USA > New York > Queens County > Newtown > The annals of Newtown, in Queens County, New York; containing its history from its first settlement, together with many interesting facts concerning the adjacent towns; > Part 3
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' For a list of town-officers, see Appendix F.
2 The public records of Newtown now in the clerk's office, begin in the year 1659, in which allusion is made to records of an earlier date, not now to be found. Those existing are very complete from the above year, and con- sist of seven manuscript books, some of them in a mutilated and perishing condition. Here are the minutes of the town court from 1659 to 1688; also the record of town proceedings, and, what is more valuable, the greater part of all the title-deeds for land within this town, from its settlement down to the American Revolution. Their loss could not be repaired, and there- fore it is respectfully recommended, that timely measures be taken to bind and index these interesting and valuable records, and secure them in a fire- proof safe, against the devouring element, by which Flushing and other towns in this state have been robbed of their early archives.
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The considerable extent of territory lying between the northeast boundary of Middelburg and the East river, com- prised, at this date, a small population of farmers, or planters, as they were then called, who were mostly Dutch, and had taken land from the government upon the terms prescribed by the charters of freedoms and exemptions, and for which they re- ceived individually a groundbrief, or deed, under the signature of the Director, and the seal of New Netherland. These farms were distinguished as "the out-plantations," and lay on the verge of the river ; extending from what is now called Fish's Point, on the north, around to Dominie's Hook, at the en- trance of Mespat Kill, which latter point took its name as early as 1643, from its owner, Dominie Bogardus, the first minister of New Amsterdam, whose widow, Annetie Jans, on Nov. 26th, 1652, received a groundbrief for the same, then es- timated at 130 acres.1 The out-plantations, which will attract a more particular notice hereafter, received a valuable accession to their population in the person of William Hallett, a native of ' Dorsetshire, England, who, on Dec. 1st, 1652, obtained a brief for 161 acres of land, which had previously been in possession of Jacques Bentyn, one of Director Van Twiller's council. It was described as "a plot of ground at Hellegat upon Long Island, called Jacques' farm, and beginning at a great rock that lies in the meadow, goes upward southeast to the end of a very small swamp, two hundred and ten rods; from thence northeast two hundred and thirty rods; on the north it goes up to a running water, two hundred and ten rods; containing, in the whole, eighty morgen and three hundred rods." This tract is now in- cluded within the village of Astoria, which name (no credit to the restive, innovating spirit of the age) has been substituted for that of Hallett's Cove, the latter a time honored memorial of its ancient owner, some of whose posterity still occupy por- tions of the land held by their remote ancestor. The residents of the out-plantations were not a corporate community, but continued for many years to be dependent for civil and reli-
1 This tract was bought in 1697, by Capt. Peter Praa, through whom it descended to the Bennet family, who held it until a few years since, when it was purchased for Union College, Schenectady. Annetie Jans Bogardus was the owner of another patent, located at Hellgate, of which further notice will be taken presently.
3
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gious advantages upon Flushing or New Amsterdam. Dis- putes at law arising in this district were usually taken to the last named place for trial.
Scarcely were the people of Middelburg seated in their new homes, when the occurrence of untoward events placed them in very doubtful relations with their adopted government. Jealousies, of many years standing, existed between the latter and the English colonies of Connecticut and New Haven, re- specting the limits of New Netherland. Complaints of mutual aggression had passed between the respective governments, and now, while these regarded each other with feelings far from friendly, the news was received that war had broken out be- tween the mother countries England and Holland. Director Stuyvesant, in pursuance of instructions from his superiors, and from a sense of his own weakness when compared with his powerful neighbors of New England, whence he had abundant cause to apprehend evil, prudently agreed with the adjacent Indian tribes for assistance, in case his fears should be realized. This arrangement being rumored abroad, soon sped its way into the adjoining colonies, where it was currently reported, and fully accredited that the Dutch governor had formed a league with the Indians for the destruction of all the English.
