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YALE
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THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND

" No proud discovery known in ancient lore
Can match that wondrous waif Vespucci found,
A world — new world — at ocean's farthest bound."
DoMiNB Seltns to Db. Cotton Mathek.

VAN REXSSELAER AXD THE NIJKERK WORTHIES

THE STORY OF
NEW NETHERLAND
THE DUTCH IN AMERICA

BY

WILLIAM ELLIOT GEIFFIS
MEMBER or THE NETHERLANDISH SOCIETIES OP LEYDEN
MIDDLEBURG AND LEEUWARDEN

BOSTON AND NEW TORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
igihe BibeciSibE ptew dambtibge
1909

COPYRIGHT, igog, BY WILLIAM ELLIOT GRIFFIS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PuUished April iqoQ

IN RADIANT MEMOBY OP
"DEAR OLD DORP"
WHEBB THB CHILDREN OP HOLLANDER, PILGRIM AND PURITAN
IN MINGLED STRAIN OP BLOOD AND COMMON HERITAGE
OF ANCESTBAL MEMOBIES MADE GOOD AMBBICANS

PREFACE
Let us understand the difference between Ger
many and Holland, the Dutch and the Germans,
separate history from fairy tales, and distinguish
jokes from facts.
Despite official documents, book-titles, and me
morial tablets, there was never any such place or
state as New Netherlands, nor any admiral named
" van " Tromp, nor any Dutch clergyman with the
title of "Dominie." The word "schnapps " was not
in the Dutchman's vocabulary, nor did Hollanders
ever talk Pennsylvania German, — as is repre
sented in the stage dialect of Kip van Winkle. The
earliest settlers of New Netherland did not smoke
tobacco. The Dutch folks of New Amsterdam did
not associate Santa Claus with Christmas, but on
the 6th of December they celebrated St. Nicholas's
Day, and on the 25th of the same month the birth
day of the Christ. The hardy, active men who made
New Netherland were not fat, or old, or stupid
fellows. They were young men, lithe, alert, and
venturesome. The first comers knew little or no
thing about tobacco, though they quickly learned
its use from the Indians, and even smoked the home
grown article, presented to them by the Pilgrims
of Massachusetts. Not one of them pronounced

viii PREFACE
the syllable " dam " in " Amsterdam " or " Kotter-
dam," as if he were swearing in English.
Most of the grotesque stories about the Hol
landers in New Amsterdam grew up in late times,
long after Dutch ceased to be spoken in America.
Then their geographical names were corrupted and
a luxuriant crop of mythology, like fungus, gave
the funny fellows their chance. Then the vulgarity
and dregs of Dutch speech, with much of its snap
and vitality, also, entered into American English.
Then " schnapps," a German word, " Dominie,"
a Scotch spelling of the Latin "Domine," and
"van" Tromp with his legendary broom, — prefix
and besom being both purely British inventions,
— came into our speech to corrupt English. Then
young Washington Irving, without having seen
any but the southern portion of decadent Holland,
took the world-wide myth of Hip from the Shop,
which has nothing in it peculiarly Dutch, out of its
setting in Germany, located it in the CatskiUs,
and made a funny picture of New Netherland men
and ways. What if he had got hold of Pilgrims or
Puritans first?
In hundreds of volumes purporting to be seri
ous history, Irving's comic supplement to the early
history of New York is quoted as both fact and
truth. Its coloring has been accepted as exact by
so-called American historians. Darley's carica
tures and Boughton's delicious jokes on canvas
have kept up the illusion. With such material his-

PREFACE ix
toriographers, taking themselves seriously, pieced
out their narratives when original research and
documents were both lacking.
After the English conquest of 1664, the Dutch
language, gradually falling out of law and busi
ness, was heard in the church and home, but
written only by the ministers. Even after it was
bowed out of the pulpit, it was lovingly kept in
use by the aged. It lingered longest in the coun
try and in the city kitchens among the black slaves
and the servants. Yet its snap (the very word, in
this sense, is Dutch), vigor, and picturesqueness
have enriched American English. Often gro
tesquely altered in form, as in " boss," " boom,"
" hunker," " boodle," etc., or in familiar terms
like " forlorn hope," " taps," etc., it has furnished
many of our expressions in military, political, and
social life and much of our slang. "American
isms," borrowed from Low Country speech, have
puzzled European students of English as spoken
on this side of the Atlantic, who do not recognize
old friends and the ghosts of history. Even the
colors in " Old Glory " are criticised harshly, be
cause the historically Dutch origin of our flag,
especially of the stripes, which stand for federal
government, is not known or considered. Many
British jibes and falsehoods about the Dutch, to
our shame, mar our speech and writing. Of this
we should repent, because four of our original thir
teen states were settled from the Netherlands.

X PREFACE
Yet the pendulum may swing too far either way.
After the caricaturist follows the flatterer, though
neither may ever have read or written a Dutch
sentence. Diedrich Knickerbocker's "History of
New York " and some recent books show the ex
tremes of jovial detraction and uncritical laudation.
While our British friends tell about " van " Tromp
and some decry even their best king, William III
(" Dutch Billy ") as a " sour Calvinist," the speeches
of those who glorify Dutch ancestors often soar
as far beyond fact as do balloons above the earth,
and an after-dinner " wind-trade " flourishes as
in the days of speculation in tulip bulbs.
To understand the Dutch people, we must not
inquire of aliens in speech or temper, or of belated
tradition. To get the truth one must see the Dutch
homeland, go into the archives for the past, and
let those long dead speak in their own defense.
He must live among the Hollanders, and with their
descendants, to know the real character of the
people who laid the foundations of our four Mid
dle States. Then the student, who, like the author,
is not of Dutch blood or inheritance, can emanci
pate himself from old wives' fables, distorted views,
and damaging traditions.
While, therefore, reckoning as assets some know
ledge of the language of the Netherlands and study
in their archives during seven visits beyond sea,
perusal of the books and papers in the deacons'
chest in Schenectady and in the State Library at

PREFACE xi
Albany, and familiarity with the local records of
church and village in the valleys of the Hudson,
the Mohawk, and the Raritan, I count as even
more valuable my fourteen years of life with de
scendants of people from Patria in two Dutch-
American towns. I studied five years at New
Brunswick, New Jersey, the Dutch- American edu
cational capital. For nine years, as Domine of the
Dutch church of Schenectady, I served a congre
gation uniquely rich in heirlooms and documents,
the people being for the most part descendants
of the pioneers of 1661. In both places I learned
fact and truth in human lives as well as in parch
ments. Many current notions about New Neth
erland were seen to be vulgar errors, of which
Americans should be ashamed. Prom the age of
fourteen, until going to Boston to live, I was during
twenty-five years amember of the Reformed Church
in America, drinking in her noble traditions, while
critically challenging all statements passing as
history ; for between the truth of history and the
truth of religion there is no vital difference. Hap
pily my predecessors or neighbors, in Schenectady
(Pearson, Vermilye, Yates, MacMurray), in New
Brunswick (Brodhead, Van Pelt, Corwin, Utter-
wick, and Hansen), in Albany (Berthold Fernow),
and in Ithaca (T. W. Strong and G. W. Schuyler)
were prominent among those who have recovered
the true story of the Dutch in America and given
us genuine American history. To these, to my

xii PREFACE
fellow alumni of Rutgers College, to Mr. Irving
Elting, Mr. Dingman Versteeg, Professor P. J.
Blok of Leyden, Mr. G. Beernink of Nijkerk, the
scholarly translator and editor of the Van Rens-
selaer-Bowier Manuscripts, Mr. E. van Laer, at
Albany, and to many archivists in Holland, I am
greatly indebted. I invite the student to scan also
the list of authorities at the end of this volume.
I shall attempt to tell who the settlers of the
Middle States and the founders of the Empire
State were, what ideas and customs they brought
here, how they struggled, first against a selfish
corporation and next against English dukes and
kings, for the rights of the Fatherland, and won ;
how, happily for us Americans, they resisted all
English attempts to fasten a state church upon
the people; how and why their descendants were
so loyal to the Continental cause and Congress,
and how large are our inheritances from Dutch
law, order, freedom, culture, and from those achieve
ments for civilization and humanity in which the
Netherlands so long led the world. Avoiding in
the text, as far as possible, any ostentation of learn
ing or research, I have tried to show my fellow
Americans how worthy of serious study are our
national origins other than English, and how rich
is our inheritance from the Netherlands.
W. E. G.
Ithaca, N. Y., March 2, 1909.

CONTENTS
I. Hudson seeks the Sea Path to CmNA . 1
II. The Manhattan Pioneers ... 10
III. Jesse db Forest and thb Home-Makers . 20
rv. Petbr Minuit, Fntsr Civil Governor . 30
V. The Fiest Church and Domine ... 40
vl. Walter van Twillbb, Dieectoe-Gbnebal 49
Vii. The Pateoons and the Manors ... 61
vm. The Eenssblaerwijk Colony ... 73
IX. Kiept and his Indian Wab .... 81
X. Nukebk : the Old Home beyond Sba . 90
XI. The Maker op the Silver Chain . . 101
xn. Stutvbsant and his Rule .... 110
Xm. OuTSiDB Feudalism: The Fbbe Fabmbes . 121
XIV. Dutch and Swedes on the Delawaee River 129
XV. The Fall op New Netherland . . . 139
XVI. Life and Amusements op the Young Folks 149
XVII. Social Life in New Nbthebland . . 160

xiv CONTENTS
XVIII. Schools and Schoolmastbbs .... 175
XEX. Sundays in Colonial Days . • • 185
XX. Albany and its Annals .... 194
XXI. Dobp and its Stoby  202
XXII. The English Govebnors .... 215
XXIII. Jacob Leislbb : the People's Champion . 226
XXIV. The Long Struggle fob Belioious Liberty 235
XXV. Independence feom Holland . . . 246
XXVI. The Dutch Dominbs in thb Revolution . 256
XX Vii. The Modern Pilgrim Fathers . . . 264
Appendix  277
Index ........ 283

ILLUSTRATIONS
Van Rensselaer and the Nijkerk Worthies (page 50) Frontispiece
Governor Minuit purchasing Manhattan .... 32
Title Page shmmng Ship hearing Dutch Colonists . . 78
The Van Rensselaer Tomb in Nijkerk Church ... 92
Corlaar in 1908. Some of Arendt Van Curler . . 102
Town Arms of some Ancestral Seats  152
"A Poem in Twelve Cantos." The Cycle ofthe Year . 172
William III and Queen Mary, on Seal of the Province of
Neiv York  228
Colonel John Taylor, of Rutgers College .... 242
The Dutch in the Arctic Seas  264
Piet Sein capturing the Spanish Silver Fleet , . . 264
Where our Flag was First Saluted. St. Eustatius . . 264
Simeon De Witt, Surveyor-General of New York State . 272

THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
CHAPTER I
HUDSON SEEKS THB SEA PATH TO CHINA
When, in 1567, the Spanish Duke of Alva
marched with his terrible " Black Beards " towards
the Netherlands to subdue the Dutch people to
the ideas of Philip II, the boy that grew up to
found the Dutch West India Company was born.
One hundred thousand Walloons, or French-
speaking inhabitants of the Low Countries, fled
at once to foreign lands. Within fifty years, half
a million refugees from the Belgic Netherlands
were dwelling in England, Holland, Germany, or
in Switzerland, and enriching those countries by
their talents, character, and industry. Instead of
fewer than a million people living in 1567 on four
thousand square miles of poor soil, the Dutch
Republic had in 1609 a population of three and a
half millions, or one as large as that of England.
The Dutch end of the sea-route to Manhattan
had been prepared before Columbus made land
fall. William Usselinx, born at Antwerp, founder
of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies
that began the settlements of New York and Dela
ware, became interested in American enterprises

2 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
by living in the Azores. These islands had been
rediscovered by Dutch sailors in 1431 and colo
nized, becoming a new Netherland. From this
point the ships bound for the New World began
their westward voyages. Lying eight hundred
miles west of Portugal, these nine islands emerge
from the ocean on nearly the parallels of our
Middle States. England lies in high latitudes.
Cabot, Davis, and Frobisher, steering directly
west, entered sub-polar regions. From the Azores
to Sandy Hook is almost a straight line. In our
day the German submarine cable connects Con
tinental Europe with America, by way of the
Azores and Embden.
When both Orient and Occident were opened
to trade the islands rose directly in the path of
commerce. Here, as to a school, one must come
to learn about colonial business. For a long time
the Azores were associated with America, but
after the Spaniards occupied them, the Canaries
became the base of supplies and point of departure
across the Atlantic.
In 1591, when the triumphant Dutch Repub
lic was twelve years old, Usselinx returned and
began to agitate in favor of trade with America.
He kept up the work of arousing public opinion
until his death at eighty, leaving fifty printed
works behind him. In 1602 the Dutch East India
Company was formed, but the Great Truce of
1609 compelled postponement of his schemes for

HUDSON SEEKS SEA PATH TO CHINA 3
a West India Company, which was not organized
until 1821. Meanwhile, however, the offer of the
States-General of twenty-five thousand guilders
to any one who should discover the northeastern
route to China and Japan was a lure. So some
Amsterdam merchants fitted out the flyboat Half
Moon, with a crew of sixteen men, half English
and half Dutch. It was named the Half Moon,
after the victorious flagship, in which, in 1602,
Vice-Admiral Kant had beaten the Spaniards in
a great naval battle. Five days before the signing
of the truce, April 4, 1609, Hudson weighed an
chor and sailed for Nova Zembla.
In Arctic seas, amid icebergs and blizzards, he
had to face a mutiny. The sailors, not relishing
the idea of being frozen fast among polar bears,
demanded that he go back. Hudson flanked the
mutineers by steering westward across the At
lantic. Other pathfinders were then on the inland
waters of America, all looking for the Chinese
gate and "the needle's eye." Champlain at the
northern lake side was meddling with firearms in
Indian quarrels. John Smith on the lower Sus
quehanna kept hunting for that open sea in which
he believed. Hudson, and later La Salle, was soon
to join them, searching for the same mythical
water. The " China rapids " in the St. Lawrence
River, called in jest La Chine, tell how La Salle
also sought but found not. This idea of an inland

4 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
ocean, called Verrazano's Sea, then filled men's
minds. Even to the end of the nineteenth century
it dominated English fiction.
Before leaving the homeland, Smith had written
to Hudson telling him of this water somewhere
near the fortieth parallel, and extending perhaps to
the Pacific. Hudson, besides having his head full
of the notion, carried Smith's letter in his pocket.
Notwithstanding that entrance into America meant
a virtual breaking of Holland's truce with Spain,
Hudson hoped to find the route to China.
Over the indigo blue of the Gulf Stream Hud
son reached in mid-July the Maine coast, stopped
to remast his ship, and then moved southward.
In August he passed "the King's river in Vir
ginia," where, he wrote, " our Englishmen " were.
On the 28th, he put into Delaware Bay, but a strong
current and much sand forbade the idea of an im
mediate route to China. On the 3d of September
he doubled Sandy Hook. Here, near the fortieth
parallel, so often talked about with Smith, was
a great opening. What might it not lead to?
Anchor was cast for the night, and the orange,
white, and blue flag, with the initials O. I. C,
was mirrored on the receding tide.
We must put away twentieth-century ideas and
think with Hudson and his sailors. Neither he
nor they were wise in modern science. " Nature-
faking" of the most exaggerated kind was then
in vogue. Mythical zoology was represented on

HUDSON SEEKS SEA PATH TO CHINA 6
maps and in books. In the Leyden Museum,
among the curiosities catalogued was " the hand
of a Mermaide," and Hudson's sailors had seen
" mermaids " near the Russian icebergs, where we
should find seals. Near the CatskiUs, they ate
" dog," which would be " coon " to our taste and
eye, for all Indian dogs were then very small.
Neither the big hounds of Europe nor the white
daisies, now so common in the Hudson valley and
brought from beyond sea, were then known in
America. The sailors enjoyed " Turkish wheat,"
where we relish corn in ear. Happy the release,
if they, like some British tourists eating to-day,
bit too far into the cob and got their teeth out
safely. If they found " gold," or discovered what
seemed valuable minerals, because of the colors
of the rocks, they were only like other explorers.
The beautiful New World was full of awe, wonder,
and mystery. Nothing is more evident than the
Dutchmen's delight in nature.
The Half Moon lay at anchor for a week in the
lower bay. "Three great rivers" were noticed,
two of them being the Passaic and the Hacken-
sack. Though the strangers were welcomed by the
red men, yet before long arrows and bullets were
shot in hostile exchange. John Colman filled the
first white man's grave. Then the ship moved up
past Manhattan, to which it is sheer tautology to
link the word " island," for the name includes the
idea of a place inclosed by two rivers. Although

6 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
the wild men were treated to liquor, the word Man
hattan has no meaning of drink or intoxication
in it. For thirteen miles they sailed along the
majestic Palisade Rocks, from which the mythical
"Norumbega" probably got its name. Through
the broadened stream forming Haverstraw and
Tappan bays, and in view of the landmarks later
named Tedious, Stony, and Verplanck's points,
past islands now the bases of lighthouses, and
around Dunderberg, they reached the narrower
and deeper river flanked by lordly mountains.
They cast anchor under the splendid plateau of
West Point.
Anchorages were made at night and strict watch
was kept, for what could fifteen men do, if thou
sands of red warriors should attack ? In one case,
twenty-eight canoes filled with people came out to
trade pumpkins and corn for kitchen ware, axes,
beads, and copper kettles. More than once, native
thieves climbed into or escaped from the stern
windows with loot, and some of these were shot
dead. There were other disturbances, and the fault
was not all on one side. Gunpowder, firearms,
alcohol,, and iron came thus at one time into the
Indian world.
The gorgeous hues of the maples and of the
" American calico plant," and the splendor of the
scenery, especially after their late sub-polar ex
periences, made this seem to the Dutchmen the
fairest land their eyes had ever feasted upon. As

HUDSON SEEKS SEA PATH TO CHINA 7
they emerged into a tamer foreground of flat
stretches, there rose towards the western horizon
the CatskiUs, out of which flow the Delaware and
Susquehanna rivers.
Invited to dinner, Hudson was paddled ashore
in an Indian canoe. He landed and partook of
American refreshments with a chief who was head
of a village of forty males and seventeen females.
Their roundhouse was of oak bark with an arched
roof. Great stores of corn and beans, provision
for the winter's succotash, piled up and amount
ing to three shiploads, lay near the house, besides
what was growing in the fields. These showed the
provident habits of these agricultural Indians,
who as yet knew nothing of horses and cows.
Cooked food was served in " weU-made red wooden
bowls." With sheU knives the red women skinned
"a fat dog" for a further feast, for they sup
posed their guests would stay over night; but
life in the Stone Age is a bore to a civilized man.
A short visit was enough, and Hudson returned
to his floating home.
The little ship beat her way northward, but the
water shoaled. No open sea, or China, or any
Pacific Ocean, was in sight. Juet, the mate, pene
trated in a boat beyond what are now Watervliet,
Waterford, and Troy. They saw not a tide-water
river in lordly flood, but many rapids and shallows.
Even had they reached the river's source, in the
Tear -of -the -Clouds Lake at the top of Mount

8 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Marcy, they would have been no nearer, but far
ther off from Japan.
Back and down the Half Moon moved to the
ocean, her crew killing not a few natives, and
staining land and water with needless blood. The
"falconet," or little cannon of two inches bore,
throwing a two-pound shot, was more than once
fired to sink the canoes. Evidently this was what
the sailors dub " an unhappy ship," nor can the
intruders be acquitted of the charges of murder
and of making drunkards.
On the 4th of October the Half Moon was at
sea again. Yet where should the crew go? To
return to HoUand might mean the gallows, for
they had mutinied. The ship was pointed towards
Ireland for the winter; but how or why we know
not, the Half Moon cast anchor at Dartmouth
on the 7th of November, 1609, and the English
sailors forced Hudson to land. King James sent
orders to hold the vessel. He actuaUy forbade
Hudson to leave England, hoping to get the full
benefit of his discovery. The captain, however, had
sent on his report to Amsterdam, asking for good
sailors in place of bad ones.
The problem was solved by the Muscovy Com
pany again impressing Hudson into its service,
and the Half Moon was released. Hudson, intent
on solving the world's mystery, recrossed the At
lantic. After discovering America's greatest inland
sea, though not the way to China, he met lonely

HUDSON SEEKS SEA PATH TO CHINA 9
death in 1610 by starvation. Under the veil of
apparent failure, Hudson's life was a success that
shines with splendor as the ages roll on. For Hol
land he opened a great door of opportunity.
As Captain John Smith's name is linked with
four of the United States, Virginia, Maryland,
Massachusetts, and New York, so Hudson's per
sonality is preserved in American history afid in
legend. His name is written imperishably on a
bay, a river, and a strait. His career illustrates
the truth that a man often achieves his best for
the race after he is dead. Hudson rests from his
labors and his works do follow.*
^ Some of the greatest of the makers of New Nether
land, Hudson, de Forest, Minuit, van Curler, sleep iu
graves unknown.

CHAPTER II
the MANHATTAN PIONEERS
The quick-witted Netherlanders lost no time.
Before the Half Moon was free from King James's
clutches, merchants in Amsterdam had formed
a syndicate to send a trading-ship across the At
lantic with Juet, mate oi the Half Moon, as mas
ter of the new vessel. She was the pioneer of a
great fleet with homely names, such as the For
tune, Tiger, Spotted Cow, Wood- Yard, Orange
Tree, Arms of Amsterdam, Black Eagle, Blue
Cock, Flower of Gelderland, Unity, The Pear Tree,
New Netherland's Fortune, White Horse, Herring,
Salt Mountain, Prince Maurice, which crossed the
Atlantic and came back laden with American
furs. In 1612 two famous skippers, Adrian Block in
the Tiger and Hendrick Christiansen in the For
tune, crossed over and brought back to Holland
not only a cargo of skins, but two sons of Indian
chiefs, named Orson and Valentine. Between 1612
and 1621, Christiansen made ten voyages into the
great river. On Castle Island, now part of the city
of Albany, he built a fort and trading-station.
At Esopus a ronduit, or circular fort, was erected
in 1614.

THE MANHATTAN PIONEERS H
By what name was " the Rhine of America "
then known ? The Indians called it the Shatemuc ;
Juet spoke of it as " the Great Stream," but soon
it was known among the patriotic Dutchmen as
the Mauritius, after the Union General Maurice.
To others it was the North River, or the River
Flowing out of the Mountains. Not until after 1664
did Englishmen give it the name Hudson.
The Dutchmen took a hint from native archi
tecture, and with the aid of the Indians built huts
of timber and bark. These were about at No. 39
Broadway, where are the offices of the Holland-
America Line, and then much nearer the water ;
for Manhattan has been artificially lengthened.
Christiansen and his men spent the winter among
the virgin forests which covered the spaces now
occupied by the tunnel-like streets, on which rise
skyscrapers made of Pittsburg steel, higher than
Babel's Tower. This original Holland Society ate
dinners with keen appetites and splendid digestion.
They noted the landmarks. Probably the first
place to get a name was the Kaap, or cape, the
rocky southern end of the island, caUed also the
Hook, and later " Capsey " Hook. This became
in time the official landing-place, being fumished
with an iron rail for the safety of passengers, land
lubbers, and boatmen embarking and disembark
ing. The water space covering the Kaap has long
since been " gedempt^," as the Dutch say, that is,
dumped full of earth, and people in crossing the

12 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
" Battery " walk over the historic place now under
water. Between Capsey Hook and Spuyten Duyvil, the
Dutchmen in exploring the island found a wonder
fuUy varied landscape, — high and low hiUs, lakes,
swamps, forests, stretches of bald rock, grassy
meadows, Indian trails, "castles," and villages,
with fields of corn and patches of melons and beans.
These, with amazing abundance of four-footed,
winged, finny, and shell game, furnished juicy and
delicious food, and filled the Dutchmen vrith enthu
siastic admiration. At home in Patria they had had
to get their " staff of life " out of a spongy soil,
which their ancestors after ages of toU drew up
from the ocean, or fertilized into life from the dead
sand of the sea bottom. Even after winning their
land from the waves, it must be continually
guarded lest it slip away into marsh or water.
The boundless fertility of the New World filled
them with perpetual surprise. The vast number
of springs, brooks, and rills and the variety and
grandeur of the trees were especially impressive.
It recaUed the Land of Promise about which they
had read and their domines had often preached.
Where is now the City Hall Park, stretched
grassy meadows. Imposing hills, long since leveled,
suggested dreams of future windmiUs. "The
Swamp," still the centre of New York's leather
trade, at that time required a boat to cross it.
Canal Street was then a river, enlarging into a

THE MANHATTAN PIONEERS 13
lake, rich in islands, coves, and inlets fringed with
trees, whose leaves made shade and whose roots
were the hiding-places of trout. Where lay heaps
of clam and oyster sheU fragments, left over from
Indian feasts and wampum-making, visions of lime
kilns at once rose in the Dutchmen's minds ; so
they called it Kalk Hoek, or Lime Point. As an
ordinary Dutchman pronounces Delft "Delleft,"
so " Kalk " in a sailor's mouth became " Kallek."
In time the EngUsh caUed it the Collect, and in
the days of its use as a rubbish receiver, it was
well worthy of its name.
The Indian viUage, where lived the Manhattans,
or Island Indians, the Mana-hattas, was situated
between high land and water, and was favorable
for defense and food. Crowning the hill was the
"castle" or palisaded village. Below were the
maize lands and the endless supplies of furs,
game, material for sheU money, fresh- and salt
water fish, and the clams, oysters, and eels that
thrive in tidal waters. At the river's mouth was
Canoe Place.
The American scenery was very different from
that of the flat Veluwe, the shore dunes, or the
sunken polders of dear Patria. From the varied
shores of Manhattan, high and rocky, low and
sandy, shell-streijvn or stony, gravel or beach, or
from coign of vantage on hills, whether bare or
bosky, or out of forest vistas, these pioneers feasted
on the scenery. Across the narrow East River

14 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
rose the sand banks, or "Brooklyn Heights," a
striking feature in the general flatness of that
island of Seawanaka, or wampum-land of the
Indians, but not called "Long" until nearly a
century later. Across, on the sunset side, "the
great rocks of Weehawken" towered above the
meadows of the very low Hackensack vaUey.
The columnar lines of the Palisades, frovming on
the upper river's front and casting early and long
afternoon shadows, mightily impressed men from
a flat and sunken land. Their own writings show
how handsomely the Netherlanders appraised their
new possessions. The pages of Wassenaer fairly
glow with enthusiastic description. Though ready
to utilize their full resources, they looked for quick
returns. So long as the wild animals, easily trapped
or shot, carried a fortune on their backs, and the
Indian demand was for metal goods and trinkets,
nothing else paid like peltry. Besides, to fight the
Spaniards and set Patria permanently free, ready
cash was the first requirement.
Yet there were those who heeded the beckoning
of the shining waters and listened to the caU of
the woods. Block left off " trucking," to win the
prize promised to discoverers of new lands. We
shaU soon find him afloat. A new map meant
credentials to fame.
Three other Dutchmen from Fort Orange had
some lively adventures inland during the year
1614, and increased unwiUingly Europe's know-

THE MANHATTAN PIONEERS 15
ledge of American geography. Starting out with
some Mohican Indians, they were made prisoners
by the Iroquois and taken probably into the Sus
quehanna region. It is quite possible that, sup
posed to be Spaniards or Frenchmen, they were
kept a while at the stronghold on " Spanish Hill "
near Waverly, New York, and then, by way of the
Delaware River, released or ransomed. Whatever
may have been their full itinerary, these men gave
information that was incorporated into a map,
dated 1604-16, and discovered by Mr. Brodhead
in the archives at the Hague. It is "the oldest
muniment " for the history of the Empire State.
When Skipper Block's vessel caught fire and
became ashes and scrap iron, the doughty Dutch
man built a new yacht, the pioneer craft of the Em
pire State, the Onrust, or Restless, of sixteen tons.
The map-makers had not yet known of the long
sound stretching from Manhattan to Montauk.
They had pictured New England as coming down
to the ocean. From a hiUtop on Manhattan, Block
may have seen the agitated waters glistening in
the morning sun, and named their place " Helder-
Gat," or Shining Gate ; or he may have remem
bered the Hellegat, between Axel and Hulsit in
Zeeland. Passing eastward over the rapids and
shallows of HeU Gate (the sunken fan-shaped
rocks, which were blown up by General Gilmore in
1877), Block was surprised to find what seemed
to be an inland sea. Judging from the many senti-

16 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
mental names, such as Lapwing's Point, Vale of
Swans, Clover Nook, Children's Corner, given by
the Dutch in America, It is just as likely that the
name " HeU" Gate (as in Helderberg, the Shining
Hills) suggests heaven and its light, as their oppo
sites. Yet It may be only the rough sailors' dub
bing of a place difficult of navigation. He found
the water, like the Hudson, salt, but he also learned
by tasting that the big stream flowing in a rush
from the north was sweet.
Spending several weeks in exploration. Block
put down on his map the Fresh (Connecticut)
River ; Rood (red), or Rhode Island ; and many
other names long since translated or corrupted
into good, possible, or "Connecticut" English.
In Dutch, Rood, like Roos in Roosevelt, is pro
nounced as Rhode, though thousands of Americans
still say Huss-velt instead of Ros-e-velt. Block
Island, reckoned in Newport County, and Block
Island Sound perpetuate the skipper's name.
Meanwhile interest in their possessions was in
creasing among the Dutch. Other merchants haz-*
arded their yachts in trans- Atlantic trade. So long
at war with Spain, with all their energies engaged,
they could not, even in time of truce, restrain
themselves. Excitement, being in the air, did not need
stimulus, but the Dutch Congress, in March, 1614,
fed fuel to the flame by fresh offers. Whosoever
should discover a new country and give informa-

THE MANHATTAN PIONEERS 17
tion within a fortnight after his return, and then
make four voyages to the new land, should have
a monopoly of its trade. Quick to close with the
offer, in July, 1614, a company of merchants. In
six cities, in virtue of Henry Hudson's discovery,
petitioned the States-General for a charter.
This paper was as yet unacted upon, when, on
October 1, Block, with his map, arrived in Hol
land. On the 11th he had the floor, and told of
the lands and peoples he had seen. His chart,
or "figurative map," revealed anew inland sea,
a great island, numerous waterways, and a new
entrance to Manhattan, besides locating rivers and
Indian tribes.
Clearly Block had the right of way over the
Syndicate of the Six Cities, and on the same day
a charter was issued to " The United New Nether
land Company."
The official name given to the new-found land,
discovered by Hudson and exploited by Block,
was New Netherland, — not New Netherlands, as
so many careless writers, and even book titles,
public documents, and bronze tablets have it. The
Dutch patriots gave the land of hope In America
not a plural form, which might suggest the ten
provinces that had left the covenant of freedom
and gone back to Spain, but one that had recalled
united Patria, — the seven free and independent
states forming the Dutch Republic, now one coun
try and one nation. The new name reflected " the

18 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Union," one and indivisible. It was and should be
ever, in speech and writing. New Netherland.
The actual history of Dutch exploration all
over the world has been for the most part erased,
like chalk lines from a school blackboard, by later
persons, chiefly English, yet it Is Interesting to
know the n^ethod In Dutch names. Sentiment and
patriotism were predominant. In Java, Ceylon,
Formosa, South America, the West Indies, and New
Netherland, they recall Patria and Its great men
or their homes. There were many Staten islands,
Mauritius rivers and lands, Sandy Hooks, Forts
Nassau and Orange, Dunderbergs, Batavias, and
names ending in " dam " and " dyke " all over the
world. Kills, bergs, havens, gates, corners, wijks,
and other hooks and eyes of geographical speech
hold the landscape in the mind's map.
Within the towns, whether in Java, India, or
North America, are found a Maiden's Lane, a
Broadway, a Wall and a High Street, besides
canals and " grachts," new, old, or " gedempte,"
with short or long " paths." In addition to these
were the same Institutions of religion, fraternity,
charity, police protection, prevention of fire, and
the usual features of Dutch city government.
In the churches, similar offices and customs
existed. The original praiseworthy traits of char
acter — industry, honesty, devoutness, loyalty,
patience, and cleanliness — are seen In the daily
life of the people. These marked the Dutchman

THE MANHATTAN PIONEERS 19
in the Greater Netherlands, as surely as did
the symbol of the lion minted on his guilder;
while the one sentiment which dominated all was
that of WiUiam, "the Father of the Fatherland,"
— "I wiU maintain."
The Dutchmen faced bravely their new respon
sibilities of national expansion. In Patria, a new
school was called forth by the necessities of coloni
zation in Asia and America. Under the patronage
of the India companies, the city of Leyden, which
furnished the first settlers of both Massachusetts
and New York, instituted a seminary for the train
ing of missionaries. It was founded in the same
year, 1622, that saw the organization In Rome of
the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. Out
of this Leyden school went forth famous scholars
and teachers; among others, George Candldus
and Robert Junius of Formosa. The Dutch made
good their professed desire to convert the abori
gines to a higher form of faith, and to uplift them
through education, and their records show It.
Henceforth the school and church, schoolmaster
and Domine, were to go in the ship with the pioneers
from Patria. By the terms of his call and ordination
vows, the Domine served on both land and water.
Such was the beginning of New Netherland. As
explored and occupied by the Dutch, it Included
the region between the Connecticut and the Sus
quehanna rivers, watered by the streams rising In
the CatskiUs and the Adirondacks.

CHAPTER III
JESSE DE FOREST AND THE HOME-MAKERS
The shiploads of American furs sold In Amster
dam set Dutch money-makers hot on the trail for
more. Led by Usselinx, they urged In the State
Legislature of Holland that a West India Com
pany be formed. Asia had enriched the Republic.
Why should not New Netherland ?
Not while the truce with Spain lasted could the
ilatlonal congress grant the petition of Usselinx;
but in 1621, when war was renewed, consent was
given. Then, like hounds from the leash, the
Dutch leaped to lead all nations in commercial
enterprise. In June, 1621, the West India Com
pany was chartered. The governor-general of the
new corporation must be commissioned and ap
proved by the congress ; but, except on this point,
its powers were sovereign. It could effect treaties
and alliances with princes and potentates, erect
forts, levy and arm soldiers, dispatch war vessels,
plant colonies, carry on war, and establish govern
ment. Its products imported Into HoUand were
free of all taxes for the space of eight years. Its
proud flag bore the monogram G. W. C, for it
possessed the coveted privileges of a Geoctrooyed,
or chartered corporation with monopoly. !

DE FOREST AND THE HOME-MAKERS 21
This charter made possible the cradle history of
America's greatest city. The first object was war
against Spain. The second was commerce for the
enrichment of the Dutch Republic. Hence the great
powers granted to the company. In the Nether
lands were no mines and very little fertile soil.
The life of the State must be maintained by riches
won in and on the sea, and by trade with other
lands. HoUand in the seventeenth century had to
do what Japan must do in the twentieth, in order
to feed her people and maintain her growth.
Hence the extraordinary commercial expansion
of 1621.
Nevertheless, it must be remembered that colo
nization was only one method chosen to enrich the
mother country. The Company was not obliged
to populate new lands in America. The charter
word is may (mogeri), not must. There was no
urgent call for a colony beyond the Atlantic, for
Dutch people did not need or desire to leave Pa
tria. Religion was free, and employment and
money were easy to get.
Where, then, was the Republic, not at all over-
populated, to get the colonists ? There was little
to attract the native Hollander away from home,
and a hundred men were ready to enlist as soldiers
or sailors to fight or spoil the Spaniards to one
wiUing to go out as a farmer In savage lands. How
ever, — and here is the secret of the initial emi
gration, — there were several hundred thousand for-

22 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
eigners or "Walloons," living as guests in "the
land where conscience was free," and some of these,
especiaUy in Leyden and Amsterdam, were ready
to try a " hazard of new fortunes."
Other companies of refugees for conscience'
sake, besides " The Pilgrim Fathers of New Eng
land," were in Leyden ; for the city was then re
covering grandly from its famous siege. The cloth
trade attracted work-people from many countries,
who had churches according to their own tastes.
All these, whatever their language, were " Walsh "
or " Walloons," that is, foreigners. Out of Ley
den came the first colonists who settled both New
England and New Netherland.
Generous offers were made first to the "Pil
grims " or English refugees, but these wanted a
convoy of war vessels, to protect them against
pirates and Spaniards, which the Government
could not then spare.
The real colonizer of New Netherland was Jesse
de Forest, a Walloon, born between 1570 and
1580 at Avesnes, then in the Netherlands, but
now, and since 1819, in France, who was In Ley
den in 1605 pursuing his trade as a dyer. In this
city, four of his ten children were born, his son
Isaac, who became the father of the American
de Forests, seeing the light In 1616. Becoming
interested in emigration to America, or " the West
Indies," he made an application in June, 1621,
through Sir Dudley Carleton, the EngUsh envoy.

DE FOREST AND THE HOME-MAKERS 23
in the name of fifty-six Walloon families to go to
" Virginia." When the answer of King James was
received, it was not satisfactory.
So on August 27, 1622, Jesse de Forest peti
tioned the States-General for permission to enroll
famUIes, who should settle in New Netherland.
His petition was allowed. It was his company that
embarked on the first colonizing ship, the New
Netherland, to make homes and begin the settle
ment of the Empire State.
In the Leyden archives, we hear nothing fur
ther directly from Jesse, except that he had left
for America. His brother, Gerard de Forest, peti
tioned the burgomasters of Leyden, saying that his
brother Jesse " had lately gone to the West Indies,"
— a general name for America, — and he asked
permission to replace his brother in his position,
according to the regulations of the city and guild.
The records of the City Council show that this
paper was sent by the magistrates for advice to
the Aldermen of the Dyers' Guild, and that per
mission in due form was given to Gerard de For
est to take his brother's place as a master-dyer.
Jesse de Forest deserves honor as leader of the first
band of thirty-one families from Leyden, who be
gan the community of homes in New Netherland.
As these people, who were willing to try their
fortune in America, did not ask for the protection
of big frigates, their request was quickly granted.
The first-class new ship of two hundred and sixty

24 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
tons, roomy and clean, took Jesse de Forest's first
party of thirty-one families over sea. A small
armed yacht, the Mackerel, commanded by Cap
tain Cornells J. May, was to convoy them past the
pirates of Dunkirk and across the Atlantic.
The larger of these historic vessels, like its
fellows of those days, had no jib. Instead of the
bowsprit of modern days, with its stays, a spar
projected forward, on which two or three little
square sails could be spread. The main place of
habitation for passengers was in "the tower," of
two stories, very high and with two rows of ports
or windows. The stern view of the New Nether
land, with its affluence of carving and emblems,
and a mighty lamp at the top, which illuminated
the back track, was most imposing. High over
all flew the great orange, white, and blue flag,
with the triple monogram G. W. C, that is. The
(Geoctrooyed, or) Chartered West [India] Com
pany. This pioneer Dutch ship, eighty tons larger
than the Mayflower, was probably three times the
size of Henry Hudson's yacht.
All merchant vessels went armed In those days,
and the New Netherland was prepared to fight, in
case Spaniard or Dunklrker hove in sight. Besides
carrying the flag of the Republic at the mizzen
and peak, she was ready to poke out cold iron
noses from the portholes and blaze forth fire and
shot if attacked. Plenty of " iron beans " for the
cannon were on board.

DE FOREST AND THE HOME-MAKERS 25
We do not know all the details of Jesse de
Forest's Ufe, but we can trace him in the Nether
lands from city to city and from communion table
to communion table, for he was, first of all, a Bible
Christian. Religion was the first care with his colo
nists. Arrangements were made with the reverend
Classis of Amsterdam for church officers to provide
cheer and consolation. These being duly furnished,
in March, 1623, fathers and mothers, boys and girls,
said good-by to their friends in hospitable Hol
land and cleared for the land of hope beyond the
Atlantic. Truce was over, and mighty Dutch
fleets sailed to Angola In Africa and to Brazil to
conquer the Portuguese and Spanish possessions,
but this single ship, almost tiny In contrast, bore
freight of peaceful colonists who were to begin the
homes of the future Empire State of the American
Union, and Jesse de Forest was the soul of the
enterprise. It may be that they did not see Man
hattan until 1624.
These beginners of our Middle States and the
men who sent them over were neither dreamers
nor " humorists." They stood for pure family life,
for the Church and the school, and for farming,
the true source of all legitimate national wealth of
land-dwellers, for they were, most of them, either
skilled workmen or tillers of the soil. They were
not likely, when landed, to go hunting in the woods
for gold or silver mines. They did not come with
their brains fuU of spectres of mythology, such as

26 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
drove the Spaniards into waterless deserts to seek
the Gilded Man, Fountains of Youth, the Seven
Cities of Cibola, and various other things that
exist only In fairyland. They had once given up
home and all that was dear to them, when driven
out of the Belgic Netherlands, and had fled to
Holland to enjoy freedom of conscience. The Re
public was now their own Patria, and they were
about to trust God again and seek homes in the
New World. They were the real settlers of New
Netherland, " John Company " being merely the
figurehead and money-maker. Among these thirty-
one families, with children and young men and
maidens of marriageable age, the adults In the
company, of course, spoke French. Bible-reading
and singing of the psalms In Marot's version were
part of the daily routine of a Walloon family. The
Belgic Confession of Faith, which many of the
adults knew by heart, was their foundation creed,
as it was of the Dutch National Church, already
established for over a half-century. It was first
written In French in 1561, by Guido de Bres, who
was burnt by the Spaniards in 1567. In Its re
vised Dutch form of 1619 the children learned it
thoroughly. The keynote of its deep harmonies is
sounded in Article I : " God ... the overflowing
fountain of all good."
The young folks born in Leyden, who had at
tended the Dutch public schools, spoke the lan
guage of the captain and crew aud of Patria. They

DE FOREST AND THE HOME-MAKERS 27
were In effect young Dutchmen, and loyal to the
Republic and to the orange, white, and blue flag.
Every ship had Its " Comforter of the sick," who
was weU versed in the Holy Scriptures, and the
form of words duly provided in the familiar lit
urgy of the National Church.
Happily no Dunkirkers or Spaniards chaUenged
those pioneer ships, and they may have remained
some time In the West Indies, but on entering the
Narrows In New York Bay, possibly early in 1624,
the Netherlanders saw a French vessel lying at
anchor. Not willing to tolerate a stranger, the
Mackerel ran out her guns and showed the neces
sity of departure. The Frenchmen took the hint
at once, and the Dutch were left alone.
Like a sower, going forth to sow in the seed
bed of a future empire, was Captain May in the
good, clean ship New Netherland. Each of the
new settlements was caUed a " concentration," —
after the Spanish term. Eighteen of the passen
gers were left on Manhattan, and these were the
flrst families from Europe to dwell upon the island ;
but the settlement, if at first called New Avesnes,
was destined to be New Amsterdam and New
York. Several couples disembarked on the land
named after the seven States of the Dutch Repub
lic, Staten Island. In a hocht, or bend In the East
River, several families made a settlement. This
loop, or cove, was, like Walkill, later called the
Waal, or Walloon's Boght, or Wallabout.

28 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Eighteen families were planted on the site of
the future city of Albany, and left under the com
mand of Adrian Joris, lieutenant to Captain May.
Fort Orange, a redoubt with four angles, was
built and armed with cannon that fired stone
balls for defense. Inside this Inclosure, Sarah, the
first baby of the colonists, was born, in June, 1625.
Her father's name, as he wrote it in Walloon
French, was Simon de Rapello, but the Dutch
of it is Simon Rapelye. Her mother's name was
du Trieux, in modern form, Truax. In a year or
two, cradles were in demand. Fathers were ready
to make these out of rough timber with barrel
head rockers, but the mothers "drew the line"
here, and the importation of Dutch cradles from
HoUand into New Netherland was quite frequent
until the year 1664.
A better defense than Fort Orange, with its
cannon and gunpowder, was a league of peace
made with the "wilden" of the forest and the
river, that Is, the Iroquois and the Mohicans. This
covenant of friendship was perpetual. In succeed
ing years, when the people at Esopus and on Man
hattan were in terror and saw fire, blood, and
devastation, those at Fort Orange found the red
men " as quiet as lambs." From the beginning to
the end of the Dutch rule in America this, the
northern end of the colony, was the most peaceful,
the best governed, and, on the whole, the most
prosperous portion of New Netherland. Manhat-

DE FOREST AND THE HOME-MAKERS 29
tan was cosmopolitan. The distinctively Dutch
part of the colony and province lay in the Hudson
and Mohawk valleys. Civic life in New Nether
land was typical, not on the manors or the island,
but In the village communities of free farmers, as
on Long Island, at Schenectady, Esopus, and New
Paltz.

CHAPTER IV
peter minuit, first civil GOVERNOR
In the new domain, the favorite seat of ad
ministration seems at first to have been on the
Delaware, rather than on the Hudson.
Captain May, after one year, was succeeded by
William Verhulst, whose name happily no English
map-maker has rubbed out, for it Is recaUed in
" Verhulsten Island," and perhaps in "Hollanders'
Creek" near Philadelphia. This colony seemed
so promising that it was determined to have a
director-general for New Netherland. He was to
be advised by a council of five members. Besides
these, who were not Walloons but Hollanders,
there were to be a secretary and a treasurer.
In other words, here was a civil government,
which was a miniature of the Dutch municipal
system, and a manifestation of the Netherlands
genius for city organization. It came to pass that
all the cities In the American colonies up to the
time of the Revolution were Dutch ; and, except
Albany, all these cities lay along a line stretching
from New York to Philadelphia. All the other
settlements In the thirteen colonies, from Georgia
to New Hampshire, were towns or villages.
Let us see who it was that the Company se-

PETER MINUIT, FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR 31
lected as the first Civil Governor or Director-
General of New Netherland. Every time we pass
down Fifth Avenue, at Twenty-ninth and at
Forty-seventh Street, we may read his name on
the bronze tablets set in the Reformed Dutch
Church edifices standing on these corners. Of this
church he was a deacon. A grand gentleman and
a cosmopolitan character was Peter Minuit, who
may be called the founder of the greatest and the
smallest states. New York and Delaware, In the
American Union. We may pronounce his name
MInawee, as he sometimes wrote It, to ease some
tongues. His ancestors were Huguenots, but this
cultivated gentleman spoke French, Dutch, and
probably German and English, being thus a proto
type of the composite American, superbly fitted
to be a pioneer and ruler.
Receiving his commission six days before
Christmas, 1625, he began at once to equip him
self for his great work of transforming trading-
stations into agricultural communities. He found
out aU he could about the soil and climate of New
Netherland. Then he selected carefully seeds, live
stock, farmers' tools, food plants, and other useful
vegetables. With his council, except the secretary,
he sailed in the ship Sea Mew from Amsterdam,
December 19, 1625. After many delays, from con
trary winds and other causes, he sighted Sandy
Hook, May 4, 1626.
MInuIt's first official act, eighteen years before

32 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
William Penn was born, set for Puritan and
CavaUer, as well as for proprietors of colonies in
America, a noble precedent. He carried out, ac
cording to the letter and wholly in the spirit, his
directions as set down in the Charter of the Com
pany. He called together the Indian chiefs and
purchased of them the island named Manhattan,
for what was for them the very generous sum of
sixty guilders, or twenty-four dollars. In modern
values, this would be about three hundred doUars.
As expressed in trinkets, mirrors, hatchets, tools,
and clothing stuffs, it must have seemed like a
mountain of wealth to the Indians. The place of
sale may have been the Bowling Green, then the
heart of the hamlet of New Amsterdam.
Governor Minuit's secretary, who had arrived
in the ship Arms of Amsterdam, July 26, 1625,
was Isaac de Rasleres. As was very proper for one
who was to have a good deal to do with Walloons
or French-speaking Belgian colonists, he could
talk and write French. He had the pen of a ready
writer, and to him we owe a unique and pictur
esque account of the Pilgrim settlement at Ply
mouth. A fort must be built for defense, as the ships
of any nation could easily enter the river from the
sea, a fact which made New Amsterdam from the
very first a cosmopolitan place, filled with visitors
and sailors speaking many languages. Dutch army
engineers had then no superiors in the world.

