USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. I > Part 14
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1 De Vries.
19
1633.
146
HISTORY OF
BOOK ing them to the ship, sounded their trumpet in the boat in dis- II. grace of the English !"
1633. The Dutch now went on board the William, weighed her anchors, and ordered her down to Fort Amsterdam, their three vessels keeping her company all the time, to prevent any in- tercourse with the natives. On the arrival of the vessel op- posite Manhattan Island, the Director-general ordered Eelkins to bring whatever furs he had on board to the fort, but this the latter refused to do. A list of all the peltries was then de- manded and furnished.
Finding the object of the voyage thus frustrated, Eelkins demanded from some of the residents of New Amsterdam a cer- tificate to prove the treatment which he had received ; but Van Twiller, anticipating such a demand, and clearly foresecing its object, had already ordered a proclamation to be affixed to the gate of the fort, forbidding any of the people to give such a paper, " on pain of death and loss of all their wages." And the William of London, the first English ship that ascended the Hudson, was forced to put to sea shortly after this, con- voyed out of the river by a Dutch yacht. Her owners esti- mated the damages which they experienced on this occasion at five thousand pounds sterling. Had their ship remained but a month longer, they expected the Maquaas from the interior with four thousand, and the Mohegans with three thousand skins ; for the annual trade in furs, on the North River, was, at this period, estimated at from fifteen thousand to sixteen thousand beavers.'
A quarrel occurred at the Manhattans between two English skippers about this time. One of these, a Capt. Stone, from Virginia, who was procceding to Massachusetts Bay with a cargo of cows and salt, touched at New Amsterdam, and met a New Plymouth pinnace riding at anchor before that place. A few evenings after, Stone invited the Director-general on
' Hol. Doc. ii., 51, 55, 57, 61, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 76, 77, 86, 87, 88. “ The names of some of the Dutch who were principal in the wrongs and injuries aforesaid, are Walter Van Twil, governor of Amsterdam fort, John van Re- mont his secretary, Martin Garritson, Conrad Noteman, A. Huddus, and Cap- tain Jacoh Johnson Hesse, councillors of said governor ; and Hans Jorissen Houten, governor of Fort Orange." Eelkins' deposition.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
board his vessel, where, after drinking some time together, he CHAP. acquainted Van Twiller of an old grudge he had against the IV. New Plymouth captain, who, he alleged, had said something against the Virginians, to revenge himself for which, he now proposed to seize his vessel and carry her away. Elevated with wine, or looking on the matter as a mere innocent freak, Van Twiller, it is added, consented, and the New Plymouth vessel was accordingly taken possession of by the Virginian. But some Dutchmen afterwards interfered, and rescued the craft ; and, at the request of the Director-general, the master of the pinnace, "who was one of the council of Plymouth, promised, under a solemn instrument under his hand, to pass it by." This quarrel, however, was nigh having a disagree- able issue, for the moment the Virginian arrived at Boston, he was arrested on a charge of piracy, and obliged to give bail to answer the complaint.1
The peremptory orders which the directors in Holland had given to exclude the patroons from all participation in the fur trade, which was now the principal, if not the sole, staple of the country, soon caused fresh excitement at Fort Amster- dam. Captain De Vries, who acted as leader in the establish- ment of the colonie of Zwanendal, was desirons to send his May vessel to the coast north of Hellegat, previous to his return to 20. Holland. But the Director-general, cognizant of the determi- nation of the company, not only refused permission to De Vries' ship to proceed to that quarter, but ordered the vessel to be unloaded, on suspicion that he had furs on board. Sur- prised at this proceeding, and ignorant, we presume, of the company's orders, De Vries remonstrated ; declared his vessel contained nothing but ballast ; pleaded his privileges as a co- patroon, and exhibited the exemptions granted by the XIX. and approved by the States General. But finding all these of no avail, he then threw himself " on his reserved rights," and refused obedience to the orders of the Director-general. But Van Twiller was determined to search the ship, and ordered the guns of the fort to bear on the craft, with the intention of sinking her if she did not submit. "Thereupon," says De Vries, who
1 Winthrop's Journal, 50 ; Winth. N. Eng. i., 104.
1633.
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HISTORY OF
BOOK
1633.
tells the story, " I ran to the point, where he stood with the sec- II. retary and one or two of his council, and told them that it seemed the country was full of fools ; that if they would fire at some- thing, they ought to have fired at the Englishman who was violating the rights of the river. This made them desist," and De Vries sent his vessel towards the Sound, the Director-gen- eral ordering one of the company's yachts to keep her com- pany, lest she should enter into any barter with the Indians.
