USA > New York > New York City > History of the school of the Reformed Protestant Dutch church, in the city of New York, from 1633 to the present time > Part 2
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19
AND SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN.
ocean, landed, in November, at Dartmouth in England, whence he communicated to the Company at Amsterdam an account of his discoveries.
" Thus the triumphant flag of Holland was the harbinger of civilization along the banks of the great river of New-York. The original purpose of the Half Moon's voyage had failed of accomplishment ; but why need Hudson repine ? He had not, indeed, discovered the passage to the eastern seas, but he had led the way to the foundation of a mighty state. The attractive region to which accident had conducted the Amsterdam yacht, soon became a colony of the Netherlands, where, for half a century, the sons and daughters of Holland established themselves securely under the ensign of the re- public, transplanted the doctrines of a reformed faith, and obeyed the jurisprudence which had governed their ances- tors."*
In 1610, the great " River of the Mountains" was visited a second time by a vesssel from Holland, in pursuit of beaver and other valuable furs.
In 1611, Christiaensen and Block made a joint voyage to the river for the purposes of trade ; and the reports which they made of the country on their return to Holland, led three influential merchants of Amsterdam to dispatch with them, in 1612, two vessels for the purpose of continuing the traffic with the natives.
During 1613, three other trading-vessels visited the island of Manhattan, returning in 1614, freighted with large cargoes of valuable furs. The ship under the command of Block having been burned while he was preparing to return to Hol- land, he was obliged to build a yacht, which caused him to remain at Manhattan during the winter of 1613-14 ; and the
* Brodhead, N. Y., 36.
20
OUTLINE OF THE DISCOVERY
few huts erected by him at this time near the southern point of the island, were the first European abodes upon it. For- saking these temporary structures upon the completion of his yacht, he explored the bays and rivers on the coasts of Con- necticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Here he found Christiaensen's ship from Manhattan, in charge of Cornelis Hendricksen ; and having exchanged vessels with him, Block returned to Holland. In the meanwhile, Fort Nassau was built by Christiaensen, on Castle Island, a little below Albany, as a warehouse and military defense for the traders.
Previous to Block's return to Amsterdam, the States-Gen- eral had passed an Octroy, granting and conceding that " whosoever shall from this time forward discover any new passages, havens, lands, or places, shall have the exclusive right of navigating to the same for four voyages." The merchants who had employed Block, encouraged by the results of his voyage, formed an Association, and lost no time in taking the steps necessary to secure to themselves the special privileges guaranteed in the general ordinance. Through their deputies at the Hague, they laid before the States-General a map and report of the newly-explored countries, which now, (1614,) for the first time, received the name of NEW-NETHERLAND. Their High Mightinesses having granted their request, they assumed the title of "The United New-Netherland Company," and enjoyed for three years from January, 1615, the exclusive trade " of all lands from the · fortieth to the forty-fifth degree of latitude .* "
In the spring of 1617, Fort Nassau was destroyed by a freshet, and a new fortified post was erected by the traders on the main land, on a commanding eminence called Tawass- gunshee, at the mouth of Norman's Kill, immediately south of the present city of Albany.
* Brodhead, N. Y. 60, et seq.
21
AND SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN.
On the expiration of the Company's charter in 1618, the trade of the Manhattans was thrown open, and many vessels, heretofore excluded, resorted thither for traffic.
The next important movement affecting the interests of New-Netherland, was the establishment by charter, in 1621, of the Dutch West India Company. The central power of this Association was divided, for the more efficient exercise of its functions, among five branches or chambers, located in the different cities of the Netherlands, the managers of which were styled Lords Directors. That of Amsterdam was the principal ; and to it was assigned the management of affairs in New-Netherland. The general supervision and govern- ment of the Company were lodged in an Assembly or Col- lege of nineteen delegates. This Company, with the appro- bation of the States-General, appointed the Director-General, and all other officers, civil, military, judicial, and executive. "The profit and increase of trade" was its main object, al- though it was expected to promote colonization. Two years elapsed before the company was prepared to go into operation ; the trade of New-Netherland, however, was constantly in- creasing.
In 1623, thirty families were dispatched from Holland, and, upon entering Hudson river, eight men were left to take possession of Manhattan Island, and eighteen families were taken to the neighborhood of Albany. The remainder were sent to locate upon the Connecticut and Delaware rivers and the Wallabout. This was the first attempt at colonization.
