USA > New York > The old streets of New York under the Dutch. A paper read before the New York historical society, June 2. 1874 > Part 4
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
Some of the more elegant dancers wear petticoats of quiltel silk, of varied hue, embroidered with filagree in silver or in gold.
The elderly ladies have about the head the crape or tartanet "samare " then in vogue.
The gentlemen appear in homespun, serge, or kersey, or col- ored cloth ; some in velvet or silk breeches, and coat flowered with silver, with, perhaps, gold or silver buttons, and lace neck- cloth, and silken stockings; shoes with buckles of copper or sil- ver, as suits the wearer's taste or means ; and some with steel or silver-handled sword hanging by the side.
Among the young Juffers or misses, we notice Margrietje Van Cortlandt, subsequently Mrs. Jeremias Van Rensselaer, daughter of the notable burgomaster, Oloff Stevensen Van Cortlandt, who is walking with becoming dignity about the room, with his little bor Johannes.
We notice, also, Captain Martin Cregrier's pretty daughters. Lysbeth and Tryntje, with their young brother Frans, who has proudly on his arm Miss Walburg de Silla, with whom the bans had just been published.
Further on is de Heer Dirck Van Cleef, the prosperous trader, and his wife Geesje, and their two little people from the Cingel, the little girl in a mob-cap and long earrings, and the little boy in knee-breeches and silver-buckled shoes.
And there is the fine lady of the day, Madame Ann Bayard Verlett, wife of Captain Nikolaes Verlett, formerly Ann Stuyve- sant, a relative of the Governor, and . her three sons, Balthazar, Pieter, and Nikolaes, by her first husband, Samuel Bayard, all of whom became famous men during the English colonial time.
With Madame Bayard is her relative, the beautiful Judith Ver- lett, who, a few years later, when visiting Hartford, was arrested as a witch, and only delivered from the clutches of the unga !- lant Paritar . by the most caruest action of the Governor. Non
--- -
41
her witchery is exerted upon her attendant swain, Master Niko- laes Bayard, whom she subsequently married.
Walking with some dignitary of the day, is the proud Juffrouw Antonia Van Slaghboom, Arent Van Corlaer's wife, who as- sumed her former name to show her descent, as being of the house of the Slaghbooms.
Talking with the bride, Mrs. Domine Drysius, we behold Do- mine Johannes Megapolensis and his wife, Mrs. Magteldt, near whom is her son Samuel, the young Domine, who has just grad- uated with honor at Harvard University, and her other sons, Direk and Jan. And there, too, is her daughter, Hillegonde, car- rying her head pretty high, for she is married to no less a person than Cornelius Van Ruyven, the Colonial Secretary.
And here is the elegant Margareta de Riemers, now the bride of Cornelius Steenwyck, the rich merchant; and young Wilhelm Bogardus, a son of the late Domine, walking proudly with Miss Wyntje Sybrants on his arm, with whom he is soon to enter the bonds of matrimony.
And there is the Don Giovanni of the period, Geleyn Verplanck, who, after hany scrapes, finally was permanently captured by the fascinations of Hendrickje, daughter of Madame Wessels, then a young miss of about fifteen.
Here also is Juffrouw Vander Donck, widow of Adrian Van- der Donck, the Patroon or feudal chief of the colony of Colon Donck, between the Hudson and Zaeg-Kill, or Saw-mill Creek, who, from his Dutch appellation or sobriquet of the "Jonker," gave its appellation to the modern Yonkers.
And there is Nikolaes de Meyer, and his wife Lydia-she that was a Van Dyck, daughter of the rich Schout Fiskvul, Van Dyck, and at whose wedding it is said a disappointed lover, young De Haas, took the lucky bridegroom by the throat, and would have strangled him had the guests not interfered.
Leaning on the arm of Jacob Steendam, the New Amsterdam fort. we see the gay diroreés, Mrs. Nikolaes de Sille, the only re- corded phenomenon of that kind in New Amsterdam.
42
And here, too, is Mrs. Dr. Hans Kierstedt, from the Water side, and her little girl Blandina, and near them Master Piet. Bayard, who afterwards married the fair Blandina.
And there were the lively young fellows, Stoffel Hoogland. and Jan Ter Bosch, and also Conraedt or Coentie Ten Eyck, the tanner, on the Heere graft, who gave his name to Coenties Slip.
