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 4
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
side of a navigable river, or two Dutch or six English miles along both sides of it, and so far back into the interior as the situation of the occupiers would admit. The land thus selected was not to be taken possession of until the Indian proprietors had been satisfied with a compensation for it. Each patroon was then to be granted the full possession and enjoyment of the land within the limits of his manor and the right to dispose of it by testament. The chief command and the lower jurisdiction of these estates were given to the patroons, and no person was allowed to fish, hunt, and own mills on them except such persons as the proprietors permitted. The patroons were privileged to sail and traffic along the coast of North America, from Florida to Newfoundland, provided their vessels returned with all the commodities to Fort Amsterdam and paid a duty of five per cent. on them to the agents of the West India Company before shipping them to Holland. Along the cost of New Neth- erland they were allowed to trade with such goods as they wished to dispose of, and to receive in return for them all kinds of merchandise "except beavers, otters, minks, and all sorts of peltry, which trade " the company reserved to itself. Where the company had no fur col- lectors there the patroons were privileged to trade for peltry on the condition that they should pay to the com- pany "one guilder for each merchantable beaver or otter- skin " obtained by them. The commodities brought from Holland in the company's ships for the colonies of the patroons were to be transported at certain rates ; goods carried by other vessels for them were dutiable to the company. The colonists of the patroons were to be "free from customs, taxes, excises, imposts, or any other con- tributions for the space of ten years." But they were not "permitted to make any woolens, linen or cotton-
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
cloth, nor to weave any other stuffs " in the new country "on pain of being banished, and as perjurers to be arbi- trarily punished."
All judgments given by the courts of the patroons, exceeding the sum of fifty guilders, (about twenty dol- lars) had an appeal to the director and council of New Netherland. A colonist entering the service of a patroon was not permitted to leave it or to engage in that of another unless a consent in writing was first obtained from the patroon having control of the person desiring to make the change. The West India Company promised to do everything in its power to apprehend any colonist breaking his contract of service and to deliver him into the hands of his patroon or of the latter's attorney to be proceeded against according to the laws of the Nether- lands. The patroons were to appoint deputies whose duty it should be to furnish information to the director and council of New Netherland concerning all things relating to their colonies, and at least once in twelve months, to make reports of their condition to the company. The patroons and the colonists were, as soon as it was prac- ticable, to find out ways and means whereby they might support a minister and school-master that the service of God and zeal for religion might not grow cold and be neg- lected. The patroons were also enjoined to procure a com- forter of the sick for the settlers as soon as they planted a colony. The company promised to provide the colonists with as many negroes as it conveniently could on con- ditions thereafter to be made. Such private persons as on their own account or others in the service of masters in Holland, who should be inclined to emigrate to New Netherland, were, with the approbation of the director and council at Fort Amsterdam, privileged to take up as much land as they were able to improve and were granted 1288707
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
the right to enjoy the same in full property either for themselves or their masters. 1
This charter seemingly a brief summary of well-de- fined franchises clearly mirrors the real object contem- plated by the self-interested projectors of the instrument. Its honoring conditions of proprietorship were devised to entice wealthy men to risk capital in a speculative scheme that might be attended with irreparable losses. With spe- cious promises of freedom from taxation it was planned to induce poor men to place themselves in bonds of servitude and to submit to the arbitrary laws of rigorous masters. Its prohibitions were the suggestions of ava- rice and its privileges were only granted to those who were deemed able to fulfill all the pledges of tribute which it exacted. It was to subserve the selfish purposes of a greedy monopoly which failed to hide its mercenary fea- tures behind a thin mask of philanthropy. In a distant country removed from public observation and censure this instrument commissioned men to lay anew the foun- dations of feudalism and to fetter human freedom with the shackles of serfdom. The charter was published in 1630, and the pamphlets containing it were widely circu- lated through Holland. 2
1 Historische verhael. deel xviii. fol. 94. Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Second Series. vol. i. pp. 369-377.
2 The pamphlet has this title : " Vryheden by de Vergaderinghe van de Negenthiene van de Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie vergunt aen allen den ghenen, die eenighe Colonien in Nieuw Nederlandt sullen planten. In het licht ghegheven. Om bekentre maken wat Profijten ende Voordeelen aldaer in Nieu Nederlandt, voor de Coloniers ende der selver Patroonen ende Meesters, midts- gaders de Participanten, die de Colonien aldaer planten, zijn bekomen. [En- graving ]. West indjen kan sijn Nederlands, groot gewin. Verkley nt' svijands Macht bringt silver-platen in T' Amstelredam. Voor Marten Fansz Brandt, boeckverkooper, woonende by de nieuwekerck, in de Gereformerde Catechismus. Anno 1630."
