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 14
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
made some ambiguous declarations respecting doctrines. Domine Schaets called them heretical, and wrote a letter to the consistory of New York expressing his opinion of the misleading statements made by his colleague. Domine Van Rensselaer was summoned before the church-council, (kerkenraad,) which found him guilty of preaching heresy. The matter was then brought before the magis- trates of the court of Albany on charges prepared by Jacob Leisler, a German deacon of the Reformed church of New York, and by Jacob Milburne, an Englishman, living in Albany. A hearing was given the Rev. Van Rensselaer who, failing to exonerate himself from these charges, was imprisoned. The incarcerated clergyman appealed to the governor and council of New York. The latter immediately ordered his release from confinement, and the appearance of the parties before them. At the trial Stephanus van Cortlandt appeared for the Rev. Van Rensselaer. Upon the reading of all the evidence and papers in the case before the governor and council of the province, the mayor, the aldermen, and the ministers of the city of New York, it was resolved, that if all the parties were willing to abide by the judgment of the ker- kenraad of the Reformed church in Albany, and the de- cision of the governor and council respecting the pay- ment of the costs, that the matter should have this adju- dication.
Conformably to the orders of the governor and coun- cil of New York, an "extraordinary court " was held in Albany, on the twenty-eighth of September, and the case was tried before Captain Silvester Salisbury, commandant of the fort, Captain Thomas Delavall, Captain Philip Schuyler, Richard Pretty, Dirck Wessells, Pieter Winne, Andries Teller, Jan Thomase, Maarten Gerritse, and Michael Siston, sheriff. The decision of the court is thus
166
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
recorded : "Resolved unanimously and by [a] plurality of votes, that [the] Parties, [the Rev. Gideon Schaets and the Rev. Nicolaas van Rensselaer,] shall both forgive & forget as it become Preachers of the Reformed Religion to do ; also that all previous variances, church differences, and disagreements, & provocations shall be consumed in the fire of Love ; a perpetual silence and forbearance being imposed on each respectively ; to live together as Brothers for an example to the worthy Congregation, for edifica- tion to the Reformed Religion, and further for the removal and banishment of all scandals. And in case hereafter any difference may occur or happen between them, they shall seek redress from the Consistory, to be heard there ; but [the] parties not being content with its award, the Consistory shall then state to the Governor who is in fault, who shall then be punished according to the exigency of the case. In like manner each was warned not to repeat or renew any more former differences or variances, under a penalty to be fixed by their worships of the Court."
"The governor and council of New York, having re- ceived this return of the court, ordered that Jacob Leisler and Jacob Milburne should pay all the costs as they gave "the first Occasion of the Difference," and that Domine Van Rensselaer 1 should be free " from bearing any part thereof." 2
In March, 1677, Governor Andros was solicited by the governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut to per- mit their commissioners to treat in Albany with the Mohawks to make peace with the New England Indians. This request was readily granted. In April, John Pynchon from Massachusetts and James Richards from Connecti-
1 In 1677, Governor Andros deposed the Rev. Van Rensselaer from his office as a minister. In 1678, he died, and his widow, Alida Schuyler, in 1683, became the wife of Robert Livingston.
2 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 527-530.
167
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
cut made a treaty in Albany with the sachems of the Mohawks, who promised that their warriors should not " go a fighting " in New England any more.
The aggressive character of the Indians of Central New York was such that their forays had as early as 1672 extended as far south as Maryland and Virginia. Launch- ing their canoes upon the head-waters of the Susque- hanna River, the bold rovers proceeded southwardly on this long water-way into Pennsylvania, and thence to the wide expanse of the Chesapeake Bay, more than three hundred miles from their palisaded villages along the Mohawk and its tributaries.1 The prowess of these ex- pert users of fire-arms became famous among the differ- ent tribes of Indians whom they conquered and put under tribute while on these summer excursions. The savage rapacity of the invaders often led them to kill the cattle and plunder the dwellings of the settlers ; and not infre- quently, to avenge some conceived wrong done the mem- bers of their tribes, they murdered the isolated people of the frontier farms.
