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 5
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46
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY. .
quently reverted to the patroon in lieu of rent. The lessees were bound under oath not to lodge any unlicensed traders in their houses nor to receive their goods on pain of forfeiting all the rights granted by the patroon. When any question arose between lessees, the matter in dispute was to be submitted to the court of the manor without any appeal or further complaint respecting the decision rendered. Lessees were to submit themselves as faithful subjects to all the regulations, orders, and conditions made by the patroon and to those thereafter made by him. The patroon had the right of purchasing before all other persons the grain and cattle of his tenants and also other property belonging to them. When a colonist died intestate, his property in the wyck reverted to the pat- roon. The settlers were required to take their grain to the patroon's mill to be ground, which he was to keep in repair for their accommodation.
The president and council of Rensselaerswyck were empowered to execute the laws of the civil code, to en- force the enactments of the Lords States General, the ordinances of the West India Company and of the di- rector and council of New Netherland, and the rules and regulations of the manor. Two magistrates or justices (gerechts-persoonen), and the commissary-general formed the court of the manor. The other officers were the sheriff (schout), and a hangman (scherprechter). 1
In order to possess an extent of land on the east side of the river equal to that which he had purchased on the west side, the patroon instructed Jacob Albertzsen Planck, the first sheriff of Rensselaerswyck, to buy from the In- dians the tract called Papsickenekas, extending south- ward from a point opposite Castle Island to a point opposite Smack Island. This additional land, pur-
1 MSS. of Rensselaerswyck.
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47
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
chased on the thirtieth of April, 1637, made Kiliaen van Rensselaer and his co-partners the patroons of a manor about twenty-one miles long and forty-six wide, containing more than six hundred thousand acres of land, at present included within the limits of the counties of Albany and Rensselaer. 1
No people of the nations of Europe were more ac- quisitive than those of Holland. To obtain soil for culti- vation they took from the sea the low land of their once inundated country and inclosed it with massive barriers of sand and stone. With marts and manufactures they drew to the ports of the United Provinces the merchant- men of Europe. Their monopolies vexed the neighboring nations. They sailed all seas in quest of wealth. They received usury from royal borrowers. To get property and to increase their possessions was the quickening thought that animated the energies of the diligent in- habitants of Holland. This love of gain prompted the patroons of New Netherland to claim the right to trade for furs within the limits of their manors. Forthwith the West India Company filed a protest with the Lords States General calling the government's attention to the fact that the charter of privileges and exemptions of 1629 expressly reserved the traffic in all kinds of peltry to the corporation. The special immunity of the West India Company being ignored by the patroons, the colo- nists in turn began to trade clandestinely with the Indians and afterward openly. When William Kieft succeeded Wouter van Twiller as director of the com- pany's affairs, in 1638, the agents of the patroons and the colonists were actively competing with one another in the lucrative fur trade. 2
1 Willem Kieft arrived at Fort Amsterdam, March 28, 1638.
2 Book of patents. GG. pp. 13-16; 24-26. MSS. of Rensselaerswyck. Map of Rensselaer's manor, 1767.
48
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
In April, 1639, the Dutch navigator, David Pietersen de Vries, visited Fort Orange. The short account of his sojourn on Castle Island with Brandt Peelan, although marred by an unwarranted reflection respecting the patroon and his co-partners, furnishes several note- worthy incidents belonging to the early history of Rensselaerswyck. He says : "On the twenty-eighth we arrived at Beeren Island, where many Indians were fishing. In the evening we reached Brand- pylen's Island, that lies a little below Fort Orange and belongs to the patroons, Godyn, Ronselaer, Jan de Laet, and Bloemart, who had also more farms there which they had put in good condition at the company's cost, for the company had sent cattle from Fatherland at great expense, and these individuals, being the commis- sioners of New Netherland, had made a good distribution [of them] among themselves, and while the company had nothing but an empty fort, they had the farms and trade around it, and each farmer was a trader. *
"While I was at Fort Orange, on the thirtieth of April, there was such a high flood at the island on which Brand-pylen lived, who was my host at this time, that we were compelled to leave it and to go with boats into the house where there were four feet of water. This freshet continued three days before we could use the dwelling again. The water ran into the fort, and we were obliged to repair to the woods, where we erected tents and kindled large fires." 1
Several appeals made to the Lords States General to decide the matters in dispute between the West India Company and the patroons obtained, in 1640, the ap- proval of a new charter of privileges and exemptions.