The report, in the meantime, flew like wildfire through the English towns on the west end of Long Island, which, though under the government of New Netherland, were made to be- lieve that they were to be included in the general slaughter. In haste a messenger arrives at Mespat Kill. It is their former neighbor, Richard Brutnell, sent by the people of Hempstead to apprise them of their imminent peril. He relates, minutely, the particulars of the bloody plot, as communicated to the peo- ple of Hempstead by an Indian chief: the substance of which was that the Director-general designed first to cut off the set- tlements of Hempstead and Middelburg, and then the other towns at his pleasure. Consternation immediately prevailed at Mespat, as the gloomy tidings were circulated from house to house; and means were at once devised to elude the impending calamity. A removal, with all speed, was determined upon ; and Robert Brokham, with several of his neighbors, set out for Flushing, to engage Lambert Woodward to convey their goods, with themselves and families, across the sound to Stam-
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ford. They agreed to stop at Middelburg, and inform their countrymen there of the startling news from Hempstead. Ar- riving at the house of Lieutenant William Palmer, they re- hearsed to him what they had heard; and thereupon most of the town were hastily called together, to whom the messengers repeated their sad story. Some of the villagers gave credit to the evil report ; others were incredulous. Mr. Coe, the magis- trate, " said he could not believe that the Dutch governor was so base and vile as to hire the Indians to cut off the English." But Brokham earnestly debated the matter with the magis- trate; when the latter acknowledged, that being in company with the governor two days before, he told him that "if the English came against him, he had spoken to Indians to help him against the English." This was admission enough for Brokham and his companions, who, strengthened in their fears, went on their way to Flushing, and succeeded in engaging the vessel. On April 29th, 1653, the terror-stricken company sailed from the Kills for Stamford; to which place arriving, they gave free circulation to the story of their dangers and providential escape.
If the people of Middelburg were at first slow to believe these ill-favored rumors, the credit which the New England authorities gave to them, the grave action thereupon, and the hostile attitude which the more western colonies were as- suming, soon served to dissipate their unbelief. The neigh- boring villages of Flushing and Hempstead were becoming disaffected, instigated and urged on by Captain John Under- hill, who now renounced the service of the Dutch, and hoist- ing the Parliament's colors, called upon the inhabitants "to abjure the iniquitous government of Peter Stuyvesant." To add to the terrible aspect of affairs, an armed force, under Captain William Dyre, of Rhode Island, was patrolling Long Island, for the avowed purpose of maintaining, even to "the effusion of blood," the authority of the Commonwealth of England. Overawed by these alarming circumstances, and impelled by motives of self-protection, the people of Middel- burg united with their English neighbors in seeking advice and assistance from New England. For this purpose they sent two deputies, Robert Coe and Edward Jessup, (and Hemp- stead a similar number,) to propound to "the honorable Com-
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missioners now assembled at Boston," certain questions which were agitating the public mind. They inquired whether, in case their subjection to Parliament were demanded "by com- mission from England," they could act any longer by the Dutch laws; and if not, what should they do till another go- vernment be settled. If there be no reconciliation among the Dutch and English, how should they ensure their safety, " having so many enemies round about them." If they must now " fall off from the Dutch," they desired protection from New England, under the Parliament, upon reasonable terms. Needing supplies, they requested that they might procure corn and victuals from the main, for the use of the English only ; and also solicited powder and shot, and the favor of ten or twenty men, with a commander-or at least the latter, to train the people, and go out with them if need be, and bear some sway in town affairs, to prevent division and confusion. For they feared that a party would be formed to cooperate with the " resolute fellows" under Dyre, who, it was apprehended, might fall upon the Dutch farms, and thus involve them in a state of actual hostilities. Declaring themselves "willing to cleave to New England," they proceeded to inquire whether the commissioners could empower some of their inhabitants to bear rule till further order could be taken; and closed their memorial by begging their speedy assistance : for, say they, "our lives and estates lie at the stake, if the Lord, by some means, help us not."
The sending of this delegation forcibly exhibits the intense excitement that reigned in Middelburg, and her sister towns. It does not appear to have elicited any special notice from the Commissioners of the United Colonies, who were warmly dis- cussing the necessity of hostile measures against the Dutch -New Haven and Connecticut loudly advocating such a course, while Massachusetts opposed it. This want of union averted, for the time being, the hostilities meditated against New Netherland.
