USA > New York > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and family history of New York, Volume I > Part 2
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so successful that in four years a dividend of seventy-five per cent was declared. Within seven years forty vessels, employing five thousand men, were sent to the eastern seas, and the re- ceipts reached the enormous sum of $12,000,000. No enterprise had ever been crowned with such well merited success. A: curious items to show the profits of the trade we may mention that pepper, which cost eleven cents a pound, was sold for thirty-two cents; eloves costing twelve and a half cents sold for $1.20, while maee bought for sixteen cents, was sold for $2.40. It was while this company was in power that Henry Hudson sailed on his famous voyage.
In 1597 the Dutch merchants were each separately granted the privilege of forming a company for the purpose of trade with the West Indies. Their companies were united in one. On a plat of ground granted by the city in Amsterdam a ware- house was erected, and such was the origin of the West India Company, so famous and powerful in later years. Its begin- ning was not so glorious, nor the first results so prosperous as its great rival. An expedition sent to Brazil met a worse enemy than Spain or Portugal, in the form of the yellow fever, of which more than a thousand men perished, and the design was abandoned, and its failure cansed great delay in the formal establishment of the company.
The real founder of the West India Company was William Usselinx, a native of Antwerp, but a resident in Holland. Every argument and every means that could be used by a man who was intent upon one great object was used by him. Although he had many able supporters, he had more than as many able oppo- nents. The jealousy of different cities had no small influence, and it was not until June 3, 1621, that its charter was duly signed and sealed. By this charter the States General author- ized the formation of a national society of merchants, and to
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enable them to carry out their purpose a capital of seven million of florins (or $2,800,000) was to be subscribed, and four-ninths of this was to be held in shares by persons in Amsterdam. For the space of twenty-four years, after July 1, 1621, it was to have the exclusive privilege of sending ships for trading pur- poses to the countries of America and Africa that bordered on the Atlantic ocean, while the remainder of the globe was as- signed to the East India Company. They had the same privi- leges of making treaties and alliances with princes and powers, and to erect forts in friendly and conquered territories, and the Directors could appoint governors and other officers and levy troops and fit out fleets. The Governor-General was to be appointed and commissioned by the States General. In case of actual hostilities, the general government was to provide twenty ships, while the Company was to man them and furnish all supplies, and also to furnish an equal number of vessels. One of the most important items was, that the Company had the privilege of exporting home manufactures, and of importing the products of the countries along the Atlantic free of duties for eight years. They were to "promote the populating of fer- tile and uninhabited regions." The capital required was not readily subscribed, but in 1622 all vessels except those of the Company were forbidden to procure cargoes of salt in the West Indies, and six months later the entire capital was procured.
On December 21, 1623, the first fleet was dispatched. It consisted of twenty-six vessels. The New Netherland Com- pany was entirely superseded, but New Netherland was not the main object of this enterprise. The fleet proceeded to Brazil. and San Salvador was captured, but lost the next year. In 1626 vast treasures, which were about to be sent to Spain, were taken, and sugar alone, to the value of $148,000, was a part of
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the spoils. The elimax of prosperity was in 1628, when the Spanish silver fleet was captured, and the prize was $4,600,000, while other prizes amounted to $1,600,000. A dividend of fifty per cent was declared in 1629, and another of twenty-five per cent in 1630. After that the Company deelined; finally, bur- dened with debt, it was dissolved in 1674, and a new West India Company was organized in 1675, and continued its opera- tions in a feeble manner for a long period. At length, as a result of the French Revolution, the two famous companies were swept out of existence in 1800.
The establishment of the West India Company furnished the first basis for a regular form of government for New Neth- erland. A small colony existed on Manhattan island, another on the upper Hudson, and another on the Delaware. The first director for all of them was Captain May, whose term expired in 1624, and he was succeeded by William Verhulst, but his care seems to have been confined to the Delaware Colony. Dur- ing his term an expedition was sent with especial view to col- onization. Four ships conveyed one hundred head of eattle and six families of forty-five persons, which were landed on Manhattan island. The first real governor was Peter Minnit, who had the title of Director-General, and arrived in May, 1626, and with him the regular history of New Netherland begins. It is strange that the veracious Diedrich Knickerbocker, whose "History" has provoked so many smiles and an equal amount of frowns while narrating at length the career of "Walter the Doubter," "William the Testy," and "Peter the Headstrong." tells us nothing of Peter Minuit, who preceded them all.