Dancing lustily we see some more of the young girls and belles of the period-Gysbertje Hermans, and Tryntje Kip, and Maretje Van Hoorn, and Geertruyd Wyngaerdr, and Jannetje Hillebrants, and Magdaleentje Van Tellickhuysen, and Belletti- Plottenburg; all then buoyant and palpitating with life and joy. now vanished and numbered with the army of the Past. With them. too, is the stately Judith Isendorn, who soon after fell captive to the classic wooing of Aegidius Luyck, the Latin school- master.
Here is bluff Thomas Hall, the English farmer, from the "Smit's Valley," near Beekman street, and Evert Duychingh and his wife Hendrickje, and Johannes Pietersen Van Brugh, from the Hoogh Straat, the latter of whom married a daughter of Mrs. Domine Bogardus.
There, also, walking about in uniform, with a proud beauty on either arm, is the redoubtable commander, Ensign Dirck Smit. He who, with a dozen men, had marched through the then terra incognita down to the South or Delaware River, to capture a Sweedish ship ; who, with a little garrison of 50 men, had defended the village of Esopus from the Indians, and had stood a three weeks' siege in the stockades, and who afterwards fought his way through the woods and took an Indian fort nine miles inland, just north of Esopus, and made the great Indian chief Popoganachen to flee before him.
And there were the rich bachelors Balthazar de Haert. Jan Van Cortlandt, and Jacobus Kip, and Johannes Nevins, the Clerk of the Court; and also Carl Van Brugh, the Company's " - " Koopman or chief commissary.
43
And Jacob Melyn, son of the former Patroon of Staten Is- land : and many more of the lads and lasses of the time who we may not further particularize.
And there were solid rounds of beef, and pork, and venison, and supaen and oysters, and Oly-Koecken and Panne- Koccken in variety.
And there was Antigua rum and brandy punch, and Fiall, Passado, and Madeira wines, and other strong potations that snited the stamina of the time-and kept off the cold of the wintry walk or drive.
The revel, which began at five, was finished by nine-when Captain de Pos with his rattle watch began to go the rounds-and there was a putting on of woollen and cloth wrappers, and " rain cloths," and yellow and red " love hoods," through which peered roguish eyes that often invited some enterprising Jan or Direk to take a New Year's smack, on the home drive to the Bouwerie --- and soon the guests were gone, the lights out, and the full moon shone down on the glistening snow, piled on high peaked roof, and weathercock, and the gigantie windmill that stood like sentinel over the sleeping town, with no noise to break the silence of the night, save its croaking arms as they moaned under the blasts from the bay. Swinging in the moonlight, too, was the sign at the Widow Litschoe's tavern, on the water side, facing the East river, where had been another party of a different character.
There-playing draughts and enveloped in smoky clouds, drinking capacious potations to his Mightiness of Orange and de Heer Directeur, and confusion to the red men and Spaniards, and swearing big oaths of valor --- had been Hendrick the smith from Brugh-Straat, and Jacob Schaafbanck the jailor, Albert Pietersen the trumpeter, and Hendrick Hendricksen the drummer, from Smee street, and little Jan Jansen Busch the tailor; which latter, being too noisy in his demonstrations and pugnacious in his mode of argument, Hendrick Van Bommel and Jan Jansen Van Langstraat, two of the night watch, were carrying off, kick. ing and roaring, to the jail-roo. Stadthuys, there to finish
44
the evening's amusements until he could resume his wont phlegm.
Outside of the city walls there were various localities of inter est, but time will not allow more than a hasty glance at a few of them.
Beyond the "Water poort" and city palisades, Pearl street was continued along the shore, and bore the name, up to about Peck Slip, of the " Smit's Valley" vley, or valley.
At about the foot of Peck Slip was the ferry to Long Island. where the passenger, if he desired to cross, blew the horn hang. ing there to summon William Jansen, the ferry man, who for about three stivers, or six cents, would take him over thir stream.
Outside of the city palisades, beyond Wall street, Broadway was called the "Heere- Wegh."
Beyond Wall street was the " Maagde-Padlje," or the Maiden Path, which nomenclature was changed to Green Lane or Maiden Lane about 1690.
This lane was, under our Dutch ancestors, a rural shady walk, with a rivulet running through it, and sloping hills on either side, from one of which looked down Jan Vinge's windmill, on the Damen farm, just north of Wall street.
South of the Maiden Lane stretched the " Klaaver Waytie," or pasture field of clover, belonging to the Jan Jansen Damen farm : and near by, a little cascade, formed from living streams, foll through the foliage over the rocks, and delighted the eye of the poet or lover of the period, as he roamed amid these then seques- tered shades.
