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DUTCH NEW YORK 



BOOKS BY MISS SINGLETON 

Turrets, Towers, and Temples. Great Buildings of the 
World Described by Great Writers. 

Great Pictures. Described by Great Writers. 

Wonders of Nature. Described by Great Writers. 
Romantic Castles and Palaces. Described by Great 
Writers. 

Famous Paintings. Described by Great Writers. 

Historic Buildings. Described by Great Writers. 

Famous Women. Described by Great Writers. 

Great Portraits. Described by Great Writers. 

Historic Buildings of America. Described by Great 
Writers. 

Historic Landmarks of America. Described by Great 
Writers. 

Holland. Described by Great Writers. 

Paris. Described by Great Writers. 

London. Described by Great Writers. 

Russia. Described by Great Writers. 

Japan. Described by Great Writers. 

Venice. Described by Great Writers. 

Rome. Described by Great Writers. 

A Guide to the Opera. 

Love in Literature and Art. 

The Golden Rod Fairy Book. 

The Wild Flower Fairy Book. 

Germany. Described by Great Writers. 

Switzerland. Described by Great Writers. 

Great Rivers of the World. Described by Great 
Writers. 

Dutch New York. Manners and Customs of New Am- 
sterdam in the Seventeenth Century. 













































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NEW YORK 

DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 



DUTCH 
NEW YORK 



BY 



ESTHER SINGLETON 

AUTHOR OF “DUTCH AND FLEMISH FURNITURE 
“HOLLAND,” “SOCIAL NEW YORK UNDER 
THE GEORGES,” ETC. 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 



1909 



Copyright, 1909 
By Dodd, Mead and Company 

Published September, 1909 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



1244233 



PREFACE 

N UMEROUS as are the books that have been 
written about this Metropolis of the West- 
ern Hemisphere, I venture to hope that there 
is room for one more, especially one that deals with 
the life, hardships, struggles, manners, customs, joys, 
sorrows, beliefs, superstitions, and worldly possessions 
of the first white settlers in New Netherland. In the 
following pages I have tried to reproduce the daily life 
of the Dutch burgher in New Amsterdam, rising with 
him in the morning; describing his house and garden 
or farm, his furniture, and his costume ; accompanying . 
him through the day to his morning prayers, his break- 
fast, his counting-house, his midday meal, his after- 
noon recreation, his evening meal and devotions; ac- 
companying him also to church and to the tavern; 
describing his family — christenings, courtships, wed- 
dings, and funerals, as well as the great festivals of the 
year — Saint Nicholas’ Eve, New Year’s Day, Twelfth 
Night, Shrovetide, May Day, Whitsuntide, Saint Mar- 
tin’s Eve, the Kermis , and other merry-making. I 
have also described his wife’s activities in the house- 
hold, her cleaning, marketing, and cooking. I have 
also fully depicted the condition of domestic servitude 
and schooling in the colony. I have not devoted much 
space to identifying old landmarks, or describing the 
courses of the original streets and canals, or the sites 
of many of the homes mentioned in the text. This 



VI 



PREFACE 



has been done more or less exhaustively by others who 
are well versed in such antiquarian lore. For my pur- 
pose it is sufficient that the reader should know that 
during the period that I treat of Dutch life here was 
concentrated in a small area on Manhattan Island be- 
low Trinity Church, the principal points of interest 
of which were the Fort, including the Church and 
windmill, the Strand, and the City Tavern at the 
Ferry. 

The writer who tries to reconstitute the life of the 
original Dutch settlers in New York is seriously handi- 
capped by the almost ineradicable impression left in the 
mind of the casual reader by the brilliant author of 
Knickerbocker's History of New York, who belabored 
the Dutch Governors and their charges with a bludgeon 
of ridicule. The effect of that entertaining work is 
that it is hard to convince anyone but a student of the 
old days that the Dutchman is worthy of anything 
more than derision, or a half-contemptuous and languid 
interest at most. Even some of those who claim 
descent from the Dutch of the Seventeenth Century 
speak of the manners and customs of their forefathers 
half apologetically. I hope that a perusal of the fol- 
lowing pages will satisfy the candid reader that so far 
from the average Dutchman in New Amsterdam being 
an uncivilized boor, he compared very favorably, in all 
that civilization means, with the contemporary middle 
classes of England, France, or any other European 
country. The Dutchman here was a transplanted 
Dutchman, pure and simple. He did not come into 
a foreign community like an immigrant of the present 
day and have to adjust himself to alien speech and 
customs ; he was transplanted with his family to a 
tract of land on the edge of a big waterway where he 
could dig his canals and live under physical conditions 



PREFACE 



vii 



which did not differ materially from those he had left. 
He spoke no language but his own, and he was ruled 
in accordance with the laws of the States-General, occa- 
sionally slightly modified to suit the convenience of 
a monopolistic trading-company. His bodily and spir- 
itual needs were ministered to by Dutch professional 
men who had received their diplomas in Holland and 
were authorized to practice here by the Directors of 
the West India Company. He brought with him Dutch 
furniture, and the Company’s stores supplied him with 
Dutch manufactures of clothing, implements, and uten- 
sils. His houses and barns were built and his table 
was supplied by Dutch masons, bricklayers, carpenters, 
glaziers, millers, brewers, and bakers. Not satisfied 
with mere comfort, his rooms were adorned with the 
productions of the contemporary Dutch Great and 
Little Masters. His gardens were as bright with tulips 
and other flowers as those of his brother in Amsterdam ; 
his table was more plentifully supplied with game, fish, 
poultry, fruits, and vegetables ; and he very soon could 
afford the porcelains and lacquers that were pouring 
into Holland by way of the Spice Islands, and he soon 
found a way to help himself direct to the products of 
Oriental looms and lathes by piratical measures. Silver 
plate adorned his sideboard, and Delft and porcelain 
brightened the shelves and tops of his cabinets, brackets, 
and cornices. 

When fully dressed in his silks, satins, velvets, and 
rich cloths, an idea of his appearance may be best 
obtained from contemporary Dutch portraits by Hals, 
Bol, Van der Heist, Ravesteyn, and Rembrandt. His 
wife and daughters at christenings, betrothals, wed- 
dings, and other festivities were resplendent in jeweled 
headgear (of their native fashions), ear-rings, brooches, 
necklaces, chatelaines , breast-hooks, buttons, chains, 



viii PREFACE 

watches, rings, laces, furs, silks, satins, fans, and fine 
linen. 

The burghers lived well at home and entertained one 
another royally in the taverns. There is a record of at 
least one dinner shared among cronies at the City 
Tavern at $80 a cover. We have records of other 
dinners of which the cost is not given. Fortunately 
for us. the bill of this one was disputed and so the land- 
lord went to court. Tavern revelry in the town called 
forth many a reproving ordinance, and many a riotous 
gang of night-hawks was haled into court by the 
Sellout. Personal violence and bloodshed in conse- 
quence of excessive indulgence was not infrequent 
among the upper classes and was very common among 
the lower orders. Drunkenness was scarcely a re- 
proach. On one occasion it was at least a blessing in 
disguise, namely, when at the Governor’s instigation 
a collection was taken up from half-seas-over wedding- 
guests which was sufficient to start the building of the 
church of the Fort. We must conclude that New Am- 
sterdam was indeed a thirsty town, when in 1646 we 
learn that one in every four of its inhabitants was en- 
gaged in the business of selling strong liquor! 

It is noticeable that a number of the fair sex in New 
Amsterdam were tavern-keepers and tapsters. 

Valiant as the Dutch were as toss-pots, they were 
probably matched by the English rake-hells, one of 
whom appears as early as 1672. Of him it is 
chronicled : 

Another disaster about 12 dayes 1 since befell a young 
man in this towne, by name one Mr. Wright, a one-eyed 
man and a muff-maker by trade, who drinking hard upon 
rum one evening, with some friends, begann a health of a 
whole pint at a draught, which he had noe sooner done 
but downe hee fell and never rose more, which prodigy 



PREFACE 



IX 



may teach us all to have a care how wee drink, in imita- 
tion of that good old lesson, Foelix quem faciunt, etc. 

Shrovetide seems to have been a week in which the 
license of the Italian Carnival was matched here. Ex- 
cise privileges were largely extended during this fes- 
tival, to the great scandal of the sober-minded. Thus, 
in 1655: 

Fiscal makes known to the Court that apparently some 
of the Company’s soldiers and servants will ask the Court 
for permission to tap, and as they will thereby be led into 
debauchery and many irregularities will occur, he requests 
the Court will be pleased not to grant their application. 

Shrovetide was the Saturnalia of the lower classes, 
during which they indulged in such gentle and joyous 
pastimes as all kinds of racing, and ball-games in the 
streets, Pulling the Goose, etc., even in defiance of 
stringent ordinances. The youth of the town were 
sadly led astray by their turbulent elders, and some of 
their choice indulgences consisted of cutting koeckies , 
or stakes, out of the fences for bonfires and “ halloing 
after Indians in Pearl Street,” which pleasures were 
strictly prohibited in 1660. 

The chief pleasures of the women seem to have 
consisted in gossip and slander. The good wives of 
the day, like their English sisters, abused one another 
in the purest Billingsgate. Innumerable are the cases 
that come into court in which one woman complains 
of defamation of character by another. In nine cases 
out of ten the affair is settled by the offender declaring 
that she knows nothing of the complainant but what is 
virtuous and honorable, and begging pardon of God, 
the complainant, and the honorable Court. 

In the following pages considerations of space have 
deterred me from describing the military establishment 



X 



PREFACE 



here and its regulation ; or the civic guards, the watch, 
and the police; or the courts and the administration 
of justice. The question of crimes and punishment, 
however, must not be entirely ignored. 

It would seem that the most serious misdemeanor of 
which a man could be guilty was speaking ill of those 
in authority. The penalties inflicted for this were far 
more severe than those for felonious assault; for in- 
stance, in 1642, the penalty for drawing a knife and 
wounding was fifty florins or three months’ labor in 
chains with the negroes. Five years later the penalty 
was raised to three hundred guilders. This was small 
in comparison with the punishment inflicted for lese- 
majeste in 1660, when Walewyn van der Veen said in 
Allard Anthony’s hearing that the magistrates were 
only fools and simpletons. He was condemned to re- 
pair the injury honorably and profitably, — honorably, 
by praying with uncovered head pardon of God and 
Justice; profitably, with a fine of twelve hundred 
guilders. Walewyn preferred imprisonment. 

In 1638, it was ordered that court should be held 
every Thursday, and that persons guilty of adultery, 
perjury, calumny, theft, and other immoralities should 
be punished. In 1643, ^ ie burgher guard was regu- 
lated and fines were provided for taking the name of 
God in vain, for traducing a comrade, for being drunk 
on guard, for discharging a gun without orders after 
daybreak, and for being absent without leave. 

Various punishments were inflicted for various 
crimes. Sometimes different punishments were in- 
flicted for the same crime. For example, for drawing 
a knife in 1638, Gysbert van Beyerland was sentenced 
to be ducked three times from the yard-arm of the 
Hope, and receive three blows from each of the crew. 

1 he soldiers at the Fort were very frequently un- 



PREFACE 



XI 



ruly and turbulent. Desertion was common. Insubor- 
dination, absence from duty, drunkenness on parade, 
fighting in barracks, street brawling, and wounding 
inoffensive citizens were also frequent offenses that 
were severely dealt with by the authorities. “ Riding 
the Wooden Horse ” was the usual punishment for 
minor offenses. Running the Gauntlet was a punish- 
ment sometimes inflicted for a serious crime. The old 
lex talionis seems to have been recognized here to 
some extent. For example, in 1665, Jan Smedes’s 
horse ran over and killed Frans van Hooghten’s child. 
The Schout demanded that the horse be forfeited, and 
the parent be satisfied. A few days later Van Hoogh- 
ten made the strange request that Jan be ordered “ to 
keep out of his sight, and not to resort to the Man- 
hathans so as to prevent mischief.” The order was 
issued. 

It would appear that “ the terrible avengers of the 
majesty of law ” did not themselves always lead blame- 
less lives, judging from a letter written at the Fort in 
1673: 

Lastly for our city news, lett this satisfy : that t’ other 
day wee had like to have lost our hangman, Ben Johnson, 
for hee being taken in diverse thefts and robberyes con- 
victed and found guilty, scap’d his neck through want of 
another hangman to truss him up, soe that all the punish- 
ment that hee receiv’d for his 3 yeares roguery in thieving 
and stealing (which was never found out till now) was 
only thirty-nine stripes at the whipping-post, loss of an 
ear and banishment. 

Torture was resorted to on more than one occasion 
in the case of accused persons who refused to confess. 
On one occasion a sailor whose crime consisted in steal- 
ing a table-cloth from a tavern was put on the rack 
before he confessed. 



xij PREFACE 

Capital crimes were variously punished. In 1638, 
Jan Gysbertsen for the murder of Gerrit Jansen was 
sentenced to be punished by the sword until he is dead, 
his property and wages confiscated for the benefit of 
the widow (one half), the Company (one quarter), 
and the public prosecutor (one fourth). In 1666, 
Engel Hendricx, “ having turned out al motherly affec- 
tion. buried [her child] with sods uppon the boddy in 
a open field to the mercy of al wild beasts, by which 
it evidently appeares she intended throw those means to 
murther the same.” She was hanged. 

After a careful study of the public and private life 
of the Seventeenth Century Dutchman, we must come 
to the conclusion that he was by no means a character 
to be dismissed with a jest or a sneer. He was a 
faithful husband and an affectionate father. He was 
generally devout, jovial, industrious, thrifty, but lux- 
urious in his tastes. He was brave; but in his deal- 
ings with the aborigines and rival settlers he was 
oppressive, treacherous, and cruel. Although the term 
“ honest Dutchman ” has passed into a proverb, his 
business rectitude must remain a debatable question. 
It is not too much to say that every householder in 
New Amsterdam was a merchant, or a shop-keeper. 
Even the clergy, doctors, and schoolmasters engaged 
in trade. It is evident from the Court Records that 
sharp practices of all kinds were indulged in almost 
universally in the constant barter of which the great 
mass of the local trade consisted. The collection of 
petty accounts and the settlement of trade disputes took 
up by far the greatest amount of the time of the 
lower court. The Dutchmen in Fatherland had a 
bad reputation in the writings of their fellow-country- 
men, particularly on account of their readiness to go 
bankrupt, offering their creditors as little as three or 



PREFACE xiii 

four per cent, till “ he lies like a broker ” became a 
proverb. 

The drama of the day teems with biting passages 
bearing on the faithlessness, covetousness, meanness, 
and dishonesty of the merchant of the day. The 
thunder of pulpit oratory was also directed against the 
sins of the mercantile class. We must allow, however, 
for the exaggerations of both church and stage, and 
conclude that the average Dutchman was at least as 
scrupulous in his dealings as the merchants of other 
nations. That he was able to drive a close bargain, 
however, and was up to all the tricks of the trade, we 
gather from the following. Miller (1695) says: 

As to their wealth and disposition thereto, the Dutch 
are rich and sparing; the English neither very rich, nor 
too great husbands; the French are poor, and therefore 
forced to be penurious. As to their way of trade and deal- 
ing, they are all generally cunning and crafty, but many of 
them not so just to their words as they should be. 

Madam Knight (1707) writes: 

They have Vendues very frequently and make their 
Earnings very well by them, for they treat with good 
Liquor Liberally, and the Customers Drink as Liberally 
and Generally pay for’t as well, by paying for that which 
they Bidd up Briskly for, after the sack has gone plenti- 
fully about, tho’ sometimes good penny worths are got 
there. 

The sources from which I have drawn the material 
for this work are the old wills, inventories, Court Rec- 
ords, diaries, letters, and documentary colonial his- 
tory. For the details of contemporary Dutch life I am 
largely indebted to the works of Dr. G. D. J. Schotel, 
Het Maatschappelijk Leven onzer Vaderen in de Ze- 
ventiende Eeuw and Het Oud-Hollandsch Huisgezin 



xiv 



PREFACE 



dcr Zcvcnticnde Eenw. The miniature house and its 
rooms and specimens of porcelain, glass, and watches 
in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam, were photographed 
especially for this book. My best thanks are due to 
Miss Anne van Cortlandt, who kindly permitted me to 
have photographs taken of the Van Cortlandt house 
and some of the family heirlooms; also to the New 
York Historical Society for permission to reproduce 
the portrait of Cornelis Steenwyck, Mayor of the city; ~ 
and to the Albany Institute and Historical and Art 
Society for permission to have photographs taken of 
their relics. I also have to thank Mr. Arthur Shadwell 
Martin for valuable assistance. 

E. S. 



New York, 
November, 1908. 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

Settlement and Early Conditions of New Nether- 
land 



Page 

i 



Early Voyagers — Block, Hudson, and Christiaensz van Cleef ; 
Arrival of the New Netherland ; the Sea-Mew brings Peter 
Minuit; Arrival of the Arms of Amsterdam ; Cornelis Hoorn 
and Willem Van Hulst; Minuit’s Purchase of the Island of 
Manhattan ; Early Conditions ; Letter of Jonas Michaelius ; 
Wouter Van Twiller, Willem Kieft, and Growth of Colony; 
Impressions of Father Jogues ; Montanus’s Description of 
New Amsterdam; Adriaen Van der Donck’s Description 
of the Scenery — Beautiful Woods and “Bush Burning”; 
Farms and Farmers ; City Lots and Bouweries ; Native Birds ; 
Cattle and Pasture Lands; Goats, Dogs, and Pigs; Ordi- 
nances Regarding Cleanliness in the Streets. 



CHAPTER II 

Orchards and Gardens, Houses and Streets of New 

Amsterdam 27 

The Dutch Love of Gardens and Flowers; the Tulip Mania; 
Flowers in New Netherland; the Company’s Garden; 

Early Gardeners; Fruit in New Netherland; Vegetables and 
Orchards; the Town and Fort; the Tavern and Church; the 
First Houses; Native Brick; Stuyvesant’s Whitehall and 
Bouwery; Glass and Leaden Window Frames; Contract to 
build an Inn ; a Typical Dwelling ; the Van Cortlandt 
and Philipse Houses; Surveyors of Streets and Buildings; 
the City Wall; the Palisades; Primitive Streets; Danger 
from Fire; the Burgher Watch and Rattle Watch; Lighting 
the Street ; Descriptions of New Amsterdam by Governor 
Andros, William Byrd, and Madam Knight. 



XVI 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER III 



Costume 

Sumptuous Apparel of the Period; New Amsterdam Shop 
Goods; the Petticoat; the Rain Dress; Samars and Night- 
rails ; Aprons, Sleeves, Ruffs, and Stomachers ; Headdresses ; 
Cha 'telaitus and Gold Head Ornaments; Jewels of Steen- 
wyck, Cristina Cappoens, Margarita Van Varick, Asser Levy, 
Peter Marius, and Others; the Dress of Children; Costume 
of Farmers’ Wives and Daughters; Coats, Waistcoats, and 
Breeches; the Burgomaster’s Suit; Wardrobes of Cornelis 
Steenwyck, Dr. Jacob de Lange, Asser Levy, and Others; 
Shirts and Neckwear; Stockings and Shoes ; Gloves, Hats, 
Wigs, and Cloaks; Swords, Belts, and Canes; a Melancholy 
W ardrobe. 



CHAPTER IV 



Rooms and Furniture 

Tastes of the Prosperous New Netherlander; Ebony, Ivory, 
and Other Oriental Goods ; the Chimney-piece, Bed, A”as, 
Cabinet, and Other Furniture; the Voorhuis , or Fore Room; 
Homes of Dr. de Lange, Steenwyck, and Marius; Typical 
English Homes; Furniture of Rombouts and De Milt. 



CHAPTER V 

Pictures, Silver, China, Glass, and Curios .... 

Dutch Painters of Interiors; Pictures in New Amsterdam; 
Silver of the Period; Collections of Mrs. Van Varick, Peter 
Marius, and Others; Thefts of Silver; Great Use of Pewter; 
Porcelain and Earthenware ; Glass ; Miniature Houses and 
Curios. 



CHAPTER VI 

New Amsterdam Housekeeping 

Breakfast; Going to Market; Fish in New Amsterdam; 
Breads, Pasties, Cakes, and Bakers; Setting the Table; 
Table Furniture; the Noonday Meal; Favorite Dishes; Tea, 



Page 

56 



81 



102 



120 



CONTENTS xvii 

Page 

Coffee, and Chocolate ; Winter Evenings ; Supper ; House- 
hold Pets; Foot-warmers and Church Seats; the Dutch 
Housewife’s Passion for Cleaning ; Love of Fine Linen. 



CHAPTER VII 

Servants and Slaves 143 

Indentured Servants ; Masters and Servants; Parental Rights; 
Employer’s Liability; Cruelty and Abuse; Parental Solici- 
tude; Disposal of Children and Servants by Bequest; 
Troubles of the Lone Widow and of the Fatherless Chil- 
dren; Runaway Servants; Pauper Children from Amster- 
dam — not all Desirable Citizens; Negro Slaves; Humane 
Treatment; Manumission; the Chain Gang; Slave Trade; 

Prices of Slaves. 

CHAPTER VIII 

Education 158 

Education in Holland; Provision made for Education by the 
West India Company; Adam Roelantsen, the First School- 
master of New Amsterdam; Deplorable Condition of Schools; 

Early Schoolmasters; Grades of Schools; Lessons and Pun- 
ishments; Penmanship; Importance of Languages; General 
Illiteracy; Provision by Parents for the Education of their 
Children ; Latin Schools; ^Egidius Luyck; Routine of School 
Life; Dancing and Dancing-schools; Libraries and Books. 

CHAPTER IX 

Religion, Persecution, and Superstition 182 

Consolers and Visitors of the Sick; Dominies Michaelius and 
Bogardus ; the Church in the Fort ; Feud between Kieft and 
Bogardus; the Company’s Rules; Dominies Megapolensis 
and Drisius; an Indian Convert; State of Religion in New 
Amsterdam and Long Island; Persecution of the Lutherans; 
the Troublesome Quakers; Church Service; Blom ministers 
to Long Island; Henricus Selyns; Rudolphus Van Varickjj 
Governor Andros, Governor Dongan, William Byrd, Miller 
and Madam Knight on the Religions in New Amsterdam ; 
Sabbath-breaking; Days of Fasting and Prayer ; Superstition 
and Witchcraft; Stuyvesant’s Relative held for a Witch. 



XVUl 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER X 

Courtship and Marriage 

Infant Betrothal; Courtship; Breaches of Promise; Story of 
Maria Verleth; Separation and Divorce; Ceremonies of 
Betrothal; Play-youths and Play-maidens; the Bride’s 
Basket; Publishing the Banns; Receptions and Congratula- 
tions; the Bride’s Costume; Jewels in New Amsterdam; 
Parents’ Gifts to Bridegrooms; the Bridal Escort; the 
Nuptial Banquet; the Bride’s Crown; Wedding Outfits; 
Weddings in New Amsterdam. 



CHAPTER XI 

Physicians and Surgeons, Births and Deaths . . . 

Dignity of the Physician; the Quack Doctor; Barber- 
surgeons; Ships Doctors and Barbers; First Surgeons of 
New Netherland ; Various Activities of the Early Physicians ; 
Bill for Nursing; No Cure, No Pay; Doctors’ Suits; Plenty 
of Employment for Doctors ; the First Hospital on Man- 
hattan Island; Native Medicinal Plants; Preparations for a 
New Member of the Family; the Christening; the Baby’s 
Costume ; the Christening Dinner ; Christening Presents ; 
the Consoler of the Sick; Burial Customs; Mourning and 
Funerals; Interments; Pomp and Splendor at Funerals; 
Burial of Suicides; Funerals in New Amsterdam. 



CHAPTER XII 

Taverns and Excise Laws 

The Drink Evil; Importance of the Tavern in Civic Life; 
Dutch Taverns Beverages; Drinking Vessels, Dinners, and 
Drinking Customs; Feasts in the New Amsterdam City 
Tavern; Roistering, Revelling, and Tavern Brawls; Excise 
Laws and Court Cases; Sunday Liquor Laws. 

CHAPTER XIII 

Sports, Festivals, and Pastimes 

Favorite Games — Kactzcn , Golf, Bowls, Skittles, Ninepins, 
and Disc-throwing, Clubbing the Cat; Pulling the Goose; 
Bird-cutting; Archery; Racing; Cards, Billiards, and Back- 



CONTENTS 



xix 



Page 

gammon; the Indian Game of Senneca ; Saint Nicholas, the 
Patron Saint of New Amsterdam; Saint Nicholas Eve; 
Christmas, New Year’s, and Twelfth Night; Masquerade of 
the Three Kings; Shrove Tuesday and its Pastimes; May- 
day and Whitsuntide ; Saint Martin’s Day and Saint Martin’s 
Goose; Excursions and Picnics; the Game of Sea-carrying; 
Kissing ; the “ Kissing-bridge ” ; Skating and Sleighing ; 

Indoor Diversions; the Sausage-making Evening; Cattle 
and Other Livestock ; the Kermis. 



CHAPTER XIV 

Merchants and Trade ■. 321 

The Atlantic Passage ; Transport Expenses; Names of Ships ; 
Ship-building in New Amsterdam; Shipping Regulations; 

Bill of Lading; Volume of Trade; Indian Trade; Wampum 
and Sewan ; Currency Regulations ; Treatment of Indians ; 

Laws against Selling Liquor and Ammunition to the Natives ; 

Private Trade ; Smuggling ; Great and Small Burghers ; 

Piracy ; Opposition to its Suppression ; Bellomont’s Diffi- 
culties; Oriental Wares; a Merchant’s Office; New Nether- 
land Industries; Trade Profits; Shops and Shop Goods; 
Confused Currency ; Barter ; Women Traders and Merchants ; 

Jews; Intolerance; Disabilities; Establishment. 



INDEX 



35i 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Portrait of Cornells Steen wyck. Owned by the New York 

Historical Society. (In Photogravure) . . . Frontispiece 

Facing page 

New Amsterdam (earliest known view) 8 

New Amsterdam about 1670 16 

Old Hopper House, Second Avenue and 83d Street, New 

York 24 

Kip House, Kip’s Bay, New York 24 

Old Stone House, I52d Street, Kingsbridge Road, New York 24 
Gardens of the Van Cortlandt Manor House, Croton-on- 

Hudson 32 

Van Cortlandt Manor House (1681), Croton-on-Hudson . . 40 

Wall of the Van Cortlandt Manor House, showing Loopholes 48 

Entrance Door of the Van Cortlandt Manor House, Croton- 

on-Hudson 54 

Hall and Stairway, Van Cortlandt Manor House .... 62 

Old Dutch Watches. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam .... 70 

Mahogany Table brought from Holland in 1668 82 

Dutch China Cabinet with Porcelain. Owned by Mr. Frans 

Middelkoop, New York 90 

Dutch China Cabinet and Porcelain. Owned by Mr. Frans 

Middelkoop, New York 98 

Miniature Silver Articles and Silver Toys. Rijks Museum, 

Amsterdam 108 

Dutch Silver from the Van Cortlandt Manor House . . . 112 



xx ii ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing page 

Silver Tankard. Owned by Sara de Rapelje 1 16 

A Family Meal (seventeenth century) 120 

Dutch Kitchen. Jan Steen 126 

Old Church Bench or Stool. Albany Institute and Historical 

and Art Society J 3 2 

Napkin Press (seventeenth century). Owned by Mr. Frans 

Middelkoop, New York 138 

Voorhuis in the Doll’s House. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam 144 
Bedroom, Doll’s House. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam . . 150 

Show Room, Doll’s House. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam . 156 

Kitchen, Doll’s House. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam . . . 162 

Old Dutch School Scenes 166 

General View of Doll’s House. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam 172 
Porcelain and Earthenware. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam . 178 

Drinking-Glasses. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam ... .184 

Porcelain, Earthenware Ornament and Glass Tumbler in the 

Van Cortlandt Manor House 190 

Flowers. Jan Van Huysam 196 

The Parrot Cage. Jan Steen 202 

Country House. Pieter de Hooch 208 

Glass Drinking Vessels. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam . . 216 

A Dutch Bride in State (seventeenth century) 224 

Porcelain and Earthenware. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam . 232 

Dutch Clock in the Van Cortlandt Manor House .... 240 

Old Chest, Linen Press, and Two Warming-Pans. Owned 

by Mr. Frans Middelkoop, New York 246 

Dutch Cradle and Child’s Chair. Albany Institute and His- 
torical and Art Society 254 

Silver Spoons. Rijks Museum, Amsterdam 262 

Tavern Scene. Teniers „ 266 

Clover Leaf Drinking Cup 272 

Old Dutch Tankard 272 



ILLUSTRATIONS xxiii 

Facing page 

A Tavern Brawl. Adriaen Brouwer 288 

Pulling the Goose 296 

St. Nicholas Eve. Jan Steen 300 

Three Kings’ Evening (Twelfth Night) ....... 304 

Sports on the Ice 308 

Kermis.^ Teniers 316 

Winter Scene. Ostade 330 

Old Dutch House in Broad Street, New Amsterdam (1698) 344 




CHAPTER I 

SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS OF 
NEW NETHERLAND 

r | ^AHE history of the early voyages and settle- 
1 ments of the Dutch is told by a writer during 

JL Minuit’s directorship of the new colony. He 
says : 

This country, or the river, Montagne, called by our’s 
Mauritius, was first sailed to by the worthy Hendrick 
Christiaensen van Cleef. It so happened that he and the 
worthy Adriaen Block chartered a ship with the skipper, 
Ryser, and accomplished his voyage thither, bringing 
back with him two sons of the principal sachems there. 

Hudson, the famous English pilot, had been there 
also, to reach the South Sea, but found no passage. 

This aforesaid Hendrick Christiaensz, after he had dis- 
solved partnership with Adriaen Block, made ten voyages 
thither, in virtue of a grant from the Lords States who 
gave him that privilege for the first establishment of the 
place. On the expiration of that privilege, this country 
was granted to the West India Company, to draw their 
profits thence. 

The West India Company being chartered to navigate 
these Rivers did not neglect to do so, but equipped in the 
spring [of 1623] a vessel of 130 lasts, called the New 
Netherlands with thirty families, mostly Walloons, to 
plant a colony there. They sailed in the beginning of 



1 



1 



2 DUTCH NEW YORK 

March and directing their course by the Canary Islands, 
steered towards the Wild Coast, and gained the westwind 
which luckily [took] them in the beginning of May into 
the River called, first Rio de Montagues, now the River 
Mauritius, lying in 40 y 2 degrees. 

The ship sailed up to the Maykans, 44 miles, near which 
they built and completed a Fort named Orange, with 4 
bastions, on an Island by them called Castle Island. They 
forthwith put the spade in the ground and began to plant, 
and before the Mackerel sailed, the grain was nearly as 
high as a man, so that they are bravely advanced. They 
also placed a Fort named Wilhelmus on Prince’s Island, 
heretofore called Murderer’s Island; it is open in front, 
and has a curtain in the rear and is garrisoned by sixteen 
men for the defence of the River below. On leaving 
there, the course lies for the west wind, and having got it, 
to the Bermudas and so along the channel in a short time 
towards Patria. The Yacht, the Mackerel , sailed out last 
year on the 16th June and arrived yonder on the 12th of 
December. . . . 

The fur and other trade belongs to the West India 
Company, others being forbidden to trade there. Rich 
beavers, otters, martins and foxes are found there. This 
cargo consists of five hundred otter skins, and fifteen 
hundred beavers and a few other things, which were in 
four parcels of twenty-eight thousand some hundred 
guilders. 1 

On Jan. 9, 1626, Peter Minuit sailed in the Sea-Mew , 
Captain Adriaen Joris, and arrived at Manhattan on 
May 4. The next ship sent out by the West India 
Company was the Arms of Amsterdam, which arrived 
on July 27, 1626, and started on her return voyage on 
Sept. 23, 1626, with a valuable cargo of furs and wood 
under charge of Peter Barentsen, the Indian trader. 
She arrived in Amsterdam on November 4; and on 

1 The cargo of the New N etherland was sold in Amsterdam, Dec. 
20, 1624. 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 3 

the following day the Secretary thus informed the 
States-General : 

There arrived here yesterday the ship called the Arms 
of Amsterdam, which sailed from the river Mauritius 
[the Hudson], in New Netherland, on the 23d of Septem- 
ber. Report is brought that our people there are diligent 
and live peaceably ; their wives have also borne them 
children. They have purchased the Island of Manhattes 
from the Indians for the sum of sixty guilders; it con- 
tains 11,000 morgens of land. They have sown all kinds 
of grain in the middle of May, and reaped in the middle 
of August. I send you some samples of the summer 
grains, as wheat, rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, canary seed, 
beans and flax. 

The cargo of the ship consists of 7246 skins of beaver, 
853 otter, 81 mink, 36 cat lynx, 34 small rat, together 
with a considerable quantity of oak timber and nutwood. 

Our historian continues : 

The Company there administers Justice in criminal 
matters as far as imposing fines (boet-straffe ) , but not as 
far as capital punishment. Should it happen that any 
one deserves that, he must be sent to Holland with his 
sentence. Cornelis Hoorn was, in the year 1624, the first 
Director there; Willem Van Hulst was the second in 
the year 1625. He returns now. . . . 

Respecting these Colonies they have already a prosper- 
ous beginning; and the hope is that they will not fall 
through provided they be zealously sustained, not only in 
that place but in the South River. For their increase and 
prosperous advancement, it is highly necessary that those 
sent out be first of all well provided with means both of 
support and defence, and that being Freemen, they be 
settled there on a free tenure ; that all they work for and 
gain be their’s to dispose of and to sell according to their 
pleasure ; that whoever is placed over them as Commander 
act as their Father, not as their Executioner, leading them 
with a gentle hand. . . . 



4 



DUTCH NEW YORK 

In the year 1628, there already resided on the Island 
of the Manhates, two hundred and seventy souls, men, 
women and children, under Governor Minuit, Verhulst’s 
successor,* living there in peace with the Natives. But as 
the land, in many places being full of weeds and wild 
productions, could not be properly cultivated in conse- 
quence of the scantiness of the population, the said Lords 
Directors of the West India Company, the better to people 
their lands, and to bring the country to produce more 
abundantly, resolved to grant divers Privileges, Free- 
doms and Exemptions to all Patroons, Masters or Indi- 
viduals who should plant any Colonies or Cattle in New 
Netherland. 

After Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan, no 
time was lost in providing for the security of the settle- 
ment. The engineer, Krijn Frederijcke, staked out a 
fort on the southern point of the island to which the 
name Fort Amsterdam was given. The Company’s 
counting-house was a stone building with a thatched 
roof, but the other houses were of wood. Director 
Minuit and the Opper Koopman, De Rasieres, lived 
together; and there were about thirty houses on the 
east side of the river. Frances Moelmacker began to 
build a horse mill with a large room above to be used 
as a meeting-place for religious services ; for although 
there was as yet no regular clergyman, two Comforters 
of the Sick (Krcinck-besoeckers) , Sebastiaen Jansen 
Krol and Jan Huych, read the Bible and held meetings 
on Sundays. Another officer of the colony was Jan 
Lempo, the sellout, or sheriff. 

Each colonist had his own farm on the Company’s 
land, and was supplied with cows; but the milk was 
for his own profit. These temporary homes were out- 
side the Fort ; but as soon as that should be completed 
the people intended to reside within its walls, for the 
sake of greater security. Two years later, when the 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 5 

Three Kings , Captain Jan Jacobsen, and the Anns of 
Amsterdam , Captain Adriaen Joris, were sent by Direc- 
tor Minuit to the West India Company, arriving in 
Amsterdam in October, 1628, with furs and timber, 
they brought the good news that Fort Amsterdam was 
completed with four bastions, and faced with stone; 
that the colony numbered two hundred and seventy 
souls, including men, women, and children; that the 
cattle throve well, and that everything seemed pros- 
perous. At this period the colonists supported them- 
selves chiefly by farming, and any deficiencies were 
supplied by the West India Company. 

During Minuit’s administration Staten Island was 
also purchased. 

The letter of Jonas Michaelius (1628) gives a good 
picture of the infant colony, and the difficulties the 
early settlers had to face : 

As to what concerns myself and my household : I find 
myself by the loss of my good and helping partner very 
much hindered and distressed, — for my two little daugh- 
ters are yet small; maidservants are not here to be had, 
at least none whom they advise me to take; and the 
Angola slaves are thievish, lazy and useless trash. The 
young man whom I took with me, I discharged after 
Whitsuntide, for the reason that I could not employ him 
out of doors at any working of the land, and, in doors, he 
was a burden to me instead of an assistance. He is now 
elsewhere at service with the boers. 

The promise which the Lords Masters of the Company 
had made me to make myself a home, instead of a free 
table which otherwise belonged to me, is wholly of no 
avail. For their Honours well know that there are no 
houses, cows nor laborers to be obtained here for money. 

The country yields many good things for the support 
of life, but they are all to be gathered in an uncultivated 
and wild state. It is necessary that there should be better 



6 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



regulations established, and people who have the knowl- 
edge and the implements for gathering things in their 
season, should collect them together, as undoubtedly will 
gradually be the case. In the meanwhile I wish the Lords 
Managers to be courteously inquired of, how I can have 
the opportunity to possess a portion of land, and at my 
own expense to support myself upon it. For as long as 
there is no more accommodation to be obtained here from 
the country people, I would be compelled to order every- 
thing from Fatherland at great expense, and with much 
risk and trouble, or else live here upon these poor and 
hard rations alone, which would badly suit me and my 
children. We want ten or twelve farmers with horses, 
cows and labourers in proportion, to furnish us with 
bread and fresh butter, milk and cheese. 

Having been recalled, Minuit left in the Union in 
1632, and was succeeded by Wouter Van Twiller, of 
Nieuwkerke, a clerk in the employ of the West India 
Company and a relative of the Patroon Van Rensselaer. 
He arrived at Fort Amsterdam in the Company’s ship, 
Dc Zoutbcrg (the Salt Mountain ) , of two hundred and 
eighty tons, manned by fifty-two men and which car- 
ried twenty guns and one hundred and four soldiers, — ■ 
the first military force sent to New Netherland. 

During his administration Dominie Everardus Bo- 
gardus arrived, and also the first schoolmaster, Adam 
Roelantsen ; a church was built on Pearl Street, and the 
block-house was succeeded by a fort that was finished 
m *635. Van Twiller also bought Pagganck, or Nut 
Island (now Governor’s Island), and two islands in 
Hell Gate. 

Director Van Twiller was succeeded by Willem 
Kieft, who arrived on March 28, 1638, in the Herring 
(two hundred and eighty tons and twenty guns). The 
new Director’s administration was not at first pros- 
perous, for the West India Company gave up the 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 7 

privileged trade with the Indians, opening this com- 
merce to all the inhabitants of the Dutch prov- 
inces; and many colonists were thus drawn to New 
Netherland. 

On the other hand the English came both from Virginia 
and N. England, on account of the good opportunity to 
plant tobacco here, first divers servants, whose time had 
expired; afterwards families, and finally, entire colo- 
nies, having been forced to quit that place, in order to 
enjoy freedom of conscience, and to escape from the in- 
supportable government of N. England, and because 
many more commodities were to be obtained here than 
there, so that in place of seven bouweries and two or 
three plantations which were here, thirty bouweries were 
to be seen as well cultivated and stocked as in Europe 
[and] one hundred plantations which in two or three 
[years] would become regular bouweries, for after the 
tobacco was out of the ground, corn was planted there 
without ploughing, and the winter was employed prepar- 
ing new lands. The English colonies had settled under 
us by patent on equal terms with the others. Each of 
these was in appearance not less than one hundred fam- 
ilies strong, exclusive of the Colonie of Rensselaerswyck, 
which is prospering, with that of Mynders, Meyndertsz 
and Cornelius Melyn, who began first. Also the village 
of N. Amsterdam around the fort, one hundred families, 
so that there was appearance of producing supplies in a 
year for fourteen thousand souls without straitening the 
country, and had there not been a want of labourers or 
farm servants, twice as much could be raised. 

During Kieft’s administration a new stone church 
was built within the Fort, building lots were granted, 
citizens were allowed a vote in public affairs, and a 
body of “ Eight men ” was selected to advise the gov- 
ernor in the Indian trouble. The Indian war made 
Kieft unpopular, and he was recalled. He set sail in 



8 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the Princess in July, 1647. The boat suffered ship- 
wreck, and he and the other passengers, including 
Dominie Bogardus, were drowned. 

Father Jogues, 1643, says: 

For the garrison of the said Fort, and of another which 
they had built still further up against the incursions of 
the Indians, their enemies, there were sixty soldiers. 
They were beginning to face the gates and bastions with 
stone. Within the fort there was a stone church, which 
was quite large, the house of the Governor, whom they 
call Director-General, quite neatly built of brick, the 
storehouses and barracks. 

On this Island of Manhate and in its environs, there 
may well be four or five hundred men of different sects 
and nations : the Director General told me that there were 
men of eighteen kinds of languages; they are scattered 
here and there on the river, above and below, as the beauty 
and convenience of the spot invited each to settle: some 
mechanics, however, who ply their trade, are ranged under 
the fort ; all the others being exposed to the incursions 
of the Indians, who, in the year 1643, while I was there, 
had actually killed some two score Hollanders, and burnt 
many houses and barns full of wheat. 

There is no religious exercise except the Calvinist, and 
orders are to admit none but Calvinists, however this is 
not observed ; there being in the Colony besides the 
Calvinists, Catholics, English Puritans, Lutherans, Ana- 
baptists, whom they call Mnites, etc., etc. 

When any one first comes to settle in the country, they 
lend him horses, cows, etc. ; they give him provisions, all 
which he returns as soon as he is at ease ; and as to the 
land, after ten years he pays to the West India Company 
the tenth of the produce which he raises. . . . 

The first comers found lands quite fit for use formerly 
cleared by the savages who had fields there. Those who 
came later have cleared in the woods which are mostly 
oak. The soil is good. Deer hunting is abundant in the 




NEW AMSTERDAM 
(EARLIEST KNOWN VIEW) 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 9 

fall. There are some houses built of stone: lime they 
make of oyster shells, of which there are great heaps, 
made formerly by the savages, who subsist in part by that 
fishery. . . . 

Ascending the river to the 43d degree, you meet the 
second Dutch settlement, which the tide reaches but does 
not pass. 

There are two things in this settlement (which is called 
Renselaerswick, as if to say, settlement of Renselaers, 
who is a rich Amsterdam merchant) 1st, a miserable little 
fort called Fort Orange, built of logs, with four or five 
pieces of Breteuil cannon, and as many swivels. This 
has been reserved, and is maintained by the West India 
Company. This fort was formerly on an island which the 
river makes; it is now on the main land towards the 
Hiroquois, a little above the said island. Secondly, a 
colony sent here by this Renselaers, who is the patroon. 
This colony is composed of about a hundred persons who 
reside in some twenty-five or thirty houses built along 
the river, as each found convenient. In the principal 
house lives the patroon’s agent; the Minister has his 
apart, in which service is performed. There is also a kind 
of Baliff here, whom they call the Seneschal, who admin- 
isters justice. Their houses are all merely of boards and 
thatched. There is as yet no mason work except in the 
chimneys. The forests, furnishing many large pines, they 
make boards by means of their mills, which they have for 
the purpose. 

Montanus (1671) thus describes what would be the 
first view obtained by the settlers of their future home : 

On the Manhattan's island stands New Amsterdam, 
five miles from the ocean: ships run up to the harbour 
there from the sea with one tide. The city hath an 
earthen fort. Within the fort, and on the outermost 
bastion towards the river, stand a wind mill and a very 
high staff, on which a flag is hoisted whenever any vessels 
are seen in Godyn’s bay. The church rises with a double 



I0 DUTCH NEW YORK 

roof between which a square tower looms aloft. On one 
side is the prison, on the other side of the church the 
Governor’s house. Without the walls are the houses 
mostly built by the Amsterdamers. On the river side 
stand the gallows and whipping-post. A handsome public 
tavern adorns the farthest point. Between the fort and 
this tavern is a row of suitable dwelling-houses : among 
which stand out the warehouses of the West India 
Company. 

A view of New Amsterdam at this period faces 
page 1 6, and an earlier view, page 8. 

The beautiful scenery and the vast natural resources 
of the country, as well as its attractions for the farmer, 
formed the theme of many an enthusiastic letter and 
treatise by early travelers. A charming description 
of the landscape, climate, physical features, produc- 
tions, etc., is afforded by Adriaen Van der Donck in 
1654. He says: 

The whole country has a waving surface, and in some 
places high hills and protruding mountains, particularly 
those named the Highlands, which is a place of high, 
connected mountain land, about three miles broad, extend- 
ing in curved forms throughout the country ; separated 
in some places and then again connected. There also 
is much fine level land, intersected with brooks, affording 
pasturage of great length and breadth, but mostly along 
the rivers and near the salt side. Inland, most of the 
country is waving, with hills which generally are not 
steep, but ascend gradually. We sometimes in travelling 
imperceptibly find ourselves on high elevated situations, 
from which we overlook large portions of the country. 
The neighbouring eminence, the surrounding valleys and 
the highest trees are overlooked, and again lost in the 
distant space. Here our attention is arrested in the 
beautiful landscape around us, here the painter can find 
rare and beautiful subjects for the employment of his 
brush ; and here also the huntsman is animated when he 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS n 



views the enchanting prospects presented to the eyes ; on 
the hills, at the brooks and in the valleys, where the game 
abounds, and where the deer are feeding or gamboling or 
resting in the shades in full view. . . . 

Near the rivers and watersides there are large extensive 
plains containing several hundred morgens; in one place 
more and in another less, which are very convenient for 
plantations, villages and towns. There also are brook- 
lands and fresh and salt meadows; some so extensive 
that the eye cannot oversee the same. Those are good 
for pasturage and hay, although the same are overflowed 
by the spring tides, particularly near the seaboard. These 
meadows resemble the low and outlands of the Nether- 
lands. Most of them could be dyked and cultivated. We 
also find meadow grounds far inland, which are all fresh 
and make good hayland. Where the meadows are boggy 
and wet, such failings are easily remedied by cutting and 
breaking the bogs in winter and letting off the water in 
the spring. There also would be much more meadow 
ground, but as the soil is natural for wood, and as the 
birds and the winds carry the seeds in every direction; 
hence, those moist, low grounds are covered with timber 
and underwoods which we call cripple bushes. 

Montanus also writes in 1671 : 

New Netherland hath, moreover, divers remarkable 
waterfalls tumbling down from lofty rocks, broad creeks 
and hills, fresh lakes and rivulets and pleasant springs and 
fountains, which smoke in winter, are right cold in 
summer, and, nevertheless, are much drank. Meanwhile 
the inhabitants are at no time much incommoded by 
floods, nor by the sea, inasmuch as at spring tide the water 
scarcely ever rises a foot higher; nor by freshets which 
cover only some low lands for a short while, and enrich 
them by their alluvium. The sea-coast rises hilly out of 
sand and clay wherefore it produces abundantly all sorts 
of herbs and trees. 

The oak usually grows sixty to seventy feet high, for 



12 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the most part free of knots, for which reason it is well 
adapted to ship-building. The Hickory trees furnish a 
hot and lasting fire and a curious appearance whenever 
the bush is cut away either for the purpose of more open 
hunting, or for clearing the ground for a bouwery. 

Van der Donck also tells us that the country was so 
thickly wooded that those who cultivated the land cut 
down the trees ruthlessly, collected the wood into great 
heaps and burned it to get it out of the way. The 
Indians and the Dutch were also careless regarding the 
chestnuts. The Indians destroyed the trees by strip- 
ping off the bark for thatching their huts, and they 
frequently cut off the limbs to gather the nuts, — a 
practice followed by the Dutch. Pine trees grew so 
large inland that they were heavy and tall enough to 
be used for masts and spars of ships ; the wild ash was 
plentiful, and there were also maples, linden, birch, 
yew, poplar, fir, alder, willow, thorn, sassafras, per- 
simmon, mulberry, wild cherry, crab, and oak trees. 
The white-wood, also known as canoe-wood because 
the Indians made canoes of it, was used by the settlers 
for flooring, because it was bright and free of knots. 

Amongst the other trees, the water-beeches grow very 
large along the brooks, heavier and larger than most of 
the trees of the country. When those trees begin to bud 
then the dark becomes a beautiful white, resembling the 
handsomest satin. This tree retains the leaves later than 
any other tree of the woods. Trees of this kind are con- 
sidered more ornamental and handsomer than the linden- 
trees for the purpose of planting near dwelling-houses. 

The Indians have a yearly custom (which some of our 
Christians have also adopted) of burning the woods,, 
plains and meadows in the fall of the year, when the 
leaves have fallen, and when the grass and vegetable sub- 
stances are dry. Those places which are then passed over 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 13 

are fired in the spring in April. This practice is named 
by us and the Indians “ bush burning,” which is done for 
several reasons; first, to render hunting easier, as the 
bush and vegetable growth renders the walking difficult 
for the hunter, and the crackling of the dry substances 
betrays him and frightens away the game. Secondly to 
thin out and clear the woods of all dead substances and 
grass, which grow better the ensuing spring. Thirdly, to 
circumscribe and enclose the game within the lines of the 
fire, when it is more easily taken, and also, because the 
game is more easily tracked over the burned parts of the 
woods. 

The bush burning presents a grand and sublime appear- 
ance. On seeing it from without, we would imagine that 
not only the dry leaves, vegetables and limbs would be 
burnt, but that the whole woods would be consumed where 
the fire passes, for it frequently spreads and rages with 
such violence that it is awful to behold; and when the 
fire approaches houses, gardens and wooden enclosures, 
then great care and vigilance are necessary for their 
preservation ; for I have seen several houses which have 
recently been destroyed before the owners were apprized 
of their danger. 

Notwithstanding the apparent danger of the entire 
destruction of the woodlands by the burning, still the 
green trees do not suffer. The outside bark is scorched 
three or four feet high, which does them no injury for 
the trees are not killed. It, however, sometimes happens 
that in the thick pine woods, wherein the fallen trees lie 
across each other and have become dry that the blaze 
ascends and strikes the tops of the trees, setting the same 
on fire, which is immediately increased by the resinous 
knots and leaves which promote the blaze, and is passed 
by the wind from tree to tree, by which the entire tops of 
the trees are sometimes burnt off, while the bodies remain 
standing. Frequently great injuries are done by such 
fires, but the burning down of entire woods never happens. 
I have seen many instances of wood-burning in the col- 



i 4 DUTCH NEW YORK 

ony of Renssclaerwyck, where there is much pine wood. 
Those fires appear grand at night from the passing ves- 
sels in the river, when the woods are burning on both 
sides of the same. Then we can see a great distance by 
the light of the blazing trees, the flames being driven by 
the wind, and fed by the tops of the trees. But the dead 
and dying trees remain burning in their standing posi- 
tions, which appear sublime and beautiful when seen at 
a distance. 

In 1650, the Secretary of the Province, Tienhoven, 
gives the following “ Information relative to taking up 
land in New Netherland ” : 

Those who have no means to build farm-houses at first 
according to their wishes, dig a square pit in the ground, 
cellar fashion, six or seven feet deep, as long and as 
broad as they think proper, case the earth inside all round 
the wall with timber, which they line with the bark of 
trees or something else to prevent the caving in of the 
earth ; floor this cellar with plank and wainscot it over- 
head for a ceiling, raise a roof of spars clear up, and 
cover the spars with bark or green sods, so that they can 
live dry and warm in these houses with their entire 
families for two, three and four years, it being under- 
stood that partitions are run through these cellars which 
are adapted to the size of the family. 

After the houses are built in the above-described 
manner, or otherwise according to each person’s means 
and fancy, gardens are made and planted in season with 
all sorts of pot-herbs, principally parsnips, carrots and 
cabbage, which bring great plenty into the husbandman’s 
dwelling. The maize can serve as bread for men and 
food for cattle. 

A good idea of a farm of the early period is shown 
in the inventory of the effects and goods at Achtervelt, 
upon Long Island, belonging to Andries Hudde and 
Wolfert Gerritsen, July 9, 1638. He had five cows, 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 15 

three oxen, and a calf; five horses; a new wagon and 
appurtenances; a wheelplow and appurtenances, an 
iron harrow, and some farm tools ; a house twenty-six 
feet long, twenty-two feet wide, and forty feet deep, 
with the roof covered above and all around with planks, 
two garrets, one above the other, and a small chamber 
on the side with an outlet on the side. The house, 
moreover, was surrounded by long round palisades. 
The barn was forty feet long, eighteen wide and 
twenty-four high, with the roof; a bergh (a sort 
of open shed with a roof to shelter hay or grain) with 
five posts, forty feet long; about six morgens of land 
sown with summer and winter grain ; a garden 
planted with a number of fruit trees ; and a yawl with 
appurtenances. 

The West India Company leased land on “ advan- 
tageous terms,” as we should say to-day, to the settlers, 
and stocked the farms with cattle, horses, etc., the rent 
usually being paid by a stipulated share of the crops 
and the increase of the cattle. The following early 
leases may be taken as examples. 

Governor Kieft leased two lots near the Fort to Jan 
Damen in 1638, 

the larger one of which has heretofore been cultivated by 
the negroes and is situate on the east side of the road, to 
the north of the said Jan Damens, south of the esplanade 
of the Fort and east of Philipp de Truy, and the smaller 
situate to the north of the Company’s garden, extending 
from the road to the river. John Damen shall plant the 
land for six years, also be bound to convey twice all his 
manure on said land at his own cost, for which the 
Director shall receive as rent half the produce . . . said 
Director shall maintain and keep tight the fences now 
put up around it and furnish to Jan Damen two laborers, 
14 days during the harvest to be paid by the Company and 
fed by Jan Damen ; likewise if the Company think proper 



i6 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



to plant a vineyard or gardens in the low place, the lessee 
shall be bound to allow it and have nothing to say. 

When J. E. Bout in 1638 leased the Company’s farm 
at Pavonia, he was to have the use of the house and 
lands for six years, keeping everything in good repair 
at his own expense. He was to “ deliver yearly to Mr. 
Kieft or his successor one fourth part of the crop, 
whether of corn or other produce, with which God 
shall favor the soil, also every year two tuns of strong 
beer and twelve capons, free of expense.” 

In 1640, a farm was let for one hundred and fifty 
pounds of good, cured tobacco yearly. “ The said 
Smith shall clear as much land as is neccessary for 
2000 pallisades.” 

Wouter van Twiller leased the Company’s Bouwery 
No. 1 on Manhattan Island from May, 1638, for three 
years “ for the sum of 250 Carolus guilders to be paid 
yearly, to-gether with a sixth part of the produce with 
which God shall bless the field.” 

In May, 1639, Bouwery No. 5 on Manhattan Island 
was leased to Hendrick Harmensen for six years. He 
was to “ cultivate the land with all diligence and indus- 
try and not attend exclusively to the increase of the 
cattle, but diligently till the ground, which is the Com- 
pany’s principal object herein.” For this he was to 
receive fifty guilders per annum for servant’s wages; 
and the Company delivered to him five head of cattle 
and two mares for his use for six years. He was to 
pay thirty pounds of good butter yearly for every cow. 

At the expiration of six years the Company’s agent 
shall first take away the number of cattle in such con- 
dition as now delivered ; and then the remaining cattle 
which will be procreated shall be divided half and 
half.” 




NEW AMSTERDAM ABOUT 1670 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 17 



Bouwery No. 6 was let by Kieft with two mares, 
one stallion, three cows, one heifer, and one calf for 
twenty years to Abraham Pietersen, who was to pay 
yearly forty-five schepels of rye and ninety pounds of 
butter, and the increase of cattle was to be divided 
with the Company every four years. 

In 1642, a tract of land was let for “ the tenth part 
of the produce of the fields, whether cultivated with the 
plough, the hoe or otherwise (orchards and gardens 
not exceeding one acre Holland measure excepted).” 

On June 24, 1638, an order was issued granting 
freemen patents for the lands they were cultivating, 
on condition that at the end of ten years they pay yearly 
the tenth part of all their crops, and also a couple of 
capons yearly for house and garden. 

A lease of a somewhat unusual character, dated 
May 17, 1639, shows that Rev. Everardus Bogardus 
leased to 

Richard Brudenell a tobacco house and plantation with a 
water dog, gun and powder at a certain rent payable in 
tobacco, and one third of all the game he shall kill, as long 
as the powder and ball last. 

The woods were full of game. An old traveler 
remarks : 

There are all sorts of fowls, both in the water and in 
the air. Swans, geese, ducks, bitterns abound. The 
men scarcely ever labour, except to provide some game, 
either fowl or other description, for cooking, and then 
they have provided everything. The women must attend 
to the remainder, tilling the soil, etc. 

Wassenaer speaks of the innumerable waterfowl, — 
cranes, swans, bitterns, geese, ducks, widgeons, — and 
remarked that 



8 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



birds fill also the woods so that men can scarcely go 
through them for the whistling, the noise and the chatter- 
ing. Whoever is not lazy can catch them with little diffi- 
culty. Turkey beans is a very common crop, pigeons fly 
wild, they are chased by the foxes like fowl. ... ’T is 
surprising that storks have not been found there if it be a 
marshy country. Spoonbills, ravens, eagles, sparrow- 
hawks, vultures are numerous and are actually shot or 
knocked down by the natives. 

John Miller, 1695, also speaks of 

much wild fowl, as swans, geese, ducks, turkies, a kind 
of pheasants and partridges, pigeons, etc., and no less 
store of good venison, so that you may sometimes buy at 
your door a quarter for nine pence or a shilling. 

There were marshes on Manhattan Island in which 
cattle occasionally got bogged. In November, 1643, 

Claes van Elslant and Cosyn Gerritsen declare that they 
saw a herd of cattle which were driven into the swamp 
near Old John’s plantation on the Manhattans, sink over 
their backs in the marsh. 

Unoccupied land was used for common pasturage; 
and goats, sheep, hogs, and cattle needed protection 
against their natural enemies as well as against Indians 
and dishonest white men. In April, 1640, Claes Groen 
and Pieter Lieresen contracted to herd daily the goats 
of Philip de Truy and others in the woods on Man- 
hattan Island at one guilder a year for each goat. In 
1648, it was ordered that goats beyond the Fresh Water 
be attended by a herdsman, or be forfeited to the Fiscal. 
In 1644, it was resolved to make a clearing extending 
“ from the Great Bouwery to Emanuel’s plantation ” ; 
and that all who wished to pasture their cattle within 
this clearing, to save them from the Indians, should 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 19 

appear on the following Monday to build a fence 
around the same. 

In 1660, Gabriel Carpsey demands 6.15 florins and 
one pound of butter for taking care of a cow. De- 
fendant’s son appears and says that Carpsey let the cow 
stray in the bush, and he and his brother-in-law, Dirck 
Siecken, were two days in search of her. Plaintiff 
says that defendant did not deliver his cow, like others, 
on the blowing of the horn to be led to pasture. The 
court gave judgment for the cowherd. 

On March 10, 1648, 

Goats beyond the Fresh Water shall not be pastured 
without a Herdsman and Keeper, on pain of having the 
Goats found at large on this side of the Fresh Water, or 
without a Herdsman or Keeper beyond it, taken up by 
the Fiscal and declared forfeit. 

In 1673, on account of “ the great ravages committed 
by wolves on the small cattle, therefore whoever shall 
produce a wolf that has been shot on this Island on this 
side of Haarlem shall be promptly paid therefor. For 
a wolf fl. 20 and for a she-wolf, fl. 30, seawant or the 
value thereof, which Under Schout and Schepens shall 
by their Messenger levy off those who keep cattle, great 
or small, within their district.” 

Again, on Aug. 1, 1685, was published a “ licence to 
the inhabitants of the island of Manhattan to hunt and 
destroy wolves thereon, on Thursday next.” 

Dogs were also a danger to live-stock. In the records 
we find more than one lawsuit over sheep-biting. On 
April 9, 1642, Peter van der Linde, Barent Dircksen, 
and Tennis Cray complain against Nicholaes Sloper’s 
dog, which roves the woods and kills their goats. Dogs 
were highly valued, doubtless because of their fetching 
and carrying qualities. For some reason not specified, 



20 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Dirck Comelissen, in his hasty wrath, enables posterity 
to compute the worth of a hound in 1638. He was 
condemned to pay twenty-five guilders for the dog he 
killed, also a fine of twenty-five guilders and costs. 
How the animal met its fate we are not informed, — 
not by stoning, however, in all probability, for a New 
Amsterdam dog was able to dodge missiles, as is attested 
by the following moving entry dated Nov. 22, 1644: 

Gerrit Hendricksen, a lad, throwing a piece of an 
earthen pot at a dog, accidentally struck Jacob Melyn in 
the eye. 

From two other entries we gather that butter was 
an emollient for dog-bites ; that a dog might chew on 
a stranger during the hours of darkness, but not in the 
daytime; and that it was just as well to be a general’s 
dog in case of trouble. 

In 1653, Roelof Jansen complained that Philip Ge- 
raerdy’s dog had bitten him “ in the daytime, as may be 
seen by the wound and he claims for loss of time and 
surgeon’s fees 12 fl. Defendant says plaintiff may kill 
said dog, and that plaintiff has not lost any time or 
work on that account ; he has already sent plaintiff by 
his wife 4 lbs. of butter, and is still willing to give him 
as a charity 4 fl. more.” The case was dismissed. In 
1665, Thomas Francen said that John Cocx’s dog bit 
his horse standing under the cart and demanded satis- 
faction. Defendant replied that it was not his, but the 
General’s dog. The Mayor therefore undertook to 
speak to the General on the subject. 

Another case involving the misdemeanor of a dog 
was that of Marretie Pietersen, plaintiff, versus Jacob 
Eldertsen, defendant. 

The plaintiff complains that defendant shot her dog; 
requests indemnification for the same to the amount of 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 21 



fl. 16 as it was a good water dog. Defendant acknowl- 
edges having shot the dog, for the dog attempted to attack 
him in the street; and in catching a stone to drive him 
away, he bit him in the finger, so that he was obliged to 
have it dressed by the surgeon. Maintains therefore that 
he is not liable to pay a stiver for it. 

The plaintiff denied that the dog bit the defendant 
and the court deferred judgment. 

The householders of New Amsterdam gave their 
municipal authorities great trouble by neglecting prop- 
erly to fence their own grounds and prevent their 
cattle and other animals from straying into their neigh- 
bors’ fields, gardens, and orchards, — neighbors, of 
course, whose fences must also have been out of repair. 
Goats and pigs were the worst offenders, and were often 
the cause of serious quarrels in the community. Many 
actions for trespass and even cases of battery and as- 
sault occasioned by stray animals appear in the Court 
Records. For example, on Oct. 5, 1654: 

Wolfert Webber was summoned to Court by the Wor- 
shipful Magistrates on the complaint of some Neighbours 
in consequence of damages he inflicted attacking with 
dogs and beating certain pigs which went on his land. 
Wolfert Webber demands the name of Complainant. 
William Beekman states it to be on the complaint handed 
to him of Mde. Verleth and Stillen’s wife, because their 
hogs were unwarrantably attacked and injured by Webber 
and his dogs, so that he considered it proper to acquaint 
the Court. Webber said he was so annoyed by the hogs 
on his land, whereby all his seed was destroyed that he 
divers times drove them home, but not being able to keep 
them off he hunted them with dogs, but he did not injure 
them in the least; on the contrary, he was at various 
times insulted and threatened with a beating by Mde. 
Verleth. The Worshipful Court admonished Webber to 



22 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



keep himself clear of complaint, and to institute his action 
should he suffer wrong. 

Peace, however, was not patched up, for on June 28, 

1655. 

Wolfert Webber plaintiff v/s Judith Verleth appeared 
in Court, complaining of violence force and abuse com- 
mitted against him by defendant and her sister, Sarah, last 
week in his house; striking him in his own house and 
flinging stones at him ; requesting that said defendant be 
ordered to let him remain in peace in his own house. 

Judith Verleth denied that she 

ever gave plaintiff any trouble ; complains that he berated 
her for a whore and strumpet, and threatened in his own 
house to strike her with the whip, as he daily does his 
wife; that he assaulted her, bruising and dragging her 
arm, and kicked her sister so that her hip is blue. Parties 
were ordered to prove their complaints and statements on 
both sides by the next Court day, and further to leave 
each other unmolested. Webber was fined 12 stivers on 
account of fulminating lies, etc., in presence of the 
Court. 

In 1647, 

All inhabitants of New Netherland are commanded well 
to fence their lands, that the cattle may not do any dam- 
age. The cattle, be it horses or cows or especially goats 
and pigs must be taken care of or otherwise disposed of, 
that they can do no damage, for which purpose Fiscal van 
Dyck shall build a pound and keep the animals until the 
damage is repaired and the fine paid. 

On Jan. 16, 1657, an ordinance was issued permitting 
firewood and other timber to be cut gratis on uninclosed 
lots. 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 23 

Pigs were incorrigible in New Amsterdam, notwith- 
standing frequent official fulminations. They did not 
even respect the sacred ground of the Fort, and seemed 
to care no more for the autocratic Director Stuyvesant 
than they had for his predecessors, judging from several 
ordinances covering his entire administration. In 1650, 
on account of the damage done to the walls of this 
decayed fortress, fines were imposed on those who 
allowed their pigs, goats, sheep, or cattle to stray on 
the walls. On July 11, 1654, an ordinance was pub- 
lished for impounding sheep and goats found injuring 
the fortifications. 

Pigs and goats were not the sole offenders. Boys 
were as mischievous and destructive then as now, and 
often a cause of trouble to their parents. A court case 
of 1656 exemplifies this. 

Jan Vinje exhibits the decision of the arbitrators, com- 
missioned by the Court, on the damage committed by the 
defendant’s son and schoolmates among his peas, request- 
ing that defendant be condemned to pay the same accord- 
ing to valuation; and since his hens and pigs still daily 
run among his corn that he be ordered to keep the same 
out, or that the plaintiff be authorized to kill them. De- 
fendant maintains that he is not bound to make good any 
of the damage claimed by plaintiff, since the children have 
not taken or injured anything to the value of a pea’s-pod, 
and his son has already been beaten therefor by plaintiff, 
so that he came home black and blue, and has been pun- 
ished, saying that many other children when they came 
out of school were in there. Plaintiff being heard there- 
upon acknowledges to have struck defendant’s son at the 
time : he could not catch any other but him. Both being 
heard, the Court decides, since defendant acknowledges 
to have beaten and punished defendant’s son, that he has 
destroyed his right. Therefore, his demand is dismissed 
in this instance; and the Court further orders that de- 



24 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



fendant shall keep his hens and pigs out of the corn, or 
otherwise disposition shall be made therein. 

New Amsterdam was laid out in streets and lots, and 
the Company made great efforts to induce the colonists 
to take up the land and build good houses. Great dif- 
ficulty was met, however, in fostering agriculture, and 
even dairy-farming was neglected for trade, — partic- 
ularly illicit trade with the Indians, and smuggling. 
The authorities were greatly disturbed over the neglect 
in improving the city; and, when Stuyvesant took 
charge, he found he had a hard task in enforcing the old 
laws and that new measures were necessary. Conse- 
quently, in 1647 th e following ordinance was issued: 

Whereas we see and remark by experience the irregu- 
larity heretofore and still daily observed in building and 
erecting of Houses; in extending of Lots far beyond 
the survey line; in setting up Hog pens and Privies on 
the highways and streets ; in neglecting and omitting duly 
to build on granted and conceded lots ; we have resolved 
to appoint three Street Surveyors (Roymeesters) to con- 
demn and stop all irregular and unsightly buildings, 
fences, palisades, posts, Rails, etc. Therefore we Order 
and warn all and every of our Subjects, who from now 
henceforth are inclined to build on, or inclose any Gardens 
or Lots within or near the City New Amsterdam, not to 
proceed in the erection or construction thereof without the 
previous knowledge of speaking to and survey by the 
aforesaid appointed Street Surveyors, under a fine of 
25 Carolus guilders and the abatement of what they have 
built or set up. In like manner, we will have all and 
every who have heretofore received any lots, warned and 
notified to build within Nine months from this date, regu- 
lar, good and decent houses on their lots, according to law, 
or in default thereof, such unimproved Lots shall be for- 
feit to the Patroon or Lord Proprietor, or shall be con- 
veyed to whomsoever he pleases. 




KIP HOUSE 
Kip’s Bay, New York 



OLD STONE HOUSE 
152CI Street, Kingsbridge Road, New York 



OLD HOPPER HOUSE 
Second Avenue and 83d Street, New York 



SETTLEMENT AND EARLY CONDITIONS 25 

The Dutch have always been famed for extreme 
cleanliness, but this applied only to the interior of their 
dwellings. More than one ordinance proves that the 
streets were quagmires of filth, and worse. As an 
example, we may quote from that of 1657: 

Many burghers and inhabitants throw their rubbish, 
filth, dead animals and such like things into the public 
streets to the great inconvenience of the community and 
dangers arising from it. Therefore the Burgomasters and 
Schepens ordain and direct that henceforth no one shall 
be allowed to throw into the streets or into the graft any 
rubbish, filth, ashes, oyster-shells, dead animal or any- 
thing like it, but they shall bring all such things to the to 
them most convenient of the following places, to wit the 
Strand, near the City Hall, near the gallows near Hen- 
drick the baker, near Daniel Litsco* where tokens to that 
effect shall be displayed, but not on public streets under 
a penalty of 3 fl. for the first offence, 6 fl. for the second 
and arbitrary punishment for the third. 

It was also ordered that every one should keep his 
house or lot cleaned. 

Sometimes people maliciously annoyed their neigh- 
bors by breaking these laws. In 1671, 

Martin Simson and Richard Watts having been acces- 
sory to the disturbance of the peace in throwing of dirt 
before the doors of several of the inhabitants of this 
city came this day before the Court, acknowledged their 
fault and that they were sorry for it, whereupon the court 
did pardon them the said fault. 

On Aug. 19, 1658, it was enacted: 

As the roads and streets of this City are by the constant 
rooting of the hogs made unfit for driving over in wagons 
and carts, the Burgomasters and Schepens direct and 
order, that every owner of hogs in or about the City 



26 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



shall put a ring through the noses of their hogs to pre- 
vent them from rooting within 8 days under a penalty of 
2 fl. for each time. 

In 1644, Officer Peter Tonneman wishes to 

know, whereas some dead hogs lie here and there on the 
street, where he shall have them conveyed and by whom, 
to prevent the stench, which proceeds therefrom. 

He was notified to send the City’s negroes, whom he 
shall order to collect and bury the same. 




CHAPTER II 

ORCHARDS AND GARDENS — HOUSES AND STREETS 



the time that the West India Company was 



sending its first ships across the Atlantic, the 



Dutch had already attained distinction in the 
cultivation of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Not only 
did they produce splendid examples of familiar favor- 
ites, but their ships constantly brought home exotics 
of all kinds. The Orient supplied many rare seeds, 
roots, bulbs, and spices; and from the Western Hemi- 
sphere also came such novelties as the pineapple, sweet 
potato, maize, and many plants useful for the table or 
for medicine. 

The Dutch loved the open air. As soon as business 
was over people sat outside on the stoop, in the street, 
in the gardens, or in the courtyard. Rich families spent 
the entire summer in their country-places on the rivers 
and seashore. The meanest dwelling had a little back 
garden, if only a few yards square, with a couple of 
flower-beds and a bench. At the beginning of the Sev- 
enteenth Century the gardens were not yet adorned with 
statuary, nor were they inclosed with hedges ; but they 
had summer-houses and arbors, furnished with benches 
and tables where a light meal could be served. The 
majority of the town gardens consisted of four regular 
square beds planted with flowers, fruit trees, and 
kitchen stuff, and contained a wooden summer-house 
with a thatched roof. The garden was enjoyed espe- 




27 



28 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



daily in the afternoon. Gardens, however, were costly 
things to keep. The Dutch flowers had a world-wide 
reputation, and were, for the most part, all grown 
around Haarlem and sent from there through Europe 
and to New Netherland. The tulips between 1634 and 
1637 made many a man poor and rich — tulips that 
were considered more costly than gold, pearls, and dia- 
monds. In the second half of the Seventeenth Century 
the courts and gardens underwent a great change, 
especially after Europe was filled with pupils of Le 
Notre, the famous architect and landscape gardener of 
Versailles, which cost two hundred million francs. 
Under their supervision new gardens and courts were 
laid out, and a new style was introduced. The square 
fences disappeared and were replaced by evergreen 
hedges cut in various shapes and fabulous forms and 
ornaments. The various plots and flower-beds were 
made alike with symmetrical precision. Long straight 
paths or lanes separated them, and sometimes they 
looked like a chess or checker board. In short, every- 
thing about the country-houses was choice, neat, and 
costly. 

