USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 17
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While these voyages were occupying the attention of the enterprising merchants of Manhattan, an interesting moment arrived. A new 1653. city appeared in the annals of the world. Its birth was an- Feb. 2. nounced on the evening of February 2, 1653, at the feast of Can- dlemas. A proclamation of the governor defined its exceedingly limited powers and named its first officers. It was called New Amsterdam. There was nothing in the significant scene which inspired enthusiasm. It came like a favor grudgingly granted. Its privileges were few, and even those were subsequently hampered by the most illiberal interpretations which could be devised. Stuyvesant made a speech on the occasion, in which he took care to reveal his intention of making all future municipal appointments, instead of submitting the matter to the votes of the citizens, as was the custom in the Fatherland; and he gave the officers distinctly to understand from the first, that their existence did not in any way diminish his authority, but that he should often preside at their meetings, and at all times counsel them in mat- ters of importance. They were not to have a sheriff of their own; but Van Tien- hoven, the provincial sheriff, might officiate for the cor- poration. Neither was it deemed requisite that they should have a scribe; but Jacob Kip, the newly ap- pointed secretary of the prov- ince, was notified to attend their meetings and do such Kip's Mansion. writing as seemed necessary.
He was a young man of spirit and intelligence, tall, handsome, and ex- tremely popular. The following year, he married Marie La Montagne, the daughter of Dr. La Montagne, a beautiful girl of sixteen. He owned a farm of one hundred and fifty acres on the East River, and soon after his marriage erected a house upon it, and went there to reside. The locality was, and is still, known as Kip's Bay.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
This Kip mansion subsequently became famous. It was once or twice rebuilt, and five generations of the Kip family were born in it. It was, for a short time, during the American Revolution, the head-quarters of General Washington. It was one of the landmarks of the olden time that was ruthlessly pushed aside by the corporation, at the opening of Thirty- fifth Street, on the direct line of which it stood. The sketch is a fair illustration of the style of the better class of farm-houses on Manhattan Island, during the early period. The new city contained a number of good stone dwellings, which had a substantial and aristocratic air, as if inhabited by people of wealth and cultivated tastes. There were many English and French, as well as Dutch, residents who were well con- nected in Europe; and, from whatever cause they had been induced to emigrate, they were not likely to turn barbarians because they were in a new country. Good breeding cannot be taken on and put off so readily. Many struggled along for years with wants unsupplied; but when, with increase of means, they were able to provide the comforts and luxuries to which they had been born, they were not slow to embrace the oppor- tunity. The refinement and culture of these gave tone, even at that early date, to the social life of the little community.
The cheaper and more common dwellings we find to have been gener- ally built of wood, with checker-work fronts, or rather gable ends, of small black and yellow Dutch bricks, with the date of their erection inserted in iron figures facing the street. The roofs were tiled or shingled, and sur- mounted with a weathercock. The front door was usually ornamented with a huge brass knocker, with the device of a dog's or lion's head, which was required to be burnished daily. As the facilities for obtaining build- ing materials increased, the huts of the very poor classes gradually assumed a more and more respectable appearance. The old stone tavern was re- modeled, cleaned up, and called a Stadthuys, or City Hall ; and there the city magistrates held their meetings on Mondays, from nine o'clock in the morning until noon, and if business was urgent they sometimes had an after-dinner session. Absent members were fined six stuyvers for the first half-hour, twelve for the second, and forty if absent during the meeting.
A pew was set apart in the church for the City Fathers ; and on Sun- day mornings these worthies left their homes and families early to meet in the City Hall, from which, preceded by the bell-ringer, carrying their cushions of state, they marched in solemn procession to the sanctuary in the fort. On all occasions of ceremony, secular or religious, they were treated with distinguished attention. Their position was eminently re- spectable, but it had as yet no emoluments. We shall have occasion
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ALLARD ANTHONY.
hereafter to show how they watched over the tender babyhood of the city, -a city whose infancy was dwarfed by the constant neglect of the parent country; which was exposed to savage hostility and over- looked by the world in general ; which was captured while yet in swad- dling-clothes by people of different language, views, and policy ; whose youth was a combat with all kinds of untoward circumstances, but whose maturity has so far exceeded the promise of its earlier years, and whose future certainties are so much greater than those of any other city on the face of the earth, that we cannot pass on without extending our cordial fellowship to those who rocked its cradle. Their names we shall rewrite each time with newly awakened emotions.