PETER MINUIT, FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR 33
The greatest of them. Prince Maurice, had died
at the Hague, AprU 23, 1625, the year before ; but
one of his officers, Kryn Frederickse, came over
with Minuit. He laid out and began building an
earthwork with four bastions, named Fort Am
sterdam after the home city. In 1635 the fortifica
tion was faced on the inside with cut stone and
good masonry, and the outside was sodded and made
beautlfuUy verdant. This fort had a varied history,
and as kings rose and fell it was called after James,
WiUiam, Anne, and George. De Rasleres first pro
posed the name, " The Battery," but not until
Leisler threw up entrenchments beyond and sea
ward, was this term much used. In 1789 the ram
parts were leveled, and In 1818 a marble column
was erected on the spot. Now the great new Custom
House, with groups of sculpture symbolical of the
four continents, and many historic figures, includ
ing one of Admiral Tromp, occupies the site.
Doctor Wassenaer of Amsterdam, who printed
the news of the world in his day, is our chief
authority as to how things looked on Manhattan
before 1630. East of the fort, where now towers
the Merchants' Building, were four or five shops
or warehouses of " stone," or hard burned brick.
" Winkle " means a shop, or storehouse, and Rip
van Winkle is Rip from the shop, or Rip the store
keeper. The name of Winkle Street, now built
over, long kept these first shops in memory. Pearl
Street, laid out in J633, may have been caUed so

34 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
first by the children who picked up and played
with the pearly shells then Uning the beach facing
the bay.
The Netherlanders being an intensely reUgious
people, the desire of the colonists was to have wor
ship at once, and the two Comforters of the sick,
Sebastian Jansen Krol and Jan Huyck, who came
over with Minuit, were active In their ministrations.
Thus the very beginnings of the foundations of
New York State were laid in praise and prayer to
God, and with provision made for human need
and suffering and for spiritual aspirations. The
creed most often recited was that traditionally
named the "Apostles'," which the Dutch call
" The Twelve Articles of the Christian Faith."
At this time there were stiU living at Leyden
many English colonists who later went to America
and joined the company of the Pilgrim Fathers,
and the Walloons In New Netherland knew them.
As fellow Christians, It was meet that the Man-
hattaners and Plymouth folk, neighbors, on both
sides of the Atlantic, should be friends, especially
since both professed to have crossed the ocean and
come to America to convert the savages to the doc
trines of the Prince of Peace. Nevertheless, It was
not yet time for the united Continental America
of 1776, and the jealous quarrels and wars of the
countries and kingdoms of Europe had already,
in 1623, been transferred to America. They were
to last until after the Spanish War of 1900, and

PETER MINUIT, FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR 35
until the enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine put
an end to the long strifes and bloodsheddings In
herited from Europe.
Although the Dutch asserted ownership to New
Netherland by the triple rights of discovery,
prompt occupation, and colonization, the British
Government wanted the whole of North America,
under the flimsy pretext of Cabot's discovery in
1497, when he peeped at portions of the coast.
Hence in 1623, since England claimed as part of
Virginia the territory on which the Dutch had
settled while the West India Company called the
land its own, there was danger of a collision. The
governors of Manhattan and Plymouth had ex
changed letters in Dutch, for Bradford, like most
of the young people of Plymouth, especially those
born in Holland, could read and write that lan
guage. In his letter of 1629, Bradford put on record
the kind treatment which the PUgrims had received,
and which some were still enjoying In Leyden, —
" for which we are bound to be thankful and our
children after us." Thus Bradford, possibly the
greatest of the PUgrims, himself furnished. In spirit
and letter, the Inscription in bronze placed by the
Boston Congregational Club in 1906 on the waUs
of the Dutch Church at Delf shaven, now part of
Rotterdam. Nevertheless correspondence did not fully an
swer the case, and the Manhattan and Plymouth
men must see one another face to face. Since Brad-

36 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
ford had requested it. Governor Minuit sent his
secretary, Isaac de Rasleres, with a squad of sol
diers and one of the trumpeters of the Republic,
on a mission to the Pilgrim settlement. Perhaps
this sounder of parleys may have been Anthony van
Curler, who, like his fellow music-making patriots,
was proud of his fringed pendant of red, white,
and blue silk hung on his trumpet. De Rasleres
embarked on the good ship Nassau. One may pic
ture the ceremonious reception on the shore, not
far from the famous Plymouth Rock that lives
colossal In poetry and after-dinner rhetoric.
The presents from Manhattan, consisting of
three kinds of cloth, a chest of white sugar, and
some small wares, were offered and received. The
Plymouth people gave in exchange some of their
own home-grown tobacco, for the new Yankees
were ahead of the "Knickerbockers" in the to
bacco business. But far greater than any gifts of
food, or wear, or ammunition for pipe-smoke, was
the enriching lesson in practical economics which
the skilled traders from the foremost commercial
country In Europe taught the Pilgrims. De Rasl
eres Introduced into Plymouth the Indian shell
money, or wampum, made by stringing the perfo
rated shells into belts, or bands.
Had Governor Minuit been allowed to continue
the development of New Netherland according to
his own ideas, its story might have been one of
nearly continuous peace and prosperity. His zeal

PETER MINUIT, FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR 37
and energy in promoting agriculture have left their
marks on the Empire State even to this day. He
wisely distributed among white men the seeds and
grafts which caused gardens to grow and orchards
to spring up, and which among the Indians began
their march to the Cayuga Lake region and the
Niagara plateau. The Long House of the Iroquois
became famous for the variety and richness of its
fruits and vegetables.
Determined to prove to the Company what could
be done in the New World, and to reveal the
wealth of naval stores of all kinds in the colony,
Minuit inaugurated the enterprise of ship-building.
He laid the keel of the second vessel to receive
the name of New Netherland, which when afloat
was as big as a ship of the line in the Dutch navy.
To get the timber of proper length and quality he
sent his axemen Into the region of the Mohawk
VaUey. This magnificent ship, pierced for thirty.
cannon and registered at eight hundred tons bur
then, was launched, loaded, and sent to Holland.
There it made a sensation. It was seen that the
colony could be made the basis of offensive naval
war against the Spaniards.
Yet the fur trade was the main source of imme
diate wealth, and next to securing the comfort
and safety of the colonists, this was Minuit's chief
concern. Many were the ships loaded with peltries
which he dispatched to Amsterdam. In 1630 the
imports amounted to 113,000 guilders, while the

38 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
exports, chiefly furs, were 130,000, making a hand
some profit to the Company.
In return more emigrant vessels from Patria,
•with hopeful planters and fresh cargoes of neces
sities for field, house, and garden, crossed the At
lantic. The frames of not a few buildings and
frequent loads of brick taken as ballast were sent
to take the places of the temporary bark structures
or log cabins. The thousand little contrivances
so common in HoUand, calculated to make home
comfortable, were shipped In quantities. Interest
ing are the frequent references ih " the Amster
dam Correspondence " to the invoices of books,
Bibles, catechisms, and hymn-books, sent to sup
ply the various needs of school, pulpit, study, and
worship. The Dutch were a reading people, and
in no country were the printed page, the bound
book, and the engraving cheaper than in Hol
land. Nevertheless, in spite of all the efforts made to
attract Dutch colonists to the new lands beyond
sea, emigration was slow. Why should any native
want to leave the triumphant Republic ? So some
thing must be done to Increase Dutch population
in America.
Minuit's excellent plans were upset. In their
greed for more money, certain shrewd members of
the West India Company took the step which in
troduced feudalism on American soil. Instead of
progress, their seeming enterprise was reversion

PETER MINUIT, FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR 39
towards the mediaevalism from which the Dutch
had long before delivered themselves. They re
caUed Minuit, at whose story and fortunes we shall
glance again.

CHAPTER V
the first church AND DOMINE
The career of the first Domine, or reverend
pastor, in New Netherland, shows how rich life was
under the risen sun of the Dutch Republic, then
the land of opportunity. Whether in the army,
navy, merchant marine, trade, diplomacy, law,
medicine, or theology, there was not only sure pro
motion for the alert and diligent, but a fair chance
of advancement to " everybody that was anybody."
The Reverend Jonas Michaelius, or, in plain
Dutch, Michel, was born In 1577, and was educated
in Holland's public schools. When twenty-three
years old he went to the great University of Ley
den, then in its lion-like youth, and matriculated
September 6, 1600. He was a student at the same
time with Jacob Cats and Vossius. He received
his heroep, or call, to two vlUages in North Hol
land, and was settled as pastor at Hem, from 1612
to 1614, on a salary of seventy-five guilders, or
thirty dollars. Then he took himself a wife, who
bore him three daughters.
Though now but a place of six or- seven hun
dred people Hem has an. interesting history. Its
story during feudaUsm, its elevation to the rank of
a city with citizen-rights, magistracy, and govern-

THE FIRST CHURCH AND DOMINE 41
ment, its part in the bread-and-cheese riots of
1492 and the fine imposed upon it therefor, the
documents relating to its disputes and arbitrations
with other cities, its cooperation during the war
for freedom, without money or price, to fortify the
city of Hoorn against the Spaniards, and its Inde
pendence of manorial rights make very interesting
subjects of study to medlsevallsts.
The young parson did not fear adventures by
land or sea. When, in 1624, Admiral Piet Hein
took Brazil, Michaelius went out to be minister of
the Dutch church at Bahia, or San Salvador. The
Portuguese recaptured the place next year, and
Domine Michaelius then became chaplain of the
fort In Guinea. He came back to Holland in 1627.
On two continents. South America and Africa, he
learned to know aU sorts, conditions, and char
acters of men of many colors. One of his voyages
was made with a man, then first mate, who later
as captain took him to America. Michaelius had
" roamed about with him a great deal, even lodged
in the same hut, but never knew that he was such
a brute and drunkard." After a stormy voyage,
the Domine, his three little daughters, and their
mother arrived on Manhattan, January 24, 1628,
The hardships were too much for the Domlne's
wife. She died after being in the new country only
a few weeks, and her body filled one of the first
graves in the little cemetery. The poor widower
mourned piteously, " without her society and assist-

42 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
ance," when thus left with motherless children in
a wild land, but he set bravely at work to bury
his sorrows In scholarly toil and sweet human
ministrations. Coming from a land flowing with milk and
cream, and rich in fruits and vegetables, cheese
and eggs, the parson found these articles on Man
hattan were rare and high-priced. At first, he
and his little family had to live on ship's rations,
beans, gray peas, barley, and stock fish. All this
was different from the fare on the bountiful ta
bles of HoUand. The coming winter seemed hard
enough. The fur business was dull, for the Iroquois
from the north were ravaging the land of the
Mohican Indians. Splendid American oak and
hickory timber was being cut and carried back to
the Fatherland, but ships were few. A windmiU
was in course of erection, to saw the wood, and the
gristmill was already In operation. Brick-making
had begun, but skilled labor was lacking. Oyster
sheUs for lime were abundant, and both land and
water were full of food.
These great heaps of sheUs were like the sweep
ings of the mint, for they were what was left over
after the squaws had broken out the blue eye spots
from the clam sheUs and the tops of the univalves,
to make Indian money or wampum. In those an
cient accumulations one rarely finds a perfect shell.
The squaws were surprised to see such refuse
burnt to make good white lime.

THE FIRST CHURCH AND DOMINE 43
Michaelius concludes a long inventory of the
resources of the New Netherland by saying, " The
country is good and pleasant, the climate is healthy,
notwithstanding the sudden changes of cold and
heat. The sun is very warm, the winter is strong
and severe, and continues fully as long as In our
country." Plenty of furs and fuel were needed.
" The best remedy is not to spare the wood, of
which there is enough, and to cover one's self with
rough skins, which can be easily obtained."
This first Dutch pastor, like his American suc
cessors and his brethren at home, was always
addressed as " Domine," which means master or
rector. Our dictionaries have been corrupted by
the Scotch method of spelling " dominie," which
was unknown in the records or in American Eng
lish until the New York Dutch were swamped as
to numbers by British emigrants. This form of
address, " Domine," was, and is, respectful, affec
tionate, and honorable. One American printer,
who recently mixed up the " stickit minister's "
title with that of his Divine Master, thus mis
printed the Vulgate Scriptures, "Dominie Quo
Vadis " ! The Dutch domines In America were
university graduates in almost every instance, and
most of them were gentlemen of high breeding
and scholarship. Dominie means a schoolmaster,
and In this form is not a Dutch word. It is always
Domine in the records of Patria.
Without desiring to be a busybody, Michaelius

44 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
gave his opinion as to what ought to be done to
make the Manhattan settlement a model one. He
asked from home for copies of the Acts of the
Synod, " both the special one relating to this re
gion and those which were provincial and national."
Having been in Africa, he could judge fairly
well concerning certain of the red man's deficien
cies, but his theological prejudices, being those of
his age, rendered him hardly able to appraise
fairly the Indian's moral worth. He was not well
impressed with the first families of America as
represented by the Algonquin Indians, whom he
found " entirely savage and wild, strangers to all
decency, yea, uncivil and stupid as garden poles."
And indeed as compared with the Iroquois, who
were much more advanced in social, political, and
economical life, the Manhattan savages were rather
low in the scale of humanity. The men of the in
land woods considered the river Indians south of
them as fit objects for contempt and vengeance.
The Intercourse between the white and the red
men was carried on by signs. Most of the Dutch
children and some adults picked up a certain
amount of the Indian language, but they could
not understand the savages when talking among
themselves. The Domlne's heart yearned for the
little folks In the woods. " It would be well, then,
to leave the parents as they are, and begin with
the children who are still young."
The widower had difficulty with his housekeep-

THE FIRST CHURCH AND DOMINE 45
ing, for his daughters were quite young and maid
servants were few indeed. Already there were
African slaves from Angola and the mouth of the
Congo, — " thievish, lazy, and useless trash."
His first letter reveals thus very early the one
great trial which vexed the matrons of New Neth
erland most severely in the colony's early days.
The lack of good domestic help did not arise be
cause no housemaids came from Holland, for, in
fact, the rosy-cheeked girls and women of mar
riageable age crossed the Atlantic in considerable
numbers, but usuaUy at the expense of their mis
tresses. The stipulation was made that they should
repay the cost of their passage, if they left the serv
ice of their patrons before a definite period. Yet,
almost as soon as they landed, the maids were
courted by young Dutchmen who were doing weU
and wanted wives. Among the colonial documents
extant are those of Dutch ladies who had brought
over young women as servants, and who were In a
surprisingly short time left to do their own work.
The ladies complained because some Jan, DIrck,
or Claes wanted their Trintje, Annetje, or Alida,
for his bride. They demanded from the would-be
bridegrooms the money they had paid out for
the maidens' passage. Neither Indians nor the first
negro slaves made good servants, but later a better
class of blacks came in and did well in household
service. At the first opportunity Domine MichaeUus,

46 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
having visited the people in their bark houses and
reed huts, proposed to organize a church. For his
deacons he chose Governor Minuit and Captain
Krol from up the river at Fort Orange.
The Dutch were not at all behind the founders
of Massachusetts or Virginia in worship, while
they were ahead of them in completed church life.
The first fully organized Reformed, or Protestant,
Church in America began on Manhattan in 1628.
By this is meant not merely a place of worship, as
at Jamestown, nor part of the congregation with
lay elders, as at Plymouth, but the fuU corporation,
with- salaried minister, board of officers, and com
municants forming a congregation, — members in
good standing, bringing letters from the churches in
the home land, or uniting on confession of faith.
Such was the first Dutch church in North America,
and such there was not In Virginia or Massachu
setts. This association of adults, already baptized In
the Christian faith and uniting together as pastor
and officers, met every Sabbath for divine worship,
scriptural instruction, the use and enjoyment of
the sacraments, and the propagation of the faith.
They were banded together under the forms of
order, doctrine, and discipline of the National Re
formed Church of the Netherlands for spiritual
culture, the dispensing of charity, help of the poor,
comfort to the bereaved, and consolation to the
sick. For the present, " the Church in the Fort "
was gathered in the loft of the horse mill.

THE FIRST CHURCH AND DOMINE 47
One of the first houses of industry which the
Dutch Jack built In his new country was for the
grinding of grain into meal. The flour barrels still
to be seen on the city's coat of arms, though added
afterwards, tell a tale of one of the first industries
(and one of the later monopolies) on Manhattan.
A circular trough or track was dug in the ground,
its bottom floored with brick, and a huge mill
stone was made to roll in this trough, the wheel
grinding the grain to meal. One end of the long
axle was fixed in an upright pole for a spindle,
and a horse, hitched to the farther end, made his
monotonous round. Later, Iron-hooped burr miU-
stones made in the southern Netherlands turned
out fine fiour. When these no longer served their
purpose, they were " east out and trodden under
foot of man," serving as paving-stones.
The horse mill, located in the rear of what is
now Nos. 20 and 28 South WilUam Street, was a
two-storied affair, and was occupied by the parson
or precentor and worshipers on Sundays. On the
first fioor were the mill and accommodation for
man and beast. On the second floor were the bags
of flour. Here, amid these supplies of food for the
body, the Dutch people met to prevent spiritual
famine and feed their souls with heavenly bread.
A carpenter could easily put together the timber
for a pulpit, on which the fore-reader could read
a sermon and the creed, offer a prayer from the
liturgy, and start the psalm tune, or the Domine

48 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
preach and pray. Here were sung the uplifting
Hebrew psalms, done Into mother-speech and set
to the tones of the long-drawn Gregorian chant,
as in dear Patria. Here were read the grand sen
tences, with their rich cadences of Calvin's " Form
for the Administration of the Lord's Supper," the
heart of which beats in the words, " We seek our
life out of ourselves In God."
All important is the history of " the Reformed
Church In America," because the highest Dutch
social life was closely associated with the Church,
and was from the first found In its largest and
fullest form in the congregations. The Church
nourished a spirit of democracy, besides maintain
ing the schools and culture after the English con
quered New Netherland and the royal governors
abolished the public schools. Then the Church,
from its pastors, precentors, and educated men,
had to furnish and support teachers for the girls
and boys. The Reformed Dutch Church was the
seedbed for the sprouting of American and Conti
nental, as opposed to aristocratic British notions.
The language, customs, traditions, and best inher
itances of Patria lingered longest, and are to-day
found most notably in the Reformed churches In
the East and West of our country. When New
Netherland ceased to be, the Dutch Church and
people still remained a potent element in the mak
ing of the American man and the world's grandest
poUtical structure.

CHAPTER VI
WALTER VAN TWILLER, DIRECTOR-GENERAL
The funny feUows, both penmen and artists,
who saw American Dutchmen a century or two
after New Netherland had passed away, and who
have essayed to write or picture the history of
New Amsterdam, give us the impression that most
of the Dutch colonists were old and fat, stupid,
choleric, and lazy, and lived in a cloud of tobacco
smoke. Thus these caricaturists cast a glow more
humorous than luminous over the early history of
the State of New York. In picturing van TwIUer,
the successor of Minuit, some of them have made
a big blunder, for they have confounded father
and son. They have set before us their idea of
the fourth Director of New Netherland, from the
father, Walter van TwiUer, born In 1580, instead
of the real person, his son, Walter, who first
saw the Ught, as the Nijkerk records show. May
22, 1606. So far from being the aged, fat, and
overgrown person represented in caricature, Van
TwiUer was youthful and inexperienced, and his
faults were those of a young man unused to au
thority and hampered by his instructions.
In Guelderland, the van TwiUer estate, men
tioned as early as A. D. 1530, lay in the hamlet of

50 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Sehlechtenhorst In the Nijkerk Commune. Wolter,
or Wouter, as the old spelling Is, was betrothed
with Marita van Rensselaer, daughter of Henrlck,
July 11, 1605, and was married three weeks later.
Walter, their son, the future Director, was the
firstborn In a family of nine children, sons and
daughters. Several of the sons came to New
Netherland In the service of their uncle, KUian
van Rensselaer.
The West India Company, instead of choos
ing Isaac de Rasleres Director- General, appointed
Walter van TwiUer, who was taken as a clerk from
the counting-house at Amsterdam. Though with
some experience on a cattleship voyage to America,
he was, when but twenty-seven years old (instead
of fifty-three), made Governor of New Nether
land. He showed more energy, perhaps. In de
veloping the colony than wisdom In dealing with
men. He was an expert agriculturist, an energetic
manager, a steadfast friend, a shrewd diploma
tist, and a most gallant admirer and protector of
women. His chief fault lay in being " a jolly good
fellow." He was too fond of drinking, and withal
too ready to be the nephew of his uncle in enrich
ing himself and his family connections at the
expense of the Company. One can read his true
story in the Van Rensselaer-Bowier Manuscripts,
published in 1908 by the New York State Educa
tion Department.
There was very good reason, also, why van

DIRECTOR-GENERAL VAN TWILLER 51
TwiUer seemed to be slow in both judgment and ac
tion, when any question of hostilities with the Eng
lish came up. However much the Yankees might
crowd out the Dutchmen in Connecticut or trespass
even upon New Netherland's home domain, van
TwiUer had strict orders from the Company and
from the States-General not to make war. In 1633
Spain was yet unbeaten. The Dutch war of inde
pendence, not yet over, was to last fifteen years
longer. Holland and England having made an al
liance of friendship, it was manifestly impossible
for van TwiUer, in dealing with trespassers, to
take such measures against Englishmen as would
result in bloodshed. It was expected that the King
would restrain his subjects.
Spain was renewing her activities in war, and
the Dunkirk pirates were lively when the Company
sent over the new Director-General in the warship
Salt Mountain, with twenty cannon and one hun
dred and four soldiers, under Captain Hesse. Con
rad Notelman was the schout, or sheriff. Besides
these worthies, there were the typical Dutch re
inforcements, the Domine, Rev. Everardus Bo
gardus, and the accredited schoolmaster, Adam
Roelandsen, and Jacob van Curler, his young
friend, schoolmate, and relative from Nijkerk.
They often went gunning together in the New, as
they had done in the Old Netherland.
Only a few days after the new Director had ar
rived, he found out how forward the Englishmen

52 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
were in trading wherever they pleased ; well know
ing, as they did, not only how weak their own
King Charles was, but how anxious the Dutch were
to avoid rupture with him.
Jacob Eelklns, who in 1618, in the employ of
Amsterdam Dutch merchants, had built Fort Nas
sau on the Hudson River (near Albany) and made
a compact of peace with the Iroquois and sold
them firearms, was now in the employ of a London
firm of merchants. He knew the exact state of
political affairs, and was familiar with the talk In
England. On April 13, 1633, on a vessel named
the William and flying the English flag, he ap
peared In the Hudson River and was moving north
ward. Van TwiUer ordered him to stop and come
ashore. Eelklns obeyed, but claimed that he was
in Virginia on English property and had a right
to trade with the savages. Van TwiUer denied
this, but let him go on deck again. What was
his surprise to see Eelklns weigh anchor and pro
ceed up the river. Thereupon, Instead of firing on
the bold poacher, the Impulsive young Governor
ordered a barrel of wine to the river shore and in
vited everybody to drink at the Company's ex
pense. He proposed the health of Prince Frederick
Henry, the power-holder of the Netherlands, and
quaffed confusion to his enemies. Thus was the
title to New Netherland properly confirmed ! Eel-
kins, however, was caught and expelled from the
country in disgrace.

DIRECTOR-GENERAL VAN TWILLER 63
On the Connecticut River, van TwiUer had a
stIU more serious problem to face. By right of
Captain Block's exploration, the Dutch claimed
the land west of this Fresh River as part of New
Netherland. In 1632, large tracts of land on both
sides of the river were bought from the Indians,
a fort was built where Hartford now stands, and
a flourishing trade began. Charmed by the sweet
birdsong, which so reminded them of home, the
Dutchmen named the place at the mouth of the
stream after the lapwing, or phcebe bird, Kievlt's
Hoek, or Lapwing's Point ; but the fort, in expec
tation of profits, they named the House of Good
Hope. Carrying out his orders, van TwiUer sent as a
commandant of the new fort his playmate from
boyhood. Jacobus van Curler, then only twenty-
three years old, born at Nijkerk, June 11, 1610.
A capable artlUeryman, Hans Janse Eencluys, of
whom we shaU hear again in Schenectady, had
charge of the two little cannon mounted on plat
forms. Unless a shot, by an extremely lucky hit,
should strike a fast passing boat low down amid
ships, there was little risk to a blockade runner
in taking his chances while moving up the river.
All this did Holmes and the Plymouth men
know well, when, in September, 1633, to occupy
Windsor, they sailed safely past van Curler, who
had peremptory and peaceful orders. The alliance
must not be violated. With the European situa-

54 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
tion as It was, Uttle could result from the Di
rector's actions,. except some funny moves in the
game of bluff. The EngUsh, who cared very
little either for King Charles Stuart, then on his
shaky throne, or for Their High Mightinesses
at the Hague, were pouring into Connecticut by
hundreds, and were determined to occupy the
land. A great migration from Massachusetts set
in, and soon Windsor and Hartford had a popu
lation of nearly a thousand persons. Literally,
they swamped out the Dutchmen. Even when van
TwiUer sent a company of seventy soldiers to
make a military demonstration, as if to drive out
the EngUsh from their fortified blockhouse at
Windsor, no one besides the trumpeter could
or did do anything, for orders were peremptory
against bloodshed ; so, after seeing the place and
its cannon, aU marched back to Manhattan. The
time for a war between the two nations had not
come. Nevertheless, the Dutch nobly sustained their
part in keeping order. When Captain Stone, the
Virginian, was murdered by some Pequot Indians,
van Curler had the murderers seized and hanged,
and then made friendly overtures to the Boston
people. Van TwiUer, in spite of his requests, received
no permission from home to fight the English,
however they might insult, dare, or trespass ; but
when he heard of Indian disorders, he took vigor-

DIRECTOR-GENERAL VAN TWILLER 55
ous action. His chivalry could never be called in
question. In November, 1635, young John Win
throp landed with a party at Kievlt's Hoek, tore
down the arms of the States-General, and calling
the place Saybrook after his patrons, had a fort
bmlt by Lyon Gardner. The House of Good Hope
up the river was thus virtually blockaded. Never
theless, when in 1637 Wethersfield was attacked
and nine men were killed and two English girls
taken captive, van TwiUer at once despatched a
sloop from Manhattan with orders to rescue the
maids at any cost. At the Thames River, a half-
dozen Pequots, invited on board, were offered ran
som for the captives. This being refused by the
braves, the skipper held them as hostages until
the girls were returned and later safely delivered
to their friends.
The golden age of the Dutch West India Com
pany and the reign of van TwiUer, from 1633 to
1637, covered the same years. A luxuriant crop of
windmills of the approved pattern sprang up on
favorable elevations on Manhattan, and many other
signs of prosperity were visible. Besides the Gov
ernor's mansion erected within the fort, barracks
for the troops and the second church edifice rose
to view. It was six-sided, or hexagonal, in shape,
with a roof running up to a point and surmounted
by a belfry, on which was the cock of St. Nicholas,
— the symbol of vigilance and the resurrection.
There were several churches of this model In the

56 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
colonies of Java and the West Indies. In 1656,
one was built at the Hague, and a fine one In Rot
terdam was erected according to this fashion as
late as 1847.
It Is generally believed that van TwiUer looked
after his own interests more than those of " John
Company," and that he was a debauched and dis
honest man; yet, as simple fact, very little was
actually proved against him. He lived the strenu
ous life, and so was often misunderstood. He was
given to excess of conviviality, but with all his faults
he had unbounded energy. He was certainly an
enthusiastic agriculturist, and did much to develop
dairying, fruit culture, and farming. Besides re
pairing the fort, erecting new windmlUs, obtaining
large grants from the Indians, and developing the
trade with the Indians and commerce with the
West Indies, he was active in. many other good
things, about which his burlesquers and detractors
are silent. He was such a friend to the Indians
that later, during his successor's wicked war, the
red men called loudly for van TwiUer as their just
benefactor. In the delicate matter of the boundary
line between Connecticut and New Netherland, he
was diplomatic and courteous. He firmly Insisted
on an appeal to the transatlantic sovereigns in
Europe, and argued that local governors in America
should not settle such Important questions. Under
him, the new church was erected. His knowledge
of land and cattle served him well, and he became

DIRECTOR-GENERAL VAN TWILLER 57
the largest private farm owner, after the Pa-
troons, in the colony. With full faith In its future,
he bought about fifteen thousand acres Including
several smaU islands, and part of Long Island. Nut-
ten, one of these islands, famous for its nut trees,
and a favorite place for the Dutch boys of Manhat
tan to visit by swimming or rowing, is still called,
because of his purchase, Governor's Island. He
gave to Gravesend, one of the English villages
on Long Island, an astonishingly liberal charter,
which contrasts strongly with Stuyvesant's bigotry.
It may be that van TwiUer abused his official
position, laying his fingers on choice bits of ter
ritory, and that striking hands with some mem
bers of his council, he gained his ends. Perhaps
he favored the Patroon's colony at Rensselaerwijk
too much. It is certain'that while the Company's
farms hardly paid expenses of their keep, van Twil-
ler and some of his friends were getting rich and
had fine pastures and gardens. He came into col-
Uslon with men of good sense, and at last had ar
rayed against him all the forces of decency and
restraint, military, popular, and ecclesiastical.
Being a son of thunder, rather than of con
solation, Domine Bogardus, disapproving of van
Twiller's folly, rebuked him for peculation; or,
as we now call it, "graft." He even called him
a " devil's child," and threatened to expose him
more fully from the pulpit. To reinforce the Dom
ine, the schout, van Dincklagen, after remon-

68 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
strating vainly with the Director-General, crossed
the ocean to denounce him to the States-General.
Under pressure of the National Congress, the
Company investigated the numerous complaints,
and van TwiUer was dismissed from office. He
took his humiliation very lightly, however. With
his houses and lands, live stock and tobacco plan
tations, he continued to amass riches. He was
known as one of the wealthiest landowners in the
colony. When his indulgent uncle, KUian van Rensse
laer, the Patroon, died in 1646, van TwiUer, being
named as executor of his estate, returned finally to
Nijkerk to care for the property and bring up the
son and heir, Johannes, who was stiU under age,
and his son Nicholas, born in 1636, of whom we
shaU hear again. Van TwiUer also kept up con
troversies with the corporation, by which he was
described as " an ungrateful man who had sucked
his wealth from the breasts of the Company which
he now abuses."
Van TwiUer set an example to his successor
Kleft. Though never followed by Stuyvesant,
this " slow " or " smart " Dutchman, who was as
" brainy " as most of the men who win fame on
Wall Street, gave quick precedents to the later
English governors, almost every one of whom was
a land speculator to a disgraceful and often dis
honest extent. For not making war on the Eng
lish trespassers, however, van TwiUer was no more

DIRECTOR-GENERAL VAN TWILLER 59
to blame than was a certain captain of the United
States navy In 1846, who, though in command of
a seventy-four-gun ship of the line and a frigate,
even when pushed rudely by an Asiatic saUor,
obeyed his orders, and refrained not only from
blood reprisal, but from retaliation of any sort.
In due time, when, her freedom fully won from
Spain, HoUand In the war caused by the British
Navigation Act — the same which brought on our
own Revolutionary War — was goaded to fight
her insolent foe on the sea, the record of the two
Tromps aud of de Ruyter showed what Dutchmen
could do when honor demanded.
Negro slavery was introduced into New Nether
land by the West India Company against the wish
of the people. Eleven black men and some black
women formed the first consignment in 1626, and
more came in 1629. This proceeding was not In
accordance with law. Yet it tallied with the spirit
of the age. The Dutch common people were op
posed to slavery, but the Company forced it upon
them. In 1646, at the request of Domine Mega-
polensis arid the congregations on Manhattan, the
elderly slaves were given their freedom, but only
on the hard conditions of furnishing to the Com
pany one fat hog and twenty-two bushels of grain
annually during the lifetime of each manumitted
person, while their children remained in servitude.
Slavery In New Netherland was very mild in form,
and not until after the English conquest was there

60 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
severity, with the consequent aUeged negro plots
and race wars. The black slave, Uke " the strictly
brought up child who knows nothing of strict
ness," scarcely felt his bonds. Besides being al
most wholly a house servant, given a patch of land
to cultivate for himself, and always allowed to
buy his freedom, he took Pinxter Day as his own
for a carnival of fun. No surer proof of the general
kindness of the Dutch to their black servants can
be imagined than that fixed in Article LIX, in
the legislation of the Reformed Dutch Church in
regard to baptism and membership and the free
privileges of the Church : " In the Church there
is no difference between bond and free, but ail are
one in Christ."

CHAPTER VII
the PATROONS AND THE MANORS
We have seen that Dutch colonists for New
Netherland were difficult to secure, and that arti
ficial stimulus to emigration was needed. From
England good men were driven out by spiritual
tyranny, but In HoUand conscience was free and
the country weU off. The ordinary lures — gold,
fish, furs, freedom to worship God — which led
Spaniards, Frenchmen, some Dutchmen, and many
Englishmen beyond sea, did not suffice for the men
of the Republic. So " John Company " hit upon a
new device, which was nothing less than a rever
sion to feudalism.
In the Netherlands, the three classes of society
were nobles, burghers or citizens, and the common
people. The nobles, who lived mostly in the coun
try, were landowners, and often patroons, that
is, patrons, or manor lords of vast estates ; but the
burghers, who governed the cities, formed the aris
tocracy, and had great powers. The consuming am
bition of the merchants, who were gaining wealth
rapidly, was to own land, and thus be like the
nobles. This desire could not well be gratified in a
smaU country like HoUand. Here the earth had to
be rescued by pump, spade, and dyke from under

62 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
the jealous waters, and held only through sleepless
vigilance. In America land was plentiful and
cheap. It was this coveted prize that was a lure.
By securing and owning great manors In New
Netherland, plain burghers might become landed
proprietors and rank as nobles.
So, with the threefold idea of enlarging their
fortunes, becoming patroons, and developing New
Netherland, the directors of the Dutch West India
Company, in 1630, enlarged their plans. Reserv
ing Manhattan to the corporation, they issued the
charter of " Privileges and Exemptions." This al
lowed a private person to take up stretches of land
sixteen miles long facing a navigable river, or
eight miles on either side of one, and extending
as far back Into the country as might be. Such a
promoter, if he planted a colony of at least fifty
adults, within four years, was a patroon on a
manor, and had feudal rights over colonists. Dur
ing their decade of bonded service, the tenants
could not leave their master, and if they did so,
they were to be treated as runaways, and could
be arrested. The Patroons, though free to trade,
must pay at Manhattan five per cent duty on
their cargoes.
Here was a selfish scheme for the enrichment of
a few monopolists. It was utterly opposed to the
spirit of freedom-loving Holland. The Company's
methods were already bad enough, as the immi
grants, on Manhattan, for example, could not own

THE PATROONS AND THE MANORS 63
land in fee simple, but were tenants at wiU. This
new scheme simply added another and a rival sov
ereignty. It was bound to be the source of un
numbered troubles, causing frequent conflicts of
jurisdiction between the agents of the Company
and the Patroons, besides anger and irritation
among tenants, who were subjected to " the double
pressure of feudal exaction and mercantile mo
nopoly." The system, which was a step backwards,
was hated from the first by all self-respecting free
settlers. Colonists who settled under patroon and
manor were free of aU taxes for ten years. They
were not freemen, but semi-serfs. The patroon
system was one of many Old World ideas that
would not work in America.
In favor of this semi-feudalism, probably sug
gested by French methods in Canada, it may be
said, however, that in all cases above the value of
fifty guilders, the tenants on the manors had the
right of appeal. Independent farmers, as well as
patroons and manor-tenants after discharging their
obligations, were encouraged to seek homesteads.
Other benefits In the charter of Exemptions were
in favor of the Indians, and of religion and morals,
so that, despite objectionable features In the new
plan of colonization, there was hope of a large emi
gration from Patria.
As matter of fact, however, only one of the
manors, that of van Rensselaer, ever became a
success. This result was due as much to the high

64 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
character of the people settling it as to that of
the van Rensselaers, high as this was.
The men who devised this feudal scheme were
among the first to take advantage of it. So far
forward were Messrs. Godyn and Blommaert, that
even before the adoption of the charter in Hol
land they had bought, through their agent, a
manor, that is, a Hiddergoed, or knight's estate,
on Delaware Bay. The Indians, by agreement
made with pen and ink, were paid for a tract of
land thirty-two miles long from Cape Henlopen
to the mouth of the river. This was the first Eu
ropean land title written within the State of Del
aware. KUian van Rensselaer bought from the Indians,
first through Captain Krol and later through Gil
lis Housett, the land which is now the larger part
of the counties of Albany and Rensselaer in New
York, making an estate of about a thousand
square miles. Hendrik and Alexander van der
Capellen, two brothers, and one an ancestor
of our nation's friend during the War for Inde-'
pendence, bought Staten Island and land of the
Navesink and Raritan Indians. Michael Pauw
(in Latin Pavonlus, or peacock) secured Staten
Island, Hob6ken, and what is now Jersey City,
calling his domain Pavonla.
Thus was the land seized, not as in Europe, by
the might and sword of the border brawler, but
by the craft of the pen held by the man in the

THE PATROONS AND THE MANORS 65
counting-house. Already in New France or Can
ada, the French had set the Dutch the bad ex
ample of feudalism; but, at its worst, the Dutch
system was much milder in its features than either
the British or the Gallic model.
Yet notwithstanding the advantages offered to
poor folks, the whole system of patroons and
manors was detestable to a free Dutchman. As
matter of fact and history, no Dutch village com
munity was ever founded under the charter of
1629. Not until the States-General broke the
Company's monopoly and proclaimed more liberal
terms of land settlement in the charter of 1640,
did the free villages of Esopus, Schenectady, and
those on Long Island spring up. In the end. It was
to issue that, whether in French Canada, Dutch
New Netherland, English New York or Virginia,
or In the Southern Confederacy, where belated
feudalism attempted, even by going to war, to
root itself, this Old World system of land tenure
and reciprocal service was unsuitable and Impos
sible in America.
Feudalism never promotes peace, and without
mUitary force Is an absurdity. The new system,
even on paper, nearly rent the Company In twain.
In Amsterdam there were jealousy and crimina
tions, and certain directors of the Company were
charged with abusing their position in order to
secure land. After a storm of criticism, the Pa
troons divided the spoil with others, to whom they

66 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
granted shares in their estates, though keeping
control of the stock. Nevertheless, the tendency
of the Patroons was ever to exceed rather than to
limit their powers. They even went so far as to
invade the Company's darling monopoly of the fur
trade, by sending agents and setting up trading-
stations in new regions. This brought on another
storm of bitter complaints. On the Bourse and in
the Chambers jealousies were rife. Some one must
be made a scapegoat.
In New Netherland Minuit, as a good servant
of the corporation which employed him, continued
to do his best. He was popular, progressive, and
unceasingly active. Yet, since he had, by obeying
and carrying out his orders, seemed to aid and
abet the great dividers of the land, he was selected
as victim and recalled. In reality. It was deemed
no longer necessary to conciliate the Walloons,
for many of them had returned to Holland, and
native Dutchmen were now to come over In large
numbers; and, besides, van Rensselaer had a
nephew he wanted to advance. Minuit went back
on the ship Unity (Eendracht) with some home
sick colonists, including some of Jesse de Forest's
children. Arriving March, 1632, at Plymouth,
England, his ship was attached on the charge of
the Dutch trading Illegally on English territory.
In May she was quietly released, and soon reached
Holland. At home Minuit found himself blamed because

THE PATROONS AND THE MANORS 67
so much of the Company's land had got into the
hands of the Patroons. Evidently he was the victim
of pique, and he did not regain office. To the end
of his days he felt aggrieved at the soulless corpo
ration. Meanwhile something not on land, but in
the water, was drawing Dutchmen to New Nether
land. The beaver, the codfish, gold, spices, and the
path to China were all magnets to attract practi
cal white men away from their northern European
homes to America, but It was the whale that lured
the Dutch to settle on the Delaware River. While
the Spaniards foUowed the dreams of their own
imagination, seeking the gilded man and the foun
tain of youth, the northern Europeans came for
things marketable.
From the eleventh century, the Basques had
hunted the whale in the high latitudes of Europe,
and In 1372, as aUeged, ventured even into Ameri
can waters. When Henry Hudson found the bow-
head whales off Spitzbergen, Dutchmen became
wild over the Idea of making fortunes from blubber.
To " strike oil " in the sea was their one Idea. In
1611 the Greenland and Northern Whaling Com
pany was formed in Holland. Smeerenburg or
" Grease Town " was for many years a famous
Dutch settlement in Spitzbergen. Before the cen
tury closed, nearly three hundred Dutch ships,
manned by fifteen thousand sailors, caught a thou
sand whales annuaUy.

68 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
While excitement and promise were still new,
David Pietersen de Vrles of Hoorn, who had sailed
around the world and was familiar with the East
Indies, joined in the sport. He had heard of whales
on the Atlantic coast and in the South River of
New Netherland. Van der Donck later told of two
whales that in 1646 swam up the North River, and
one grounding on Whale Island, near the great
Falls at Cohoes, brought a supply of oil to the colo
nists' doors, besides causing the Mohawk River to
swim with grease for three weeks. Still later Man
hattan had her whale hunters, and Poughkeepsie
became the headquarters of a whaling-fleet.
De Vrles is one of the Dutch authors who wrote
about New Netherland, and has left us a good
book, In which is a true portrait of himself at the
age of sixty, with his coat of arms. Stars, crescent,
clover leaf, and fruit are on his shield. The crest
of his open-barred helmet is a silver sphere, or the
world enwrapped with bands suggestive of voyages
and man's conquest over nature. The motto is weU
translated : —
The while, around the globe's four quarters I did steer,
I ou the open helmet bore a silver sphere.
The first colony of thirty settlers, with cattle and
stores, who were to re-colonize the South River
region, once temporarily occupied by May's colony
in 1623, was sent out by the five co-Patroons, In
December, 1630, in the big ship Walvisch, or

THE PATROONS AND THE MANORS 69
Whale. A yacht of eighteen guns accompanied
them. The smart Dunkirkers, ever on the alert,
seeing the two ships separated, dashed out from
behind their sandbanks and captured the smaller
vessel, and the big ship went on alone. By way of
the West Indies, the Whale entered Delaware Bay
in AprU, 1631, and Peter Heyes, the commander,
landed his people a few miles above Cape Hen
lopen. He buUt a brick house with palisades, and
called the place Swaanendael, or Swan Valley.
Probably from this reason the Indians caUed the
Dutch " Swannekens." GlUis Housett, of whom we
heard In the north, was commandant. On the other
side of the river or Godyn Bay, Heyes bought
from the Indian chiefs a tract of land twelve mUes
square. It is not at all probable that the Indians ever
understood a contract of this sort, as did the white
purchasers, or knew that in receiving a few axes,
shovels, beads, pans, pots, and some cloth, they
were losing all claim to the land. Their ideas of
property were of the Stone Age. They thought only ,
of joint occupation, with the right to plant, fish, arid
hunt. Nor had these Algonqulns the same unity
of organization which might give the sale of land,
as in a case by the Iroquois, the security of a mod
ern business transaction. The forest men, as distinct
from the tide-water Indians, transferred their land
with the solemn accompaniment of wampum as
record. These same lands, in three states, in the

70 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Delaware Valley, were bought and sold over and
over again by Dutch, Swedes, and English. It is
probably true that, in 1682, the noble Christian
teachings of the Lutheran Swedes and their ex
emplary lives among the savages, during forty years
or more, had predisposed them to trust and welcome
kindly the founder of Pennsylvania. Yet It may be
that the most potent reason why the Lenni-Lenape
held to Penn's treaty was that they were threatened
by the Iroquois with extermination if they violated
it. The redskins and the Dutchmen quickly mis
understood one another. Flags and tokens of sov
ereignty were not seen in the same light by savages
as by Europeans. According to elvilized customs,
a pole was erected on the purchased land, and a
piece of tin, with the arms of the Netherlands
painted on it, was nailed to the pole. One day. In
innocence and without a twinge of conscience, a
chieftain, wanting tbe shining metal to ornament
his tobacco pipes, walked off with it. Housett at
once took this as direct Insult or treachery. He
made such a noise about it that some of the tribe
killed the offender and brought one part of his
body as a token. Then the horrified Dutchman
upbraided the savages for going too far. He had
meant only to scold and scorn.
But the mischief was done, and blood revenge
was the savage law. Secretly armed, the kinsmen
of the murdered man came into the settlement.

