USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time > Part 13
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Conformably to the expressed wishes of the duke of York, Governor Nicolls permitted the Lutherans in the province to assemble together and to hold religious services according to the prescribed rules of their church. When Sir Richard Lovelace succeeded Governor Nicolls, on the twenty-eighth of August, 1668, the same tolerant spirit was manifested by the new administration. The office of clerk of the court of Albany was given to Ludo- vicus Cobes. In February, 1669, the Reverend Jacobus Fabricius, from Germany, was officially permitted by Governor Lovelace to serve the Lutherans of the prov- ince as a preacher and a pastor. This zealous clergy- man, while at Albany, in April, infringed upon the rights of the officers of the court, who complained to the governor, whereupon the latter "thought good to suspend his ministeriall function at Albany, untill either by Letters or the mediation of friends he should be reconciled to ye Magistrates there."1 Governor Love-
1 He "unhappily engaged in controversy with the magistrates of that place, who had authorized the 'consummation of a marriage' between Helmer Otten and Adriantze Arentz, 'his wife according to the law of the land.' For this offence Fabricius fined Mr. Otten 1,000 Rix-dollars, and the Governour suspended Mr. Fabricius," History of New York. By William Dunlap. vol. 1. pp. 126, 127.
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lace, having afterward received instructions from Eng- land not to favor any denominational intolerance toward the Lutherans, wrote on the thirteenth of October as follows to the magistrates at Albany : "I have lately received Letters from ye Duke wherein it is particularly signified unto me that his Royall Highness doth approve of ye Toleration given to ye Lutheran Church in these partes, I doe therefore Expect that you live friendly & peaceably with those of that profession giving them no disturbance in ye Exercise of their Religion as they shall receive noe Countenance in, but on ye Contrary strictly Answer any disturbance they shall presume to give unto any of you in your divine Worship." 1 Although granted the privilege of assembling together in a public place and of hearing the discourses of a clergyman of their own denomination, the Lutherans were nevertheless taxed to pay the salary of the minister of the Reformed church. Governor Lovelace, in his written instructions to the two commissioners sent by him in April, 1670, to confer with the magistrates of Albany, desired them to give the latter the following message :
"To acquaint ye Magistrates that I look upon that Church & Ministry as the parochiall Church of Albany (for it was found Establisht by my predecessors & my- self) & leave ye supportation of it to ye discretion of ye magistrates to maintaine a minister either by way of Taxe or otherwise & that no Inhabitant of what opinion soever be Exempt but bear his proportion & that they give me an Account of their transactions in this par- ticular."
The Rev. Jacobus Fabricius, who had been serving the
1 General entries. vol. i. p. 71. Orders, warrants and letters. vol. ii. pp. 335 394, 423. Annals of Albany. Munsell. vol. iv. pp. 13, 14.
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Lutheran congregation in New York, was permitted, by Governor Lovelace, on the eleventh of August, 1671, to preach his farewell sermon to the society, and to in- stall the recently arrived Lutheran minister, Bernardus Arensius. The latter, not long afterward, visited Albany, and preached to the Lutheran congregation organized by his predecessor. On the eighteenth of October, 1672, he received a pass from Governor Lovelace, in New York, to go to Albany for the winter. This clergyman possessed "a gentle personage," and commended himself by his "very agreeable behaviour." It was about this time that the first Lutheran church was erected on the plot of ground, now the site of the City Building, on the south- west corner of Howard and South Pearl Streets. 1
1 Court of Assizes. vol. ii. pp. 500, 503, 702, 725. General entries. vol. iv. pp. 15-17, 19, 304. Annals of Albany. Munsell. vol. i. pp. 123, 124. vol. iv. pp. 12, 13. Collections on the history of Albany. Munsell. vol. iv. p. 205. vol. iii. p. 100. Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 242, 245.
CHAPTER VII.
WILLEMSTADT.
1672-1674.
The amicable relations existing between Great Britain and the United Netherlands, following the peace of Breda, July 31, 1667, were terminated, on the seventeenth of March, 1672, by Charles II. of England, who declared war against the Dutch provinces. In May, 1673, intelli- gence reached New York that a Dutch fleet in the West Indies intended to sail northward, doubtless to demand the surrender of Fort James. Lieutenant Sylvester, who had succeeded Captain Baker, July 13, 1670, as com- mander of the garrison of Fort Albany, was ordered to report for duty at Fort James with the utmost expe- dition. Governor Lovelace, believing that the reports brought to him concerning the movements of the Dutch squadron were more fictitious than real, permitted Lieu- tenant Salisbury and his soldiers to return to Fort Albany. Leaving Captain Manning in charge of Fort James, the incautious governor went to New Haven.