1 Korte historiael. fol. 152. Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Second series. vol. iii. pp. 89-91.
49
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
Among the articles of this instrument was the provision allowing all patroons, free colonists, and inhabitants of New Netherland the privilege of selling goods brought from Holland by the payment of a duty of ten per cent. on their first cost to the West India Company. Another provision permitted the inhabitants to trade for peltries, but an export duty of ten per cent. in cash was required to be paid to the director and council of New Netherland upon all furs sent to Holland. Persons shipping com- modities from New Netherland were first obliged to pro- cure a permit and then to bind themselves to send them to the company's stores in Holland. The prohibition on the manufacture of woolen, linen and cotton cloth in the new country was removed. Whoever should convey a colony of five adult persons to New Netherland was en- titled to receive a tract of two hundred acres of land, with the privilege of hunting and fishing in the public forests and streams. "No other religion was to be pub- licly tolerated or allowed in New Netherland except that which was then taught and made a rule of practice by authority in the Reformed Church in the United Prov- inces." The company renewed its pledge to provide the colonists "with as many negroes as possible." The juris- diction of the patroons was not abridged. An appeal from the manor-courts could be made to the director and council of New Netherland when the amount in dispute exceeded the sum of forty dollars, and from all judgments in criminal cases as in the Netherlands. 1
The liberty of trafficking for furs was soon abused by the settlers. Some thinking that an opportunity was now afforded them to make their fortunes personally frequented the Indian villages and trucked for peltry. Others invited the Indians to their houses, admitted them
1 Hol. doc. vol. ii. fol. 234, 235, 239-262. 4
50
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
to their tables, placed napkins before them, gave them wine, and bestowed upon them the most obsequious at- tentions, which, it is said, the Indians, in time, looked upon "as their due and desert," and that when these civilities were not paid them they manifested great dis- pleasure. Some of the colonists of Rensselaerswyck, perceiving that the Mohawks wanted guns and were will- ing to pay twenty beavers for each piece, and as much as twelve guilders for a pound of powder, sold fire-arms and ammunition to them, from which large profits were real- ized. These private transactions were soon known to the traders coming from Holland to the height of the river's navigation, and they from time to time brought from the Netherlands guns, powder, and lead which they traded for peltry with the Mohawks. The four hundred war- riors of this tribe soon became expert in the use of these death-dealing weapons, achieving "many profitable for- ays " in Canada, and making "the surrounding Indians, even as far as the sea-coast," to whom previously the Mo- hawks had in like manner been subject, pay them tribute. The Indians whom the Mohawks had humbled into sub- mission now became eager to possess guns and ammuni- tion in order to release themselves from the degrading domination of the latter. Death being the published penalty for furnishing the Indians with fire-arms, the settlers of the lower colony, at Fort Amsterdam, could not be induced to provide the importuning Wilden with the desired weapons. The refusal of their daily requests affronted the Indians of this part of New Netherland, who called the colonists "materiooty," ( cowards, ) and saying that the Dutch might " be of some importance on water but were of no account on land," that as a people they "had neither a great sachem nor any chiefs." 1
1 Journael van Nieu Nederlant. Doc. hist. N. Y. vol. iv. pp. 7, 8.
51
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
Wampum, the shell-money of the Indians, was now counterfeited by some avaricious Hollanders, whose "ill- made, rough zeewan" lessened the circulation of the more valuable article made by the Wilden. The Indians made it by shaping small pieces of the shells of such testaceous fishes as the periwinkle, cockle and mussel into cylindrical beads, about a quarter of an inch long, perforated lengthwise like a pipe-stem. These were strung on strings and woven together into strips, some as broad as a man's hand and of different lengths. As money, the black or dark-purple beads were rated at double the value of the white ones. Not only was wam- pum used as money by the Indians, but they also highly prized it as a decoration, wearing it around their necks and arms, and attaching it to their clothing. They also gave it as a pledge for the fulfillment of their compacts and as a significant token of their good-will, when about to engage in conferences of any special importance. For a long time four beads of Indian wampum had the cur- rent value of a stiver (about two cents) in New Nether- land. The baser zeewan made by the Dutch threatening "the ruin of the country," a law was enacted by the director-general and council of New Netherland, by which six of the inferior beads were declared the equivalent of a stiver. 1
Arendt van Curler, who, in 1630, had been appointed assistant commissary of Rensselaerswyck, was now commissary-general of the manor. In the fall of 1641 Adriaen van der Donck, a graduate of the university of Leyden, Holland, assumed the duties of the schout-fiscaal or attorney-general of the colony. This officer, before sailing to New Netherland, was instructed by Kiliaen van Rensselaer to prosecute a number of farmers on his
1 Albany records. vol. ii. fol. 108-111, 118-119. Hol. doc. vol. v. fol. $60.
52
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
manor who were hiring laborers not in the service of the patroon, which transactions the latter declared tended greatly to his injury, "to the downfall of the colony, the transgression of his ordinances," and were "directly con- trary to their promises and sealed contracts." These of- fenders and other transgressors were to be brought by the attorney-general before the officers of the patroon, and action was to be taken against them, in order that they might be punished "by penalties and fines, conformably to law." 1
1 MSS. of Rensselaerswyck.
CHAPTER IV.
