USA > New York > New York City > History of New Netherland; or, New York under the Dutch, Vol. II > Part 39
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Thus remained the affairs of this section of the country for the following year. Van der Capellen's settlers had now dwindled to two or three families. Van Dinclage died, and Melyn, discouraged by the continual opposition he experienced, had removed to New Haven, where he continued to reside till this fall, when he proceeded to 1659. England and passed thence over to Amsterdam, where he conveyed all his right and title in Staten Island to the June 14. West India Company.ยช Melyn obtained, in return for his claims, the proceeds of his property at the Manhattans, which Stuyvesant had confiscated in 1651 ; fifteen hundred guilders cash ; exemption from duties on any merchandise he might export, to the amount of one thousand guilders, and a free passage for himself and family to New Nether- land, where he and his heirs were to be granted, in free allodial tenure, all the real estate of which he might be in actual possession, or he or his family might hereafter hold. Whenever a sheriff should be required for that locality, the office was to be bestowed on his son, on obtaining his majority, in preference to all others ; and, finally, he was to obtain a full amnesty for all disputes and contentions " which have occurred hitherto between them," so that henceforward they shall treat one another as good friends and with respect, and assist one another whenever it may be in their power."3
The Directors in Amsterdam being now thoroughly sick of Patroons and privileged colonies, next proceeded to extinguish the remaining claims on the island. Baron Van der Capellen having deceased in the course of the preced-
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 258, 259.
2 Ibid. 282; xiv., 180; xviii., 11, 198. Cornelis and Jacob Melyn took the oath of fidelity to New Haven, 7th April, 1657, (O. S.) Lubbertus van Dinclage married Margaretta, daughter of the Rev. John Hanius, by whom he had nine children. The first mention I meet of his death is in a letter, dated 2d April, 1658.
& Alb. Rec. viii., 222.
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ing year, the heirs were desirous to divest themselves of CHAP. an estate, which, from its distance, could only be a source
II. of embarrassment to its present owners. Baron Fredrik 1660. van der Capellen ter Budelhoff, as executor and co-heir, therefore gladly sold to the Company "his property on Nov. 20. Staten Island, with the patronage, mansion, out-houses, implements of husbandry, stock, &c., for the sum of three thousand guilders.1 Comparing this amount with what Melyn was to receive, especially when it is understood that the Baron held only one-third of the island, it seems liberal. But the payment consisted in unpaid accounts which the Company held against the province of Guilder- land, and the Directors frankly acknowledged they would Dec. 24. not have been so generous, had the young Baron not con- sented to accept these at his own risk, "which the Com- pany could not collect."" By this transaction, Staten Island reverted once more to the public domain, and be- came disenthralled from feudal burthens and feudal lords for the remainder of the Dutch rule. A number of per- sons, partly Dutch and partly French from the Palatinate, 1661. subsequently received grants of land on the south side of Aug. 22. the island, where a proper site for a village was next sur- veyed. The population increased, in the course of a short time, to twelve or fourteen families, for whose protection from the Indians a block-house was erected, garrisoned with ten soldiers, and fortified with three small guns. From this time forward, the settlement of Staten Island was uninterrupted by any reverses. The faithful there were occasionally visited during the remainder of this administration, by one of the clergymen of New Amsterdam.3
1 Alb. Rec. viii., 290.
2 Ibid. iv., 365. For the papers relating to these various sales and transfers, see App. I.
3 Alb. Rec. iv., 384; xviii., 140-143, 160, 235, 251, 285. Rev. Drisius' MS. letters to the Classis at Amsterdam. The following are the names of the set- tlers alluded to in the text : Peter Belleau, Walraven Luten, Harman Burtels, Jacob Salomons, Jan Claessen, Johannes Christoffels, Claude Le Maitre, An- dries Yemants, Thys Barentsen van Leerdam, Ryk Hendricks, Gerrit War- maet, Myndert Evertsen, Gerrit Cornelissen, Teunis Cornelissen, Capt. Post, Govert Loockermans, Jan Jacobsen van Reenen, Wynant Pietersen, and Paulus Dircksen van Lutsemburgh.