On the twenty-eighth of July, the Dutch fleet of twenty-three vessels, carrying sixteen hundred men, made its appearance at Sandy Hook, and on the follow- ing day anchored in the lower bay. The Dutch commo- dores, Cornelis Evertsen and Jacob Binckes, demanded the surrender of Fort James. Captain Manning having
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
delayed giving an immediate answer to this peremptory order, a storming party under the command of Captain Anthony Colve was landed on the island. The English no longer hesitated but readily capitulated. At sunset Fort James was in the possession of the Dutch, and the flag of the Netherlands was again floating above the ramparts of the old fortification.
The province was again called New Netherland. The name New Orange was given to the city of New York and that of Willem Hendrick to the fort. On the second of August, Captain Anthony Colve was made governor-general of New Netherland by Commodores Evertsen and Binckes. Three days afterward Lieuten- ant Salisbury surrendered Fort Albany.
On the first of September, Governor Colve and Com- modores Evertsen and Binckes, sitting as a council of war, gave audience to a number of delegates from Al- bany, who presented certain requests "for the mainten- ance and preservation of the rights of the village of Beverswyck and Fort Orange."
"First. Earnestly requesting that the officers and justices of Fort Orange and Beverswyck may be the trusted protectors of the true Reformed religion accord- ing to the laws of beloved Fatherland.
"Second. That conscience shall not be subjected to any constraint, as there are some here of different opin- ions who have intermarried, but that every one shall be at liberty to go where he pleases to hear the word of God preached."
In a fourth request it was asserted that " a reasonable present " ought to be made "to our neighbors, the In- dians, especially at this critical period, in order to prevent the designs and undertakings of our enemies, the French, which present would require a sum of a thousand Hol-
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land florins for the five nations, consisting of ten castles, namely, the Mohawks, Oneidas, Nondages, Cayugas and Sinnedowane."
"Fifth. That the people of Schanhectede were not to have any further privileges, for the land was solely granted them by the late General Stuyvesant that they should devote themselves to agriculture, with the ex- pressed condition not to trade with the Indians, which grant and condition was confirmed by the English governor Nicolls, according to his proclamation still in existence."
Having considered these requests, the council ordered that Fort Albany should "be called Fort Nassau and the village of Beverswyck, Willemstadt ;"-that the com- mandant of Fort Nassau should be instructed particularly to protect the Reformed Christian religion, and failing so to do, the petitioners should address themselves to the governor ; that the magistrates should be persons belong- ing to, or, at least, well affected toward the Reformed church ; and that the petitioners should enjoy the same privileges as they did in the time of the former Dutch government. Jeremias van Rensselaer was granted the same immunities for a year as had been previously granted him as director of the colony of Rensselaerswyck, meanwhile he was to obtain another confirmation of the rights of the patroon from the Lords States General.
Lieutenant Andries Draeyer, on the twenty-sixth of September, was commissioned to take command of Fort Nassau, and to act as schout (sheriff) of Willemstadt and Rensselaerswyck. On the sixth of October, Gover- nor Colve sent these instructions to him : "Whereas, I have considered it ncessary for the greater advantage and welfare of the town of Willemstadt and the colony of Rensselaerswyck to change the form of government there,
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and to reestablish it according to the esteemed custom of our Fatherland, therefore I have thought proper to commission and qualify, as I do hereby commission and qualify, Andries Draeyer, commander of Fort Nassau, to be schout over the said town of Willemstadt and colony of Rensselaerswyck, and further from the nominations exhibited by the inhabitants of Willemstadt, I have selected and qualified for schepens (magistrates) for the ensuing year as follows : Gerrit van Slechtenhorst, Cor- nelis van Dyck, David Schuyler, and Peter Bogardus.