To relieve the fears of the Indians and settlers of Vir- ginia and Maryland from further hostile acts of the New York tribes, Colonels Henry Coursey and Philemon Lloyd were sent by Lieutenant-governor Notley of Mary- land to Albany to make a league of friendship with the Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Senecas. On the third, fourth, and fifth days of August, the Mary- land commissioners, having Gerrit van Slechtenhorst and
1 " It is one day's journey from the Mohawk Castles to the Lake whence the Susquehanna River rises. * * [It is] one day and a half's journey by land from Oneida to the kill which falls into the Susquehanna River, and one day from the kill unto the Susquehanna River. * * * [It is] half a day's journey by land and one by Water from Onnondage before we arrive at the River. * * * From Cayuga [it is] one day and a half by Land and by water before arriving at the River. * * * From [the] Senekes' four Castles [it is] three days by Land and two days by water ere arriving at the River." Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. 1. p. 259.
168
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
Arnout Cornelissen Viele and Akus Cornelis, an Indian, as interpreters, held conferences in the court-house and court-yard with a number of the sachems of these tribes. A treaty was made which the Indian chiefs promised their warriors would "perform and observe," or as an Oneida sachem declared : "We do make the covenant chain fast and clear like gold by which Corlaer 1 [Gov- ernor Andros] and they of Maryland and Virginia and we are linked, and we shall keep it untarnished." 2
In 1678, the province contained about twenty-three towns and villages besides the city of New York. The courts were denominated petty courts, courts of sessions, and a general court of assizes. The petty courts had cognizance of actions of debt and trespass under the value of five pounds, and were in every town, village or parish in the province. The courts of sessions were held in different precincts of the province, one of which was Albany. The general court of assizes, composed of the governor and council and all the justices and magistrates, was held once a year in New York. The duke's laws, the first published on the first of March, 1664, at Hemp- stead, Long Island, and afterward altered and amended by the court of assizes held in New York, were the pre- scribed rules regulating the affairs of the province. The chief power of making and executing the laws was vested in the governor and council of New York. A pillory or whipping-post and a pair of stocks for the punishment of light offences were erected in all the towns. Burglars and robbers were branded on their foreheads for their first offences and put to death for their third transgres- sions of the law.
1 Governor Andros was called "Corlaer" by the Indians, who told him that it was the name of "a man [Arendt van Curler], who was of a good disposition, and highly esteemed by them."
2 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 321-328.
169
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
Every male inhabitant between sixteen and sixty years of age, except justices, sheriffs, constables, ministers, school-masters, physicians, surgeons, sick and deformed persons, was enrolled as a militia-man, who was required to possess a good serviceable gun, one pound of powder, twenty-four bullets, four flints, and certain accouter- ments. Every year there were four training days for the drill of the local militia, and once a year a general training of the militia of all the towns within the court- districts, or ridings as they were called. Besides the in- fantry-militia, there were also companies of troopers or cavalry. About two thousand able-bodied men composed the militia force, of which number about one hundred and fifty were horsemen.
The fifth day of November was ordered to be annu- ally observed "for the great deliverance from the gun- powder-treason " of Guy Fawkes and his companions, who had in 1605, attempted to blow up the parliament- house in London. The thirtieth day of January was designated as a day of fasting and prayer "to shew a hearty and Serious Repentance and Detestation of that Barbarous Murther committed upon the Person " of the late King Charles I. of England. The twenty-ninth day of May was set apart for the celebration of the birth and restoration of Charles II. then king. Every minister in the province was enjoined to pray and preach on these days and all other persons were ordered to abstain from their ordinary employments and to observe these anni- versaries as prescribed by law.
A merchant worth five hundred or a thousand pounds was considered "a good substantial " man, and a farmer possessing half these amounts in property was deemed rich. In the province there were about twenty churches or meeting-houses, but the scarcity of ministers left
170
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
about one-half of the pulpits vacant. Among the re- ligious denominations in the province, the Presbyterians and Independents were said to be "the most numerous and substantial."