In 1623, the States General granted a seal for New Nether- land, representing a shield bearing a beaver proper, over which was a count's coronet, and around the whole were the words. "Sigillum Novi Belgii."
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The seal of New Amsterdam, with its crosses solitaire, is also here given.
SIGILIUM
AMSTELO
DAMENSIS IN NOVO BELGIO
Vol. 1-2
CHAPTER III. THE DUTCH GOVERNORS.
It is unfortunate that the history of the first few years of New Netherland is involved in obscurity. Of the administra- tion of May and Verhulst we know but little. With the arrival of Herr Director Peter Minuit, the real history begins. With him came his council, consisting of five members-Peter Byvelt, Jacob Elbertsen Wisinek, John Jansen Brower, Simon Dirck- sen Pos and Reynert Harmensen. Their duties were to advise the Director upon all matters pertaining to the government of the colony, with a special eye to the advancement of the in- terests of the West India Company. They were also a court for the trial of offenses, but the punishment was limited to a fine. Capital cases were to be referred to the goverment in Holland. These councillors were termed schepens. The other officers were a secretary (Isaac de Rasieres), and a schout fiscal, who combined the duties of sheriff and district attorney. The first to hold this position was John Lampe.
Peter Minnit is said to have come from Wesel, a town of Rhenish Prussia, near the borders of Holland, which had been a city of refuge, and thousands of Protestants had fled thither to escape persecution. He was a deacon of the Dutch Church. The ship in which he came to the New World was the "Sea Mew," and the first of his administration was to purchase the island from the aboriginal owners for the sum of sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars. This was paid not in money. but in articles of trifling valne and cost to the buyer, but dear to the hearts and of great value to the sellers. A ship named
4
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the "Arms of Amsterdam" arrived on July 27, 1626, and sailed on a return voyage on the 23d of September, carrying the news of the purchase, and the following letter communicated the news to the States General :
"High Mighty Sirs.
"There arrived vestrdy the ship the Arms of Amster-
Peter Stuyvesant.
dam, which sailed from New Nethrland ont of the Manritins River, on September 23; they report that our people there are of good conrage and live peaceably. Their women also, have borne children there. They have bought the island Manhattes from the wild men for the value of sixty guilders, is 11000 mor- gens in extent. They sowed all their grain the middle of May. and harvested it the middle of Angust. Thereof being samples of summer grain, such as wheat. rye, Barley, oats, buckwheat. canary seed, small beans and flax. The cargo of the aforesaid ship is 17246 Beaver skins, 1781. otter skins, 675 otter skins. 48 mink skins, 36 wild cat (lynx) skins, 33 minks, 34 rat skins. Many logs of oak and nnt wood. Herewith be ye High Mighty
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Sirs, Commended to the Almighty's grace. In Amsterdam Nov. 5, 1626."
From the letter of Dominie Jonas Michaelins we learn that Governor Minuit was one of the elders of the church. One of the most important acts of his administration was the granting to Killian Van Rensselaer an immense tract of land, twenty miles wide, on each side of the Hudson river, and known as the manor of Rensselaerwyek.
One of the results of early enterprise was an undertaking by the Walloon shipbuilders, to build a vessel. Timber of the largest size was close at hand, and in 1630 they launched a ship, larger than any built in the Fatherland. According to some authorities this was of twelve hundred tons burden, but others place it as of eight hundred tons. This ship received the name of "New Netherland." This was the second vessel built on Manhattan Island, the ship "Restless," built by Adriaen Block, being the first. The thirty houses already built was greatly in- creased in numbers, and in 1628 the inhabitants numbered two hundred and seventy. The fewness of these is in strange con- trast to the four thousand people already settled on James river, in Virginia, under the English government.