"And further, on the selection made by Sir Jeremias van Rensselaer, I have approved and qualified as schepens for the colony of Rensselaerswyck : Martin Gerritsen, Pieter Vounen and Hendrick van Nes. And finally, for secretary of the court, Johannes Provoost." 1
The governor further instructed the schout and the schepens to see that the Reformed Christian religion conformable to the teachings of the synod of Dort were maintained without permitting any other sects to militate against it. The governor having officially designated the Reformed church as "the head church (de hooft kercke) of New Netherland, the Lutherans in Willemstadt peti- tioned that they might be permitted to continue their congregational meetings. The request of Myndert Fred- ricksen, Jan Heinderik Bruyns, Volckert Jansen, Hans Hendriksen and Hans Dreper, "in their own and in the name of the congregation of the Augsburg confession at Willemstadt" was granted by the Dutch governor, on the
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp, 593, 594, 595, 618, 627, 628.
Accompanying these instructions, the following regulations for issuing rations to the soldiers of the garrison were found : "For each man, per week, 7 lbs. of beef or 4 lbs of pork ; 6 lbs. of bread ; 12 lb. of butter or the value thereof, 2 Holland stivers. For each man, per month, 112 peck pease. For seven men, per week, 12 barrel small beer. For each man, for three months, 1 peck of salt. The sergeants shall receive 11/2 rations each, and the corporals 114 each." Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp. 627, 628.
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condition that they comported themselves "peaceably and quietly without giving any offense to the congrega- tion of the Reformed church." Although the restricted Lutherans endeavored to comport themselves in the required manner, they soon found themselves in a per- plexing dilemma. As stated in their petition to Governor Colve, they were "ordered to pay the sexton (aanspreecker) of the Reformed church for the burial of their dead," although they had a sexton of their own. They also adverted to the fact that they had paid "all taxes, assessments, excise, and all other levies," and had endeavored to pay the expenses of the care of their poor. As they thought that they ought not to be made answer- able for the payment of the exactions of the officers of the Reformed church, but " ought to enjoy their religion and divine service free and unrestrained," they requested that they might employ a sexton of their own selection to bury their dead. The petition was signed by the Rev. Bernardus Arensius, Jan Heinderik Bruyns, Jochem Backer and Hans Hendriksen. 1
Governor Colve ordered that the sessions of the court of Willemstadt should "be held in the house [on the plot of ground now the northeast corner of Hudson Avenue and Broadway] formerly appropriated for that purpose by the English government," but when "affairs of government " were to be discussed, the schout and schepens were to "hold their meetings in Fort Nassau." The United Netherlands being at war with France, the commander of Fort Nassau was instructed to "stop all correspondence with the Jesuits and Frenchmen from Canada," and to exercise such military precautions as were necessary for the safety of the port and the province. 2
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp. 653, 654 617. Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 525.
2 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp. 652, 653, 654, 659 662, 675.
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While Governor Colve was strengthening the differ- ent forts in New Netherland to resist the attacks of all enemies, the treaty of Westminster was signed on the nineteenth of February, 1674, in which it was stipulated that "all lands, islands, cities, havens, castles, and fort- resses " taken by the United Netherlands from Great Britain during the war were to be restored to the latter power. By a new patent from King Charles II. of Eng- land, James the duke of York and Albany became again the lord proprietor of the territory of New Netherland.
On the tenth of November, 1674, Governor Colve sur- rendered the province to his English successor, Major Edmund Andros. 1 Ensign Cæsar Knapton was ordered to go to Willemstadt with Sergeant Thomas Sharpe and eighteen men to receive the surrender of Fort Nassau. Michael Siston was appointed sheriff of Albany and Rens- selaerswyck, and Richard Pretty, excise collector. 2
1 Major Edmund Andros was commissioned governor of New York by James, duke of York and Albany, at Windsor, July 1, 1674.
2 General entries. vol. iv. pp. 300-304. Warrants, orders and passes. vol. iii. pp. 2-8, 38, 39. Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 51, 525.
CHAPTER VIII.
ALBANY.
1674-1685.
