USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 52
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As to what concerns myself and my household. I find myself, by the loss of my good and helping
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partner, very much hindered and distressed-for my two little daughters are yet small; maid ser- vants are not here to be had, at least none whom they advise me to take; and the Angola slaves are thievish, lazy, and useless trash. The young man whom I took with me, I discharged after Whitsuntide, for the reason that I could not employ him out of doors at any working of the land, and in doors he was a burden to me instead of an assistance. He is now elsewhere at service with the boers.
The promises which the Lords Masters of the Company had made me of some acres of 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 there are no horses, cows, or laborers to be obtained here for money. Every one is short in these particulars and wants more. The expense would not trouble me, if an opportunity only offered ; as it would be for our own accommodation, although there were no profit from it (save that the Honorable Managers owe me as much as the value of a free table) ; for there is here no refreshment of butter, milk, etc., to be obtained, although a very high price be offered for them ; for the people who bring them and bespeak them are suspi- cious of each other. So I will be compelled to pass through the winter without butter and other necessaries, which the ships did not bring with them to be sold here. The rations, which are given out and charged for high enough, are all hard, stale food, as they are used to on board ship, and frequently this is not very good, and there cannot be obtained as much of it as may be desired. I began to get some strength through the grace of the Lord, but in consequence of this hard fare of beans and grey peas, which are hard enough, barley, stockfish, etc., without much change, I cannot become well as I otherwise would. The summer yields something, but what of that for any one who has no strength ? The Indians also bring some things, but one who has no wares, such as knives, beads, and the like, or seewan, cannot have any good of them. Though the people trade such things for proper wares, I know not whether it is permitted by the laws of the Company. I have now ordered from Holland most all necessaries ; but expect to pass through the winter with hard and scanty food.
The country yields many good things for the support of life, but they are all to be gathered in an uncultivated and wild state. It is necessary that there should be better regulations established, and people who have the knowledge and the implements for gathering things in their season, should collect them together, as undoubtedly will gradually be the case. In the meanwhile, I wish the Lords Managers to be courteously inquired of, how I can have the opportunity to possess a portion of land, and at my own expense to support myself upon it. For as long as there is no more accommodation to be obtained here from the country people, I would be compelled to order every- thing from the fatherland at great expense, and with much risk and trouble, or else live here upon these poor and hard rations alone, which would badly suit me and my children. We want ten or twelve farmers with horses, cows and laborers in proportion, to furnish us with bread and fresh butter, milk and cheese. There are convenient places which can be easily protected, and very suitable ; which can be bought from the Indians for trifling toys, or could be occupied without risk ; because we have more than enough shares which have never been cleared, but have been always reserved for that purpose. The business of furs is dull on account of a new war of the Maechibaeys (Mohawks) against the Mohicans at the upper end of this river. There have occurred cruel mur- ders on both sides. The Mohicans have fled, and their lands are unoccupied, and are very fertile and pleasant. It grieves us that there are no people, and that there is no regulation of the Lord's managers to occupy the same. They fell much wood here to carry to the fatherland, but the vessels are too few to take much of it. They are making a windmill to saw the wood, and we also have a gristmill. They bake brick here, but it is very poor. There is good material for burning lime, namely, oyster-shells, in large quantities. The burning of potash has not succeeded ; the master and his laborors are all greatly disappointed. We are busy now in building a fort of good quarry stone, which is to be found not far from here in abundance. May the Lord only build and watch over our walls There is a good means for making salt ; for there are convenient places, the water is salt enough, and there is no want of heat in summer. Besides, as to the waters, both of the sea and rivers, they yield all kinds of fish ; and as to the land, it abounds in all kinds of game, wild and in the groves, with vegetables, fruits, roots, herbs, and plants, both for eating and medicinal pur- poses, working wonderful cures, which are too long to relate, and which, were it ever so pertinent, I could not tell. Your Right Reverend has already obtained some knowledge thereof in part, and will be able to obtain from others further information. The country is good and pleasant ; the climate is healthy, notwithstanding the sudden changes of cold and heat. The sun is very warm ; the winter strong and severe, and continues full as long as in our country. The best remedy is not to spare the wood-of which there is enough-and to cover oneself well with rough skins which can also easily be obtained.