CHAPTER III.
RENSSELAERSWYCK.
1630-1641.
Among the first persons to make known to the West India Company their intention to plant colonies in New Netherland was Kiliaen van Rensselaer, 1 a wealthy di- rector of the Amsterdam chamber, who, for many years had been a dealer in diamonds and pearls in that city. 2 The authority to settle a colony on such land as he should select was formally conferred on him, on the nineteenth of November, 1629.3 He then sent instructions to Sebas- tiaen Jansen Crol, at Fort Orange, to purchase for him a tract of land from the Indians, sufficient in extent for the settlement of a colony. Crol at once made the neces- sary overtures to certain Indians possessing land near the fort. The Indians, on the eighteenth day of April, 1630, conveyed to Van Rensselaer the tract of land called Sanckhagag, on the west side of the river, extending
1 Kiliaen or Kelyaen van Rensselaer was the son of Hendrik and Maria (née Pafraats) van Rensselaer. His first wife was Hellegonda van Bylet, by whom he had one son, Johannes, who married his cousin, Elizabeth van Twiller. In 1627, Kiliaen van Rensselaer married Anna van Wely, by whom he had eight children : 1. Maria ; 2. Jeremias, who married Maria, daughter of Oloff Stevensen van Cortland ; 3. Hellegonda ; 4. Jan Baptiste, who married Suzanna van Wely ; 5. Eleonora ; 6. Suzanna, who married Jan de la Court ; 7. Nicolaas, who married Alida Schuyler ; and 8. Rykert, who married Anna van Beaumont. MSS. of Rensselaerswyck.
2 Korte historiael door D. David Pietersz de Vries. Hoorn, 1655. fol. 162.
3 MSS. of Rensselaerswyck. Protest of Nicholas Coorn.
37
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
from a point above Beeren Island to a point opposite Smack Island, in breadth "two days' journey inland." 1
Meanwhile Kiliaen van Rensselaer actively exerted himself to obtain the quota of people which the West India Company required to be settled the first year on the selected land. With practical sagacity he had maps made that attractively represented the lands he had se- lected on the North River for his colony .? His judicious advertisements induced a number of persons to accept the proposals he offered them as settlers of his manor, and these set sail, on the twenty-first of March, 1630, from Holland, in the Unity, commanded by Jan Brouwer. 3 Having arrived at Fort Amsterdam on the twenty-fourth of May, the ship ascended the river to Fort Orange, where Commander Crol sent the settlers to the land which he had recently purchased for their occupancy.
The patroon desired another tract of land and empow- ered Gillis Hossett to purchase it. This commission he executed on the twenty-seventh of July, 1631, and ob- tained from the Indians a piece of land extending along the west side of the river, from Fort Orange northward to a point "a little south of Moenemines castle." 4 At
1 Beeren Island is eleven miles south of Albany and was called by the Dutch Beeren Eylandt, Bears Island ; beer, a bear, beeren, bears. The small bay between it and the west bank of the river was early known as (uwee Ree (Old Harbor). Smack Island is north of Beeren Island.
MSS. of Rensselaerswyck. Book of patents. G. G. p. 9.
2 In the book of accounts of Rensselaerswyck, under the date of Febru- ary 8, 1630, is the following entry in Dutch : "To Gillis van Schendel for one map on parchment, and four ditto on paper, of the islands and other tillable lands, (bouwlanden,) in my colony, to be sent there for their use, 6 Rix dollars."-MSS. of Rensselaerswyck.
3 Among the number of emigrants were Wolfert Gerrittsen, the farm- overseer, (opper-bouwmeester,) Brant Peelen from Nieukerk, a farm-laborer, (bouw-knecht,) Rutger and Seger Heindricksen from Soest .- MSS. of Rens- selaerswyck.
4 "Monemins Casteel" represented on the map of Rensselaerswyck, was seemingly on Haver Island, between the third and fourth branches of the Mohawk River, south of Waterford.
non
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a part a part of the MAP OF Mhm RENSSELAERSWYCK 1631,
39
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
the same time he purchased the tract called Gesmessert, lying on the east side of the river, opposite Castle Island, extending "from Petanock, the Molen kill, northward to Negagonse, in extent about three [Dutch miles]." 1
In order to advance more rapidly the growth of the colony, Kiliaen van Rensselaer formed a limited partner- ship with Samuel Godyn, Johannes de Laet, and Samuel Blommaert, three influential members of the Amsterdam chamber of the West India Company .? To give greater publicity to the advantages to be obtained by persons be- coming colonists of Rensselaerswijk or Rensselaerswyck, 3 new maps of the estate were drafted and other advertise- ments made of the fertility of its farms and the produc- tions of the new country. Not only were the several tracts of land invitingly displayed upon these maps but representations of towns were also delineated on them, bearing the names of the manorial co-partners. Notes containing information concerning game were also in- scribed on these maps. 4
1 MSS. of Rensselaerswyck. Book of patents. G. G. p. 4
2 MSS. of Rensselaerswyck. Hol. doc. vol. v. fol. 298. Albany records. vol. vii. fol. 72, 73. Korte historial. De Vries. p. 162. Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Second series. vol. iii. p. 89.