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BOOK VI. 1658. Mar. 4. Already the Director and Council had resolved to form a new village at the north-eastern extremity of Manhattan Island, " for the promotion of agriculture, and as a place of amusement for the citizens of New Amsterdam." To encourage this settlement, to which the name of "New Haerlem" was given, each inhabitant was to receive from eighteen to twenty-four morgens of tillage, and from six to eight morgens of pasture land, free of tithes for fifteen years, subject however to the payment within three years of eight guilders per morgen. The village was to be provided with fifteen soldiers for its protection, and with an inferior court of justice and " a good orthodox minister," as soon as it should contain from twenty to twenty-five families. Half the salary of such clergyman was to be paid by the people. The magistrates were to be nominated at first by the settlers, afterwards in the manner usual in other towns. More than 1660. two years elapsed before the place contained the number of families requisite to entitle it to its patent. The first Aug. 16. magistrates were Jan Pietersen, Daniel Terneur, Peter Coussen, the oldest of whom acted as sheriff. Their juris- diction extended absolutely in civil suits to fifty guilders, beyond which appeal lay to the supreme court of New Amsterdam. In criminal matters they had final cogni- zance only of simple assaults. Graver offences were referred to the Director and Council.1
The settlers, who had been so often driven by the sav- ages from Pavonia, returned to their lands in the spring of 1658, when they received orders to concentrate their Aug. 16. dwellings. They formed, in 1660, a village " behind 1661. Gamoenepan," which obtained, in the course of the year Sep. 15. following, a patent of incorporation, and was called " Bergen," after a town of that name in North Holland. Tielman van Vleeck, notary public of New Amsterdam, was the first sheriff; Michael Jansen, Herman Smeeman, and Caspar Steynmets were the first magistrates of this court of justice, the earliest ever erected within the limits of the present State of New Jersey, unless,
1 Alb. Rec. vii., 420-422 ; xxiv., 368, 369.
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indeed, the existence of the somewhat apocryphal tribunal CHAP. at Hospating, near Hackingsack, be admitted.1 II.
The land opposite Staten Island, on the east side of the 1657. Narrows, between Gowanus and Conyen Island, originally purchased from the Indians in 1645, and granted to the Hon. Cornelis van Werckhoven in 1652, had been aban- doned after that gentleman's death, and now lay wild and waste. Jacques Cortelyou, his agent, applied, under these Jan. 16. circumstances, for its erection into a town. This request was complied with ; the lands were divided, and in compli- ment to the city of which Mr. Van Werckhoven had been in his life-time a magistrate, the place received the name of " New Utrecht."2 Actual settlement did not, however, follow this division of the soil, though some of the patentees had erected houses on their land. The town, therefore, did not prosper, and it became necessary to call for the inter- 1659. ference of the government, on which occasion the inhabi- tants demanded " the same exemptions and freedoms as the other towns." An exemption from tithes followed, and May 12. a sheriff and overseer were appointed to attend to the few municipal wants which might arise in such a hamlet. With all this encouragement New Utrecht contained only twelve houses in the beginning of its fourth year. Orders 1660. were now issued to palisade the village, and to cut down Feb. 6. " all the trees within gun-shot, so that men might see afar off."" A block-house was soon after erected ; and towards 1661. the end of the following year the town obtained a charter Dec. 22. similar to those of other such settlements, empowering the inhabitants to elect their magistrates, and to hold courts which exercised a like jurisdiction to that of Haerlem. Jan Tomassen, Rutger Joosten, and Jacob Hellekars were the first magistrates, and Adriaen Hegeman, sheriff of the other neighboring Dutch towns, exercised jurisdiction also here.4
1 Alb. Rec. xiv., 28; xix., 273-275; xxiv., 372, 398. The lands in Bergen were mostly deeded in 1654, but no village was erected until 1660. The charter of Bergen is similar to that of Wiltwyck, a few pages farther on.
2 New Utrecht Rec.
3 Ibid.
4 Alb. Rec. xix., 444-446. The following were the first patentees of this town: Jacques Cortelyou, Councillor and Fiscaal de Sille, Jacob Hellekars, alias
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HISTORY OF
BOOK VI. In the early part of the spring of 1660, a number of Frenchmen applied to the Director-general to locate a 1660. town on the north-east end of Long Island, between Feb. 16. Breukelen and Middleburgh. Their wishes were com- Feb. 19. plied with, and a village was laid out " between Mespath and Norman's kill, which was named Boswyck." The population now consisting of twenty-three families, the following proclamation was issued :-
1661. " The Director-general and Council of New Netherland, Mar. 25. To all those who shall see these or hear them read, Health : Be it known, that for the public good, for the further promo- tion and increase of the newly begun village of Boswyck, and for the more convenient administration of justice, they have thought necessary to establish in the aforesaid village a subaltern bench of justice, which shall, provisionally, consist of the following named commissaries, viz .: Pieter Jansen Witt, Jan Tilje, and Jan Cornelissen."
