Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 17

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations > Part 17

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It was in 1613 that the English made their first demonstration against the Dutch possessions. Governor Samuel Argal, of Virginia, on his return from a hostile expedition against the French settle- ments in Acadia, "found at Manhattan Isle four houses built and a pretended Dutch governor," says Captain Smith. Says Chalmers, there was only "a trading house" there. Be this as it may, Argal visited the Governor and demanded possession, alleging that Hudson, an English subject, could not alienate from the English Crown what was

THE DUTCH WEST INDIA CO.

properly a part of Virginia. Incapable of resistance, Corstiaensen, then in command, peaceably submitted himself and his colony to the King of England. It is well known that New England never had any respect for the Dutch claim. The Holland com- panies kept possession for fifty years longer, and laid their foundations, some of which still remain in the New York of to-day. From the western part of Long Island, and up the Hudson to the Mohawk, including Albany and adjacent settlements, it re- mained New Netherlands, with little disturbance from the English, until 1664, when might decided the question of right.

THE UNITED NEW NETHERLANDS CO.

The importance of establishing a trading post near the head of the navigable waters of the Mauritius early attracted the attention of Hendrick Corstiaen- sen and other enterprising Hollanders. A general charter of concessions to discoverers of new coun- tries was passed by the Holland Government, at Hague, March 27, 1614. A special charter was granted by the States General, under date of Oct. II, 1614, to a company of Amsterdam merchants and others of the United New Netherlands Co., giv- ing them the monopoly, until January 1, 1618, of all travel and trade in the New Netherlands, during which time they were authorized to make four voy- ages.

In 1614, with a few trappers and traders, Cors- tiaensen sailed up the river, and erected a fort and a store house, upon what was then named Kasteeul, or Castle Island, just below the site of the later Fort Orange, and carried on a brisk trade in furs and peltry with the Indians. The fort was called Nassau. The island, now called Van Rensselaer, is situated in the town of Bethlehem. Corstiaensen was murdered shortly after by a malicious Indian in his employ, and Jacob Jacobsen Elkins, his lieutenant, succeeded him as agent for the com- pany. Nothing was done for the settlement or de- velopment of the lands.

The spring floods so disturbed the works on the island that Elkins removed them, some time after, to the mouth of the Tawasentha, now Norman's Kill, where there is said to have once been a Mohawk castle and burial place. Here, tradition has it, as stated elsewhere, was concluded, about this time, the first formal treaty of friendship and alliance with the Indians.

Their charter expiring January 1, 1618, this company unsuccessfully petitioned for its renewal. Either the returns made to the Holland capitalists had been unsatisfactory, or a more powerful in-

fluence was at work towards getting up another company to occupy their hunting grounds.

During the more than five years of interval be- tween 1618 and 1623, tradition has it that Elkins and some of his traders still remained and carried on, with the aid of the Holland ships, a lucrative trade, there being none to dispute. It is thought that some of these adventurers remained and joined themselves with those who came under the new company in 1623. During these five years there might have been free trade. But those who had been longest on the ground had, of course, the ad- vantage. Elkins evidently was not pleased with his treatment by the States and the West India Company, as appears further on by his return, in 1633, with an English ship.

THE DUTCH WEST INDIA CO.

June 3, 1621, the congress or government of Holland, called the "States General, " incorporated the Dutch West India Co., investing it with almost regal powers for carrying on trade and planting settlements from Cape Horn to Newfoundland, for a period of 24 years. Its jurisdiction over the Province of New Netherlands, the special object of its enterprise, was exclusive. It was authorized to appoint governors with the approval of the "States," to colonize territory, erect forts and administer jus- tice. Its executive management was given to a Board of nineteen Directors, one to be appointed by the "States," the remaining eighteen by the company, to be distributed through five separate chambers, in five different cities of Holland. The Province of New Netherlands was assigned to the Amsterdam Chamber. The company was not fully organized until the spring of 1623, when it vigor- ously entered upon extensive operations. At this time the English ambassador at The Hague, for- mally protested against these encroachments of the Dutch fur traders ; but no armed force was moved to prevent carrying out their plans.

In April, 1623, a vessel under command of Cornelisen Jacobsen Mey, as Director, came over from Holland with thirty families, chiefly Walloons, or French Protestants, and landed at New Amster- dam. Of these, it is said, that eight families came up the Hudson as far as the present site of Albany, where they built Fort Orange, about two miles above Fort Nassau-the location being near the present steamboat square.

