Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 4

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374

USA > New York > Albany County > Landmarks of Albany County, New York > Part 4

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).

New Netherlands now became the scene of a prolonged contest, with Director-General Stuyvesant and Brant Van Slechtenhorst at the head of the opposing factions. New Amsterdam had been and still was jealous of the existence of the patroon colonies, considering them an- tagonistic to rapid settlement, and efforts had, at an early period, been made by the New Amsterdam authorities to induce the patroon to cede to them his rights and possessions; failing in this they now determined to circumscribe and restrict his field of operations as far as lay in their

- - -

1 - --- 1 i

power. Stuyvesant claimed to be supreme in the country, irrespective of all feudal rights and privileges. Van Slechtenhorst's position may be inferred; he was there to protect the interests of the heir and would rec- ognize no authority within his limits, other than that of his superiors or legal representatives. He claimed that the director-general could issue no order that would be obligatory upon him, unless it were endorsed and countersigned by his commander and executed by the officers of his court. An ante-climax was reached before Slechtenhorst had been in office a month.

A proclamation ordering the first Wednesday in May, 1648, to be observed as a fast, was received from the director-general by the Rens- selaerwyck authorities as an invasion of the rights of the lord of the manor, and Van Slechtenhorst protested. This action touched Stuy- vesant's pride as well as opposed his authority, and he visited the " colonie " to put a stop to such proceedings, with his military escort, being loyally greeted by a salvo of artillery from the patroon's ar- tillery. His interview with Van Slechtenhorst was not very satis- factory. When he accused the old Dutchman of infringing the sovereignty of the Dutch West India Company, he was met with the reply : "Your complaints are unjust; I have more reason to complain on behalf of my patroon against you." Stuyvesant then put forth a long protest, accusing Van Slechtenhorst with having conveyed lots and authorized the erection of buildings in the immediate vicinity of Fort Orange in disregard of the sovereign authority and in contempt of the director-general's commission, and thus destroying the security of the fort. He ordered, therefore, "in a friendly manner," that a stop should be put to all building operations within cannon range of the fort, unless under orders of the Lords Majors; that no new ordinances should issue that would affect the sovereign authority, or relating to commerce or public welfare, without consent of their High Mightinesses or their representative in New Netherland; that no ex- clusive right to any branch of trade be rented, nor any grain, masts, or other property belonging to the company's servants be seized, unless in suits that should be prosecuted without delay. The inhabitants of the colony of Rensselaerwyck had been compelled to sign a pledge that as defendants they would not appeal to the Supreme Court of New Netherland from judgments of the Court of Rensselaerwyck; this practice was condemned by Stuyvesant as a " crime," an infraction of the law of the land and a subversion of the charter. To abolish this

practice he insisted upon an annual return to the director and council of all the proceedings in the colony court. Van Slechtenhorst was also called upon to produce his authority from either the States-General or the Chamber at Amsterdam. Failing in all this Van Slechtenhorst would be protested against for disobedience of orders.

Van Slechtenhorst was a man of strong will and choleric temper; moreover, he sincerely believed that the rights and privileges of his young patroon were being trampled upon, the charter overridden and the Lords-Majors insulted by Stuyvesant's demands. He promptly answered protest by protest. He charged the director-general with having ordered a day of fasting " contrary to ancient order and usage, as if he were the lord of the patroon's colonie." He accused the hire- lings of the company at the fort with cutting timber and firewood in the patroon's forests without permission, "as if these were their own"; with having overrun the colony with people from Manhattan, "with savages by their side to serve as brokers," trading publicly with the Indians without license from the patroon or his agents and without paying duties. He claimed the order to cease building within certain limits near the fort had no justification, insisting that the patroon's trading house stood "a few years ago" on the border of the moat sur- rounding the fort; all that soil, he claimed, still belonged to the pa- troon, who had not been disturbed thereon until Director Stuyvesant now sought "by unbecoming means " to deprive "his orphan heir " of his rights. And so the strife went on, increasing in vigor on both sides.

