USA > New York > New York County > Harlem > Revised History of Harlem (City of New York): Its Origin and Early Annals. : Prefaced by Home Scenes in the Fatherlands; Or Notices of Its Founders Before Emigration. Also, Sketches of Numerous Families, and the Recovered History of the Land-titles > Part 44
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 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93
By order of the Governor and Court of Assizes,
J. SPRAGGE, Secretary.
Again this matter hung in suspense. By having it submitted to a jury "of the neighborhood," the defendant hoped to gain a verdict in his favor, but to this the Court would not consent. As it stood, the prospects were not very flattering for a reversal of the decision given and sustained in three several courts .*
Other matters were pending of great import, touching the public interests. The General Assembly met on October 17th, and the next day that august body, the Town Court, also sat as usual for the discharge of business. "To prevent as much as possible all accidents by fire, which may God avert,"-so reads the minutes of the latter body,-an ordinance of September 6. 1677, was re-enacted, to wit: "That every one shall bring his compost heap and refuse straw within his inclosure, and not throw them into the street." A disastrous fire the next spring showed that human foresight could not always prevent such calamities. On the day the General Assembly performed its crowning act,
* As a precedent for modern courts we copy "A Bill of Court Charges at the Assizes, 1683; Daniel Tourneur, Pitf., Col. Lewis Morris, Deft.
The special warrant of summons.
£o : 12 :0
The entry for trial.
S :0
Filing the Declaration. 2 : 6
Copy .
·3 :4
Filing the Answer
2 : 6
Copy
3:4
The High Sheriff's fees.
12 :0
The Cryer and Marshal.
3 : 8
Seven witness sworn in Court.
14 :0
To the Cryer for swearing them
4 : 8
The Charges to the Publick.
I : 0 :0
The Judgment of the Court. 10 :0
The Copy ...
2 :0
£4 : 15 : 6"
387
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
the town magistrates and clerk were busy with Robert Hudson, of Westchester, concluding a settlement respecting a horse which Hudson had attached in the hands of Jan Dyckman a full year before. Hudson sold the horse to Resolved Waldron, paying the costs of keeping and clerk fees, which amounted to "fI :II:0, or 62 guilders."
The General Assembly, in session within the walls of Fort James, were framing a Charter of Liberties for the province, which being adopted on the 30th of October, 1683, was pub- lished on the 31st, with great acclamation. It provided for simi- lar assemblies, to meet as often as every three years ; admitted the people, with some limitations, to a voice in legislation, by their representatives; declared entire freedom of conscience and religion to all professing faith in God by Jesus Christ ; and for- bade any tax, assessment, or impost being laid upon any of His Majesty's subjects, or their estates, "but by the act and consent of the Governor, Council, and Representatives of the People, in General Assembly."
By another act, the province was divided into shires and counties, in place of the ridings; the city and county of New York to embrace, besides Manhattan Island, also Manning's, or Blackwell's Island, and the two Barne Islands.
Another act recognized or erected Courts of Justice: the Town Court, the County Court, or Court of Sessions, a General Court of Oyer and Terminer, and a Court of Chancery. The town court was to be composed of three "Commissioners," chosen by the freeholders, and to be called the "Commissioners' Court": having power to hear and determine small causes to the value of forty shillings. This law, passed on the Ist of November, was of special advantage to Harlem, as against the assumptions of the city government.
The city authorities were aiming to secure enlarged preroga- tives, and were now in conference with the Governor upon this subject ; but passing over details which have no place here, it is sufficient to say that a check was put upon their aspirations. To the first proposition submitted by the Mayor and Aldermen, November 9th, viz., "That all the Inhabitants on the Island Man- hattans are under the government of the City of New York," the Council took exception. They regard it but "reasonable that the Town of Harlem shall have liberty to determine all matters that come before them under forty shillings at their own Town Court." Whereupon the Mayor and Aldermen hastened to ex- plain thus : "The Town of Harlem is a village within and belong-
388
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
ing to this City and Corporation, and for the more easy admin. istration and dispatch of Justice, officers have been annually appointed by the Mayor and Aldermen, to hold Courts and determine matters not exceeding 40s., both at Harlem and the Bowery, and shall do the like for the future."