The taste for flowers began to show itself in Holland 
at the end of the Sixteenth Century. Beautiful flowers 
were introduced from Persia and Constantinople, the 
East and West Indies. In his flower garden Hondius 
had lilies of all kinds, tulips and hyacinths “ all pure 
of smell and clear of colour,” many kinds of lark- 
spur, narcissus, wild saffron, and tea roses. Also 
the apocinum canadense, wind-flowers, pinks, gilly- 
flowers, sweet peas, violets, anemones, and feather- 
grass. D’Outrein adorned his flower-plots at Rozen- 
daal with palms and flowers arranged so beautifully 
that they resembled embroidery on a costly robe. 
Here he had lilies, red, white, and damask roses, gilly- 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 29 

flowers, the fragrant lupin, and innumerable flowers 
like stars in the Milky Way. Westerbaen was proud 
of his fine roses, crocuses, anemones, and summer sots. 
At Sorgvliet “ a pointed emperor’s crown ” was in 
bloom, although Cats was not a flower fiend. Huy- 
gens was fonder of his pine forest than of his flowers ; 
but Beverninck should be mentioned next to Clusius 
and Paludanus. At Lockhorst he had one of the finest 
collections of foreign plants, which had been sent to 
him from all parts of the world; indeed, few ships 
entered the Dutch ports without bringing him seeds, 
roots, bulbs, or twigs. In addition to rare exotics, he 
had lilies, tuberoses, emperor’s crowns, hyacinths, tu- 
lips, auriculas, fritillaries, and ranunculus. The sweet- 
smelling auricula was something of a novelty. It is 
unknown who brought it from Switzerland, its native 
home; but it was sold largely in Brussels and much 
improved in color and fragrance in Holland. The 
amaryllis was another favorite flower of the period; 
but nothing compared with the tulip in popularity. 

The tulip mania began in France in 1635, and soon 
spread to the Low Countries. 

It was only natural that the Dutch colonists should 
bring to the New World a love for and knowledge of 
flowers. Seeds and bulbs and scions for grafting came 
over in many a ship, and soon the gardens of New 
Amsterdam were bright and fragrant with blossoms. 
Adrian Van der Donck tells us : 

The flowers in general which the Netherlanders have 
introduced there are the white and red roses of different 
kinds, the cornelian roses and stock roses ; and those of 
which there were none before in the country, such as 
eglantine, several kinds of gillyflowers, jenoffelins, differ- 
ent varieties of fine tulips, crown imperials, white lilies, 
the lily frutularia, anemones, baredames, violets, mari- 



30 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



golds, summer sots, etc. The clove tree has also been 
introduced; and there are various indigenous trees that 
bear handsome flowers, which are unknown in the Nether- 
lands. We also find there some flowers of native growth, 
as for instance sun flowers, red and yellow lilies, mountain 
lilies, morning stars, red, white and yellow maritoffles (a 
very sweet flower), several species of bell-flowers, etc.; 
to which I have not given particular attention, but ama- 
teurs would hold them in high estimation and make them 
widely known. 

The Company had a garden outside, but not far 
from the Fort, on Broadway, which was cultivated by 
the Company’s negroes for the benefit of the Director 
and the other servants of the Company. Its situation 
is explained in Jan Damen’s lease (see page 15) . From 
time to time the Bowery, of which this formed a part, 
was leased to various tenants. Many of the settlers 
who took up the Company’s land used it solely for their 
own profit and pleasure, notwithstanding reiterated 
orders to the contrary. An ordinance of 1658 calls 
attention to this abuse, reciting that 

many spacious and large Lots, even in the best and most 
convenient part of this City, lie and remain without Build- 
ings, and are kept by the owners either for greater profit, 
or for pleasure, and others are thereby prevented to build 
for the promotion of population and increase of Trade 
and consumption, as well as for the embellishment of this 
city, whereunto many newcomers would be encouraged in 
case they could procure a Lot at a reasonable price on a 
suitable location, which neglect, if not contempt, thereof, 
is owing principally to the fact that no penalty fine or 
amende is imposed by the forementioned Edicts. 

A surveyor was therefore appointed, who found 
“ some hundreds of lots inside the walls of the city 
vacant and not built on.” Lots were therefore ap- 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 31 

praised and taxed, the proceeds applied to the forti- 
fication of the city and repairs thereof, and 

The Director General and Council ordain and command 
that, from this time forward, no dwelling-houses shall 
be built near or under the Walls or Gates of this City 
before or until the Lots herein mentioned are properly 
built on. 

Gardens were so important in New Netherland that 
they were cultivated not merely by the owners, but 
sometimes by men whose exclusive occupation was 
that of gardening. We hear of a gardener as early as 
1639, when P. de Truy, P. van der Linde, and Jan 
Hendricksen declare that Edward Wilson had kicked 
the wife of Truy’s gardener. In 1665 William the 
Gardener (de Tenier) lived in the Prince Graft. 

In Holland the fruit and vegetable sellers displayed 
their wares in baskets in their shops, and also carried 
these around from door to door, even on a Sunday. 
Fruit was also exhibited by the venders in trays or 
porcelain dishes under the broad verandas of the shops, 
while on the sidewalk baskets of apples and pears were 
also temptingly set out. The favorite apples of the day 
were the red and white “ calvillen,” the gray and white 
“ renetten,” and golden pippins. The best-liked pears 
were the “ little muscat,” “ poire Madame,” the large 
and small banquets, the robin, russet, rousselettes, 
beurres, bergamot, long-green, muscat fleury, am- 
brette, Saint Germain, Saint Augustin, and Martin- 
sec. Smaller baskets and trays were filled with red, 
black, and yellow plums; sweet and sour cherries; 
black and red morellos; green, white, and black ber- 
ries; raspberries “ full of juice and flavour ” ; medlars, 
figs, peaches, and apricots. The melon was rare, al- 
though Hondius had some in his garden. Still rarer 



3 2 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



was the pineapple, said to have been first brought from 
America in 1514, and presented to King Ferdinand, 
who ate it and considered it the finest fruit on earth. 

The attractive specimens of pears, peaches, grapes, 
melons, plums, nectarines, cherries, strawberries, rasp- 
berries, etc., as shown in the pictures by De Heem, 
Mignon, W. van Aelst, Rachel Ruysch, and other 
artists of the Seventeenth Century, prove what the 
Dutch horticulturists were able to produce. Therefore, 
when the early travelers speak with enthusiasm of the 
fruits of the New World, we know that they have a 
high standard for criticism. Van der Donck says: 

The indigenous fruits consist principally of acorns, some 
of which are very sweet ; nuts of different kinds, — chest- 
nuts, beechnuts, mulberries, plums, but not many medlars, 
wild cherries, black currants, gooseberries, hazel nuts in 
great quantities, small apples, very large strawberries 
throughout the country, with many other fruits and roots 
which the Indians use. There is also plenty of bill-berries 
or blue-berries, together with ground-nuts and artichokes, 
which grow under ground. Almost the whole land is full 
of vines, as well in the wild woods as the mowing lands 
and flats ; but they grow principally near to and upon the 
banks of the brooks, streams and rivers. . . . The grapes 
comprise many varieties, some white, some blue, some 
very fleshy and only fit to make raisins of, others, on the 
contrary, juicy; some are very large and others small. . . . 
In regard to other fruits all those which grow in Nether- 
land, also grow very well in New Netherland, without re- 
quiring as much care as is necessary there. Garden fruits 
succeed very well, and are drier, sweeter, and more pleas- 
ant than in Netherland ; for proof of which we may in- 
stance particularly muskmelons, citrons or watermelons, 
which in New Netherland grow readily in the open fields 
if the briars and weeds are kept from them. 

The garden products in the New Netherlands are very 




GARDENS 

OF THE VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE, CROTON-ON-HUDSON 



33 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 

numerous ; some of them have been known to the natives 
from the earliest times, and others introduced from dif- 
ferent parts of the world, but chiefly from the Nether- 
lands. . . . They consist of various kinds of salads, cab- 
bages, parsnips, carrots, beets, endive, succory, finckel, 
sorrel, dill, spinage, radishes, Spanish radishes, parsley, 
chevril (or sweet cicely), cresses, onions, leeks, and be- 
sides whatever is commonly found in a kitchen garden. 
The herb garden is also tolerably well supplied with rose- 
mary, lavender, hyssop, thyme, sage, marjoram, balm, 
holy onions ( ajuin heylig), wormwood, belury, chives 
and clary; also pimpernel, dragon’s blood, five finger, 
tarragon (or dragon’s wort), etc., together with laurel, 
artichokes and asparagus, and various other things on 
which I have bestowed no attention. 

The pumpkin grows with little or no cultivation, and 
is so sweet and dry that it is used, with the addition of 
vinegar and water, for stewing in the same manner as 
apples; and notwithstanding that it is here generally 
despised as a mean and unsubstantial article of food, it 
is there of so good a quality that our countrymen hold it 
in high estimation. I have heard it said, too, that when 
properly prepared as apples are with us, it is not inferior 
to them, and when baked in ovens it is considered better 
than apples. The English, who in general think much of 
what gratifies the palate, use it also in pastry, and under- 
stand making a beverage from it. 

The natives have another species of this vegetable pe- 
culiar to themselves, called by our people quaasiens - 1 It 
is a delightful fruit, as well to the eye on account of its 
fine variety of colours, as to the mouth for its agreeable 
taste. The ease with which it is cooked renders it a 
favourite too with the young women. It is gathered 
early in summer, and when it is planted in the middle 

1 Roger Williams, founder of the colony of Rhode Island, describes 
the plant as “ Askutasquash , their vine apples, which the English from 
them call squashes; about the bigness of apples, of several colours, a 
sweet, light, wholesome refreshing.” Key into the Languages of the 
Indians (London, 1643). 



3 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



34 

of April, the fruit is fit for eating by the first of June. 
They do not wait for it to ripen before making use of 
the fruit, but only until it has attained a certain size. 

Cucumbers are abundant. Calabashes or gourds also 
grow there; they are half as long as the pumpkin, but 
have within very little pulp, and are sought chiefly on 
account of the shell, which is hard and durable, and is 
used to hold seeds, spices, etc. It is the common water- 
pail of the natives, and I have seen one so large that it 
would contain more than a bushel . 1 Turnips also are as 
good and firm as any sand-rapes that are raised in the 
Netherlands. There are likewise peas and various sorts 
of beans. 

The Dutch also had the Indian maize, or corn, and 
soon learned to appreciate the famous succotash made 
of corn and broad beans. 

The Dutch, unaccustomed to the management of vine- 
yards, did not succeed very well with the cultivation of 
the grape and making of wine. However, they intro- 
duced foreign stock and sent to Heidelberg for vine- 
dressers ; and in some instances they were rewarded with 
success. The Swedes on the South river had succeeded 
in making several kinds of excellent wine and had white, 
red and blue grapes. 

The citrull or water citron ( citerullen ofte water limo- 
enen) also grows there, a fruit that we have not in the 
Netherlands, and is only known from its being occasion- 
ally brought from Portugal, except to those who have 
travelled in warm climates. . . . They grow ordinarily to 
the size of a man’s head. I have seen them as large as 
the biggest Leyden cabbages, but in general they are some- 
what oblong. Within they are white or red ; the red have 
white and the white black seeds. . . . Women and chil- 
dren are very fond of this fruit. It is also quite refresh- 
ing from its coolness and is used as a beverage in many 

1 A Dutch bushel ( schepel ) is about three pecks. 



35 



1241293 

GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 

places. I have heard the English say that they obtain a 
liquor from it resembling Spanish wine, but not so strong. 

Melons, likewise, grow in the New Netherlands very 
luxuriantly, without requiring the land to be prepared 
or manured; there is no necessity for lopping the vines, 
or carefully dressing them under glass as is done in this 
country; indeed scarcely any attention is paid to them, 
no more than is bestowed here in the raising of cucum- 
bers. . . . Melons will thrive, too, in newly cleared wood- 
land, when it is freed from weeds ; and in this situation the 
fruit which they call Spanish pork grows large and very 
abundant. I had the curiosity to weigh one of these 
melons, and found its weight to be seventeen pounds. 

The mulberries are better and sweeter than ours, and 
ripen earlier. Several kinds of plums, wild or small 
cherries, juniper, small kinds of apples, many hazel-nuts, 
black currants, gooseberries, blue India figs and straw- 
berries in abundance all over the country, some of which 
ripen at half May and we have them until July; blue- 
berries, raspberries, black-caps, etc., with artichokes, 
ground-acorns, ground beans, wild onions and leeks like 
ours, with several other kinds of roots and fruits known 
to the Indians, who use the same which are disregarded 
by the Netherlanders, because they have introduced every 
kind of garden vegetables which thrive and yield well. 
The country also produces an abundance of fruits like the 
Spanish capers, which could be preserved in like manner. 

On observing that the climate was suitable to the 
production of fruit trees, the Dutch imported both 
seeds and apple and pear trees. The English intro- 
duced quinces. Orchard cherries also throve well and 
produced large fruit. 

Spanish cherries, forerunners, morellses, of every kind 
we have, as in the Netherlands and the trees bear better 
because the blossoms are not injured by the frosts. The 
peaches, which are sought after in the Netherlands, grow 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



36 

wonderfully well here. If a stone is put into the earth, 
it will spring in the same season, and grow so rapidly as 
to bear fruit in the fourth year, and the limbs are fre- 
quently broken by the weight of the peaches, which usu- 
ally are very fine. We have also introduced morecotoons 
(a kind of peach), apricots, several sorts of the best 
plums, almonds, persimmons, cornelian cherries, figs, sev- 
eral sorts of currants, calissiens and thorn apples; and 
we do not doubt but that the olive would thrive and be 
profitable, but we have them not. Although the land is 
full of many kinds of grapes, we still want settings of the 
best kinds from Germany, for the purpose of enabling 
our vine-planters here to select the best kinds and to 
propagate the same. 

Orchards, as we have seen, had become not only 
numerous but valuable possessions of the Dutch col- 
onists, who cultivated the native and foreign stock. 
When the Labadist Fathers visited the country in 1679- 
1680, they were perfectly amazed at the fine specimens 
of pears, apples, and peaches offered to them, and the 
abundance. This fruit they describe as “ exceedingly 
fair and good and pleasant to the taste; much better 
than that in Holland or elsewhere.” They saw many 
gardens on the island of Manhattan and on Long Island 
so laden with apples, peaches, and other fruit that “ one 
might doubt whether there were more leaves or fruit 
on them.” They confessed they had never seen in Eu- 
rope, even in the best of seasons, anything to equal it ; 
for though “ quantities had fallen off, the trees were 
still as full as they could bear.” Again they were aston- 
ished to find peach trees “ all laden with fruit to break- 
ing down, and many of them actually broken down ” ; 
while hogs and other animals were enjoying their fill. 
On both sides of the Hudson near Spuyten Duyvel 
they also found delicious peaches, and in such quanti- 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 



37 



ties that the road was lined with them, and they were 
told that the hogs were so satiated with them that they 
would not eat any more. Here they also found blue 
grapes “ as sweet and good as any in Fatherland.” 
They also remarked a fine orchard belonging to the 
tavern near the church in the Fort on Manhattan 
Island. “ Among other trees,” they say, “ we observed 
a mulberry tree, the leaves of which were as large as 
a plate. The wife showed us pears larger than the 
fist, picked from a three years graft, which had borne 
forty of them.” 

A typical orchard was that found by Tienhoven, 
Secretary, who in 1639 “ went and behind the house 
which Anthony Jansen from Salee sold to Barent 
Dircksen, found 12 apple trees, 40 peach trees and 73 
cherry trees, 26 sage plants and 15 vines.” 

Montanus, 1671, says that some plants imported 
from Holland thrive better than at home, especially 
the apple, pear, quince, cherry, plum, currant, apricot, 
buckthorn, medlar, peach, and onion. 

Vines grow wild everywhere and bear in abundance blue 
and white muscatels and pork-grapes ( spek-druiven ). 
Some time since, the wine press was successfully intro- 
duced. The wine was equal to any Rhenish or French 
wine. Every vegetable known to the Dutch is cultivated 
in the gardens. Water melons as savory as they are whole- 
some, are, when ripe, as large as cabbage. The English 
extract a liquor from them which would be no wise in- 
ferior to Spanish wine did it not turn sour too soon. 
Gourds when cleaned out serve as water vessels. Tobacco 
produces leaves five quarters long. Pumpkins grow 
luxuriant and agreeable. Corn, sowed in hills six feet 
apart, sprouts up readily and prosperously if properly 
weeded. Turkish beans, planted beside the corn, wind 
themselves around the stalk. Grey peas prosper here so 






DUTCH NEW YORK 



well that two crops are gathered in the year from one 
field. Medicinal plants and indigo grow wild in abun- 
dance. The barley can be tied above the head. Further- 
more, all sorts of flowers have a pleasant odour and 
appearance. 

The products of orchards and gardens were fully 
appreciated by others as well as their rightful owners. 
Robbing orchards was a pleasant, popular, and pre- 
sumably profitable pursuit, until the authorities stepped 
in and discouraged the pastime with heavy penalties. 
We read under date Nov. 25, 1638: 

Whereas complaints are made that the gardens of many 
persons have been robbed and their poultry taken away, 
if there be any one who can give information of the 
thieves, he shall be paid 25 guilders as a reward [if an 
accomplice, pardoned and name concealed]. 

Again, July i, 1647: 

Everyone is warned against doing any damage to 
Farms, Orchards and Gardens, either to the fences or 
fruits. [Penalty, “ ioo guilders besides an arbitrary 
correction.”] 

Four-footed intruders were even more destructive 
than human marauders, as we gather from the ordi- 
nance of 1648 forbidding goats or hogs to be pastured 
between the fortifications and the Fresh Water. 

Mr. Woolley, in his Two Years Journal in New 
York (1678-1680), gives us a description of a bear 
hunt in an orchard : 

I was with others that have had very good diversion 
and sport with them [Bears] in an orchard of Mr. John 
Robinson’s of New York, where we followed a Bear from 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 39 

Tree to Tree, upon which he could swarm like a Cat; 
and when he was got to his resting-place, perch’d upon 
a high branch, we dispatc’d a youth after him with a 
Club to an opposite bough, who knocking his Paws he 
comes grumbling down backwards with a thump upon 
the ground, so we after him again. His descending back- 
wards is a thing particularly remarkable. 

The first care of the West India Company was natu- 
rally for the safety of its servants and storehouse, and 
therefore a fort was built of sufficient size to inclose 
barracks, a church, a windmill, a may-pole, the Com- 
pany’s buildings, and a gibbet. Into this the settlers 
could retire in case of Indian attack. Beyond it a 
small town was laid out, and further protected by a 
strong palisade with gates that were shut at night. 

Michaelius wrote in 1628: 

They fell much wood here to carry to Fatherland, but 
the vessels are too few to take much of it. They are 
making a windmill to saw the wood: and we also have 
a gristmill. They bake brick here, but it is very poor. 
There is good material for burning lime, namely oyster 
shells in large quantities. The burning of potash has not 
succeeded; the master and his labourers are all greatly 
disappointed. We are busy now in building a fort of 
good quarry stone, which is to be found not far from 
here in abundance. May the Lord only build and watch 
over our walls. 

The houses gradually increased and were planted 
along the lines of the Fort and shores of the river. 
The river front in these days came up to Pearl Street, 
and from Whitehall to Broad, the border of the river 
was called the Strand. 

In 1642, two very important buildings were erected, 
— the city tavern, constructed of stone or brick, two or 



40 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



three stories high, with sloping roof and dormer win- 
dows (which at a later date became the Stadt Huys, or 
City Hall, for both Dutch and English) ; and the 
church in the Fort. There was also a road to the Ferry 
from the Fort, and a line of pickets where Wall Street 
is now situated. We learn that on March 31, 1644, 
“ a good solid fence was ordered to be erected from 
the great Bouwery across to the plantation of Eman- 
uel.” All persons who wished their cattle pastured 
in security were called to assist in erecting the fence 
with proper tools, and those who failed were excluded 
from the privileges of the inclosed meadow (see 
page 18). 

The forests supplied magnificent timber for building 
purposes, and so the first houses were usually built 
of wood with thatched roofs. Some houses, however, 
were built of brick and stone with tiled roofs, and 
some wooden houses had brick chimneys. The Com- 
pany at first supplied the bricks and tiles from Amster- 
dam, but very soon there were brick kilns on Manhattan 
. Island, at Fort Orange, and in the Dutch settlement on 
the Delaware. Jan A. de Graaf owned a brick kiln 
in New Amsterdam in 1658; and ten years later 1250 
hard bricks cost twenty-four florins in Fort Orange. 
Not only brick but stone was used in the construction 
of the more important edifices. The price of brick and 
the extent to which it entered into the building of the 
early houses of New Amsterdam may be gathered from 
the records. When the West India Company leased 
the Bouwery at Hoboken to H. C. van Vorst in 1639, 
4000 bricks were delivered to him to build the chim- 
ney ; all other necessaries were at his own expense. On 
May 29, 1643, Laurens Cornelissen delivered with his 
house “ stone enough to build an oven capable of bak- 
ing a schepel and a half of wheat.” On Nov. 2, 1643, 




VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE (1681) 
CROTON-ON-HUDSON 




GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 41 



Dirck Cornelissen received a note for twenty-five guil- 
ders for building a chimney. 

Tienhoven’s requisitions to the West India Company 
in 1650 include “ three or four house carpenters who 
can lay brick”; and in 1659 the “list of materials, 
particularly required ” contained the following items : 

12.000 tiles @ 18 g fl. 216.00 

100.000 hard brick @ 4 400.00 

20 hogsheads lime @ 65.00 

10 chaldron smith’s coals 174.00 

The records contain several lawsuits regarding 
bricks. On May 29, 1657, Peter Bosboom was fined 
for breach of contract in refusing to manufacture 
brick for Peter Bent. 

In 1642, John and Richard Ogden, of Stamford, 
contracted to build a stone church in New Amster- 
dam, seventy-two feet long by fifty-two feet broad, 
and sixteen feet high above the ground, for 2500 
guilders. 

La Montagne, in 1661, reports to Stuyvesant that 
he has bought at Fort Orange 3000 bricks at ten guil- 
ders in beaver the thousand and 3000 for twenty-two 
guilders in wampum. 

In 1660, “ Cornelis Barensen, baker, requests to be 
appointed Teller of the Bricks and Tiles coming from 
Fatherland and other places, as he cannot support his 
family as measurer of grain and lime and similar 
things.” His petition was granted, and “ for fee shall 
draw four stivers per thousand.” 

In 1653, a very good brickmaker came out in the 
Graft , with the Directors’ recommendation to Stuyve- 
sant “ to allot for him so suitable a place as his circum- 
stances and the fitness of it for a brickyard require.” 
In April, 1658, we find an order extending the time 



42 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



for covering W. P. de Groot’s house in New Amster- 
dam with tiles until he received them from Holland or 
Fort Orange. 

Stuyvesant himself, not liking the governor’s house 
in the Fort, built a fine stone house about where State 
and Whitehall Streets now are. He had a pretty gar- 
den here with ornamental shrubs and flowers, had his 
grounds neatly inclosed by a wall and strengthened by 
wooden sidings as a protection from the river, and had 
a private dock for his barge of state. The house re- 
ceived the name Whitehall. He also had a country 
home, the Bouwery. 

There is ample evidence that glass was used in the 
windows of all but the humblest houses. Much of 
it, but by no means all, was imported from Holland. 
The pane in general use measured twelve inches high 
by eight inches wide. The glazier’s craft was well 
worth following, and was not confined to imported 
labor. In the court records we read, for example, “Oct. 
6th, 1648, Cornelis Jansen was indentured to Evert 
Duyckkink to learn the trade of a glazier.” 

On Jan. 12, 1654, Hendrick Hendricksen complains 
that Claes Croon “ sometime back took with him six 
panes of glass out of his house to make them somewhat 
smaller so as to fit, which up to the present date he has 
not returned, whereby he suffers great inconvenience 
at this wintry season.” Defendant was ordered to set 
in the panes within three days, but was contumacious, 
and the shivering Hendricksen had to go to court 
again. On March 23, 1655, Mr. Croon was sum- 
moned by another customer, Poulus Heymans, for not 
delivering ten panes of common glass for which he 
had been paid seventy guldens and was fined twenty- 
five guldens. 

In 1657, the Directors notify Stuyvesant that they 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 43 

are sending out a consignment of leaden window 
frames. 

In numerous pictures by the Little Masters we see 
coats-of-arms in colored glass in the windows of the 
prosperous class. This taste was undoubtedly indulged 
also in New Netherland. One of the earliest workers 
in this art was the above Evert Duyckinck. On Oct. 9, 
1656, 

Evert Duycking requests by petition to be informed 
from whom he is to receive payment for the glass which 
he put in the Church for Schout, Burgomasters and 
Schepens, demanding 2^4 beavers for each. The Court 
decides that petitioner shall go to each one for whom the 
glass was for his payment either in trade, or as he can 
agree for the same. 

Evert had two sons, one of whom was the mate of 
the ship that brought over the Labadist Fathers, and 
the other, Gerrit, who followed his father’s business. 
When the Fathers visited Esopus, they had the com- 
panionship of Gerrit, who was going there with colored 
glass for the church windows. In 1658, 

De Sille and Van der Vin, Churchwardens, report that 
they have agreed with Claas Marschalk to repair the 
glass in the church which he undertook for a reasonable 
price; but he rendered unto them an unreasonable a/c 
therefor, producing the same, with a request that the 
magistrates examine the same. Claas Marschalk says he 
calculated according to the Church work, and has had 
great trouble to set the lozenges in the arms in their 
proper places. Burgomasters and Schepens refer the 
matter in question to Cornelis Steenwyck, old Schepen 
and now Orphan Master of this City, and to Adolf Pieter- 
sen, to take up the a/c, to discuss and decide the same; 
to reconcile parties if possible; if not, to report their con- 
clusion to the Court. 



44 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



The following contract to build an inn is descriptive 
of house-building here in 1655 : 

We, Carpenters, Jan Cornelisen, Abram Jacobsen and 
Jan Hendricksen, have contracted to construct a house 
over the ferry of Egbert Van Borsurn, ferry-man, thirty 
feet long and eighteen inches wide, with an outlet of 
four feet, to place in it seven girders, with three tran- 
some windows and one door in the front, the front to be 
planed and grooved, and the rear front to have boards 
overlapped in order to be tight, with door and windows 
therein; and a floor and garret grooved and planed be- 
neath (on the under side) ; to saw the roof thereon, and 
moreover to set a window-frame with a glass light in 
the front side; to make a chimney mantel and to wain- 
scot the foreroom below, and divide it in the centre across 
with a door in the partition ; to set a window frame with 
two glass lights therein ; further to wainscot the east side 
the whole length of the house, and in the recess two bed- 
steads, one in the front room and one in the inside room, 
with a pantry at the end of the bedstead ( betse ) ; a wind- 
ing staircase in the fore-room. Furthermore we, the car- 
penters are bound to deliver all the square timber — to 
wit, beams, posts and frame timber, with the pillar for 
the winding staircase, spars and worm and girders, and 
foundation timbers required for the work ; also the spikes 
and nails for the interior work ; also rails for the wainscot 
are to be delivered by us. 

For which work Egbert van Borsurn is to pay five 
hundred and fifty guilders, one-third in beavers, one- 
third in good merchantable wampum, one-third in good 
silver coin, and free passage over the ferry so long as 
the work continues, and small beer to be drunk during 
work. 

We have subsequently contracted with said Egbert Van 
Borsurn to build a cellar-kitchen under said house, and 
to furnish the wood for it — to wit, beams and frame 
timber. There must be made two door frames and two 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 45 

circular frames with windows therein, with a stairway 
to enter it, and to line the stairs in the cellar round about 
with boards, with a chimney mantel in the kitchen, and 
to groove and plane the ceiling. Egbert must excavate 
the cellar at his own expense. The carpenters must fur- 
nish the nails. For this work one hundred guilders 
are promised, together with one whole good otter skin. 
Moreover, Egbert must deliver all the flat woodwork re- 
quired for the house — to wit, boards and wainscotting. 

A typical dwelling of the middle of the century is 
also seen in the 

Conditions and terms on which Jacob Kip proposes to sell 
publicly, to the highest bidder his house kitchen hen or 
hog yard and lot lying in the City of [New] Amsterdam 
over against the house of Heer Oloff Stevense [Van 
Cortland], as the same is occupied by him. The house 
two and thirty feet long and twenty feet broad inclosed 
with thick planks and a glazed pantile roof, has a garret 
and floor, cellar walled up three four or five feet with 
stone, and has a brick chimney in the front room, also 
a shop, the partition walls of bricks, the inner room built 
up with brick all around ( rondtom ) bedstead, counting- 
house and larder therein ; besides the aforesaid house, 
there is a kitchen eight or nine feet wide and seventeen 
or eighteen feet long, on the side of the house, with a 
brick chimney, in use by him, together with a hen or hog 
yard in the rear, and the place paved with bricks and an 
apple tree therein, also a common gangway on the west 
side of the house six feet wide and a common well, and 
what more is thereon and fast in earth and nailed except 
the andirons ( hcmdizer ) and hearth stone. 

In John Josselyn’s Account of Two Voyages to 
New England, 1674, we read: 

New York is built with Dutch brick alla-moderna, the 
meanest house therein being valued at one hundred 



46 DUTCH NEW YORK 

pounds ; to the landward it is compassed with a wall of 
good thickness. 

The house (facing page 40) which stands on Cro- 
ton Point, has suffered little change since it was built 
in 1681. It was originally a block house built by 
Governor Dongan as a rendezvous for his fishing- 
parties and conferences with the Indians. It was 
bought from the Indians by Stephanus van Cortlandt, 
son of Olaff Stevenson, who came to Manhattan, a 
soldier from Courland, with Kieft. The estate, which 
consisted of 85,000 acres, extending into Connecticut, 
was erected into a manor and lordship in 1697. The 
walls are of reddish freestone, are three feet thick, and 
pierced with loopholes, which are seen in the illustra- 
tion facing page 48. 

A famous farm and dwelling was that of Frederick 
Philipse (or Flypsen, as it was originally written), who, 
born in Friesland in 1626 and a carpenter by trade, 
sought fortune and found it in New Amsterdam. In 
1662, he married the energetic Margaret Harden- 
brook, widow of Peter Rudolphus De Vries, a mer- 
chant-trader of New Amsterdam, who left her a large 
fortune. Margaret Philipse went repeatedly to Holland 
in her own ships and bought and traded in her own 
name. Philipse soon became the richest man in New 
Amsterdam; and soon after Margaret’s death remar- 
ried, in 1692, another heiress, Catharine van Cortlandt, 
widow of John Derval, and daughter of Olaff Stevensz 
van Cortlandt. His house, built in 1682, altered and 
enlarged by his grandson, is still standing ; and is now 
used as the Town Hall of Yonkers. The original 
staircase was brought from Holland. The house was 
surounded by fine trees and gardens in its early days. 
Philipse also had two hundred and forty square miles, 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 47 

— Fredericksborough (Sleepy Hollow), where he 
built, in 1683, Castle Philipse, a stone fortification for 
protection against the Indians; and in 1699 he and his 
wife, Catharine van Cortlandt, built the church at 
Sleepy Hollow. Other houses of the period face 
page 24. 

Stuyvesant appointed surveyors of streets and build- 
ings; and in 1655 Allard Anthony, burgomaster, and 
Dr. La Montagne, councilor, were a committee to re- 
port on the work of the surveyors. A dock was con- 
structed on the East River side, and the streets were 
regularly laid out and named. New Amsterdam now 
began to assume the appearance of a town. 

At this period was also constructed the Schoeyinge, 
a sort of sea wall, or siding of boards, that reached 
from the City Hall at Coenties Slip to the Water Gate 
at Wall Street. The boards were placed in endwise 
and then elevated. The Schoeyinge was begun in 1655, 
and in the next year, it being determined that the 
whole Strand should be thus protected, the burgomas- 
ters and schepens ordered all dwellers or owners of 
yards on the East River between the gate and the City 
Hall to build up and line their property with boards. 
If they failed, a fine of twenty-five guilders was ex- 
acted. On the northern side of Wall Street from the 
East to the Hudson River a line of defense was erected, 
called the Palisades. 

In 1653, the Committee decided that the Palisades 
must be twelve feet long, eighteen inches in circum- 
ference, sharpened at the upper end, and be set in line. 
At each rod a post twenty-one inches in circumference 
was to be set, to which rails, split for the purpose, 
were to be nailed one foot below the top. The breast- 
work was to be four feet high, four feet at the bottom, 
and three feet at the top, covered with sods, with a 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



48 

ditch three feet wide and two feet deep, two feet and 
a half within the breastwork; the length of the ground 
to be lined with palisades 180 rods, “ the end of the 
rods being the last of the money.” Thomas Baxter 
undertook to deliver all posts and rails for twenty 
stivers for each post and rail together. 

On Jan. 4, 1655, a petition was presented for en- 
larging the city gate at the East River so as to permit 
the passage of a cart and for repairing the road. 

We have already seen (page 25) that the average 
burgher was not careful in keeping the streets clean, 
nor did he hesitate to cumber the way with building 
material or any other bulky goods if convenient for 
his own business. In the inventory of the effects of 
Cornelis Steenwyck, for example, we notice consider- 
able lumber in the street, consisting of fir planks, 
iron anchor, boards, Holland pan tiles, etc. In 1656, 
Stuyvesant made a formal and personal complaint, 
among other things, of “ crowding of the streets with 
stone and timber, so that no carts or wagons can pass.” 

The first street, or dirt road, in the city to be paved 
by the authorities was paid for grudgingly by those 
even who had petitioned for the improvement. In 
1658, Schepen Isaack de Forest appears in court com- 
plaining that the “ Inhabitants of the Brewer’s street 
(now Stone Street) who imposed on themselves the 
tax for the benefit of the street in order to its being 
paved, are unwilling to pay, requesting that the Magis- 
trates be pleased to order payment.” 

In 1660, when the account for making and sheeting 
the Heere Graght (the Canal) was rendered in court, 
it was ordered that each resident or occupant of a lot 
on both banks should pay “ in discharge of said ex- 
penses on so much as he possesses, the sum of Forty 
guilders in Zewant per rod, and the foot in proportion.” 




SHOWING LOOPHOLES 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 49 

There was great trouble in collecting this tax. Nearly 
all the dwellers along the canal refused to pay, and, 
when summoned, obstinately said they would neither 
pay the assessment nor the fine, — they would rather 
go to prison. The authorities were fain to treat the 
offenders with considerable leniency. It would seem 
that the work was not done, after all, for twelve years 
later (1672) we read: 

Whereas his honn r the Gouvern r hath severall times 
Recommended to this Court the Makeing up of y e Mote 
or Graft of this Citty, the Worshipp 11 Court have there- 
fore thought fit and do hereby Strictly Order that y e s d 
Mote or graft schall be made up by y e Owners of y e 
houses or Lotts that do live about uppon y e s d mote or 
otherwise by y e tennants of y e houses for y e Owners 
accounts in manner and forme following, viz. 

Imprimus from y e Waterside upwards to the bridge over 
against y e Stone Street to be Repaired and made and 
finished in y e same forme and manner as M r Johannis 
de Peyster hat already begunn to be made and finished the 
s d owners of y e Houses and Lotts or y e Tennants for 
y e Owners accounts w ch in y e space of two months next 
Ensuing y e date hereof. 

A paved street in New Amsterdam was like many 
a one still to be seen in old towns in Europe, where the 
gutter is a broad gully in the middle of the street, 
which must be crossed by stepping-stones when rain 
turns the thoroughfare into a brawling stream. We 
may gain a clear idea of a model street of the day 
(1670) from the “Orders and Instructions for Mr 
Johannes de Peister, Isaacq Greveraet, Coeuraet ten 
Eyck and Hendrick Willemsen Backer, Overseers 
appointed for the Laying out and Paveing of the 
Streets ” : 



4 



5 ° 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Imprimis: The sd. Overzeers are hereby required to 
order that the Streetes w ch are to be paved be laid out as 
level and even as possible may be, according to the Con- 
venience of the Streets. 

2ndly. That the Passage be Raised about one foot 
higher then the Middle of the Streete to the end the 
Water may take its Course from the passages towards the 
Middle of the Streets aforesaid. 

3rdly And in Case the Neighbours are Inclined to 
wards the paveing of the Whole Streetes, they have lib- 
erty soo to doe, provided that all the Neighbours do 
Jointly agree about the same. 

Flimsy construction led to the appointment of fire- 
wardens in 1648: 

The Hon ble Director General and Council having seen 
and observed that some careless people neglect to keep 
their Chimneys clean by sweeping, and do not pay atten- 
tion to their fires, whereby recently two Houses were 
burned and greater damage is to be expected in future 
from fire, the rather as the houses here in New Amster- 
dam are for the most part built of Wood and thatched 
with Reed, besides which the Chimneys of some of the 
houses are of wood, which also is most dangerous ; There- 
fore the Hon ble General and Council Ordain, enact and 
command as they hereby do, that from now henceforward 
no Chimneys shall be built of wood or [lath and] plaister 
in any houses between the Fort and the Fresh Water , but 
those already enacted may remain until further order and 
pleasure of the Firewardens ; and in order that the fore- 
going shall be well observed, to that end are appointed 
Fire-wardens — from the Hon ble Council, Commissary 
Adriaen d’ Keyser ; from the Commonality, Thomas Hall, 
Marten Crigier and George Wolsey, with power at their 
pleasure to see if the Chimneys in all houses situate and 
standing within this city every where around, between 
this Fort and the Fresh Water, are kept well cleaned by 
sweeping, and if any one be found negligent he shall, 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 51 

every time the Firewardens aforesaid examine and find 
the Chimneys foul, pay them forthwith, without any con- 
tradiction, a fine of three Guilders for every flue found 
on examination to be dirty, to be expended for Fire 
ladders, Hooks and Buckets which shall be procured and 
provided at the earliest and most convenient opportunity, 
and if any one’s house be burned, or be the cause of fire, 
either through negligence or by his own fire, he shall 
forfeit 25 florins to be applied as above. 

Jan Vinje complains (Aug. 28, 1656) that “ Kint 
in ’t Water’s wife goes carelessly night and day with 
fire through her own and her neighbours lots, whereby 
they are in great danger of fire; and that he has not 
repaired his house nor erected chimneys. Kint in ’t 
Water says he brought the plank; the stone and nails 
he cannot yet obtain ; he promises to do all in his power 
to prevent any disaster.” The court ordered him to 
inclose his house and make chimneys according to the 
order of the Street Inspectors, allowing him fourteen 
days’ time at the farthest, provided that meanwhile 
he take good care that no misfortune occurs. 

It will be noticed that the dweller in New Amster- 
dam was not particularly docile under his paternal rule, 
nor did he take kindly to the various ordinances that 
interfered with his doing what seemed to him good 
in his own eyes regarding his own house and grounds. 
The fact that municipal ordinances on the same sub- 
ject were repeated with little apparent effect, more in 
sorrow than in anger sometimes, shows this. It would 
appear that the officers who were appointed to see that 
the rules and regulations were observed were not al- 
ways. treated with the respect that was their due. For 
instance, in 1658 Solomon La Chair was called up for 
correction. On being visited by the Fire Inspector he 
had called him a chimney-sweeper, and in his patois 



52 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



had exclaimed, “ Is it to have a little cock booted and 
spurred ! ” Their Worships decided : 

As it is not seemly that men should mock and scoff at 
those persons who are appointed by the Magistracy to 
any office — yea a necessary office, they therefore condemn 
Solomon La Chair in a fine of twelve guilders. 

No Dutch town, however small, could exist without 
its sc hut ter y ; and consequently we find at quite an 
early period the Burgher Wacht (Citizen’s Watch or 
Guard), consisting of two companies, one of which 
carried a blue and the other an orange ensign. As 
they had trouble to get fire-arms, Stuyvesant supplied 
them from the Company’s chest. At a later period 
the Rattle Watch was instituted, consisting of six men 
whose duty was to patrol the streets at night, to arrest 
thieves, to give alarm in case of fire, and all other 
warnings. They carried a large rattle. In 1658, on 
going the rounds the watch was required to call out 
“ how late it is at all the corners of the streets from 
nine o’clock in the evening until the reveille beat in the 
morning.” Each man received eighteen guilders a 
month. In January, 1674: 

From now henceforward the Burgher Watch of this 
City shall be set and commence at drumbeat about half 
an hour before sun down when the train bands of this 
City then on guard shall parade before the City Hall of 
this City. 

The City gate shall be closed at sun down by the Mayor 
of this City and his attendant trainbands and in like man- 
ner opened at sun rise. 

The Burghery and inhabitants of this City and all others 
of what quality soever they may be, the watch alone ex- 
cepted, are strictly interdicted and forbid to attempt com- 
ing from sunset to sunrise on the bulwarks, bastions or 
batteries of this City on pain of bodily correction. 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 53 

It is strictly forbidden and prohibited, that any person, 
be he who he may, presume to land within this City or 
quit the same in any other manner, way or means than 
through the ordinary City gate on pain of Death. 

In 1697, the streets were first lighted. At every 
seventh house a pole was projected on which hung a 
lantern. When there was a “ light moon/’ the candle 
was not lighted in the lanterns. A night watch of four 
men with the old rattle patrolled the streets. 

In February, 1670, all the city carmen were sum- 
moned to court because of a complaint that several of 
them neglected their duty “ in taking good care for 
the goods which they do cart for the burghers and 
strangers, as also, that some of them do many times 
use ill and bad language to the burghers.” They 
were warned to mend their ways on pain of 
dismissal. 

On Dec. 16, 1659, Romein Servein was fined twelve 
guilders because he “ was found one Sunday riding 
with his cart on the strand; also whilst driving his 
cart was sitting on his cart.” The court also granted 
the Sellout’s request “ for himself and the Under 
Schout that they may seize the cart whenever they find 
any carters sitting riding on their carts along the 
streets.” Thomas Verdon, another delinquent, pleaded 
“ he sat on the cart while riding through the mud, and 
until he should have time to drive up to the hill.” The 
court fined him six guilders, “ because driving on the 
street he remained seated on the cart.” 

In 1678, Governor Andros says: “Our principal 
places of trade are New York and South’ton except 
Albany for the Indians, our buildings most wood, 
some lately stone and brick, good country houses and 
strong of their several kinds.” Governor Dongan, 
nine years later, reports : 



54 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



The principal towns are New York, Albany and King- 
ston. All the rest are country villages. The buildings in 
New York and Albany are generally of brick and stone. 
In the country the houses are mostly new built, having 
two or three rooms on a floor. The Dutch are great im- 
provers of land. 

In 1685, William Byrd writes: 

To Bro. Dan’l per Ruds. 

I was a great part of last Summer at N. Yorke, about 
100 Leagues to the Northward of this place, and found a 
very Honorable reception there from the noble Governor 
(Col Thomas Dongan) and all the Gent, of that place. It 
is a prety pleasant towne consisting of about 700 Houses, 
and a very handsome strong forte, wherein is the Gov- 
ernor’s House, a great Church, Secretary’s office and con- 
venient Lodgings for the officers and Soldiers of the 
Garrison, with other conveniences. The Inhabitants are 
about six eighths Dutch, the remainder French and 
English. 

When Madam Knight visited New York in 1707, 
the city was still characteristically Dutch. She writes : 

The Cittie of New York is a pleasant, well compacted 
place, situated on a commodious River w ch is a fine har- 
bour for shipping. The Buildings, Brick generally, very 
stately and high, though not altogether like ours in Boston. 
The Bricks in some of the Houses are of divers Coullers 
and laid in Checkers, being glazed look very agreeable. 
The inside of them are neat to admiration, the wooden 
work, for only the walls are plastered and the Sumers 1 
and Gist are plained and kept very white scowr’d, as so is 
all the partitions if made of Bords. The fireplaces have 
no Jambs (as ours have). But the Backs run flush with 
the walls, and the Hearth is of Tyles, and is as farr out 

1 Sumers is “the central beam supporting the joist,” sometimes 
called the “ bearing-beam.” 




TRANCE DOOR OF THE VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE 



CROTON-ON-HUDSON 



GARDENS, HOUSES, AND STREETS 55 

into the Room at the Ends as before the fire, w ch is gener- 
ally Five foot in the Low’r rooms, and the peice over 
where the Mantle tree should be is made as ours with 
Joyners work, and I suppose is fastened to iron rodds in- 
side. The house where the Vendue was had Chimney 
Corners like ours, and they and the hearths were laid with 
the finest tile that I ever see and the stair cases laid all 
with white tile, which is ever clean, and so are the walls 
of the Kitchen w ch had a Brick floor. 

Two years later, also, John Lawson says: 

The buildings are generally of a smaller sort of Flemish 
brick, and of the Dutch fashion (excepting some few 
houses). They are all very firm and good work, and con- 
veniently placed, as is likewise the town, which gives a 
very pleasing prospect of the neighbouring islands and 
rivers. A good part of the inhabitants are Dutch. 




CHAPTER III 

COSTUME 

T HOUGH the wives of the rich merchants 
of New Amsterdam did not pay $80 a yard for 
cloth of gold for a dress, as did some ladies 
of the period in Holland, there is evidence that they 
dressed in the rich style of their relatives at home. The 
Dutch government tried in vain to check what it con- 
sidered the waste of money in over-dressing, and even 
prohibited gold and silver fringe. Poets, too, deplored 
the increasing lavishness in dress, and the splendor 
was ridiculed on the stage, as it was denounced from 
the pulpit. Robes of silk, sarcenet, velvet, satin, and 
serge in all the fashionable hues of the day, — scarlet, 
purple, amaranth, fire color, rose color, dead leaf color, 
ash gray, and fawn and mauve, — trimmed with bows 
and knots of ribbons, braids, gold, silver, or silk 
fringes, pendants, bugles, and lace; petticoats lined 
with taffeta and bright with golden flowers embroi- 
dered by skillful fingers; black velvet lined with cloth 
of gold or silver; filmy ruffs and crisp, sheer caps; 
innumerable chains of gold and strands of pearls; 
gold bodkins for the hair; scented gloves and high- 
heeled shoes; muffs, fans, masks, and fine handker- 
chiefs, and a chatelaine upon the various chains of 
which hung scent-bottles, pomanders, writing-tablets, 
pencils, seals, charms, and other trinkets — formed a 
costume that was full of beauty, elegance, and charm. 
The rich petticoat and the overdress, the sets of extra 

56 



COSTUME 



57 



sleeves embellished with lace ruffles, and the flowered 
calicoes that came from the East, the night-rails, the 
love hoods, the flowing robes, the fine furs, the laces, 
and the jewels that we see in the portraits of the day, 
were sent across the ocean, or made here by native 
seamstresses and tailors. 

Among his shop goods Dr. De Lange had an East 
India waxed (lacquered) cabinet with brass bands and 
hinges, worth £4; and within it were the delightful 
small trinkets that so delight the heart of woman. 
Gloves, ribbons, laces, fourteen fans, and seven purses 
were contained in the first partition ; laces, buckles, and 
ribbons in the second; cloth in the third; caps in the 
fourth; garters, scarfs, bands, fans, and girdles in 
the fifth ; fringe, calico, and silk in the sixth ; silk and 
materials for purses in the seventh; and spectacles, 
etc., in the eighth. In another small “ waxed East 
India trunk ” he kept “ hat bands, chains,” etc. 

Five women’s fans are also mentioned in Cornelis 
Steenwyck’s inventory; and three tortoiseshell combs 
appear in Matthew Taylor’s. Mrs. De Lange had a 
mask, and Mrs. Asser Levy, a muff. The fan was 
rarely absent from a lady’s hand; and from the East 
the folding fan arrived, with its sweet-scented sandal- 
wood or carved ivory sticks and its beautifully painted 
gauze or paper mounts. Fans were also made of 
rounded cardboard upon which feathers of various 
colors were artistically fastened. 

Towards the end of the century the following arti- 
cles could be purchased in a New Amsterdam shop: five 
Holland sleeves with lace ruffles; six pairs of sleeves 
with Holland ruffles ; thirteen pairs of sleeves with Hol- 
land ruffles ; six cravats ; twenty-five cravats with neck- 
bands ; twenty-seven with neckbands ; two white hand- 
kerchiefs; two hats with cases ; one pair of boots ; one 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



58 

cane; two pairs of shoes; one bottle of Hungary 
water ; one pair of red slippers ; one girdle, four pairs 
of woolen mittens; five white woolen nightcaps; one 
pair of leather stockings ; four pairs of silk stockings ; 
one pair of yarn stockings ; three pairs of woolen un- 
der stockings; two pairs of thread stockings; three 
pairs of leather gloves ; two calico stomachers ; twenty- 
nine shirts; six calico nightcaps; fifteen linen wo- 
men’s petticoats; three pairs of linen petticoats; one 
blue cloak; one calico waistcoat with white fringe; 
two white flannel shirts; one white lined ditto with 
ivory buttons ; one silk waistcoat ; one cloth waistcoat ; 
two pairs of cloth breeches ; two pairs of striped linen 
breeches; one pair of leather breeches; six pairs of 
coarse linen ditto; two nightgowns; nine red silk 
handkerchiefs ; sixteen white and twelve blue handker- 
chiefs; six gray neckcloths with gold; nineteen white 
neckcloths with gold ; fifteen dozen without gold ; one 
piece of white handkerchief; twelve pieces of gray 
handkerchief, half silk; nineteen ditto, red; three 
ditto gray, half red silk. 

In another shop, in 1692, there are fourteen chil- 
dren’s coats, six pairs of boys’ woolen stockings, six 
pairs of men’s scarlet worsted stockings, one pair white 
stockings, nineteen yards black gauze, three pairs of silk 
stockings, i86j4 yards black crape, two dozen ivory 
combs, four dozen ditto, five dozen ditto, 4000 pins 
for lace. 

One of the chief articles of a lady’s dress was the 
petticoat. This petit cotte was originally what is now 
termed the skirt, over which was worn a silk, velvet, or 
cloth jacket, often trimmed with fur; or a kind of 
polonaise , the skirt of which was looped up or turned 
back to show the handsome petticoat. 

When Washington Irving accused the Dutchwomen 



COSTUME 



59 



of New Amsterdam of wearing half a dozen petti- 
coats, he seems to have thought, in the first place, that 
a petticoat was an undergarment in those days, as it 
now is; and, in the second place, that a Dutchwoman 
wore all the petticoats she possessed at the same time. 

The petticoat was of silk, satin, velvet, cloth, or linen, 
and was, moreover, sometimes trimmed around the 
bottom with gold or silver braid, embroidery, or lace. 
Wealthy ladies in Holland wore scarlet cloth petticoats, 
but less rich burghers’ wives contented themselves with 
purple or blue serge, or linen. The fashionable scarlet 
occurs in many New Amsterdam wardrobes. The 
“ widdow Elizabeth Partridge” in 1669 has six petti- 
coats ; a red cloth one is valued at £2 and one of red 
camlet at £10. She also has a black gros grain petti- 
coat; a “blew silk petticoat,” worth £6; and a hand- 
some embroidered white petticoat, worth £2 10 s. od. 
Mrs. Asser Levy, 1682, had six petticoats. One is 
described as blue, another scarlet, and a third silk, and 
she “ also has one woman’s suite with a red petticoat.” 
Mrs. De Lange had a handsome red cloth petticoat 
with black lace, a black “ pottosoo ” petticoat with 
black silk lining, a black pottosoo petticoat with black 
“ taffety ” lining, a black silk petticoat with ash gray 
silk lining, two petticoats with gray lining, two petti- 
coats with white lining, one with printed lace and one 
without lace, one colored drugget petticoat with a red 
lining, one striped stuff petticoat, one scarlet petti- 
coat, and one under petticoat with a body red bay. 

Fifteen linen women’s petticoats are mentioned in 
John Coesart’s inventory. The petticoat was worn 
over a large circular hoop that rested on the hips, giv- 
ing “ a pleasant round appearance to the figure.” A 
heavy linen underskirt was worn beneath the petticoat. 
Mrs. Matthew Clarkson had two white petticoats, three 



60 DUTCH NEW YORK 

black petticoats, and one “ curland petticoat with 
fringe.” 

The petticoat occasionally figures in court. The fol- 
lowing gives a good description of the garment. On 
Dec. 7, 1647, Lysbet Tyssin sued Goodman Karriman 
for the purchase of a red petticoat with blue lining and 
trimmed with cord. The matter was referred to Mr. 
Ochden and Lieutenant Baxter for arbitration. Again 
we read: Oct. 19, 1638, Declaration of Cornelis Peter- 
sen that Annetje Jans, wife of Rev. Everardus Bo- 
gardus, had sold him a hog and purchased in return of 
him purple cloth sufficient for a petticoat. Oct 13, 
1638, Declaration by Jacob van Curler that Rev. 
Everardus Bogardus’s wife had, when passing the 
blacksmith shop in New Amsterdam, placed her hand 
on her side and drawn up her petticoat a little, in order 
not to soil it, as the road was muddy. 

Every Dutch lady of the Seventeenth Century owned 
a “ rain dress,” to save her skirts from getting wet ; 
and when the streets were dry and the rain had ceased 
to fall, this was tucked up in a special way to show the 
costly petticoat underneath. This “ rain dress ” ori- 
ginated in France, and was worn in all countries by 
the rich middle classes as well as by the nobility. In- 
stead of this garment another garment was sometimes 
worn, called a huik, which was a long cloak made of 
serge or cloth, to cover the whole dress, and which 
was furnished with a hood to protect the head from 
the rain. In other words, it was a kind of pelisse. 
Mrs. De Lange also owned “ a black silk rain cloak,” 
which, of course, is nothing more nor less than the 
fashionable huik. 

Of handsome long robes Mrs. De Lange had six, 
known as samar s: “ one black silk potoso-a-samare, 
with lace; one black silk crape samare with a tucker; 



COSTUME 



61 



one black tartanel samare with a tucker; and three 
flowered calico samare.” The night-gown, which was 
so fashionable at this period, was the name given 
to an evening dress. “ Three calico nightgowns — 
two flowered and one red ” — are evidently made of 
some Eastern material. We also read of one silk waist- 
coat, one red calico waistcoat, one bodice, and five 
pairs of white cotton stockings, besides lace, sleeves, 
caps, hoods, aprons, and a “ black plush mask.” 

“ One embroidered purse with a silver bugle and 
chain to the girdle, a silver hook and eye,” must have 
been very handsome, because it cost as much as the 
“ black silk crape samare with a tucker ” and the “ two 
pair of sleeves with great lace.” Little trinkets were 
probably kept in “ five small East India boxes,” unless 
the lady preserved in them the next article on her in- 
ventory, “ five hair curlings,” which were valued at 
seven shillings! 

The apron at this period was not a mere protection 
for the skirt, but was considered as a decoration. The 
apron frequently appears in the inventories. Mrs. Part- 
ridge has several : a blue linen apron and three woolen 
aprons are of less value than some others in her ward- 
robe. Mrs. De Lange has six calico aprons; Mrs. 
Asser Levy, a black silk apron ; and Ann W atkins has 
four aprons. Lawrence Del dyke had for sale in 1692 
six dozen silk aprons with gold, four dozen black 
aprons with silver, and six dozen blue aprons with 
gold. 

Mrs. Partridge had a black silk gown worth £5 ; a 
black cloth waistcoat, a handsome lace handkerchief, 
and a red coat and a loose gown. Among other items 
four silver clasps, a gold ring, and a silver button are 
mentioned. Mrs. Clarkson owned one stuff gown lined, 
one pair of “ stayes,” one calico gown, “ one silk waist- 



62 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



coat for a woman,” one “ pair of gloves and topknotts,” 
and one black crape gown. 

Among Asser Levy’s belongings we find “ sixteen 
women’s smocks, one bodice, one colored cassock, one 
velvet cassock, one hood, one muff, one black silk 
apron, three pair red women’s stockings, two pair silk 
stockings, six white aprons, and twelve women’s caps 
with lace.” 

The sleeve was of great importance, and was made 
separate from the bodice. The great slashed and puffed 
sleeve was worn over a lace or fine cambric or silk 
undersleeve, clasped here and there with gold or silver 
ornaments or jewels, and embellished with a lace or 
cambric cuff or ruffle at the wrist. Ann Watkins had, 
for example, in 1688, “ thirty-seven pair of old false 
sleeves ” ; Mrs. Clarkson owned three pairs of sleeves 
and one pair of ruffles; Mrs. Partridge, 1669, a parcel 
of lace and laced bands, and Mrs. De Lange had “ two 
pairs of sleeves with great lace ”(£1 3s. 6d.), two pairs 
of woman’s sleeves without lace, five pairs with inner 
lace, thirteen women’s sleeves with lace, and “ twenty- 
five small and great cushion sleeves.” She also pos- 
sessed a tucker and a black silk scarf with lace. 

The ruffs, or collars, were of equal importance, hav- 
ing reached such tremendous proportions that they 
extended far over the shoulders and stood up above 
the back of the head. In order to keep them in shape 
after they were starched and ironed, they were fastened 
on gold or silver wires. The material was the finest 
cambric edged with lace or point de Venise or point 
d’Alengon. When all the plaits of these were smoothed 
out, they sometimes measured sixty yards ! These ruffs 
were extremely expensive (some of them cost as much 
as $4000), and were worn only by the rich; but the 
burghers’ wives followed the styles as well as they 




VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE 



COSTUME 



63 

could, as the portraits of the period show. The laid 
or turned down or flat collar was also worn ; and also 
the crossed pleated and rounded pleated, ribbed collars. 
The making, undoing, washing, starching, and ironing, 
and remaking was no common work ; and many Dutch 
ladies attended to the making and the doing up of 
their ruffs themselves. 

One of the most costly articles of a lady’s toilette 
was the stomacher, or “ breast-piece,” which was made 
of silk, satin, or velvet, and ornamented with pearls and 
jewels. Some of them were valued at £10,000, being 
beautifully embroidered or sprinkled with gems or gar- 
nished with lace. W. D. Hooft gives a bride four, — 
of velvet, satin, figured silk, and “ lord’s serge.” 

Headdresses were of various kinds. Caps of lace 
made into various shapes and styles, such as the com- 
mode, in which a series of ruffles shaped something like 
battlements stood erect and high above the forehead, 
pinners or lappets, “ head cloths ” wrapped around the 
head like hoods, “ cornet caps,” “ drawing-caps,” and 
hoods of silk appear in many inventories. Mrs. De 
Lange, for example, has sixteen cornet caps with lace, 
thirty-nine drawing caps with lace, eleven headbands 
with lace, and eleven headbands without lace. She also 
has twelve white hoods of love, another white love 
hood, three black love hoods, one yellow love hood, and 
five of dowlas (coarse linen). 

Ann Watkins, 1688, had “twelve capps for a 
woman,” three “ calico heads,” two pinners, or lappets, 
for headdress, and ten headcloths. She also had an 
“ alamode hood,” which was, of course, silk. She also 
owned a silk lute-string scarf measuring two yards and 
a half. The “ Widdow Elizabeth Partridge” in 1669 
had a parcel of head cloths worth £2, and a “ taffety 
hood.” Mrs. Matthew Clarkson had seven plain head- 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



64 

dresses, three laced headdresses, four “ pinners,” and 
three scarves, one of which was of velvet and lined. 

The Dutch ladies were fond of perfumes; highly 
scented powder and the essence known as Hungary 
water were to be found on the dressing-table, where 
the various cosmetics, pins, hairpins, etc., were con- 
veniently at hand in dainty boxes of porcelain, silver, 
or tortoiseshell. “ A small box with some paint,” found 
in the inventory of Mrs. Elizabeth Graveraet, widow of 
Dr. Samuel Drisius, looks suspiciously like a cosmetic. 

Gloves were of leather, silk, cotton (calico), and 
white openwork thread. A lady always had a good 
number of “ shoe-work.” Her out-of-door shoes were 
of brown or black Spanish leather, with high red heels, 
called by Huygens “ shell-heels.” Indoors she wore 
red slippers, or shoes of gold or silver, leather, satin, 
or silk, and yellow, green, blue, scarlet, or white stock- 
ings with “ clocks ” at the side. 

The jewels of the day were hair ornaments, earrings, 
brooches, pins, bracelets, chains, miniatures set with 
gems or pearls, clasps for the sleeves, finger-rings, 
necklaces, and, last but not least, the chatelaine of gold 
or silver, from which on its several chains and hooks 
hung the various trinkets, sewing and toilet articles, — 
little round mirrors, scent-boxes or pomanders contain- 
ing sweet powder or paste, a patch-box containing the 
black court-plaster cut in various shapes, all ready to 
replace a fallen beauty spot, bodkins, an etui case, tiny 
silver-bound pincushion, thimble, scissors, etc. The 
chatelaine was often given as a wedding-present by 
the father-in-law. 

In some inventories we find the characteristic head 
ornaments that the Dutch and particularly Frisian 
women have worn from time immemorial, and of 
which Madam Knight speaks in 1707. These gold or 



COSTUME 



65 

silver head-wearings, ear-wearings, earrings, ear-wyers, 
as they appear variously, were often studded with 
jewels, and, if not, were adorned with pendants of 
delicate filigree work. These peculiar decorations are 
familiar to all travelers in Holland, and were far from 
uncommon in the New World. Let us take a few 
examples: Mrs. Van Varick left to her daughter Cor- 
nelia “ two gold pieces to wear above their ears.” Cris- 
tina Cappoens had “ a gold ear pendant with ye ear 
jewels,” the weight of which was two ounces and the 
value £10. This was also described as “ one great ear 
spangle with ear jewels.” Among Peter Jacob Marius's 
belongings we find “ one gold earwyer,” and “ two 
pair gold pendants.” Mrs. Jacob De Lange had a pair 
of gold stricks, or pendants, in each ten diamonds, 
worth £25 ; a pair of black pendants with gold hooks, 
and two small white pendants. Mrs. Elizabeth Grave- 
raet, the widow of Dr. Samuel Drisius, had “ one silver 
head-wearing, or ear-iron,” which, with a pint cup, a 
pint tumbler, and four spoons was valued at £5. Isaac 
Van Vlecq, 1688, left to his daughters two pairs of 
gold pendants with crystals, a gold chain, “five double,” 
a gold bodkin, and other jewelry; and Mary Jansen, 
1679, left to her daughter Elsie Leisler “ a golden 
ear-ring.” 

A very handsome headdress forms a bone of conten- 
tion in court in 1665. The story is as follows : Pieter je 
Jans said she sold to Hendrickje Duyckingh’s daughter, 
in presence of her husband, an ornamented headdress 
for fifty-five guilders in seawant, and that the defend- 
ant sent it back. She demanded that the bargain should 
stand good. Hendrickje said her daughter had no 
authority to buy such without the knowledge of her 
parents, as she is still under them. Hendrickje’s hus- 
band, Evert Duyckingh, appeared and “ would have 

5 



66 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



nothing to do with it.” He said “ it is now no time to 
buy head dresses; also, that it is not worth so much.” 
Parties on both sides being heard, Burgomasters and 
Schepens decided that the sale of the headdress should 
stand good, and consequently ordered defendant to pay 
the sum of fifty-five guilders promised therefor, to re- 
ceive the headdress and keep it. 

Gold ornaments are very numerous, though not 
always described in detail. John Spratt, 1697, had 
gold ornaments weighing 2 24 ounces, which were ap- 
praised at £13 15s. od. 

A curious case came up in court on Dec. 7, 1669, 
when Jan Hendricx van Gunst said that Jannetie Jacobs 
had a pair of gold ornaments which were heretofore 
stolen from him, and demanded restitution. She 
claimed she bought them from a Frenchwoman, whose 
name she did not know, and paid forty-eight florins 
seawant for them. Thereupon the court ordered her 
to prove from whom she had bought them. On Jan. 
11, 1670, Jan Hendricx van Gunst and Jannetie Jacobs 
again appeared in court, when one Elsie Barentsen de- 
clared that the ornaments in question formerly belonged 
to Aeltie Marishalls, from whom the plaintiff bought 
them. Barentie Moulenaers declared on oath that she 
heard the plaintiff say that he had not lost the orna- 
ments, but believed he let them fall, and that his sister 
found them and had seemingly sold them. Sara Peters 
declared she heard the plaintiff say he believed the 
ornaments in question were not stolen, but fallen, 
and were found by his sister and sold by her. On 
February 8, Jannetie Jacobs produced the following 
declarations. Harmen Hendricx van Weyen testified 
and declared “ to have seen one fytie Dirx residing at 
Breukelen on Long Island wear the ornaments in ques- 
tion now about a year ago.” Anna Dirx, wife of 



COSTUME 



67 

Dirck Claessen Pottebacker, declared the same in writ- 
ing. On March 1, 1670, the “Court found that the 
ornaments in question are not stolen by the defendant. 
However, since she cannot sufficiently prove that she 
bought them, but only that they were seen on Fytie 
Dircx, from whom defendant in the first instance de- 
clared she bought them, therefore the W : Court decide 
and order that the ornaments in question shall be de- 
livered to the plaintiff and retained by him, on condition 
of paying to defendant twenty guilders zewant and the 
costs incurred herein.” 

Diamonds seem to have been the favorite jewels of 
the Dutch; they sparkle in rings, lockets, earrings, 
chains, and pendants of various descriptions. The wife 
of Dr. De Lange had a jewel box described as a “ sil- 
ver thread wrought small box, wherein: a gold boat 
wherein thirteen diamonds to one white coral chain 
(worth £16); two red stones; two diamond rings 
(worth £24) ; a gold ring with a clapbeck, and a gold 
ring or hoop bound with diamonds (worth £2 10s. od.).” 
Peter Jacob Marius, 1702, has two gold diamond rings 
and six other rings ; Dr. De Lange had two very valu- 
able diamond rings and a handsome gold ring, or hoop, 
bound round with diamonds; Mrs. Van Varick had 
no less than seven diamond rings; John Coesart, “a 
gold diamond ring and a gold hoop.” Mary Jansen 
in 1679 left to her son Jacob a diamond rose ring; 
Anne Richbell, “ Gentlewoman, of Mamaroneck,” to 
her daughter, Elizabeth, in 1700, “my gold ring with 
an emerald stone in it ” ; and Cristina Cappoens has one 
gold rose diamond ring, worth £5. Matthew Taylor 
in 1687 has an enameled stone ring. 

Among many instances of those whose jewel boxes 
were by no means empty Mrs. Margareta Van Varick 
is conspicuous. She has a pearl necklace, a gold chain 



68 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



with a locket with seven diamonds, a gold ring with 
seven diamonds, a gold ring with a table diamond, a 
gold ring with three small diamonds, two gold rings 
each with a diamond, two small gold rings with dia- 
monds, three more gold rings, one pair diamond pen- 
dants, two gold drops for the ear, two gold chains, two 
gold buttons, one comb tipped with gold, one pair crys- 
tal pendants edged with gold, two gold pins headed 
with pearls, one gold bodkin, one chain with gold 
bell, another gold bell and chain. Cristina Cappoens, 
1693, owns a gold rose diamond ring worth £5 and 
a large hoop ring, a “ chain of great beads,” and 
“ gold hooks and eyes for a night rail.” Anna Vande- 
water, 1684, left her daughter her gold “ Stricke, or 
pendant.” 

Asser Levy in 1682 had “ fourteen gold rings, one 
gold bodkin, two silver bodkins, two pairs gold pen- 
dants, one silver watch, one silver hatband, two pair of 
silver buckles, one silver earring, one pair silver buttons, 
one ducatoon with a ring, one silver knife, and silver 
to a belt for a sword.” Peter Jacob Marius had in 
1702 two diamond rings, one amber necklace, four pair 
gold buttons, three gold chains, one bodkin, and three 
buckles. 

Cornelis Steenwyck owned a great deal of valuable 
jewelry, including several gold chains. Jacob De Lange 
kept much of his valuable jewelry in a very costly 
“ silver thread wrought small trunk,” and, moreover, 
owned a watch of great value, “ a testament with 
gilt hooks and gold hangers and a gold chain.” Law- 
rence Deldyke owned silver shoe buckles and silver 
shirt buckles and a silver seal in 1692, and in 1700 
John Coesart had a silver snuff-box, a silver powder- 
box, a silver watch, and twenty-three ounces of amber 
beads. Among her treasures Mrs. Van Varick owned 



COSTUME 



69 

“ one small gold box as big as a pea/’ one gold 
medal, one small mother of pearl box, and four small 
boxes with beads and shells, one gold Arabian ducat, 
and one gold piece the shape of, a diamond. 

Some pearl pins figure in a lawsuit in 1656 between 
two women who are evidently relatives, Helletie Jan- 
sen, plaintiff, versus Pietertie Jansen, defendant. The 
latter requested, “ as defendant has bought from In- 
dians here within this City some goods belonging to her 
and her sister, that she be condemned to return the 
same to her on receiving what she has given therefor ; 
being one small box with divers linens, as a pair of 
linen sheets, two shirts, some frills, coifs, children’s 
caps, pocket handkerchiefs, three pearl pins and other 
things, that she does not know precisely.” Specimens 
of watches from the Rijks Museum face page 70. 

Children were dressed like miniature grown people. 
The little daughters of the wealthy wore long dresses, 
ruffs, lace cuffs, caps, and often a good deal of jewelry. 
Boys were dressed in the style of their fathers, even 
to the large felt hat with plumes. It is not often that 
children’s clothes are specially listed in the New Am- 
sterdam inventories ; but occasionally we find such an 
item as “ two children’s stript caps,” as in that of Mrs. 
Elizabeth Graveraet, and in the inventories of shop 
goods. Cornelis Steenwyck’s is rather unusual in this 
respect, for we find “ one red silk fringe belt and one 
children’s ditto; two children’s waistcoats, one coate 
and one pair breeches for children, one dozen children’s 
caps, a parcel of linen for children, four dozen children 
linen caps, one dozen children’s shirts, four children 
best linen shirts, three laced cuffs for children, two 
boyes’ bonnets, three whisks for children, two pair 
children’s sleeves of silk, six children tufted holland 
waistcoats, old, one dozen small linen children’s hoods, 



7 ° 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



one dozen children linen cuffes and one gold child’s 
whistle.” “ One silk child’s cloak and five child’s 
aprons ” appear in Matthew Clarkson’s inventory. 

The peasant-women, or farming-class, were more 
varied in costume than the wealthy burghers’ wives 
and daughters who followed the fashions of Paris and 
Amsterdam. Generally speaking, the dress consisted 
of a woolen skirt, a jacket reaching nearly to the 1 
knees, with puffed sleeves, a standing collar, and a 
large woolen cloak. There were slight variations ac- 
cording to the country from which the women came. 
The Purmer women wore a tight-fitting jacket with 
narrow sleeves fastened around the wrists with silver 
buttons, a “ breast cover/’ or stomacher, trimmed 
with small rosettes or bows, a standing collar, a 
short skirt, and a silver chatelaine with keys, a 
purse, knives, knitting-needle holders, and other 
trinkets. The Edam women might be distinguished 
by their flat linen collars turned back over their 
jackets. The wives of the South Holland farmers 
wore a laced jacket, with a flowered or velvet “ breast 
cloth ” pinned over it, which sometimes was adorned 
with a collar and fastened in front with buttons or 
loops. The North Holland women wore a white 
starched bonnet, with a high bodice laced up to the 
chin; while the very large and gaudy colored necker- 
chief was not worn round the neck but pinned on 
the bodice. Their skirts were longer than those of the 
South Holland women, which were so short that the 
poets poked fun at them. These last did not wear col- 
lars, but velvet neckerchiefs, or neckpieces, with thick 
golden clasps. The aprons were of blue linen with 
green binding; the skirts generally of brown material 
or black linen. 

Stockings were red, blue, yellow, brown, and other 




OLD DUTCH WATCHES 

R1JKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 




COSTUME 



7i 

colors, and slippers were generally worn as well as the 
wooden shoes. N 

The hair was combed back smoothly over and 
braided at the back of the head, after which this braid 
was twisted around the head. Over this was some- 
times worn a velvet hat, not unlike a man’s hat, with 
a rim, straight in front and turned upwards in the 
back. These hats were generally worn to market, 
but the richer women often wore “ embroidered bon- 
nets ” and “ cornet-caps,” of which Mrs. De Lange had 
several (see page 63). The Alkmaar girls went bare- 
headed, but they had a knack of braiding their golden 
hair in a captivating way. 