THE PATROONS AND THE MANORS 71
All were working in the fields except the com
mandant and a sick man who was guarded by a
chained mastiff. Of this animal the Indians were
more afraid than of an armed man. If at this time
they had dogs, they certainly were not of the breeds
of Europe, or their equals In courage or size. Hous
ett, when off his guard, was tomahawked and fell
dead at once, but the faithful dog died game, filled
like a pincushion with shafts, before he gave up.
It took twenty-five arrows to finish him. This
plucky hound was brought from the land in which
one of its own species saved the life of the Father
of the Fatherland. Both on the statue in the Hague
and on the tomb in Delft one sees a little dog
represented at the feet of WiUiam the Silent.
One by one the men and women in the fields
were shot, the horses and cattle killed, and houses
and palisades set on fire. The next day the sun
rose on blackened ruins and scattered corpses.
This was the sight seen on December 6, 1632.
Tragic as it was In its end, this settlement was
" the cradling of a state."
After five months' delay, de Vrles had sailed in
the new ship New Netherland, built on Manhat
tan, by Minuit, of Mohawk River timber. Exult
ing in hopes of whale oil and crops, he arrived off
Swaanendael only to find desolation and death.
He heard the story from a native, but instead of
taking revenge and thus probably making the
innocent suffer, he opened trade and rebuilt the

72 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
settlement. He named the pretty creek, or kiU,
Hoorn KiU, for his native town ; but long after
wards Englishmen changed the word in form and
spelll»g, thus giving the stream an offensive name,
besides inventing a bad story to fit the vile and
false word that long disfigured our maps.
The prospect of making a fortune from whales
proved a delusion, and de Vrles later abandoned
Swaanendael. For nearly twenty years, except in
an occasional trading ship, the Dutch were absent
from the Delaware River.

CHAPTER Vin
THE RENSSELAERWIJK COLONY
Van Rensselaer's colony was planted on
ground that was sacred and classic in Iroquois tra
dition. Here was the Eastern Door of the Long
House. Naturally one expects to find the gateway
into the Iroquois country where two valleys and
streams join, at the confluence of the Mohawk
with the Hudson. Eastbound travelers in moc
casin and canoe, however, made detour at Sche
nectady. By turning to the right into the vaUey of
Norman's KiU, and following the stream south
wardly, they avoided the shallow windings of the
lower Mohawk, the sandhills of Niskayuna, and
the great falls at Cohoes. This trail from Niagara
and the Far West formed the great Indian high
way of America.
At Tawasentha on the Hudson was one of the
most sacred places in Iroquois tradition. Besides
being " the place of many dead," It was the home
of Hiawatha, the great culture-hero, and the re
puted founder of the league of the Five Nations.
Here, with burial of the tomahawk and smoking
of the calumet, councils were held and treaties
compacted between various tribes. Here they first
met the white man, exchanging furs for fire-water

74 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
and the firearms with which they humbled their
vassals. On their westward route, they avoided the hiUs,
sands, and cataracts northward, and through the
valley of Norman's Kill rejoined the Mohawk
trail. The "kill" took its name from Andries
Bradt, who was a Norman, Northman, or Norse
man, that is, a Dane, or of Danish extraction, who
settled on its banks in 1630. This pretty stream,
with its flower-lined cliffs and alluring rock cran
nies, meandering through daisy-clothed meadows,
recalls In its name the home of the Vikings.
The first covenant of friendship between the
Iroquois and the HoUanders was here entered Into
by Jacob Eelklns In 1617. Adrian Joris, a wise
and energetic superintendent, confirmed the com
pact In 1623.
Daniel van Kriekenbeek, the successor of Joris,
was less wary and more susceptible to Indian elo
quence. Opposite, on the east side of the river, at
Green Bush, rose the palisaded castle of the Mohi
cans. In 1626 they asked the Dutch commandant
to aid them in a raid against the Mohawks. Kriek
enbeek foolishly consented, and set out with six
of his men towards Schenectady, but the West
ern red men were alert, and the whole party was
driven back by a volley of arrows. Among the
many slain were four Dutchmen, including the
commandant. Then the white people learned to
their horror that the Iroquois were, on some occa-

THE RENSSELAERWIJK COLONY 75
sions at least, cannibals. They first roasted and ate
one Hollander, probably an unusually brave fighter.
Then the victors took back a leg and an arm to
hang up in their council house to show that Euro
peans were not Invincible. Other similar instances
proved that cannibalism, though not usual, was
neither excessively rare nor practiced in mere bra
vado. Hunger was sufficient to fill the kettle with
human flesh, when other food was not at hand or
was difficult to procure.
When Peter Barentsen, the new commandant
for Fort Orange, arrived on the scene from Man
hattan, the Iroquois hastened to explain the recent
unpleasant affair. They justified themselves, and
declared that they had no enmity with the Dutch.
Barentsen accepted the explanation. Packs of furs
were brought in, and peaceful traffic was resumed.
Barentsen was relieved by Captain Sebastian
Krol, or Crol (pronounced CruU), a church elder,
a comforter of the sick, and one of the shining
characters of New Netherland. To him is ascribed
the cruUer, or Krol-yer, a toothsome delicacy of
high repute. The word Is unknown in Holland, and
the makers of dictionaries have vainly endeavored
to derive the word from the Dutch, or German
Jcrullen, to curl. When provisions were short, or
the bill of fare at Fort Orange was monotonous.
Captain Krol supplied a new sort of olekoeh, that
is, "fried cake," "doughnut," or compound of
flour, eggs, butter, and sugar. Krol, with his

76 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
" cruUers," added a new delicacy to the frontier
table. Krol was a church officer, and occasionally went
down the river to Manhattan to sit in the Con
sistory Meeting of the First Reformed Church
in North America. With Domine Michaelius he
grieved at the loose morals of a new community,
and at " the speech of Ashdod " heard from the
half-breeds. However, unlike that other colonial
governor, Nehemiah, Krol did not smite or pluck
off the hair of the fathers. Rather, like Malachi,
he palliated the situation, for many of the Dutch
pioneers had left home before being married.
" Let none deal treacherously against the wife of
his youth" — even If she were a squaw — was
good advice.
The lonely Dutch bachelors were soon to have
brides from home. In 1630 Krol was delighted to
receive an order from KUian van Rensselaer to
purchase for him, from the Iroquois proprietors,
a great estate. The commissary, the overseer of
farms, and a company of farmers furnished with
tools, implements, and cattle would shortly ar
rive. A church and school, with a domine and
master, were also promised to complete the new
manor. The Patroon of Nijkerk fitted up a comfortable
ship, named the Eendracht, or Unity, from the
motto of the Republic, Eendracht maagJit macht,
which means "Unity makes strength," and put her

THE RENSSELAERWIJK COLONY 77
under the charge of Captain John Brouwer. The
colonists could not feel safe until they were well
out on the ocean, because of the Dunkirkers, or
Belgian-Spanish pirates. The admiralty, or naval
station at Dunkirk, for privateers and war ves
sels flying the Spanish flag, had been organized by
the Duke of Parma in 1583. In four years these
pirates had become so dangerous that the States-
General ordered that when captured no mercy be
shown to either masters or men. In many a Dutch
port the gallows stood ready, and the hangman be
gan his work at once. Dutch vessels could go out
only in convoy or heavUy armed. Even then, the
Dunkirkers could sometimes by numbers overcome
four or five state ships, even men-of-war, saving
themselves and their booty behind the danger
ous Flemish sandbanks. Many a ship bound for
America was thus caught and plundered, and its
passengers were held to ransom. For sixty years
this war on the waters between the Dutch sailors
and the Dunkirkers continued. It was to root the
pirates out of their lairs that the States-General
sent Maurice, their young commander-in-chief,
into the enemy's country. Though the supreme
object was not then attained, the decisive victory
of Newport was gained In June, 1600, and Inci
dentally fresh honor came to the van Rensselaers
from this campaign, as we shall now see.
Descendants of the Crusaders, this family bore
on the shield of their arms a cross of the Knights

78 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
of St. John, silver on a red ground, with the motto,
Niemand Zander, or " No man without " (a cross).
Now, at their city home in Amsterdam, they were
to receive a special honor from Prince Maurice.
Heer van Rensselaer was one of the cavalcade of
mounted gentlemen who constituted the prince's
escort of honor when, after his victory, he entered
that city In triumphant array. He hung cressets,
or iron ^baskets of fire, around the walls and on
the roof of his mansion, and the effect was so strik
ing that Maurice, summoning the householder,
congratulated him on his artistic triumph, and told
him to take as his family motto Omnibus effulgeo,
"I outshine all." The flaming torch in an iron
basket henceforth became part of the wapen, or
arms, of the head of the van Rensselaer house.
The passenger list of the ship Unity was made
up of mechanics, farmers, and capable men with
families, people who had grown up together from
childhood. The women were especially well fitted
to be the ancestresses of families that should at
tain renown. In Holland girls were as well edu
cated in the public schools as were boys. After a
maidenhood spent In mastery of household science
and art, they became real partners with their hus
bands in their business or enterprises. We shall
hear further about several of these typical Dutch
women, whose Bibles, silver-clasped and held in
hand or at belt, chatelaines holding keys, tablets,
needle-cases, etc., cake -moulds, dresses, linen

REDRES Van de
aiwpfenettUe jfaulten mUe
Colonic tan li^mmm^')a^m*

f AMSTERDAM.

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ftraetyintiel^iaojieUanSioffpliuief/ Anno 1643.
TITLE PAGE SHOWING SHIP BEARING DUTCH COLONISTS

THE RENSSELAERWIJK COLONY 79
chests, and what-not, are still in the possession of
their descendants. There was Maryje (that is, lit
tle Mary or Maria) Jonas, who was the midwife, or
" trained nurse," of the period. With her came
two young and handsome daughters who quickly
learned the language of the Indians, and were
always friends of the red men. It was her daugh
ter Annetje, better known as "Anneke" Janse,
with whom the young fellow Roelof Janse, in the
employ of the Patroon, fell desperately in love.
They were married, and four children were born
to them, and these became more famous than even
their ambitious mother, perhaps, dreamed they
would be.
Of Annetje, or little Ann, tradition says that
she was lively, energetic, smart, frugal, with rosy
cheeks and snapping black eyes, and that she
kept her good looks until she died of a good old
age. By her thrift and wifely help, her husband
was able In a few years to leave the service of the
Patroon, and bidding good-by to feudalism, to
live on Manhattan. He bought a farm of sixty
acres overlooking the Hudson River, but died soon
after his arrival, leaving a buxom and pretty
widow. "Anneke Janse" married Domine Bogar
dus, to her social advantage, and is the ances
tress of many thousands of people. Her sister
Maryje excelled even Anneke, for she married
three times, and had a child by each husband,
thus having much to do with the founding of

80 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
three families. These were typical women of
New Netherland.
Why Kilian van Rensselaer's proved to be the
best colony will be seen when we glance at the
old home of his agents and colonists In Guelder
land. " Like fathers like sons." Nor is it any ac
cident that near Fort Orange and Rensselaerwijk
are Guilderland and Guilderland Center, of sweet
personal or ancestral memory to thousands of
Americans. To see these people at home is to
know them as they were, for better or worse, and
to understand what they would bring with them.
We shall later cross the ocean, view the monu
ments, read the documents, and survey the scene.

CHAPTER IX
kieft and HIS INDIAN WAR
Who can divine what wisdom brooded over the
College of the Nineteen Directors of the Com
pany, when they chose Van Twiller's successor,
William Kieft ? Though with more abilities and
experience, while possibly less foolish, Kieft was
scarcely fitted to be either a statesman or a first-
class business man. Very probably it was in the
reaction against too much patroonism that such a
man was appointed. It is probable, also, that in
political influence with the States-General, rather
than in special favor with the Company, lay the
secret of Kieft's selection. Wishing to avoid war
with England until the Spaniards were overcome,
especially since the fortunes of the West India
Company were declining, the Dutch National
Congress made direct choice of this man who
promised great reforms. It is certain that dark
stories were told of his previous misbehavior In
France and Turkey, before reaching America,
and that from the first he as surely boasted of his
power as it seems he intended to misuse it.
Kieft took the oath of office, which he was to
break in manifold ways, and sailed on the ship
Herring. To avoid the terrible Hatteras and

82 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Jersey coast storms, he spent the winter at the
Bermudas, and arrived at Manhattan, March 28,
1638. He took hold of things with the energy of an ab
solute ruler and with the effect of a new broom.
He hoped to remedy aU disorders and defects by
proclamations. He erected and set in operation
a brewery and made good beer, — then the daily
drink of Europe ; for tea, coffee, cocoa, and hot
drinks were not yet. The first in the United
States territory, this brewery made profits. Yet
Kieft would allow no taprooms open during di
vine service, or after one o'clock A. M. Then
"tap-toe" (in our language, "tattoo" or "taps,"
and now a military signal for bedtime) sounded.
He refused to have firearms sold to the Indians.
He had the curfew rung at nine P. M. He planted
orchards and gardens and opened two annual
cattle fairs. He built a hotel at the corner of
Pearl Street and Coenties Slip. He put the Com
pany's farms in such good condition that the bet
ter class of native Dutch colonists began to come
over from Patria in larger numbers.
Yet his first official act showed him to be a
tyrant, and he never reformed.. His method was
farcical. His idea of duty was to do as he pleased.
He wrote, " I am my own master, for I have my
commission, not from the Company, but from the
States-General." He appointed the Huguenot
physician, Johannes la Montague, his sole coun-

KIEFT AND HIS INDIAN WAR 83
cilor, giving one vote to the doctor and having
two votes for himself. The affairs of the province
were administered by these two men, aided also
by the secretary and the schout.
Domine Bogardus was not afraid of Kieft. It
was a good thing for the colony that he was not,
and that there was a man of inflnence brave enough
to oppose high-handed foUy. No newspapers or
ballot boxes being in operation to improve the
government, the pulpit was almost the only place
in which the best organ of public opinion could
restrain the Director-General.
Kieft, stimulated by Captain de Vrles, did some
thing towards improving morals and religion, but
his self-conceit came near spoiling his good inten
tions. However, after a popular subscription, a
new church edifice was reared, wherein Domine
Bogardus held forth for five years longer. Yet the
preacher would not truckle to the Director, or ap
prove his wicked doings. When Kieft began his
whoUy unjustifiable and bloody Indian war, Bo
gardus denounced him from the pulpit, taking the
part of the people against their bad ruler, and de
manding an appeal for justice to Patria. This Kieft
would not allow. He even made a counter charge
against the Domine, of being too fond of wine
and of taking part with the malcontents. Then,
instead of attending divine worship, Kieft stayed
away and ordered drums to be beaten and cannon
to be fired, making things as uncomfortable for

84 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
the worshipers as possible. Thus the teapot tem
pest was kept up.
Under Kieft's administration, the southern part
of New Netherland was nearly ruined in war with
the Indians in the tide- water region. Several causes
may be stated for this terrible but utterly needless
calamity. In the first place, there was undying
hatred between the Iroquois and the Algonqulns,
and it was not always easy for the Dutch to pre
vent getting mixed up In forest politics or to keep
out of the red men's quarrels. Again, the divided
territory and jurisdiction — of the Patroon at
Rensselaerwijk and of the Director at Manhat
tan — made serious trouble because the Iroquois
could freely buy guns and powder in the north,
while these munitions of war were forbidden to
the Algonqulns in the south. The bloodshed which
foUowed the quarrels arising through misunder
standings of language and customs, between white
man and red, boded dire evil to all the colonists.
When, for example, some pigs were stolen from
Staten Island by some of " John Company's" ser
vants, the blame was laid on the Raritan Indians,
who lived twenty miles inland. Thereupon Kieft
sent a party of soldiers among them who killed
several, plundered their houses, and destroyed
their crops. The savages, unable to understand
such treatment, were at once changed from friendly
neighbors into sullen enemies, secretly sworn to re
venge. When clouds of danger were seen arising,

KIEFT AND HIS INDIAN WAR 85
Kieft began to repair the fort. This gave him a
pretext for going further In his career of tyranny.
In order to raise revenue for this extra expense,
he laid a tax upon the River Indians. This was
flying in the face of all Dutch precedent and prin
ciple in the Fatherland. "No taxation without con
sent " was a maxim as old as the abolition of feu
dalism. At this trick, the Indians were surprised and
angry; but when the Raritans proceeded to dis
charge their debts of vengeance by descending on
Staten Island and killing four colonists and burn
ing their grain and tobacco, Kieft set one tribe
against the other. He offered the North River
Indians a bounty of ten fathoms of wampum for
every Raritan's head. This started intestine war
among the savages, in which Pacham, a wily sa
chem at Haverstraw, led off. Among the striking
autumn novelties at Manhattan was the sight of
this chief marching down Broadway with a dead
man's hand hanging to a stick. It had belonged to
the Raritan chief. Presenting this token of bloody
service to the Director, he claimed his reward.
Twenty years before, under Van Twiller's ad
ministration, some rascally Dutchman, unknown
to the authorities, had wantonly killed a savage,
whose nephew, an Indian boy, who witnessed the
murder, vowed to be revenged for the death of
his kinsman. The young brave nourished his wrath
for years, and when grown up, all white men being

86 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
alike to him, he entered the shop of Claes Smits,
a wheelwright, and smote him dead with an axe.
When Kieft demanded satisfaction of the sachem,
he received a history of the case, but no more. He
sent soldiers, but they failed to arrest the assassin.
By this time Kieft's foUy in taxing Indians and
opening a market for heads and scalps had dis
gusted every one, but, like a true poltroon, he
himself kept out of personal danger. Men openly
twitted him with sleeping in the fort and sending
others to risk their lives on his abominable errands.
Portents of war were every day growing more
threatening, yet the people had no share in the
government, as In the Fatherland, while they had
to suffer from the Director's folly. So, to save
his own skin, Kieft called together the heads of
families on Manhattan Island for deliberation
and advice before going to war. These at once
chose " Twelve Select Men," aU Hollanders, and
de Vrles was made president. Their counsel was
promptly given against war, while they stoutly
called for reforms at home. Only after long argu
ment, and the Director's consenting to head the
expedition In pferson, did hostilities begin, and
then under limits and conditions imposed by the
Twelve Men.
The first expedition, under Ensign van Dyck,
who is the ancestor of many notable and noble
men stIU living, was a failure, but the Indians
were alarmed and sued for peace. A treaty was

KIEFT AND HIS INDIAN WAR 87
made at the home of Jonas Bronk, from whose
name BronxvIUe and the Borough of the Bronx
take theirs.
Peace was of short duration. The story of the
war that broke out again is a long one, and has
been often told. The Iroquois from the north at
tacked the Mohicans in the lower Hudson valley,
driving them across the river like sheep before
wolves. Those who survived Mohawk bullets and
tomahawks were slaughtered by Dutch soldiers
sent by Kieft at Pavonla and Corlaer's Hook,
Then fifty Englishmen were enrolled and led by
Captain John UnderhiU. In February, 1644, these
attacked and burned an Indian town In Connecti
cut with frightful slaughter. The men who were op
posed to Kieft's policy, and who throughout pleaded
for justice to the Indians, were de Vrles and Ja
cobus van Curler.
Kieft had failed to saddle the responsibility of
war on the Twelve Men, and dissolved the As
sembly. For a time the people were denied the
rights of the Fatherland and left as political exiles.
They suffered that for which their fathers took up
arms against the Spaniards, — " taxation without
consent." Nothing could be more diametrically
opposed to Dutch political genius and long-estab
lished custom in the Netherlands than Kieft's
procedure. Taxation, only as voted by those who
were to pay the taxes, was the established Dutch
principle, to which Kieft was a traitor. Under

88 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
pressure, the Governor again called a popular
Assembly of the Eight Men, for consultation.
When, in order to pay the English soldiers,
Kieft proposed a new excise to be laid on liquors
and beaver, the Eight Men opposed him, and de
manded that the Company attend to the defense
of the colony. Taking a bold step, they petitioned
the West India Company to recall Kieft. During
five years there had hardly been as many months
of peace. Their petition was heard, and Kieft was
ordered home.
Like the cow of the Dutch proverb that kicks
over the bucket of milk she produces, Kieft spoiled
the good results of his earlier energy and enterprise
by dealing the colony a blow from which It did not
recover until after 1664. Under him, during the
Indian wars, the population of New Netherland
was reduced over half. What he did of evil was
wholly against the wish and will of the people.
Between " John Company " and WiUiam Kieft, a
foolish 'corporation and their foolish servant, the
people of lower New Netherland were nearly
crushed. As there were two distinct Indian domains, on
the plateau and in the tide-water region, Iroquois
and Algonquin, so in New Netherland there were
two different Dutch policies In dealing with the
natives, according as the white man's principles
were Incarnated in Arendt van Curler or William
Kieft. In the north was an almost unbroken peace

KIEFT AND HIS INDIAN WAR 89
founded onmutual respect and justice. In the south
were turmoil, bloodshed, waste, and devastation,
the fruit of hatred and unrighteousness.
The Company now selected a military man as
Director-General, whose commission on its behalf
was signed by the Jonkheer Alexander van der
CapeUen, ancestor of our friend Derek during the
Revolution. In the Princess, one of the squadron
of four ships, Stuyvesant, the man destined to live
up to his name and stir up things, embarked for
Manhattan. In August, 1647, the returning ship Princess,
which bore both Domine Bogardus and Director
Kieft, sailed for Patria, but was wrecked off the
coast of Wales, and both notorieties were drowned.
Happily, to cleanse the stain of his life, Kieft in
his last words confessed that he had done wrong,
and requested to be forgiven. Only twenty of the
passengers or crew were saved. Kieft's two accus
ers, Melyn and Kuyter, were rescued, one of them,
like Csesar, saving his manuscript. In his teeth as
it were, for he at once set about recovering from
the waves the box containing the papers of accu
sation, and he found them. In the States-General
these representatives of New Netherland presented
the case of the people so well that we shall find
them, at the psychological moment, rising in behalf
of the people in judgment against Peter Stuyve
sant, the Implacable hater of popular free institu
tions.

CHAPTER X
NIJKERK : THE OLD HOME BEYOND SEA
To find the home of the successful planters of
the northern and best part of New Netherland, we
must look across the Zuyder Zee, in Guelderland.
Here at Nijkerk, or near by, lived the van Rensse
laers, van Curlers, van Twillers, van Schlechten-
horsts, and other families, who sent their young
men and women as pioneers to our shores. From
this ancient home came scores of the ancestors of
the people of the Empire State. These hardy sons
and daughters of the Dutch Republic were true
Argonauts. They sailed away to cover the soil of
the New Netherland with a golden fleece.
The origin of Nijkerk, which means New Church,
is not fully known, but its story we learn from
Arend van Schlechtenhorst's " History of Gelder
land," from page 107 and onward. This author,
who wrote his history In 1649, was a kinsman of
Brandt van Sehlechtenhorst, commissary at Rensse
laerwijk, from 1647 to 1652, who acquired KatskiU,
Claverack, and the site of the future city of Troy
for his patroon, in whose name, also, he withstood
Stuyvesant, and by him was made prisoner.
Perhaps Nijkerk got its name when the darkness
of paganism had so far lifted that a Christian house

NIJKERK : THE OLD HOME 91
of worship was built here, A. D. 1222. It was given
municipal rights in 1413, and fortified with gates
and walls, of which there are now no trace. In the
mediaeval wars it was several times besieged and
plundered by border ruffians and militant bishops.
After so many people left it for the New Nether
land, Nijkerk dwindled to a village, but in 1808
was elevated to the rank of a city by King Louis
Bonaparte. In the Middle Ages, forests covered not only
HoUand (wood-land), but most of the Netherlands.
Then deer were plentiful, and the place called
Rensselaer meant the deer's hiding-place, or the
stag's lair. The estate, which lies about three miles
south of Nijkerk, was given for service in war and
thus became a Hiddergoed, that is, a manor, or
knight's property. Its ownership conferred a title
upon the head of the family, and also called for
military service of the tenants in support of the
lord, or patroon. Thus the name Van Rensselaer
means " from the deer's lair." The family has died
out in the Netherlands, and the ancient manor
house now belongs to a farmer. The last of the
name was buried at Nijkerk, April 11, 1819. The
weathervanes on the gabled houses of the old
estate long bore the crest of the van Rensselaers.
In the struggle for independence from Spain not
a few of the men gave their lives for their country.
Other names in Nijkerk church and cemeteries
are the same as those we read on the gravestones

92 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
in Schenectady, Kingston, Yonkers, and Tarry-
town. One might as weU attempt to write the history
of Japan and leave out Mikadoism as to essay the
story of Netherland, either Old or New, and ig
nore the Reformed Church, for the Church was
before the State, and the Reformation preceded
the Republic. When the rule of universal spiritual
government from one city in Italy was abolished,
national churches sprang up. Instead of prayers
in Latin, the new worship and praise were enjoyed
in the people's own language. At the same time
the customs in daily life and on Sunday were
changed, and the Bible in the language of home
became a household book.
The Reformation came to Nijkerk In 1593. Be
fore that time, church and worship were in harmony
with the spectacular features of feudalism, and
were very Impressive to the eye, ear, and to the
senses generally. Incense, lights, vestments, and
genuflections gave way to a much simpler ritual,
consisting of prayer, psalm-singing, Bible-reading,
and the sermon instead of the mass. The church
Interior was made almost bald in its plainness.
Economic, educational, and political improve
ments gave the Netherlands modern statehood.
Most striking was the new system of popular edu
cation. The public schools were separated from
the Church, though much of the teaching was still
doctrinal or religious.

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THE VAN RENSSELAER TOMB IN NIJKERK CHURCH

NIJKERK: THE OLD HOME 93
Nijkerk was a typical Dutch town. What went
on here was accomplished, sooner or later, in every
community in the Republic. We thus learn what
habits and Ideas the emigrants brought to New
Netherland, better than from any modern authors
or after-dinner speeches. Instruction in the public
schools sustained by taxation was free to all chil
dren, girls as weU as boys, until the age of twelve.
At Harderwijk, a few miles distant, Dutch, French,
German, and Latin were taught at the High
School, founded In 1375, and given a new edifice
in 1614. At Nijkerk, the common branches, read
ing, writing, and arithmetic, the Ten Command
ments, the Creed, or the Twelve Articles of the
Christian Faith, prayers, catechism, music, sing
ing, and manners were taught. Meals were eaten
early. School began at six o'clock In summer and
seven in winter, and the hours of instruction were
from six to eight, nine to ten, twelve to two, and
three to four; plenty of play alternating with
work in school. On Wednesday and Saturday
afternoons there was holiday from one o'clock.
We shall hear further of the New Church folk
in America, for hundreds of them came to settle
on the enormously large van Rensselaer manor and
in the Mohawk VaUey and elsewhere. More than
any other place in the old country, does Nijkerk de
serve to be caUed the mother town of New York
State. More Americans of Dutch descent are de
scended from the Guelderland emigrants than

94 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
from those hailing from any other community in
Patria. Furthermore, the two men who embodied
antagonistic Ideas, the Old World notion of feu
dalism and the principle to which the New World
is consecrated, — full personal freedom, — were
natives of Nijkerk. They were KUian van Rens
selaer and Arendt van Curler.
Other folks from the New Church town, who
became famous In the cradle days of the Empire
State, will be spoken of hereafter, in the proper
place. The van Twillers, the van Rensselaers, and
the van Curlers intermarried during many genera
tions, and on the 9th of March, 1656, In the fine
old church, already rich in organ and sculptured
tombs, was placed a " storied window richly dight,"
containing the names and the coats-of-arms of the
three families. This custom, of presenting stained-
glass windows containing the family arms, by pa
troons and prominent families, was a very ancient
one, and was afterward continued in the American
Dutch Reformed churches, " after the manner of
Patria." The good people of Nijkerk were diligent. In
dustrious, and fond of the Church and the market.
They hated laziness and dirt as the worst forms of
original sin. They loved schools and genuine re
ligion, alternated work with play, and were ready
for what the world might bring them. They turned
to the right, as their statute law and that of most
Dutch towns then did direct and still does direct.

NIJKERK i THE OLD HOME 95
The ruts of their wagons, after long litigation and
through the influence of New York State, have
become the gauge of standard width In the United
States, bringing order out of confusion. They set
the gable end of their houses fronting the street
so that they might save the rain water for washing
and that the snow in winter might faU into their
own yards, and not on the people in the streets.
They enjoyed, with abounding delight of body and
soul, even as they rigidly observed, the Kermiss,
New Year's Day, Easter, Whitsuntide, and other
holy anniversaries and seasons, closing the twelfth
month with two festivals, one of St. Nicholas, or
Santa Claus, on December 6, and the other of
Christmas, on December 25.
At church they always gave money In two col
lections, which were taken up by the deacons in
velvet bags hitched to the end of long poles. They
worshiped in a two-hour morning service, and were
scandalized if it were shorter. They listened to the
hour-long sermon, delivered in two parts, didactic
and practical, and invariably divided by a collec
tion in between. Of the two almsgivings, one was
for the Church, the other for the poor. They fed
and dressed comfortably. When born, they were
baptized at the font in the church. When mature,
they were married In their homes, taking up a col
lection for the poor. At the communion table, they
were cheered and warned in the words of the noble
liturgy of the Reformed Church, duly established

96 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
in the Netherlands In 1568, and soon growing by
expansion in other lands and continents.
There were scores of Dutch churches in Asia,
Africa, the West Indies, and South America, long
before there was one organized in New Nether
land, in 1628. These were governed by a consis
tory composed of the reverend Domine, elders, and
deacons, and further officered by a fore-singer.
Scripture-reader, Comforter of the sick, or church-
master, one and all, as the case might be, or, as in
some instances, with every one of these officers.
In Dutch Formosa was the largest foreign mis
sionary station then known to any national or free
church in Europe, and the first, on a great scale,
in modern times. The Classis of Amsterdam was
in itself the greatest missionary society in Eu
rope, and, In fact, the general agent of Protestant
Europe, and helped many thousands of people,
British, German, French, and Walloon, besides
Netherlanders, to get to America.
I enjoyed none of my many rambles in the
Netherlands, during seven visits, more than when
I visited Guelderland and the Nijkerk neighbor
hood. There I saw more intimately, and visited
oftener than elsewhere, the homes of the peasan
try and the common people, noticing how, in the
Mohawk and Hudson valleys, the first settlers
copied the models of the home laud, in house,
church, customs, speech, and, at first, even in cos
tume, footgear and headgear, and curious notions.

NIJKERK: THE OLD HOME 97
In the twentieth century Nijkerk has a popula
tion of 8124. We may sum up what Terwen said,
in his three-volume album of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands, rich In steel plates, published a gen
eration or two ago : —
"Nijkerk lies in the midst of tobacco lands,
pretty gardens, and grainfields, three fourths of
an hour's walk from the Zuyder Zee, with which
it has communication by means of a good harbor.
It is two hours [as the pipe is smoked, or the
feet can carry one] northeast of Amersfoort, on
the streetway from that city to Harderwijk and
ZwoUe." In Amersfoort was born John of Barneveld,
and in ZwoUe lived Thomas a Kempis, and Baron
van der Capellen, whose ancestor was a patroon on
Staten Island, and who was himself our generous
friend in the Revolution, to whose honor and
memory, on June 6, 1908, the Holland Society
of New York reared a noble bronze tablet.
Nijkerk is moderately large In Its compass, and
possesses fourteen streets, a free Reformed church
on the Holker Street, with an unusually fine or
gan and a handsome clock tower with chimes and
dial ; a Roman Catholic church, with tower and
organ ; a church of the Seceders (Christian Re
formed, now numerous in Iowa, Dakota, and
Michigan) ; and two synagogues, of which only
one is used. Besides these, are the very Imposing
new edifice, the Reformed Church Hospital, and

98 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
a Home for Old Men and Women, with a build
ing for the Roman CathoUc church community
and carried on by Sisters of Mercy, good provi
sion for public instruction, and methods for the
prevention of beggary, etc. In the neighborhood
lies the free open space of Salenstein. To-day,
alert, clean, bright, with all modern equipments,
Nijkerk enjoys daily communication with the
outer world by means of post, telegraph, tele
phone, bicycles, automobiles, and seventy railway
trains daily.
Such are the usual features of a typical Dutch
town, showing ample provision for worship, bene
volence, recreation, and industry, and all these
were established from times remote. Here are the
markets for the sale of fish, cattle, vegetables and
grain, live stock of various sorts, cheese, and the
products of the cow. All around are the evidences
of that human toil which, after a thousand years
of labor, has made a garden of the old sea-bot
tom, over which fish used to feed and disport
themselves. Until both Orient and Occident revealed their
mysteries, neither pipes nor. potatoes, tea nor cof
fee, sugar nor cheap spices were known in Nijkerk.
A new social era dawned comparatively late in
the seventeenth century, when American tobacco,
the Arabian bean, the Chinese leaf, and the In
dian tuber were brought to " the dorp." The fried
or baked potato, dipped in gravy, eked out the

NIJKERK: THE OLD HOME 99
midday meal, and the earthen coffee-pot simmered
at the window to cheer the toller, unloosen the
tongue, and tap the social virtues. In time, that
is, in the eighteenth century, the Delft ware on the
dresser and tiles at the chimney side were com
mon enough. Tobacco smoking, never at first al
lowed in the house, became the luxury of the men
as they sat on the side seat of the front door
" stoep," tha? is, the step, or porchway ; but all
these novelties were long after the time of Henry
Hudson. Most of them were next to unknown
until after 1650. Emigration to New Netherland
occupied scarcely forty years, beginning in 1623
and ceasing in 1663.
Happy was it for Kilian van Rensselaer, the
Patroon of Guelderland's mediaeval acres, that,
when he wanted to create a principality in the
New World, his long and happy acquaintance
with the sons of the soil and daughters of his
neighbors enabled him to draw upon a reserve of
sturdy young manhood and womanhood. There is
a reason why the manor of Repsselaerwijk was
the only successful one in New Netherland.
It may be that some of van Rensselaer's ap
pointments to office — as when he raised his
nephew, Walter van TwiUer, from being a clerk
in the West India Company's counting-house to
be the Director-General of New Netherland —
were not happy. Yet most of those selected by
him, young as they were, made an excellent

100 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
record in the New World. Chief of these was
the immortal Arendt van Curler, whose name the
Indians made the title for governors, kings, and
emperors.

CHAPTER XI
THE MAKEB OF THE SILVER CHAIN
The settlement, or "colonic," near Fort Or
ange, was at first named from the shape of the
land at the riverbank, the Dutch word meaning
hoop-net, and the old neighborhood in Albany is
still so called.
Later, this gave way to Beverwijk, or Beaver
Town, from the plenteousness of beaver skins
seen in the trade with the Indians, though there
is a town In North Holland, not far from Am
sterdam, also named Beverwijk. Ultimately,
when the settlement flourished under Arendt van
Curler, it was very properly called Rensselaer
wijk. "Heroes are made early." The coming of
Arendt van Curler opened a new chapter in the
history of the Patroon's colony. He was seventeen
years old when he crossed the Atlantic, in Decem
ber, 1637,
The van Curler estate near Putten in Guelder
land, not far from Nijkerk, Is mentioned in the
list of property owners made in 1313, Gosen van
Curler was the schout, or sheriff, of Nijkerk, in
1593, In the Book of Baptisms of the Reformed
Church (1593-1620) is the record that on the

102 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
29th of August, 1594, " Gosen Coder's and Gert-
gen Boldewin's child was baptized and named
Henrick." This Henrlck was the father of Arendt
van Curler, who was baptized February 6, 1620.
In 1637 he went to New Netherland, first as assist
ant to the schout at Rensselaerwijk, but later was
made commissary or superintendent. He made
a success of the drooping settlement, which ulti
mately became Albany, and later, in 1661, he
founded Schenectady. His name lives immortal
not only on the landscape of New York, but in the
title bestowed by the Iroquois on the Governor of
the Empire State and the King of Great Britain.
Other records at Nijkerk tell of both Arendt and
Jacobus van Curler. The old van Curler home
stead, " Corlaar," made modern In appearance, still
stands amid flowers and canals.
After Arendt van Curler had served for a while
as subordinate at Rensselaerwijk, he was pro
moted by the Patroon to be superintendent, and
at once set to work to improve the comfort of the
settlers. His jurisdiction extended from Beeren,
or Bear's Island, in the Hudson, to the northern
boundary between the Algonquin and Iroquois, at
Rock Reglo, or Rock Dunder, in Lake Cham
plain, now opposite Burlington, Vermont. He pro
vided food and shelter for the numerous emigrants
arriving at Rensselaerwijk, and arranged that there
should be no delay at Manhattan. This he some
times did by bringing the people up the river in

CORLAAR IN 1908. HOME OF ARENDT VAN CURLER

THE MAKER OF THE SILVER CHAIN 103
fast canoes paddled by Ipdians instead of in slow
sloops. The freight might come later, but van
Curler beUeved In settling the farmers on the land
at once. He then enlarged and developed, withal
putting on an unshakable basis, the Dutch policy
of peace with the Indians.
Van Curler was one of the first men to perceive
the true humanity of the native American and to
realize his value. The Indians were so very nu
merous all around, that it would have been easy
for them to combine and overwhelm the new set
tlement, but van Curler, besides being a noble
character, had learned experience from the folly
of the Manhattan rulers. Studying into causes
which made Indian wars in Virginia and New
England so disastrous, and being a Christian of
the right sort, as weU as a believer that the con
tinent was big enough for both its first inhabitants
and the newcomers, he renewed with the Iroquois,
but with solemn and imposing ceremonies, the
league of peace. " The covenant of Corlaer " was
always referred to by the Indians as " the Silver
Chain of Friendship."
Van Curler knew the French also, and under
stood how well suited the Latin races were for
gaining influence and control through their alli
ance with the Indians. He foresaw the coming
struggle between those two types of civilization,
the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon (the Angles and
Saxons were Dutch before they were English),

104 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
and he determined to keep friendship inviolable
with the red man.
Faithful to his trust as agent of the Patroon,
van Curler sometimes found matters of duty dis
agreeable. The rules of the Company forbade free
trade in "the bush " or open forest, and In carry
ing out the Patroon's orders, he came into collision
with Adrian van der Donck, the first lawyer In
New Netherland. " Every peasant was a trader,"
as de Vrles had noticed, and the Patroon's right
of monopoly must be maintained and enforced.
This brought on a struggle. The " bos-lopers,"
wood runners, or Irregular forest traders, in pro
test, put their names to a paper in a circle, so that
it should not be known who had first signed the
" round robin." Thus the ringleader was anony
mous. They employed the young lawyer, van der
Donck, then the only one in New Netherland,
as their advocate; but they failed, because the
Patroon had his rights of monopoly confirmed
by charter. Showing this document, van Curler
gained his point and regained his popularity.
Even during the time of Kieft's war, van Curler's
firm hand In the colony and unbounded influence
with the Five Nations were like a wall of fire
guarding the prosperity of the colony.
The social life of the future capital city began
around and centred In the congregation, when In
1643 a church neighborhood, or parish, was created
by van Curler, the commissary, and Megapolensis.

THE MAKER OF THE SILVER CHAIN 105
The Domine at once began the study of the Mo
hawk dialect, which, belonging to the Iroquois
family of languages, was very different from the
Mohican speech. It was bard work at first, but
Virtus vim vicit, as the arms of Haarlem have it.
InteUect overcame the brute force of inertia. In
time he was able to preach to the savages, and won
not a few of them to such a measure of Christianity
as they could receive. In the case of the children
taken young and steadily taught, he was very suc
cessful. The scholarly man from civilization in a world
of wild men was amused at what he saw. Until
about twelve, the copper-colored little folks wore
only Nature's covering. In summer their elders
foUowed suit, llteraUy, The Indians' skin was so
hardened to the elements, that the ordinary house
diseases of the white man were unknown to them.
In winter they wore clothes taken directly off the
deer and bear. Moccasins and leggings were of
buckskin, but the natives plaited corn leaves to
gether, making a rustling suit of clothes that seemed
odd indeed. They painted their faces red or blue,
" making themselves look like the devil." When
they bought coarse duffel, or frieze, similar to
our Ulster cloth, they were very proud of the
woven stuff, thinking it very fine. The squaws out
did the Dutch maids and mothers in dressing their
hair, and the styles of their headgear were some
times astonishing. They used bear's grease on their

106 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
tresses, and smeared It over their bodies to keep
away parasites. The men hunted, fished, and
fought. The hoe and the cradle were beneath them.
The women did aU the work at the fire and in the
field, yet were able to bring forth their children
without ceasing their toil for more than a few
minutes. The newborn babes were washed in the
cold river, or even In the snow. According to the
Domlne's notion, marriage was unknown among
the savages.
The " Wilden " were great eaters. Carrying their
kettles, dried corn, and wooden bowls and spoons
with them, they cooked a meal whenever it suited
them. After taking prisoners they tortured them,
making them dance and sing. Sometimes they
roasted and ate their prizes. In war they usually
spared the children and the women, unless the lat
ter were very old. In pain and disease they thought
the devil was biting them. Indeed, the wild men
were almost as diligent as some Christians are in
attributing all things undellghtful to " the devil."
Him they considered to be a very industrious
person. At first the Domine thought savages en
tire strangers to all " religion," This was because
they laughed at the Dutchmen when praying.
Learning what was being done in church, they
were much impressed. UntU they understood what
worship in the Christian way meant. It was all very
comical to them, but they were too polite to make
any disturbance when invited Into the pews. They

THE MAKER OF THE SILVER CHAIN 107
came with long pipes in their mouths, smoking
tobacco, as at their own pow-wows. They were
very much put out to find that they must not
answer the Domine when he was talking. They
innocently asked what he wanted, that he stood
and talked so much when no one else spoke a
word. Part of the regular morning worship, according
to the Netherlands liturgy, was the reading of the
Ten Commandments. The Domine told them that
he was admonishing the Christians not to do any
vrrong, not to steal, murder, commit adultery, or
even to drink to drunkenness. He said also that
the Mohawks ought not to do these things, and he
promised when he knew the language better to go
into their country and teach them. The Indians,
genuine Pharisees of their own kind, asked why
the white men did such naughty things. They
had a great opinion of themselves, and considered
themselves very smart. Their common name for
the Dutchmen was " cloth -makers," or " iron
workers," because they could weave and had metal
tools. Arendt van Curler, ever busy in developing the
manor, remained in the service of the Patroon
until the death of the latter. With his bride, An
tonia Slaghboom, who may have been the widow
of Jonas Bronk, he visited his native country
and Nijkerk in 1644. He had made Rensselaerwijk
a success. His name Is fitly Inscribed in the cathe-

108 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
dral in the capital city of the Empire State, as one
of its founders.
There were three van Curlers in the colony,
the second, on Manhattan Island, being Anthony,
the trumpeter. In the records of Nijkerk we do
not find his name. He was probably not of kin to
the worthy church masters, town officers, and the
cultured and benevolent folk in Guelderland. Yet
In the mythology of New Netherland his figure is
unique and colossal. He stands in popular notion
next to Peter Stuyvesant. His place in the writ
ten record, however, occupies less than five lines.
At an outdoor dinner in the fort given to the de
parting de Vrles and his crew, after their Dela
ware venture, Anthony sounded a blast. Two petty
officers of the company, one a storekeeper of the
fort and the other of the ship, for some reason,
scolded the trumpeter roundly. Thereupon van
Curler gave them a thrashing, and in vengeful
mood they ran home for their swords. After pour
ing out their wrath at the Director's house and
sleeping over the matter, they concluded not to
fight. In the morning, " they feared the trumpeter
more than they sought him." This is all that
history teUs of the renowned Anthony, who in
legend is a veritable Brocken spectre, his nose a
mountain, his power to break maidens' hearts un
measured, and his determination Invincible ; yes,
Spuyten Duyvil, that Is, in spite of the devil.
Jacobus van Curler of Nijkerk, cousin of Arendt,

THE MAKER OF THE SILVER CHAIN 109
on his return from Connecticut, whither he had
been sent by van TwiUer, bought land on Man
hattan from four Indian chiefs at the place front
ing the East River, since famous as Corlaer's
Hook, near the end of Grand Street. He became
a member of the Governor's Council, and was later
a schoolmaster and a property owner on Long
Island. He was ever a friend of the Indians and
a useful citizen of high character. He was one
of the most prominent and influential men in the
development of Long Island, — whose detailed his
tory we cannot even glance at. He remained in
New Netherland untU he was sixty years old, and
then returned to Nijkerk. His is one of the names
that adorn the annals of New Netherland.