We pass Vandercliffe's orchard and Gouwenberg Hill, on part of the present Pearl, Cliff and John streets, then a favorite place of resort for the citizen on sultry summer afternoons. There he might rest, fanned by breezes from the bay, overlooking the romantic wooded shores on the opposite side of the river, and re- freshed by a little stream that came singing down its rocky bel along the present line of Goldl street.
45
We pass also Besteraers Kreupel bos, or Kripple Bush, since Bokman's Swamp, covering parts of Ferry, Gold, Frankfort and jacent streets, and arrive at the Park, in those days called the "\'lacke," the Flat, or the Commons.
On one side of this passed the main highway leading out of the town to the Bouweries, afterwards known as the Post road to Boston.
To this Common the cows of the inhabitants were driven from the city by Gabriel Carpsey, the herdsman, who, as he passed along Broadway, Pearl street and Maiden Lane, blew his horn, and collected the cattle to be pastured, which came out lowing from their various enclosures. On his return along those streets, each respective cow, knowing her home, stood at the gate until admitted, the herdsman again blowing his horn to notify the owner to receive his docile animal.
Passing the corner of Chatham and Duane, we come to the fresh-water pond or lake, called the Kalck-hoeck, in subsequent days corrupted into the COLLECK, or COLLECT.
This pond was very deep, one of the most romantic spots on the island, and a favorite resort for the angler and the pleasure- seeker.
Where the "Tombs" now looks grimly down on noisome Centre street, there was presented in those days a charming syl- van scene. Lofty hills, clad with verdure and rich with varied foliage, surrounded the clear waters of the lake, which was fed by rivulets that flowed in through groves fragrant with flowers, and musical with the song of birds. Little pleasure-houses were placed upon the banks and shore, and fairy-like boats skimmed the pellucid waters.
Here the angler pursued his gentle sport, and here the lover of Nature came from the busy haunts below, and found repose and solace amid the peaceful scene.
On this pond, in 1796. then 60 feet deep, John Fitch paddled, to the admiration of the gazing multitudes, his little experimen- il steamer, about 18 feet long.
-------
46
North of the lake stretched the range of marsh land, which was subsequently found necessary to drain through Canal str. ....
From the Kalek pond, a little sparkling fresh water streat. called the " Ould Kill," or the "Versch Water," or fresh water. ran over Wolfert's meadow, which covered the present Rooseve .. street, and emptied into the East river at foot of James street. which stream was covered by a bridge at the junction of Roost. velt and Chatham streets, in English times called the Kissing Bridge-so called because a certain salute was claimed there by enterprising travellers from their complaisant companions.
Near this was the celebrated tea-water pump, whose water was subsequently carried in carts about the city, within the memory of many here.
North of the Kalck Hoeck pond was land called the Werpoes, originally granted to Augustine Heermans, in 1651-about 50 acres-and for a time a plantation for old negroes.
In 1644 the woods were partially cleared between this planta- tion and the great Bouwery, where was afterwards Governor Stuyvesant's house, between the present 2d and 3d aveunes and 10th and 11th streets, about 125 feet west of St. Mark's Church.
There were five other Bouweries or farms that had belonged to the Company, between the Chatham Square and Stuyvesant's Bouwerie, that were sold to various individuals.
The above farms were devastated by the Indians in 1655, but subsequently houses were again built on them, and the Bouwery road was established, running at first through dense woods.
We read of one Jansen about this time asking to be released from his tenancy of land near the Bouwery, "as he had two miles to ride through a dense forest." .
On the west side of Broadway, between Fulton and a line be- tween Chambers and Warren Streets, and extending to the North River, was the West India Company's farm, subsequently confis- cated by the English, afterwards known as the Duke's and King's Farm, and by the Crown ceded to Trinity Church.
47
North of it was the Domine's farm or Bouwerie. This is the domain of Mrs. Anneke Jans or Jansen-as has been humorously said, "One of the few immortal names that were not born to die."
This lady was born in Holland, and came over early ; her first husband was one Roeloff' Jansen, a superintendent at Rensselaer- wyck, who subsequently came to New Amsterdam. On the de- cease of Jansen the fair widow was persuaded to re-enter the bonds of Hymen by Domine Everardus Bogardus. . Subse- quently, on the Domine's decease, the widow went to Albany, and died there in 1663.
She had eight children, four under the first and four by the sec- ond marriage.
Her will is at Albany, dated 29th January, 1663, by which she leaves to her children and grandchildren all her real estate in equal shares, with a prior charge of 1,000 gnilders in favor of the children of the first marriage, out of the proceeds of their fath- er's place, viz .: a certain farm on Manhattan Island, bounded on the North River.
