USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York > Part 15
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
The public countenance given to privateering, and the adventurous character of these expeditions, had a tenden- cy to encourage licentiousness in the followers of the sea- faring life. Many of those who engaged in privateering, when their expeditions proved fruitless were not disinclined to prey upon friendly vessels, and thus to engage in piracy; and it is not without considerable proof that several of the highest functionaries in the government in New York countenanced these lawless characters, and shared in the spoils of their depredations.
221
SLAVE TRADE.
Another species of maritime adventure, then engaged in by several of our most respectable merchants and capitalists, was the slave trade. Slaves had been held in this city from the earliest period of the Dutch settlement; and it is said that the first importation of negroes in America was by a Dutch vessel, which brought them from the African coast and sold them in Virginia. This trade was facili- tated by the Dutch possessions on the coast of Guinea, where they were easily procured from the African kings for a small consideration. This trade, in the time of the Dutch, appears to have been carried on by transient traders, and to have constituted no part of the business of resident inhabitants of this city. The visits of slave ships, however, in search of a market, were of frequent occur- rence from an early period, and many of the inhabitants were in this manner provided with domestic servants and farm laborers. The Guinea negroes, when first imported, were of less value than those born in this country, from the risks attending acclimation, and the necessity of tu- toring them in the language and customs of the country. And not unfrequently, their first change, from the confined quarters of a slave ship to the novel scenes of their new homes, were of a fatal effect upon their health. In 1655, the cargo of the " White Horse" was sold in this city, and the stock of negroes being sold at auction, several were found to have been infected with some fatal disorder. The first instance observed of this character, was that of a girl bought by Nicholas Boot. While being led home, along the road, on the shore of the East river, she fell, opposite Litschoe's tavern, crying " Ariba;" she was taken up, and proceeding a few paces further, again fell, her eyes being fixed in her head. Her owner coming up, asked what was
222
SLAVE TRADE.
the matter ? Upon which, she cried, " moa, moa;" some of the by-standers said, "she is drunk, it will soon pass away ; she is sound at heart." At the city gate she was put in a wagon, and taken to her master's house, but died in the evening.
In after years, as has been stated, the slave traffic be- came a prominent branch of the shipping trade out of this port. The journal of a young man (afterward mayor of this city,) sent out as supercargo and agent of merchants in this city, is interesting from its detail of the manner of conducting this traffic, as well as the mishaps to this par- ticular adventure. The MS. is copied as follows :
An Account of a Voyage to Madagascar in the ship " Prophet Daniel," Henry Appel, Commander.
On the 15th of July, 1698, we weighed anchor, bound for the island of Don Mascourena.
3d October. We found ourselves under the island of St. Thomas, and went in to water and to clean the ship.
4th October. Captain Appel came on board and told me he would not go on board again before certain of the people were out of the ship, and that I must find money to pay their wages ; so that I was forced to sell some rigging for such use, before Captain Appel would come on board. He left one man at this place called Whiler, a very troublesome fellow.
7th October. Sailed from St. Thomas.
20th February, 1699. The captain and mates judged themselves to leeward of the island Don Mascourena.
Sunday, 13th July. We arrived at Mattatana, (whither we had been obliged to turn our course,) and I went on shore to trade for negroes, but the harbor proving bad we were forced to remove from that place ; I having purchased fifty slaves at St. Mattatana.
24th August. Arrived at Fort Dolphin.
24th August. I acquainted Mr. Abraham Samuel, the king of that place, of my arrival, and came with him to a trade.
12th September. I went with Mr. Samuel twenty-five miles up in the country, and on the second day after, I got the miserable news that our ship was taken by a vessel that came into the harbor the night before ;
223
SLAVE TRADE.