1662. Of this court Boudewyn Manout of Crimpen op de Lecq Dec. 28. was clerk, and he was subsequently appointed prelector and schoolmaster to the town. The settlers now pros- pered apace. They were sufficiently easy in circumstances to subscribe some fifty guilders " to ransom Thomas Craeyen's son Jacob, then a prisoner among the Turks." 1663. The next year they erected two block-houses, with walls a June. foot thick, one in the east, the other in the west end of the village, " where the people could retire if necessary and defend themselves from the enemy." The population nearly doubled in three years, when the town contained forty men capable of bearing arms.2
1660.
Efforts were making, in the mean time, in Holland, to obtain a local court of justice and a settled ministry for the Esopus. Roeloff Swartwout, an enterprising and respectable young man, who had resided some time in that locality, had proceeded to Europe and engaged a
Swart, Yonckher Jacobus Corlear, Jan Tomassen, Rutger Joosten, Pieter Roeloffsen, Cornelis Beekman, Johannis Zeelen, Albert Albertsen, Willem Willemsen, Huybert Hooeck, Pieter Jansen, Jan Jacobsen, Jacobus Backer, Jacob Pietersen, Claes Claessen, Teunis Joosten. 1 Bushwick Rec.
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NEW NETHERLAND.
number of persons to accompany him to this country. CHAP. During his sojourn in Holland he prevailed on the Di- > II. rectors to separate Esopus from Fort Orange, of which it 1660. was, at the time, a dependency. Orders were, therefore, April 15. transmitted, to establish a court there, of which Swart- wout was appointed sheriff, by the Assembly of the XIX.
Instead of inducting him, as directed, Stuyvesant ex- pressed his " great surprise at the nomination," on the ground that Swartwout was a minor and incompetent for the office. The appointment was also premature, in his opinion, as no court was yet established at the Esopus, nor any likelihood of one being erected, "from the lack of individuals qualified to preside over it." Whenever a court became necessary, "a person of more mature age, higher talents and respectability would be required, as he would have to act, at the same time, as commissary for the Company." This refusal brought on the Director- Sep. 20. general the censure of his superiors. They were " aston- ished that their recommendations had been neglected and contemned." Stuyvesant was imperatively ordered to execute the Company's commands without further delay.2
The religious instruction of the settlers had, up to this time, been superintended by the lay functionary called the " comforter of the sick," who, on Sundays and festivals, " spoke the words of the Lord " to the people, at one of the farmers' houses. It being reported in Holland that the Directors intended to send out additional clergymen to New Netherland, the Rev. Hermanus Blom, of Amster- dam, was encouraged by some of the clergy of that city to emigrate. After having preached at the Manhattans, he visited the Esopus, where he delivered two sermons. 1659. He immediately received a call from this congregation, Aug. 17. with which he returned to Europe, where he was ordained by the Classis of Amsterdam, on the 16th of February of 1660. the following year. The unsettled state of the country did not, however, permit his entering on the active exer- Sep. 12. cise of his ministry until the fall.3
1 Alb. Rec. iv., 340; xviii, 108. 2 Alb. Rec. iv., 352.
3 Mr. Blom continued pastor of this place until the 5th March, 1667. He
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BOOK VI. ~ May 16.
Stuyvesant could no longer refuse obedience to the com- mands of the Chamber at Amsterdam. He accordingly 1661. conferred a charter on the Esopus, to which place, in commemoration of the fact that the soil was a free gift from the Indians, he gave the name of " Wiltwyck, where- by it shall be known from now and henceforward." This patent, the tenor of which will serve to convey an idea of the legal powers possessed by incorporated towns at this remote period, was in these words :-
" PETRUS STUYVESANT, in behalf of the High and Mighty Lords, the States General of the United Netherlands, and the Lords Directors of the Privileged West India Com- pany, Director-general of New Netherland, Curacoa, Aruba, and Buenaire and dependencies, together with the High Council, To all who shall see, or hear this read, Greeting. Be it known, that their Honors, hoping and wishing nothing else but the prosperity and welfare of their good inhabitants generally, and particularly that of the residents in the village of Wiltwyck, situated in the Esopus ; and desiring that this may be effected and
had the misfortune to lose his wife, Anna Blom, who died at New York, 13th September, 1666; and this, it is presumed, affected him so deeply, that he left the country. The Esopus remained without a settled clergyman for the next eleven years, or until 1678, during which interval it was occasionally visited from Albany or New York. The following is the succession of Dutch clergymen at that place, from the last mentioned period :- 1678, 15th September, Dominie Laurentius Gaasbeck ; 1681, Johannes Weecksteen ; 1696, J. P. Nucella van Bosen ; [from 1698 to 1710, there was another interruption of resident clergy- men, with the exception of 1706, when Dom. Henricus Buys was for a couple of years pastor ;] 1710, Petrus Vas ; 1732, Georgius Wilhelmus Mancius ; 1763, Harmanus Meyer; 1775, George J. L. Doll; 1808, John Gosman; 1836, John Lielly ; 1841, J. H. van Wagenen ; 1845, John C. F. Hoes. Church Rec., Kingston.