In 1624, Cornelius Jacobsen May was appointed First Director of New-Netherland, and during his administration, Fort Orange, which had been commenced the year previous, was completed.
During 1625, forty-five new settlers were added to the population of New-Netherland; but it was not till 1626
22
OUTLINE OF THE DISCOVERY
that any permanence was given to the colony at Manhattan. In this year Peter Minuit commenced his administration as Director-General, and a council of six individuals was ap- pointed for the administration of affairs. The island, here- tofore occupied by mere sufferance, was purchased from the natives for twenty-four dollars. Fort Amsterdam* was com- menced near the Battery, and became the head-quarters of the Government; and religious services, in the absence of a regular clergyman, were commenced by the reading of the Scriptures and the Creed, by the Consolers of the Sick. This may be deemed the commencement of a city now unrivalled in the western world.
Compelled by the hostility of the neighboring Indians, the eight families now constituting the colony at Fort Orange, and the settlers on the Delaware, removed to Man- hattan; so that, in 1628, the population of Manhattan amounted to two hundred and seventy. But serious causes operated to prevent the prosperity of the colony. The In- dians were unfriendly, difficulties existed between the colony and the settlements in New-England and on the Delaware ; and the colonists received but little attention from the West India Company, in consequence of their commercial interest being involved in the war then existing between Holland and Spain. By the Charter of Privileges and Exemptions granted to the Patroons, in 1629, colonies were established beyond Manhattan, and the commerce of New-Netherlands was prosperous, the imports, in 1632, amounting to $57,200; but the small community located in the vicinity of Fort Amsterdam, being principally engaged in agricultural pur-
* This fort was between Whitehall and State streets, directly facing the Bowling Green. The "Government House" afterwards occupied this site.
23
AND SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN.
suits, supported themselves, in the absence of supplies from the fatherland, with great difficulty.
Minuit, who was recalled in 1632, had done much for the advancement of trade, to which his attention had been chiefly directed ; but the affairs of the colony were far from possessing any considerable degree of stability. Several families of Manhattan returned with Minuit to Holland, and for twelve months the colony was left without a Director- General ; when the West India Company, learning that the English, who had for some years laid claim to the country, were making preparations to establish settlements in certain portions of the territory under their jurisdiction, sent over Wouter Van Twiller as Director-General, accompanied by one hundred and four soldiers; the first military force in the colony. A certain degree of security against the encroach- ments of the Indians and English was now established; prompt and energetic measures for the more efficient manage- ment of the internal affairs of the colony were adopted, and . the individual interests and prosperity of the settlers were provided for; all of which imparted an impetus which enabled the brave and industrious pioneers at Manhattan to overcome all the difficulties from within, and foes from with- out, with which for many years they were called to contend : and it is at this period we shall, in the subsequent chapter, take up the subject of the establishment of the oldest school now in existence in America.
24
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL,
CHAPTER II.
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL FROM ITS ESTABLISHMENT, 1633, TO THE CAPITULATION, 1664; EMBRACING A PERIOD OF THIRTY-ONE YEARS.
IN the " Historical Sketch" we have seen that the Dutch have long been distinguished for their interest in education. " Neither the perils of war, nor the busy pursuit of gain, nor the excitement of political strife, ever caused them to neglect the duty of educating their offspring. Schools were every where provided, at the public expense, with good school- masters, to instruct the children of all classes in the usual branches of education ; and the Consistories of the churches took zealous care to have their youth thoroughly taught the Catechism, and the Articles of Religion."*
Their national prosperity must be attributed, in no small degree, to their moral character; and when, in the course of Providence, they commenced the colonization of New- Netherlands, the settlers, noted for their sterling virtues and adherence to the principles which they had embraced, not only brought with them and established, as far as the cir- cumstances of a new colony rendered it practicable, the civil polity to which they had been accustomed, but had secured to them, by legal enactment, the institution of churches and schools.