The suit of clothes for men consisted then, as now, 
of breeches, coat, and waistcoat. Baggy breeches were 
characteristic of the Dutchmen. They were usually 
of the same color as the waistcoat, and were extremely 
wide and reached to the knee. These were made in a 
great variety of shapes and colors, except in the case 
of the city magistrates, who rarely wore anything 
but black. There was no article of clothing on which 
more work and care were bestowed and which was 
made in so many different styles and called by so many 
different names, most of which were foreign. “ Do 
you wish your breeches in the French or the German 
style? a flesh-colored pair woven in the German style, 
or one of the French fashion?” the tailor would ask. 
The breeches were elaborately trimmed with buttons. 
Cloth buttons were sometimes used ; but if the gentle- 
man could afford it the decorative buttons were of 
silver. Wrought silver buttons were often given as 
christening presents for future use. Innumerable but- 
tons of silver, metal, thread, silk, and other materials 
are found in the shops of New Amsterdam. Mrs. Van 
Varick had seventeen dozen colored buttons, twelve 



72 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



dozen black, ten gross white, twelve and a half light 
thread, twenty-six dozen silk breast buttons, one gross 
silver breast buttons, seventeen dozen gimp coat but- 
tons, eight dozen thread coat buttons, four dozen and 
ten pewter, twenty-two dozen hollow buttons, five pairs 
shirt buttons, four gross bell metal buttons, and four 
gross bell metal hollow buttons. 

Coats were of bright colors and often lined with silk. 
Tail coats came into vogue towards the last of the 
century and were made of fancy materials. The coats 
were also ornamented profusely with buttons. The 
waistcoat was bright and gay. Young noblemen, who 
set the fashion, selected very costly materials, such as 
gold and silver cloth, silver damask, white satin with 
golden stripes and embroidered with flowers, and fast- 
ened with three or four rows of handsome buttons. 

The burgomaster usually wore a simple black cloth 
suit on week days; on Sundays and on holidays, a 
velvet one. In summer he wore a black satin waist- 
coat, which fitted tight around the chest and waist and 
was fastened in front with small golden buttons. This 
black costume was frequently worn at christenings and 
other ceremonial occasions. One or more black suits of 
velvet, satin, or broadcloth are conspicuous in the inven- 
tories of the prosperous citizens of New Amsterdam. 

Cornelis Steenwyck has a long list of rich and ex- 
pensive clothes. He is beautifully dressed in his por- 
trait (see Frontispiece) painted by Jan Van Goosen 
about 1 667, and now owned by the New York His- 
torical Society. For instance, one cloth coat with 
silver plate buttons is worth £4 15s. od. ; another 
“ stuff coat with silver plate buttons ” is appraised at 
£4, and a black cloth coat and breeches at £2. Then 
he has a pair of cloth breeches, a cloth coat with gimp 
buttons (£2 1 os. od.), a black cloth coat (£2 10s. od.). 



COSTUME 



73 



a black velvet coat, old (£3), “a coloured stuff coat,” 
a silk coat, and one pair of silk breeches, black, and 
one old silk doublet (£1 5s. od.), a silver cloth doublet, 
an old velvet waistcoat with silver lace, a pair of 
“ stockins ” and linen breeches, a buff coat and silk 
sleeves (£1 10s. od.), a yellow scarf silk with silver 
fringes (£1 5s. od.), two cloth coats and breeches, a 
pair of breeches, and four fustian waistcoats. 

Dr. Jacob De Lange could make a fine appearance. 
He had a black broadcloth suit (£1 5s. od.), a “ cull’d 
serge, ye new suit with silver buttons ” (£5), “ a cul- 
lered cloth west coat with silver buttons ” (£1 4s. od.), 
one “ Japons coat lining with red say” (£1 15s. od.), 
two old “ coates ” (£1 10s. od.), and one black gros 
grain suit (£1 17s. od.). Asser Levy, 1682, had a 
black velvet jacket, a pair of black gros grain breeches 
and coat, one gray ditto, one dark broadcloth suit and 
coat, breeches; two linen breeches. Francoys Rom- 
bouts, 1691, owned two black coats, one colored coat, 
one waistcoat with silver buttons, three fustian waist- 
coats, and one pair of plush breeches and a linen coat. 
Lawrence Deldyke, 1692, had six coats, five waistcoats, 
two pairs of breeches, two pairs of plush breeches, and 
one morning gown. In his inventory we also find one 
pair of drawers. Francoys Rombouts had ten pairs 
of drawers and also a pair of crape drawers; Asser 
Levy had six linen drawers ; Dr. De Lange has three 
silk drawers, two calico “ mixt checkard ” ditto, and 
three white calico drawers. 

Mr. Joseph Farral, 1702, was also elegant in mat- 
ters of dress. His wardrobe included one light colored 
cloth suit (£3 1 os. od.), one pair plush breeches with 
cloth buttons, one pair woolen and three pairs striped 
linen breeches, one “ French druged coat ” and red 
striped waistcoat (£4 9s. iod.), one “ Capitation coat,” 



74 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



one silk “ wasecoat,” one fustian “ wasecoat,” and six 
pair Holland breeches. Tymen Vanborsen, 1703, owned 
two coats and a pair of “ britches ” and another pair 
with silver buttons valued at £8. Thomas Davids, 
1688, had three waistcoats and seventy-six silver 
buttons worth £48. Colonel William Smith, of St. 
George’s Manor, Long Island, had in 1704 one hun- 
dred and four silver buttons worth £5 10s. od. ; and a 
silver watch and silver buttons, £10. 

Sleeves were often separate from the coat and were 
very handsome. Cornells Steenwyck has three pairs of 
sleeves; Dr. De Lange’s inventory mentions “ nine 
and a half pair men’s sleeves ” ; Francoys Rombouts, 
1691, had six, and Lawrence Deldyke, 1692, three pairs 
of sleeves. 

Turning now to shirts, we find Captain Caesar Carter 
with seven plain shirts (£4 18s. od.), three new laced 
shirts (£4 1 os. od.), and three laced shirts worn 
(£4 1 os. od.) ; Dr. De Lange, thirteen linen men’s 
shirts worth £2 15s. od. and three worth £1 ; Tymen 
Vanborsen, 1703, with twelve men’s shirts (£4 ios.od.) ; 
Matthew Clarkson, 1702, with no less than twenty-five; 
Asser Levy, “ twelve new shirts and twelve worn 
shirts”; Francoys Rombouts, fourteen shirts; Law- 
rence Deldyke, “ eight white and blue shirts ” ; and 
Joseph Farral, a “ callico ” shirt and three Holland 
shirts, worth £13, and five coarse linen and one flannel 
shirt (£1 1 os. od.). 

The men of the period, as we know from the many 
portraits showing ruffs, collars, and cuffs of various 
styles and beautiful materials, were particularly ele- 
gant in the matter of neckwear. Whether of Brussels 
or cambric, lace or needlework, embroidered or plain, 
they were very costly. One of the oldest styles was 
the simple rimmed collar with either large or small 



COSTUME 



75 



plaits. Then there was a collar shaped like a horse- 
shoe, flat in front and round at the back; also a stiff 
standing upright collar. About 1638 the Spanish col- 
lars were displaced by the not less costly French ones. 
These reached with long embroidered points down the 
back, and were fastened in front with cords, terminat- 
ing with small acorn-shaped balls. They were first 
worn by Prince Frederick Henry and his Court and 
later by all the patrician families. Later, when the 
long wigs, which hung over shoulders and back, be- 
came fashionable, these collars went out of fashion, and 
the band took their place, which also was finely em- 
broidered and likewise fastened with a cord with acorn- 
shaped balls. 

A beautiful set of collar and cuffs was one of the 
presents a bride gave to her husband on the wedding- 
day, preferably made by her own hands. 

The New Amsterdam inventories contain many ex- 
amples of neckcloths and cravats. Dr. De Lange was 
very elegant in this accessory of dress. He had two 
neckcloths with great lace, two pairs of gorgets with 
lace, six long neckcloths with lace, six short neckcloths 
with lace, two long neckcloths without lace, eight 
striped neckcloths, twenty-nine pairs of gorgets, and 
seventeen bands. Cornelis Steenwyck had “ six men’s 
linen neckcloths (12 shillings), twenty bands (£1), 
seven neckcloths (12 shillings), and three laced cuffs 
for men (3 shillings). Asser Levy’s wardrobe in- 
cluded twenty neckcloths with lace and without, three 
hals (neck) cloths, eight ditto, and eight ditto of another 
sort. Captain Caesar Carter had two laced neckcloths 
(£2 4s. od.), one laced neckcloth, worn (£0 7s. 6d.), 
and six neckcloths (18 shillings). Lawrence Deldyke, 
twelve muslin cravats and two lace cravats; and F. 
Rombouts, twelve neckcloths. 



76 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



In the old inventories the word “ handkerchief ” 
sometimes is used for the neckcloth; but in some of 
the New Amsterdam inventories the two articles are 
distinct. Captain Carter, for example, had five plain 
handkerchiefs and three laced handkerchiefs; Mr. 
Joseph Farrel, three handkerchiefs and three neck- 
cloths; Matthew Clarkson, ten handkerchiefs; Fran- 
coys Rombouts, twelve handkerchiefs ; Lawrence 
Deldyke, four handkerchiefs ; and Steenwyck has only 
one. 

Stockings were of great importance, and were gen- 
erally of the same material as the trousers. Sometimes 
they were elaborately embroidered or trimmed. We 
read of silk, cotton, woolen, satin, flannel, and roll 
stockings ; stockings with clocks and ribbed stockings ; 
stockings of white, black, blue, and, above all, scarlet. 
The stockings were held in place by garters, and gar- 
ters contrasted with or matched the stockings. There 
were garters of satin, silk, or cloth. A pair of ribbon 
garters occurs in Steenwyck’s inventory, and are worth 
eight shillings. Steenwyck had three pairs of stockings, 
two pairs of thread and one of woolen stockings (8 
shillings) ; Dr. De Lange had “ five pairs white calico 
stockings, one pair of black, and one of gray worsted 
stockings ” ; F. Rombouts, six pairs of stockings ; and 
Lawrence Deldyke, five pairs of stockings. Captain 
Carter had a large assortment : “ two pair thread stock- 
ings (6 shillings), one pair scarlet stockings (18 shill- 
ings), one pair blue worsted stockings (io shillings), 
one pair white worsted and one pair coarse blue stock- 
ings (8 shillings), one pair old black silk (3 shillings), 
and one pair white cotton stockings (5 shillings).” 

Stockings were sufficiently valued to be often be- 
queathed to friends and relatives. For example, in the 
will of Thomas Exton, gentleman, 1668, we read: 



COSTUME 



77 



I give unto Captain Sylvester Salisbury a new pair of 
silk stockings and a new pair of gloves that lye in the till 
of my black trunk. I give unto Mrs. Abigail Nicholls, 
my silver boat, a silver meat fork and a silver spoon. 

In 1689, Lawrence Deldyke, the London merchant, 
writing his will on board the Beaver , leaves a pair of 
scarlet stockings to Lieutenant Matthew Shanks (a 
very appropriate name for such a bequest!), and 
another pair to Lancaster Symes. 

Shoes were of brown or black Spanish leather. 
Some were cut open at the top and adorned with 
rosettes, or a bow of ribbon on the toe, and, as a 
rule, the heels were high. Indoors, slippers (“ quiet 
walkers ”) were worn and also sandals. 

There were many shoemakers in New Amsterdam, 
and for expensive boots and shoes the leather was often 
imported. On Sept. 27, 1656, we read: 

On the complaint of the Fiscal, William Brouwer, shoe- 
maker, was ordered to pay duty on Russia leather, etc. 
imported by him and to make a pair of shoes for the 
Fiscal. 

Among the shoes and slippers we may note that 
Asser Levy, 1682, had two pairs of shoes and one pair 
of “ pantoffles ” ; Captain Carter, two pairs of shoes 
and one pair of slippers; F. Rombouts, two pairs of 
shoes ; Lawrence Deldyke, two pairs of shoes, one pair 
of boots, and one pair of shoe buckles; and Joseph 
Farrel, one pair of new shoes and one pair a little worn. 

Gloves also occur frequently. Cornelis Steen wyck 
had two pairs of gloves ; Dr. De Lange, a pair of “ yel- 
low tand gloves with black silk fringe,” worth fourteen 
shillings; Francoys Rombouts, three pairs of gloves; 
Lawrence Deldyke, one pair of gloves ; and “ one pair 
white leather men’s gloves ” are found in Mrs. Eliza- 
beth Graveraet’s inventory. 



78 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



The hat was of fine felt, round, low of crown and 
wide of rim, but not as low and flat as those of the 
Quakers; and very often it was trimmed with one 
large feather or several plumes, or it was ornamented 
with a chain of gold or row of pearls. 

The tall hats (called sugar-loaves) were worn by 
the staid burghers, and the hats trimmed with laces, 
pearls and diamonds, feathers and plumes, were worn 
by the fashionables. In the inventory of a rich mer- 
chant of Develshem appear some “ armosyn-colored, 
silver gray, and Sabin hats, hats with feathers and birds 
natural and imitations, allonges, cavalieres, carrees; 
wigs a la Mousquetaire, wigs of goat, buck’s and camel 
hair, etc.” Towards the end of the century the long 
wigs became fashionable, the curls of which sometimes 
reached down to the waist, while the “ toupet ” or 
“ coif ” often rose a foot above the forehead. It was 
blond, weighed sometimes more than five pounds, and 
frequently cost from two to three thousand guilders. 

Hats and wigs occur in the wardrobes of the 
burghers of New Amsterdam. A few examples will 
give an idea of the headgear worn here: Captain 

Caesar Carter had one campaign wig (£i 5s. od.), one 
short bob wig (£1 5s. od.), and one old bob wig (10 
shillings). He also had one lacker hat (£1), and one 
old hat (10 shillings), and one fur cap. Mr. Joseph 
Farral, 1702, had “three bob wiggs ” (9 shillings); 
Matthew Clarkson, 1703, had a “ hat with a mourning 
hat band ” ; Cornells Steenwyck had four old hatts (12 
shillings) ; Dr Jacob De Lange, one black fine hat, 
one old gray hat, one black ditto, all worth £1 is. od. 
Francoys Rombouts, 1691, had two hats and two peri- 
wigs; Lawrence Deldyke, 1692, two hats and one cap. 
Asser Levy, 1682, one hat, four coarse hats, two 
“ capps,” three man’s “ capps ” with lace, a belt and a 



COSTUME 



79 



hat, and a gray and black hat. Two pearl cords men- 
tioned in the inventory may have been trimming for 
one of these hats. 

To wear a cloak with elegance was the mark of a 
gentleman; and it was not an easy thing to throw it 
over the shoulders in the proper folds and to keep its 
graceful lines. The burgomaster wore it to church and 
to the meetings of the Council and kept it on with his 
hat when paying a call. On arriving home it was re- 
moved with the shoes, for which slippers were substi- 
tuted. Some of the cloaks of the day were richly 
trimmed with gold or silver lace, or embroidered, but, 
as a rule, they were handsome cloth lined with silk, 
and sometimes ornamented with buttons. 

A number of cloaks appear in the New Amsterdam 
inventories, some of which are rich and costly. For 
instance, Dr. De Lange had a handsome heavy silk 
gros grain cloak lined with silk; Cornelis Steenwyck, 
a “ light coloured gros grain cloak,” a dark cloak with 
lining, a cloth cloak with lining of bay and wrought 
silver buttons; Francoys Rombouts had a “ new black 
cloak” in 1691; and Lawrence Deldyke left a camlet 
cloak to Major Richard Ingoldsby. 

Swords and belts and walking-sticks and canes oc- 
cur among the possessions of the wealthy citizens. Dr. 
De Lange had a sword with a silver handle and one 
with an iron handle, and two canes, one with a “ silver 
knot or head ” and one with an ivory head. Colonel 
William Smith, of St. George’s Manor, Long Island, 
had a silver-headed cane, three handsome swords, and 
eleven embroidered belts worth the extraordinary sum 
of £110. Asser Levy, 1682, a silver-hilted sword, one 
sword with a belt. Captain Caesar Carter, 1692, an old 
embroidered belt with silver buckles (£1 10s. od.), a 
white silk waist belt (8 shillings), a pair of pistols 



8o 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



(£4), and a silver-hilted sword (£3 12s. od.) ; Mat- 
thew Clarkson, 1703, two walking-canes, two silver- 
handled swords, and a mourning-sword. 

A melancholy wardrobe now confronts us. This 
belongs to Jaques Cosseau, once a prosperous merchant 
of New Amsterdam, but reduced to sad days at his 
death in 1682. Everything is “ old ” but one item, — 
“ a new pair of stockings.” The inventory reads : 
“ one old serge coat, one old kersey coat, one old pair 
kersey breeches, one old black hat, one pair old black 
breeches, one pair old red breeches, and three old shirts.” 
One red waistcoat without that opprobrious adjective 
was perhaps more presentable than the other articles. 
He also owned one neckcloth and “ thirteen skeins of 
silk.” Perhaps the latter were used for darning! 

The dress of the farmers consisted of a waistcoat 
with sleeves, or a shirt-coat and an over-frock of black 
linen called “ paltrok.” The “ hemd-rok ” was cut 
short or long, and was made of serge, wool, cloth, or 
other materials. In some cases it was cut so low N 
that it hung in lapels over the hips. The breeches 
were wide and short; but sometimes they were long 
and hung down to the shoes. Some people wore fringes 
at the bottom of the short breeches, with large silver 
buttons, shields, or silver ducats as clasps. The collars 
were low and flat. The hats had a flat crown, rather 
high, with a short fringed rim in the shape of a sugar- 
loaf, such as the Quakers wore. Some people wore 
what is called a “ skipper’s cap,” and others wore hats 
with wide rims. Some were made of flowered velvet, 
with a bow at the side or ornamented with a peacock’s 
feather. The hair was cut very short. Leather shoes 
were worn only on Sundays, and wooden shoes on 
week days. 




CHAPTER IV 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 

N OTHING was too good for the prosperous 
New Netherlander. He emulated to the best 
of his ability his brothers, the merchant princes 
of the Spice Islands, whose luxury aroused the appre- 
hension of the home authorities and induced sumptu- 
ary laws. In furniture and upholstery he demanded 
the latest fashion. The looms of the East supplied 
him with silken fabrics for his hangings and fine rai- 
ment, and painted calico and other fine cotton goods 
for the comfort and elegance of his apartments. 
Venice and Bohemia provided him with exquisite glass ; 
and China, Japan, and Delft with ceramics that to-day 
would be priceless. With lacquer (or varnish) ware 
he was quite familiar, and his wrought silver was rich 
and plentiful. Most of his fine furniture was imported, 
but there were many able turners, joiners, and cabinet- 
makers here who were capable of making artistic use 
of the exotic woods and ivory brought into this port 
from the East and West Indies, from the Gold Coast 
and Madagascar. From the middle of the century, 
when the chairs, tables, cabinet-stands, and other arti- 
cles of furniture became light and graceful with side 
posts, rails, and supports made of turned work, beaded 
or spiral, we find many evidences of the new style in 
the inventories. Ebony was used here, as in Holland, 
for the expensive furniture, and ivory for inlaying. As 
early as 1644 we find brought into the port of New 

6 81 



82 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Amsterdam a prize laden with sugar, tobacco, and 
ebony. In 1663, the Gideon was chartered for a voy- 
age from Holland to Africa to procure slaves, copper, 
and elephants’ teeth for New Netherland. 

In the Albany County Records for 1654 we read: 

Jan Gouw and Harmen Janse wish to sell a certain 
casket inlaid with ebony and other woods, on the follow- 
ing conditions, to wit : That the payment shall be made in 
good whole beavers ; which payment shall be made within 
twenty four hours, without one hour longer delay. 

Jacob Janse Flodder remained the buyer for thirty 
beavers and nineteen guilders. 

As a beaver skin was worth eight to ten guilders 
in 1654 ($3.50 to $4), this was a rather good sum, 
$120; and the casket must have been a very hand- 
some article to command such a price. 

In 1681, the Royal African Company of England 
complained of Robert Allison for infringement of their 
charter by importing negroes, elephants’ teeth, etc., into 
New York from Africa. Again, in 1702, Henry Jour- 
daine, mariner, owned sixty-one elephants’ teeth marked 
“ H. J.” 

Mahogany was undoubtedly known and used here 
as a cabinet wood towards the end of the century. 
A handsome table of this wood was brought from 
Holland in 1668 by Olaf Stevenson Van Cortlandt 
(see facing this page). The great hasten were usually 
made of oak, “ French nutwood,” or other kinds of 
walnut. In 1687, Mary Mathews has “ one great wal- 
nut cupboard.” 

The native walnut was greatly praised by all early 
writers, as we have seen, but it was probably not so 
good for cabinet purposes as the Dutch. Be that as it 
may, we find that in 1658 a duty was imposed on wal- 
nut imported from Holland. 




MAHOGANY TABLE BROUGHT FROM HOLLAND IN 1668 
BY OLAF STEVENSON VAN CORTLANDT 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



83 

The presence of Oriental goods is very noticeable in 
the houses of New Amsterdam : ebony chairs and mir- 
ror frames, picture frames, chests and boxes, East 
India cabinets, caskets and boxes, waxed and lacquered 
trunks, beautiful articles of silver work, fine porcelains, 
carved ivory, and many exotic articles occur. 

A great many of these doubtless were obtained from 
the Madagascar pirates. Governor Fletcher himself 
did not disdain to accept presents from the daring 
sea-rovers. The pirate, Giles Shelly, had, naturally 
enough, a fine collection of Eastern treasures; and 
we may particularly note Dr. De Lange and Mrs. Van 
Varick. The latter’s house was full of such things. 
She had thirteen ebony chairs, one East India cabinet 
with ebony feet, two East India cabinets with brass 
handles, one small black cabinet with silver hinges, 
ten India looking-glasses, two East India cane bas- 
kets with covers, one fine East India dressing-basket, 
one East India square gilt basket, one round East 
India dressing-basket, two wooden East India trays 
lacquered, one “ round thing ” lacquered, one small 
black cabinet with silver hinges, one “ carved wooden 
thing,” one East India wrought box, three silver 
wrought East India “ cupps,” one silver wrought East 
India dish, one small ebony trunk with silver handles, 
one East India wrought trunk, one East India wrought 
box, and “ eleven Indian babyes.” 

The most striking objects in the Dutch room are the 
chimney-piece, the bed, and the kast. If the bed was 
a separate piece of furniture, it was domed or tent- 
shaped or box-shaped, and tastefully draped or inclosed 
with curtains of simple or rich materials. Some- 
times, however, the bed formed part of the woodwork 
of the room and was closed in with folding doors or 
sliding panels (see page 44). The movable bed often 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



84 

had its feet and posts artistically carved or turned. 
Many of these were imported, but some were made 
here. Thus, in 1656, Jan Picolet sued Jan Schagger 
for payment for a field-bed. Schagger admitted hav- 
ing ordered it, but said that Picolet made it larger than 
desired, and consequently demanded more money. 
The court ordered that if they could not come to an 
agreement it should be valued. 

In the wills we constantly find beds being be- 
queathed to relatives and friends. Thomas Halsey, 
of Southampton, 1677, leaves among other things to 
his son Thomas “ the bedsted and curtains in the porch 
chamber.” Eliza Burroughs, of Newtown, Long 
Island, gives to her son, John, “ one feather bed which 
I now ly on, with all the furniture thereto belonging.” 

Beds of the latest style were often imported. We 
learn, in 1653, that Lucas Elderson sues for “ forty 
florins for bedsteads received by Captain G. Tysen.” 
Very handsome beds were owned by Colonel Lewis 
Morris in 1691. One in the “ Great Room ” was val- 
ued at £25, one in the “ Dining-Room ” at £18, one in 
the “ Lodging-Room ” at £15, four others at £36, and 
five “ without furniture,” £20. 

Typical beds of the period are seen in Jan Steen’s 
Parrot Cage and St. Nicholas Eve (see facing pages 
202 and 300), and a cradle faces page 254. 

The most elaborate piece of furniture in the Dutch 
house was the great cupboard, or has, or hast. It was 
a feature of the “ show ” room and a necessity in the 
living-rooms. Wealthy persons had a number of cup- 
boards; and it is hard to draw a distinction in the 
inventories between the innumerable cubberts, cup- 
boards, clothes-presses, etc. The Dutch word hast 
(cupboard or cabinet) included a number of pieces of 
furniture ; for the word hasten makker means cabinet- 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 85 

maker or joiner. Kast, of course, is the old word for 
case, box. 

In the great kasten the most valuable silver was 
kept, — the spoons, forks, platters, dishes, mugs, 
beakers, silver-mounted horns, bridal and christening 
gifts, and handsome pieces of glass. On the broad flat 
top were displayed the choice porcelains or the products 
of the Delft factories. 

The great cupboard was made in a variety of styles : 
it was heavy, massive, and four-square, and equipped 
with drawers and doors, and sometimes shelves. It 
was carved, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, ivory, or 
porcelain; ornamented with pearwood stained to rep- 
resent ebony or innumerable knobs and spindles of 
ivory. It was made of oak, plum, cherry, or nut- 
wood, and stood on great round balls for feet. These 
were sometimes called “ knots,” and were often re- 
peated on the four corners of the top. Van Nespen 
termed them “ guardians of the porcelain ornaments 
which decorated the top.” 

The kast was always a prized heirloom; and we 
often find it left to a favorite child or grandchild. In 
1678, Judith Stuyvesant, widow of the Director- 
General, left to her son, Nicholas William Stuyvesant, 
“ my great and best casse or cobbert empty, exclusive 
of what might be found therein.” He also received all 
his mother’s china except “ the three great potts.” Mrs. 
Stuyvesant left to her cousin Nicholas Bayard “ my 
black cabbinett of ebben wood with y e foot or frame 
belonging to it, together with the three greate China 
pots before reserved.” Mrs. Van Varick’s “ great 
Dutch kas ” was so large that it could not be removed 
from Flatbush and was sold for £25. The name was 
well known in England. Many an inventory of the 
Seventeenth Century lists a kos. It lasted all through 



86 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the Queen Anne period. In 1714, Jan Hendrickse 
Prevoost left to his daughter, Janettie, wife of Thomas 
Sickelsen of the outward of New York, “ my new cup- 
board commonly called a kass.” 

We find the great cupboard in evidence in many 
homes in New Amsterdam. Andries Bresteed as late 
as 1723 had six large presses or cupboards of the fa- 
miliar type with the great round ball feet: an oaken 
chest without a lock; an oaken chest with two balls 
under without a lock; a chest of cedar with two balls 
and brass handles; a chest-of-drawers ; one Dutch 
press; and a small painted cupboard. Humphry Hall 
had “ a chest-of-drawers with balls at the feet ” in 
1696, valued at £1 16s. od. ; and another that had 
lost one of these feet, worth £1 10s. od. 

In Holland, during the Seventeenth Century, the cup- 
board made of “ nutwood ” was particularly cherished. 
When a certain pastor was asked what he would take 
for his translation of Cicero’s Epistolce ad familiares, 
he replied : “ Sir, not being in a position to charge any- 
thing for my labour, I will listen to the advice of the 
wife that the Lord has given me for a helpmate. She 
wishes to possess a nutwood cabinet with a set of por- 
celain to go with it, and ornaments for the top, if the 
consistory will grant.” 

We find the “ nutwood ” cupboard or cabinet highly 
appreciated in New Amsterdam. Cornells Steenwyck 
had “ a nutwood cupboard ” that was valued at £20. 
“ Nutwood ” was usually hickory, which was so valued 
by the first colonists, and exported to Holland; but 
sometimes it was walnut. 

The cabinet, as a rule, was intended for the exhi- 
bition and guardianship of treasured articles. Pro- 
vided with a glass door, the collection of porcelains, 
ivories, curios, and silver toys could be seen to great 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



8? 

advantage. Sometimes it was of the plainest and 
cheapest wood painted green, red, or yellow, and some- 
times handsomely inlaid or carved. Examples of Dutch 
cupboards and cabinets face pages 90 and 98. 

Next in value was the small casket or coffer, — the 
tiny trunk, made of ebony, ivory, “ silver wrought,” 
sandalwood, painted, gilded, “ waxed,” or lacquered, 
and mounted with beautifully chiselled brass, silver, 
or gold locks, handles, and feet. 

The plain chest, or coffer, was made of lignum- 
vitse, sacredaan (Java mahogany), cherry, plum, oak, 
walnut, or pine. It was also covered with leather, in 
which case it was really nothing more nor less than a 
trunk. It was frequently lined with linen or cloth, and 
sometimes was furnished with handsome metal mounts 
and stood on ball or square feet. Chests and trunks 
occur, naturally enough, in the old inventories; and 
many of these were undoubtedly sea-chests. 

The long oak “ drawing-table ” was a species of ex- 
tension table, the leaves of which fell in the center 
when the two ends were pulled apart. This had heavy 
black bulbs, or massive and heavily carved acorn- 
shaped ornaments on the legs. The form popularly 
known to-day as “ the thousand-legged ” with its 
twisted legs connected by twisted stretchers and drop 
leaves, was also coming into favor, and was made of 
the Java mahogany, walnut, oak, and pine painted to 
suit the owner’s taste (see facing page 82). It may 
be noted that the drop-leaf, or “ hang ear,” table became 
common about the middle of the Seventeenth Century. 

Tables were oval, round, and square, and were 
covered, as a rule, with a Turkey rug, known as the 
“ table carpet.” These rich and handsome rugs are 
frequently represented as table coverings in the pictures 
of the Little Masters. The chairs of the period were 



88 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the high and low leather, the first with high backs and 
the second with low square backs. 

The legs of the chairs were connected by stretchers 
and the seats were rounded or square. The X-shaped 
chair was also in use during this period. In old 
inventories we read of Russia leather and Prussia 
leather chairs, table chairs, ebony carved chairs, chairs 
of sacredaan, and chairs covered with Turkey- work 
red or green cloth. There were also the simple three, 
and four, and five-backed chairs with rush, or mat 
seats. These were painted in any color that the owner 
wished. A loose feather or down-filled pillow or 
cushion was always placed on the seat; so high was 
it, in fact, that a child standing on tiptoe could not 
see over it. A type of chair that was coming into 
fashion is seen in the hall of the Van Cortlandt house, 
facing page 62 ; and ordinary low-backed chairs and a 
form appear in the old print facing page 120. 

The great number of window-curtains, valances, and 
cushions of bright colors and rich materials must have 
given an air of warmth and luxury to the homes. Dr. 
De Lange’s hangings and cushions are noticeable ; and 
still more so are Mrs. Van Varick’s. She has six satin 
cushions with gold flowers (£4 10s. od.), one suit 
serge curtains and valance with silk fringe (£6), six 
scarlet serge ditto (£4 10s. od.), two chimney cloths 
of flowered crimson gauze and six window curtains of 
the same (£6 10s. od.), one green serge chimney 
cloth with fringe (£2 14s. od.), one painted chimney- 
cloth, one calico carpet, one chintz carpet (fine), one 
calico curtain. 

Mirrors were framed with crystal borders beautifully 
cut or inlaid with variously colored glass. Lustres for 
candles not unfrequently branched from either side of 
the frame. Occasionally, too, the mirror was placed in 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 89 

the large space over the chimney-piece. The looking- 
glass was universal in New Amsterdam; and, as a 
rule, several were found in the house, with “ black 
lists ” or “ gilded lists/' Abraham De Lanoy must 
have had a very handsome one, for in 1702 his “ great- 
looking-glass ” is worth £5. 

The ordinary Dutch house in New Amsterdam con- 
tained a Cellar and sometimes a Cellar Kitchen. The 
ground floor consisted of a Shop, a “ Fore Room ” 
{Voorhuis ) , a Back Room, a Kitchen, and sometimes 
an Office. Sometimes also there was an extra Kitchen, 
and other offices in the yard as well. The floor above 
was occupied by chambers, a combination of sitting- 
rooms and bedrooms. The larger houses also had 
cock lofts and garrets above these in which various 
stores were kept. 

The Voorhuis in New Amsterdam corresponded 
with the hall in New England and the Southern 
States. Till comparatively late in the Seventeenth 
Century, the hall of even the wealthy settlers con- 
tained a bed as well as dining-room and sitting-room 
furniture, and in the Dutch house this general sitting- 
room also contained a bed, as is to be seen in the 
innumerable pictures of that day. In the houses of 
the richer merchants there were more than one sitting- 
room or parlor, in which case the bed naturally was 
banished from the apartment in which visitors were 
received. 

The rooms on the ground floor of a prosperous mer- 
chant of New Amsterdam consisted of a Voorhuis, 
a Shop, or a Counting-House (Comptoir ) , sometimes 
both, a small Back Room behind the Voorhuis, a big 
Kitchen behind the Shop, and a smaller Kitchen ad- 
joining in the yard. 

The Fore Room was always comfortably and fre- 



9 ° 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



quently sumptuously furnished. Let us take a few 
examples. The inventory of Dr. Jacob De Lange, 
1685, shows that the doctor’s Fore Room was quite 
an elaborate apartment. Here we find two of those 
great wardrobes known variously as the press, the kas, 
the armoire , and the cupboard. One is a hat-press, and 
the other a clothes-press. There is also a large black 
walnut chest that stands on large black balls. A large 
looking-glass with black frame hangs on the wall, 
with nine pictures, and the family coat-of-arms all in 
black frames. A square table, a round table, a small 
table, and an oak “ drawing table ” — the first form of 
the extension table — and a small square cabinet, 
twelve chairs with seats of red plush and six with seats 
of green plush, and a cupboard with a glass, make a 
dignified and comfortable room. An additional touch 
of luxury is contributed by a “ waxed ” (lacquered) 
East India small trunk, a “ silver thread wrought 
small trunk,” and an “ ivory small trunk tipped with 
silver,” which are, of course, small coffers for the pres- 
ervation of jewels and other small articles of value. 
Red striped silk curtains and green striped silk cur- 
tains drape the windows and match the seats of the 
chairs. 

Cornelis Steenwyck’s Voorhuis, or Fore Room, 
was furnished with seven Russia leather chairs and 
one mat chair, a marble table in a wooden frame, 
a wooden table with “ carpet,” or cloth, a “ foot 
banke,” eleven pictures, a clock, and a “ children’s 
ship.” The latter in all probability hung from the 
beams. 

It will be noticed that neither Dr. De Lange nor Mr. 
Steenwyck had a bed in the Fore Room; but Mr. 
Cornelis Van Dyck, of Albany, 1676, had in his Fore 
Room a painted chest of drawers (worth 26 beavers), 




DUTCH CHINA CABINET WITH PORCELAIN 

OWNED BY MR. FRANS MIDDELKOOP, NEW YORK 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



9i 



a bed and suit of green say hangings (72 beavers), a 
looking-glass (8 beavers), an oak bedstead, a wooden 
table, a desk, a “ painted eight-cornered table,” two 
chests and a “ blue cotton chest,” ten matted chairs, 
“ four racks that the pewter stands on and earthen- 
ware,” an “ old Spanish leather stool,” and much 
pewter, silver, and earthenware. 

Another room is even more characteristically Dutch. 
It contained a bedstead of “ south walnut, with a dark 
say hangings and silk fringe” (42 beavers), “a feather 
bed with a checkered-work covering about it, and a 
dark rug and white blanket ” (69 beavers), a “ painted 
chest-of-drawers ” (48 beavers), a “ chest-of-drawers 
of southwalnut with a press for napkins atop of it ” (22 
beavers), an oak chest-of-drawers (12 beavers), an 
“ oak table with a carpet ” (6 beavers), a capstock of 
South walnut ” (to hang clothes upon) and “ eight 
Spanish stools” (26 beavers), an old case without 
bottles, a “red table that folds up” (9 beavers), a 
“ southwalnut chest ” (18 beavers), “ a serge suit bed 
hangings ” (16 beavers), “ a flannel sheet, a small bed 
and a hanging about a chimney” (16 beavers), table- 
cloths, napkins, etc. (16 beavers), and brass, pewter, 
earthenware, and glass (32 beavers). Mr. Van Dyke’s 
possessions were valued at 1428 beavers. The last item 
reads : “ Before the door a wooden slee.” 

Dr. De Lange’s house shows that a man of wealth 
was able to indulge his tastes not only for fine furni- 
ture, but for silver, pictures, porcelain, etc. Besides 
the Fore Room, his principal apartments were a Side 
Chamber, Shop, Chamber, Kitchen, and Cellar. The 
Shop was stocked with a varied assortment of porce- 
lain and East India goods. 

The Side Chamber was almost a picture and porce- 
lain gallery. Eleven paintings of great value hung on 



92 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the walls, and a handsome “ East India Cupboard ” 
was filled with fine porcelain and earthenware. On 
the chimney-piece covered with a blue valance stood a 
number of basins, flagons, pots, bowls, a small china 
dog, a duck, two swans and six white figures of men. 
The windows were hung with blue curtains, and a hand- 
some looking-glass in a gold frame also brightened the 
room with its reflections. In this room Dr. De Lange 
kept his library of ninety books and from the presence 
of his “ chest with medicines,” a “ chest containing dry 
herbs and salves,” sundry instruments and a white 
alabaster mortar, we may assume this was the barber- 
surgeon’s office. 

Dr. De Lange’s Chamber was evidently a very large 
room and very luxuriously furnished. “ Sixteen cur- 
tains of linen before the glass windows ” show that 
there were eight windows. The Chamber, therefore, 
in all probability occupied the greater part of the sec- 
ond floor. It would also seem, from the enumeration 
of the other curtains, that the outer curtains were in 
pairs and made of different materials, for we read of 
two striped calico curtains, “ two small calico valions 
before the glass windows,” two calico curtains with 
silk fringe, and two green silk curtains ; and there was 
a ninth of calico with red lining and woolen fringe. 
The room also contained a very handsome bedstead with 
white calico hangings and a number of pillows and 
cushions, etc., and several spreads and counterpanes ; for 
example, one calico spread laid with calico, one calico 
spread laid with red crape, one ditto without lining, one 
flowered calico upper spread laid with red calico, one 
spread with white and calico squares and eight East 
India filled spreads. There were no less than fourteen 
cushions in the Chamber, three gray striped chair 
cushions, two great blue striped and three “ for the 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



93 



loynes,” etc. Four pieces of tapestry for chests show 
that the chests were draped attractively. A flowered 
tablecloth covers the table. 

The number of valances and chimney-cloths would 
indicate that the room was draped differently on oc- 
casions. There is “ one white valion before a chimney, 
one redd chimney-cloth, two ozenbrig chimney valance, 
one blue calico mixed checkard valance, one redd ditto, 
one ditto white with red pointed lace, one ditto red 
flowered calico valance, one ditto flowered with red 
lining one blue say fringed valance and two valance 
carpet work.” 

The most important article of furniture in this room 
was a large wardrobe or kast, described in the inven- 
tory as “ one great cloth case covered with French nut 
wood and two black knots under it ” (£13). This was 
probably of French walnut, carved in the Renaissance 
style, and as there were “ six cloths to put upon the 
boards in the case,” we may conclude that there were 
six shelves within the case ; a seventh “ cloth with lace ” 
would seem to indicate that a cover ornamented the top. 
This fine kast was used as the receptacle for caps, 
aprons, handkerchiefs, and neckcloths. 

Cornelis Steenwyck’s house consisted of a Fore 
Room, Withdrawing Room, Great Chamber, Kitchen 
Chamber, Chamber above the Kitchen, After Loft, 
Cellar Kitchen, Garret, and Cellar. 

As the Fore Room has already been described, we 
will pass to the Withdrawing Room. This contained 
a cabinet worth £4, a chest, a trunk, a close stool, 
two chairs, a “ capstick,” a cushion, a shop ladder, 
eight pictures, “ five earthen china dishes,” and dry- 
goods. 

The Great Chamber contained an enormous case, or 
cupboard ( Kasten ) of French nutwood, valued at £20; 



94 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



twelve Russia leather chairs and “ two velvet chairs 
with fine silver lace ” ; a cabinet worth £6 ; a “ great 
looking-glass/’ £6; a very handsome square table, since 
it was worth £io; a round table (£2) ; a bedstead and 
furniture (£25); a dressing-box; a carpet (£2); a 
flowered tabby chimney cloth ; a pair of flowered tabby 
curtains for the glass windows ; five alabaster images ; 
fourteen pictures ; a “ harthe iron with brass handles ” ; 
two earthen flowered pots ; a “ piece of tapestry to 
make twelve cushions ” ; sixty-four yards of “ striped 
linen to cover the beds ” ; “ nineteen china, or porcelain, 
dishes ” ; seven hundred and twenty-three ounces of 
silver plate (£216 18s. od.) and seven ditto (£2 2s. od.) ; 
and much jewelry, money, and household linen. 

In the Kitchen Chamber he had a case for clothes, a 
lantern with glass, a looking-glass, five Russia leather 
chairs, “ four old stripe chairs,” three “ old matt- 
chairs,” three “ wooden racks for dishes,” one “ cann- 
board with hooks of brass,” two small children’s trunks, 
a bed, bedstead, and furniture (worth £25), iron rod 
and two curtains, a pair of andirons and hearth iron, 
an oval table, two linen cloths, two woolen cloths, a 
chimney cloth, two “ cussions,” a tobacco pot, and much 
valuable earthenware. 

In the Chamber above the Kitchen we find a cup- 
board, or case-of-drawers (£9) ; one small children’s 
case; a bed, bedstead, bolster, six blankets, and a silk 
quilt (£12 10s. od.) ; ten “chyers” (£2 5s. od.) ; six 
“chyer” cushions (£1 10s. od.) ; a carpet, green 
flowered (£1 5s. od.) ; a small piece of tapestry; a 
chimney-cloth; a wooden table; six pictures; three 
fine wicker baskets ; seven earthen dishes, and a great 
deal of household linen. 

In the After Loft were kept glasses, earthenware, 
and pewter; a piece of “ carpett or tapyt, old,” which 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



95 



must have been good, for the value (£i 5s. od.) is 
extraordinary for a banished article; twenty-four 
pounds of Spanish soap, and forty-six scrubbing 
and rubbing brushes. Here were also two tin water- 
spouts and “ an old basket with tin ware to bake sugar 
cakes. ” 

The Cellar Kitchen contained a great deal of pewter, 
brass, iron, and tin ware; a mustard querne, a paper- 
mill, wooden utensils, a wooden press, a table, ten 
chairs, and two cushions. In the Garret, brass, iron, 
powder, locks, leather, paint and such articles, and 
fourteen French nutboards, valued at £3 3s. od., were 
stored. The Cellar was well stocked with wines and 
liquors. 

There was also an upper chamber for merchandise, 
where were dry-goods, pewter, iron, etc., guns, saddles, 
and books, a tick-tack board, two tables, two benches, 
and two painted screens (the latter worth £3). 

Mr. Peter Jacobs Marius, who died in 1702, was 
very wealthy. His house consisted of a Shop and Fore- 
room; a “ Writing Closet,” or office; a “ Lower Back 
Room,” a “ Great Kitchen,” an Upper Chamber above 
the Great Kitchen, a “ Little Chamber on ye left,” a 
Loft and “ Cock Loft.” There was also a “ Kitchen 
in the Yard,” a small Store House in the Yard, a 
Great Store House, and a Cellar. 

In the Lower Back Room there were “ Three blew 
curtains for the windows ” which tell us that there were 
three windows ; “ one screen covered with ozenbrigg,” 
two feather beds, one bolster, six pillows, two blankets, 
two “blew curtains and valance,” one white, one “blew,” 
and “ four speckled valance for the chimney,” “ two 
pare of Rollows,” six glass bottles, “ one large Dutch 
Bible tipt with brass,” one “ small Dutch Byble tipt 
with silver and a chain,” five earthen cups on the cup- 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



96 

board, one black framed looking-glass, sixteen small 
pictures, one black walnut table and carpet, six Turkey 
leather chairs, one “ blew ” elbow chair, one matted 
ditto, thirteen old matted chairs, one red cedar chest, 
one old-fashioned clock, one dressing-basket, one brass 
warming-pan, eight “ stoole ” cushions, old and new, 
nineteen earthen dishes great and small “ on ye mantle 
tree,” two earthen painted bottles, one small hair 
trunk, four cases with square bottles, and a money scale 
and weight. In this room the household linen was kept, 
also the silver. 

“ In the Upper Chamber above the Great Kitchen ” 
we find eight black walnut chairs covered with blue, a 
black walnut table and carpet, a large cedar chest, a 
red cedar cupboard, an old-fashioned linen press, a bed- 
stead with iron rods, six blue curtains, valances, tester, 
and head cloth, feather bed, bolster, and pillow, “ a 
callico valance for the chimney, a blew chest cloth, 
a green and flowered table cloth,” two green curtains, 
two ditto valances, a “ white calico hammake ” ; eight 
pictures, two blew curtains, two ditto valances. 

In the “ Little Chamber on ye Left ” are one small 
bedstead with iron rod and two blue curtains and val- 
ance, one green rug, one white blanket, one white and 
two calico curtains for the windows. 

In the Loft are stored a small oak cupboard and 
calico cloth, a small red cedar chest, without hinge and 
lock, a Dutch hamper, a bedstead with sacking-bottom, 
two large and two small pillows, a blanket, two rugs, 
and a woolen cover for a rug, a close stool and basin. 
In the Cock Loft are an iron fender and five iron cur- 
tain rods. 

The Kitchen contains a goodly number of fine uten- 
sils, among which we may note five brass kettles ( 44 
pounds), three copper kettles (31 pounds), three 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



97 



brass new pans and covers (31 pounds), two tart pans, 
two brass scales, one small metal pot and cover, five 
iron pots with covers (54 pounds), two iron chains, 
two spits, a brass mortar and pestle, a rolling-pin, 
two ladles, a kneading-trough, a tin apple roaster, a 
tin grater, twenty-four pewter dishes, two porringers, 
two chafing-dishes, a copper pail, a skillet, a saucepan, 
two brass skimmers, three brass frying-pans, two “ old 
tin pye pans,” a cullender, an iron dripping-pan, a flesh 
fork and ladle, and “ one gridding iron,” a brass bowl 
and ladle, and 1521% pounds of pewter. 

In going over the inventories of the citizens of New 
Amsterdam of the Seventeenth Century, the student 
would not need to look at the heading to determine 
which was English and which Dutch. The early 
Jacobean and even Elizabethan flavor persists in the 
furnishings of the Englishman’s chief living-room, 
whether the appraiser calls it “ Fore Room,” Voor- 
huis y or “ Hall.” Just as the bed was a familiar ob- 
ject in the living-room of the Dutch well-to-do classes 
all through the century, so was it also in that of the 
English merchant. Thus, in 1692, we find a bed in the 
hall of Thomas Crundall, a rich merchant, whose hall 
must have been a large one to have accommodated a 
large “ cupboard,” a large oval table, a small square 
table, a black walnut chest-of-drawers, a black walnut 
glass case, a bed with all appurtenances, a chamber 
screen, a small black walnut box, seven leather chairs, 
six Turkey work chairs, two calico window curtains, 
a fringed calico chimney cloth, two large landscapes, 
three small landscapes, two andirons, two earthen 
bowls, two earthen dishes, a large silver tankard, a 
silver cup, two large spoons, a small spoon, four glasses, 
and a great deal of household linen. 

Another rich Englishman, John Winder, who died 

7 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



98 

twenty years before Mr. Crundall, had, on the other 
hand, no bed in his hall, which contained four Spanish 
tables, twelve Turkey chairs, a leather chair, one King’s 
arms, two Turkey-work carpets, two brass screens, two 
leather Bristol carpets, two looking-glasses, a screen, 
two stands, a pair of andirons with brass heads, a pair 
of bellows, a framed table, two trunks, and two earthen 
pots. 

Mr. William Cox owned about £2000 in 1689. His 
house was completely furnished. He had two bed- 
steads, twenty-four Russia leather chairs, a black wal- 
nut chest, a desk and box, three looking-glasses (one 
large), three cedar tables (two with a “carpet”), a 
“ dansick table,” another table and carpet, a Turkey 
carpet, a “ pendula clock,” an “ old screene,” a chest- 
of-drawers and frame, a side-table and drawer, a silver 
frame looking-glass, a glass case, rugs, etc., six rock- 
ing-chairs, a chimney clock, a fine hammock, a great 
copper (65 pounds). Tall clocks as well as chimney 
and wall clocks were also used. One brought from 
Holland in the Seventeenth Century by the Van Cort- 
landts appears in this book. 

In the Widow Cox’s Chamber were stored one hun- 
dred and fourteen ounces of silver plate, including a 
silver tankard, cup, plate, sugar box, and spoon, salt- 
cellar, two porringers, tumbler, and twelve spoons. 
This room was luxuriously furnished, for it contained 
a bed with bedding and appurtenances, serge curtains 
and valance with silk fringe, a chest-of-drawers and 
frame, side table and drawers, a large looking-glass, a 
silver looking-glass, a dressing-box, a glass case, and 
twelve Turkey-work chairs. 

Some of these articles doubtless appeared again in 
the inventory of Mr. Cox’s widow Sarah, who married 
John Ort, and took for her third husband Captain Kidd, 




DUTCH CHINA CABINET AND PORCELAIN 

OWNED BY MR. FRANS MIDDELKOOP, NEW YORK 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



99 



the noted pirate. In 1692 her plate and furniture were 
valued at £255 14s. od. Her possessions consisted 
of furniture, linen, pewter, glass, and earthenware. 
She had no less than fifty-four chairs, eighteen of 
which were “ Turkey-work,” and owned a Turkey- 
work carpet, four looking-glasses, four bedsteads, four 
tables, four other carpets, dressing-boxes, screens, 
stands, desks, linen, a coat-of-arms, three chafing- 
dishes, pewter, tin, four handsome brass candlesticks, 
hearth-furniture, rugs, and a fine clock. She also had 
five leather fire buckets. 

In Nathaniel Tompson Barrow’s Best Chamber, 
1688, he had a bedstead with “ sacking bottom,” bolster, 
feather bed, pillows, blankets, and curtains and valance 
(£10). A round table, a chest-of-drawers, a close 
table, a small dressing-glass, and six chairs come to 
£2 13s. od. In the “ Next Chamber” we find a bed- 
stead, two feather beds, bolsters, pillows, rugs, quilts, 
etc., a small chest-of-drawers, two trunks, a looking- 
glass, and four chairs (£7 15s. od.), household linen 
(£13 8s. 6d.), and a suit of white curtains. 

Nathaniel Sylvester, 1680, worth £322 16s. od., is an- 
other good type. He has a “ Turkey- wrought couch ” 
and twelve chairs, six green chairs, ten leather chairs, 
a “ Turkey-work carpet,” a clock, four tables, two 
great chests, two great trunks, two cupboards with 
drawers, a clock, ten feather beds and furniture, and 
four handsome looking-glasses, besides beds, table- 
linen, etc. 

The handsomest piece of furniture Mr. Francoys 
Rombouts owned was a “ Holland Cubbert furnished 
with earthenware and porcelain ” (£15). He also had 
a “ cubbert and earthenware pots and cups,” two other 
“ cubberts,” and a kitchen “ cubbert.” The beds in his 
house were: one bedstead and furniture (£12); an- 



IOO 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



other bedstead (£10), which was draped with white 
curtain and valance; another (£7), hung with blue 
curtains; and a little bedstead, a pair of curtains for 
a close bedstead, a rug and blanket (£3). Of looking- 
glasses he owned four ; of tables he had five, including 
a little table and cloth, and one oval ; and he also pos- 
sessed a press, a dressing-basket, a desk, a cradle, a 
chest-of-drawers, a wooden press, several trunks and 
chests, a house screen, a fire screen, a hat-press, two 
clocks, one a “ chimney clock,” clothes in a linen case 
and an old chest and trunk (£16 16s. od.) ; two chim- 
ney cloths with fringe and lace; seven white calico 
curtains and two mats; one large chair (£6 2s. od.), 
seven matted chairs, fourteen chairs, and eight cush- 
ions (£5 10s. od.), four chairs and cushions, four 
leather chairs (£1 5s. od.), two chairs and cush- 
ions, eight other chairs, four chair cushions, fifteen 
pictures, a “ perriwig-head,” a “ hat pin,” “ earthen 
jugs and hanging-board ” (£2), a lantern, and two 
leather pails, iron backs for the hearths, five baskets, 
three hampers, one “ capstick,” one Dutch Bible, one 
psalm book, one “ history book,” and a “ parcel of 
books.” He owned silver plate worth £20 17s. od., and 
a great deal of pewter, brass, iron, hearth-furniture, 
cutlery, and earthenware; innumerable brushes, and 
much fine household linen. 

Some of his cooking and cleaning utensils were ex- 
pensive; for instance, a wooden dish, a brush, a still 
and churn, are valued at £5 10s. od. Among the 
kitchen articles we find two gridirons, one dripping- 
pan, one candle-box, “ two whetting boards for knives,” 
three brooms, one brush, four tubs, one butter firkin, 
two rolling boards for linen, one glass spout, thirteen 
“ wooden Pools for lining [linen] and one board.” He 
also had two nets and about one hundred old bags and 



ROOMS AND FURNITURE 



IOI 



odd things. Mr. Rombouts’s two dwellings were ap- 
praised at £600. 

Anthony De Milt, who died in 1693, worth £176 
7s. ioj 4 d., and who was Schout in 1672, had, at the 
time of his death, two great chairs, fourteen chairs, 
ten pictures (£2 10s. od.), one looking-glass, silver 
plate, linen, earthenware, one desk, two tables, one oak 
case, six stoves, one trunk, two chests, two bankes 
(benches), a wooden box, two pails, two great wooden 
boxes, one small ditto, one spit-box (worth 3 pence), 
and three Bermuda baskets. 




CHAPTER V 

PICTURES, SILVER, CHINA, GLASS, AND CURIOS 



Y one who studies the Little Masters cannot 



paintings of interiors of the ordinary homes 
of the period; and many works of Jan Steen, Gerard 
Dou, Teniers, Pieter de Hooch, Van Mieris, Metsu, 
Ter Borch, S. van Hoogstraaten, and others give us 
an exact impression of the rooms and houses of the 
Seventeenth Century. From Hoogstraaten and Pieter 
de Hooch particularly we learn the interior construc- 
tion, — how the stairs led to the floors above ; how 
the rooms led from one to another ; how the beds were 
built in the panels and wainscoting ; how the windows 
and doors opened upon courtyards, streets, and back 
gardens; how the halls were arranged, and how the 
chimney-pieces were built ; — while other masters show 
us how the furniture was disposed, and how rich were 
the carvings and the porcelains, and how thick and 
brightly hued the “ table carpets ” and hangings. In- 
numerable would be the hints given to us by De Heem, 
Van Huysam, Mignon, Van Aelst, Rachel Ruysch, 
Snyders, and others of the rich vases of china and 
glass owned by the Dutch of three centuries past, even 
if the museums and private collections were not full 
of splendid examples of the potter’s and glass-maker’s 
arts. Priceless silver beakers, loving-cups, and great 
tankards, too, appear in many convivial scenes and re- 
unions of gay arquebusiers, and show us what the 




fail to be impressed with the great number of 



102 



PICTURES 



103 



silversmith could do. The Dutch painters, as every 
one knows, excelled in representing all the familiar 
objects of daily life; but they painted such things not 
merely for their own pleasure, — there was a great 
demand for exact representation of persons amid 
familiar scenes. The Guilds of Surgeons and mem- 
bers of Saint Andrew’s, Saint George’s, and other 
shooting-societies liked to be represented at their ban- 
quets, glasses in hand, attacking game pasties, munch- 
ing pork chops, and toasting each other in slim-necked 
beakers half full of liquid amber or topaz wine, while 
jokes and laughter went the rounds. Celebrated and 
mediocre masters and brilliant painters, who had at 
that time little reputation, were called upon — in a day 
when photography was unknown — to paint the homes 
of the well-to-do, in exactly the same spirit that the 
latter had dolls’ houses made in miniature. 

The stranger who visited the Dutch cities was per- 
fectly amazed at the “ many interiors and landscapes 
which were exhibited in the booths at the fairs and 
under the verandahs in front of the houses of the 
painters, and often bought them for a small sum to 
sell them in his own country at a considerable price.” 

Many of the Dutch artists so highly esteemed to-day 
were, when living, unappreciated and poor. The great 
Ruisdael died in an almshouse; his pupil, the now 
famous Hobbema, discouraged, ceased to work, and 
was buried at the expense of the parish. Aert van der 
Neer, painter of landscapes by moonlight and winter 
scenes of charm, died in a garret; the wife of 
Adriaen van de Velde had to carry on a hosier’s busi- 
ness in order to support him and her family; and Jan 
Steen probably made more money out of his tavern 
than he did from his painting. 

It would, then, not be extraordinary if many pic- 



104 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



tures of a high order of merit were brought across the 
Atlantic by the Dutch sea-captains and if New Am- 
sterdam were quite in touch with the art productions 
of the day. When we critically examine Dr. De 
Lange’s, Mrs. Van Varick’s, and Mrs. Cappoens’s col- 
lections with their Evenings , Countreys , Zea, Banquet , 
Bunch of Grapes with a Pomegranate , Break of Day, 
Apricots, Winter, Flower Pot, Country People Frolic 
(Kermess), Plucked Cock Torn, Abraham and Hagar, 
Picture of Roots, Fruit, Burd Cage and Purse, a Rum- 
mer, Shippes, Landskip ye City of Amsterdam, and 
Rosen, it is certainly not fanciful to attribute them to 
the now famous landscape, genre, and still-life masters 
of the day. If so many pictures passed from Holland 
to England, why should not a certain number cross 
from the parent Amsterdam to the child New Amster- 
dam? Some were purchased and some were sent as 
presents; but, undoubtedly, many came. Not only 
pictures but tapestries, coats-of-arms, and maps adorned 
the homes of this city. Many of the merchants and 
officials of New Amsterdam crossed the water more 
than once, and while in their old home had their pic- 
tures painted by artists of the day. Fortunately, one 
of the most important portraits of a civic notability 
is still in existence (see Frontispiece). The tremen- 
dous supply kept down the prices, and it is no wonder 
that the strangers were astonished at the pictures that 
they saw with other ornaments in the homes of the 
Netherlands. Brickman says : 

Their interior decorations are far more costly than our 
own (English) not only in hangings and ornaments, but 
in pictures which are found even in the poorer houses. 
No farmer or even common laborer is found, that has 
not some kind of interior ornaments of all kinds, so that 
if all were put together it often would fill a booth at the 
fair. 



PICTURES 



105 

De Parival remarked: 

The furniture of the principal burghers, besides the 
gold and silver ware, are tapestries, costly paintings of 
the best and most celebrated masters of the country, for 
which no money is saved, but rather eked out in econo- 
mizing in living, beautifully carved woodwork, such as 
tables, treasure-chests, pewter, brass and earthenware, 
porcelains, etc. 

The finest collection in New Amsterdam appears to 
have been that of Dr. De Lange. He had no less than 
sixty-one pictures, many of which are described as 
“ large.” The inventory distinctly mentions the rooms 
in which they were hung. Entering the Side Chamber, 
we find one picture, an Evening; a small Zea; four 
pictures, Countries; and five East India pictures with 
red lists (frames). We may note that a large looking- 
glass with gold frame also took up some of the wall 
space. In the Fore Room he had “ A great Picture, 
being a Banquet with a black list ; one ditto, something 
smaller; one Bunch of Grapes with a Pomegranate; 
one Picture with Apricokes; one Picture, a small Coun- 
trey; one Break of Day; one small Picture, Winter; 
one small Picture, a Cobler; one Portraturing of my 
Lord Speelman; and one board with a black list 
wherein the coat-of-arms of Mr. De Lange.” This 
was appraised at nearly twice the value of a great 
Banquet. The Great Chamber contained one great 
picture, Banquetts; one ditto; one small ditto; one 
Picture Abraham and Hagar; four small Countreys; 
two small Countreys; one Flower Pot; one smaller 
ditto; one Country People Frolic ; one Sea-Strand; 
one Portraiture; one Plucked Cock Torn; two small 
Countreys; one Flower Pot, small, without a list; one 
“ small print broken,” and “ thirteen East India prints 



io6 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



past upon paper.” In the Cellar were a portrait of Mr. 
De Lange, portraits of two men, and four Countreys 
without lists, unframed. 

Mrs. Margarita Van Varick had one large picture 
of Images , Sheep and Shippes ; one Picture of the 
Apostle; one Picture of Fruit; one Picture of Battell; 
one Picture of Landskip; one Picture of large Flowr 
Pot; one Picture with a Rummer; one Burd Cage 
and Purse, etc. ; one large Horse Battell; one Picture 
of Roots. She also had two Pictures of Shippes in 
black ebony frames, and two similar ones in black 
frames also, two small painted pictures in black frames, 
and two maps in black frames. Moreover, there were 
eight prints in black frames and four in “ guilded 
frames ” ; and no less than fourteen “ East India 
Pictures,” large and small, framed, some of which 
were framed in black and some in gilt frames. 

Cornelis Steenwyck had fourteen in the Great Cham- 
ber, six in the Chamber above the Kitchen, eleven in 
the Fore Room, and eight in the Withdrawing Room. 

Cristina Cappoens, 1687, also had two small pic- 
tures, one great one with “ a broken list,” four small 
pictures, two small pictures, three small gilded pictures, 
and four that are described sufficiently to suggest per- 
haps a De Heem or Rachel Ruysch, a Van de Velde, 
and a Berck-Heyde or a Bakhuysen. These are “ two 
Rosen pictures,” one “ a ship,” and one “ of ye city 
of Amsterdam.” 

Two years later, in 1689, John Van Zee had four 
pictures : one was Scipio Africanus, and another Julius 
C cesar. These were probably a pair painted by the 
same artist. The names of the other two are not men- 
tioned. Dirck Benson had “ four pictures of four 
quarters of the World.” 

Other instances are: Dominie Nicholas Van Rensse- 



SILVER 



107 



laer, of Albany, had thirteen pictures — The King's 
Arms, five small printed pictures, and an “ almanach ” 
worth eighty beavers; Cornelis Jacobson had one pic- 
ture in 1680; Cornelis Dericksen, seven pictures (£2) in 
1681 ; Asser Levy had nine pictures in 1682; Cornelis 
Van Dyck, three pictures in his Fore Room in 1686; 
and Jacob Abraham Sanford, four pictures in 1688, and 
Thomas Davids, ten. The widow of Nicholas Bur- 
dene had two pictures in 1690; Philip Smith, a chart 
and a picture in 1692, in which year Francoys Rom- 
bouts had fifteen pictures. Anthony de Milt had ten 
in 1693; and Annitie Van Bommel, two in 1694. 

One constantly comes across the mention of maps, 
prints, and almanacs, which probably hung upon the 
walls also; and “ thirty pictures of King William and 
Mary,” in Lawrence Deldyke’s shop in 1692, show that 
the Dutch rulers of England were popular in New 
Amsterdam. Dr. De Lange’s East India prints pasted 
on paper were undoubtedly valuable Eastern pictures. 
A flower-piece of the period, by Jan van Huy sum, 
such as was owned by the rich New Amsterdam 
collectors, faces page 196. The tulip is noticeably 
important. 

The silver of the period was massive and heavy. 
Great tankards and beakers with lids, such as face page 
272, great porringers, caudle-cups, bowls, dram-cups, 
tumblers, and cups were marked with the family coat- 
of-arms, or the name, initials, or monogram of the 
owner, and bequeathed from generation to generation. 
Apostle-spoons, too, were much in favor and highly 
valued, and special spoons for the sugar-box, pap-bowl, 
mustard-pot, etc., were also known (see facing page 
262). Forks were gradually coming into general use, 
and so were the pepper-box, saltcellars, spice-boxes, and 
other delicate articles for table use. Special presents 



io8 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



were given to brides, and the christening gifts were 
also numerous, including spoons, bowls, cups, and 
rattles with silver bells. Spoons were sometimes pre- 
sented for souvenirs at funerals. Silver toys of all 
kinds were also highly valued, and at this period the 
silversmith was able to reproduce in miniature every 
known article, from a coach and six horses to a 
chair of the period (see opposite). The cabinets 
of the rich were filled with these little articles. Mrs. 
Van Varick, who had a great many of these beauti- 
ful and costly miniature toys (see page 119), owned 
a very remarkable collection of silver. Much of it 
was evidently of beautiful workmanship and from the 
East. Her treasures included one silver spice-box, one 
silver egg-dish, one small silver knife and fork, one sil- 
ver knife, three silver wrought East India boxes, one 
silver tumbler, one silver knife, “ one silver fork, 
studded handle,” one silver wrought East India trunk, 
one silver saltcellar, one silver wrought East India box, 
two silver-headed canes, one china cup bound with 
silver, two scissors tipped with silver, one hundred and 
eighty-five ounces silver (£69 7s. 6d.). She also had 
three silver wrought East India “ cupps,” one silver 
wrought East India dish, one small ebony trunk with 
silver handles, a silver thimble, silver medals, and a 
great variety of current coins of foreign mintage and 
Oriental curios. 

Asser Levy also had an unusual collection of silver 
in 1682. Among his fine articles we may note twenty- 
two silver spoons, one silver fork, three silver goblets, 
one silver tankard, one silver mustard-pot, one silver 
cup with two ears, four small silver cups, one small 
silver goblet, two silver saltcellars, two silver cups, 
two silver saucers, one silver spice-box, one silver 
tumbler, one silver bell, and “ one Cornelia tree cup 




MINIATURE SILVER ARTICLES AND SILVER TOYS 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 



SILVER 



109 

and two dishes with silver.” William Pleay had, in 
1690, a silver “ jocolato pot.” 

Another fine collection was that of Peter Jacob 
Marius, who died in 1702. Among other things he 
had one silver tankard, two large and one small silver 
saltcellar, one large and one small silver beaker, two 
large and one small mustard “ pott ” and spoons, 
twenty-five large and two small sweetmeat spoons, 
four silver tumblers, seven large and small cups with 
two ears, one silver old-fashioned server, one silver 
mug and cover, one “ babyes silver chaffendish ” and 
cradle, one silver fork and cup, with a parcel of but- 
tons and other broken silver (218 ounces). He also 
owned two silver-handled knives and a pair of silver- 
handled “ sizers.” 

Charles Morgan, of Gravesend, Long Island, had 
one “ sylver dram cup ” in 1668; and in the same year 
Thomas Exton left to Mrs. Abigail Nicholls “ my 
silver boat and a silver meat fork and a silver spoon.” 
John Winder owned four hundred and forty-seven 
ounces of plate in 1675 (£111 15s. od.) ; George Cooke 
had £40 of silver plate, including an inkhorn and fork; 
in 1680 Cornelis Jacobson had “ a silver cup and two 
hooks for a cloth”; and in 1681 Cornelis Derickson, 
fourteen spoons, the handle of a spoon, the handle of 
a fork, two little spoons, a dram cup and a “ currell ” 
(26 ounces), all amounting to £7 16s. od. The same 
year, Cornelis Steenwyck had seven hundred and 
twenty-three ounces of silver plate worth £216 18s. od. 
and seven ounces worth £2 2s. od. In 1689 William 
Cox had one hundred and fourteen ounces of silver 
plate and a “ case of silver hafted knives ” ; John Van 
Zee possessed plate valued at £9 1 is. od. ; Anthony 
de Milt also possessed a little silver. Madame Blanche 
Sauzeau, widow of Jaques Dubois, had six silver 



no 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



spoons, six forks, and six small spoons in 1690; and 
two years later Philip Smith had one hundred and 
fourteen ounces of silver plate, worth £12 2s. 3d. 
Francoys Rombouts had £20 17s. od. ; and Sarah Ort, 
soon to be Mrs. Kidd, one hundred and four ounces 
of silver, worth £101 9s. od., including a tankard, cup, 
plate, sugar-box and spoon, saltcellar, two porringers, 
a tumbler, and twelve spoons. Margaret Duncan, 
1702, owned £98 worth of silver, including a porringer 
worth £10 19s. 9d. and six silver spoons; Francis 
Hulin in the same year had a dozen silver spoons and 
a dozen silver forks, valued at £14 8s. od. ; Abraham 
Delanoy, 1702, nine silver spoons, worth £5 6s. od. 
John Haines, 1689, had sixteen silver spoons worth 
£9 12s. od. Colonel William Smith, of the manor of 
St. George, Suffolk County, 1704, owned silver plate 
to the value of £150; and Cristina Cappoens, 1693, 
had three silver beakers, two silver cups, one having a 
silver cover, a silver pepper-box, a silver mustard-pot, 
a silver saltcellar, and nine silver spoons. In 1700, 
Cornelis Van Dyck had four silver “ tummelers.” 
Tankards and beakers were highly valued and fre- 
quently bequeathed to the eldest or favorite son and 
grandson. Thus we find Philip Udall, of Flushing, 
in 1 71 1 bequeathing a silver “ Beeker,” about a pound 
weight, to his son, Joseph, “ for the use of my grand- 
son Philip Udall, after the death of my son, Joseph.” 
Derick Clausen, 1686, had a silver beaker (worth £3) 
and a silver cup (18 shillings). Margaret Duncan, 
1702, owned a tankard; Cristina Cappoens, 1693, 
owned two old family beakers: one, weighing twelve 
ounces, was worth £4 4s. od., and the other, weighing 
sixteen ounces and marked with the name Christina 
Rasselaers, was valued at £5 12s. od. John Haines, 
merchant, 1689, had a silver tankard worth £10. 



SILVER 



hi 



Four handsome pieces that belonged to Olaf Steven- 
son Van Cortlandt face page 112; a silver tankard 
that belonged to Sara de Rapelje, the first child born 
of Dutch parents in the colony, faces page 116, on 
which is also a curious drinking-cup known as the 
“ clover-leaf.” 

Silver frequently excited the cupidity of servant, 
guest, and relative, if we may judge from the many 
thefts that occur in the court records. A very peculiar 
case appears in 1656, when the Honorable N. de Sille 
appears with a charge against two ladies of position, 
— Neeltie van Couwenhoven and her sister Mrs. 
Nicholaes Boot. “ For that N. Boot’s wife cunningly 
took, with the said Neeltie, a silver goblet from their 
father’s house and refuse to restore it; whereupon 
they being complained of, plaintiff caused the goblet 
to be brought and laid before the Court, maintaining 
that it is a species of theft or violence.” The court 
ordered that the goblet be delivered to Couwenhoven, 
which was done in court. 

Silver was always a great temptation to the thief. 
Many instances came into the court, among which was 
the case of Marten Van Weert, who was a notorious 
thief who had visited the homes of some of the most 
important burghers of New Amsterdam. In some way 
he made off with half a dozen spoons at a wedding at 
the house of Cristina Cappoens. Marten van Weert 
was accused by the officer Pieter Tonneman “ for his 
grave and shameful act of theft committed at various 
times and divers places according to his own voluntary 
confession and acknowledgment without torture or 
force; first having stolen seven or eight years ago a 
quantity of zeewan from the house of Pieter Kock 
dec’d ; having stolen from Cornelis Steenwyck’s house 
at divers times a quantity of otters and beavers to- 



1 1 2 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



gether with some pieces of manufactured or Haarlem 
stuffs and a piece of fine napped cloth, also a piece of 
fine linen; having lately stolen from Cristyntje Cap- 
poens’s house at the feast or celebration of the marriage 
of Lauwerens Van der Spygel and Sara Webbers, to 
which wedding he was invited, half a dozen silver 
spoons.” It was considered important to make him 
an example to others; and Marten van Waart was 
condemned to be “ severely scourged with rods in a 
closed chamber, banished ten years out of this 
jurisdiction and further in the costs and mises of 
justice.” Owing to his youth, the first punishment 
was later remitted. 

In rich houses in Holland pewter was generally 
used in the place of silver tableware. The silver, 
when families were so fortunate as to own it, was kept 
for ornament and for occasions of ceremony. The 
pewter, of good design and often engraved with the 
family coat-of-arms, shone as brightly as the silver 
itself, and was kept in a special pewter cupboard (or 
tinkasten) in the dresser, or in rows in the wooden 
racks on the wall. 