1 Alb. Rec. xix , 36, 112, 114, 137-140. The following is the first entry in the Wiltwyck Rec. : " May 16th, 1661. Director-general Petrus Stuyvesant, dele- gated and authorized in all matters of government relating to the public welfare of all the country of New Netherland, by power and commission from the Noble Lords Directors of the Privileged West India Company, Wherefore, the aforesaid Honorable Director-general Petrus Stuyvesant, observing the situation and condition of a place called the Esopus, now inhabited and settled since six or seven years, hath, in consideration of the state and population thereof, erected our locality into a village [tot een Dorp] and given it the name of Wiltwyck, whereby it shall be called from now and henceforward."
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NEW NETHERLAND.
preserved with more love, peace and harmony, and to CHAP. show to each inhabitant of the aforesaid village, and~ prove by deed its effects ; so is it, that the aforesaid 1661. Director-general and Council, considering the increased population of said village, resolve to favor its inhabitants with a subaltern court of justice, and to organize it as far as possible, and the situation of the country will permit, in conformity with the customs of the city of Amsterdam in Holland, but so, that from all judgments an appeal may be made to the Director-general and Council in New Netherland, who shall reserve the power to give their final decision.
"It is, therefore, necessary, so that everything may be effected with due order and respect, that there be chosen as judges, honest, intelligent persons possessing real estate, peaceable men, good subjects to their Lords and Patroons, and the high administration appointed by them in this country, professors of the Reformed religion, as it is now preached in the United Netherlandish churches, in conformity to the word of God, and the orders of the synod of Dordrecht; which court of justice for the present time, till otherwise shall be ordained by the aforesaid Lords Patroons in their authorized adminis- tration, shall consist of a Sheriff, being in loco, who shall summon in the name of the Director-general and Council, the appointed Schepens, and preside at their meeting ; and with him three Schepens, who for the present time and ensuing year, beginning with the last of May next, are elected by the Director-general and Council aforesaid, and confirmed after they shall have taken their oath, EVERT PELS, CORNELIS BARENTSEN SLEGHT, and ELBERT HEYMANS ROOSE. Before whom all cases relative to the police, security and peace of the inhabitants of Esopus, so too all suits between man and man, shall be brought, heard, examined and determined by definitive judgment, to the amount of fifty guilders and below it, without appeal. But on higher sums it shall be left to the dis- cretion of the aggrieved to appeal to the Director-general and Council aforesaid, provided that he enters the appeal VOL. II. 28
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BOOK in due time, and procures bail for the prosecution and VL expenses of the law-suit, according to law.
1661. " If there be a disparity of votes and opinions on any occurrent affairs, then the minority shall coincide with the majority without contradiction. But it is permitted to those who adopt another opinion or advice, to have their sentiments and advice registered on the roll or protocol. But they shall by no means publish out of court their advice, or communicate the same to the parties, under arbitrary correction, at the discretion of the bench.
" The Sheriff shall, in conformity to the first article, preside at the meeting, collect the votes, and act as secretary till further orders, or until the population is in- creased. But, whenever he shall either act for himself, or in behalf of the rights of the Lords Patroons, or in behalf of justice in the place of the Attorney-general, in all such cases he shall leave his seat, and absent him- self from the bench, and in such cases he shall not have an advisory, much less a casting vote. In all such cases, one of the oldest Schepens shall preside in his place.
" What in the aforesaid article is decreed with regard to the Sheriff shall take place, in a similar manner, with respect to the Schepens, whenever, in the aforesaid court, any cases or questions might occur between them as parties or others, nearly allied in blood to the appointed Schepens, as when a brother, a brother-in-law, or a cousin is concerned, viz. : in the first and right line.