Fresh difficulties broke out on the return of this craft. Van Twiller would not allow De Vries to go on board before the company's boat had searched the vessel. To this, however, the latter would not consent, and the Director-general forthwith ordered twelve armed men to follow him, and prevent his de- parture ; but De Vries succeeded in getting beyond their reach. Sheriff Notelman and Secretary Van Remunt visited him on board his vessel the next day, when the latter seeing some beaver-skins on board, ordered them to be seized, as they had not been entered at the fort ; but the sheriff inter- posed, and called for wine, " he being somewhat of a bouzer, which," adds our authority, "was the case with nearly all of them." The secretary, however, persisted, and threatened to send an armed vessel after De Vries ; but Notelman would not listen to any such proceeding. He was " dry," and would not be kept from his wine.1 Notelman's wine-bibbing propen- sities cost him, however, soon after this, his office. He was superseded in the course of this summer, and in his stead Lubbertus van Dinclage, "an honorable man and a doctor of laws," was appointed schout-fiscaal of New Netherland.2
Stimulated, now, by a desire to increase the company's
1 De Vries expresses throughont this part of his Journal, a very unfavorable opinion of the officers who had charge, at this period, of the company's interests at Fort Amsterdam. "He was astonished that the West India Company should send such fools to the colony, who knew nothing but how to drink them- selves drunk. They would in the East Indies not be fit for assistants. In this way the company would soon go to destruction."
" "We wrote you last year, (1636,) on two different occasions, to pay to Luhhert van Dinclage his three years' salary as fiscaal of New Netherland, with the charges thereupon." Letter of the States General to the Assembly of the XIX., dated 30th April, 1637. Hol. Doc. ii., 167, 178. Dinclage is styled, (Hol. Doc. v., 217,) " een eerlyck man ende een doctor in de rechte."
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NEW NETHERLAND.
returns, and to secure, permanently, for his employers, the CHAP. trade of the valuable and extensive territory intervening be -~ IV. tween the North River and New Plymouth, and which had 1633. hitherto proved so lucrative, Director Van Twiller took imme- diate steps to purchase a tract situated so centrally as to form a rendezvous for the eastern and northeastern Indians, at the same time that it would admit of a ready and direct water communication with head-quarters. An extensive and beauti- ful table-land, called the Connittekock, lying on the west bank of the Fresh River, some sixty miles from its mouth, of- fered all these advantages, and this tract Van Twiller deter- mined to purchase.
The Fresh Water River had, it will be recollected, been originally discovered by the Dutch skipper Adriaen Block, in the year 1614. Since that time it had been periodically and, we may add, exclusively visited by Dutch traders, whose an- nual purchases in that district amounted to not less than ten thousand beaver-skins, besides various other commodities with which that country abounded.
In the course of the preceding year, the arms of the High and Mighty the States General had been erected by Hans Eencluys, one of the company's servants, at the mouth of the river, at a spot called Kievit's hoeck,1 which he had pur- chased from the natives for the company,2 in order to secure, for the latter, free access to that valuable district, the trade of which the present measures were calculated more effectu- ally to preserve.
The tract in question, and the whole of the river and coun- try thereabout, originally belonged to the Indian chief Se- queen ;3 but disputes as to jurisdiction and title having arisen between him and the chief of the neighboring Pequod tribe, who lived on the east side of the river, near the sea-coast, it
" So called from being frequented by a bird called the Pee-weet, which the Dutch named Kie-veet, from its cry. The above "Hoeck" has since been named Saybrook by the English.
2 Vander Donck's Vertoogh vsn Nieuw Nederland wegens de gelegentheyd, &c. desselfs. Hol. Doc. iv., 110.
2 Sequin, says Trumbull, Hist. Conn. i. 40, was Sagamore under Sowheag, the great sachem of Mattabesick.
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HISTORY OF
1633.
