USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress. Vol. I > Part 20
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 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59
The Indians were humiliated. They dared not accept the challenge. They laid down a few fathoms of wampum, and expressed their sorrow for what had been done to injure the Esopus settlers. In the course of the negotiations, the proposed village was decided upon. A spot about two hundred and ten yards in circumference was chosen at the bend of the creek, where three sides could be surrounded with water. It belonged to the Indians, who at first agreed to sell it, and then formally offered it as a gift to the governor, -" to grease his feet," they said, " because he had taken so long a journey to visit them." They suddenly seemed to hold the " great white sachem " in profound respect. Stuyvesant remained at Esopus until the buildings were removed to the new village, a guard- house was erected, a bridge was thrown across the creek, and temporary quarters were prepared for twenty-four soldiers that he proposed to leave behind, to keep the Indians on their good behavior.
As soon as the governor returned, repairs upon Fort Amsterdam, which had been dragging along for months, were prosecuted with vigor. The negroes, under an overseer, built a stone-wall some three feet thick and ten feet high around the fortress. The governor's house was 1659. getting old and rusty. He accordingly built for himself a gubernatorial mansion of hewn stone, and called it " Whitehall." It was located upon the street which was subsequently named for it. It was surrounded by gardens on three sides, and a rich velvet lawn in front extended to the water's edge, where lay the governor's barge at the foot of fine cut stone steps. Upon the north side of the grounds there was an imposing gateway.
The governor's country-seat, where he and his family usually spent the summer months, embraced the greater portion of the present Eleventh, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Wards. It cost him originally sixty-four hun- dred guilders. His house was a great, commodious, comfortable, home- like specimen of Holland architecture. His gardens were remarkably fine, and his land was in a high state of cultivation. He kept from thirty to fifty negro slaves, besides a number of white servants, constantly em- ployed in the improvement of his grounds. The road to the city had been put in good condition, and shade trees were planted on each side where it crossed the governor's property.
The settlement of Harlem was commenced through an offer by the 12
188
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
government to give any twenty-five families who would remove to that remote part of Manhattan Island a court and clergyman of their own and a ferry to Long Island. Upon the bank of the Harlem River a little tavern was built, which became quite a resort for pleasure-parties from the city. It was called the " Wedding Place." The road beyond Stuy- vesant's country-seat was little more than a bridle-path through the
TEN BROECKE
ST
16 TH.
WINTHROP
/ ST.
926
15 TH.
ST.
GERARD
ST.
BOWERY LANE
GOVERNOR <
ST.
AVE.
A
L
PETER
ST.
Skating Pond.
m
2
3
12 TH.
ST.
STUYVESANT
ST.
5
II TH.
ST.
AVE.
ST.
Ortley's;
NICHOLAS WILLIAM
ST.
JO TH. ST.
ELIZA
ST.
/MARGARET,
AVE.
JICK
ST
REFERENCES.
1 GOV. STUYVESANT'S HOUSE; BURNT 1777.
2 ST. MARK'S CHURCH.
3 ST MARK'S CEMETARY.
4 ST. MARK'S PARSONAGE.
5 HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
6 OLD PEAR TREE, PLANTED 1647.
7 PETERSFIELD, RESIDENCE of PETER G. STUYVESANT.
8 BOWERY HOUSE, RESIDENCE of NICH. WM. STUYVESANT.
9 BOWERY VILLAGE SCHOOL HOUSE.
CORNELIA
11
9
VERPLANCK
ST.
JUDIT
GTH. ST.
6
8
ST.
2 ND.
AVE
13 TH.
14 TH
PETERSFIELD LANE
1
EAST
3 RD.
ST
Map of Stuyvesant's Bouwerv
woods, crooking about to avoid ledges and ravines. The land travel at that period was almost exclusively on foot or on horseback ; few wagons had as yet reached the country.
In the mean time, a general fear of the Indians took possession of the public mind. Stuyvesant had visited Esopus in the autumn, after the dwellings had been collected into a village, and tried to settle certain claims with the sachems. Only a few came to the interview. One of their number plead poverty in a studied and cunningly constructed piece of oratory, entirely avoiding the governor's question as to their intentions in regard to the surrender of a certain tract of land in compensation for the injuries they had committed. When brought back to that point, they went away, pretending that they must consult the absent chiefs.
87
189
INDIAN HOSTILITIES.