The West India Company, with whom the work of colo- nization commenced, bound itself "to maintain good and
* Brodhead, i. 462,
FROM 1633 TO 1664. 25
fit preachers, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick."* "They recognized the authority of the Established Church of Holland over their colonial possessions ; and the specific care of the transatlantic churches was early intrusted by the Synod of North Holland to the Classis of Amsterdam. By that body all the colonial clergy were approved and com- missioned. For more than a century its ecclesiastical su- premacy was affectionately acknowledged; and long after the capitulation of the province to England, the power of ordi- nation to the ministry, in the American branch of the Re- formed Dutch Church, remained in the governing Classis of Holland, or was exercised only by its special permission."t
The establishment of schools, and the appointment of schoolmasters, rested conjointly with the Company and the Classis of Amsterdam; and it is from this circumstance that much relating to the early history of the school under con sideration has been preserved.
When the special Charter of " Freedoms and Exemptions" was granted by the Company to the Patroons, for the purpose of agricultural colonization, they were not only obligated to satisfy the Indians for the lands upon which they should settle, but were to make prompt provision for the support of "a minister and schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool, and be neglected among them ; and that they do, for the first, procure a comforter of the sick there."} Thus religion and learning were encouraged ; and we find accordingly, in the early records, frequent references to the judicial support and maintenance of schools at Fort Orange, Flatbush, Fort Casi- mir, and other settlements. In the contract made with the
* O'Call. N. N. i. 220. + Brodhead, i. 614.
į Vide Charter of "Privileges and Exemptions." O'Call. N. N. i. 119.
2
26
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL,
Rev. Gideon Schaets, when engaged as minister at Rens- selaerswyck, he was required, among other duties, "To use all Christian zeal there to bring up both the heathens and their children in the Christian religion. To teach also the Catechism there, and instruct the people in the Holy Scrip- tures, and to pay attention to the office of schoolmaster for old and young. And further, to do every thing fitting and becoming a public, honest, and holy teacher, for the advance- ment of divine service and church exercise among the young and old. And in case he should take any of the heathen children to educate, he was to be indemnified therefor as the Commissioners shall think proper."* This is not the only instance where public provision was made by our ancestors for the education of all classes, including even the children of the natives.
The course most commonly pursued, when a colony was to be established, was, to have a schoolmaster accompany the settlers, and, to a certain extent, conduct religious services. After habitations were erected, and the settlement had as- sumed a warrantable degree of stability, it was provided with a minister. A settlement on the Delaware furnishes a case in point. Settlers were encouraged to proceed to New- Amstel by certain conditions, thirty-five in number, the seventh of which was, "The city of Amsterdam shall send thither a proper person for schoolmaster, who shall also read the Holy Scriptures in public, and set the Psalms." The eighth article stipulated, "The city of Amsterdam shall also provide, as soon as convenient, for the said schoolmaster." When the population should amount to two hundred, a minister and Consistory were to be appointed. Accordingly, about one hundred and sixty-seven colonists embarked, ac- companied by "Evert Pietersen, who had been approved, after
* O'Call. N. N. ii. 567.
27
FROM 1633 TO 1664.
examination before the Classis, as schoolmaster and Zieken- trooster," " to read God's Word, and lead in singing." Not- withstanding disasters at sea, the colony was soon organized under auspices favorable to its prosperity. "The religious instruction of the colonists was superintended by Pietersen," until the arrival, a few months afterwards, of Domine Eve- rardus Welius, accompanied by about four hundred new emigrants. A church was immediately organized, and two elders were appointed, with “ Pietersen as fore-singer, Zieken- trooster, and deacon," with a colleague. The colony seemed very prosperous, and was augmented by thirty families from Manhattan .*
Creditable in the extremne was this determination of the Dutch to transplant in the New World those institutions which had long been the pride of their native land ; and notwithstanding the many. and formidable difficulties with which these had to contend in those troublous and perilous times, their influence in the community has not yet ceased.
Would that the Dutch descendants of the present gen- eration, the recipients of a noble inheritance, and participants of its resultant blessings, were as ardently attached to these institutions, and as zealous as were their forefathers in sus- taining and extending them !
1626 .- On the settlement of Manhattan, we find nearly the same course pursued as in the case of New-Amstel. When a colonial government was organized, 1626, by Kieft, the first Director-General, we find the place of a clergyman supplied, to a certain extent, by Sebastian Jans Crol, and Jan Huyck, two " Krank-besoeckers," " Zieken-troosters," or " Comforters of the Sick," whom they were to visit and pray with. It was their especial duty to read to the people, on the Sabbath, "some texts out of the Scriptures, together
* Brod. N. Y. i, 631-633.