BOOK was mutually agreed upon, by both chiefs, to decide the ques- II. tion by pitched battle between their respective warriors, and that the victor, and his successors, should be, ever after, lords and right owners of the Fresh River. Three different engage- ments were successively fought before this vexed question could be settled. At length Meautiany, the Pequod chief, obtained the victory and the land. Sequeen, utterly prostra- ted, became subject to the Pequod, with whose consent and approbation he afterwards placed himself, with the remnant of his tribe, under the protection of the Dutch.1
Such was the state of affairs when Director Van Twiller dispatched Jacob Van Curler, one of his commissaries, with a party of men to the Fresh River, or the Connecticuck, as it was called by the Indians, to purchase the tract, already selected, for and on behalf of the privileged West India Company, and with orders to erect a fort thereupon. This purchase was effected on the eighth day of June,2 on the terms and condi tions contained in the following deed :-
June 8. " The aforesaid Van Curler, and the sachem named Wapy- quart or Tattoepan, chief of Sickenames River, and owner of the Fresh River of New Netherland, called, in their tongue, Connetticuck, have amicably agreed for the purchase and sale of the tract named Sicajoock, a flat extending about a (Dutch) mile down along the river to the next little stream, and up- wards beyond the kill, being a third of a (Dutch) mile broad to the height of land, on condition that all tribes might freely, and without any fear or danger, resort to the purchased land for purposes of trade ; and whatever wars might arise between them and others, may be waged or carried on without any of
1 Verbael van Beverninck, 607.
2 In some English statements the date of this purchase is fixed at 8th Janu- ary, 1633. This, however, is evidently a mistake. Van Twiller, under whom the purchase was made, was not in the country in January, 1633. Besides, if he were, it would be doubtful if communication could be had with that section of the country, in mid-winter, so easily as to induce him to send his commissary and a party of men thither, with a necessary supply of provisions, &c., for their journey, when all this could be more readily accomplished by water in the month of June. The date, however, is given in the Dutch document which I trans- late, in the next note, which accords with the statement made in the report by the Rekenkamer. Appendix E.
1
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NEW NETHERLAND.
them entering on our said territory. It is further expressly CHAP. conditioned by this contract, and assented to by the aforenamed chief, that Sequeen should dwell with us, all at the request, and to the great joy of the sachem Altarbaenhoet, and all in- terested tribes. This has taken place, on the part of the Se- queen, with the knowledge of Magaritinne, chief of Sloop's Bay. The chief of the Sickenames is paid for the said land by Jacob Curler one piece of duffels, twenty-seven ells long ; six axes, six kettles, eighteen knives, one sword-blade, one shears, and some toys. All which was signed by Jacob Van Curler, Fredrik Lubbertsen, Gillis Pieters, Claes Jans Ruyter, Do- mingo Dios, Barent Jacobz. Cool, and Pieter Louwensen."1
Van Curler, having thus obtained an indisputable title to this valuable tract of country, represented by some as being sixty miles in extent,2 proceeded without delay to ereet a trading-post thereupon, which he fortified with two pieces of ordnance and called " The House of Good Hope."
By the arrival of the bark Blessing from Massachusetts Bay shortly after this, Director Van Twiller received letters from
1 Hol. Doc., ix. 187, 188. We find at page 189 of the same volume another record of the above transaction, of which we subjoin a translation for the benefit of the English reader. " Anno 1633, on the 8th of June, by Jacob Corlaer, commis, (clerk,) in the service of the W. I. Company, was purchased, by orders of the Director and Council of New Netherlands, from the Chief of Sickenames, with free will and consent of the inhabitants there, all that flat land, about a (Dutch) mile long across through the wood on the river, and about one third part of a mile broad, and a musket-shot over the kill where the said Corlaer, by orders aforesaid, has commenced building the trading-house called the Hope, situate on the Fresh River of the New Netherlands. With express condition, on the part of the purchaser and the seller, that all tribes of Indians shall be permitted to come freely thither, to trade with us ; and that the enemies of one or the other nation shall not molest each other on the purchased tract ; which conditions were agreed upon and concluded to the great satisfaction of the savages, especially of the Sequeen, all which occurred in the presence of all the company's servants then there." Stuyvesant, writing in Ang. 1664, says :- " Of the eight [7] witnesses who were present at the purchase and transfer, [of the above lands,] five are yet alive, who can and are willing to attest on oath, that the purchase was made and possession taken of the land before any Eng- lishman had ever been on the Fresh Water River ; that these were purchased of the natives, who then possessed these lands, who lived on the river, and declared themselves the rightful owners of these lands." Alb. Rec. xviii., 289
2 Report and advice, Appendix E.
1633.
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HISTORY OF
1633.
