USA > New York > Courts and lawyers of New York; a history, 1609-1925, Volume I > Part 18
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island from the Indians, paying therefor baubels, pots and pans and other goods to the total value of sixty guilders ($24). His administration came to an end in February, 1632, he having been recalled to explain other transactions in land -transactions in behalf of patroons and at the expense of the West India Company. Misfortune that came to him on his homeward voyage perhaps prejudiced the Amsterdam direc- tors of the West India Company, who decided not to reappoint him, after hearing his defence. Stormy weather had driven his ship into Plymouth Harbor, in the English Channel; and the British authorities had been disposed to hold both Minuit or the West India Company's vessel, the New England Coun- cil having complained that he had "prosecuted illegal trading within English dominions." After some diplomatic ex- changes both were released, but Minuit never regained favor with the West India Company. Wherefore, he did not scruple to foster a colonization scheme of another nation, Sweden, in part of the land over which he, as Dutch governor, had claimed jurisdiction. He sailed from Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1637, at the head of a party of Swedes and Finns, and founded New Sweden, building Fort Christina near where Wilmington, Delaware, now stands. In that fort he died in 1641, "regretted by the Swedes whom he had served most faithfully, and whose enterprise he had made successful, where one of less experience would probably have failed."
Bastiaen Jansz Krol, we are told, was the next governor of New Netherland. It is certain that he took charge when Minuit was suddenly recalled; but it seems to have been another temporary incumbency. All that is known of Krol has been stated in an earlier chapter.
Wouter Van Twiller, the next governor, was twice in New Netherland before he came in April, 1633, as governor. He was born at Nieukirk, Holland, and became a clerk in an Amsterdam warehouse of the West India Company. He married a niece of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, who was a Burgo-
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master of Amsterdam and an Amsterdam director of the West India Company ; and Van Twiller had made two voy- ages to Van Rensselaer's Hudson River estate, superintend- ing the shipment of cattle, before being thought of as gov- ernor. In the summer of 1632 Van Twiller was chosen by the Amsterdam directors, without solicitation by Van Rensselaer, to succeed Minuit as Director-General. He and his Council reached New Netherland on the "Zout Berg." The principal events of his administration have been reviewed in earlier chapters. He was not an aggressive governor, but during his four years as Director-General he accumulated consider- able wealth, purchasing for himself Nooten (Governor's) Island, and other land. He had planned to establish himself in manorial state on Nooten Island. His sudden recall in 1638 was therefore a bitter disappointment to him. He re- mained in the colony for some time after the arrival of his successor, William Kieft; but eventually he returned to Hol- land. Kiliaen van Rensselaer having died in 1643 or 1644, Van Twiller became guardian to Johannes van Rensselaer, eldest son of the patroon. Van Twiller died in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1646, states one record. But the "Court Records of Rensselaerswyck" show that Wouter Van Twiller was in correspondence with a colonist, Gerrit Vasterick in 1650. And there are many references to Van Twiller between 1648 and 1650.4ª His last years were marked by many controversies between the West India Company and himself; the West India Company accusing Van Twiller of being "an ungrateful man, who had sucked his wealth from the breasts of the com- pany which he now abuses."
William Kieft, who was governor from 1638 to 1647, a stormy period, during which the province suffered severe losses of life and property, did more to jeopardize the exist- ence of the colony, by his vindictiveness toward the Indians,
4a. See the translation of "Minutes of Court of Colony Rensselaers- wyck, 1648-52," by Archivist Van Laer (Univ. State of N. Y., 1922).
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than any other Director-General of New Netherland. He was born about 1600, in Holland, and was of somewhat disrep- utable report at the time of his appointment to the gov- ernorship.5 His was, at the outset, a somewhat difficult task in New Netherland, as may be judged from his first report to the Company, which paints a somewhat discouraging picture of the state of the province. He wrote: "The fort is open at every side except the stone point; the guns are dismounted ; the houses and public buildings are all out of repair ; the mag- azine for merchandise has disappeared; every vessel in the harbor is falling to pieces; only one windmill is in operation ; the farms of the Company are without tenants and thrown into commons; the cattle are all sold or on the plantation of Van Twiller." The latter had an extensive cattle ranch; also a tobacco plantation on Manhattan Island. So, perhaps, there was some excuse for the strong despotic action Kieft took. Unfortunately, he was not broad-minded as well as strong. His administration was disastrous, in consequence ; and in 1647 he was recalled. He was drowned while return- ing to Holland in that year.