The harvest, God be praised, is in the barns, and is better gathered than ever before. The ground is fertile enough to reward labor, but they must clean it well, and manure and cultivate it
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the same as our lands require. It has hitherto happened much worse, because many of the people are not very laborious, or could not obtain their proper necessaries for want of bread. But it now begins to go on better, and it would be entirely different now if the masters would only send good laborers, and make regulations of all matters, in order, with what the land itself produces, to do for the best.
I had promised (to write) to the Honorable Brothers, Rudolphus Petri, Joannes Sylvius, and Dom. Cloppenburg, who with your Honor were charged with the superintendence of these regions ;* but as this would take long, and the time is short, and my occupations at the present time many, will your Right Reverend be pleased to give my friendly and kind regards to their Reverends, and to excuse me, on condition that I remain their debtor to fulfill my promise-God willing-by the next voyage. Will you, also, give my sincere respects to the Reverend Dom. Triglandius, and to all the brothers of the Consistory besides, to all of whom I have not thought it necessary to write particu- larly at this time, as they are made by me participants in these tidings, and are content to be fed from the hand of your Right Reverend. If it shall be convenient for your Honor, or any of the Reverend Brothers, to write hither to me a letter concerning matters which might be important in any degree to me, it would be very interesting to me, living here in a savage land without any society of our order, and would be a spur to write more assiduously to the Reverend Brothers con- cerning what might happen here. And especially do not forget my hearty salutation to the beloved wife and brother-in-law of your Right Reve end, who have shown me nothing but friendship and kindness above my deserts. If there is anything in which I can in return serve or gratify your Right Reverend, I will be glad to do so, and will not be behindhand in anything Concluding then herewith, and commending myself in your Right Reverend's favorable and holy prayers to the Lord,
Honored and learned Sir, Beloved Brother in Christ and Kind Friend ;
Commending your Right Reverend and all of you to Almighty God, by his Grace, to continued health and prosperity, and to eternal salvation of heart.
From the island of Manhatas in New Netherland, this 11th August, anno 1628, by me your Right Reverend's obedient in Christ,
JONAS MICHAELIUS.
(Indorsed.) The honorable, learned and pious Mr. Adrian Smoutius, faithful minister of the holy gospel of Christ in his church, dwelling upon the Heerengracht, not far from the house of the West India Company, Amsterdam, By the care of a friend whom God preserve.
(Sealed with a wafered signet not discernible.)
NOTE D.t
WILLIAM BEEKMAN, the founder of the Beekman family in the city of New York, emigrated from Holland to New Amsterdam in the same ship with Petrus Stuyvesant in 1647. He married Catherine Van Bough, the daughter of a well known trader, and purchased Corlaer's Hook of Jacobus Van Corlaer, its or ginal proprietor, where he continued to reside for several years. He was afterward appointed by Stuyvesant, as vice-director of the Dutch colony at the mouth of the Delaware, and after serving for some time in this capacity, he removed to Esopus where he resided for a few years, then returned to the city in 1670, and purchased the farm formerly owned by Thomas Hall, stretch- ing along the East River in the vicinity of Beekman street, and lying between the Van Tienhoven farm on the north and Bestevaar's Cripple Bush on the south, where he continued the brewing busi- ness established there by Hall. The Cripple Bush was afterward incorporated with this property, and known henceforth as Beekman's Swamp.
Mr. Nijenhuis states that it was so committed to some of the ministers of Amsterdam by the Synod of North Holland ; and the ministers above-mentioned were all at that time active ministers at Amsterdam, where Sylvius and Triglandius had been since 1610, Petri since 1612, and Cloppen- burg since 1621.
t For the greater portion of the data contained in the following biographical sketches of some of the most prominent families of New York, we are indebted to genealogical memoranda, prepared by Governor John Jay with a view to publication, and kindly placed at our disposal by his grandson, John Jay, Esq., of New York city.
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APPENDIX.
William Beekman died in 1707, at the age of eighty-five, leaving an only daughter, Maria, who married Nicholas William Stuyvesant, the son of the governor, and three sons, Henry, Gerard, and Johannes, who became the ancestors of the present numerous family of the name. This family should be distinguished from that of Hendrick Beeckman, who settled in New Jersey almost simul- taneously with the arrival of William Beekman at New York.
NOTE E.
GOVERNOR PETRUS STUYVESANT, of Breda or Utrecht, arrived at New York from Amsterdam on the 11th of May, 1647. He married Judith Bayard, a refugee from France, by whom he had two sons ; Balthazar Lazar, born in 1647, and Nicholas William, born in 1648.