BOOK the English governor at Boston, by which he learned, for the 11. first time, that the king of Great Britain had granted the whole of the country, from the Narragansetts nearly to the Manhat- tans, to sundry of his majesty's subjects, thus ousting the Dutch summarily from all their territory in that quarter.1 By these letters Director Van Twiller was also warned not to make any establishment within the limits of this pretended grant. This intelligence could not fail to excite a good deal of surprise at Fort Amsterdam. After having hospitably en- tertained those belonging to the vessel, and given them beaver for such commodities as they had to dispose of, he addressed Governor Winthrop a friendly letter expressive of his surprise at the purport of his communication, and informing him of the steps he had already taken on the Fresh River. It was in these words :
Oct. 4. "SIR-What you allege concerning the use of the river which you instance the king of England hath granted to his subjects, and therefore it seems strange unto you that we have taken possession thereof. It seems very strange unto me, who, for mine own part, could wish that his Majesty of Eng- land and the Lords States General would agree concerning the limits and parting of their quarters, that as good neighbors we might live in these heathenish countries. And, therefore, I desire you to defer your pretence or claim to said river, so long until the king of England and our superior magistrates or governors be agreed concerning the same. I have, in the name of the Lords States General and the Privileged West In- dia Company, taken possession of the forementioned river, and in testimony thereof, have set up a house on the north side of said river, with the intent to plant, &c. It is not the intent of the States to take the land from the poor natives, as the king of Spain hath done by the pope's donation, but rather to take
1 Iu the year 1631, the Earl of Arundel, president of the Plymouth Compa- ny, granted to Rohert, Earl of Warwick, the country from the Narragansetts along the coast forty leagues, and from the Western Ocean to the South Sea. This grant was conveyed the following year, (1632,) under a vague and imper- fect description, to Lord Say and Seal, and his associates. Haz. i., 305, 318; N. A. Review viii., 79.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
it from the said natives at some reasonable and convenient CHAP. price, which, Gon be praised, we have done hitherto. In this IV. part of the world are divers heathen lands that are empty of inhabitants, so that for a little part or portion thereof, there needs not [be] any question. I should be very sorry that we should be occasion that the King's Majesty of England and the Lords the States General should fall into any contention. Wherewith ending, I commit you, with your whole family, unto the protection of Almighty GoD, being and resting your true friend,
" WOUTER VAN TWILLER.
" Written in Fort Amsterdam, in New
Netherland, 4th Oct. 1633, N. S."1
In the mean while, however, Governor Winslow and Mr. Bradford of New Plymouth, having been invited by some In- dians to make a settlement on the Connecticut, had proceeded to Boston, and proposed to Governor Winthrop and his coun- cil to join in the scheme of erecting a trading-house on the above-named river, so as to prevent the Dutch getting posses- sion of that fine country. This proposal, however, was de- clined by the Massachusetts authorities.2 Whereupon the Plymouth people, stimulated by the prospect of gain, and regardless as well of the rights of others, as of the sage coun- sels of their Massachusetts neighbors, proceeded to take possession of a country to which they had not a shadow of title.
Having prepared the frame of a house, they put it on board a bark which proceeded, coastwise, to the river Connecticut, under the command of one Lieutenant Holmes, who was ac- companied by some sachems belonging to that section of the country. Having arrived at the mouth of the river, Holmes ascended the stream with his vessel towards a spot since called Windsor, the site of the proposed English settlement.
When this expedition had reached the point where the Sept. Dutch had raised their fort, those on board the bark were 16.
1 Lond. Doc. i., 53, 54 ; Winthrop's Journal, 54, 55 ; Winth. N. Eng. i., 112, 113; Hubbard's New Eng. 171, 172 ; Trumbull's Conn. i., 34.
' Winthrop's Journal, 51 ; Trumbull's Conn. i., 33, 34.
20
1633.
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HISTORY OF
1633.
BOOK hailed, and questioned regarding their destination and inten- I. tions. Having replied that their object was to trade, they were ordered to stop and strike their flag, and threatened with an attack in case of disobedience. This threat was, however, disregarded. The Plymouth people answered that their gov- ernor had ordered them to proceed, and that they "would go on." They were, therefore, suffered to pass, and having as- cended about a mile and a half higher up, disembarked, erected their house, which they fortified, landed their provis- ions, and sent their bark home.1
Intelligence of this intrusion having been transmitted to the Manhattans, caused no little excitement there. Van Twiller immediately ordered the Dutch commissary to serve on the English officer the following protest :
Oct. 25.
" The Director and council of New Netherland hereby give notice to William Holmes, lieutenant and trader, acting on be- half of the English governor of Plymouth, at present in the service of that nation, that he depart forthwith, with all his people and houses, from the lands lying on the Fresh River, continually traded upon by our nation, and at present occupied by a fort, which lands have been purchased from the Indians and paid for. And in case of refusal, we hereby protest against all loss and interest which the Privileged West India Company may sustain.
" Given at Fort Amsterdam, in New Netherland, this xxvth Octob. 1633."