Albany is described as having at this time "a smale long stockadoed forte with foure bastions in it, 12 gunns, sufficient agt Indians." 1
On the seventh of June, 1678, Governor Andros was ordered to issue a patent to the heirs of Kiliaen van Rens- selaer by which they were granted the possession of the manor of Rensselaerswyck with such privileges and im- munities as they formerly had enjoyed, (except the possession of Fort Orange and its outworks, and the lands upon which they were). The houses which had been erected "on some part of the premises " since 1652, were to remain in the possession of the persons owning them, who were ordered to pay to the patroon during the term of thirty-one years, beginning at the time when the letters-patent were issued, a yearly rent, which was not to exceed the value of two beaver-skins for the large houses, one beaver-skin for the "middle sort," and the half of a beaver-skin for the smallest buildings. At the end of the thirty-one years, the rent of the houses was to be agreed upon by the two parties. 2
The Lutherans, who had erected a church on the plot of ground now the site of the City Building, on the west side of South Pearl Street, between Howard and Beaver streets, purchased the lot from Captain Abram Staets, on the twenty-eighth of March, 1680, the ground being conveyed to Albert Bratt, Myndert Frederikse, Anthony Lispenard, and Carsten Frederikse, elders and deacons of the Lutheran church. "The lot was described as
1 Answers of Governor Andros to inquiries about New York in 1678. London doc. iii. Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 260-262.
2 Doc. colonial hist. N. Y. vol. iii. pp. 269, 270.
171
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
being bounded on the east by the public highway, 12 rods 11 feet ; on the south by the first kill and the com- mon road, 21 rods 1 foot ; on the west by the little kill, (cleyn killitje,) 6 rods 4 feet ; and on the north by the old road, belonging to Mr. [Richard] Pretty, Jacob Sanders, Johannes Wendell, Myndert Harmense, and Hendrick Cuyler, 23 rods 5 feet Ryland [Rhineland] measure." 1
In the spring of 1680, Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter, two Labadist missionaries from Friesland, Hol- land, visited Albany. Their observations of the people and of the village furnish some very valuable as well as interesting information. In their journal, under the date of Friday, the nineteenth of April, they thus speak of their passage up the Hudson :
" We left New York about three o'clock in the after- noon with a southerly wind, in company with about twenty passengers of all classes, young and old, who made great noise and bluster in a boat not so large as a com- mon ferry-boat in Holland ; and as these people live in the interior of the country somewhat nearer the Indians they are more wild and untamed, reckless, unrestrained, haughty, and more addicted to misusing the blessed name of God and to cursing and swearing. They put on board some tons of oysters, which are not to be found at Fort Albany or away from salt-water. We made rapid progress, but with the night the wind slackened, and we were compelled to come to anchor in order to stem the tide.
" We had again this morning [Monday] a southerly breeze, which carried us slowly along until noon, when we came to anchor before the Fuyck and Fort Albany or Orange. Every one stepped ashore at once, but we did not know where to go. We first thought of taking lodg-
1 Annals of Albany. Munsell. 1850. vol. i. pp. 123, 124.
172
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
ings with our skipper, [Thomas Davidse Kikebell, the son-in-law of Domine Schaets, ] but we had been warned that his house was unregulated and poorly kept. Mons. van Cleif, wishing to do us a kindness, had given us a letter of recommendation to Mr. Robert Sanders, 1 and M. de la Grange had also presented us to the same friend. We went ashore [on Sunday] just as preaching was over, to deliver our letter. This person as soon as he saw us at his house was pleased, and received us with every at- tention, and so did all his family, giving us a chamber for our accommodation. We did not remain his debtors but heartily served him in what was necessary, whether by instruction, admonition, or reproof, which he always received kindly as it seemed, promising himself as well as all his family to reform, which was quite necessary.
"Mr. Sanders having provided us with horses, [on Tuesday, the twenty-third,] we rode out about nine o'clock, to visit the Cahoos which is the falls of the great Maquas kill, [Mohawk River].
"On our return we stopped at the house of our guide, whom we had taken on the way up, where there were some families of Indians living. Seeing us, they said to each other, 'Look, these are certainly real Dutchmen, actual Hollanders.' Robert Sanders asked them how they knew it. 'We see it,' they said, 'in their faces and in their dress.' 'Yes,' said one, 'they have the clothes of real Hollanders ; they look like brothers.' They brought us some ground-nuts, but although the Dutch call them so, they were in fact potatoes, for of ground-nuts, or mice with tails [pea-nuts] there are also
1 Robert Sanders, or Saunders, was a resident of Albany, and engaged in the fur trade. His knowledge of the languages of the Mohawk and River Indians was so extensive that he often acted as an interpreter between them and the English governors. Governor Francis Lovelace, September 1, 1670, gave him letters-patent to the tract of land called by the Indians Tascam- catick, now the site of Lansingburgh.
