USA > New York > Ecclesiastical records, state of New York, Volume I > Part 6
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Rev. Henricus Geesteranus, of Haerlem.
Rev. John Junius, Minister at Assendelft.
Cornelius Cornelisse, Elder of Harlem.
Aert Jansse, Elder of East Laenen.
From (Classis of) Amsterdam.
Rev. John La Maire, Minister at Amsterdam.
Rev. Hermanus Busschovius, Minister at Weesp. Dirck Gerritze, Elder at Amsterdam.
Peter Cornelisse, Elder at Sloterdyk.
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34
.1621
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
From (Classis of) Hoorn.
Rev. Rippertus Sirtus, Minister at Hoorn. Rev. Anthonius Hansonis, Minister at Twisch. Peter Willemse, Elder at Hoorn.
Claes Jansse, Elder at Houwaert.
From (Classis of) Enkhuysen.
Rev. Abraham a Doreslaer, Minister at Enkhuysen. REV. JONAS JOHANNIS* MICHAELIUS, t Minister at Hem. John Francisci (Fransse) Hooman, Elder at Enkhuysen. Bartholomew Martensse, Elder at Medemblik.
From (Classis of) Edam.
Rev. Jacobus de Roo, Minister at Edam.
Rev. Bernardus Jaitz, Minister at Zuider Horn. Simon Pietersse, Elder at Edam.
Henry Dirxe, Elder at Parmerend.
From (Classis of) Alkmaar.
Rev. William Nicolay Somer, Minister at Alkmaar. Rev. Gualterus Adriani, Minister at Graft and Ryp. Barck Cornelisse Achagen, Elder at Alkmaar. Claes Cornelisse, Elder at Schagen.
Note on the Village of Hem, where Rev. Jonas Michaëlius first settled, 1614-1624.
Hem, the town and church where the Rev. Jonas Michaëlius ministered from 1614-1624, when he went to San Salvador in Brazil, and in 1623 became the first Dutch minister in New Am- sterdam, (New York,) is thus described in Van der Aa's Geo- graphical Gazetteer, 1644.
* Johannis here is in genitive case, and is the name of the Father of Jonas.
i The name of Michaelius does not occur again in the Minutes of this session.
35
1621
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
Village and Church of Hem.
Hem, village in Dregterland, Province of North Holland, a court circuit, and two hours W. S. W. from Enkhuizen, a subdi- vision of the community (gemeente) of " Venhuizen-and-Hem "; a half hour W. of Venhuizen, on the so called Short Stretch (Korte-Streek). It is estimated that there are within the bounds (kom) of the village, one hundred houses, and six hundred and thirty inhabitants. These mostly gain their subsistence by agri- culture and cattle raising. 1173210
The Reformed, who are here fully five hundred in number, and among whom are one hundred and sixty communicants, consti- tute a congregation which belongs to the Classis of Hoorn, and the subdivision (ring) of Enkhuizen .* The first one to exercise here the duties of a minister, was Sybrand Vomelius, who came here in the year 1573, and died or left in the year 1580. The Church, (or living), which before the Reformation, was dedicated to the Holy Evangelist Luke, was at that time subject to the gift of the Counts; the "Investiture " was made by the Provost (Proost) of West Friesland. The "living " (pastorij) amounted altogether to 50 Rhenish guilders (75 Dutch guilders, or $30.) It then possessed no house for the pastor, but it had seven mor- gen (fourteen acres) of land. For the sexton's support (lit. sex- tonship) there were three morgen (six acres) of land. The church is an ancient cruciform structure, in which at the base much duifsteen (gravelly, porous stone) may still be seen. The tower is square, with an octagonal steeple, rather high. There is no organ in the church. The call is made by the Consistory.
The Roman Catholics of whom there are found to be three hun- dred and fifty, belong to the Stat. (station ?) of Hem-and-Ven- huizen, which had a church here dedicated in early times to Saint Luke. This was abandoned in the year 1835.