The cruel fears which had racked the imaginations of the Middelburg people now subsided; but only to give promi- nence to other sources of public disquietude. Indians and freebooters, taking advantage of the late confusion, had com- mitted serious depredations on the Long Island settlers. The
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latter could expect no help from the government; for there existed a general distrust-as well among the Dutch as Eng- lish-of its power and disposition to protect the inhabitants, either from external foes, or by a judicious administration of civil and criminal justice within its jurisdiction. Aroused by a sense of their losses and personal insecurity, the English towns first called a meeting at Flushing, and then met the burgomasters of New Amsterdam in joint meeting, at the City Hall, on November 25th, 1653. The delegates present from Middelburg were Robert Coe and Thomas Hazard. The ob- ject of the convention was to devise some plan for their com- mon safety. They resolved, at the suggestion of the city dele- gates, to address the Directors of the West India Company ; but wishing to have the opinions of the Dutch villages, an ad- journment to the 10th of December was carried. Stuyvesant reluctantly consented to the proposed meeting, and writs were issued to the several villages to elect their delegates, who, accord- ingly assembled at New Amsterdam on the last mentioned date-Middelburg sending the same deputies as before. Har- mony prevailed among them; for their dangers and griev- ances were in common. On the second day of their meeting they agreed upon a remonstrance to the Director and Council, and the States General. It opened with an assurance of their unchanged loyalty toward the government of the Netherlands, and a hearty acknowledgment of the authority of the Lords Directors of the West India Company ; under whose jurisdic- tion they had voluntarily placed themselves, expecting to en- joy rights and privileges harmonizing in every respect with those allowed the inhabitants of the Netherlands, the parent State. Under such encouragements they had, with immense labor and expense, transformed a wilderness of woods into a few small villages and cultivated farms; but for some time, fear and alarm had broken their spirits, and discouraged them in their labors and callings. Instead of liberty, an arbitrary government is rearing its head among them, and laws affecting the lives and property of the commonalty are enacted, without the knowledge or approbation of the latter. The complaints of the Indians that they have not been paid for their lands, and the murders they commit in retaliation, keep the inhabi- tants in constant apprehension that a new war may be com-
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menced by them; and yet, strange to tell, these murders are often passed over as the acts of far-distant savages. "On the promises of grants and general patents, of privileges and ex- emptions, various plantations have been made, at a great ex- pense of the inhabitants, through building houses, making fences, and tilling and cultivating the soil, especially by those of Middelburg and Midwout, with their dependencies ; besides several other places, who took up many single farms, and soli- cited the deeds of such lands, but were always put off and dis- appointed, to their great loss. This creates a suspicion that some innovations are in contemplation, or that it is intended to introduce other conditions different from former stipulations." Other points of complaint there were, but in those above named the people of Middelburg were most interested.
To this bill of complaint Stuyvesant, though displeased, deigned to send a long reply. He refused to recognise the de- legates from Flatbush, Brooklyn, and Flatlands, because those villages had no jurisdiction, and therefore were not entitled to send deputies; and as the convention had acted illegally, he was not at all bound to acknowledge its proceedings. He examined in order each point of complaint, denied that the rights of the petitioners were the same as those of Netherland, and branded the English delegates as the "instigators and leaders of these novelties," notwithstanding that they and their countrymen en- joyed greater privileges than the Exemptions allowed the Dutch settlers. Touching the complaints of Middelburg, and Midwout, (or Flatbush,) respecting their patents, he replied that the lands in those villages had been granted to individuals whose deeds would be furnished whenever they chose to de- mand them; but they should never be carried to them.1
The delegates were not to be silenced by the sophistry of the Director-general. Feeling the responsibility of their posi- tion, they again called on him to consider their grievances, de- claring their intention in case of refusal, to appeal to his supe- riors in Holland. This excited the rage of Stuyvesant, and with threats, he abruptly ordered the assembly to disperse. True to their word the delegates forwarded their remonstrance to Hol- land.
