USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
There was little freedom of thought at this time in England. The people were divided into two great re- ligious sects, the Episcopalians, and the Puritans. The latter, by their stern denunciation of the rites and cere- monies of the Episcopalian Church, the established Church of England, their refusal to conform to the statutes of the realm, and their almost fanatical opposi- tion to everything that savored of prayer-book or ritual, had drawn upon themselves the displeasure of the government. Disapprobation soon grew into persecu-
48
HISTORY OF THE
tion. The Puritans sternly refused to yield a single point of their obnoxious doctrines, while the government daily increased in rigor. Weary of the contest, a num- ber of the persecuted nonconformists fled, with their min- ister, John Robinson, to Holland, where they found the fullest toleration. Settling at Leyden, they organized a congregation, and enjoyed the religious freedom which they had failed to obtain in their native land. Yet here they felt like strangers. The manners and customs were foreign to them ; the language was strange and the gov- ernment unlike their own, and their children were grow- ing up in the speech and habits of the new country and forgetting their mother-tongue. They were English and they feared to become Dutch. The New World offered a tempting home to them in which they could enjoy both civil and religious liberty, and train up their offspring in their own faith and language. It was at first proposed to settle at Guiana, but this scheme was finally aban- doned. Hearing of the glowing accounts of the pro- vince of New Netherland, Robinson entreated permis- sion of the Dutch to settle there, promising to take with him four hundred families if the government would pledge itself to protect him against all other powers. The offer pleased the merchants, who would gladly have transported them thither free of cost, and have fur- nished them with cattle and agricultural implements to aid them in establishing the much-needed colony. But the States General had other plans in view. They wished to organize an armed military force that could assist them in the war which they were then carrying on with Spain ; and besides, they thought it better policy to peo-
49
CITY OF NEW YORK.
ole the province with their own countrymen. They, therefore, refused the prayer of the Puritans ; and on the 3d of June, 1621, granted a charter to the " West India Company," conferring on them for a period of twenty-one years, the exclusive jurisdiction over the pro- vince of New Netherland. The powers thus conferred upon this new association were as extensive as those en- joyed by the East India Company. The exclusive right of trade in the Atlantic, from the Tropic of Cancer to the Cape of Good Hope on the eastern, and from New- foundland to the Straits of Magellan on the western continent was granted them. Their power over this immense territory was almost unlimited. They could make contracts with the native princes, build forts, administer justice, and appoint governors and public officers, the appointment of the former to be subject to the approval of the States General, to whom they were required to take oaths of allegiance. In return, the Com- pany pledged themselves to colonize the new territories, and to keep the States General informed from time to time of their plan of operations. The government of the association was vested in five separate chambers of managers, established in five principal Dutch cities : one at Amsterdam, one at Middleburg, one at Dordrecht, one in North Holland, and one in Friesland and Gron- inger. The details of its management were intrusted to a board of directors, nineteen in number, one of whom was appointed by thé States General, the others by the respective chambers, in proportion to their relative im- portance. Full executive powers, with the exception of a declaration of war, for which the consent of the States
4
50
HISTORY OF THE
General was necessary, was conferred on this board of directors, commonly called the Assembly of Nineteen. The States General, on their part, promised to protect the Company from all interference, to give them a mil- lion of guilders, and to supply them with ships and men in case of war. The Puritans, meanwhile, repulsed on this side, had made their way to Plymouth Rock, and planted their faith on the shores of New England.
The West India Company set about the work of co- lonizing the new province with vigor. In 1623, the Amsterdam Chamber, to whose especial care the province had been intrusted, fitted out the New Netherland, & ship of two hundred and sixty tons burden, and dis- patched it, with thirty families, to the territory whose name it bore, for the purpose of founding a colony. The expedition was placed under the command of Cornelissen Jacobsen Mey, who was also appointed First Director of the province. Most of these new colonists were Wal- loons, or French Protestants, from the confines of France and Belgium, who had obtained from the Dutch what they had vainly sought from the English, permission to make themselves homes in the New World. These were, properly speaking, the earliest colonists of the province, the Dutch, who had previously emigrated hither, having been mere traders and temporary sojourners. The new comers scattered themselves over the country. Eight re- mained at Manhattan. Four couples, who had been mar- ried during the voyage, together with eight seamen, were sent to South River, where they founded a settlement on the Jersey shore, near Gloucester. The Walloons, headed by George Jansen de Rapelje, settled on Long Island,
51
CITY OF NEW YORK.