Maurice, of Nassau, Prince of Orange, who, at the age of 18, had succeeded his murdered father in the government of the Low Countries, was the Washington of his country. By his wisdom,

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

bravery and industry he strengthened and confirmed the new republic of Netherlands, and ranked among the first generals and statesmen of his age. He was much beloved and esteemed by his countrymen. In his honor they named the river Mauritius, and the forts Nassau and Orange. Another Fort Nas- sau was built near this time on the Delaware River.

The Walloons were French Protestants who re- sided on the borders between Belgium and France, and were distinguished for industry and valor. From this race descended many families in this State. The first white child born in New Nether- lands was Sarah Rapelje, daughter of one of the Walloon settlers, whose birth occurred June 7, 1625, and whose descendants are still to be found on Long Island and vicinity.

Catelyn Trico, born in Paris, France, is claimed to have been the first white woman in Albany. This claim is based on her own testimony, made in 1688, when she was 83 years old, which makes her born in 1605, and coming to Albany in 1623, when she was 18 years old. She testifies that she came to this country in the first ship, called the Unity, com- manded by Adrien Jorise, that came from Holland to New Netherlands for the West India Company. She tells us that two families and six men were sent to Hartford, Connecticut; two families and eight men to Delaware River; eight men were left at Manhattan, and the rest went as far up as Albany, which they called Fort Orange. She says that those who came to Albany and made a small fort were eighteen families ; that they made themselves some huts of bark. Adrien Jorise remained all winter and sent his son home with the ship. She represents the Indians as very peaceable, and car- rying on a very active trade in beaver and peltry. After three years she left Albany and went to New York, and afterward to Wallabout. She states that the other women on board, four in number, were married and went to the Delaware River. Consid- ering her age and the interval of time, her state- ment, while it may be correct in the main, is to be taken with some allowance. It is remarkable that only one woman came up to Fort Orange at that time and remained as the first and only female here for three years. The number of " eighteen families" differs from all other statements in our knowledge.

The Commissaries at Fort Orange or Beverwyck, now Albany, were Vice-Directors of the West India Company. They were commanders, also, of the fort. We find the names of the following :

Daniel Krieckkebeeck, Peter Barentsen, Bastian Jansen Krol, Jorissen Houten, Hannan Mynderts

Van der Bogaert, Carl Van Brugge, Jan Labadie, John Dyckman, John De Decker, John La Mon- tagne.

The Dutch Directors-General, otherwise called Commanders and Governors, under the West India Company and the States General of Holland, from 1623 to 1674, were as follows :

DUTCH GOVERNORS.

Adrien Jorise. 1623

Cornelius Jacobsen Mey 1624

William Verhulst. 1625

Peter Minuit May 4, 1626

Wouter Van Twiller . April, 1633

William Kieft .March 28, 1638

Peter Stuyvesant, May 11, 1647, to September 8,

1664, when the city was surrendered to the English.

Anthony Colve, September 19, 1673, when the city was retaken by the Dutch, to November 10, 1674, when, by treaty, it was again given over to the English.

These officers had their seat at the Manhattans or New Amsterdam, now New York, which was rec- ognized as the capital of New Netherlands, and the centre not only of civil power, but of trade. All emigrants from Europe landed here, and all who returned took ship here. Here were collected all furs, peltries, grain, &c., and from this port transhipment was made to Holland ; and all goods intended for the use of the colonists, or for trade among them or the Indians were here received, duly entered, and from thence sent forth to their destination.

The first two Governors were skippers of vessels that took over some of the first immigrants under the West India Company, and had something to do with locating Fort Orange, in the year 1623, or as some of the early documents say, in 1624. The former date is supported by the best authorities. Of Verhults we find nothing.

Minuit, the first fully empowered Director-Gen- eral, purchased of the Indians the Island of Man- hattan, in 1626, for a sum equal to about $24. He was a deacon in the Church of Wesel, whence he came, and, so far as we learn, was a peace-loving man and a just public officer. His correspondence with Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, was dignified, courteous and honorable. It related to territorial jurisdiction. About 1627, Bradford, hear- ing that the Dutch were encroaching by sending ships to Narragansett Bay to trade, sent Mr. Edward Winslow to remonstrate. Soon after, Minuit sent a very friendly letter to Governor Bradford, congrat- ulating Plymouth Colony upon its prosperity, and proposing trade and friendly relations in the future.