173
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
plenty. They cooked them, and gave us some to eat, which we did. There was a canoe made of the bark of trees, and the Indians have many of them for the pur- pose of making their journeys. It was fifteen or sixteen feet or more in length. It was so light that two men could easily carry it, as the Indians do in going from one stream or lake to another. They come in such canoes from Canada, and from places so distant we know not where. Four or five of them stepped into this one and rowed lustily through the water with great speed, and when they came back with the current they seemed to fly. They did this to amuse us at the request of Mr. Sanders. On our arriving home in the evening, the house was full of people, attracted there out of curi- osity, as is usually the case in small towns where every one in particular knows what happens in the whole place. *
"The horses were got ready, [on Wednesday] and we left about eight o'clock for Schoonechtendeel, a place lying about twenty-four miles west or northwest of Albany towards the country of the Maquas [Mohawks]. We rode over a fine, sandy cart-road through a wood of nothing but beautiful evergreens or fir-trees, but a light and barren soil. * * * The village proper of Schen- ectady, is a square, set off by palisades. There may be about thirty houses which are situated on the side of the Maquas kill, a stream they cannot use for carrying goods up or down in yachts or boats. There are no fish in it except trout, sun-fish and other kinds peculiar to rivers, because the Cahoos stops the ascent of others, which is a great inconvenience for the menange and for bringing down the produce. *
"We went [on Saturday, the twenty-seventh], to call upon a certain Madam Rentselaer, widow of Heer Rentse-
174
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
laer, son of the founder of the colony of Rentselaers- wyck, comprising twelve miles square from Fort Orange, that is, twenty-four miles square in all. She is in pos- session of the place, and administers it as patronesse, un- til one Richard van Rentselaer, residing at Amsterdam, shall arrive in the country, whom she expected in the summer, when he would assume the management of it himself. This lady was polite, quite well-informed, and of good life and disposition. The breaking up of the ice had once carried away her mansion, and every thing connected with it. * * She treated us
kindly. We went to look at several of her mills at work, which she had there on an ever-running stream, grist-mills, saw-mills, and others. One of the grist-mills can grind 120 schepels of meal in twenty-four hours, that is five an hour. Returning to the house, we politely took our leave. Her residence is about a quarter of an hour from Albany up the river. *
"We went to church in the morning, [Sunday, April 28], and heard Domine Schaets preach, who, although he is a poor, old, ignorant person, and besides is not of good life, yet had to give utterance to his passion, having for his text, 'whatever is taken upon us,' et cet., at which many of his auditors, who knew us better, were not well pleased, and in order to show their condemnation of it, laughed and derided him, which we corrected. In the afternoon, we took a walk to an island upon the end of which there is a fort built, they say, by the Spaniards. That a fort has been there is evident enough from the earth thrown up, but it is not to be supposed that the Spaniards came so far inland to build forts, when there are no monuments of them to be seen down on the sea- coasts, where, however, they have been according to the traditions of the Indians. This spot is a short
175
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
hour's distance below Albany, on the west side of the river. * *
"We were invited to the fort [Fort Albany] by the Heer commandant, who wished to see us, but left it to our convenience. We went there [on Monday] with Robert Sanders, who interpreted for us. That gentle- man received us politely. * * If he was not a Scotchman, he seemed, nevertheless, to be a good Eng- lishman, and, as we thought, a Presbyterian. We soon took a friendly leave and returned home. * * *
"Before we quit Albany, we must say a word about the place. It was formerly named the Fuyck by the Hollanders, who first settled there on account of two rows of houses standing there, opposite to each other, which being wide enough apart in the beginning, finally ran quite together like a fuyck, 1 and therefore, they gave it this name, which, although the place is built up, it still bears [this name] with many, especially the Dutch and Indians living about there. It is nearly square, and lies against a hill, with several good streets, on which there may be about eighty or ninety houses. Fort Orange, constructed by the Dutch, lies below on the bank of the river, and is set off with palisades, filled in with earth on the inside. It is now abandoned by the English, who have built a similar one back of the town, high up on the declivity of the hill, from which it commands the place. From the other side of this fort, the inhabitants have brought a spring of water, under the fort and under the ground into the town, where they have in several places fountains always of clear, fresh, cool water.
