS PROËLIUS, Eccles. Amstelodamensis, et Classis p. t. Deputatus.
" LAURENS VAN NOORDT, Eccles. in Diemen. et pro t. ad caus. sat. Indicas Deput.
" SAMUELL COOP, a groen Eccles. Amsteloda- mensis et p. t. Deputatus."
[ENDORSEMENT.]
" The aforesaid Act of the Classis of Amsterdam was approved by the Directors of the West India Company, Department of Amst., on the 26th March, 1660.
(Signed) " DAVID VAN BAERLE. " EDWARD MAN."
The above translation of this document is from N. Y. Col. MSS., xiii. 69. Another version, by the late General Jeremiah Johnson, taken, probably, from the original Dutch records of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Brooklyn, is printed in the Magazine of the Reformed Dutch Church, vol. iii., for 1828-29, pp. 52, 54. This, al- though a more elegant translation, does not, in our opinion, present so faithful a transcript of the original as the one above printed.
1 The list of church members at this period, together with other extracts from the Brooklyn Church Records, will be found in Appendix No. 6.
2 Alb. Rec., xxiv. 383. Aug. 30, 1660, there appeared before the Council, " Joris Dirck and Joris Rapelje, magistrates of the village of Breuckelen, on Long Island, and repre- sented that they, in conformity with the order of the Director-General, had convened all the inhabitants of the aforesaid village, and conversed with them, and inquired how much they would be able to contribute to the salary of the Rev. Mr. Selyns ; and that, after all their endeavors, they could not succeed in obtaining more than 300 guilders annually (payable in corn, at the value of beavers) ; and that in addition they were will- ing to provide the Rev. Mr. Selyns with a comfortable dwelling. On being reminded that Dominie Selyns had been promised the annual salary of 100 fl., and had come hither in that expectation, and that the said sum ought to be collected,-in lieu of which the village tithes would be taken and contributed by the Company,-and that they ought to strive to make up the deficiency, they declared that it was totally impos- sible for the people of the village to raise the required amount, as the burden fell chiefly on a few individuals, the rest being poor people who had nothing but what was earned by their daily labor. To this it was replied (by the Council) that they (of Breuckelen) should have duly considered all these things before they requested or called a minister. In answer, they (the inhabitants of Breuckelen) said they had
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
and Stuyvesant agreed personally to contribute two hundred and fifty guilders, provided Mr. Selyns would preach a sermon, on Sun- day afternoons, at his " bouwery" on Manhattan Island.1 In this arrangement the Dominie acquiesced, and thereafter preached at the " Director's bouwery," which was a " sort of stopping-place and pleasure-ground of the Manhattans." Here his audiences consisted mostly of people from the city, and besides Stuyvesant's own house- hold, about forty negroes who lived in that neighborhood, in what was known as the " negro quarter." After Selyns' installation at
hopes that their village would now daily increase, and that consequently they would be enabled in future to contribute more; and they earnestly requested that Dominie Selyns might come among them at the earliest opportunity."