As they did not return, the governor left a guard of fifty soldiers at the post. A few months later, a sad circumstance enraged the savages far and near. Thomas Chambers had acquired an immense tract of land in the vicinity of Esopus, which had been erected into the manor of Fox- HALL.1 Some seven or eight Indians in his employ had been husking and shelling corn until late one evening, when they obtained some brandy and had a drunken orgie. Their hideous and unearthly yells, breaking in upon the midnight stillness, startled the settlers, who reconnoitered to find out the cause. The officer in command of the fort forbade his soldiers to molest the poor wretches ; but some of the imprudent residents proceeded to the spot where they were lying in a heap together in the bushes, and fired a volley of musketry among them. Several were wounded, and a few ran away. Presently houses, barns, and corn-stacks were set on fire all through the country, and the Esopus fort was besieged for three weeks. News came to Manhattan that several prisoners had been taken by the Indians, and afterwards tortured in the most cruel manner and burned at the stake. The crisis was imminent. Despair seemed to paralyze the fighting men of the colony. Stuyvesant had been suffering from a severe illness ; but he met the situation grandly, visiting all the neighboring villages in person and using every effort to stimulate the farmers to fortify and protect themselves. His energy was marvelous, and the resources of his mind abundant. He was delayed several days before he could raise a force sufficient to go to the aid of suffering Esopus ; but he succeeded at last, and took command in person. Oct. 10. Upon his appearance the Indians fled, and heavy rains prevented his pursuing them. He obtained the co-operation of the Mohawks, and hav- ing concluded an armistice with the Esopus tribe, shortly succeeded in obtaining a few of the prisoners in exchange for powder. It was a hollow truce, as everybody understood. During the entire winter after, the air was full of alarms. In the spring there was fighting again, and the Indians were driven back into the country. They were awed and 1660. made cautious, but not conquered. In July, however, through July. the influence of the Mohawks and other friendly tribes, they sued for peace, and an important treaty was concluded.
Staten Island was a dreary waste for long after the massacre of 1650. Baron Van der Capellen sent out fresh colonists, and offered many induce-
1 This grant was confirmed, in 1686, by Governor Dongan, who invested the manor with power to hold Court Leet and Court Baron, besides many other temporal honors. Chambers was a man of much dignity and influence. He was justice of the peace at Esopus, and did notable service in the war with the Indians. He left no descendants in the direct line ; and his name has disappeared, save from the Book of Patents.
190
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
ments to encourage the settlers to return ; but they were timid. Melyn removed to New Haven. Baron Van der Capellen died, and his heirs sold their entire interest to the West India Company. In 1661, some French Huguenots started a village a little to the south of the Narrows, which was fostered by the government with fatherly care. Dominie Drisius visited them every two months, to preach in French and to ad- minister the sacrament.
A tract of land near the Fresh Water Pond, which had hitherto been used as a common for the pasturing of cattle, was fenced in about this time and more especially devoted to the city cows. A herdsman was employed, who went through the streets every morning blowing a horn, collected his drove, conducted it to the grassy fields, and brought it again through the city gates at nightfall.
As time wore on, the subject of education was discussed with increased earnestness. The schools were imperfect, and it was difficult to remedy the evil. The better class of citizens pressed for the establishment of a higher grade of schools. Now and then, some enterprising schoolmaster opened a private establishment without the consent of the government, and was immediately ordered to close it. Finally, the burgomasters and schepens wrote to the company, petitioning for a suitable master for a first-class Latin School. They said their sons had to be sent to New England for classical instruction. They agreed that the city should build a school-house, if the company would pay the teacher's salary. The company consented, and sent over Dr. Curtius, a physician of some note, who could practice medicine when not engaged with his pupils. At the end of two years, he resigned his position, on account of ill-health; and Dominie Ægidius Luyck, who was a private tutor in the governor's family, was employed in his stead. He soon had twenty pupils, including two from Virginia and two from Albany. The public school was continued, and two private schools for small children were permitted. One of these was taught by Jan Lubbertsen.
Dominie Henricus Selyns 1 arrived in the summer of 1660, to take the pastoral charge of the first church in Breuckelen. He was formally in-
1 Prior to 1660, the only ministers of the Reformed Church in New Netherland were the Reverends Megapolensis and Drisius at New Amsterdam, Schaats at Beverwyck (Albany), Polhemus at Midwout (Flatbush), and Melins at New Amstel. The two first-named had written earnest letters to the Classis of Amsterdam, describing the state of religion in the colony, and entreating that good Dutch clergymen be speedily sent over. These letters were forwarded to the College of the XIX. It was difficult to persuade clergymen to brave the hardships of a newly settled country, but Dominie Selyns received and accepted a call to the Brooklyn church. Dominie Blom came over with him under appointment to preach at Esopus (now Kingston).