After the surrender of the province to the English, Balthazar removed to St. Thomas in the West Indies, where he married and died in 1675, leaving one daughter, who married Thomas Tassamaker.
Nicholas William, the second son of the governor and ancestor of the present family of the name, married Maria Beekman of New Amsterdam, who died without issue. He then married Elizabeth Sleghtenhorst, by whom he had two sons and one daughter ; of these, Anna, the eldest, married the Rev. Mr. Pritchard, a clergyman of the Church of England, and died without children : Petrus, the second, was drowned in 1705, having never been married; and Gerardus, the youngest, married Judith Bayard, by whom he had four sons, two of whom survived their father. Nicholas William, the eldest of these, died unmarried at the age of fifty-eight. Petrus married Margaret, the daughter of Gilbert Livingston, by whom he had eleven children, five of whom died in infancy. Of the surviv- ors, Judith married Benjamin Winthrop in 1785 ; Cornelia married Dirck Ten Broeck in the same year; Elizabeth married Colonel Nicholas Fish ; Margaret died unmarried in 1824; Nicholas Wil- liam died in 1833, leaving several children ; and Peter Gerard, long known as the president of the Historical Society, died in the early part of the present year.
NOTE F.
OLOFFE STEVENSEN VAN CORTLANDT, the founder of the opulent family of that name, emigrated from Holland with a military company in 1637, and soon after entered the service of the West India Company as commissary of cargoes, in which he continued for ten years. He afterward engaged in the brewing business, in which he amassed a large fortune. He was an influential politician ; was president of the council of Nine Men in the days of Stuyvesant, and held various public offices. He married the daughter of Govert Loockermans, a wealthy merchant, and through her inheritance, together with his own enterprise, became possessed of a large property. A portion of his estate lay on the west side of Broadway, in the vicinity of the street that now perpetuates his name. He died in 1683, leaving four daughters ; Maria who married Jeremias Van Rensselaer ; Catherine who married, ยท first, John Dervall, and afterward, Frederick Philipse; Cornelia who married Brandt Schuyler; and Sophia, who married Andrew Teller : and three sons; Stephanus, who married Gertruyd Schuyler; Jacobus, who married Eva Philipse; and John, who died unmarried. The two eldest afterward became mayors of the city ; Stephanus was mayor in the days of the so-called Leisler rebellion; and the official rival of Peter Delanoy. He afterwards became the proprietor of the Van Cort- landt manor, near Peekskill, and died in 1701, leaving numerous descendants. Jacobus who was mayor in 1710 and 1719, was a merchant in the city of New York and the proprietor of a large plan- tation in the vicinity of Yonkers. He died in 1739, leaving one son, FredericL, who married the daughter of Augustus Jay and inherited the Westchester estate; and three daughters; Margaret, who married Abraham De Peyster; Ann, who married John Chambers; and Mary, who married Peter Jay.
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APPENDIX.
NOTE G.
LIKE many of the pioneer families of New Amsterdam, the family of Bayard is of French origin. The first of the name of whom we have record was a professor of theology at Paris, whence he was driven with his family to Holland by religious persecution. Here one of his sons married the sister of Governor Stuyvesant, and died a few years after, leaving her with three children, Balthazar, Nicholas and Petrus. Soon after his death, his widow removed with her sons to New Amsterdam, of which Stuyvesant, doubly related to them through his wife and sister, was then governor, where under his auspices, they soon rose to prominence. After the cession of the city to the English, Nicholas, then a youth, received the appointment of clerk of the common council, the records of which at that time were kept in Dutch and English. Other preferments soon followed, which secured him a position in public life, while the mercantile pursuits in which he was also engaged, increased his fortune, and soon made him one of the most opulent men of the city. His adventurous career, we have traced in the progress of our history. He died in 1711, leaving a son, Samuel, who inherited his large property. This was scattered over various parts of the island; the principal tract of land, known long after as " the Bayard Farm," lying along the west side of the Bowery, south of Bleecker street. His brother, Balthazar, married the daughter of Govert Loockermans, and established himself in the city as a brewer. He left a son and three daughters, the first of whom married Gerardus Stuyvesant, grandson of the governor ; the second married the Huguenot, Augus- tus Jay ; and the third married Mr. Verplanck. The history of the son cannot with certainty be traced ; he is supposed to have been Jacobus Bayard, the ancestor of the Boston family of that name. Petrus Bayard, the third of the original brothers, married a step-daughter of Mayor Rom- bouts, and engaged in mercantile pursuits.