1 Extract from a letter of Dominie Selyns to the Classis at Amsterdam, dated " Am- sterdam on the Manhattans, 4 October, 1660" (Doc. Hist. N. Y., iii. 108) : " When we arrived in N. Netherland, we repaired forthwith to the Manhattans; but the negotia- tions for peace at the Esopus, where we were, and the public interests, necessarily retarded our progress thus long. We preached, meanwhile, here, and at the Esopus and Fort Orange ; during our stay were provided with board and lodging. (See Alb. Rec., xxiv. 387.) Esopus needs more people, but Breuckelen more wealth ; wherefore I officiate, Sunday afternoons, at the General's bouwerye, at the Noble General's private expense. Through the worshipful Messrs. Nicasius de Sille, Fiscal, and Martin Cregiers, Burgomaster, the induction (or call) in Breuckelen occurred with the Hon'ble General's open commission. Whereupon I was suitably received by the Magistrate and Consistory, and De Polhemus was forthwith discharged. We do not preach in any church, but in a barn (Korenschuur), and shall, God willing, erect a church in the winter, by the co-operation of the people. The congregation is passable. The attend- ance is augmented from Middlewout, New Amersfoort, and frequently Gravesende but most from the Manhattans. To Breuckelen appertains, also, the Ferry, the Wale- bocht, and Gujanus. The Breuckelen Ferry is about 2,000 paces, but the River of the Manhattans is 4,000 feet from the Breuckelen Ferry. I found at Breuckelen one elder, two deacons, twenty-four members, thirty-one householders (Huysgesins), and 134 persons. The Consistory will remain provisionally as it is. More material will be obtained through time and a better knowledge of the community. There can be no catechizing before the winter; but this shall be introduced either on week-days, or when there is no preaching at the Bowery. Christmas, Easter, Whitsuntide, and Sep- tember will be most suitable for the Lord's Supper, as Thanksgiving is observed on these festivals. There is preaching in the morning at Breuckelen, but towards the conclusion of the Catechismal exercises of New Amsterdam, at the Bou- wery, which is a continuation and the place of recreation of the Manhattans, where people also come from the city to evening service. In addition to the household, there are over forty negroes, whose location is the negro quarter. There is no Consistory here (i. e., at the Bouwery), but the deacons of New Amsterdam provisionally receive the alms-offerings ; and there are to be neither elders nor deacons there. Besides me, there are in New Netherland : D. D. Johannes Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius, in New Amsterdam ; D. Gideon Schaets, at Fort Orange ; D. Joannes Polhemus, at Middlewout ; and N. Amersfoort and Hermans Blom, at the Esopus."
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
Breuckelen, Dominie Polhemus confined his services to Midwout and Amersfoort.
Under the able ministrations of the new pastor, the church in Breuckelen increased, until, in 1661, it numbered fifty-two communi- cants, many of whom were admitted on certificates from New Am- sterdam and from churches in the Fatherland. The same year the village of Breuckelen received from the West India Company, on the request of Rev. Mr. Selyns, a bell for their church, which "might also be used, in time of danger, to call the county people thereabouts together." Esopus also received a similar present.1
It would seem, from the following petition, that the Rev. Mr. Selyns had not, as late as 1662, become an actual resident of the town over which he exercised a pastoral charge.
" MAY 25th, 1662.
"To the Noble, Great, and Respected, the Director-General and Coun- cil in Nieuw Netherlands :
" The undersigned, Schepens of the village of Breuckelen, represent, with all due respect, that they, the said petitioners, have been engaged, for some time past, in collecting, among their community, that which they had promised to contribute as their share towards the Rev. Mr. Selyns' salary ; and they find that the community would be more willing and ready to bring in their respective quotas, if the aforesaid Rev. Mr. Selyns would come to reside within their village, inasmuch as they have already been at the expense of building a house for him. They therefore request your Honors to consent to and permit it, towards which end, expecting your Honors' favorable decision, etc.
" The delegated Schepens of the village of Breuckelen,
" WILLIAM GERRITSE VAN COUWENHOVEN.
" WILLEM BREDENBENT. " JAN JORIS RAPALJE."
The petitioners were referred to Mr. Selyns, whose decision is not recorded, and unknown to us.2
September 21st, 1662, the Council " ordered that the inhabitants of Breuckelen pay 300 guilders to the Rev. Henry Selyns, who has