191
OLIVER CROMWELL'S DEATH.
stalled on the 7th of September. The ceremony was specially interesting. Vice-Governor De Sille and Martin Cregier were deputed from the governor's council to introduce the minister to the congregation; after which, the call of the Classis and their certificate of examination, also a testimonial from the clergynien of Amsterdam, were read by the dominie himself to the assembly. He then preached his inaugural sermon. The church had twenty members, inclusive of one elder and two deacons. But they had as yet no church edifice, and the installation services took place in a barn.
The next season, Dominie Selyns married a young woman in New Amsterdam. She was very gifted and beautiful. Her portrait he has handed down to us in a charming little birthday ode. The governor, finding that the Breuckelen church could not raise the minister's salary without great embarrassment, offered to advance one hundred dollars per annum towards it, provided Dominie Selyns would preach at his farm on Sunday afternoons. He built a small chapel at his own expense on the site of the present church of St. Mark; and services were held in it on the Sabbath during the remainder of his life.
An event momentous in its consequences upon the future of the little city whose fortunes we are following occurred in the autumn of 1658. It was the death of Oliver Cromwell. The reins of power fell quietly into the hands of his eldest son, Richard. But not for long. The young man was as weak as his father was strong. Within a year, England had dis- posed of him, and was in imminent danger of sinking under the tyranny of a succession of small men raised up and pulled down by military ca- price. General was opposed to general, and army to army. Finally, there was one grand union of sects and parties for the old laws of the nation against military despotism, and thus the way was paved for the return of Charles II. to the throne of his ancestors.
B
E
LCTOI
Medal of Oliver Cromwell.
192
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
CHAPTER XII.
1660-1664.
THE RESTORATION.
THE RESTORATION. - CHARLES II. - THE CONNECTICUT CHARTER. - SIR GEORGE DOWNING. - GEORGE BAXTER AND JOHN SCOTT. - PROGRESS OF THE CITY. - THE ANTIQUARIAN MAP. - THE QUAKERS. - DESTRUCTION OF ESOPUS. - THE INDIAN WAR OF 1663. - GOVERNOR STUYVESANT IN BOSTON. - THOMAS BENEDICT. - THE EMBASSY TO CON- NECTICUT. - STARTLING CONDITION OF AFFAIRS. - JOHN SCOTT. - HON. JEREMIAS VAN RENSSELAER. - THE CONVENTION OF 1664. - MRS. DR. KIERSTEDE. - PLANNING OF CHARLES II. AND HIS MINISTERS. - AN UNFRIENDLY EXPEDITION. - NEW AMSTERDAM IN DANGER. - PREPARATIONS FOR A SIEGE. - WINTHROP'S INTERVIEW WITH STUYVE- SANT. - THE LETTER. - THE APPROACHING STORM. - THE CRISIS. - THE SURRENDER. - NEW YORK. - CONSEQUENCES OF THE CONQUEST. - STUYVESANT AT THE HAGUE. - THE STUYVESANT PEAR-TREE. - THE STUYVESANT FAMILY.
O N the 8th of May, 1660, Charles II. set out on his triumphal journey from Breda to London. He was magnificently entertained at the Hague, and parted with the States-General and other officers of the Dutch government with the most profuse pledges of friendship. On 1660. the 29th of May, he entered England, welcomed and escorted by May 29. triumphal processions. A spirit of extravagant joy seemed to per- vade the whole nation. London was in raptures. He remarked dryly, " that he could not see for the life of him why he had stayed away so long, when everybody was so charmed with him now that he was at length come back."
For a time, he was more loved by the English people than any of his predecessors had been. The calamities of his house and his own roman- tic adventures rendered him an object of tender interest to all classes. His return had delivered them from what had become an intolerable bondage. Entertainments were the order of the day. Presently drunk- enness overran the kingdom and corrupted the morals of the people; and, through pretenses of religion and profane mockeries of true piety, grave disorders prevailed.