The main points of Kieft's administration have been con- sidered in other chapters. Some of the minor ones were : The establishment of a passport system; the institution of bell ringing at "Curfew" (nine o'clock) each night, to announce the hour for retiring; the distilling by the governor, on a Staten Island farm in 1640 "of the first liquor ever made in this country"; the building by the West India Company of the first tavern opened in New Amsterdam, that which became
5. He landed on Manhattan Island March 28, 1638 . . . . to find that rumors to his disadvantage had preceded him. It was said that he had failed in mercantile business in Holland, and that, according to Dutch custom, his portrait had been affixed to the gallows in consequence. That, in Dutch estimation, was a lasting disgrace. After that, it was alleged, he had been sent by his government, as Minister to Turkey, and entrusted with money to free some Christian captives, but the captives were not liberated, nor the money returned .- "Nat. Encyc. American Biog.," Vol. VI, 91.
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the Stadt Huys in 1653; the building of a new church of stone, in 1642.
Petrus Stuyvesant, the next governor, was probably the most picturesque personality of the Dutch period in New York. He was born in the province of Friesland, in the Netherlands, in 1602,5ª the son of Balthazar Stuyvesant, a clergyman of the Reformed Church. The son received a classical education, his father probably hoping that he would enter the ministry; but this headstrong turbulent boy was better fitted for a military career. He became a soldier, and in time reached responsible office in the colonial forces. He was governor at Curacao, in the West Indies, in the 'forties, and in an attack upon the Portuguese island of St. Martin, in 1644, lost a leg. In August of that year, after having sent one hundred and thirty of his soldiers from Curacao to New Netherland, to help Kieft, then beset by Indians, Stuyvesant returned to Holland for surgical treatment. In 1645 it was decided to recall Kieft, and Lubbertus van Dincklagen was chosen to succeed him as Director-General of New Netherland. However, he was a man of peace and future possibilities in New Netherland seemed to call for direction by a military man. So, Stuyvesant having made good recovery after his operation, the appointment of van Dincklagen was cancelled, and the soldier from Curacao given the commission. In 1647 he reached New Netherland, with the effect stated in earlier chapters. After the English took possession of New Amster- dam Stuyvesant returned to Holland to explain the surrender. While it was probably recognized that Stuyvesant had done all that was personally possible, and that the passing of New Netherland to the English was inevitable and could not have been stayed by him or any other governor, the old soldier seems to have been uncomfortable in Holland. Moreover, his wealth-not inconsiderable-was in New Amsterdam. So,
5a. Compare with footnote No. 6.
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despite the presence of the dominant English, he returned to New Amsterdam in August, 1672, and lived the remainder of his life upon his Bowerie estate. According to the inscription on his tombstone, which is in the outer wall of St. Mark's Prot- estant Episcopal Church, New York City, Petrus Stuyvesant died in 1672.6
The brief administration of Anthony Colve, who was gov- ernor for less than a year (1673-74), will be considered in the proper place in the review of the sequence of events of English rule in New York. Colve gave indications of good executive ability, but, of course, he could hardly have been expected to more than temporarily hold the province, if the strong New England colonies united to attack it. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he could have held it against even the English within the province.
Undoubtedly, the acts of most of the Directors-General of New Netherland were arbitrary ; and not one seemed to wel- come popular government. Yet, when all points are consid- ered, the inclination towards the feudal shown by the gov- ernors was not without reason, nor indefensible. The task of each governor was difficult, rendered more so by the mer- cenary purpose they had ever to keep in mind. Hampered as they were by divided authority within the province, and by little prestige outside, they were not enviably situated. The authority of the patroons complicated executive matters, ren-
6. He was buried at his chapel in the Bowerie, the site of which is now occupied by St. Mark's Protestant Episcopal Church. In the outer wall of that edifice his tombstone may be seen, inscribed :
"In this vault lies buried Petrus Stuyvesant, late Captain General and Governor in Chief of Amsterdam in New Netherland, now called New York, and the Dutch West India islands. Died A. D. 1671/2, aged 80 years." His widow, Judith Bayard Stuyvesant, lived upon the Bowerie until her death, in 1687. Of her two sons, Balthazar was born in 1647, and settled in the West Indies, where he married and died; Nicholas William was born in 1648. He remained in New York City and married Maria Beekman, and after her death, Elizabeth van Schlectenhorst. By her will, Mrs. Judith Bayard Stuyvesant founded St. Mark's Church .- "Nat. Cyclopedia of Am. Biog.," Vol. V, 140.