The Out Ward, one of the six wards into which the city. pursuant to a resolution of the Mayor and Aldermen. of December 8th, was now divided, embraced "the town of Harlem, with all the Farms, Plantations, and Settlements on this Island Manhat- tans, from the. north side of the Fresh Water." It was to be subdivided into the Bowery and Harlem Divisions. The sepa- rating line between these two divisions, as by a resolve of Decem- ber Ioth, was to "continue as formerly at the Sawmill Creek," and each division was to have its local court ; the people to nomi- nate a double number of persons fit to be commissioners, and the Mayor and Aldermen to make the appointments.
Harlem, upon being notified, made its nomination : and on December 18th "Jan Dyckman, John Nagel, and Arent Harmans were appointed Commissioners for the Harlem Division, in the Out Ward," and took the oath of office. Resolved Waldron was named Assessor, and Daniel Tourneur Constable and Col- lector. William Cox, chosen Alderman for the said ward. soon secured a freehold here, as part owner of the Saw-kill farm, a fact already noticed. The militia was organized the next year. when the inhabitants of the Out Ward capable of bearing, arms were formed into a company, under Captain Nicholas William Stuyvesant, with Daniel Tourneur as lieutenant, and Adriaen Cornelisz Van Schaack as ensign.
Nothing much happened till the meeting of the new court. Resolved Waldron and Johannes Vermilye, the guardians of Cornelia Viervant, offered at auction, January 16, 1684, a horse left by her late father, but did not succeed in selling it, only 37 gl. being bid. It was afterward bought for 120 gl. by Jan hired three cows left by Viervant, for six years, for half the increase .*
* Cornelis Arents Viervant was a native of Lexmont. in the Land of Vianen, Utrecht. He married, at Kingston, in 1668, Jeanne le Sueur, sister of Francois, the Lozier ancestor, and died at Fordham, in 1675, leaving an only child. Cornelia. She married William Innis at New York. in 1686. William Innis had children, Alexander. born_1694; Cornelius, 1696, etc. Descendants are yet found.
Jan Jansen Postmael, whose children lived some years in New York, where he seems to have gotten his surname, from being employed as mail carrier; a family legend gives it this origin, but names no place. He married Jeanne, daughter of Francois le Sueur aforesaid, and leased Laurens Jansen's farm at Harlem, April 23. 1679, but the lease was canceled July 3, under a new agreement. Removing, about 1684, to Kingston, there he died a few years later. His children were, Jan, born 1680; Abraham, 1682; Anna Catrina. 1684; Elsie, 1686: Anthony, 1688. His widow married Thomas Innis. Anna C. Post married Jan Pearson. Jan Post, for so he
389
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
On February 8th the Constable and Commissioners, Dyck- man as President, held their first court. The old officers were also present. It was resolved to take up and examine the town accounts, both debits and credits, and to transfer them to a new book, "as the old book C is written full." Adolph Meyer and Resolved Waldron were chosen inspectors of chimneys and fire- wardens; and Barent Waldron and Isaac Delamater, surveyors of the common fences. These fences were ordered to be repaired and made of four split rails ; good and suitable. Barent Waldron, on his request, was voted a deed for Moertje Davids Meadow. . which he had purchased four years previous. The deed was duly passed by the Commissioners, April 8. 1684.
