History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 15

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

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The Patroons who will send colonies thither, shall furnish them with due instruction agreeably to the mode of government, both in police and justice,1 established, or to be established by the Assembly of the XIX, which they shall first exhibit to the Directors of the respective chambers, and have approved by the Assembly of the XIX."

The possession of the land, with everything, in, upon, or produced by it, as well as all matters of every kind, within the bounds of the patroonship, was first granted. Then follow the powers, rights, and privileges, the first of which was the high, middle, and low jurisdiction within the patroonship ; a power necessarily appertaining to the ownership of the land, as requisite to the orderly government of the patroonship, the due protection of the tenants in their rights, and the determination of all contrc- versies between themselves, or between themselves and the Patroon, or his agents, as well as the trial and punishment of criminal offenses. "High juris- diction" means the power of capital punishment. Under the charter of 1629 (Art. XX), a right of appeal from all judgments of these courts, of fifty guilders ($20), and upwards, lay to the Governor and Council in New Netherland. By that of 1640, the limit was increased to 100 guilders ($40), and the right extended to all cases of criminal sentences, and judgments entailing infamy upou any person. Thus the rights of all people were thoroughly protected.

Next are enumerated the sole rights of hunting, fishing, fowling, and milling. These explain them- selves, except the last,-milling. This means, not the actual grinding, or manufacturing, but the right to erect, or control the erection of, all mills withiu the Patroonship. For every Patroon was to build a mill, or mills, for the use and benefit of the tenants or vassals, these terms being simply synonymous, of the Patroonship. These mills could, either be run by the Patroon or his agent, or rented by him to any one who wished to run them, at a fixed rent or toll. But the Patroon was in all cases bound to provide the mills and appurtenances themselves.

The Tenure by which the lands, rights, powers, privileges, and jurisdictions of the Patroons of New Netherland were held, is thus stated in the sixth article of the charter of 1629, "to be holden from the Company as a perpetual inheritance, without it ever

devolving again to the Company, and in case it shoubl devolve, to be redecmed and repossessed with twenty guilders per colonie to be paid to this Company, at the Chamber here (Holland), or to their commander there (New Netherland) within a year and six weeks after the same occurs, each at the Chamber where he originally sailed from." This continued without change till 1640, when the revised charter of that year, stated the same tenure more fully, in these words, "the lands remaining allodial, but the juris- diction as of a perpetual hereditary fief, devolvable by death as well to females as to males, and fealty and homage for which is to be rendered to the Company, on each of such occasions with a pair of iron gaunt- lets, redeemable by twenty guilders within a year and six weeks, at the Assembly of the XIX here (in Amsterdam), or before the Governor there (in New Amsterdam); with this understanding, that in case of division of said fief or jurisdiction, be it high, middle, or low, the parts shall be and remain of the same nature as was originally conferred on the whole, and fealty and homage must be rendered for each part thereof by a pair of iron gauntlets, redeemable by twenty guilders as aforesaid."

The Dutch words translated in the above quotation "a perpetual hereditary fief," and in the sixth article of the charter of 1629 "a perpetual inheritance." mean more than these English renderings, and ex- press a technicality of the Dutch law which the latter does not convey. It is this. A feud, or fief, (these terms are synonymous) is thus defined in the Dutch law, "an hereditary indivisible use over the immovc- able property of another, with a mutual obligation of protection on the one side, and a duty of homage and service on the other."2 Such a fief, under the law, " was not divisible, except by charter and passed only per capita, or by stipulation in cases of intestacy, to the eldest male amongst the lawful children, or fur- ther descendants, of the last possessor; to inales sprung from males, the nearest degree taking prece- dence of one more remote."3 These, the old fiefs of the Fatherland, were termed "recta feudo," riglit fiefs, and were the fiefs referred to in both the New Nether- land charters of "Freedoms and Exemptions" and the above translations of them. As they were indivisible and passed of right to the eldest male representative of the last possessor, and did not depend upon the intestacy of a son, they were termined "undying " fiefs, as opposed to fiefs where the succession might be changed by stipulation at the time of the inves- titure, or afterwards, which last were also hereditary. These "old fiefs" were not transplanted to New Netherland by the charters of Freedoms and Exemp- tions, but the new fiefs created by virtue of those charters had merely the same rights of jurisdiction, hunting, fishing, fowling, and milling, as the old un-

1 This means "political and judicial," the original being badly trans- Jated. See Art. X, in the charter of 1629, where the language, " is as well in the political as the judicial government."