Whatever was done in the infant colony, the rights of the West India Company were held supreme. To advance their interests was the first duty of all officers, and the company did very little in return to protect or defend. It was probably becanse Director Minit was more careful to advance the in- terests of the colony than the company that led to his recall, and in 1632 he, in company with the schont fiscal, Lampe, em- barked for Holland, and a new man reigned in his stead. He was afterward the projector of a colony on Delaware river, and established Fort Christiana, and is said to have died there in 1641.
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The next director, or governor, was Walter Van Twiller, immortalized in the veracious history of Diedrich Knicker- bocker as "Walter the Doubter." He had been sent as early as 1629 to select the site for the patroonship of his relative Van Rensselaer, and it is supposed that it was through his influence that Minnit was recalled. It was not till a year after the de- parture of the latter that Van Twiller arrived to take the directorship, in the ship "Salt Mountain," in April, 1633. With him came a force of one hundred and four soldiers. His council were men afterwards prominent in the settlement-Captain John Jansen Hesse, Martin Gerritsen, Andrew Hudde and Jacques Bentyn. The secretary was John Van Remund. At this time appears Cornelius Van Tienhoven, who was made "Book Keeper of Wages," and later played an important part in the annals of the city. Shortly after came Captain David Pietrsz de Vries, who wrote a book, published in 1655, giving a very interesting account of the Dutch settlements in the New World.
But a far more important event occurred when, in April, 1633, there arrived in the harbor an English ship named "William," which had been sent by a company of London mer- chants to carry on a trade in furs upon the Hudson's river. This was the first actual attempt to enforce the claim of Eng- land to all that region. With this ship came one Jacob Elheus, who might be termed a renegade Dutchman, who had entered the English service, having for misdemeanors been dismissed from the employ of the West India Company. The captain of this ship, repudiating all title of the Dutch government, ad- vanced up the river to Fort Orange, and began to trade with the Indians. After some delay, Van Twiller sent a few small vessels with a company of soldiers, who soon compelled the English captain with his ship to return to Manhattan, where
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they were made to give up the store of furs which they had collected, and were sent back to England, where the captain related his grievances, which only added to the claims against Holland, to be enforced at a later day. About this time began a contest with the English colonies in New England, the details of which would fill a volume. Sufficient to say, the Dutch claimed the region on the Connecticut river, and the English conquered and held it. During the administration the fort, which had so long been building, was completed in 1635.
It may be mentioned here that in the same ship with Van Twiller came Reverend Everardus Bogardus, the noted min- ister of the Dutch church. Under the direction of Van Twiller, several large boweries, or farms, were laid out, and the cultiva- tion of tobacco was greatly favored. In connection with this appear the names of George Holmes and Thomas Hall, very prominent in after times.
Trade had vastly increased. While in 1633 there were exported 8,800 beaver skins and 1,383 otter skins, valued at 91,375 florins, or $36,550, in 1635 were exported 14,891 beavers and 1,413 otters, valued at $53,770.
Director Van Twiller seems to have been a man of violent temper, addicted to drunkenness, and engaged in frequent quarrels with the minister, Bogardns, as well as others. But he greatly increased the extent of cultivated lands and during his term many important villages were founded, especially on Long Island. In September, 1637, he was recalled. As to his "un- utterable ponderings," behold, are they not written in the pages of the veracious Knickerbocker! He remained in the colony for many years, devoting himself to the advancement of his own interests, in which he was successful. He after- wards returned to Holland, and died there in 1657.
On March 28. 1638, came his successor, Willem Kieft,
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better known to some by the title bestowed upon him by the veracious Knickerbocker as "William the Testy." He came in the ship "Haering," of two hundred and eighty tons and mounting twenty cannon, which signalled his approach. His principal recommendation appears to have been a reputation as a person of determination and activity. In other partienlars his reputation was not above reproach. His power was prac- tieally absolute. Instead of a council, he had only one associate and advisor, in the person of Johannes De La Montagne, a physician, and a Protestant refugee from France. In this "council," if it could be called such, the director had two votes and De La Montagne had one. The office of provincial was filled by Cornelius Van Tienhoven, who was formerly .. Koop- man," or commissary and chief bookkeeper. The sehout fiscal, or executive officer, was Ulrich Leopold, who was soon replaced by Cornelius Van der Huygens.