whereupon I made all the haste down I could. We got some of the sub- jects of Mr. Samuel to assist us, and fired upon the pirate for two days, but could do no good ; then I hired two men to swim off in the night to cut their cables, but Mr. Samuel charged his men not to meddle with them, (as I was informed) said Samuel having got a letter from on board the pirate, in which I suppose they made great promises, so that he forbid us, on our lives, to meddle with any of the said pirates. It appears that the manner in which they took us was as follows: When their ship came to an anchor in the harbor, they desired our boat to give them a cast on shore, they having lost their boat, and pretended to be a merchant ship, and had about fifty negroes on board. At night the captain of the pirate desired that our boat might give him a cast on board of his ship, which was done ; and coming on board he desired the men to drink with him ; and when our men were going on board their ship again, he stopped them by violence ; and at about nine o'clock at night they manned the boat and took our ship, and presently carried away all the money that was on board, rigging, and other things that they had occasion for, and then gave the ship, and negroes, and other things that were on board, to Mr. Samuel. The name of the pirate captain was Evan Jones; the others were, Robert Moore, master ; John Dodd, quarter-master ; John Spratt, boatswain ; Thomas Cullins, Robin, Hunt, from Westchester, New York, and others. Mr. Abraham Samuel took likewise away from me twenty-two casks of powder and forty-nine small arms ; likewise all the sails belonging to the " Prophet," which were on shore, and then sold the ship again to Isaac Ruff, Thomas Wells, Edmund Conklin and Ed- ward Woodman, as it was reported, for fourteen hundred pieces of eight. The purchasers designed to go from Fort Dolphin to the island of Don Mascourena, thence to Mattatana, upon Madagascar, and so for America. Captain Henry Appel, Jacobus Meenen and Isaac Lowrens went along with them. Some days after there arrived at Fort Dolphin a small pinke, called the Vine, Thomas Warrent, master, from London, which took in slaves at Fort Dolphin, and was bound for Barbadoes, in which I took my passage, and was forced to pay for the same sixty-six pieces of eight, and two slaves.
Saturday, 18th November, 1699. I departed from Fort Dolphin, with four of the people that belonged to the "Prophet Daniel," in the afore- said pinke Vine, for Barbadoes, leaving on shore, of the ship's company only a mulatto boy, called Gabriel.
22d December. We arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, where the
224
KIDD'S PIRACY.
vessel took in water and provisions, and departed on the 16th January following.
February 2d, 1700. We arrived at St. Helena, and departed on the eighth of the same month.
February I7th. We arrived at the island of Ascension, got turtle and fish, and departed on the following day.
March 24th. We arrived at Barbadoes.
April 17th. Departed from Barbadoes, in the pinke " Blossom," Robert Darkins, commander, bound for New York.
May 11th, 1700. I arrived in New York ; and that I may not be cen- sured an ill man, and it may not be thought that I have saved any thing that belongs to the owners of said ship, I do declare, that I have not, di- rectly or indirectly, saved any thing that belongs to them, nor wronged them of the value of a farthing, but on the contrary have done all possi- ble to serve their interest that I could.
Signed, &c.
The slave trade, being a legitimate pursuit, and followed as a regular branch of foreign trade, for many years, both previous and subsequent to the period now referred to, was exceedingly profitable, though somewhat hazardous, owing to piratical adventurers, who followed them into their remote trading places, and often, as in the instance above related, robbed them of their stores and money used in the purchase of the negroes. This practice became so great a pest to the mercantile interests, that efforts were made by influential merchants of New York to induce the English ministry to assist them in fitting out a cruising vessel, properly armed, to act against the pirates. Col. Robert Livingston, of New York, an active and influential citizen, brought this matter before the English govern- ment; and introduced Captain William Kidd, of New York, as an efficient and well-known commander, whose fitness for such service was well understood in New York. He was a man of family, and had resided in this city for several years. It was proposed to engage in this enter-
KIDD'S PIRACY. 225
prise on the footing of a private adventure, although it was also desirable, for some purposes, that the scheme - should receive the official countenance of the government. The King, Lord Somers, the Earl of Romney, the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Oxford and Lord Bellamont, joined in making up the necessary expense of a proper vessel ; Col. Livingston also contributing a proportion. The profits were to be divided among the owners of the ship, allowing a liberal share to Kidd. A commission was issued, December 11, 1695, under the great seal of England, directed " to the trusty and well-beloved Captain William Kidd, commander of the ship Adventure Galley." He set sail from Plymouth, in April, 1696, and arrived on the American coast, where he continued for some time, occa- sionally entering the harbor of New York, and visiting his family in the city. He was considered useful in pro- tecting our commerce, for which he received much ap- plause, and the assembly of the province voted him the sum of two hundred and fifty pounds, as a complimentary return for his services.