1 Letter of Directors to Stuyvesant, dated December 24, 1660. (N. Y. Col MSS., xiii. 143.)
2 N. Y. Col. MSS., x. 137.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
preached in said town since August 30, 1660, instead of the Rev. J. Polhemus," and that the book-keeper credit that amount to Selyns.1 On the 12th of the same month the people of Flat- lands had been permitted to build a church; making, with that of Bushwick, the fourth Dutch church within the county. Dur- ing this year, also, complaint was made to the Consistory of the exposure of the graveyard to hogs and other animals ; in conse- quence of which, the Consistory contracted for a clapboard fence, five feet high, to enclose the entire ground, for the sum of seventy guilders.2
The unfortunate burning of the town of Esopus, and the massacre of its inhabitants, by the Indians, June 7, 1663, was the occasion of the following proclamation from Governor Stuyvesant to the church at Breuckelen :
" As a sorrowful accident and wilful massacre has been committed by the Esopus Indians, who have with deliberate design, under the insidious cover of friendship, determined to destroy Esopus, which they effected on the 7th instant, killing and wounding a number of the inhabitants, and taking many prisoners, burning the town and desolating the place : Whereupon the congregation is directed and desired, by his Exeelleney the Governor-General, to observe and keep the ensuing Wednesday as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer to the Almighty, hoping that He may avert further calamities from the New Netherlands, and extend His fatherly protection and care to the country. And it is further ordered, that the first Wednesday in every month be observed in like manner. By order of the Director-General and Council, etc. Dated at Fort Orange, June 26, 1663."3
Early in the year 1664, Dominie Selyns addressed a petition to the Director and Council, complaining that, in consequence of the great depreciation which had taken place in seawant and beaver- skins, he found his salary much reduced and insufficient to meet
1 N. Y. Col. MSS., x. 216.
2 Brooklyn Church Records.
3 The cloud of war speedily passed over, however ; for Wednesday, the 4th of July, 1663, was observed as a day of thanksgiving on account of a treaty of peace which had been made with these same Esopus Indians, and the release of the prisoners who had been taken by them ; and likewise for the defeat of the English, who had been thwarted in an attempt to take possession of Long Island, by the opportune arrival of the Dutch fleet.
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
his wants. His application for redress was discussed at consider- able length by the Council, who finally decided that any money paid to the Dominie on account of the 600 gl. allowed to him in the Fatherland, should be paid in beavers, at a rate not higher than 6 gl., and any commodities in seawant in proportion. The 600 gl. promised him here in New Netherland, was to be paid with beavers, in cash, at the value of 8 gl. per beaver, agreeably to the contract of August 30th, 1660.1
This year, also, the church of Breuckelen was called upon to part with its beloved pastor, Selyns. His time having expired, he yielded to the urgent solicitations of his aged father in Holland ; and having duly obtained permission from the Lords Directors of the West India Company,2 was most tenderly and respectfully dismissed from his church on the 17th of July, 1664, and sailed for home on the 23d, in the ship Beaver, the same vessel which had conveyed him to America.
After his departure, Charles Debevoise, the schoolmaster of the town and church sexton, was authorized to read prayers and a ser- mon from some approved author, each Sabbath, in the church, for the improvement of the congregation, until another minister could be found.
Selyn's pastoral duties at Breuckelen were always discharged " with zeal and fidelity. The records of the church at Breuckelen for this period, are still preserved in his own handwriting, and bear ample evidence of his devotion to his calling-chronicling, with rare sim- plicity, the occurrences in the government of the church and the occasions of discipline of his flock. Once we find him in collision with the magistrates of the town, in regard to an attempted jurisdic- tion on their part over an act of ecclesiastical censure exercised by him towards one of the church-members. In a respectful letter, he refused to appear before them or acknowledge their right to take cognizance of the sentence pronounced by him and his consistory. He maintained that the civil courts could not try offences arising purely out of the ecclesiastical relation ; and that the complainant
1 N. Y. Col. MSS., x. 33, 35, 100, 131.
2 The petition of Dominie Selyns for permission to return home may be found (dated July 17, 1664) in N. Y. Col. MSS., x. 270.
10
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HISTORY OF BROOKLYN.
having submitted himself to the canons of the church, by becoming one of its members, was thereby precluded from taking the matter before the courts. In this, as in some other trying occasions of his life, when he was brought in conflict with others upon questions of authority and power, he sustained the rights and privileges of his official position with equal firmness, dignity, and force of reasoning. His pen and logic were never to be despised by his opponents. In his controversy with the magistrates of Breuckelen, his arguments prevailed." During his ministry in Breuckelen, he married at New Amsterdam, on the 9th of July, 1662, his first wife, Machtelt, daughter of Hermann Specht, of the city of Utrecht, "a young lady, if we may trust his own description of her, of rare personal beauty and worth," whose portrait he has transmitted to us in a birth-day ode, which is said to be " one of the prettiest pictures that conjugal affection has ever drawn."
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