There were two burgomasters, Arent Van Hattam and Martin Cre- gier. The first was an intelligent Holland speculator, who traveled through the country and amassed a large fortune, but never married, or had any permanent residence in New Amsterdam that we can learn. He was once sent as ambassador to Virginia. Martin Cregier was the captain of the citizens' military company, and went often in command of important expeditions into the interior. He was the pro- prietor of a small tavern opposite the Bowling Green, the site of which he purchased in 1643. He was a conspicuous man in his day ; and his descendants are among the most highly respected families in the State of New York.
There were five schepens, - Paulus Van der Grist, Maximilian Van Gheel, Allard Anthony, Peter Van Couwenhoven, and William Beek- man. Paulus Van der Grist was a hale, hearty old sea-captain, who commanded one of the four ships of the fleet which conveyed Governor Stuyvesant to America. Either personally or through an agent, he bought considerable property on Manhattan Island as early as 1644, and took up his permanent residence in New Amsterdam, as naval agent, in 1648. He owned a sloop with which he navigated the waters near by ; built himself a nice house on Broadway below Trinity Church ; and opened a dry-goods store, keeping groceries and knick-knacks also, according to village custom.
Allard Anthony was a middle-aged man, rich, influential, conceited, and unpopular. He was the consignee of a large firm in Holland ; and his store was in the old church building erected by Van Twil- ler. Besides his general wholesale business, he engaged in the retail trade ; for we learn by the records that he sold a " hanger " to Jan Van Cleef "for as much buckwheat as Anthony's fowls will eat in six months." At another time we learn that his wife complained of some negroes " for killing a few of her pigs." He had a large farm on the
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
island; but his city residence, a first-class stone mansion, was on the corner of Whitehall and Marketfield Streets. He had one son, Nicholas, who was afterwards sheriff of Ulster County ; and two daughters, who, it has been said, dressed the most showily and fashionably of all the ladies of New Amsterdam. Peter Couwenhoven has been noticed on a previous page.
William Beekman was the ancestor of the well-known Beekman family, and his name is perpetuated by two streets, William and Beek- man. He came from Holland in the same vessel with Stuyvesant, at the age of twenty-one. Full of strong, healthy life, and ambition, he employed every moment that he could spare from his clerkship duties in searching for a spot to plant his money, for he had not come empty- handed from abroad. An opportunity soon offered; he purchased Corlear's Hook of Jacob Corlear, and shortly after fell in love with and married the pretty blue-eyed Catharine Van Boogh. Everybody thought it a good match, and the youthful pair were held in high esteem. In the course of years, he rose to distinction ; he was at one time vice-director of the colony on the Delaware, and at another sheriff at Esopus. He was nine years a burgomaster of New Amsterdam. In 1670, he bought the farm formerly owned by Thomas Hall, stretching along the East River for a great distance. His orchard lay upon a side-hill running down to the swamp which was called Cripple Bush, and through which Beekman Street now passes. He had five sons and one only daughter, Marie. This daughter married Nicholas William Stuyvesant, a son of the governor.
The bell-ringer was a notable and useful individual. He was the court messenger, the grave-digger, the chorister, the reader, and some- times the schoolmaster. He seems also to have been a general waiter upon the city magistrates. He kept the great room in which they as- sembled in order, placed the chairs in their proper and precise positions, Feb. 6. and rang the bell at the hour for coming together. It was the business of the sheriff to convoke and preside over this board, to prosecute offenders, and to execute judgments. City officials in the Fa- therland were invested with judicial and municipal powers ; but, as no specific charter had been granted to our City Fathers, their authority was not well defined. They heard and settled disputes between parties ; tried cases for the recovery of debt, for defamation of character, for breaches of marriage promise, for assault and theft ; and even summoned parents and guardians into their presence for withholding their consent to the marriage of their children or wards without sufficient cause. They sen- tenced and committed to prison, like any other court of sessions.