THE KERKEBUURT. 1
1642-1651.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer was peculiarly qualified for the duties of his patroonship. He was self-reliant and practical, wealthy and ambitious. His plans for the set- tlement of his colony and his measures for the welfare of his people evince the sound judgment and the executive ability which gave his acts no little prominence in the history of New Netherland. He built comfortable houses and ample barns for his tenants ; provided them with agricultural implements and live-stock ; erected saw and grist-mills at convenient places on the larger water-cour- ses of the manor ; and supplied his store with suitable goods to meet the common wants of the colonists.
The number of inhabitants of Rensselaerswyck had become so large in 1642 that the patroon willingly com- plied with the requirements of the West India Company to secure for the settlers the services of a clergyman of the Reformed Church. He requested the classis of Am- sterdam to provide the people of the manor with a "good, honest, and pure preacher." The Reverend Doctor Joan- nes Megapolensis, junior, the pastor of the congregation of Schorel and Berg, belonging to the classis of Alkmaar, was selected. This clergyman formally accepted his call
1 From kerk, church, and buurt, neighborhood.
53
54
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
to the new field of pastoral labor, on the sixth of March, 1642.1 One of its conditions was that he was to serve the patroon six years and to receive an annual salary of one thousand guilders, (four hundred dollars,) the first three years, so that he and his family should be "able to maintain themselves honorably and not be necessitated to have recourse to any other means, either farming, trading, cattle-rearing or such like, except the diligent performance of his duties for the edification of the in- habitants and Indians." This salary was to be paid in " meat, drink, and whatever he might claim," one-half in Holland, the other in New Netherland, at the current prices. He was also to receive a yearly donation of thirty schepels ( twenty-two and a half bushels ) of wheat, and two firkins of butter, or sixty guilders. If his services should be satisfactory to the patroon, it was further stip- ulated that the latter was to give him annually, for the last three years, two hundred guilders additional salary. The patroon besides giving the clergyman a present of three hundred guilders before he embarked for New Netherland, also agreed that he and his family should not be at any expense for food while making the voyage, and that his salary should begin on the day of his arrival at Fort Orange .? On the twenty-second of March, the classis of Amsterdam duly accredited him "to preach God's word in the colony " of Rensselaerswyck, "in con-
1 The acceptance of the call was attested, in Amsterdam, by Adam Bessels, a co-partner of the patroon, the Rev. Jacobus Laurentius and Petrus Wittewrongel, ministers of the Reformed Church.
2 In the agreement it is stated that the Rev. Dr. Megapolensis was thirty-nine years old, that his wife, Machtelt, was forty-two years of age, that their children, Hellegond, Dirrick, Jan, and Samuel, were respectively, aged fourteen, twelve, ten, and eight years. The clergyman was the son of the Rev. Joannes Megapolensis, pastor of the church at Coedyck, Holland, and of Hellegond Jansen. He married his cousin, Machtelt Willemsen, daughter of Willem Steengs, or Heengs .- Albany records. vol. v. fol. 323, 339. MSS. of Rensselaerswyck.
55
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
formity with the government, confession and catechism of the Netherland churches and the synodal acts of Dord- recht." The Amsterdam chamber of the West India Company demanded that the credentials of the Reverend Doctor Megapolensis should be submitted to it for approv- al, claiming that the commission granted him by the classis of Amsterdam was not valid without its attesta- tion and sanction. This prerogative Kiliaen van Ren- sselaer was unwilling to concede to the company. How- ever, as the vessel to convey the clergyman and his family to New Netherland was ready to sail, the patroon waived his objections to the company's approval of the document in a written protest. Having formally ex- amined the paper, the directors of the Amsterdam chani- ber gave it their indorsement on the sixth of June.
The ship, De Houttuyn, then sailed for New Nether- land, having as her passengers, the clergyman and his family, Abraham Staes, surgeon, Evert Pels, brewer, and his wife, Hendrick Albertsen and his wife, and four- teen other emigrants.1 These colonists arrived at Fort Orange on the thirteenth of August. Arendt van Curler as instructed by the patroon, provided the minister and his family with lodging and boarding until he could build a suitable house for them. Fearing that the colonists of his manor, living, as they did, at wide intervals from one another, might, at some time, fall victims to savage treachery and revenge, as had been the lot of some of the settlers near Fort Amsterdam, the patroon determined to have them dwell in the neighborhood of the church, which he intended to build near the walls of Fort Orange. He therefore made a small map of the proposed church- vicinage, designating the place for the site of the church,
1 Among these were Cornelis Lamberssen, Jochim Kettelhuer, Johan Helms, Johan Carsterssen, Jeuriach Bestvaell, Claes Jansen, Paulus Jansen Hans Vos, and Jurien van Sleswyck .- MSS. of Rensselaerswyck.