After the occupation of Fort Nassau, the surrender of Willemstadt to the officers of James, the duke of York and Albany, was accompanied with but a few other changes. The place was again named Albany. The late magistrates of the court of Willemstadt were re-ap- pointed by Governor Andros, and Johannes Provoost was retained as clerk. The governor espoused the cause of the persecuted Lutherans, and gave an open letter to Domine Bernardus Arensius, permitting him to remove his house- hold goods from New York to Albany, and "to officiate there as pastor of the Augustine or Lutheran congrega- tion, as formerly under the English government, without any manner of Lett [delay], hindrance or molestacon whatsoever." 1
The heirs of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, desiring to obtain possession of the land on which the village of Albany had been erected, petitioned the duke of York and Al- bany to command Governor Andros to recognize their claims to it. They also solicited the Lords States Gen- eral of the United Netherlands to corroborate their state- ments "with favorable letters of recommendation" to
1 The document was sealed and signed by the governor, on the sixth of November, 1674. N. Y. general entries. iv. Vide Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 525.
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his royal highness, the king of Great Britain. In their memorial to the Dutch government, the petitioners said that after Kiliaen van Rensselaer had purchased the land in 1630 from the Indians, that " he had planted a consid- erable colony there at his great cost, and from time to time had so improved it that a village or hamlet was founded there, which was at first called de Fuyck, after- ward Beverswyck, and recently Willemstadt. Although James, the duke of York and Albany, on the twenty- third of July, 1674, referred the matter to Governor Andros, no action was taken in it for several years there- after.
The French to secure the friendship of the Mohawks sent to their villages a number of Jesuit priests to teach them the religion of the Roman church. The Mohawks influenced by their loyalty to the Dutch inhabitants of Albany informed the latter of the designs of the French. This information the magistrates communicated to Gov- ernor Andros. In August, 1675, the governor visited Albany, and made a new treaty with the Mohawks, who reiterated their former promises of fealty to the duke of York and Albany.
While at Albany the governor instituted a general court consisting of the commander of the fort, five or more of the magistrates of Albany and the manor of Rensselaerswyck, and two or more of the magistrates of Schenectady. The court was ordered to meet and sit once a year and to begin its sessions on the first Wednes- day in June, and to determine all cases under five hun- dred guilders. The court was empowered to choose yearly two magistrates of Albany and Rensselaerswyck and one of Schenectady, to go to New York and to assist at the general court of assizes held there. Robert Liv-
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. ii. pp. 549, 550 ; vol. iii. pp. 224, 225.
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ingston was appointed clerk of the court of Albany and one of the members of the Albany board of Indian com- missioners. formed at this time by Governor Andros. 1
The ministers and members of the Reformed churches in New York and Albany were much aggrieved when, in compliance with the request of King Charles II., Gover- nor Andros made the Rev. Nicolaas van Rensselaer, who had been ordained a deacon of the Church of England, the colleague of the Rev. Gideon Schaets in Albany. They alleged that a person who had not been inducted into the office of a minister of the Reformed Church as prescribed by the laws of their denomination was unqualified to per- form the duties of that office. Although the Rev. Van Rensselaer complained to the governor of the opposition of the offended people to his serving them as minister, Governor Andros took no steps to vindicate the assumed rights of the unpopular clergyman until the Rev. Wilhel- mus van Nieuwenhuysen, the Dutch pastor of the Re- formed church in New York, forbid the Rev. Van Rens- selaer to baptize the children of some of the members of the former's congregation.2 The governor forthwith sum- moned the Rev. Van Nieuwenhuysen to appear before the provincial council to answer the charges presented by Domine Van Rensselaer. When the Dutch minister ap. peared before the council, on the twenty-fifth of Septem- ber, 1675, he made no denial of the allegations of the Rev. Van Rensselaer, but maintained that no one who had re-
1 Robert Livingston was born at Ancram, Scotland, December 13, 1654. He emigrated to America in 1674, and settled at Albany.
The minutes of the Albany board of Indian commissioners from 1675, were bound in 1751 in four large folios. Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. xiii. pp. 483, 485, 486 ; vol. iii. pp. 254-257.
2 The Rev. Nicolaas van Rensselaer had been ordained a deacon by the Right Rev. Earle, bishop of Sarum, and had preached in England to the Dutch congregation at Westminster, and had been chaplain to the Dutch embassador residing in London.
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ceived ordination as a deacon from the Church of England had sufficient authority to be admitted a minister in a Reformed church in the province to administer the sacra- ments without a certificate from one of the classes of the Reformed Church.