Pewter was universally possessed in the New 
Netherlands. Annitie van Bommel, 1694, had a great 
amount, including sixteen pewter platters, seven plates, 
sixteen porringers, ten pewter spoons; Cristina Cap- 
poens, 1687, four pewter dishes, eight pewter plates, six 
pewter cans, and seven funnels, ten pewter dishes, two 
small pewter dishes, one pewter beaker, three pewter 
cans, and one “ pewter cop ” ; Cornelis Jacobson, 1680, 
eight pewter dishes (35 pounds), twenty-four pewter 
trenchers, two small dishes, a pepper-box, and many 
other dishes and spoons; George Masters, 1686, a 
pewter tankard and five old porringers, eleven pewter 
plates, three small and three larger deep pewter dishes, 




DUTCH SILVER FROM THE VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE 



CHINA 



H3 

three large pewter platters, a small “ pye plate,” and a 
pint pot. Dominie Nicholas Van Rensselaer, of Albany, 
had seventeen small and great pewter platters, two 
dozen plates, a saltcellar, a mustard-pot, two pewter 
candlesticks, four dozen cans or tankards, and four 
dozen small cups. John Haines, who had £26 of sil- 
ver, also had “ 77 lbs. pewter io d lb.” (£3 4s. 2d.), 
four porringers, and two dozen pewter plates. He 
owned, moreover, seventy-seven pounds of brass. 
George Underhill, 1691, possessed twenty pounds of 
pewter and eight porringers. Charles Morgan, of 
Gravesend, Long Island, 1668, was particularly well 
stocked. We read of three pewter platters, two basons, 
four plates, one pewter flagon, one pewter bottle, three 
beakers, four small pewter dishes, a mug, and two 
porringers. He also had three brass candlesticks, two 
lamps, two brass kettles, and “ a great copper kettle,” 
which he valued very highly, because it was the subject 
of special bequest. In his will of 1668 he says: “I 
do give and bequeath one great copper kettle for and 
to the use of all my children during the tyme that they 
or the greatest part of them shall reside or live to- 
gether and upon the said land aforementioned in this 
town.” The “ great brass kettle ” and “ the great cop- 
per kettle ” appear in many an inventory, and they are 
always appraised at high figures. Judging from the 
prevalence and the amount of pewter, brass, and cop- 
per listed in the old documents, the homes of the 
Dutch residents must have been filled with brightly 
shining metal articles for domestic use. 

During this century the Delft potteries reached the 
height of their activities and imitated with the greatest 
skill the blue and white, the black, the red and varie- 
gated porcelains and earthenware that the ships brought 
almost daily from the East. The collecting of por- 

8 



1 1 4 DUTCH NEW YORK 

celain became a craze with the Dutch burgher at home 
and abroad. 

The inventories of New Amsterdam prove that the 
colonists shared this luxurious taste. Dr. Jacob De 
Lange had articles both for use and ornament. In his 
Side Chamber the “ Purcelaine in the chamber before 
the Chimney ” consisted of seven half basons, two 
belly flagons, three white men, one sugar-pot, three 
small pots, six small “ porrengers,” and one small gob- 
let, one great goblet, two great basons, two pots, 
two flasks, four drinking-glasses, five dishes, six 
double butter-dishes, thirty-three butter-dishes, seven 
red small teapots, two white teapots, one hundred and 
twenty-seven teapots, three small men, one can with a 
silver joint, one can with a joint, two flaskets, one 
barber’s bason, five small basons, sixty-seven saucers, 
four saltcellars, three small mustard-pots, five oil-pots, 
one small pot, two tobacco boxes, one small spoon, four 
small cans, six small flasks, two small oilcans, one 
small chalice, two fruit-dishes, one earthenware bason, 
two small cups, one small oilcan, one small spice-pot, 
five saucers, four small men, one small dog, two small 
swans, one small duck, and two small men. One small 
East India rush case contained nineteen wine and beer 
glasses. This china-ware was probably arranged upon 
innumerable wall-brackets in the Marot style. 

In the Shop we find the following earthenware : ten 
white dishes, seven white and blue dishes, two flat white 
basons, one white cup, one saltcellar, one mustard-pot, 
twenty-one trenchers of red earthenware, five small 
saucepans, three stewpans, four pots, one strainer, two 
small dishes, and two jars. 

Cristina Cappoens owned a good deal of porcelain 
in 1687. She had eleven “ great cheenie dishes,” 
worth £1 15s. od., “ four cheenie cups,” two marble 



CHINA 



ii5 

images, seven painted dishes, one small can and two 
cups, five white plates and two cups, two bottles and 
glass, two painted cups and five earthen white and 
painted cups. 

Another fine collection was that of Frangoys Rom- 
bouts, who had a “ Holland cubbert furnished with 
earthenware and porcelain” (worth £15), eighteen 
pieces of earthenware and porcelain, one case of bot- 
tles, twenty-six earthenware dishes and other earthen- 
ware, a “ cubbert ” with earthen and porcelain pots 
and cups, six porcelain cups, seven earthen dishes, six 
earthen jugs, and a hanging-board, eight earthen dishes, 
fourteen porcelain cups, four earthen jugs, and two 
great glass bottles. 

Mrs. Van Varick had “ ten china dishes ; three large 
china dishes, crackt and broke; four china dishes, 
crackt; six bassons (three crackt) ; two fine cups, one 
fine jug, four saucers, six smaller tea-saucers, six 
painted tea-dishes, four tea-dishes, eight teacups, four 
teacups painted brown, six ditto smaller, three teacups 
painted red and blue; eight East India flower-pots, 
white (one crackt) ; one china ink-box and two sand- 
boxes ; eight white earthen plates ; a tea-dish and two 
cups; one china image and one lyon; three teapots; 
one cistern and bason, and three china basons.” 

In 1668, Charles Morgan, of Gravesend, Long 
Island, owned three earthen dishes, two saltcellars, 
and one glass bottle; in 1674, Arent Everts had eight 
earthen platters; in 1675, John Winder, six earthen 
platters; in 1679, Nicholas Van Rensselaer, “five 
chany ” plates, six cups, nineteen fine earthen platters, 
twelve butter-dishes, two earthen saltcellars, eight fine 
little earthen dishes, two ditto flower-pots, one ditto 
can and one ditto mustard-pot, — all together worth 
eighteen beavers. 



n6 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



In 1680, Nathaniel Sylvester had a case with bottles; 
and in the same year Cornelis Jacobson owned an 
earthen pot, one case of bottles, forty earthen dishes, 
thirteen earthen pots, five earthen dishes, one stewpan, 
and seventeen pots. Cornelis Derickson had four 
earthen cups and seven cans in 1681. Dr. De Lange 
had two fruit-dishes, fifty-three glass bottles, and two 
glass bottles tipped with silver. John Budd had earth- 
enware, four glass bottles, and a case with bottles in 
1684; Derick Clausen, a white pot with cover and 
five blue dishes in 1686; Cornelis Steenwyck had, in 
the same year, five earthen china dishes, five alabaster 
images, seven earthen dishes, two cases with bottles, 
and nineteen china or porcelain dishes worth £4, be- 
sides some earthenware worth £3 7s. od. In 1687, 
Glaunde Germonpre van Gitts had three white earthen- 
ware cans and five gray ones; in 1688 Thomas 
Phillips had glass and earthenware worth £6 5s. od. ; 
and Frances Richardson, earthenware and a glass case 
and glasses. In 1689 William Cox had a dozen “ phar- 
nish plates,” worth £1 4s. od., six new saucers and 
six old saucers. Simeon Cooper had two cases with 
bottles in 1691, and in the same year Dirck Theunissen 
possessed seven earthen dishes and basons, six earthen 
platters, one “ boter dish,” two earthen cans, seven 
earthen pots, and two glass bottles. Sarah Ort, the 
wife of Captain Kidd, had in 1692 twelve drinking- 
glasses. In 1694, Annitie van Bommel had four 
earthen pots, five dishes, and one great earthen jug. 
In 1700, John Coesart had for sale in his shop “ 20 red 
figured pots, 135 red mugs, one case with wine glasses, 
two earthen water pots, one earthen pot and one 
spitting-pot.” 

Examples from the Rijks Museum face pages 178 
and 232, and a group in which appears one of the 







SILVER TANKARD 

OWNED BY SARA DE RAPELJE 



GLASS 



117 



grotesque ornaments brought from China and called 
by the French collectors magots faces page 190. Other 
fine specimens are contained in the cabinets facing 
pages 90 and 98. 

Any one who visits the Rijks Museum in Amster- 
dam will see a wonderful collection of glass of this 
period, — of all shapes and sizes, white, green, ruby, 
amber, and opalescent tints, — loving-cups, tumblers, 
wineglasses, chalices, beakers, cordial glasses, jelly and 
syllabub glasses, beautifully cut in innumerable fa- 
cets, or engraved with a delicacy that rivals the touch 
of the frost fairies on the wintry panes; hunting- 
scenes, biblical scenes, mythological scenes, landscapes, 
proverbs, coats-of-arms, and mottoes are etched upon 
them with marvelous skill. Here we see the shapes 
and forms that so often appear in the pictures of 
Metsu, Van Mieris, Ostade, Jan Steen, Van der Heist, 
and others. What pleasure the Dutch artists took in 
painting the Bohemian glass and the transparent wine 
or beer that fills them! Particularly with Metsu do 
we meet with tall oblong glasses of elegant form in 
which the wine sparkles or the beer froths, — glasses 
cut and shaped in twenty different ways — octagon 
glasses each facet of which ends with a curve and 
which cut the light with their sharp edges, or glasses 
the calyx of which forms a reversed cone on a her- 
on’s claw, or elongates into a swan’s neck, and fin- 
ishes like a trumpet; lastly glasses, sometimes of an 
imperishable thickness and solidity, sometimes as deli- 
cate, light, and thin as an onion skin. Specimens of 
glass of the period face pages 184 and 216. 

The old Dutch were great stay-at-homes, and al- 
though economical with regard to the expenditure of 
money on travel or pleasures, considerable sums were 
spent on beautifying and decorating the home. Gode- 



n8 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



wyck said, somewhat gloomily, that “ the home is like 
a grave wherein we always dwell/’ A great part of 
the Dutchman’s pleasure in life lay in the acquisition 
and care of choice possessions. When his home was 
furnished to his taste, he liked to have it perpetuated 
on canvas, and he even had it reproduced in miniature 
with all its furniture and belongings in tiny articles of 
gold or silver. 

Realism was carried to such a pitch that the doll’s 
house had its kitchen, lying-in room, and gloomily 
draped death-chamber with the tiny coffin containing 
its wax corpse. The little garden of “ coral work ” 
with its hedges, trees, flowerbeds, shell walks, paths, 
and statuettes was added. 

One of the most attractive houses of this character 
is in the Antiquarian Museum in Utrecht. It consists 
of several rooms, furnished in the period of 1680, and 
contains real paintings in miniature by Moucheron. 
First comes the Voorhuis, or Vestibule; then a Gang , 
or passage-way with staircase leading to the next 
floor; third, the Little Back Room; fourth, an Office, 
Comptoir; fifth, the Saletkamer, or Drawing-room; 
and, sixth, the Art Gallery. The other rooms are the 
Bedroom or Chamber; the Lying-in Room, the Nur- 
sery, the Kitchen, the Cellar, the Scullery, the Store- 
room, the Maidservant’s Room, the Garret, the Laundry 
in the Garret. 

A doll’s house, also of the Seventeenth Century, said 
to have been made for Peter the Great, is preserved in 
the Rijks Museum. It is encased in tortoiseshell. The 
general view is shown in the illustration facing page 
172, and other rooms appear facing pages 144, 150, 
156, and 162. 

Hundreds of miniature trinkets are to be seen in 
the Rijks Museum in silver and gold filigree work, 



CURIOS 



119 

ivory, ebony, brass, porcelain, earthenware, and Delft; 
for to the doll everything was given that human beings 
need for use or pleasure. The illustration facing 
page 108 will suffice to give an idea of the variety of 
these silver toys. These charming curios were known 
in New Amsterdam. Mrs. Margarita Van Varick left 
eighteen pieces of silver children’s toys to Johanna; 
twenty to Marinus ; seventeen to Rudolphus ; “ twenty 
eight silver playthings, or toys, to Cornelia ” ; and 
besides there was a chest full of “ childrens babyes 
playthings and toys ” to be divided equally among 
them; and also for Johanna and Cornelia there were 
“ two glaasen cases with thirty-nine pieces of small 
chinaware and eleven Indian babyes ” ; also “ six 
small and six larger china dishes.” Some of these may 
have been playthings; but they were evidently much 
prized treasures. 




CHAPTER VI 

NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 

A LL through the night the watch had been cry- 
ZJk ing the hours and describing the condition of 
JL JL the weather. Soon after daybreak the family 
arose, sometimes even before the bell of the city rang, 
for early rising was the custom. The first to get up, 
as a rule, was the head of the house, who would go 
downstairs in his dressing-gown and slippers, with 
nightcap on, open the door and the shutters, look 
at the weather, bid his neighbor good morning, and 
call the servant. While she lit the fire and got things 
ready for breakfast, the rest of the family would get 
up. The maid set the table, shook up the pillows in 
the chairs, heated the foot-warmer for the mistress, and 
placed the Bible before the master’s chair. The family 
now came downstairs, — parents, children large and 
small, — washed, combed, and dressed, and took their 
places at the table. The servant also took hers at the 
end of the board. Then the father stood up, uncov- 
ered his head, and all followed his example and with 
folded hands joined in the prayer which he led. All 
repeated the “ Amen,” covered their heads, and sat 
down to breakfast, during which the father at the table, 
or one of the sons at the reading-desk, read a chapter 
from the Scripture. After the meal and at the end of 
the reading all stood up, sang the hymn, and the father 
said grace. 

Bread, butter, and cheese always appeared upon the 



120 




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TSi\ Op fa It- Jttriyll l £jt-t’L (ptUUU^liLtKXi 

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8s^H '- ■ * ¥&£&& 
From an old print 



A FAMTLY MEAL 

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 121 



table, but breakfast did not consist of these staples 
alone, by any means. In many families there were 
pasties of venison and meat. Fried fish was a favorite 
dish at breakfast, and smelts were called the “ break- 
fast fish ” by preference. The bread was different in 
size, quality, and shape from that of the present day. 
Rye, wheat, or white bread was used, and also bread 
made of oats, barley, and beans. Fancy bread was 
baked on festive occasions. At Christmas, presents 
were given of Christmas “ Wights,” in the shape of a 
child in swaddling-clothes ; and at Easter, round 
Easter “ Egg ” loaves. At Twelfth Night a cake was 
given called duive-kater , derived from the French 
deux fois quatre, consisting of two four-cornered 
currant-loaves, baked together; and on Saint Nicholas 
Eve, the “ St. Nicolaas brood.” 

Burghers seldom ate two relishes at once. Butter 
and cheese on a “ piece ” of bread was considered a 
wicked extravagance. With the bread milk was drunk, 
and sometimes small beer. It was not until the end of 
the Seventeenth Century that the coffee-pot made its 
appearance on the table. Many people used to make a 
milk-sop with white bread soaked in milk. The 
farmer himself was satisfied with buttermilk, while his 
wife was clever in adulterating the milk. Beer was 
the most general beverage. The common people 
drank schenkel (pouring), “ sharp,” or sharp beer 
(scharr e-bier ) , leakings, and “thin beer.” The citi- 
zens had stoops, of four or eight quarts, and pewter 
cups on the table; the richer class used silver and 
English pewter and poured the beer out of jugs with 
covers. 

After breakfast everybody went her or his way, — the 
husband to his office or his business, the boys to their 
offices, shops, or schools; but the girls usually helped 



122 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



their mother and the servant in the housework. The 
husband and wife attended to their special duties and 
hardly met, except at meals and at night. Before go- 
ing to market the mistress saw that the kitchen was 
put in order. This was first thoroughly cleaned and all 
the cooking utensils scoured. The mistress would help 
the servant, working as hard as she did, and talking to 
her on equal terms, just as the husband was on a fa- 
miliar footing with his clerks. The hearth also required 
great attention to keep it and its utensils bright and 
free of dust and ashes. Andirons or firedogs were of 
brass and copper, as were also the tongs and shovel. 
Steenwyck had a “ hearth iron with brass handles ” 
which may have been a species of grate or perhaps a 
fender. Mrs. Van Varick had two hearth hair brushes 
with wooden handles, one with a brass handle, and 
a chamber hair brush. The brass and copper chande- 
liers also required constant polishing. The rooms in 
well-to-do homes were lighted from chandeliers that 
hung from the centre of the room, sconce arms that 
were placed on either side of the mantelpiece, and 
standing candlesticks. Mrs. Van Varick had five brass 
hanging and handle candlesticks worth eighteen shil- 
lings, a double brass ditto, which with snuffers and 
extinguisher was worth £i 4s. od. ; a pair of brass 
standing candlesticks, worth sixteen shillings, and a 
standing candlestick with two brass candlesticks to it, 
worth twelve shillings. 

Another pleasurable duty was the care and arrange- 
ment of the flowers. Potted plants stood on window- 
sills and tables, and there were handsome vases and 
jars in which to place cut flowers. Cornelis Steen- 
wyck had two earthen flowerpots, and Mrs. Van 
Varick six East India flowerpots, white, three large 
and three small and two round ones. 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 123 

After having put the house in order, the mistress, 
in a simple dress and with a headcloth folded over her 
head, would go to market, accompanied by the servant 
with the basket. In the middle of the century the 
market day was Saturday, and the commodities were 
offered for sale in the Strand, which, as we have seen, 
extended along the river shore from the Battery to the 
Ferry on the east side of the island. On Sept. 12, 
1656, the following was issued: 

“ Whereas now and again divers wares such as meat, 
pork, butter, cheese, turnips, carrots and cabbage and 
other country produce, are brought to this City for sale 
by the outside people; with which being come to the 
Strand here, they are obliged frequently to remain a long 
time with their wares to their great damage, because the 
Commonalty, or at least the greater part thereof, who 
reside at a distance from the waterside, do not know, 
that such articles are brought for sale, which tends not 
only to the inconvenience of the Burgher — but to the 
serious damage of the industrious countryman, who fre- 
quently loses more than he Has expended on his wares ; 
Therefore being desirous to remedy this evil, the Director- 
General and Council hereby ordain that from now hence- 
forward the Saturdays shall be Market days here within 
this City on the beach, near or in the neighbourhood of 
Master Hans Kierstede’s house, 1 whereby every one who 
has anything to sell or to buy shall regulate himself. 

The importance of the servant as a marketer is 
shown in the following lawsuit in 1654, when Marretie 
Trompetters (the Bugler’s), plaintiff, versus Maria 
de Truwe, defendant, demands payment of 3.11 florins 
for fish sold to defendant. Maria insisted that she sent 
the money by the servant, and that it fell into the ditch. 
She had no more at present, but promised payment at 

1 South side of Pearl Street. 



124 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the earliest opportunity, wherewith, the plaintiff being 
satisfied, they were reconciled. 

In meats and vegetables, fruits, poultry, and dairy 
products New Amsterdam compared very favorably 
with the Old Country with regard to supplies for the 
table. Game was far more abundant, however, and 
the delicacies of the sea were within reach of all. 
Early travelers spoke of the waters here as being 
“ very fish rich.” They greatly prized the salmon and 
the striped bass, which were found in large quantities. 
Having found shad, which in Dutch is called Elf , they 
next discovered the “ streaked bass ” which they called 
Twaalf (twelfth), and when they found the drum next 
they called it the Dertien (thirteenth). Wissenaer, 
1625, wrote: 

Very large oysters, sea-fish and river fish are in such 
great abundance there that they cannot be sold; and in 
rivers so deep as to be navigated upwards with large 
ships. 

The sheepshead also attracted great wonder and 
praise. Van der Donck wrote: 

The kinds of fish which they principally take at this 
time are shad, but smaller than those in this country 
ordinarily are, and are quite as fat and very bony; the 
largest fish is a sort of white salmon, which is of very j 
good flavour, and quite as large ; it has white scales ; the 
heads are so full of fat that in some there are two or 
three spoonsful, so that there is good eating for one who 
is fond of picking heads. 

It was strictly forbidden to sell fish on Sunday dur- 
ing church hours. In 1660, the following case came 
up in court : 

Schout Pieter Tonneman, plaintiff, demanded from 
Wessel Everzen, defendant, the fine for having sold fish 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 125 

on last Sunday forenoon. Defendant’s wife appearing 
said, that it happened before the ringing of the bell. The 
Court dismissed the Officer’s suit. 

Again : 

Schout Pieter Tonneman, plaintiff versus Albert Trom- 
petter, defendant. Plaintiff says that defendant sold fish 
on Sunday morning and that Resolveert Waldron has 
subjected him to the fine. Resolveert appearing in Court 
declares he fined him because he sold fish on Sunday 
morning. Defendant’s wife appears in Court, says it 
occurred before the ringing of the bell. The Court dis- 
miss the Officer’s suit, as the occurrence took place before 
the preaching. 

The cheeses were known by the names of the towns 
where they were made and were in demand in nearly 
every country in Europe. The farmers of New Am- 
sterdam made their cheeses according to methods of 
their own provinces. Occasionally, too, cheeses were 
imported. 

Regarding prices, it is interesting to learn that in 
1692 James Latey’s Turkey hen was worth one shil- 
ling ; twenty common hens, ten shillings ; and fourteen 
geese and ganders, fourteen shillings. 

Although the Dutch housewife was a very clever 
cook and superintendent of the kitchen, for great 
occasions she called in the help of the baker, who was 
also a confectioner. For every festival or ceremonial 
occasion there was a special cake. The Saint Nich- 
olas, the Twelfth Night, the gilt New Year’s, the 
wedding and the christening cake were made according 
to special recipes and beautifully decorated. The 
Dutch bakers were also expert in the making of pan- 
cakes, waffles, oil-cakes, wafers, biscuits of various 
kinds, marsepein, and many kinds of sweets. The cakes 



126 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



and pasties were as different in shape as in composi- 
tion. They were filled with fish, meat, cheese, ram’s 
kidneys, and even cocks’ combs. One of the favorite 
pasties was thus prepared : a piece of pork the size 
of a loaf of bread was chopped fine and stewed until 
done. Then a piece of salted fat pork the size of an 
egg, and butter the size of an egg, and four salted 
apples, and four raw eggs and ginger and a little mace 
and saffron, and with that some powdered sugar, were 
added. 

There were also tarts of apples flavored with wine 
and spices and tarts of marsepein. The pastry-cooks 
also prepared the jellies. There was a green jelly made 
out of milk, parsley, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon- 
powder; apple- jelly; and orange jelly, or marmalade. 
Spice and sugar were bought at the apothecary’s, who 
sometimes mixed flour in his sugar, as the baker would 
put bean meal in his flour. On well-provided tables 
were also found macaroons and “ oblies ” (wafers) 
made of thin egg pancakes rolled and hardened in the 
oven. White-bread sop, waffle cakes, salted almonds, 
egg-cheese, almond bread, clotted cream, chestnuts, 
roasted, served with butter, sugar, and cinnamon, after 
which came blanc-mange, apples, pears, cheese, and 
aniseed sugar comfits, with which the meal ended. 

Innumerable are the pictures of kitchens by the 
Dutch painters of the period. A very interesting one 
by Jan Steen faces this page, where the cook is spitting 
a bird while laughing with the errand boy who brings 
to her an unplucked bird and a basket of eggs. 

All cake-bakers had a sign with the picture of Saint 
Nicholas, a bishop, Saint Obertus, an oven with the 
inscription “ Delicious and sweet,” some biscuits, cakes, 
and pastry for sale, or various emblems of the trade. 
Here and there one would find a molasses barrel or 




DUTCH KITCHEN 

JAN STEEN 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 127 

a beehive with inscriptions underneath, “ what is 
sweeter than honey,” and “ Here we sell honey by 
the jug, while the Holy Land was overflowing with 
it,” and various others. Under the veranda all kinds 
and sizes of cakes were exhibited, while the shop 
was filled with boxes of various kinds. In an old 
print we see me baker descending the staircase, sleeves 
tucked up, with a skull cap on, while a boy stands on 
the stoop with an ox’s horn and the inscription “ Nice 
and warm.” The wife is superintending things, and 
threatens the cat with uplifted finger because she is 
licking the honey barrel. On the boxes we read “ pas- 
teys, letters, roundels, sugar’s, marmelades, spice-cake, 
marsepan, pea-sweets, edge-cake,” etc. Among the 
delicacies we find quartered tarts, tarts with cream 
and eggs, gin, chevreuil, quinces, pears, jelly tarts, and 
various others. 

The New Amsterdam bakers were subject to the 
strictest rules and regulations.. Their wares were regu- 
larly inspected, and baking-hours were strictly enforced. 
Bakers were not allowed to peddle their bread and 
cakes in the street, nor to sell to the Indians. They 
also had to take certain precautions against fire. It 
was sometimes difficult to become a baker, especially 
for Jews; for we read in the court records in April, 
1657, that “ Jacob Cohin Hendricus, a Jew, appeared 
and requested permission to bake and sell bread within 
this City as other bakers, but with closed doors.” Af- 
ter much deliberation the request was refused. 

Let us return, however, to the daily routine. To- 
wards noon the tablecloth was spread on the table, 
and the dwaelen (finger-wipers) put on the plates. 
The cloth and napkins were woven out of one piece. 
In rich families a bowl of water and a napkin were 
first handed to each guest. In the first half of the 



128 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Seventeenth Century we find table-sets of flowered 
damask ; damask table-linen, with flowers, borders, 
scenes, fables, verses, proverbs, portraits, and arms 
woven in them. The Brussels and Courtray damasks 
were famous. A set was generally one tablecloth to 
one hundred and twenty-four serviettes; some had as 
many as twenty-four such sets in the “ linen-kast,” 
which rarely came out of it except to be sent to be 
washed. During the greater part of the century the 
wealthiest people still eat with their fingers and helped 
themselves with the knife. 

When setting the table, the servant placed salt, pep- 
per, and sometimes dried ginger on the board, and a 
knife, spoon, and bread at each plate. The slice of 
bread was the original trencher, on which the diner 
cut his meat; but during the Seventeenth Century the 
trencher was a wooden platter, which is still used in 
many parts of Holland and Germany. In accordance 
with the wealth of the householder the plates were now 
of wood, pewter, earthenware, porcelain, or silver. 
These are all to be found in New Netherland 
inventories. The table-ware was decorated variously 
with scenes from Scripture or history, the parable of 
the Prodigal Son, the Ten Commandments, the articles 
of the Creed, the battles of Admiral Tromp, rhymes, 
dates, and coats-of-arms. 

As late as 1680 William Sharpe had seventy-two 
wooden trenchers and six pewter plates ; Madame 
Sauzeau in 1690 has twenty-four pewter plates; and 
Elizabeth Partridge, 1669, Slx pewter platters. Cor- 
nells Steenwyck had forty-three earthenware dishes, 
great and small, worth £2 3s. od. ; other earthenware 
worth £3 7s. od. ; glasses, earthenware, and porcelain, 
£16 os. od. ; seven earthen dishes, nineteen china 
dishes, two cases of knives, fifty-eight napkins, and 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 129 

eleven tablecloths. Madame Sauzeau had in 1690 fifty 
pounds of pewter in dishes; William Sharpe in 1680, 
four pewter saucers; Elizabeth Partridge, 1669, a 
saltcellar, five pewter dishes, three pewter dishes, a 
bason, a pewter plate, a saucer, and two fruiterers; 
Mrs. Van Varick had three large china dishes, ten 
china dishes, four china dishes, three large and three 
small china basons, six wooden tumblers, a silver spice- 
box, a silver egg-dish, a silver knife, and a silver salt- 
cellar. Fine silver was also owned by Cristina Cap- 
poens and Peter Marius. 

Silver drinking-cups of all kinds were found in all 
homes of wealth, and silver bowls, jugs, and spoons 
were also comparatively common. Mrs. Van Varick, 
who had a large amount of silver, also had “ a thing 
to put spoons in,” and Glaunde Germonpre van Gitts, 
1687, had “ a spoon rack.” 

Forks were rarities, even in wealthy houses abroad. 
They are mentioned towards the end of the Seven- 
teenth Century. They were brought from Venice, 
and used for the first time at the Court of Queen 
Elizabeth. Though Asser Levy had twenty-two silver 
spoons in 1682, he had but one silver fork; Madame 
Blanche Sauzeau had in 1690 six silver spoons, three 
small spoons, and six forks worth £10. George Cooke 
had a silver fork as early as 1679. The mention of 
hand bells in the inventories shows that these articles 
were used to call servants. In cases where the servant 
took her meals with the family, the bell, of course, was 
unnecessary. 

When not in use, the porcelain, earthenware, and 
china were displayed on the tops of the hasten , in the 
glass cases and cabinets, on the mantel shelves, on the 
tops of doors, brackets, cornices and racks, and hung 
from hooks on boards. For instance, Cornelis Steen- 



9 



130 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



wyck had in his kitchen a “ can board with brass 
hooks,” and three “ wooden racks for dishes ” ; and 
Mrs. Van Varick had a “ painted wooden rack to set 
china on.” 

After bringing the large pewter dish with boiled 
food, the servant took her place at the foot of the table, 
as she did at breakfast. All stood up and uncovered 
their heads while the father said grace. Everybody 
repeated “ Amen,” and the company said to one an- 
other, “God bless you,” or “Bon proufaes” after which 
the heads were again covered. The father now served 
bread, meat, and the boiled dish. As nothing was 
spoken by the children and very little by the grown 
people, the noonday meal was soon finished. A typical 
family gathering at the table faces page 120. Seldom 
were more than two or three dishes served at the 
noonday meal. The first cooked dish was generally 
“ potage,” made of brown and green peas, mashed, 
with butter, ginger, and celery; or white beans with 
prunes and syrup; green or shelled Turkish or broad 
beans ; lentels with meat gravy or butter, vinegar, and 
parsley. Wheat bread-sop stewed in milk, mutton 
broth, stewed sweet turnips with fish, medlars with 
butter, “ double bake ” or stewed barley, and cold 
stewed mixed vegetables were the usual dishes. There 
was also a hutsepot (mixed pot) of finely chopped 
or cut mutton, beef, or veal, boiled in summer with 
greens and onions, in winter with beans and carrots. 
Cauliflower and Savoy cabbage were less general and 
were only found .on the table of the rich. Both were 
first cleaned and then boiled, and afterwards stewed 
with mutton broth, hot pepper, and nutmeg, sometimes 
with fine Dutch butter. Sometimes a hard-boiled egg, 
rubbed to powder, was mixed or spread over it. Arti- 
chokes were stewed in vinegar and clear water, butter, 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 131 

and ground pepper, butter and salt. The peas were 
never eaten green or young. The second course was 
fish ; if no fresh fish was to be had, dried codfish, ling, or 
pickled herring was served. According to reports fried 
sturgeon was also used, and fried perch, and the pike 
was roasted at the spit. The carp was stuffed, or pre- 
pared in the French way; that is, it was put, after 
having been washed in water and vinegar, in a thick 
sauce of butter, Rhine wine, vinegar, mace, pepper, and 
ginger. With fish turnips were eaten as a vegetable, 
sometimes carrots, and milk or water was drunk. In 
case the second course was fish, the third consisted of 
banquets (pasties) of mussels, oysters, lobsters, crabs, 
generally eaten with sweet sauces. Oysters and mus- 
sels were also stewed or fried in the pan ; lobsters and 
crabs were stewed with parsley, pepper, walnuts, mace, 
butter, and lemon juice. If no fish was to be had, meat 
was eaten, fresh in summer but salted in winter, — the 
pork with greens, sometimes with prunes and currants ; 
the beef, veal, and mutton, with prunes, caraway seed, 
and mint. Chopped beef was eaten with prunes, cur- 
rants, and syrup. On fete days a beef-stew was made 
with “ olipodrigo ” (a mixture of various vegetables). 
The capon was also one of the choicest dishes. Eggs 
plainly cooked were used in large quantities, as well 
as in the cakes that were named after them. “ An 
egg was an evening meal,” and very cheap. The 
egg was the daily food of the poor, who liked it best 
when well fried in oil; it was seldom fried in butter. 
But the poor man could not always feed so gener- 
ously. Sometimes he had to be satisfied with some 
fried turnips or onions, a dry crust of sometimes 
mouldy bread, or a bowl of boiled whole barley, with 
a drink of water or “ scharre-bier,” a thin kind of 
beer. No wonder he became as lean as Saint Jero- 



i 3 2 DUTCH NEW YORK 

nime! Generally, however, the rich ate as simply as 
the poor. 

After the meal the heads were uncovered, the father 
said grace after meat, and all returned to their work. 
In many families a chapter from the Holy Scriptures 
was read after the noonday meal, and a psalm sung. 
A couple of hours after the noonday meal, the family 
gathered again to eat the “ piece of bread ” ( stuk ), cut 
by the father of the house, with either cold or warm 
beer or water. Sometimes friends were invited to share 
this informal meal of cold meat, fried fish, and some 
sweetmeats. Rich burghers often went into the sum- 
mer-house in the garden to take the afternoon “ piece ” 
of bread, and ate fruit with it, and, after the importa- 
tion of tea, the family would gather there at a little 
later hour. 

The use of tea was well established in Holland by 
the middle of the century, and the custom of afternoon 
tea-drinking crossed the Atlantic. There were many 
varieties of tea in use, and the hostess as a rule made 
several kinds in different teapots to please the taste of 
her guests. Saffron was made, and always in a red pot, 
to serve with the tea. In the summer peach leaves were 
sometimes substituted for a flavor. Neither cream nor 
milk was ever used until the end of the century, and 
this was a French innovation. The tea-board, tea- 
table, teapot, sugar-bowl, and silver spoons and 
strainer were the pride of the Dutch housewife. From 
the inventories it is evident that tea was in vogue in 
New Amsterdam. Dr. De Lange had a number of tea- 
cups and no less than one hundred and thirty-six tea- 
pots; Lawrence Deldyke had a tea-board among his 
articles, and Mrs. Van Varick, a small oval table painted, 
a wooden tray with feet, a sugar-pot, three fine china 
teacups, one jug, four saucers, six smaller tea-saucers, 




OLD CHURCH BENCH OR STOOL 

ALBANY INSTITUTE AND HISTORICAL AND ART SOCIETY 




NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 1 33 

six painted tea-dishes, four tea-dishes, five teacups* 
three other teacups, four teacups painted brown, six 
smaller ditto, three teacups painted red and blue, one 
tea-dish, and two cups finest porcelain. 

Tea was known and liked long before coffee, the use 
of which did not become general until about 1668, when 
it was drunk with sugar and cinnamon. Coffee was 
boiled in a copper pot lined with tin, and drunk as hot 
as possible with sugar or honey. Sometimes a pint 
of fresh milk was brought to the boiling-point, and 
then as much “ drawn tincture ” of coffee was added, 
or the coffee was put in cold water with the milk, and 
both were boiled together and drunk. Rich people 
mixed cloves, cinnamon, or sugar with ambergris in 
the coffee. At first many conservative families could 
not accustom themselves to the growing habit of re- 
placing the “must” or beer at breakfast with coffee; 
but by the end of the Seventeenth Century coffee had 
taken its place at the breakfast-table once for all. 
Many families also served coffee regularly at eleven 
o’clock in the morning. Some doctors considered it a 
cure for many diseases. Dr. Blankaerd preferred it 
to wine, drank twelve cups a day, and prescribed it for 
his patients. 

Chocolate was more of a luxury than tea or coffee. 
It was used at Court towards the end of the Seventeenth 
Century, but was very expensive and was seldom found 
on the ordinary table. Chocolate-pots very rarely ap- 
pear in European inventories in the Seventeenth Cen- 
tury, and therefore the item of “ one jocolato pot ” in 
William Pleay’s inventory shows that chocolate was 
known in New Amsterdam as early as it was in Europe. 

The winter evenings were passed sociably at the 
hearth. All sat around the table, — the housewife, 
daughters, and servant busy spinning, sewing, or knit- 



I 



134 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



ting, and the boys carving in wood or knitting fishing- 
nets ; while the father read aloud from the Scriptures, 
Flavius, Josephus, Beverwyck, Cats, the voyages of 
Schouten, or some other instructive work. Some- 
times a scriptural verse would be sung, or some music 
played. Sometimes a friend, accompanied by his 
servant carrying a lantern, would make a call. If 
it was not a clergyman’s house and people were not 
very strict, they would play lansquenet, or the owl or 
goose board would be brought forward, or lotto or lot- 
tery played. At the stroke of nine the maid came to 
spread the table. The supper was very simple, and 
consisted in most houses of bread, butter, and cheese; 
but some people had a gekookte pot (a cooked meal), 
consisting of three courses. The first course was 
barley with prunes and cinnamon, white-bread sop, j 
rice boiled in milk, or sometimes a salad of different 
greens and beet roots. The second course was the fish 
or meat, left over from dinner, fried up or heated 
anew ; and some light dishes, apple-sauce, raisins, and 
almonds for the third. As at breakfast and dinner, 
grace was said before and after. At ten o’clock the 
night bell rang, the “ clearing clock ” ; taverns and 
gates were closed, and the ordinary burgher would ex- 
tinguish the fires and lights and retire. Before 
going to bed, the children received their father’s and 
mother’s blessings and a hearty kiss; brothers and 
sisters also kissed each other good night, and retired 
after saying prayers at their bedside. 

The New Amsterdam home was not devoid of pets. 

The dog was a favorite member of the household, 
and, as we have seen, not infrequently appeared in 
court. In Mrs. Van Varick’s inventory there is men- 
tion of a “ collar for a dog.” Steenwyck had a parrot 
stick, and in 1658 Vice-Director Beck brought to Direc- 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 135 

tor Stuyvesant a beautiful parrot from the Spanish 
Main for Mrs. Stuyvesant. In the same year there is 
the following memoranda of sundries sent from Cura- 
sao to New Nether land, namely, “ salt, preserved 
lemons, paroquets and parrots, some of which were 
for Johannis van Brugh, recently married to Miss 
Rodenborgh.” 

In all the pictures of Dutch interiors the well-dressed 
ladies, whether playing musical instruments, making 
lace on cushions, sewing, or merely engaged in con- 
versation, have one or both feet resting upon the “ foot- 
warmer, ’’ or “ foot-rest.” This little square box cov- 
ered with perforated sheets of copper or brass, was 
filled with hot coals, and was no doubt very much 
needed in the cold houses of the period. It was used so 
generally that Roemer Visscher, a writer of the period, 
calls it the “darling of the ladies.” “A stove with 
fire in it,” he writes, “ is the beloved jewel of our 
Dutch wives, especially when the snow falls and the 
hail clatters.” 

Sometimes the cat is dozing comfortably upon the 
foot-warmer in the pictures of the Little Masters. In 
the nursery things were conveniently kept warm upon 
it, and it was used in the kermis booth and tents on the 
ice to keep the cakes and drinks warm. The foot-warmer 
was also carried to church by the servant, who also 
took along the church seat. Mrs. Van Varick had a 
church chair and cushion; Cornelis Dericksen also 
had a “ church seat.” This may have been similar to 
the one shown facing page 132, now in the Albany 
Institute and Historical and Art Society. It is painted 
black with a picture of the Last Judgment in colors, 
where the angel is separating the sheep from the goats. 
It is dated 1702, and the inscription reads: 



i3 6 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Het oordeel Gotsir nu bereijt 
Het is nogtijt Laet onsincingt 
De vroome van de Boose Scheyt 
Godt beddenom des Heemals ovengt. 

(God’s judgment is now ready 
There is still time to leave folly 

The Good Sheep will be separated from the Bad Goats, 
God’s wisdom encircles the universe.) 

The Dutch vrouw spent the greater part of her life 
in keeping clean the house that had been so beautifully 
furnished and ornamented. Many of the rooms she 
preferred to scrub and brush and dust and scour with 
her own hands, for she would not trust her treasures 
to the clumsy touch of a servant. Some people were 
so careful of their “ show rooms ” that they only ex- 
hibited them on occasions, and they were only opened 
every few days, or once a week for the purposes of 
cleaning. This passion for cleaning was universal; 
it extended to high circles. In one of his plays Gode- 
wyck makes the daughter of an alderman say : 

My brush is my sword, my besom is my weapon. 

I know no rest ; I never go to sleep. 

I think of my drawing-room ; I never think of my throat. 
No labour is too heavy; no trouble too great 
To make everything spotless and bright. 

I do not want the maid to touch my pretty things 
I myself rub and polish; I scrub and splash; 

I hunt the speck of dust; I do not fear the pail 
Like the showlady. 

Many travelers of the Seventeenth Century have 
noted this national trait. We will see how the French 
De Parival and the English Brickman were both im- 
pressed; the first says: 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 137 

The wives and daughters scour and rub benches, chests, 
cupboards, dressers, tables, plate racks, even the stairs 
until they shine like mirrors. Some are so clean that 
they would not enter any of the rooms without taking off 
their shoes, and putting on their slippers. The women 
put all their energy and pleasure in keeping the house and 
the furniture clean. The floors are washed nearly every 
day and scoured with sand, and are so neat that a stranger 
is afraid to expectorate on them. If the city woman keep 
their houses clean, the farmer’s wives do this no less. 
The cleanliness is even carried out, into the stables. They 
scour everything, even the iron chains and mounts until 
they shine like silver. 

Brickman writes: 

Now, if you have entered into their houses, the first 
that will strike your eyes is a large mirror, the other the 
pewter and brasswork, standing on a ledge along the 
walls like soldiers in their files — and everything is so 
neat and snug and clean, that it appears unto you like a 
golden and silver mountain, for nothing of all Gods good 
things looses anything of its original beauty. The rooms 
in their houses are various : some only a few steps, others 
cornered rooms, others like a ladie’s powder box, in which 
you are afraid to breathe. You have also to remove your 
shoes or you are not allowed to enter the ladies salon, or 
best decorated room, but it will be opened and you will 
be allowed to look in from the threshold. However 
limited their means, the linen must be fine and clean. 
Therefore the smith’s workshops have been banished from 
Amsterdam, so that the smoke and soot should not be- 
grime their fine roofs and gables. For some of these are 
excellent, and show the art and subtleness of the architects. 
They keep their houses cleaner than their bodies, and 
their bodies cleaner than their souls. In the one house 
you will see the fire irons standing in the corner of the 
chimney, covered with fine netting in another house, the 
warming pans covered with Italian open work designs 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



138 

and the handles carved, in the third the brass strainer, 
wrapped in cambric. 

This excessive neatness was also found in New Am- 
sterdam, not only among the wealthy, but among the 
poorer classes, and great numbers of brushes, brooms, 
and pails are noticeable in the inventories of various 
grades of households in New Amsterdam. Mevrouw 
De Lange evidently “ hunted the speck of dust ” ; for 
in her house we find “ one rake brush, one hearth 
broom, one cloth brush, two Bermudian brooms with 
sticks, one hay broom without a stick,” and in the shop 
three whiting brushes, a “ brush to clean ye floor,” 
three rubbers, two small painted brushes, two hair 
brushes, two dust brushes, a chamber broom, and a 
hearth broom. Nor was this all; for in the kitchen 
were “ two dust brushes called hoggs,” two whiting 
brushes, two rubbers, and some other brushes. Cor- 
nelis Steenwyck had four brooms and nine brushes in 
his house, thirteen scrubbing and thirty-one rubbing 
brushes, and no less than twenty-four pounds of 
Spanish soap in his garret. 

Another passion of the Dutch housewife was for 
fine household linen, and her great cupboards and 
chests were not only full of sheets, pillowbeers, towels, 
tablecloths, and napkins, but of great stores of uncut 
material to be made into such articles. This taste was 
shared alike by high and low ; every Dutchwoman had 
the ambition to own a vast amount of such treasure, 
“ saved from grandmother’s time with economy,” or 
“ inherited from great aunt and kept as precious 
goods,” to be again bestowed as a wedding-gift to some 
member of the family, or bequeathed to the children 
of the household. A rich store was greatly prized, 
therefore, and every penny saved from the household 
expenses, received as a present, or won at play was 




NAPKIN PRESS, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 

OWNED BY MR. FRANS MIDDELKOOP, NEW YORK 





NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 139 

used by the housewife to increase that treasure. It 
was, moreover, her custom to sit every afternoon with 
her daughters and maids in the kitchen before the 
spinning-wheel, sewing-cushion, or work-table, or to 
stand before the ironing-board smoothing and gopher- 
ing the shirts, neckerchiefs, caps, and ruffs. She was 
proud to have a rich linen cupboard filled with “ moun- 
tains of her own make and foreign produced stuff.” 
One rich lady who dwelt in Dordrecht had no less than 
twenty-four dozen sheets in her cupboard and forty 
dozen tablecloths, as well as coffers full of uncut linen, 
while her wearing apparel filled many other receptacles. 
The rich Mrs. Margarita Van Varick left to her sister, 
Engeltie, “ a spinning-wheel,” her clothes, and “ a 
piece of linen, which is at Lucas Renhoven’s to make,” 
evidently spun in her own house. Peter Stuyvesant’s 
widow made a special bequest of her linen, dividing it 
equally between her son, his daughter, Judith, and her 
eldest son’s two children. 

The washing of the household linen was also an 
undertaking. Great hampers and wicker baskets full 
of articles to be washed were carried away at stated 
intervals, washed in the canals and rivers, dried on the 
pasture-land, or special places known as “ bleaching- 
grounds.” These existed early in the annals of New 
Amsterdam, for the first schoolmaster added to his 
meagre income by keeping a bleaching-ground. It 
seems that such places afforded a good opportunity for 
those whose envy was excited by choice damask from 
Holland. Among the cases of 1653 the following 
ladies’ battle is waged: 

Annetie, wife of Age Bruynsen, plaintiff, versus Mrs. 
Abraham Genes, defendant, complains that on Tuesday 
last, when four napkins, bought by her of her master 
Croon from Holland were lying out to bleach, defendant 



140 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



picked them up and carried them away. Defendant says, 
she has been robbed and plaintiff demands proof that they 
had been stolen from defendant, or else return of the 
napkins and suitable satisfaction. Defendant admits hav- 
ing taken up and away from the bleaching-ground 4 
napkins in the presence of Martin Loockermans and 
Engeltie Maus, because they belonged to her, and she 
says, that she misses other napkins and linen, which she 
has not yet seen or found; also that neighbours have 
compared the said napkins with others daily used by 
her and have found them to be of the sam$ pattern and 
linen, while upon one of them there is the same mark as 
shown by affidavit ; she has left it with Anneke Loocker- 
mans and Tryntie Kips for safekeeping. The latter called 
into Court with it, state, that it is the same napkin, as left 
at their house, but is not like the one shown by plaintiff. 
Having been examined by plaintiff she says that two of 
the napkins taken by defendant are changed and that the 
one with the mark may have been mixed with hers by 
Engeltie Maus at her wedding. The Court examines and 
compares the four napkins with those of defendant and 
finds them to be alike. 

A few days later : 

Madame Genes being summoned into Court by the 
Schout (concerning the 4 napkins in dispute between her 
and Annetie, the wife of Hage Bruynsen), is asked (since 
Madame Genes intends to remove to Fatherland, and 
Annetie aforesaid intends to go to Fort Orange), whether 
she can produce any further proof. She gives for answer : 
No other proof than before; that they are found in all 
respects like her napkins, and she is willing, if she can 
retain her napkins and will remain unmolested on that 
account, to forgive the said Annetie her fault, and never 
to trouble her on that account. 

On being brought home, the various articles of 
clothing and household linen were passed through the 



NEW AMSTERDAM HOUSEKEEPING 141 



mangle; then, neatly folded, they were put away in 
the great cupboards and chests. Sometimes they were 
placed in the napkin-press, a fine example of which 
faces page 138, which stands on a frame with four 
bulbous legs. The greater number of New Amsterdam 
inventories mention linen to the amount of a fairly 
large, if not a great, sum. A large proportion of 
one's wealth was sometimes spent in this article; for 
example, in 1688 Nathaniel Pompson Barrow owned 
household linen worth £13 18s. 6d., when his whole 
estate amounted to only £84 10s. od. In the same 
year Mathew Taylor had one hundred and twenty- 
six napkins and towels (£4 14s. 3d.), seventeen 
sheets (£8), eleven tablecloths (£4 7s. od.), twelve 
pillowcases, and a cupboard cloth. The linen in Cornelis 
Steenwyck’s kitchen amounted to more than £5 4s. od. 
In the chamber above the kitchen were twenty-eight 
sheets, fifty-eight napkins, nine tablecloths, twelve 
towels, and thirty-two pillowbeers. Peter Marius, 
1702, owned twenty-three linen sheets, eight calico 
sheets, thirty-two great and small pillowbeers, two 
linen tablecloths, seven diaper ditto, sixty-one diaper 
napkins, three ozenbriggs ditto, and sixteen small 
linen cupboard cloths. Matthew Clarkson, 1703, had 
eight fringed napkins. Mrs. Elizabeth Partridge in 
1669 owned one dozen diaper napkins, £3 5s. od. ; one 
dozen and a half blue strak’d, £3 os. od. ; one dozen 
plain napkins, £2 os. od. ; one diaper tablecloth, 
£2 os. od. ; two pair of sheets, £5 10s. od. ; one round 
diaper tablecloth, £1 ; one pair Holland pillowbeers, 
£0 1 6s. od. ; one pair diaper pillowbeers, £0 8s. od. ; 
and a parcel of old linen, £0 5s. od. This linen must 
have been very fine, as it was worth altogether 
£18 14s. od., while her house and land was valued 
at only £45. 



142 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Turning now to a weaver named Glaunde Germon- 
pre van Gitts, 1687, we find that the weaver’s loom is 
worth £2 1 os. od. ; and in the modest house there are 
nine linen sheets (£1 7s. od.) and five pillowbeers 
(£0 3s. 6d.). Six napkins, eight sheets, and fifteen 
pillowbeers were owned by Derick Clausen in 1686; 
Dirck Theunissen had nine sheets, nine pillowbeers, 
and eight napkins in 1691 ; and twelve tablecloths 
(£3 15s. od.) and nine dozen napkins (£5 8s. od.) 
were owned by Nathaniel Sylvester in 1680. In 1679 
Dominie Nicholas Van Rensselaer, of Albany, owned 
twelve pair of sheets, sixteen pillowbeers, and four 
large ones, and a cloth to hang before a chimney, all 
worth together twelve beavers. 




CHAPTER VII 

SERVANTS AND SLAVES 

S ERVITUDE in New Netherland was not re- 
garded as demeaning. The mistress and ser- 
vant were really on a social equality, since the 
servant was very frequently the daughter of somebody 
whose station in the community was equal to that of 
the mistress. In a new country every extra pair of 
hands was valuable, and when a householder had more 
children than were required to do the work afforded 
by his own occupation and his home, he hired them out 
to others. When the indentures were signed, the chief 
parental rights passed to the employer. Sometimes the 
son or daughter took service for a short time only, but 
more often for a term of years. If the children were 
not properly treated, the parents or guardians would 
apply to the court, which seems to have been quick to 
remedy any real case of abuse, neglect, or cruelty. If 
the child absented himself or herself from the master, 
even if only to visit parents, without permission from 
the master, it constituted a breach of the engagement. 
Thus, in 1638, when Jan Damen sued Lenaert Arent- 
sen for breach of his son’s indentures, Arentsen was 
ordered to send his son back whenever he ran away. 
Again, in 1660, Hendrickje Swartwout sued Pieter- 
nelle La Montagne for seven months’ wages for her 
daughter, hired by defendant at fifty florins the year. 
The court decided that the girl should recover only a 






144 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



quarter’s wages, because she was at home two days 
with her parents without the knowledge of her master 
or mistress. 

That a master could not discharge a servant without 
good and sufficient cause was shown in a case in which 
the ill-fated Jacob Leisler was defendant; Agnytie 
Hendricks sued him for a year’s wages, amounting to 
one hundred guilders in seawant and four beavers, 
because he had discharged her. Mr. Leisler pleaded 
that inasmuch as Agnytie had consumed almost a whole 
bottle of preserved strawberries, also biscuit of his; 
moreover, as it came to his ears that she had two 
fellows climb over the wall to her whilst he was at 
church with his wife, and received no good service 
from her, he would have nothing to do with her. 
Agnytie denied having Sunday visitors over the gar- 
den wall, and declared that the children had eaten the 
preserves. She was consoled for the loss of her place 
by a quarter’s wages, according to agreement. Having 
blamed the children for the disappearance of the pre- 
serves, it is a wonder that Agnytie did not lay the loss 
of the biscuit at the door of the cat. She was not as 
fertile in excuse as a contemporary of the male sex 
named Elias Jansen, who, when discharged by Jan de 
Witt, miller, sued his employer for breach of contract. 
The miller declared Elias had stolen a pound of candles, 
whereupon “ he gave him for answer that it was not 
true, and that perhaps a dog had been in the mill and 
eaten them.” 

Teunis Cray’s wife, 1662, sues Jan Jacobzen for a 
balance of wages for her son, forty-five guilders in 
corn and four guilders in seawant; also by balance, 
one breeches and two pair of stockings sold to him for 
twenty-four guilders. Defendant has nothing against 
it but deduction of wages for three weeks when the 




V OORHUIS IN THE DOLL’S HOUSE 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 



SERVANTS AND SLAVES 



i45 



plaintiff’s son left before the expiration of his time. 
It was proved, however, that he had discharged the boy, 
and so judgment was given against him. 

Masters were responsible for the good behavior of 
their servants; employer’s liability was fully recog- 
nized by the court. On Nov. 12, 1643, Teunis Nysson 
sued Peter Colet for injury done to a young animal by 
Colet’s boy; and the master was fined fifteen guilders, 
payable when the lad should have served him two 
months. If the boy should die before that time, dam- 
ages were to be proportionable. 

The servants here were undoubtedly subject to rough 
treatment on the part of their employers; and it does 
not appear that an occasional beating was regarded by 
the court as a valid excuse for breaking the contract. 
In 1657, when Jochem Wesselsen, a baker, was sued 
by Jan van Hoesum because the baker’s wife, Gertrude 
Jeronimus, had violently kicked Miss van Hoesum, 
Wesselsen pleaded that his wife had a perfect right 
to chastise any girl who was in his service. The court, 
however, agreed with the father, and fined the irritable 
Gertrude thirty guilders and costs. 

In 1659, “ Andries Clazen says that Jan Everzen 
Bout cut two holes with the tongs in his little daugh- 
ter’s head, in service with him about three weeks ago. 
Jan answers that it is a stiffnecked thing and will not 
listen to what is said to her, and through hastiness he 
flung the tongs after her, but not with a view to in- 
jure her, — it occurred unintentionally. Clazen says 
his daughter lay abed some days.” Finally Jan had to 
pay the surgeon’s bill, twenty florins damages and 
ten florins fine. 

Caspar S tymnets, 1657, sa ^ that his wife’s brother 
served Jan Hendrick nine months, and as the boy was 
treated harshly and dismissed, he requested that de- 

10 






146 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



fendant be condemned to fit the boy out decently in 
clothes as he received him, so that he might engage with 
other persons ; demanding a coat, breeches, two shirts, 
one pair of stockings, and one pair of shoes, and rep- 
aration for having treated the boy so harshly. Hen- 
drick said that the boy earned only whippings, but 
denied having abused him, treating him on^y as his 
own child. He also said that he offered the boy a 
shirt and leather breeches, and could not give him any 
more. The defendant was condemned to pay thirty- 
six florins instead of the clothes demanded. The boy 
was, further, released from service. 

Teunis Tomassen sued Barent Gerrisen for 28.15 fl., 
according to verbal agreement, because his son had 
worked with defendant. Being sick himself, his wife 
pressed the case. Gerrisen admitted having taken the 
boy at eleven florins per month, and pocket money 
every week, but said the boy was still bound to him 
for another half year; also he had not done what he 
was bound to do, for which he was to receive spending 
money ; therefore no spending money was due. “ Plain- 
tiff replies and says that her husband will have the 
money for the boy every week, and that he the defend- 
ant said he will not see the boy at the table. Defendant 
rejoins and says, that he stated if the plaintiff will have 
his money every week for the boy, he does not require 
the boy. Requests that the boy serve out his time, 
promising to pay him. The Court order the plaintiff 
to let her boy serve out his time according to agree- 
ment, on condition that he be paid according to 
agreement.” 

Wolfert Webber, 1657, said he hired his son to 
Claes Pietersen Kos to dwell with and serve him here 
in this city; “and whereas the defendant employs his 
son, not here but mostly over at Pavonia and in jour- 



SERVANTS AND SLAVES 



147 



neying to and from that place, where much danger is 
to be expected both by water as from Indians, etc., of 
which he has had a sample,” demanded that his son 
should either be employed in the city or sent home; 
and in case he refuse he declares before God and the 
“ Judge that he, in the capacity of a father, protests 
that if any misfortune happen his son, either in passing 
over, or from the Indians or otherwise, he has done his 
duty and shall avenge himself on him.” In reply, Kos 
said he hired the boy to reside with and serve him “ un- 
conditionally as to his going over, or remaining.” 

In 1662, the Directors write to Stuyvesant about a 
child being retained in New Nether land by a creditor 
as security for a debt due by the mother. They order 
it to be released and sent to Holland. 

In the wills we frequently find fathers disposing of 
the future of their children till they come of age. 
Thus, in 1680, Cornelis van Bursum leaves “the 
proper portion of a child to my daughter, Anna ; and 
my wife Sarah is to maintain my daughter Anna de- 
cently and cause her being taught reading and writing 
and a trade by which she may live.” Balthazar de 
Hart, 1672, bequeaths “ unto his natural son Matthias 
2000 guilders . . . and he is to have maintenance with 
reasonable vittles and clothes, and likewise to be teached 
to read and write and in a trade also that thereby he 
may help himself.” John Leggatt, 1679, desires his 
son to be bred up to the sea for his livelihood. Daniel 
Pearsall, 1702, devises “concerning my three little 
daughters, my wife disposed of two of them to their 
two sisters before she died, and the third, Margery, I 
do likewise dispose of to my two eldest daughters, 
desiring that as soon as it is convenient, she may learn 
the trade of a tailor.” 

In at least one case we find that a parent would 



148 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



rather entrust his children to the tender mercies of 
total strangers than of his own or his wife’s relatives. 
For example, Francis Yates, 1682, wills “ to Mr Wm. 
Richardson my five children, Mary, John, Dinah, Jona- 
than, and Dorothy, for him to keep so many of them 
as he sees fit. The rest to be put out to whom he thinks 
fit, but not to any of my own kindred, or kindred of 
my wife.” 

From two or three of the wills both in New Amster- 
dam and Fort Orange we gather that parents were 
prejudiced against the officially appointed Orphan 
Masters. For example, Stoeffel Abeel and his wife 
Heeltie in their joint will, 1678, exclude the Lords Or- 
phan Masters from all management and do not desire 
them to meddle with the government of the children. 

Judging from some of the wills, fathers were not 
always entirely satisfied that their widows would treat 
the children with the kindness naturally to be ex- 
pected from a parent, or, on the other hand, that sons 
would be invariably dutiful and affectionate to their 
mothers. In some cases, at least, the father provided 
special inducements for mother and children to dwell 
together in unity. For example, Nathaniel Sylvester, 
1698, desires his wife to take care of the children, and 
they are to be dutiful to Her. Richard Terry, 1696, 
leaves all his children at his wife’s command to be 
educated and brought up “ both for the good of their 
souls and bodies ’till of age.” Abraham Jossling, 
1669, desires his son Henry to be kind to his brothers, 
and take one of them to himself to learn his trade, 
as he had promised. “ And Good Wife I would not 
have you remain where you are with any of my chil- 
dren, but my desire is that my children may be put out 
to trades where they are.” 

Captain Sylvester Salisbury, 1679, leaves all to his 



SERVANTS AND SLAVES 



149 



wife “ with this proviso and restriction, viz. to bring 
up the children in good education and learning, and 
further to do what is fitting for good and religious 
parents to do for their children.” Cornells Van 
Hoorn’s children, 1692, are to be instructed in an art or 
trade by which they may live. Henry Crevenraedt, 
1699, hopes that his wife “ will be kind to the children 
and not rong them, but doe by them as she will an- 
swer to God Almighty.” On the other hand, Jasper 
Smith, 1695, wills that “ my son John be careful and 
diligent to seeke to please his mother and goe forth in 
her business and not grieve her.” In that case he is to 
have £10 more than the others; but if “he bee care- 
less and disobedient ” he is to have £10 less. 

As the passenger lists of the ships show, many of 
the settlers brought servants with them who were un- 
der contract to work for their masters for a certain 
number of years for stated wages, and until they had 
earned their passage money. When their time was 
up, the Company would allot them a city lot for build- 
ing a house, and land for farming, on various terms, 
as we have already seen. 

It was a serious offense to lure a servant away from 
his master; but so many servants did break their 
agreements and seek other service that stringent legis- 
lation was required. The Company promised not to 
take from the service of the Patroons any man or 
woman, son or daughter, manservant or maidservant, 
and though they desired the same they would not be 
received, much less allowed to leave their Patroons and 
go into the service of another. 

In 1640, it was declared that so many servants 
daily ran away that the corn and tobacco were rotting in 
the fields, and the harvest was at a standstill. Both 
farm and house servants therefore were ordered faith- 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



150 

fully to serve out their time on pain of making good 
all losses sustained by their masters, and serving 
double the time they might lose. The penalty for har- 
boring runaways was fifty guilders, to be equally 
divided between the Fiscal, the New Church, and the 
Informer. In 1658, also, it was ordered not to de- 
bauch or incite any person’s servants, or to harbor 
them, or fugitives, or strangers, longer than twenty- 
four hours. 

In 1648, the authorities having daily observed that 
some of the inhabitants harbor in their homes and 
dwellings the Company’s servants and other domestics, 
when they run away from their lords and masters, also 
of those who come hither from abroad, whereby many 
servants when they are dissatisfied with their employ- 
ment are afforded a means and opportunity to run 
away, therefore anybody who lodges or boards such 
runaways for more than twenty-four hours at the most 
is to be fined one hundred and fifty florins, to be paid 
to whomsoever will make the complaint. In 1662, a 
runaway servant, “ a Turk,” was hanged and after- 
wards beheaded, and his head was set on a stake at 
New Amstel, for resisting arrest. 

In 1654, the West India Company considerately 
thought of a scheme for “ taking a burden from the 
Almshouse of this city and helping to increase the 
population of New Netherland.” They therefore wrote 
to Stuyvesant : “We recommend you most seriously 
to take good care of the boys and girls sent from the 
Orphan Asylum and place them with good masters.” 

On examining the ages of the children who arrived 
in 1655 we must confess that the Amsterdam Alms- 
house of the day could not be accused of turning the 
inmates out into the world before they were of an age 
to shift for themselves, the girls especially. 




BEDROOM, DOLL’S HOUSE 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 




SERVANTS AND SLAVES 



151 



Girls 


Age 


Tryntje Peters 


23 


Tryntje Jans 


22 


Jannitje Dircx 


19 


Lysbet Jans 


18 


Dieuwer Volcherts 


16 


Annitje Pieters 


17 


Lysbet Gerrits 


16 


Debora Jans 


15 


Marritje Hendrik 


16 


Catalyntje Jans 


13 



Boys 


Age 


Guillaume Roelant 


17 


Francis Leigh 


17 


Mathys Coenratsen 


16 


Hendrik Thomasen 


14 


Peter Stoffelsen 


*3 


Otto Jansen 


13 


Jan Hendricksen 


12 



If we follow the career of these waifs who were 
sent away to relieve the congestion of home charity, 
we shall find that a fair proportion of them followed 
the example of the early pastors and schoolmasters in 
developing into undesirable citizens. The first to be 
presented at court was Trintje Pieters, the eldest of all, 
who had scarcely landed before being sued (Aug. 23, 
1655) by Heyltie ’t Havens for insult. The winter 
had hardly set in before the sixteen-year-old maiden, 
Marretie Hendrick, asked legal aid to settle a dispute 
between herself and her master, Captain Francis Fyn, 
to whom she had been indentured, “ regarding a dif- 
ference about service rendered and agreement made 
thereon.” The court appointed Sieurs Paulus Leen- 
dert van Grift and Govert Loockermans to reconcile the 
parties. Eight years later the young lady was sued for 
slander by Pietertje Jans. Tryntje Jans seems to have 
been comparatively quiescent for six years. At the 
age of twenty-eight, however, she said disagreeable 
things about Teuntje Jurriaans, who haled her into 
court, where she was ordered to prove or eat her words. 
In the same year, 1661, we learn from a lawsuit that 
Lysbet Jansen, now twenty-four years of age, was the 
widow of Dancker Cornelissen. 

The youngest of the consignment, Catalyntje Jans, 
had to wait fifteen years before she found a husband. 



I 5 2 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



On June 28, 1670, her banns of marriage with Claes 
Cornelissen, of Schoonhoven, are recorded. Her senior 
by three years, Marritje Hendrik, had to be content 
with a widower, in 1671, when her banns were pub- 
lished. Barent Gerritsen von Swol, widower of Grietie 
Dirx, was the happy bridegroom. 

Of the boys, Hendrick Thomassen and Francis 
Leigh (1674) make countercharges of theft and vio- 
lence. On Oct. 30, 1666, Otto Jansen was prosecuted 
for stealing and selling at Albany a horse. He declared 
that “ Jan Hendricksen had sett him uppon it wch 
beinge alledged to the said Jan Hendrickx he denyed 
the same.” Otto “ confessed in open court that he hath 
stollen this Summer in New England, twoe horses.” 
Later he became a soldier. In 1664, he petitions to have 
surgeon Van Imburg’s bill paid, for services during 
illness contracted during the Esopus Campaign. 

The lot of the indentured servant was hard enough, 
but that of the negro slave was harder still. After a 
certain number of years the white servant became his 
own master, and, as we have seen, had land allotted for 
cultivation and animals to stock it, part of th2 produce 
and increase of which paid the annual rent. The negro 
slave, however, had no assurance that he would ever 
be free, although for good conduct and faithful ser- 
vice manumission was not an uncommon occurrence, 
even during the owner’s lifetime; and the wills show 
that the masters frequently followed the ancient cus- 
tom of freeing slaves at their own demise. The 
terms in which the slaves are referred to often show 
that there was real attachment between master or 
mistress and slave. Among many examples the fol- 
lowing may be mentioned. Roger Rugg bequeaths to 
his friend, Mr. Rider, “ My negro boy, Mixon. Be 
kind to him for my sake.” William Leath leaves “ to 



SERVANTS AND SLAVES 



153 



my servant, Wan, the Spanish Indian boy, now living 
with me, his freedom, provided he serves my wife 
seven years.” Anna Medford frees her negro man, 
Frans, on account of his true services and leaves him 
a small parcel of ground. Daniel Sayre desires that 
his negro woman may have liberty to choose her master 
when she is sold. Jan Francisco was freed at the re- 
quest of Dominie Megapolensis (1646) “ on account of 
his long and faithful services.” In return for the boon, 
however, he was to pay the Company ten schepels of 
wheat a year. Nathaniel Pearsall provides : “If my 
negro, Francis, shall grow unruly, my son, Thomas, 
may sell him. . . . If he is sold, the produce of him 
shall go to my five daughters.” John Ramsden wills 
that his negro man, John, is to be freed after four 
years and “ he is to have one good suit of clothes, one 
cow, one horse, and whatsoever else my wife shall 
see fit.” 

Negroes did not always earn the approbation of their 
owners. In 1658, the Fiscal is ordered to sell a man 
and woman, “ the one being lazy and the other a 
thief.” 

Negro labor was very important in developing New 
Amsterdam. Many of the rich merchants and settlers 
owned small colonies of them. Frederick Philipse, for 
instance, owned forty. In 1700, more than one fourth 
of the population of New York consisted of negroes. 
The Thirtieth Article of the “ Freedoms and Exemp- 
tions ” (1629) stated that the Company would use their 
endeavors to supply the colonists with as many blacks 
as they conveniently could. 

The West India Company obtained its own negroes 
from the Spanish Main; but till the middle of the 
century there was no direct traffic in the slaves by the 
individual settlers. The need of cheap labor was, 



154 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



however, greatly felt; and on Jan. 20, 1648, the 
Council resolved to import negroes from Angola. On 
April 11, the Directors wrote to Stuyvesant approv- 
ing : “ Such as have completed their trade in Angola 
may carry negroes to your place to be employed in the 
cultivation of the soil. ,, 

It would seem that the Company’s negroes had to 
endure the hardest kind of servitude: many of the 
more serious crimes committed by the whites were 
punishable by working in chains with the negroes. For 
example, on June 6, 1644, Michel Christoff elsen 
pleaded guilty of stabbing some of the Company’s 
negroes and was sentenced to twelve months’ hard 
labor in chains with the Company’s negroes. 

The Company’s negroes were apparently a savage 
lot in the early days. On Jan. 17, 1841, Manuel de 
Gerrit, the Giant, and eight of the Company’s other 
negroes pleaded guilty to having killed Jan Premero, 
another negro. It would have been too expensive to 
execute the whole batch, — negroes were too valua- 
ble in the little settlement, — so the prisoners were 
sentenced to draw lots to determine who should suffer 
death ; whereupon, “ by God’s Providence the lot fell 
on ‘ the Giant,’ ” who was condemned to be hanged, as 
an example to all such malefactors. It would appear 
that Manuel was too valuable to be sacrificed, for the 
proceedings at the gallows look decidedly suspicious. 
The court minute sets forth that the hangman turned 
off the ladder the above negro, having two strong 
halters about his neck, both of which broke, whereupon 
all the bystanders called out “ Mercy ! ” which was 
accordingly granted. Two years later Manuel the 
Giant and ten other negroes were set free on condition 
of paying the Company annually thirty schepels of 
maize, wheat, peas, or beans, and one fat hog valued 



SERVANTS AND SLAVES 155 

at twenty guilders ; but their children, born and unborn, 
were to be slaves. 

In 1649, ^e authors of the “ Remonstrance ” com- 
plain of the authorities here having exploited the ne- 
groes for their own profit. They say : 

Even the [Company’s] Negroes, which were obtained 
with Tamandere were sold for pork and peas ; something 
wonderful was to be performed with this, but they just 
dripped through the fingers. There are yet sundry other 
negroes in this country, some of whom have been manu- 
mitted on account of their long service; but their chil- 
dren continued slaves, contrary to all public law that 
anyone born of a free Christian mother should notwith- 
standing be a slave and obliged so to remain. To this 
Tienhoven replies that the Company’s negroes were set 
free in return for their long services on condition that 
the children remain slaves, and the latter are treated the 
same as Christians. At present (1650) only three of 
these children are in service; one at the House of the 
Hope, one at the Company’s Bouwerie, and one with 
Martin Crigier, who, as everybody knows, brought up 
the girl. 

The negroes who were set free received land and 
stock, like other servants when out of their inden- 
tures. Thus, in 1643, Domingo Antony, negro, re- 
ceived a patent of five morgens, and five hundred and 
five rods on Bouwery No. 5, near the Fresh Water; 
and Catelina, widow of Jochim Antony, negro, re- 
ceived another of four morgens and ninety-one rods, 
next the above, a double wagon road between both. 
The above apparently formed the nucleus of the negro 
quarter, not far from Stuyvesant’s farm. 

In 1650, it was recommended to the States General 
that the inhabitants of New Netherland shall be at 
liberty to purchase negroes wheresoever they may think 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



156 

necessary, except on the coast of Guinea, and bring 
them to work on their bouweries on payment of a duty. 
In April, 1652, the necessary consent was written to 
Stuyvesant for the colonists to import negroes direct 
from Africa, excluding, however, the Gold Coast, Cape 
Verde, Sierra Leone, the Pepper Coast, and Qua Qua 
Coast. They were also forbidden to go farther west 
than Popo Sonde. The duty of fifteen guilders a head, 
however, was too heavy to encourage the colonists to 
charter their own ships for the trade, which was there- 
fore carried on by Amsterdam merchants chartered 
by the West India Company. The first direct impor- 
tation of slaves from Africa into New Amsterdam 
(1650) was in the ship Wittepaert , which the home 
Directors authorized to be chartered in Amsterdam, to 
go to Africa for ivory and for slaves or New Nether- 
land “ to the increase of population and the advance- 
ment of said place.” In 1653, the Directors informed 
Stuyvesant that they have allowed two or three 
ships to go to Africa for slaves for the West Indies; 
if they come to New Netherland, he must “ assist them 
in every proper way to clear away all obstacles.” In 
August, 1664, the Gideon landed at New Amsterdam 
two hundred and ninety slaves (one hundred and 
fifty-three men and one hundred and thirty-seven 
women) on account of the West India Company. 

There was no feeling in the community that slavery 
was anything but an eminently proper institution. 
Cornelis Steen wyck bought negroes from William 
Penn; and in 1691 Colonel Lewis Morris leaves “to 
my honored friend Wm. Penn my negro man Yoff, 
provided he come to dwell in America. I leave to Wm. 
Bickly one negro man and to Samuel Palmer a negro 
girl. ... I leave to John Bowne of Flushing one 
negro girl that is at old Thomas Hunts.” 




SHOW ROOM, DOLL’S HOUSE 
RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 




SERVANTS AND SLAVES 



157 



The prices of slaves varied in accordance with the 
natural gifts or acquired knowledge and skill of the 
individual. In 1655, a negro woman and her little son 
cost 525 guilders. Colonel Lewis Morris ( 1691) owned 
twenty-two negro men, £440; eleven negro women, 
£165; six boys, £90; two girls, £24 ; twenty-five chil- 
dren, £125. 