On February 21st, Jan Dyckman and Arent Harmans Bus- sing. "deacons of the Christian congregation of New Harlem," were called to visit the aged Gabriel Carbosie, whom finding in bed sick at the house of Jan Louwe Bogert. they first "instructed as far as practicable. with words of comfort." To an inquiry as to the disposal of his effects, "in case God should with this sickness take him out of this world,"-for his wife, Brieta, had gone before him,-he answered "that he should leave his goods to those who had been kind to him"; evidently the Bogerts. Soon after. he passed away. and on March 3d the deacons made a record of what was said at this interview. for the benefit of those interested.
Near this time also, "John Archer, Lord Proprietor of the Manor of Fordham," met with a "sudden and unexpected death." His son. John Archer. Jr., who by this event "became a poor or- phan. void and destitute of all support." as he himself alleged. ap- plied to the Council, on March Ist. to appoint administrators upon his father's estate. A similar application was made by Cor- nelis Steenwyck. to whom Archer was indebted £993:18. secured by mortgage on the manor : and appraisers were appointed. one of whom was Daniel Tourneur.
On March 11th, in the evening. the village was alarmed by the cry of fire. It proved to be Jan Nagel's barn ; which was not only burnt to the ground. but with it 12 head of cattle, includ- ing 7 milch cows. It was found to have been set on fire by
was called, was born at Harlem, and married at Kingston, 1702, Cornelia, daughter of Martin Isselsteyn: he has descendants in Ulster County. Abraham returned to Harlem, and. in 1701. then calling himself Postmael, became farmer for Capt. Jacob De Key. In 1709. as witness in a suit to which De Key was a party, he is called Post. He was no doubt ancestor to the Post family given in Bolton's Westchester, ii .. 537. Tle had, however. a son Hendrick Post, who married, 1737. Rebecca, daughter of Jan Nagel. of Kingsbridge, and died before 1786, his children being John. Abraham, Hendrick. Elizabeth and Lena. One of his daughters married Henry Tison, who, with John and Hendrick Post, came into possession of the Nagel lands at Kingsbridge, on the death of their uncle, William Nagel, in 1808.
·
390
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
his own negro, who then ran away, and was discovered next morning "hanging to a tree at the Little Hill by the common." A leter was sent to the Mayor and Court asking what they should do with the body; to which, on the 14th, came an answer to hang it on a gibbet, in any place they thought proper. But the magistrates and community, fearing the effect of such a spectacle upon "their children, who are in the habit of going daily to the fields and woods, and who might be terrified thereby," cut the body down, and burnt it to ashes. No pen has revealed the incentive to actions so desperate, on the part of the poor bond- man, by which we may judge of this particular case. But the chains of slavery were sufficiently galling even then and there ; and the wonder is that the free spirit of the native African, chafing under an involuntary servitude, did not oftener avenge itself. Another case occurred, within a year, on Colonel Morris' plantation. His slave, Cuffy, being guilty of arson, was hung and buried, but afterward disinterred and placed on gibbets.
The first direct step toward the renewal or confirmation of the town patent by Governor Dongan was taken at a Council held on March 21st, of this year, by the passage of an order "that the Inhabitants of Harlem bring in their Patents and Indian Deeds on Thursday." As for Indian Deeds, the town of Har- lem had none; but this was the form in which the order went forth to the several towns. The "patents" were delivered to the Council, April 19th, by Mr. Jacobus Van Cortlandt, who, in behalf of the inhabitants, proceeded "to treat about Quit Rent"; to secure which was the object had in view by the gov- . ernment in calling for the old patents. A year or more later this negotiation ripened into a formal demand upon the free- holders "to make up the quit rent for the Heer Governor."
An event locally interesting was Cornelis Jansen's removal to his land on Montagne's Flat, since known as the Nutter Farm. On April 30th, 1684, he engaged Adrianus Westerhout to build him a house there, 22 by 36 feet, to be ready in six weeks, or at farthest by the 20th of June; for which he agreed to pay "800 guilders in fat cattle, wheat and rye;" the cattle to be delivered on All Saints' Day, and the grain the next January. Here Jansen established the famous tavern and stopping-place, "commonly called the Half-Way House." and which continued to be kept after his death in 1689, by his widow. It stood on the west side of Harlem Lane, at the foot of the hill about 109th Street. A little above this site, Valentine Nutter, on getting possession of the Kortright farm after the Revolution, built a new residence,
391
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
which remained till swept away by the opening of 6th Avenue, on which it stood, its north corner touching 110th Street.