Herbert's Grotius, 230, ¿ I. 8 Ibid. ¿ II.

THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE MANORS.

dying ones. In all other respects they were entirely different. The jurisdiction of the Patroons and their seignorial rights were held "as" of these undying fiefs, that is in the same manner as jurisdiction and seignorial rights were held under them. But the land itself, together with the produce, superficies, minerals, rivers and fountains thereof, was held by a very different tenure. That tenure was allodial, which means, not feudal, independent of a lord paramount. " The lands remaining allodial but the jurisdiction as of a perpetual (undying) hereditary fief" is the lan- guage of the charter of 1640. Then follows this radical change from the old ficfs, "devolvable by death as well to females as males." to women as well as to men, is the literal translation of the original words. Thus in New Netherland the right of sue- eession was extended to at least double the number of persons, that it was under the old fiefs of the Father- land. Annexed to this right, was the provision that upon each person succeeding to the inheritance of the Patroonship, fealty and homage were "to be rendered on each of such occasions to the Company with a pair of iron gauntlets, redcemable by twenty guilders within a year and six months, at the Assembly of the XIX. here (Amsterdam), or before the Governor there (New Amsterdam)." This was simply a method adopted for the acknowledgment by the Patroons of the political supremacy of the West India Company, as the ultimate and paramount government and source of title in New Netherland; a method bor- rowed from the old feudal manner in which the tenant, or vassal, acknowledged the holding of his lands from a lord paramount, who was in his turn thereby obliged to proteet him, and which was called tenure by knight-service. Nothing of the latter ever existed in New Netherland. Except this political acknowledginent of the West India Company to be what we now call "the State," the Patroonships were held as hereditary allodial lauds, which the Patroons could divide in parts and sell in fee at their pleasure; but what they did not sell in fee, descended to the next heir, whether man or woman, unless devised by will otherwise.

This power of devising by will was earnestly desired and coutended for by the Patroons. The seventh article of the charter of 1629 says, "There shall likewise be granted to all Patroons who shall desire the same, venia testandi, or liberty to dispose of their aforesaid heritage by testament." "All Patroons and feudatories ( fundatories were the holders of any part of the fief ) shall, on requesting it, be granted "Venia Testandi, or the power to dispose of, or bequeath his fief by Will," is the language of that of 1640. This power alone, as it insured at some time or other the dividing up of all large fiefs, was sufficient to prevent the New Netherland fiefs from ever becoming dangerous, or the source of a great, continucd, and oppressive aristoerney.

The "feudal system" of Europe, as such, never

existed in New Netherland. That system however is the basis of the land titles of every civilized country of Europe at this hour, as it was at the discovery of the New World; and, as derived from the various countries of Europe which colonized America, is now the basis of those of the various States of the American Republic. The system of tenure intro- duced into New York by the Dutch, was divested of all burdensome attributes-the nova feuda, the new fiefs, by which all the land was there held were purely allodial, with full right in the Patroons to sell in fce in whole or in part, and to devise it in whole or in part by will, free of all charges aud incum- branees, except the mere political acknowledgment of the West India Company as the ultimate paramount source of all title, the State. It was the most liberal land system, introduced upon the American Con- tinent; far more so than the English system as intro- dueed into the English Colonies, and the full feudal system, introduced into the American Colonies of France, Spain, and Portugal. It certainly did not "seatter" in New Netherland "the seeds of servitude, slavery, and aristoeraey."1 There were no "serfs" in the feudal sense, either in the Dutch republic or its colony of New Netherland. Slavery was, and had been, the universal, acknowledged, source of labor, the result of conquest originally, for centuries be- fore, and at that time-the 17th century-all over the world. And equally in all countries of civilization was the division of society into elasses of diverse grades, and the existence of an aristoeraey, the only one kuown, established, and existing; and every State and government then in being was based upon it. How futile then is the idea, that to these New Netherland charters of Freedoms and Exemptions is owing the introducing of all these institutions into what is now the State of New York. Had neither of these charters ever existed the "seeds" of all three of these institutions would have found their way thither because they were simply the universal in - stitutions of the highest human civilization at that era.