CHAPTER XII
STUYVESANT AND HIS EULE '
Military men are usually failures as civil rul
ers, and Peter Stuyvesant, the next Director-Gen
eral of New Netherland, was no exception to the
common experience. Nevertheless, his familiar fig
ure and personality have thrown all predecessors
into the shadowy background. Being, as the people
saw him, a creature of flesh, blood, clothes, wood,
and silver; he was a most picturesque personage,
on which fiction and caricature have delighted to
dwell. His long career, of seventeen years in the
public activities of the Dutch Manhattan village
and eighteen years as a private gentleman In the
social life of the English city, has left an enduring
impression on the metropolis. Minuit, van TwiUer,
and Kieft are to-day but as profiles in silhouette,
while Stuyvesant's features are clear and his por
trait is familiar. Indeed, he seems to be a living
person among us.
One of the brave man's legs had been lost inWest
Indian warfare, and had been replaced, through the
combined services of the carpenter and silversmith,
by a triumph of art and skill. Tradition, with
varied tongue, tells of silver nails, studs, bands,
or, and most probably, bullion lace as ornamenting

STUYVESANT AND HIS RULE 111
his timber supplement. From nursery legend alone,
we can almost see " Old Silvernails " stomping
down Broadway and giving his orders like a gen
eral in battle. Among the scores of American place-
names containing " silver," at least one. In Con
necticut, Silvernails, famous for its eggs and
poultry, recalls the popular nickname of the war
rior-governor. It was a bright, warm day on May 24, 1647,
when the Director and his retinue stepped ashore
near the fort. In this tall and dignified man, then
forty-five years old, the people saw the son of a
Domine, the scion of a noble family, a brave sol
dier, and an officer experienced in colonial admin
istration. Whatever his personal limitations, however co
lossal his egotism, or whatever his lack of sympa
thy with popular rights, Stuyvesant was in private
character above reproach. With a high sense of
honor he had purity of purpose. His honesty was
above question, as his Integrity was unspotted. In
short, he had all the merits of a soldier and all
the faults of a military man unsulted to civil
government, and he met vnth the usual failure.
With the conscience of a Roman functionary, he
incarnated the corporation. He disliked personal
opposition of any sort whatever, and he took it as
a direct insult when the orders he gave were not
instantly obeyed.
So far from being a typical Dutchman, Peter

112 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Stuyvesant was more like a Muscovite or Spaniard.
In most of his public actions, he flew in the face
of Dutch precedents, flouted the spirit of the Re
public, and trampled on the first instincts of free
men. In this he was as narrowly conscientious as
the Duke of Alva. Among the exceptionally un
wise things done by Stuyvesant was his prohibi
tion of popular amusements at Easter and Christ
mas time.
Of much more importance for the social welfare
of the colony than Stuyvesant's rigid military con
science, was the fact that he brought with him
a wife, and thus made a home. Van TwiUer and
Kieft were probably lone men, without the re
straints of a household. With the new Governor,
however, came ladies of character and refinement,
and of Huguenot origin. Mrs. Samuel Bayard,
whose husband had been a brother of Mrs. Stuy
vesant, accompanied the Governor's wife. With
her three children, Peter, Balthasar, and Nicholas,
Mrs. Bayard assisted her brother and sister-in-law,
and was helped by them to make a home for her
sons in the New World. With two such women of
culture, Manhattan society was sure to be elevated.
Happily also van Dincklagen, the officer who
assisted in bringing about the removal of van
TwiUer and Kieft, remained in office, to be, as be
fore, a champion of the people.
It was probably the disputes with England, then
looming up towards war, that prompted the ap-

STUYVESANT AND HIS RULE 113
pointment of a purely military character like Stuy
vesant. However, the new Governor found that
one of his first tasks was with impudent cattle
rather than with trespassing Yankees, The cows,
mounting the grassy slopes of the fort to graze,
not only threatened to trample down the defenses
of New Amsterdam, but actually looked down un-
enviously upon the garrison. The hogs, rooting up
the earthen waUs, leered at the soldiers and sniffed
at the heroes within. The Governor at once called
for reform and repair, but in the wrong way. He
did not live up to the Dutch doctrine of " no taxa
tion without consent," for which his countrymen
were even then fighting at home. He ordered the
impounding of cattle and the levying of a tax to
rebuild and enlarge the fort.
At once this military commander met with the
sturdy resistance of patriotic freemen. He found
that his countrymen had changed their skies, but
not their steadfast minds. Refusing to be slaves of
a corporation, they demanded the same rights as
in the Fatherland. They declined to pay the taxes
which they did not themselves vote. This right
of representation in government and the voting of
taxes had been the Netherlanders' cherished pos
session since the Crusades, when they had won it
from their feudal lords. It was questioned only
by the Spanish King, whom they had abjured for
treachery. Now, in a new world, the people did
not propose to revert to mediaeval ways at the

114 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
beck and nod of a man with a feudal baron's
mind. Among those of the Nine Men who steadfastly
resisted Stuyvesant was Adrian van der Donck,
who might almost be called the father of the real
city, as compared with the earlier hamlet, of New
Amsterdam. A graduate of the University of
Leyden, he hated to see law trampled under foot
either by a corporation or by its creature. Being,
like several other choice men in New Netherland,
a yonkheer, or young lord, he bought a manor of
the Indians north of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, which
was caUed "the Yonkheer's Land," and thus
his title remains In the name of the town which
grew upon it. When the Nine Men proposed to
call a town meeting, after the ancient style known
In Patria for ages, Stuyvesant took van der
Donck's act as a personal insult, and threw the
lawyer into prison. Later, he treated van Sehlech
tenhorst, the Patroon's agent, in the same way.
Just at this juncture there arrived from Holland
Mynheers Melyn and Kuyter. They were armed
with an order from the States-General condemn
ing the Director, and ordering him to defend him
self by attorney from the charges against him.
This quieted the lion, and he behaved himself by
freeing van der Donck. But when "John Com
pany" sent Stuyvesant a letter, he became obsti
nate and vindictive again. Then the Nine Men, in the
nameof thepeople, prepared their famous Vertoogh,

STUYVESANT AND HIS RULE 116
or Remonstrance. Van der Donck was their pen
man. They asked that the Dutch National Con
gress should assume the direct rule over New
Netherland, that they at New Amsterdam should
have a burghers' or municipal government, and
that the boundaries of New Netherland should be
rectified by treaty and clearly defined.
Van der Donck, with facile pen and pleasing
voice, succeeded with the States-General so far as
to get municipal government for New Amsterdam,
and an order to the Director to inaugurate it.
Nevertheless, corporatlonism was then as strong in
the Dutch as It Is now in the American Republic,
Men high in the Government at the Hague used
vested rights in defiance of popular wishes and
welfare. The great argument against justice and
righteousness was the West India Company itself.
These monopolists scouted the idea of popular
govemment, and could see no need of change in
either conditions or the Directorship. This stiffened
Stuyvesant's back, and his behavior more closely
than ever resembled that of a Japanese daimio or a
spoiled child. Besides browbeating and Insulting
the Nine Men, he attempted to smother represen
tative government by leaving unfilled the vacancies
in the Board of Nine Men as they occurred, but
once again these appealed to the States-General
with effect, and in 1653 municipal government was
proclaimed. The burgomaster, schout, and schepens met

116 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
once a week in the City HaU or Stadt-Huys
(whence our word " State House "), and after due
form of prayer proceeded to business. With a
craft quite equaling what we have so often seen
in our free] land, the " machine," consisting of
" John Company " and Peter, had so " fixed " it
that the Director not only appointed the city offi
cers, but even made ordinances on his own account,
Stuyvesant never lacked vigor and conscientious
industry, and from 1653 dates an era of progress
and prosperity on Manhattan and in New Nether
land at large.
Yet the credit of good results in no sense be
longs to Stuyvesant, but rather to van der Donck,
In Holland, this legal gentleman, true father of
municipal New York, himself became llteraUy a
stuyvesant, or stirrer up of the sand. He labored
incessantly both by voice and pen. Besides discus
sions at the Hague and a fierce war with printer's
ink against " John Company," he wrote in 1655 a
book entitled " A Description of New Netherland,"
which was widely read by all classes. It awakened
more general interest and curiosity in the new
land beyond sea than anything yet attempted. In
some of its pictures the artist told fairy tales and
got his Imaginary animals, from the menageries
of heraldry and mythology, mixed with those of
reality in one happy family. It Is amusing to see
unicorns on Manhattan, elks that seem to be fight
ing horses, beavers snarling at hyenas, and eagles

STUYVESANT AND HIS RULE 117
making prey of the unicorn, to say nothing of
palm trees and other tropical features. Van der
Donck was not the first author whose text was
contradicted by the illustrations put in by his
publishers. The first and best description of the
American beaver is found in this book, in which,
also, with a warning against the awful waste of
timber, we find a noble plea for forest preservation.
Accurate in teUing what he saw, van der Donck
was at times misled by what he heard. Neverthe
less, through van der Donck's leaven, the colony
became a real New Netherland, worthy of its
name. When men of all the various creeds and nationali
ties who breathed the air of freedom in the Dutch
Republic were assured of similar privilege in New
Netherland, many crossed the Atlantic. Between
1653 and 1664, the population increased to about
twelve thousand, of whom three thousand were on
Manhattan. If any one should be honored with
a statue by the citizens of New York, it is van
der Donck. To him belongs largely the credit
of changing the trading-post into a cosmopolitan
city, in which twenty languages were spoken, and
one to which came children of the same Heavenly
Father who sought Him in many ways, and who
under a governor like Minuit might have dwelt as
brothers in one family.
It was a wolf's welcome that Stuyvesant gave
the Lutheran, the Jew, the Quaker, the Anabap-

118 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
tist, the Independent, and aU who attended " con
venticles," that is, little meetings, apart from the
Dutch Church.
The Lutherans in HoUand had perfect freedom
of worship, but when those on Manhattan asked
for permission to worship publicly in their own
way, they were denied. Bigotry, in the person
of the Director, fell back on its " oath " and on
Domine and Classis, and " one of the crowning
glories of the Fatherland, freedom of conscience
and worship, was for a season denied to New
Netherland." In time, after petty annoyances, and
when the Director had been rebuked even by the
Company, the Lutherans found peace, freedom,
and prosperity, being now the fourth largest re
ligious body in the United States.
When the Portuguese recaptured Brazil, the
Jews had to fly for life. In September, 1654, in
the little Dutch ship St. Catrina — the Amer
ican Hebrews' Mayflower — twenty -three fugi
tives arrived at Manhattan. Their goods were
promptly sold at auction for the passage money.
Harshly treated by Stuyvesant, they waited pa
tiently until deliverance came from "the land
where conscience was free." The Company rebuked
their Director for his utterly un-Dutch behavior,
and the States-General in 1655 gave special per
mission to the Jews to live and trade in New
Netherland. In time New York became the lar
gest Jewish city, and the College of the City of

STUYVESANT AND HIS RULE 119
New York — the man child of Townsend Har
ris's brain and heart — " the greatest Jewish Uni
versity," in the world.
In their iUIberal policy, the local authorities in
Church and State acted contrary to the procedure
in the Fatherland. The best apology we can make
for either the clerical or the military persecutors
on Manhattan is that they were men of their age.
It seems, also, to be a law of nature that provincial
people usuaUy exceed those in the Fatherland in
the intensity of their convictions. The prevailing
sentiment in the Netherlands was that of modera
tion, and the temper that of Erasmus and William
the Silent, rather than that of men who mistook
their own wUl and ism, when linked with power,
for God's wiU and truth.
Stuyvesant's genius as a soldier shone In war,
and In military operations his record Is admirable.
He understood the character of the Indians, real
ized the intense pride of the Iroquois, and nego
tiated successfuUy with the Mohawks, but he
frowned upon aU suggestion's, at home or from
Holland, that savages should be employed as al
lies in war. Stuyvesant laid out the village of
Esopus, In what Is now the oldest part of Kings
ton, garrisoned it, and Inflicted condign punish
ment upon the savages who massacred the whites
at Wiltwijk. He resisted successfully the attempts
of Englishmen to make a lodgment for trade upon
the Delaware. He visited Hartford, and by his

120 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
negotiations, as well as by his firmness with the
English settlers on Long Island, staved off the in
evitable inrush of the multiplying New England-
ers, and nuUified the secret plots of England's un
scrupulous rulers.
Faithful to the corporation which he repre
sented, he tried to destroy the Patroon's jurisdic
tion, repeatedly visiting Fort Orange and Rens
selaerwijk, or sending soldiers to enforce the
Company's authority there. With a true dog-in-
the-manger spirit, " John " and Peter refused to
have Arendt van Curler's settlement at Schenec
tady surveyed, lest these free farmers on the Mo
hawk might trade with the Indians. At these
freemen we wiU now glance.

CHAPTER XIII
OUTSIDE FEUDALISM: THE FREE FARMERS
" In Netherlands' story the people is ever the
true hero," wrote Motley, who told one part of
the patriots' story in Patria. Yet no less true is
this in the story of Dutch America. The pompous
corporation officials have attracted attention, even
to caricature or transfiguration, but it was the
plain people who made New Netherland. Theirs
were the heroic figures, and the best things in the
Empire State are inheritances from them. Like
most office-holders, the Company's servants suc
cumbed to the intoxication of authority, but the
people sanely and soberly laid the foundations
and reared the enduring structure. On Long
Island, at Esopus and New Paltz, and especially
at Schenectady, — places outside of feudalism and
only In] part subject to " John Company," — was
this truth most manifest.
Arendt van Curler was a true people's man.
There was a number of farmers with their families
at Rensselaerwijk, who, preferring freedom to im
mediate prosperity, wished to settle outside the Pa
troon's manor. They would rather take the risks
of living on the frontier, and thus own their
homes, than be semi-serfs under feudalism.

122 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
The " Patroon was always present In his court-
baron," theoretically at least, and the colonists of
the manor were subject to such laws as the Patroon
or his deputies might establish. The colonists of
the manor also promised that they would not
appeal from the manorial court to the Director-
General and Council at Fort Amsterdam. From
this gaUing restraint, the free farmers, led by van
Curler, would be free under the liberal provisions
of the act of the States-General of 1640. In name
and theory, New Netherland was past and gone
when Schenectady was settled, but was Dutch to
the core, and remained so until the Revolution,
when its people became intensely American and
loyal to the Continental Congress.
Schenectady was not the only free village or
ganized before the fall of New Netherland. In
1652 some free farmers, who chafed under mano
rial rule and wanted to be owners of the soil they
tilled and not semi-serfs, came and settled at
Esopus. Receiving the soil as a free gift from the
Indians, the settlement was named Wiltwijk ; that
is, the Place of the Willing Gift, or the Town of
Good Will. Stuyvesant, in the name of the Com
pany, bestowed also a charter, giving the people
the powers possessed by other Incorporated towns.
Including the idea of rotation in office. Roeloff
S wartwout was appointed the first schout or sheriff,
taking rank above the burgomasters and schepens.
There were Indian wars and troubles which can-

OUTSIDE FEUDALISM 123
not be here noted. After the English conquest,
the place was named Kingston.
As was natural for a people coming from a
land rescued from the ocean, whose highways were
canals, the Dutchman settled at the mouth of or
along streams which flow into the river.
The Dutchman had an eye for good land, mak
ing such exceUent choice that, unlike the New Eug-
landers, who lived for the most part on poor soil,
the debris of glaciers, and who abandoned their
holdings, the farms of the Hudson River region
passed down from father to son through successive
generations. This is probably the reason why the
Dutch of the river counties of New York con
tributed so much smaUer a proportion of emi
grants to the fertile fields of the West than New
England or any other part of the East ; although
the Germans in Pennsylvania were very much like
the Dutch in New York in this respect.
In the Netherlands, a country of city republics,
even from feudal times, almost every important
town or city was fortified, usuaUy with geometric
fortifications, or many-sided ramparts and moats.
At the junction or corner between the walls and
uniting them, was a little round sconce or fort,
which being of circular shape was called a ron
duit. In 1614 men of the United New Netherland
Company built one of these smaU fortifications
at the mouth of the creek ; hence the name " Ron-
dout," — now part of the city of Kingston. Here

124 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
was the first capital of New York State, here its
constitution was adopted, here yet stands the Sen
ate House, rich in relics of earlier days, and here
rises the grand edifice of the old Reformed Dutch
Church, organized in 1659, the present superb
structure dating from early in the last century.
It enshrines the records of the congregation, com
plete and unbroken from 1660. As illustrating tho
common idea of associating the Church with the
school, provision was early made for education,
and here, in 1773, the Kingston Academy, one of
the earliest and possibly the first school of a high
grade in the state, was founded, being in 1864
merged into the free school system. The year 1908
saw the reinterment, with military and civil honors,
of the first governor of New York, George Clinton.
There were several places named the " New
Dorp," one being on Staten Island. One was made
in 1662 by settlers who moved back from Wiltwijk,
although all new viUages, Schenectady, for ex- .
ample, did not retain this descriptive name. New
Dorp, near Wiltwijk, was named Hurley, after
the English governor's paternal estate. Louis du
Bois, the Walloon (hence the Walkill or WaUoon's
stream), settled at New Dorp, and afterwards
led the pioneer band at New Paltz. Here was
measured off, as in other Dutch villages, a common
" for woods, pasturage and drifts of cattle," — the
word drift In Dutch meaning course or run. At
New Dorp they excluded from the proprietorship

OUTSIDE FEUDALISM 125
all who were not inhabitants of the town, for each
dweller owned his house, and the adjacent plot
was private property, while the rest of the terri
tory was coUective property. New Paltz showed
many of the peculiar characteristics of early village
community life more distinctly, and for a longer
time, than any other town along the Hudson River.
The "Duke's laws," of which we shaU hear
more, recognized the village customs, that is, the
voters were the freeholders, and suffrage was
based on ownership of land, "Fence-viewers"
were to be appointed, and every hog and cow must
be marked with the public brand of the town and
the private mark of the owner, or else be liable to
be put into the penfold, or the " pound." The peo
ple made circular or ring fences many miles long,
each owner of the land building, in proportion to
his valuation, his part of the ring fence, while the
fence-viewer must inspect all. The separate hold
ings were not, for many years, fenced off in sever
alty, nor, tiU near the nineteenth century, was
any considerable proportion of the common tract
divided by partition and allotment to Individual
proprietors. The same customs of land-holding pre
vailed in Dutchess County, in which was the water-
faU called Poogkepesingh, or Poughkeepsie, and
in which the first courthouse was constructed of
wood furnished chiefly from the common.
In the WallkiU valley, the name of the water
suggests the presence of a foreigner or Walloon.

126 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
The WallkiU, flowing between the Hudson and
the Delaware, rising in Sussex County, New Jersey,
passes northeast into New York, intersecting
Orange and Ulster counties, uniting with the
Rondout River, Thus it flows northward through
picturesque scenery for about sixscore miles, while
its three great neighbors, the Hudson, Delaware,
and Susquehanna, flow southward. Here the Hu
guenots from the Paltz, or the Rhine Palatinate,
came to find a home and peace in 1678, The first
settlers purchased the land of the Indians, and
most of the homesteads have been handed down
in families ever since the first payment of wam
pum or the first deed of parchment.
Like oil poured from vessel to vessel were these
people, — first hounded from their native land,
France, and then dragooned from the Rhine Valley.
Their initial habitations were of logs, but these in
time gave way to stone. The struggle with lan
guages was not merely from French (used until
1733) to Dutch (spoken until 1800), but also from
Dutch to English, so that many a New Paltzer en
joyed or wrestled with three vernaculars in his one
lifetime. Hence the polyglot records of Ulster
County. In the evolution of government, transit
was made from a simple regulation of public affairs
by the heads of families to government by the Du-
slna or Twelve Men chosen annually. This dozen
of dignitaries had supervision of the land titles, but
most of the public questions as they emerged

OUTSIDE FEUDALISM 127
were decided by the body of voters. The name
New Paltz, or New Palatinate, recaUs the place of
their temporary sojourn when driven out of France,
and between the Rhine of Europe and the Rhine
of America there was " a bond of union formed
by the institutional relationship of the village
community," New Paltz was the typical village
community of the Hudson River, To-day their
house of worship is among the noblest specimens
of early nineteenth-century architecture.
In the long struggle between the people and the
corporation directed by Kieft and Stuyvesant,, the
Dutch spirit was ever manifest, until in 1652 the
people succeeded In getting municipal government
for New Amsterdam, Then also Beverwijk, made
independent of the Patroon's colony, was released
from feudal jurisdiction, Brooklyn and the ad
jacent towns on Long Island secured an Increase
of local authority. Then followed the great influx
of Walloons, Huguenots, and Waldenses from Eu
rope and Puritans from New England, seeking
through ownership in land to obtain the rights,
which elsewhere were denied them, in the name of
God, From this time forth, the agricultural settle
ments increased, and under freer government,
villages and towns grew up on lands granted di
rectly to those who were to cultivate the soil.
In all the early villages in New Netherland,
Brooklyn, New Amsterdam, Wiltwijk, the Long
Island towns, etc., there were common lands and

128 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
a common pasture. The City Hall Park in New
York still remains as the survival of a village
common, on which the cows grazed every day, re
turning every night, under the guidance of the
hornmen, as in ancient Patria. The "Bowery"
meant not only the land inclosed, but the dwell
ing-house on it. " Bowery " was equivalent to the
English expression "house and home." Every
Dutchman who owned land, or had rights to the
common timber or pasture, felt that he had a right
to vote, and he cursed both Company and patroon
that dared to deprive him of his ancestral rights,
which, since the days of the Moot and the Mark
and the lifting up of the chief on the shield, amid
popular acclamation, he had not forgotten.
Even in the days of Kieft, before he was a de
generate monopolist, his patent given to the town
of Gravesend In the year 1645 to the settlers from
New England is a charter of Dutch civil and re
ligious freedom, unlike anything known in Eng
land, giving the people the right to nominate and
elect three of their ablest approved honest men to
act as a local court, with the usual jurisdiction In
all matters of local government. The gift of land,
which secured with the ownership liberty of con
science and the selection of their own ministers,
was the great encouragement to settle new regions.
No writer has presented these facts more clearly
than Mr. Irving Elting In his monograph, " Dutch
ViUage Communities on the Hudson River."

CHAPTER XIV
DUTCH AND SWEDES ON THE DELAWAEE RIVER
After the failure of the Swaanendael venture
of 1630, although no permanent Dutch settlement
was made by the Dutch on the South River before
1640, their fur-traders were busy on the Delaware
and Schuylkill rivers, and In that region, until an
invasion, as they considered it, on a large scale,
from Sweden, called forth first their diplomacy,
and then force.
Usselinx saw the Swedish West India Company
chartered as early as 1626. This was the year that
the Princess Christina (whose name ought to be
that of the State of Delaware) was born ; but
absorbed in the work of securing freedom of con
science, Gustavus Adolphus had to postpone the
work of building up a New Sweden In America.
Dying on the field of Lutzen, he left his darling
project of a colony in America, " the jewel of his
kingdom," to his daughter, then a little girl of
eleven, of masculine education. Right royaUy
did Queen Christina attempt to carry out her
father's wish. CaUing to her aid Peter Minuit,
she bade him go and occupy the deserted Dela
ware region, dispatching him late in 1637 with
two ships and fifty colonists to found New Sweden.

130 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Just when the buds were opening, Minuit arrived
inside Delaware Bay, in April, 1638, and began a
settlement not far from Cape Henlopen and near
Lewes in Delaware. One of the first buildings
erected after the fort was the Lutheran church,
the first in America. Rev. Reorus TorklUas was
pastor of this Christian congregation. '
Minuit also built a fort at MInqua Kill, now
within the limits of Wilmington, naming It after
Queen Christina. He not only bought from the
Indians the lands which the Swedes occupied, but
he treated them with firmness and kindness, mak
ing them his fast friends. Later, the Swedish claim
extended inland to the great falls of the Susque
hanna River. With his garrison of soldiers and
ships of war Minuit laughed when, very soon
after, he received notice from Director Kieft on
Manhattan, that he was a trespasser and, must be
off. Kieft had no force to back his order, and was
himself surprised at the answer the Company sent
to his request for ships and soldiers. Instead of
iron arguments, the Director was to use his elo
quence of persuasion ; but failing to oust the in
truders, was to live on as good terms with them
as possible. What a change in the temper of the
great fighting corporation that had swallowed up
Spanish silver fleets and cities, very much as. a
shark devours herrings !
The truth is that this was a period of reaction
in Holland against " John Company." The feeling

DUTCH AND SWEDES ON THE DELAWARE 131
soon expressed Itself in the liberal charter of 1640,
which limited the West India Company's power
and encouraged what was next to Impossible under
the old regime, the growth of free village com
munities In New Netherland. When well-loaded
ships sailed home from New Sweden, some enter
prising Dutchmen, who hated the close corporation
in Amsterdam, united themselves in an independ
ent enterprise, and sent over a ship with colonists,
well supplied, to settle on the Delaware.
These freemen, who were opposed to patroons
and manors, arrived just at the nick of time, for
the Swedes had not yet been reinforced. The first
glow of excitement was over, and trade was poor.
Not having enough to eat, the colonists from Swe
den were about to move to Manhattan rather
than starve. Everything changed when the Dutch
ship, supplies, and people arrived. The Nether
landers, in hearty cooperation with the Scandina
vians, settled a few miles farther up the river.
In the autumn, fresh reinforcements and provisions
arrived in three ships from Sweden. Leaving to
the new officers his command, Minuit left for the
West Indies to develop trade. Even more hearty
was the mutiial agreement of Dutch and Swedes
as against the Yankees, when, in 1641, a party
from New Haven entered the river and settled on
the Schuylkill and at Salem on the Delaware. As
they had promised, when warned by Kieft, not to
settle or trade In New Netherland, he garrisoned

132 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Fort Nassau, and sent his agent Jansen in an
armed ship to deport them. This was accomplished
without bloodshed. So two nations, instead of
three, dominated the region.
In the West Indies, Minuit, while dining on a
friend's ship, was caught in a storm and lost his
life. In February, 1643, the second Swedish colony
arrived, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John
Printz, an officer of great activity, but hardly, if
Swedish critics judge aright, of brilliant military
reputation. His avoirdupois was greater than his
soldierly record. His weight was four hundred
pounds. He settled Tinicum, building a fort on
the island, and calling the place New Gottenburg,
which soon became like a bustling little city. In
1644 he built Fort Elsingburg on Salem Creek,
on the other side of the river, where for a while
the New Haven people had lived. All this was
done in accordance with his orders from home to
shut up the river. Printz ruled over his domain,
which extended from the ocean to the falls where
Trenton now is. Even the Dutch were compelled
to strike their flag in passing, and no further
settlements by them were permitted.
On the intellectual side, the Swedes were quite
equal to New Englanders or Dutchmen, and the
catechism of the Lutheran Church was the first
Protestant book to be translated Into an Indian
tongue, being put into Algonquin by the chaplain.
Rev. John Campanius, who served from 1643

DUTCH AND SWEDES ON THE DELAWARE 133
to 1649 in his church on Tinicum Island, which
was the first house of worship within the limits of
Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the printing of the
catechism was delayed until 1696. In the Lord's
Prayer, the initial petition. Instead of for " daily
bread," Is for plenty of corn and venison, — as best
suiting an Indian.
According to orders from Manhattan, Andries
Hudde, a Dutchman, bought from the Indians in
1642 the site of Philadelphia, and set up a pole,
nailing on it the Company's arms. This Printz
removed, tearing up Hudde's note of remon
strance and sending his messenger flying. Others
who followed the first came back bruised and
bloody. Yet Governor Kieft, having no force,
could do nothing. Printz built a palisaded house
on the Schuylkill ; but the Indians, now opposed
to the Swedes, helped Hudde to build " Fort "
Beversvrede. When Printz sent twenty men to destroy the
Dutch stronghold, the Indians compelled them to
retire. Then, to spite Hudde, Printz built a house
right in front of Fort Nassau, shutting out the
view of the river. Hudde was helpless. With only
six men to garrison two forts, many miles apart,
he could do nothing.
Stuyvesant at last found time to attend to
Printz and to investigate the claims of Sweden. He
first headed off and turned back another party of
fifty poachers in two ships from New Haven, and

134 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
then, in July, 1651, started for Fort Nassau with
a retinue and a chaplain, Samuel Megapolensis,
son of the elder Domine. Meeting Printz, he de
manded evidences of ownership and documents
of sale. The answer was that these might be in
Stockholm, but were not there and then accessible.
Stuyvesant thereupon bought of the sachems all
the land on both sides of the river to the bay, ex
cept Fort Christina, which the Indians had sold to
Minuit. Despite the protests of Printz, he built
Fort Caslmir on the site of the present Newcas
tle, four miles below the Swedish Fort Christina,
naming it after his former commander, the Stadt-
holder of Friesland, and paying the Indians for
the land.
After this Printz, left without resources, was
quiet. Two years later he went back to Sweden,
leaving his daughter's husband, Poppegoya, in
command. As the Swedish colonists were not
reinforced they were discouraged, until in May,
1654, Governor Johan Rysingh arrived with two
hundred colonists, a force of soldiers, and a chap
lain. On Trinity Sunday, 1654, the Swedes surprised
and captured Fort Caslmir, which had no powder
in its magazine, and named it Fort Trinity. Stuy
vesant, after reporting to the Company the " in
famous surrender," was ordered to retake the
fort and drive out the Swedes. Having an ex
pected attack from New England to provide

DUTCH AND SWEDES ON THE DELAWARE 135
for, he postponed his expedition until the war
ships King Solomon, Great Christopher, and the
Balance, with a French privateer, the Hope, had
come over from Amsterdam. Then on Manhattan
the drum beat for volunteers, and every ship and
house furnished men. Three river yachts joined the
little squadron. On the first Sunday in Septem
ber, after sermon and worship, the seven vessels,
with seven hundred men, — probably one third of
all the able-bodied males in New Netherland, —
and possibly the largest host of white men yet gath
ered for war on American soil, moved down the
bay in gala array of flags and streamers. They
made a picture worthy of a painter. Nevertheless,
the wily savages did not fail to note the absence
of the fighting men.
On the following Friday, in the Delaware, a
review was held and the building of batteries
begun. By the 25th of September both Swedish
forts were In the hands of the Dutch, by surrender,
and without the shedding of a drop of blood. The
Swedish flag was hauled down, and the tricolor
of the Republic run up. The most honorable and
generous terms were granted the Swedes. They
could remain as settlers under the Company, or
be repatriated.
Nearly all the Swedes remained In their homes
to add their gifts and graces of character to
the building up of the commonwealths which
became Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jer-

136 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
sey. If they longed for revenge, they had only to
wait nine years, before the English, whom they
looked on to redress their wrongs, hoisted the flag
of St. George. Gradually their form of worship
and government — " The Old Swedes' Church "
at Wecaco in Philadelphia and Trinity Church at
Wilmington — became Episcopal and their speech
changed to English. Holy Trinity Church, so rich
in the memorials of Old and New Sweden In Del
aware, was rebuilt of brick in 1698, and Is prob
ably the oldest church edifice In continuous use in
the United States. Its historic graveyard includes
the site of one of Stuyvesant's three-gun batteries.
A few Netherlanders from time to time rein
forced their brethren on the South River. The
land, after being quarreled over by the Duke of
York and Lord Baltimore, was purchased by Wil
liam Penn.
The Dutch settlement was named New Amstel,
after Patria's chief city, on the river of this name.
On his way to Long Island, in 1654, the Rev.
Johannes Theodorus Polhemus, the Swiss ancestor
of the great clan of Americans of that name,
stopped at New Amstel. This Domine, long set
tled in the Pala,tine, whence he had been driven
out by persecution, had served eighteen years in
Brazil. He organized a Reformed church at New
Amstel, and was the flrst to propose an association
of Dutch American ministers and churches. Then
Domine Welius followed, serving for two years.

DUTCH AND SWEDES ON THE DELAWARE 137
Thte congregation called a young man, Warnerus
Hadson, who was duly ordained, but he died on
the ocean passage. Then followed the ever popu
lar Tassemacher, who labored here from 1679 to
1682. In 1888 our Swedish fellow citizens in the East
and West, who, especially since 1830, have en
riched our national composite with their virtues,
energies, and industry, celebrated the quarter-mil
lennial of the first settlement of their countrymen
within the United States.
Small as is the State of Delaware, It has a long
and honorable history. Many landings of famous
men and nationalities have been made on its shores,
which face the ocean and a noble bay and river.
The Dutch, the Swedes, the Cavalier English,
the Quakers May and Verhulsten, Peter Minuit,
George Holmes, and William Penn, stepped In suc
cession on the soil. The descendants of the original
cosmopolitan population were bitterly opposed to
British rule, and were ready at the Revolution to
assert and maintain independence. The regiment
of Continentals raised in the Diamond State —
" the Blue Hen's Chickens " — made a noble record
In battle and campaigns.
To-day the trans- Atlantic suggestions and sur
vivals in Delaware are Swedish rather than Neth
erlandish. At Wilmington, Delaware's chief city,
and especially in the old Trinity Church and bury-
ing-ground, is this impressively so. Inquiring in

138 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
one place for the Dutch colonial documents, I
found that many of these papers in an unknown
tongue had long since been used to light office
fires. Yet there were and there are "Delaware
Dutch," who annually, on January 23, celebrate
ancestral virtues and triumphs with the " Nether
lands Society of Philadelphia."
A woman's club for culture and a miniature
Holland Society to recover and preserve Dutch
history take their names from Swaanendael. In
1905 the landing-place of the Dutch in the State
of Delaware, the site of Fort Caslmir, at New
Castle, built in 1657, was marked by the unveiling
of a granite monument, in the presence of many
people from the four Middle States, which now
occupy the area of New Netherland. The Dela
ware branch of the Society of Colonial Dames
reared this reminder of the republicans who
planted the orange, white, and blue flag on their
soil. It is to the original settlement of the Dutch on
her soil, and to their skillful diplomacy at the sur
render of 1664, that Delaware owes her existence
as a separate state. We shall see, also, that here
dwelt "the father of modern socialism," Peter
Cornelius Plockhoy, whose English writings dur
ing the Commonwealth, in a later century, inspired
the Brook Farm experiment in New England.

CHAPTER XV
THE FALL OF NEW NETHERLAND
Neither legitimate trade nor colonization was
necessarily the first idea with " John Company."
War, devastation of the Spanish possessions, cap
ture of silver and gold, and traffic in slaves were
their primal objects. Against the pleading of
Usselinx, who protested against slavery, these no
tions, economically false and in the end disas
trous, were embodied in the charter. On the seas,
and in the West Indies and South America, this
corporation secured its loot and made its greatest
conquests. New Netherland was only a by-product.
Indeed, If this northern colony had not been at
first looked upon chiefly as a station on the way
home from Brazil and the Caribbean Sea it might
never have started.
On the expiration of the Twelve Years' Truce,
before one ship of colonists was dispatched to
Manhattan, the flrst fleet had been sent to South
America, The second expedition, in 1624, con
sisting of twenty-six ships, with five hundred can
non, sixteen hundred sailors and seventeen hun
dred soldiers, captured Bahia, or San Salvador, the
seat of the Portuguese Government. In two years,
efghty ships, with fifteen hundred cannon and

140 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
nine thousand sailors and soldiers, had crossed the
Atlantic. Although the Portuguese regained Bahia
in 1625, yet in 1627 the Dutch took fifty-five ves
sels from the enemy, and in 1628 dispatched three
great squadrons westward.
One of these, under Piet Heyn, with thirty-one
ships, seven hundred cannon, and four thousand
men, captured the Spanish "plate" or silver fleet
on September 8. The cargo of pearls, gold, silver
(140,000 lbs.), indigo, sugar, aromatic woods, and
furs was sold at auction for fifteen miUion guil
ders, over $15,000,000 In our values, and the West
India Company declared a dividend of fifty per
cent. Compared with such a prize. New Nether
land was more like forgotten Ishmael in the des
ert than princely Moses exalted among courtiers.
Other fleets of privateers brought to the Com
pany's wharves the next year, 1629, one hundred
and four prizes, or what would now be worth
$8,000,000, so that dividends of fifty and twenty-
five per cent were declared. In 1630 Brazil was
taken and occupied. John Maurice, Count of
Nassau, whose splendid old home on the Viver,
at the Hague, is now a great picture gallery,
was Governor-General of Brazil for eight years
(1636-44). He brought home a fortune. Com
pared with the magnificent burglary of war, the
settlement of the Hudson River region seemed but
a trifle. All this fighting and robbing, permissible ac-

THE FALL OF NEW NETHERLAND 141
cording to the ethics of war, differed from true
colonization, which means permanence. Planting
a colony with roots was quieter but nobler work.
The contrast between " a river of silver a yard
deep" flowing into the Company's coffers from
South America and the West Indies, and the
slow returns from the colder climates of North
America, in furs, fish, and grain, explains why it
was that immigrants were hard to obtain for the
new colony, and also why the Company neglected
New Netherland, aud even allowed official oppres
sion. Yet all the more clearly shines the true
story of the Dutch in America, which is not that
of official figure-heads, but of the " Commonality."
Probably It reveals the reason why the first use
of the phrase " the people," in an American docu
ment, occurred in New York State.
This was the trans- Atlantic side of the matter, ¦
explaining why New Netherland fell. On American
soil troubles were thickening. In 1663, two years
after receiving its charter, WUtwIjk suffered the
massacre by the Indians, and this seemed the
signal for misfortunes to come on the gallop ; yet
while "John Company" was falling on grief,
" Farmer John " was rising to his own. The peo
ple's Tights and representatives won. Under the
combined pressure of a costly Indian war, in
vasion by Connecticut trespassers, the revolt of
the English viUages on Long Island, and an ex
hausted treasury, the principle of popular repre-

142 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
sentation, despite the arbitrary Stuyvesant, was
for the first time fully recognized in the province.
The Assembly, elected by plurality vote of the In
habitants of twelve Dutch villages in New Nether
land, gathered on Manhattan, April 12, 1664.
It was too late to save either corporation or
nationality. The exasperation and weariness in
duced by the long struggle for their rights had
already prepared the people to yield to English
rule ; but little or nothing was gained in the way
of self-government. Within five months the flag
of England floated over all New Netherland.
Then the people of New York had to wait twenty
years before they won back from England, or ra
ther from the Dutch King William III, what they
had gained under Stuyvesant.
From the South River, in 1663, the Director
hurried back on call to Manhattan, for another
Indian outbreak threatened the very existence of
the colony. A Dutchman had shot a squaw while
she was stealing some peaches in his orchard, and
her own tribe quickly roused to vengeance the sav
ages of the New Jersey, Hudson River, and Con
necticut regions, to the number of nearly two
thousand. From sixty-two war canoes, they landed
at night on the nearly defenseless Manhattan, pre
tending to be looking for Iroquois. After loot
ing several houses, they were persuaded to leave
the next night, but not until they had killed the
squaw's murderer and another man. Driven off

THE FALL OF NEW NETHERLAND 143
by the burgher guard from the fort, they paddled
over to Pavonla and Hoboken, and began a carni
val of murder and fire. Thence going to Staten
Island, they ravaged the farms and tomahawked
the people, about ninety In number. In three days,
five hundred and fifty Dutch settlers were corpses
or captives, or, ruined In estate, were fugitives
suffering hunger. The terror-stricken people of
Long Island and Esopus crowded into Manhattan,
and cowered behind the palisades below what Is
now Wall Street.
This was the situation when Stuyvesant returned,
on October 12. He cheered up the people, strength
ened the wooden wall with a platform for soldiers
to stand upon while repelling assailants, and im
pressed aU able-bodied men on the ships as guards
and soldiers. The Indians felt Stuyvesant's firm
hand, and understood at once with whom they
were dealing. The captives were for the most part
ransomed, and gradually peace settled down. Stuy
vesant laid the blame of this Indian uprising on a
few foolish men, and insisted that the people were
too scattered, and that henceforth they should live
concentrated in villages.
This Indian calamity, following upon the enor
mous expense of the South River expedition against
the Swedes, helped to seal the fate of New Neth
erland, which could no longer pay its expenses,
while at home the Company was wabbling to
wards bankruptcy. The Delaware River lands

144 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
were sold to the city of Amsterdam for seven hun
dred thousand guilders, or $3,500,000 in present
values. This transaction helped a little, but the
end was not far off. Peace with Spain in 1648 had
crippled the fighting corporation. There were no
more Spanish fleets to rob or towns to ravage, and
" John Company " was not educated to make money
by mere honest trade and peaceful, plodding busi
ness. The deceitfulness and uncertainty as well as
the danger of sudden wealth, especiaUy the sort
gained in the legalized robbery of war, were never
more signally illustrated than in Spain first, and
later in Holland. It meant bankruptcy for the
West India Company, and for the Low Countries
economic anaemia, poverty, and distress, until bet
ter ideas prevailed.
Commercial rivalry between the Dutch and Eng
lish, strained to the breaking point, eventuated
in a war for markets and selfish monopoly. The
question of ship transportation ruptured the long
and close friendship of centuries between Holland
and England. The desire for pounds, shillings,
and pence being stronger than sentiment, the men
that were once brothers in their love of freedom
began the slaughter of one another on the seas.
The special prize was the Orient and its com
merce. New Netherland being only an appendix.
Doubtless the affair at Amboyna, in 1623, in
which the Dutch and Japanese shed British blood.

THE FALL OF NEW NETHERLAND 145
furnished the pretext. As a rule, when war-makers
begin their business, ethics is invoked to create
enthusiasm, and patriotism Is fired by appeals to
other motives, even those as low as the market.
The Navigation Act of 1651 built a Chinese WaU
around England. It required that all merchan
dise brought into England must be in English
ships. This was a severe blow struck at Dutch
commerce, for the Dutch were then the common
carriers of the world. It was not only the cause
of the naval wars of the Dutch (1652-74), but
the chief provocation to the American War of In
dependence in 1775. It created also a spirit of
insolence that remained unbroken untU the Amer
ican ship-duels of 1812 tamed the British lion's
pride. The untruthful King, Charles II, was an adept
at deception. He knew the weakness of New
Netherland, and made ready to swoop upon Itii
In 1664 he hoodwinked the ambassador of the
Dutch Republic in London as to his true purpose
of sending the British warships, in time of peace,
on a buccaneering raid upon New Netherland, He
did not even keep faith with his brother James,
the Duke of York, notwithstanding the adage of
" Honor among thieves." While the fleet was at
sea, in order to raise money for his needs, he gave
away part of New Netherland, " the Jerseys," to
two of his favorites, Carteret and Berkeley.
Charles violated the doctrine laid down by Queen

146 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Elizabeth in her theory of title to new lands, that
occupation after discovery secures possession.
New Amsterdam was taken at a time when ut
terly defenseless. There were so few men in it,
that even if it had been well fortified, and powder
had been plentiful, the defenders would have had
to stand twenty-two feet apart in order to man
the line of defense. On board several hundred
privateers were New Englanders, who had already
offered their services freely against the Dutch,
while crowds were flocking near on horse and
foot ready for loot. The four large royal men-of-
war, manned with soldiers and marines, landed
their infantry at Gravesend on August 26, 1664,
These marched up Long Island, and camped near
the ferry opposite the little town which lay below
WaU Street on Manhattanlsland. On September 4
the frigates, under full sail, moved up and ranged
themselves opposite the fort. As many as possible
of the cannon on deck were moved over to one
side, facing the town, the men " having orders, and
Intending, If any resistance were offered, to fire a
full broadside into this open place, and so to take
the city by force, and give up everything to plun
der and a blood bath." So wrote Domine Drislus,
eye-witness at the time.
Stuyvesant, in spite of his rage as a soldier, was
overruled by cool-headed men. He had to look
between the gabions and see the English frigates
move up the river, and he yielded. One of the

THE FALL OF NEW NETHERLAND 147
greatest glories of England is her generous treat
ment of conquered foes. The Dutch secured ex
cellent terms of surrender, and there was no loot.
They were to continue free denizens, to keep their
private property, and to dispose of it at pleasure.
Especially were they to enjoy their own customs
concerning inheritances, which were those of a
republic, in which all the children received an
equal share, and not those of a monarchy, In which
the eldest son obtained the entailed property. As
yet in New Netherland there was no " aristocratic
party," such as cursed the land in later times ;
nor, despite Stuyvesant schemes, were class dis
tinctions recognized. In religious matters. Article
VIII of the capitulation read, " The Dutch shall
enjoy the liberty of their consciences in Divine
worship and in Church government." Men of all
creeds had equal rights. In spite of Stuyvesant of
mediaeval mind, and of English political Church
men who strove to fasten a state church upon
the province, the Dutch were determined to keep
religious liberty as sacred as in Holland, and they
did. They safeguarded free religion until. In 1777,
the Constitution of New York State permitted
" the free exercise of religious profession and wor
ship without discrimination or preference of all
mankind." The morality of the raid of 1664 is forever
clear. The revenge of the Dutch came in de Ruy-
ter's defeat of the English fleet and his foray into

148 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
the Thames. The Dutch descent upon Chatham
gave to England her greatest national humilia
tion, to be followed a century later by the sur
render of two British armies on American soil.
In less than four generations of unrest under Brit
ish rule, the sons of New Netherlanders again
dwelt under the old striped flag of the Republic
of the United Netherlands, with the stars of new
and old statehood, — " Old Glory " epitomizing
history and containing prophecy. Of those Dutch
who refused to live under such government as the
Stuarts were likely to furnish, hundreds of the
better sort returned to Patria, or tried new ven
tures of life and fortune in the West or East
Indies, or scattered to other colonies. Not a few
emigrated to Virginia and the Carolinas, where in
later days we find, besides the names of many able
men associated with Lord Baltimore and William
Penn, not a few of eminence, like those of van
Bibber and van Noppen, Others appear, often in
greatly altered forms, which shine in the annals of
war and peace.