Soon after this he left this vicinity for more active ope- rations on the cost of Africa, and it was not long ere the astounding news arrived that Kidd had commenced the trade which he had been engaged to subvert, and had com- mitted several piracies. The report of these facts coming to the public knowledge in England, the circumstance was made the subject of a violent attack upom the government by the opposition party, and in the excess of party zeal, it was alleged that the king himself, and those concerned in the expedition, were privy to the piratical adventure, and sharers in its profits. This charge having some color of foundation, from the actual circumstances of the case,
15
226
KIDD'S PIRACY.
made the question a subject of State inquiry; and thus the name of Kidd, though perhaps personally less obnoxious to the odious characteristics of his profession than many others in history, became, from its association with a parti- san warfare, between the great men of the state, the most famous among the pirates of the world. The noblemen engaged in the enterprise underwent the form of a trial for their lives, but were acquitted.
The principal scenes of Kidd's piracies were on the eastern coast of Africa, at Madagascar and the vicinity; where he captured and rifled several vessels, without, how- ever, so far as we have been informed by history, commit- ting extreme cruelties upon his captives. The only person proven to have been killed by him, being a seaman of his own, named William Moore, whom he accidentally slew, by hitting him with a bucket, for insubordination. Kidd having amassed a fortune by this cruise, shaped his course homeward, seeming, with a strange fatuity, to have supposed that no information of his depredations in those remote parts of the world had reached the scenes of his home. He brought his vessel into Long Island Sound; in the year 1699; and went ashore at Gardiner's Island, then owned and occupied by Mr. John Gardiner, to whom, from some undiscoverable motive, he made known his desire to bury a quantity of treasure on the island, and did accordingly deposit in the ground a considerable quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones, in the presence of Mr. Gardi- ner; but under strict injunctions of secrecy. This deposit consisted of eleven hundred and eleven ounces of coined gold, two thousand three hundred and fifty ounces of silver, seventeen ounces of jewels and precious stones, sixty-nine precious stones, fifty-seven bags of sugar, forty-one bales
i
.
great
Car
M
EXPLANATION
" I he Charpes in the Fort of New York " oysters half men & H'hulahall Factory of IA guns 4 The Old Dock ) The tage d' Blocks
· Scans house ballery of $ guns " The stars (or leste) house & The custom house As The Hrudday
9 Burghora, er the alap, Gallery of 10 quota 10 The fly block news & half moon
" The daughter houses
12 The new Docks 18 The French Church 14 The Jews Synagoque 16 The Fort Will & Pump 16 Ellais Alles
17 T'he works on the west cute of the cary 16 The north west Blockhouse
1919 The Lutheran Churcht monsters houit 16 80 The stone points on the V side of the life 1) The Dutch calvinist Church but 1893 21 PÅ4 manatur house
" The Burying ground " A Windwall 8.5 The Rings Parm 16 tol Dungan's garden
" The plat of ground. for the I' Musters house 29 " The stockada with a bank I earth on the inside so The ground proper for the building an I church II I' Showing the sen flowing about & York ISIn The cer gutes 1) A postern gale
l'ail
Broad
-
5
che
.
Church
.....
25
cumple
23
78
Jumsand
SAult
---
E
31
Ven Yorku
$2
TOILIT
05
3
Dicken
Street
0
N
227
KIDD'S PIRACY.
of merchandise, seventeen pieces of canvas, one large load- stone, &c. Having thus disburdened his ship, he departed for Boston, with the design, it is supposed, of selling his vessel. While there, however, he was recognized in the street, and apprehended. He was sent to England for trial, and indicted for the murder of William Moore, before spoken of; and, being convicted, was hanged in chains, at Execution Dock, May 12, 1701. The wife of Kidd continued her residence in this city after his death: herself and daughter living in seclusion in a habitation on the east side of the town.
CHAPTER XVII.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF PROMINENT MEN IN THIS CITY, TOWARD THE CLOSE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
William .Atwood, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in the time of Governor Bellamont, resided in this city but a short period; after the death of that nobleman, he presided at the trial of Nicholas Bayard, for treason, and exhibited the strongest prejudice against the accused, who was con- victed. The party of Mr. Bayard coming into power shortly afterward, Atwood fled the country, to escape the retaliating power of his political adversaries.