Van Slechtenhorst was in the right as far as building near the fort was involved, and that was, perhaps, the chief point at issue. The pretense that buildings near the fort endangered it was folly. The buildings referred to were more than five hundred rods from the fort, and eight houses had already been built between them and the fort. Van Slechtenhorst continued his improvement at Beverwyck, and an- other protest came up from Manhattan warning him to stop or force would be used to bring him to terms. But this only called out another reply from Van Slechtenhorst, in which he asserted that no suit could be begun, nor execution issued in another district without consent of the schout-fiscal or court of that jurisdiction; therefore, the proceed- ings were informal. It appears that Stuyvesant, who had claimed in July that all territory within range of cannon shot belonged to Fort Orange, now reduced the circle to the range of a musket ball, within

which he purposed stopping building, although, as the record states, " he permits whole streets to be filled with houses in view of Fort Am- sterdam." Fort Orange having been badly damaged by freshets in the previous winter, the commissary of the West India Company re- ceived orders to surround it with a wall instead of the former wooden fence, but the work was scarcely begun when Van Slechtenhorst for- bade Carl Van Brugge, "in an imperious manner," from quarrying stone within the colony and from felling a tree for either timber or firewood. The West India Company was thus deprived of actual necessities unless they were humbly requested, or paid for at what the company called "enormous prices." The work on the fort had to stop, while Van Slechtenhorst continued building "even within pistol shot of Fort Orange."

Stuyvesant now resolved to employ force to accomplish what he had thus far failed in. Six soldiers were sent up to Van Brugge's aid, with orders to demolish a house built by Van Slechtenhorst; to arrest that gentleman "in the most civil manner possible," and de- tain him until he delivered over a copy of his commission and in- structions. He was finally summoned to Fort Amsterdam to answer for his conduct. At the same time orders were issued prohibiting the importation of guns into Rensselaerwyck without license from the Lords-Majors; if any were imported they were to be sold only to the West India Company at the price of two beavers each. Beverwyck was excited when the armed posse arrived. Peace had ever reigned in the little hamlet, and the only guns seen there were those which were traded to the Indians for furs at a profit that made the thrifty Dutch- men smile. The invading army was small, to be sure, but when it came with orders to demolish a dwelling and arrest the vice patroon, excitement ran high. The record intimates that these soldiers were not suited to their mission; that they were zealous when the patroon's timber was to be cut or his deer killed, while they insulted the com- mander "when walking the public street " in company with his deputy, Andries de Vos, cursing them because "they had not bade them good evening."

Stuyvesant had received from the inhabitants at Fort Orange and from the Indians the abusive epithet of "Wooden Leg." Now, the conduct of the six soldiers aroused the indignation of the Indians as well as of the white settlers, and all gathered at Beverwyck and de- manded to know if "Wooden Leg " intended to tear down the houses

which were built for their shelter in stormy weather. When they. learned that all the strife was over a few rods of land, they invited Van Slechtenhorst to accompany them and they would give him plenty of land in the "Maquaas country"; so, he says, "more kindness was evinced by the unbelieving savages than by our Christian neighbors, subjects of the same sovereign, bound by their oaths to protect us against insult and outrage."

It will probably never be known how imminent was a savage out- break at this time. It was natural that the Indians should favor the interests of those with whom they had come in direct contact and from whom they had received the much-prized guns and rum. When the six soldiers fired a salute over what they were pleased to term a victory, the Indians came together a second time and angrily inquired if " Wooden Leg's " dogs were still there and nothing averted bloodshed but the assur- ance of the inhabitants that the houses were not to be pulled down. It is recorded that "the Director-General's rash conduct had well nigh caused an outbreak, and the ruin, not only of the colony, but of the Manhattans and of the Christians within this land, who are all at the mercy of the savages."

Van Slechtenhorst now gave expression to his indignation at this violent encroachment in another protest. In reply to the demand for his commission, he called upon Stuyvesant for a written copy of his demands and complaints. He eloquently portrayed the contempt of the patroon and his court shown in Stuyvesant's demand, the illegality of which was rendered the more flagrant by the unusual and insolent manner in which it was made. "The noble patroon," said he, "had obtained in his possessions and immunities, was invested by the States- General with high and low jurisdiction and the police of the most priv- ileged manors; and were he, as his agent, now so base as to crouch be- fore the present unwarrantable proceedings, and to produce his com- mission, before he had received orders to that effect from his lords and masters, not only would they be injured, but he be guilty of a violation of his oath and honor, a betrayal of his trust and a childish surrender of the rights of his patroon." He fortified his position by saying that some who had been guilty of similar infractions of law and custom in the Fatherland " had often been apprehended, and condemned to bread and water for the space of five or six weeks ; yea, were sometimes brought to the block." As justification for his order forbidding cutting timber he asked, "Is the patroon not master on his own land? Is he not free

to cut his timber as well as his corn, and can he not arrest these, when cut by others without his permission?"

