USA > New York > Kings County > New Utrecht > Historical discourse : delivered on the 18th of October, 1877, at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the Reformed Dutch Church of New Utrecht, L.I. > Part 4
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Corteljau having no means to procure the necessary settlers to secure the whole of Van Werckhoven's tract, in 1657 applied to the Director General and Council for consent to found and lay out a town on the same. His petition was granted on the 16th of January of that year, on which day he proceeded to lay out 20 lots of 25 mor- gens (50 acres) each, which were assigned to the following founders who were desirous of making the settlement, and to most of whom patents were afterwards granted : -
JACQUES CORTELJAU. NICASIUS DE SILLE,
(the Heer Councillor and Fiscaal). PETER BUYS.
JACOB HELLAKERS, alias. SWART (Swarthout).
JONCKHER JACOBUS CORLAER.
JOHAN TOMASSE (Van Dyck). RUTGER JOESTEN (Van Brunt).
PIETER ROELEFSEN. CORNELIS BEEKMAN.
JOHAN ZEELEN.
ALBERT ALBERTSE (Terhune).
WILLEM WILLEMSE (Van Engen). HUYBERT STOOCK.
PIETER JANSEN. JAN JACOBSEN.
JACOBUS BACKER.
JACOB PETERSE.
CLAES CLAESSEN (Smit).
TEUNIS JOOSTEN.
In addition to their farms, each settler had a village plot, for a residence.
Of these 20 settlers, Van Brunt is the only one who has male de- scendants now residiug in the town, and Corteljau, De Sille, Van
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Dyck, and perhaps Terhune, are the only ones who have female de- scendants among us.
The village and town was named New Utrecht, after Utrecht in Holland, an ancient city on the Rhine, of near 48,000 inhabitants, of which place Van Werckhoven held the office of schepen.
The first house erected therein was a small square one, of clap- boards, removed by Jacob Hellakers (who was a carpenter) from Gravesend.
De Sille, Van Brunt, and Peter Buys contracted, in November, 1657, with Hellakers, to erect for them dwellings. These houses were completed in 1658; De Sille's being 42 Dutch feet (39ft. 634in. En- glish) in length, and the first in the town which was covered with tiles. This house was the old stone building south-east of the old church edifice and burying-ground ; torn down in 1850, and last occupied by Barent Wyckoff, who inherited the same from Rutgert W. Van Brunt.
It was, with the surrounding grounds, sold at public vendue on the 29th of March, 1674, by Adrian Hegeman of Flatbush, auctioneer, by order of Nicholas Bayard, curator, or trustee, of Nicasius De Sille and Catrina Croegers, his wife, to Rutgert Joesten Van Brunt- the conveyance for which I hold in my hands and exhibit. This con- veyance is in a good state of preservation, is three years older than the date of the church orgainzation whose anniversary we are now celebrating, and is dated only seventeen years after the first settlement of this village.
De Sille was an educated man-unfortunate in his latter days- who wrote the early records of this town from its foundation to De- cember 15th, 1660, from which I have gleaned much that I give you, and whose beautiful penmanship is probably superior to that of any one of the assemblage now before me.
In the war in 1659 with the Esopus, or Kingston Indians, the settlers, having the Nyack Indians in their immediate vicinity, and fearing a general rising among the Long Island tribes, became alarm- ed for their safety. As a place of refuge they fortified De Sille's house by surrounding it with palisades, and kept a strict watch.
About this period Nicasius de Sille, the Fiscaal of the colony, was appointed schout, or sheriff, of the town, and Jan Tomasse (Van Dyck) sergeant.
In 1660, Jan Tomasse (Van Dyck) and Jacobus Van Curler were appointed overseers (magistrates) of the town ; at which period there appears to have been II dwelling houses in the village.
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ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT.
February 6, 1660, Petrus Stuyvesant, the Director General, and the Fiscaal De Sille visited the village, on which occasion the inhabi- tants hoisted the Prince's flag on a high pole in the center of the set- tlement, and Rutger Joesten (Van Brunt) gave a public entertain- ment. This was the first banquet and flag-raising in the place of which we have any account.
February 23d, 1660, the Director General and Council ordered the village to be enclosed with palisades, a block house to be built in the center thereof, and to cut down the trees within gunshot, to prevent, in case of attack, the Indians from skulking behind them. Also to make provision for a mill and public pound.
In the same month a general proclamation was issued, ordering those who resided in separate dwellings outside the villages to aban- don and destroy or unroof them, and to remove to the villages for protection. Albert Albertsen (Terhune) who hired the plantation of Cornelis Van Werckhoven, for disobeying the order, was fined, on the 19th of August, 50 guil., and ordered to stand committed until the fine was paid.