CHAPTER XVI
LIFE AND AMUSEMENTS OF THE YOUNG FOLKS
In coming under English rule the Dutch lost
much and gained more. One of the first things
done by the conquerors of New Netherland was to
sweep away the public schools, which, along with
their language and religion, the home-makers from
Patria had brought with them. The Idea of gen
eral popular education, the very foundation of the
Dutch Republic, was openly scoffed at by the aris
tocratic governors and systematically hindered by
them. Thus it came to pass that the girls and boys
in the new province of New York were the first to
be seriously affected by the change of flags, while
a heavier responsibility for the education of the
young was thrown upon the Dutch Church and her
ministers, who were henceforth to maintain schools
conducted in the Dutch vernacular. No doubt at
first the youngsters enjoyed the freedom from
school life.
It is indeed surprising to note how little change
passed over the daily life of the people because
of the "English conquest." Outwardly, names
and forms were altered somewhat, but habits re
mained very much as of yore. Happily for the fu
ture of the United States, Dutch repubUcan ideas

150 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
remained. In politics everything was nominally
English, but social and church life and democratic
ideas were Dutch. So far as any immediate bene
fit in representative government was concerned,
the Dutchmen found themselves out of the frying
pan and into the fire. A royal master across the
water tried to rule law-loving freemen by " secret
instructions " through his creatures, only to find
the people unflinchingly opposed to revolution,
even when attempted by kings. The Dutchmen
insisted on representative government, according
to law.
If ever young folks lived happy lives and had
especially good times on extra occasions, the Dutch
boys and girls in both Old and New Netherland cer
tainly did. Holland is the land of Santa Claus and
dyed Easter eggs. Besides the patron saint's day
of December 6, there were Christmas, New Year's
Day, Twelfth Night, Easter, Pinxter, Thanksgiv
ing Day, Kermis, and school holidays and feast
days coming pretty steadily along throughout the
year. As for toys and games and all kinds of sport,
the Dutch books and pictures of the seventeenth
century and the museums and heirlooms in Patria
show that these were numbered by the score.
Games with ball, bat, stilts, hoop, top, sling, swing,
sucker, bow and arrow, sleds and skates, drums
and trumpets ; tennis, golf, cricket, and forty other
ways of having a good time, besides the easy things
for girls and the more or less athletic sports for

LIFE OF THE YOUNG FOLKS 151
boys, are pictured as part of the young people's
life in the old country, and popular proverbs and
sayings mirror them in speech. Dutch idioms, tra
ditions, and the real life of the old country to-day
show how parents made life enjoyable for the
young folks ; and what the Dutch did in Holland
they continued to do In America. Even the extant
manuscripts of the Domines' sermons show this,
for the fun was oftener fast and furious than slow
and harmless, so that from the pulpit occasionally
dropped the seasoning of rebuke. StIU further,
one familiar with Dutch survivals in American
speech, particularly on the playground, and with
terms not found in the dictionary, recognizes scores
of words of Netherlands origin.
Winter sports, especially in favor in the Neth
erlands, continue In America. On the network of
canals in Patria — thousands of shaUow trenches,
ponds, and overflowed meadows — ice formed easily
and lasted through many weeks. Holland is the
land of skates and sleighs. Children and young
people hardly learn to skate ; they begin it natu
rally, and keep it up aU their lives. Whether for fun
and in parties, or to go to the market, to church, to
weddings or funerals, they move by rapid transit
on steel. A pair of skates Is a passport to comrade
ship. No need of music or a band ! With rhythm
In every motion, parties of young folks in every
day clothes glide over the ice, motored from within.
With the ease of winged creatures, they move

152 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
singly, or holding, a dozen of them, to a pole, and
keeping time and the poetry of motion as they
speed on shining metal over the gleaming surface.
Every habit and each trick known on Holland
canals or ponds was reproduced on the Mohawk
and Hudson.
Then there was the ice-yacht, or sailboat on
runners, sometimes reduced for swiftness to a long
plank with cross-pieces for seats and with skate
irons. Equipped with mast, canvas, and some cord
age, it seemed to race with the wind ItseK. As for
coasting, wherever flat Holland could show a hill
or slope, or Friesland furnished a terp or artificial
mound, there were the boys and girls at fun. On
the ice, lady or lass sat in a hand sleigh, while
husband or swain pushed as he skated. All this
shows the reason why Newburg-on-the-Hudson and
Albany and the hills of Dorp are so famous for
coasting, and the North River for ice-yachts, and
why, from the first generation of settlers, the Dutch-
American towns were noted for sledding, sleigh
ing, and skating.
When we look at our vocabulary and read of
" sleigh," " sled," " skate," " Ice-yacht," " stove,"
we realize how much we owe the Dutch in the way
of winter fun and comforts. They brought these
things with them from their old homes, and put
them to use at once. At the loan exhibition in
Schenectady, In 1880, when we celebrated a real
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LIFE OF THE YOUNG FOLKS 153
the founding of the church and village two cen
turies before, nothing was more astonishing than
the tremendous array of toys and implements to
amuse and tickle the little folks. Papooses and
Kinder, as was fit in a frontier settlement, played
together. Here were doUs, hoops, knickers, or
marbles, skates, masks, toys, and ornaments, home
made, or brought from Holland, cake moulds for
shaping the dough of cookies before baking, and
things gay for decoration on St, Nicholas' Day and
at Christmas time.
Very early in the history, and long after the
faU of New Netherland, the ice-yacht was a winter
feature up and down the Hudson and Mohawk
rivers, just as soon as Jack Frost had furnished a
floor more level than the humpy and sculptured
stone pavements of the big churches in Patria.
Not all of the boys and girls might afford iron-
runnered skates, or could wait to buy or get them
from Europe. What odds ? They were bound to
" ride " on skates, as the Dutch say. Ox bones,
being plentiful, were quickly chopped or filed flat
and then str3,pped or tied on. It was common to
see bands of red-cheeked boys and girls skating
together or in " wings," circling round. If Ice had
formed by Santa Claus' Day, then December 6
was a carnival on skates, and the BInne Kill at
Schenectady, the Collect (bad English for the
vulgar Dutch Kalk, pronounced KaUek) on Man
hattan, and the Hudson at Albany, made scenes

154 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
of color, life, fun, and sport that could not be
beaten in all the colonies. They were foUd of
skates with tremendously protruding irons, which
at the front ends curled up into big circles. On
these, long and strong, scores of miles were easily
covered. Sometimes men skated all the way from
Fort Orange to Manhattan.
Thanksgiving Day, usually in October, which
was ancient and common in Patria long before
it was heard of in America, continued in New
Netherland, and gave a sort of closure on summer
sports. Then the programme of stalwart, outdoor
activities and winter joys opened In earnest. After
Santa Claus' Day, December 6, preparations for
Christmas and its feastings began. If gilded and
frosted gingerbread made into figures of the good
saints, warriors, horses, wagons, and other odd
shapes, and Deventer cookies, rich in every sort of
spice and fruit, abounded for the children on the
saint's day, the oven turned out even a more won
derful store of goodies for both old and young at
Christmas time. Poems, recitations, and songs
were part of the programme, and the social joys
were apt to last several days.
Greatest of aU days in the Dutch calendar was
New Year's. Greetings, gifts, visits, were the
order of daylight, while fun, frolic, the dance,
refreshments, and sleigh rides made the rule of
the night. Before big hearths and roaring wood-
fires, the hero tales and wonder stories of the Fa-

LIFE OF THE YOUNG FOLKS 155
therland made long and joyous evenings after the
short winter days. The Dutch retired early. For
the Uttle folks, trundle beds were rolled in and
out from under the higher bedsteads of the elders.
All slept under wool and feathers in houses which,
whether log, board, stone, or brick, kept no fires
burning at night, unless it were a live coal or
two smothered in ashes. For those whose evening
courtship was to be done, bundling, or covering
with quilts or blankets, was the rule along the
whole Atlantic coast from Nova Scotia to Georgia,
and New Netherland made no exception.
The winter was the busy school time, and Sun
day had also a long double hour of sitting, which
tried the patience and good manners of the young
folks. Many are the local traditions of misunderstand
ings between the small boy and his mentors, — the
Domine, sexton, schoolmaster, pasture-keeper, and
magistrate. We must not take too seriously some
of these legends, nor imagine that young folks did
not have as good a time In those days, or that they
inherited a larger measure of total depravity than
do we in these later days. If we have any sense of
humor and the least imagination, we can see how
different were the points of view of sedate adults
and lively youngsters then as well as now. For
example, in filling up an old well long disused and
not far from the wall-line of the fourth church
edifice in Schenectady, torn down to make room

156 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
for a new, larger fifth building, the skeletons
of two boys were found at the bottom. Now It
does not follow, despite local legend, that they
had suffered a fate similar to that of the Princes
in the Tower at the hands of an Irate sexton, be
cause of juvenile bad behavior in church. Never
theless, tradition avers that boys on the backless
seats of pine were not always as quiet as the mice
of the proverb. It is alleged that the cherub-faced
girls whispered and even flirted, while the Domine
preached, and that ever and anon pebbles and
marbles, instead of coins, were found in the velvet
collection bags of the deacons.
All evidences go to show that the girls had a
good time. They were kept so busy with household
duties and accomplishments — then so much more
numerous than in our day of patents, machinery,
and factories — that they entered Into merrymak
ing with a vim equal to that shown by the boys.
In'^Inter, the morning might be given to putting
the house in order and furnishing the larder from
dairy and kitchen, for the unfathomable appetites
of the men and lads. But Penelope's afternoons
were spent at the distaff or spinning-wheel, or
with sewing-basket or darning needles. In the
evenings there were social joys, guessing games,
and trials of chance. The ever present refresh
ments came at the proper moment of vacuity and
full appreciation. Kissing games were much more
common than now. In spring, when "good sap-

LIFE OF THE YOUNG FOLKS 157
weather," of alternate sunshine by day and freez
ing by night, turned the maple trees Into saccha
rine fountains, " sugaring-off " was the evening
joy of the Mohawk Valley, the hot sap being
boUed down and run on snow, of which each of
the young folks had a pan easily refilled.
When the season of flowers opened, no people
more than the Dutch kept tally of the floral calendar
of leaf, color, and perfume of " the angels of the
grass." For each of the great Church and Chris
tian festivals there was a special flower with its
sentiment and meaning. Gladly did they wel
come the hepatica as the Paschal bloom. When the
passion flower came from the tropics, the wistaria
from Japan, and the white daisy from England,
the old friends and new acquaintances dwelt to
gether in the same gardens. From Haarlem, the
floral capital of the world, and Leyden, the home
city of learning in Patria, novelties were imported
frequently to give variety either to the stiff, formal
gardens borrowed from and so fashionable in Eu
rope, or to the dooryards in which individual taste
ruled. Back of the tremendous commercial activities
of the fur-trade, as seen in bales, heaps, and
counters, in warehouses and on ships, was the
wonder world of live animals. The forest, with Its
mystery, was ever a lure. Most boys and girls had
their live pets from the woods, caught in traps or
captured after the parents of the young animals

158 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
had become meat and fur. Hill, glen, meadow, and
brooksides meant enterprise and activity for the
lad. Even the little boy had his blunt arrows, and
playing with Indians of like age, he was able to
rival them, and bring down real birds, to trap the
smaller animals, and to bring home many a string
of fish for dinner. When old enough to be trusted
with guns, the boys went out into the forest for veni
son. As for rabbits, wild pigeons, and smaller game,
they were Innumerable. Young Jacobus van Cur
ler, out shooljing with van TwiUer, boasted that
he had killed over a hundred blackbirds at one
shot. In April wild pigeons flew in such masses
that the sun's light was lessened, and so low that
they could be knocked down with clubs.
In Schenectady, when only a few canoes drawn
up on the riverbank and a parallelogram of stakes
in the pine forests scarcely made the creatures
in fur and feather suspicious of danger, wild tur
keys and deer, coming from the hills to drink,
were sometimes killed within the palisades. Ducks
were shot along Cow Horn Creek, and in the
marshes near the town, down to the end of the
eighteenth century. Indeed, I can remember when,
as late as 1881, notwithstanding railways and
civilization, a wild stag from the Adirondacks,
having lost its way, fled across the frozen Mohawk
River, and rushed into the streets of Schenectady.
Chased by dogs, It got its antlers tangled up in
the iron fence of St. George's Churchyard. Yet

LIFE OP THE YOUNG FOLKS 169
not easily was its freedom lost ! It demolished ut
terly with its hoofs the clothes of a strong man
who thought to capture it alive and quickly.
One pleasant feature of frontier life, despite its
roughness, was the close mutual acquaintance of
aU domestic animals, four-footed and human. As
even to-day, one in a city can teU, by their feelings
of fear or trust in a horse, for example, the children
born and bred in the country and those who have
lived between brick walls, so even In New Nether
land the sports of town and country differed, and
human beings lived nearer nature in vlUage and
country than in the towns, K^io ni mo indka (even
in the metropolis there are boors) and Kid sumeru
(where you live, that is the capital) might be
Dutch as weU as Japanese proverbs, for there
was culture on the frontier and rudeness on Man
hattan,

CHAPTER XVII
SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND
In no country of Europe was human existence
more intensely social than the Netherlands, where
the climate and soil compelled people to live much
indoors, A thousand contrivances, designed to
make sedentary life enjoyable, were in use, while
art bloomed as in a garden. The Dutchman's fire
side was famous for comforts unknown in sun
nier lands, and his house, a true home, was a
museum of delights. The teU-tale etymology of
most of our homely words, descriptive of textiles,
costumes, house furnishings and equipment, betray
their Dutch origin. Our underclothing, beds, fur
niture, kitchen belongings, and parlor necessities,
from the " stovey," to warm our feet, to the easel,
or little donkey, to hold our pictures, recaU In
their names the country of their origin,
Man makes a camp, but woman the home. In
Holland the whole system of school training, from
Finsterwolde to Flushing and from Schevenlngen
to Winterswijk, was built on the idea of the equal
but not identical education for both sexes. Mutual
helpfulness between man and woman was expected
on the farm and in the shop. The girls went to the
pubUc schools along with the boys, and all alike

SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND 161
to the age of twelve. After that, the burghers and
weU-to-do people made their daughters study to
be thoroughly practical in home and business.
Economy, administration, the keeping of accounts,
and the management of farm, garden, dairy, shop,
and household were according to rigid training.
Success was the prize of ambition. Legitimate
rivalry was encouraged and cultivated. A young
woman was led to find her enjoyment in preparing
herseK to be not only a good wife and mother, but
a wise conserver of her husband's property and
fortune. The popular art, proverbs, and literature
iUustratfe this, but matter-of-fact local records iUu
minate it.
All Dutch history shows how nobly the women
were helpmates of the men in managing those hos
pitals, orphanages, and retreats for aged couples,
and homes for old men and women, which made
the glory of Holland. Women as weU as men won
the independence of the Fatherland. Compelled
during their eighty years of struggle for freedom
to provide for thousands of widows, orphans, crip
ples, wounded soldiers, and victims of the Inquisi
tion, the Dutch people in their little country de
veloped a vast and minute system of charity, the
like of which was not to be found in Europe, and
which is as yet unexceUed. In no lands were the
laws more favorable to women. Such development
had its roots far back in the Middle Ages.
To New Netherland the woman brought her in-

162 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
herited habit and her strict training : first, to make
of temporary quarters — the straw shack, the bark
house, or the hut of boards — a home, and then, to
transform it Into a dwelling rich in comforts. Un
ceasing industry, thrift, and hatred of waste, as of
dirt and laziness, enabled the settler in a year of
good harvests to begin wealth, or In poor times to
bear bravely enforced poverty. Or, if at Wiltwijk,
Schenectady, or on Staten Island, the savages laid
the settlement in ashes reddened with blood, no
thing exhibits Dutch pluck and endurance better
than the return again of the desolate to cast their
seed into the ground and rebuild their homes. In
no case did savagery ultimately triumph.
The Dutch never took kindly to the axe or the
log cabin. In succession to their first creditable
houses of bark, after the Iroquois model, they had
frame houses of sawn timber, for they very early
set up sawmlUs. But the typical house in New
Netherland consisted of two brick walls, gabled
and crow-stepped, with the intervening space of
timber. Thus they combined the solidity of stone
with the interior dryness of the wooden dwelling.
After the first frontier novelties of experience
were over, the Dutch shack, dugout, or wooden
house was rebuilt of stone or brick. Besides early
baking their own clay into stone (haksteen'), much
brick, and probably most of the glazed tiles and
material for wall chequering, was brought from
Holland as ship's ballast. Thus in the majority

SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND 163
of cases the front and rear waUs, or gabled ends,
were of mineral material, the whole intervening
space except the chimney being of wood, and often
strengthened with iron rods. One of the gables
faced the street, and the other the garden, with a
stoop, or porch, at each end, the front one having
seats and railings. When such a house got too old,
it was common, as I have often seen, " to tear out
everything but the frame," and, between the old
thick gable ends of brick or stone, to rebuild with
modern timber, in new interior arrangements.
The door was divided crosswise into two parts,
upper and lower, the former to let in air and light,
and the latter to keep out the pigs, chickens, and
marauders of all sorts. The Dutch bisected door
goes back to feudal days, when every comer might
be challenged before being given entrance. Of
simUar warlike origin was the projecting second
story, which, overlapping by its extension the
doorway beneath, aUowed the defender above to
guard against attack by fire or weapon. In many
old Dutch houses in the Mohawk and Hudson val
leys this feature served admirably against hostile
Indians. In the later frame dwelling, ancient his
tory and survival are suggested by a conventional
moulding which reveals the projection of a few
inches only. The bricks, near the gables, wrought
in the form of crow-steps, or top-pieces serving as
chimneys, were laid in curious triangular or cheq
uered patterns, just as one sees in Friesland to-

164 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
day. Indeed, the keen-eyed visitor to HoUand can
recognize the original model and features of many
an old house in Kingston and Schenectady. The
ancestral traits reappear in the domestic archi
tecture of the New World as infallibly as the noses,
mouths, eyes, and hair common to the grandpar
ents, parents, and grandchildren in the same
towns. At one point there was a notable departure
from the model in Patria, and that was in the
windows, which on Manhattan and In old Dorp,
for example, were small. In Holland, even though
the panes of glass be very small and the house
fronts narrow, the window spaces are and were
large. This is because in Holland windows have
from mediaeval times been taxed by number. Much
of the war revenue was thus raised. In New Neth
erland no such reason existed permanently, and a
sash of many panes, being cheaper and less liable
to break, was used. Thus the house lights were
modest In size as compared with the large windows
in Patria.
On the outside, fastened into the bricks, were
" ankers," or iron clamps, hammered into figures
showing dates. If It were possible to have a
weather-vane, cock, arrow, monogram, family crest,
or arms on the gable top, it was sure to be there.
The blacksmith, or anchor-smith, was an impor
tant person In the New Netherland village. He
was usually an artist, more or less ambitious, for

SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND 165
?
he made floriated patterns of hinges or braces that
might branch out over most of the area of the upper
or lower leaf of the door. He enjoyed pounding out
colossal figures, 1, 6, or 7, and other digital numer
als, for the ornamentation of the house front. He
was probably also the maker of the big church door-
lock. On his anvU he beat out the key, brazing
on the bit or web, rounding on his anvil's beak a
bow and forging it to the shank, and filing out the
wards. He also was responsible for the church
weather-vane, which in frontier days, instead of
stamped gilded metal, representing a cock, lamb,
beaver, or other emblem of doctrine or virtue, was
usually cut or punched out of sheet Iron.
The anchor-smith followed mason and carpenter
in the buUding of a house. He equipped the fire
place with a cast-iron jamb, andirons, and the
great swinging pot-holder with chain and hangers.
Often the iron jamb or back was a casting con
taining dates, emblems, mottoes, scriptural or other
quotations, proverbs, or poems. Only in late days,
when the Dutchmen learned from the Japanese to
make Delft ware, and applied their knowledge to
tiles, were those miniature Bible panoramas set
up to adorn the front and sides, creating a fash
ion which was borrowed by the New Englanders.
Delft tiles served as the picture galleries at which
our American painters, Trumbull, Allston, Van-
derlyn, and others, received their first impressions
and stimulus to art. Often these tUes had on them

166 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
mere outlines of biblical events, with numbers
showing the text which one must look up in order
to understand the pictorial iUusion. On others the
designs were suggestions rather than pictures, mere
" lesson helps."
The fireplace was literally the focus of the house
and the home. It was big enough usuaUy to ac
commodate the whole family, should they want all
at once to get inside to look up its black throat,
to see whether Santa Claus or Kris Kringle were
coming. Inside its length, up and down, were
usuaUy steps or projections on which the chimney
sweep or cleaner, usually a boy not too fat, could
steady his feet while brushing or scraping off the
soot or the stalactites of pine tar. Hickory was the
best fuel, however, and kept the chimney neater.
The inner hearth was most often of brick, but the
broad outer hearthstone consisted frequently of
one slab of noble length and width. The back log,
gloried In and celebrated in song and proverb, was
so huge that in many cases the house was pur
posely built against the side of a hill. In order that
the kitchen door might be level with the ground.
A heavy section of tree trunk, sawed to the right
length, was hauled in by a horse, rolled and set
as the background of the fire, while corncobs,
brush, and fagots blazed in front.
Here, after the serious work of preparing the food
was over, the family sat for rest, worship, chat and
gossip, jokes and merriment, and no people were

SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND 167
wittier, brighter, or more full of fun than the
Dutch. In winter the long evenings were given up
to stories, finger games, with lullaby for baby and
pipe for papa, and then, at the right time, cider,
apples, nuts, and refreshments as desired. For the
real old folks the hearth was the place of memory,
but for the young it was the seed-bed of dreams.
In the darting tongues of the blaze and the deep
glow of the embers lad and lassie saw the castles
of the future, and the aged pictures of the past.
Carpets and matting were, for the most part, un
known. Instead of these hiders of dirt and holders
of germs, the floor was scrubbed until it shone,
and then sprinkled with white sand, which was made
into fanciful patterns with the end of a broomstick,
a custom which one sees in the back country in
HoUand to-day. Such a floor dressing, swept off
and renewed every week, made life for the vermin
so disagreeable that they kept out and away. In
the homes of the well-to-do rugs were common.
The "threshold covenant" was an ancient and
serious thing with the Dutch. In other words, the
front door was opened only on great occasions of
joy, or when a bride or a corpse was to cross the
line dividing outdoors from indoors. For every-day
use, and for everybody in general, the kitchen door
was the proper entrance. Often the hallway was
from front to rear, the sitting-room being at the
back and the parlor In front. In small houses, num
bering fewer apartments than the fingers on one

168 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
hand, the bedrooms were in the wall, or were like
cupboards, shut up during the day and opened at
night, and climbed up and into by means of a short
step-ladder. In a word, just as one still sees in the
old homeland to-day, and recognizes on the can
vases, from Ostade to Israels, so, within my re
membrance, were the interiors in Dutch America.
To the Domine of the congregation it was the
matron's pride to show all, from cellar to attic,
with the wondrous store of house-linen and table
equipment. The beds were made of hay or straw, corn leaves
or silk moss, hair or feathers, sewed into " tick
ing," — which is an English word of Dutch origin.
Sassafras wood was at first much in demand for
supposed protection from unwelcome bed mates,
securing, it was believed, to each person the ex
clusive use of his own cuticle. As civilization
advanced, the bunk, or box lined with dry leaves,
spruce boughs, or pine needles gave way to the
four-poster bed, and in later times favorite im
ported woods were in fashion. Long after Manhat
tan was swapped off for Surinam, with its forests
of mahogany, this timber became plentiful and in
fashion for furniture. To take the chill off the
pure linen sheets, long-handled brass bed-warmers
were used. Polished until their basins shone like
gold, these hung on the walls by day as part of the
decoration of the room, to become hand-stoves at
night. Except what one's own caloric and the thick

SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND 169
folds of quUt, blanket, or comfortable fumished,
the bed- warmer was usually the only source of heat
allowed in the sleeping-chamber, though later lux
ury allowed wood stoves. As a rule, all the family,
the parents up in the heights of piled feather beds
or mattresses, and chUdren in the trundle beds be
neath, slept in pure cold air, for the great open
chimney was a capital ventilator. " When hearts
are light and life is new," slumber after prayers
was usually too sudden and too sound to know
much of the variations of the thermometer. The
Dutchmen took sleep as a serious thing, enjoyed
plenty of it, and believed in it as one of life's best
blessings. How beautiful Is the evening prayer in
the liturgy of the Dutch Church, — " Temper our
sleep that it be not disorderly, that we remain
spotless both In body and soul, nay, that our sleep
itself may be to Thy glory."
Marriage, which begins the family, was the
greatest event in a Dutch home. The New Nether
landers believed in a big company and well-loaded
tables, to which all within the circle of their
acquaintance, albeit weU graded, were invited;
though on this one occasion, rich and poor. If
blood relatives, met on a common basis. Usually
the black slaves or servants were allowed the privi
lege of seeing the ceremony. The Domine, in his
gown and bands, was never happier than at this
binding of hearts for the making of a home, and
for the enlargement of all sweet human relation-

170 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
ships and influences. The marriage ritual of the
Dutch, like the national art, is as full of realism
as is a canvas of Rembrandt or Jan Steen. It starts
out, as does its catechism, with the idea of comfort
and consolation. It faces the fact that the nuptial
bond doubles at once both joys and sorrows. It
relates the Genesis story of Eden, with its ocean-
deep, poetic truth, and It recalls the Gospel narra
tive of Cana in Galilee, promising also divine aid
and protection. The Almighty Father himself
gave Eve to Adam to be his wife, "witnessing
thereby that He doth yet, as with his hand, bring
unto every man his wife." In biblical phrase, the
groom was told to lead, instruct, comfort, protect,
and love his wife and maintain his "household
honestly and likewise have something to give to
the poor." The bride was warned against exercis
ing dominion over the husband. Then the vital
questions were asked, responses made, and the
benison bestowed. It was the usual custom at wed
dings to take up a collection for the benefit of the
poor. Whatever else was absent, flowers of the gayest
hue were In evidence, and decorations were plenti
ful. The crowning joys for the guests were at the
table, with eatables and drinkables got ready days
in advance. There were no wedding journeys in
colonial days, and sometimes the practical jokes
played on bride and groom by the lower classes
were rough and uncanny, there being even less

SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND 171
opportunity to escape tormentors than young folks
have in our day.
When the windows of heaven opened and the
cradle rocked with new treasures, or. In paternal
phrase, the couple was "visited" from heaven,
christening and public name-giving usually took
place in the church within a few days, and often
on the foUowing Sunday if the mother was able
to be present. Brave were the women then, and
small families were rare. Many a Dutch proverb
teUs how safe, how healthful, and how blessed Is
normal humanity that shirks no pain or care, and
how good is the "love that lightens all distress"
for womankind. As artificial foods were next to
unknown, mothers fed their offspring from nature's
pure fountains, and the babies thrived on the real
nourishment, which no machinery or substitute for
mother's milk can give. The solemn ritual of the
Church transfigured even common life, and spread
a halo over the cradle.
Nine tenths of all the girls' names, and most of
the boys', ended in ie, a tender and affectionate di
minutive, which In English has become y, Gertje,
Grietje, Annetje, Elsje — that is, Gertrude, or
Gertie, Margaret or Maggie, Ann or Annie, and
Alice or Elsie — were usually among their own
near kindred so addressed or referred to even to
the end of their days. The boys dropped their pend
ants earlier. Family names were not In universal
use In Europe until after the Reformation. Then

172 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
and thereafter, as the Bible became, in Northern
Europe, not only a household book, but an encyclo
paedia, girls received other names besides Mary
and Elizabeth, and boys' names, besides those given
in christening, John, Peter, and Paul, were known.
Dutch sons added s or se, sen or zoon, to their
father's baptismal name to show that they were
Johnson, Williamson, Wilkins, etc., that is, the
son of John or William, or little WiUiam. Hence
we have Janse Petersen, etc. For family cognomens
they adjoined the names of their trade or occupa
tion, as in Dirck de Bakker, that Is, Theodore the
baker ; or (if a potter or baker of clay marbles)
" Knicker "bocker " ; or the place whence they
came. Demeans "the," and can signifies "from,"
Hence the frequency of these prefixes. The dam,
the dike, field, morass, sand, wharf, city, town,
village, or church, reappear in names, such as
van Dam, van Dyke, van Antwerp, etc., just as
on the business signs of some returned Dutchmen
in Holland, one may read Jan van America,
Hendrljk van Chicago, etc. The prefix van should,
almost invariably, be written with a small v ; for
in very few cases among the seventeenth-century
emigrants did van mean anything else thsLufrom,
It was rarely a real part of the family name.
The Bible in the superb and scholarly States-
General version, ordered In 1619, was more than
a daily book, in use at family worship, for general
reading and hunting up the proof -texts wherewith

March JuneSeptember
December

" A POEM IX TWELVE CANTOS.'' THE CYCLE OF THE YEAR
(In P'irst Reformed Church, Schenectady- The Banker Screen)

SOCIAL LIFE IN NEW NETHERLAND 173
to fortify the catechism, which every child of de
cent parents was supposed to know, and usually
did know — for better or worse. It was also a
story-book, a mine for " Sunday amusements," such
as puzzles and conundrums, an encyclopaedia of
general knowledge, and the sacred repository of
family records and traditions. What we call
" family Bibles," for pulpit or desk use, were car
ried to church usually by a big black slave ; but
in the ships, the Domlne's or Church copy came
over as freight rather than as personal baggage,
so huge and heavy were these illustrated Bibles.
Domine Bogardus's Bible, was older than the
" revised version " of the States-General. Dated
1543 and handsomely printed, it is a massive
volume a foot and a half long, one foot wide,
and half a foot thick. Its covers are half an inch
in thickness, and are bound on the corners with
heavy brass mountings ornamented. One can un
derstand why a book is said to be bound In
" boards," which now means pasteboard, but for
merly was real timber. Of the hundreds of Dutch
Bibles I have examined, apart from their valuable
historical entries, the striking feature in many of
the larger editions is the excellence of the wood
cuts and the clearness of the maps, these latter
showing America — with its northwest coast as
yet unknown — and some the mythical "Ver
razano's Sea." The hooded and rosy-cheeked
maidens wore in chatelaine fashion their Bibles

174 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
at their girdles, held by silver chain and waist
hood, or sheathed in velvet or silk bags.
It was around the Church and the Bible that
the best life in New Netherland centred, and from
these sources it was nourished.
Social morality in New Netherland was of a
high standard. Divorces were unknown. The
opinion is practically unanimous among those who
have studied the local records and Church disci
pline in American colonial days, that no colonies,
Puritan or Cavalier, North or South, exceUed,
even if they equaled, in morality the Continental
settlers, Walloon, Dutch, and Huguenot, who be
gan the Middle States of the American Union.

CHAPTER XVni
SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS
The Dutch came to America from a country
in which printing was free and books were cheap.
Public schools, for all children to the age of
twelve, sustained by taxation and giving free ele
mentary instruction, had existed in most of the
towns from the Middle Ages. There was, besides
these, a large number of Church schools, in which
the young people of the upper classes received in
struction in Latin and the humanities. Long be
fore England enjoyed the " liberty of unlicensed
printing," for which Milton made seraphic plea,
printers in the Netherlands were busy in free
competition, and books were as common as bread
and cheese. One of the chief elements of success
in the Eighty Years' War against Spain, as later
in the case of Japan and Russia, was the power
of general popular education.
Among the first and very definite provisions
made, when the West India Company was formed,
were those for ministers and schoolmasters, both
of whom were required to show certificates before
they received their appointment. The Domines
must be university graduates, as a rule, though
the instructors need not necessarily be such, but

176 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
in both cases they must be educated gentlemen.
MIchaeUus's letter of 1628, long preserved among
the dusty papers of a civil court of Amsterdam,
not only pictures the first Communion Sunday in
New Amsterdam, but gives his ideas of the true
philosophy of education, — that is, to begin early
with the children. On Manhattan, public school
education was only five years later than Church
life. New Netherland was the only one of the
colonies in which elementary instruction for the
youth of both sexes was maintained out of the
public moneys.
Michaelius was also a teacher on week days.
He began with the catechism. The Domlne's
good work of training the savage children was in
terfered with through one redeeming trait of In
dian character, their fondness for their offspring.
"Time and again the little heathen, when just
about emerging into light, are carried off by the
parents, to be swaUowed up again in the darkness
of paganism," wrote this observer and philosopher.
The schoolmasters of the future Empire State,
beginning with Adam Roelandsen, crossed the
ocean with all the glow of pioneers to begin their
work, which was primarily among the white chil
dren of their own countrymen, though the pas
tors also taught not a few of the papooses. These
schoolmasters came with their certificates. They
have left their names on the landscape, as well as
in the records, and their history is in the main

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 177
highly creditable. From modern writers, who seek
out the odd and curious, the incompetent and dis
reputable pedagogues have attracted much notice.
The steady work of the good men, done without
the noise of trumpets, is left unnoticed. The school
which Roelandsen began on Manhattan in 1633
continued with varying success, and was main
tained at the public expense, until the downfall
of New Netherland in 1664. The English rulers
cared little or nothing about public elementary
instruction supported by taxation, and they swept
away the Dutch public schools. Then the Dutch
school on Manhattan was taken over by the
Church, and has ever since been maintained in
unbroken continuity. It is still in flourishing
prosperity and situated in a fine building, where
I have more than once visited it. A " History of
theCoUegiate Church School" has been published.
When, in 1800, Rev, WiUiam Linn, pastor of the
Dutch Church and regent of the University of the
State of New York, preached his " gleaming ser
mon," as It was caUed, the response from the peo
ple in a collection was eleven hundred dollars, an
amoimt at that time considered wonderful.
No special schoolhouses are known to have been
built in the very early years of New Netherland,
The schoolroom was attached to the church, or was
in the edifice ItseK. On Manhattan it was in the
City HaU.
Johannes Backerus, of Barcinger, Hoorn, may

178 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
serve as one of many examples of the Dutch desire
for learned ministers and teachers and the strict
ness of examination for certificates. He was intro
duced by letter from Domine Megapolensis, then
minister at Koedijk, or the Cow Dike, as one will
ing to go out to the East Indies as Comforter of
the sick. Not having a regular education, the
young man's application was declined, and not
until after three years of hard study and several
trials and examinations was he ordained, October
16, 1642, — all of which shows how careful the
Dutch authorities were to have learned and ac
ceptable ministers, as well as schoolmasters. After
signing a contract for four years with the Com
pany, Backerus proceeded to Cura^oa, becoming
acquainted there with Peter Stuyvesant. Later
he accompalned the new governor to Manhattan.
Here he found one hundred and seventy members
of the Church, and John Stevenson, who had been
teaching school for seven years. Backerus did not
whoUy approve of Stuyvesant, and after two years'
work as pedagogue he saUed from New Amster
dam, August 15, 1649, with charges against the
governor. In 1647, when Stuyvesant tried to mix together
taxation for school support and for military pur
poses, he found the Dutchmen against him. " Let
John Company attend to his own proper business,
and repair the fort, while we, gladly doing what
we and our fathers had done for centuries, wiU

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 179
pay the taxes to support the public schools," was
the gist of their answer. The upshot of the discus
sion was that the Nine Men promptly agreed to
reorganize the school, finish the church edifice,
and cheerfuUy lay a school and Church tax upon
themselves, but they demanded that the Company
should repair the fort.
In 1649, the Nine Men complained, and di
rected that there should be two good masters in the
public schools. "As it is now, the school is kept
very Irregularly ; one and another keeping it ac
cording to his pleasure and as long as he thinks
proper." Stuyvesant, writing to the Classis of
Amsterdam, seconded the request most earnestly.
On January 10, 1650, the Classis sent out William
Vestens, " a good. Godfearing man," as Comforter
of the sick and schoolmaster on Manhattan. He
taught for five years. Later Jan, or Johannes, de la
Montague taught in the Herberg, or City Hall, at
a salary worth in our day one thousand dollars.
Various other names of Dutch schoolmasters,
clerical or lay, are known of those who served on
Long Island and In New Jersey and Delaware,
some very creditably, those doing the best work
being least heard from or noticed by later writers.
Among those whose records are known were Everts
Petersen, Gideon Schaats, Jacobus van Curler,
Alexander Curtius, Godfrey Dellius, and Bernar
dus Freeman, who taught the children, white and
red. Some of the scholarly men have left literary

180 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
memorials in prose and verse, as seen in the Hon.
Henry C. Murphy's " Anthology of New Nether
land." Many ofthe Dutch Domines were men of science
also. Hence neither the weeds of narrow intoler
ance, nor such a deadly night-shade of superstition
as belief in witchcraft, could easily grow up among
the Dutch Christians, who were, for the most part,
liberal-minded Bible readers. Rev. Peter Week-
sten, a graduate of Leyden University, before
preaching at Kingston, from 1681 to 1687, had
been Latin master at Haarlem. Rev. John Peter
Nucella, who served the Church at Kingston from
1689 to 1704, was active in public education until
he was appointed by Queen Anne to take charge
of the Dutch Royal Chapel of St. James in London.
These instances serve as examples of more, whom
we cannot mention for lack of space.
In general. It may be said that every town and
vUlage community was fairly well served by Dutch
preachers after the English conquest, for wher
ever there was a church there was a precentor or
voorlezer, who acted also as pedagogue. Scores of
autographs of these men are extant on the church
records. Quite often the day-school teacher was
unduly ambitious and sought to climb into the
pulpit. Yet though the accepted Domine might be a
schoolmaster, the converse was not true of the
pedagogue. No wielder of the Hap could enter the

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 181
pulpit unless duly licensed and ordained. Some
of them did thus enter, but others were kept out
by the hedges of severe examinations. Neverthe
less, startling stories are told of one or two who,
by trickery or coUusion with the dupes of the
British governors, got in, and to the grief of the
orthodox, added to the gayety of the ungodly.
One such, after a career of marrying, christening,
baptizing, and preaching which lined his pockets,
was found out and exposed, and he fled the country
in 1715. At this date, his name is usually spoken
only with an uncomplimentary smile.
It must be remembered that the school record
and educational activities of the Dutch in New
York did not end with the one generation, or
thirty-three years, between Adam Roelandsen and
the English conquest of 1664, but stretched for
the most part until 1800. From the first the New
Netherlanders were not originating anything, but
merely transplanting the institutions of Patria.
Hence the instruction was not, as at first in
Massachusetts, for boys only, based chiefly on
Latin, and mainly as preparation for the ministry
of the Church, but was for girls as well as boys.
New England's first school was a college, the second
was a Latin school, and the next schools were
simply feeders for the college. Not until Andres's
time were there schools for elementary training.
The chief idea of education was to maintain a
learned clergy. The New England girls were not

182 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
given free public education until the colonial era
was over.
In New Netherland elementary education for all
children, without regard to class, sex, or social
condition, was from the first a matter of public
concern and support. As against this, after 1664,
was the English Idea of schools for the nobles, the
clergy, and " sons of quality." The royal governors
of New York province would approve only of
Latin schools. England had "Board" or public
schools with elementary instruction for all only
within the memory of men now living. In Holland
mediaeval records teU how general was popular
education. New York has the honor of founding the first
free public elementary school within the limits
of the United States. The Dutch policy of state
supervision of schools, without the interference
of a state church, — which latter, neither New
Netherland nor New York, as province or State,
as a whole, ever had on her soil, — showed but
orderly evolution when the University of the State
of New York was formed. With this institution,
the name of Alexander Hamilton is justly asso
ciated. It now guards, in beautiful order, the
educational Interests of eight millions of people,
without dictation of Church, sect, priest, or parson.
, " The first organized government in the world to
enshrine in her fundamental law the sacred pledge
of absolute spiritual independence and of politi-

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 183
cal action without ecclesiastical intervention " was
that of the State of New York.
Besides having the oldest school in the United
States, still in daily operation, the Dutch of New
Netherland organized and maintained academies
and coUeges in the Raritan, Hudson, and Mohawk
vaUeys, most of which have been in continuous
existence to the present time. Modern Immigrants
from HoUand in the West show the same love
for education. The American Netherlanders were
from the first the peers of the " Yankees " in a
desire for a learned ministry, public schools,
general popular education, and home culture, while
they exceUed the New Englanders in their regard
for science and in freedom from superstition. They
feU behind, in later days, because they persisted
too long in the use of what, after 1700, was vir
tuaUy a foreign language, while cut off from vital
contact with the culture which Patria had given.
If in the systematizing and state supervision of
public education New York has led all the states
of the Union, the reason for this lies in the previous
preparation and character of the cosmopolitan peo
ple, and especially of those who came from " the
land where conscience was free," — the original
home of the free, public, elementary school system.
The limits of our little book do not allow notice
of " the Intellectuals " of New Netherland and of
their literary productions, which when examined,
as in Corwin's Manual, are found to be notable in

184 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
product and respectable in quality. Steendam,
Selyns, and de SiUe were the poets, and their verses
have been collected in Henry C. Murphy's " An
thology of New Netherland." Thus writes Steen
dam In 1661 : —
New Netherland, thou noblest spot of earth,
Where bounteous Heaven ever poureth forth
The fulness of His gifts, of greatest worth,
Mankind to nourish.

CHAPTER XIX
SUNDAYS IN COLONIAL DATS
Most of the Dutch churches In the Hudson and
Mohawk vaUeys had a family resemblance in their
soUdity and smaU proportions, several of them
being buUt in whole or in part of little yellow
bricks brought from HoUand. The diminutive,
square, hooded windows were set with tiny panes
of glass. HappUy they were guarded on the out
side by heavy iron cross-bars, for the small boys,
then as in our day, threw stones. The gable end
faced the road. In the towns this architectural
feature meant, "Love thy neighbor as thyseK," —
the idea being to let the snow and rain fall in
your own yard and not on the heads of street folks
and passers-by.
The Sleepy HoUow church at Tarrytown, still
standing and in use, though greatly altered, is
a fair type of those structures. Inside the edifice
were two connected gaUeries, one on the west and
one on the north side, and both were very near
neighbors to the high pulpit. Two beams, each a
foot square, set north and south across the inside
of the building, bound the waUs together. The
ceiling was of white painted boards. The six-sided
sounding-board of white oak, five feet above the

186 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
pulpit, was suspended from the crossed timber
above by an iron rod. To these beams the klevits,
or phcebe birds — after which Kievlt's Hoek, on
the Connecticut River, was named — used to come
and build their nests. Untaught in the golden
virtue of silence, these and other feathered visitors
kept up gossip and scolding during the service, to
the disturbance of the Domine and the delight of
the little folks.
The sturdy Dutchman, like other puritans, dis
dained support to his spine while listening to doc
trinal sermons one or two hours long. Before the
Reformation there were no pews, for these came in
with Protestantism, and are a family institution. At
first It was a luxury, as well as a novelty, to sit at all.
When aristocratic fashions Imported from Eng
land prevailed, there were in the Dutch churches
at Albany, Schenectady, and in other places, on
either side of the old pulpit, " the thrones," that
is, seats elevated a little above the level of the
others, covered with rich curtains, and meant for the
special use of the family of the lord of the manor,
or. In a free town, the local magistrates. Here sat
the Patroon and his wife, he occupying the one
side and the lady the other. In later days, during
devotional exercises, there were short curtains slid
ing on brass rods, and screening off the inmates,
which were drawn aside during the sermon, mak
ing the inmates, the Domine, and the congregation
visible to one another.

SUNDAYS IN COLONIAL DAYS 187
The Tarrytown bell, still swinging in the belfry
and summoning summer worshipers, was, like
others, in the Mohawk Valley and on Manhattan,
cast in Patria. Amsterdam was famous for its
foundries, and the metal from captured Spanish
cannon was plentiful and cheap. The bronze of
many hundreds of the bells in music-loving Hol
land once made the thunder of war. Besides Its
rich ornamentation of raised figures, the Tarry
town beU bears the inscription from Romans viii,
31, — "Si Deus nobis, quis contra nos," and the
date 1685. In very early days the bell was rung
in most of the settlements three times a day, to
sound the hours of breakfast, dinner, and supper
for housekeepers and the men at work In field or
street, and always when there was a christening.
Then people went in the church to see the baby
held in the Domlne's arms. Whoever else might
come, the minister and elder must be present. "
On the sacramental table the communion serv
ice of colonial days, sometimes of pewter, but
oftener of silver, is in many Reformed churches
stiU In use. In larger edifices, long tables were
laid down the aisles. The baptismal bowl used
to be placed in a socket or bracket extending
from the pulpit. The pulpits, usually brought
from Holland, were octagonal in shape, each sug
gesting a wineglass in form, and just large enough
to hold one man. Set up on a wooden standard,
or demi-column, about nine inches in thickness.

188 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
each was mounted by a little stairway. Loftier
than the minister's crown was a peg upon which
to hang his cocked hat. In silken gown and neck
band of linen, cambric hejje, or bands, the Domine
set out from the parsonage arrayed for service. On
entering he doffed his three-cornered hat, and then
the men streamed behind him to their seats.
The Dutch Church edifices were greatly altered
after the Revolutionary War, and in one respect
they were made to conform to the simple and
more democratic style common before the English
conquest. Then also the relics of feudalism, the
curtained seats of grandeur for the manor lord
and lady and places for the magistrates, were re
moved. In their stead were set, as in Holland,
pews for the members of the Consistory, elders
and deacons, in front of each of whom, on the
projecting shelf of the pew front, was laid a
Bible. The hymn-book had bound up with it the
Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession of
Faith, the Canons of the Synod of Dort, held in
1619, and the forms for Ordination, Communion,
Marriage, Burial, and InstaUatlon used in the lit
urgy, and also the prayers of the Reformed Church
of the Netherlands. When in modern days the
wineglass pulpit was exchanged for a more fash
ionable sort, the mahogany of the old one was
usuaUy made into souvenirs of some kind, tables
or bookcases. Invertebrated hard oak was ex
changed for soft pine benches without cushions.

SUNDAYS IN COLONIAL DAYS 189
but with high, straight backs. It seemed Uke veri
table laps of luxury, and "flowery beds of ease,"
when cushioned seats were provided for saints aud
sinners alike.
In colonial days, the meeting-house in winter
was warmed chiefly by the zeal of the preacher.
The bodUy heat of the men was kept in by great
coats. No wood stove radiated roasting heat a few
inches, nor did sheet-iron pipes of imposing length
and ugliness, as in later times, traverse the space
from waU to wall. The women found the holy
tabernacles less arctic and more amiable than did
the men. Girls and matrons, who came with silver-
clasped Bibles, hung by chatelaines at their belts,
had foot stoves. In the case of well-to-do folk
these were usuaUy carried by the negro servants.
In other instances, the boys, or servant maids,
or even Mynheer himself, were the heat-bearers.
In later days, hot bricks from the sleigh were
wrapped up, and took the place of " stovey " for
caloric. If the " klinkers " got cold before the serv
ice ended, — for sermons were considered outra
geous, and it was thought that the Domine " ran
out of timber " if they were too short, — the men
went right up to the stove and heated them again
on the logs or embers. In modern days, when cast-
iron wood burners were introduced, high was their
mounting on stilts, — so that the galleries could
get warm. Terrific at times was the raking and
banging of the iron door by the sexton, who was

190 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
very apt to magnify his office as fireman, even to
the extent of a mllUon diameters.
Usually saplings, that grew to be grand old
trees, were early planted near the " Kerk." In the
summer time the men sat out under their shade
on smooth stones or benches until the minister
came, when they all rose up like a flock of sheep,
following their wether into the fold. Many were
the proverbs about the Domine, who. In the days
before newspapers and magazines, was on week
days a walking library and on Sunday an oracle.
"As the Domine sneezes, so sneeze we all," was a
common saying. " I hold by your coat tails, Dom
ine," confessed many a docile parishioner. Before
the social pipe or glass was enjoyed, "Domine
eerst " was the polite and waiting word. No won
der that the sociable pastor visited often at the
most hospitable homes, and sometimes brought
down the sarcastic fling, "The Domine comes
often for the wine " ; while of a reverend but incor
rigible old pipe smoker it was said, " He belongs
to the family of John Tobacco " (Jan Tabak).
Considering the pithiness of many Dutch proverbs,
" translation is treachery."
At Dorp, or Schenectady, when the juffrouw, or
Domlne's wife, entered the church, the whole con
gregation stood up to greet her. It was the uni
versal clerical custom for the preacher, before
mounting the pulpit, to stand at the foot of the
stairs, and, with one hand holding his hat and the

SUNDAYS IN COLONIAL DAYS 191
other raised in silent prayer, to make spiritual
invocation before he ascended. When seated, he
¦selected the biblical passage for the clerk or fore-
reader, who had his desk below. This impor
tant person, often school-teacher, funeral direc
tor, and man of much if not all work, read to
the people the appointed chapter of Scripture, and
afterwards gave out the psalm, usuaUy acting as
precentor. This order of worship Is still followed
in the Fatherland. If these colonial assistants
read with the same flue effect and reverend devo
tion as I have often heard the Scriptures ren
dered by the precentors In Holland, it seems no
wonder that Scripture-reading then, as now, was
often declared and felt to be quite as Important
as the minister's discourse, for correct reading is,
ipso facto, both Illumination and commentary.
The ordinary sermon was from seventy-five to
ninety minutes long, with occasional tendency
to plethoric continuity. Being divided Into two
parts, with a coUection in between, It was borne
more cheerfully than in later times, when books
were numerous and homilies must be short. Then
the proverb was occasionally flung at the Domine,
"He can't let go of his sermon."
The universal rule was to take at every service
twocoUectlons for almsgiving,: — onefor the Church
support, and one for the poor. There was nothing
stingy about a Dutchman when It came to his
Church. His was ever an open hand, and few

192 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
people support their spiritual shepherds better
than the Dutch. On Communion Sundays, the
table was drawn out to Its fuU length, inside the
railing or down the aisle, and the people sat
around It in successive companies, every company
receiving an address from the minister. As each
person approached the table, he, or more often
she, would lift the edge of the cloth and deposit
under it the silver or copper coin, which was to be
used only for the purchase of bread and wine for
the sacrament.
At noon there was an hour's intermission be
tween the services, when the people ate their lunch
and chatted together, usuaUy in the grove near the
church. Planted as shoots, these chestnuts, oaks,
maples, or poplars grew up to be magnificent
" trees of the Lord, full of sap." With their in
crease the worshiper's storehouse of precious mem
ories and sweet experiences was filled.
The subjects with these neighbors were at first
theological and edifying, but soon tapered off to
matters of daily routine, simple business, or elabo
rate gossip. People rode long distances on horse
back, and this equitation gave the young men an
opportunity to exhibit their dexterity and gal
lantry In assisting the rosy maids from their
saddles. The courtings, the flirtations, the love-
makings, and the deUghtful little nothings that
took place during the intermission between ser
mons were moments of joy at the time, and became

SUNDAYS IN COLONIAL DAYS 193
rich flowers in memory's gardens. Although ex
cess of this " charm that Eden never lost" might
spoU, for the afternoon, the full effect of the second
sermon, yet who, other than the Domine, would
be caUed in to complete the work begun on Sun
day noon and join for Ufe the lovers ? Verily "the
better the day the better the deed." The church
records and the private cash accounts of the
Domines show that the people were as generous
then as now, indeed, rather more so, we judge
from the many books we have seen, In paying for
the privilege of linking their lives with yoke-fel
lows. In Dutch neither man nor woman is married
to any one. Bride or groom marries with him or
her. In New Netherland boys and girls were both
educated, and men and women were more on an
equality than after the time of English fashions.
Until quite recent times aU marriage fees were paid
by the Domine into the church treasury, and were
not private perquisites, as at present, or gifts to
the lady of the parsonage.
The first use of the English language at a bap
tism, September 25, 1785, greatly offended some
good people, who made mighty outcry against the
innovation. " How shaU we sing the Lord's song
in a strange tongue ? " voiced their feeling. Indeed,
it was difficult for Dutch folk in their old age
to understand how God could reveal his truths in
any language but that of their fathers.