THE DUTCH WEST INDIA CO.

. To this the Governor of Plymouth replied in most friendly terms, alluding to the hospitality which the Pilgrims had received in Holland a few years pre- vious, and assuring the Governor of New Nether- lands that they and their children after them would never forget the same. At the same time he as- sured Governor Minuit that he must respect the rightful claims of the Pilgrims of Plymouth, and not allow his skiffs to come to Narragansett for beavers. He also complained that the Dutch were selling muskets, powder and shot to the Indians. Other courtesies of the most pleasing character were kept up during the time of Minuit, in which each manfully asserted what he regarded as right, while there arose no unfriendly words. Minuit erected Fort Amsterdam near the site of the present Battery, and directed all his energies to founding a State similar to that in Fatherland. By his concili- ating disposition, he kept on pleasant terms with the Indians. After his recall, he went to Sweden, and afterward appeared as the leader of 50 Swedish im- migrants who, in April, 1638, landed on the site of New Castle and founded New Sweden, which was broken up by the rapacious Stuyvesant in 1655, and subjected to the West India Company.

Van Twiller married into the Van Rensselaer family, and came to New Netherlands in conse- quence, as the patroon's agent in selecting and locating lands. He afterward was one of the executors of the estate of Kiliaan Van Rensselaer, and, with John Van Weely, a guardian of his son Johannis, during his minority. As Governor he was faithful to the West India Company, but noted for his want of good judgment and executive abilities. His dealings with the English, who took up claims upon the Connecticut River in 1640, were characterized by ridiculous bluster and ignoble failure to carry out his threats. He was equally unsuccessful in his attempt upon the fort at Beeren Island. He was greedy of gain and successful in his greed ; great in paper protests, timid in action. He lived peaceably with the Indians, and had little trouble with his subordinates.

It was in 1633, during the time of Van Twiller, that the first English ship, the William, sailed up the Hudson River. It was commanded by Elkins, who had spent some years in trading with the In- dians in this vicinity under the United New Neth- erlands Company. In spite of the refusal of the Dutch Governor at New Amsterdam to give him a license, he, asserting the English claim to the terri- tory, defiantly proceeded to a place about a mile below Fort Orange, where he landed, pitched his tent, and, for a few weeks, pursued a lucrative

trade in furs. The traders at Fort Orange protested, and soon after, with the aid of ships and crews sent up from Fort Amsterdam, compelled the bluff captain to strike his tent, re-ship his goods and take his furs down the river. His ship was con- voyed to sea, and he, utterly discomfited, returned to London.

Kieft was avaricious, rash and unscrupulous. He kept himself and his colony in constant excite- ment and trouble. He quarreled with his under officers; he was vindictive toward those who dif- fered from him in matters of public policy; he was oppressive and arbitrary among the people. With the English in Connecticut, the Swedes on the Delaware, the Indian tribes on every side, and the colonists at his own door, he was in continual strife. By his own abandoned folly he aroused the Indians in the vicinity of New Amsterdam, who had been friendly under his predecessors, to deeds of fiery hatred and savage vengeance. His thirst for blood seemed to equal that of the savages, and he expressed himself determined upon a war of extermination of the natives. Neither life nor property was safe. War raged for years. Fields were devastated; homes desolated ; and the blood of the innocent citizen and the ferocious savage flowed freely on every side. The very existence of the colonies in and near Manhattan was menaced. Help finally came from New England under Capt. Underhill, for Kieft had no leader. The war ceased. Kieft, recalled for his offences, gathered his treasures and took ship for Europe. He was never heard of more. His vessel was wrecked on the coast of Wales, and the bad man was en- gulfed in the angry waves with all his ill-gotten treasure.

The Indian wars had lasted about five of the eight years' reign of this infamous wretch, during which he had, like an arrant coward as he was, stayed in his fort and exulted in the ruin around him and his own personal safety. At the begin- ning of these wars the population of New Nether- lands was about 3,000; at its close, less than 1,000. New Amsterdam contained only about 100 people when peace came, August 31, 1645. His unlamented end was regarded as an act of retribu- tive divine justice.