The king was a young man (then about thirty years of age), of pleas-
193
CHARLES II.
ing address and elegant manners, He was cheerful in disposition, fond of wit and humor, and a great talker. He understood affairs, and was familiar with matters of government and religion. He was a good mathematician ; his apprehension was quick, and his memory excellent. But he was insincere, had an ill opinion of mankind, detested busi- ness, and seemed to think the main object of life was to get all the pleasure possible out of every hour of the twenty-four. Like his father, he married a Catholic queen. His marriage festivities with Catharine of Braganza, of Portugal, were brilliantly celebrated at Hampton Court on the anniversary of his birth and restoration, May 29, 1662. But not like his father did he love his Catholic queen; on the contrary, he neglected and wounded her, and rendered her life one of abject misery.
The Convention Parliament which called him home revised the Navi- gation Act of 1651, and made it more obnoxious to the Dutch than ever. Presently, Lord Baltimore, through an agent at the Hague, ordered the West India Company to surrender the lands on the south side July 24. of Delaware Bay. The directors were confounded. They promptly declined to yield territory which they held under grant from the States- General, and appealed to the latter for protection. A demand that Lord Baltimore should be ordered to desist from his pretensions until the boundaries were properly established, and that the territory to the east of the Hudson River which the English had usurped should be restored and the inhabitants thereof required to conduct themselves as Dutch subjects, was at once forwarded to the Dutch minister at Whitehall, with directions to seize the first opportunity to lay it before the king.
American affairs were confided to the new " Council of Foreign Plan- tations," of which Clarendon was the head. Charles declined to trouble his mind with them. He laughed at Lord Baltimore and the Earl of Stirling when they argued their claims, and said "the subject was too heavy for a crowned head." He hoped he should be "spared the stupid task of looking after a batch of restless Western adventurers." But he was reminded of the prospective treaty of commerce and alliance with the Dutch nation, and of the necessity of settling the Delaware Bay contro- versy, and requiring the Dutch on Long Island to submit to English authority. He promised to give his attention at some more convenient season in the future. Meanwhile, John De Witt, the grand pensionary and real chief magistrate of the Netherlands, grew weary of the procras- tination which prefaced the execution of the treaty, and instructed his minister to bring the matter to a close or to leave London. The document was accordingly signed, at Whitehall, September 14, 1662. At that very moment the "Council for Foreign Plantations " was maturing an order
13
194
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
for the Virginia governor to cause the Navigation Act to be carefully ob- served, notwithstanding the well-known intercolonial treaty which 1662. Stuyvesant had negotiated with Berkeley, and which had given great satisfaction to both provinces. A royal charter was issued, invest- ing Connecticut with jurisdiction over the territory " bounded east by Narraganset Bay, north by the Massachusetts line, south by the sea, and west by the Pacific Ocean, including all the islands thereunto adjoining."
This remarkable charter, under which Connecticut thrived until 1818, and which was as liberal in its character as any since granted by
April. our republican government, guaranteeing every privilege which freemen could desire, passed the great seal in April. It was obtained by John Winthrop the younger. This gentleman was an elegant and accomplished courtier, and an intimate personal friend of Lord Say, Lord Seal, the Earl of Manchester, and others of the royal household. He was the founder of New London, and the owner of Fisher's Island, where his family resided for some years in a mansion erected by himself. He was actively interested in all the concerns of the Connecticut Colony, and drafted the charter with his own pen, making the voyage to Europe in order to secure for it the sanction of the king. He wore into the royal presence an extraordinary ring which had been given to his grandmother by Charles I. This he took from his finger and pre- sented to Charles II., who was greatly pleased, and tenderly regarded the treasure which had once belonged to a father most dear to him. The opportune moment was seized for presenting the petition from Connecti- cut, "which was received with uncommon grace and favor "; and Win- throp returned in triumph to America.
When Stuyvesant heard of this transaction, he declared, that, "it was an absolute breach and nullification of the boundary treaty of 1650, and that it would justify the States-General and West India Company in for- cibly recovering all their ancient rights, which he had surrendered for the sake of peace." He wrote sharply to Winthrop, who retorted in the same spirit. The latter proceeded to notify the people of Westchester and Long Island to send delegates to the General Court of Connecticut. Stuy- vesant appealed to his government for instructions.