at the Waal-bogt, or Walloon's Bay, where Sarah de Rapelje, the first child of European parentage in the pro- vince, was born, in 1625 .* A few of the colonists were dispatched by the governor to the Fresh, or Connecticut River, and the rest proceeded with him up the Mauritius River, where they build Fort Orange, on the west shore, about four miles above Fort Nassau, and vigorously com- menced the work of clearing the wilderness. The New Netherland returned to Holland under the command of Adriaen Jovis, the second in command of the expedition, with a cargo of furs, valued at twelve thousand dollars.
In 1625, three ships and a yacht, bringing a number of families, with their furniture, farming implements, and a hundred and three head of cattle, arrived at Manhattan. Fearing lest the cattle might stray away into the forests, the settlers landed them on Nutten's, now Governor's Island, until further provision could be made for them ; but finding the island destitute of water, they were com- pelled at once to carry them in boats to Manhattan. Two more vessels soon arrived, and the colony now num- bered some two hundred persons.
A nucleus was now formed from which to form a per- manent settlement. Hitherto the form of government had been simple and the settlers transient, but affairs were now assuming a more settled aspect. In 1624, Mey returned to Holland, and was succeeded in the director- ship by William Verhulst. At the end of a year, he, too, was recalled, and Peter Minuit was appointed Director-
* Recent investigations tend to confirm the theory that Sarah de Rapelje was born at Albany, where her parents appear to have resided about the period of her birth, instead of at the Waal-bogt, as has been supposed.
52
HISTORY OF THE
General of New Netherland ; with instructions from the Company to organize a provincial government. In this government, the supreme authority, executive, legisla- tive, and judicial, was vested in the Director and Council, with full power to administer justice, except in capital cases ; in which, the offender, on being convicted, must be sent with his sentence to Holland. Next to these came the Koopman, who performed the double duty of Secretary of the province, and book-keeper of the Com- pany's warehouse. Subordinate to this functionary, was the Schout Fiscal, a sort of civil factotum, half sheriff and half attorney-general, the executive officer of the Director and Council, and general custom-house officer. At the same time, the first seal was granted to the province of New Nether- land .* Minuit's council consisted of Peter Byvelt, Jacob Elbertsen Wis- sinck, Jan Janssen Brouwer, Simon Dircksen Pos, and Reynert Har- menssen. Isaac de Rasières, the first Koopman, was succeeded two Seal of New Amsterdam. 1654. (Described on p. 139.) . years afterwards by Jan Van Re- mund ; Jan Lampo acted as Schout Fiscal.
On the 4th of May, 1626, Peter Minuit, the new Director, arrived at Manhattan in the ship Sea Mew, com- manded by Adriaen Jovis. To his credit be it said, the first act of his administration was to secure possession of Manhattan by lawful purchase. Soon after his arrival he bought the whole island of the Indians for the Dutch West India Company for the sum of sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars. The island was fifteen miles in * For engraving of the seal, see p. 140.
53
CITY OF NEW YORK.
length, and from about a quarter of a mile to two miles in breadth, and was estimated to contain twenty-two thousand acres.
Having thus become the lawful owners of the terri- tory, the first care of the colonists was to provide for their personal safety. The English were constantly prowling about their coasts and threatening their destruction, and they knew that they were not secure in the neighborhood of the fierce Manhattans. A fort was at once staked out by their engineer, Kryn Frederycke, on the triangle which formed the southern part of the island, and which seemed chosen by nature herself for the purpose. This fort, which was a mere block-house, surrounded by cedar palisades, received the imposing name of Fort Amsterdam, and was completed in the course of the following year. A horse mill was also erected, with a large room on the second floor for religious services, and a stone building, thatched with reeds, was · built for the Company's warehouse. Some thirty rude huts along the shores of the East River made up the balance of the settlement. Neither clergyman nor school- master was as yet known in the colony, but two visitors of the sick, Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck by name, were appointed, whose duty it was to read the Scrip- tures and the creeds to the people on Sundays. Every settler had his own house, kept his cows, tilled his land, or traded with the natives-no one was idle. The settle- ment throve, and the exports of furs during this year amounted to nineteen thousand dollars.