* In 1785 and 1793, Hem and Venhuizen were separate churches, and reckoned under the Classis of Enkhuizen. Several other of the early Dutch ministers of New York were previously or subsequently pastors at Hem; for example, Rev. Samuel Megapolensis and Rev. William Nieuwenhuysen, etc.
36
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
1622
The baptismal school (doop school - parochial school ?) is at- tended, on the average, by about one hundred pupils.
In the year 1387 Ham-and-Venhuizen leased their own fishery from the Count. According to charter by Duke William of Bavaria (Count William II) under date of February 2, 1413, Hem, in union with Venhuizen, was elevated into a city, under the designation of the " City of Hem ", whereby were determined its Citizen rights, Magistracy, Government, etc. In 1492, the fine imposed upon it on account of the Cheese and Bread Rebellion (an agrarian insurrection) was lightened one third. In 1508 there arose a fierce dispute between them and Wydeness about a road, stretching from the Blokdyke to the Meeu Road, which was arbitrated by Enkhuizen. In 1508 the people of Hem cooperated as a labor of love in the fortifying of the city of Hoorn. The rulers (regenten) in the year 1741, bought up (hebben afgekocht) the manorial rights, (ambachtsheerlijkheid), so that now it is no longer a manor, (heerlijkheid.)
From the " Aardrijkskundig Woordenboek der Nederlanden bi- jeengebracht door A. J. van der Aa." Published at Gorinchem by Jacobus Noorduyn, 1844.
1623. THE WALLOONS. 1622, Feb. 5.
Certain Walloons* and French petitioned the King of England to settle in Vir- ginia. See Petition, Col. Docs. N. Y. iii. 9. This was not granted. Certain Wal- loons, probably the same, subsequently petitioned the States General, to settle in New Netherland. The following action was taken:
Resolution of the States of Holland and West Friesland on a proposed plan of Emigration. The 21 April, 1622.
The Directors of the West India Company report that they have examined the paper relative to the Families to be conveyed to the West Indies, and are of opinion, that it is very advantageous for the Company, and therefore that an effort
* The Walloons were a Romance people of Gallican and Teutonic origin, who had crossed the French border, and settled in Belgium chiefly in Hainault, Namur, Lux- omburg, Limburg and Liege. Their language is an old dialect of the French; it has a small literature of its own. Of these Walloons many embraced the Reformed faith, and were obliged to fly in consequence, being expelled by the Spaniards from the Catholic Netherlands; many passed into Holland, and some found their way to England. From some of these people, desirous of finding a settled home, came a petition to King James in 1621, for permission to go to Virginia and there to form an establishment of their own. They had high and aristocratic notions; they
1
37
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1622
ought to be made to promote it, with a promise that they should be employed; and to postpone it until the Directors should be formed, if the Assembly thought proper that this promise should be made to them; which, being considered by the Lords, gentlemen and cities, it is unanimously resolved and concluded, that the said promise shall be given with the knowledge of the Magistracy, and to proceed with it accordingly .- Col. Docs. N. Y. i. 28.
Says Wassenaar: In the spring of 1623, the West India Company equipped "a vessel of one hundred and thirty lasts, called the New Netherlands, whereof Cor- nelius Jacobs of Hoorn was Skipper, with thirty families, mostly Walloons ". They sailed by way of the Canaries, and reached the Hudson River.
The New Netherlands, on her arrival, was joined by the yacht Mackerel, which had come over by way of the West Indies the previous year. She found a French Ship in the harbor, which, with the aid of the Mackerel, she attacked and drove away. On the New Netherlands, was one Catalina Trico, born in Paris .- Doc. Hist. N. Y. iii. 23, 24.
NOTE ON THE FIRST TWO DIRECTORS. 1623-1625.