3 Wijk or wyck, noun feminine, refuge, parish, ward, district, manor. Anglo-Saxon wic, a port, village. In all original Dutch words the letters ij are used instead of y. In Dutch compound words formed of two nouns either the two remain unchanged, or the first noun takes an s or an e as Rensselaerswyck Rensselaer-manor ; kerkeburt, church-neighborhood.
4 "Opposite Fort Orange, on the south point of De Laet's Island are many birds to be shot, geese, swans, and cranes. Turkeys frequent the woods. Deer and other game are also there ; also wolves but not larger than dogs. On De Laet's Island are many tall and straight trees suitable for making oars. Fat and excellent venison can be obtained in large quanti- ties from the Maquaas, principally in the winter ; three, four, or five hands of wampum for a deer. Deer would be exchanged readily for milk or butter. Deermeat is well suited for smoking and pickling."
"In the fourth kill are pike and all kinds of fish. Here the sturgeon are smaller than at the Manathans [the island on which New York is built.] One can be bought from the Wilden for a knife." Vide Map of Renssel- aerswyck.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
The exclusive privilege of the West India Company to trade for peltry with the Indians of New Netherland was, in April, 1633, boldly infringed upon by some Eng- lish merchants of London, who sent a ship to the Hudson River to obtain a cargo of furs. They had taken into their employment Jacob Elkens, who earlier in the cen- tury had command of Fort Nassau on Castle Island. While in the service of the West India Company he had won the confidence and the good-will of all the tribes of the northern territory of New Netherland, and was there- fore well-suited to carry out the instructions of his Eng- lish employers.
The sight of a strange ship, flying the British flag, ap- proaching unannounced the wharf at Fort Orange caused considerable excitement in the little fortification. Eager to know what object had brought the English vessel to the height of the river's navigation, Hans Jorissen Hou- ten, commanding the garrison, sent an officer to the English ship to obtain information concerning her pres- ence in this part of New Netherland. When he learned that she had come there to traffic for furs and that her officer claimed that the surrounding territory belonged to Great Britain, he immediately ordered Captain Trevor to depart from the river with his ship, and forbade him to trespass upon the commercial privileges of the incorpo- rated body of Dutch capitalists.1 As if complying with the command of Captain Houten, the English seaman departed with his ship. However, as soon as he was out of sight of the gazing garrison, he ran his vessel close to the west bank of the river and there cast anchor. Un- der Elkens's superintendence a tent was pitched on the shore and an assortment of English goods was conspicu-
1 The English claim to the territory of New Netherland was based on the discoveries of the Cabots in 1497 and 1498, and on the grant given in 1584 to Sir Walter Raleigh by Queen Elizabeth.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
ously displayed in it. The Mohawks, learning that their old friend Elkens had come again to trade with them repaired in large numbers to the tent, carrying with them their packs of beaver and otter-skins. The fur- traders of the West India Company heard these facts with no little astonishment. Having then no means to eject the invaders, the Dutch traders erected a tent near the one occupied by Elkens and became the eager com- petitors of the zealous factor for the furs of the Indians. To induce the Wilden to barter with them, they loudly disparaged the value of the English goods and trucked their cloths and wares at lower rates. Exasperated by this opposition, Elkens then took advantage of their pres- ence by sending a shallop up and down the river to col lect furs from those Indians who had been intimidated by the Hollanders from visiting his tent. One day the shallop ventured too near Fort Orange, and fell into the hands of Commander Houten. Sticking green boughs about her, he and a number of the soldiers of the garri- son sailed in the captured vessel to the place where the English were trafficking with the Indians. Here he found three vessels and a body of soldiers sent from Fort Amsterdam by Director Van Twiller 1 to seize the Eng- lish vessel. Deaf to the protestations of Elkens, who loudly declared that he had the right to trade on soil be- longing to Great Britain, the Dutch soldiers carried the English goods on board the British ship and then pulled down the tent of the enraged factor. To add to the dis- grace of the English, it is said that the elated trumpeter of Fort Orange loudly blew his instrument while the ejectment of the interlopers was in progress. It is fur- ther related that some of the excited Hollanders beat several of the Indians who had come to trade with El-