Minuit now determined to open a friendly correspon- dence with his eastern neighbors, and on the 9th of
54
HISTORY OF THE
March, 1727, Isaac de Rasières, the secretary of the pro- vince, addressed an amicable letter by his order to Gov- ernor Bradford at Plymouth, congratulating him on the prosperity of his colony, and expressing a hope that pleasant relations might continue to exist between them. This letter was the first communication between the Dutch and the Yankees. Bradford replied in the same friendly tone, though he took care to throw out a few hints on the questionable propriety of Dutch trade within the limits of New England. Alarmed by this claim, Minuit answered a few weeks after, vindicating the right of the States General to the territory of New Netherland. The matter rested thus until three months after, when another letter was received from Bradford, apologizing for the long delay, and requesting that the Dutch would send a commissioner to discuss the boundary question in an amicable manner. The sugges- tion was complied with, and Isaac de Rasières dispatched on the errand, which amounted to little more than an interchange of civilities between the two powers.
Ere long, seeds of trouble were sown, which ripened into a harvest of horror and misery.
A Weckquaesgeek Indian, who had come down with his nephew from West Chester to sell furs to the settlers, was attacked near the Fresh Water Pond by three of Minuit's farm servants, who robbed and murdered him. His nephew, a mere boy, escaped, vowing vengeance on his uncle's murderers. It is but justice to the authori- ties to say that they were ignorant of this deed of horror, which in after years was visited so terribly upon the whole colony. Revenge is an Indian's virtue, and the
/
55
CITY OF NEW YORK.
young savage grew up to manhood, cherishing his terrible oath, and swearing to wash out his uncle's mur- der in the blood of the white men.
In the meantime, the colony was increasing slowly, not so much by new arrivals as by the accession of the settlers from Forts Nassau and Orange, and the settle- ments at the South River, who, attacked by the Indians and tiring of their lonely position, had deemed it advisable to remove to Manhattan. Six farms, called " Bouwerys," were reserved as the private property of the Company, four of which stretched along the east shore, the other two lying on the western side of the island, and extending to Greenwich. The inhabitants now numbered two hundred and seventy. But the settlement was expensive, and the Company, who were anxious to settle the country, determined to induce individual mem- bers of their body to establish settlements at their own risk. To effect this, in 1629, an act was proposed by the Assembly of Nineteen and ratified by the States General, granting to any member of the West India Company who should found a colony of fifty persons, upward of fifteen years of age, within four years after notice of his intention, the title of Patroon, with the privilege of selecting a tract of land sixteen miles on one side, or eight miles on both sides of a navigable river, and extending as far inland as they chose, any- where within the limits of the province except on the island of Manhattan. This, the Company reserved to themselves, together with the exclusive right to the fur- trade, and a duty of five per cent on all trade carried on by the patroons. The patroons were required to satisfy
56
HISTORY OF THE
the Indians for the land, and to maintain a minister and schoolmaster ; and the Company promised to strengthen the fort at Manhattan, to protect the colonists against all attacks both from the English and the natives, and to supply them with a sufficient number of negro-servants for an indefinite length of time. This was the first introduction of slavery into the province of New Nether-
land. Those settlers who emigrated at their own expense were to have as much ground as they could cultivate, and to be exempt from taxes for ten years ; in no case, however, either on the territory of the patroons or the Company, were they permitted a voice in the government. They were also forbidden to make any woollen, linen, or cotton cloth, or to weave any other stuffs, under penalty of punishment and exile. These and similar arbitrary restrictions sowed the seed of that discontent which agitated the people for so many years, and finally culminated in open rebellion.