CHAPTER XX
ALBANY AND ITS ANNALS
The settlement near the head of Hudson River
navigation was named successively Fort Orange,
Rensselaerwijk, Beverwijk, WlUemstadt, and Al
bany. The business of the Company centred in
the fort, that of the patroon in office and ware
house. While In the Church was the focus of the
higher life of the community, the manor house
was the seat of a generous hospitality. After the
English conquest, several of the royal governors
were entertained here, receiving impressions of a
refinement of manners and home life, for which
their prejudices, engendered by national rivalry
and the wars between England and Holland, had
not prepared them.
Concerning Albany there is a rich literature of
description, and the works of Kahn, and Mrs.
Grant, and Cooper's "Satanstoe," may be men
tioned as examples, but these aud the documents
and writings after 1664 hardly concern us. We
can but glance at IKe here subsequent to the fall
of New Netherland.
After the learned Domine Megapolensis removed
to Manhattan, the community enjoyed the services
first of Domine Schaats, and then of a long line of

ALBANY AND ITS ANNALS 195
learned ministers, who were university graduates.
When the weaknesses of age were creeping on,
these showed the graces and virtues and the faults
and infirmities of men who in the sacred office
have the usual experiences in dealing with saints
and sinners, — the former sometimes giving as
much trouble to the shepherd of the flock as did
the straying sheep. One of these lovely characters
wanting to get rid of his Domine, after making his
life a burden gave him a strong hint that he had
better go to a new field. The reverend pastor, on
opening his door one morning, found a walking
staff and a loaf of bread, and on the doorstep a
pair of shoes with the toes pointing outward. In
each shoe lay a silver coin for the journey.
Such things were not done in frontier days.
Only when men had become purse-proud was the
roughness of frontier life exchanged for subtle
maUce, After a few generations most of the indus
trious Albany folks were weU off, and then Jesh-
urun often " waxed fat and kicked," In the main,
however, the relations between the Domine and
his household and with aU his parishioners were
mutuaUy pleasant. The threefold Influences ema
nating from the Stadt-Huys, the manorial man
sion, and the parsonage, with the abundant wealth
of the burghers, the frequent visits of the Indians
in both groups and crowds, the numerous negro
slaves and servants in gay livery, and the almost
constant coming and going of royal regiments and

196 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
commanders gave Albany the air of a metropolitan
city. Its situation at the head of river navigation,
having easy connection with Canada, and being
withal the gateway Into the Mohawk Valley and
the beginning of the pathway to the great West,
showed that it was, with the fur and lumbering in
dustry, destined to wealth, and when New York
became a state, to be its capital.
With the demand for luxury, finer clothes, and
a natural desire to have prosperity display itseK
in elegant and sometimes ostentatious living, shops
were early opened to supply the needs of the Dutch
folks. Clothing, many things of adornment, and
almost every sort of smaUclothes were made at
home, but shoes were imported ready made. Both
at Albany and on Manhattan some of these shops
became famous throughout the province. In the
ladies' wardrobe, the kimono, imported from Japan,
or made something after the style of Japanese gar
ments, was quite common. This was the time of
abundant commerce between HoUand and the
Empire of the Rising Sun, which was closed to all
nationalities in Europe except the Dutch. Arti
cles of Japanese lacquer (lacwark) and Japanese
swords are heard of and noted in the colonial In
ventories. The Japanese roh, chamber-gown or
dressing-sack exclusively for women (curiously
caUed kimono, which is the general term for a gar
ment), was almost as weU known in Europe and
America then as it is now.

ALBANY AND ITS ANNALS 197
This was the time of fads and fashions in Patria,
which were reproduced in Dutch America. Origi
nating in a little country already gorged with the
wealth of the Orient, we see them in the changing
scene reflected on the canvas and often told in a story
within a picture frame. The imported Dutch fash
ions showed themselves In America especiaUy when
Delft ware appeared, in the hanging of crockery on
the walls, and in rows of dishes on dressers. The
lining of fireplaces with tUes rich in Scripture
scenes and incidents, represented the Bible scenes
as children could understand them. The liking for
silver, as weU as the abundance of it, was shown
in making and presenting souvenir spoons, with
special gifts at weddings, funerals, christenings,
birthdays, and church festivals. In the rich social
life of the Netherlanders, these things of art were
commonplaces rather than luxuries.
None of the colonists of the many nationalities
in the thirteen colonies excelled the Dutch in house
hold necessities and luxuries. Indeed, as was often
said, there were people who could get along with
out the former, but must have the latter. Even
the first question of their catechism had the word
"comfort" in it. In the eighteenth century the
first stages of colonial life had passed and wealth
had accumulated. The English governors sent to
rule New Netherland were surprised not only at
the fine manners of the Dutch, which were no new
thing, but at the luxury so generally enjoyed.

198 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
On the frontier it was necessary to have in the
shops supplies of what the Indians wanted. The
newmaterlals and appliances of Europe had almost
annihilated native crafts and industries. The red
man could not make for himself or repair the
guns, tools, and textiles which he bought for furs
and wampum. He scorned the white man's civil
ization, which virtuaUy meant in his eyes the de
gradation of a man, as warrior and hunter, to
the level of a squaw. He was equally opposed to
the elevation of woman, who was his toy and
slave. The white man's powers of destruction and
his vices were learned much more easily than were
his virtues or his constructive ability. The savage
could shoot and kill, drink brandy or swill beer
to dmnkenness, but he could neither mend, nor
distill, nor brew.
Because of contact with the palefaces, the In
dian in his degradation exhibited the harmony
and the discords of what we term civilization.
The forces of destruction and advance must be in
equilibrium, with a general tendency toward the
prevalence of the good, or the race reverts to
brutishness. It was not the Indian only who illus
trated this law. The European colonists who left
the Church and social restraints, and, it may be,
adopted Indian ways, sank lower and lower, and
furnished the social waste, of which, all things
considered, there was in New Netherland surpris
ingly little.

ALBANY AND ITS ANNALS 199
The settlements on the site of Albany, Dutch
and English, for a hundred years remained the
centre of the Indian trade. Then the city became
the base of military operations. Although furs,
fish, river traffic, and the lumber industry had In
succession brought wealth, each or all of these
were but slight means of enrichment as com
pared with war contracts. When large armies
moved up and down the great water-troughs, or the
land paths, between Manhattan and Canada and
from the Hudson to the Niagara, certain trades
proved to be especially profitable. Interior am
munition in those days was deemed as indispen
sable as powder and ball, and no soldiers marched
without plenty of rum barrels. The molasses
brought from the West Indies was turned into a
liquid which, after pouring rivulets of bliss down
the throat, set the brain on lire. Besides the miU
tary demand for "courage," — ascribed to the
Dutch, but usually made in New England, and
quite English, also, — the Indian traders carried
tens of thousands of kegs into the wilderness to
make beasts of the savages, and to cause fighting
and murder. The Indians when returning home
from Albany must also have a good supply. In
deed, the town was long like a fountain, ever
sending forth streams sweet In the tasting, but in
effects bitter. The Iroquois found that no bite of
copperhead or rattlesnake was worse than that
of the invisible serpent in the bottle. No Indian

200 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
eloquence reached a higher point of pathos than
when the victims of the distillery themselves
begged for prohibition. Piteous were the appeals
of the chiefs to have the firewater kept out of
their villages, but the white man's greed prevailed
over his ethics. On the whole, the Dutch legisla
tion regulating the sale of liquor among the In
dians was far in advance of the English, who
made steady importation of negroes, notions, mo
lasses, and New England rum.
The first house of worship in Albany was near
the present steamboat landing. It was small and
cheaply built. By 1656, when the second edifice
was reared, there were not a few men of substance
in the community. With the Patroon's contribu
tion of a thousand guilders and the people's sub
scription of fifteen hundred more, there was the
wherewithal for rearing a noble structure. When
finished it was the delight of the inhabitants and
the wonder of the Indians. Like Solomon's litter,
it was paved with love. The corner stone was laid
by the oldest magistrate, Rutger Jacobsen, with
the usual ceremonies, according to the beautiful
liturgy of the Reformed Church. This, though
then verbally different from the present form,
always included the idea of the Hebrew poet, —
" Except the Lord build the city, they labor in
vain who build It." Profoundly religious, " Nisi
Dominus frustra" was ever In the Netherlander's
thoughts, as it was also on the seal of his Church;

ALBANY AND ITS ANNALS 201
and this, because the thought — without God, all
is vain — was the very marrow of his theology.
A pulpit in those days was the symbol of au
thoritative utterance. The congregation subscrib
ing twenty-five beavers and the Company adding
seventy-five guUders, a wineglass-shaped structure
was sent over from Holland, in which many godly
and eloquent men have stood. As a precious relic
it is stiU preserved. The Company, also, gave a
beU, which long rang out with its silvery tongue the
invitation to worship. The notable church adorn
ments consisted of wapen, or coats of arms, of the
principal families, vrrought into the glass of the
windows. Besides the most Illustrious of these
names, the Schuylers, WendeUs, van Rensselaers,
etc., there were hundreds of others, now listed
and accessible in the Year Books of the Holland
Society of New York.

CHAPTER XXI
DOEP AND ITS STOKT
The Iroquois term of location eastward of the
Long House, " Schenectady," has been speUed in
fifty-nine different ways, and the names of the
modern city are many and significant. " Schno-
nowe," "The Dorp," "Les nouvelles habitations
hoUandalses," " Schenectady," " Schoon-echten-
deel" (beautiful portion), "The Ancient City,"
" The Finished Place," " The Electric Capital," are
names given fondly or humorously to the first
settlement on the Mohawk, or the municipality
founded by Arendt van Curler, whose noble life
ended In 1667.
In the next year, 1668, a fresh move on the
chessboard of European politics made the young
settlement thrill. The triple Alliance of England,
Holland, and Sweden against France, the owner
of Canada, populated the American woods with
scalp-hunters, and made new danger for the fron
tiersmen. Although for the safety of New York
the Iroquois in the Long House were still like a
wall of life and fire, yet politics and religion, being
yoked together, had altered the situation. The
French Jesuits had converted many Mohawks, and
led off a contingent of "praying Indians " to Mon-

DOKP AND ITS STORY 203
treal. Thaw new zeal, added to their elemental
passipxi's, made war a delight. In this was a star
tling danger for the Dorp on the Mohawk,
These free farmers were never in favor either
with the aristocratic manor folks at Albany, or with
"John Company's" servants at Manhattan, or with
the Court party that fawned on the English gov
ernors or fattened with the land speculators from
Great Britain, Very much as the rich Puritans of
the Massachusetts Bay at first looked down on the
Pilgrims at Plymouth — as Anabaptists, poor re
lations, and as too democratic, even to boorishness
— was the southern view of the frontier villagers
on the Mohawk. Andros was especially severe with
" the Dorp," and on one occasion he actually block
aded the place for a month. The right to bolt flour
and to trade in furs was denied the Dorpians, and
many a time did the sheriff come up from Albany
to search houses and keep money in the pockets
of patroon and Company. The bolting of flour was
Manhattan's monopoly, to the bloating in wealth
of men already rich, and to the inconvenience and
impoverishing of the villagers who could have only
meal. It is significant that on the city seal of
Schenectady Is a sheaf of wheat, while on that
of New York City are windmill sails and barrels
of flour. The secret of Manhattan's early wealth
and of Schenectady's hardship is thus told as elo
quently as the golden codfish of Massachusetts re
veals the sea as the source of colonial riches.

204 THE STORY OP NEW NETEERLAND
Jacob Leisler opposed this monopoly,ind stood
for the freedom of the people. When, 'dj the
choice of the men of the province and appoinV
ment of the Committee of Safety, Leisler was
made Director of Affairs, he promised the Sche
nectady people freedom of trade and the right to
bolt flour. Was it any wonder that, in 1690, most
of the Schenectady people were Leislerlan In sym
pathy and acts? Yet as there were also anti-
Leislerians, the Dorp was as a house divided
against itself, — a fact which, alas, was known in
Canada. Peter Tassemacher (the name meaning pocket
or cup maker) was the first Domine settled in the
Dorp. He had seen not a little of the world be
fore he was kUled to please the VersaiUes boudoir.
After his preparatory examination at Rhenen on
the Rhine, he had been a teacher in the English
Church at the Hague, served in South America,
and after 1652 In several churches in lower New
Netherland, being popular wherever he went. Yet
he had his critics. Two Labadists, Danker and
Sluyter, while prospecting for a settlement of
their fellow believers in America, and before de
ciding upon Maryland, visited Schenectady. Their
snarling criticisms of the sermons and manners of
this and other Dutch ministers may be read in the
published journal of their travels. Tassemacher
must have been at least ordinarily eloquent.
The Church at Schenectady began its existence

DORP AND ITS STORY 205
some time before 1680. The old artilleryman,
Hans Janse Eencluys, who had served the Com
pany, with Jacobus van Curler, in Connecticut,
and later the Patroon at Rensselaerwijk, lived on
the ground which Is now the campus of Union
College. Eencluys's Kill, " the brook which bounds
through Union's grounds," stiU bears his name
on its murmuring waters. He made over to the
Church, for the benefit of the poor at Schenectady,
his plantation, on condition that he should be kept
in his old age and weakness. The deacons took
good care of him until his death in 1683, Then
they burled him vsdth honors, and administered
on his estate. The Arme weg, or " poor pasture,"
furnished fodder for the viUagers' cows for nearly
two centuries.
According to local tradition, some people who
were owners of cattle, but not at all " poor,"
abused the generosity of the deacons, and took
advantage of the free pasture. Thereupon a law
was made that all cows properly entltied to free
grass should have one horn painted red. The cure
proved worse than the disease. Soon every cow in
the place had a crimson horn. In a sense not
modern the town was " painted red."
Dutch churches have ever been guardians of
the poor, the orphan, the aged, and of all who
were without natural protectors. No country on
earth excelled Patria In wisely and beneficently
organized charity, and what the people were and

206 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
did in Patria was but slightly changed in New
Netherland. By the faithful work of the churches,
as administered by the deacons and the family
organization, many of the modern miscellaneous
charities were rendered unnecessary.
The prosperous condition of the poor fund, from
1680 to 1690, is shown in that, when the deacons'
accounts were audited by Domine Tassemacher,
the money on hand amounted to about 4000 guil
ders, or flOOO, worth now at least $5000, — a hand
some sum for a little church In a frontier village
of sixty log cabins. On the parsonage they built
for the Domine, Claes van der Volgen helped. He
was the famous young man, who, his life spared
in the massacre of 1690, went to Canada, was
adopted Into the tribe, lived as an Indian, but re
turned to his home, and died in old age as a Chris
tian, a deacon, and a Dorpian. Happily a Delilah,
of whom he was enamored, sheared off his scalp
lock, and the strength of his Indian desires van
ished. It is to be hoped that the Domine had light
enough to read his Hebrew Bible and Greek New
Testament in his little parsonage study-room, for
an Item of two glass windows costing ten guilders
is not suggestive of luxury. It reveals rather the
scarcity of the transparent medium imported from
Europe. The home-made " lights " in most of
the houses consisted of tough paper greased with
lard, with perhaps many a joke about "American

DORP AND ITS STORY 207
stained glass," which was hardly up to the Gouda
standard in Patria. The Dutch had even peti
tioned to build a new house of worship for their
popular pastor. The extra expenses, to which the
congregation was put on the Domlne's account,
were evidently in anticipation of his marriage,
about which tradition has many tongues. A buxom
young widow was to be iAie juffrouw, and the mer
rymaking on the sad night of February 8, 1690,
is said to have been the engagement party, after
the manner of Patria. According to another le
gend, a squaw, for soUing with snow or mud the
spotless floor, was roundly scolded by a neat house
wife. The Indian woman, who possibly suspected
what was coming, answered that it would be dirty
enough in a few days. Instead of nuptials, the
parsonage became the scene of slaughter and the
funeral pile of its occupant.
Between danger from Canada and the Leisler
troubles, the villagers were already in the shadow
of a great peril from without and in danger of an
archy from within. During the previous summer
of 1689, the haughty Mohawks of the Mohawk Val
ley, allies of the Dutch and English, had destroyed
Montreal, For this proceeding, the French were
bound to take vengeance. The Leisler troubles
divided the people, and the " Commonality " were
ready to take up arms against the partisans of
Andros, the flour monopolists, and the Jacobites,
Yet both parties laughed at the idea of the distant

208 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
French being able so soon to recoup and unite for
a blow on the settlements as far south as Albany.
Besides, they forgot those Mohawks who were allies
with the French in faith. Their criminal neglect
and fatal delusion brought the Dorpians to grief.
After years of locked gates, sentinels pacing
their lonely rounds on the palisade platform, after
the building of a fort, and — as the result of
Leisler's union of the colonies — the reinforcements
of its garrison by Connecticut militia, Fate seemed
to mock Providence. Just when tiie storm of war
broke without warning, the gates were wide open,
the entrance being blocked only by a fall of snow
and by two mock sentinels of the same material.
One and all, soldiers and burghers, from cradled
babies to venerable sires, the Domine and his
flock, the latter after a merrymaking between sun
set and midnight, were wrapped in the deepest
slumbers. AU this amazing neglect of common care was
because of the division of the people into Leis
ler and anti-Leisler parties. In the vehemence of
factional quarrels, ordinary precautions were not
taken, and danger was sniffed at. In mid-winter,
with from five to twenty feet of snow on the trails,
who would be so mad as to face danger and cold
over a stretch of a hundred miles ? Yet the French
dared. More than one description of the fort and ham
let that thus tempted mighty France in Canada

DORP AND ITS STORY 209
had been sent to Versailles. Woman's beauty,
courtly favor, and royal commands, in an age of
loyalty, were the spurs that drove the gallant young
French officers to brave the menace of death by
cold and starvation. They would root out the nest
of heretics, and win, perhaps, a fur preserve for
the glutting of the markets of France. So, on
snowshoes, leading their red allies ahd their loyal
henchmen through winter's whiteness and silence,
they reached the Mohawk. To their surprise, on
crossing the river's ice sheet, the Frenchmen found
the viUage gates open.
Quickly ranging themselves in lines along the
streets, they raised the war whoop, and with spear,
tomahawk, sword, powder and ball, began the
work of blood. At the outset, one unforgetting
Canada brave, long ago treated kindly by Deacon
Wendell, came with a led horse, dragged out his
friend, threw a blanket over him, and at the gate,
past aU his feUow savages, gave the brute a whack
on the flank which started the rider to Albany.
Nearly dead and half frozen. Deacon Wendell lived
to become the ancestor of the witty essayist and
physico-theologian, our Oliver Wendell Holmes,
who himself told me the story that is confirmed
by witnesses of the old time.
Among the victims was Domine Tassemacher.
He was to have been saved, for the Frenchmen
wanted his papers. Tomahawked early in the mas
sacre, and tossed back to cremation in his par-

210 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
sonage, little that had once been his was found
In the ashes. Another victim was a son of Anneke
Janse. Among the saved or lost were the ancestors
of scores of the most famous famUIes of the Em
pire State.
At daylight Sanders Glen, an antl-Leislerian,
who lived In his loopholed and palisaded house at
Scotia, across the river, was visited by the French
officers. They promised him his life and the lives
of his relatives then among the prisoners, because
of his past kindness to their people. Going over
to the village, he chose out so many to be set free
that the Canadian Mohawks grumbled, and further
rescue proceedings were stopped. Then the plunder
was loaded on fifty horses, the twenty-seven cap
tives tied, and all the houses, except four or five,
were set on fire. Sixty corpses lay on the level
waste of ashes. Twenty-five persons had escaped.
Most of the dead who were not killed at once,
but who In mortal wounds perished in their night-
clothes, were found frozen on what was later called
"Martyrs Street." The anti-Leislerians gloated
because Leisler's " seditious letters now found all
bloody upon Schenectady streets, with the motions
of a free trade, bolting," etc., had been picked up.
Schenectady became the theme of grave debate
between Versailles and London. Gay was the chat
among lace-cuffed ministers of Louis XIV over
the destruction of the heretics of the frontier vil
lage. But the Dutchmen of Dorp, though cast

DORP AND ITS STORY 211
down, would not be destroyed. They hated Albany
patroonism and feudalism and Manhattan monopo
lies as bitterly as ever. As unquailing In their per
severance, and as tenacious in their love of free
dom as had been their fathers behind the dikes, the
remnant came back. These free farmers, despite
poverty and all discouragements, would neither
yield to the seductions of patroonism at Albany,
nor back down before the further menace from
Canada. Freedom was too sweet.
As soon as spring warmed the ground, the rem
nant of the survivors were back to seed their
farms, to rebuild among the ashes their homes,
and on the old site to uprear the palisades and
start the town again. At intervals they welcomed
back from captivity the captives, often grown from
boyhood to man's estate. Sometimes these had
been adopted into Indian families, but on their
return they were quickly won to civilization again.
Until the Peace of Ryswijk, in 1697, there was
no safety In the Mohawk Valley except behind for
tifications. The farmer worked with a musket at
his side. There were many funerals of men found
in the fields without hair and with lead inside their
bodies. More than one skull have I seen at Dorp
cloven by tomahawks, or perforated with balls,
and sometimes with leaden bullets rattling Inside,
when the old cemetery was emptied. Nevertheless,
because of the movement of large bodies of Brit
ish soldiers through the town, wealth increased.

212 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
By 1700 the people were able to call a minister
and buUd a new house of worship. Thenceforth
life became much richer in every way. In 1734 a
fine new stone church, fifty-six by eighty feet, was
built. With a belfry, bell from Amsterdam, clock,
and a gilded weather-vane surmounting all, the
sacred edifice must have seemed almost metropol
itan in its Imposing proportions. For over a cen
tury, until it melted In a fire which consumed this
fourth house of worship, the sweet tones of the
bell from Patria caUed to prayer and praise.
When the daily promenades of " our rural di
vinity " ceased, and paved streets and brick side
walks came Into fashion, in place of lanes and
cow-tracks, the New York Central Railroad Com
pany wanted the land which was formerly " the
poor pasture," just about the time that the Church
lost the edifice by fire. The Arme weg of Een
cluys, over which iron horses had long been
careering, was sold for $11,500, which sum was
applied, in 1862, to the building of the gem of ar
chitecture on which Edward Tuckerman Potter,
brother of the late bishop now at rest in the Cathe
dral of St, John the Divine, lavished the wealth
of his genius. When in June, 1880, we celebrated
the two hundredth anniversary of the Church, with
blazoned banners, floral symbols of bell, hourglass,
font, and vane, with the church charter and other
muniments in evidence, the list ih the local news
papers showed that the Dutch clans and famUIes,

DORP AND ITS STORY 213
with some others, were weU represented. As the
local newspapers reported : —
The Bankers, Barhydts, Buskirks, Chisms, Clutes,
Condes, Corls, Cregiers, de Forests, de GrafEs, Dur-
yees, Felthousens, Fondas, Freemans, Fullers, GiUes-
pies, Glenns, Greggs, Groots, Grouts, Hagamans,
Hamlins, Harmans, Hoags, Kittles, Kleins, Lansings,
Marcelluses, Mynderses, Oothouts, Ostranders, Ostroms,
Ouderkirks, Parmentiers, Pearses, Peeks, Plancks,
Propers, Putnams, Quackenbushes, Quants, Reagleses,
Beeses, Relyeas, Rosas, RuofEs, Sanderses, Schermer-
horns, Schoolcrafts, Schuylers, Sellyes, Shaffers,
Sitterleys, Slovers, Snyders, Speirs, Swarts, Switses,
Swortfiguers, Tellers, Thorntons, Tolls, Truaxs,
Twombleys, Turnbulls, Tymesons, the Vans of all sorts
the Vedders, the Veeders, Vieles, Visschers, Vibbards,
Vorheeses, Vroomans, Waldrons, Wassons, Weather-
waxes, Weekses, Wellers, Wemples, Wendells, Wessels,
Westinghouses, Whitmyers, Wilkies, Winegarts, Whit-
becks, were all out Sunday at the bi-centennial exercises
in the First Reformed Church, besides scores of others
bearing names familiar in Holland.
Most prominent among the floral symbols on
bi-centennial day were those of the Holy Book,
the marriage bell, and the baptismal bowl. On
Manhattan in 1694 the people's silver offerings of
coins and ornaments were sent to Patria, and the
Amsterdam artisans melted down the treasure and
hammered out the sacred vessel still used in the
church on Madison Avenue. From Schenectady a

214 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
similar offering of white metal enriched the rim
of the church bell. In these baskets of silver trans
lation lie Domine Selyns's apples of gold : —
Not on mere water fix your sight,
Ne'er to 've been born were better,
But look for more in baptism's rite,
Than that which kills — the letter.
For, with his precious blood Christ knows
How from my sins to cleanse me;
And by His Spirit life bestows,
Washing the wound that stains me.
The limits of this little book do not allow a
chapter on "the inteUectuals " of New Nether
land, nor on its bibliography. There were poets
and prose writers, and not aU the works printed
in Dutch were volumes of sermons. The church
in Schenectady was typical in having a long line
of scholarly pastors, graduates of universities,
whose books in Mohawk, Dutch, and English, and
the literature about the men and their writings,
would make a respectable library.

CHAPTER XXII
THE ENGLISH GOVERNORS
The existence of New Netherland as a political
entity ceased In 1664, after which, except for a
short time in 1674, the Dutch people and their
descendants were cut off from vital connection
with Patria. AU accounts and descriptions of the
New York Dutchmen after these dates, especially
when penned or drawn by persons living much
later, are to be read with caution and taken with
much critical salt.
Happily for all. Colonel Richard NicoUs, the
first governor of the Duke of York's province,
spoke both Dutch and French. He was a conscien
tious Irish gentleman, who soon became master of
hearts, winning all by his firmness, tact, and jus
tice. Among his first works were friendly con
sultation with the leading men In the province,
rectification of its boundary lines, and renewal of
covenant relations with the Indians.
NicoUs and Stuyvesant became good friends. It
Is even suspected that the Irishman learned much
from the Dutchman ; for, despite his merit, the
King's officer was as arbitrary in action as was
the servant of the late " John Company." NicoUs
broke his promises of popular representation by

216 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
summoning only a portion of the people, instead
of all, by their delegates, to consider the new code
of laws; but against this sweeping away their
rights as citizens of New Amsterdam, the Dutch
made vigorous protest. Nor was the English system
of trial by jury (vulgarly supposed to date from
Magna Charta) at all popular.
After four years, NicoUs was succeeded by Sir
Francis Lovelace, a man of less ability and char
acter, and even more arbitrary. Lovelace was the
leader in a grand procession of English land specu
lators, who, making full use of their office, were
in a hurry to get rich. Yet so long as the people
saw that their governors meant even fairly well,
and that their old customs or convictions were not
disturbed, they loyally upheld them. The Duke's
laws were accepted as surprisingly liberal (their
real purpose not being yet revealed), and the
Dutch, being ever a law-abiding people not given
to quarreling over things apparently evil, so long
as the desirable substance remained, acquiesced.
Nevertheless, after two years, the general verdict
seemed to be that, as compared with the sort fur
nished by kings and dukes, republican government
was by far the better thing.
When, therefore, Charles II of England joined
Louis XIV in a compact of despots to destroy
Dutch freedom, and war broke out, the news of a
fleet of fifteen ships floating the orange, white, and
blue flag, and approaching New York, was received

THE ENGLISH GOVERNORS 217
with joy. In Patria the Dutch cut the dikes, put
their country under water, and drove out the
French invaders. In New York Americans were
quite ready to welcome Admiral Cornelius Evert-
sen and Jacob Bincks. On August 7, 1673, twenty-
three splendid Dutch warships with sixteen hun
dred soldiers of the Republic dotted the waters
of New York Bay. Once more, on August 9, the
flag of seven stripes, red and white, of the federal
Republic floated oVer Manhattan. There were
many tears of joy shed, caps thrown into the air,
and huzzas of "Oranje boven" (up with the
orange) given, as the symbol of freedom and fed
eration once more kissed the breeze.
New York became New Netherland again. There
were dissolving views of names and forms, as on
the white sheet in lantern light, but the substance
of society and daily custom scarcely knew change.
The fort, enlarged and renamed WlUem Hendrik,
after the new stadtholder, William II, at home,
and King William III in England, now mounted
nearly two hundred guns. Colonel Anthony Colve
was the military administrator.
By this time "John Company" was defunct.
The people, through their burgomasters and sche
pens, petitioned the States-General to assume the
government of the province, which was agreed to,
and Admiral de Ruyter's secretary, Joris Ad-
ringa, was appointed civil governor ; but little be
yond routine was, or could be, done, as we shaU see.

218 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
In England, Parliament having had enough of
King Charles, compelled him to stop the war, re
fusing to vote money or supplies, unless the royal
job of doing the vile work of Louis XIV was
called off. At the treaty made at Westminster,
the Dutch, as many Englishmen thought, got the
best of the bargain In diplomacy, for tropical re
gions were then considered much more valuable
than colder lands. New York was given back to
England, and Holland received Surinam, or, as It
was then, Surreyham.
Down In South America, on its north front, we
find a country which we English-speaking people
caU Dutch Guiana, but which the Netherlanders
have corrupted into " Surinam." Through this
region Sir Walter Raleigh vainly strove to pene
trate, to find the famed El Dorado, or country of
the Gilded Man. Yet all the European colonies
in South America, English, Dutch, and French,
were at first failures. Dutch Guiana had been set
tled by the English, and British Guiana by the
Dutch. When, after many trials, the English set
tlement became a success, the country was named
after the Earl of Surrey. The tourist's impression
of the country to-day Is that of a transported
Holland, in which the official language is Dutch
and the parlance of the people is " taki-taki."
The streets of the capital, Paramaribo, are lined
with great mahogany trees, making arches that
suggest cathedral aisles, or the "high embow^d

THE ENGLISH GOVERNORS 219
roof" of Milton's poetry. Thus is Dutch America
transferred from the north to the south, from the
continent beneath the Dipper to the continent
under the Southern Cross.
At once Charles Stuart, the King, handed over
the American province to James, Duke of York,
who appointed Andros, a young major of dragoons,
to be governor. In October, 1674, Andros arrived
with the English frigates. Diamond and Castle.
He was destined to play the role, so common in
history, of a man successful in military life who
becomes a failure in civil affairs.
Good dinners and speeches, with complimentary
presents, between Colve and Andros, made the
exchange of ownership as polite and pleasant an
affair as were those parlor reunions of diplomats In
Europe which unleashed armies to soak the earth
with human blood. Perhaps Andros did not know
he was to be such a cat's paw and get so badly
burned while trying to govern freemen, who, in
both New England and New Netherland, loved the
statutes of the realm, and law, which is older than
kings or thrones, better than " secret instructions."
The Duke's were again put in force in New York.
One of the first things Andros did was to revert
to a medliEval practice as unjust to the province at
large as anything ever done by the hated West
India Company. He took away from the people
of the interior towns the right to bolt and export
flour, that Is, sift meal from bran and sell it as fine

220 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
flour. This outrageous monopoly, which meant
little less than robbery and oppression of the farm
ers and millers of the province, so enriched New
York City that its wealth during the sixteen years
of the monopoly's existence was tripled. At Albany
and Schenectady this act caused men to grind
their teeth in rage at such flagrant Injustice, and
created a state of feeling which made Leisler's
power possible. In other ways, Andros, the ultra-
royalist, made himself hateful to both Puritan
New England and Dutch New York. Nor did he
satisfy his master, King James II, who recalled
him and sent over Governor Thomas Dongan in
his place.
Dongan convened a general assembly by votes
of the people, which met October 17, 1683, — a
large majority of the representatives being Dutch
men, They immediately passed the Charter of
Liberties, which was intended to limit the powers
of the governor and to secure the rights of the
people, by means of a permanent popular repre
sentative assembly. This charter enacted that "the
supreme legislative authority under His Majesty
and His Royal Highness, James, Duke of York,
Albany, etc.. Lord Proprietor of the said Province,
shall forever be and reside in the governor, council,
and the people met in a general assembly."
The people were thus made a constituent part
of the Assembly by their chosen representatives,
and the principle which Holland had already for

THE ENGLISH GOVERNORS 221
more than two centuries maintained, that is, taxa
tion only by consent, was incorporated in the char
ter. This is the first use of the words " the people "
in any American document. Governor Dongan ap
proved and the Duke signed this charter, October
4, 1684, commenting favorably upon it. He even
went so far as to say that if any amendments were
made, they should be more advantageous to the
people. Everything looked now as if a long bright
day of absolute religious freedom had dawned upon
New York, and this, notwithstanding the fact that
several Jesuits had arrived with Dongan. There
was great rejoicing, and the Dutch and other free
churchmen felt happy indeed. The charter really
gave more privileges to New York than were en
joyed by any other province, for no other charter
had in it the expression " the people," who were
thus recognized as an equal factor In the govern
ment. The document had been engrossed, but was not
yet registered, when Charles II died, on February
6, 1685. Then the Duke of York became King
of England, and at once everything was changed.
The transmission of the New York charter was
suspended, for the dukedom of New York had
become a royal province.
In becoming sovereign, the quondam Lord Pro
prietor revealed at once the cloven foot. He de
clined flatly to complete the work he had once
approved. Nevertheless, being an adept in cun-

222 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
ning and deception, he did not at once withdraw
his signature or veto the charter, but actually
allowed it to remain temporarily In force, while in
the secret instructions which he as King sent to
Governor Dongan, May 29, 1686, he wrote, annull
ing the Charter of Liberties. He said : " We de
clare our will and pleasure that the said bill or
charter of franchise be forthwith repealed and
disaUowed." New York was placed under the care of the
Archbishop of Canterbury, who was to license aU
the schoolmasters who should come from England.
The absurdity of this measure is seen In the fact
that as yet there was only a handful of English
Conformists in New York, who had not one
church building in all the province.
The Dutch at once took the alarm, and began
to organize that sturdy resistance which, ten years
later, secured for them a charter that virtually
annulled what King James and all his host had
tried to foist upon them. In reality, the one object
of this seemingly religious freedom, arrayed In
the sheep's clothing of apparent liberality, was to
secure an entrance of that form of Christianity, to
be established by royal decree, for which King
James later posed as champion. Yet, whereas one
order in the Roman Communion was patronized
by the French Governor, Denonville, in Canada,
another one was favored by the Irish Governor
Dongan in New York, who had his own chapel

THE ENGLISH GOVERNORS 223
and worship under Father Hervey. There was
much clashing, and the correspondence between
the governors of Canada and New York, especially
that relating to French brandy and Irish whis
key, and of fresh and rotten oranges, is decidedly
amusing. Dongan gives a lively picture of the variety of
religious forms, and his letter reads like a United
States Census Report. There were Calvinism In
four languages, Lutheranism In German, which he
caUed " Dutch," abundance of Quaker preachers,
men, and especially women, "singing Quakers,
ranting Quakers, Sabbatarians, anti-Sabbatarians,
some Jews, in short, of all sorts of opinion there
are some and the most part of none at all. . . .
But as for the King's natural born subjects, that
live on Long Island and other parts of the gov
ernment, I find it a hard task to make them pay
their ministers."
The direct emigration from England to Man
hattan was very slow and never very great. Don
gan wrote in 1686 that not more than twenty
families had come over from Great Britain, but
on Long Island the Dutch and English popula
tion was Increasing.
Dongan, who deserves a biography, held back,
as long as he could, the news from the people that
their liberties were abrogated. Under him city
charters were given to New York and Albany, —
the first true cities in North America. In Janu-

224 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
ary, 1687, he issued the King's proclamation.
Then he and his council assumed all authority.
This left New York again a helpless, conquered
province, the people having no voice in legislation
or taxation. This for Dutchmen, who for centuries
had paid only the taxes they themselves voted,
could not last long. It meant revolution. After
such tyranny, Bunker Hill and Yorktown were
sure to come. The Declaration of 1776 was coun
ter revolution against crowned law breakers.
King James was determined to unite New Eng
land and New York in one province, even if he had
to trample on law and blot out charters. He re
called the good Governor Dongan, and sent over
his own more pliable tool Andros, who annexed
New York, New Jersey, and the eastern colonies
as one royal province to the autocrat of all the
Englands. Andres's commission over this enlarged
territory Is dated April 7, 1688, but already Eng
lishmen in the old home, who valued their endan
gered liberties, were preparing a secret invitation
to a Dutch deliverer to come over and save them.
On November 6, William III unfurled his banner
bearing the ancient legend of the House of Nassau,
" I will maintain." Two days before Christmas,
in 1688, the despot James fled the country.
William III, brought up in the Reformed Church
of the Netherlands, which was the Church of four
fifths of the people of New York, was very tolerant
in church government and modes of worship.

THE ENGLISH GOVERNORS 225
Reality was his constant quest. It troubled him
little to adopt the form of worship used in the
Anglican Church, and in a few months the Act of
Toleration was passed which began for modern
England its career of freedom, hastening the time
when the free churchmen should exceed by seats in
the chapel and church edifices the Conformists.
Yet before matters In New York settled down to
peace under liberty, there was to take place " the
Leisler episode," the truth concerning which has
so long suffered eclipse.

CHAPTER XXin
JACOB LEISLEE: the people's CHAMPION
" The Leisler episode " has been treated as a
family quarrel, as a social cataclysm, as a dis
turbance between parsons and their flocks, and as
a struggle of " Protestants " against " Papists."
The best view to take is that of the cool historian,
who looks at the background and scans the latest
evidence. After the English conquest of 1664, with the
increase of wealth, and the importation of Eng
lish court notions, fashions, and social gradations,
unknown in a republic, there grew up an " aristo
cratic party." Scores of Dutchmen fawned on the
English governors, securing fat offices and arro
gating to themselves luxury and privileges un
known in simpler days. These were the men who
had secured for New York City the flour monop
oly, which took away from other places the right
to bolt meal, that Is, to sift out the bran and make
flour. The monopolists were hated by the farmers,
who looked on the Manhattan " court " as a centre
of oppression.
In Europe, France under Louis XIV had be
come the paramount power. Its State Church was
a persecutor. Tens of thousands of Huguenots, in

JACOB LEISLER 227
fear of their lives, fled to Germany and HoUand,
but Louis sent his armies to ravage the Palatinate,
or Rhine region, and in person Invaded the Neth
erlands, The Dutch put their country under water
and forced the French to retreat, WiUiam III of
Holland gave his life to checkmate the plans of
Louis, who in 1685 revoked the Edict of Nantes,
which had given freedom of conscience to the
Huguenots, Thousands of these French Bible-
readers came to America, Among them was Jacob
Leisler, the son of a French exiled minister and
born at Frankfort, He had enlisted as a soldier
in the Dutch West India Company. After this
military service, he rose, by his diligence and
character, to be a church officer, one of the rich
est merchants In New Netherland, and a judge.
NaturaUy he was an intense Protestant, for he
knew what persecution meant. As a deacon in the
Dutch Reformed Church and a man of wide expe
rience, he loved the people, and generously helped
the French immigrants. He was just the man to
voice the feeling and act the will of the " Common
ality," or. In American English, the people.
Unfortunately, the Domines then in the prov
ince did what the clergy so often do to-day, —
they allowed their sympathies to go with their
taste^. At the crisis, they turned their backs on
the " Commonality," and sided with the men of
wealth and office, many of whom were Anglo-
maniacs of an acute type.

228 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
King WiUiam III landed at Torbay with an
army, half Dutch and half Huguenot, and was
proclaimed in Great Britain and America as sov
ereign. The people of New York were wild with
joy. The French immigrants, who had never slept
a night without fear lest King James II might
make alliance with the French, and send an army
from Canada to invade New York and ship
them aU back to France, were now sure of safety
and freedom. The Dutch rejoiced because Eng
land had a king of their own blood and liberal
ideas. On Manhattan the situation was critical, for
the office-holders, being all the creatures of James,
had power to work mischief. The people waited
anxiously for King William's agents, but when
neither these nor the dispatches came, they showed
their power. In Boston the citizens arrested and
imprisoned Governor Andros, and appointed a
Committee of Safety,
The fort on Manhattan must be held by King
William's friends. Of the trained band of volun
teers, Leisler was made first captain and then colo
nel. When the royal governor, Nicholson, over
stepped his authority and arbitrarily dismissed a
sentinel, who was a gentleman, he found the peo
ple rising in wrath, and he fled. Then the coun
ties selected a Committee of Safety, and appointed
Jacob Leisler captain of the fort. Later, they made
him commander or governor of the whole province.

WILLIAII III AXD yUEEX >rAKV
OX SEAL OF THE PKO\'IX'CE OF XEW YOKK

JACOB LEISLER 229
There was no "usurpation" about it. Leisler
chose counselors from each of the different nation
alities. Unfortunately, the aristocratic element for the
most part stood aloof. The Domines, socially well
disposed toward the former civil officials, who
were members of their churches, held to the old
order of things. In this, as so often with clerical
conservatives, they proved themselves unable to
read the signs of the times, or to understand that
in the people is a truer Instinct of order and
righteousness than in the circles of privilege and
fashion. At any rate, there seemed to be in the Re
formed clergy very little of the spirit of Abraham
Lincoln. The Reverend Messrs. Selyns, Dellius,
and Varick thundered from their pulpits against
Leisler's authority, so that he and his party were
more bitterly excited. The Leislerlans thought a
divine opportunity had been given to establish
better government and to separate Church and
State. Their feelings, as members of the Dutch
Church, which in Patria had always stood for the
freedom of the people, were outraged. They were
bitterly disappointed in their ministers. Almost
to a man, the free farmers sided with Leisler. In
the towns, while the people were divided, the ma
jority favored the ruler whom the people had
chosen. With the whole populace — the Domiues and
the wealthier classes on one side, and the plain

230 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
people and anti-monopolists on the other — ranged
in two opposite camps, there was something like
civil war. The people stayed away from worship,
refused to pay clerical salaries, and began to per
secute and punish their pastors. Dellius fled to
Boston, and Domine Varick of Long Island to
Delaware. Varick was afterwards kept prisoner
in the fort six months, dying ultimately from the
effects of his ill treatment. It was a new thing in
Dutch history when the ministers sided with the
aristocrats against the people ; for, throughout the
grand story of freedom-loving Holland, people and
pastors were one as against the privilege and pre
rogative. In the Netherlands the Dutch Republic
was the child of the Church.
The " upper classes " made a sad mistake in not
accepting the action of the people, as expressed
In their Committee of Safety. The over-prudent
clergy were probably influenced by social reasons,
as pastors are so apt to be. Leisler was not " an
illiterate German." He was a prominent merchant
and church officer, and had been duly chosen by
the Committee of Safety because of his high char
acter and ability. He had American and Conti
nental ideas, and foresaw the future. He felt the
necessity of a union of the colonies, and saw the
danger from Canada that was imminent over Al
bany and Schenectady. He was the first man to
call a Congress of the colonies to propose unity of
action and secure mutual strength against France

JACOB LEISLER 231
In Canada. The Congress met on Manhattan in
the spring of 1690. Little was accomplished in
the mUitary campaign which followed, and by the
fleet sent to Canada, but the Congress sent colonial
men thinking of future union.
Leisler could not write English perfectly or ex
press himself easily in this language, but he spoke
and wrote German, Dutch, and French fluently,
and had the mind of a statesman. At every step
of his difficult task Leisler strove to respect the
forms of law, but, provoked at every turn with the
violent opposition of the office-holding and money-
making party, he was forced into doing arbitrary
acts; yet, on the whole, considering his compli
cated tasks, and despite his mistakes, his career
was noble and unselfish.
Dllatorlness in the slow-working British Gov
ernment in this instance, even as In the time of
our Revolution and Civil War, was the chief
cause of the troubles which followed. King Wil
liam appointed Sloughter governor. He, getting
wrecked on the Bermudas, sent Captain Ingoldsby
three months ahead of him. When the latter ar
rived at Manhattan, though without credentials,
the old councilors of King James quickly gained
his ear and advised him to demand at once the
surrender of the fort. For this Ingoldsby had no
commission, right in law, or authority. His busi
ness was to wait. Leisler, like a true soldier and a
loyal subject, refused his demand.

232 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
This decision gave Leisler's enemies their mur
derous chance. On the arrival of Sloughter, they
had Leisler arrested. In spite of the efforts of the
citizens, headed by Rev. Mr. DaiU6, Leisler and
his son-in-law, Milborne, were tried on the charge
of treason and hanged, and their property was
confiscated. As bravely as John Brown on the
Charlestown scaffold, as nobly sweet in forgiving
spirit and as became a true follower of the Victim
on Calvary, Leisler died, finishing his career as
a Christian gentleman and far-seeing statesman
consistently and logically. The execution took
place beyond the city walls, on the site of the New
York Tribune building.
This brutal and lawless act of the British gov
ernor was an insult to the people who put Leisler
into power, and on whose support he had based
his right to power. Forced into many seemingly
arbitrary acts by the exigencies of his difficult
task, Leisler had done the right as God gave him
to see the right.
The Leisler affair began a long dispute between
" the short hairs " and " the swallow tails," the
minority of privilege and the multitude of plain
people, to the great injury of religion and order.
Incidentally it precipitated the massacre at Sche
nectady and its destruction In fire and blood. The
Leislerlans and anti-Leislerians were opposed In
politics, church affairs, and daily life during many
years.