1 I presume these deeds were never applied for, as I have not met with a single one, either original or recorded.
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Stuyvesant was soon called to witness the evil of his impo- litic course. The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven had made such representations to the English government that a fleet was despatched for the reduction of the Manhattans, and on its arrival at Boston in the spring of 1654, New England im- mediately began to raise troops to aid the expedition. The Di- rector-general bestirred himself to meet the expected invaders, but found his strength paralized. " The occurrences of 1653 had seriously weaned men's affections from the government, and oaths of allegiance were no longer considered binding." Some of the English villages openly discarded the authority of Stuy- vesant, and when the news arrived of the intended invasion, Middelburg proposed that the English should commence hostili- ties. At this crisis, when the enemy's fleet was about to sail from Boston, a vessel arrived there with the news of peace be- tween England and Holland. The intelligence reached the Manhattans on July 16th, in a ship which brought also the re- jection by the Directors at Amsterdam, of the remonstrance of the previous year.
But though the grievances of the populace were thus abso- lutely contemned, their remonstrance was not devoid of effect upon the conduct of the Director-general, who found it prudent to conciliate the good will of the inhabitants. In the month of May, Counsellor De Sille and others were commissioned to visit several towns upon Long Island, which had solicited "the con- cession of some hayland," and allot to each inhabitant, if possi- ble, "twenty-five morgen of land, and eight morgen of inter- vale." The meadows lying along the east side of Mespat Kill were appropriated to Middelburg, the magistrates of which town were authorised by an order from Stuyvesant, to apportion the same to their inhabitants. A good number of groundbriefs were also issued to the owners of the outplantations, thus quieting one cause of complaint specified in the late remonstrance. Turn- ing to this section of the town we are made acquainted with an extensive farm then in progress, "in the occupation and tenure of the deacons and officers of the Dutch church " at New Am- sterdam; and by them kept under cultivation for the benefit of the poor. From this circumstance it was called the Armen Bouwery or the Poor's Farm, whence comes the name of Poor
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Bowery, still applied to that section of the town.1 It compris- ed the plantation formerly of Jeuriaen Fradell, with an addi- tional tract of land on the west, obtained of Director Stuyvesant, " with a view, if God the Lord blessed their cattle, to make a new plantation, or farm." These possessions (now included in the estates of T. B. Jackson, J. K. Herrick, S. Palmer, L. Kouwenhoven, and A. R. Luyster) were bounded on the west by the property of Abraham Rycken, a respectable plan- ter, who was descended from an ancient family in Lower Saxony. His farm, for which he obtained a groundbrief on Feb. 26th of this year, (1654,) is now owned by his descendant, John L. Riker, Esq. In this vicinity also was located Harck Siboutsen, formerly a ship-carpenter, a native of Languedoc, in the south of France, who joined Rycken on the west, where he had settled four years previously to taking out his patent, dated July 2d of this year. His farm now composes a part of that which was owned by the late Isaac Rapelye. Adjacent to him on the west side, lay a tract of woodland, belonging to the West India Company, beyond which, in the direction of " Newton's Point, or the Green Hook," now the property of Mr. Woolsey, was a succession of small plantations, owned by Jan Jacobsen Carpenel, otherwise called Jan van Haerlem, Adriaen Derickse Coon, Hendrick Jansen van Dueren, Lieven Jansen, and Simon Joost. These five lots, contained in strips of about fifty acres each, butted on the river or meadow, and extended back west-south-west some three hundred Dutch rods, to the "Great Swamp," also called Lubbert's Swamp. The briefs for these lots, which all bore date in 1653 or 1654, were afterwards bought up by Capt. Thomas Lawrence, who also obtained from Gov. Nicoll, Aug. 23d, 1665, a patent for the small island ad- joining, "commonly called the Round Island," and now known as Berrien's Island, which island, together with "a neck of land" included in the patent to Adriaen D. Coon, is now pos- sessed by Ezra N. Berrien. The Green Hook (now G. M. Woolsey's) was patented to Jean Gerardy, Nov. 5th, 1653. On
1 Some, unacquainted with this district, and ignorant of the origin of its name, have supposed it given with reference to the poverty of the soil. But in this sense the name is no way applicable, for the land here is exceed- ingly fertile, and not to be excelled by any on Long Island for productive- ness.