Nicholas Bayard came to this city while a youth, soon after the arrival of Governor Stuyvesant, of whose wife he was a relative. In 1665, he was appointed clerk of the Court of Mayor and Aldermen, and kept the minutes in both the Dutch and English, being conversant with both these languages. He afterward engaged in business as a brewer and merchant, establishing his residence on the present north side of Stone street, near Hanover square.
Mr. Bayard was an active politician, and soon rose to the highest offices in the province. In the time of Leisler's movement against the government of Dongan, Mr. Bayard was a member of the Governor's Council, and took the most conspicuous part in opposition to Leisler
229
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
and the revolutionists. He was banished the province among other of his adherents; but ventured, for the pur- pose of securing certain documents of importance to his party, to return secretly to the city, where his presence be- coming known, search was made for him at his own house; he however, made his escape, and fled to a friendly neigh- bor's, whither he was pursued and taken. He was held for treasonable acts, and lay open to a trial for his life; but suing for his pardon, the prosecution was suspended; he was still, however, held in confinement for more than a year. Upon the overthrow of Leisler, Bayard was rein- stated in all his former honors; and now, in turn, urged the prosecution of Leisler with the greatest energy. His counsels, with those of others, succeeded in bringing Leisler to the scaffold. About ten years subsequently, (1702,) the Leislerian party being again in power, Bayard was tried under an act of the province, for treasonable designs, in late proceedings, and was condemned to death. An oppor- tune change in the state of the political powers of the government occurred, however, and he was released from imprisonment, and his condemnation annulled.
Mr. Bayard died in the year 1711, leaving his widow, Judy, surviving. His son Samuel, inherited his large property.
Balthazar Bayard. Mr. Bayard soon after his arrival in this city married a daughter of Govert Loocker- mans, a wealthy merchant. He soon after engaged in the business of brewing, in which vocation he continued for a number of years, and acquired a large property. He sub sequently established his residence on the west side of Broadway, opposite the present Bowling Green. He was an alderman at one period.
230
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Jacob Boelen, a merchant, residing on the west side of Broadway, above Liberty street, represented the North Ward several years, as alderman.
Anthony Brockcholst, a captain in the army, and Com- mander-in-Chief of his majesty's forces in New York, established his residence in this city, with his family, about the year 1680, on the present Stone street, betwen White- hall and Broad streets. He soon after engaged in the mercantile trade, and his family became connected, by marriage, with the principal families of the province.
John Hendrick Bruyn. Mr. Bruyn was a merchant, re- siding in one of the best houses in town, on the present north side of Pearl street, between Whitehall and Broad streets. He was alderman for several years.
Martin Clock, was a son of Abraham Clock, one of the early Dutch settlers. Mr. Clock occupied, for a time, the ancient homestead of his family, on the present north-west corner of Pearl street and Hanover square. He was by trade a cooper. He subsequently retired from business and removed to a farm on this island, and for some years represented the Out Ward in the Common Council.
Thomas Coker, represented the West Ward for a short period in the Common Council. His residence was the present No. 1 Broadway, corner of Battery place.
Abraham Corbett, a distiller, purchased, in 1680, for sixty pounds sterling, a house and lot on the east side of Broadway, two or three doors south of Exchange place, which he gave to his son John. Afterward, in 1685. John executed a life lease of same to his father and mother. Here Mr. Corbett erected a fine tavern, to which the name of the "Royal Oak " was given, and he employed himself in its superintendence. He represented his ward, at one period, in the Common Council.
231
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHIES.
William Cox, a flour merchant of considerable property, resided in the neighborhood of Hanover square. He had previously resided on Saw-mill Creek, on the East river side of the island, where he had purchased a considerable property, with a grist-mill and farm. He represented the Out Ward, as alderman, in 1683. Mr. Cox died in 1689.
Tunis De Kay. This citizen was a son of one of the old settlers. He married Helena, a daughter of Johannes Van Brugh, an eminent merchant of this city. He estab- lished himself in the mercantile business on the west side of the present Broad street, above Beaver street, where his father had formerly owned a considerable property.