JACOB LEISLER 233
Until our own time Leisler was looked upon as
a " usurper," and the wrong and Injustice done his
name are almost as great as those so long inflicted
on Cromwell, the Anabaptists, and other forerun
ners of American safeguarded freedom. Heated
prejudice has beclouded both fact and truth. Some
respectable American historians, and the Tory
writers to a man, and even Englishmen professing
to be scholars, took this view, which my honored
predecessor. Dr. A. G. Vermilye, after minute
research, has completely overthrown. Leisler is
unanswerably vindicated by the facts, and our
encyclopaedias need revision.
Yet England loves fair play. It is now clear
that the long delay of King William In answering
Leisler's repeated explanations of his act and ap
peals for orders, arose from Dr. Cotton Mather's
desire to have royal communications made slow, in
order that New England and its popular rights
might profit thereby, — though probably without
intentional purpose of injury to Leisler or the
people of New York. Soon the whole affair was
reviewed and the Iniquity of the hasty verdict de
monstrated. In England, Parliament legalized Leisler's ac
tion and removed the attainder of treason, and
Queen Anne restored Leisler's estates to his
family. Nevertheless, Governor Fletcher (1692-
98) obeyed neither King nor Parliament, and
set himself against their authority. In 1698

234 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Leisler's relatives asked Lord Bellomont, then
governor, for permission to take up the bodies,
which were buried near the gaUows, and give them
Christian burial In the Dutch Church edifice on
Garden Street. Bellomont, " the hurricane reform
governor," probably out of sincere compassion,
went to the other extreme in rebuking ostenta
tiously his predecessor and in vindicating the
power of the law. He had the corpses exhumed,
and although all the ministers and the Consistory
of the Church were loud in their protests, — shall
it be said to their shame ? — the bodies of Leisler
and Milborne were buried under the church floor.
At midnight twelve hundred people exultantly
furnished the funeral escort. The attitude of the
church authorities long alienated the plain people
from worshiping in the sacred ediflces, and It was
felt that the Domines had no sympathy with the
feeling of the populace. By her historical origin
and her long record as champion of the people's
rights, the Dutch Church has no business ever to
side with partisans, who represent either wealth
and power on the one side, or coarseness and turbu
lence on the other. Her place is ever as mediator
and reconciler, and such in later days, true to her
old traditions, she became, as we shall see.

CHAPTER XXIV
the long struggle foe religious libeett
New York province, conquered as a fief of the
English Crown, was a feudatory principality, while
the proprietor was a duke ; but when the Duke of
York became sovereign. New York was the Crown's
land, — a province with provincial government.
Was, then, the claim of the new owner by right of
prior discovery, or by conquest ? If the former, then
the Dutch had been only trespassers on English soil,
and the English legal system, with all Its inherit
ances from feudalism, would at once prevail. This
would make life intolerable to freeborn republi-'
cans. If, on the other hand, the basis of the claim
was conquest, then the Dutch system of jurispru
dence, which was founded on Roman law, together
with the especial ordinances of New Netherland,
would remain In force until repealed. The crown
lawyers of England were to have settled the ques
tion, but, as they never did, the people of New
York solved the problem for themselves.
A high authority has declared that the " civil
administration of the Dutch left its permanent Im
press on the customs, laws, and civilization of New
York and New Jersey. . . . Dutch jurisprudence
founded on Roman law was superior to the con-

236 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
temporary feudal law introduced by the English."
The Dutch legislation concerning police, property,
inheritances, and status shows a highly civilized
state of society. The laws relative to the public
records of legal instruments were in advance of
contemporary English law. No principle of primo
geniture prevailed. The penal laws of New York
were always more enlightened and less severe than
those in other colonies founded by England, —
a direct result of the earlier Dutch institutions,
which were more humane.
At the surrender the English received one of the most
flourishing colonies in America, possessing a hardy,
vigorous, and thrifty people, well adapted to all the
principles of civil and religious freedom. These Dutch
colonists cheerfully accepted all that was good in Eng
lish customs and laws, but stoutly and successfully re
sisted what they considered undesirable. This could not
have been the case if their prior political, religious, and
social conditions had not been of a superior kind.
Now began the battle of justice, for the funda
mental and ultimate question was left virtually
undecided until July 4, 1776.
From the very beginning, the Dutch determined
to preserve the right, confirmed in 1664, of the
congregation to elect its own officers. They were
on the alert against any law that looked to the
establishment of the Church of England on Ameri
can soil. The first English governors, not under
standing what kind of people they had to deal

THE STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 237
with, did not comprehend the seriousness of the
situation. They assumed, contrary to the fact, that
the Church of England was established in the
colony of New York. All such trickery was nul
lified by Dutch vigilance.
King Charles II sent " secret instructions " to
his five commissioners in and about New England,
and these instructions had a double purpose. These
royal agents were not only to take the territory
held by the Dutch, but they were also to get away
from the New England colonists their charters, or
to have them so modified that the King's power
would be so increased that even church officers
would be under royal appointment.
Walter van TwiUer, returning to Holland, took
charge in Nijkerk of the education of the Patroon's
son, Nicholas, born in 1647. At an early age, Nich
olas van Rensselaer joined a ring of gay young
feUows at the Hague, who surrounded Charles
Stuart. By predicting that Charles would be King,
Nicholas got Into the royal good graces. He crossed
to America in the suite of Andros, and tried to
get the ancestral manor, but failed in the courts.
In July, 1674, the Duke of York recommended
Nicholas to Governor Andros for a "living" in
one of the Dutch churches. This meant an invasion
of the rights of the Dutch Church, as guaranteed
by treaty, and, besides, Nicholas had no credentials,
not having received ordination in Holland. The
fuU story of the successful resistance of this at-

238 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
tempted invasion by the English State Church is
told in the Ecclesiastical Records published by
the State of New York. These show that the claim
that the Anglican Church was established in New
York was an absurdity. Andros assumed that it
was, and this baseless assumption has been often
repeated, not only by Europeans, but by not a few
American writers, and even in legal documents on
our own soil.
In 1679 the Dutch clergymen formed a Classis,
— the first in the New World, — and ordained
Rev. Petrus Tassemacher to the ministry, thus
exercising their full ecclesiastical rights, and their
proceedings were approved by the Classis of Am
sterdam, no Anglican bishop having anything to
do with the matter.
The long battle for full liberty of conscience
lasted one hundred and thirteen years, from 1664
to 1777, for the Dutch resisted the claim of the
Bishop of London to Install ministers and school
masters in New York province. In 1691 they re
jected Governor Sloughter's bill to have ministers
supported by taxation. Fletcher, his successor,
pressed the same point, and the Dutch Assembly
opposed him. The "Ministry Act" of 1693 as
finally passed was limited to certain parishes in
only four out of ten counties. It did not estab
lish the Anglican Church In New York province.
Here was a lofty monument on the way to Ameri
can freedom.

THE STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 239
As early as December 12, 1686, the Dutch pe
titioned for a new church edifice outside the fort
in Garden Street. On May 11, 1696, after a ten
years' battle of wits, the British governor, seeing
that nine tenths of the people were opposed to his
schemes, found that he had better yield, and the
charter was signed. The Garden Street Church
people were given the right in law to manage all
their own affairs, such as the calling of ministers
and the induction of them into office, without any
interference. This was the first royal charter given
in the Middle States, and it became the model
for the other charters of the Dutch churches. It
made the Consistory " a body politic and corpo
rate" in fact and name, — "Minister, Elders, and
Deacons of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
of the City of New York."
The Episcopal people followed the excellent
example of the Dutch, and they also secured a
charter, which was issued May 6, 1696. This
document, strangely enough, declares no fewer
than twelve times, but without ground of fact, in
a single instance of assertion, that the Ministry
Act of 1693 establishes the Church of England.
Subsequent legislation was necessary to give legal
existence to this corporation of Trinity Church.
Even the Ministry Act of 1693, which was to
establish the Church of England In some places
in four out of ten counties of New York, was not
valid until the King had signed it. This he did

240 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
not do until nearly four years after it was passed,
on May 11, 1696, five days after the granting of
Trinity Church Charter.
Meanwhile Christians were comrades. Despite
the politics in the case, and while lawyers and
legislators were busy on the worldly side of the
matter, the Episcopal and Reformed ministers en-
joyed the communion of saints. They practiced
both professional and real politeness, cultivated
close personal friendship, and worshiped under the
same roof. During the Revolutionary War, when
the British made stables as well as hospitals of
our sacred edifices on Manhattan, as they had
done in Boston, this former courtesy of lending
the Dutch churches was not forgotten, but warmly
reciprocated. In 1779 the vestry of Trinity Church
passed the following resolution : " It being repre
sented that the old Dutch Church is now used as
a hospital for His Majesty's troops, this corpora
tion, impressed with a grateful remembrance of
the former kindness of the members of that an
cient church, do offer the use of St. George's
Church to that congregation for celebrating divine
worship." The Roman Catholics had a hard time of it In
New York, until the Revolution gave the people,
in their capacity of a sovereign State, opportunity
to reject forever the Old World ideas inherited
from the Middle Ages. On August 9, 1700, under
Governor Bellomont, there was passed an " Act

THE STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 241
against Jesuits and Popish Priests." It banished all
Jesuits, and forbade the exercise of Roman Catho
lic worship in the province of New York under
severe penalties. This law continued in force until
the American Revolution, when, under American
ideas and government, all religionists of every
name were permitted to worship in freedom.
The Supplementary Act, passed May 19, 1703,
was founded on those assertions about the Minis
try Act, which had no basis In fact. When this
was put in operation, further trouble loomed up.
The new act contained a false statement : " The
Church of England by law established " ! ! Al
though English Conformists entertained some high
expectations, the majority of the people in the pro
vince treated this and most of Lord Cornbury's
legislation as stupid jokes. After his disgraceful
administration (1702-08), the troubles between
governor and Assembly nearly ceased, because the
necessity for amending the Ministry Act almost
out of shape and meaning was obviated. Queen
Anne had sequestrated or confiscated the so-called
"Queen's Farm" for the support of Trinity
Church. The various bills introduced by the peo
ple's representatives for repeal of the Ministry
Act were indeed vetoed or smothered by the gov
ernor or council, and when the Assembly sent its
committees to know what had become of these
bills, they received no satisfaction. Nevertheless,
the people steadily resisted the collection of the

242 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
tithes. Lawsuits were very common, untU it was
finally demonstrated that the statutes of Great
Britain had no relation to the colony of New
York. The Dutch and other free churchmen settled
the question at law, that all Protestant bodies had
equal rights.
Cornbury's rascalities had one good effect in
uniting the people of all nationalities in the pro
vince, and in hastening the dawn of American
liberty. Nevertheless, many disgusted New York
ers left to settle In the valleys of the Raritan and
Millstone, while the more republican government
of New Jersey drew away people from both New
England and New York. These, settling in the
central counties, Middlesex, Somerset, and Hun
terdon, made this region the garden of the Dutch
Church, in which Queen's, or Rutgers College and
the Theological Seminary rose as lilies of the Rari
tan valley. In a word, the Dutch, after they got
their charters, stood on an impregnable rock and
won full liberty. Their battle of one hundred and
thirteen years Is one of the most significant epi
sodes in American history. Like their ancestors
in Holland, the Dutch free churchmen "throve
by persecution, and extracted victory from de
feat." The Dutch West India Company, a vast trad
ing and privateering corporation, owned New York
for forty-one years. Then for twenty years New

COLONEL JOHN TAYLOR, OF RUTGERS COLLEGE

THE STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 243
York was the private property of the Duke of York,
finally becoming the possession of the Crown
of England. WhUe New England and Virginia
were under liberal charters, and other colonies
had more or less generous proprietary govern
ment, the people of the State destined to lead
all had to fight ceaselessly for the rights of free
men. These very difficulties, met and surmounted,
gave the commonwealth a unique strength. Po
litically and educationally. New York was pioneer
in the ideas and institutions distinctively Ameri
can, and became the school of law for the United
States. In education, "New England gave to
America the common school system which the
Puritans found in Holland, but New York led the
way in developing the public school system on a
large scale."
Religious freedom was established in New York,
when Rev. Francis Makemie, a Presbyterian,
made bold to preach without permission. Indicted
and tried, he was defended by three of the fore
most lawyers in the colony, who were Episcopa
lians, but who knew that law was older than thrones,
and that " secret instructions " from king to gov
ernor were not law. This first blow struck in the
colonies at the royal prerogative was dealt in 1707.
In New Jersey the lesson was quickly learned
and followed. When Cornbury read his " instruc
tions," he was answered by one of New York's
great men, speaking for the legislature, "You

244 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
need not read your instructions to us, they are not
law." In the next year, 1708, the keynote of all
the subsequent resistance of the colonies is heard
in the Resolutions passed by the New York Assem
bly, which read as follows : —
Resolved, that it is and always has been the un
questionable right of every man in this colony that he
hath a perfect and entire property in his goods and
estates. Resolved, that the imposing and levying of any
moneys upon Her Majesty's subjects in this colony '
under any pretense or color whatsoever, without con
sent in General Assembly, is a grievance and a viola
tion of the people's property.
This solemn declaration of the New York Gen
eral Assembly was made fifty years before the
Boston speech of James Otis, or Patrick Henry's
Richmond oration. After 1708, the Assembly
granted only an annual supply, the money to be
collected by their own treasurer and not by the
Collector of the Crown, and to be disbursed under
their own direction. Thus the contest between
right and prerogative continued until the Revolu
tion. In spite of all that any governor could do,
by storm or entreaty, by threat or flattery, by
vainly showing his "instructions" and talking
of his " honor pledged to their enforcement," the
people held to the ancient principle, so clearly
enunciated in the Netherlands in 1477, — "no tax
ation without consent." The contest ended by the

THE STRUGGLE FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 245
surrender of the Governor instead of the Assem
bly, the royal executive promising In 1715 to
do as the people's representatives directed. The
result was brought about through the form of
exchange commonly called a " deal," for the Gov
ernor and the Crown opposed the naturalization of
all foreigners in the colony, while the New York
ers desired it. These new foreigners were the
Swiss and Germans from the Rhine Palatinate.
Another episode, with a meaning that looked to
July 4, 1776, was the trial and acquittal of the
German printer, Zenger, which settled the ques
tion of the freedom of speech and of the press In
the right way.

CHAPTER XXV
INDEPENDENCE FROM HOLLAND
Though we Americans speak the English lan
guage, our country is not a New England, or a
New Britain, but a New Europe. Our race gained
a thousand years of potency by crossing the Atlan
tic. Old World ideas, unless modified, will not
work on our continent. Yet, " above all nations is
humanity," Dutchmen in America, like men of other strains
and stocks, face to face with new problems, found
themselves compelled to cut apron strings, and
firmly but reverently, first ask and then demand
of Patria to grant her sons freedom to grapple
with new tasks in their own way. That was the
meaning of the troubles and differences which
came into the eighteenth-century Dutch Church.
This typical Netherlands institution and survival
in America is conservative, above all others, of
things distinctively Dutch.
In 1739 seventy-five years had passed since the
English conquest, and two generations had grown
up. Only a few octogenarians among the Dutch
Churchmen had seen Patria. Most of the people
spoke the Dutch language, but were loyal to the
British King, yet from a sense of duty rather than

INDEPENDENCE FROM HOLLAND 247
from affection or admiration, and increasingly
they were of the " Continental " spirit. The very
attempt to serve two masters made them eager to
rest their supreme loyalty in that law of safe
guarded liberty, which, older than thrones, is com
mon to the two countries which were one in love of
order and progress. Hence, the people of Dutch
descent in the middle colonies were unusually
strong Americans.
The common English or insular term for all
people of Teutonic stock was " Dutch," a word
meaning llteraUy, the peoples. The Netherlanders
were spoken of as " Neder " or " Low " Dutch,
the Germans being " High Dutch." The reference
being to geographical, not moral conditions, the
English were the lowest of all three levels. As
English became increasingly the language of New
York and accurate knowledge of Holland faded
away, both New Yorkers and New Englanders,
who were copyists of the English, sank to shame
ful depths of ignorance concerning Patria and the
Netherlanders. It was increasingly felt by the Dutch Church
men that they must attend to church business
themselves, and have student candidates and min
isters raised up on this side of the Atlantic. Hap
pily the Classis of Amsterdam was a liberal-minded
body, and the Americans were urged to form a
Coetus, or Association, as had been done already in
Surinam. On September 5, 1737, seven ministers

248 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
met in New York and drew up a plan to heal
divisions, give effective counsel, promote unity,
and attract ministers from Europe to America.
While the popular hunger and thirst for educa
tion increased, there was constant fear lest the
British Government should force a state church
on the people and establish a sectarian college, just
as in England the two older universities had been
closed to aU but members of one form of Chris
tianity. This and the heterogeneousness of the
population made the growth of systematic educa
tion in New York a slow one.
William Livingstone had warned the Dutch that
" all pretenses of the polltifcal church people at
sisterhood and identity were f aUacious and hypo
critical," Hence the course of Domine Freling-
huysen, who called a meeting of the Coetus for
May 30, 1755, to take action concerning an Ameri
can Classis and the university for the Dutch
Church, After eleven years of debate, the Ameri
can Classis, in 1766, obtained the charter. As
there was a King's College in New York City,
this one in New Jersey was caUed Queen's, and
is now Rutgers College,
One argument for an Independent Dutch Church
in America was that an oath of allegiance to Great
Britain was inconsistent with obedience to the
foreign State Church of Holland. Yet there were
other elements entering in to prepare both Dutch
and English to sever their bonds with Europe,

INDEPENDENCE FROM HOLLAND 249
It was difficult then, however, as it is for some
of the old Dutchmen of to-day in Michigan and
Iowa, to understand how the omnipotent God can
be trusted to reveal truth In any language but the
Dutch, or in any theology but that of Dordrecht
and the seventeenth century. How, also, sound
catechetics can be taught in English is still, to
some fresh from the turf of Patria, a mystery
passing their understanding. Nevertheless, there
were loyal Dutch Churchmen on Manhattan wUl-
ing to trust the Almighty and the English lan
guage, and in 1763 they called the Rev. Archi
bald LaldUe, a graduate of Edinburgh University,
and then pastor at Flushing in Zealand. The in
troduction of English preaching in New York City
resulted in a lawsuit, besides sad losses of temper,
money, and membership, but the English side won.
About the year 1770 Laldlie translated the Hei
delberg Catechism into English, and the excellence
and the grace of his work may be seen to this day.
He was made S. T. D., by the College of New
Jersey, in 1770. While in exile from the city, on
account of the Revolution, he died of consumption.
The Rev. Lambertus de Ronde, a genuine " Con
tinental " patriot, had in 1763 made an English
version of the Heidelberg Catechism, and was the
author of the first book in the English language
published by a member of the Reformed Dutch
Church in America, — a manual of theology and
preparation for Communion. When driven from

250 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Manhattan by the British occupation of New
York in 1776, he preached in the churches farther
north in the Hudson River Valley. When " the
people of the United States " had their National
Government in 1787, de Ronde translated into
Dutch the Constitution of the United States, and
when this instrument had been adopted by six
states, the Dutch version was printed in 1788,
and published by order of the federal committee
in the city of Albany. It had a tremendous in
fluence among older men of the State, backing
Alexander Hamilton, and securing New York for
the Union and Constitution.
Meanwhile, the two parties in the Dutch Church
squabbled together, and sometimes like saints who
" serve the Lord as If the devil were in them,"
but the peacemaker was being raised up, who was
to grapple with the difficulties and bring order
out of chaos.
John H. Livingston, born in Poughkeepsie in
1746 and graduated at Yale CoUege In 1762, was
the bearer of the olive branch. He spent the
winter of 1765-66 on Manhattan, and was much
in the society of Domine Laldlie. Then, on May
12, 1766, like our own Motley of later days, he
sailed to Holland, for the sources and the masters,
and entered Utrecht University. He was the last
of the American youth who went to HoUand for
the study of theology.
Thirty-four ministers and over one hundred

INDEPENDENCE FROM HOLLAND 251
churches composed the Reformed Dutch Church
when Livingston returned, on September 3, 1770.
A preacher, a scholar, a statesman of the highest
ability, he, as soon as affairs were ripe, proposed
a plan of union which should unite all parties. A
convention was caUed for October 15, 1771, to
establish a firm and enduring church constitution.
Twenty-two ministers and twenty-five elders, re
presenting in aU thirty-four churches, were present
at the meeting. Of these, half a dozen had origi
naUy been French and about twenty German Re
formed, most of whom were gradually HoUandized
and ultimately Anglicized as to language. In these
one hundred churches, during the century and
a half of colonial dependence, one hundred and
twelve ministers had officiated, of whom thirty-
four were living at this union of the two parties.
This Dutch Church Congress in 1771, com
posed of the children of several European nations,
the first of Its kind In America, was but a prelude
to that of the gathering of the fifty-five Conti
nental delegates in Carpenter's Hall in Philadel
phia in 1774. It certainly proved to be a powerful
incentive to American freedom and law-abiding
resistance to King George's revolution, which he
and Parliament forced on the colonies. As simple
fact, every one of the Dutch friends of ecclesi
astical independence belonged also to the " Con
tinental" party of freedom In 1776, and through
out the war. The Dutch Church was a unit In

252 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
resisting British attempts to overthrow American
liberty, though there were many Dutch Tories.
At a second convention caUed, according to ar
rangement, June 16, 1772, twenty-six ministers
and forty-three elders from one hundred churches
were present, and almost every one subscribed to
the Plan of Union. When they heard read the
letter, from the mother Classis in Holland, sent
to the Convention, dated January 14, 1771, they
found to the joy of all that their Plan of Union
was approved.
The written constitution, which grew out of
this Dutch Church Congress, is a notable docu
ment in American history, and a splendid speci
men of a republican and representative frame of
government. It gave a model for the national
Constitution of 1787.
The General Synod thus created, which met
trienniaUy, took on a decidedly American form
in being not only conventional but representative,
that [is, consisting of aU ministers in the Church
and an elder from each congregation.
Article LIX is especially worthy of mention,
as showing that attitude of the Church, in regard
to the servitude of Africans, which gave the Re
formed Dutch Church in the nineteenth century
its unique position throughout the whole slavery
agitation and the Civil War. " In the Church there
is no difference between bond and free, but all
are one in Christ. Whenever, therefore, slaves or

INDEPENDENCE PROM HOLLAND 253
black people shall be baptized, or become mem
bers in full communion of the Church, they shall
be admitted to equal privileges with all other
members of the same standing ; their infant chil
dren shall be entitled to baptism, and in every re
spect be treated with the same attention that the
children of white or free parents are In the Church.
Any minister, who, upon any pretense, shaU re
fuse to admit slaves or their children to the privi
leges to which they are entitled, shaU, complaint
being exhibited and proved, be severely repri
manded by the Classis to which he belongs."
Thus the Church that had already welcomed
the red man to font and altar showed brother
hood to the negroes. So it came to pass that on
scores of old record books of the Dutch churches
are hundreds of names of members who were
black brethren, baptized, and communicants, and
right nobly did many a Simon the Niger carry his
cross. A permanent feature of the Dutch congre
gations was the devout colored worshiper who sat
in the gallery. On baptismal and Communion
Sabbaths, the chUdren of the slaves, or the free
blacks, or the new immigrants from the Indies or
the Dark Continent, stood up, with their white
masters in the flesh to be brethren with them In
the Spirit, to take the same vows, and answer to
the same questions of loyalty to a common Sav
iour and obedience to the church rules, "Yes,
truly with aU my heart." Before the baptismal

254 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
font, the dusky fathers and mothers held their
babes for the same waters of covenant and conse
cration, making like promises, and receiving like
guarantee of spiritual culture as the highest In the
land. No body of Christians on the North American
continent entered more profoundly in mind, or
realized more fully in practice, the spiritual
democracy of believers than the people of the
Reformed Dutch Church. The names of pick
aninnies and papooses, adult slaves and warriors,
servants, " proselytes," black, red, and white, on the
pages of Dutch Church registers sparkle among
the undying glories of American colonial life. It
was as though the negatives of those photographs
of primeval Christianity, taken by the slave and
"prisoner of Jesus Christ" at Ephesus, Corinth,
or Rome, in the first century, had been developed
and enlarged in the sunshine of the Western world.
The prayer " Sun of Divine Justice, shine on us,"
with the added " et Occidentem " (the West), was
throughout every generation, from the days of the
first Manhattan congregation, gloriously and re
peatedly fulfiUed. In the Reformed Church, by
exceUence, Ethiopia held her gift-laden hands unto
God, and despite all human infirmities Salem's
ebony sons and daughters adorned the doctrine
of their Saviour.
The story of New Netherland may be written in
the history of the various towns making up the

INDEPENDENCE FROM HOLLAND 255
colony, province, and states of New York and New
Jersey, but none in the whole country probably
suffered worse than New Brunswick. Later, in
place of the burnt coUege, the trustees built a two-
story frame house, painted white, without a cupola
or beKry, facing the north. In true Dutch style, it
was set with its gable end toward George Street.
During the first troublous but fruitful period,
" Old Rutgers," "on the banks of the old Raritan,"
graduated over sixty young men, ten of whom be
came ministers. Others were leaders in politics
and science. The " new " building, still caUed
Queen's CoUege, not reared until 1809, was
planned by the architect of the City Hall In New
York. Dr. Livingston, appointed in 1784 and serv
ing elsewhere, came to New Brunswick and opened
the theological seminary in 1810, possibly the first
in America. In 1863 fche State College of New
Jersey, for the benefit of agriculture and mechanic
arts, was founded, and in 1865 was organized as a
department In Rutgers College.
Men are influenced by precedents, and gladly
receive the lessons of experience, while profiting
by the mistakes and successes of others. This Plan
of Union, by men of the four Middle States, with
its masterly written constitution of 1771 power
fully influenced the Constitutional Convention of
the United States In 1787.

CHAPTER XXVI
THE DUTCH DOMINES IN THE REVOLUTION
The period from 1764 to 1804 gave the Dutch
Domines a fivefold trial of inteUect, character, tact,
tongue, and temper, such as mortal beings are
rarely called upon to undergo. The manner in
which they conducted themselves and the triumphs
which they completed show the sterling quaUty
of their manhood, which was worthy of the best
traditions of their race. They were compeUed to
change their speech for both conversation and
formal discourse. They faced dissensions and dif
ficulties within their own congregations. Problems,
social, political, and linguistic, confronted them
daily, compeUIng continual nice and repeated ad
justment. Hardly were they settled in their new loyalty to
Great Britain than they were compelled to re
nounce it. Being of the most intensely "Conti
nental " spirit, they, with their feUow Americans,
must needs face the storm of the Revolution, which
divided households into Tories and Patriots. Lest
they should not have enough discipline of tongue,
temper, body, and spirit. It pleased Providence to
transfer quickly the seat of war from the Eastern
colonies into the very garden of the Dutch churches

DUTCH DOMINES IN THE REVOLUTION 257
in New York and New Jersey. Nevertheless, the
threefold battle of loyalties, languages, and new
conditions was bravely and successfuUy fought out.
After the British left Boston, the territory of the
Dutch Church became the seat of war. Her church
buUdings were desecrated, used as hospitals, sta
bles, barracks, or set on fire. Most of her minis
ters, driven from their homes, fled only to rouse the
patriotic ardor and inspire the martial courage of
the people. Some of them were strikingly promi
nent, and the British tried hard to capture them.
We wiU look at some of these men famous in
local tradition.
Rev. Johannes Schureman, American-born, but
licensed in HoUand, is the hero in Murdoch's
book, " The Dutch Dominie of the CatskiUs." He
had the traditional build of one of Hendrik Hud
son's sailors of the HaK Moon, being short and
plump, with a powerful voice. Like almost every
one of the friends of the Reformed Church's inde
pendence of Holland, he was a true Continental.
Set over two large congregations in Ulster County,
his life was very laborious, for he had all the noble
disadvantages of a good character, in being willing
to serve aU, and he was also a doctor of medicine.
In his mind, the interests of religion and freedom
were one. As strong as he was courageous, he went
through the wilderness alone, but in faith and with
his musket primed and powder dry. He would
probably not have been taken alive, and the Brit-

258 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
ish knew it. They were never able to capture
him. Domine EilardisWesterloo, born at Groningen,
1738, reached the New World and settled at Albany
in 1760. Wise, conciliating, and peaceful, in the
hottest period of the church strife — that is, when
friction between the Old World and the New World
notions was at flaming heat — he gained the re
spect and confidence of both parties. When the flag
of the thirteen red and white stripes, so very much
like his ancestral banner of liberty, was unfurled
in 1775, he at once ranged himself and his people
under Its folds.. When mighty Burgoyne and his
terrible host were moving down from Canada to
ward Albany, fear was in all hearts ; for General
Philip Schuyler — a Dutch Church deacon — had
not yet brought to completion the work which was
to issue in the escort of Burgoyne as prisoner,
within the palisades and down Pearl Street, into
Albany, but Domine Westerloo kept his church
open and cheered his people, even till Yorktown
closed the campaigns. When the work of fighting
Hessians and redcoats was over, he grappled with
the English language and preached In the vernacu
lar of the new nation. Domine Westerloo wel
comed Washington, when, as President, he visited
Albany and Schenectady. Westerloo wrote Latin
with greater purity than President Stiles of Yale
CoUege had ever known.
How very different from the Dutchmen on the

DUTCH DOMINES IN THE REVOLUTION 259
stage, in comic opera, and in Irving's caricatures,
were the real people ! During the French and In
dian War, the chaplain of a Massachusetts regi
ment dined with Domine Vrooman at Schenectady,
July 4, 1758. He drew a pen picture of his host,
then thirty years old, " in height six feet four and
a half inches, and every way large in proportion.
. . . [He] explains a text in the morning and
preaches divinity in the afternoon. The people
here attend their public religious services with
great devotion." There was no handsomer man or
more striking clerical figure in the Revolution than
that of Domine Barent Vrooman,. who served his
people from 1753 to 1784. He was the great-grand
son of the emigrant Hendrik, who, with his two sons,
Adam and Bartholomew, and the wKe and infant
of Adam, were slain In the massacre of 1690.
Schenectady, during the Revolution, was a
palisaded town, enlarged to hold the refugees of
the Mohawk Valley, and many of the five hundred
widows and two thousand orphans of Tryon County,
which Brant and Butler and their Indians and
Tories had made, dwelt here for safety. The Dom-
ine's charity was proverbial. Between his Bible
and the basket of supplies on his arm, his mem
ory is still green in " Old Dorp." The right
wing of SuUivan's expedition of 1779, Clinton's
brigade of three New York regiments, composed
largely of Dutchmen, to crush savagery and open
the Empire State to civilization, assembled here

260 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
and marched thence through the Susquehanna,
Chemung, and Genesee valleys.
Washington did not lean upon a reed when he
depended upon the sturdy patriotism and loyalty
of " the Dutch Belt," extending from Albany to
Manhattan, and up the Raritan vaUey towards the
Delaware. In the darkest hours, the Father of his
Country found his safest asylum among the New
Jersey Dutchmen. The river margins of the Hud
son, Hackensack, Passaic, and Raritan are rich in
authentic traditions of heroism and romance, for
the whole weight of the Dutch Church and people
was found on the side of true republicanism. Sev
eral of their Domines, whose thrilling adventures
must be passed by for lack of space, were person
ally known to Washington, for whom by heredi
tary training they were prepared. None understood
more clearly the meaning of the American Revolu
tion and the meaning of independence ; for, as
John Adams said in 1771, " the originals of the
two republics [Dutch and American] are so
much alike that the history of one seems like a
transcript from that of the other." The Dutch
Jerseymen braced up the backbone of the Conti
nental cause at its most trying time, when in the
valleys of the Raritan and Delaware the fires of
war burned most fiercely.
New Jersey, destined to be the campground of
armies and the scene of one hundred battles or
skirmishes, was well prepared for the coming war

DUTCH DOMINES IN THE REVOLUTION 261
storm. Two months before the battle of Bunker
HiU the Dutch Church appointed a day of humili
ation and prayer. Her pulpits rang with stirring
appeals, for all the Domines and people were in
hearty sympathy with the cause of freedom. Two
days before the Declaration of Independence New
Jersey asserted her statehood.
Queen's College at New Brunswick, hardly on
its feet before the storm of war broke, adjourned
at once to the battlefield, for professors and stu
dents enlisted, as a body, In the Continental army.
The first regular graduate was Simeon De Witt.
Being a man of science and the ablest surveyor in
the colonies, he was made geographer of the army,
and rose to be a staff officer with General Wash
ington. He was present at Saratoga and Yorktown,
two of the greatest events of the Revolutionary
War, when whole armies were surrendered. For
the event, third in importance, the expedition of
General John Sullivan In 1779, which by destroy
ing the Iroquois Confederacy and preventing any
further rear attacks on the frontier made York-
town possible, De Witt made the maps. Later, as
Surveyor-General of the State of New York, he
opened Its forests to civilization, founded the city
of Ithaca, prepared the way for the United States
Weather Bureau, and laid the foundation of our
national land-system of measures and registration,
— a pretty fair record for Rutgers's first graduate.
He is immortalized, both by Cooper in his novel,

262 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
"The Chalnbearer," and by a blundering poet
who dubbed him " Godfather of the newly chris
tened West," in aUusion to the classical names
in New York, with which De Witt had nothing
to do.
Of the two New Jersey colleges, one, Princeton,
was destined to have a battle fought at its doors,
and the other, Rutgers, to have its campus trod
den by the patriot army in retreat.
One of the Dutch parsons whom King George's
redcoats would have hanged, if they could have
drawn a rope around his neck, was Domine Jacob
Rutsen Hardenberg, brother of Washington's
staff officer. His church was at Raritan, New
Jersey. He usually slept with a musket at his
side. His public zeal so angered the Tories, that
Colonel Simcoe once organized an expedition of
the Queen's Rangers to capture him. When they
arrived at his church, and found their bird flown,
they burnt the building to the ground. In the
Raritan valley the perfume of his name and his
wife's is as an unfading flower.
Other famous Domines, whose patriotic voices,
as trumpets of freedom, led young men to enlist
in the Continental armies, were Du Bois, Leydt,
Goetschius, Foering, Romeyn, van Bunschoten,
etc., whose biographies are given in Corwin's
"Manual of the Reformed Church." Van Bun
schoten left what Is perhaps the oldest educational
endowment In money given by a native American.

DUTCH DOMINES IN THE REVOLUTION 263
Several of these ministers were well known to
Washington. These Americans of Dutch descent were. In
word and act, in full harmony with their ancestral
record and that of the men of the contemporaneous
Republic of the United Netherlands. At St. Eu
statius, In the West Indies, on the 16th of No
vember, 1776, the Dutch governor, Johannes de
Graeff, after reading the American Declaration of
Independence saluted our flag of thirteen stripes.
Between 1775 and 1783, half of our war supplies
imported from Europe came from this island.
The Dutch of Patria sent us soldiers and offi
cers of merit, struck medals in our honor, re
ceived John Adams, acknowledged our independ
ence, became our aUies, and made us a loan of
money, which, when paid up, principal and inter
est, amounted to fourteen miUions of dollars ; and
then, under the auspices of the Holland Land
Company, this same money was invested to de
velop four million acres of the wild lands of west
ern New York and Pennsylvania. " In love of
liberty and bravery in the defense of it, she," said
Benjamin Franklin, in speaking of Holland, "has
been our great example."

CHAPTER XXVII
THE MODERN PILGRIM FATHERS
The one institution surviving from New Neth
erland, the depository of its authentic history
and the incarnation of its spirit, is " the Reformed
Church in America." It comprises about half a
million people in seven hundred congregations,
chiefly in eastern New York and northern New
Jersey, in the Hudson, Mohawk, and Raritan val
leys, and in Michigan, Iowa, and Nebraska, with
its chief seats of education at New Brunswick,
New Jersey, and HoUand, Michigan.
Reviewing the history of the Church from 1628
to 1792, we note the successive steps : (1) emi
gration from Holland (1628-64) ; (2) resist
ance to English attempts to establish the church
of a small minority upon a vast majority (1664-
1708) ; (3) the conflict within, between dead
formulas and a higher moral life (1708-54) ;
and (4) finally, the struggle to harmonize Old
World ideas and New World necessities, including
the change of language from Dutch to English
(1754-71), resulting in the mastery of the Eng
lish language and the establishment of a college
and school of theology.
Hardly had the strife of tongues ceased and the

THE DUTCH IN THE ARCTIC SEAS

WHERE OUR FLAG WAS FI

PIET HEIN CAPTURING THE SPANISH SILVER FLEET

iST SALUTED. ST. EUSTATIUS

THE MODERN PILGRIM FATHERS 265
new work of peace begun, when the storm of the
British Invasion broke. Its worst devastations,
from 1776 to 1782, were in the field of the Dutch
churches, scattering ministers and congregations,
and destroying many edifices.
When " revolution " from without had been suc
cessfully overcome and civU liberty safeguarded,
there came with independence new problems and
responsibilities. Now the Dutch Church must be
come missionary. The call from the wilderness
was loud and great. Piteous appeals for preach
ers and teachers came from the regions of the Del
aware and Susquehanna rivers in New York, and
from Canada, Virginia, and even Kentucky. The
first outpost home -missionary church, organized
in 1794, was on the line of Sullivan's expedition
of 1779, at Chenango Forks, near Binghamton.
Union College, which grew out of the Schenec
tady Academy, was founded in 1785, chiefly by
the efforts of the people of the Dutch Church in
northern New York.
Between 1768 and 1800, New Jersey Dutchmen,
from Bergen and Somerset counties, moved west
ward in a caravan of one hundred and fifty fami
lies and seven hundred souls to Conewago and
Hanover, near the battlefield of Gettysburg. There
they built churches and made farms. Thence, with
the restless pioneer spirit, two lines of settlers
moved, the one to the Genesee Country, and the
other to Kentucky. In the New York lake region.

266 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
Dutch churches rose at Sempronius, Ovid, Varna,
Benton, Owasco, Brookton, Farmer, Geneva, and
other places, and were fed for a while by streams
of emigration.
To Kentucky the children of Dutch ancestors
moved westward in 1780 and 1793, driving their
cattle before them. From the upper Ohio, they
floated down the river to Maysville, and then
marched to Harrodsburg and settled there. From
this point, as from a hive, colonies swarmed off
into southern Ohio and Indiana, The descendants
of these Dutchmen may be found all through the
West, even to Alaska, and a few of them have
reached national fame.
Some emigration took place from Holland to
America after the peace of 1783, When the debt
of the United States was paid to the Dutch bank
ers, who had made the loan of millions of dollars
to help us, the recipients preferred to keep their
money invested in America, The Holland Land
Company was formed by Amsterdam capitalists,
and nearly four miUion acres were bought In New
York and Pennsylvania, and opened to settlers on
easy terms. On the map of New York suggestive
Dutch names, such as Tromp, Barneveld, Link-
laen, Scriba, Busti, Cazenovia, de Ruyter, Holland
Patent, and Batavia, teU the story of pioneer ac
tivity in the days of the Batavian Republic, The
city on Buffalo Creek was laid out as New Amster
dam, and its avenues named after Dutch worthies.

THE MODERN PILGRIM FATHERS 267
With this enterprise may be linked the honored
names of Harm Jan Huidekoper and his descend
ants. Settling at MeadviUe, Pennsylvania, they
made this place the centre of refining and educa
tional influences, of which the Meadville Theo
logical School is a noble expression. Huidekoper's
name became the synonym of integrity. When
the more liberal phases of religion stirred men's
minds, and men asked what the Unitarian form
of faith was, it passed into a proverb, " Nobody
knows but Huidekoper, and he won't teU."
When also, late in the eighteenth century, the
triumphant republican ideas of the United States,
spreading to Europe, occasioned disturbances in
the Old World and a revolution in Holland, two
leaders on the popular side, after suffering a de
feat more nominal than real, made their way to
America. They were Colonel Adam G. Mappa and
Adrian van der Kemp, who settled at Barneveld,
a few mUes north of Utica, later called Trenton,
and now postaUy renamed as at first. Mappa be
came agent of the Holland Land Company, and
van der Kemp one of the assistant Justices of the
Ulster County Court. In July, 1792, van der
Kemp made a journey on horseback to Buffalo.
With the hereditary Instinct of a Netherlander, as
weU as by the eye of faith and science, foreseeing
the Erie Canal, he then wrote to his friend Mappa
as follows : —
" See here, then, an easy communication by

268 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
water carriage open between the most distant part
of this extensive commonwealth ; see the markets
of New York, Albany, and Schenectady glutted
with the produce of the West and the comforts of
the South distributed with a liberal hand among
the agriculterers of this new country." He sees
also old Fort Schuyler (Utica) " transformed into
an opulent mercantile city." The " tomahawk and
scalping knife shall be replaced by the chisel and
pencil of the artist and the wigwam by marble
palaces. . . . Go on then and dig canals through
the western district. . . . Give me the repubUcan
wand of Capius Popilius, and I will go to the
water nymph Erie and trace a beautiful canal,
through which her ladyship shaU be compeUed to
pay of her tribute to the ocean through the Genesee
Country." Thirty years later, in 1822, Govemor De Witt
Clinton wrote to van der Kemp, his Dutch friend,
whom he caUed "the most learned man in
America," " Your letter to Colonel Mappa on the
canal written in 1792 Is reaUy a curiosity. It gives
you the original invention of the Erie route."
Three years later, in 1825, the waters of the Great
Lakes and the Atlantic were united.
A refined society of cultivated Netherlanders
grew up in Barneveld, and here or near by, per
haps, Fenimore Cooper found the originals of
some of his pictures of culture in that New York
wilderness, at which critics have laughed, declaring

THE MODERN PILGRIM FATHERS 269
them overdrawn, but which existed in fact. The
Tank Memorial Home, at OberUn, Ohio, com
memorates a husband and wife, the latter a
daughter of the gallant General and Baron van
Boetzelaer, who in 1793 defended the fort at Wil-
lemstad against the French invaders of the Neth
erlands. When, at the death of the old lady,
her linen, plate, miniatures, books, and household
effects were sold, the revelation to the average
American of the riches and elegant taste of a re
fined Dutch home was impressive.
Even though possessing but wrecks of their for
tune, few libraries in the country excelled in qual
ity those of the two refugees, Mappa and van der
Kemp, the latter of whom corresponded with the
great men of our country, Washington, Jefferson,
John Adams, and the leading lights of Harvard
CoUege, which in 1820 gave him the degree of
LL.D. He had been the friend and companion of
such Hollanders among those who were our friends
during our struggle for independence as Dr. Cal-
koens and Professor Jean Luzac, and especiaUy of
the great Baron Joan Derek van de Capellen. Best
of all, it was van der Kemp who, besides getting
from Holland precious documents, translated into
English the early records of New Netherland and
the Dutch West India Company. In his cottage at
Olden Barneveld, he put Into English forty vol
umes, which, with the originals, were safely deliv
ered in Albany, and formed the basis of the Doc-

270 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
umentary History of New York printed by order
of the legislature.
The second large emigration of New Netherland
ers to America took place more than two centuries
after the first, not to New York, but into or near
the upper Mississippi VaUey, and was In this wise.
When " the Dutch took Holland," and drove out
their French oppressors and marched to Water
loo, a constitutional monarchy, which fulfiUed the
hopes of the Republic, gave new unity to the Dutch
nation. Nevertheless, King WiUiam I, who came
into power in 1816, changed the old democratic and
representative government of the national Church
to one that was bureaucratic, and employed cav
alry, infantry, and artillery to enforce his wiU.
Affairs came to a crisis in 1834. Then, like the
Pilgrim Fathers of 1620, Dutchmen left their na
tive land for freedom of conscience. When the emi
gration had taken on large proportions, the alarmed
Dutch Govemment secured the abdication of old
King William, and persecution at once ceased.
Meanwhile the Domines, van Raalte, Scholte,
and others, led colonies by way of Manhattan and
the Mohawk VaUey to Michigan, or from New
Orleans, up the Mississippi to Iowa. These peo
ple came not as mere emigrants. They were true
colonists, and made homes and became Americans.
They came largely as churches with their pastors,
and they named the new settlements after their
old homes. Hence the Dutch names of so many

THE MODERN PILGRIM FATHERS 271
localities in our Western States. Parts of the map
of Michigan read like transcripts from Queen
Wilhelmina's kingdom. Amid lonely forests, wild
beasts, malaria, and homesickness, they perse
vered. The city of refuge, to which the primitive
Christians from Jerusalem fled, when destroyed
by the Romans, was PeUa, and the new home in
Iowa was called after it.
Novel and discouraging experiences met the
newcomers. Besides frosts in August, fires, floods,
and wild cats, there were amusing contacts with
birds and beasts, human and equine nature. When
a Frisian gentleman-farmer, proud of his know
ledge of horses, landed at Keokuk, he bought a
wagon, picked out and harnessed to it a fine pair
of animals, and then, loading his goods and famUy
aboard, gave in Dutch the usual signal to the
horses to move. The dumb brutes did not even
whisk their ears. He spoke louder and more
clearly. Still they were deaf and immovable.
Horrified to think that after all his expert know
ledge he might have been deceived in his purchase,
but disdaining to use a whip or pull the check-
rein, he patted the horses' necks and whispered
more coaxing words in his vernacular. Not a hoof
was lifted. Suddenly a native appeared and took
in the whole situation. He knew that these horses
understood the Keokuk dialect. At once he cried,
" Get up ! " Thereupon, the team moved so swiftly,
that their Frisian owner had difficulty in recover-

272 THE STORY OF NEW NETHERLAND
ing his property. His first lesson in English was
in the variety understood by horses.
In April, 1848, the Michigan Domines and con
sistories united as a Reformed Dutch Church, and
at Albany, in April, 1850, " the ancient place of
treaties," — hallowed alike to Iroquois and Dutch
men, — these modern Pilgrim Fathers came to
make a new " covenant of Corlaer " and to
" brighten the silver chain " of friendship with
their brethren in the American Reformed Church.
These modern Pilgrim Fathers and their fam
iUes constitute nearly one third of the Reformed
Church in America, whUe the " Christian Re
formed " people also thrive and do a noble work
in developing the Republic, Perhaps the greatest
concentration of modern Netherlanders and their
descendants is in Grand Rapids, the "furniture
capital" of the United States, They are, however,
numerous in Chicago, all over Michigan, in Iowa,
Dakota, at Paterson, New Jersey, and In a few
other places. Possibly a million Netherlanders, in
character above reproach, since the forties, have
come to the United States.
In the world's broad harvest field, and for the
uplift of humanity in other lands, the Americans
of Dutch descent have wrought nobly. The Dutch
were the first to study the religions, languages,
and civilizations of the Far East, and the Nether
lands Reformed Church was for a time the mis
sionary agent of all Protestant Europe. By herself

.SIMEON DE WITT, SURVK.YOK-GENERAL OP NEW YORK STATE

THE MODERN PILGRIM FATHERS 273
alone, she was the pioneer on a large scale of the
modern enterprises of foreign missions, notably in
Formosa, Java, and the East Indies. Her daugh
ter, the brave little Reformed Church in America,
had her attention early drawn to the cradle con
tinent of Asia, to which the debt of Occidental
Christianity and civilization is inexpressibly great.
Some of the most successful Christian missions in
India, China, Japan, and in the Malay and Moslem
worlds have been founded and steadily supported
by the Reformed Church in America, and mighty
has been her part in the educational conquest of
Asia. In Japan, as shown in the biographies of
"Verbeck of Japan" and of Brown "A Maker
of the New Orient," it is perfectly safe to say that
no body of Christians has had more to do with
the first sowing of the seed of science and the re
making of that nation Into a modern world-power.
As is the rule with the faithful toilers for man,
the best results for the race begin after the death
of the toilers.
In our day the schools, hospitals, and churches
of American Dutchmen are maintained by a noble
force of highly educated men and women in India,
China, Japan, and Arabia. These scholars have
created a new literature in the language of the
people of these lands. In the translation of the
Book of Books into the tongues of old and ad
vanced civilizations, they have been pioneers and
leaders. In addition. Dr. Van Dyke, direct de-

274 THE STORY OP NEW NETHERLAND
scendant of the famous Indian fighter in Kieft's
time, completed in a style of elegant scholarship
the Arabic version of the Holy Scriptures, which
can be read by one hundred and thirty miUions of
the human race.
The nations of Europe are gradually coming to
accept the American doctrine, of which the Re
formed Dutch Church was so early an exponent,
namely, that Indians, Africans, and the Asiatic
peoples exist, not to be conquered, but to be
healed, helped, taught, and made brothers.
Surveying in retrospect the story of Manhattan,
we see that New York City has been in succession
the Indian's home, the Dutchman's camp, village,
and municipality, the English and the American
city, and the modern metropolis of the Western
world. Its population has been Indian, Dutch,
and always, since the white man came, cosmopoli
tan. After the second war with Great Britain, the
New Englanders began an exodus from their old
homes, and added a permanent element of good to
its composition. Then in succession, streams of
Irish, Germans, Italians, Russians, and men of
other nationalities, came to its hospitable board, to
taste the sweets of freedom. These made it at once
the greatest American, the largest German, the
most populous Irish, and the richest Jewish, city
in the world.
New York was the only one of the original thir
teen colonies which was conquered by a foreign

THE MODERN PILGRIM FATHERS 275
power, made a royal province, and left without
charter or proprietors. It had, therefore, the long
est struggle for law and Uberty, The full story
of this contest, ending in 1777, forms an unwrit
ten chapter In the history of the United States,
Having epitomized It in a former writing (In
" Sir WiUiam Johnson and the Six Nations ") in
1891, 1 can, after a more thorough study, reaffirm
that "having no royal charter, the composite
people of New York, gathered from many nations,
but instinct with the principles of the free Re
public of Holland, were obUged to study carefuUy
the foundations of government and jurisprudence.
It is true that in the evolution of this Common
wealth the people were led by the lawyers, rather
than by the clergy. Constantly resisting the in
vasions of royal prerogative, they formed on an
immutable basis of law and right that Empire
State which in its construction and general features
is, of aU those in the Union, the most typicaUy
American. Its historical precedents are not found
in a monarchy, but in a republic. It is less the
fruit of English than of Teutonic cIvUizatlon."