163
THE PRAYER OF THE CITY FATHERS.
All their meetings were opened with a solemn and impressive form of prayer. As we find it recorded in their minutes, we presume they designed it should go down to posterity ; hence we give it in full :-
" Oh God of Gods, and Lord of Lords ! Heavenly and most merciful Father ! We thank thee that thou hast not only created us in thine image, but that thou hast received us as thy children and guests when we were lost, and in addition to all this, it has pleased thee to place us in the government of thy people in this place.
" O Lord, our God, we, thy wretched creatures, acknowledge that we are not worthy of this honor, and that we have neither strength nor sufficiency to dis- charge the trust committed to us without thine assistance.
" We beseech thee, oh fountain of all good gifts, qualify us by thy grace, that we may, with fidelity and righteousness, serve in our respective offices. To this end enlighten our darkened understandings, that we may be able to distinguish the right from the wrong, the truth from the falsehood ; and that we may give pure and uncorrupted decisions ; having an eye upon thy word, a sure guide, giving to the simple, wisdom and knowledge. Let thy law be a light unto our feet, and a lamp to our path, so that we may never turn away from the path of righteousness. Deeply impress on all our minds that we are not accountable unto man, but unto God, who seeth and heareth all things. Let all respect of persons be far removed from us, that we may award justice unto the rich and the poor, unto friends and enemies alike ; to residents and to strangers according to the law of truth : and that not one of us may swerve therefrom. And since gifts do blind the eyes of the wise, and destroy the heart, therefore keep our hearts aright. Grant unto us, also, that we may not rashly prejudge any one, without a fair hearing, but that we patiently hear the parties, and give them time and opportunity for defending themselves ; in all things looking up to thee and to thy word for counsel and direction.
" Graciously incline our hearts, that we may exercise the power which thou hast given us, to the general good of the community, and to the maintainance of the church, that we may be praised by them that do well, and a terror to evil- doers.
" Incline, also, the hearts of the subjects unto due obedience, so that through their respect and obedience our burdens may be made the lighter.
"Thou knowest, Oh Lord, that the wicked and ungodly do generally con- temn and transgress thine ordinances, therefore clothe us with strength, courage, fortitude, and promptitude, that we may, with proper earnestness and zeal, be steadfast unto death against all sinners and evil-doers.
" Oh good and gracious God, command thy blessing upon all our adopted resolutions, that they may be rendered effectual, and redound to the honor of thy great and holy name, to the greatest good of the trusts committed to us and to our salvation.
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
" Hear and answer us, Oh gracious God, in these our petitions and in all that thou seest we need, through the merits of Jesus Christ thy beloved Son, in whose name we conclude our prayer."
In view of the disturbances across the water, Stuyvesant, as a precau- tionary measure, wrote to the authorities in New England and Virginia, expressing friendship and good-will, and proposed that the com- Feb. 26. mercial intercourse of the colonies should continue uninterrupted. He learned before the end of March, however, that military preparations were going on in New England ; but whether these were offensive
March 13. or defensive, he could not discover. He called a joint meeting of the Council and the City Fathers, and they resolved that a body of citizens should mount guard every night at the City Hall; also, that Fort Am- sterdam should be put in a proper state of defense, and that the city should defray the cost. About forty of the principal men of New Amster- dam subscribed a loan of two thousand dollars for the purpose. The fence which Kieft had built across the island still remained, and it was de- cided to inclose the city by a ditch and palisades with a breastwork, on about the same line, and every man was required to leave his business and lend a helping hand. Posts twelve feet high and about seven inches in diameter were erected, and covered on the outside with boards ; a ditch, two feet wide and three deep, was dug upon the inside, and the dirt was thrown up against the fence, thus making a platform of May 1. sufficient height to permit the assailed to overlook the stockade. It was completed about the 1st of May. In the mean time, the people had become seriously alarmed, and had spent the 9th day of April in fasting and prayer throughout the province.