The reason why it was possible for the liberal fiefs of New Netherland to be created, was the nature of the investiture required to establish the Patroons in their rights, the seizin or delivery of possession to them established by the charters. This in the old fiefs, and under the feudal system, in Europe gen- erally, was by an act of the lord upon receiving the oath of fealty and the homage of the tenant or vassal, at which time the latter also presented the lord with a fine, that is, a gift of some small artiele or thing as a token of his fidelity. In the New Netherland fiefs by virtue of the charters this whole matter was changed. The delivery of the grant of the fief by the Governor and Couneil itself was the livery of seizin, or investiture, of the possession in the Patroon.

1 Moulton in his Hist. of N. Y., 387-8.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

And at that time the latter took the oath of alle- giance which was the "fealty," to the Company, and did his " homage," which was simply by holding up his hands in the presence of some other tenant, of the Company or Patroon, verbally acknowledging the Company as the ultimate possessor of the land, or as we should say, the State, requesting the Governor to invest him with the possession, and at the same time, presenting to him the pair of iron ganntlets (the hand armor of a coat of mail), or twenty guilders in money. They were thus under the Dutch law nova feuda, new fiefs, as distinguished from the old fiefs described before; and the Company as the ultimate possessor of the land by its Governor's grant could, and did, make the new investiture that has been described. If a Patroon divided his patroonship, the same jurisdic- tion attached to each part, and the same kind of in- vestiture, had to be made for each part, as was pro- vided for the whole patroonship in the original grant.

The numerons provisions of these eharters relating to the trade, and other commereial privileges, granted to the Patroons do not require to be here considered. Neither do a few other provisions of a general nature.

The twenty-sixth article of the charter of 1629 as has been mentioned, provided that every one who "shall settle any colonie out of the limits of Manhat- ten Island, shall be obliged to satisfy the Indians for the land they shall settle upon," thus absolutely protecting the natives in the possession of their territorics.

The twenty-ninth article, in accordance with the political economy of Europe at that day, which taught that colonies should be kept as markets for the productions of the mother countries, prohibited all mannfactures in New Netherland ou pain of banish- ment.

The thirtieth article of that of 1629, provided "that the company will nse their endeavours to supply the colonists with as many blacks as they con- veniently can, on the conditions hereafter to be made; in snch manner, however, that they shall not be bonnd to do it for a longer time than they shall think proper." The charter of 1640, says, "The company shall exert itself to provide the patroons and colonists, on their order, with as many blacks as possible, without however being further or longer obligated thereto than shall be agreeable." These pro- visions were simply to furnish the cheapest labor then known, and were in accordance with the manner and methods of colonizing at that day, and the views of that era, as to labor. It was a similar provision to those put in contracts in onr day and generation, for build- ing railroads, canals, mines, and other enterprises, by syndicates and constrnetion companies, and corpora- tions, by which, so many hundreds, or thousands, of laborers, black, yellow, or white, are to be furnished at such a price for such wages. Were slavery not now abolished everywhere except in the Spanish

Colonies, these contracts now would call for slaves as the cheapest kind of labor.