These patroons were petty sovereigns in their own right-feudal lords of the soil-possessing complete juris- diction over their tenants, who were forbidden to leave their service for a stipulated time. They also had authority to appoint local officers in all cities which they might establish, and were endowed with manorial privi- leges of hunting, fishing and fowling on all lands within their domain. This tempting offer at once excited the cupidity and love of power of the merchants of the West India Company, and no sooner was the act passed than a number hastened to comply with its requirements. Samuel Godyn and Samuel Blommaert, both of whom were directors of the West India Company, dispatched
57
CITY OF NEW YORK.
agents to New Netherland, who purchased of the Indians two tracts of land ; the one extending from Cape Henlo- pen thirty-two miles up the west shore of Delaware Bay ; and the other, a piece of land sixteen miles square on the. opposite shore, including Cape May, to which they gave the name of Swaanendael. Soon after, the agents of Killian Van Rensselaer, another director of the Company, purchased in his name the lands above and below Fort Orange, including the present counties of Albany and Rensselaer, to which they gave the name of Rensselaers- wyck. Another director, Michael Pauw, appropriated a tract of land on the Jersey shore opposite to Manhattan, including Paulus Hook, Hoboken, and the adjacent country, to which he gave the name of Pavonia. To this purchase he soon after added that of Staten Island.
This wholesale appropriation of the province excited the jealousy of the other directors. Loud murmurs of discontent arose among the Company, and the grasping patroons were forced to admit their colleagues to share in their domains. Companies were formed for the proposed scheme of colonization, and David Pietersen de Vries, who had become one of the patroons of Swaanendael in the new arrangement, proceeded thither with a colony of thirty persons, which he established at Hoarkill near the present site of Lewiston. Colonies were also established about the same time at Rensselaerswyck and Pavonia.
The settlement at Fort Amsterdam, meanwhile, con- tinued to flourish. Not only was it the chief depot of the fur trade, but also of the coast trade of the patroons, who were obliged to bring thither all their cargoes. In 1629 and 1630, the imports from Amsterdam amounted
58
HISTORY OF THE
to one hundred and thirteen thousand guilders, while the exports from Manhattan exceeded one hundred and thirty thousand. The people were turning their atten- tion to ship-building, in humble imitation of the Father- land, and at this early date, New Amsterdam was the commercial metropolis of America. It fairly won the title in 1631 by the construction of the New Netherland, a ship of eight hundred tons, which was built at Man- hattan and dispatched to Holland. This was an impor- tant event in the ship-building annals of the times, for the New Netherland was one of the largest merchant vessels in the world. But the experiment was a costly one, and was not soon repeated. The land about the fort was fast being brought under cultivation, and, under the management of the industrious Walloons, a thriving settlement was springing up on the Brooklyn shore, and gradually extending back upor Long Island. Emigrants of all nations were beginning to flock into the province, allured by the liberal offers of the Company, who trans- ported them thither in their own ships at the cheap rate of twelve and a half cents a day for provisions and pas- sage, and gave them as much land as they could cultivate on their arrival. Unlike the policy of the Colony of Massachusetts, the fullest religious toleration was granted in the province, and this attracted many victims of the persecution which was raging so fiercely in Europe. Wal- loons, Huguenots, Calvinists, Friends and Catholics, all found a home here, and laid the foundation of that cosmopolitan character which the city has since so well sustained.
Yet the colony was chiefly of the Dutch type. The
*
59
CITY OF NEW YORK.
simple and frugal settlers had imported the manners and customs of Holland along with its houses and furniture, and these for many years imparted a marked individual- ity to the growing city. To the north and south, the settlements were essentially English ; for a long time, New Amsterdam and its successor, New York, remained essentially Dutch. Yet these Holland manners and cus- toms were becoming greatly modified by the exigencies of the new country. The settlers were gradually adopt- ing something of the mode of life of their savage allies ; already had they learned to relish the Indian luxuries of succotash and hominy, and to welcome to their tables the game, shell-fish, fruits and berries which the island afforded in such profusion ; nor did the tobacco find less favor among them. The wampum had come to be a com- mon currency in the settlement. Much of the Indian life was already clinging to them ; though in thought and feeling they still belonged to the Old World, and looked fondly back to Holland as their true fatherland.