Stephen Delancey, a French Huguenot of Caen, in Nor- mandy, emigrated to this country in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and afterward engaged in mercantile pursuits in this city. He married, in the year 1700, Anne Van Cortland. He was a prominent man in public affairs, and acquired considerable wealth. His place of business was that formerly occupied by Stephanus Van Cortland on the present north-east corner of Broad and Pearl streets. In the latter years of his life, Mr. Delancey resided on the west side of Broadway, a short distance above Trinity Church, in one of the finest mansions in the city. He died about the year 1735, leaving several children. His son, James, was one of the most eminent men of his time, being at one period in executive charge of the province. His son, Oliver, a loyalist in the time of the revolution, was made a brigadier general in the British army. He repre- sented his ward, for some time, in the Common Council.
Peter Delanoy, mayor in 1688, 9, was a merchant, who came to this city from Holland, about the year 1651. He was an active adherent of Leisler, and was elected mayor
232
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
by the popular suffrage, being the first person chosen to that office by the people.
Thomas Delavall, mayor in 1666-71-78, became first known as a resident here after the capture by the English in 1664. He was then a captain in the English service, and held a command under Colonel Nichols; but it would seem that he had been before that time in America, as we find some transactions of his which took place prior to the year 1664. Captain Delavall immediately after the surrender of the place to the English, took a prominent part in the administration of public affairs. He purchased a farm at Harlem, and also a residence in the city on the present south-east corner of Broad street and Exchange place, his premises embracing an orchard and large gar- den. Captain Delavall visited England in 1699, where he had a conference with the Duke of York, who sent by him to the mayor and aldermen a mace of the mayoralty office, and gowns for the aldermen. He died in this city in the year 1682, leaving a considerable estate. His son John Delavall and several daughters (married to eminent mer- chants of this city,) succeeded to his property.
Johannes De Peyster, mayor in 1698, was the son of an eminent merchant of the same name, who had been among the earliest and most prominent citizens in the time of the Dutch. The subject of this sketch married a daughter of Gerrit Bancker, of Albany. He died about the year 1719.
Abraham De Peyster, mayor in 1691, 2, 3, was also a son of Johannes De Peyster. The subject of this sketch was a prominent merchant and the owner of a large estate. His domestic establishment in 1703 consisted of seven whites, and nine black slaves. Colonel De Peyster lived to an advanced age in this city.
233
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
Isaac De Riemer, Mayor in 1700, was a merchant and a member of an old family of this city. He married a daughter of William Teller, a wealthy merchant, formerly residing in Albany.
William Dervall, mayor in 1675, was originally a Boston merchant, who had been somewhat interested in the trade with New Amsterdam. and about the year 1667, removed here and engaged in trade. His brother John accompa- nied him, and they set up a store, principally of dry goods. William married a daughter of Thomas Delavall, (a wealthy citizen who had been mayor of New York) and occupied a fine residence near the present corner of White- hall and State streets.
Rev. Gualterius (Walter) Dubois. This gentleman, who was installed a pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church in this city, in October, 1699, was born in the year 1671, at Street-kerf in Holland; his father, Domine Petrus Dubois, being then pastor of the church at that place. The sub- ject of this sketch was educated at the University of Ley- den, and passed his examination before the Classis of Amsterdam in 1697, soon after which he received a call to this city. He served faithfully in his pastoral duties in this city for upward of fifty years. He preached for the last time on the afternoon of 29th September, 1751. After service he returned home, and was seized with illness in his study, which brought him to his sick chamber, where he languished until Tuesday of the following week, when he expired, having attained the age of about eighty years. He was succeeded in his ministry by the Rev. Lambertu; De Ronde.
William Dyre, mayor in 1680, was at an early period a resident of one of the New England colonies, engaged in
234
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
mercantile pursuits. In the year 1653, at a time of hostili- ties between England and Holland, Rhode Island fitted out an expedition against New Amsterdam, which was placed under the command of Captain John Underhill and William Dyre; the former having direction of the land forces, and the latter of the ships. This expedition, how- ever, failed in its object, the forces never approaching the capital of the Dutch province. Upon the final accession of the English authority in this city, in 1674, Captain Dyre established his residence here, and held the office of col- lector of customs. He purchased several acres on the easterly side of Broadway, between Maiden lane and Wall street, and resided there during his stay in the city. He subsequently sold the property to Mr. Lloyd, of Philadel- phia, who realized a profitable increase from the rise of the property in value. Mr. Dyre removed from this city to Jamaica (W. I,) where he died about the year 1685.
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.