War upon the Dutch colonists was actually in contemplation in New England. A large party were eager to take the opportunity offered by the hostilities in Europe to grasp New Netherland; but the General Court of Massachusetts refused to sanction such an enterprise. In the mean time, Captain John Underhill had grown restless, and agitated a revolt on Long Island. In a seditious paper addressed to the people, he speaks of " this great autocracy and tyranny too grievous for any good Englishman or brave Christian to tolerate." But his plot was dis- June 2. covered in time to be prevented, and he was arrested, tried, and
1 New Ams. Rec., I. pp. 105, 106, 107, 108, 109. The records of the first City Fathers are well preserved. They have been translated into the English language, and are both curious and entertaining. The minutes of the proceedings of the burgomasters and schepens in the earliest years of the city furnish an abundant harvest for the antiquary. The writer of this volume only regrets that its necessary limitations exclude so large a proportion of the inter- esting matter found in their pages.
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VAN DER DONCK.
banished from the province. The city was full of startling rumors ; and, during the summer that followed, the governor was constantly involved in a variety of unexpected difficulties. A man of less firmness and de- cision of character would have signally failed in maintaining authority. Allard Anthony was sent to Holland as a special agent to rep -. June 5. resent the situation of affairs to the Amsterdam Chamber. Stuy- vesant, having called upon the city government for further funds July 29. to invest in fortification, was waited upon by the burgomasters, who peremptorily refused to contribute anything more, unless the Aug. 2. governor gave up the excise on wines and beers.
In the summer, Van der Donck arrived from Holland. He had en- larged his Vertoogh by writing out a more accurate description of New Netherland. He had submitted it to the West India Company, who had not only approved of it, but recommended it to the States-General; and the author had received a copyright. He desired to give it a still broader historical character ; and he applied to the company for permission to examine the records at New Amsterdam. He was cordially referred to Stuyvesant. But the latter gentleman suspected his motives and treated him with cool severity, denying him access to any papers whatever. Van der Donck wished also to practice law in this country. His ability as a lawyer was well known. The directors of the com- pany were disposed to grant him a license, only they said, " What will one great advocate do alone among the savages ? You will have nobody of your stamp to plead against you !" Van der Donck, when he found his journey barren of results, sailed again for Dec. 1. Europe, where he published the book under the title of Beschryvinge van Nieuw Nederlandt. The second edition contained a map reduced from the large one of Visscher, and embellished with a view of New Am- sterdam, sketched by Augustine Heermans in 1656.
Heermans was a native of Bohemia, and came to New Amsterdam, with Van Twiller, in 1633, as an officer of the company. He had picked up a great fund of information, as well as an immense quantity of real estate; and he had a natural taste for sketching, which, however, was never cultivated in any considerable degree. His house stood on the west side of Pearl Street, covering the line of Pine. It was built of stone, and surrounded by an orchard and an extensive garden. He removed afterwards to Maryland, where he became a large landholder.
The governor was cheered in July by the arrival of a personage of importance. The company had selected Hon. Nicasius De Sille, a gentleman of the best culture the time afforded, a thorough July 24. statesman and an experienced lawyer, and commissioned him as first
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
councilor in their provincial government. He was a widower, with two attractive daughters and one son; and he built quite an extensive house on the corner of Broad Street and Exchange Place, where he was in the habit of entertaining a small but very select circle of friends Nicafins de sille f in the same elegant and court- ly manner to which he had been accustomed at the Hague. His eldest daughter, Anna, a Autograph of De Sille. brilliant little girl of fourteen, who afterward married Hendrick Kip, presided over his table, with its blue and white china and porce- lain, curiously ornamented with Chinese pictures. The teacups were very diminutive in size, according to the prevailing fashion, and the tea was sipped in small quantities alternately with a bite from the lump of loaf-sugar which was laid beside each guest's plate. De Sille brought to this country more silver-plate than any one had done before him, and took special pride in its exhibition. Governor Stuyvesant's family, Mrs. Bayard, the La Montagnes, and the Kips were his most frequent visitors. He selected Tryntie Croegers for his second wife; but the marriage proved unhappy. The parties separated in 1669; and a commission, in which figured such names as Van Cortlandt, De Peyster, and Van Brugh, was appointed to try to bring about a reconciliation. They reported that all affection and love were estranged on both sides, but that the husband was more inclined to a reunion than the wife, and they recommended an equal division of the property. De Sille built the first stone house in New Utrecht, and resided there for many years. He left a brief history of the settlement of that town. Laurence De Sille, his son, married the daughter of Martin Cregier, and was the ancestor of all of the name of De Sille in this country. Mrs. De Sille at her death left the whole of her estate, real and personal, to her cousin, Jacobus Croegers.