This farm had originally been conveyed by Governor Van Twiller to Roeloff Jansen. It was confirmed to Mrs .. Anneke subsequently by a grant given by Stuyvesant in 1654, and was again confirmed in 1667 by the first English Governor, Nicolls.
The farm consisted of about 62 acres, running on Broadway from Warren to Duane ; it then left Broadway on a northwest course, and ran north along the river. It commonly went by the name of the Domine's Bouwerie, the upper part above Canal be- ing called the Domine's Hook.
A majority of the heirs, after Mrs. Anneke Jans Bogardus' decease, about the year 1670, made a conveyance of the tract to Governor Lovelace, whose interest in the same was subsequently confiscated for debt.by Governor Andros, under orders from the Duke. It was then called the Duke's farm, and was subse- quently granted to Trinity Church by Queen Ann.
-
48
The claim of the heirs who did not join in the transfer ( f : property, and their descendants, has been asserted at differs times down to the present day, and a right of escheat has al. been claimed as against Trinity Church in favor of the State:
The heirs claim that the grant of the tract by Queen .... to the Church was invalid, inasmuch as the Crown had no title t., their portion of it.
The first suit we read of was brought by Cornelius Brower. one of the heirs, in 1750, in which he was non-suited, and in 1760 a verdict was rendered against him ; and for the rest of the century, in the newspapers of the time, are to be found notic. s. of meetings of the heirs for the assertion of their claims.
In 1807 suit was brought by one Col. Malcolm ; one in 1530. by three of the heirs; and other suits in 1834 and in 1847, and also since that date, which all resulted in favor of the church.
We subsequently read of private meetings and mass meetings. at different times, of these irrepressible heirs, who are now daily increasing, in geometrical proportion.
At one of the last grand meetings in 1868, in Philadelphi :. delegates were present from five States, and upwards of two thousand heirs were represented, and bonds were issued to pay expenses.
A suit, I believe, is now being prosecuted in the Circuit Court of the United States, of this circuit, to recover this ancient piece of swamp pasturage, which now is worth many millions, but at one time is stated to have been leased for the annual rent of two logs !
The church title is not, as is alleged by the heirs. placed upor the deed from a majority of the heirs in 1670 to the English Governor Lovelace, but upon the grant to the Church by Queen Ann in 1705, and a continuous and open adverse occupancy and possession by the church, since that time, which possession under a clain of title has made, it is asserted, an indefeasible title.
The heirs in their litigation meet the defence of adverse pos. session -- which, by law, in twenty years ripens into a title- by
49
the plea that Trinity Church does not hold adversely, but merely by a possessorship as tenant in common under the deed to Lovelace by a part of the heirs ; and claim the well-known principle of law that one tenant in common holds for the joint benefit of his co-tenants, and cannot hold adversely.
North of the Domine's Bouwerie was an extensive swamp, and north of that the tract known to antiquarians as " Old Jan's land ; " being the land of old Jan Celes, a settler from New Eng- land in 1635.
Time will not allow me further to pursue my sketch of the people and places of this our earlier period.
A period which seems to increase in interest as it recedes into the past.
Recent historians have brought forward prominently the cour- age, the patriotism, and the worth of the Batavian people, co-workers with the Anglo-Saxon in vindicating human rights and extending the area of liberty.
A people, it has been remarked, whose country, created in the midst of marshes, had no solid foundation except in the wisdom of her rulers and the untiring industry of her people.
A people whose learning has given to science discoveries that have proved of lasting benefit to humanity.
A people whose patriotism overwhelmed their land with the floods of ocean to keep it from invasion, and whose courage has never given way under oppression or defeat.
A people who, emerging triumphant from the bloody struggle which for nearly half a century had taxed their life and their resources, established public schools, and gave to Europe free- dom of education, of conscience and religion.
A people whose country, in the face of the inhumanity and intolerance of the time, was, like the Jewish altar, an asylum for the persecuted and oppressed ; and which, says Michelet, was the bulwark, the universal refuge and salvation, humanly speak- ing, of the human race.
---------
50
While New England was burning witches and torturing Q kers, New . Netherland was free from delusion, and receiv. : within its borders ministrants of every creed.
When Stuyvesant. subsequently, began to persecute the Qua- ker, his hand was checked. When, also, he made proclamation against outside preaching or conventicles, except in conformity with the Synod of Dort, under a heavy penalty, he was sternly rebuked by his directors.