Bnt one other subject of these charters remains to be considered, and that is the religion they estab- lished in New Netherland. All the charters were approved and enacted as laws by the West India Company, and the States-General ; the sovereign power of the Seven Provinces of the United Netherlands. The twenty-seventh artiele of the charter of 1629 is in these words, -"The Patroons and Colonists shall in particular and in the speediest manner, endeavour to find out ways and means whereby they may sup- port a minister and school-master, that thus the service of God and Zeal for religion may not grow cool, and be neglected among them ; and that they do for the first, procure a comforter of the sick there." The charter of 1640 speaks much more strongly and directly :- " And no other Religion shall be publicly admitted in New Netherland except the Reformed, as it is at present preached and practiced in the United Netherlands ; and for this purpose the company shall provide and maintain good and suitable preachers, school-masters and comforters of the sick." By these provisions of the two charters was the Reformed Church of the Netherlands, the national established ehureli of the Dutch Republie, made the established church of New Netherland. And as such it remained until the seizure of the province by the English in 1664. It was re-established at the reeapture by the Dutch, nine years later, and only ceased as "the Establishment",on the surrender of the province to Sir Edmund Andros, for the King of England, pursuant to the treaty of Westminister, on the tenth of Novem- ber 1674. On this oceasion the Dnteh Governor, Colve, sent certain "articles " to Andros to which he required answers before snrrendering, " for the satis- faction of the Dutch Government and for the greater tranquillity, of the good People of this Province." These related mainly to the settlement of debts, the validity of judgments during the Duteh administra- tion, the maintenance of the titles of the owners of landed property to its possession, and the position of the established church. Andros directed Mathias Nieolls, the former secretary under the English, to confer in person with Colve on these subjects. Nicolls satisfied Colve that Andros would give satisfactory answers as soon as he assumed the government, and this assurance was fully carried ont. The article relating to the Church is in these words :- " that the inhabitants of the Dutch nation may be allowed to retain their customary Chureh privileges in Divine Service and Church discipline."1 This was granted, and with the Province of New Netherland fell for- ever the "Establishment" of the Dutch Church. Bnt from that day to this, that great and ven- erable Church has eontinned in the enjoyment of its ereed, privileges, and property, as fully and as freely

1 II Brod., 270.

THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE MANORS.

as it did, while having the power of the Province Government at its back to enforce its support and prohibit all doctrines it did not approve. And how strong this power was, its dealings with the Lutherans, and with the Quakers in Governor Stuyvesant's time, fully attest.

At the beginning the maintenance of the Church though undertaken by the West India Company, was, under the charter of 1629, devolved by it upon the Patroons and Free Colonists ; but under that of 1640, and during the entire Dutch dominion afterward, it was placed upon the Province Government, as the representative, or rather agent, of the West India Company, without however relieving the Patroons and Colonists from their obligations in regard to it. If they were in default, the Company itself was to maintain "the Established Church " through its Provincial Government from its own revenucs. Be- fore the charter of 1629 the Company undertook the support of the church. This appears from a letter of the Rev. Jonas Michaelius, the first clergyman of the Dutch Church in New Nether- land to a brother clergyman at Amsterdam, the Rev. Adrianus Smoutins, dated August 11, 1628, which was discovered and first printed, only in 1858, in a periodical of Amsterdam by Mr. J. J. Bodel Nijenhuis of that city, and subsequently translated and sent to the late Dr. Edmund B. O'Callaghan then of Albany, the anthor of the "History of New Netherland," by the late Henry C. Murphy, then United States Minister at the Hague. The second volume of the "Holland Documents " translated and edited for the State by Dr. O'Callaghan, was, when the letter arrived, just printed, but not bound nor published, and in it, as an appendix, that learned editor inserted Mr. Murphy's translation of this letter. Michaelius sailed from Holland, January 24th, 1628, and arrived at the "Island of Man- hatas," as he calls it, on the 7th of the succeed- ing April, and wrote the letter the following August- In it he says, " In my opinion, it is very expedient that the Lords Managers of this place (the Amsterdam Chamber of the West Indian Company) should furnish plain and precise instructions to their Governors that they may distinctly know how to regulate themselves in all difficult occurrences and events in public matter ; and at the same time that I should have all such Acta Synodalia, as are adopted in the Synods of Holland, both the special ones relating to this region' and those which are provincial and national, in rela- tion to ecclesiastical points of difficulty, or at least such of thein as in the judgment of the Reverend brothers at Amsterdam would be most likely to present themselves to us here." . The promise which the Lords Masters of the Company had made me of some acres or surveyed lands for me to make myself a home, instead of a free table which otherwise belonged to me is wholly of no avail. For their honors well know that their are no horses, cows,

or laborers to be obtained here for money. Every one is short in these particulars and wants more."