In October of the same year, in consequence of one of the vil- lagers having done amiss-to frighten the vicious and encourage the virtuous-the Fiscaal furnished a half dozen shackles, with an iron rod and good lock. About this date, the Fiscaal, Jan Van Cleef, and Titus Syrax-for the accommodation of the inhabitants-bought of Jacob Wolfertse Van Couwenhoven, a horse mill, with its appendages.
On the 22d of December, 1661, a court of justice, consisting of a schout and three commissaries, was appointed for the town, with criminal and civil jurisdiction ; allowing an appeal in judgments ex- ceeding 50 guil. to the Director General and Council. Of this first court, Adrian Hegeman, of Flatbush, was appointed schout, and Jan Tomasse (Van Dyck), Rutger Joesten (Van Brunt), and Jacob Hellakers, commissaries.
In the year 1663, Thompson, in his History of Long Island, says, one of the clergy of New Utrecht was accused of having married him- self, while he had another wife living. He alleged, by way of ex- cuse, that his first wife had eloped without any just cause, and being minded to take another, he considered he had as good a right to exe- cute the ceremony for himself as for any other person. This reason- ing failed to satisfy the court, who declared the marriage void, and fined the delinquent 200 guilden, or 40 beaver skins ; and also 40 guild- en more, for his insolence and impertinence to the court. There being no clergyman that we have any account of residing at this period in
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the town, the delinquent-if there is any truth in the story-may have been the schoolmaster.
In 1663, while Director Stuyvesant and the colony were engaged in a new war with the Indians at Esopus, and there was danger of a gen- eral rising of the Long Island savages, the English towns on the is- land revolted, and endeavored to unite themselves with Connecticut, whose people were noted for their efforts to pilfer the territory of their Dutch neighbors. An arrangement was finally made with Connect- icut, by Stuyvesant, to refer their difficulties to their superiors in Eu- rope. Contrary to the arrangement, the towns of " Hempstede, Gem- aco, Newtown, Oysterbay, and Gravesend" entered into a consolida- tion, as they termed it, to manage their own affairs, without the assist- ance of Connecticut or New Netherlands. They employed Capt. Jolin Scott, an unprincipled adventurer, to act as their president. He proclaimed Charles the Second to be their " dreade sovereign," and set out, with 70 or 80 horsemen, and 60 or 70 foot, to reduce the Dutch towns. He first marched to Breukelen (Brooklyn) ferry, where he addressed the wondering inhabitants in English-of which they understood not a word-and hoisted the English flag. Here he was met by Secretary Van Ruyven, who invited him to drop over and see Director Stuyvesant; which he declined, threatening, if Stuyvesant met him, he would run his sword through him; which Van Ruyven said would not be a very friendly act.
After making considerable disturbance among the residents, he marched to Midwoud, or Flatbush, where his tumultuous conduct was such as to cause the peaceable inhabitants to look on with amaze- ment. They next proceeded to New Utrecht, where Scott mounted the block house and harangued in English; but all that the listeners could understand was, " this country and all America, from Virginia to Boston, belongs to King Charles." When in the block house, he upset the little cannon and its carriage, which was mounted therein, which his men afterwards, by his orders, remounted in another port- hole, in the king's name, which he called the King's Port, and fired a salute. He required the magistrates to submit to the king's authori- ty, which they refused to do ; on which he threatened to punish them. An Englishman from Hempstead Plains, in searching for one Matthys Pickstaert, entered the house of Rutger Joesten Van Brunt, threaten- ing to run through with.a sword Tryntje Claes, his wife, unless the man was produced.
Scott also visited Amersfoort, (Flatlands) ; but all his efforts to induce the Dutch towns to acknowledge his " dreade sovereign," fail -.
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ANNAL~ OF NEW UTRECHT.
ed; they being loyal to their fatherland and not relishing Puritanical intolerance or English interference.
The effect of these outrages was to produce confusion and contin- ual bickerings between the Dutch and English settlers, which contin- ued until a squadron, under Col. Nicolls, on the 8th. of December, 1664, made its appearance in the harbor, and, with the assistance of forces from New England and the English towns on the Island, in the name of the Duke of York conquered the colony. This shameful conquest was made at a time of peace between England and Holland, and resembles an act of piracy more than an honorable act of war. Not satisfied with this, they. crowned their iniquity by selling some of the Dutch soldiers who were taken prisoners, as slaves in Virginia. In this barbaric act our Puritan neighbors (who where in the habit of selling all captured Indians for slaves), may be said to have par- ticipated. Two hundred years ago, the ancestors of the men who had so holy a horror of negro slavery (which cannot be justified), sold not only negroes and Indians, but also white men. If slavery is a deadly and unpardonable sin-as lately maintained by some-where are the souls of these ancestors now?