Mowing-time was again at hand, and Daniel Tourneur pe- titioned the Council, July 9th, that whereas the review of the case between him and Col. Morris could not take place before the Court of Assize, since that court had been "wholly taken away, and other courts constituted," he might be secured in his posses- sion by a "writ of habere facias possessionem." But Col. Morris, being present as a member of the Council, "desired a writ of error, which was granted." The old Cromwellian officer, though his fighting principles had yielded to the pacific tenets of the Quaker, had thus far proved himself so good a tactician as to maintain his ground against every attempt to dislodge him. But emboldened by success, he now determined, if possible, to force the case to an issue before the Court of Oyer and Terminer in his own county, where he might have the advantage of his op- ponent ; and thereupon petitioned as follows :
To the Hon. Col. Thomas Dongan, Lieutenant and Governor-General, etc., etc.
The petition of Lewis Morris, the elder, commonly called Colonel Lewis Morris, Sheweth : That at a General Court of Assizes held in New York, beginning the 3d and ending the 6th day of October, 1683, an Action was commenced against your Petitioner by Daniel Tourneur for being ejected, expelled, and from his quiet possession removed out of his lot of land lying on a certain piece of ground called Stony Island : where on the trial the Jury found for the Plaintiff with costs of suit, and the Court gave Judgment accordingly; whereupon your Petitioner, ac- cording to the usual custom and practice of that Court, petitioned for a Review of his Case, and that the Jury might be of the neighborhood, to view the land in controversy; which was ordered accordingly to be done at the next General Court of Assizes, since which said General Court of Assizes is made void and null, and Court of Oyer and Terminer ap- pointed in each County, for the trial of causes of this nature. Your Petitioner not being willing that the difference between him and the said Tourneur should be longer delayed, but that some speedy issue may be put to the same, humbly prays your Honor that the said Daniel Tourneur may be ordered to commence his action at the next Court of Oyer and Terminer to be holden in the County where the land in controversy lyeth. that the same may be reviewed and reheard, and a Jury of the neighborhood, LEWIS MORRIS. who shall view the said land, to pass thereupon, etc. And your Petitioner shall pray, etc.
In acting upon this petition, Morris' plan was again amended as to having "a jury of the neighborhood;" but care was taken to secure a fair and impartial hearing. The record reads :
At a Council held at Fort James, the 13th September, 1684; Present, The Governor, etc.
This Petition being read, the two Judges, Capt. Matthias Nicolls and Capt. John Palmer, were consulted, who gave their advice, and it was ordered by the Governor and Council that a Special Commission be given
1
392
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
to the Judges, and to Mr. Cortlandt. Mr. Pell, Jacques Cortilieu, Justices ; and a particular writ be sent to the Sheriff of New York, and another to the Sheriff of Queens County, one to return twelve men and the other twelve more. for a Jury in the Action between Col. Lewis Morris and Daniel Tourneur, the Cause to be tried at New York, to begin on the 6th of October next ensuing; the Jury is to view the land, and the trial is not to continue above six days ; and it is further ordered that Col. Lewis Morris is to be at the charges of the Review.