The response from Stuyvesant was again a long dissertation upon his authority and his rights. His power, he maintained, " extended to the colony of Rensselaerwyck, as well as to the other colonies." Orders were sent to his workmen to hasten the repairs of the fort, and to pro- cure timber for the purpose anywhere in New Netherland, to quarry stone wherever they could be found, excepting upon farms and planta- tions which were fenced and cultivated. The " ancient and uninter- rupted use of the gardens and fields near the fort " was to be strictly held and the destruction of buildings thereon to be proceeded with. Van Slechtenhorst was summoned to New Amsterdam, as stated, and it was claimed that he could have obeyed the summons without difficulty, as "the river remained open, the winter pleasant, and several vessels sailed up and down during the whole month of November." But to place the whole responsibility upon Van Slechtenhorst's shoulders, the summons was now renewed and the commander peremptorily ordered to appear at Fort Amsterdam on the 4th of April following, to hear the complaint against him.

It is claimed that the colonists at Beverwyck and Van Slechtenhorst himself cared little for the mere land in dispute near Fort Orange, but that the commander was strenuous in clinging to what he believed to be the rights and dignity of the patroon, while the settlers were merely exercising what they contended was their right to locate near the fort for better security. On the other hand the claim to the land on which stood Fort Orange was absurd, for the fort was built and garrisoned by the West India Company fifteen years before there was a Rensselaer- wyck; and, moreover, that company had up to 1644 an exclusive mo- nopoly of the fur trade, which it intended to reclaim "whenever it shall be able to provide its magazines with a sufficient store of goods."

Van Slechtenhorst never ceased his operations in Rensselaerwyck in the interest of the patroon. He extended its limits by the purchase of more lands to the southward from the Mohegans, acquired in 1648 the tract called Paponicuck for goods of trifling value and in the same spring, the events of which have just been recorded, purchased Kats- kill and Claverack. Meanwhile Van Twiller on the other side of the ocean was boldly claiming the monopoly of the traffic of the upper Hud- son, and publishing his determination to allow no vessels to pass Beeren Island or to trade near Rensselaerwyck. He went farther than Van

Slechtenhorst and asserted that Fort Orange was built on the patroon's territory, and that not even the West India Company could grant the right to build houses or trade near by. In short, feudal privileges in the broadest sense of the term were claimed by the patroon's agents.

The director now determined to enforce his sovereign right and sent orders to remove all obstructions to free navigation of the river and to free trade at Fort Orange. If passage of the river was interfered with by arms, the guns were ordered seized; if tolls of any kind were ex- acted on any river, island or harbor, within the company's territory, to the injury of trade, they were to be opposed and abolished, by force if necessary. Already Van Slechtenhorst had granted a few leases for land at Katskill. The director refused to recognize his pretensions in that direction, as the land had already been granted to another. Stuy- vesant protested against these leases and announced his purpose of op- posing encroachment in that region. To this action the Rensselaer- wyck authorities demurred, insisting that they were only fulfilling in- structions from their superiors in Holland. They requested the direc- tor-general to defer action until they could communicate with their superiors, pledging that meanwhile no settlement should be made on the disputed territory.

A petition was sent to the States-General from New Netherland ask- ing for a burgher government (which was secured in 1653); freedom from customs, tenths and other burdens, the abolition of the export duty on tobacco, and other commercial reforms. This action may have been inspired by the fact that the New England colonies paid no cus- toms duties, but they were assessed directly for all government pur- poses. The only tax paid in New Netherland was upon tapsters, and that was returned to them by their patrons, while any individual could own as much wine or beer as he pleased free of excise. All the papers in this connection were turned over to a committee which reported April 11, 1650, recommending a liberal policy, the remedying of all griev- ances, and promising the recall of Stuyvesant. The patroons were to be compelled to " settle their colonists in the form of villages; the Nine Men were to be given broader judicial functions; the patroons or their agents, and delegates from the commonalty, were to choose represent- atives in the council, and a judicial system was to be established."