This letter also proves incidentally, that slavery existed in "the Manhatas" at its date, the year before the enactment of the charter of 1629 which provided for their being furnished by the Company to the Patroons, as stated above, and to which has been so often, and so wrongly ascribed their first introduc- tion in New York. Speaking of his family matters, for his wife had died since his arrival leaving him with "two little daughters," Michaelius writes, " maid- servants are not to be had, at least none whom they advise me to take; and the Angola slaves are thievish, lazy and uscless trash." Evidently slaves had been by no means lately introduced in "the Manhatas " in 1628.

The Canon law and the Roman law came into Hol- land together, and that country was governed by both until the Reformation. Then the former was over- thrown, and the law of the Reformed Church of Hol- land promulgated in 1521, and confirmed in 1612, went into operation, but the Roman civil law remained as before the law of the land. Under the law of the Reformed Church of Holland, matters ecclesiastical come first before the Consistory, then before the Assembly, and finally before the Synod. There being no Synod in New Netherland, the care of the church there was entrusted to the Assembly or classis of Amsterdam, by whom the Dutch clergymen were approved and ordained, at the request, or with the assent, of the West India Company at Amsterdam. 1 Exeept when as a matter of mere charity on their being driven from New England, the English settlers of the Congregational belief were granted freedom of con- science and to worship in their own way, and to choose their own civil officers, 2 people of other denominations were not allowed to hold office.3 This was becanse the Reformed Religion in accordance with the doc- trine of the Synod of Dort was the Established Re- ligion of New Netherland, and the magistrates were bound to maintain it against all sectaries, and there- fore they must have belonged, or been friendly, to that faith. 4

Such were the provisions of the charters of Freedoms of Exemptions as to tennre of lands and the rights, powers and privileges of the Patroons, and the Masters or Free Colonists, of New Netherland, and the farin people, or boers, they brought over to cultivate the soil ; and as to the Church.

The total number of land grants of all kinds, from a Patroonship, to a single lot in Manhattan Island, issued by the Dutch Provincial Government from

1 Laws of N. N., v.

! See charter of Hempstead granted by Governor Kieft, In 1644. Laws N. N., 42. 8 lbid, 479.

4 On March 17, 1664, Stuyvesant and his council passed an ordnance, that all school-masters should appear with their school-children every Wednesday afternoon in the church. that they might be catcchised by the Ministers and Elders. Laws of N. N., 4G1.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

1630 to 1634, as far complete as the Books of Patents and Town records now admit was 638, as showu by the statement of O'Callaghan appended to the second volume of his history. It is not absolutely correct, but is sufficiently so as a very fair approximation. The territories and rights of the original Patroonships ou both sides of the Hudson River, with but two exceptions, were subsequently on account of the diffi- culties of their owners, with the West India Company, and the obstacles they met with in settling their lands, subsequently bought back by the Company. Thus they became again part and parcel of the public domain, and as such were retransported and regranted to vari- ous individuals, by the Director and Council. That of New Amstel on the Delaware, was finally conceded to the city of Amsterdam in Holland, as late as 1656, and that city took upon itself the settlement and colonization of that Patroonship.

The two exceptions to the re-purchase of the New York Patroonships, were those of Rensselaers-wyck and Colen-Donck, both of which continued in the possession of their Patroons. Space will not permit of even a brief account of the former, which, changed in 1705 to an English Manor, has continued to our own days, striking and interesting as it is. The latter, the only Patroonship established in West- chester County, will now be described.

The Patroonship of Colen-Donck. ( Yonkers.)

In that portion of New Netherland which now constitutes the county of Westchester there existed under the Dutch dominion but one Patroonship. It was called Colen-Donck, in English "Donck's Col- ony," from the name of its Patroon, Adriaen vau der Donck, to whom it was granted by Director Kieft and his Council in the year 1646.1

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 15

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354