Sir George Downing, Winthrop's cousin, was the English minister at the Hague. He was one of the earliest, ablest, and most unprincipled graduates (in 1642) of Harvard College in Massachusetts. Subsequently, he was Cromwell's minister to the Dutch Republic, where he openly insulted his exiled king; but, through consummate tact and management, he obtained forgiveness, and was taken into favor, at the Restoration. His American life rendered him familiar with the whole series of colo-
195
SIR GEORGE DOWNING.
nial quarrels. He knew every weak point in the Dutch title to New Netherland. He had no scruples of honor, was an ardent hater of the Dutch, and longed for a war which might aggrandize the new king and his satellites. He played a double part on all occasions. Once, after dining with De Witt, and promising with emphasis to use his best en- deavor for the righting of the wrong of the " Connecticut encroachments," he went to his own apartments and sent the following private advice to Clarendon : "Wait three or four months, and then answer that the king will write into those parts to be informed of the truth of the matter of fact and right on both sides." He adroitly gathered such information about Dutch affairs as he could turn to English advantage, and all his letters to the lords in power were seasoned with subtle arguments in favor of the undoubted right of England to the whole of New Netherland, which he affirmed to be " the most admirably situated region in North America." 1
New England never took kindly to the Restoration. Charles was ac- knowledged with reluctance and grim austerity. The fear that he would install bishops in the colonies induced the Puritans to crowd petition after petition upon the notice of the indolent monarch, and the Church party were quite as voluminous in their complaints of the arrogant and domineering Puritans. Samuel Maverick appeared before the king, to claim redress for many grievances which he had suffered in Massachusetts. He was a zealous Episcopalian. He was accompanied by George Baxter and John Scott, from Long Island, who were smarting from the lash of Governor Stuyvesant. The latter were both extensive landholders ; indeed, Scott claimed to have purchased nearly one third of the island. He had formerly been an officer in the army of Charles I., but for some political misdemeanor had been banished to New England. He was a brilliant logician, and the object of his appeal was to obtain a royal grant for the government of Long Island. The claim of Lord Stirling, however, was in the way. As for New Netherland, a statement was drawn up by Scott and Baxter, assisted by Maverick, to prove the king's title to it; and it was emphatically asserted, that, "the Navigation Act could never be en- forced in America while that rich territory existed as a Dutch plantation."
While Charles and his ministers listened with newly awakened inter- est, and revolved various plans by which New Netherland might be seized without an open rupture (for Charles disliked as much as some of
1 Col. Doc., II. 224 - 229, 302-507 ; III. 47, 48. Aitzema, V. 64, 65. Lister's Claren- don, III. 276 - 279. Ogilby's America, 169. Brodhead, II. 12-20. Burnet's History of the Reign of Charles II., 136, 137. Sir George Downing was the son of Emanuel Down- ing, the brother-in-law of Governor John Winthrop. He was born in London, and accom- panied his parents to America at the age of thirteen.
196
HISTORY OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
his lords desired hostilities), the West India Company and the States- General were mildly protesting against the " unpardonable usurpations," and asking the king to issue orders " for the immediate restoration of the towns and places in their American province which had been invaded by his subjects." At the same time, Stuyvesant, upon this side of the water, was working manfully to sustain his authority and promote the interests of his employers.
During the year 1661, the governor, as a sort of peace-offering, granted village charters to five Long Island towns. Among them was New Utrecht, founded by Jacques Cortelyou, who managed the estate of the deceased Mr. Werckhoven, for the heirs. This property, which embraced the land along the bay, from Gowanus to Coney Island, and which cost originally six coats, six kettles, six axes, six chisels, six small looking- glasses, twelve knives, and twelve combs, had been improved by Werck- hoven until it offered special attractions, and the settlement had increased more rapidly than many others.
Between the years 1660 - 1664, the city of New Amsterdam grew in a ratio greatly exceeding that of any previous period. Business of all kinds was brisk. New settlers came and the old ones remained. New houses were built and manufactories established. Several breweries and brick kilns were in successful operation. The potteries of Long Island began to be esteemed equal to those of Delft. Lawyers were finding this lucrative field, and among the most prominent of these was Solomon La Chair. There has recently been exhumed, in the county clerk's office of the City Hall, a written volume of some three hundred pages, which is a careful minute of La Chair's legal proceedings, and a curious relic of that early period. He was a good English, as well as French and Dutch, scholar, and often acted as interpreter before the courts. He had at com- mand a large law library, as evidenced by the numerous quotations in his written arguments. The magistrates of Gravesend employed him, in opposition to Mr. Opdyck, to prosecute their claim to Coney Island.
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.