Governor Kieft found Fort Amsterdam dilapidated, the public buildings ont of repair. the windmills out of order, and the company's boweries untenanted. The greatest disorder prevailed. Illicit trading with the Indians was practiced. the soldiers were insubordinate, and everything was in such a con- dition as to require a strong hand. To the West India Com- pany, New Netherland was one of the most insignificant of their possessions, and little attention was paid to its wants or require- ments. In 1638 special orders were sent to the Directors to make liberal arrangements with new settlers in the matter of acquir- ing land. The result was that new settlers arrived in great numbers, not only from Europe, but from Virginia and New England, thus introducing an English element, which ultimately absorbed or excelled all the rest, and under Kieft a period of prosperity was insured. It was during his administration that a company of English settlers from Lynn, Massachusetts, at-
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
tempted to form a settlement at what is now Port Washington, in the town of Oyster Bay. Being driven off, they retired to the east end of Long Island and there founded the town of South- ampton, the first English town on the island.
76 DRUGS, PAINTS & DYE STUFFS
Drawn by Davis-Engraved by Anderson.
AN ANCIENT DUTCH HOUSE IN PEARL STREET. BUILT 1626, REBUILT 1697, DEMOLISHED 1828. (From the New York Mirror. IS?i.
During Kieft's term of office there was great trouble with the Indians, with frightful reprisals on either side, and the out- lying settlements were almost entirely destroyed, but a peace was finally arranged. Hostilities, however, were soon recom- menced, and only ended after a fearful struggle. At the end, it is stated, that not over one hundred white men remained on
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the island of Manhattan-some had gone to Fort Orange (Albany), and many had returned to Holland. All the settle- ments on the west side of the river had been destroyed, and the Westchester region abandoned. In 1695 a more lasting peace was declared, and the colony was once more in a prosperous condition.
On the 11th of May, 1647, the disastrous administration of William Kieft came to an end. It was remarked by one of the historians of the time that in the early part of his term "one- fourth part of New Amsterdam consisted of grog shops, or houses where nothing is to be got but tobacco and beer." In 1647, Governor Kieft sailed for Holland on board the ship "Princess." Among the passengers was the Reverend Evarar- dns Bogardus, whose quarrel with Von Twiller had been con- tinned with even more animosity. The ship was lost, and all on board perished.
His successor, Petrus Stuyvesant, was the greatest and the last of the Dutch governors, and perhaps Diedrich Knicker- hocker alludes to his most prominent characteristic when he terms him "Peter the Headstrong." The colony was prosper- ons, but the inevitable contest with England had begun, with the constant encroachments of the settlers of New England, who had extended their settlements as far as Greenwich, Connecti- cut, and were still advancing. The name of one part of the region is a lesson in history and geography. To the Dutch, com- ing from the west, it was known as the "Oost Dorp," or East Village, while to the English, advancing from the east, it was the "Westchester."
The whole career of Stuyvesant was a scene of constant activity, at one time endeavoring to negotiate with the English at Boston, at another prosecuting a vigorous campaign against the Swedes on the Delaware. There were also troubles at home, for a band of disappointed spirits were endeavoring to stir up commotion, with a view of completely overturning the authority
.
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
of the governor and the power of the West India Company as well. He fully realized the danger of an English conquest, the story of which will be told in another chapter. With this con- quest, which occurred in 1664, the official career of Stuyvesant came to an end. Retiring to his bowery, or estate, which was then a long distance from the city, he died in the early part of 1672, and was buried in a vanlt on his own ground, and in the church he had erected. Upon the vault in the new St. Mark's church, is a stone bearing the inscription :
IN THIS VAULT LIES BURIED PETRUS STUYVESANT,
LATE CAPTAIN GENERAL AND GOVERNOR IN CHIEF OF AMSTERDAM, IN NEW NETHERLAND, AND NOW CALLED NEW YORK, AND THE DUTCH WEST INDIA ISLANDS. DIED A. D. 16716. AGED 80 YEARS.
His descendants are mimerons, and his name is honored in the city he ruled so long and so well.
Dutch Church at Flatbush.
CHAPTER IV. THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE EARLY CITY.