1 Pieter Minuit sailed for Holland in March, 1632. Wouter van Twiller arrived at Fort Amsterdam in April, 1633.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
kens. The English ship was taken to Fort Amsterdam, where she was detained a short time by Director Van Twiller, and then permitted to return to England. When she arrived at London, the English merchants presented to the embassadors from the Netherlands a formal com- plaint of the ill-treatment their agents had received on British territory at the hands of the Dutch, and de- manded the payment of damages for the losses they had sustained. The Dutch government answered these charges by affirming that the English had no right to trade within the limits of New Netherland ; alleging that the river and the adjoining country were discovered by Henry Hudson at the expense of the East India Com- pany in 1609, "before any Christians had been there, as was certified by Hudson;" and that "the West India Company had commanded, possessed, and cultivated the country from the beginning of its charter, and had car- ried on trade there, without any person having with rea- son questioned " its privilege "or sought to destroy its trade by force, except some prohibited traders " and Jacob Elkens. Besides giving emphasis to these declarations, it was added that the West India Company "had suf- fered special loss;" that "the injurious seed of discord had been sown" between the Indians and the Dutch, who previously had lived with each other in friendship ; and that "other serious mischiefs" had resulted from El- kens's visit, such as "the killing of men and of cattle." 1
One of the most noticeable consequences of this affair was the special attention given to the welfare of the per- sons employed at Fort Orange to collect furs by the West India Company. Through Director Van Twiller orders were given to Dirck Cornelis Van Wensveen to erect within the fortification "a handsome large house with a
1 Holland doc. vol. ii. fol. 51-88; 140-143, 196.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
flat roof and lattice-work, and eight small dwellings for the people." 1
The extensive territory of Rensselaerswyck had as yet few settlers.2 Each year, however, increased the num- ber of its inhabitants. Many of these early pioneers, whose patient toil transformed the wilderness of the Up- per Hudson into palisaded fields of waving wheat and wide acres of tasseled maize, dwelt at first in temporary huts, the construction of which is thus described by a Dutch writer: "They dig a square pit in the ground, cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep, and as long and as wide as they think proper. They case the earth inside with wood all around the wall, and line the wood with the bark of trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the earth. They floor this cellar with plank and clapboard it overhead for a ceiling, run a roof of spars
1 Albany records. vol. i. fol. 86.
2 In 1630 the following names of persons, residing at Fort Orange and in Rensselaer's manor are recorded in the books of monthly wages and the manuscripts of Rensselaerswyck : Wolfert Gerritsen, Rutger Hendricksen van Soest, Seger Hendricksen van Soest, Brandt Peelen van Nieukerke, Simon Dircksen Pos, Jan Tyssen, Andries Carstenssen, Laurens Lau- renssen, Barent Tomassen, Arendt van Curler, Jacob Jansen Stol, Martin Gerrittsen van Bergen, Claes Arissen, Roeloff Jansen van Maesterlandt, Claes Claessen, Jacques Spierinck, Jacob Govertsen, Raynert Harmensen, Bastiaen Jansen Krol, Albert Andriessen Bradt.
In 1631: Maryn Adriaensen van Veere, Thomas Witsent, Gerrit Teu- nissen de Reus, Cornelis Teunissen van Westbroek, Cornelis Teunissen van Breukelen, Johan Tiers, Jasper Ferlyn, Gerrit Willem Oasterum, Cor nelis Maessen van Buren Maassen, Cornelis Teunissen Bos.
In 1634: Jan Labbadie, Robert Hendricksen, Adriaen Gerritsen, Lu- bert Gysbertsen, Jan Jacobsen, Jacob Albertzen Planck, Joris Houten, Jan Jansen Dam.
In 1635 : Jan Terssen van Franiker, Juriaen Bylvelt, Jan Cornelissen, Johannes Verbeeck.