We find no evidence in the record of these times that the savage wars of the lower Hudson seriously disturbed the dwellers about Fort Orange. No doubt they had accessions from those who fled from the cruel carnage. No doubt they had fears of similar outbreaks, which, probably, were hin- dered by their pleasant relations in trade to the

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

powerful Mohawks, who were a wall, for many years, to this weak frontier people.

Much may be seen of the character of Stuyve- sant under our Rensselaerwyck heading. He was a brave man-decided in his convictions, persistent in carrying them into action. He aimed to be true to his trust. He restored peace, and dealt prudently with his Indian neighbors. When these savage tribes broke out in their savagery he was equal to the emergency. They found him not wanting in courage and energy, nor in prompt justice. There were then no settlements from Fort Amsterdam to the Catskills, except at Esopus, now Kingston. The restless and blood-thirsty Indians about here were effectually reduced and put in sub- jection under his management in 1663. He was a man of military experience; honest, but im- perious ; a believer in prerogatives ; arbitrary in action. He was strangely inclined to arresting and shutting up in prison those who opposed his views, and to confiscating their estates as if guilty of treason against the government. He quarreled with his Vice-Director and other officers ; he, as will appear farther on, was in a continual contention with the officers of the patroon at Beaverwyck. He was feared, but not beloved. He did not make friends with the Yankees, the Swedes, or the Dutch. The States General disapproved his course, and the West India Company, which ap- pointed him and long sustained him, doubted the wisdom of many of his transactions.

FIRST SETTLEMENT.

The first settlement of Albany County has been written down under the date of 1609, when Hud- son's boat, probably, passed the site of our city ; in 1610, when certain Holland skippers were prospect- ing along our shores ; in 1614, when Captain Cor- stiaensen and his hunters and trappers planted themselves, for trade in furs, on Kasteel Island ; in 1621, when the Dutch West India Company was first established ; and in 1623, when, according to the best evidence we now have, this same company actually landed a few Hollanders upon the territory now called Albany, to engage, as their factors and servants, in the collection and transmission of furs and peltries. None of these events can be reckoned as dating the first settlement of our county.

Probably not a drop of the blood of any of those early adventurers courses in the veins of any white citizen of this State or nation. Few, if any, had families. Some died here and turned to dust ; others returned to their native land when their service was over. They did not come to stay. None

came as colonists, occupying land and cultivating it. Fish, deer, wild fowl and other game abounded. Native fruits were plenty. Possibly, a few vegeta- bles, and some corn and other grain, were raised in patches near the fort. Some food was brought over in ships. For a few trinkets the rest was purchased from the Indian squaws, who cultivated them. They were no more "first settlers," than were the first adventurers that went out from our States to the mines of California, 40 years ago, the first settlers of that great State and its San Fran- cisco, now the gem of the Pacific.

" It never began to be settled until every one had liberty to trade with the Indians, inasmuch as up to this time no one calculated to remain there longer than the expiration of his bounden time, and therefore did not apply themselves to agricul- ture." Thus says a Dutch writer of that day. The "Free Trade Liberty " began about 1640.

These fictions of history are not the solid facts for us to build upon. Those "first families" did not give us our "blue blood." They who did this came later. Our real history began later. Indeed, it is, at the best, a vain boast for any individual or people to boast of a misty antiquity or of blood that has flowed down from moneyed and titled sires of the old times. To deserve well of our children's children, to earn and transmit a heritage of noble aims and noble deeds, is a far better ambition. It is told in old Grecian history of an idiot, who was boasting of his noble sires, when a bystander per- tinently silenced him by asking, "What are you doing to honor the memory of your sires ?"

The States General of Holland saw how little progress was making in colonizing the New Neth- erlands ; what an unstable and unreliable people went out and came back ; how poor in kind and few in number was the population.

The first reference to population which we find is made in October, 1628, in a work published in Amsterdam, which says, " There are no families at Fort Orange * *

* they keep five or six and twenty persons, traders, there."

In October, 1626, the Ship Arms of Amsterdam reached Amsterdam from New Netherlands. Its cargo shows the variety and amount of its trans- ported products at that time, which consisted of 7,246 beaver, 853₺ otter, 81 mink, 36 wild cat and 34 rat skins ; also, " samples of summer grain, such as wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary seed, beans and flax."