" All inhabitants of the Esopus are, till further orders, either from the Lords Patroons, or their higher magistrates, subjected and may be summoned before the aforesaid Sheriff and Commissaries, who shall hold their court, in the village aforesaid, every fortnight-harvest time excepted-unless necessity or occasion might otherwise require.
" To procure the good inhabitants of Wiltwyck a civil and easy administration of justice, the Sheriff as President, and the Schepens of this court, shall, for the better con- veniency of parties, appear at the appointed day and
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NEW NETHERLAND.
place, on the fine of twenty stivers, to be disposed of by CHAP. the college, when they shall have been informed by the
II. court messenger, qualified for that purpose by the Director- 1661. general and Council, at least twenty-four hours, of the sessions of the court, and double this sum for the President, except by sickness or absence. If they arrive too late, or after the stated hour, the penalty shall be six stivers.
" No extraordinary sessions shall, at the expenses and burdens of the parties, be called, except at the request of both parties, with submission to the costs, in case of the loss of the suit; which costs shall previously be secured by the solicitant or plaintiff, viz. : for each Schepen, fifteen stivers ; for the President, three guilders ; besides a provision for the clerk, yet to be appointed, the court messenger, and other necessary costs, agreeably to law.
" All criminal cases shall be directly referred to the Director-general and Council in New Netherland, pro- vided that the court remains obliged to apprehend, arrest, detain and imprison the delinquents till they have a proper opportunity to transport them with safety before the supreme magistrate of the land, while in the mean time, they are holden to take good and correct informations with regard to the committed crime, at the expense of the criminal, or in behalf of the Attorney-general, and transmit these together with the delinquent.
" Lesser crimes, as quarrels, injuries, scolding, kicking, beating, threatenings, simply drawing a knife or sword, without assault or bloodshed, are left to the judicature and decision of the aforesaid court, in which cases the Sheriff may act as plaintiff before said court, with reservation of the clause of appeal, if the condemned feel himself aggrieved by the decision of said court.
" All criminals and delinquents guilty of wounding, bloodshed, fornication, adultery, public and notorious thefts, robberies, smuggling or contraband, blasphemy, violating God's holy name and religion, injuring and slandering the Supreme Magistrates, or their representa- tives, shall, with the informations, affidavits and witnesses,
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HISTORY OF
be referred to the Director-general and Council of New Netherland.
BOOK VI. 1661. "Should the situation of affairs be such that the Presi- dent and Schepens deem it advisable for the security and peace of the inhabitants, during the absence of the Director-general and Council, for the greater advantage and peace of the village and court aforesaid, to issue in said district any orders, respecting public roads, enclosure of lands, gardens or orchards, and further, what might con- cern the country and agriculture ; so, too, relative to the building of churches, schools, and other similar public works ; as well as the means from which, and in what manner, these shall be regulated, they are authorized to bring their considerations on such subjects in writing, support these by argument, and deliver them to the Director-general and Council, to be, if deemed useful and necessary, confirmed, approved and commanded by the Director-general and Council.
" The aforesaid Sheriff and Schepens shall further take care, and are obliged to see the laws of our Fatherland, and the ordinances and placards of the Director-general and Council, already published, or which may be pub- lished, in future, carefully executed and kept in strict observance, and not to permit that, under any pretext, anything shall be done contrary thereto, but that the trans- gressors shall be prosecuted according to law.
" The aforesaid Sheriff and court are not permitted to enact any ordinances, placards or similar acts, or publish and affix these, except by previous consent of the Director- general and Council.
" The Sheriff and Schepens shall further take care and be holden, to assist the Noble Lords Directors, as Lords and Patroons of this New Netherland province, under the sovereignty of the High and Mighty Lords the States General of the United Provinces, and to aid to maintain them in their high jurisdiction, rights, domains, and all their other pre-eminences.
" Whereas, it is customary in our Fatherland and other well regulated governments, that annually some change
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takes place in the magistracy, so that some new ones are CHAP. appointed, and some are continued to inform the newly
II. appointed, so shall the Schepens, now confirmed, pay due 1661. attention to the conversation, conduct and abilities of honest and decent persons, inhabitants of their respective village, to inform the Director-general and Council, about the time of the next election, as to who might be sufficiently qualified to be then elected by the Director-general and Council. Done, and given by the Director-general and Council, at their meeting in Fort Amsterdam, in New Netherland, this 16th day of May, 1661."
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