Van Curler served, according to orders, this protest on Holmes, in the presence of Fredrik Lubbertsen and Carel Franssen, and demanded, at the same time, a written answer thereto ; but the English lieutenant refused to give any such reply. He was there, he said, by command of the governor and council of New Plymouth, and there he was determined
: Trumbull's Conn. i., 30, 35. " About that time, namely, on the 16th Septomber, (1633,) the English came first from New Plymouth and Massa- chusetts Bay, before the said fort, (Hope,) and declared their intention to settle three miles above the same, which the commissary residing there opposed as long as he was able ; but was obliged, according to instructions, to allow them to proceed under protest." Report, Appendix E.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
to remain, in the name of the king of England, whose servant CHAP. he was.1
IV. 1633.
The Director-general sent an account of these encroach- ments to the Assembly of the XIX., and dispatched an armed force of seventy men to dislodge the English, but as these stood upon their defence, the Dutch soldiers withdrew without offering any violence.2
In the mean while, the authorities at Fort Amsterdam were actively engaged planning various forts and buildings, suitable to the growing trade and wants of the country. Orders were issued for the thorough reconstruction of the principal fort at New Amsterdam, to which place was now attached the priv- ilege of " staple right," whereby all masters of vessels trading along the coast were obliged to unload at this port, or pay, in lieu, certain fixed duties.3 It was determined to build a guard- house and a small barrack for the soldiers within that fort, and near it, on the East River, a church for general worship,4 with a dwelling and stable adjoining, for the use of the Rev. Mr. Bogardus ; a residence for the Honorable Mr. Gerritsen; a new bake-house ; and a small dwelling "for the midwife." An appropriate mansion was ordered to be raised, " on the
. 1 Hol. Doc. ix., 189, 190.
" Winthrop's Journal, 78 ; Winthrop's N. Eng. i., 153.
3 En vertu du droit d'étaple toutes les marchandises qui descendaient les rivières, et passaient devant la ville, devaient être exposées en vente, et payer les droits des douanes établi soit par le Comte soit par la Commune. Les vais- seaux qui remontaient la rivière étaient assujettis à des pareilles obligations. Ce privilege occasionnaient nécessairement une foule de réclamations et de guerres civiles. Institutions judiciaires iu., 55.
* The site of this ancient church, (the first ever erected in New Netherland,) is determined by an entry in Alb. Rer, x., 355, anno 1656, as follows : " The house, lot, and appurtenances called . the old church,' standing and situate on the East River, next to the alley which lays betwixt the house of Attorney- general Van Tienhoven and this house, and opposite the house of Mr. Hendrick Kip, are ordered to be sold to the highest bidder." Hendrick Kip lived, in 1665, in Bridge-street. Paulding's New Amsterdam. Speaking of this church, Judge Benson says, (Hist. Mem. 34,) " The site of the first church is perhaps not to be now further ascertained than as a piece of ground once called the Oude Kerck, (old church,) and afterwards the house of Allard Anthony, lying between Customhouse-street (the portion of Pearl-street between Whitehall and Broad streets) and Bridge-street, and fronting on Broad-street."
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HISTORY OF
1633.
BOOK plantation," for the Director-general ; on farm No. 1,1 a barn, II. dwelling, brewery, and boat-house, "to be covered with tiles ;" a goats' stable "behind the five houses," besides dwellings for the smith, the cooper, and the corporal ; and several mills, one of which was to be adapted for grinding corn. "An elegant large house with balustrades, and eight small dwellings for the people," were directed to be raised at Fort Orange ; two houses at Pavonia ; and one large house in Fort Nassau on the South River.2
The trade on the last-named river had by this time become so valuable, that the authorities at the Manhattans determined, now, to take proper measures for its extension. Arent Cors- sen, commissary at Fort Nassau, was accordingly ordered to purchase, from the natives, a tract of land on the Schuylkill, one of the tributaries to the South River, which had been dis- covered in 1616. In conformity to these instructions Matte- hooren, Alibakkinno, Sinquees, and a number of other chiefs, to whom the land belonged, were called together, and, being promised sundry cargoes of goods, sold to the Dutch, in the presence of Augustin Heermans, Govert Loockermans, Skip- per Juriaen Blanke, Cornelis Janssen Coele, and Sander Leendertsen, servants of the company, the district then called Armenveruis and the adjoining country, situate on and around the Schuylkill, where a trading-post was subsequently erected and called Fort " Beversreede," on account of the valuable trade in beavers which was carried on, in and about that quar- ter, with the Minqua Indians.3
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