CHAPTER VIII 

EDUCATION 

E DUCATION in Holland, as in other countries 
of Western Europe, had been taken care of 
by the Church until the Reformation, when 
it was transferred to the magistracy of the towns, 
by whom it was supported and regulated. In the 
schools which thus supplanted the parochial schools, 
the elements of Greek, Latin, and German, reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, were taught. These schools 
were only for those who wanted to study, education 
not being compulsory; and pay schools of all grades 
for boys or girls, or both, were also licensed by the 
various school boards. It must be remembered that 
education during the Seventeenth Century was at a 
very low ebb. The farming-classes of all countries 
cared nothing for it, and even the lower class of 
citizens could often neither read nor write. A trading 
community, however, in a seaport, such as Amster- 
dam, Rotterdam, or New Amsterdam, found reading, 
writing, and arithmetic obligatory accomplishments in 
their business, as well as at least a smattering of the 
languages of their foreign customers and commercial 
rivals. 

The West India Company recognized the importance 
of primary education, but, as it would appear, only 
along the lines of the old church schooling, that is, to 
teach children their duty towards God and their duty 

158 



EDUCATION 



159 



towards their neighbor, and not for the sake of any 
material benefits to be derived from mundane knowl- 
edge. Thus, in 1629, it was provided: 

The Patroons and Colonists shall in particular and in 
the speediest manner, endeavour to find out ways and 
means whereby they may support a Minister and School- 
master, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion 
may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and 
they shall, for the first, procure a Comforter of the sick 
there. 

The first schoolmaster sent out by the Company was 
Adam Roelantsen, who arrived with Director Van 
Twiller and Dominie Bogardus in 1633. As a char- 
acter to set a moral standard for the edification of 
youth, the schoolmaster was on the same plane with 
the minister and the Director-General. All three seem 
to have been early and successful apostles of graft on 
Manhattan Island, and habitual drunkenness was by 
no means the most serious offense of which they were 
accused. Roelantsen married Lyntje Martens, who 
certainly was not a penniless bride, for the first occa- 
sion of her husband’s appearance in court was in June, 
1638, when his brother-in-law, Cors Pietersen, got 
judgment against him for Pietersen’s wife’s share of 
her deceased mother’s estate. 

He was soon dissatisfied with the rewards of learn- 
ing, and found it more profitable to establish a laundry, 
or bleachery, as it was then called, but had trouble in 
making a success of his new venture. 

Adam was manifestly gifted with a malicious and 
slanderous tongue, and seems to have been a match for 
any lady in the community. He was also apparently 
always in hot water with his male neighbors, the offi- 
cials and others. On Sept. 20, 1640, he sued Gillis de 



i6o 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Voocht for a washing account. It is evident that the 
“ bleachers ” contracted to do the washing by the year, 
for Gillis claimed the year was not yet expired. Adam 
was therefore ordered to make up the full time and 
then collect. A year later his garden was damaged 
by the cattle of his neighbors Jan Damen and Jan 
Forbus, and he sued them for trespass. His wife’s 
property and his own energies would appear to have 
resulted in a certain amount of prosperity, for in Feb- 
ruary, 1642, Jan Teunissen contracted to build a house 
for him. In August, 1638, he sued Jan Kant for 
slandering him. Kant had reported to the Council 
that Adam had declared he did not care for any one 
in the country. On August 26, he himself was sued 
for slander by Jan Jansen, gunner, and had to pay 
fifty-five stivers to the poor. In January, 1639, 
“ Blanch Ael and Adam Roelantsen are ordered to 
discontinue their slanders against one another on pain 
of fine.” In August, 1640, he was fined for slander- 
ing Jochem Heller’s wife. 

In August in the same year he deeded to Elderich 
Klein a house occupied by the Company’s negroes. A 
year later he received a patent for a lot next to Philip 
Gerardy’s property. This was adjoining the marsh 
near the Sheep’s Pasture, and was very favorably 
situated for the drying-ground, or bleachery, of that 
day, where, after being washed, the linen was laid out 
on the grass in the open air to whiten. 

About this time his activities as a teacher came to 
an end, for his successor arrived in 1643. He had 
amply justified the opinion of the home authorities 
regarding the deteriorating influence of the New 
Netherland climate on the morals of the Company’s 
servants. It is evident that the court here had no 
confidence in the treatment his motherless children 



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161 



were receiving, for in March, 1646, “ Philip Geraerdy 
Hans Kierstede (surgeon), Jan Stevensen (school- 
master) and Oloff Stevensen van Cortland (brewer) 
were appointed curators of the estate and children 
of Lyntje Martens, late wife of Adam Roelant- 
sen.” In July, 1646, the Fiscal prosecuted him for 
slander. 

On Dec. 17, 1646, for attempted rape, he was sen- 
tenced to be publicly flogged and then banished; but 
in consideration of his being burthened with four 
motherless children, and on account of the approach- 
ing cold weather, he was reprieved to a future date, 
when he was to leave the country. 

Apparently he had not yet found the wherewithal 
for a young man to mend his ways; for in March, 
1647, he was sued for debt and pleaded for time to 
pay. Three months later it is reported that Claes Calff 
and Adriaen Jansen declared that the unregenerate 
Adam had been thrown out of the tavern by order of 
the Fiscal Van Dyck, — doubtless on account of bibu- 
lous and riotous excess. Notwithstanding all this, in 
1647 he was appointed provost! 

Roelantsen’s successor was Jan Stevensen, who ar- 
rived in 1643 an d resigned his position with the Com- 
pany in 1648. 

The first settlers were apparently too busy with the 
pioneer work of the young colony to care very much 
about either religion or education; for, five months 
after his arrival, we find Stuyvesant writing to the 
Directors (Nov. 11, 1647) to know what provision is 
to be made for a school, “ as there is none in New 
Amsterdam and the youth are running wild.” We 
also learn that “ for want of a proper place, no school 
has been kept in these three months.” Stuyvesant’s 
complaint about the deplorable conditions is fortified 



162 



DUTCH NEW YORK 






by his enemies in their celebrated “ Remonstrance ” of „ 
1649, wherein they say: 

There ought to be a public school provided with at least 
two good teachers, so that the youth in so wild a country 
where there are so many dissolute people may first of 
all be well instructed and indoctrinated not only in read- 
ing and writing, but also in the knowledge and fear of 
the Lord. Now, the school is kept very irregularly, by 
this one or that, according to his fancy, as long as he 
thinks proper. 

To this Van Tienhoven retorts that a place has been 
selected for a school of which Jan Cornelissen is the 
master. The other teachers keep school in hired houses, 
so that the youth are in no want of schools that fit the 
needs of the country. “ Tis true that there is no Latin 
school, nor academy.” 

Stevensen was succeeded, Oct. 26, 1648, by Peter 
Van de Linde. In the following year we find Jan 
Cornelissen, Adriaen Van Ilpendam, and Joost Carelse 
all teaching here; and in 1650 another schoolmaster 
was sent out from Holland. In April, 1652, the Com- 
pany Directors write to Stuyvesant that a schoolmaster 
from Hoorn named Frederick Alkes is coming on 
the Romeyn ; they do not know much about him, 
but he has been well recommended by a person of 
quality. 

If his habits are as good as his penmanship and a 
schoolmaster is wanted, you might consider him, but let 
him first be thoroughly tested, for we have noticed that 
the climate over there does not improve people’s characters, 
especially when the heads of the administration do not set 
a good example to the community. We hear a number 
of complaints from people against the Fiscal and about 
his drunkenness and other things. 




KITCHEN, DOLL’S HOUSE 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 




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163 

In 1652, Johannes Momie de la Montagne and Hans 
Steyn were licensed to keep school. Stuyvesant’s 
representations had borne fruit, for on April 4, 1652, 
the Directors wrote: 

We also agree with your proposition to establish there 
a public school and believe a beginning might be made 
with our schoolmaster (hypodidasculum ) , who could be 
engaged at a yearly salary of 200 to 250 guilders. We 
recommend for this position Jan de la Montagnie, whom 
we have provisionally appointed to it, and you may use 
the building of the City Tavern, if you find it suitable. 

The next to petition for leave to keep school was 
Andries Hudde, whose request was referred to the 
ministers of the church on Dec. 8, 1654. The official 
schoolmaster at that time seems to have been William 
Verstius, for on March 23, 1655, he requested and re- 
ceived his discharge and Harman van Hoboocken was 
appointed in his stead as schoolmaster and clerk of the 
church of New Amsterdam. The latter evidently had 
miserable accommodations for his pupils and his 
family, for on Nov. 4, 1656, he respectfully requested 
the authorities to grant him the hall and the side room 
of the City Hall for the use of the school and as a 
dwelling, inasmuch as he did not know how to man- 
age for the proper accommodation of the children 
during winter, for they greatly needed a place adapted 
for fire and to be warmed, for which their existing 
quarters were wholly unfit ; moreover, being burthened 
with a wife and children, he was greatly in need of a 
dwelling for them. The City Fathers refused, on the 
ground that the rooms requested were not in repair, 
and were, moreover, required for other purposes; 
“but in order that the youth, who are here quite 
numerous, may have the means of instruction as far 






DUTCH NEW YORK 



164 

as possible and as the circumstances of the City per- 
mit, the petitioner, for want of other lodgings, is 
allowed to rent the said house for a school, for which 
one hundred guilders shall be paid him yearly on ac- 
count of the City for the present and until further 
order.” 

In January, 1658, Jacobus Van Corlaer was ordered 
to discontinue teaching until he had obtained the proper 
authority to do so; and in August Jan Lubberts was 
licensed to teach reading, writing, and ciphering. In 
1660, Jan Juriaense Becker and Frans Claessen re- 
ceived similar permission; the latter died within two 
years. 

In the middle of the century, the schoolmasters of 
the small settlements had various duties to perform: 
they not only taught the children reading, writing, and 
arithmetic and the articles of the Christian faith, but 
on Sunday officiated as Voorleser and precentor, read 
the Creed and Lesson, led the singing and kept the 
church records of christenings, marriages, and deaths. 
This was in accordance with the customs of Father- 
land. 

In May, 1661, Evert Pietersen was commissioned 
to be comforter of the sick, schoolmaster, and pre- 
centor at New Amsterdam; and, Jan. 18, 1661, the 
inhabitants of Middelburgh (Newtown), Long Island, 
petitioned that Richard Mills, their schoolmaster and 
“ soul’s help on the Lord’s Day,” be allowed the 
use of the minister’s house and glebe. (Granted.) 
July 4, 1661, the magistrates of Breuckelen petitioned 
for aid to pay their court messenger, “ who acts also 
as chorister, schoolmaster, sexton and bell-ringer.” 
(Granted.) Oct. 27, 1661, Harman van Hoboocken 
was appointed to be cadet and schoolmaster at Stuy- 
vesant’s Bouwery. On September 21, also, Johannis 



EDUCATION 



i6 5 

van Gelder was licensed to teach school in New Amster- 
dam. On December 28, Boudewyn Maenhout was 
appointed schoolmaster and reader ( voorleser ) at 
Bushwick. In July, 1661, also, Carel de Beauvois was 
appointed court messenger, precentor, bell-ringer, 
grave-digger, and schoolmaster in Breuckelen. Other 
schoolmasters appointed to the various settlements of 
New Netherland were Johannes La Montagne, Haar- 
lem, 1664; Andries Jansen, Fort Orange, 1650; 
Andries Van der Sluys, Esopus, 1658; Adriaen Hage- 

man, Midwout, 1659, and Renier , Midwout, 1660; 

Richard Mills, Middelburgh, 1660; Englebert Steen- 
huysen, Bergen, 1662; and Evert Pietersen and Arent 
Evertsen Molenaar, New Amstel, 1657 and 1661. 

Several petitions are made to the Burgomasters in 
1662. In February they are requested for a lot in 
Brewers Street for a schoolhouse, and a lot without 
the City Gate for a burying-ground. In September 
Johannis van Gelder petitions for a license to teach 
school in New Amsterdam; and this is granted. 
Finally, in December, the Sellout and magistrates pray 
“ that Engelbert Steenhuysen shall perform his con- 
tract as schoolmaster. This is ordered by the Court.” 
In March, 1664, fhe Director-General and Council 
declare that it is highly necessary for the youth to be 
instructed from childhood in reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, but more especially in the principles and 
fundamentals of the Reformed Religion. In order, 
therefore, to promote so useful and God-acceptable a 
work, the schoolmasters are commanded to appear in 
church with the children in their charge on Wednes- 
days before the commencement of the sermon in order 
after the conclusion of Divine Service to catechize 
them in the presence of the ministers and elders as to 
what they have committed to memory of the Chris- 



i66 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



tian commandments and Catechism. Afterwards the 
children are to have a holiday. 

It is very easy for us to form a clear idea of the 
schools and the manner in which they were conducted, 
from the descriptions of travelers, and more particu- 
larly from the pictures which the Little Masters so 
frequently painted of school interiors. At the school- 
master’s door hung a card, describing in his own 
handwriting the subjects which he was permitted to 
teach. This was to provide against misrepresenta- 
tion; and the omission to hang out such a sign was 
punishable by a fine of two guilders. In front of 
some schools was also hung a sign on which ap- 
peared in large letters, “ School, Here Children are 
Taught.” 

The schools were mostly low-ceilinged, small rooms 
on the second floor of the house, looking on a dirty 
little street or back yard. Sometimes they were damp 
mouldy basements of some old public building. In sum- 
mer school was frequently held under an awning out- 
side the house. The children of the prosperous and 
poor were separately taught in the front and back part 
of the same room. In one of the corners stood the 
pultrum (reading-desk) with the Bible, and in the 
center a catheder with a desk, at which the master 
sat, and on which were placed the plak and a willow 
rod, its companion, besides the books of writing texts, 
an inkhorn, sandboxes, and a sharp penknife, a tile 
with a smooth pebble on which to mix inks of all 
colors, shells and horns large and small to hold the 
different kinds of ink, a vase full of black ink, goose- 
quills, parchment, a seal, green wax, slates and copy- 
books, the book in which the names of the scholars 
were written, a horn-book, hymn-book, New Testament, 
and other school requisites. Inside the catheder also 




From old prints 

OLD DUTCH SCHOOL SCENES 




EDUCATION 



167 

stood a chair, on the right side of which hung the 
ABC board, and beside it an iron comb with a wooden 
handle, the mere sight of which is enough to make us 
shiver when we remember that it was used to curry 
unclean scalps. A single stroke was enough to make 
the blood trickle down the face. On the left hung the 
dunce’s or ass’s board, which was hung over the chest 
of the scholar who was too stupid or too lazy. Behind 
the raised desk hung calculating-boards, and specimens 
of fine penmanship that had gained prizes for the 
scholars, the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, 
and other samples of the schoolmaster’s calligraphy, 
the school ordinance regarding the pupils’ behavior 
on the street, at home, and in church; how they had 
to sit down, stand up, bow, nod, not to shuffle their 
feet, scratch themselves, blow their noses too loud, 
quarrel, fight, strike, kick, hurt, or abuse others. Ac- 
cording to some ordinances, the children had to pay 
homage to the master, bowing subserviently and say- 
ing “Your Health!” when he sneezed. For the 
smaller children very small benches which were called 
A B benches were used. 

Doors and windows were left open for ventilation. 
When it grew dark, tallow candles on wooden blocks 
or in iron candlesticks were lighted. In these low, dark, 
and damp rooms, and in an atmosphere reeking with 
the flicker of the tallow candles, children were kept 
sometimes from seven in the morning until seven at 
night. School was opened in summer at six and in win- 
ter at seven in the morning. The children kept their 
hats and caps on, removing them only at prayers and 
when they said their lessons. 

Not only was the master’s rule over his pupils des- 
potic, but he also took precedence over the parents at 
public dinners. At the appointed hour he arose from 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



1 68 

his seat, said the prayer, or made one of the scholars 
say it, read a chapter from the Bible, and sang a hymn, 
after which the school work began. At eleven in the 
morning school was closed with prayer. Most of the 
children left; but some of them stayed and ate their 
lunch which they had brought with them. From one 
until four and from five until seven were the afternoon 
sessions, both opening and closing with prayer, Bible 
reading, and singing. On Wednesday afternoon 
school closed an hour earlier, and on Saturday after- 
noon there was no school. Five days a week the 
children were instructed in singing and in the Cate- 
chism. Sundays and holidays, the dog-days, the after- 
noons after the writing for the prize and the paying 
of the quarterly dues, and market days, were holidays. 
Pupils tried to coax the teacher for extra days off. 
The schoolmasters were often easily persuaded, but 
any bad behavior was punished severely. 

Punishment consisted in striking the palm of the 
hand with the plak (a flat piece of wood on a handle) 
and flogging with the rod or switch. Neither the one 
nor the other was lacking in any school of proper 
“ discipline,” and they hardly ever were out of the 
schoolmaster’s hands. The plak was often an instru- 
ment of horrible torture, of different makes and sizes. 
Some plaks were finely made with a twisted handle; 
some coarse and unfinished, — a round piece of board 
with a handle. There were round and oval plaks , 
thick and thin of blade, some with a smooth surface 
and some carved in diamonds; plaks with twisted 
copper wire, and with sharp points or with pin points, 
which tore the flesh of the palm. He who had misbe- 
haved at school or was guilty of only a minor offense 
was punished with the plain plak and light strokes; 
but the thief, or the fighter, or the incorrigible, got the 



EDUCATION 



169 

hard plak and heavy strokes. The punishment with 
the rod was even more severe. According to the 
gravity of the offense this was administered on the 
naked body, or with the clothes on. In some schools 
boys were strapped with leathern belts. In the yards 
of some others, principally the poor and orphan schools, 
there were whipping-posts where boys and girls were 
whipped ; and in the school of the poorhouse in Amster- 
dam a bench whereon the small malefactor was put 
with his head through a board, fastened down, and 
smartly punished. In another school a block was 
fastened to the leg of the culprit and had to be dragged 
home through the streets and to church on Sundays. 
Nobody blamed the master if he beat or kicked the 
boys, or if he made them stand on a table and hold two 
or three heavy school boards above their heads during 
the lesson. We also read of leather cushions with tacks 
pointed upwards on which unruly girls were placed; 
and of girls being beaten, kicked, and bruised. In 
some cases the schoolmasters were veritable tyrants, 
but fortunately they were the exceptions. 

The schools in most of the cities were under the 
supervision of the curators of the Latin or principal 
school. These appointed the teachers, who after hav- 
ing signed the canons and articles of uniformity and 
taken the oath at the City Hall, were considered 
sufficiently licensed. Little attention was paid to them 
afterwards and the schools were never inspected, al- 
though they always had to be kept with unlocked doors, 
so that the curators could visit them when they desired. 
They were summoned by the beadle to appear before 
the curators only in case the parents complained of 
lack of discipline, or insubordination of the children, 
or too severe punishment, or the neglect of the school 
on account of the master’s drunkenness ; and from the 



170 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



curators’ sentence there was no appeal. There certainly 
was no lack of capable teachers, ornaments to their 
profession, but in general the condition of the schools 
was deplorable. 

The girls’ schools were just as bad. In the better 
class of schools the mistress sat before a little pul- 
trum on which were a book, a willow rod, and a 
wooden plak. She had also a long stick with which 
she could reach the rear benches. The children sat 
with their caps and bonnets on ; in a corner of the room 
was the common toilet. The mistress also dealt in 
sweatmeats, for which the children spent their school 
pennies. The. schoolroom generally served the mistress 
as bedroom, living-room, and kitchen. If the mistress 
was able to read (which was not always the case), a 
chapter and a Sunday lesson were droned into the chil- 
dren’s ears; if not, the instruction was limited to re- 
peating the alphabet, the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten 
Commandments, and the Articles of the Faith, till the 
children knew all that by heart, without being able to 
read or write. Some mistresses held these lessons 
in the forenoon, and taught sewing, knitting, and 
needlework in the afternoon, in summer, on the 
stoop. 

These dame’s schools were common in New Nether- 
land, especially in the outlying small communities. We 
have a record of one in 1685, when John Rodes leaves 
to his son John some land “ and ye little house Goodey 
Davis keeps schoole in,” which he is to remove for 
a shop. 

The teaching was dull, aimless, and monotonous. 
The alphabet was taught without any attention being 
paid to the form, shape, difference, or proper sound 
of the letters. Words were spelled without significance 
or sense in a droning tone, and were often mispro- 









EDUCATION 



171 

nounced. The sound produced by twenty children 
reading or spelling at the same time was so nerve- 
racking that the neighbors complained, and would 
rather live next to a smithy than a school. The 
schoolmasters excelled in penmanship; samples exist 
that are hard to distinguish from copperplate. The 
texts they set in running and Roman hands were gener- 
ally short proverbs, such as “ To know God is the 
highest good,” “ He that lives well dies well,” “ We are 
all mortal,” “ Always do that which has to be done 
well,” “ Obedience is pleasing to the Deity,” “ Reason 
has to govern everywhere,” etc. There was a quarterly 
writing competition for prizes, and the winner was 
rewarded variously with a silver pen, a Breda etui, 
a writing-desk, a penknife, a hymn-book, or a New Tes- 
tament. The winning handwriting was exhibited on the 
wall of the schoolhouse. Many teachers were as good 
at arithmetic as in penmanship, and some were employed 
to make up the accounts of the city treasurer and 
keep the ledgers for some of the mercantile houses. 
Ciphering was taught first on the arithmetic board, 
where the children began by adding penny to penny, 
advancing with the aid of the books of the various 
authorities on the subject. Later in the century, other 
books were used for the education of the scholars, such 
as “ The Destruction of Jerusalem,” “ The Four 
Heem’s Children,” “ The Beautiful Story of Fortu- 
natus’ Purse,” etc. There were also introduced the 
Epistles and the Acts of the Apostles, the History of 
David and Joseph, the Proverbs of Solomon after the 
version of Carel de Gelliers, schoolmaster of Leeu- 
warden. Picture books with stories arranged for chil- 
dren were not yet known. 

Schoolmasters complained not only of the wildness 
and insubordination of youth, but that their doting 



172 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



mothers encouraged them in their mischief, as they 
were always more or less elated over their sons’ pranks ; 
and also that they were taken from school too soon to 
learn a craft or to be trained for the office or the shop. 
The curators of Dordrecht asked the city government 
to prohibit boys leaving school too soon, as the custom 
deprived the schools of their incomes. 

The material benefits of linguistic knowledge being 
so apparent, the original settlers were anxious that 
their children should have the advantages of which 
they evidently had been denied. Anneke Jans’ s own 
daughter, Sara Roelofs, the wife of Hans Kierstede, 
for example, was probably more learned in the native 
Indian tongues than any one in the province, and re- 
ceived a grant of land for services rendered to the 
province in acting as interpreter with the Indians. 

The early settlers in New Netherland, as a rule, were 
exceedingly illiterate, the women particularly. It is 
astonishing to see how many wills, deeds, etc., were 
signed merely “ her mark.” As shining examples we 
may cite Anneke Jans and Sarah Ooort (Kidd, Cox). 
Cornelis Beeckman and his wife, in their joint will, 
1669, both sign with a mark; so also do many others 
who were in prosperous circumstances. 

In the early days of the Dutch Republic the United 
Provinces were overrun with refugees of the Reformed 
Religion who were expelled from Brabant and Flan- 
ders. Many of these were people of good character 
and education, and well fitted for the instruction of 
youth; and consequently they opened French schools 
as a means of livelihood, and were highly esteemed. 
Towards the middle of the Seventeenth Century the 
number of these had greatly diminished ; but after the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes the numbers in- 
creased greatly with the Huguenot immigration, and 




GENERAL VJEW OF DOLL’S HOUSE 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 




EDUCATION 



173 



the resulting competition reduced the livelihood almost 
to the starvation point. The masters and mistresses of 
these French schools were subject to the same rules and 
regulations as the native Dutch teachers. They had to 
submit their textbooks to the approval of the local 
church board, and satisfy the latter that their teaching 
had no taint of Roman Catholicism. These schools 
were frequented by the children of the well-to-do 
burghers, who afterwards finished their education with 
travel, visiting foreign capitals and making a particu- 
larly long stay in Paris. 

Strange to say, there seem to have been no schools 
in which High German was taught; nor were there 
any English schools, although a knowledge of English 
was very desirable for the merchants. English, how- 
ever, seems to have been little known here, for on Feb. 
25, 1656, Jan Peecq was appointed to be broker to the 
merchants of New Amsterdam, “ as he speaks Dutch 
and English.” 

As we approach the end of the century numerous 
wills testify to parental provision for their children’s 
education. For example, Evert Wessels’s children, 
1683, are to be sent to school to learn to write and read. 
Daniel Veenvos, 1695, and Gerritt Roos, 1697, make 
similar stipulations. Henry Coyler, 1690, wills that 
his wife “ shall be obliged to cause the under-aged 
children to learn reading and writing decently.” Hen- 
dricks Boelen’s son, 1691, “is to be instructed to read 
and write and afterwards to learn a trade by which he 
shall live in the future.” Thomas Foster, 1663, wills: 
“ My children a^e to be taught to read English well, 
and my son to write, when they do come of age, and if 
my wife should marry and not teach ye children as 
aforesayd, then my will is that two cows more be layed 
out for yt end, to give ye children learning.” Sylvandt 



i74 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



van Schaick’s children, 1683, are to be “ exercised in 
the fear of the Lord and instructed in reading writ- 
ing and arithmetic, and such art or trade that they 
in time may decently live in the world.” Christian 
Teller, 1696, orders that his executors shall put his 
daughter to board with “ Mr. Geestie Dethys or at 
my brother De Reimer’s, and she is to be instructed in 
such arts, sciences or tongues convenient for her, as 
can be learned in this province.” 

Latin was the diplomatic language of the Middle 
Ages, and was a common accomplishment with every 
Dutchman whose studies extended beyond reading, 
writing, and arithmetic. The student of the history of 
New Netherland cannot help being struck with the Latin 
forms of the Christian names and even surnames of 
many of the Dutch here. It is evident that the average 
prosperous burgher here was not satisfied with the Three 
R’s, but wanted his children to have the advantages 
of a Latin school, as in Fatherland. In September, 
1658, the Burgomasters lay before the Lords Directors 
the increase of the youth of the province, now very 
numerous, and “ though many of them can read and 
write, the burghers are nevertheless anxious to have 
their children instructed in the most useful languages, 
the chief of which is Latin.” They humbly request 
that a suitable person for master of a Latin school may 
be sent, “ hoping that, increasing yearly, it may finally 
attain to an Academy.” 

The home authorities promptly responded ; but they 
had a great deal of trouble to find a Latin schoolmaster. 
Finally Alexander Carolus Curtius, late Professor in 
Lithuania, was engaged at a yearly salary of five hun- 
dred florins, “ board money included, and also a pres- 
ent of 100 florins in merchandise to be used by him 
upon his arrival there.” One of the two ships, the 



EDUCATION 



175 

Bever or the Moesman, carried the schoolmaster, but 
we learn that “ The books required by the school- 
master now coming over for the instruction of the 
young people in Latin, could not be procured in the 
short time before the sailing of these ships; they will 
be sent by the next opportunity.” 

The Director-General was instructed to give Mr. 
Curtius “ a piece of land convenient for a garden or 
orchard,” and he was to be “ allowed to give private 
instructions, as far as this can be done without preju- 
dice to the duties for which he is engaged.” In 1660, he 
resigned and returned to Holland. His successors were 
Jan Juriaense Becker, Frans Claessen, and on May 2, 
1661, Evert Pietersen. The next to come, on July 30, 
1663, was ^Egidius Luyck, rector of the Greek and 
Latin school, 1 who petitioned for a salary and was en- 
gaged at one thousand guilders ($400) a year in wam- 
pum. He returned to Holland in 1664 to study theol- 
ogy, and after his ordination to the ministry he came 
back to Manhattan to assist Van Nieuwenhuysen. In 
1673, he became a schepen. Elis school attained such 
fame that pupils came to him from Albany, Delaware, 
and Virginia. The next name on the list is Johannes 
van Gelder. 

On Feb. 2, 1662, we learn that part of the old 
Burying Ground is granted to the Burgomasters for 
the purpose of erecting a public schoolhouse. 

At the head of the Latin schools were curators, 
nominated partly by the government and partly by the 
College of Preachers. The curators met once a fort- 
night or once a month, and with the sanction of the 
rectors appointed or discharged teachers, looked after 
the welfare of the school, and determined the promo- 

1 This school still survives as the Collegiate Reformed School of 
New York. 



176 DUTCH NEW YORK 

tion of pupils to higher classes, the fines and dues 
that had to be paid, and the prizes to be distributed. 
They also settled the differences between teachers, or, 
in case their good offices were unsuccessful, they were 
called in finally to decide. At first each school had its 
individual laws, but in 1625 the States General passed a 
school law, which by their order was drawn up by the 
Leyden professors in consultation with the principal 
rectors and was put in effect in all the schools through- 
out the land. The schoolrooms were mostly somber, 
damp, cellar-like chambers, with high windows and 
stone floors, heated in winter and furnished almost as 
barely as the schools already described. They were 
generally parts of the old convents, the other parts of 
which were used as living-rooms for the teachers and 
boarding-pupils. The courtyard of the building served 
as a playground, while the garden proper was reserved 
for the rector. In summer the porch bell tolled at eight 
a. m. for morning school and in winter at nine, and at 
one or two p. m. for afternoon school. After the 
teacher had called the “ horn,” or roll, the pupils went 
to their classes, where the lessons began with prayers 
in Latin and Greek, and closed with thanksgiving after 
lessons. In some places, parts of the Holy Scriptures 
were read in these languages, and psalms were sung. 
After this the regular work began in the various classes. 
Some schools had four classes, others six, which were 
divided again into grades. The two highest classes were 
taught by the rector and co-rector ; the lower ones were 
directed by preceptors. In the lowest reading and writ- 
ing were taught, and arithmetic in the next. The third 
class translated Caesar and Cicero’s Orations and were 
taught to speak pure Latin and Greek. The second 
class were taught to expound those works and to com- 
pose essays on the classics. The first class had to 



EDUCATION 



177 



translate the New Testament and the Tragedies of 
Euripedes or Sophocles, and translate Sallust, Livy, 
Tacitus, or Curtius from Greek into Latin, explain the 
Odes of Horace, and make Latin verses. If the Latin 
school was an “ Illustrious ” school, the pupils had also 
to take part in the professors’ classes. In some schools 
Hebrew was also taught. Each pupil of both the high- 
est classes had to keep a “ liber carminum ” in which he 
wrote Latin poems. He composed these for every 
special occasion and for every family festival. After 
the annual examination there was a solemn distribution 
of prizes to those promoted. In the vacations the 
pupils presented a school play in Latin, the cost of 
production being defrayed by the city government. 
These were generally representations of scenes from the 
Old and the New Testament, legends of the saints, etc., 
on platforms in front of the town halls, or sometimes 
on bridges or in open squares. 

When the splendor of the French court, under the 
young King Louis XIV, outshone all the other capitals 
of Europe, French became the language of fashion 
and diplomacy and supplanted Latin, and everything in 
the education of the upper classes of Holland became 
a la frangaise. The French schools attracted all the 
youth who did not study for the liberal professions. 
Those who could afford it employed French private 
tutors for their children, and these accompanied their 
pupils when of age to make the European tour. 

One of the accomplishments necessitated by the 
French taste was dancing, which had been a bone of 
contention in the community ever since the Reforma- 
tion. The church authorities generally disapproved of 
it. Those who indulged in it were severely censured. 
When a wedding was to take place, the members of 
the church council went to bridegroom and bride with 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



178 

the request to abstain from having dances. This was 
even done at the wedding of William I. with Charlotte 
of Bourbon. After a time they asked the municipali- 
ties to close the dancing-schools. The preachers warned 
the congregation against the “ abominable and God 
teasing sin of dancing, dancing was against the Word 
of God, dancing was not an act of wisdom or care- 
fulness, but of carelessness and folly, the cause of much 
lightheadedness, frivolity, sinful love, unseemly acts 
and shame. They were foolish parents that allowed 
their children to learn how to dance.” Dancing-schools 
were put in the same class as disorderly houses; but 
in spite of all this opposition, the young people of the 
period learned how to dance the “ courante,” the 
“ sarabande,” the “ pazzamezzo,” the “ galliard,” and 
the “ round ” dance. When the followers of Voet be- 
came powerful, the dancing-schools were closed. The 
French dancing-master then put his kit under his arm 
and went to private residences to teach the young. 
Though objections were made to dancing, singing- 
schools and dramatic art were strongly encouraged; 
and if the authorities tried to prevent the use of organs 
at the public gospel services, they did not forbid the 
lessons in music. Singing was taught in all the schools ; 
even in the Latin schools translated psalms were sung, 
and hours were set apart for lessons. In several of the 
larger cities were singing-schools under direction of 
clever composers. 

Dancing does not seem to have been taught in New 
Amsterdam. When it became New York, however, 
the dancing-master soon made his appearance concur- 
rently with the fencing-master, presumably under the 
patronage of the pleasure-loving English officers of the 
Fort. The dancing-master, however, was regarded on 
much the same plane as “ play-actors, and other vaga- 




PORCELAIN AND EARTHENWARE 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 




EDUCATION 



179 



bonds.” For instance, on Jan. 3, 1687, an order in 
council required Francis Stepney, dancing-master, to 
give security that he would not become a public charge. 
On Dec. 18, 1675, Thomas Smith, fencing-master, was 
licensed to open a school to teach the use and exercise 
of arms. 

The Dutch were essentially a God-fearing nation. 
Religious observances formed an important feature of 
home life. No bread was broken without the head of 
the house first invoking a blessing from above, and the 
meal was also ended with grace. The father also be- 
gan and ended the day with prayer, reading the Scrip- 
tures, and singing a psalm. In some homes an after- 
noon was devoted to religious meditation and reading 
— usually the works of prominent preachers. Even the 
baby in its mother’s arms was present, and the first 
thing the mother taught it was how to pray. As soon 
as the baby could walk, it toddled to church at its 
father’s and mother’s side. 

There was no period when the religious education 
of a child was of more importance than during the 
Seventeenth Century. Church and State took the mat- 
ter greatly to heart. Rectors, masters, mistresses, and 
teachers were ordered to give the children their in- 
struction in the Gospel. Not only the Wednesday and 
Saturday afternoons were devoted to this, but at every 
fete or holiday some Bible texts had to be learned by 
heart, and recited at the head of the class. On Sundays 
children were required to go to school dressed in their 
best, mornings and afternoons, and from there to 
church, escorted by their teachers, who after the ser- 
vice would ask them about it, to see that they had paid 
proper attention. In many families, while the various 
members occupied themselves in the evening with some 
kind of hand or fancy work, the father would read from 



i8o 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the Bible or some religious book, varied occasionally with 
selections from the voyages of the early navigators. 

Slates and pencils are frequently found among the 
shop goods. Peter Marius, 1702, has eighty-eight 
English primers. John Spratt, 1697, has among his 
shop goods school books valued at three pounds ten 
shillings. 

The libraries at this period contained no light liter- 
ature. They consisted chiefly of Bibles, Testaments, 
hymn and psalm books, travels, historical works, and 
occasionally a few Dutch poets. Somewhat unusual 
is the collection of Dominie Nicholas Van Rensselaer in 
Albany in 1679, consisting of “ about two hundred 
bookes, quarto and octavo, the most of them in strange 
languages,” which, with “ a brass pocket-watch out of 
order,” are worth two hundred guilders. Mrs. Van 
Varick had “ a parcel of printed books, most of them 
in High German and foreign languages, and so little 
value here, wherefore they are packed up to be kept 
for the use of the children when of age.” 

In many houses the great Bible, mounted with silver 
or brass corners and heavy clasps, rested on a reading- 
desk to which it was attached by a chain. This was 
the family record for births, marriages, and deaths, 
as well as the book from which the head of the family 
read morning and evening. 

The inventories contain innumerable examples of 
such Bibles, among which we may note that Derick 
Clausen had a turtleshell-covered Bible plated with 
silver and silver clasps and a Psalm-book with silver 
clasps (£3) ; Cornelis Dericksen had a Dutch Bible 
(£1 16s. od.); Mrs. Van Varick, a Testament with 
gold clasps and a Bible, clasps tipped with gold; and 
among Dr. De Lange’s shop goods we find: 



EDUCATION 



181 



One Bible bound in carret and tipt with silver i 6 

One Testament with gilt hooks and gold hangers 

and a gold chain i4 o 

One Testament with silver hooks o 7 

One Testament bound in printed gold leather o 6 

One small Bible bound in printed gold leather o 9 

One Psalm-book bound in printed leather o 4 

One small Testament bound in black cloth o 4 

One Book tractating of the Lord’s Supper bound 

in printed leather o 2 



d 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 

o 



Mr. Van Exween, who died in 1690, had “ a great Bible 
with brass clasps and a Bible, silver.” Abraham De 
Lanoy, 1702, had six books of Evangelists, £2 3s. od. ; 
nine Historical school books, £3 4s. od. ; ten books of 
Cortimus, 3s. 9d. ; fourteen Catechism books, £3 6s. od. ; 
thirty-two song books, £4 6s. od. ; thirteen books of 
Golden Trumpets, £2 6s. od. Judah Samuel, 1702, had 
a Hebrew Bible and five Hebrew books; and Henry 
Pierson, 1681, books, £6 19s. od. 

Rich women wore their Testaments or Psalm-books 
on a chain at their side when they went to church. 
Some of these were very handsome. For instance, 
Cristina Cappoens had “ a church book with silver 
clasps and chain,” which was valued at £1 16s. od. 



CHAPTER IX 

RELIGION, PERSECUTION, AND SUPERSTITION 



F | ^HE West India Company, recognizing the 
| authority of the Established Church of Hol- 

JL land, intrusted the care of the colonies to the 
Classis of Amsterdam, by which body all the colonial 
clergy were approved and commissioned. The Direc- 
tors immediately sent out two Krank-besoeckers (con- 
solers and visitors of the sick), Sebastian Jansen 
Crol and Jan Huyck, or Huyghen, brother-in-law of 
Peter Minuit. Their duties were to visit the sick 
and conduct religious services. At first religious 
meetings were held on Sundays in the upper floor 
of the horse-mill, and consisted of reading the Com- 
mandments, creed, and, occasionally, a printed ser- 
mon, and the singing of hymns. Two years later, 
the Directors sent out a regular minister, the Rev. 
Jonas Michiels, or Michaelius, a graduate of the Ley- 
den University, who had ministered to the Dutch in 
San Salvador, Brazil, and had served as chaplain of 
the West India Company’s Fort in Guinea. He sailed 
from Amsterdam on Jan. 24, 1628, with his wife and 
three children. The Dominie was received with “ love 
and respect ” by the Dutch and Walloons, and was able 
to organize a church of fifty communicants. To aid 
him and to form a consistory, two elders were chosen, 
Director Minuit and Huygen. The other “ Consoler 
of the Sick,” Crol, was sent to Fort Orange. The 

182 



RELIGION 



183 

Dominie’s knowledge of French made him popular with 
the Walloons; and in order to qualify himself for 
missionary work among the Indians, he began to study 
their language. It is thought that he returned to Hol- 
land with Peter Minuit in 1633. 

The next minister was the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, 
who arrived with Director Van Twiller. Bogardus 
was a widower; but in 1638 he married the rich 
Anneke Jans, widow of Roelof Jans, to whom had 
been granted in 1636 the Company’s Farm No. 1, a 
tract of sixty-two acres on Broadway. 

It was at this juncture that the question of a church 
was agitated. But where was the money to come from ? 
It happened about this time that Everardus Bogardus 
gave in marriage to Hans Kierstede, the surgeon, a 
daughter of Anneke Jans. The director thought this 
a good time for his purpose, and set to work after the 
fifth or sixth drink; and he himself setting a liberal 
example, let the wedding guests sign whatever they 
were disposed to give towards the church. Each then 
with a light head subscribed at a handsome rate, one 
competing with the other ; and although some heartily 
repented it when they recovered their senses, they were 
obliged to pay. The subscription list amounted to 
eighteen hundred florins. 

De Vries, writing in 1642, claims credit for the 
idea, and tells the story as follows : 

As I was every day with Commander Kieft, dining 
generally at his house, when I happened to be at the Fort, 
he told me one day that he had now built a fine tavern 
of stone for the English who, passing continually there 
with their vessels, in going from New England to Vir- 
ginia, occasioned him much inconvenience and could now 
take lodgings there. I told him this was excellent for 
travellers, but that we wanted very sadly a church for 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



184 

our people. It was a shame when the English passed 
there, and saw only a mean barn in which we performed 
our worship. In New England, on the contrary, the first 
thing that they did when they had built some dwellings, 
was to erect a fine church. We ought to do the same. 
Kief asked me then who would like to superintend this 
building? I replied, the friends of the reformed religion. 
He told me that he supposed that I myself was one of 
them as I made the proposition, and he supposed I would 
contribute a hundred guilders? I replied that I agreed 
to do so ; and that as he was Governor he should be the 
first. 

We then elected Jochem Peterzen Knyter, who having 
a good set of hands, and being also a devout Calvinist, 
would soon procure good timber. We also elected Damen, 
because he lived near the Fort ; and thus we four formed 
the first consistory to superintend the building of the 
church. The Governor should furnish a few thousand 
guilders of the Company’s money, and we would try to 
raise the remainder by subscription. 

In 1649, Director’s enemies complained that Kieft 
“ insisted that the Church should be located in the 
Fort, the location being as suitable as a fifth wheel to 
a coach. The Church, which ought to belong to the 
people who paid for it, intercepts the south-east wind 
from the grist-mill, and this is why there is frequently 
a scarcity of bread in summer for want of grinding.” 
In 1642, the new church was built. This was of stone, 
with a roof of oak shingles, a tower and a weather- 
cock, and a peaked roof. It was seventy feet long, 
fifty-two feet wide, and sixteen feet high, and on the 
front was a stone tablet with the words: 

An. Dorn. MDCXLII. 

W. Kieft Die. Gen. Heeft de Gemeente dese Tempel 
Doen Bouwen 

[A. D. 1642. W. Kieft being Director General, has 
caused the Congregation to build this Temple.] 







DRINKING-GLASSES 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 



RELIGION 



l8 S 

The bell bore the legend : 

Dulcior E. nostris tinnitibus resonat aer. P. Hemony 
me fecit 1674. 

[The air resounds sweeter for our ringing. P. Hem- 
ony made me.] 

Bogardus was not an ideal pastor ; he quarreled with 
Van Twiller, and his successor, Kieft, denouncing the 
latter from the pulpit as a tyrant, and trying to stir up 
the people against him. When summoned to answer 
for his conduct before the authorities here, he defied 
them. Kieft charged him with habitual drunkenness, 
even at the communion table, and absented himself from 
public worship conducted by the turbulent priest. For 
this the Director’s enemies bitterly denounced him as 
follows : 

What religion could men expect to find in a person 
[Kieft] who from the 3d of January, 1644, to the nth 
of May, 1647, would never hear God’s word, nor partake 
of the Christian sacraments, doing all he could to estrange 
from the Church all those who depended upon him. His 
ungodly example was followed, in like manner, by his 
fiscal Cornells van der Hoyckens; his counselor, Jan de 
la Montaigne, who was formerly an elder; the ensign, 
Gysbert de Leeuw; his secretary, Cornelis van Tien- 
hoven; Oloff Stevenson (Van Cortlandt) 1 deacon; and 
Gysbrecht van Dyck ; besides various inferior officers and 
servants of the company, to the soldiers inclusive. Dur- 
ing the sermon he allowed the officers and soldiers to 
practice all kinds of noisy amusements near and about 
the church, such as nine-pins, bowls, dancing, singing, 
leaping, and all other profane exercises ; yea, even to 
such extent that the communicants, who came into the 
fort to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, were scoffed at by 
these blackguards. . . . During the prefatory service 

1 The Breeden Raedt (1649). 



1 86 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



( proef-pedicatie ), the Director Kieft several times al- 
lowed the drums to be beat. The cannon was discharged 
several times during the service, as if he had ordered it 
out a-Maying; so that for the purpose of interrupting 
the audience, a wretched villany happened against God’s 
church. 

Kieft, however irreligious he may have been, was 
tolerant in some respects. He afforded protection to 
the Jesuit missionaries, Father Jogues and Father 
Bressani, rescued them from the Indians, and gave 
them a free passage to Holland. He also welcomed 
many Anabaptists, who, being persecuted in New 
England, sought the more tolerant rule of the Dutch. 
Among these were two ladies, Mrs. Anne Hutchin- 
son and Lady Deborah Moody. The former settled 
at Pelham Neck, the latter at Gravesend, Long 
Island. In 1643, John Throgmorton and thirty-five 
Anabaptist families received permission to settle at 
a spot in the Bronx subsequently called Throgg’s 
Neck. 

In 1647, Bogardus sailed for Holland in the Princess 
to defend his conduct before his ecclesiastical superiors. 
It was a strange fate that led the ex-Director, Kieft, 
to take passage on the same boat, for these two bitter 
enemies both suffered death by shipwreck in the Bristol 
Channel. 

In 1654, the Company being evidently troubled by 
the dissensions, made the following wise regulations: 

No person shall take the name of the Lord in vain, 
whether by cursing, swearing, or blaspheming, in jest 
or otherwise, upon the penalty of ten stivers, and arbi- 
trary correction, according to the degree of profanity and 
blasphemy which shall be uttered and expressed. 

Also shall no man presume to rebuke, to contemptu- 
ously treat, disturb, or in any wise obstruct the Minister 



RELIGION 187 

or exhorter of God’s Holy Word, in the performance 
of his office or calling. 

Further, whenever, early in the morning or after supper 
in the evening, prayers shall be said, or God’s word read, 
by any one thereto commissioned, every person, of what 
quality soever he may be, shall repair to hear it with be- 
coming reverence. 

No man shall raise or bring forward any question or 
argument on the subject of religion, on pain of being 
placed on bread and water three days in the ship’s galley. 
And if any difficulties should arise out of the said dis- 
putes, the author thereof shall be arbitrarily punished. 

Stuyvesant was accompanied from Curagao by the 
Rev. Johannes Backerus, who remained only a year 
in New Amsterdam. On his departure the Rev. 
Johannes Megapolensis was transferred from Fort 
Orange to New Amsterdam, where he remained until 
his death in 1669. In 1652, the Rev. Samuel Drisius, 
a bachelor of forty, was sent out, “ a fit assistant to the 
old gentleman, Do. Megapolensis.” They worked to- 
gether in amity, but the results of their work among 
the Indians was not altogether satisfactory. In 1659, 
they wrote to Amsterdam a report of the religious con- 
ditions of the colony, from which we learn : 

We have had one Indian here with us full two years, 
so that he could read and write good Dutch; we in- 
structed him in the grounds of Religion ; he also an- 
swered publicly in the church and repeated the prayers. 
We likewise presented him with a Bible in order to work 
through him some good among the Indians. But it all 
resulted in nothing. He has taken to drinking of Brandy ; 
he pawned the Bible and became a real beast who is 
doing more harm than good among the Indians. 

About eighteen miles up the North River lies Esopus. 
It is an exceedingly beautiful Land. There some Dutch 
Inhabitants have settled themselves, and prosper especially 



1 88 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



well. They hold Sunday meetings, and then one among 
them reads something out for a postille. 

The Dutch on Long Island were without a church or 
minister of their own until the middle of the century, 
and in order to attend public worship were obliged 
to visit New Amsterdam. Occasionally, however, the 
Dominie visited the outlying towns and held services 
in private houses. In December, 1654, the Director 
and Council having endeavored to remedy this want, 
sanctioned the erection of a small church at Midwout 
(Flatbush), by the joint effort of three towns; and 
the Rev. Johannes Theodorus Polhemus from Brazil 
was installed as pastor. Here services were held on 
Sunday mornings and at Breuckelen and Amersfoort 
on alternate Sunday afternoons. Drisius reports : 

It took three hours for these devout people to get to 
the church in the Fort, so when De Polhemus arrived 
from Brasils, they requested that he might be appointed 
their preacher which was granted. The four other vil- 
lages on Long Island, viz., Gravesend Middelburgh, Vlis- 
singen and Heemstede were established by the English. 
At Gravesend there were Mennonists ; at Flushing, Pres- 
byterians, who after a time absented themselves from 
church and refused to pay the preacher, who fled to Vir- 
ginia. . . . Last year a fomentor of error came there. 
He was a cobbler from Rhode Island and stated that he 
was commissioned by Christ. He began to preach at 
Flushing and then went with the people into the river 
and dipped them. This becoming known here, he was 
banished the province. 

At Middelburgh (Newtown) there were mostly Inde- 
pendents, led by one Johannes Moor, and at Heemstede 
some Independents Presbyterians under the charge of 
Richard Denton, an honest, pious and learned man. 

On the west side of the East River about one mile 
through Hellgate another English village has been begun 



RELIGION 



189 

over two years. It was named Oostdorp. The inhabit- 
ants are also Puritains alias Independents. They have 
no preacher. They hold Sunday meetings reading from 
an English book, a sermon and making a prayer. 

Lutherans, Quakers, and Anabaptists gave the Di- 
rectors and Dominies much trouble. A few examples 
will suffice to show how difficult it was for alien sects 
to flourish while Dominie Megapolensis was Father of 
the Flock. In 1652, he requested that Anna Smits, an 
Anabaptist, should be restrained from using slanderous 
and calumniating expressions against God’s Word and 
his servants; and the Director-General and Council 
ordered 

that Anna Smits shall appear on the following Wednes- 
day at the school of David Provoost, where the Nine 
Men usually meet and that the Director and Council to- 
gether with the complainant and the consistory shall 
assemble there also, to hear what the said Anna Smits 
has to say against the teachings of the complainant. 

Also, on Nov. 8, 1656, William Hallet, Sheriff of 
Flushing, for allowing Baptist conventicles in his 
house, was sentenced to pay a fine of £50 Flemish, 
to be banished, with costs, and to remain in prison 
till the fine was paid. William Wickendam was fined 
£100 and other penalties as above for officiating as a 
gospel minister; but three days later the fine was 
graciously remitted “ as nothing can be got from him.” 

No sect, however, alarmed the good Dominies more 
than the Lutherans, who showed at an early period 
symptoms of growth. On Oct. 24, 1656, they peti- 
tioned that they might not be prevented continuing their 
religious exercises, as they “ expect a regular clergy- 
man next Spring.” It was ordered that the petition be 
forwarded to the West India Company; “meanwhile 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



190 

the laws will be enforced against Conventicles and pub- 
lic meetings of any but those belonging to the Re- 
formed Dutch church.” 

The Directors were not pleased at this persecution. 
They wrote (1656): 

We would also have been better pleased if you had not 
published the placat against the Lutherans, a copy of 
which you sent us, and committed them to prison, for it 
has always been our intention to treat them quietly and 
leniently. Hereafter you will therefore not publish such 
or similar placats without our knowledge, but you must 
pass it over quietly and let them have free religious ex- 
ercises in their houses. 

Stuyvesant (1656), however, supported Drisius and 
Megapolensis with the following proclamation: 

Whereas the Director General and Council are credibly 
informed that not only Conventicles and Meetings are 
held within this Province, but also that in such gatherings 
some unqualified persons have assumed unto themselves 
the office of teaching ; announcing and declaring God’s 
Holy Word, without being called or appointed thereto 
by authority either of Church or State, which is in direct 
contradiction and opposition to the General policy and 
Church government of our Fatherland, because from such 
manner of gatherings divers mischiefs, heresies and 
schisms are to be expected, which to prevent, the Director 
General and aforesaid Council do hereby, therefore, abso- 
lutely and expressly forbid all such Conventicles or Gath- 
erings, whether publick or private, except the usual and 
lawful ones in which God’s reformed word and the or- 
dained assemblies of God’s Reformed worship are ob- 
served and conducted conformably to those of the Synod 
of Dordrecht, here, in our Fatherland and in other 
Reformed Churches of Europe, under the penalty of One 
Hundred Pounds Flemish, to be forfeited by all who 
assume any unqualified office whether of preaching read- 




PORCELAIN, EARTHENWARE ORNAMENT AND GLASS TUMBLER 
IN THE VAN CORTLANDT MANOR HOUSE 



RELIGION 



I 9 I 

in g or singing, whether on Sunday or any other day in 
such Gatherings whether private or publick. Without 
intending, hereby, however, any violence to Conscience 
to the prejudice of the Patents formerly granted, or to 
prohibit the reading of God’s Holy Word, family prayers 
and Worship, each in his own house. 

Attendants at any unlawful meeting were also to be 
fined £25 each. 

It is astonishing to find how very soon after Fox 
began to preach his followers became active on this 
side of the Atlantic. Naturally, Quakers first made 
their appearance among the English settlers on Long 
Island. It was not likely that Stuyvesant and his 
Dominies would be indulgent to this new heresy. On 
Jan. 10, 1658, John Tilton was fined £12 Flemish and 
costs for harboring some of “ the abominable sect of 
Quakers.” Henry Towsen (Jan. 15) was fined three 
hundred guilders for the same offense. 

In January, 1661, Stuyvesant was again troubled 
with the pestilential Quakers. One Henry Townsend 
was reported to have entertained members of the sect 
at Jamaica, Long Island. The Director wrote to the 
magistrates and sent the Rev. Samuel Drisius to offici- 
ate there, and a deputy sheriff to inquire into the hold- 
ing of conventicles. A search for Quakers followed 
on Long Island, and the arrest of a Quaker’s cloak and 
of Sam Spicer; names were also given of those who 
attended the preaching of George Wilson. Henry 
Townsend was fined £25, and Sheer £12. John Town- 
send and John Tilton were banished from the province. 
On January 24, Stuyvesant notified Jamaica of the ap- 
pointment of new magistrates, and the quartering of 
soldiers on the inhabitants on account of their heresy. 
On Aug. 24, 1662, the Flushing magistrates lodged in- 
formation against John Bowne for holding meetings 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



192 

every Sunday of “ that abominable sect called Quakers, 
of which the majority of the inhabitants are followers.” 
John Bowne was fined £25 and costs, and finally 
banished. 

On Sept. 14, 1662, Stuyvesant issued a proclamation 
declaring that the public exercise of any religion but 
the Reformed “ in houses, barns, ships, woods or fields, 
would be punished by a fine of fifty guilders; double, 
for a second offense ; and quadruple, for the third with 
arbitrary correction.” In April, 1663, however, the 
Lords Directors censure Stuyvesant “ for banishing 
John Bowne, the Quaker.” 

It is hard to understand the hatred aroused by the 
proverbially harmless Quakers. It appears, however, 
that in the early days their enthusiasm in proselytizing 
sometimes led them into aggressive missionary methods. 
For example, in 1677, the town of Fluntington, Long 
Island, petitioned Governor Andros that the Quakers 
“ be not permitted to come into the meeting-house (as 
they frequently do) in time of worship, to disturb the 
congregation.” “ Samuel Forman of Oyster bay, came 
to the City, where he lodged at the house of Anthony 
Jansen from Salee, and, by inspiration from Christ 
Jesus intended to repair to the church during divine 
service and exclaim : ‘ O cry what shall I cry, all flesh 
is grass, grass is the flower of the field, the flower falls 
and the grass withers, but the word of God obeids 
forever.’ ” Two days later, he was sentenced to be 
publicly whipped and then banished, for having dis- 
turbed public worship in the church at New Orange. 

The Dutch church service was simple. The fore- 
singer, or clerk, standing at a desk beneath the pulpit, 
or in the deacons’ pew, began the service by the com- 
mand : “ Hear with reverence the Word of the Lord ” ; 
then he read the Ten Commandments and announced 



RELIGION 



i93 



the Psalm. While this was being sung, the Minister 
entered, stood for a few minutes at the foot of the pul- 
pit stairs ; and, after a silent prayer, ascended the pul- 
pit. He preached with an hour-glass before him. At 
the end of the sermon the clerk inserted in the end of 
his staff the public notices to be read and handed them 
to the Minister. This duty ended, the Minister deliv- 
ered a short homily on charity, and the deacons walked 
through the church to take up a collection, each having 
a long pole, at the end of which was a black velvet bag 
for the offerings. 

There was great difference of sentiment regarding 
the Quakers. Sometimes we find special bequests to 
them, as in the case of Colonel Lewis Morris, who, in 
1691, gives “ to the meetings of Friends called 
Quakers £5 per annum.” In quite another mood,. 
William Hollyoake, of Southold, Long Island, makes 
his will in which he emphatically orders: 

If my sons Thomas, Peter or William, or any of their 
succeeding heirs, whether sons or daughters, whom I doe 
constitute my heirs, shall Apostate from the Protestant 
Doctrine of faith of the Church of England as it is now 
by law established, and if they or any of them shall at 
any time hereafter, take upon him or them, any profes- 
sion of such Doctrines or faith whereby they shall be 
drawn away from attendance upon the Publick Worship 
of God, practiced in this place, and warranted by the Holy 
Scriptures ; and if they shall neglect or contemn the said 
publick Worship ; and if the said Thomas or any of them 
shall at any time espouse and contract marriage with 
any Quaker, or to the son or daughter of any Quaker 
as they are now called; It is my positive Will that they 
shall be utterly disinherited and disowned. And I be- 
queath the lands so forfeited by such wicked practices 
to the next lawful heir. ... I leave to my son John 
who as an obstinate Apostate I doe reject and deprive of 

13 



194 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



all other parts of my estate, yet I doe hereby give him 
my Second lot at the Wading Creek. 

In 1658, Megapolensis and Drisius petitioned the 
Classis to send out “ good Dutch clergymen ” ; and a 
young candidate for the ministry, Hendricus Blom, 
was induced to come out. He soon received a call to 
Esopus (Kingston) and went home to be ordained. 
On Dec. 22, 1659, the Directors of the West India 
Company wrote to Stuyvesant a letter disapproving 
of the narrow views of himself (for he was a good deal 
of a bigot) and his subordinates. They regarded them- 
selves as a trading corporation, not a body of sectarian 
propagandists, and therefore discouraged intolerance. 

We intend to send over two or three young preachers 
on the same conditions as Domine Blom, and have been 
looking about for them ; it is not sufficient that they lead 
a good moral life, they must be of a peaceable and mod- 
erate temperament, which depends a good deal on the 
place of their studies, and not be infected with scruples 
about unnecessary forms, which cause more divisions than 
edification. The preachers there, Des. Megapolensis and 
Drisius, do not seem to be free from this kind of leaven, 
for they make difficulties in regard to the use of the old 
formula of baptism without order from the Classis here, 
pretending that they might be accused of innovations, al- 
though the name of innovators could be better applied 
to those who have made changes in it without the order 
of the Church generally, or of a Classis. The most mod- 
erate preachers here understand this and consider it an 
insignificant ceremony, which may be performed or 
omitted according to circumstances and without hurting 
one’s conscience. We had expected that the above-men- 
tioned preachers and brothers would hold the same opinion 
after our too friendly letter to them. We are told, it is 
true, that the Lutherans come to church now and that 
every thing goes on quietly and peaceably, but care must 



RELIGION 



*95 



be taken that this state of affairs continue; that is un- 
certain, as long as such precise forms and offensive ex- 
pressions are not avoided. It is absolutely necessary that 
they be avoided in a church, which is so weak and only 
beginning to grow, especially when we consider the diffi- 
culties liable to arise, which might result in the permis- 
sion to conduct a separate divine service there, for the 
Lutherans would very easily obtain the consent of the 
authorities here upon a complaint, and we would have no 
means of preventing it. We find it therefore highly 
necessary to direct herewith, that you communicate all 
this to the aforesaid preachers there and seriously ad- 
monish them to adopt our advice and use the old formula 
of baptism without waiting for further orders from here. 
That will allay the dissensions in the state and of the 
church there. 

On Blom’s return, he was accompanied by the 
Rev. Henricus Selyns, to become pastor of the 
Breuckelen congregation. Mr. Selyns was installed on 
Sept. 7, 1660. As the people were unable to pay his 
salary, the Council was petitioned for aid. Stuyvesant 
agreed to contribute personally two hundred and fifty 
guilders if Mr. Selyns would preach every Sunday 
afternoon at his Bowery. Writing to the Classis, Oct. 
4, 1660, Mr. Selyns says: 

When we arrived, we repaired forthwith to the Man- 
hattan ; but the negotiations for peace at the Esopus 
necessarily retarded our progress thus long. We preached 
meanwhile, here, and at the Esopus and Fort Orange; 
during our stay were provided with board and Lodging. 
Esopus needs more people; but Breucklen more wealth; 
wherefore I officiate Sunday afternoons at the General’s 
Bouwerye at the Noble General’s private expense. I was 
suitably received (in Brooklyn) by the Magistrate and 
consistory and De Polhemus was forthwith discharged. 
We do not preach in any church, but in a barn ( Koren - 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



196 

schuur ), and shall, God willing, erect a church in the 
winter by the co-operation of the people. The congrega- 
tion is passable. The attendance is augmented from 
Middelwout, New Amersfoort and frequently Grave- 
sande, but most from the Manhattans. To Breuckelen 
appertains also the Ferry, the Walebocht and Gujanus. 
There can be no Catechising before the winter, but this 
shall be introduced either on week days or when there is 
no preaching at the Bowery. Christmas, Easter, Whit- 
suntide and September will be most suitable, as Thanks- 
giving is observed on these festivals. . . . 

There is preaching in the morning at Breuckelen but, 
towards the conclusion of the Catechismal exercises of 
New Amsterdam, at the Bowery which is a continuation 
and the place of recreation of the Manhattans, where peo- 
ple also come from the city to Evening Service. In addi- 
tion to the household there are over forty negroes whose 
location is the Negro quarter. There is no consistory here, 
but the deacons of New Amsterdam provisionally receive 
the alms offerings, and there are to be neither elders nor 
deacons there. Besides me there are in New Nether- 
lands DD Johannes Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius 
in New Amsterdam; D. Gideon Schaets at Fort Orange; 
D. Joannes Polemius at Middelwout and N. Amersfort 
and Hermanus Blom at the Esopus. 

In 1664, he returned to Holland in the Beaver to 
visit his aged father ; and, after his departure, Charles 
Debevoise, schoolmaster and sexton, conducted the 
services. During his ministry Selyns married in New 
Amsterdam, in 1:662, Machtelt Specht, daughter of 
Herman Specht, of Utrecht, “ a young lady of rare 
personal beauty and worth,” to whom he wrote a poem 
that has been much admired. Soon after he left, Dom- 
inie Drisius wrote of him to Amsterdam in warm 
terms of admiration of his preaching and pastoral 
work : 




FLOWERS 

JAN VAN HUYSAM 




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197 



He has attached very many unto him, among them a 
number of the negroes, who are greatly grieved by his 
departure. But considering the fact that he owes filial 
obedience to his parents it is the will of God that he 
should leave us. 

He thinks it probable that the recently arrived son of 
Dom. Megapolensis will take charge of Brooklyn and 
the Bouwerie; and adds that the French on Staten 
Island would gladly have a preacher, but cannot afford 
to support one. Governor Stuyvesant allows Drisius 
to go there and preach every two months and admin- 
ister the Lord’s Supper, but “ in the winter season it is 
troublesome on account of the great water of bay, 
which must be crossed, and the showers and storms, 
which occur.” 

The English conquest put an end to the exclusive 
sway of the Dutch Reformed Church. Freedom of 
worship was allowed to all congregations who cared 
to pay their own ministers. 

In 1669, Megapolensis wrote to the Classis of Am- 
sterdam complaining that the West India Company 
had “ unrighteously withheld about 2000 guilders sal- 
ary ” from him, having falsely accused him of having 
had a hand in delivering the town to the English. 
Though the people took a great interest in the preach- 
ing, and the church was filled on Sundays, still they 
showed “ little interest in contributing to the support 
of the Gospel and in paying our salary.” When the 
Governor was appealed to for aid, his reply was : “ As 
the Dutch enjoy their freedom of worship, they should 
provide for the support of their minister.” 

Samuel Megapolensis, who had been his father’s as- 
sistant since 1664, resigned and went to Holland; and 
the old Dominie, who had now spent twenty-seven years 
in the New World, was full of grief to think that when 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



198 

he and Dominie Drisius should pass away their con- 
gregation would probably scatter. Nothing seems to 
have given him more distress than the fact that the 
Lutherans had recently received a minister from 
Amsterdam. 

In 1669, Megapolensis the Elder died; and as Sam- 
uel Drisius was growing old and unable to shoulder 
all the duties of his charge, a new minister was needed. 
As no one seemed willing to come, Governor Lovelace 
in 1670 sent word to the Classis of Amsterdam that 
he would give any “ scholarly and godly minister a 
hundred guilders a year, a dwelling rent free and fire- 
wood.” The Rev. William Nieuwenhuys accepted the 
terms, and in 1671 became sole pastor of the Dutch 
church on the death of Drisius. 

On his death, in 1681, Selyns returned and was re- 
ceived with open arms by his old friends. Doubtless 
he was well acquainted with the widow of Cornelis 
Steenwyck, whom he very promptly married, she con- 
veniently inheriting the taste of her mother, Vrouw 
Drisius, for divines. Selyns wrote enthusiastic letters 
home, informing the authorities that the people were 
building a parsonage of brick (or stone), three stories 
high, and that he had four hundred families on his 
list; but he complained that there was too much work 
for one man. 

Selyns was minister during the usurpation of Jacob 
Leisler, and at one time was the only Dutch minister 
in the province; for Delius escaped to Boston; Van 
Varick, minister of the four Dutch towns of Kings 
County, was convicted of treason and imprisoned ; Tes- 
schenmaker was massacred at Schenectady in 1690; 
and Van der Bosch deposed at Kingston. Selyns him- 
self was accused of harboring Bayard, and his house 
was searched by public officers. 



RELIGION 



I 99 



Dominie Rudolphus Van Varick was dragged from 
his home in Flatbush, imprisoned and heavily fined. 

! He had arrived from Holland in 1685, and succeeded 
the Rev. Casparus Van Zuren as minister of the Long 
Island churches. He became deeply involved in the 
Leisler troubles. His wife, Margarita Visboom, had 
many valuable and beautiful possessions. 

Governor Andros wrote in 1678: 

There are religions of all sorts, one Church of Eng- 
land, several Presbyterians and Independents, Quakers 
and Anabaptists of several sects, some Jews, but Presby- 
terians and Independents most numerous and substantial. 

Governor Dongan, who was a Roman Catholic, and 
who brought over with him a Jesuit priest who cele- 
brated Mass in the Governor’s private apartments in 
the Fort on Sundays, to which the Roman Catholics of 
the town were admitted, wrote home the following : 

New York has a chaplain belonging to the Fort of the 
Church of England; secondly a Dutch Calvinist; third, 
a French Calvinist ; and fourth, a Dutch Lutheran. There 
be not many of England ; a few Roman Catholics ; 
abundance of Quaker preachers, men and women; sing- 
ing Quakers, ranting Quakers, Sabbatarians, anti Sab- 
batarians some Anabaptists, some Independents, some 
Jews; in short, of all sorts of opinions there are some, 
and the most part of none at all. 

In 1865, William Byrd, of W estover, Virginia, noted 
on his trip to Albany: 

They have as many Sects of religion there as att Am- 
sterdam, all being tolerated, yet the people seem not con- 
cerned what religion their Neighbour is of, or whether 
hee hath any or none. 

Miller, also in 1695, remarked upon the condition of 
religion in not very complimentary terms. He said: 



200 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



The number of the inhabitants in this province are 
about 3000 families, whereof almost one-half are natur- 
ally Dutch, a great part English and the rest French. As 
to their religion, they are very much divided; few of 
them intelligent and sincere, but the most part ignorant 
and conceited, fickle and regardless. 

Finally, Madam Knight observed in 1702: 

They are generally of the Church of England and have 
a New England Gentleman for their minister and a very 
fine church set out with all Customary requisites. There 
are also a Dutch and Divers Conventicles as they call 
them, viz., Baptist, Quakers, etc. They are not strict in 
keeping the Sabbath as in Boston and other places where 
I had bin, But seem to deal with great exactness as farr 
as I see or Deall with. They are sociable to one another 
and fare well in their houses. 

Under Stuyvesant and Drisius, people were com- 
pelled to observe the Sabbath in the strict Mosaic 
fashion. The Director and Council issued several 
ordinances for the better observance of the Sabbath. 
The first of these, dated April 29, 1648, runs as 
follows : 

On the Lord’s day of rest, usually called Sunday, no 
person shall be allowed to do the ordinary and customary 
labors of his calling, such as Sowing, Mowing, Building, 
Sawing Wood, Smithing, Bleeching, Hunting, Fishing, 
or any works allowable on other days, under the penalty 
of One Pound Flemish, for each person so offending; 
much less any idle or unallowed exercises and sports, 
such as Drinking to excess, frequenting Inns or Tap- 
houses, Dancing, Card-playing, Tick-tacking, Playing at 
ball, Playing at bowls, Playing at nine-pins, taking jaunts 
in Boats, Wagons, or Carriages, before, between, or dur- 
ing Divine Service, under the penalty of a double fine 
(Two Pounds, Flemish) ; and in order to prevent all 



RELIGION 



201 



such accidents and injuries, there shall be a fine of Twelve 
Guilders for the first offence; Twenty-four Guilders for 
the second offence ; and arbitrary correction for the third 
offence ; the One-third for the Officers ; One-third for the 
Poor; and the remaining One-third for the Prosecutor. 

Many were the cases brought into court for breaking 
the Sunday laws, and many were the excuses of the 
defendants. Sometimes they plead ignorance of the 
law, and sometimes they break the law and pay the 
fines with callous indifference. Let us glance at the 
wickedness of a few of the sinners. Hendrick de 
Backer, of Fort Orange, 1660, was fined twelve 
guilders for bringing in a load of hay on Sunday, 
about the third tolling of the bell. In 1664, Manuel 
Sanderson, a negro, was fined six guilders and costs 
because his son had been found shooting pigeons in 
the woods on Manhattan Island on Sunday. Tiebout 
Wessels was fined for the same misdemeanor, and a 
certain Jan de Noper was complained of for resisting 
an officer who wanted to arrest him at the same time. 
Jan Bockholt, a herdsman, prayed for forgiveness, 
pleading ignorance of the law, but was fined twelve 
guilders and costs. The Fiscal also complained against 
Dame Gerritse, “ who is famous for being a scold,” 
for abusing the officer who had seized her son’s gun 
while shooting pigeons on Sunday; and she was fined 
twelve guilders and costs. On the same court day an 
ordinance was issued “ for the better and more careful 
instruction of youth in the principles of the Christian 
religion.” 

In 1667, the Schout says that Claes Dietlofs and Jan, 
the cake-baker, “ rolled a barrel with maize along the 
street on last Sunday.” He demands the fine accord- 
ing to Placard. “ Defendants answer that they first 
came in the morning with a canoe, and that they durst 



202 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



not trust it the whole day in a canoe.” In 1663, Jacob 
Stoffels, Ide van Vorst, and other farmers were fined 
six guilders each for working on Sunday. 

Judging by the ordinance of 1667, Sabbath breaking 
was deplorably common : 

Whereas we experience to our grief, that the previously 
enacted and frequently renewed Placards and Ordinances 
against the desecration of the Sabbath of the Lord, the 
unlawful and unseasonable tapping on the same and 
after setting of the watch or drum beat, are not observed, 
but that many of the inhabitants almost make it a cus- 
tom, in place of observing the Sabbath, as it ought to be 
observed, to frequent the taverns more than on other days 
and to take their delight in illegal exercises, to prevent 
and obviate which hereafter as much as possible for the 
future, the Schout, Burgomasters and Schepens renew 
the aforesaid Placards, enacted on that subject and hereby 
interdict and forbid within this City of N : Orange and 
the jurisdiction thereof from sunrise to sundown on Sun- 
day all sorts of handicraft, trade and traffick, gaming, 
boat-racing or running with carts or wagons, fishing, fowl- 
ing, running and picking nuts, strawberries, etc., all riot- 
ous racing, calling and shouting of children in the streets, 
together with all unlawful exercises and games, drunken- 
ness, frequenting taverns or taphouses, dancing, card- 
playing, ball playing, rolling nine pins or bowls, etc., 
which is more in vogue on this than on any other day; 
to prohibit and prevent which, all tavern keepers and 
tapsters are strictly enjoined to entertain no clubs on this 
day from sunrise to sunset, nor permit nor suffer any 
games in their houses or places, on pain for the tavern 
keeper, who shall be found to suffer such in his house, of 
forfeiting for the first offence 25 gl. for the second 
offence 50 gl. and for the 3 d offence he shall no longer 
be allowed to tap and moreover forfeit a fine of one hun- 
dred guilders zeawant; and each person found on Sun- 
day in a club or gaming house shall forfeit three guilders 




THE PARROT CAGE 

JAN STEEN 



RELIGION 



203 



zeawant; and if any children be caught on the street 
playing, racing and shouting, previous to the termina- 
tion of the last preaching, the officers of the law may 
take their hat or upper garment, which shall not be 
restored to the parents, until they have paid a fine of two 
guilders. 