The West India Company was chartered June 3, 1621. After two years of pre- liminary preparation, the Company was fully organized, and began to prosecute with energy the objects of its incorporation. New Netherland was made a province in 1623, and assigned to the care of the Amsterdam Chamber. The Provincial seal of New Netherland was a shield, bearing a beaver, proper, surmounted by a count's coronet, and encircled by the words " Sigillum Novi Belgii ". In the spring of 1623, the first permanent colonization began. The ship " New Netherland " was equipped and brought thirty families over, the greater part of whom were Walloons. Cor- nelis Jacobson May superintended this expedition, which reached Manhattan in May. Manhattan Island was taken possession of in the name of the Company. The Director then went with the colonists up the North River and built Fort Orange on Castle Island, where about eighteen families settled. Alliances were at once made with the neighboring Indians, and trade in peltry was begun. May then went to the South River and built Fort Nassau, near where the city of Gloucester now stands. Some of the Walloons who came over at this time settled at Walla- bout, or the Walloon's Boght or Cove. Other emigrants soon followed. The furs sent back to Holland during May's administration amounted to twenty-eight thou- sand guilders. He was succeeded in 1624 by William Verhulst as Director, who returned to Holland in November, 1625. There seem to be no special references to religion or ecclesiastical matters during the term of these two Directors.
wished to live as nobles, in a kind of feudal system, and asked that they might be granted, in the new country, certain extraordinary and exclusive privileges for themselves and their descendants. The petition was denied, and the scheme, though twice proposed in 1621, and again in 1622, fell through .- Dr. Dix, Hist. Trinity Ch. N. Y., i. 24, 25.
38
1624 .
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
1624, Aug. 6, et seq. SYNOD OF NORTH HOLLAND, HELD AT ENKHUYSEN.
Article 33.
IV. With whom shall be the direction and supervision of the Churches in the East Indies ?*
Answer: That the direction shall remain with the churches and Classes within whose bounds are located the East India (Company's) Chambers. In order that this matter, general equality, [lit. a footing universally equal], may be maintained, it was resolved to request the Seventeen, [the Central Board of the East India Company, consisting of seventeen members,] to be pleased to defray the necessary expenses. Thus the dele- gates of the several Churches and Classes may assemble at con- venient seasons, and conjointly be able to adopt resolutions about the Gravamina [Grievances or Questions] coming up from the East Indies, with unanimity, and in the presence of the Deputies of the Synods; thus also may they be able to render a proper re- port of what has been done [by the several Classes], to the re- spective Synods. But in order that all this may be done with due respect for the High Authorities, therefore the Messrs., the States of Holland and West Friesland, shall be waited on [begroeten] about this matter, and their High Mighty Authority be requested.
On this same occasion, the delegates of the other Provinces suggested, that inasmuch as the supervision of the church affairs in the East Indies concerns all the churches of this land in com- mon, whether it would not be well to permit the churches of the
* Upon the same principle was founded the management of the churches in the territories of the West India Company, viz., New Netherland, Brazil, Surinam, West India Islands, Cape Colony, etc. Hence the ports of Hoorn and Enkhuysen, and the Classes of the same name, at first had charge of any ecclesiastical mat- ters in New Netherland. Michaelius was sent over by the Classis of Enkhuysen. But in 1628, just after his departure for America, the control of New Netherland passed into the care of the Classis of Amsterdam, as Michaelius intimates in his letter.
39
1625
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
other Provinces to send their delegates, at their own expense, to the Assembly beforementioned, that they might likewise take part in the knowledge and supervision of all. The Synod having dis- cussed this matter, gave for answer as follows: that while this business [above alluded to] is not yet effected, they will be pleased to be patient; and to believe that when it is carried into effect, as desired, that then, this their suggestion, shall be duly taken into consideration. They were very well pleased to accept of this answer.
1625, Aug. 12, et seq. SYNOD OF NORTH HOLLAND, AT EDAM.
Article 19. The matter of the Church-Order in the East Indies, remains open, as heretofore.
Art. 22. East Indian Churches.