The Assembly of XIX. reports to the States General, in 1629: " All who are inclined to do any sort of work here procure enough to eat

RENSSELAERWYCK AND BEVERWYCK.

without any trouble, and are, therefore, unwilling to go far from home on an uncertainty." This from Holland, and is written to explain the diffi- culty of sending out persons suitable, from the country, for colonizing New Netherlands. It is added, "The people conveyed by us thither, have therefore found but scanty means of livelihood up to the present time, and have not been any profit, but a drawback, to this (West India) company. The trade carried on there in peltries is right ad- vantageous ; but one year with another, we can, at most, bring home only fifty thousand ($20,000) guilders."

A new scheme was planned and adopted, singu- lar, indeed, in its provisions ; unlike anything be- fore attempted in the New World. It was approved and carried out by men of wealth and sagacity, and of experience in trade and government. Its prime object was to increase money and power. It included the colonization of farmers and artisans -providing a new home and better prospects for the boors of the Belgic race, and a field for the ambitious and enterprising, who had no room at home. It was partially successful. It brought over all classes. But not a few industrious, high- minded, discreet families came to stay. They laid foundations broad and deep. We are to-day enjoying the benefits of their wisdom and energy. In the men who came here from Holland during the middle years of the 17th century, were exhibited elements of character which have been found in many of their descendants ; men of ex- alted patriotism, inflexible integrity and cultivated intelligence, who have helped to upbuild, preserve and adorn our Republic. We say this with a full knowledge of the faults of the manorial system, of the men who lorded it, and of the men who have suffered from it, or contended against it.

RENSSELAERWYCK AND BEVERWYCK.

The history of Rensselaerwyck, in all its rela- tions, is so largely the history of this County and of the State even, that we give it much space, but no more than its importance demands. With it begins the real settlement of the city and county of Albany, in 1630, when a company of real set- tlers came over with a purpose, under the patron- age of Kilian Van Rensselaer, the first patroon.

We have followed Dr. O'Callaghan in the record of what follows during the exciting struggle for wealth and power between the agents of the patroon and of the West India Company, in the 27 years from Kieft, in 1637, until 1664, when that arrogant tyrant, Peter Stuyvesant, reluctantly 7

yielded to the English power and ceased to war upon the patroons. The people were weary of him, and the patroon was glad to have no more of the West India Company.

In 1629, a charter of privileges and exemptions was passed for the encouragement of patroons to settle colonies. In the following year, several wealthy and influential Directors of the Dutch West India Company hastened to avail themselves of its advantages. Bastiaen Jansen Krol, Com- missary, and Dirck Cornelissen Duyster, Under Commissary, at Fort Orange, having learned that a tract of land called Sannahagog, lying on the west side of the North River, extending from Bee- ren Island, by the Indians called Passapenock, up to the Smackx Island, and in breadth two days' journey, was for sale, purchased the same from the native proprietors, for Kilian Van Rens- selaer, a pearl merchant in Amsterdam and one of the Directors of the West India Company. Three months afterward Gillis Hoosett purchased, in the presence of Jansen Myndertsen, Wolfert Gerritsen and Jan Tyssen, trumpeter, for the same gentle- man, the lands lying south and north of Fort Orange, and extending to within a short distance of Moenimines Castle, then situated on what is now called Haver Island, at the mouth of the Mohawk, and from one of the chiefs, his grounds, called Semesseeck, stretching on the east side of the river from opposite Castle Island to a point facing Fort Orange, and thence from Poetanock, the Mill Creek, north to Negagons. These conveyances were subsequently ratified by the respective parties, in the presence of the Director-General and Coun- cil of New Netherland, who signed an instrument to that effect, "sealed with the seal of New Neth- erland in red wax," on the same day that the char- ter of 1629 was proclaimed at Fort Amsterdam. Nearly seven years afterward-namely, on the 13th April, 1637-all the intervening district, called Papsickenekaas, or Papsekanea, as the name is now pronounced, lying also on the east side of the river, and extending from opposite Castle Island south to the point opposite Smackx Island, and including the adjacent islands and all the lands back into the interior, belonging to the Indian owners, was purchased "for certain quantities of duffels, axes, knives and wampum," also for Mr. Van Rensselaer, who thus became proprietor of a tract of country twenty-four miles long and forty- eight miles broad, containing, as is estimated, over seven hundred thousand acres of land, which now compose the counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and part of the county of Columbia.

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Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 17

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452