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dering central control difficult; the non-assimilable English of Long Island were disaffecting influences within the province; and the weakness of New Netherland by comparison with the New England colonies constituted a chronic state of ap- prehension in governmental circles, a state rendered more ominous by the certainty that the New England colonies looked upon the Dutch as interlopers, occupying land which rightly was English territory. Therefore, some of the faults of the governors of New Netherland may be condoned ; some of their failures to please all classes may, perhaps, be attrib- utable to weaknesses of the Dutch system of government, to their faulty land titles, and to government by a chartered com- mercial company, rather than to weaknesses of their own persons. It would be well to bear these circumstances in mind when judging the governors of New Netherland by their official acts.
THE PATROONS.
The manorial system, in the granting of patroonships in 1629 was generally a failure. It was conceived in an effort by the West India Company to colonize their province at the expense of others. The patroon had feudal powers, and, in practice undermined both the finances and the political strength of the West India Company. The patroons had judicial powers over those who settled within their manor, though it seems that "the Patroon of Rensselaerswyck was the only one who established a manorial court."7
The patroons were :
Michael Paauw, granted the patroonship of Pavonia, reach- ing into what became New Jersey, from what is Jersey City; this patroonship was surrendered in 1636-37; it was granted in 1630.
Samuel Godyn and Samuel Blommaert, patroons of Swan- endael, a manor at the capes of the Delaware River. Granted in 1630; surrendered February 7, 1635.
7. Werner's "Civil List of N. Y.," 1888 ed., p. 58.
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Kiliaen van Rensselaer, patroon of Rensselaerswyck, granted in 1630-31 ; his son, Johan, succeeding and becoming a power in the province.
David Pietersen de Vries, partner in the Swanendael manor, and there as resident patroon in 1632, after an Indian massacre ; later, the patroon of Vriesendael, by the Tappan Sea; and in 1640 patroon of Staten Island.
Meyndert Meyndertsen, patroon of Achter Col, the region in New Jersey from the Raritan River to the Highlands. Granted in 1641.
Cornelius Melyn, patroon of Staten Island. Granted in 1642; surrendered in 1659.
Adriaen van der Donck, patroon of Colendonck. Granted in 1646, the tract embracing what became Yonkers and extend- ing into Westchester County.
Cornelius van Werkhoven, patroon of Neversinck and Tap- pan. Granted in 1651. He abandoned these and in 1652 established a colonie at Nyack, now New Utrecht, L. I.
Godyn and Blommaert were the first to act. They were Amsterdam directors of the West India Company, and, hav- ing advance knowledge of the intentions of the Company, they had prepared the way by acquiring the Indian title to "the Bay of the South River" before the first passage of the charter; but they, of course, decided to come within the provision of the charter, and had the distinction of receiving the first patroon's patent, it being issued to them on July 15, 1630. "It was the first European title, by purchase from the aborigines, within the limits of the present State of Delaware," writes Brodhead, "and it bears date two years before the charter of Maryland, granted to Lord Baltimore by Charles I." These patroons do not come prominently into New Netherland af- fairs, as they left the colonization to others; and after dis- astrous experience with the Indians and difficulties with the Company, the land was reconveyed to the latter. Captain Pieter Heyes took out thirty emigrants to Delaware Bay in 1631 and founded Swaanendael, near the present town of Lewiston, Delaware; but in the first year, all the settlers were
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murdered by Indians, Captain de Vries finding, in 1632, only the ruins of the burned houses to mark the site of Heyes' colony.