NOTE H.
FREDERICK PHILIPSE, or Flypsen, for so he wrote his name, was a native of Bohemia, whence his mother, being a Protestant, was forced, after the death of her husband, to flee to Holland with her children and the little property that she could gather from the wreck of her estate. Here, she apprenticed Frederick to a carpenter, under whose instructions he became an excellent workman.
He emigrated to New Amsterdam during the administration of Stuyvesant, and worked for a time at his trade, but being a man of talent and enterprise, he soon exchanged it for the more profitable fur-trade, and became known as a successful merchant ; to which success, his marriage with Marga- get Van Hardenbrook, the widow of Pieter Rudolphus, a flourishing trader to whose business he succeeded, contributed not a little. This lady possessed remarkable energy and practical talent, as is evinced from the fact that she made several voyages to Holland as her husband's supercargo. Upon her death, he increased his fortune still more, by his marriage with Catherine, the daughter of the wealthy Oloffe Van Cortlandt, and widow and sole heir of John Dervall, a rich merchant. Through these wealthy alliances, aided by his own energy and skill, the poor carpenter boy became the richest merchant of New Amsterdam-the Astor of his day. He entered into public life, and filled several prominent offices both under the Dutch and the English governments. He died in 1702, and was buried at his Manor of Philipsburgh in Westchester County. He left two sons and two daughters, all the children of his first wife.
Frederick, the eldest of these, married a lady from Barbadoes, and died young, leaving one son, also named Frederick, who became one of the judges of the Supreme Court. He married a lady of the Brockholst family, and had two sons, Frederick and Philip, and two daughters.
Frederick, the fou. th of the name, married a daughter of Charles Williams, an English gentleman who held an office in the custom house of the city. He possessed mediocre talents, was benevolent and amiable, and devoted to horticultural pursuits. At the commencement of the Revolution, he inclined to the side of the Whigs, but was afterward persuaded to favor the Tories, and was exiled to Connecticut on parole. He afterward obtained permission to visit the city while in the hands of the British, and, when summoned to return, was unwisely persuaded by his friends to refuse obedi- ence, in consequence of which, after the declaration of peace, his estate was confiscated and him- self and family exiled to England, where he died, leaving several sons and daughters. One of these married Lord Strangford.
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APPENDIX.
Philip, the brother of the last named Frederick, married the daughter of Captain Nathaniel Mar- ston, by whom he had several children. Of the two daughters of Frederick Flypsen the elder, Eve married Jacobus Van Cortlandt, and Annetje married Philip French.
Adolphus, the second son of Frederick Flypsen the elder, was a man of superior talents, well edu- cated, sedate, highly respected and popular, except that he was penurious. He was a member of the Council, a judge of the Supreme Court, and for many years Speaker of the Assembly. He died a bachelor, in January, 1750, in the 85th year of his age, leaving a great estate.
Of the two daughters of Frederick the third, one married Beverley Robinson; the other married Colonel Roger Morris. To these, with his son Philip, the father devised in equal shares the tract of land called the upper patent, which, as heir at law, he inherited from his great-uncle Adolphus.
NOTE I.
THE first American ancestor of the family of Schuyler came from Holland with his wife, a lady of the family of Sleghtenhorst, of Guilderland. They had four sons, Peter, John, Arent and Philip, and three daughters, Alida, Gertrude and Margaret. .
Of these, Peter was the famous Colonel -- the first mayor of Albany, the man whose sagacious councils preserved the province from the horrors of an Indian war. He possessed the unbounded confidence of the Indians, and, in 1710, accompanied a party of Mohawk Chiefs to England for the purpose of inciting the government to expel the French from Canada. After the return of Hun- ter, in 1719, the government of the province devolved upon him as eldest member of the Council until the arrival of Governor Burnet.
John was the grandfather of General Philip Schuyler of the Revolution.
Arent settled in New Jersey.
Philip was killed in battle.
Alida married Domine Nicholas Van Rensselaer, and after his death, Robert Livingston, the first proprietor of the Manor of Livingston.
Gertrude married Stephanus Van Cortlandt.
Margaret married Robert Livingston.
NOTE J.