Cornelis Van Ruyven was about this time appointed secretary of the province, and Van Brugge was employed in the custom-house. All at once there arose again a great spirit of disaffection among the English on Long Island. How much of it was due to the consummate tact of Cap-
tain Underhill we are not prepared to say, but from many of the Nov. 26. towns came the bitterest denunciation of the Dutch authorities of New Netherlands. It finally resulted in one of the most important pop- ular meetings ever held in New Amsterdam. The capital itself Dec. 10. was represented by delegates, as also Breuckelen, Flatbush, Flat- lands, Gravesend, Newtown, Flushing, and Hempstead; and the men who assembled were earnest, thoughtful, liberty-loving citizens. The
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THE DIET IN NEW AMSTERDAM.
convention, after mutual consultation and discussion, adopted a remon- strance, which, in courteous phraseology, compares well with documents of a similar character at a later day, and which shows upon the face of it an intelligent appreciation of the rights, as well as a thorough acquaintance with the legiti- mate objects, of civil government. It demanded re- forms and laws such as pre- vailed in the Netherlands ; and Stuyvesant winced un- der the truths which were laid bare before his eyes." To weaken its ef-
fect, he declared that Dec. 12. Breuckelen, Flatbush, and Flatlands had no right to De Sille's House. jurisdiction, and could not send delegates to a popular assembly. He talked eloquently, and was exhaustive in argument. The delegates prepared a rejoinder, and Dec. 13. threatened to send their protest to the States-General and the
West India Company, if he did not lend a considerate ear. Then nothing seemed to remain but the exercise of his prerogative. He commanded the delegation to disperse " on pain of our highest displeasure," and closed his message by arrogantly declaring that " we derive our authority from God and the company, not from a few ignorant subjects ; and we alone can call the inhabitants together." But the popular voice was not stifled, for the burgomasters and schepens wrote to the West India Com-
pany, complaining that their municipal powers were "too narrow," Dec. 24. and asking for such privileges as were granted to their " beloved Amster- dam." The Gravesend magistrates wrote to the States-General, presenting their grievances ; and another letter of a similar char- Dec. 27. acter, signed by Martin Cregier, George Baxter, and others, was addressed to the burgomasters and schepens of the city of Amsterdam. Mean- while the exigencies of the times gave the disaffected community Dec. 30. an excellent opportunity of demonstrating their actual loyalty to the Fatherland. The rapid increase of piracy on the Sound, and the dreaded invasion of the English, made it necessary that a force of men should be raised in each of the towns for the common defense ; and the call was responded to with alacrity.
On the 16th of December was established in England the new
Dec. 16. institute of government, by which Oliver Cromwell was made Lord
Protector, and the supreme legislative authority was vested in him and
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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
Parliament. For weeks, during the year past, that country had been as near to anarchy as any civilized nation has ever been; but Parliament was now to be imperial in its character, and the Protector was to be as- sisted by a council of state.
The spring was just opening, when news reached New Amsterdam that an armed fleet of four ships, direct from England, were in Boston 1654, raising men for the purpose of attacking the Dutch possessions June. in this country. The consternation may readily be imagined. There was nothing talked or thought of but preparations for war. Women and other non-combatants, goods and valuables, were removed with ra- pidity beyond range of the missiles of destruction. Many of the inhab- itants counseled the surrender of the city without bloodshed; but the stern military chieftain visited upon such advisers the full measure of his contempt.
Just as the British force, numbering nine hundred foot and a troop of horse, were victualed and about setting out for New Amsterdam, peace
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