Under the English government, the state was divided into shires and ridings, of which the towns of Kings County, Staten Island and Newtown, constituted the West Riding of Yorkshire.
In June, 1665, New Utrecht was directed to furnish 300 palisades, 13 feet in length-her quota for the defence of the City of New York.
At this date, Beef sold for 2d., Pork for 3d., and Butter for 6d. per . pound. Wheat was 5s., Rye 2s. 6d., and Corn 25 per bushel. Vict- uals, 6d. per meal. Labor, 25.6d. per day. Lodgings, 2d. per night. Board, 5s. per week. Beer, 2d. per mug. These prices varied but little during the next twenty years.
On the 15th of August, 1668, Gov. Nicolls issued a patent to the town, in the usual form.
In March, 1672, England and France declared war against the Netherlands. On the 23d of July, 1673, during this war, Evertsen and Bincks, with a Dutch squadron, arrived in the Lower Bay, and on the 30th of July, the City of New York and the province were surrendered to them, to the great joy of the Dutch settlers, whose experience of the English government was not very satisfactory.
Under the new government, Thomas Jansen, Hendrick Matysen (Smack), Jan Thomasse (Van Dyck), and Jan Van Deventer were appointed schepens of New Utrecht.
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HISTORICAL ADD":ESS.
On the 29th of August all the men of New Utrecht, 41 in number, took the oath of allegiance to the Netherlands.
On the Ist of October the Governor General and Council, among other instructions, ordered the sheriffs and magistrates of towns to " take care that the Reformed Christian Religion be maintained in conformity to the Synod of Dordrecht, without permitting any other sects attempting any thing contrary thereto."
The colony remained under its Dutch rulers until the roth of No- vember, 1674, when it was finally surrendered unto the English, in pursuance of the provisions of the treaty of Westminster.
In 1675, the dwelling-house of Jaques Corteljau and the greater part of the village of New Utrecht were destroyed by fire. On the Ist of May of said year, Andross, the English Governor, issued a recom- mendation to the magistrates of Brooklyn, to request the people of ' their town to assist Corteljau with one day's work in rebuilding his house, and also to assist his neighbors in the town of New Utrecht in their present distress. Fifty scheples of winter wheat and 58 scheples of peas were purchased by the justices, of Daniel de Haert, for the use of the inhabitants, who probably lost most of their grain by the fire, and were in danger of starvation.
November 11, 1779, the same dwelling-house (or the one erected on its ruins) was again destroyed by fire ; it then being owned by Isaac Cortelyou, and the lower part used as a bakery by the 33d British Regiment. The fire accidentally occurred in consequence of a part of the 71st British Regiment landing some of their sick, and kin- dling fires in the building, it being a very windy day.
About this same period (1675), in consequence of the fear of an Indian war-especially on the part of the Long Island Indians-the Governor required a strict watch to be kept, suspicious actions on the part of the Indians to be reported, and in localities where no block house, or stronghold, existed, the same to be erected as a refuge for the wives and children of the settlers, and the wives and children of the friendly Indians, with whom good faith should be kept.
In 1679 and 80, Peter Sluyter and Jasper Dankers, two educated and speaking members of a sect known as Labidists-an offsprout from the Dutch Reformed Church-visited this country in search of a loca- tion to found a colony. Among their fellow passengers were Garret (Van Duyn) the rademaaker, or wheelwright, a former resident of New Utrecht, and Jan Tuenissen (Van Dueyckhuysen), of the Bay, or Flatlands. On the vessel entering the Narrows, it was boarded by the Nyack Indians, from a canoe.
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ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT.
After spending some days in New York, the travelers, under the guidance of Garret the rademaaker, passed through Brooklyn and Gowanus to the west end of the Island, called Nyack, where they found the plantation of the Nyack Indians, on which there was grow- ing maize, or Indian corn. They found the whole tribe, consisting of seven or eight families, dwelling in one house, about 60 feet long, 14 or 15 wide, and so low that they could hardly stand up in it-the sides and roof being made of reeds and the bark of trees. They had domestic animals, such as dogs, poultry, and swine-which they had learned from the Europeans how to keep-and had peach trees full of fruit. For a more full account of these Indians, I would reter you to the Hon. H. C. Murphy's interesting translation of the journal of those Labidists.