In 1651'a call for a subsidy from Rensselaerwyck inaugurated an- other collision with the government at New Amsterdam; the latter had already demanded the excise on liquors in the patroon's territory, and

1068047

been refused. It was justly set forth that the patroon had paid from his own resources the salaries of the minister and other servants and paid the general expenses of settlement of the colony. In June, 1650, these amounted to the equivalent of more than $10,000, which was the ground for refusing further contribution. The commander, Van Slech- tenhorst, was authorized by the people to proceed to New Amsterdam and protest against the payment demanded. He arrived there late in April, 1651, and met his opponent, Stuyvesant. Both were unyield- ing. After they separated and before Van Slechtenhorst had finished his dinner, he was summoned before the director-general and council. Upon his appearance sentence was pronounced upon him, his conduct, especially regarding the Katskill settlement, being strongly con- demned. The commander was not abashed and demanded if a man was to be condemed unheard. The answer was his prompt arrest. He was detained there four months, during which he protested against his confinement and the Rensselaerwyck authorities repeatedly asked for his release. He finally escaped to Fort Orange on a sloop, guarantying the skipper against harm for carrying him. The skipper was fortunate in his guaranty, for on his return he was fined two hundred and fifty guilders and his vessel was held.

Thus the struggle had continued three years since Stuyvesant set up his claim for separate jurisdiction for Fort Orange, independent of Rensselaerwyck; and still the matter was unsettled. As the gun shot limits, finally estimated by him to be one hundred and fifty rods, in- cluded the hamlet of Beverwyck, which was constantly becoming more populous, that settlement would be severed from the remainder of the colony, and as this would inevitably give the West India Company prac- tical control of the fur trade, it will be seen that the outcome of the matter was of much importance to the patroon's colonists.

While this controversy was at its height, Jean Baptiste Van Rens- selaer, the first of that family who is known to have visited this coun- try, was elected one of the magistrates, and soon afterward an order was issued that all the freemen should take an oath of allegiance to the patroon. Troubles of minor character continued. On a New Year's night several soldiers armed with matchlocks came out of the fort and fired a number of shots at the patroon's house, upon the roof of which the gun wadding fell and the dwelling would have been destroyed but for the efforts of the inmates. The next day the younger Slechtenhorst was assaulted by soldiers in the street, who beat him and dragged him

through the mud, in presence of the company's commissary, Johannes Dyckman, who encouraged the assault by crying out: "Let him have it now, and the devil take him!" Philip Pietersen Schuyler, son-in-law of the elder Slechtenhorst, endeavored to save the young man, where- upon Dyckman drew his sword and threatened to run Schuyler through if he interfered. Other members of the commander's family were in- sulted and beaten by the soldiers. When friends of the family threat- ened revenge, Dyckman ordered the fort guns charged with grape and threatened to fire upon the patroon's house. At this juncture Stuyvesant sent up some placards relating to the Fort Orange limits, which he ordered published in the colony. With these Dyckman, six others, and three soldiers, armed with guns and pistols, repaired to the house where the magistrates were sitting and commanded Van Slechtenhorst to make a minute of what was to be required. As it was contrary to the law for any man to enter another's jurisdiction with an armed body, without consent of the local authorities, this movement on Dyckman's part was protested against by the commander, who ordered Dyckman to leave the room. He retired, but came back with a larger force and demanded that the placards should be published throughout the colony by the sound of the bell. " It shall not be done so long as we have a drop of blood in our veins, nor until we receive orders from their High Mightinesses and our honored masters," exclaimed the court. Dyck- man now proceeded to the fort and ordered the bell to be rung three times; he then returned to the patroon's court house, ascended the steps with his followers and directed his deputy to proclaim the placards, while the excited burghers gathered around. As the deputy was about to obey, Van Slechtenhorst rushed forward and tore the placards from his hands, "so that the seals fell on the ground." When the news of these occurrences reached New Amsterdam, Stuyvesant sent another placard to Dyckman, again defining the jurisdiction of Fort Orange to extend to a circumference of six hundred paces from the fort, and con- tinuing as follows:

In order that no man shall plead ignorance, we further charge our Commissary, after publication hereof, to erect on the aforesaid limits, north, south and west of the aforesaid fortress, a post, marked with the Company's mark, and to affix, on a board nailed thereto, a copy hereof.