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the same date Teunis Craye took out a brief for the Polhemus estate, and another had been granted, three days previous, to Philip Gerardy for the farm of Dr. Ditmars. On March 7th, 1654, Annetie Jans Bogardus, who already held a grant at Dominie's Hook, obtained a patent for 42 morgen 54 rod of land, lying adjacent to the Pot Cove, and which was included in the farms late in possession of 'Squire John Lawrence, and Major Richard Lawrence. With a view still further to enlarge the poor's farm, the deacons of the Dutch church, on June 3d, 1655, petitioned the government for the island near their bou- wery, called the "Huwelicken, or Burger Jorissen's Island," " for the purpose of driving thereon their hogs and cattle," but they were informed that it had been disposed of long before. The deacons succeeded in buying it, and thence it was called the Poor Bowery Island; but being afterwards purchased by the ancestor of the Luyster family, it took the name of Luys- ter's Island, by which it is still known.1
But again the peace of the country was to be interrupted by Indian outrage : the fears set forth in the late remonstrance were to be realized. New Amsterdam, the metropolis, was the first to feel the shock of savage warfare. Director Stuyve- sant had just departed to chastise the Swedes for their en- croachments on the Delaware, when a horde of armed Indians, estimated at nineteen hundred, landed at New Amsterdam, early on the morning of Sept. 15th, 1655, and began to break into houses for plunder. The authorities hastily assembled, and held an audience with the chiefs, whom they persuaded to
1 Burger Joris, whose name is closely identified with the early history of the town, was a native of Hersberg, in Silesia, and came to Rensselaerswyck in 1637, being by occupation a smith. There he lived for about five years, and then bought a vessel and became a trader on the Hudson, but he even- tually settled on his farm at the Dutch Kills, where he died in 1671, aged fifty-nine. He was evidently a man of character and ability, as he was re- peatedly ealled to assist in the eivil governinent of the township. He mar- ried, in 1639, Engeltie Mans, from Compst, in Sweden, and had sons, Joris, born 1647; Hermanus, born 1652; Claes, born 1657; Johannes, born 1661; and Elias, born 1664. These took the patronymie Burger, and in faet their father was sometimes called Mr. Burger. They settled in New-York, and from them the Burger family of that eity have descended. Burger Joris' farm was sold to John Pareell, the progenitor of the Pareell family, and is now owned by Abraham and William Paynter.
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retire with their warriors, without the walls; but when night set in, the savages grew bolder, shot the Attorney-General with an arrow, and felled another to the ground with an axe. A great tumult now ensued, with cries of murder, and the sol- diers and armed citizens rushed from the fort, and fell upon the Indians, forcing them to take to their canoes, while the dead of both parties marked the scene of bloody encounter. The savages were inflamed to the utmost; they burned Pavo- nia, then poured out their wrath on the settlers at Staten Island, and for three days the scalping knife and tomahawk descended in vengeance on the unprotected Dutch farmers, numbers of whom were slain, and others taken into captivity, while their bouweries were desolated by fire. Unfortunately for the peace of Middelburg, one of her chief citizens, Edward Jessup, together with Henry Newton, a resident at Mespat, and Thomas Newton, afterward, if not then, a landholder in Middel- burg, were all present at New Amsterdam on the night of the battle, and assisted in repulsing the savages. The latter swore vengeance against these three persons, and avowed their in- tention to send a formal demand for their surrender, though they professed to entertain no hostile feelings toward any other of the English settlers; but the Dutch they threatened to extir- pate, and pick out of every town on Long Island. This alarm- ing intelligence being communicated to the people of Middel- burg by Lieut. Thomas Wheeler, of Westchester, several of the settlers near Mespat Kill, among whom were Joseph Fow- ler, Goodman Betts,1 Samuel Toe, and his son-in-law William Reede, Joseph Safford, and Thomas Reede, held a consultation, and despatched two of their number to lay the news before the Director and Council.
As a consequence, the most lively apprehensions existed at Middelburg, and particularly among the Dutch settlers on the out-plantations who, from their exposed position became sub- ject to harrassing fears, lest in the stilly hour of midnight the savages should execute upon them the bloody threats which they had uttered. Nor were their fears altogether disappoint-
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