From Nyack the party proceeded to the land of Jacques (Cortel- jau), which they found fruitful, and then to his house. They found him an old man, who had studied philosophy, a mathematician and land surveyor, who spoke Latin and good French ; but the worst of it, they said, was his being a Cartesian, a follower of Descartes.
They went to the village of New Utrecht, a half hour's walk from his house, which was almost entirely rebuilt since the fire, and several fine stone buildings erected. They spent the night in Jacques' barn, on some straw spread with sheepskins, and in the midst, they said, " of such a constant grunting of hogs, squealing of pigs, bleat- ing and coughing of sheep, barking of dogs, crowing of cocks, cack- ling of hens, and especially of such a quantity of fleas-and these with the barn doors open, through which a strong north-west wind had a passage-that we could not sleep ; but we could not complain, as we had the same chamber as his own son usually slept in." The small- pox was at this period raging in the vicinity-two of Jacques' children being prostrated with it in his house-which accounts for their poor accommodation. They entered one house where there were two children lying dead ; one had been buried the week before, and three others were then sick.
They afterwards visited Do. Van Zuuren, who, they say, was a Cocceian, " a plain, companionable man, who mixed freely with his people, and sympathized with them in their labors."
On another occasion they met the Dominie at Flatlands, whom they found " chatting and gossiping with the farmers while they talked about worldly things, without giving them a single word of reproof, or about God, or religious matters. It was all about houses, and cat- tle, and hogs, and grain." The persecution of the Labidists by the
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
mother church in Holland would naturally tend to cause them to be prejudiced against her ministry ; hence their unfavorable opinion of Van Zuuren.
On the 13th of October, 1685, at a meeting of the Council, the quit rent of New Utrecht was fixed at six bushels of good winter wheat, to be delivered in New York. This quit rent continued to be paid probably until the Revolution; after which, in 1786, the Super- visor of the town paid the State Treasurer £33 15s. in full for arrears, and as a commutation for future quit rents.
May 13th, 1686, Gov. Dongan granted a new patent to the town. In September, 1687, fifty-two individuals-probably all the adult males in the town-took the oath of allegiance to the British crown.
The principal business of the farmers was the cultivation of grain and tobacco, and the raising of cattle, which required large farms. Being straitened for room, in consequence of the increase of their fam- ilies, and the arable land in the county being all taken up, at this period commenced the emigration from Kings County to the adjoining provinces; East New Jersey being the favorite locality, from which Monmouth, Somerset and Middlesex counties are filled with the de- scendants of our early settlers.
In those days luxuries had not attained a foothold ; a few pewter plates and dishes for the table, stools and benches, a chest or two, and bed, and no carpets, constituted the main furniture of their houses. Their farms and the surrounding forests and waters furnished their food. The fruits, sweets and spices of the tropics were generally unknown, and their clothing was mainly the production of their farms, manufactured at home. They were noted for their integrity, and in their simple habits were as happy and contented, if not more so, than we are with all our luxuries.
On the dethronement of James the Second, and the securing of the throne of England by William of Orange and Mary, Nicholson, the Governor, who was suspected of being a Papist, fleeing, the mili- tia took possession of the City of New York and fortifications, and the inhabitants elected a Committee of Safety, who proclaimed Wil- liam and Mary, and induced Jacob Leisler to act as Lieutenant Gov- ernor. Leisler, having come to the country as a common soldier and risen to wealth and distinction by his own efforts, was opposed by the aristocratic or old wealthy families, who had been in the habit of as- sociating with the titled Governors, and basking in their sunshine.
The country was thus divided into two factions, who bitterly op-
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ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT.
posed each other. On the arrival of Governor Sloughter, in March, 1691, he sided with the aristocratic faction, who were determined on the destruction of Leisler. Through their machinations, Leisler and many of his adherents were seized and imprisoned, and tried for treason. Leisler and his son-in-law Millbourne were found guilty and unjustly executed, and their property confiscated-which latter penalty was afterwards reversed by the government of the mother country. The court at the same time condemned Myndert Korten, of New Utrecht, to suffer death and confiscation of property. Korten had been one of Leisler's adherents, and held the office of High Sheriff of the county under him. My sympathies, as you perceive, are with the followers of Leisler, of whom my ancestor, Michael Hansen Ber- gen, was one. Those of Mr. Sutphen, my pastor, appear to be with his opponents.
In July, 1692, Do. Varick, the pastor of the Dutch churches of Kings County, and Jacques Corteljau, petitioned the Governor against Korten, and requested that Joost De Baene be retained as school- master and reader, or prelector, of the church, he having been re- moved for refusing to side with Korten and Leisler.