As to the direction and supervision of the East India Churches - more fully recited in Art. 33, (1624) - it is reported that the proposal therein mentioned, is not as yet granted by definite de- cisions. It was proposed by the Deputati of Utrecht, as well as by those of Overyssel, in the name of their respective Synods, and more urgently by those of Gelderland, that inasmuch as the su- pervision of Church affairs in the East Indias concerns equally, all the churches of this land, whether it were not well to recog- nize in this whole business, all the churches in their respective Provinces. The Synod gave further consideration to this matter but still holds to the previous resolution. This matter is therefore still left in statu.
Art. 43. Ministerial changes, in the several Classes, indicated. [This first example of such changes is given, because the name of Michaëlius occurs. ]
In the Classis of Edam.
Died : Jacobus Pauli, formerly Minister at Beets and Oud- endyc.
40
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
1625
Removed : Isaac Lydius.
Came in: John Ab. Otten, ordained and called at Beets and Oudendyc.
In the Classis of Alkmaar.
Died :
Vincentius Mensevoet, at Schagen.
Removed : Daniel Koningsvelt, of the Wael and Oostereynde.
Came in: Louis Hondius, from Huyssam to Schagen. John Backer, called and ordained at the Wael and Oos- teynde.
In the Classis of Haarlem.
Died : Claes Claessen, late Minister at Uitgeest.
Emeritus : Claes Aelbertsen, at East Saenen.
Came in: Henry Geldorpius, at East Saenen; Isaac Plantius, at Heemstede; Obdias Witmarius, at Uytgeest.
In the Classis of Amsterdam.
Removed : Louis Hondius, from Huyssum to Schagen.
Came in: Cornelius Hanecopius, from Breda to Amsterdam; Philip Bevert, called and ordained at Huyssum.
In the Classis of Hoorn.
Died : Corn. Jansse, late Minister at Schellinchout.
Came in: Gerard Puppius, from Breuckel to Hoorn.
In the Classis of Enkhuysen.
Removed : Jonas Michielse," from Hem to Brazil, at San Sal- vador.
Came in: Frans Esause, on East Vlielandt; George Wesselius, at Hem.
* This is the Dutch form of the name generally Latinized into Michaelius.
41
1625
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
THE DUTCH IN BRAZIL.
In 1624, the fleet of the West India Company, under Admiral Piet Hein, captured Bahia. It had to be abandoned however the next year, and the Dutch gained no permanent hold until 1630. Though a Portuguese possession, the conquest of Portugal by Spain in 1584, made all the colonies of the former nation the legitimate spoils of War for the Dutch in their War against Spain.
The seat of colonial government was located at the captured city of Olinda, in the Captaincy of Pernambuco. The city
founded by the Dutch was called Mauritsstad, after John Maurice, Count of Nassau, (a cousin of the Prince of Orange,) who was governor of Dutch Brazil from 1636 to 1644. In 1640 Portugal threw off the Spanish yoke and became again an independent government, largely by aid of the Dutch Republic. This pro- duced serious complications in Brazil, and finally the Dutch pos- sessions there had to be restored to their original owners, Portugal by a convention in 1661 agreeing to pay to the West India Com- pany an indemnity of eight millions of guilders (or three million two hundred thousand dollars). Things had been in great con- fusion years before this final settlement, which accounts for the emigration of Dutch preachers from Brazil to New Netherland.
THE DUTCH CHURCH IN BRAZIL.
1625-1654.
There had already been an attempt to found the French Re- formed Church in Brazil, for which see the Missionary Histories. But the Dutch West India Company took Bahia from the Portu- guese in 1624, and in 1625, Rev. Jonas Michaëlius went thither as minister. The Jesuists, under the Portuguese, had already done some missionary work in Brazil. Michaëlius left the next year for Guinea. Other Dutch ministers followed in Brazil, but in
42
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
1625
1637, Count John Maurice, the Governor, wrote to Holland for eight more Reformed ministers. Rev. Davilus was the first to learn the language of the natives. Rev. Domine Riflarius was eloquent in preaching both in Portuguese and Brazilian, and trans- lated the Heidelberg Catechism into the Tapuya dialect. Rev. Frederic Casseber preached at Reissa. At Olinda and the neigh- boring villages, the Revs. Joachim Soller and Johannes Theo- dorus Polhemius, preached, both in French and Portuguese. Pol- hemus came to New Netherland in 1654, and is the ancestor of the large and respected family of that name in New York and elsewhere. Rev. Cornelius Poelius (Pool) preached in Tamarica, and Rev. Samuel Rathclarius, an Englishman, preached in Paraiba, St. Augustine; and Rev. John Eduardi at Serinhaen. Two Classes were finally organized here, and even a Synod. The ecclesiastical records in Holland are full of material, and Dutch and Latin histories, as well as one or more in German, of Count John Maurice, abound in Holland. A small Latin History was purchased by the writer in 1898, and is in the Collegiate Church Library, New York. See also Dr. Jas. I. Good's " Reformed Church in America ", 1899.