Twenty-two days only were to intervene before the meeting of this Court. and as the Council did not revoke the order, no doubt it met accordingly, though its minutes, we regret to say, have not been found. But from several considerations. we infer that it changed nothing. The New York Court of Record of July 6th. 1680, had found for the plaintiffs, so had the Jamaica Sessions of June 13th, 1683. and then the Court of Assize of Oct. 3d ensuing. This last allowed a rehearing, because that was "the usual custom and practice of that Court." But no change in the status had occurred to warant any reverse of judgment. It was a simple question of fact. These courts had assumed that when Stuyvesant granted these meadows, he acted from the knowledge that no one else had a prior title. After the last hear- ing. to wit. on November 24th. 1684. Col. Morris paid to Secre- tary Spragge the amount of the bill given on page 386. as we find by an indorsement thereon. And the Tourneurs appear to have remained in possession. See page 379. As a piece of early litigation, this case is interesting : but it assumes real importance as evidence of the high respect with which the early English courts regarded Stuyvesant's official acts, touching landed inter- ests. His grants were not to be lightly set aside. And if this view obtained at a date the most favorable for knowing the real merits of such cases, how wise the reticence of modern courts to meddle with questions of title reaching back into times so . remote!
Tourneur, now lieutenant of the Out Ward Militia. under the Governor's commission of the 10th of September, was suc- ceeded as constable of the Harlem Division by Adolph Meyer. who was appointed October 13th, and took the oath of office the 18th of November.
Vander Vin. the venerable secretary and voorleser, who had served the town so long and faithfully, and exhibited much wis- dom and ability in the discharge of his duties. now entered into rest. having reached his seventieth year. As he lives in the work of his pen. Vander Vin shows his culture, and incidentally his knowledge of Latin and Spanish. He was remarkable for his
393
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
·
accuracy, very methodical and precise in small as well as greater matters. Clerk of the Court, both drafter and registrar of deeds, wills and contracts, accountant for the town and church, all these added to his specific duties as voorleser and schoolmaster, it is amusing to find minuted in his clear, neat hand, "Set hen to brood, 15th July. 1675." He left no family, and his wife had died within a few years; therefore, on January 28, 1685, the Mayor's Court passed an order. "That Daniel Tourneur and Cornelis Jansen do appraise the estate of Hendrick Jansen Van- der Vin, deceased; and that the same be disposed of by Resolved Waldron and Johannes Vermelje, to satisfy his funeral charges and .debts ; and to make report therof to this Court."
On the same date Joost Oblinus, Johannes Vermelje. and Jan Delamater were "appointed and sworn Commissioners for Harlem, for the year ensuing"; and Jan Tibout, by birth a Fleming. and late schoolmaster at Flatbush, was made Clerk for the same term. Tibout had entered upon his duties January 20th. at a salary of 300 gl .: he and his family to occupy "the town's house."*
. Jan Tibout was born at Bruges. (see p. 60) and after emigrating lived for a short time at Fort Casimer, on the Delaware, where he was, in 1656, and whence coming. he and his wife, Sarah Vander Vlucht, joined the church at New Amsterdam, in January. 1660. There and at Flatbush (sive while at Bergen, where he was court messenger. in 1662, and took the oath of allegiance to the English, November 20. 1665). he spent trost of the ensuing years till he came to Harlem. He was voor- leser here from 168; till 1690. when for a year Guiliaem Bertholf took his place. but resuming his ofice, in 1691. he served yet six years, and probably till Adrain Vermeule was emploved. in 1699. Thence, and at least till 1700. he held the same office at Bushwick. He married, in 168 ;. the widow of Glaude Delamater, and on her erf right drew Lot 13. on Jochem Pieters Hills, which was sold to Jan Dyckman. Of his dozen children we give only such as appear to have reached maturity twith the reservation hereafter made as to the first), viz. : Marcus. Theunis. Johannes, Andrics. Jacomint. who married Reyer Michielsen. and Jannetic, who married Hendrick Van Oblings. Andries Tibout married Maria De Grave, settled at Hackensack; had children. Johannes, Peter, Andries, Jacobus. Jacomina, and Annetie. He died in 1704, and his widow married Albert Terhune. Johannes Tibout, son of Jan, was a turner: married Tountie Van Kommen: was a zealous Leislerian soldier. 1689; made a freeman at New York. 1000, they alderman. and died childless, June 20. 1728. leaving his property. after his wife's death, to his brothers and sisters. Theunis Tibout. born in New York, 1603. married, 1000. Mary, daughter of Hendrick Vande- water. was a carpenter: made freeman at New York. 1698: proposed. 1713. to erect a horsemill in the city. "never before seen in these parts:" had eight children, and died July 27. 1754. aged on years. His will was dated November 8. 175.3. His daughter. Sarah. born 1692. married Jan Ewouts: he also had sons. whence the Tie- bouts of New York, viz .: Hendrick. horn 1604. married 1720, Elizabeth Burger: Johannes, born 1696. married 1710. Maria Van Deventer: Theunis, born 1705, married. 1729. Margaret Drinkwater. and Albertus, born 1708. who married. 1728, Cornelia Bogert, and was captain in the old French war. Johannes, a blockmaker. living in New York, January 2. 1763. when, with his sister Sarah, he sold some property of his late father, died September 12. 1773.