The intention of the above prohibition is not, that a 
stranger or citizen shall not buy a drink of wine or beer 
for the assuaging of his thirst, but only to prevent the 
sitting of clubs on the Sabbath, whereby many are hin- 
dered resorting to Divine Worship. 

Further no tapsters, nor tavernkeepers shall tap, pre- 
sent or sell any wines, brandies, beer, etc., nor set any 
clubs on Sunday, nor on the night of any other day after 
setting of the watch or ringing of the bell, under the 
penalty and fine as above. 

Special days of fasting and thanksgiving were fre- 
quently set apart. The first seems to have occurred 
during Director Kieft’s rule, when a Fast Day was 
appointed, March 4, 1643, in consequence of the In- 
dian troubles, and a Thanksgiving Day on Sept. 6, 
1645. His proclamation of Aug. 31, 1645, reads: 

Whereas God Almighty has been pleased, by his grace 
and mercy, and in addition to the numerous blessings 
that we have enjoyed, to bestow on this country that long 
desired peace with the savages — so it has been deemed 
becoming to proclaim this good tidings throughout the 
New Netherlands, with the intention that in all places 
where there are any English or Dutch churches, God 
Almighty shall be thanked and praised, on the sixth day 
of September next in the forenoon. The words of the 
text must be applicable to the occasion and the sermon 
likewise. 

Another day of special sanctity was the New Year, 
especially during Stuyvesant’s administration, and on 



204 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



March 24, 1653, the first Wednesday of each month 
was appointed a fast and prayer day. 

Superstition was general in all creeds and classes. 
People believed in omens, signs, and prognostications, 
and in such antidotes as charms, amulets, and scapu- 
laries. Comets and eclipses of the sun and moon filled 
every one with fear, for they predicted war and other 
calamities, while earthquakes and thunderclaps were 
thought to be utterances of God’s wrath. In every 
house was found The Wheel of Adventure, or the 
Spiritual Truth Sayer, Planet books, and the works 
of Ludeman. There were also fortune-tellers, who 
predicted the future by means of cards, reading the 
palm, coffee and tea grounds, etc. A very favorite 
method of divination was by turning the Bible. On 
April 6, 1662, George Hewel, Dr. Clarke, John Too, 
and Daniel East of Mespath, Long Island, were prose- 
cuted for having had recourse to turning the Bible 
in order to discover who had stolen tobacco from Wil- 
liam Britton. It would seem that they were led astray 
by a false prophet, for the individual accused by their 
investigations later brought an action for slander 
against them. 

People believed in ghosts, in haunted places, in 
changelings, and, above all, in witches. No old women 
with wrinkled faces and no women of fascinating 
charms were safe from the accusation of witchcraft. 
Storms, barrenness of the land, disease of people and 
cattle, — in short, every disaster, great and small, was 
attributed to witchcraft. If anybody wanted to know 
whether a sick person was ill or bewitched, the only 
thing to do was to cut open the pillow from under 
the head. If the feathers were changed into flowers 
or ferns, there was no doubt that he was touched by 
the evil hand. If one wanted to find out who had 



RELIGION 



205 



done the evil act, all that was necessary was to put a 
live black hen or cock in a pot of boiling water, and the 
person who passed the door while the bird was crying 
was the witch. In early youth the children were already 
taught to believe in witchcraft, as appears from the 
following Dutch catechism : 

Q. What is the second capital-sin? A. Witchcraft. 
Q. Does Witchcraft appear in God’s Word? A. Yes. 
Q. Prove it. A. Exodus xii. vers. 22, and xxii. v. 18. 
Deuteronomy xviii. v. 10. Acts viii. v. 9. Q. Are there 
any people who say that there is no witchcraft? A. Yes. 
Q. Who are they? A. The “ Sadducees ” of this day and 
the Libertines amongst the so-called Christians, who be- 
lieve that all that is said of Satan and his work are fables 
and that everything that takes place is perfectly natural. 

Witches were, of course, in league with Satan, 
changed themselves into cats, rode on broomsticks, and 
cast evil spells on man and beast; it was unsafe to 
take an apple or any other dainty from the hands of a 
witch, for, just as likely as not, it would turn into a 
toad. 

It seems somewhat strange that from the middle 
of the Seventeenth Century and during the Long 
Parliament (1640-1660), when the terrible “ witch- 
finders ” sent three thousand witches to death, and 
while the English settlements on South Hampton and 
East Hampton were sending their supposed witches to 
Connecticut for trial, no witches were persecuted in 
New Amsterdam. The Dutch and French churches of 
New Amsterdam protested, asserting that “ the ap- 
parition of a person afflicting another is very insuffi- 
cient proof of a witch, and that a good name, obtained 
by a good life, should not be lost by mere ‘ spectral 
accusation * ” The only witchcraft trial ever held on 



2o6 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



the island was that of Ralph Hall and his wife of 
Seatalcott, Long Island, under Governor Nichols in 
October, 1665. It took place at the City Hall, and 
both parties were discharged. 

The authorities of New England, however, did not 
respect their more enlightened neighbors. No less a 
personage than Governor Stuyvesant’s sister-in-law, 
the attractive Judith Varleth, was tried and held as a 
witch in Connecticut in 1662. This circumstance 
brought forth the following letter from Stuyvesant 
to the Deputy-Governor of the Court of Magistrates at 
Hartford in 1662: 

Honoured and worthy sirs : By this occasion of my 
brother-in-law being necessitated to make a second voy- 
age to ayd a distressed sister, Judith Varlet, imprisoned, 
as we are informed upon pretended accusation of witch- 
ery, we really believe, and out of her well-known educa- 
tion, life, conversation and profession of faith, we dare 
assure, that she is innocent of such a horrible crimen, and, 
wherefore, I doubt not he will now, as formerly, finde 
your honour’s favour and ayde for the innocent. 




CHAPTER X 

COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 

r 1 1WO festivals were particularly honored among 
ImI the Dutch, — the christening and the wed- 
JL ding. Parents began to provide for the future 
from the very birth of the child, and betrothals some- 
times took place while the babies were lying in the 
cradle; sometimes even alliances were determined be- 
fore birth. Gold coins and medals were accumulated 
for dowry, silver and jewels were collected, and coffers 
and chests filled with linen; and, as she grew up, the 
maiden spun and collected her linen, and made the lace 
collar and cuffs, her bridal gift to her future husband. 

This custom of infant betrothal was naturally most 
prevalent in the upper classes, where wealthy alliances 
were of importance for political or business reasons; 
but in the family of the average burgher considerable 
latitude of choice was allowed, and, as long as the pro- 
spective bride, or groom, was not absolutely objection- 
able to the parents on either side, the course of true 
love ran fairly smoothly. The custom known in this 
country as “ bundling ” prevailed in Holland as well 
as in England and Wales. As a rule, the more humble 
the class, the greater was the freedom of intercourse 
between the Dutch youth. Female virtue was a ques- 
tion of the highest solicitude with the Church, and the 
average morality of the Dutch housewife was very high. 
The mother set a good example and reposed almost 

207 





208 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



entire confidence in the daughter. This was the case 
in North Holland especially. Not only did the parents 
absent themselves when the lover visited their daughter, 
but they even allowed the lovers a separate room for 
courtship. These visits sometimes lasted five or six 
hours, and sometimes even until daybreak, without at- 
tracting the slightest attention. Not only did the 
parents allow this, but they even encouraged it. No 
girl was respected that did not have an honest 
que ester (night visitor), and even widows received 
these visits. The laws of propriety were seldom trans- 
gressed, and assistance was always at hand at need. 
Sometimes the visitor was received in the parents' 
bedroom. 

In South Holland, the daughters were strictly 
watched, and the church or a visit was the only means 
of forming an acquaintance. Lovers often had to 
resort to ruse to meet one another. The first meeting 
was generally effected by bribing the maidservant, or 
if there was no servant the girl’s attention was at- 
tracted by fastening a flower, bouquet, or wreath on 
the front door. If this lay in the street the next 
morning, the lover was not disheartened, but replaced 
the flower by another with a ribbon tied round it, and 
sometimes he added a verse or motto. Later he would 
place on one of the window-sills of his sweetheart's 
room a prettily decorated basket filled with candy, or 
he would fasten this to a branch of a May-tree near 
the window. These baskets were followed by others 
with choice fruit and flowers, and rhymes and son- 
nets in which the lover expressed his feelings, and 
these were followed again by serenades. If upon a 
first visit the girl stood up, arranged her bonnet, and 
smoothed out her dress so as to make herself attractive, 
the lover knew he was welcome, but if she went to 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



209 

the fireplace and gripped the tongs, he had to try his 
luck elsewhere. 

To effect an introduction matchmakers were often 
hired. These were often the wet-nurses or the mid- 
wives. They had, according to the popular saying, to 
put “the door on the latch,” and effect the first meeting, 
generally on Sundays at six o’clock. Each young man 
then chose his girl, at whose door he knocked at nine 
o’clock. If he came before nine, the door was not 
opened to him; if later, then it was thought that he 
had been disappointed at another girl’s house; but the 
door was opened and the regular conversation fol- 
lowed, as is described in hundreds of Dutch books on 
love. On entering, the meeting at the church was 
discussed, and shortly after the lover left to tell the 
news to his comrades. Custom demanded that the young 
man should propose to the girl on three successive 
Sundays. In case he did not please, he received his 
refusal on the third Sunday, otherwise his visits were 
encouraged, and he then called earlier. The accepted 
lover was also allowed to call on Wednesdays, to take 
his sweetheart to Whitsuntide fetes and to the kermis. 

On examining the court records of New Amsterdam, 
we must conclude that many of the inhabitants were 
extremely lax in their compliance with and observa- 
tion of the laws of Fatherland. Several of those who 
described the customs of the province notice the loose 
ties among a large class of the inhabitants. The evil 
was evidently a serious one, because the following law 
was passed on Jan. 15, 1658: 

Persons whose banns have been published must marry 
within one month, or show cause to the contrary, under a 
penalty of 10 guilders for the first week and 20 guilders 
for each succeeding week. 

No man or woman shall be at liberty to keep house as 



14 



210 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



married persons, before they are legally married, on pain 
of forfeiting ioo guilders, more or less, as their quality 
shall be found to warrant, and all such persons may be 
amerced anew therefor every month, according to the 
order and custom of our Fatherland. 

The binding nature of the betrothal in the eye of the 
law is evident from many entries in the records. A 
promise of marriage, given in the presence of others 
with the exchange of a pledge, generally in the form 
of a ring or a coin, was regarded as being as sacred as 
the marriage ceremony itself ; and many suits for 
breach of promise of marriage were tried in the courts 
here. Thus, on May 17, 1644, Elsje Jans, widow of 
Jan Petersen, sued William Harlo for breach of prom- 
ise, producing a shilling which she had received from 
the fickle William, as a pledge of his troth. After 
hearing what he had to say, the court ordered him to 
bring proof that the lady had acted unbecomingly since 
the betrothal. 

The offense in the eyes of the law was a very serious 
one in the case of the breaking of the engagement 
after the publication of the banns. For example, on 
April 5, 1658, Nicholas Albertsen, for deserting his 
ship and betrothed bride after publication of the banns, 
was sentenced to have his head shaved, then to be 
flogged, and have his ears bored, and to work two years 
with the negroes. Even when there would seem to be 
good cause for the non-fulfilment of the contract, the 
authorities were extremely unwilling to consent to its 
abrogation. Thus, in 1654, we read: 

A suit has been instituted before the Court of the City 
of New Amsterdam by Pieter Kock, bachelor, against 
Anna van Vorst, spinster living at Ahasimus, 1 respecting 

1 In New Jersey. 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



21 1 



a marriage contract, or an oral promise of marriage, 
mutually entered into between said Pieter Kock and Anna 
van Vorst, and in confirmation thereof certain gifts and 
presents were made by plaintiff to the aforesaid defend- 
ant; however, it appears by the documents exhibited by 
parties, that defendant, in consequence of certain misbe- 
haviour, is in no wise disposed to marry said Pieter Kock, 
and also proves by two witnesses that Pieter Cock had 
released her, with promise to give her a written acquittal 
to that effect, therefore Burgomasters and Schepens of 
this City, adjudge, that the promise of marriage having 
been made and given before the Eyes of God, shall re- 
main in force, so that neither plaintiff nor defendant shall 
be at liberty without the knowledge and approbation of 
the Worshipful Magistrates and the other one of the 
interested parties to enter into matrimony with any other 
person, whether single man or single woman. Also that 
all the presents made in confirmation of the promise of 
marriage shall remain in the possession of defendant, 
until parties with the pleasure, good will, contentment 
and inclination of both, shall marry together, or with the 
knowledge of the Magistracy shall release and set each 
other free. 

Still more serious is a case in 1662: 

Maria Besems made a written demand on the prop- 
erty of Boudewyn van Nieulant, absconded from here. 
“ Whereas the said Boudewyn has acknowledged before 
this court to have given the aforesaid Maria Besems a 
written promise of marriage, the Burgomasters decree 
that she shall enter on all that the aforesaid Boudewyn 
has in this country, nothing excepted, for the payment of 
childbed expenses and the support of the child. 

Parental consent was necessary for the publication 
of the banns and to render the marriage legal. ' This is 
evident from a case which occurred in 1648; when 
William Harck, Sheriff of Flushing, having married 



212 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Joan Smith, without her parents’ consent, to Thomas 
Nuton, widower, was fined six hundred guilders and 
dismissed from office; the marriage was annulled. 
Nuton was fined three hundred guilders, and the mar- 
riage had to be again solemnized after three procla- 
mations. The second ceremony was performed thirteen 
days later. 

Quite a romantic story is that of Maria Verleth and 
Johannes Van Beeck. It seems that there was great 
opposition on the part of the young man’s father, and 
consequently they went into Connecticut and published 
their banns in Gravesend. This occasioned great ex- 
citement, for on Jan. 26, 1654, the “ Schout appeared 
in Court and made a complaint of the illegal proceed- 
ings of the Court of Gravesend in setting up and 
affixing the bans of matrimony between Johan Van 
Beeck and Maria Verleth both of whom lived in New 
Amsterdam. This if allowed to pass might establish 
a precedent and prepare a way, whereby hereafter 
some sons and daughters unwilling to obey their par- 
ents and guardians, will, contrary to their wishes, 
secretly go and get married in such villages or else- 
where.” A fortnight later, the Gravesend magistrates 
received a letter informing them that Johannes Van 
Beeck had presented a petition to the New Amsterdam 
Court to enter and properly proclaim his banns with 
Maria Verleth, who had previously made proclamation 
through the court at Gravesend, which was contrary 
to the style and laws of the Fatherland. In order to 
prevent future improprieties therefore they were in- 
formed that, “ according to the custom of our Father- 
land every one shall have three publications at the place 
where his domicile is, and then he may go and be 
married wherever he pleases.” On February 16, 
Casper Verleth, the bride’s father, and Johannes van 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



213 



Beeck appeared in court and prayed most earnestly 
that disposal should be made of the petitions and re- 
monstrance concerning the marriage. Three days 
later, the court decided: 

Regarding the bans of matrimony between Joh. van 
Beeck and Maria Verleth, therefore it being noted 

First, Who in the beginning instituted marriage ; also 
what the Apostle of the Gentiles teaches therein. 

Secondly, The proper and attained ages of Johannes 
van Beeck and Marya Verleth. 

Thirdly, The consent of the father and mother on the 
daughter’s side. 

Fourthly, the distance and remoteness of places between 
this and our Fatherland together with the difficulty be- 
tween Holland and England. 

Fifthly, The danger that in such circumstances matters 
by long delay might come to be disclosed between these 
aforesaid young people, which would bring disgrace on 
both families, as well on one side as on the other 

’T is true that our Theologians say, and that correctly, 
that we must not tolerate or permit lesser sins, in order 
thereby to avoid greater ones. Therefore we think (with 
due submission) that by a proper solemnization of mar- 
riage (for the Apostle to the Hebrews calls the marriage 
bed honorable) the lesser and greater sins are prevented. 

Therefore the Burgomasters and Schepens of this City 
are of opinion that the proper ecclesiastical proclama- 
tions of these aforesaid young people ought to be made 
at the earliest opportunity to be followed afterwards by 
their marriage. 

Evidently the course of true love did not run smooth 
even yet; and so, after waiting weary months, the 
young couple took matters into their own hands and 
we hear that on Sept. 14, 1654, Maria Verleth ran away 
with Johannes van Beeck and was married at Green- 
wich, Connecticut by an unauthorized farmer, Goodman 



214 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Crab. Immediately the marriage was declared unlaw- 
ful, and the couple ordered to live apart. Maria 
Verleth came of a race of ladies who were strong of 
mind and strong of fist as well. Her mother, Judith 
Verleth (Mrs. Nicholas Bayard), was held for a witch 
in Connecticut after her husband’s death. Maria had 
to fight her father-in-law in various lawsuits. In 1658, 
she was again married to P. Schrick, and for her 
third husband took William Teller, in 1664. 

Even after divorce, the unoffending party could not 
marry again without permission from the authorities. 
In 1655, for example, John Hicks, of Flushing, re- 
ceived permission to remarry. 

Judging from the numerous cases in the records, we 
must conclude that the marriage state in New Amster- 
dam was by no means a uniformly happy one, even 
among those in authority. Thus, in 1659, ^ ie Schout, 
Nicasius de Sille, petitioned for divorce and separation 
of marriage from Catharina Croegers on account of 
“ her unbecoming and careless life, both by her wast- 
ing of property without his knowledge, as by her 
public habitual drunkenness.” 

The court’s sympathy did not always go out towards 
the plaintiff. When, in 1652, Jacob Claessen demanded 
of his wife, Aeltje Dirrick, why she remained away 
from and would not live with him, “ To prevent all 
trouble it was ordered that plaintiff remain imprisoned 
until the ships sail for Fatherland.” 

When a separation was granted for good cause, 
punishment was frequently inflicted on the offending 
party, as was the case in 1658: 

Whereas Geertje Jans, wife of Jan Hendrickzen, glazier, 
has, in consequence of her committed offences and faults 
been banished by the Court, 'from this City’s jurisdiction; 
but having for a time absented herself therefrom, and 






COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 215 

coming in acknowledgement and sorrow for her perpe- 
trated offences and through much intercession made by 
worthy Burghers and inhabitants to the Burgomasters of 
this City, therefore is it that the Heeren abovenamed, 
partly from especial consideration and moreover in cen- 
sequence of the continual importunity and intercession, 
hereby pardon the above-named Geertje Jans and consent 
and allow her to live again with her husband within this 
City’s jurisdiction, under her promise of amendment and 
a return from her previous faults and misdemeanors, and 
to behave herself as an honest and virtuous woman ought 
to do, so that no worse may happen to her. 

Once being married, it was impossible for husband 
or wife to have the bonds of matrimony broken except 
on the ground of unfaithfulness. Even a separation 
was difficult to obtain except for persistent cruelty. 
An occasional wife-beating, and even an assault on the 
husband by his spouse, was common enough; and, if 
brought into court, the judges would turn the case 
over to the good offices of the Ministers of the Gospel 
with instructions to do all they could to reconcile the 
parties. Thus, in 1673, when Arent Lantsman’s wife, 
Beletie Jacobson, asked for a divorce on the ground of 
cruelty, their Worships authorized some honorable and 
fitting person to reconcile, if possible, the parties to 
love and friendship, and report to the court. The 
ministers appointed could not reconcile the parties, 
and the court agreed with the husband’s contention 
that it was a case of too much father and mother-in- 
law, and ordered the parents not to harbor their 
daughter beyond fourteen days, at the same time warn- 
ing Arent to treat his wife kindly. Shortly afterwards 
Beletie’s father, Lodowyk Pot, again complains that 
Arent has beaten her, and asks to be allowed to take his 
daughter under his protection. Arent was bound over 






2l6 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



to good behavior, and ordered to pay four guilders 
weekly to his wife for the maintenance of the chil- 
dren. Later, he pleaded to have his wife back, promis- 
ing to give no discontent to the Worshipful Court. 
Two years later, however, by order of the Mayor, the 
following order was sent to Lantsman : 

Whereas complaint has been made of the unbecoming 
and improper treatment of your wife, yea, so that the 
neighbourhood suffers great disturbance by the noise and 
uproar, caused principally by you, all which is in direct 
opposition to the orders and warnings given from time 
to time by this W. Court, you are therefore hereby again 
strictly charged to comport yourself towards your wife 
in such wise that no further complaint come to us. 

Arent, two years later, “ aggravated his evil behaviour 
by blasphemy,” and received a final warning on pain 
of banishment. 

New Amsterdam, being essentially a trading-port, 
it was only natural that some of the scum of the sea 
should float ashore. There is plenty of evidence that 
bigamists were not uncommon here. Mr. Tienhoven, 
the Schout, himself was accused of bigamist practices. 
In 1664, one Anneke Adriaen prays for divorce from 
A. P. Tack, “ who has married another woman in 
Holland.” In November, 1658, Laurens Duyts, who 
had sold his wife, Ytie Jansen, to John Parcell, an 
Englishman, was sentenced to have a rope tied around 
his neck, then to be severely flogged, to have his right 
ear cut off, and to be banished for fifty years. Ytie 
was whipped and banished. Her successor in her hus- 
band’s affections was Geesze Jansen, who was publicly 
stripped naked, conducted outside the city gates, and 
banished for fifty years. On December 12, on the 
petition of John Parcel and Ytie, “ two sorrowful 




GLASS DRINKING VESSELS 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



217 



sinners,” for pardon and leave to marry, it was or- 
dered that they might remain three months to settle 
their affairs, but must separate from each other at once. 

It was the custom among the wealthier classes, after 
consent had been given, to invite all relations and 
friends, to the betrothal. As soon as the contract was 
signed in presence of a notary, the young people re- 
ceived congratulations; and then the betrothal took 
place, that is, the rings were exchanged. Sometimes 
these rings were made to order and consisted of two 
hoops that fitted together. In addition to the rings, 
the betrothed gave each other the halves of a coin 
broken in two. Like the Indians, they confirmed 
their marriage sometimes by drinking the blood from a 
wound made in their arms. Sometimes the betrothed 
would sign the wedding contract with their blood, and 
sometimes it was entirely written in blood. Such 
contracts, “ pact-pence,” and rings were often taken 
to the church council when one of the betrothed had 
broken faith, on which the unfaithful one was sum- 
moned before that tribunal, and exhorted to repair the 
breach. Where no contracts were made or rings ex- 
changed, the love letters were shown. The father-in- 
law of the bride gave her a chatelaine of silver, leather, 
or filigree, with various articles hanging from silver 
chains, among which were a pair of scissors, a small 
knife in leather sheath, finely mounted, a needle-case, 
a silver-bound pincushion, a scent-ball, and sometimes 
a small mirror. These chatelaines, sometimes made 
of gold and of exquisite workmanship, were a sign 
that the young lady was engaged or betrothed, and 
it was considered an honor to wear them. They 
often appear in the New Amsterdam wills and inven- 
tories; for example, in 1679, Mary Jansen left to 
Margaret Van der Veen “ a silver' chain with keys,” 



2l8 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



and to Susannah Leisler, “ a silver chain with a case 
and cushion.” “ A silver girdle with hanging keys,” 
and “ a silver girdle with three chains with hooks ” are 
found among Asser Levy’s belongings in 1682; and in 
1694, Annetie van Brommell had “a set of silver 
chains about the middle.” William Richardson (1692) 
leaves to Mary Cock “ a pair of silver hilted knives 
and a pair of scissors with a silver chain to them.” 

It was customary for a lover to present his sweet- 
heart with a muffler of the finest cambric, embroidered 
in red silk with the name and date, and with acorns 
in the corners ; a pledge of love, and the “ wedding 
pence, or God’s pence, sometimes made up of one 
hundred new shillings ($12 of our money), with a 
rhyme, “ if you will, there is the muffler and the pence; 
if you won’t, you can return it.” Instead of a muffler 
a silver wedding casket, filled with “ pot pieces,” was 
sometimes presented. The betrothal was always cele- 
brated by a dinner to which the immediate families 
and intimate friends were invited. The wedding-day 
was settled and the bridesmaids (“play-mates”) 
selected, also two speeljonkers (play-youths) and two 
spellmeisjes (play-girls) appointed. Their duty was 
to decorate the house, to regulate the various entertain- 
ments, and to serve the bride and bridegroom. They 
had a bride’s servant under them, who remained near 
the bride during these “ brides-days ” and on the 
wedding-day. She could always depend on a good 
present from the bride. The duties of the brides- 
maids were numerous. Some of them introduced the 
guests, while others arranged the seating of the guests 
at the table and showed them their places. It was 
their duty to be merry and entertaining, and make 
everybody else gay and light-hearted. The playmates 
also decorated the bridegroom’s pipe with garlands 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



219 



and ribbons. This was so highly prized that it was 
kept in the china or curio cabinet after the wedding, 
and very often reappeared at the silver-wedding. 

Another duty was to arrange the bride’s basket, 
filling it with green garlands and flowers with the 
initials, or monogram, or names of the happy couple 
picked out in pretty blossoms. In another basket, 
not less richly decorated, were laid the lace collar 
and cuffs, the bride’s presents to the bridegroom. 
Both baskets were exhibited beside the bride’s throne 
until the wedding-day. From the flower basket the 
bride’s attendants, both men and maidens, scattered 
flowers and palms upon the path of the couple on their 
walk to the registry and the church. 

On their return from the Court House, the couple, 
preceded by the playmates, all dressed in their best, 
the men wearing the colors of the bride and the girls 
the colors of the groom, were received in state at the 
house of the bridegroom, and the bride was introduced 
to his family. In a shower of flowers, maiden-palm, 
and garlands, the young couple was led into the “state” 
room, where, after the presentation of the guests by 
the playmates, they were presented with a silver bowl 
and spoon containing the “ Bride’s Tears ” and the 
“ Show ” pipe. The “ Bride’s Tears ” was the well- 
known Hippocras, and also called “ spiced ” or “ su- 
gared ” wine. Later, Hippocras was replaced by other 
wines, or by red wine and sugar, or brandy and sugar 
and raisins; sometimes, indeed, gin and syrup was 
decanted, called klongel-eul, or girls’ beer. Besides 
the “ Bride’s Tears,” sugared peas or sugared almonds 
called “ bride’s sugar ” were served, which, like the 
Hippocras, was made by the apothecary. With the 
poorer classes, bemste, beguine, Deventer cake and 
other sweetmeats were served, and while the silver plat- 



220 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



ter passed amongst the playmates, the finely decorated 
green-painted “ Sleigh coach,” filled with small bottles 
of wine in straw covers, and boxes filled with candy tied 
with silver and gold ribbons, passed through the streets 
drawn by a gayly decked horse, and the Hippocras and 
sweets were sent to the houses of the friends and 
acquaintances. In the evening the invited guests met 
at a more or less elaborate meal called the “ com- 
missary’s ” meal; but this was more solemn than gay. 
It often ended without music or dance, and sometimes 
one of the guests would read aloud from De Trou- 
wring ( The Wedding-ring) of Jacob Cats. 

It was not considered good form to go to church 
when the banns were published. 

The days preceding the wedding were spent in 
festivity and general merrymaking. The bride and 
bridegroom were both busy making arrangements for 
the banquet and in the preparation of their costumes, 
especially with people of moderate means, who, as a 
rule, superintended everything themselves. The play- 
mates in this case came only “ to make the green.” 
The bride and bridegroom also wrote the announce- 
ments of the wedding themselves on perfumed gilt- 
edged paper, and these were sent out after the reading 
of the first banns. De Vry gives a lively picture of the 
bustle and preparations : 

The bride’s dress has to be made, and the materials, 
laces, linings, trimmings, gimps and cords, to be pur- 
chased. Who knows the end of all this business. One 
material is too light another too dark, the third too dull, 
without gloss, and the worst is that while they are delib- 
erating, examining and ordering, you are constantly in- 
terrupted by trade solicitors who are eternally knocking at 
the door, this one to ask to supply the banquet ; a second, 
the decorations ; a third, to do the cooking ; the next to 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



221 



make the pastry, who all want to ask the bride for her 
custom, and do not give her any time to attend to her 
other work. “ Oh,” she says, “ the time is so terribly 
short. And the seamstresses, the lace-mounter, and the 
ironer have to be ordered, for Jeanie has promised to send 
the linen brought home, and Antoinette, the laces, and 
neither has come. Now run, boys and girls, remember 
that a brave bride’s gift will pay you for your work.” 

Meanwhile the bridegroom is running all over town to 
engage humorists to entertain the wedding guests. He 
is also ordering Rhine, French and Spanish wines, to treat 
those who come to congratulate bride and bridegroom. 

The homes of both bride and groom were beautifully 
decorated during the period between the betrothal and 
the wedding ceremonies, and nearly every day a dinner 
was given in honor of the couple by relatives or friends. 
These “ bann dinners ” were returned by the bride and 
groom’s “ ante-nuptial dinner.” The bride also re- 
ceived in state during these days. (See illustration 
facing page 224.) The walls were draped with tapes- 
try or other hangings, and hung with garlands. Among 
the flowers, palms, and wreaths, two seats were placed 
underneath a large crown of flowers, trimmed with 
colored ribbons and gold and silver braid. In the 
centre of the crown were two silver hands clasped, 
and two silver hearts pierced by an arrow. Some- 
times the initials of the couple were also formed of 
flowers. Under this dais, on a kind of throne, bride 
and groom, surrounded by the playmates, awaited 
the arrival of the relations and friends who came with 
congratulations and wedding-gifts. In front of the 
throne in a circle were placed rows of chairs, and in 
the centre was a table covered with rich and well- 
filled dishes of silver and crystal, beakers and flagons, 
drinking horns and cups, decorated with leaves and 



222 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



ribbons, festoons and garlands. The playmates some- 
times handed round small cakes with comfits. 

The bride had not worn her crown as yet, but her 
hair was finely braided and scented. On her neck 
sparkled a diamond brooch, and diamond or pearl 
earrings in her ears. On her costly stomacher glittered 
a “ pendant,” and around her neck hung necklaces of 
gold or pearls. The bride was not dressed in her 
“ wedding,” but in her “ bride’s,” dress. The very 
wealthy had more than one. Some in the bride’s days 
changed their dress two or three times a day. Some- 
times these bride’s dresses were not less costly than 
that worn on the wedding-day. On her finger the 
bride wore the “ hoop,” and on her wrists gold brace- 
lets set with pearls, or silver bracelets with jewels. 
The groom was no less richly dressed. 

Presents were universally given. Nobody congrat- 
ulated the couple without an offering; and those who 
could not present a piece of furniture, jewelry, china, 
or handsome gift, left a kitchen utensil or small piece 
of money. The lovers exchanged jewels or gold, or, 
if they could afford nothing better, a small article of 
trifling value. However poor the bride and groom 
might be, crowns and green were never lacking, even 
if the neighbors had to defray the cost. 

At Fort Orange, in 1658, Abraham Vosborch’s wife 
sued Annetie Li evens, wife of Goosen Gerritsen, for 
payment of some “ coronets,” which she loaned de- 
fendant. Annetie pleaded that she and Maria Wessel- 
sen being bridesmaids had borrowed the articles in 
common. They were ordered to pay the bill between 
them. Annetie Lievens also figured in court again 
soon after her wedding, for, on July 19, 1657, her 
husband, Goosen, sued Jurriaen Jansen for having 
circulated a report that he was betrothed to Annetie 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



223 



Lievens. Jansen acknowledged having circulated the 
false report, but pleaded that he had been instigated 
to it by Cornelis Teunissen. On confessing the false- 
hood of his statement, and asking pardon of bride- 
groom, God, and the court, Jurriaen was pardoned. 

Seated before her large mirror and toilet-table, on 
which stood one of those small cabinets of costly 
wood, inlaid with ivory, with numerous small drawers 
for powder, perfume, patches, hairpins, tweezers, 
small scissors, brushes, and everything belonging to 
the toilette of a lady of the period, sat the bride. On 
the table were also the standing mirror and the gilded 
leather comb and brush case. The costly wedding- 
basket had been unpacked, and the rich garments were 
lying about. Near the bride stood the bridesmaids, 
superintending the dressing of her hair. Notwithstand- 
ing the sermons against curling hair and powdered 
and false wigs, lion’s manes, loose braids and ribbons, 
hanging locks, corals and pearls, much attention was 
paid to the coiffure. The head-dressing finished, the 
magnificent dress, of the French style, was put on. 
The bride’s dress was as costly as her parents could 
afford. In Holland, the richest brides wore bodices 
and skirts of heavy Lyons silk, white or violet velvet, 
or cloth of silver or of gold, sometimes costing from 
$40 to $80 a yard, trimmed with gold or silver fringe 
and glittering with pearl or diamond buttons. Her 
stomacher was covered with magnificent lace, and her 
cuffs and ruff were also of lace. The latter sometimes 
contained as much as sixty or eighty yards of deftly 
plaited cambric edged with lace. Instead of a ruff the 
bride sometimes wore a turned down French collar 
cut in points and which fell halfway down her back. 
A pearl necklace with jeweled clasp was placed over 
this. Her shoes were of velvet or satin ; her stockings 



224 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



blue, yellow, or cardinal; her gloves perfumed; and 
her fan of mother-of-pearl handle was painted with 
exotic flowers and birds. When her hair was dressed 
and perfumed, the veil was arranged and fastened 
with jeweled or golden pins. 

A bride of less wealth and fashion wore a Lyons 
silk ; but although she preferred white as a rule, black 
was sometimes chosen, and this was put away after 
the wedding, and used for mourning when occasion 
demanded. Brides of humbler station in life dispensed 
with the fan and perfumed gloves, but never with the 
veil, unless they were of the very poorest. With the 
ordinary citizens this was of cambric, embroidered with 
acorns in the corners, and plaited around the face. The 
rich bride always wore a lace veil fixed to the head- 
dress above the forehead, and descending in wide folds 
to her feet. Sometimes she was hidden in a cloud of 
lace. The veil was generally worn only when the wed- 
ding was “ consecrated ” ; but sometimes the bride wore 
it all day ; this was called, “ standing in the white.” 
“ They rig themselves up nicely,” writes J. Buck- 
man, an Englishman ; “ they load their fingers with 
such heavy gold and silver rings that they crack. They 
rather go hungry, so that they be able to cover them- 
selves with silver ornaments on both sides of their 
bodies, until they wabble like a fatted goose. The 
clothes they wear, are that wide, that their fat stomachs 
can hardly be noticed. And their particular pride is 
in their hands that they are whiter than they ought to 
be.” 

The women of New Netherland were in no wise 
behind their sisters in Fatherland of the same station 
in life in their love of jewelry and rich clothes; and 
the wills and inventories of the period show that the 
mothers were able to start their daughters in life some- 




From an old print 



A DUTCH BRIDE IN STATE 

SEVENTEENTH CENTURY 




COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



225 



times with considerable luxury in this respect. Gold 
jewelry, enamels, pearls, emeralds, and diamonds were 
by no means rare in New Amsterdam. The patroons, 
too, were opulent and elegant in their tastes. William 
Van Rensselaer was a pearl merchant, and it was to 
him that the Earl of Bellomont applied when he wanted 
to satisfy his youthful bride’s craving for a pearl neck- 
lace. If any independent evidence were necessary to 
prove the existence here of the display of wealth and 
taste in the latest style of the day, we have only to turn 
to Madam Knight, who tells us : 

The English go very fashionable in their dress. But 
the Dutch, especially the middling sort, differ from our 
women, in their habitt go loose, were French muches w ch 
are like a Capp and a head band in one, leaving their ears 
bare, which are set out with Jewells of a large size and 
many in number. And their fingers hoop’t with Rings, 
some with large stones in them of many Coullers as were 
their pendants in their ears, which you should see very old 
women wear as well as young. 

While the bride was being dressed at her home, the 
groom’s best man was busy helping him dress at the 
home of one of his bosom friends. The groom’s 
clothes were also costly and in keeping with his social 
position. Men of modest means wore waistcoat and 
trousers of cloth, wool, or serge, and the favorite 
costume was a heavy durable “ Leyden cloth.” Some- 
times the wedding costume was handed down from 
generation to generation, and worn by children and 
grandchildren, the cut being altered to suit the fashion. 
A handsome black suit is found in the wardrobe of 
nearly every Dutch gentleman in New Amsterdam. 
What the average bridegroom received from his 
parents, we learn from a will dated 1698, in which 

is 



226 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Catharine Blanck, widow of Jurian Blanck, left to her 
son, Symon Barentsen, 30 shillings in full for all pretence 
he may have to my estate, real and personal ; he having 
been sufficiently provided for during the life of my hus- 
band Jurian Blanck; having received one half of a sloop, 
a wedding dinner, two wedding suits, a cloak, a fine red 
broadcloth waistcoat with silver thread buttons, one half 
dozen fine holland shirts, one half-dozen striped Calico 
neck cloths, an ozenbrig feather bed, two new blankets 
and had his diett for two years after he was married. 

The toilets of both bride and groom being completed, 
the bride, preceded by her playmates, enters the recep- 
tion-room, where nothing has been changed since the 
day of the formal betrothal. She takes her place on 
the throne, and is soon joined by the bridegroom. 
Now the doors are opened to admit the guests, who 
enter to see the bouquet given to the bride and the 
crown put on her head. The bouquet was of real or 
artificial flowers ornamented with a Cupid; the cipher 
of the betrothed ; or two pierced hearts or clasped hands 
made of silver or gold. It was pinned by the groom 
on the bride’s bosom. The little crowns in the bouquet 
differed according to the rank of the groom. Citizens 
made crowns of palm, majoram, and flowers, while 
more important people wrapped a ribbon with jewels 
and pearls around it or placed a velvet band studded 
with diamonds around the stem. After this ceremony 
the guests attacked the pyramids of food on the table 
and drank “ the Bride’s Tears ” with many blessings. 
A couple of boys then took up the bride’s costly train, 
and threw the veil over her face; and now upon a 
path strewn with roses and through a decorated arch 
the couple went to the church. There everything had 
been prepared beforehand; a handsome carpet was 
laid in the nave, where two armchairs wreathed in 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



227 



green and two footstools were placed for the bride and 
groom. Behind these were placed the chairs for the 
family and playmates. Sometimes the choir arch was 
also wreathed in green, or an arch of honor was built. 
Marrying with closed doors was not known then. 
The ceremony was performed in public, and began by 
the reading of parts of the epistles of Saint Paul, with 
psalm-singing between the lessons. While this was 
going on, the bridal party entered the church, the 
bride and bridegroom being solemnly escorted by their 
parents. Then the pastor entered the pulpit, read the 
formulas of marriage, took the oath, and ordered the 
singing of a psalm, and also a collection to be taken up 
for the poor, after which the company, preceded by 
the bride and groom, left the church, their pathway 
being strewn with palms and flowers, and proceeded to 
the bride’s home. 

The wedding-procession here was not always devoid 
of excitement. On one occasion at least, a bride was 
insulted as she passed on her way leaning on the arm 
of her newly made husband, who promptly sued the 
offender. We learn, in June, 1658, that Philip Schoof 
brought a case against Anneke Sibouts, who insulted 
his bride, Jannetje Teunis Kray, as they were coming 
out of church from the wedding. She said the bride 
did not deserve to have palms strewed before her. 
Very rarely, indeed, was a wedding performed at the 
City Hall or Court House. On the return of the 
wedding-party to the bride’s home, a collation was 
served in the reception-room. This consisted of 
sugared cake, marchpane, sugared almonds, chapter- 
sticks, sugared beans, Hippocras, and many kinds of 
sweet cordials. Sometimes, immediately after the 
ceremony, the guests would all view the sleeping-room 
of the young couple. From there they went to the 



228 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



wedding-dinner. Unless this was given in the recep- 
tion-room, an adjoining room was also decorated with 
green, with garlands of maiden-palm and flowers. 
The fine porcelains on the mantel were filled with 
flowers, and everything, even the buffet, was wreathed 
in green and decorated with ribbons. The buffet was 
resplendent with fine porcelain, family silver, and some- 
times a gold table service, beakers, glasses, etc., which 
were beautifully engraved and many of which had 
belonged to grandparents and great-grandparents. 
Generally the crown descended from the ceiling over 
the heads of the young couple, in the centre of which 
emblems of love were hung. Around the table were 
placed chairs, with embroidered cushions for the guests, 
the number of which was decided by permit, and in 
Amsterdam was not allowed to exceed fifty; but this 
was not always respected, for a rich entertainer would 
rather pay the heavy fines than that anybody should 
be absent — heedless of pulpit denunciations. The 
tables were horseshoe shaped. At the head sat the 
bride and groom, and the other guests according to 
their relationship, rank, and age. This placing of 
guests was of supreme importance and those who felt 
themselves not sufficiently honored often left the table ; 
thus serious family quarrels often had their origin 
from the breach of etiquette. The playmates served 
the happy couple. According to some rules, the dinner 
had to consist of two courses : a “ fore ” and “ dinner ” 
course. The first consisted of fifty or more different 
dishes served on large round or oval dishes of pewter, 
porcelain, and earthenware for meats, and deep large 
plates for soup; and these dishes and plates stood be- 
tween garlands, flowers, and palms, which so com- 
pletely covered the table that the costly damask table- 
cloth could hardly be seen. Even the plates were 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



229 



surrounded by green, and flowers and tulips filled the 
many flower-vases on the table. The food was piled 
in pyramids on the dishes, — the beef and mutton in 
large pieces ; the wild boar and venison in quarters ; 
the partridges, capons, and ducks in numbers from 
twelve to twenty-four. At rich weddings whole sheep, 
young goats, sucking lambs, and pigs were served, 
roasted on the spit, and stuffed, while poultry and 
venison, hares and rabbits were served by the dozen on 
one platter. The centre-piece or principal dish was 
always a beautifully dressed peacock with spread 
plumage or a turkey. Between the plates and platters 
were pyramids of fruit. According to an ordinance in 
1655, it was forbidden to put fine candy on the table 
under a fine of $40, but no notice was taken of this. 
At many wedding-dinners there were piles of patties 
of hares, chicken, salmon, cheese, and fruit ; flat apple, 
brown, and wine tarts. The centre of this course 
was marchpane. The smaller candies were made in 
mythological figures, hunts, or allegorical subjects, 
sometimes emblematic of the trade or position of the 
groom, or the arms of the couple. The larger pieces 
of sugar work represented scenes of Leda, Danse, 
Noah’s Ark, etc. At some weddings all kinds of com- 
fits were seen, for the most part French, such as 
candied peel of oranges, ginger, comfits of sugar, 
Spanish comfits of cherries, sweet and delicate melons, 
pears, pomegranates, etc. The wines were Ay-Fron- 
tenac, Chablis, Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish, and 
Malmsey that cost two hundred ducats a barrel. Delft, 
Breda, Dordt, and Limburg beer were also drunk. 
Both wine and beer were poured out of cans with lids 
or spouts, some of great antiquity and strange inscrip- 
tions, which stood on the buffet or side tables, and from 
which the liquid was poured into the various drinking- 



230 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



vessels on the table and presented to the company. 
After the grace was said by a clergyman or, in his 
absence, by the father of the groom, the table-laws 
were read by the table-master. They were mostly in 
rhyme, and ended to the effect that anybody trans- 
gressing them would have to empty a large glass (pipe 
or whistle) as a fine. 

The Dutch were generally considered as wasteful 
and lavish at fetes and holidays as they were economical 
and staid in daily life. At the beginning of the feast 
everything was conducted with ceremony, but hardly 
were the official healths propounded when the drinking- 
vessels were brought on the table, and the merriment 
knew no bounds; people began with the smaller and 
ended with the larger bumpers ( Uuiten ). Then were 
drunk the “ clover-leaf ” (see page 272), or rather 
the “ clover leaf with the tail,” the “ friendship’s 
beaker,” and “ the Arminian drink,” the “ drink on the 
country’s prosperity,” the “ triple-drink,” the “ little 
mill,” the “ ship’s sails,” the “ great and small fish- 
eries,” “ Hans in the cellar,” “ the abbot and his 
monks,” “Alva was tolled out ” (a reminiscence of the 
Spanish War), or “ St. Gertrude’s health,” all with the 
accompaniment of the songs belonging to the various 
drinks. At important weddings it was the custom to 
present the guest with silver or golden wedding medals, 
struck for the occasion, all on the subject of love and 
increase of family. These medals later were replaced 
by silver shields, on which the names of the couple 
were engraved, with the usual emblems. 

The wedding generally wound up with a dance for 
which a band of music was hired by the families. The 
farmers were satisfied with a fiddler and a bag-piper 
(doedel-zak ) . 

There the bride was danced to bed, that is, she was 



COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



231 

brought to the bedroom where the mother and brides- 
maids were awaiting her. 

Before going away the green was torn off the 
walls and mirrors and a dance round the bride’s 
crown was held. This crown, under which the bride 
had been seated was placed on a chair or on the floor, 
and the guests danced around it, after which it was 
declared forfeited, torn to pieces, and all who could 
get any flower or ribbon from it would pin it to his or 
her dress as a trophy of the wedding, and wear it home. 
Sometimes the bride was blindfolded, and the little 
crown that she wore was taken from her head before 
she retired. The lucky one who had grabbed the crown 
was supposed to be the first to get married. The bride 
did not only part with her little crown, but she also gave 
away her garters. These were sometimes very costly, 
and were given away by her in her bedroom; for it 
was the custom for her escort to remain until she had 
loosened her garters or had one of her friends loosen 
them for her. The young man who had the good 
fortune to get them fastened them as a trophy to his 
waistcoat. 

The groom’s nightdress was generally kept hidden 
until he had promised to give a pleasure-party, which 
was held shortly after the wedding. Sometimes, to 
escape the annoyance of the friends and guests, the 
bedroom was prepared in the house of a relative or 
friend. If the guests discovered this, they would 
march thither in state, carrying a torch of burning 
candles. Then followed the couples with clanging 
shovels and tongs. When near the house the torch was 
laid on the ground and a dance was held around it 
until the couple appeared. 

The morning after the wedding, the young wife 
received from her husband the “ morning gift,” gen- 



232 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



erally a jeweled ring, a costly fur, or an ornament for 
the home. The parents on both sides also gave them 
“ morning gifts.” The remnants of the wedding-feast 
were given to the playmates unless they did not want 
them; in that case they were given to the poor or 
to the orphan-house. The “ after-fun ” ( Napret ), 
consisting of excursions and parties, was kept up for 
three weeks after the wedding. 

Poorer people were often married in numbers on 
the appointed days, and went on foot, sometimes pre- 
ceded by the strewers, who continually strewed flowers 
and green from a basket. So accompanied by a crowd 
of people they would walk to the church and back 
again. 

With even a greater abundance of fish, flesh, and 
fowl in New Amsterdam, the colonists lavishly enter- 
tained on such occasions as weddings and ceremonial 
dinners. Oysters, crabs, lobsters, and game of all 
kinds were plentiful, fruit was abundant, and bakers 
and pastry-cooks numerous and efficient. In 1654, 
Jacob Stoffelsen went to court with Ide Van Vorst 
because she laid claim to “ half a negro whom he re- 
ceived from Captain Geurt Tysen and his company in 
return for a feast given to him at which two sheep 
were eaten, and Ide van Vorst had also two sheep at 
her wedding.” Ide insisted that the cost of the sheep 
was to be shared by both sides. 

The same ostentation and extravagant expenditure, 
often far beyond the means of the hosts, prevailed here 
as in the Fatherland. The bride received from her 
parents a generous trousseau, and it was customary 
for the bridegroom’s parents also to dress him hand- 
somely; for instance, Mrs Anna Cuyler (1702) leaves 
to her daughter Mary £200 and to Eve £120, “ it being 
my custom to give so much to each of my daughters 




PORCELAIN AND EARTHENWARE 
RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 




COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE 



233 



at their marriage for their wedding, which they have 
had.” Also, in 1684, Jacob Delany leaves to his 
daughter, Cornelia, “ 200 guilders Holland money for 
her outsetting, before any division.” 

On the wedding-day, open house was kept, and in the 
small city of New Amsterdam practically everybody 
was welcomed. The amount of liquor consumed at 
the wedding of an ordinary burgher’s daughter was 
considerable. This we gather from more tljan one 
entry in the records, which show that the parents were 
not over-particular in paying the excise when making 
provision for the entertainment. Thus, on Jan. 2, 
1660, Peter Pia was sued for excise on beer laid in for 
his daughter’s wedding; and on Jan. 4, 1661, Marten 
de Werft laid in three barrels of beer for his wedding 
and paid excise on only five half-barrels. 

It will be remembered that it was at the wedding- 
breakfast of Sara Roeloffse, daughter of Anneke 
Jans to Hans Kiersted, the surgeon, that Director- 
General Kieft, taking advantage of the general merri- 
ment after the first four or five drinks, induced the 
guests to subscribe liberally towards the funds for 
building the new church in the Fort. 

It was by no means unusual for the merry-making 
to end in a drunken orgy, as was frequently the case 
at funerals, christenings, and the fairs and festivals. 
For example, on July 5, 1655, Borger Jorisen, being 
lately at the wedding of Nicolaes de Meyer, insulted 
Burgomaster Allart Anthony in presence of several 
friends. Jorisen acknowledged the fault, but pleaded 
that the words were spoken in drunkenness. 

Sometimes practical jokes were played, and if for 
any reason the bride and groom were unpopular they 
were insulted. For instance, on Feb. 6, 1663, Johannes 
La Montague, sheriff of New Haerlem, complains of 



234 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



divers persons for riot, in planting a May-pole deco- 
rated with rags before the door of a newly married 
couple and assembling around the house, horning, etc. 
The couple were Pieter Jansen Slot, son of the ex- 
schepen, and Marritie van Winckel of Ahasimus. The 
banns were published on February 2, and the villagers 
indulged in horse-play to the great annoyance of the 
young couple. Also, on Apr. 23, 1678, we learn that 
William Loveridge writes to Captain Brockholls, com- 
plaining of a fine imposed on him for setting up a 
tree in Albany before Mr. Thompson’s door when he 
was married, the same being the manner and custom 
of the place. Loveridge was sent to jail for the offense, 
but was released on giving bonds for good behavior. 




CHAPTER XI 

PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS — BIRTHS 
AND DEATHS 

W HILE the Dutch clergy in general belonged 
to the poorer classes, the doctors, on the 
contrary, belonged to the higher burgher 
class and sometimes even to the nobility. They were 
educated first in the Greek and Latin schools of their 
native towns, and then proceeded to one of the uni- 
versities. Later they went abroad to become acquainted 
with the celebrities of their profession in the principal 
cities of Europe and to complete their education under 
their tuition and to attain the dignity of Doctor of 
Medicine. Some settled abroad, others were called to 
a professorship or were appointed personal physicians 
to royalties or other dignitaries, and returned laden 
with honors and fame to their Fatherland, where they 
were appointed to positions of honor. Sometimes they 
even became burgomasters. Like the clergy, many doc- 
tors were learned in a variety of sciences. There were 
astronomers, lawyers, and able writers among them. 
The doctors were ranked among the notables of the 
cities, and were generally held in high esteem. On 
great occasions they were honored with presents from 
the cities, and the municipal doctors were presented with 
“ tabbard cloth” (cloth to make a cloak) every year. 
At the civic dinner they yielded precedence to the 
clergy; but the dinners they themselves gave were 
I 235 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



236 

sometimes so splendid that the Burgomasters became 
jealous and they were consequently fined by the 
“ Sellouts.” 

The salaries of the city doctors varied from four 
hundred to twelve hundred florins; and besides this 
they charged the burghers a fee of twelve cents and 
poor patients eight cents (four stivers). Those who 
were unable to pay were treated free of charge. The 
preachers, city lawyers, and apothecaries were also 
treated at the city’s expense. Like the apothecaries, 
the doctors had the name of the place from where they 
had their diploma mentioned on their name-plate on 
the door. Doctors of the Seventeenth Century fol- 
lowed their own theories and disputed as ardently 
among themselves as did the clergy. Like the preacher, 
the doctor always had his “ study.” This was gen- 
erally arranged with an eye to effect. Contemporary 
prints and paintings usually show him in a sort of 
cavernous room, seated at a table surrounded by quar- 
tos and folios. He wears a fur-lined coat, has a skull- 
cap on his head, and is writing a prescription, although 
this was generally done at the counter in the apothe- 
cary’s shop. Before him stand a pewter inkstand, an 
hour-glass and a skull, and at his feet sit two cats. 
In the back are a bookcase and a table with all kinds of 
surgical instruments. Patients are crowding in at the 
door. 

The physician of the period is a well-known figure 
in the pictures of the Little Dutch Masters, particularly 
Jan Steen, who represents him in all the gravity and 
sometimes pretentious pose he so often assumed. He 
always appears in a black costume with pointed hat like 
that worn by Sganarelle in Moliere’s Medecin malgre 
lui. 

There were many quack doctors in this age, who had 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 



237 



various elixirs and could even remove “ stones from the 
head,” and who professed to be able to make gold and 
to lengthen life. Other “ wonder doctors ” could 
“ read off ” fevers and drive out devils. Many also 
sold blessed images, pennies, and scapularies. 

In the Seventeenth Century the barber was not yet 
separated from the surgeon. Phlebotomy was still re- 
garded as a cure for fever and many other diseases, 
and the barber did the necessary cupping and bleeding. 
His calling was far more dignified than at present, both 
in Holland and England. In the latter country the 
barbers and surgeons did not part company to form 
separate corporations till 1742. In 1627, we find that 
one of the officers of a London charitable foundation 
was “ One chirurgeon barber who shall cut and pole 
the hair of all the scholars of the hospital; and also 
look to the cure of all those within the hospital who 
anyway shall stand in need of his art.” Similarly, in 
New Netherland, in 1664, Sybrandt Cornelissen from 
Flensburgh was appointed assistant surgeon, to be em- 
ployed in shaving, bleeding, and administering medi- 
cines to the soldiers. Dr. Jacob De Lange was one of 
these barber surgeons, who had attained to wealth at 
the end of the century. His inventory contains an 
“ iron stick to put out to hang the barber’s bason.” 

As in so many other fields, the practice of medicine 
was almost identical in England and Holland; charla- 
tanism was rampant, and the barber was the surgeon. 
The first doctors sent to New Netherland were those 
who ministered to the ills of the crews and passengers 
in the West India Company’s ships, and those who were 
hired to stay here and heal the sick among the Com- 
pany’s servants. The resident doctors appointed by 
the Company charged the independent settlers for their 
services. Sometimes they charged a lump sum for an 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



238 

accident case or an illness, but it was more usual to 
contract with a family or an individual for an annual 
payment. The duties of the ship’s surgeon are plainly 
set forth in the regulations of 1656: 

The barbers, whether on board a ship or ships or on 
land, shall be bound to give their services cheerfully, and 
to use all diligence to restore the patients to health, without 
receiving therefor any compensation except their monthly 
pay, and, in case any of them receive any money or prom- 
ise of payment, they shall be obliged to restore what they 
received, and the promise shall be null and void. 

The Company moreover gave an express promise 
that 

the wounded shall be properly taken care of by means of 
good Surgeons ; and if any persons in the employment 
of the City, and in the execution of their command, office, 
or service, happen to be maimed, lamed, or otherwise be 
deprived of their health, they shall be remunerated as 
follows, To wit: 



For the loss of the right arm 


A- 333 


(( 


ft 


it 


“ “ left arm 


266 


«< 


tt 


tt 


“ a leg 


240 


u 


ft 


tt 


“ both legs 


533 


tt 


u 


n 


“ one eye 




tt 


ft 


tt 


“ both eyes 




tt 


ft 


tt 


“ the left hand 




a 


tf 


tt 


“ the right hand 




a 


tf 


n 


“ both hands 


933 


For the loss of all other members and lameness, whereof 



any person being fully cured and healed, yet may not be 
restored to his former health, or may be maimed or thereby 
disabled from the use which he previously had of his 
limbs, he shall therefor be proportionally indemnified at 
the discretion of the Commissioners or Directors, according 
to previous inspection of the Doctors, Surgeons, or other 
competent judges. Provided, always, that he show and 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 



239 



produce a certificate from his superior officer, who, at 
the time of his being wounded and maimed had the com- 
mand, and of the entire Ship’s Council, that he had re- 
ceived the wound in the execution of his office and em- 
ployment in the service of the City. 

In 1652, the surgeons petitioned that nobody but they 
shall be allowed to shave others. To this the director 
and Council replied that shaving was properly not in 
the province of the surgeons, but only an appendix to 
their calling; that nobody could be prevented from 
pleasing himself in that matter, or serving anybody else 
for friendship’s sake or out of courtesy, without receiv- 
ing payment for it or keeping a shop to do it in, which 
was expressly forbidden. The authorities added: 

Whereas we are informed that last summer two or 
three grave mistakes have been made by the inexperience 
of some ships’ barbers, therefore the Director and Council 
order herewith that such ships’ barbers shall not dress 
any wounds or prescribe for any one on land, without 
the knowledge and special request of the above petitioners 
or at least Doctor La Montagne. 

The names of the petitioning surgeons were 

Jan Croon, Hans Kierstede, 

Van der Bogaert, Jacob Hendricksen, 

Aldart Swartout, Varre Vanger, 

Jacob Hughes. 

The following is a list of doctors appointed by the 
West India Company to practice in New Netherland: 

1630. Herman Mynderts van den Bogaert. 

1637. Johannes La Montagne: Member of the Supreme 

Council and Vice Director of Fort Orange. 

1638. Hans Kierstede (died in 1671). 

Peter van der Linde. 






DUTCH NEW YORK 



240 

Gerrit Schut. 

Jan Pietersen van Essendelft (died in 1640). 

1644. Paulus van der Beeck from Bremen. 

(He had served in Curagao and on board the Com- 
pany’s ships: settled in Breuckelen.) 

1647. William Hays of Barry’s Court, Ireland (served 
since 1641 as chief surgeon in Curasao). 

Peter Vreucht. 

1649. Jacob Hendricksen Varrevanger( entered the Com- 
pany’s service in 1646, discharged June, 1662). 
Isaac Jansen (ship). 

Jacob Mollenaer (ship). 

Jan Pauw (ship). 

1652. Jan Herwy (Hervey). 

William Noble (ship). 

Gysbert van Imbroch. 

Jacobus Hugues. 

Johannes Megapolensis, jr (returned to Holland 
about 1656). 

M. Cornelis Clock. 

Nov. 18, 1658. Peter Jansen van den Bergh. 

Jacob L’Oragne. 

1659. Alexander Carolus Curtius. 

1660. Harmen Wessels. 

1662. Jan du Parck (military). 

Samuel Megapolensis. 

Cornelis van Dyck (died 1687). 

1673. Henry Taylor. 

Fort Orange 
1642. Abraham Staets. 

1655. Jacob d’Hinse. 

Esopus 

1660. Gysbert van Imbroch. 

1664. Sybrandt Cornelissen van Flensburgh. 

1662. James Clark. 

Folcks Mespath. 

1663. William Leverich. 




DUTCH CLOCK IN THE VAN CORTLANDT 
MANOR HOUSE 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 



241 



Dr. Hans Kierstede arrived with Governor Kieft 
in 1638, and married, in 1642, Sara Roelofs, the 
daughter of Roelof Jansen and Anneke Jans. 

When Mr. Kierstede sued the estate of Solomon La 
Chair for services, an important precedent was estab- 
lished, for the court held : “ Mr. Hans is to be pre- 
ferred before the other creditors as the same is for 
surgeon’s service.” Again, on Sept. 29, 1670, the court 
ordered the curators of the estate of Jan Steelman “to 
pay 388 gl. 4 st. in zeewan for burial and to Mr. Hans 
Kierstede for medicines 27 gl. in zeewan as preferred 
funeral expenses before all others from the first effects.” 
The surgeons did not limit their activities to prac- 
tising medicine, but engaged in trade and various kinds 
of business like the other burghers. Thus, in 1656, we 
find a report on the repairs done to the Company’s 
house by Surgeon Varrevanger. In June, 1654, we 
read : 

Jacob Hendricksen Varrevanger showed by his petition 
that the term of his engagement had expired and that for 
some years he had imported at his own expense from 
Holland all his medicines. He requested that some com- 
pensation should be given to him for the use of his 
medicaments. 

The Commissary ordered “ to credit to the said Mr. 
Jacob 12 fl. per month from 1 July, 1652 in his account 
for use of his medicines and to increase his salary.” 
The clergy were sometimes curers of bodies as well 
as of souls. A supply of drugs was sent from Holland 
in the spring of 1663 f° r “ an English clergyman 
versed in the art of Physick and willing to serve in the 
capacity of Physician.” It is supposed that this was 
the Rev. William Leverich, who sailed in October, 
1660, in The Spotted Cow from Amsterdam, and who 

16 



242 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



returned in 1662. In 1661, the Rector, Alexander 
Carolus Curtius, appeared in court setting forth that 
the Farmer had spoken to him about payment of the 
excise ; “ and whereas Professors, Preachers and Rec- 
tors are exempt from excise in Holland, he maintains 
he also is exempt, the rather as the Director General 
has granted him free excise.” The court, however, 
decided against him. 

The expenses of a serious illness are shown in the 
following itemized bill : 



Robert Hammon Esq. Dr. 1689 



To his chamber 4 months 


1 


5 


0 


To firewood in time of his sickness night and day 


1 


4 


0 


To candles 




9 


0 


To cash lent and paid for him 




5 


3 


To diet when he retired himself from town 
To his attendance and extraordinary trouble 




i 5 


0 


during his sickness 

To washing his bedding and linen several times 


2 


10 


0 


a week during his sickness 
To strong drink and rum at several times to 


1 


10 


0 


the watchers 




7 


6 


To John Jewett for watching several times 




6 


0 


To a woman to clean the house 




3 


0 


To paid for him at old Mr. Davenport 




10 


6 


Katharin Coleman 


£9 


5 


3 



The surgeons frequently took payment in shop goods. 
Thus, on Oct. 31, 1656, Aldart Swartwout demands 
delivery of a kettle promised for curing Jacob Schel- 
tinger’s leg. The latter acknowledges the promise but 
not the cure. Both parties acknowledge to have 
agreed to a perfect cure or no pay, so the matter is 
referred to Mr. Hans Kierstede and Mr. Jacob Varre- 
vanger, “ both old and experienced surgeons,” to in- 
vestigate and report. On Feb. 11, 1662, the curators 
of the bankrupt estate of Dirck Houthuyzen sued Mr. 
Jacob Huges for 6 gl. 11 st. The doctor said he 
attended Dirck one year ; and the court set the one off 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 



243 



against the other. In 1674, Jan de Forest sued Jan- 
nettie Cregier for medical attendance after an accident : 
he had overcharged and had to pay back twelve pounds 
of butter. Gerrit Huygen married Herman Wesselsen’s 
widow. In August, 1673, he sued Manuel Sanders, 
a negro, for 26^4 schepels of wheat, being the yearly 
salary of his deceased predecessor. 

The Court Records supply ample evidence that the 
doctors of the day supplied their professional services 
to private families or individuals by the year, and often 
had trouble to collect their annual stipend. In October, 
1661, for example, Mr. Jacob Huges sued five patients 
for unpaid fees. First came Jan Janzen van de Lange 
Straat, who was ordered to pay the doctor “ six guilders 
for labour/' Then Ludowyck Post was ordered to 
deposit “ twenty guilders for services ” with the 
Secretary of this City. Pelgrum Clock, who owed 
“ nine guilders yearly salary,” received a similar judg- 
ment. Martin Clazen denied owing eight guilders for 
service rendered, saying that his wife lay with a severe 
accident and agreed with the surgeon for a year, but 
that Mr. Jacob did not once come to see after his 
wife, and therefore he had been obliged to call in Mr. 
Hans Kierstede to whom he must pay three times as 
much. 

From Josentje Virhage the doctor demanded ten 
guilders yearly money for account of her husband. 
Josentje says she is married only two years to her hus- 
band and cannot know what that is for, and he is long 
since gone to dwell at Fort Orange, and has sent the 
doctor a beaver. The latter acknowledges having re- 
ceived the beaver, but the bill is more. Josentje says 
she has not the money now, but promises to send it 
at the next hunt; with which the doctor is content. 
In 1660, Gysbert van Imburch, surgeon at Fort Orange, 



244 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



treated a soldier who had eighteen wounds, sued the 
Company for payment, and got judgment for fifty 
guilders in beavers. On Sept. 9, 1659, Jacob Huges 
had to sue Hendrick the Spaniard for half a beaver in 
payment for some medicaments. Hendrick pleaded 
that the doctor did not tell him how often he should 
take them! 

On June 22, 1660, Harmen Wessels sued William 
Bredenbent for thirty florins in zeewan or twenty 
florins in beaver, or fifteen florins in silver money, 
for curing a sore in Mrs. Bredebent’s shoulder, and 
says that defendant allows him only six guilders in 
zeewan. William pleads that it is quite enough, as 
he can hire the doctor a whole year for twelve guilders. 
The case was referred to Messrs. Kierstede and Varre- 
vanger for arbitration. On March 18, 1664, Harmen 
Wessels sued Hendrick Arenzen for seven beavers or 
one hundred and forty guilders in seawant for sur- 
geon’s fees. June 18, 1667, he got judgment against 
Mme. van Leeuwen for two hundred and twenty-nine 
orins zeawant, refusing to wait for payment till her 
husband’s arrival. Dr. Henry Tailor (1672) recovered 
one hundred and fourteen florins wampum from Egbert 
Mynders, on Dr. Jacob Varrevanger’s award. 

In New Amsterdam the doctors found plenty to do, 
not only in curing disease, but in healing wounds 
gained in tavern brawls, stabbing and slashing affrays, 
and the frequent fights and quarrels. Sometimes the 
doctors themselves were violent characters and supplied 
work for fellow members of their profession. The 
above Dr. Henry Taylor was irascible, to say the least. 
In 1673, Else Manning complained that her master, 
Dr. Henry Taylor, “ hath assaulted en battered hur in 
the fease ” and claimed eighty florins for wages due. 
The Schout prosecuted the doctor, and wanted him 



PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS 



'245 

fined “ 100 fl. above the smart and surgeon’s fee, with 
costs, for he had struck his late maid on the head so 
that the blood ran out her nose and she lay blind the 
whole 24 hours.” The doctor admitted having struck 
one blow in haste and had to pay the eighty florins as 
well as twenty-five florins and costs. Two weeks later, 
Dr. Harmen Wessels recovered twenty-five florins and 
costs from his brother surgeon “ for curing his maid 
and for her board and drink.” 

At the request of Surgeon Hendricksen Varrevanger, 
a hospital for sick soldiers who had been billeted on 
private families, and the Company’s negroes, was 
established on Dec. 23, 1638. The first town midwives 
were (163-) Hilletje Wilburgh, and Tyron Jansen or 
Jonas, mother of Anneke Jans. 

Regarding medicinal plants, Van der Donck says: 

No reasonable person will doubt that there are not many 
medicinal and healing plants in the New Netherlands. 
A certain chirurgeon, who was also a botanist, had a 
beautiful garden there, wherein a great variety of medici- 
nal wild plants were collected, but the owner has removed 
and the garden lies neglected. Because sickness does not 
prevail much, I suppose the subject has received less 
attention. The plants which are known to us are the 
following: Capilli veneris, scholopendria, angelica, poly- 
podium, verbascum album, calteus sacerdotis, atriplex 
hortensis and marina, chortium, turrites, calamus aroma- 
ticus, sassafras, rois Virginianum, ranunculus, plantago, 
bursa pastoris, malva, origaenum, geranicum, althea, 
cinoroton pseudo, daphine, viola, ireas, indigo silvestris, 
sigillum salamonis, sanguis, draconum, consolidae, mille- 
folium, noli me tangere, cardo benedictus, agrimonium, 
serpentariae, coriander, leeks, wild leeks, Spanish figs, 
elatine, camperfolie, petum male and female, and many 
other plants. The land is full of different kinds of herbs 
and trees besides those enumerated, among which there 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



246 

undoubtedly are good simplicia, with which discreet per- 
sons would do much good ; for we know that the Indians 
with roots, bulbs, leaves, etc., cure dangerous wounds and 
old sores, of which we have seen many instances. 

And again, in the Representation of New Netherland 
(1650), we read: 

The medicinal plants found in New Netherland in a 
day, by a little search, as far as they have come to our 
knowledge, consist principally of Venus’s hair, hart’s 
tongue, lingwort, polypody, white mullein, priest’s shoe, 
garden and sea beach orach, water germander, tower- 
mustard, sweet flag, sassafras, crowfoot, plantain, shep- 
herd’s purse, mallows, wild majoram, crane’s bill, marsh- 
mallows, false eglantine, laurel, violet, blue flag, wild 
indigo, Solomon’s seal, dragon’s blood, comfrey, milfoil, 
many sorts of fern, wild lilies of different kinds, agrimony, 
wild leek, blessed thistle, snake-root, Spanish figs, which 
grow out of the leaves, tarragon and numerous other 
plants and flowers. ... It is certain that the Indigo 
Silvestris grows here spontaneously without human aid. 
It could be easily cultivated if there were people who 
would undertake it. 

Van der Donck says that Kilian van Rensselaer sent 
seeds of the Indigo Silvestris to his colony and that 
it was sown on Bear Island ; and that Augustin Heer- 
man, “ a curious man and lover of the country, made 
an experiment near New Amsterdam, where he planted 
indigo seed, which grew well and yielded much. Sam- 
ples of this indigo were sent over to the Netherlands, 
which were found to be better than common.” Minuit 
sowed canary seed, which grew and yielded well, but 
he thought that the “ time of the cultivators should 
not be spent on such experiments but to the raising of 
the necessaries of life.” 

Writing to the West India Company on Sept. 17, 




OLD CHEST, LINEN PRESS, AND TWO WARMING-PANS 

OWNED BY MR. FRANS MIDDELKOOP, NEW YORK 




BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



247 



1659, Governor Stuyvesant requests that “ medicinal 
seeds ” be sent, and instructs his correspondents to have 
each package of seeds placed in a separate linen bag 
and these small bags in a great linen bag to be hung 
up during the voyage so as to receive light and air. 
On Dec. 22, 1659, the Directors inform him that the 
seeds requested have been sent, and also that they have 
sent some silkworm seeds as well. 

The arrival of a new member of the family was an 
event of great delight to the Dutch household. Great 
preparations were made for the comfort of the new- 
comer, and in rich homes presents poured in. Many of 
these were silver, such as the cup, the pap-bowl, the 
cinnamon-bowl, spoons, etc. A handsome basket lined 
with silk, preferably yellow, and draped with lace, was 
filled with toilet articles, and was generally the gift 
of the husband’s mother, or aunt, to the young mother. 
Another and larger basket contained the linen. The 
cradle was also tastefully and comfortably draped, and 
stood near the fire, from which it was protected by a 
screen. Special drinks and sweet cakes, or biscuits, 
were offered to visitors. In 1662, a case comes into the 
New Amsterdam Court regarding these special breads, 
for we read: 

Pursuant to the order of this, W. court, the defendant 
produces a declaration of Hieletje Jans, wife of Yde Cor- 
nelis, passed before the Notary Salomon La Chair, 23 
August, 1662, to the effect that she had agreed with de- 
fendant in the presence of her husband’s sister and 
Trijntje Walings, to bake a quantity of biscuit for her 
lying-in. Burgomasters and Schepens, having read and 
considered the declaration, find that defendant has not 
baked the rolls with a design to sell them ; but for biscuit ; 
therefore dismiss the Officer’s entered demand and de- 
duced conclusion. 