David Pietersen de Vries was one of the strongest men connected with public affairs in the province during the ad- ministrations of Van Twiller and Kieft. He had long been in the service of the East India Company, and was experienced in colonial affairs. Probably because of this his attitude toward both Van Twiller and Kieft was that of a major officer advising a minor; and had they followed his advice some calamitous happenings would have been averted. De Vries was a partner of Godyn, Blommaert, Van Rensselaer and other directors of the West India Company in the Swaanendael enterprise, and was the active patroon. When this manor was given back to the Company in 1635, Van Rensselaer was compensated by a grant of an additional tract near, or contiguous to, his already extensive estates at Rens- selaerswyck. De Vries later began a colony by the Tappan Sea ; it was known as Vriesendael. In 1640 he bought land on Staten Island, and was one of the first to carry out col- onists to the plantation, under the improved colonization plan of 1638 and 1640. In 164I he is referred to as the Patroon of Staten Island; in that year he gave Cornelis Melyn permis- sion to erect a small redoubt upon the eastern headland, where a flag could be raised whenever a vessel appeared in the bay, thus giving Manhattan its first system of marine teleg- raphy. In June, 1641, Staten Island was raided by Indians, and the plantations of De Vries suffered. De Vries was the president of the first popular body, representative of the com- monalty, constituted in New Netherland; and he had lost materially by the Indian raids upon his settlements; yet he emphatically opposed Governor Kieft in his plans to bring the Indians under subjection. De Vries did not hesitate to tell the governor so in emphatic language, and in consequence he lost favor. He seems to have passed over the patroonship of
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Staten Island to Melyn, as well as his leadership of the popular body, for he does not come into the New Netherland record after 1643. De Vries had part in the peace treaty negotiated early in 1643,* but not in that of 1645. The Indians had confidence in him, and although when passions were aroused, and the savages had an advantage, the Redskins could not differentiate between his and other colonies of white men, his settlement at Vriesendael was at least once saved by the intercession of an Indian, who pointed out De Vries as "the good Swannekin chief."
Two other directors of the West India Company seized the patroonship opportunity that came to them in advance of the public, with the result that on the very day, in 1630, that the Charter of Privileges and Exemptions became known in New Amsterdam, Kiliaen van Rensselaer ratified the purchase of an immense estate, through his agent, Krol. Three months later Michael Paauw was confirmed by Governor Minuit in the patroonship of Pavonia. Michael Paauw's many estates were sold back to the West India Company five years or so later, but the Van Rensselaer estate was lost forever to the company. Van Rensselaer, in 1630, accumulated Indian titles to land in which the Company's trading post, Fort Orange, became in reality but an isolated station in the midst of a vast patroonship; and in the same eventful year Michael Paauw's agent secured a very long water frontage opposite Fort Manhattan, monopolizing what seemed to be the choicest terminal sites. Paauw's transactions were challenged by the Company, but Van Rensselaer for a while seemed to gain increasing favor in the Company.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer was a very rich merchant, "a dealer and worker in precious stones," and became Burgomas- ter of Amsterdam, as well as a director of the West India
*Not long after De Vries left the colony forever. He accepted a skipper's invitation to pilot his vessel to Virginia .- See "History of Long Island" (1925), p. 74.
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Company. But Paauw was also wealthy, was a man of in- fluence in Amsterdam; was also a Burgomaster of Amster- dam; and in addition was Lord of Achtienhoven. Therefore, the influential standing of Van Rensselaer in Holland can hardly explain why he was permitted to retain his vast estates and Paauw was forced to reconvey. Obvious facts are that Paauw's manor, Pavonia, was too near the head station of the Company, Fort Manhattan, and seemed to be sites of dis- tinct potential value, whereas Van Rensselaer's tract was far away. This fact also probably guided the Indian policy of the agents of Van Rensselaer, as it had that of the traders who had been in that "up-river" region earlier. Fort Manhattan was so far away that they could not rush to it for protection in case of trouble with the Indians. So, a less arrogant bear- ing had to be observed in dealing with the Indians of the upper Hudson region. Eelken's cultivation of good relations with the Mohawk Indians in 1617-18 was repeated by Van Rensselaer's commissaries, the most successful in this being Commissary Arendt van Curler, who developed a strong, peaceful manor for Van Rensselaer while Pavonia was suffer- ing from raid after raid by treacherous Indians.
The territory secured for Kiliaen Van Rensselaer in 1630 included :
I. An immense tract on the west side of the North River, extending from Barren Island, about twelve miles below Albany, to Samk's Island, and two days' journey inland.
2. Contiguous territory to the northward, carrying his boundaries nearly to the confluence of the Mohawk.
3. A tract on the east side of the river, with river frontage extending from Castle Island to Fort Orange, and from "Poeta- nock the Mill Creek, northward to Negagonce."