43
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
1626- 1632
THE ADMINISTRATION OF PETER MINUIT.
1626-1632.
Peter Minuit was born in the city of Wesel, on the Rhine, in the Duchy of Cleves. This city was famous as an asylum for the persecuted. Being adjacent to the northeastern part of Holland, myriads of persecuted Hollanders flocked thither, as well as exiles from England and Scotland. Besides the regular German Re- formed Church in Wesel, there were also organized there, from these exiles, large and influential French Reformed, Dutch Re- formed and English Reformed congregations. Wesel was famous at this time for its religious and literary activity. Here mingled some of the choicest spirits of Europe. It was here that the exiles of the churches of Holland met, in 1568, and adopted their Presbyterial Form of Church Government.
It was in such a center of intelligence that Peter Minuit was born in 1580 of Huguenot parentage. While he generally wrote his name Minuit, it is sometimes found written Menewee, accord- ing to pronunciation. He was of robust form, and had dark eyes and brusque manners. In time he became a ruling elder of the Walloon or French Reformed Church of Wesel; while his brother- in-law Jan Huyghens, who subsequently went with him to New Netherland and was prominent in both Church and State, was a deacon of the Dutch Reformed Church of Wesel, which some- times numbered four or five thousand members.
Minuit probably left Wesel about 1624, because the city had fallen into the hands of the Spaniards. He was, perhaps, specially fitted to take charge of a colony, for he was a man of sound prin- ciples and practical tact. He combined the qualities of a Christian, a merchant and a pioneer; and was therefore well qualified to lay
1626- 1632
44
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
the foundations of Church and State in New Amsterdam. He was appointed Director of New Netherland by the West India Company, December 19, 1625, and landed at New Amsterdam, May 4, 1626. He was careful that seeds, plants, animals and implements of husbandry should be provided for his colony.
Minuit at once bought the island of Manhattan of the red men, for twenty four dollars. He always dealt honorably with the In- dians. He was the actual founder of civil government in New Netherland. Business began to flourish as never before. He opened up correspondence with Governor Bradford of Plymouth, and proposed commercial reciprocity. He also sent Bradford a present of sugar and Holland cheese.
Upon the arrival of Domine Michaëlius in April, 1628, Minuit and his brother-in-law Huyghens were at once chosen to be the ruling elders of the Dutch Church which Michaëlius established. According to researches made in 1868 by pastor J. D. Sardeman, of Wesel, Huyghens was deacon of the Dutch Reformed Church in Wesel in 1612; but Minuit's name was not found in the records of that Church. It is probable, therefore, that Minuit was elder of the French Church of Wesel, and that Michaëlius was not exactly accurate in his expression. No doubt Minuit was also a deacon in that French Church before he became an elder, as was the custom. Neither does Minuit's name occur in the records of the German Church of Wesel. The records of the French Church are lost. Minuit's name, however, occurs in the civil records of Wesel on March 5, 1619, as guardian of his sister's minor chil- dren; and again on April 15, 1625, it is recorded that he had left for foreign lands. Minuit was recalled in the spring of 1632. In 1638 he returned to America to found the colony of New Sweden, in Delaware. He succeeded, but perished in a West Indian hur- ricane the same year.