1 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



248 

It was usual for the mother to be churched six weeks 
after the birth of the child. It would have been con- 
sidered bad manners if she had gone out of doors, or 
appeared in society, or in the street before this cere- 
mony, and it would have been against all customs if 
at her return no “ churchtrip meal ” ( kerkgongsmaal ) 
had been prepared. According to the old Dutch custom 
at those dinners, there was “ hearty fare and plenty of 
good cheer.” As this was being carried to excess, an 
ordinance from the church was published that at a 
christening-dinner, no more than a specified number 
of neighbors were allowed to be present. This number 
differed in the various towns. Although, according to 
the resolutions of the church, the child had to be 
baptized, as soon as possible after birth, it became 
customary among the richer classes to put off the 
baptism until after the mother had made her first visit 
to the church. The baptism took place in the church, 
sometimes before, and sometimes after the sermon, 
but generally during the afternoon service, rarely at the 
morning or evening service. The compulsory baptism, 
performed in case of illness by the nurse was not con- 
sidered legal. Sick children were sometimes baptized 
before the service. Natural children, the birth of whom 
had to be sworn to by the nurse before the church 
council, were christened in some places in the forenoon. 
The father had to be present at the baptism, and it was 
left to him to bring brothers or sisters or friends as 
witnesses, provided these were members of the Re- 
formed Church and did not stand under “ censure ” or 
excommunication. Prominent burghers wore on such 
an occasion a special suit of clothes, called the “ Lord’s 
Supper Suit ” (avondmaalpak ) , or he appeared in a sol- 
emn black suit and white collar. Many, however, wore 
their wedding-suit or had one made for the occasion. 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



249 



The laws of New Amsterdam were very strict re- 
garding any irregular baptisms. In 1674, Sellout De 
Mill, against Jannettie de Kleuse, said that she baptized 
a child of Reformed parents on the 18th of April, 
“ when the father was from home, which is a thing 
which can never be tolerated by those of the Reformed 
religion; he concludes therefore that the defendant 
shall be imprisoned and moreover be condemned in a 
fine of one hundred guilders zeawant, with costs. 
Defendant admits she baptized the child through igno- 
rance; and requests forgiveness if she did wrong. The 
W. Court having considered the matter and likewise 
weighed the evil consequences and other inconveniences, 
which might result and arise therefrom, condemn the 
defendant for her profanation and disrespect of the 
Holy Sacrament of Baptism that she shall be im- 
prisoned and remain there until further order.” At 
Heemstede there was, in 1657, a Presbyterian colony 
and preacher named Richard Denton, who was liked 
by the Dutch because he conformed in all things to the 
Dutch Church. We learn from Megapolensis and 
Drisius that the Independents of the place listened 
attentively to his preaching, “ but when he began to 
baptise the children of such parents as are not mem- 
bers of the church, they sometimes burst out of the 
church.” 

As in the case of the bride’s dress, the christening 
robe was as costly as the parents’ means would allow. 
Rich families wrapped the baby in a handsome lace 
shawl. The little bonnet showed the sex of the child, 
— six plaits were made for a boy and three for a girl. 
The bows of ribbon also gave evidence of the sex, 
both regarding color and the way they were tied. In 
case the mother had died or the parents happened to be 
in mourning, the baby was dressed in white with black 



250 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



bows. After the baby was swaddled and dressed, 
neighbors and friends were invited to come and have a 
look at it, and light refreshments were offered. Then 
the christening-party started for the church. On this 
day the best pincushion, on which the child’s name was 
picked out in pins, was uncovered. The baby was laid 
on a pillow and wrapped in a “ christening-cloth ” of 
white silk, satin, or Marseilles embroidery, and the 
long skirt of the child’s robe was arranged in folds 
over the nurse’s shoulder to be held by one of the 
witnesses. If there was no font in the church, an urn 
of gold or silver gilt was used, and this was filled with 
lukewarm water. In some places the elder children of 
seven, eight, or nine would carry the baby. 

When the christening-party returned from church, 
the child was blessed by the father, and then undressed 
and dressed afresh by the nurse in a presentation robe 
to be presented to the friends and relatives who were 
invited to the christening-dinner. In the meantime 
the berkemeyer, or large glass goblet with a cover, 
filled with sugared Rhine wine, or the silver brandy 
bowl, was passed around merrily. 

The christening-dinner was a very costly and elabor- 
ate affair and differed little from the wedding-feast. 
During the progress of the dinner the child was again 
presented to the guests, when songs were sung and 
speeches and toasts were made. All the family silver 
and porcelain was set upon the table, which was also 
decorated with fruits and flowers, fine pastries and 
cakes. To these delicacies belonged the suikerdelbol 
gaan, or sugared roll, kraamvetjes , cakes made hollow 
and filled with sugar. Aniseeds covered with a coating 
of white sugar, rough for boys and smooth for girls, 
were also served. The kandeel pot (caudle cup or 
cinnamon cup) was never missing. This was a tall 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



251 



drinking-cup filled with Rhine wine sweetened with 
sugar. In it was placed a stick of cinnamon, — a long 
one if the child were a boy and a short one if a girl. 
When this was handed, the sugar was stirred in the 
cup by the cinnamon stick by the person who pre- 
sented it. 

The fact of having been present at a christening was 
long remembered, and in after years people often re- 
marked to a young man or woman, “ Old friend, I had 
a sugar piece with you ” (“ Oude Kennis, ik heb bij je 
nog een stik met suiker gehad”). 

On the return from the baptismal font of the peter 
or meter (godfather or godmother), the christening- 
gifts were presented or promised. As a rule, these 
were of gold or silver, such as porringers, pap-bowls 
with spoons, a silver whistle, a silver mounted bag, 
if the godfathers and godmothers were of the rich 
burgher class ; but the farmers presented the child with 
silver shoe buckles or coat buttons or some trifle. It 
was also the custom to give a luyer korf (napkin 
basket) completely furnished, or a gold or silver rattle. 
The latter had an ebony or a silver handle and a 
ring on which hung a number of silver bells or coins. 
The top was surmounted by a baby’s head or a fool’s 
head, and in the bottom of the handle was a whistle. 
These were hung round the baby’s neck by a silver 
chain. 

Sometimes the christening-presents were made on 
the day of the birth, or a few days afterwards, on which 
occasion a dinner or kinderbier (baby beer) was given. 
Uninvited guests sometimes entered the house on the 
sly on such occasions, for the more merriment and 
drinking the more honor for the baby. These festivi- 
ties sometimes lasted six weeks, one christening-feast 
following another. The husband in the meantime 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



252 

neglected his business or his work, and an empty purse 
and debts often resulted. The presents were kept in 
the “ show-cabinet,” where also the bride’s gifts and the 
bridegroom’s pipe (see page 218) were on exhibition. 

The silver was taken to the mint only in dire need; 
and then it was sometimes discovered that the “ gold ” 
presents were often of gilded brass. 

When a member of the household became seriously 
ill, the “ Consoler of the Sick ” was called in ; also the 
nearest relations, who did not leave the house until the 1 
patient had died or was out of danger. The reader 
and comforter of the sick was very necessary in the 
new colony, and the West India Company took good 
care to provide emigrants with his services even on 
shipboard. Thus, on Aug. 13, 1655, the Company 
allowed William Brouwer with his wife and three chil- 
dren a free passage on the Waegh, on condition of act- 
ing as reader and comforter of the sick on board. 

The Consoler called frequently to talk to the patient, 
pray with him, or read to him from the “ Consolation 
of the Sick.” Meantime at the church service was held 
and prayers offered for the invalid’s recovery. The 
members of the household also engaged in religious 
commune, reading from the Bible or some religious 
work, and recording the last words and wishes of the 
dying. If the latter was a prominent personage, his 
edifying words were sometimes published; and if he 3 
was a pastor, then they were repeated at the funeral 
sermon to the congregation. When the end approached, 
the family called in the neighbors, who, under penalty 
of a heavy fine, were obliged to answer the call. Then 
all kneeled down in the sick-room, while the pastor read 
the prayers for the dying and spoke some consoling 
words. When the last breath had left the body, the 
nearest blood-relation approached the corpse, closed its 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



253 



eyes, and gave it the parting kiss. Sometimes the 
pastor did this. After this, a mirror was held before 
the mouth of the deceased, or smoke was blown into 
the nostrils. When assured that life was extinct, the 
wedding-ring was taken off the finger and handed over 
to the widow, a sheet was spread over the body, the 
curtains of the bedstead drawn, or the doors of the 
bedstead closed, and all left the death-room to the 
“ wade ” (shroud) neighbors who came to “ lay out ” 
the body. They undressed the corpse and put on the 
“ death wade.” This was a long shirt with wide pleats 
and black trimmings and bows of fine homespun linen. 
This “ wade ” in some places was made by the bride 
in the “ bridal days ” or during the first weeks of mar- 
riage; sometimes even it was worn on the wedding- 
night, and then put away in a special corner of the 
linen-closet. Generally people were satisfied with 
merely dressing the body in this burial gown, and cov- 
ering the head with a linen nightcap with a black plume ; 
but the wealthy dressed the bodies of the dead in rich 
clothes, and late in the century put the large powdered 
wigs on the head. The corpse being “ wade,” that is, 
washed, shaved, combed, or the hair braided and 
dressed, was placed on straw or a rolling mat, — the 
male with the arms extended along the body, the female 
with the arms crossed or with folded hands, as seen 
on old monuments. According to law, the corpse had 
to remain as it was for from twenty-four to forty-eight 
hours before being placed in the coffin. After the 
mirrors and pictures had been turned face to the wall, 
all went into another room to partake of a very liberal 
but cold collation. Sometimes unseemly scenes fol- 
lowed, but heavy penalties were provided for excesses. 
Meanwhile all the relations assembled in another room 
to make the arrangements required by the city authori- 



254 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



ties on such occasions. These differed not only in the 
various provinces, but in the various towns and even 
villages. First, the curtains were taken from the 
windows, the shutters were closed, and a servant an- 
nounced the death in the neighborhood and hung a 
larger or smaller lantern, according to the age of the 
deceased, with an extinguished candle end, at the front 
door. In other places, a bunch of straw, or large or 
small black ribbons, or some blocks of wood with a 
skull on the top, were placed in front of the door. The 
wealthy had also their top windows draped with black, 
and hung their coats-of-arms covered with black over 
the front door, with the date of death painted under- 
neath; they had the death room draped all in black 
splashed with silver tears, and lighted with black painted 
wax candles. The sexton of the church where the body 
was to be buried or placed in a vault next arrived, fol- 
lowed by the mourners to make out the invitations. 

The customs of the poorer classes were naturally 
simpler; they were helped by their neighbors, who in 
some instances tolled the parting knell, buried the 
corpse, and even dug the grave. The wealthy employed 
“ notifiers,” who formed a guild, governed by a deacon 
and officers; women belonged to this also. In some 
places it was not allowed to bury the dead on Sundays. j 
The dress of these mutes consisted of a long black 
cloak and white tie, with long mourning streamers of 
crape from their wide-brimmed hats, and white gloves, 
which they received at the “ death house ” ; but later 
they dressed like the pastors and tried to assume equal 
importance and demand equal respect. They took the 
upper hand at once, gave their orders, and easily im- 
posed upon the poorer classes, who obeyed them as 
absolute masters. By the wealthier classes their pre- 
tensions were not recognized. They had to notify 




DUTCH CRADLE AND CHILD’S CHAIR 

ALBANY INSTITUTE AND HISTORICAL AND ART SOCIETY 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



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relations and friends appearing on the list that had 
been made out, and afterwards invite them to the 
funeral. The relations were asked to close their 
window-shutters, but in the case of a sister or cousin 
one half of the shutter was considered sufficient. The 
invitation was in printed form. 

As soon as the coffin was brought to the house, the 
“ corpse dressers ” returned to place the corpse in the 
coffin. In some places this was required to be done 
in the presence of two witnesses, strangers to the de- 
ceased. The coffin was placed in the front room, on 
two black trestles, with the feet always towards the 
door. In some places in North Holland the front room 
of the houses was never used except for weddings and 
funerals. In some instances the death robe was not 
put on till the corpse was placed in the coffin. In some 
places there were women who made a living by making 
the “ wade ” dresses, which sometimes were very elab- 
orate, and in cases of young men or spinsters were 
tucked and decorated with twigs of green and flowers, 
with a laurel twig or rosemary in the hand. 

When a woman died in childbirth, the infant was 
placed in her arms. In that case the “ playmates ” (see 
218) made the wreaths of flowers and placed them 
on the head of the departed. This was done when, on 
the invitation of the parents, they went to the house to 
take a last look at their friend. Even those who carried 
the child to the grave had a laurel, myrtle, or rosemary 
branch in their hand. When the playmates had viewed 
the body, they were treated to rice-pudding with sugar 
and cinnamon. In some places the neighbors were 
called in to see the “ dressed corpse,” and treated to 
rolls with wine or beer. 

White was the color of innocence and purity ; black 
that of darkness. Black was generally adopted in Hol- 






DUTCH NEW YORK 



256 

land, except by the Friesland women, who wore the 
“ Hindelopen ” dress with blue for mourning, darker 
or lighter in color acording to close or more distant re- 
lationship. In the upper classes mourning was very 
costly. In the inventories we note fine black cloth 
“ tabbards,” black velvet coats, black cloth and satin 
bodices with black lace, and black velvet trimmed with 
jet, cambric handkerchiefs and collars with heavy black 
borders. A bride in mourning wore a black velvet 
dress, trimmed with pearls, and a long train. Neither 
gold nor silver was worn, but only white pearls and 
diamonds. The mourning cloak hung in loose wide 
folds down to the ground. It was often so long that 
it trailed on the ground. The bows and rosettes were 
made of black crape. The collars of men and women 
had wide pleats, and the hat was surrounded with crape, 
while the cloaks and sleeves, vests, trousers, stockings, 
and shoes were all made of black cloth or woolen stuff. 
People dressed in full, half, and quarter mourning, ac- 
cording to their blood relationship to the deceased. A 
widow was not permitted to marry during her time of 
mourning, which lasted one year and six weeks; but 
in 1 656 it was decided that a widow might marry six 
months after her husband’s death. The poorer classes 
wore black cloth and serge. In some places the women 
during the first three weeks of their deep mourning 
were required to pull their black overskirt over their 
heads ; they also wore long black veils. In some places 
mourning consisted in wearing a cloak with a hood, 
and putting the hood over the head when following the 
departed to the grave. Black mourning-hoods were in 
general use in the Seventeenth Century. 

It was the custom to entomb the corpses in family 
vaults in the church where people worshiped, or to 
bury in the churchyard when the people were too poor. 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



257 



Everything pertaining to funerals was regulated by law. 
The wealthy who were fond of great pomp at funerals 
gladly paid the heavy fines imposed by the sumptuary 
laws, and buried their dead according to the rank of the 
deceased. The burghers held their funerals in the day- 
time, therefore the wealthy generally chose the night, 
and followed the corpse to the grave escorted by a large 
following of mourners, torch or lantern bearers, to the 
tolling of the church bells. This was forbidden in 
Amsterdam in 1661, unless a permit had been obtained 
from the court, but was allowed again two years later, 
upon payment of a fine of twenty-five florins, for a 
woman who died in childbirth, fifty florins for a child 
under ten years old, one hundred florins for the burial 
of a corpse under and one hundred and fifty florins for 
one above twenty-five years old. Mourning-coaches 
also came into use at the end of the Seventeenth Cen- 
tury. The churches were paid for the tolling of the 
bells, the lighting of the church, the cleaning of the 
vault, and the rent of the litter. In some places this 
litter was taken to the house of mourning and placed 
before the door an hour before the funeral; then the 
undertakers stationed themselves at the door to receive 
the invited guests. In burgher’s homes, the mirrors 
were taken down or covered with black, but in the 
wealthier houses the whole room was draped with black 
cloth and lighted with wax candles. In both instances 
the relatives stood in rank according to their relation- 
ship. In the centre was the coffin, on a pair of black 
covered trestles. Care was also taken to turn the face 
eastward in the grave, as it was believed that Christ 
would come to judgment from the east. 

In some towns the women would follow the funeral, 
in others they did not ; but in all places the immediate 
relatives came first, followed by the others according 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



258 

to consanguinity, and friends next. The body of a 
preacher was borne by the members of the consistory 
of the church ; of a magistrate, by the members of the 
court ; that of a guild member, by the surviving mem- 
bers of the same ; that of a student, by his fellow col- 
legians, followed by the professors and teachers. 

The superstition in the Seventeenth Century main- 
tained that the first corpse to be buried in a cemetery 
could not rest, or was carried away by Satan, and many 
families took their dead to other cities and villages 
rather than have them buried in a new churchyard. 

The Dutch in New Netherland seem to have soon 
outgrown this superstition, and in some cases even were 
not particular about being buried in consecrated ground, 
but started family cemeteries of their own on their own 
lands. Thus John Lecount in his will (1697) desires 
that his body may be buried in the garden of his own 
house by his sister-in-law. Frederick Philipse also 
(1700) directs “my body to be interred at my burial 
place at the upper mill ” (near Tarrytown). 

The customs observed at the funeral processions dif- 
fered in nearly every town, village, and hamlet. In 
one the preachers would precede, in others follow im- 
mediately after the coffin ; here it was preceded by the 
orphans and inmates of the poorhouse, at another place 
it would be followed by them. Sometimes the relatives 
or friends would carry the coffin, then again the poor. 

The pomp and splendor displayed at funerals, not- 
withstanding the heavy fines imposed by the govern- 
ment, increased so much towards the end of the Seven- 
teenth Century that the consistories of the churches 
begged the government to take stronger measures. It 
was all in vain, for the rulers themselves were some of 
the worst offenders. At many of the funerals of mem- 
bers of that body, not only were the councils and 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



259 



church-members of the places where they had been 
employed represented, but the very horses were made 
to go lame, and all the undertakers of the city were 
present. No funeral (except a State funeral) was 
more solemn and costly than that of an acting burgo- 
master. The dinners served at funerals were as bril- 
liant and plentiful as the wedding and christening 
dinners. Prohibitions and fines were powerless to stop 
the extravagance. In the middle of the Seventeenth 
Century, however, these dinners began to be discon- 
tinued in the cities, and people were satisfied with serv- 
ing wine and cakes only on returning from the funeral. 
The body buried, the company returned home. He 
who has presided thanks those present for attending 
and invites them to come into the house. Then re- 
freshments are served. Each drinks what he likes and 
departs at will. The rich are buried in the churches, 
and Rhine wine is served; the middle class serve 
French wine; and the poorer classes, beer. In Gronin- 
gen this was called “consolation beer,” elsewhere “dead 
beer.” Often this wine or beer was taken in excess. 
The dinners at funerals remained in vogue in the 
northern provinces for a long time, and although the 
serving of hot dishes was forbidden, the amount spent 
on the cold collations often left the relatives in debt for 
a long time. In burgher families the Bible was placed 
on the coffin, from which a preacher, a “ consoler,” or 
a member of the “ church board ” read a chapter and 
afterwards said a prayer. In some places in Friesland 
a light lunch was also partaken of then. At the ap- 
pointed hour, — for every hour later, an additional fine 
had to be paid, — the bells began to toll from the 
church in which the entombment was to take place, and 
sometimes also from the churches that were passed on 
the way. After the undertaker had asked if anybody 



26 o DUTCH NEW YORK 

present wished to take a last look at the dead, the 
coffin was closed and placed on the bier, feet foremost. 
This was important, for bodies of those who had com- 
mitted suicide or who had fallen by the hands of the 
executioner were carried head first to the grave. In- 
deed, it was only by special favor that a suicide was 
buried in consecrated ground, either in Holland or 
here. Thus, Hendrick Jansen, in 1664, hanged himself 
and destroyed his life on the branch of a tree on this 
side of the Fresh Water. The prosecutor therefore 
demanded “ that his goods be forfeit, the corpse drawn 
on a hurdle as an example and terror to others, and 
brought to the place where it was found hanging and 
there shoved under the earth; further that a stake, 
pole or post shall be set there in token of an accursed 
deed.” However, it was decided that as Jansen had 
always been an exemplary burgher, and his next neigh- 
bors, eight in number, had requested a decent burial, 
the body should be interred in a corner of the church- 
yard, after the ringing of the nine o’clock bell. 

Dutch and English were alike, both at home and in 
their colonies, in serving generous quantities of funeral 
baked meats and entertaining the friends and relatives 
of the deceased on a scale far beyond their means. 
Generous provision is frequently made in the wills for 
their funerals by people of high and low degree. Ouzel 
Van Swieton (1693) is somewhat exceptional in direct- 
ing his body “ to be buried in a moderate Christian 
burial.” On the other hand, Edward Mann (1702) 
gives “ all his wages now due on board H. M. S. Jersey 
to be employed for the defraying of my funeral ex- 
penses.” It is evident that even a common soldier’s 
wake was expensive, for we read in 1653 that 

Jan Peeck demanded 48 fl. 18 stivers from Jan Gerrit- 
sen, for victuals consumed at the funeral of Jan Bronck, 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 



261 



a soldier, who had been shot dead, for which defendant 
had given security. “ Defendant says it is true, he has 
been at the party, consuming the victuals, but as he is no 
heir nor has received any benefits from deceased, he main- 
tains, he is not bound to pay.” It was decided that plain- 
tiff must look for payment to the estate of deceased, or 
his pay from the Company. 

Gloves, rings, scarves, and hatbands were given to 
the mourners here, as they were in Holland. Many 
wills contain bequests of this nature. Henry Clark 
(1679) appoints five friends to carry him to his grave 
and “ to have scarves and gloves according as the cus- 
tom is.” Captain Thos. Exton (1668) leaves seven 
beavers “ to buy wine for the officers and gentlemen 
who accompany my corpse to the grave.” Thomas Pell 
(1669) gives his body “ to a comely burial that it may 
be decently buried in such a comely manner that God 
may not be dishonored.” Henry Clarke (1679) ap- 
points five friends to carry him to his grave “ and to 
have scarves and gloves according as the usual custom 
is.” Christopher Dean ( 1689) leaves “ to each of those 
who shall bear up my pall at my funeral, a ring value 
15 shillings, and a mourning hat band.” Lucas Santen 
(1692) leaves “ to my landlord Capt. John Clopps £10 
to buy him a mourning ring, in consideration of the 
trouble I have given him.” 

Lawrence Deldyke (1690) leaves £10 “to expend 
at New York among my friends and acquaintances to 
be disbursed by Mr. James Mills, my attorney.” 

The expenses of a funeral at the end of our period 
are clearly shown in the following examples. Lock- 
erman : Charges for them that carried the body of 
Maria Lockerman to the grave, 200 guilders; Clerk 
of the yard, 49 guilders ; Mr. Thos. Lovell, for trans- 
lating the last will of Maria L., 18 guilders; Albert 



262 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Bosch, for shrines for the coffin, 16 g. 10 s. ; Dr. Lock- 
hart, for medicines, 34 g. ; Edward Griffith for two 
beavers, 48 g. ; a carpenter for 2*4 days’ work, 20 g. 
William Helcker: “ Coffins, £1 os. 3d.; Angeltie Moll, 
for undress ye dead, us. gd . ; William Portuguese 
wife for ditto, 5s. ioj^d. ; candles and rum, 3s.; y 2 
gross pipes, 2s. yd . ; a place in the church, 9s.” 

The funeral expenses of John Oort amounted to 
£30 is. 6d. “ To Johans Von Ekelyn (1697) f°r beer 
at his funeral, £1; to the charges of his funeral, 
£2-19-9.” Justice White for funeral charges, £5; 
to Daniel Weeks for a coffin, 6 shillings; to John 
Rogers, for digging the grave, 6 shillings. James 
Dewsbury : “ Paid to nurse, £2 - 8 - o ; for funeral 
charges, £3-15- o.” 

Peter Tacob Marius; funeral: 

£ s. d. 

To 29 gallons of wyne at 6s. 9d. per gallon 9 15 9 

To 19 pairs of gloves at 2s. 3d. 243 

For bottles and glass broke, paid o 3 7 

Paid 2 women each 2 days attendance o 15 o 

Paid a suit of mourning for ye negro woman freed by 
ye testator and making 347 \ 

Paid for 800 Cokies and gross of Pipes at 3s. 3d. 6 7 7$ 

Paid for speys [spice] for ye burnte wyne and sugar o 1 1 

Paid to the Sexton and Bell ringer, for making ye 
grave and ringing ye bell 2 20 

Paid for ye Coffin 4 00 

Paid for gold and making 14 mourning rings 2 16 o 

Paid for 3 yards beaver stuff at 7s. 6d., buttons and 

making it for a suit of mourning 1 14 6 

Paid for \ vat of single Beer o 76 

Whole amount of Funeral Charge is 31 6 8J 

Samuel Bayard. 

As at weddings silver medals were sometimes pre- 
sented either before or after a funeral. If presented 
before, they were worn at the funeral. They were in 
all shapes, round, octagonal, oval, square, etc., some- 
times cast, sometimes engraved with the portrait of 




SILVER SPOONS 

RIJKS MUSEUM, AMSTERDAM 



BIRTHS AND DEATHS 263 

the deceased, or with mythological figures, inscrip- 
tions in prose or verse, or sometimes only inscribed 
with the date of birth and death of the deceased, with 
or without a verse from the Holy Scriptures. Some- 
times the design was a skull and crossbones surrounded 
by a wreath of laurels, and the dates were added when 
the medal was required. The memory of the deceased 
was perpetuated by these medals and by the legacies 
of the rich to the church and the poor. There were 
few rich burghers who did not leave generously to both. 
An enormous amount of money was also spent on 
the carved tombstones. 



'o 




CHAPTER XII 

TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 

I N Holland, during the Seventeenth Century, as 
well as in England, France, and Germany, the two 
fashionable as well as low vices were drinking 
and gambling. The government made stringent laws 
regulating the opening and closing of taverns, and 
heavy penalties were imposed for infractions of the 
liquor laws; but no barriers seemed strong enough 
to stem the flood of drunkenness. Youth drank as 
heavily as middle age. The reason for tavern excesses 
may probably be found in the lack of simple pleasures 
and sociability in the home circles. When the office 
hours were over, the shop closed, and the school dis- 
missed, the youth had as a choice for spending his 
evening the somewhat cold and severe paternal dwell- 
ing, the open street with its mischievous and boisterous 
play, and the tavern. At home there were no enter- 
taining books for youthful perusal, and the atmos- 
phere was lacking in sympathy and companionableness. 
The tavern, therefore, with its drinking, dicing, card- 
playing, and many other games that lent themselves 
to gambling, offered irresistible attractions. The young 
men of the day, therefore, in all classes were sadly 
dissipated. 

In New Amsterdam, there was, if possible, even more 
license than in Fatherland. There are many evidences 
that, so far from being a crime or a sin, drunkenness 

264 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 265 

was not even a reproach. Weddings and funerals 
and all occasions of feasts and merry-making were 
opportunities for hard drinking, of which the guests 
took full advantage. Drunkenness among women 
was by no means rare, and the clergy, as a rule, did 
not set an example of strict sobriety. In fact, habitual 
drunkenness was charged against more than one of 
them. It is indeed astonishing to find that drunken- 
ness was frequently treated in the court proceedings 
as an excuse for having committed serious offenses, 
such as assault, as we have seen. There are many 
cases in which men repudiated leases, deeds, contracts, 
etc., pleading that they were drunk when they entered 
into the engagements. It is evident that the law 
allowed a man twenty-four hours to get sober in, be- 
cause the court would not hold him to his agreement 
if he could prove that he denounced the transaction 
on the following day. An instance of a man’s readi- 
ness to acknowledge drunkenness occurs in 1655, in 
a case of abuse, in which a certain Christiaen Anthony 
was called as a witness. He declared that “ on the 
evening the Burghery marched, he came from the 
Fort sorely fuddled, and does not properly know what 
passed between Jan van Leyden and Webber’s wife.” 
In Holland the tavern was one of the most impor- 
tant institutions of burgher life. It was the citizen’s 
club, and the most respectable members of the commun- 
ity did not hesitate to spend much of their leisure 
time there in friendly intercourse and jovial company. 
The civic governments, which had held their meetings 
in the large hall of a neighboring abbey or monastery 
in earlier days, after the Reformation met in the tav- 
erns or inns, and were served by the host at the city’s 
expense. If a prince, an ambassador, or any other 
person of high rank, visited the city, he took up his 



266 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



quarters at the Peacock , the Angel , the Pig , the Gold 
Cup , or at any of the city’s inns, where the munici- 
pality offered him the “ wine of honor,” and the 
city paid his expenses, or some of the highest officials 
of the city government paid the expenses amongst 
themselves. 

The literary societies also and the various guilds 
met at the taverns, and entertained there. The notable 
burghers of Leyden and the professors visited the 
inns daily and drank their pint of ale or wine. Of 
Simon Abbes Gobbema it is said that he divided his 
time between his study and the Marksmen's Home 
in the morning as well as in the afternoon. There were 
also inns for the “ thin beer folks,” — people that 
imbibed all day, characters who were held up to ridi- 
cule in all the plays of the period. These inns were 
often kept by landlords of questionable honesty, who 
more than once were put in the stocks ; but their inns 
were always scrupulously clean. The hostess saw to 
it that everything shone brightly, from the cuspidor 
to the grill, and the tiles on the floor were as clean 
as the plate that was used at table ; even the dice were 
brightly polished. 

In the country, however, inns were not quite so well 
kept. One of these is described in Van Sauten’s 
Light Shower. He says that it was ten times colder 
inside than outside; that one man had to sit on a 
pail and another on a turf basket, and that a lump of 
clay was used as a candle-holder. He adds that a 
blind horse could not do any damage inside. There is 
hardly one amongst the hundreds of comedies and 
farces of the Seventeenth Century in which the most dis- 
gusting scenes of drunkenness and vice are not depicted. 
Usually, when our staid burghers took wine, they drank 
three glasses. Such was the advice of Bernagin in his 




TAVERN SCENE 
TENIERS 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 



267 

Wedding-Contractor (1685). The first glass, he said, 
was for health, the second for taste, and the third for 
sleep ; any more after that might serve as recreation. 

There were innumerable kinds of wine, beer, and 
“ hot drinks ” that were used in Holland in the Seven- 
teenth Century. In Godewyck’s White Bread's Chil- 
dren , a young blade says : 

Then I came to the Lion; the hostess said “ hello Roel! 
run and give the gentleman a chair with a cushion. What 
will the gentleman drink? We have some good wines 
clear in the glass and fine in colour. Do you like Vin 
d’ Anjou, good Bacherach, Neuren, or Vin du Court; or 
do you like Manebach ? ” Then when I go to the Horse 
— it is “ Sir ! go into the room, we have Dele wine ; 
there ’s none nicer. Or do you like Vin d’Ay, or beauti- 
ful Muscadel wine? I will go into the cellar and open 
a barrel. We have Mentser wine, Elsasger and Rin- 
chouwers ; they are silvery fine, much better than Pictou 
wine. Do you like Bordeaux wine, or good wine of 
Orleans ? ” So do I pass the time from sunrise to sunset. 

Dordrecht was then the chief wine-market and nearly 
monopolized the trade. In the Seventeenth Century 
ice was used to cool the wine, which was kept in barrels, 
stone jugs, and leather bottles. The wine was drawn 
from the barrels in jugs which held from a pint to 
half a gallon, and the customers drank from steins 
and horns. The beer was drawn in jugs from one 
quart to one gallon in capacity, and was drunk out 
of pewter mugs and steins with lids, — in village 
inns out of wooden bowls. In the smaller inns the 
host or hostess sold “ spare beer,” small thin beer, 
and common beer. In the better class inns the beers 
used were Dordrecht, Delft, London, English White, 
Groninger Cluyn, Hamburger, Mentzel, Ipswich, Lu- 
beck brew, and other heavy beers. Much care was 



268 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



given to the beer, and no wonder, for it was the only 
drink of the ordinary burgher. “ Beer is the drink 
of every man. All that can, drink beer.” Caudles, 
possets, and other hot drinks were common. Gin, 
called “ drinkable fire ” by Professor van Genns, was 
only drunk by the poorer classes, and was called gin- 
water until 1667. When we first hear of this drink, 
it is called “ clear ” and “ genever.” In the first half 
of the Seventeenth Century the gin-distilleries were 
unimportant. In 1672, it was still comparatively un- 
known, but was used by the army before Alphen. A 
student who valued his name would not openly call 
for a glass of genever. A glass of Spanish wine with 
brandy in winter, and a glass of white wine with spirit 
of lemon in summer was the strongest drink used. 
During the Thirty Years’ War brandy came into gen- 
eral use in Germany. In the taverns they used Arak, 
besides Orange, Prince, and Quinjaets essences. Ra- 
tafia was also known. After drinking generously of 
Saint Laurent and Burgundy, people took a mouthful 
of ratafia to warm the stomach. 

The favorite drinks in New Netherland were ale, 
beer, Rhenish, French, and Spanish wines, wormwood 
wine, distilled waters, brandy, gin, rum, bitters, cider, 
and perry. In 1656, a pipe of sack and the excise came 
to 443.17 florins. In 1659, twenty-four ankers of Annis 
waters and 7 ankers of bitters ( Borstwater ) cost 350 
florins. New drinks occasionally make their appear- 
ance, however. In 1653, on a petition of Peter le 
Feber for leave to sell liquors or waters of a peculiar 
virtue, he was allowed to sell them in large or small 
bottles at his own house. In March, 1656, Solomon 
Lachair was called on to say where he got a flask of 
Rosa Solis he lately drank with some friends. 

It was not customary in the Seventeenth Century 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 269 

for frequenters of alehouses or inns to empty only their 
one little pint, jug, or mutchkin. They loved com- 
pany, and oftentimes the host also “ joined ” in the 
treat. Then there were dice, cards, or other games; 
and they drank a round or a “ clover leaf.” The clover 
leaf, or the drink round, consisted of three drinks 
in succession, as the saying was that all good things 
are three, — three graces, three cardinal virtues, three 
friend’s kisses, three conundrums, three times hurrah, 
three times to church, three sounds of the bugle, and 
numberless other three times, but, above all, the thrice 
clinking of the filled glasses, which, according to tradi- 
tion, was a custom of the Greeks and Romans. 

In the more respectable taverns, where everything 
was so arranged that the municipality, the guilds, the 
county judges, and the commissioners of dykes could 
hold a banquet or large dinner, the china closets were 
well provided with all kinds of silver mugs and pewter 
tankards, glass bottles and beakers, cups and saucers 
and platters in all shapes and sizes, some simply and 
others artistically cut and engraved, and all made 
specially for the various beverages. Among them may 
be mentioned the “ handholders,” or Frankfort “ full 
holder,” the large Rhine wine glasses, then so generally 
known, always of green glass, blown round, wide, and 
rather flat, which sometimes held a quart of wine, 
and which were so heavy that it took both hands 
to lift them to the lips. According to Van Man- 
der, the painter Frans Floris would drain this glass 
sixty times against anybody who undertook to drink 
thirty. 

As clubs or missiles, when effectively used, these 
glasses would often convincingly close an argument 
about local politics, Quaker baiting, or the relative 
merits of favorite champions at hockey, bowls, nine- 



270 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



pins, or tric-trac. Thus, in 1654, Johannes Withart 
v. Francois Tyn, plaintiff, demands two hundred guil- 
ders for the surgeon’s bill, pain and smart, as well as 
loss of time on account of the wound which defendant 
wilfully inflicted on his face with a glass; demands 
costs also. Withart finally had to pay the Schout 
“ 5° gh — half for the poor and half for himself — 
and 10 guilders to be expended for a treat, and more- 
over pay the sum of 10 guilders to be laid out at Abram 
La Nooy’s, and a fee of Notary Schelluyne amounting 
to 24 gl.” Johannes Withart seems to have been a 
truculent character, for about the same time the Schout 
stated that he had drawn a sword, therewith went to 
the house of Captain Krigier and elsewhere, and had 
been guilty of street riot. He was condemned to 
pay a fine of fifty guilders, ten more for a treat, and 
ten to be laid out at Abram La Nooy’s. 

Another familiar drinking-vessel was the birch- 
beaker, cut from the birch tree, hollowed out, and 
instead of being carved, left with the original bark, 
varnished inside with the rosin of the pine tree, and 
various spices, such as nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, and 
cloves, leaving these stuck on the inner surface. Then 
there were bocals in the shape of vessels or boats, or 
of the various emblems belonging to navigation, com- 
merce, and fisheries, engraved on them. In almost 
every prominent household and in all the large taverns 
these glasses were to be found, because at every dinner 
given on special occasions they were used. 

The most celebrated drinking-vessel of the day was 
the “ Clover Leaf with the Stem,” which is so often 
referred to in the old Dutch plays (see facing page 
272). It was found in every tavern of any importance. 
A contemporary writer gives the following description 
of this famous vessel : 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 



271 



On top we see three small round chalices in the shape 
of a three-leafed clover leaf. Each chalice has its stem, 
which are joined together, and rest on a globe. Each 
stem is hollow, and when the chalices are filled, the wine 
can be seen running down the stems into the ball-shaped 
bowl underneath, so that when the drinker drinks out of 
one of the three chalices, or rather sips, the two others 
empty into the bowl underneath, otherwise it would be 
impossible to drink without spilling the wine. As the 
drinkers sip, now from the first, then from the second, 
and the third, of the chalices, the wine in the bowl would 
be the last; and this accordingly represents the stem of 
the clover-leaf. On each of the small chalices hangs a 
small plate with a coat-of-arms, which is exchanged for 
the arms of the nobleman giving the banquet or in whose 
honour it is given. The three chalices, with their bowl 
underneath, rested on a large trellis-work globe, all hol- 
low, in which a die was to be seen, and according to the 
number on the die, which came on top when the cup was 
shaken, the drinks were taken. The whole cup rested on 
a foot of finely decorated earthenware, with gilt borders. 
When drinking out of one of the chalices, the drinker 
said, “ Three glasses are three drinks, three makes a 
‘ clover leaf.’ ” The company would answer, “ Hey, he is 
a man who without spilling can empty a clover leaf and 
still be thirsty ! ” Then the cup was passed along to the 
next. 

Hard drinking was the fashion at all family and 
public entertainments, as we have already seen. In 
1605, ^e wedding of the preacher Johannes Serva- 
tius, a forty-gallon barrel of wine was drunk. For 
burgomasters’ and guild dinners the wine was ordered 
by the barrel. 

In Holland the principal inns were always situated 
near the city-gates. The principal city-gate of New 
Amsterdam was the ferry-landing, and there was situ- 
ated the principal inn of the town. It was originally 



272 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



built by the Company, and was leased to various ferry- 
men who managed it as a tavern. It also served the 
purposes of a town hall for the City Fathers, and a 
room in it was also used as a school. It is a conspicu- 
ous landmark on all the old maps of the Dutch towns. 
The first ferryman mentioned is Cornelis Dircksen. 
In 1642, he deeded a house, garden, and sixteen to 
seventeen morgens of land together with the Ferry on 
Long Island. 

The dinners given in the taverns by order of the 
burgomasters, guilds, or other corporate bodies were 
usually very elaborate, and consisted principally of 
roasts, pasties, and sugared fruit. At the installation 
of the new burgomaster of Dordrecht in 1668, there 
were brought on the table ten dishes (platters) with 
mutton, roast beef, and veal, two dishes with boar’s 
heads, ten dishes with rabbits, fowls, and pigeons, eight 
dishes with pasties of hare, pork, and capons, further 
soups, salads, horseradish, crackers, cake, waffles, jel- 
lies, and marchpane. 

In New Amsterdam many a social and civic dinner 
was given in the City Tavern. These were frequently 
marred by uninvited revelers, who in their cups invaded 
the privacy of inoffensive guests. An early instance 
of this occurs in March, 1644, when declaration was 
made by Nicholas Coorn, Hans Kierstede, Jan Jacob- 
sen, and Gysbert Opdyck, who with the minister and 
their wives had been invited to sup with Philip Gerrit- 
sen at the City Tavern, concerning an outrageous attack 
on the party made by Captain John Underhill, Lieu- 
tenant George Baxter, and other Englishmen. Captain 
Underhill was an important personage. Gerritsen peti- 
tioned against his unpunished behavior again in May, 
and the Fiscal was ordered to obtain satisfaction for 
him on the Captain’s return. 




From old prints 



CLOVER LEAF DRINKING CUP 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 



273 

In 1654, a complimentary dinner was given to Stuy- 
vesant. Unfortunately the menu is not on record. 

At a meeting in the City Hall, Dec. 12, 1654, 
where were assembled the Worshipful Heeren Martin 
Krigier, Allard Anthony, P. L. Vander Grift, Will. 
Beekman, P. v. Couwenhoven, Oloff Stevensen, Johan 
Nefius, and Cornelis van Tienhoven, it was unani- 
mously resolved : 

Whereas the Rt. Honble Director General intends to 
depart, the Burgomasters and Schepens shall compliment 
him before he take his gallant voyage, and for this pur- 
pose shall provide a gay repast on next Wednesday noon, 
at the City Hall in the Council Chamber. Whereupon the 
list of what was required was made out and what was 
considered necessary was ordered. 

The authorities used the City Tavern for their busi- 
ness meetings and subsequent dinners. On Feb. 26, 
1658, Egbert van Borssum was credited with the 
amount of his bill for wine and liquor furnished the 
Director and Council and other public officers. 

In September of the same year, some of the most 
important men in the community had a splendid din- 
ner at this hostelry, and some misunderstanding and 
dispute led the host and his wife to go to court for 
payment. They exhibited an account demanding a 
balance of 310.4 florins from Captain Augustyn Beau- 
lieu for entertainment given by him. The Captain 
wanted to pay only half the amount, because the others 
shared in the other half. Jacob Huges and Simon 
Felle declared that they were invited by the Captain, 
but that they would pay their part. Egbert said that 
Captain Beaulieu ordered the dishes and agreed for the 
repast. Captain Beaulieu said there were fourteen 
of them; half of which he individually was to pay 

18 



274 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



for, and the others the other half. He also offered 
to pay for the absent. Captain Roselyn declared he 
assisted in agreeing for the repast. Annetie van Bors- 
sum said that Captain Beaulieu alone agreed for the 
meals, and therefore looks to him. Captain Beaulieu 
was asked if he had any objection to the account, and 
answered, “ No, except to the fl. 30 for trouble and 
waiting and fl. 3 for cleaning the things.” The court 
decreed that Captain Beaulieu should have to pay 
Egbert van Borssum 250 gl. 4 stiv. 8 pence, deducting 
20 fl. charged too much for trouble, and that the land- 
lord should collect the remaining money from Adriaan 
Vincent, Simon Felle, Nicolaas Boot, Mr. Jacob Huges, 
and Jan Perier, and if the aforesaid persons could 
prove Captain Beaulieu had invited them, he was 
then ordered to pay for them. This must have been 
a very fine dinner to cost fifty dollars a plate, present 
value ! 

There were evidently various grades of tap-houses, 
from the bare cellar where a discharged soldier or old 
goodwife drew beer for the common laborers to the 
well-appointed inn. Thus, in 1654, Adriaen Jansen 
from Leyden received the patent of a lot of land in 
Albany “ north of the highway, on condition that the 
house to be erected thereon be not an ordinary tippling 
house, but an imi for travellers.” In the same year, 
Symon Joosten received permission to keep a tavern 
over the Ferry, in place of Comelis Dircksen Hooch- 
lant, for the convenience of travelers and there to retail 
beer and wines. For this he paid one hundred guilders 
net the first year. 

There must have been taverns as well as mere tap- 
rooms long before this, however, because in an action 
for slander in March, 1639, “ Comelis Cool declared 
that Grietje Reyniers was discharged for improper 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 275 

conduct when a waiting-girl at Pieter de Winter’s tav- 
ern in New Amsterdam.” 

The government was fully alive to the evils of ex- 
cessive drinking, and early tried to stop it. Thus, in 
1638, Kieft and the Council have observed that “ much 
mischief and perversity is daily occasioned by immod- 
erate drinking; therefore, they forbid all persons from 
now henceforth selling any wine on pain of forfeiting 
25 guilders and the wines found in their houses, except- 
ing only the Store, where wine can be procured at 
a fair price and where it will be issued in moderate 
quantity.” 

This did not have the desired effect of stopping the 
illicit traffic; for, four years later, the Council fol- 
lowed the example of the States General in punishing 
tavern brawling. The preamble of the law paints a 
dark picture of prevailing conditions : 

We hear daily, God help us, of many accidents, caused 
for the most part by quarrels, drawing of knives and 
fighting, and the multitude of taverns and low groggeries, 
ill conducted, together with the favorable opportunities 
which all turbulent persons, murderers and other lawless 
people have for running away and consequently escaping 
condign punishment; therefore we enact, agreeably to 
the law passed last year in Holland by the High and 
Mighty Lords States General that no one shall draw a 
knife, much less wound any person under penalty of 
fl. 50, or to work three months with the negroes in chains. 

On July 23, 1648, Abraham Pietersen’s tavern was 
closed in consequence of a man, Gerrit Clomp, having 
been killed there. In 1641, Kieft and his advisers, 
having received complaints that some of the inhabi- 
tants here were “ in the habit of tapping beer during 
Divine Service, and of making use of small foreign 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



276 

Measures, which tends to the dishonour of Religion 
and the ruin of this State,” forbid the use of any meas- 
ure but that of Amsterdam, Holland. Tapping was 
also prohibited after ten p. m.; the vaen (four pints) 
was to cost not exceeding eight stivers. The penalty 
was twenty-five guilders and forfeiture of the beer, 
besides three months’ exclusion from the privilege of 
tapping. The officer who was appointed to look after 
the matter was Adriaen Swits. On Dec. 20, 1642, he 
declared in court that the beer he got at Jan Snedeker’s 
was short of measure. 

There was no excise law in New Netherland till 
the year 1644. Beer and spirits were imported by the 
Company and sold at their warehouses, and private 
individuals received from the Directors the right to 
brew. On Feb. 16, 1642, Director Kieft leased to 
Philip Gerritsen the Company’s tavern at a rent of 
three hundred guilders, with the right to retail the 
Company’s wines and brandy, on which he was to be 
allowed a profit of six stivers the can. A well and 
a brewhouse were to be constructed in the rear. By 
this date the bulk of the beer consumed was brewed 
here; there were already several breweries. Thus, on 
Aug. 26, 1641, Hendrick Jansen deeded to Maryn 
Adriaensen a house, barn, and arable land, except the 
brewhouse and kettles therein. 

One of those who evidently sold liquors without the 
necessary privilege was Jan Schepmoes; for, on June 
10, 1638, he was orderd to “ entertain no more sailors 
nor tap wine, hereafter on pain of banishment.” Di- 
rector Kieft would seem to have encroached on the 
Company’s privileges for his own profit for a time; 
for on Feb. 5, 1650, “ William Hendricks swore that 
Kieft in 1640 engaged him at 25 guilders a month 
on Staten Island to distil brandy, but after six or seven 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 277 

months Kieft found it expedient to let the Brandy 
be.” 

Director Kieft, in the eyes of the majority of the 
New Amsterdam burghers, was directly responsible 
for the calamitous Indian war, which brought the prov- 
ince to the verge of ruin. The necessity for raising 
money to meet the public expenses was the immediate 
cause of the first excise laws here. In June, 1644, 
the Council had already raised 

as much money as we could obtain on bills of exchange 
drawn on the Honble. Directors; and Whereas, we are 
now devoid of all means, and despair of immediately re- 
ceiving any assistance from Holland, in this our necessity ; 
therefore we are constrained to find out some plan to pay 
the soldiers, or else must dismiss them, which according 
to all appearances, will lead to the utter ruin of the coun- 
try, especially as the harvest is at hand whereby people 
must live and fodder be procured for the remaining cattle ; 
for neither grain nor hay can be cut without soldiers. 
These matters being maturely considered, and all things 
being duly weighed with the advice of the Eight men 
chosen by the Commonalty, no better nor more suitable 
means can be found in the premises, than to impose some 
duties on those articles from which the good inhabitants 
will experience least inconvenience, as the scarcity of 
money is sufficiently general. 

We have therefore enacted and ordained, and do hereby 
enact and ordain, that there shall be paid on each half 
barrel of beer tapt by the tavern keepers, two guilders, 
one-half payable by the brewer and one-half by the 
tapster; the burgher who does not retail it, to pay half 
as much ; on each quart of Spanish wine and brandy, four 
stivers; French wine, two stivers to be paid by the 
tapsters. On each merchantable beaver purchased within 
our limits and brought here to the fort, one guilder ; the 
three-quarters and halves in proportion. All on pain of 
forfeiture of the goods, to be prosecuted by the officer or 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



278 

the collector, to be thereunto appointed; one-third for 
the informer, one-third for the officer, and the remainder 
for the Hon bIe Company. All this provisionally, until the 
good God grant us peace or we receive succor from 
Holland. 

It will be noticed that it was with some trepidation 
and in an apologetic tone that such an unpopular law 
was published ; and it is intimated that it is only a war 
tax, and therefore only temporary in character. Once 
being imposed, however, the source of revenue was too 
fruitful for the law ever to be repealed. Thencefor- 
ward also, for many years, the authorities did not have 
to worry about illegal tapping, since it was distinctly 
to the advantage of the officer of the law to be vigilant 
in hunting for infractions of it, to say nothing of the 
activities of his casual assistant, the informer. The 
Fiscal was keen on the scent of the smugglers, as they 
were called, that is, those who tapped without having 
paid the excise. He was doubtless soon able to stock 
quite a respectable cellar of his own with the fines 
collected. Thus, we read on July 16, 1644: 

The Fiscal prosecuted Laurens Cornelissen for smug- 
gling, and the latter was condemned to pay 10 gallons of 
wine to the Fiscal and his friends. 

The law caused great discontent. In 1649, 
authors of the “ Remonstrance ” complained that when 
Director Kieft forced the eight men to impose a beer 
excise he promised it should last only till the arrival of 
a Company’s ship, a new Director, or till the end of 
the war. “ The beer belonging to the brewers who 
would not consent to an excise was distributed among 
the soldiers as a prize, and so it has continued.” To 
this, Tienhoven replied that the burghers had no cause 
to complain about the excise, because the trader, 
burgher, farmer, and all others except the vintners, laid 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 



279 



in as much wine and beer as they pleased, free of 
excise. They were merely obliged to enter it so that 
the quantity might be ascertained. The vintners paid 
three guilders per tun on beer, and one stiver per can 
on wine ; this they received back from their daily cus- 
tomers, and from the traveler from New England, 
Virginia, and elsewhere. 

The authorities next attempted to enforce some de- 
gree of decency in the taverns by closing them at nine 
p. m., and during church hours on Sunday. The 
immediate cause of this was a serious drunken brawl 
during the interregnum between Director Kieft’s retire- 
ment from office and Peter Stuyvesant’s arrival. This 
is fully explained in the ordinance of May 1, 1647: 

Whereas we have experienced the insolence of some of 
our inhabitants when drunk their quarrelling, fighting and 
hitting each other even on the Lords day of rest of which 
we have ourselves witnessed the painful example last 
Sunday in contravention of law, to the contempt and dis- 
grace of our person and office, to the annoyance of our 
neighbours and to the disregard, nay contempt of Gods 
holy laws and ordinances, which command us to keep 
holy in His honor His day of rest, the Sabbath, and 
forbid all bodily injury and murder, as well as the means 
and inducements, leading thereto, — 

Therefore, by the advice of the late Director-General 
and of our Council and to the end, that instead of God’s 
curse falling upon us we may receive his blessing, we 
order all brewers, tapsters and innkeepers, that none of 
them shall upon the Lord’s day of rest by us called Sun- 
day, entertain people, tap or draw any wine, beer or strong 
waters of any kind and under any pretext before 2 of the 
clock, in case there is no preaching or else before 4, ex- 
cept only to a traveller and those who are daily customers, 
fetching the drinks to their own homes, — this under the 
penalty of being deprived of their occupation and besides 
a fine of 6 Carolus gilders for each person, who shall be 



280 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



found drinking wine or beer within the stated time. We 
also forbid all innkeepers, landlords and tapsters to keep 
their houses open on this day or any other day of the 
week in the evening after the ringing of the bell, which 
will be rung about 9 o. c., or to give wine, beer or strong 
waters to any, except to their family, travellers and table 
boarders under the like penalty. 

The difference between the directorship of Stuyvesant 
and that of Kieft resembled that between the rule of 
Solomon and that of Rehoboam over the Children of 
Israel. Where Kieft chastised them with rods, Stuyve- 
sant chastised them with scorpions. There was a good 
deal of bigotry and Puritan persecution in the nature 
of old “ Silver Leg ” ; and on his arrival, among other 
reforms, he immediately proceeded to carry the regu- 
lation of the liquor traffic still further. The new laws 
of 1648 contained the following provisions: (1) No 
new taproom, or tavern, should be opened without 
the consent of the Director and Council. (2) Tav- 
erns, taprooms, and inns already established might 
continue for four consecutive years, but the owners 
should be obliged to engage in some other honest 
business with a convenient and decent burgher’s dwell- 
ing to the ornament of the city, each acording to his 
condition, social position, and means. (3) The tavern- 
keepers and tapsters were allowed to continue their 
business for four years on condition that they should 
not transfer their business nor let their houses and 
dwellings without the consent of the Director and 
Council. (4) The tavern-keepers and tapsters were 
not allowed to sell beer, wine, brandy or strong waters 
to Indians, or provide them with it by intermediaries. 
(5) To prevent all fighting and mishaps they should 
daily report to the officer whether anybody had been 
wounded or hurt at their houses. (6) Unseasonable 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 



281 



night tippling and intemperate drinking on Sunday 
was forbidden, and tavern-keepers and tapsters were 
prohibited from selling anything by the small measure 
in the evening after the ringing of the bell, nor should 
they sell beer or liquor to anybody, travelers and table 
boarders excepted, on Sunday before three o’clock p. m., 
when divine service was over. (7) It was necessary 
to report to the Receiver and obtain a certificate be- 
fore they could receive beer, wine, or distilled waters 
into their houses or cellars. (8) All tavern-keepers 
and tapsters desiring to continue in their business should 
present themselves to the Director-General and Coun- 
cil eight days after the publication of these rules and 
promise solemnly to observe them. 

The evil of unreasonable and intemperate drinking 
“to the shame and derision of ourselves and our nation” 
was fully recognized by the authorities. In the pre- 
amble to the above law, the Director and Council 
speak in an almost despairing tone of the constant and 
general infraction of their “ good orders and well- 
meant laws.” They frankly recognize the reasons, 
which were 

that this way of earning a living and the easily made 
profits therefrom please many and divert them from their 
first calling, trade, and occupation, so that they become 
tapsters, and that one full fourth of the City of New 
Amsterdam has been turned into taverns for the sale of 
brandy, tobacco and beer. This causes not only the neglect 
of honest handicraft and business, but also the debauch- 
ing of the common man and the Company’s servants, and, 
what is still worse, of the young people from childhood 
up, who seeing the improper proceedings of their parents 
and imitating them, leave the path of virtue and become 
disorderly. Add to this the frauds, smuggling, cheating, 
the underhand sale of beer and brandy to the Indians, as 
shown by daily experience, may God better it, which may 



282 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



only lead to new troubles between us and them. If be- 
sides these some honest tavernkeepers are licensed and 
open their places for the service and benefit of the trav- 
eller, the stranger and the inhabitant, honestly paying their 
charges and excise dues and living in convenient houses, 
either their own, or as tenants, which increases their ex- 
penses, they are noticeably injured in their licensed and 
approved business by such fraudulent innkeepers : this we 
wish to prevent. 

With one house out of every four in the town a 
beer-shop, we cannot wonder that the authorities should 
try to devise means to curtail the trade and the dis- 
orders arising therefrom. 

The burghers of New Amsterdam did not take 
kindly to any laws that interfered with their pleasures 
or personal liberties ; and therefore the Director- 
General was forced to issue one year later a new ordi- 
nance calling attention to the injury done to the excise 
farmer and tapsters, who made it their only business : 

We hereby order, that no inhabitant, who makes it a 
business to brew, shall be allowed to tap, sell, or give 
away beer, wine, or strong water by the small measure 
excepting at meal times, not even to table boarders, whom 
they may pretend to board, under which pretext we have 
seen many frauds perpetrated, we also order that hence- 
forth no beer or wine shall be removed from any brewery, 
cellar or warehouse nor moved in the houses of the tap- 
sters nor brought into them, unless it is previously re- 
ported to the Secretary and his carriers or porters have 
obtained a certificate of the report, signed by the Secre- 
tary’s first clerk. 

Six years later ( 1655), th e laws were made even more 
stringent : “ Every tavern-keeper had to take out quar- 
terly a license and pay therefor six guilders.” The 
hours of Sunday closing were extended; landlords 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 



283 

were forbidden even to give away liquor or to treat 
their friends then or after nine o’clock at night on 
every day of the week; and, in case of a tavern being 
found open, not only the landlord but the guests were 
fined. The license was raised the following year by 
an ordinance dated Oct. 26, 1656: 

Considering that, as well in tapping as in baking, frauds 
can be introduced, since there is as yet no guild or certain 
body known, . . . from now henceforth no person shall 
follow the business unless he first receive a license to trade, 
which all tavernkeepers and bakers shall renew every 
quarter, paying each time one pound Flemish, on pain of 
being suspended from business. 

Moreover, the authorities prohibited on Sunday 
any ordinary work, such as plowing, sowing, mow- 
ing, building, wood-cutting, working in iron or tin, 
hunting, fishing, or any business permitted on other 
days under a penalty of one pound Flemish; much 
less any lower or unlawful games or exercises, drunk- 
enness, frequenting taverns or grogshops, dancing, 
card-playing, backgammon, tennis, ball playing, bowl- 
ing, ninepins, racing with boats, cars, or wagons, 
before, during, or between service, under double the 
fine. More especially no tavern-keepers or tapsters 
were to allow any clubs to sit during, before, or be- 
tween the sermons, nor tap, present, give, or sell, 
directly or indirectly, any brandy, wine, beer, or dis- 
tilled liquors under the penalty of six guilders, and for 
each person found drinking, three guilders; on Sun- 
days or other days after setting of the night watch 
or ringing of the bell under like penalty; the inmates 
of the family, those attending by order and with con- 
sent of magistrates to public business alone excepted. 

The city now determined to farm out the excise and 



284 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



therefore published (Nov. 1, 1656) “Conditions and 
terms whereon [the City] proposes, according to the 
laudable custom and order of our Fatherland, to farm 
to the highest bidder the Burgher Excise of Wine 
and beer: For one anker of brandy, Spanish wine, 
distilled waters, or other of such value, 30 stivers. 
For an anker of French wine, Rhenish wine, Worm- 
wood wine, or other of such value, 15 stivers. For a 
tun of good beer, one guilder. For a tun of small 
beer, 6 stivers. Larger and small vessels in propor- 
tion.’’ Paulus van der Beeck became Farmer for one 
year for the sum of 4220 Carolus guilders. 

Exceptions were granted in excise payment in cer- 
tain cases. Thus, in 1673, the Schout, Burgomasters, 
and Schepens resolved that the tapsters outside the 
city be allowed to lay in a barrel of strong beer at 
burgher excise, at harvest, or the Merry Making, and 
at burials both within and without this city, but all 
officers belonging to the Fort Willem Hendrick must 
pay the full excise, as well as the tapsters themselves, 
if they lay in and consume any wines or beer in tap- 
sters’ houses. 

In the eye of the law the most serious offense of 
which a tavern-keeper could be guilty was directly or 
indirectly selling liquor to the Indians. In 1656, San- 
der Toursen and wife were convicted of selling brandy 
to the Indians and sentenced to banishment. In 1658, 
Paulus Jansen was fined five hundred guilders, and 
banished for six years for a similar offense. 

Even if we had not the official Jeremiads composed 
over that stiff-necked generation, the Court Records 
would be sufficiently eloquent of the desecration of the 
Sabbath by sinners who were sometimes guilty of 
grave offenses. The breaches of the liquor law were 
by no means generally so harmless as that of a land- 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 285 

lord refreshing a few Sunday afternoon callers with 
a hospitable draught of beer. Card-playing and games 
of dice, backgammon, ninepins, etc., were frequently 
indulged in out of hours on licensed premises; and 
to any one who has ever perused the police court 
proceedings in the Monday papers, the excuses given 
by the tavern-keepers have a curiously familiar 
flavor. Let us take a few specimens of the charges 
and the defense offered between the years 1654 and 
1664. 

On Oct. 19, 1654, the Schout represents that he has 
found drinking-clubs on various nights at the house of 
Jan Peck, with dancing and entertainment of disorderly 
people; “ also tapping during Preaching, and that there 
was great noise made by drunkards, especially on Sun- 
day, at this house, so that he was obliged to remove 
one to jail in a cart, which was a most scandalous 
affair.” Jan did not appear; so the court decided 
“ on account of his disorderly house-keeping and evil 
life tippling, dancing, gaming and other irregularities, 
together with tapping at night and on Sunday during 
preaching to annul his license.” Justice, however, was 
very tender-hearted at that day in such cases, for when 
Jan wrote that “ he is burthened with a houseful of 
children and more besides,” the court, considering that 
he was an old burgher, granted permission to resume 
on condition of future good behavior. 

The Schout accused Hans Styn of having tapped on 
Sunday during divine service, and said that people 
had been fighting in his house, and wounded each 
other as appears by the blood which was found there. 
He requested that Styn’s business shall be stopped and 
he be fined. Defendant acknowledged to have tapped 
on Sunday, but for none except strangers, who came 
to eat their usual Sunday meal without having been 



286 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



drunk, or having, to his knowledge, been fighting, or 
wounded each other. 

In 1658, Andrew Vrydach, mason, for being 
intoxicated and fighting during divine service, was 
sentenced to lose six months’ wages, and to stand 
sentinel for a like period; Ralph Turner for a similar 
offense had to stand sentry for six hours a day on six 
consecutive days with two muskets on his shoulders. 
Hendrick Assueros was fined for selling liquor to 
sundry persons, and permitting them to play nine- 
pins during divine service. Paulus Turck was fined 
one rix-dollar for playing ninepins on Sunday. 

Nicasius de Silla prosecutes Dirck Braeck “ for 
that the defendant on last Sunday afternoon during 
the sermon tapped for and gave drink to 3 or 4 
different persons. Defendant denies the same; says 
he only treated Nicolaes Vareth, Cornelis Aersen and 
Ide van Vorst and their wives to a drink of beer, 
through friendship and good neighbourhood without 
taking a penny therefor, as they did him many favours 
heretofore when after his cattle.” This being a first 
offense, the defendant was warned and discharged. 

It seems that while the masters were being enter- 
tained to a drink of beer by Mr. Braeck, their servants 
were taking advantage of their absence to enjoy them- 
selves also. De Silla sues Cornelis Aersen and Ide van 
Vorst “ For that their servantmen raced on last Sunday 
evening after the Sermon, within the City with horses 
and wagons and much noise and singing, from which 
great damage and disaster might have arisen. Con- 
cludes, therefore, that defendants, or their servants 
be condemned each in the fine of £4 Flemish.” The 
defendants acknowledged that their servants did race 
on the previous Sunday within the city, but contended 
that they had no knowledge that any damage was 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 287 

caused thereby, or that the same was forbidden by 
ordinance. The court, considering the accidents that 
might have occurred, and the serious consequences of 
the same unless provision be made against it, lined the 
defendants, Cornelis Aersen and Ide van Vorst, for the 
fault committed by their servants, three guilders each; 
and ordered, further, “ that they shall hereafter watch 
themselves and their people, so that all dangers and 
irregularities be prevented ; else other disposition shall 
be made therein.” 

Andrees Rees’s wife was accused of having ninepins 
at her house on Sunday during preaching, and the can 
and the glass stood on the table. Andrees says he was 
not at home, but on the watch, and that there were no 
ninepins at his house, nor can the plaintiff say that he 
saw drinking at his house during the preaching. Mrs. 
Rees “ denies that there was any nine pins or drinking 
at her house, saying that some came to her house, who 
said that Church was out, and that one had a pin and the 
other a bowl in the hand, but they did not play. The 
Schout states that defendant’s wife said she did not 
know but Church was out, and offered to compound 
with the Schout.” Perhaps the good-wife did not 
offer the officer enough. Be that as it may, she was 
fined six guilders. 

Jan Schryver was accused of having tapped half an 
hour after evening bell ring; he pleaded that it was 
impossible to drive the people out of the house so pre- 
cisely, and half an hour passed easily by, before each 
one had paid his money. Nevertheless, he was fined 
twelve guilders. When Maria Peck was summoned 
for having tapped after nine o’clock, she denied it, 
saying that two sat in her house, who counted their 
money which she owed them, and she did not tap a 
drop. Peter Pia was accused of tapping on Sunday 



288 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



after the watch was set and six persons were at his 
house; the Schout demanded twenty-five florins’ fine 
and six guilders for each person. Peter explained that 
there were three at his house who were standing up to 
leave. He was let off. 

On June 27, 1661, Hendrik Assueros was fined for 
selling liquor and permitting ninepins playing during 
divine service. In 1662, “ Andries Joghimsen denies 
having tapped on Sunday during preaching to negroes ; 
and swears that he gave no drink directly or indirectly, 
himself or by his wife, at the time when Steenwyck's 
negro played the Jewsharp at Covert Loockerman’s.” 
He was excused. 

In many of the low taverns, especially those fre- 
quented by the soldiers and sailors, drinking-bouts often 
terminated in drunken brawls and fighting with fists, 
knives, cutlasses, and pikes, sometimes with fatal re- 
sults. Thus, in July, 1648, Abraham Pietersen’s tav- 
ern was closed by the authorities on account of a 
man named Gerrit Clomp having been killed there. 
When closing-time arrived, and the tap-rooms dis- 
gorged their drunken patrons, the streets were often 
the scenes of riotous conduct, such as breaking windows 
and lamps, breaking into inoffensive citizens’ houses to 
demand drink, and assaulting anybody who objected 
to their violence. Proceedings against night-brawlers 
frequently occur in the Court Records. 

Even in the better class of taverns quarrels, assaults, 
and stabbing affrays were not uncommon among the 
class of citizens who patronized them, — sea-captains, 
the Company’s officers and servants, and burghers who, 
except when under the influence of liquor, were usually 
peacefully inclined. The best tavern in the city was 
not exempt from such scenes, as we have seen. In 
1647, a customer named Symon Root, who lost his 







A TAVERN BRAWL 

ADRIAEN BROUWER 



TAVERNS AND EXCISE LAWS 289 

right ear “ in a broil at the great Tavern,” applied to 
the Council, and received a certificate reciting the fact. 
This was necessary when he traveled abroad, where the 
loss might have been attributed to a crime, committed 
here or elsewhere, the punishment of which was ear 
cropping or boring. 

Many examples might be given of the excesses com- 
mitted by the frequenters of taverns; but the follow- 
ing will suffice. On Aug. 8, 1644, Peter Wolphersen 
sued three soldiers for cutting his wainscot with their 
cutlasses. On pleading guilty, two of them were sen- 
tenced to ride the Wooden Horse for three hours; 
and the third, it being his second offense, had to stand 
three hours under the gallows, with a cutlass in his 
hand. In 1660, Frans Janzen and Abel Hardenbroeck 
were fined twenty guilders each because they “ at night 
and at unseasonable hours in company with some sol- 
diers created an uproar and great insolence in the street 
by breaking windows.” 

Typical tavern interiors of the period face pages 
266 and 288. 



J 9 




CHAPTER XIII 

SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 

I N the Seventeenth Century, the majority of people 
were fond of games that required violent exer- 
cise, such as disc-throwing and all varieties of ball 
games. Noblemen, burghers, and peasants shared this 
taste. Games of “ short ball,” “ long ball,” balls driven 
through gates or wickets, balls thrown against a stake, 
balls struck by the gloved or ungloved hand, racket, 
stick, club, or mallet, subject to various rules and known 
under various names, such as tennis, golf, paille-maille, 
bowls, skittles, ninepins, hockey, etc., were favorite 
pastimes with the New Netherlanders. 

The game of Kaetzen was played by striking the ball 
against a post for the adversary to drive it back after 
its rebound. Sometimes the ball was solid, filled with 
horsehair, and struck with a club or racket, and some- 
times a soft hollow ball struck by the hand or fist was 
used. In the early days it was a nobleman’s game. 
The ball court for this game occupied a pretty large 
square, the larger the space the better. Before the 
game began, a tree, wall, or post was selected for the 
goal. The citizens and farmers also enjoyed themselves 
at these games, but they were so- noisy that they were 
not allowed in churchyards or convent grounds. In 
Dordrecht there was a city golf-link. In the Seven- 
teenth Century, when golf became a national game, 
the links were made outside of the cities, in the neigh- 

290 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 291 

borhood of which gradually taverns were erected, which 
bought or rented the courts or links. The ball was 
struck with the bare palm; but those who had tender 
hands wore thick double gloves, while some persons, in 
order to strike a still stronger blow, strengthened the 
inside of the gloves with cord. The women used a 
kind of racket made of netting with a handle at the 
end ; and a lighter kind of ball was made for their use. 

The Klos, or Klootbaan, was a game of princes in the 
Middle Ages, but during the Seventeenth Century it 
was a burgher’s game, and finally descended to the 
farmer class. At the end of a long alley two iron 
staves or pieces of wood were fastened in the ground 
and made to join at the top so as to form a sort of 
gate, and through this gate, from the end of the alley 
and at a set distance, the player had to throw a round 
disc. If he missed, he had to take up the disc where 
it landed and throw until he hit one of the posts, which 
counted one. Throwing through the gate counted two ; 
and this continued until one of the players had reached 
the number of twelve, or any other number agreed upon. 

Not less primitive, but certainly not less liked, was 
the kingpin or skittle game, or pin bowling, — called 
jeu de quille in French, and derived, according to Du 
Cange, from the old Dutch word “ bell ” or “ clock,” 
as the pins were wide at the bottom and more or less 
in the shape of a bell. In the earliest accounts of the 
Counts of Holland this game is mentioned, and a num- 
ber of early authors show how popular it was with 
knights and nobles. In the Seventeenth Century, there 
was hardly a tavern without a wooden or stone plat- 
form where the game of skittles could be played. 
Sometimes there were covered alleys with the nine 
pyramid-shaped pins, one of which was provided with 
a knob or even a crown which was called the kingpin. 






292 DUTCH NEW YORK 

These were often very heavy, and to knock them down 
with the disc required a strong arm. Children had toy 
games then as now. The single disc game was also 
a favorite pastime. This was the rolling of a disc on 
its rim over a certain space of ground. Cleverly thrown, 
it would roll a long distance. When it fell, it was 
thrown again. He who covered the most ground, in 
a certain number of throws, while the disc rolled upright 
won the game. This game was generally played in 
winter on the ice, and also by the fishermen on the 
sands, where the smooth surface afforded a fine playing- 
ground. 

Prizes were offered for “ Clubbing the Cat.” This 
game generally took place on the square in front of 
the inn, or on the bowling-green, where from two heavy 
spiles driven into the ground a strong rope was 
stretched. In the centre of the rope hung a lightly 
cooped barrel in which was a live cat. At the appointed 
hour all who wished to throw the club gave their names, 
and paid an entrance fee. It was also agreed that the 
winner should pay for three or four bottles of wine, 
and the landlord gave each of the players a bottle. 
When a sufficient number of players had entered, the 
name and number of each was written on a board with 
chalk, and drawing took place. Then a line was drawn 
on the ground or a long pole was laid down to show 
the distance from which the “ throwing ” was allowed. 
Now number one stepped forward with his club, which 
he threw with great force at the barrel. The winner 
was he who broke the cask and let the cat escape. 
Sometimes the cat, too dazed or frightened to jump 
out of the barrel when it was split open, only fell out. 
In every case the winner was always he whose throw 
made the cat leave the barrel ; and as soon as the cat 
was out, it was chased, and he who caught it got a bottle 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 293 

of wine as a prize. Sometimes a peacock or goose was 
used; and sometimes, instead of a barrel, the bird 
was simply tied to a rope and killed. 

Another favorite game was “ Pulling the Goose.” 
A goose with its head well greased was fastened to 
a rope that was stretched across a road, and the sport 
was for a man to try to catch the bird by the head and 
carry it off as he rode on horseback at a gallop or drove 
beneath the bird in a cart going at full speed. This 
was also called “ Riding the Goose.” A variation of 
the game was made by stretching the rope across a ditch 
or canal or stream, under which a boat was swiftly 
rowed, and the man, standing on a plank, tried to carry 
off the bird in the same way, as shown in the illustra- 
tion facing page 296. If he missed, the plank tipped 
and he fell into the water; and then he had to swim 
back to the boat and repeat the attempt. There were 
always several contestants, and the game was extremely 
popular. It belonged especially to the Shrove Tuesday 
pastimes, and was frequently prohibited in New Am- 
sterdam and Albany. Stuyvesant called it “ an un- 
profitable, heathenish and Popish festival and a perni- 
cious custom,” and prohibited it, but some people per- 
sisted in Pulling the Goose and were fined and impris- 
oned in consequence, “ in order to prevent more sins, 
debaucheries and calamities.” On Feb. 19, 1654, Har- 
men Smeman and divers farm servants were examined 
on a charge of “ Plucking the Goose,” and fines were 
imposed. Two others were condemned to imprison- 
ment for the same offense and for threatening the 
Director-General. At the request of the Burgomasters 
and Schepens, the two prisoners were released from 
confinement two days later. 

The prosecution of these men for Pulling the Goose 
caused friction between the upper and lower court. 