" The town is surrounded by palisades, and has several gates corresponding to the streets. It has a Dutch Re- formed, and a Lutheran church. The Lutheran minis-
1 A long net expanded on hoops which decrease in size toward the closed end.
176
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
ter lives up here in the winter and down in New York in the summer. There is no English church, or place of meeting, to my knowledge. As this is the principal trading fort with the Indians, and as the privilege of trading is granted to certain merchants, there are houses or lodges erected on both sides of the town, where the Indians, who come from the far interior to trade, live during the time they are there. This time of trading with the Indians is at its height in the month of June and July, and also in August, when it falls off ; because it is then the best time for them to make their journeys there and back, as well as for the Hollanders, on ac- count of their harvests." 1
In the fall of 1680, the large and brilliant comet known as Newton's appeared in the southwestern sky. Its nearest approach to the sun was made on the eight- eenth of December. In the spring of 1681, the comet became visible. Its appearance caused many supersti- tious people to believe that the streaming-star portended extraordinary calamities. The magistrates of Albany as well as the inhabitants of the village were in great perplexity respecting the mission of the mysteriously moving body. The former, on the first of January, 1681, wrote to Captain Anthony Brockholls in New York, saying :
"Wee doubt not but yow have seen ye Dreadfull Comett Starr wh appeared in ye southwest, on ye 9th of Decembr Last, about 2 a clock in ye afternoon, fair sunn- shyne wether, a little above ye Sonn, wch takes its course more Northerly, and was seen the Sunday night after, about Twy-Light with a very fyery Tail or Streemer in ye West To ye great astoneshment of all Spectators, &
1 Journal of a voyage to New York and a tour in several of the American colonies in 1679 and 1680, by Jasper Dankers and Peter Sluyter. Translated by Henry C. Murphy. Memoirs of Long Island Hist. Soc. 1867. vol. i.
177
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
is now seen every Night wt Clear weather. Undoubt- edly God Threatens us wh Dreadfull Punishments if wee doe not Repent. Wee would have Caused ye Domine Pro- claim a Day of fasting and humiliation to-morrow to be kept on Weddensday ye 12 Jany in ye Town of Albany & Dependencies-if we thought our Power & authority did extend so farr, and would have been well Resented by Yourself, for all Persons ought to humble Themselves in such a Time, and Pray to God to Withdraw his Right- eous Jugements from us, as he did to Nineve. Therefore if you would be pleased to grant your approbation wee would willingly cause a day of fasting & humiliation to be kept, if it were monthly."
Captain Brockholls, whom Governor Andros had ap- pointed his deputy during the latter's absence from the province while visiting England, wrote to the alarmed magistrates saying : "Wee haue seen the Comett not att the time you mention only in the Evening The Streame being very large but know not its predicts or Events, and as they Certainly threaten Gods Vengence and Judgments and are prmonitors to us Soe I Doubt not of yor and each of yor performance of yr Duty by prayer &c. as becomes good Christians Especially at this time. *
* The Governor went hence the 7th and sailed from Sandy point [Sandy Hook] the Eleventh Instant." 1
The age and disability of the Rev. Gideon Schaets caused the magistrates of Albany at the request of the membership of the Reformed church to ask the classis of Amsterdam to send the congregation an assistant pastor. The Rev. Godefridus Dellius was selected for the office. On the second of August, 1683, he arrived at Albany. For his salary, "it was resolved [by the magis- 1 Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iii. p. 352. 12
178
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
trates] that [the] said De Dellius shall enjoy yearly the sum of nine hundred guilders Holland currency payable in pieces of eight 1 at forty stivers each, or in merchant- able beavers counted at two pieces of eight each, and his reverence shall receive his money quarterly on condition that if De Schaets should grow feeble or die, Dom. Del- lius shall perform the whole duty.">
"His reverence is further told that if the magistrates should agree with the inhabitants of Schinnectady re- garding divine service to be performed there, either once a month or once in six weeks, [the] said Dellius shall
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.