At this juncture, a heavy calamity fell upon the infant colony which had been planted by De Vries at Swaanen- dael. According to custom, a tin plate, bearing the arms of Holland, had been affixed to a tree, in token of the sovereignty of the nation. Attracted by the glitter of the metal, and thinking no harm, a chief took it down to make it into tobacco pipes. This proceeding, Hossett, who had charge of the place, imprudently resented as an insult, and the natives, to appease him, slew the offender and brought him his right hand as a token of a ven- geance of which the Dutch commander had never dreamed. But it was now too late. A few days after,
60
HISTORY OF THE
the friends of the murdered chieftain . fell upon the settlers as they were at work in the fields, slew them without mercy, burned the fort and laid waste the whole settlement. Thirty-two colonists were massacred in cold blood-not one escaped to tell the tale. It was from the Indian chiefs themselves that De Vries heard the details of the horrible catastrophe on his arrival. The colony at Rensselaerswyck meanwhile continued to prosper.
The directors of the West India Company had hoped, by the aid of the patroons, to succeed in colonizing the country, and, at the same time, to retain the rich mono- poly of the fur trade in their own hands. In this they met with serious opposition. The patroons, who had grown powerful through their extensive privileges, interfered with the traffic to such an extent that the directors resolved to limit their authority and to break their power. This procedure excited almost a civil war in the Company. By the provisions of the charter, the patroons were obliged also to be members of the associa- tion, and the Company was thus divided against itself. A warm dispute arose, and in 1632, Peter Minuit, who was suspected of favoring the pretensions of the patroons, was recalled from the directorship, although no suc- cessor was appointed for more than a year. At the same time, Jan Lampo, the schout fiscal, was super- seded by Conrad Notelman, who had brought the letters of recall. Minuit at once resigned the government into the hands of the council, and embarked for Holland in the ship Eendragt, which had brought the news of his dismissal, accompanied by the ex-schout and several families of returning colonists. The Eendragt also car-
61
CITY OF NEW YORK.
ried with her a cargo of five thousand beaver skins-a token of the growing prosperity of the colony.
On her return, the ship was forced by stress of weather into the harbor of Plymouth, where she was detained by the authorities as an illegal trafficker in English monopolies. Minuit instantly dispatched news of this proceeding to the Company, and also to the Dutch ambassadors at London, who remonstrated with the English government. The arrest of the Dutch trader led to a correspondence between the two countries, in which the claims of the rival powers were distinctly set forth. These claims, which formed the basis of contin- ual agitations as long as the province remained in the hands of its Dutch proprietors, are too important in their connection with the history as well of the city as of the whole country, not to find a place here.
The Dutch claimed the proprietorship of the province on the grounds of its discovery by their nation in 1609 ; of the return of their people in 1610 ; of the grant of a trading charter in 1614; of the maintenance of a fort and garrison until the organization of the West India Company in 1621; of the failure of the English to occupy the territory ; and of the purchase of the land from its original owners, the natives. The English, on the · other hand, laid claim to it on the ground of the prior discovery of Cabot, and declared it to be the property of the Plymouth Company, by virtue of a patent granted by James I., its lawful sovereign. As to the purchase of the land from the natives, they alleged that the wan- dering and communistic Indians, not being the bona fide possessors of the land, had no right to dispose of it, and
62
CITY OF NEW YORK.
therefore, that all Indian titles must be invalid-a theory which they had certainly done their best to reduce to practice. They offered to permit the Dutch to remain in New Netherland, provided they would swear alle- giance to the English government ; otherwise they were threatened with instant extirpation. But civil war was now 'on the eve of breaking out in England, and the authorities were ill prepared to put their threat into exe- cution. Contenting themselves with this assumption of sovereignty, they released the Eendragt, and reserved the accomplishment of their designs for a more con- venient season.
CHAPTER II.
1633-1642.
New Amsterdam in the Days of Wouter Van Twiller-English Difficulties-Wilhelm Kieft.
DURING the interregnum which succeeded the departure of Minuit, the government was administered by the council, headed by Koopman Van Remund, the succes- sor of Isaac de Rasières. In April, 1633, the ship Sout- berg arrived at Manhattan, bringing Wouter Van Twiller, the new director-general, with a military force of a hundred and four soldiers, and a Spanish caraval which she had captured on the way. Among the pas- sengers came also Everardus Bogardus and Adam Roelandsen, the first clergyman * and schoolmaster of New Amsterdam.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.