28
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL,
| with the Creeds." " François Molemaecker was at the same time employed in building a horse-mill, with a spacious room above to accommodate a large congregation ; and a tower was also to be erected in which the bells brought from Porto Rico were intended to be hung."*
Thus, coëval with the arrival of the first organized body of colonists, we have the introduction of public religious services ; the settlers being exclusively from Holland, and of the Reformed religion.
Exigency of circumstances, in a new settlement, sometimes demanded that the exercise of the functions pertaining to the offices of the minister, the schoolmaster, and the Krank- besoecker, devolved upon the same individual : so that we might with propriety be justified in claiming the introduction of public education as early as 1626 ; but as the term schoolmaster is not expressly applied to either of the Krank-besoeckers, we will waive the position. It will be observed, however, that this peculiarity of the Reformed Church was introduced into Manhattan previous to any legal enactment of requirement, as it was not until 1629 that the condition was imposed of appointing a " comforter."
1633 .- In the spring of 1633, Wouter Van Twiller arrived at Manhattan, as the second Director-General of New- Netherlands. In the enumeration of the Company's officials of the same year, Everardus Bogardus is mentioned as offi-
* Memoir on the Colonization of New-Netherlands, by J. R. Brod- head, Esq .; collected from " Wassenaar's Historiche Verbael." (Amst. 1621-1632.) " The Creed is still read in the churches in Holland by the ' Voorleezers' or clerks, from the 'Doop-huysje' or baptistery, under the pulpit. Until a recent period, this custom was kept up in the Reformed Dutch churches in this country." ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll. ii. 363. Brod. N. Y. i. 165. Doc. Hist. N. Y. iii. 42.
29
FROM 1633 TO 1664.
ciating as minister at Fort Amsterdam, and ADAM ROE- LANDSEN as the first schoolmaster .*
Here, then, in accordance with the custom of the age, the usage of the home Government, and by charter stipulations, we have the introduction of the first schoolmaster in Man- hattan, establishing, as the sequel will prove, the foundation of an institution which the Church has never lost sight of ; and although it is probable that at times. the school was kept somewhat irregularly, owing to the unsettled state of affairs arising from Indian depredations, and the hostile attitude and aggressions of the colonists in New-England, yet the records furnish direct and indisputable evidence of the efforts made for its support and continuance.
On the arrival of Van Twiller, he found affairs in a sad condition, the colony having been for a year without an executive officer. "Fort Amsterdam, now dilapidated, was repaired. A guard-house and barrack for the newly-arrived soldiers were constructed within the fort; three windmills were erected; brick and frame houses were built for the Director and his officers ; small houses were constructed for the corporal, the smith, the cooper, and the midwife ; and the 'upper room' in the mill, in which the people had wor- shipped since 1626, was replaced by a plain wooden build- ing, the first church edifice of New-Netherlands, situate on the East river, in what is now Broad street, between Pearl and Bridge streets ;t and near this "Oude Kerck," in Whitehall street, near Bridge, a dwelling-house and stable were erected for the use of the Dominie.}
In an extended list of the officers and servants of the
* Alb. Rec. i. 52.
+ Now known as 100 Broad street. Alb. Rec. x. 335. Benson's Hist. Mem. 42. O'Call. N. N. i. 155.
į Val. Man. Com. Coun. 1853, 427 et seq.
30
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL,
Dutch West India Company, in 1638, Rev. Everardus Bo- gardus is again mentioned as minister at Fort Amsterdam, where Adam Roelantsen was still the schoolmaster .* Roe- lantsen is mentioned also as having a lawsuit this year with one Jan Jansen ; and also as testifying in another suit, at the
request of Rev. E. Bogardus.t The following year he re- signed his charge, and left the colony ; as in the list of settlers arrived in Rensselaerswyck, in 1639, we find the name of " Adam Roelantsen Van Hamelwaard, previously school- master at New-Amsterdam."} Jan Cornelissen, carpenter, who had preceded him thither in 1635,§ possibly learning from Roelantsen himself (as the settlement was small) of the vacancy in the school, subsequently came to New-Amsterdam, and was appointed the schoolmaster.