Marcus Tiebaut. as he wrote his name, was born at Ghent. Flanders, and was probably a son of the voorleser: for though nowliere so called, he was also a Fleming: lived at Harlem before, as well as after. hi- marriage, and acted as town clerk after Vermeule. as would appear from records of 1-10. written by him. Marcus married. May 29, 1608, Aefie. widow of Jonas Lewis, and daughter of Cornelis Jansen, and, in 1713. was "in possession" of a house and lot on the north side of the Church Lane. next but one west of the kerk erf, which no doubt came from John Van Oblinus, and went to John Lewis, from whom it passed, in 1748, to Dr. Josiah Paterson. Marcus bought from Caspar Mabie, March 26, 1700, a dwelling. with its lot, which had formed Nos. 5. 6. of Daniel Tourneur's out-gardens. Here Marcus lived after John Lewis married, in 1713. but dying in 1714. without children, so far as appears; his widow
1
394
HISTORY OF HARLEM.
Barent Waldron, soon to marry, prepared to occupy his land, being two of the New Lots purchased by him November 21, 1677, the one No. 9, from Captain James Carteret, "for 277 lbs. of beef." and the other, No. 10, from Pieter Jansen Bogert "for one heifer of three years old." Waldron now bargained with the magistrates for a house lot "on the north side of Pieter Jansen,"-that is, lying at the west end of his lot No. 10, where it joined the highway, and for which he was to pay the town after two years, namely, in January, 1687, "30 gl. in cash, and a gallon of rum." Soon after this the magistrates concluded to sell the "piece of land called Gloudie's Point, with a house lot lying between the swamp and the King's Way, next to the house lot of Barent Waldron." It was put up at auction March 15th. Johannes Vermelje offered 1,200 gl., but Resolved Waldron, wanting it for his son Barent, bid 1,500 gl., and took it. Security was given for the payment, which was to made in two equal instalments, in one and two years. Fifteen years after,-that is, on March 7, 1700,-Barent got a deed from the town for this property, which he occupied till 1740, being that since known as the Bussing Point Farm.
While the process had thus begun, by which the new lands were to be brought under the plough, or otherwise utilized, sundry large tracts beyond and adjoining the patent lines, or too near to be matter of unconcern to the Harlem people, were being eagerly sought for and taken up. On the North River side. settlement pushing out from the city, beyond Sapokaniken, or Greenwich, to the region already called Bloemendael; here Theunis Idens Van Huyse, apparently by buying up the title to several lesser grants, had come to own an immense tract, 460 acres, by actual survey, which extended from the present 86th Street to 107th Street. From the Hudson it ran within direct and parallel lines into the woods, nearly 220 rods. touching at its casterly corner the Harlem patent line. Here Theunis, after toiling hard to "make tillable land out of the rough woods," built his dwelling and barns, and set out an orchard, for a life- long home.
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.