Of the few views which we possess of the Island Manhattan, all agree upon one point-that is was a hilly country, and mostly covered with woods. We can only give a brief description as derived from notices given in ancient deeds, and the description of early travelers.
The island at its lower end terminated in a point which to the early settlers was known as Schruyer's Hook, or Shouters Point. The extreme end was a very short way below the present State street. and seems to have been a rocky point known as "Capskie," or Little Cape, a name afterward changed to Copse. The original name of State street was Copse street, and changed to its present name after the Revolution. The lots on the original Pearl street were mentioned as bounded north by the Pearl street, and south towards the water. The lots south of Pearl street. on the west side of what is now White- hall street, are spoken of in old deeds as bounded east to the water. What was known in later years as Whitehall Slip os- tended north as far as Pearl street, but this in later years was filled in. When Washington left the city at the close of the Revolution. after bidding adieu to his officers in the famous meeting at Fraunces' Tavern, he embarked at Whitehall Slin, which then began at Front street. The original water front to the east was the present south line of Pearl street. Along the water side was a narrow sandy beach, which was bordered on the north by the upland. This sandy beach was called the "Strand." On the west side of the point, the last lot on Pearl street is de-
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scribed as bounded on the west "partly by the Strand, and partly by the Governor's Garden." The Strand at that place is the present State street. The extreme southwest portion of the fort was very near the water's edge. Extending to the north, the shore line tended to the west, and formed the south line of what was originally called Marckvelt street, and now Battery place, which met the river shore. The water line then followed the present Greenwich street, where there was another sandy beach liable to be washed away by very high tides, to prevent which the owners of the lots used to erect low stone walls. In the vicinity of Trinity Church the river shore was a high, steep bank, as shown by the height of the stone wall which separates Trinity Church yard (which retains its original level) from Greenwich street and Reetor street. On both sides of this ancient churchyard the land has been graded to the street level.
To the east of Broadway was a high hill, now mostly leveled, but the steep grade of what was anciently "Flattenbarrack street," now Exchange place, shows to some extent what it once was.
The Strand along the East river extended to Wall street, and beyond this was a long streteh of low meadow land, which was known as the "Smith's Valey." The latter word was shortened into "Vly," and later corrupted into "Fly." The market at the foot of Maiden Lane was originally named the Vly Market, but in its corrupted form, was called the "Fly Market," and its true name was utterly forgotten.
A person standing at the corner of Fulton and Beekman streets will see to the east or north a slight elevation of land. This is all that remains of what was once known as "the Hill by William Beekman's" long since leveled, and its material used to fill up the water lots, for it is, perhaps, needless to state that all the land between Pearl street and the river is "made
Early View of City of New York.
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GENEALOGICAL AND FAMILY HISTORY
land." This hill was the north boundary of the Smith's VIy. and in later years, Pearl street from Beekman street to the Bowery land was called "the highway that leads from the Smith's Vly toward the Fresh water."
What is now Broad street was a low piece of land through which a canal was dug which extended nearly to Wall street. On each side was a narrow street, and, the canal being filled up, made a street to some extent meriting its present name.
At the junction of John and William streets was another elevation of ground, known as Golden Hill. and like many others long since leveled, but the name continued till Revohi- tionary days.
The lower part of Maiden Lane ran through a marshy region which was a part of the Smith's Vly, and tanners had their tan vats there; but the statement made by some that a stream ran down this street rests on no sufficient authority.
One of the principal features of the landscape at that time was a small pond. or more properly, two small ponds connected by a marsh, and known as the Fresh Water and Collect Pond. Centre street runs through it. and Ann street (now Lafayette street) was on its western side. To the west of this a small stream ran through the present Canal street, which at Broad- way was crossed by a stone bridge. not made, however, till a much later period. This stream ran through a tract of low land known as Lispenard's meadows.
Near the present corner of Mott street and the Bowery was a spring of very pure water, in great demand for "tea water. " and sold from house to house for that purpose by per- sous who made it a business. From this place a rivulet or small brook ran east through the low land, and emptied into the East river at what is now James Slip. This brook was for long years the recognized boundary between City and Country. The
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