In 1642, the church on Broad street having become some- what dilapidated and reproachful in appearance, an effort was made to procure a new one, and at the same time was commenced the laudable undertaking of building a school- house with suitable accommodations. The Vertoogh, after mentioning the efforts made to raise subscriptions for building a new church, adds : ""'The bowl has been going round a long time, for the purpose of collecting money for erecting a school-house ; and it has been built with words; for, as yet, the first stone is not laid : some materials.only are provided. The money, nevertheless, given for the purpose, has all
* Alb. Rec. ii. 13-15.
+ Ibid. i. 43.
¿ O'Call. N. N. i. 438. In 1643, Roelantsen is again in New- Amsterdam, purchasing a lot for a house and garden. Reg. Deeds, N. A. 134. In 1644, according to the Baptismal Records of the Dutch Church, which commenced in 1639, he had a son baptized by the name of Daniel. In 1653, "Adam Roelantsen" was a member of the Burgher Corps of New-Amsterdam. O'Call. N. N. ii. 569. Alb. Rec. viii.
§ O'Call. N. N. i. 435.
31
FROM 1633 TO 1664.
found its way out, and is mostly spent.' The church, how- ever, was commenced in the Fort, by John and Richard Ogden. It was to be built of stone, 72 feet long, 52 broad, and 16 over the ground. Joachim Pietersen Kuyter was elected deacon, and with Jan Dam, Captain De Vries, and Director Kieft, formed the first Consistory to superintend its erection."* " But in 1646 the church was still unfinished, as the Director- General, being distressed for money, had applied to his own use the funds appropriated ; and from the same cause, the laudable undertaking of erecting a school-house had failed."+
But New- Amsterdam had, indeed, been experiencing trou- blous times. "Even the poor-fund of the deaconry was sequestered, and applied to the purposes of war." Parties of Indians roved about, day and night, over Manhattan Island, killing the Dutch not a thousand paces from Fort Amsterdam ; and no one dared " to move a foot to fetch a stick of fire-wood without a strong escort." "The mechanics who plied their trades were ranged under the walls of the fort ; all others were exposed to the incursions of the savages." For the pro- tection of the few cattle which remained to the decimated population, "a good solid fence" was ordered to be erected nearly on the site of the present Wall street. The authori- ties write : " Our fields lie fallow and waste; our dwellings and other buildings are burnt. We are burthened with heavy families ; we have no means to provide necessaries for wives or children ; and we sit here amidst thousands of Indi- ans and barbarians, from whom we find neither peace nor mercy." "At Manhattan, and in its neighborhood, scarcely one hundred men, besides traders, could be found." Such being the state of affairs, it is not surprising that the church
* Van Der Donck's Vertoogh. ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll. vii. 294. O'Call i. 260.
+ O'Call. i. 395, 396.
32
HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL,
was unfinished, and the school-house not commenced ; for the money which the impoverished commonalty had contributed to build the school-house had "all found its way out," and was expended for the troops."* Yet, notwithstanding these difficulties, the subject was not forgotten.
1647 .- In the following year, 1647, a new feature was in- troduced in the government of New-Amsterdam by the appoint- ment of Nine Men. The introduction of this description of tri- bunal furnishes an additional proof that Holland was the source whence New-Netherland derived its municipal institutions, and shows how strongly its settlers were attached to those freedoms with which they were so familiar in their father- land.
The Director and Council, desirous " that the government of New-Amsterdam might continue and increase in good order, justice, police, population, prosperity, and mutual har- mony, and be provided with strong fortifications, a church, a school, &c.," permitted the inhabitants to nominate eighteen of the most notable, reasonable, honest, and respectable citi- zens, from whom the Director and Council selected nine, " as is customary in Fatherland."t
These Nine Men were the Representatives of the people. They were consulted in all matters of importance, were invested with limited judiciary powers, and those who ap- pealed from their decision subjected themselves to a fine. On the organization of this body, Director Stuyvesant, who this year superseded Kieft, called their special attention, among other things, " to the condition of the fort and of the church, and to the state of public education ;" informing them that, " owing to the want of proper accommodations, no school had been held for three months." Subsequently, "he consented
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