On one occasion. we read, that he sought to coerce the Quakers at Flushing to conform to his ideas of worship, and arrested and transported to Holland one of their principal meu, John Bowne. The latter, on appeal to the Home Government, returned in 1663, bearing a letter to the Governor from the Dutch authori- ties, re-establishing tolerance in matters of religious opinion, in these memorable words : " The consciences of men ought to be free and unshackled, so long as they continue moderate, peacea- ble, inoffensive, and not hostile to government. Such have been the maxims of prudence and toleration by which the magistrates of this city. Amsterdam, have been governed ; and the conse- quences have been that the oppressed and persecuted from every country have found among us asylum from distress. Follow in the same steps and you will be blessed."
Such were the noble words of this noble land, in opposition to the policy of countries that hid the light of science in dungeons -that governed through the judgments of the Inquisition, and guided minds by the terrors of the sword, the scourge, and the anathema.
I cannot close this allusion to this people, great in all qualities that make a nation, without a reference to the preamble of their notable Declaration of Independence of the Spaniard-issued 1651-the prototype of our own Charter of Freedom. A por- tion of their Declaration reads as follows: " The States.General of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, to all who shall see or read these presents, greeting : Whereas, it is notorious to every one that the prince of a country is established by God as a sov.
.....
51
ereign chief of his subjects, to defend and preserve them from all injuries, oppressions, and violences : ** * And when he does not do this, but instead of defending his subjects, seeks to oppress them, and deprive them of their privileges and ancient customs, and to command them and use them as slaves, he ought not to be deemed a prince, but a tyrant ; and as such, his subjects, according to right and reason, can no longer recog- nize him as their prince. * * But they can abandon him, and choose another in his place as chief and lord to defend them."
I wonder, Mr. President, in view of this nationality, which is part of our own, which is sympathetic with us in all that consti- tutes greatness and virtue in nations, which is part and parcel of our history and of our blood,-I wonder, I say, that while the flags of St. Patrick and St. George, on the festal days of those Saints, flaunt their folds over City Hall and public edifices, that, on the festal day of St. Nicholas, no banner is seen to recall our ancient historic time.
Is this ignorance or an incomprehensible partiality ?
It is sad to reflect that there is not a thing left to mark the site of this ancient town, with the exception of the little slender scion of the pear tree, that has shivered through the wintry blasts, and is now dying, at the corner of the Third avenue and Thirteenth street, whilom the site of a part of the Bouwerie of Governor Stuyvesant.
In Europe, each locality preserves with a religious care all remnants of its early history.
But here, Time's effacing fingers, assisted by the inroads of "Speculation " and Finance, that know no law higher than gain, have swept away all visible memento of the past.
Nieuw Amsterdam has vanished. The names of some of the old settlers and denizens, preserved in those of their descendants, and a few old records in the City and State Archives, are the only tangible proofs of even the existence of the old Dominion.
The quaint little city has passed into history.
52
The once busy and hardy people have left no trace of their ar. tive and earnest life ; and even their grave-yard has been built over and buried from human contemplation.
I have thus, Mr. President, endeavored to fulfill my attempt to present, in a manner, perhaps, too familiar for the gravity of this body, a review or sketch of our old city in its primeval days, and to group together some of the personages, both notable and hum- ble, who preceded us in the occupation of our island.
I have presented to you little that is new, little that is not due to the researches of your local antiquarians, at the head of whom is our respected member, Dr. O'Callaghan.
But it seems as if this association, in the midst of its more prominently useful researches, would do well, at times, to review the incidents of the lives and places of abode of the grave, per- severing, just men that preceded us; to endeavor to keep up a public interest in this the most interesting period of our local history ; and to hold up to succeeding generations the trials, the courage, the industry and the virtues of our Dutch ancestors.
i
------
CURIOUS AND GRAPHIC PORTRAITS -OF- OLD NEW YORK. 1. FAC-SIMILE OF MAP OF NEW YORK INI728 Mounted on linen, with roller, price Si co
REPRINT OF NEW YORK DIRECTORY FOR 1786. Price
50.
THE OLD STREETS OF NEW YORK, A P2- per read before the Historical Society by JAs. W. GERARD. $1 00.
IV. A SERIES OF NINE ETCHINGS OF OLD NEW YORK, by HENRY FARRER.
"OLD ToMI'S," "POST OFFICE," etc., etc., mounted and in portfolio, $20 00.
v. DR. FRANCIS' " OLD NEW YORK." Large paper copy, 'out of print and scarce), Sto co. Vi. A COLLECTION OF OLD PRINTS, MAPS, etc., etc., relating to "Old New York."
سارة الطبى
5563
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.