APPENDIX
A. THE FRAMEWORK OF CHRONOLOGY
1431. Dutch sailors re-discover and colonize the Azores.
1567. Spanish invasion of the Netherlands. Flight of
Walloons.
1577. First National Synod of the Netherlands Church.
1581. Dutch Declaration of Independence. Reward of
25,000 guilders offered for a new way to
China.
1597-1616. Dutch circumnavigations of the globe.
1602. The Dutch East India Company formed.
1609. Great Truce. Henry Hudson enters the Great
River.
1609-1614. Visits of fur-traders. Huts on Manhattan.
1614. Block's Exploration and Map. New Netherland
named. The United New Netherland Com
pany. Trading posts.
1621. The West India Company chartered.
1622. Jesse de Forest in Leyden enrolls emigrants for
America.
1623-1624. Walloons colonize New Netherland.
1626. Civil government. Minuit buys Manhattan.
1628. First Dutch Church. Domine Michaelius.
1630. Fendalism introduced. The Patroon system.
Colony at Rensselaerwijk begun by Nijkerk
Dutch people.
1633. Adam Roelandsen, first schoolmaster, arrives.
1633-1638. Walter van TwiUer, Director-General

278 APPENDIX
1637. Arendt van Curler arrives. Peace policy with
the Iroquois.
1638-1647. Eaeft Director-General. Indian wars.
1640. New Netherland open to aU. Free village com
munities.
1641. First popular assembly. The Twelve Men.
1642. Domine Megapolensis. Church formed.
1643. Second popular assembly. The Eight Men.
1647-1664. Peter Stuyvesant, Director-General.
1647. Election of the Nine Men by the people.
1653. Hebrews arrive at Manhattan.
1655. FaU of New Sweden.
1661. Wiltwijk, Schenectady, and settlements of free
farmers.
1664. English conquest. New York a feudal province.
1673. Dutch recapture New Netherland.
1674. Treaty of Westminster. Surinam given to the
Dutch.
1675. Andros governor. Manhattan monopoly of bolt
ing flour.
1683. Charter of Liberties. " Governor, Council, and
the people met in general assembly." Arrival
of the Huguenots in New York.
1685. Charter annulled. New York a royal province.
1688. Revolution in England. William III, of Holland,
King.
1690. Uprising of the people. Jacob Leisler governor.
First Congress of the Colonies. French inva
sion from Canada. Schenectady burned. At
tempts of British governors to force a State
Church on the people. Resistance of the As
sembly. British failure.

APPENDIX 279
1695. The Dutch obtain a charter of free Church gov
ernment.
1702-1708. Cornbury's oppression causes a large Dutch
emigration into the Raritan valley.
1705. Cessation of legislation in behalf of the Church
of England.
1708-1792. Struggle for ecclesiastical independence
from HoUand. The battle of languages.
1766. Charter of Rutgers College signed.
1771. Dutch Church congress and written constitution.
1775-1783. War of the Revolution. Its chief seat
within the area of New Netherland.
1776. First foreign salute to the American flag by
Governor de Graeff at St. Eustatius.
1780. Recognition of the American by the Dutch Re
public.
1792—1800. Holland Land Company, purchasing four
million acres, develops western New York
and Pennsylvania.
1796. Emigration westward of New Jersey Dutchmen.
1800. English language in general use.
1844. Large immigration of Dutch into the Western
States.
1904. Second person with Dutch name elected Presi
dent of the United States.
B. AUTHORITIES USED IN PREPARATION
OF THIS VOLUME
In addition to the standard authorities, Wassenaer,
de Laet, van Meteren, de Vries, van der Donck, and
the early Dutch writers, I have made plentiful use of

280 APPENDIX
the local town, city, and church records of New Nether
land, though not always trusting the published transla
tions, but consulting the originals ; also : —
Het Onderwijs te Nijkerk na de Hervorming. (1593-
1630.) Nijkerk voor Twee JSeuwen.
Het Landgericht van Veluwe. By G. Beeenink.
Geldersse Geschiedenissen, door Arend van Slicht-
enhorst. Arnhem, 1654.
Geschiedenis van het Nederlandsche Volk, P. J.
Blok. 8 vols.
Levenschets van Eev. Dr. A, 0, Van Eaalte, D.D.
DOSKER. De Nederlandsche Geschlachtsnamen, Winkleb.
Joan Derek van der Capellen tot den Pol. Sillbm.
Brieven van en an Joan Derek Capellen, Beaufort.
Folkomen Woordenboek. Sewel-Buys. (1776.)
De Post Acta of Nahandelingen van de National
Synode van Dordrecht. Dr. H. H. Kuxper.
Ecclesiastical Records of the State of New York
(" The Amsterdam Correspondence "). (E. T. Corwin,
Daniel Van Pelt, Henry Utterwick, Hugh Hast
ings.) 6 vols. (1621-1810.) Published 1905.
Year Books of Holland Society, (1888-1906.)
Documentary History of New York and Colonial
History of New York.
The Records of New Amsterdam. 15 vols. (1653-
1674.) Edited by Berthold Fernow.
Papers from the archives of Amsterdam, Middleburg,
Leeuwarden, Nijkerk, etc.
Church Records and Schenectady First Church Me
morial, Pearson — Gkiffis.

APPENDIX 281
History of Schenectady Patent, Pearson — Mac-
Murray.
First Families of Schenectady and of Albany, 2
vols. Pearson.
Brodhead's History ofthe State of New York,
History of the Reformed Church in the Nether
lands, Hansen.
Manual ofthe Reformed Church in Amsrica. (4th
ed.) Corwin.
The Huguenot Element among the Dutch. Ver
milye. The Leisler Troubles in 1689. Vermilye.
Institutes of Laws of Holland, Van der Linden.
Francis Adrian van der Kemp. Fairchild.
The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, J. K.
Allen. Anthology of New Netherland. H. G. Murphy.
The de Forests of Avesnes. J. W. de Forest.
1900. The Founding of New Sweden, C. T. Odhnee
(Keen). 1876.
The Rensselaer-Bowier Manuscripts, E. van Laer.
1908.

INDEX

Adams, John, 260, 263, 269.
Adirondacks, 7, 19, 158.
Adringa, Joris, 217.
Africa, 41, 44, 45, 252, 254.
Agriculture, 7, 12, 25, 31, 56, 76,
127.
Albany, 10,' 28, 153, 194-200, 258,
272.
Algonqulns, 44, 69, 84, 88, 142.
Alien, J. K., 291.
Allston, W., 165.
Alms, 95, 144, 191.
Alva, 1, 112.
Amboyna, 144.
America discoyered, 2.
Amersfoort, 97.
Amsterdam, 8, 65, 131, 144.
Amsterdam Correspondence, 38.
Anabaptists, 117, 203.
Andros, 203, 219, 220, 224, 228, 237,
238, 278.
Anne, Queen, 233, 241.
Anglican Church, 238, 264.
Animals, 116-157.
Anker, 164.
Anneke Janse, 79, 210, 241.
Antwerp, 1.
Arabia, 273, 274.
Architecture, 7, 11, 162-166, 212.
Arctic exploration, 3, 8, 9.
Aristocratic element, 226, 236.
Arms, 47, 68, 70, 78, 94, 133.
Asiatic people, 274.
Assembly of New York, 142, 241,
244.
Avesnes, 22, 27.
Axe, 86, 162.
Azores, 2, 277.
Bahia, 41, 139.
Baltimore, Lord, 136, 148.
Bankers, 213.
Baptism, 60, 95, 187, 213, 214, 252-
254.
Barhydt, 213.
Bark houses, 7,' 11, 162.
Barneveld, 97, 266, 267, 268.
Batavian Republic, 266.
Battery, 12, 33.
Bayard, Mrs., 112.
Beaufort, 280.
Beaver, 67, 116, 165, 201.

Bedrooms, 160, 168, 169.
Beds, 168, 169.
Beer, 82.
Beernink, G., 280.
Belfry, 55.
Belgic Confession, 26, 188.
Belgic Netherlands, 1, 17, 22, 26.
Bellomont, 234, 240.
Bells, 186, 201, 212, 213, 214.
Bergen County, 266.
Beversvrede, 133.
Beverwijk, 101, 127.
Bibles, 25, 26, 38, 78, 172, 173.
Bincks, Jacob, 217.
Birds, 53, 158, 186.
Blacks. See Negroes.
Blacksmith, 164, 165.
Block, Adrian, 10, 14-17, 53, 277.
Block Island, 16.
Blok, P. I., 280.
Blommaert, 64.
Blood revenge, 70.
Blue Hen's Chickens, 137.
Bogardus, E., 51, 57, 79, 83, 89.
Bolting monopoly, 203, 210, 219,
220 278
Book's, 38, 150, 175-180, 193, 214.
Books on New Netherland, 2, 68,
116, 180.
Boston, 228, 257.
Boston Congregational Club, 35.
Boundaries, 19, 35, 66.
Bowery, 128.
Bowling Green, 32.
Boys in the Netherlands, 26, 67,
150, 155, 158, 170.
Bradford, William, 35.
Brandy, 223.
Brazil, 25, 136, 139, 140.
Bricks, 38, 42, 162, 189.
British emigrants, 44, 96.
British Governors, 231.
British soldiers, 195, 196, 199, 211,
240.
Broadway, 85.
Brodhead, 15, 281.
Bronk, Jonas, 87.
Brook Farm, 138.
Brooklyn, 14, 127.
Brookton, 266.
Brouwer, 77.
Brown, S. E., 273.
BufEalo, 266, 267.

284

INDEX

Bundling, 155.
Burghers, 61, 62.
Burgomaster, 115, 116.
Burgoyne, 268.
Burials, 234.
Buskirk, 213.
Busti, 266.
Cabot, 36.
Calendar, 150, 154.
Calkoens, 269.
Calvinism, 223.
Campanius, 132.
Canada, 65, 202, 204, 207, 211, 230,
258, 265.
Canals, 267.
Canal Street, 12.
Canaries, 2.
Cannibalism, 76.
Cannon, 8, 24, 146, 187.
Canoes, 13, 103, 158.
Canterbury, 222.
Cape Henlopen, 64, 69.
Capsey Hook, 11, V2.
Captives, 210, 211.
Caricatures, 49.
Carleton, D., 22.
Carolinas, 148.
Carpenter's Hall, 251.
Castle Island, 10.
Castles, 10, 13, 74.
Catechisms, 93, 132, 170, 176,
176.
Catholics, Eoman, 222, 240.
Catskill. See Katsklll.
CatskiUs, 67, 267.
Cazenovia, 266.
Cemetery, 41, 91.
Certificates, 176.
Chalnbearer, The, 262.
Champlain, 3.
Charity, 18, 95, 170, 205, 206.
Charities, 18, 97, 98, 161, 170, 206,
206.
Charles I., 52, 54.
Charles II., 146, 218, 219, 221, 222,
238.
Charter of Liberty, 220, 221.
Charter of 1640, 65.
Charters, 121, 122, 128, 131, 223,
224, 237, 239, 243, 278, 279.
Chatelaine, 78, 173, 189.
Chenango Forks, 265.
Chicago, 272.
Chimneys, 166, 166.
China, 3, 4, 273, 277.
Christening, 170, 181, 187, 197.
Christian Reformed, 97, 272.
Christiansen, H., 10.
Christina, Queen, 129, 130.
Chronology, 242, 243.
Church, First, 46^8.

Church edifices, 31, 46-48, 56, 66,
200, 212, 239.
Church of England, 239-242, 279.
Church Interiors, 185-190.
Churches, 18, 31, 46-48, 96.
Circumnavigation of the globe,
68, 277.
Cities, 18, 30, 203, 223.
City Government, 18, 30.
City Hall, 179.
City Hall Park, 12, 128.
Civic life, 29.
Civilization, 103, 148.
Classis in America, 238, 248, 263
Classis of Amsterdam, 25, 96, 117,
179, 247, 252.
Claverack, 16, 90.
Clinton, DeWitt, 268.
Clinton, George, 124.
Clinton, J., 259.
Clothing, 196.
Clute, 237.
Codfish, 67, 203.
Cock of St. Nicholas, 55.
Coenties Slip, 82.
Coffee, 82, 98, 99.
Cohoes, 68, 73.
Collect, 13, 153.
Collections, 95, 170, 191.
Collegiate Church School, 177.
Colman, John S., 5.
Colonial Dames, 138.
Colonists, 21, 22, 218, 270.
Colonic, 101.
Colonization, 139.
Colors. See Flag.
Colve, 217, 219.
Comforters of the sick, 27, 34, 96,
178.
Commerce, 21, 56.
Commissary, 102.
Committee of Safety, 228-230.
Common lands, 127, 128.
Common schools, 243.
Commonality, 141, 227.
Communion Table, 26, 95, 176, 187,
188, 191, 249, 253.
Conewago, 265.
Congress, 230, 251, 278, 279.
Connecticut, 16, 19, 61, 53, 54, 55,
56, 208.
Consistory, 46, 76, 96, 188, 239.
Constitutions, 124, 147, 250, 252,
265. '
Continentals, 48, 137, 247, 251, 261.
Conversion of Indians, 19, 34.
Cookies, 154.
Cooper, F., 194, 261, 268.
Corlaer, 100, 102, 103, 272.
Corlaer's Hook, 87, 109.
Corn, 5, 7.
Cornbury, Lord, 241, 242, 243, 279.

INDEX

285

Corwin's Manual, 183, 262, 281.
Covenant of Corlaer, 101, 103.
Cows, 88, 113-125, 205, 212.
Cradles, 28, 170, 171.
Creeds, 26, 34, 93.
Cromwell, 138, 233.
Crow-steps, 162, 163.
CruUers, 75.
Curaf oa, 178.
Curfew, 82.
Curtius, A.i 179.
DailW, 232.
Daisy, 167.
Dakota, 97, 272.
Danker and Sluyter, 204.
Dartmouth, 8.
Declaration of Independence,
224, 261, 263, 277.
De (prefix), 172.
Deer, 158, 159.
De Forest, Jesse, 20-25, 66, 277.
De Forest, J. W., 281.
De Forests, 213.
De (iTSbtt, 213.
De GraeflE, 7, 263, 279.
Delaware, 1, 30, 31, 64, 68-72, 119,
137, 129-138.
Delaware Dutch, 138.
Delaware River and VaUey, 4, 15,
72, 126, 132-135, 143, 144, 260, 265.
Delfshaven, 35.
Delft, 113.
Delft ware, 96, 165.
Dellius, 179, 229-230.
Democracy, 48.
De LUle, 184.
De NonvlUe, 222.
De Rasleres, 32, 33, 36.
De Ronde, 249-250.
De Kuyter, 59, 147, 217, 266.
De Vries, 68, 71, 83, 86,87, 104, 108.
DevU, 105, 106.
De Witt, Simeon, 261, 262.
Diamond State, 137.
Documentary History of New
York, 270.
Dogs, 5, 7, 71, 158.
Domine, 19, 43, 96, 168, 169, 175,
229-230, 257.
Dominie, 43, 261.
Dongan, 220, 221, 222, 223, 224.
Doors, 163, 166, 167.
Dordrecht, 249.
Dorp, 152, 202. See Schenectady.
Dosker, H., 280.
Doughnuts, 76.
Drinking customs, 41, 50, 62, 190.
Drislus, 145.
Du Bois, 124, 262.
Dutchess County, 125.
Duke of York, 145, 243.

Duke's laws, 125, 216, 219.
Dunderberg, 6, 18.
Dunkirk, 77.
Dunkirkers, 24, 51, 57, 69, 77.
Duryee, 213.
Dusma, 126.
Dutch courage, 199.
Dutch language, 26, 27, 35, 48,
149, 246-250, 256.
Dutch Republic, 2, 17, 21, 26, 27,
40.
Dutch take Holland, 270.
Easel, 160.
East India Company, 2, 4.
Easter, 150, 157.
Ecclesiastical Records, 238, 280.
Economics, 1, 2, 14, 32, 36, 42, 130-
142, 144.
Education, 44, 78, 92-94, 160, 176,
176, 193, 248.
Educational endowment, 262.
Eelklns, Jacob, 62, 74.
Eencluys, J. Hans, 53, 205, 212.
Eendracht, 76, 78.
Eight Men, 88, 278.
Elsingburg, 132.
Elting, E., 128.
Emigrants, 38, 102, 266, 270.
Emigration from the Nether
lands, 1, 99, 264, 270.
Emigration westward, 123, 265-
266, 270, 279.
Empire State, 25, 37, 267-270.
Engineers, 32, 33.
English conquest, 278.
English Immigrants, 223, 226.
English language, 193, 247, 249,
264, 269.
Episcopal Churches, 136, 239, 240.
Erasmus, 119.
Erie Canal, 267, 268.
Esopus, 10, 28, 29, 143.
Established Church, 238.
Evertsen, C.,217.
Fads, 197.
Fairchild, 281.
Family life, 25.
Family names, 201, 213.
Farmer (Interlaken), 266.
Farmer, John, 141.
Far East, 272.
Fashions, 196, 197.
Fauna, 116, 167.
Fence-viewer, 126.
Fernow, B., 280.
Festivals, 60, 150, 154, 170.
Feudalisms, 124, 163, 211, 277.
Feudalism of America, 38, 62-66,
124, 188, 211, 277.
Firearms, 3, 6, 74, 82, 157.

286

INDEX

Fireplace, 165, 166.
Fire water, 6, 8, 73, 199, 200.
Flags, 4, 24, 70, 135, 136, 138, 142,
148, 149, 216, 258, 279.
Floors, 167.
Flora, 6, 157.
Flour, 47, 203, 210, 219, 220, 226.
Flowers, 6, 74, 157, 170, 212.
Foering, C, 262.
Fonda, 213.
Food, 7, 12, 42, 170.
Foreign missions, 273.
Fore-reader, 47, 191.
Forests, 11, 12, 104, 117, 157, 261.
Formosa, 18, 19, 96.
Fort Amsterdam, 32, 33, 46, 66,
113, 143, 146, 147, 178, 217, 231.
Fort at Schenectady, 208.
Fort Caslmir, 134, 138.
Fort Christina, 134.
Fort Elsingburg, 132.
Fort Nassau, 10, 62, 132, 133, 134.
Fort Orange, 10, 14, 28, 86, 85.
Fort Schuyler, 268.
Fort Trinity, 134.
France. See French.
Franklin, B., 263.
Frederick Henry, 62.
Free farmers, 29, 63, 65, 121-123,
203, 211.
Freeman, 213.
Freeman, B., 179.
Free village communities, 29, 57,
65, 131, 278.
Frelinghuysen, 248.
French, 26, 27, 96, 103, 251, 270.
French in Canada, 63, 65, 202, 208,
209, 231, 278.
French language, 26, 31, 32, 126.
Friesland, 152.
Frisians, 134, 271.
Frontier, 195, 198, 202, 208, 211.
Fuel, 43, 106.
Fuller, 213.
Funerals, 5, 191, 197, 211, 234.
Fur trade, 10, 14, 37, 75, 104, 277.
Furs, 14, 42, 157.
Gables, 91, 95, 162, 163, 185.
Games and sports, 160, 156, 167.
Garden, 157.
Garden Street Church, 239.
Gardiner, Lyon, 55.
Gauge of road, 95.
General Synod, 252.
Genesee Valley, 260, 265, 268.
Geneva, 266.
Geology, 141.
George III, 33, 257.
Germans, 96, 227, 230, 245, 257.
Gettysburg, 65.
Gilded Man, 26, 218.

Girls in New Netherland, 26, 28,
41, 42, 79, 150, 162, 156, 171, 173.
Glen, Sanders,. 210.
Godyn, 64, 69.
Goetschius, 262.
Gottenburg 132.
Governor's Island, 57.
Grand Rapids, 272.
Grant, Mrs., 194.
Gravesend, 57, 146.
Great Britain, 242, 266.
Great Truce, 2, 3, 4, 277.
Green Bush, 74.
Groot, 213.
Grout, 213.
Guelderland, 49, 90-100.
Guiana Dutch, 218, 219.
Guilderland, 80.
Gustavus Adolphus, 129.
Haarlem, 105, 157.
Hackensack, 14, 260.
Hadson, W., 137.
Hagaman, 213.
Hague, 15, 140, 204.
Half-breeds, 76.
Half Moon, 3-9, 11, 24.
Hamilton, A., 182.
Hamlin, 213.
Hansen, M. G., 281.
Hardenberg, J. R., 262.
Harderwijk, 93, 97.
Harman, 213.
Harris, T., 119.
Hartford, 53, 54, 119.
Harvard College, 269.
Hastings, H., 280.
Haverstraw, 6.
Hearth, 164, 166.
Hebrews, 117, 278.
Heidelberg Catechism, 249.
Hell Gate, 15.
Hem, 40, 41.
Henlopen, Cape, 69.
Hepatica, 157.
Heraldry. See Arms.
Hesse, Captain, 51.
Heyes, P., 69.
Hiawatha, 73.
Hoag, 213.
Hoboken, 64, 143.
Hogs, 69, 84, 113.
Holidays, 60, 93, 96.
Holland-America Line, 11.
Holland Land Company, 263, 266,
279.
Holland, Michigan, 264.
Holland Patent, 266.
Holland Societies, 11, 97, 138, 201.
Holmes, 55, 137.
Home life, 38, 269.
Hoorn, 41, 72.

INDEX

287

Hoorn Kill, 72.
Horekill. See Hoorn KiU.
Horse-mill, 47.
Horses, 159, 166, 192, 209, 271.
House of Good Hope, 63, 55.
Housett, G., 64, 69.
Hudde, 133. •
Hudson, Henry, 3-9, 24, 99, 257.
Hudson River, 11, 128, 152, 163,
277.
Hudson Valley, 96, 264.
Huguenots, 31, 126, 127, 226-228.
Huidekoper, 267.
Hunterdon County, 242.
Hurley, 124.
Huyck, J., 34.
Hymn-books, 188.
Ice-yachts, 162.
Immigrants, 76-80, 96, 102, 141.
Independents, 117.
India, 273.
Indiana, 266.
Indians, 6, 7, 10, 44, 66, 64, 103,
105, 107, 176, 198, 253.
Indian trade, 199.
Indian wars, 85-88, 103, 104, 142,
143.
Ingoldsby, 231.
Inheritance, law of, 147.
Iowa, 97, 249, 264, 270, 271.
Iroquois, 28, 37, 42, 44, 69, 70, 73,
75, 84, 87, 88, 103, 152, 199, 202,
261.
Irving, W., 258.
Jacobsen, Rutgers, 200.
James I, 8.
James II, 33, 145, 220, 221, 224,
235.
Jamestown, 46.
Janse, R., 79.
Japan, 3, 8, 21, 59, 157, 175, 273.
Japanese, 144, 196.
Japanese proverb, 159.
Java, 18, 66.
Jersey City, 64.
Jesse de Forest, 20-26, 66, 277.
Jesuits, 241.
Jews, 118, 119, 223, 274, 278.
"John Company," 26, 69, 61, 130
139, 141, 144, 203, 215, 217.
Johnson, Sir William, 275.
Jonkheer, 89, 114.
Joris, A., 27, 28, 74.
Juet, 7, 10.
Juffrouw, 190, 207.
Katsklll, 90.
Kentucky, 266, 266.
Keokuk, 271.
Kermis, 95, 160, 152.

Kieft, William, 81-88, 89, 104, 112,
128, 130, 131, 133, 274.
Klevits, 186.
Kievlt's Hook, 63, 55, 186.
Kills, 74
Kimono, 196.
King's College, 248.
Kingston, 122, 123, 128, 162, 180,
278
Kitchen door, 166, 167.
Kittle, 213.
Klap, 180.
Klein, 213.
Knickerbockers, 36, 172.
Kriekenbeek, 0., 74.
Krol, S. J., 34, 46, 64, 75, 76.
Kuyter, 89, 114.
Labadists, 204.
Laldlie, A., 249, 260.
Lake region, 265.
La Montague, 82.
Land, 10, 21, 61, 62, 123, 125, 128.
Land purchases, 21, 32, 64, 69, 70,
126, 136.
Land tenure, 32, 52, 61-66.
Land titles, 64, 126, 261.
Languages, 26, 31, 44, 48, 79, 115,
117, 231, 246-260, 251, 264, 271,
279.
Lansing, 213.
Latin, 176, 181, 182, 268.
Latin races, 103.
Latin School, 182.
Law, 147, 160,214, 235,236, 241-242,
243, 275.
Lawyers. 104, 243-245, 276.
League of the Five Nations, 73,
104.
Leisler, Jacob, 33, 204, 208, 220,
226, 226, 234, 278.
Lenni-Lenape, 70.
Lewes, 130.
Leyden, 5, 19, 22, 23, 40, 157.
Leydt, 262.
Linklaen, 266.
Linn, W., 177.
Liquor business, 199, 200.
Liturgy of the Reformed Church,
27, «, 96, 107, 169, 170, 188, 200.
Livingston, J. H.,250.
Livingston, W., 248.
Log cabin, 126, 162.
Long House, 73.
Long Island, 14, 29, 57, 109, 120,
141, 146.
Lord's Prayer, 133.
Lord's Supper, 48, 188, 192.
Louis xrV, 210, 216, 218, 226,
227.
Lovelace, 216.
Loyalties, 256, 257.

288

INDEX

Lures to the New World, 61,
67.
Lutherans, 70, 118, 130, 132, 223.
Luzac, Jean, 269.
Mackerel, 24, 27.
MacMurray, 280.
Magna Charta, 218.
Mahogany, 168, 188, 218.
Maize. See Corn.
Makemie, F., 243. ,
Malachi, 76.
Manhattan, 13, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33,
41, 46, 47, 277.
Manors, 61, 62, 194, 196, 237.
Manual of the Reformed Church,
262-281.
Maple sugar, 166, 157.
Mappa, 267, 268, 269.
Maps, 14, 16, 17, 30, 173, 261, 277.
MarceUus, 213.
Markets, 98.
Marriage, 45, 170, 193.
Martyrs Street, 210.
Maryland, 9.
Massachusetts, 9, 46, 203.
Massacres, 140, 200, 210, 232, 259.
Mather, Cotton, 223.
Maurice, John, 140.
Maurice, Prince, 11, 33, 77, 78.
Mauritius River, 18.
May, Captain, 24, 27, 3D.
Mayflower, 24, 118.
Meadville, 267
Meals, 42, 93, 98, 99.
Medals, 263.
Megapolensis, Domine, 69, 104,
194, 278.
Megapolensis, Samuel, 134.
Melborne, 232, 234.
Melyn, 89, 114.
Mermaids, 6.
Michaelius, J., 40-46, 76, 176, 177,
277.
Michigan, 97, 249, 264, 270, 272.
Middle States, 242.
Millstone, 242.
Ministry Act, 238, 239, 241.
'Minuit, Peter, 9,30-39,46,66,67,
129-133, 137, 277.
Missionaries, 19, 265, 273, ?74.
Mississippi Valley, 270.
Mohawk River and Valley, 29, 37,
96, 163, 158, 195, 207, 209, 211, 269,
264, 270.
Mohawks, 107, 207, 208, 210, 214.
Mohicans, 28, 42, 74, 87.
Money, 19, 32. See Wampum.
Monopolies, 20, 104, 203, 207, 219,
220, 226, 278.
Monroe Doctrine, 36.
Montague, De la, 82, 179.

MoraUty, 76, 174.
Motley, 250.
Mottoes, 76, 78, 105, 165, 200, 254.
Municipalities, 18, 30.
Murdoch, 257.
Murphy, H. G., 281.
Music, 48, 93.
Mynderse, 213.
Mythology of New Netherland,
4, 6, 49, 108.
Names altered, 16, 18, 72.
Names of people, 46, 201, 213, 262,
270, 271.
Names of places, 16, 18.
Names of ships. See Ships'
names.
Names of women, 46, 171.
Nantes, 227.
Navigation Act, 69, 145.
Neatness, 207.
Nebraska, 264.
Negroes, 46, 169, 173, 189, 196, 200,
^2-264.
Nehemiah, 76.
Netherlands, 1, 12, 40, 61.
Netherlands Society of Philadel
phia, 138.
New Amstel, 136.
New Amsterdam (Buffalo), 266.
New Amsterdam, 27, 32, 146.
New Brunswlct, 255, 264.
Newburg, 152.
New Castle, 134, 138.
New Dorp, 124.
New England, 15, 36, 36, 146.
New England rum, 199, 200.
New Gottenburg, 132.
New Haven, 131, 132, 133.
New Jersey, 126-135, 145, 242, 243,
260, 261, 264.
New Netherland, 17, 19, 139, 140,
142, 146, 146, 184, 279.
New Netherland (ship), 24^28, 37,
43,71.
New Paltz, 29, 124, 125, 126, 127.
Newport, 79.
New Sweden, 129-135, 278.
New Year's Day, 154.
New York City, 274.
New York State, 274^276.
NicoUs, 216, 216.
Nicholson, 228.
Nijkerk, 49, 60, 51, 76, 90-100, 109,
237, 277.
Nine Men, 114-115, 278.
Niskayuna, 73.
Norman's Kill, 73, 74.
Northeast Passage, 3.
Norumbega, 6.
Notelman, G., 61.
Nucella, J. P., 180.

INDEX

289

Oberlin, 269.
Odhner, C. T., 281.
Ohio, 266.
Oil, 67, 68.
Old Glory, 148.
Oothout, 213.
Orange County, 26.
" Oranje boven," 217.
Ostrander, 213.
Ostrom, 213
Guderkirk, 213.
Ovid, 266.
Owasco, 266.
Pacham, 86.
Palatinate, 127, 136, 245.
Palisades, 6, 14.
Papooses, 105, 106, 153.
Parsonage, 195, 206.
Pasture, 128, 205, 212.
Paterson, 272.
Patria, 1, 3, 17, 90-100.
Patroon, 61-66, 78-80, 186, 200, 205,
206, 211.
Pauw, M., 64.
Pavonla, 64, 87, 143.
Peace League, 28, 103.
Peace policy, 28, 103.
Pearl Street, 33, 34, 82, 258.
Pearse, 213.
Pearson, 280.
Peel, 213.
Pella, 271.
Penn, William, 32, 136, 137, 148.
Pennsylvania, 133, 185, 266.
People, The, 89, 121, 141, 220,
221, 227, 229, 234, 241, 244, 250,
278.
Pequots, 54, 56.
Petersen, E., 179.
Pews, 186, 188.
Philadelphia, 30, 133.
Piet Hein, 41, J40.
Pilgrim Fathers, 22, 32, 34, 203,
270-272.
Pinxter, 60.
Pipes, 70, 107, 167, 190.
Plan of union, 252.
Planck, 213.
Plockhov, C, 131, 138.
Plymouth, England, 66.
Plymouth, Mass., 32, 36, 46, 63.
Poetry, 134, 214.
Polhemus, J., 7, 136.
Poppegoya, 134.
Population, 32, 274.
Portuguese, 2, 118, 140.
Poor pasture, 205, 212.
Poor, The, 2, 96, 170, 205, 206,
212
Post, 98.
Potatoes, 98.

Potter, E. T., 212.
Poughkeepsie, 68, 126, 250.
Prayers, 169, 188.
President, 279.
Primogeniture, 236.
Pi-inoeton, 249, 262.
Printing, 116, 133, 175, 214.
Printz, J., 132, 133, 134.
Privileges and Exemptions, 62.
Proper, 213.
Proverbs, 80, 88, 150, 156, 159, 161,
165, 191.
Psalms, 26.
Public schools in New Nether
land, 48, 84, 175.
Public schools in Netherlands,
26, 40, 92-94.
Pulpit, 185, 188, 189, 201.
Purchase of land. See Land Pur-
Puritans, 128, 186, 203.
Putnam, 213.
Quackenbush, 213.
Quakers, 117, 137, 223.
Quant, 213.
Queen Anne, 241.
Queen Christina, 129, 130.
Queen's CoUege, 248, 255, 261.
Raleigh, W., 218.
Rapelye, Simon, 28.
Raritan, 262, 279.
Raritan Indians, 64, 84, 86.
Raritan River, 260.
Raritan Valley, 242, 260, 262, 264.
Reagle, 213.
Reformation, 92.
Reformed Church in America,
31, 46, 60, 234, 236-243, 246-255.
Reforraed Church in the Nether
lands, 26, 46, 92, 96, 224, 229, 234,
270 272.
Religion,' 25, 26, 169, 170, 185-193,
254, 267.
Rensselaer, 91.
Rensselaer-Bowier MSS., 50, 281.
Rensselaerwijk, 57, 99, 101, 102,
107, 120, 194-196, 237, 277.
Representative Government, 85-
88, 128, 142, 220, 224.
Republican Government. 216, 278.
Revolution, 137, 150, 224, 241, 251,
278.
Revolutionary War, 59, 145, 240,
256-263.
Rhine, 126, 245.
Rhode Island, 16.
Right, turning to the, 94.
Ring fence, 125.
Rivers, 5, 11, 19.
Rock Reglo, 102.

290

INDEX

Roelandsen, Adam, 61, 176, 177,
277.
Roman Catholics, 97, 98, 240.
Roman Law, 235.
Romeyn, 262.
Ronduit, 10, 123.
Roosevelt, 16, 279.
Rosa, 213.
Rotterdam, 56.
Round Robin, 104.
Rum, 199.
Ruofl, 213.
Russia, 175.
Rutgers College, 242, 255, 262,
279.
Rysingh, J., 134.
Ryswijk, 211.
Sacraments, 187, 192.
Saint Eustatius, 263.
Salem, 131.
Salute to the flag, 263, 279.
Sanders, 213.
Sandy Hook, 2, 4, 18, 31.
San Salvador, 41, 139, 140.
Santa Claus, 96, 150, 163, 154, 166.
Sarah Rapelye, 28.
Sassafras, 168.
" Satanstoe," 194.
Saw-mills, 162.
Saybrook, 55.
Scandinavians, 129, 131.
Schaats, G., 195.
Schenectady, 53, 35, 74, 120-124,
150, 165, 158, 162, 190, 202-214,
232, 259, 278.
Schepens, 115, 116.
Sohermerhorn, 213.
• Schoolcraft, 213.
Schoolmasters, 76, 109, 191, 238.
Schools, 26, 48, 76, 93, 149, 176.
Scholte, 270.
Schout, 61, 102, 116.
Schureman, J., 257.
Schuyler, 201, 213.
Schuyler, Philip, 258.
Schuylkill, 129, 131, 133.
Scriba, 266.
Seals, 47, 200, 203.
Secret instructions, 219, 237.
Seeds, 31, 37.
Sellye, 213.
Selyns, 184, 214, 229.
Sempronius, 266.
Sermons, 92, 95, 151, 189.
Servants, 45, 189, 195.
Sexton, 189.
Shaffer, 213.
Ships, 10, 24, 31, 51, 66, 68.
Ship-building, 15, 37.
Ships' names, 10, 24, 31, 36, 51, 66,
68, 78, 81, 89, 136.

Shoes, 196.
Shops, 196.
Sillem, A. J., 180.
Silver, 68, 110, 187, 192, 197, 213.
Silvernails, 107.
Simcoe, 262.
Singing, 26, 38, 93, 154.
Sitterlee, 213.
Six Nations, 275.
Skating, 150, 151, 152.
Slaghboom, A., 107.
Slavery, 45, 69, 60, 139, 252, 264.
Sleep, 169.
Sleepy HoUow, 185.
Sleighs, 151, 162.
Sloughter, 231, 232, 238.
Smeerenburg, 67.
Smith, Captain John, 3, 4, 9.
Smoking, 73, 76, 97, 99, 107, 189.
Snowshoes, 209.
Snyder, 213.
Socialism, 138.
Social life, 98, 99, 104, 147, 160,
192, 193, 197, 217
Social morality, 76, 198.
Social waste, 198.
Somerset County, 242, 265.
Sounding board, 185.
South America, 139, 204.
South River. See Delaware River.
Spain, 1, 16, 20, 61, 91, 175.
Spaniards, 15, 26, 34, 67, 139.
Spanish Hill, 15.
Spitzbergen, 67.
Spuyten Duyvil, 12, 108, 114.
Stadt-Huys, 116, 195.
State Church, 147, 182, 278.
State House, 116, 195.
Staten Island, 18, 64, 84, 124, 143.
States-General, 3, 17, 81.
Stevenson, J., 178.
Stoep, 99.
Stone, Captain, 64.
Stony Point, 6.
Stoves, 152, 160, 168, 169, 189.
Street names, 18.
Stuart Kings, 146.
Stuyvesant, Peter, 67, 89, 110-120,
133, 134, 136, 143, 146, 147, 162, 178,
215, 278.
Sullivan's expedition, 259, 261,
265.
Sundays, 155, 185-193.
Surinam, 168, 218.
Surnames, 218, 219, 278.
Surrey, 218.
Susquehanna River and Valley,
15, 19, 126, 130, 260, 255.
Swaanendael, 69, 71, 72, 138.
Swart, 213.
Sweden, 129-136.
Swedes, 70, 129-137, 143, 278.

INDEX

291

Swedish West India Company, 1,
129.
Swiss, 136, 246.
Swlts, 213.
Swortfiguers, 213.
Symbols, 195, 212, 213.
Tablets, 17, 31, 36, 97.
Tank Memorial Home, 269.
Taps, 82.
Tarrytown, 185-187.
Tassemacher, P., 137, 204^-210, 238.
Tawasentha, 73.
Taxation, 85, 86, 87, 88, 113, 176,
176, 177, 178, 222, 238, 244.
Teller, 213.
Tenants, 62, 63.
Thanksgiving Day, 150, 164.
Thrones, 186.
¦nies, 162.
Timber, 42.
Tinicum, 132, 133.
Tobacco, 36, 58, 70, 98, 99, 190.
Toleration, 225.
Toll, 213.
Tories, 252, 262.
TorklUas, R., 130.
Toys, 153.
Trades and occupations, 172, 196-
198
Traditions, 79, 155.
Trails, 73.
Translations, 132, 214, 273.
Trees, 42, 192.
Trenton, N. J., 132.
Trenton, N. Y., 267.
Trinity Church, N. Y., 239.
'Irinity Church, Del., 136.
Tromp, Admiral, 33, 59, 266.
Ti-oy, 90.
Truax, 28, 213.
Trumbull, 165.
Trumpeters, 36, 64, 108.
Tioce of 1609, 2, 3, 4, 139. See
Great Truce.
Tryon County, 259.
Turkeys, 158.
Turning to the right, 94.
Twelve Men, 86, 87, 120, 126, 278.
Twombley, 213.
Tymeson, 213.
Ulster County, 126, 267.
Underbill, J., 87.
Union College, 205, 265.
Union of the colonies, 230.
Unitarian faith, 267.
United New Netherland Com
pany, 17.
University of the State of New
York, 177, 182.
Usselinx, 1, 2, 20, 129, 139.

Utica, 268.
Utrecht University, 260.
Utterwick, H., 280.
Van. See also under family
names.
Van, the prefix, 172.
Van Bibber, 148.
Van Boetzelaer, 269.
Van Bunschoten, 262.
Van Curler, Anthony, 36, 107.
Van Curler, Arendt, 9, 88, 93, 100,
107, 121, 202.
Van Curler, Jacobus, 51, 53, 54,
87, 102, 109, 158.
Van Curlers, 90, 91, 94, 108.
Van der Capellen, 64, 89, 97, 269.
Van der Donck, A., 68, 104, 114,
115, 116, 117.
Van der Kemp, 267-268, 269.
Van der Linden, 281.
Vanderlyn, 165.
Van der Volgen, C, 206.
Van Dincklagen, 67, 112.
Van Dyck, ensign, 86.
Van Dyke, 86, 87, 273.
Van Laer, E., 281.
Van Noppen, 148.
Van Peft, D., 280.
Van Raalte, 270, 280.
Van Rensselaer, K., 50, 68, 76, 80,
94,99.
Van Rensselaer-Bowier MSS.,
60, 281.
Van Rensselaer, Nicholas, 58, 237.
Van Rensselaers, 50, 58, 64, 77, 78,
90 91 94.
Van Sc'hlectenhorst, 50, 90, 114,
Van Twiner, Walter, 49-59, 85, 90,
91, 94, 99, 112, 158, 237, 277.
Van Winkle, Rip, 33.
Varna, 266.
Varick, 229, 230.
Vedder, 213.
Veeder, 213.
Veluwe, 13.
Verbeck of Japan, 273.
Verhulst, W., 30.
Vermilye, A. G., 233, 281.
Verrazano's Sea, 4.
Versailles, 204, 209, 210.
Vertoogh, 114, 115.
Vibbard, 213.
Viele, 213.
Village communities, 29, 128.
Virginia, 4, 23, 35, 46, 52, 148, 243,
265.
Visscher, 213.
Voorhees, 213.
Voorlezer (fore-reader), 47, 180,
191.
Voorsanger (precentor), 48, 191.

292

INDEX

Vrooman, 213.
Vrooman, B., 259.
Waldenses, 127.
Waldron, 213.
Walkill, 27, 126.
Wallabout, 27.
Walloons, 1, 22-28, 30, 32, 66, 96,
277.
Wall Street, 58, 143.
Wampum, 13, 36, 42, 85, 126.
Wars, 85-88, 144, 145, 199.
Washington, 268, 260, 261, 269.
Wassenaer, 14, 33.
Wasson, 213.
Waterloo, 270.
Watervliet, 7.
Weathervanes, 91, 164, 166.
Weatherwax, 213.
Wecaco, 136.
Weddings, 169.
Weeks, 213.
Welius, E., 136.
WeUer, 213.
Wemple, 213.
Wendell, 201, 209, 213.
Wessels, 213.
West India Company, 1, 20, 35, 66,
66, 59, 62, 131, 139, 140, 143, 144,
242, 269, 277.
West Indies, 23, 55, 56, 199.
Westerloo, 258.
Westinghouse, 213.
Wethersfield, 155.
Whales, 21, 67, 72.
Whiskey, 223.
Whltbeck, 213.

Whitmyer, 213.
Wilhelmina, Queen, 271.
WlUemstadt, 194.
William I (King), 270.
William III, 33, 143, 217, 224, 227,
231, 233, 278.
William of Orange-Nassau (The
Silent), 19, 71, 119.
Wilmington, 130, 136, 138.
Wiltwijk, 119, 122, 124, 141, 162,
278.
Windmills, 12, 42, 55, 56, 203.
Windows, 94, 206.
Windsor, 94, 206.
Winegart, 213.
Winkle, Rip Van, 33.
Winter sports, 151-153.
Winthrop, John, 55.
Witchcraft, 180.
Wives, 170.
Wood-runners, 104.
Women of Netherlands, 78, 79.
Women of New Netherland, 25,
28, 41, 45, 66, 79, 80.
Worship, 34, 47, 48, 191, 192.
Writers on New Netherland. See
Michaelius, de Rasleres, de
Vries, van der Donck, Wasse
naer, etc.
Yale College, 250, 258.
Yonkers, 114.
Zeiger, 245.
Zoology, 4, 5.
Zuyder Zee, 90, 97.
ZwoUe, 97.

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