Within those bounds it was ordered that no house should be built, unless authorized by the director and council, or their agents. This illegal act, which violated rights of property as well as the charter of

----

1629, separated forever the settlement of Beverwyck from Van Rens- selaer's colony. The patroon's officials ordered the obnoxious posts removed at once, protesting "before Almighty God and the States- General against all open force and violence, and insisting on reparation for all losses and damages which might accrue or be caused thereby." The patroon's court on the some day drew up another protest "against the unbecoming pretensions and attacks of the Director and Council of New Netherland," denying again the authority of the latter and insist- ing that the settlers on the manor had never sworn allegiance to the company, and much less to Stuyvesant, and owned no masters but the States General and their own immediate superiors. In return this document was declared by the director and council " a libellous cal- umny." .

The vexatious question of jurisdiction now came up in another form. A negress, the property of Sander Leendertsen Glen, was charged with theft and caused several "decent persons" to be prosecuted as receiv- ers of the stolen goods. Her arrest being ordered, Dyckman proceeded to execute his warrant, but her master refused to surrender her that evening, upon which Dyckman informed him that he had power to send him and all his family to jail, and to pull his house down about his ears, "as it was erected on the Company's soil." Glen replied that he had nothing to do with Dyckman, and said, "I cannot serve a new master until I am discharged from the one I live under." Dyckman now threatened Glen with the wrath of Stuyvesant, when Glen retorted that he would fare as well with the director as with Dyckman. There- upon Dyckman drew his sword and threatened the burgher with death, while the latter caught up a club with which to defend himself. Next morning Glen was placed under arrest in the fort. Rumors were now circulated that Stuyvesant was soon to visit Beverwyck and Dyckman asserted that a new gallows was to be erected for Van Slechtenhorst, his son and young Van Rensselaer.

But Stuyvesant was busy at New Amsterdam in ridding himself of the last of his opponents there, in the person of Attorney General Van Dyck. This official had been ill treated by Stuyvesant from the time of his appointment and excluded from the colony for two years. Later he was charged with menial duties and otherwise humiliated. In the same spring of the year a lampoon appeared directed toward Stuyvesant, and Van Dyck was charged with being its author. The council was called together to consider the momentous matter and

actually adopted a resolution dismissing Van Dyck from office "on ac- count of the multitude of his misdemeanors and connivances." While it was claimed that this proceeding had the sanction of the Nine Men, they repudiated it, declaring that it was adopted wholly on Stuy- vesant's authority and that they were not aware of any complaints against Van Dyck. Cornelius Van Tienhoven was appointed to the office, while Carl Van Brugge succeeded Van Tienhoven as provincial secretary. Van Dyck defended himself by a written accusation against Stuyvesant in which he bitterly condemned the director and denounced the appointee to the office as the perjured secretary, a reproach to the country and the main scourge of both Christians and heathens, "with whose sensualities the Director himself has been always acquainted."

Stuyvesant now turned his attention to Van Slechtenhorst. For this purpose he visited Fort Orange and called the authorities of Rens- selaerwyck together to define what they claimed as their boundaries. The director expressed his consent to allow them four miles on one side or two miles on both sides of the river, but warned them against claiming more. They replied that they had no authority to act in the premises and again asked for delay until they could communicate with Holland, which was granted. The question of supremacy over Bever- wyck was not so readily disposed of. Sergeant Litschoe and a squad of soldiers approached the door of the patroon's house and ordered Van Slechtenhorst to lower the patroon's flag, and upon his refusal " fourteen soldiers armed with loaded muskets, entered the enclosure, and, after firing a volley, hauled down the lord's colors." This high-handed act was followed by a proclamation from Stuyvesant erecting at Fort Orange a Court of Justice for the village of Beverwyck and its dependencies, apart from and independent of that of Rensse- laerwyck. The placard bearing this proclamation was posted on the court house and immediately torn down by Van Slechtenhorst, who at the same time posted another card asserting the patroon's rights and denouncing those of the opposition, which was torn down by inmates of the fort. Stuyvesant's proclamation erecting the court was dated April 10, 1652, and authorized the first legal tribunal in what is now Albany county. (See chapter on the Bench and Bar. )

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.

Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 4

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374