ROBERT LIVINGSTON, the first of the American family of that name, was the son of the Rev. John Livingston, the dissenting minister of Anerum, in Scotland, who, refusing to take the oath of alle- giance in 1663, was banished to Rotterdam, where he became the minister of the Scot's chapel, and died in 1672. Robert Livingston was born at Anerum in 1654, and emigrated to America with his nephew Robert, about 1672, where he procured a patent from the crown for the manor of Livings- ton. He was Speaker of the General Assembly, and, for many years, Clerk of the city of Albany. He married Alida, sister of Col. Peter Schuyler, by whom he had three sons, Philip, Gilbert and Robert.
Philip, the eldest of these, and second proprietor of Livingston Manor, was a prominent merchant of the city of New York, residing in a large house in Broad street, at that time the fashionable quarter of the town. His family played a prominent part in the stirring times of the Revolution. His only daughter, Sarah, married William Alexander, Lord Stirling. Robert, his eldest son, in- herited the Manor; Peter Van Brugh and John became merchants of the city ; Philip, also a mer- chant, figured among the earliest leaders of the Revolutionary party, and immortalized his name by subscribing it to the Declaration of Independence, and William became the patriot Governor of New Jersey.
Gilbert, the second son of the first proprietor of Livingston Manor, married Cornelia Beekman, and became County Clerk of Ulster, where he died, leaving numerous descendants.
Robert, the third son of the first Robert Livingston, and ancestor of Chancellor and Mayor Liv-
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APPENDIX.
ingston, married Margaret Hovenden. Their son, Robert R., the proprietor of Clermont, married Margaret Beekman, by whom he had four sons and six daughters.
Robert R., the eldest of the family, was born in the city of New York. He graduated at King's College in 1765, and was appointed by Governor Tryon, Recorder of the city, an office which he resigned on the approach of the Revolution, to throw himself with ardor into the arms of the patriot party, of which he soon became a foremost leader-one of the framers of the National Declaration of Independence. Upon the adoption of the Constitution of the State of New York, he received the appointment of first Chancellor under the new government. He was afterward dispatched on an embassy to France, where he made the acquaintance of Fulton, and aided him in maturing his project of steam navigation. He was distinguished for his love of practical science, and the progress of useful a. ts, and may deservedly be ranked among the greatest benefactors of his native city.
Henry B., the second son of the first Robert R. Livingston, became a colonel in the army.
John was a merchant.
Edward became Mayor of New York in 1801. Before his term of office expired, he resigned the mayoralty and removed to Louisiana, where, in 1823, he was elected a member of Congress, and in 1829 was appointed to a seat in the Senate. In 1831, he was appointed Secretary of State by Gen. Jackson, whose aid he had been in the battle of New Orleans, and in 1833 was dispatched on a mission to France. He returned, in 1835, to his seat at Rhinebeck, on the banks of the Hudson, where he died in the following year.
Margaret married Thomas Tillotson.
Janet married General Montgomery.
Gertrude married Governor Morgan Lewis.
Alida married General Armstrong, the boy-soldier of the Revolution-a captain at 16; a major at 18; a colonel at 20 ; and a general and member of Congress at 25.
Catherine married the Rev. Mr. Garrison.
Joanna married Peter R. Livingston.
Robert Livingston, the nephew of the first proprietor of the manor, married Margaret Schuyler, and became the founder of a distinct branch of the family. His granddaughter, Janet, became the wife of Chief-Justice William Smith, the historian of the State of New York.
NOTE K.
THE estate of Morrisania was purchased jointly by two brothers of Welch descent by the names of Richard and Lewis Morris, about the year 1670. Quoting Mr. Sparks, the biographer of Governeur Morris, as authority, Richard, the father of Chief-Justice Morris, was an officer in Cromwell's army, who fled to America upon the Restoration, and settled first on the estate ; and, dying soon after, left his only son, Lewis, to the guardianship of his brother, a merchant of Barbadoes, who followed him to the province in 1773. Other historians assert that this uncle was the officer, who fled to America in the disguise of a Quaker, and afterward took charge of his infant nephew. Be this as it may, young Lewis grew up under the care of his uncle, who died childless, leaving him this estate, together with a la ge tract of land in New Jersey, where he afterward settled, and be- came governor of that State. Chief-Justice Morris died and was buried at Morrisania in 1746, aged seventy-three. He left th. ee sons ; Lewis, Robert Hunter, and James. Robert Hunter inherited the New Jersey property, and afte ward became governor of that State. James died young. Lewis had three sons, Gene al Lewis Mor. is, whose name is handed down to posterity as one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence ; Judge Morris ; and Gouverneur Morris, afterward min- ister to France, and one of the f. aniers of the Constitution of the United States.
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