56
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
the parsonage, the manor-house and the dwellings of the traders and mechanics. This plan he showed to Abraham Staes and Evert Pels before they sailed from Amsterdam, who promised to build their houses on the sites designated by the patroon. The ferry established between the east and west banks of the river was given in charge of Hendrick Albertsen, who built a ferry-house on the north side of the Bever kill,1 flowing into the Hudson, where now is the eastern terminus of Arch Street. The patroon's directions respecting these matters were conveyed to Commissary Van Curler in memoranda given to the Rev. Dr. Megapolensis, on the third of June. Hendrick Albertsen, the patroon writes, "has been treating with me for the place of ferryman, fixing his dwelling by the Bever kill, in order to convey the people to the church-
neighborhood and back again from it. As the church, the minister's house, that of the officer, and also all those of the trades-people must hereafter be established there, as Abraham Staes and Evert Pels, the brewer, have undertaken, I am entirely willing, and consent that, with the exception of the farmers and tobacco- planters, who must reside on their farms and plantations, no tradesmen, henceforth and after the expiration of their service, shall establish themselves elsewhere than in the church-neighborhood in the order and according to the plan of building sent herewith ; for every one residing where he thinks fit, separated far from the others, would be unfortunately in danger of their lives, in the same manner, as sorrowful experience has taught around the Manhattans. Concerning these matters the commissary, Arendt van Curler, shall give notice to all persons, being called together, so that they may regulate themselves accordingly."
1 The Bever kill was early called the First kill. The stream is now known as Buttermilk creek.
57
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
The patroon's commissary, in obedience to the in- structions given him, contracted "for the building of a house for Domine Megapolensis which should be ready precisely at Christmas." The contractors, however, were dilatory, and it was not until November that they were ready to begin building. Then Van Curler thinking that it would be unwise to permit the work to proceed so late in the season, and "that the house would cause great expense in meat and drink, and the work not be ad- vanced," broke the contract. Fortunately, at this time Maryn Adriaensen van Veere offered to sell to the disap- pointed commissary a newly-built "house of oak-wood, all ready, cross casings, door casings, all of oak." The domine was consulted, who, after examining the build- ing, concluded that it was better adapted to his wants than the one to be erected for him. Thereupon Van Curler purchased it for three hundred and fifty guilders, or one hundred and forty dollars. 1
In order to preach to the Indians Domine Megapolen- sis began to study their peculiar language. In his short sketch of the Mohawk Indians, written in 1644, he tells of the many perplexities which embarrassed him in ac- quiring a knowledge of the Mohawk tongue .? He calls the Mohawks, Mahakinbas and Mahakuaas, or as they denominated themselves, Kajingahaga. The Mohegans he calls Mahakans, or as they were designated in the In- dian language, Agotzagena. "The Mohawks are divided
1 MSS. of Rensselaerwyck.
2 Korte ontwerp van de Mahakuase Indianen in Nieuw Nederlandt, haer landt, stature, dracht, manieren, en magistraten ; beschreven in't jaer 1644 ; door Johannem Megapolensem, juniorem, predikant aldaer. Amster- dam. Bij Joost Hartgers, bookverkooper op den dam. Anno 1651.
A short sketch of the Mohawk Indians in New Netherland, their land, stature, dress, manners and magistrates, written in the year 1644, by Johan- nes Megapolensis, junior, minister there. Amsterdam. By Joost Hartgers bookseller, at the dam. Year 1651. Vide Coll. N. Y. Hist. Soc. Second series. vol. viii. pp. 137-160.
58
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
into three tribes, called Ochkari, Anaware, Oknaho, the bear, the tortoise, and the wolf. Of these, the tortoise is the greatest and most eminent, and the members of it boast that they are the oldest. These have made a fort of palisades, and they call their castle Asserue.1 Those of the bear tribe are next to these, and their castle is called by them Banagiro. The last are the descendants of these, and their castle is called Thenon-
1 "The Maquaes have four touns, vizt Cahaniaga, Canagora, Cona- jorha, Tionondogue, besides one small village about 110 miles from Albany.
" Cahaniaga is double stockadoed round, has four ports, about four foott wide a piece, conteyns about 24 houses, & is situate upon the edge of an Hill, about a bow shott from the river side.
"Canagora is only singly stockadoed, has four ports like the former, conteyns about 16 houses ; itt is situated upon a fflatt, a stones throw from ye water side.
"Conajorha is also singly stockadoed, and ye like manr of Ports and quantity of houses as Canagora, ye like situacon, only about two miles distant from the water.
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