They accused Korten of leading troops from New Utrecht to the fort in New York, for Leisler. Myndert Korten and Gerardus Beakman, of Flatbush, after being imprisoned in the City of New York more than seventeen months, on petition for pardon, were finally released on the 15th of March, 1694, and escaped the doom which their enemies desired to impose upon them.
On the 8th of November, 1692, the Court of Sessions ordered a good pair of stocks and a good pound made in every town in Kings County. The stocks in New Utrecht, some 50 years ago, were located on the southerly side of the main road in the village, nearly op- posite to the site of the old district school-house. On one occasion, one of the dominies of Flatlands found the missing wheels of his wagon fastened in the town stocks.
At a militia training on the plains, in Flatlands, in 1693, Captain Jacques Corteljau being in arms at the head of the New Utrecht company, Arian Hageell, of Bushwick, said to the people present, in Dutch, " Slaan wy der onder, wy zyn drie tegen een"-in English, " Let us knock them down ; we are three to their one." For these seditious words he was tried by the Sessions, and fined twenty shil- lings.
At the Sessions in 1696, the Grand Jury indicted a negro named Comeiny, belonging to Myndert Korten, for breaking the Sabbath
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
by ploughing. Comeing confessed his guilt, was fined six shillings, and ordered committed to the custody of the sheriff until his fine was paid.
A deputy sheriff being sent to Korten's to execute the order, Kor- ten interposed, locked his doors, protected the offender, and said "he would not obey, neither did he value any of their orders." This being reported to the court, the sheriff was ordered to take Korten into custody and hold him until he gave bonds for his good beha- vior and appearance at the next Sessions.
The members representing this town in the Hempstead Assembly of 1665, were Jacques Corteljau and Balthazer Vosch, Jun.
The first constable after the English conquest, on the records, is Hendrick Matysen Smack, in 1669.
The first opsiender, or overseer, of which any account has been seen, is Luykes Mayerse, in 1672.
The first member of the Governor's Council, a resident of this town, is Jacques Corteljau, in 1675 ; who in the same year appears to have been the first resident who held the office of justice of the peace.
The office of town clerk was instituted by Gov. Andross, on the 3C of May, 1679; but there is no account of any one holding the office in this town earlier than Joost de Baene, in 1686.
The first assessors on the records are Myndert Korten and Jan Hansen (Van Nostrand), in 1687.
The first resident of the town representing the county in the State Assembly, was Myndert Korten, in 1698.
The first resident of the town who was first Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the county, was Cornelis Van Brunt, in 1716; and the first Assistant Judge was Peter Corteljau, in 1702.
On the first organization of a Board of Supervisors in the county, in 1703, Joost Van Brunt was chosen to represent the town; previous to that date, the county business was managed by the justices of the peace and sessions.
The first commissioners of highways on the town records are Aert Van Pelt and Andries Emans, in 1721.
Among the deputies sent from the county to the Provincial Con- gress of the State of New York in 1775, to oppose British aggression, was Denyse Denyse of New Utrecht.
May 9, 1704, the Court of Sessions ordered " that no towne laws or orders be brought into this court in Dutch, or any other language than English." In 1705, the county expenses were £146. 125. 9d.
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ANNALS OF NEW UTRECHT.
January 19, 1708, Joris Green. and Jacobus Woutersen walked on the ice from Staten Island to Long Island. This feat has been performed in my day by Colonel Church.
April 26, 1714, Jacques Corteljau petitioned the Governor to be excused from serving as constable, to which he had been chosen, in consequence of his being unacquainted with the English language.
. At the Court of Sessions of May 10, 1715, the Grand Jury indicted Hendrick Hendrickson, Jaques Tunisen (Denyse), Hendrick Emans, Wm. Boyle, and George Andresson, of New Utrecht ; John Ver Kerk, of Flatbush ; Jacob Van Dyck, and Evardus Brower, of Brooklyn ; Abm. Van Tuyle, Jochim Van Hamen, Barent Marelius, Abm. Mare- lius, Abm. Lake, John Lake, Andries Bouman and John Duriand, of Staten Island, with other disturbers unknown, to the number of 30 persons, for assembling in the latter part of June last past, with arms, &c., at New Utrecht, assaulting and wounding Joost Van Brunt, so that his life was despaired of; also for entering and breaking his close and cutting down and carrying away about 30 acres of his corn growing on the same. It does not appear what Van Brunt had done to of- fend these parties ; but it may have been caused by a dispute in re- lation to the shad fisheries.
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