The council was unable at this meeting to determine what action should be taken in the matter, and ordered that the Rev. Van Nieuwenhuysen should present a writ- ten answer, "particularly whether the Ordination of ye ' Church of England be not sufficient qualification for a Minister comporting himselfe accordingly, to be admitted to officiate & administer ye Sacraments, according to ye Constitucons of ye reformed Churches of Holland."
The Rev. Van Nieuwenhuysen, on the first of October, gave the following answer, which the council accepted as satisfactory : "A minister according to the order of the Church of England lawfully called, is sufficiently quali- fied to be admitted to serve and administer the sacraments in a Dutch church within his majesty's dominions, who had promised to conduct himself in his ministrations con- formable to the constitution of the Reformed Church of Holland." 1
Although the Dutch inhabitants of Albany possessed the friendship of the Mohawks and the Indians living farther westward, they were nevertheless often appre- hensive that the River Indians and those of New England might do them some evil. The direful details of the burning of Northfield, Deerfield, Hadley, and Springfield, in Massachusetts, during the summer and fall of 1675, by the New England tribes under the leadership of the fa- mous Indian chief, King Philip, were heard with no little alarm by the settlers in Albany and Rensselaerswyck.
1 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 526-527. Historical Magazine. vol. 10. pp. 351-354.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
To allay the increasing fears of the people, Governor An- dros, in October, sent Captain Anthony Brockholls with more recuits to relieve Ensign Knapton of the command of Fort Albany. The provincial council ordered that no powder and lead should be sold "to any Indians whatso- ever at Albany " except to the Mohawks and Senecas, "under the penalty of one hundred guilders beaver for each quarter of a pound and so proportionally for more or less, or corporal punishent, extending to life as the case " might " require." The commander of Fort Albany however, was allowed to furnish powder, “ under his hand to some adjacent Mahicander [Mohegan] Indian, well known to him or the magistrates," but not more than "one-quarter of a pound for the present hunting," and to provide "some few such Indians," whom he knew desired ammunition for beaver-hunting, one pound of powder, with lead in proportion. This prohibition was to continue for six months after the date of its publication.
About this time the people of Massachusetts Bay charged the Dutch settlers of Albany with selling powder and lead to the Indians under King Philip. When this accusation reached the ears of the burghers of Albany, they were highly incensed and undertook to discover who were the authors of this harmful report. They caused Nehemiah Pierce and James Pennyman to be ar- rested and sent to New York for "writing false storeys to Boston "
In December, Philip with about a thousand Indians was reported to be forty miles distant from Albany. The Hudson being frozen, the people were greatly frightened. Runners were sent with dispatches to New York to ac- quaint Governor Andros of the approach of the New England Indians. As no troops could be conveyed from New York to aid in the defense of the place, Captain
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Brockholls, in January, enlisted the Mohawks into his service and sent them against Philip. While the Mo- hawk warriors were absent from their villages, their old sachems, wives, and children remained in Albany. The river opening unexpectedly about the beginning of Febru- ary, 1676, Governor Andros availed himself of the oppor- tunity to go to Albany, taking with him "an additional force," arms, and ammunition on six sloops. On his arrival he found about three hundred Mohawk warriors in the village, who had returned the previous evening from the pursuit of Philip. They had attacked a party of about five hundred New England Indians under King Philip, killing many and taking a number of prisoners.
The fears of the people having abated, Governor An- dros, in March, returned to New York, leaving Fort Albany in command of Sergeant Sharpe. The dilapi- dated condition of the old fort was so apparent to Gover- nor Andros that soon after his return to New York he gave orders for a new stockade-fort to be built on the hill, at the western end of Jonkers Straat, [now State Street, ] near the present site of St. Peter's church, "to defend and command the whole town of Albany." The four bastions of the fort were constructed that each might afford room for six guns.1 When the new fort was built in June, Ensign Sylvester Salisbury was placed in command of it. Captain Goosen Gerritsen van Schaick, Lieutenants Martin Gerritsen and Jan Jansen Bleecker, were at this time the officers of the local militia.
After the trial of the Rev. Wilhelmus van Nieuwen huysen in New York, the Rev. Nicolaas van Rensselaer was very unpopular with the members of the Reformed church in Albany. On Sunday, the thirteenth of Au- gust, 1676, he preached a sermon in Albany in which he
1 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 238, 242, 254-258, 266, 267 ; vol xiii. pp. 491, 492. Philip's war. Hough. 120-142.
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