45
1626
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
See " Memorial Services in honor of Peter Minuit "," with addresses by Rev. Dr. Cyrus Cort and others, April 23, 1895, un- der the auspices of the State of Delaware. Several errors in former histories are therein corrected. See also Indexes of O'Cal- laghan and Brodhead.
COMFORTERS OF THE SICK. 1626.
While it was the general duty of ministers in the Netherlands to visit the sick, yet in destitute fields, or in those too large for the minister properly to attend to, certain ones, perhaps gen-
* The following Tablet has recently been erected in the Middle Dutch Church, New York City, 2nd Avenue, near 7th St., to the Memory of Peter Minuit:
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF PETER MINUIT FIRST DIRECTOR GENERAL OF NEW NETHERLAND, A.D. 1626
AND THE FIRST ELDER OF THIS CHURCH, A.D. 1628.
AN INTELLIGENT AND GOD-FEARING MAN, WITH GREAT EXECUTIVE ABILITY, AND ENTIRELY INCORRUPTIBLE. A MAN NOT SURPASSED IN WISE ADMINISTRATION OF AFFAIRS BY ANY OF THE LONG LINE OF STATESMEN AND PATRIOTS WHO, FOR THE GREATER PART OF THREE CENTURIES HAVE BEEN THE EXECUTIVES OF THE EMPIRE STATE.
" THE GLORY OF CHILDREN ARE THEIR FATHERS."
" THIS SHALL BE WRITTEN FOR THE GENERATION TO COME."
" TELL YOUR CHILDREN OF IT, AND LET YOUR CHILDREN TELL THEIR CHILDREN, AND THEIR CHILDREN ANOTHER GENERATION."
ERECTED A.D. 1900 .* BY A SUCCESSOR IN HIS ECCLESIASTICAL OFFICE, IN DEVOUT RECOGNITION OF THE TRUTH THAT,
" A GOOD NAME IS RATHER TO BE CHOSEN THAN GREAT RICHES."
¿ William L. Brower of New York City erected this and other Tablets mentioned hereafter.
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1626
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORDS
erally from the Great Consistory, and especially from the deacons, were appointed to this duty. There was an elaborate Form pre- pared for their use, which was formerly printed in all the editions of the Liturgy. (It was thus printed also in the first English editions in 1793 and 1815, in this country.) These special officers read this Form, in whole or in part, to the sick, together with the creeds. There were two words used to describe these officers, viz .: Krankenbezoeker and Ziekentrooster. Strictly speaking, the former means a seeker out, or visitor of the sick - especially those overtaken suddenly. by sickness; while the latter means a comforter of those who are very sick - especially when nearing their end. Practically, the two terms were used synonymously.
While many agencies are now devised to relieve the distressed, and to comfort the invalid, it is an interesting circumstance that the Dutch Reformed Church, the oldest in the Empire State by half a century, had a unique provision for this very work from the beginning. With Peter Minuit, the Director General of New Netherland, came over two Comforters of the sick. These were Sebastian Jansen Krol (or Crol) and Jan Huyck. As yet no ar- rangements had been made for a regular clergyman, but his place was thus partially supplied. The Form which they used consisted chiefly of consolatory texts of Scripture. When the Rev. Jonas Michaëlius, the first minister, arrived, in 1628, these two Com- forters of the Sick, together with Peter Minuit, the Director Gen- eral, were made the first elders of the Dutch Church of New Am- sterdam, (New York,) and with their appointment the Church was regularly organized.
In the Charter establishing Patroonships in 1629, and in sub- sequent similar Charters, it was required of the Patroons that they " shall particularly exert themselves to find speedy means to maintain a clergyman and schoolmaster, in order that Divine .Service and zeal for religion may be planted in that country, and (must) send at first a Comforter of the Sick ".
OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
47 1626
The Title of this Form is " The Consolation of the Sick; which is an Instruction in Faith and the Way of Salvation, to prepare Believers to die willingly ".
The line of thought which these Krankenbezoeckers or Zieken- troosters read, in the performance of their duty, was as follows :-
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