In 1636 : Barent Pieterse Koyemans, Pieter Cornelissen van Munnich- endam, Dirck Jansen van Edam, Mauritz Janssen, Arent Andriessen van Frederickstad, Michel Jansen, Jacob Jansen van Amsterdam, Simon Wal- ings van der Belt, Gysbert Claessen van Amsterdam, Hans Zevenhuyzen, Cristen Cristyssen Noorman van Vlecburg, Adriaen Hubertsen, Rynier Ty- manssen van Edam, Tys Barentsen Schoonmaker van Edam, Tomas Jan- sen van Bunick, Cornelis Tomassen, Arent Steveniersen, Johan Latyn van
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
clear up and cover the spars with bark or green sods so that they can live dry and warm in these houses with their families for two, three, and four years. ** The wealthy and principal men in New England in the beginning of the colonies constructed their first dwelling houses in this fashion for two reasons. First, in order not to waste time in building and not to stand in want of food the next season ; second, in order not to discour- age the poorer laboring people whom they brought over in numbers from Fatherland. In the course of three or four years, when the country became more cultivated, they built themselves handsome houses, spending on them several thousand dollars." 1
Verduym, Claes Jansen van Nykerk, Rutger Jacobsen van Schoenderwoerdt Ryckert Rutgersen.
In 1637: Jan Michaelsen van Edam, Pieter Nicolaussen van Nordinge, Teunis Cornelissen van Vechten, Burger Joris, Jan Ryersen, Abraham Stevensen, Cornelis Teunissen van Merkerk, Goosen Gerritsen van Schaick, Willem Juriaensen Bakker.
In 1638: Jan Dircksen van Amersfoort, Gerrit Hendricksen, Wybrant Pietersen, Willem Meynten, Cornelis Leendertsen, Francis Allertsen, Mar- tin Hendricksen van Hamelwaard, Roeloff Cornelissen van Houten, Adri- aen Berghoorn, Volckert Jansen, Hendrick Fredricksen, Jacob Jansen Nos- trandt, Christoffel Davits, Claes Jansen Ruyter, Jacob Flodder, Gysbert Adriensen van Bunick, Teunis Dircksen van Vechten.
In 1639 : Jacob Adriaensen van Utrecht, Ryer Stoffelsen, Cryn Corne- lissen, Adam Roelantsen van Hamelwaard, Sander Leendertsen Glen, Pieter Jacobsen, Johan Poog, Gilles Barentsen, Cornelis Spiernick, Claes Jansen van Breda, Claes Tyssen.
In 1640: Nys Jacobsen, Jannitje Teunissen, Jan Teunissen, Teunis Jacobsen van Schoenderwordt, Andries Hubertsen Constapel van der Blaes, Andries de Vos, Adriaen Teunissen van der Belt, Jan Creynen, Jan Jansen van Rotterdam, Jacob Jansen van Campen, Cornelis Kryne van Houtten, Jan Cornelissen van Houten, Claes Gerritsen.
In 1641. Adriaen van der Donck, Cornelis Antonissen van Slyck, Claes Gysbertsen, Wolfertsen, Teunis de Metselaer, Joris Borrelingen, Claes Jan- sen van Ruth, Cornelis Cornelissen van Schoonderwoerdt .- MSS. of Rens- selaerswyck.
The Dutch preposition van means of, from, or by ; van Frederickstad i. e., of or from Frederickstad.
1 Information relative to taking up land in New Netherland. By Cornelis van Tienhoven. 1650. Hol. doc. vol. v. fol. 145, 146. Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iv. p. 31.
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THE HISTORY OF ALBANY. *
The first farm placed under cultivation by the patroon in 1630 was in charge of Wolfert Gerrittsen, the prin- cipal farm-master (opper-bouwmeester), who was paid twenty guilders or eight dollars a month for his service besides his board. A farm-hand (bouw-knecht), re- ceived from twenty-five to one hundred and twenty guilders or from ten to forty-eight dollars a year as wages in addition to his board. Colonists without capital, be- fore leaving Holland, were often furnished by the patroon with clothing and money, for which they were to pay him thereafter a stipulated quantity of produce or a cer- tain sum of money or a specified length of wampum. The first settlers erected on the land assigned them temporary huts, in which they dwelt until the houses built at the expense of the patroon were ready for occupation. The latter stocked these farms with horses and other cattle, and also provided his tenantry with agricultural imple- ments. A farm and its buildings were sometimes leased at an annual rent of three hundred guilders, (about one hundred and twenty dollars,) sometimes for five hundred guilders, (about two hundred dollars,) payable in mer- chantable beaver-skins, produce, money or zeewan. The lessees were required to give annually to the patroon the tenths of all the grain, fruit, and other productions of the cultivated land, and also one-half of the increase of the cattle. It was often stipulated that lessees were to per- form each year for the patroon certain kinds of labor, as cutting in the forests a number of pieces of wood and conveying them to the bank of the river, and to give him one or more days' service with their horses and wagons. Several bushels of wheat, a number of pounds of butter, and a few fat fowls for a quit-rent were also commonly demanded of the colonists renting farms. When settlers erected farm-buildings at their own expense, these fre-
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