As time went on, and the upper Hudson region failed to bring much revenue, the Company realized that its trading post at Fort Orange did not get all the peltries that the Indians brought into the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck,
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which embraced practically the whole of the present counties of Albany, Columbia, Delaware, Green and Rensselaer. They would have been glad to have ousted Van Rensselaer ; in fact, they tried to but failed.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer was born in Amsterdam, Holland, in 1595. His death is believed to have occurred "at some time prior to August, 1644, and perhaps as early as the fall of 1643,8 "the patroon's estate and title passing to his eldest son, Johannes. As the latter was still in nonage, his uncle Johan van Wely, and his cousin, Wouter Van Twiller, were made guardians of the young patroon's estate. It is stated in one record that Arendt van Curler, another cousin, was also a guardian.9 Adriaen van der Donck, who had held responsi- bility of officer of justice, or schout, at Rensselaerswyck for some time (probably since 1641, having been commissioned as such May 13, 1641) resigned at or about the time of the death of the first patroon. Nicolaes Coorn, "the commander at Rensselaers-Steyn, a small fort on Beeren Island,"10 took Van der Donck's duties temporarily, but upon the arrival of Brant Aertsz van Slichtenhorst, in 1648, to succeed Van der Donck, Coorn became his assistant, with the title of Officier Luytenant, or deputy sheriff. After the arrest of Van Slich- tenhorst, Gerrit Swardt succeeded him as schout. The other office of Van Slichtenhorst, that of director of the colony, was taken by Jan Baptist van Rensselaer, who had arrived in the colony in June, 1651.
8. An entry in the minutes of the director-general and council of New Netherland, under date of August 8, 1644 (N. Y. Colonial Mss., 4: 99) in which reference is made to "the heirs of Mr. Rensselaer, deceased," shows, namely, that Kiliaen van Rensselaer died not in 1646, as stated by O'Cal- laghan, Brodhead, and all other writers, but some time prior to August, 1644, and perhaps as early as the fall of 1643, when the patroon's letters to the colony, published in the "Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts," ceased .- See Van Laer's translations of the "Minutes of the Court of Rensselaer- wyck, 1648-1652," p. II.
9. "History of Troy and Rensselaer County, N. Y.," (1925), pp. 45-46. 10. Van Laer, "Minutes of Court of Rensselaerswyck," p. II.
Boc
Van Rensselaer Manor House.
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The patroon did not take Governor Stuyvesant's ruling meekly, after the arrest of Van Slichtenhorst. The question of the right of Stuyvesant to declare that the village (Bevers- wyck) was not within the jurisdiction of Patroon Van Rens- selaer was vigorously debated by the representatives of the latter before the States General; and the patroon was event- ually upheld.11 And when New Netherland passed to the English in 1664, the Van Rensselaer estates were confirmed to the family, all that was asked of Jeremias van Rensselaer, then in residence, being that he renew his patent under the Duke of York, and, with his people, take the oath of allegiance to the English crown. The family remained in possession of an immense manorial estate throughout the English period; Stephen van Rensselaer, who was Major-General of Militia, and in command of American forces on the Niagara fron- tier during the War of 1812, possessed nearly one thousand farms of one hundred and sixty acres each.12 At all events, he leased that number to tenants, on long terms at nominal rents, and was never arbitrary with his tenants. Although rents remained long unpaid, it is said he never disturbed his delin- quent tenants ; hence he "was revered and respected even as a landlord."13 But trouble began with his death, in 1839. The estates passed to his sons, Stephen and William P., the former taking the western portion (mainly in Albany County), and
II. The directors of the West India Company afterwards repudiated Stuyvesant's action and on April 2, 1674, declared : "That the above named Patroon Rensselaer and co-partners have been already, from the year XVIc and thirty, and are true owners of the above named hamlet, named Bevers- wyck or Willemstadt, and that the possession by their late Director could not take away nor diminish said ownership; declaring therefore that the above named Company has no right, action, nor pretension thereto, leaving the right of ownership in the above-named Patroon and associates."-See "Documents Relating to Colonial History of New York," 2: 558, 560-61, quoted by Van Laer in "Preface of Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswyck 1648-52," pp. 18-19.
12. "History of Troy and Rensselaer County, N. Y.," 1925, p. 48.
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