29 4 DUTCH NEW YORK 

The story is told in the following extract from the 
records, Feb. 16, 1654: 

The Hon. Director General has reported to the Council 
that both the Burgomasters and the majority of the Sche- 
pens appeared before his Honor on the 25th Instant, rep- 
resenting themselves aggrieved by the Director General 
and Council having without their knowledge interdicted 
and forbidden certain farmers’ servants to ride the goose 
on the feast of Bacchus at Shrove-tide for reasons the 
Director General and Council thereunto moving. Besides 
its never having been practised here in their time, it is 
moreover altogether unprofitable, unnecessary and censur- 
able for subjects and neighbours to celebrate such pagan 
and popish feasts and to practise such evil customs in this 
Country, even though they may be tolerated and looked 
at through the fingers in some places in Fatherland. 
Which interdict and prohibition was by the Court Mes- 
senger Claes van Elsland served on the farmers’ servants 
the day before the act, who, notwithstanding such ser- 
vice, nevertheless in contempt of the supreme authority, 
violated the same. Whereupon, some delinquents were 
legally cited and summoned before the Director General 
and Council by their Fiscal to be examined and mulcted 
for their contempt as may be proper. Two or three of 
them behaving in an insolent and contumacious manner, 
threatening, cursing, deriding and laughing at the chief 
magistracy were therefore, as is customary committed to 
prison, by which the Burgomasters and Schepens esteem 
themselves particularly aggrieved in their quality, because 
the Director General and Council have done so without 
their consent and knowledge; as if we can issue no order 
or forbid no rabble to celebrate the feast of Bacchus with- 
out the knowledge, advice and consent of Burgomasters 
and Schepens, much less have power to correct such per- 
sons as transgress the Christian and Holy Commandment, 
without the cognizance and consent of an Inferior Court 
of Justice. 

The Director General and Council appreciating their 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 295 

office, authority and commission better than others, hereby 
notify the Burgomasters and Schepens that the establish- 
ing of an Inferior Court of Justice under the name and 
title of Schout, Burgomasters and Schepens or Commis- 
saries, does in no wise infringe on or diminish the power 
and authority of the Director General and Council to 
enact any Ordinances or issue particular interdicts, espe- 
cially those which tend to the glory of God, the best in- 
terests of the inhabitants, or will prevent more sins, scan- 
dals, debaucheries and crimes, and properly correct, fine 
and punish obstinate transgressors. What is solely the 
qualification of Schout, Burgomasters and Schepens, and 
for what purpose they are appointed, appear sufficiently 
from the Instructions given to them, by which they have 
to abide and conform themselves, without henceforth 
troubling and tormenting the Inspector General individu- 
ally about any enacted ordinance, law or order, penalty 
or punishment issued and executed against and concerning 
the contraveners thereof by previous resolution of the 
Director General and Council. 

The common people were not inclined tamely to sub- 
mit to interference with their pleasures, for, on Feb. 
8, 1655: 

Corn 8 van Tienhoven informed the Court that he had 
been informed that the country people intended Riding the 
Goose again as they did last year, and enquired therefore 
if their worships would do anything to oppose it ; that it, 
was forbidden by resolution of the Supreme Councillors 
and prevented. Therefore it was decided that the Fiscal 
Tienhoven shall, ex officio, seasonably declare the same 
to be illegal. 

On Feb. 26, 1658, an order was issued refusing per- 
mission to the farmers and their men in the vicinity 
of New Amsterdam to “ pull the goose.” 

Cats and hares were also used for this cruel sport, 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



296 

as we learn from a proclamation at Albany in 1677, 
“ prohibiting all misdemeanors which have occurred 
here on Shrove Tuesday, viz., Riding at a goose, cat, 
hare, etc., etc., on a penalty of £25 seawan.” 

Not less popular was the game called “ bird cutting.” 
A cock, a duck, or any other bird, was hung head down- 
wards from a rope, and the contestants were blind- 
folded and placed at a certain distance from the bird. 
The game was to cut off the bird’s head ; and whoever 
was lucky enough to do so, received the bird as a 
prize. 

The fondness of the Dutch for archery and shoot- 
ing with the crossbow is too well known for detailed 
description of their shooting-matches and galleries. 
The sport was a favorite one in New Amsterdam. We 
learn that on June 16, 1644, Henry Hewit sued Gerrit 
Jacobson for destroying his eye with an arrow. Jacob- 
son pleaded that more persons than he were shooting 
arrows at the time; and the next court day he pro- 
duced two witnesses who were discharging arrows, but 
they denied having hit the plaintiff. 

The vast amount of game afforded the sportsman 
great opportunity for pleasure. The woods were full 
of birds and deer, and the marshes of water-fowl. It 
would seem that birds were plentiful in the city itself, 
for it is ordered, on Oct. 9, 1652, that guns are not 
to be fired at partridges or other game within the limits 
of the city. 

The following prohibition on June 12, 1657, shows 
how fond the New Amsterdam carters were of racing: 

No person shall gallop or race within the gates and 
walls of this city with any wagon, cart, or sleigh, and 
no driver shall sit on such, whether drawn by oxen or 
horses, but walk alongside the same; and if he shall be 
found sitting or standing thereon, he shall pay a fine of 




PULLING THE GOOSE 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 297 

one pound Flemish, and be interdicted six weeks from 
using such vehicle and the draught cattle thereof. 

Cards, chess, backgammon, dice-throwing, were 
among the pleasures of the age; billiards, too, were 
not unknown. Francis Hulin has one “ old billiard 
table” (£3) in 1702. Cards appear in many of the 
inventories and lists of shop-goods. Lawrence Deldyke 
had three gross and two dozen cards in 1692, and John 
Coesart one hundred and eighty-seven packs of cards 
of various qualities in 1700. 

Not only were games indulged in at home and at 
taverns, but there were special gaming-houses. In 
1681, for instance, John Tudor was fined by the 
Mayor’s Court for keeping a gaming-house. A picture 
by Jan Steen and variously known as The Parrot Cage 
and the Backgammon Players faces page 202. 

A game that was doubtless indulged in, especially 
in the early days, was one spoken of by De Rasieres 
in 1626, which he saw the Indians play: 

They are very fond of a game they call senneca, played 
with some round rushes, similar to the Spanish feather- 
grass which they understand how to shuffle and deal as 
though they were playing with cards ; and they win from 
each other all that they possess. 

Saint Nicholas was the patron saint of New Am- 
sterdam. The choice was most appropriate, for he 
was the patron of sailors and all Dutch trading-towns. 
He was the patron of Amsterdam and other emporiums 
of Dutch trade. The church in the Fort bore his name, 
and his festival was celebrated here with as much fervor 
as at home. Saint Nicholas Eve (December 5) was 
particularly a children’s holiday, and was anticipated 
by them with feelings of delight and curiosity, for the 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



298 

good children were always rewarded with presents in 
their shoes, cakes and sweetmeats, while the naughty 
ones received a rod or switch. Great preparations were 
made for the festival. Nothing was more important 
than the Saint Nicholas cake, or bread, sometimes called 
“Saint Claes baking.” Young people assembled at vari- 
ous houses to paste gold and silver leaf on these Saint 
Nicholas cakes, — an amusement called cake-pasting 
(koek-plakken ) , after which usually followed a sup- 
per, dancing, and a frolic. Many songs were sung on 
these occasions, among which was the following: 

Sancte Claus goed heijlig Man ! 

Trek uw beste tabaert an, 

Reis daer me’e na Amsterdam, 

Van Amsterdam na Spanje, 

Daer appelen van Oranje, 

Daer appelen van Granaten, 

Die rollen door de straten. 

Sancte Claus, mijn goeden vriend, 

Ik heb u alien tijd gediend! 

Wilt u my nu wat geven, 

Dan dien ik u al mijn leven. 

Santa Claus, good holy man! 

Put on your tabard, the best you can, 

Go clad in it to Amsterdam. 

From Amsterdam then go to Spain. 

There golden apples 
And also pomegranates 
Roll through the streets. 

Santa Claus, my dear good friend, 

I have always served you; 

If you will now give me something, 

I will serve you all my life long. 

This verse is still sung by the children of Holland. 
Another ran: 

Saint Nicholas, Bishop, put your tall hat on, give the good 
children something sweet, and give the bad ones a spanking. 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 299 



Another was : 

SINTER KLAAS, BISSCHOP 

Zet je hooge muts op; 

Trek je langen tabbaard aan, 

Rydt er mee naar Amsterdam ; 

Amsterdam en Spanje, 

Appeltjes van Oranje; 

Appeltjes van de boomen. 

Ryke, ryke Oome; 

Ryke, ryke juffertjes 
Dragen lange mouwen; 

Hansje willen wy trouwen, 

Hansje die sprang over de sloot; 

Onze Hans die brak Zijn poot, 

Tien pond suiker ! 

Leg de lepel 
Ob de ketel ; 

Brandewyn met suiker! 

SANTA CLAUS, BISHOP 

Put your high cap on; 

Put your long tabard on, 

Ride with it to Amsterdam; 

Amsterdam and Spain, 

Apples of Orange; 

Apples from the trees, 

Rich, rich uncle; 

Rich, rich damsels 
Wearing long sleeves; 

Little Hans will you marry me? 

Little Hans he jumped over the ditch; 

Our Hans he broke his leg. 

Ten pounds of sugar! 

Lay the spoon 
Upon the kettle; 

Brandywine with sugar. 

Returning to their homes, or when their guests had 
gone, from the cake-pasting, the children placed their 
wooden shoes ( klompen ) outside of the bedroom door 
or by the side of the chimney. Saint Nicholas was 
supposed to fill these with presents. 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



3 00 

Saint Nicholas Eve has always been a favorite sub- 
ject with the Little Dutch Masters. Jan Steen painted 
two graphic pictures, one of which faces this page. 
The painter himself and his family are represented. 
The interest centres in the little girl, who has a pail 
full of toys on her left arm while she holds in her 
hands a doll dressed in the garb of the saint with 
halo on its head, and her older brother, who is crying 
because his shoe contains a switch, which his sister is 
handing to him. His grandmother is beckoning to him 
in the distance; she may have something hidden be- 
hind the curtains of the bed. A younger brother, who 
is about to ride on his father’s stick, points to the un- 
happy child with heartless derision. Another son is 
explaining to a baby and a younger brother how Saint 
Nicholas came down the chimney. By the side of 
Vrouw Steen is a table filled with sweets and cakes, 
and a basket of cakes, Saint Nicholas bread, and wafers 
is standing on the floor. Leaning against the table is 
a large cake which has been decorated by the cake- 
pasters with figures of cocks. 

Among the special sweets belonging to the Saint 
Nicholas festival, marsepein (marchpane) or almond- 
paste held a conspicuous place. 

A great many confections were undoubtedly im- 
ported, but the bakers and cooks in New Amsterdam 
were skilful, and ceremonial cakes and breads were 
made here for every festival. That such delicacies 
were made in rich houses we know from the kitchen 
utensils mentioned in the inventories; for instance, 
Cornelis Steenwyck had “ tin ware to bake sugar 
cakes ” and a “ marsepyn pan ” worth £2. Books of 
gold leaf and boxes of gold leaf are often found in the 
New Amsterdam inventories, doubtless for the decora- 
tion of holiday cakes, Twelfth Night beans, and sugar 




ST. NICHOLAS EVE 
JAN STEEN 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 301 

plums. Mrs. Drisius and Mrs. Van Varick, for in- 
stance, each had a parcel of leaf gold. Presents were 
exchanged on Saint Nicholas Eve by the children of the 
rich ; and all the poor of the city — widows, orphans, 
and helpless old people — were generously remembered 
by a good meal. 

The next festivals to come were Christmas, New 
Year’s Day, and Twelfth Night or Three Kings’ Even- 
ing. Little business was transacted during the holiday 
season. From a proclamation issued in December, 
1655, we read: 

Whereas Christmas is at hand, the Court resolve and 
order that, according to the custom of our Fatherland, no 
ordinary Court day, or meeting shall be held for eight 
days after Christmas. 

New Year’s Day partook somewhat of the character 
of Sunday and days of special Thanksgiving. Al- 
though visits were exchanged, the day was strictly 
observed, and the same ordinances were issued in Stuy- 
vesant’s time for New Year’s and May Day. For in- 
stance, that issued in December, 1655, reads: 

Whereas experience has manifested and shown us, that 
on New Year’s and May days much drunkenness and 
other irregularities are committed besides other sorrowful 
accidents such as woundings frequently arising therefrom, 
by Firing, May planting, and Carousing, in addition to 
the unnecessary waste of powder, to prevent which for 
the future, the Director General and Council expressly 
forbid that from now henceforward there shall be, within 
this Province of New Netherland on New Years or May 
Days, any Firing of Guns, or any Planting of May Poles, 
or any beating of Drums, or any treating with Brandy, 
wine or Beer; and all such and greater dangers and 
mischiefs to prevent, a fine of twelve guilders shall be 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



3°2 

imposed for the first offence ; double for the second, and 
an arbitrary Correction for the third — to wit one third 
for the poor, and one third for the Officer and one third 
for the Informer. 

On Jan. 27, 1656, Governor Stuyvesant proclaimed 

a day of fasting and prayer for God’s blessing protec- 
tion and prosperity in trade and agriculture but princi- 
pally for a righteous and thankful use of his blessings 
and benefits. The which the better to observe and prac- 
tise with greater unanimity, We interdict and forbid, on 
the aforesaid day of Fasting and Prayer during Divine 
Service, all labour, Tennis-playing Ball-playing, Hunting, 
Fishing, Travelling, Ploughing, Sowing, Mowing and 
other unlawful games as Gambling and Drunkenness, on 
pain of arbitrary correction and punishment already en- 
acted against the same. 

On Dec. 28, 1656, the former prohibition against 
any person shooting or drumming, etc., on New Year’s 
Day, or planting May-poles on May day, was renewed. 

The next festival on the calendar was Twelfth Night, 
or Three Kings’ Night (January 6) . On this day young 
people and children were fond of dancing around three 
candles placed in the ground, one of which was black, 
called the “ Moor,” or “ Melkert,” from Melchior, ac- 
cording to tradition King of Kranganor. This candle- 
jumping often occasioned fire and other accidents, and 
was finally forbidden; but, like all other prohibited 
games, it was frequently indulged in. While the chil- 
dren were amusing themselves in the streets in this way, 
the housewives were busy preparing the great Twelfth 
Night Cake, which neighbors and friends had been in- 
vited to share, and in which a gilded bean was placed. 
He who got the bean in his slice was king of the 
revels. There were other means employed to elect 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 303 

the king : sometimes three pieces of money were baked 
in the cake, and he who got the one with a cross on 
it was the king for the evening. The bean-king was 
called Beltsasar (Balthazar) and held a mock court, 
receiving the homage of all present. The evening al- 
ways ended in merry-making, with plenty of good 
cheer. 

The youths enjoyed a different kind of amusement. 
They chose three kings, dressed two of them in white 
and one in black, rubbed the face of the latter with 
soot, and gave each of them a paper star in their hands 
with a lighted candle behind it (see facing page 304). 
Then they accompanied the trio, singing songs to fit the 
occasion, to the taverns, where they treated each other 
to beer with sugar and oil-fritters. 

Although the Dutch Reformed Church effaced every- 
thing that savored of Roman Catholicism, it was hard 
to suppress festivals that having had their origin in 
pagan celebrations were seasons beloved of the people. 
Among these was Shrove Tuesday, which supplanted 
the heathen Lupercalia, known later under the name 
of Spurcalia in Februario. Known in Holland and her 
colonies by the name Fasten avond (evening before 
fasting), Shrove Tuesday was celebrated, not as a re- 
ligious feast, but as an evening of wild extravagance. 
It was the merriest evening in the year. In Holland 
on this day men of wealth and rank received their 
rents from their tenants, their suite appeared in new 
clothes, and the burgomasters made their appearance 
dressed in the full regalia of their dignity. More or 
less costly presents were exchanged, and the cities gave 
dinners to their magistrates and nobles; while the 
burghers entertained their friends and blood relations. 
The evening passed in revelry. 

One of the Shrove Tuesday customs was a children’s 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



3°4 

masquerade. They walked through the streets with 
the rommel-pot, a pot covered with a tightly stretched 
bladder, in the centre of which was a hole in which a 
stick was tightly jammed. When this stick was moved 
up and down, it made a dull, rumbling noise. The 
children went from door to door rattling the pot and 
singing the following verse : 

’k Heb zoo lang met de foekepot geloopen, 

Nog geen geld om brood te koopen, 

Haringpakkerij, haringpakkerij ! 

Geef me een oortje, dan ga ik voorbij ! 

I ’ve run so long with the rumbling-pot 
And have as yet got no money to buy bread, 
Herring-packery, herring-packery, 

Give me a penny and I ’ll go by ! 

They wore masks and false faces and sometimes “ a 
devil's suit of clothes." This masking, dressing up, 
and begging for pennies still survives in New York 
at Thanksgiving Day. Another favorite Shrove Tues- 
day amusement was “ Riding the Goose ” (see page 
296). 

A petition to restrict the Shrovetide festivities from 
the Consistory of Wildwyck on Feb. 12, 1664, reads as 
follows : 

The Consistory here, moved by their consciences and 
their duty as officers, petition the Magistrates of this place 
with all proper humility, that the public, sinful and scan- 
dalous Baccanalian days of Shrovetide (descended from 
the Heathen from their idol Bacchus, the God of wine 
and drunkenness : being also a leaven of Papacy, which 
the Apostel, 1 Cor. 5, has warned us to cast off), which 
are near at hand, may be prohibited in this place by 
proper Placards from you, that we, by its publication 
and reproof may eradicate this abomination, and thereby 
through the Grace and Blessings of God, we, each of us, 




From an old print 

THREE KINGS’ EVENING 

(TWELFTH NIGHT) 





SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 305 

may do the good which will come of it to this place, and 
the souls and bodies of its inhabitants, the more as we 
live in such sorrowful days of God’s wrath upon us in 
this place for our sins. If people will still indulge in the 
pleasures of such scandalous sins as those of Shrovetide, 
they will more and more provoke God and bring his wrath 
on us again, for His rod is yet over us, and his punish- 
ment of war yet afflicts us ; yea, and will thus yet further 
oppress this land and its inhabitants. Shall they then 
rolick in their sins while the whole land weeps and make 
merry when we are every month called to sorrow, wailing 
and lamentation? 

Waffles, rice-pudding, and pancakes were the special 
dishes enjoyed on this day. 

The ancient celebration of the awakening of spring 
was held on May Day. This was the time when lovers’ 
vows were made and floral festivals were held. Early 
in the morning, young people went out to gather boughs 
and blossoms with which they decorated their houses 
and the tall May-pole, which was also wreathed with 
ribbons. Around this they danced on the green and 
drank the spiced May-wine. The May-pole was in some 
towns in Holland and England felled by the youths and 
brought to the village green drawn by oxen ; in others 
a permanent May-pole stood on the village green. 
There was a permanent May-pole on the Merry Mount 
in the Fort, as we learn from the following record of 
June 10, 1645, when “ William Gerritson pleaded guilty 
to singing a defamatory song against the Rev. Francis 
Douty and his daughter.” He was sentenced “ to stand 
bound to the Maypole in the Fort with two rods around 
his neck, and the libel over his head until conclusion of 
the sermon ; and should he ever sing the song again to 
be flogged and banished.” May-poles, however, were 
planted for every season, and were the occasion of so 



20 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



306 

much hilarity that in December, 1655, the following 
ordinance was passed : 

Whereas experience has shown and taught us that on 
New Year’s Days and on May-days, from the firing of 
guns and planting May-poles and drunken drinking, there 
have resulted unnecessary waste of powder, much drunk- 
enness, and other insolent practices, together with other 
lamentable accidents and bruises that generally arise there- 
from. Therefore, in order to prevent these, it is hereby 
expressly ordered by the Director-General and the Coun- 
cillors, that, from this time forth, within this Province 
of New Netherland, on the New-Year and May-days, 
there shall be no firing, nor May-poles planted ; nor shall 
there be any beating of the drum; nor shall there be 
on the occasion, any Wines, Brandywines, or Beer dealt 
out. 

May-Day jollity continued, however; and the May- 
pole continued to be a gathering point for the merry- 
makers, for, five years later, on Dec. 31, 1660, we read: 

This date is renewed the Placard against firing on New 
Year’s Day, or planting Maypoles on May day, or mak- 
ing a present of any drink to any person for that purpose. 

One of the customs was to send little cards decorated 
with green sprays to friends, and gifts of flowers and 
knick-knacks were also exchanged. Dances often took 
place in the evening, and there was much drinking in the 
taverns. Those in New Amsterdam who came from 
some parts of Holland rose early on May Day, and, 
climbing the roofs of houses in which young girls dwelt, 
would place green boughs or dead twigs there, and 
sometimes, as a joke, a straw man. Not un frequently 
they would go into the fields and procure all the scare- 
crows they could find and put them on the roofs of 
the old maids’ homes. A May-pole decorated with rags 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 307 

was sometimes used to insult a bride and groom (see 
page 234) . Some people planted a May-tree, and took 
great care of it and hung it with garlands, flowers, and 
other devices and ribbons, and also fastened verses on 
the tree for particular persons. 

Pinkster, or Whitsuntide, was also a time of pleasure. 
During the period before the Reformation, on Whitsun- 
tide, white pigeons, emblems of the Holy Spirit, were 
let loose in the church. The next day was given up to 
revelry. White and gilt pigeons were the aim of the 
archers, and priests and scholars gave scriptural plays 
in the market-places and churchyards, in which the 
“ white dove ” always had a prominent part. Later 
these religious plays were followed by a farce. The 
Reformation prohibited a great many of these abuses ; 
but these holidays had become so entirely a part of the 
life of the people that neither Luther nor Calvin, neither 
church nor civic threatenings, could put a stop to them. 
It is true that no consecrated doves nor pigeons were 
brought to the church in New Amsterdam, but proces- 
sions, bird-shooting, and the Whitsuntide dances, sing- 
ing and general merry-making were in vogue. One of 
the processions was that of the “ Whitsuntide Flower.” 
With wreaths of green and flowers woven in their 
flowing hair, dressed in white and each carrying in her 
hand a May-branch twined with leaves and flowers 
and decorated with gold or silver bows, the young 
maidens walked through the streets, escorting the 
Whitsuntide bride or “ Flower bride,” the queen of 
the feast, dressed and ornamented at the public ex- 
pense. One of the group went around the various 
doors and collected the gifts which were spent in ex- 
cesses in the evening. These excesses were so great, 
and the songs were of so light a character, that even- 
tually government was compelled to stop the proces- 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



308 

sions of the Whitsuntide bride, at a fine of a golden 
florin for every child that carried the May-branch on 
that day. 

The great autumn festival was Saint Martin’s Eve. 
Saint Martin enjoyed great popularity. Numerous 
churches, chapels, altars, and villages bore his name in 
Holland, and an oath taken on his name was as sacred 
as “ by God’s Faith,” “ by my father’s soul,” “ by the 
Emperor’s head,” etc. His day, November 11, became 
a day of peculiar veneration, extravagance, and excess. 
No one could be induced to stay near a crossroad on 
Saint Martin’s Eve. Terrible things were heard and 
seen there, for it was as if Hell had let loose its oc- 
cupants. Evil spirits roamed around in company of 
those who had sold their souls to Satan for money 
or other gifts, on condition of wearing a werewolf 
shirt on Saint John’s or Saint Martin’s Eve. Then 
sounded the horn blasts of wild hunters. No cloister 
was so strict, no hovel so poor, but had its feast. One 
Dutch dish on this festival was pancakes; another, 
served for a second course, was a dish of medlars; 
but the principal dish was the world-renowned “ Saint 
Martin’s goose,” which was found on every table. 
He who had not eaten goose had not celebrated the 
day, and the goose graced the board of the aristocrat 
and was found on the dimly lighted table of the 
laborer. Surrounded with burning candles, it was 
the centre of attraction in the middle of the table, 
and after partaking of the toothsome roast, then — 
the old superstitions were observed with a heathenish 
custom the breastbone was examined to see whether 
the softness or hardness of it gave signs of a mild or 
severe winter, and if much snow could be expected. 
Much has been written about the origin of the Saint 
Martin s goose ; but the most acceptable explanation is 




SPORTS ON THE ICE 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 309 

that Saint Martin, as the probable representative of the 
God Ullr, to whom a goose was sacrificed, was remem- 
bered by slaughtering one in his memory, and from this 
the prophetic qualities of the bird may be derived. The 
goose was accompanied by the “ must ” (new wine), 
which was drunk on the evening of the nth of No- 
vember to the singing of the verse 

Saint Martin, Saint Martin; 

To-day the Must, To-morrow Wine. 

Verses were prepared by the schoolmasters, and trans- 
lated from the Latin to be sung by their pupils. 

In the evening Saint Martin’s fires were burned. 
The day on which this happened was also called “ Saint- 
Martin-shake-the-basket-day.” This comes from the 
custom of shaking a basket of chestnuts and other nuts 
slowly in the bonfire, and grabbing them at the risk of 
burning the hands. 

In addition to the merry-making and ceremonies be- 
longing to stated festivals, the Dutch burghers and their 
families, particularly the youths and maidens, had many 
simple pleasures. 

The Dutch, like the English, were great lovers of 
out-of-door life and games; and many excuses were 
made for trips to the country and for excursions and 
picnics of all kinds by both boat and wagon. In a 
sailboat, rowboat, or wagon the merry party would 
travel in the bright days of spring and summer to some 
pleasure resort on the Hudson or the East River, Har- 
lem, Long Island, or Staten Island. Sunday was the 
favorite day for these excursions in New Amsterdam, 
as it was in Holland, but many persons disapproved 
of spending the Lord’s Day in holiday-making. 

As a rule the merry-makers started early in the morn- 
ing and took breakfast at some wayside tavern or 



3io 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



country-seat. This consisted of delicious bread and 
butter, crisp biscuits, luscious strawberries or cherries, 
sweet and sour cream, old and new cheese, and wine. 
After breakfast the company again entered the wagon 
or boat, and drove or sailed farther. Sometimes they 
would stop in the fields or woods and make wreaths of 
the long grasses and flowers they plucked, or gather 
wild-flowers to carry home. They sang, they danced, 
they played games, and they ate heartily. If the noon- 
day meal was not eaten in a tavern, baskets of pro- 
visions were carried along for an al fresco lunch. If 
the merry-makers went to the shore, they amused 
themselves with the game of sea-carrying (zee-dragen ) . 
There was no more dangerous game than this “ Carry- 
ing into the Sea.” The young man took a girl in his 
arms and walked with her into the sea until the water 
came over his high boots, and then he carried her back 
again into the dunes, where he rolled her over and 
“ salted her with sand.” This, according to some 
writers, was done with the idea of the young man 
finding out what kind of a temper his sweetheart had ; 
and if she did not lose it or become angry, he was 
sure of having a good and patient wife. How much 
truth there is in this can be guessed when many times 
the girls would walk along the sands of the seashore 
and ask of their escorts “ if there was no water in the 
sea.” Many a tear was shed on account of this zee- 
dragen, and many a sad accident resulted from it. 

Sometimes, particularly when the party went by boat, 
a fish dinner or supper was ordered at a tavern some 
distance from town. In this case a large fish sur- 
rounded with parsley and accompanied by a fine Dutch 
sauce of melted butter and vinegar occupied the center 
of the table. After this, fruit, tastefully decorated with 
vine leaves, was served. 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 311 

No matter where they went or what they did, kissing 
formed no small part of the day’s pleasure and enter- 
tainment. The Dutch were as fond of love-making as 
any other nation ; and historians admit that the Dutch- 
man deserves his nickname of the “ kissing Dutchman.” 
Kissing is constantly referred to in the poems of the 
period, and the song-books are full of allusions to it. 
Kissing shepherds and shepherdesses appear in all the 
Arcadias, and even the most serious poets liked to write 
about it. When rising in the morning, retiring at night, 
leaving the house to go to work and returning from it, 
people used to salute with a kiss. A family or state 
visit began and ended with kissing. If a young man 
took his girl from her home to go out, he greeted her 
with a kiss; did he take her home after the outing, a 
kiss was given at parting. A kiss was the greeting of 
honest friendship; a kiss with honor would harm no- 
body ; a little kiss was no sin ! 

There were few games in which kissing did not have 
a part, and many were the excuses invented during the 
country excursions. When the pleasure-wagon crossed 
a bridge and the horse walked slowly, not needing the 
attention of the driver, a kiss was quickly given and 
never resented. This custom was greatly in vogue in 
New Amsterdam, and very often parties drove towards 
Hellgate, because in this neighborhood and over a little 
stream called the Tamkill, emptying into the East River 
nearly opposite Blackwell’s Island, was the famous 
“ Kissing Bridge,” in driving over which every one 
was at liberty to salute the lady. 

In the winter sleighs took the place of wagons, and 
many were the excursions both by night and day. 
Winter pleasures were greatly enjoyed in New Amster- 
dam. The Dutch brought with them their love of skat- 
ing and sleighing and games that were played upon 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



3 12 

the ice, such as hockey and golf. Not only were the 
Hudson and the East Rivers often alive with skaters, 
who went from shore to shore or from settlement to 
settlement on business errands, but the ponds and 
canals of New Amsterdam were filled with busy or 
merry people. The Collect was a favorite spot for the 
joyous crowds of young and old. When the ice was 
thick enough, everybody put on skates — men, women, 
and children, young and old - — and were soon skimming 
over the shiping surface like birds, or flying like the 
sails of a windmill. The best skates came from Volen- 
dam, but there were many varieties. Generally speak- 
ing, they were made of iron and wood, some longer than 
the foot and some exactly its length. Some people 
screwed their skates to their boots; others fastened 
them with leather straps (see facing page 308). 

When once these were on, the heavy and somewhat 
clumsy Dutch were swift, light, agile, and graceful. 
Many were the ways, however, of skating. Those from 
South Holland skated “ leg over,” and could make in- 
numerable curls and figures on the ice, performing all 
kinds of antics and fancy skating as they pleased, skat- 
ing backwards and making the alphabet as they whirled 
about gracefully; those from Friesland traveled like 
the wind, and generally won the silver or pewter cups, 
plates, and spoons that were offered for prizes. Women 
also took part in the skating-matches, and at such times 
the ice was as gay as a kermis. From far and near 
people came to the gathering-place, and everything was 
prepared for their reception. Booths were erected on 
the ice, and also the Kraampje, or tent, in which there 
were wooden stools and a wooden table on which stood 
two large bottles of Brandewyn, sugar, and tumblers, 
while a kettle filled with a decoction of aniseseed and 
milk simmered on top of a fire. 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 313 

Many young couples were introduced on the ice, and 
many were the engagements that followed a long win- 
ter. Woolley noted in his “ Journal ” : 

The diversion especially in the winter season used by 
the Dutch is aurigation, i. e. riding about in wagons, 
which is allowed by physicians to be a very healthful ex- 
t ercise by land. And upon the ice it ’s admirable to see 
men and women as it were flying upon their skates from 
place to place with markets upon their Heads and Backs. 

Skaters also pushed along the sleighs that contributed 
no little to the brightness of the scene. Here an old 
lady bundled up in furs sped by in a swan, here a young 
girl with rosy cheeks flashed by in a blue and gilded 
dolphin, and here some merry children were flying over 
the ice in a bright boat, for the sleighs of this period 
were often made into fantastic shapes, such as animals, 
ships, fabulous monsters, or shells, carved, gilded, and 
brightly painted. Sometimes the sleighs were also 
drawn by horses. We are indebted to Madam Knight 
for a little glimpse of this Dutch pastime. She says : 

Their Diversions in the Winter is Riding Sleys about 
three or four miles out of Town where they have Houses 
of entertainment at a place called the Bouwery, and some 
go to friend’s houses who handsomely treat them. Mr. 
Burroughs carry’d his Spouse and Daughter and myself 
out to one Madame Dowes, a Gentlewoman that lived 
at a farm House, who gave us a handsome Entertain- 
ment of five or six Dishes and Choice Beer and Metheglin, 
Ceyder, etc., all which she said was the produce of her 
farm. I believe we mett 50 or 60 slays that day — they fly 
with great swiftness and some are so furious that they’le 
turn out of the path for none except a Loaden Cart. Nor 
do they spare for any diversion the place affords, and 
sociable to a degree, theyr Tables being as free to their 
Naybours as to themselves. 



3 I 4 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



In the long winter evenings the young people of 
New Amsterdam frequently met and played simple 
games or amused themselves with music and dancing. 
Another pleasure was that of writing verses and paint- 
ing pictures in the albums, or juffer-bockjes (literally, 
girl-books). Sometimes these were printed and illus- 
trated, the contents being a collection of verses from 
famous poets, and were bound in leather or velvet with 
silver mounts. As a general rule, they were the gifts 
of young men to their sweethearts. 

We know by the dancing that there must have been 
musical instruments, but, strange to say, they do not 
appear in the inventories. It would be very singular 
if the various forms of the lute and guitar, clavichord 
and spinet, violin and violoncello, that so constantly 
appear in the Dutch pictures of the period, did not 
cross the water. “ Thirty knots of fiddle strings ” in 
Lawrence Deldyke’s shop, however, show that the 
fiddle certainly was known. 

Merry-makers danced around the May-pole to the 
sound of the drum and horn, and without doubt the 
wandering fiddler played at all village festivals and be- 
fore taverns, as he does in the pictures of Teniers and 
Ostade. 

What astonishes a student is the great number of 
Jew’s-harps found in the shops of many merchants. 
For instance, Dr. Jacob De Lange had seventy-two 
Jew’s-harps, while Mr. Coesart had forty-eight dozen 
iron Jew’s-harps and twenty-four dozen copper Jew’s- 
harps. In 1705, Joseph Nunes had forty-two dozen 
at twelve pence a dozen. They were probably chiefly 
used by negroes. 

Another indoor pleasure was the “ sausage-making 
evening.” Every citizen who could possibly afford it 
bought a cow and a pig in the autumn, or, if his family 



SPORTS, # FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 315 

were too small, he shared one with a neighbor. A few 
days later, the animals were slaughtered — sometimes 
in the backyard — and hung. Guests were then bidden 
to come and help make the sausages, head cheese, and 
rolpens (tripe cut small and made into bags and then 
filled with chopped beef). While the servants were 
doing the roughest part of the work, the housewife and 
her friends stuffed and flavored the sausages and force- 
meat. There was no thought of dinner that day, a 
slice of bread and cheese and a glass of beer were 
quickly taken; but in the evening, when the work 
was done, the table was spread with sausages and 
blood-puddings, and the bottle and glass circulated 
freely. 

These animals were purchased at the market, and 
on market days there was always more or less excite- 
ment in the town. As soon as the gates were opened, 
the farmers drove their cattle to the market place, where 
tables with refreshments had been prepared, and in fact 
a miniature kermis was held. Some hours later the 
citizens came, both rich and poor, — the first accom- 
panied by a licensed butcher to examine the cattle. He 
generally brought a fat bullock and a fat pig. The 
animals were then brought to the dwelling of the pur- 
chaser, fastened to a post in front of his house, and 
praised by the neighbors. A few days later the beast 
was slaughtered in the backyard and hung up. Guests 
flocked to the house and partook freely of the good 
cheer offered by the host. 

The great event of the year was the annual cattle 
fair, or kermis, instituted, in 1641, by Director Kieft 
as follows : 

Be it known hereby to all persons that the Director and 
Council of New Netherland have ordained that hence- 
forth there shall be held annually at Fort Amsterdam a 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



3 l6 

Cattle Fair on the 15th of October and a fair for Hogs 
on the 1st of November. Whosoever hath anything to 
sell, or to buy, can regulate himself accordingly. 

This, however, became of more importance under 
Stuyvesant’s rule, for in 1648 the stranger and inhab- 
itant were 

given and granted a Weekly Market-day, to wit Monday, 
and annually a Free Market for ten consecutive days, 
which shall begin on the first Monday after Bartholo- 
mew’s day, New style, corresponding to the legal Amster- 
dam Fair, on which weekly and annual days the Neigh- 
bour and Stranger, as well as the Inhabitant, are allowed 
and permitted to supply the purchaser from a Booth, by 
the ell, weight and measure, wholesale and retail, accord- 
ing to the demand and circumstances of each, in con- 
formity to the weight, ell and measure as aforesaid, and 
no other. 

Eleven years later (1659), special privileges were 
granted in order to attract a large attendance. 

The Schout Burgomasters and Schepens make known 
that they establish for the accommodation of the public, 
a market for store and fat cattle, sheep, goats, hogs, 
bucks and such like, and to that end they mean to erect 
stalls and other conveniences for those who bring such 
animals to market. This market will be opened the 20th 
day of October and close the last day of November pre- 
cisely in each year; during such time it shall remain a 
free cattle-market and no stranger shall during that time 
be liable to arrest or citation, but shall be permitted to 
attend to his business without molestation or hindrance. 

It will be observed that the New Amsterdam Fair 
was modeled on the Fair or Kermis of Amsterdam. 
Whenever the red cross — the sign of liberty and law- 




KERMIS 

TENIERS 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 317 

lessness — was set up outside the towns of the Low 
Countries, every one knew that the kermis had begun 
and that he might “ keep kermis.” The decorated 
town-gates opened earlier than usual, and crowds 
passed through to give themselves up to the general 
joy. 

Whence comes the word kermis f Some say it is 
derived from the German word messen, to measure, 
because the merchandise bought at these yearly mar- 
kets was to a very great extent measured by length 
or sold by measure. Others declare that the word must 
not be read kermis, but market mis, consisting of two 
Latin words of the Middle Ages, mercada, merchandise, 
and missabicum, a part of the country where a poten- 
tiary was sent to have it under his domain or super- 
vision; so that the word markt , or merkt mis, would 
mean nothing else than a solemn yearly trading. A 
third, and perhaps the right, explanation is that kermis , 
also called kermesse and year messe, means yearly, free, 
or simple Mass, — in other words, the church Mass. 
The deity, however, some writers object, was not God, 
but one’s stomach. It was remembered with great 
pleasure that while milk pap was eaten, wine was drunk 
like water. The kermis dish, a cake or pasty cased with 
mustard and sugar, surrounded with large piles of bis- 
cuits, capers, and raisins, was eaten in nearly every 
family. In some villages the kermis ox was led around, 
decorated with wreaths of flowers. Every villager 
would buy his part when the ox passed his door. After 
all the parts had been sold, the animal was slaughtered 
and divided. There also were many booths where 
cakes were baked, and where the young people regaled 
themselves with hot cakes smeared with treacle or 
molasses, and with spiced cakes, speculation (a small 
batter cake in various designs), tea-cakes, and saffron 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



3* 8 

cakes. The waffle booth was also a special feature, and 
at every kermis there was an old woman with oil- 
fritters. In the inns the favorite tipple was wine with 
sugar or white brandy with sugar, which was ladled out 
of a cup with a spoon, and passed around in the 
company. A typical kermis scene faces page 316. 

Both church and government complained: 

“ The taverns, inns streets roads were witnesses of 
lawlessness and the committing of punishable illdeeds. 
There is no class in society which is not under the evil 
influences of the Kermis. It looks as if the Kermis 
causes a general change in everybody. Before and after 
it people are entirely different from what they appear to 
be while it lasts. Curiosity is the general motive power. 
Everybody goes about. All houses are open. Every- 
body is welcome. It is as if the olden time hospitality 
is reviving. The days are short, and the nights are for 
amusements. The highest classes lower themselves, 
severity unbinds itself, modesty blushes less, and the 
tenderest ears, without being hurt, listen to the grossest 
equivocal expressions. 

Another wrote : 

In the evening there are play houses open for the lowest 
class of people. Sometimes quite a respectable class of 
people will go to these houses to see how the lower classes 
behave, and sit and watch them, dance, with an even face, 
pipe in mouth, and a look of general respectability, that 
one would rather think they were sitting in a church 
instead of running after the lowest pleasures. 

Under the Puritanical rule of Stuyvesant, when the 
kermis reached its height as a yearly market and fes- 
tival, there was naturally not quite the same lawless- 
ness. The mountebanks, the quack doctors, and the 
vagabonds were doubtless absent ; but nevertheless the 



SPORTS, FESTIVALS, AND PASTIMES 319 

little town was gay enough. The kermis took place 
during the most delightful season of the year, when 
Manhattan Island enjoyed, as now, its most golden 
days of sunshine and its invigorating sea-breezes. 
Market-boats and boats of all kinds were riding at an- 
chor and sailing or being rowed from shore to shore, 
while the Strand from Whitehall to Broad Street was 
filled with booths and tents gayly decorated with 
flowers, greenery, and flags. The clatter of the rom- 
mel-pot, the beat of the drum, the sound of the trumpet, 
and the cry of the vender were heard on every side. 
The prize cattle were greatly in evidence; but the 
stalls offered many other attractions to the citizens 
and visitors from both shores of the Hudson, from 
Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey, and Con- 
necticut. Some of them displayed clothing, cloth, linen, 
silk, velvets, braids, buttons, furs, laces, ribbons, gloves, 
neckcloths, and caps; others, watches, necklaces, and 
other trinkets; others, razors, scents, pomatums, and 
all toilet articles. There were also toy booths to at- 
tract the children ; gingerbread booths, cake and pastry 
booths, booths for waffles and oil-fritters ; booths where 
all the native and imported cheeses were displayed. 
Here too could be seen capons, quails, pigeons, ducks, 
chickens, wild and tame, turkeys, oysters, lobsters, 
crabs, and fresh and dried fish. Then there were all 
the vegetables in season, and dried grains for man and 
beast. 

Puppet shows, peep shows, masqueraders, fools, and 
jesters were not lacking to contribute to the general 
merriment. The strong man, the juggler, and the con- 
jurer gave exhibitions of their skill, and the trained 
bear and his leader were also in evidence. In two 
respects the New Amsterdam kermis differed from 
that of the old country, — the presence of the negro 



320 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



and the Indian. The one gave exhibitions of his pro- 
ficiency in song and dance; the other brought his na- 
tive wares — beads, birch-bark, baskets, blankets, and 
other wares — and showed his skill as acrobat, juggler, 
or fortune-teller. 




CHAPTER XIV 

MERCHANTS AND TRADE 

T HE Atlantic voyage of that day was an ardu- 
ous undertaking. The early colonists had to 
endure many and often unnecessary hard- 
ships. The author of Wassenaer’s Historie van Europa 
(1621-1632) says that New Netherlands is usually 
reached in seven or eight weeks from Amsterdam. 
The course lies towards the Canary Islands, thence to 
the Indian Islands, then towards the mainland of Vir- 
ginia, steering right across, leaving in fourteen days 
the Bahamas on the left, and the Bermudas on the 
right hand. 

The livestock received better treatment than the 
human cattle, as we learn from a description (1625) 
of Pieter Hulst’s transport of one hundred and three 
head of cattle, horses, hogs, and sheep 

in two ships of one hundred and forty lasts, in such a 
manner that they should be well foddered and attended 
to. Each animal had its own stall with a floor of three 
feet of sand; fixed as comfortably as any stall here. 
Each animal had its respective servant who attended to 
it and knew its wants so as to preserve its health, together 
with all suitable forage, such as oats, hay and straw, etc. 
What is most remarkable is, that nobody in the two ships 
can discover where the water is stowed for these cattle. 
As it was necessary to have another [ship] on that ac- 
count, the above parties caused a deck to be constructed 
on board. Beneath this were stowed in each ship three 

321 



21 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



3 22 

hundred tons of fresh water which was pumped up and 
thus distributed among the cattle. On this deck lay the 
ballast and thereupon stood the horses and steers, and thus 
there was no waste. He added the third ship, so that, 
should the voyage continue longer, nothing may be want- 
ing to the success of the expedition. 

People might take passage in the Company’s ships 
by swearing to the Articles and paying six stivers per 
diem for provisions and passage; and such as desired 
to eat in the cabin, twelve stivers, and had to give as- 
sistance like others in cases offensive and defensive. 

The price of the passage naturally varied in accord- 
ance with the character of the accommodation. In 
1638, we find the following account: 

Michiel Jansen, wife and two children fl. 140 16 

Tonis Dirksen, wife, child and two servants 141 14 

Jan Michiels and little boy 50 o 

Many disputes over passage money had to be settled 
by the court. In 1656, Captain Jansen of the St. Jacob 
sued to recover board and passage money from Martin 
Arentsen, but the latter proved that he worked as a 
carpenter and seaman for his passage. The captain 
also sued Adam Roelantsen for payment for passage 
of himself and son; but lost again, as it was proved 
that the father was promised his passage on condition 
of working as a seaman ; and the son was allowed his 
board because he said prayers. On May 16, 1668, 
Johannes Luyck sued Gabriel Thomsen for the balance 
of the passage money of himself and sister from Hol- 
land. The defendant replied that he paid for freight 
of himself and sister one hundred and twenty florins 
in silver, and agreed to pay forty guilders more in case 
they should be entertained in the cabin, which he had 
not enjoyed, and therefore the said one hundred and 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



3 2 3 



twenty was full payment. It was finally mutually 
agreed that Thomsen should pay one hundred and sixty 
florins in beavers, and receive the one hundred and 
twenty florins in silver coin back. 

The names given by the Dutch to their trading- 
vessels are significant of their tastes, reverences, be- 
liefs, occupations, and trades. The farm, garden, and 
forest are remembered in the Milkmaid, Oak Tree, 
Cedar, Rose Bush, Blossom, Brindled Cow, Spotted 
Cow, Sparrow Hawk, Black Eagle, Falconer, Hunts- 
man, White Raven, Otter, Water Dog, Cat, Bear, 
White Horse, Blue Cock, Sunflower, Pear Tree, Rose 
of Guelderland, Sieve, Woody ard , and Mill. The sea 
and its denizens and dangers prompt the Golden Shark, 
Mermaid, Neptune, Whale, Sea Mew, Sea Bear, Mack- 
erel, Herring, Sea Horse, Brown Fish, Shark, Sea 
Flower, Gilded Shell, Pearl, Fortune, Supply, Expe- 
dition, Farewell, Hope, Providence, Glad Tidings, 
Broken Heart, Welcome, Happy Return, Morning 
Star, Seven Stars, and Watchful Buoy. The Bible and 
religion are manifest in Peace, Love, Contentment, 
Amity, Concord, Justice, Faith, Hope of a Better Life, 
Abraham’s Sacrifice, Gideon, Angel Gabriel, Flying 
Angel, King David, King Solomon, Star of Bethle- 
hem, Three Kings, Virgin, St. Peter, St. James, St. 
Martin, Purmerland Church, and Quaker. Trade and 
civic pride are honored with the Bourse of Amsterdam, 
Nevis Factor, Netherland Indian, Balance, Good Beer, 
New Netherland Fortune, Arms of Norway, Arms of 
New Netherland, Arms of Amsterdam, Arms of Rens- 
selaerswyck and Real. Home affections give us the 
Bride and Bachelor’s Delight. Rulers and national 
heroes and politics appear in the Princess, Prince Mau- 
rice, Lady Maria, Prince William, Young Prince of 
Denmark, Ruyter, Society, and Union. 



3 2 4 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



Then we have the Flying Deer , Blind Ass, Golden 
Hind, Ostrich, Gilded Fox, Diamond, Cat and Parrot, 
Canary, Unicorn, Fire of Troy, White Horseman, Har- 
lequin, Orange Tree, Sphera Mundi, and many other 
quaint names. 

The Dutch had scarcely got rid of their sea legs here 
before beginning to build vessels for the coast trade. 
Seventeen ships had already been built in New Nether- 
land by 1639. 

After escaping the dangers of the seas, including 
tempests, famine caused by calms and contrary winds, 
and capture by Barbary corsairs or pirates, fervent in- 
deed were the thanksgivings offered up on arrival in 
Godyn’s Bay (Sandy Hook). The Labadists give us 
a lively impression of the scenes on arrival. After 
anchoring inside Sandy Hook, they tell us that in the 
morning the anchor was raised and they sailed between 
Staten Island and Long Island through the Hoof den 
(Narrows). The woods, hills, dales, green fields and 
plantations, houses and dwellings struck them as cheer- 
ful and sweet. “ As soon as you pass through the 
Hoof den the city presents a pretty sight. The fort 
lies on a point between the two rivers ; and, as soon as 
they see a ship coming, they raise a flag on the high 
flag-staff.” It was about three o’clock when they 
arrived; and people came from shore in all sorts of 
craft, “ each inquiring and searching after his own and 
his own profit.” 

Various ordinances were passed regulating shipping. 
In 1638, it was ordered that no sailors should remain 
on shore at night without permission, and there was 
to be no intercourse between shore and ship between 
sunset and sunrise. The anchorage ground was the 
roadstead between Capske Point (South Ferry and the 
guideboard near the City Tavern (head of Coenties 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



3 2 5 



Slip) ; ships anchoring elsewhere were to be fined fifty 
guilders. They were not allowed to be discharged 
between sunset and sunrise, and had to give twelve 
hours’ notice of sailing (1647). They were not al- 
lowed to be boarded before they had anchored or had 
been entered. Goods might be sold on board by whole- 
sale or retail (1648). They had to be inspected on 
arrival and departure. Goods were to be discharged 
on shore and received on board during sunshine ( 1656) . 
In 1653, the Farmer of the Customs was empowered 
to visit departing ships. The following typical bill of 
lading was 

Recorded from Capt. William Morris y e 19 th day of 
February, 1696: 

shipped by the Peace of God in good order and well 
conditioned by Mr. William Morris in and upon y e good 
ship called the Beaver , wherof is Master under God for 
this Present Voyage Robert Sinclair and now riding att 
anchor in the River of New Yorke and by God’s Peace 
bound for London 

to say two hogsheads of sugar, one bundle of whale bone 
containing one hundred pounds on the Draper account & 
Resque of William Morris being marked and Numbered. 
God send the good ship to her desired Porte in safety. 
Amen. 

At first the Company had a monopoly of all trade. 
In 1626, we read : 

People work there as in Holland, one trades, another 
builds houses, a third farms. Each farmer has his farm 
and the cows on the land purchased by the Company; 
but the milk remains to the profit of the Boor ; he sells it 
to those of the people who receive their wages for work 
every week. 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



326 

The volume of the trade of the West India Com- 
pany from 1624 to 1635 appears in the following “ list 
of returns from the New Netherlands ” : 



Date 


Beavers 


Otters 


Guilders 


1624 


4,000 


700 


27,125 


1625 


5,295 


463 


35,825 


1626 


7,258 


857 


45,050 


1627 


7,529 


370 


56,420 


1628 


6 , 95 i 


734 


61,075 


1629 


5 , 9 i 3 


681 


62,185 


1630 


6,041 

8,569 


1,085 


68,012 


1632 


546 


94,925 


.... 


4,944 


i,n 5 

1,383 


48,200 


1633 


8,800 


9 i ,375 


163S 


14,891 


i, 4 i 3 


134,925 

725 ,n 7 



In 1670, Denton says the inhabitants have a con- 
siderable trade with the Indians, for beavers, otter, 
raccoon skins, with other furs; and also for deer and 
elk skins; and are supplied with venison and fowl in 
the winter, and fish in the summer by the Indians, 
which they buy at an “ easie ” rate. 

The most profitable trade being with the Indians, 
the Dutch had to adopt the Indian currency. In 1626, 
De Rasieres says: 

As an employment in winter they make sewan, which 
is an oblong bead that they make from cockle shells, 
which they find on the seashore, and they consider it as 
valuable as we do money here, so much so that one can 
buy everything they have for it ; they string it and wear 
it round the neck and hands ; they also make bands of it 
which the women wear on the head in front of the hair, 
and the men about the body; and they are as particular 
about the stringing and sorting as we can be about pearls. 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



327 



John Josselyn says: 

Their beads are their money; of these there are two 
sorts, blue and white; the first is their gold, the last 
their silver. These they work out of shells so cunningly, 
that neither Jew nor devil can counterfeit them. 

Sew an, seawant, or zewant, was the name of the 
native currency ; it was also known as wampum. The 
white beads were made from the stem of the peri- 
winkle, and Suckanhock, or black beads, of the heart 
of the clam shell. The black was double the value 
of the white. Three black, or six white, beads were 
equivalent to an English penny. Wampum was some- 
times measured by the fathom. A string one fathom 
long varied from five shillings among the New Eng- 
landers to four guilders of Dutch money ($1.66). 

Sewan was jewelry as well as money, and distin- 
guished the rich Indians from the poor ones. Of great 
importance was the belt of sewan. This was a sort of 
wide sash upon which the white, purple, and black 
beads were arranged in rows and tied with little leather 
strings. The length, width, and color were regulated 
by the importance of the matter to be negotiated. Or- 
dinary belts consisted of twelve rows, each containing 
one hundred and eighty beads. If a message was sent 
without the belt, it was considered unworthy of serious 
consideration: if the belt was returned, the offer was 
rejected; if kept, it was a token that the offer was 
accepted, or the offense forgiven. 

These shells, indeed, had more virtue among the Indians 
than pearls, gold and silver had among Europeans. Sea- 
want was the seal of a contract, the oath of fidelity. It 
satisfied murders, and all other injuries, purchased peace 
and entered into the religious as well as civil ceremonies. 
A string of seawant was delivered by the orator in public 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



328 

council, at the close of every distinct proposition made to 
others, as a ratification of the truth and sincerity of what 
he said, and the white and black strings of seawant were 
tied by the pagan priest around the neck of the white dog 
suspended to a pole and offered as a sacrifice to Thal- 
oughyawaagon, the upholder of the skies, the god of the 
Five Nations. 

Sewan was chiefly made on Long Island, which was 
called by the Indians sewan-hacky (the place where 
sewan was made), and this Indian mint at their doors 
gave the Dutch an immense advantage over the other 
colonists. 

The Dutch naturally wanted to keep control of the 
wampum traffic in the Narragansett country. “ The 
seeking after sewan by the Puritans,” said De Rasieres, 
is prejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so do- 
ing, discover the trade in furs, which, if they were to 
find out, it would be a great trouble for us to maintain ; 
for they already dare to threaten that, if we will not 
leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged 
to use other means. De Rasieres sold a large amount 
of it to the Puritans. Hubbard said : 

Whatever were the honey in the mouth of that beast 
of trade there was a deadly sting in the tail. For it is 
said they [the Dutch] first brought our people to the 
knowledge of wampum-peag; and the acquaintance there- 
with occasioned the Indians of these parts to learn the 
skill to make it, by which, as by the exchange of money, 
they purchased store of artillery, both from the English, 
Dutch and French, which proved a fatal business to those 
that were concerned in it. 

In Kieft’s time (1641) four beads of “good splen- 
did sewan, usually called Manhattan’s sewan,” were 
reckoned equal to one stiver. Gradually inferior wam- 
pum, rough, loose, and unstrung, began to threaten 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



329 



“ the ruin of the country ” ; an order was soon made 
regulating that six loose beads should pass for a stiver, 
because “ there was no coin in circulation and the 
labourers, boors and other common people having no 
other money, would be great losers.” 

In Stuyvesant’s time ( 1650), the currency was again 
regulated. Wampum was made lawfully current, six 
white and three black beads of commercial sewan or 
eight white and four black of the “ base strung ” for 
one stiver. 

The Governor and Council in the city of New York 
in 1673 made an order declaring that on account of the 
scarcity of wampum what had passed at the rate of 
eight white and four black pairs for a stiver or a penny 
should pass at the rate of six white and three black 
pairs for a stiver, and three times so much the value of 
silver. There was very little “ certain coin ” in the 
colony at this period. 

There is no doubt that the Indians were originally 
peaceably disposed towards the Dutch, and that the In- 
dian wars and massacres were reprisals for outrage and 
oppression. Many laws were made regulating the trade 
with the Indians, restricting barter to the trading-posts. 
In 1647, people were forbidden to go into the interior 
to trade with the Indians. Woolley tells us the Indians 
have 

swift canoes in which they bring oysters and other fish 
for the market ; they are so light and portable that a man 
and his squaw will take them upon their shoulders and 
carry them by land from one river to another with a 
wonderful expedition ; they will venture with them in 
a dangerous current, even through Hell gate itself, which 
lies in an arm of the sea, about ten miles from New York 
eastward to New England, as dangerous and as accounta- 
ble as the Norway whirlpool, or maelstrom. 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



33 ° 

In September, 1648, it was complained that some 
people put the natives to work and employ them in their 
service and then dismiss them without pay. The In- 
dians threatening to pay themselves or revenge them- 
selves, the authorities order all employers to pay the 
Indians “ without contradiction ” under penalty of a 
fine. 

In 1654, it was forbidden to sell liquor to Indians 
under a penalty of five hundred guilders. Drunken 
Indians were to be imprisoned until they told who sold 
them the liquor. The authorities complain that many 
Indians are daily seen intoxicated, and being drunk and 
fuddled, commit many grave acts of violence. Two 
years later, the penalty was increased by corporal pun- 
ishment and banishment. 

In 1645, ^ was prohibited to supply Indians with 
munitions of war on pain of death. 

In 1656, it was ordered that nobody was to harbour 
an Indian overnight below the Fresh Water under a 
penalty of twenty-five guilders. In 1666, Abram 
Carpyn lodged nine Indians. It was notorious that he 
resided in Paulus vander Grift’s rear building only for 
the purpose of selling brandy to the Indians; so he 
was ordered to leave “ or the said little house shall be 
pulled down.” 

In 1663, drunken Indians are to be imprisoned until 
they have paid a fine of £1 Flemish. 

The constant complaint of the West India Company 
was that its own officials as well as the colonists seemed 
to care nothing for the Company’s interests, but assidu- 
ously devoted their energies to lining their own pockets; 
and many efforts were made to stop illicit trade. The 
laws, however, were shamelessly broken and defied. In 
1638, it is complained that indentured servants as well 




WINTER SCENE 
OSTADE 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



33 1 



as freemen are pursuing a private trade in furs and 
other irregular courses. 

In November, 1640, the price of goods in the Com- 
pany’s store was fixed at fifty per cent advance, and 
people were notified to report if overcharged.' In the 
following February, Commissary Lupoid acknowledged 
having charged too much for the goods sold in the pub- 
lic store, and was fined, dismissed, and declared unfit to 
hold any public office. In 1651, an ordinance was is- 
sued to prevent smuggling. 

The Company’s proclamation of free competition in 
trade in 1638 resulted in a rapid increase of coloniza- 
tion and prosperity. Internal trade and commerce be- 
ing made free for all, colonists were immediately at- 
tracted from New England and Virginia. In 1640, 
the commercial privileges, which the first charter had 
restricted to the Patroons, were extended to all free 
colonists, but the Company maintained onerous imposts 
for its own benefit. The prohibition of manufactures 
within the province was abolished. In 1645, the Com- 
pany “ resolved to open to private persons the trade 
which it has exclusively carried on with New Nether- 
land,” and to permit all the inhabitants of the United 
Provinces to sail with their own ships to New Nether- 
land, the Virginias, the Swedish, English, and French 
colonies, but all colonial trade was concentrated in the 
custom house of Fort Amsterdam. 

Although the colonists welcomed permanent settlers, 
they had a great antipathy for itinerant traders; and 
a law had been made to the effect that whoever wished 
to engage in trade in New Netherland must keep “ fire 
and light,” — in other words, he must have a dwelling. 
By charter, Manhattan was made the emporium and 
had been invested with “ staple right.” The residents 
were, however, greatly annoyed by the constantly in- 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



33 2 

creasing “ Scotchmen,” or peddlers, who on arrival 
hastened to the interior and procured their furs and 
other commodities and returned home. The burgo- 
masters and schepens, therefore, in 1657, petitioned 
the Director that no persons but city burghers should 
be allowed to trade in the capital, and none but “ settled 
residents to trade in any quarter hereabout, without 
this place.” 

The provincial government, considering the petition 
a just one, established the Great and Small Burgher 
right “ in conformity to the laudable custom of the city 
of Amsterdam in Europe.” Those who wished to be- 
long to the Great Burgher class had to pay fifty guil- 
ders, and “ all such and such only shall hereafter be 
qualified to fill all the city offices and dignities.” They 
were also exempt for one year and six weeks from 
watches and expeditions and were “ free in their proper 
persons from arrest by any subaltern court or judicial 
benches of this province.” This class included the pres- 
ent and future burgomasters and schepens and the Di- 
rector, councilors, clergymen, and military officers with 
their male descendants. The class of Small Burghers 
included all natives and all who had lived in this city 
a year and six weeks, all who had married or should 
marry the daughters of burghers, all who kept stores 
and shops, or did business within the city, and all sala- 
ried officers of the Company. “ Arriving traders ” 
were ordered before selling their goods “ to set up and 
keep an open store within the gates and walls of New 
Amsterdam,” for which they had to obtain from the 
burgomasters and schepens the Small Burgher right, 
for the sum of twenty guilders, which went to the sup- 
port of the city. 

In March, 1648, the nine elected Selectmen verify 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



333 



the daily decline and violation of Trade and Navigation, 
proceeding for the most part from the underselling, 
frauds, smuggling, perpetrated by the one against the 
other, principally by such as take little or no interest in 
this new growing Province and feel little concern and 
care for its prosperity and welfare, and, therefore, do not 
benefit it either by Bouweries or Buildings, but solely 
applying themselves with small capital and cargoes (for 
which they hire for a brief period only one large room 
or house) to the Beaver and Fur Trade, and having 
traded and trucked said peltries from the good Inhabi- 
tants, or the Natives sufficiently high beyond their value, 
have recourse to all sorts of means, by night' and at un- 
seasonable hours, to convey them secretly out of the 
Country, or to the North, without paying the proper duty 
thereon ; and having enriched themselves by these and 
other illicit practices and means, they take their departure 
and go back home without conferring or bestowing any 
benefit on this Province or the Inhabitants thereof. By 
this underselling and fraudulent trade, the Wares and 
Merchandizes of others who, by means of Bouweries or 
with handsome Buildings in regard to this place, interest 
themselves in the Country, are depreciated and remain 
unsold to their great loss and damage. 

In 1657, it was found more every day that great 
frauds and smuggling were committed by the impor- 
tation of merchandise under the name and cloak of 
sailors’ freight, and measures were taken to stop it. 

Smuggling and piracy were popular and profitable 
activities of the honest burghers. In 1654, an ordinance 
was passed against harboring robbers and pirates, but 
the most pious were not above illicit traffic. In July, 
1659, Stuyvesant writes to the Directors in Holland: 

All possible care shall be continually taken to prevent 
smuggling, in pursuance of the placats, heretofore passed 
and now sent us by you in print. In the meantime, we 



334 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



await anxiously the further and stricter orders, to be 
issued at your request by their High : Might : ; after hav- 
ing received these, we shall vigorously carry them out 
to the best of our ability. Your recommendations to the 
Fischal on this subject have been communicated to him 
by reading your Honors’ letter, which we further im- 
pressed upon his mind by some earnest words. The order, 
to place some faithful soldiers on board while the freight 
is discharged and the Fiscal makes his search, is and 
always has been observed. In order to prevent corruption, 
they are often relieved every day and we have promised 
and paid not only to these soldiers, but also to everybody 
else, whatever position he may have, free man and Com- 
pany’s servant, who discovers and reports an attempt at 
smuggling one full third share, as shown by our Resolu- 
tion and the placat publishing the same of the 23d of 
April, 1658. 

In 1659, Company consented to the 

experiment of a foreign commerce with France, Spain, 
Italy, the Carribean Islands, and elsewhere, upon con- 
dition that the vessels should return with their cargoes 
either to New Netherland, or to Amsterdam, and that 
furs should be exported to Holland alone. 

Elizabethan ethics, of the school of Drake, Hawkins, 
Cumberland, Raleigh, and Frobisher, still prevailed. If 
the Spaniard was shy and prizes were scarce, a vessel 
belonging to a brother trader of your own port was 
regarded as fair quarry. Thus, in September, 1644, 
John Wilcox charged Mr. Clercq with fitting out a pri- 
vateer to capture and make prize of plaintiff’s ship, 
asking that the defendant’s vessel might be detained in 
port. In July, 1648, Jacob Reynsen and Jacob Scher- 
merhorn for smuggling were banished for five years and 
their property confiscated. This sentence was too severe 
for the popular taste, and was recalled three weeks later. 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



335 



In May, 1648, Hans Hansen, for fourteen years a re- 
spectable resident of New Amsterdam, was pardoned 
for smuggling on condition that he beg pardon of God 
and of the court. 

In 1654, the Director-General and Council are in- 
formed that “ pirates and vagabonds are countenanced, 
favoured, harboured, entertained, and supported by 
subjects and inhabitants having fixed domicile, and are 
so encouraged and incited that some have dared to 
spy into even this city under the colour and guise of 
travellers.” Therefore a fine of twenty-four guilders 
was ordered for neglect to report strangers. 

Pirates infested the shores of the East River and 
committed ravages around New Amsterdam and on 
Long Island. They were chiefly English, and many of 
the English settlers were accused of communication 
with them. Sir Henry Moody at Gravesend joined in 
accusing Captain John Manning of carrying on an 
unlawful trade. The Governor raised troops and com- 
missioned several yachts to act against the pirates. 
Manning was arrested and tried in New Haven in April, 
1654; his vessel was condemned and sold “ by inch of 
candle ” as a lawful prize. In 1653, Thomas Baxter, a 
resident of New Amsterdam, turned pirate and com- 
mitted outrages on Long Island. He seized in Heem- 
stede harbor a vessel belonging to New Plymouth and 
captured a Dutch boat. Stuyvesant sent out two boats 
with a hundred men to blockade Baxter in Fairfield 
Roads. Baxter was finally arrested by the authorities 
of New Haven and Hartford. He was surrendered by 
Stuyvesant’s requisition, but escaped from jail. His 
house and ship at New Amsterdam were sold. 

The “ constant and profitable correspondence with 
foreigners and pirates ” had been “ diligently ob- 
structed ” by Andros, by order of James II, “ which 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



33 6 

was very disagreeable to many persons who had even 
grown old in that way of trade.” 

Piratical trade had attained vast proportions under 
the Dutch rule, but under the eaily English governors 
of New York the evil grew to an almost incredible ex- 
tent. The chief task allotted to the Earl of Bellomont, 
who arrived in 1698, was the suppression of piracy. By 
his efforts William Kidd, highly respected in this com- 
munity, was brought to justice; and his letters to the 
Lords of Trade reveal conditions of shameless corrup- 
tion and open defiance of the law. He encountered 
bitter opposition from the merchants here. In an early 
report he says: 

This city hath been a nest of Pirates, and I already find 
that several of their ships have their owners and were 
fitted from this Port, and have Commissions to act as 
privateers, from the late Governor here. There is a 
great trade between this port and Madagascar, from 
whence great quantities of East India goods are brought, 
which are certainly purchased from Pirates. I find that 
this practice is set up in order that the spoils taken by 
the Pirates (set out from this Citty) may be brought in 
hither in merchant ships, whose owners are likewise 
owners and interested in the Pirate ships, and I particu- 
larly find that one Captain Moston, Commander of the 
ship Fortune (now under seizure) altho’ an unfree bottom 
had a Commission from Coll. Fletcher to be a privateer, 
and as if protected by that did publickly load here for 
Madagascar and came back laden with East India goods 
supposed to be partly the produce of the cargo and partly 
the Pirates goods, which were landed and concealed, all 
but the last boat and it was so contrived that this ship 
was sent from hence to Madagascar at the same time that 
Hore and Glover’s ship (two most notorious pirates) were 
there, both of which had Commissions from Coll : Fletcher 
at New Yorke. Piracy does and will prevail in the 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



337 

Province of New Yorke in spite of all my endeavours 
unless three things be done out of hand, viz: good 
Judges and an honest and able Attorney-General from 
England, a man of war commanded by an honest stout 
Captain, and pay and recruits for the four companies. 
Captain Giles Shelly, who came lately from Madagascar 
with 50 or 60 Pirates has so flushed them at New Yorke 
with Arabian Gold and East India goods, that they set 
the government at defiance. . . . Your Lordships orders 
to me to trouble and prosecute Pirates and suppress un- 
lawful Trade can never be complied with, if you will not 
afford me the means. Had there been a man of war at 
Yorke, Shelly and his Pirates in all probability had been 
taken and £50,000 in money belonging to them : and for 
want of a Man-of-War I could not attempt anything 
against a great ship that hovered off this coast 5 or 6 days 
together about the time I secured Captain Kidd, supposed 
to be one Maze, a pirate, who is said to have brought 
£300,000 from the Red Sea, and who ’t is believed here 
would have come into this place could he have hoped to 
make his terms ; but hearing how it fared with Kidd, he 
bore away and ’t is said he is gone to Providence. 

The Governors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and 
Maryland also seized a number of pirates, all of whom 
were brought by Shelly from Madagascar, and a good 
many of them had forsaken Kidd. One of Kidd’s de- 
serters was Edward Buckmaster, who was taken pris- 
oner by Bellomont, and another was Otto van Toyle. 
In another letter Bellomont says: 

When any seizure is made here the merchants are 
ready to rise in rebellion, and so little have they been used 
to that in Colonel Fletcher’s government that they look on 
it as a violence done them when we seize unlawful goods 
in their warehouses and shops. ’Tis almost incredible 
what a vast quantity of East India goods would have been 
brought into this port had there not been a change in the 



22 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



338 

Government. Two men in this town had for their share 
£12000 each, which were brought from Madagascar and 
got there with the barter with pirates. Besides there 
came home to the mouth of this port 8 or 9 pirate ships 
since my coming to this government, which would have 
brought in a vast quantity of those goods, and by the 
confession of the merchants in the town they would have 
brought in a £100,000 in gold and silver, and this inrages 
them to the last degree that they have missed of all this 
treasure and rich pennyworths of East India goods and 
now they drink Colonel Fletcher’s health with the greatest 
devotion imaginable, upon the remembrance of his kind 
concessions to them and the dispensing power he gave 
himself and them against the laws of trade and piracy. 

I formerly acquainted your Lordships that Nassaw 
Island alias Long Island was become a great Receptacle 
for Pirates; I am since more confirmed that ’tis so. 
Gillam, a notorious pirate, was suffered to escape thither 
from Rhode Island, and ’tis believed he is still there, 
notwithstanding the Lieutenant-Governor of New Yorke 
published by my direction a reward of £30 for his appre- 
hension, and at the same time £10 a piece for two of 
Kidd’s men that escaped from this town to Nassaw Island. 
I take that Island, especially the East End of it, to exceed 
Rhode Island. The people there have been many of them 
pirates themselves, and to be sure are well affected to the 
trade ; but besides that they are so lawlesse and desperate 
a people that I can get no honest man that will venture to 
goe and collect the Excise among them and watch their 
Trade. There are four towns that make it their daily 
practice to receive ships and sloops with all sorts of 
Merchandize, tho’ they be not allowed ports. 

The most prominent and opulent merchants in the 
city — De Lancey and Philipse among them — accu- 
mulated much of their wealth by piracy. 

Shelly is one of the Masters of Ships that I formerly 
informed your Lordships went last Summer from New 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



339 



York to Madagascar; he is a dweller at New Yorke, and 
Mr. Hackshaw one of the Merchants in London that 
petitioned your Lordships against me is one of his owners, 
and Mr de Lancey a Frenchman at New Yorke is another. 
I hear too that Captain Kidd dropped some pirates in 
that Island. They write from New Yorke that Arabian 
Gold is in great plenty there. When Frederick Phil- 
lipp’s ship and the other two come from Madagascar 
(which are expected every day) New York will abound 
with gold. ’Tis the most beneficiall trade that to Mada- 
gascar with the pirates that was ever heard of, and I 
believe there’s more got that way than by turning pirates 
and robbing. I am told this Shelly sold rum which cost 
but 2 shillings per gallon at New Yorke for 50 shillings 
and £3 per gallon at Madagascar, and a pipe of Madera 
Wine which cost him £19 he sold there for £300. Strong 
liquors and gun powder and ball are the commodities 
that go off there, to the best advantage, and those four 
ships last summer carried thither great quantities of those 
things. 

The carelessness and corruption of the officers of the 
revenue and customes have been so great for some years 
past that althogh the Trade of this place hath been four 
times as much as formerly and the City greatly enlarged, 
and inriched, yet His Majesty’s revenue arising from the 
Customes, hath decreased the one half from what it was 
ten years since; and the Merchants here have been so 
used to unlawful trade that they were almost ready to 
mutiny on some seizures I caused to be made (a few 
days after I landed) on Goods imported in an unfree 
bottom in the ship Fortune , commanded by Captain 
Moston, and it was with the greatest unwillingness and 
backwardness that his Majesty’s Collector, Mr. Chidley 
Brooks did make the seizure, who told me it was none 
of his business, but belonged to a Man of Warr ; that he 
had no boat, and other excuses; and when I gave him 
positive commands to do it, which he could not avoid, yet 
his delay of four days time gave opportunity to the ship 



340 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



wholly to unlade a rich cargo of East India goods, believed 
to be worth twenty thousand pounds; and only the last 
boats laden from her were seized to the value of about 
one thousand pounds, and I am informed that several 
other ships have since my landing here, transgressed the 
acts of trade which I could not prevent. 

Continuing his investigations, the Earl found that 
the pirates that had caused the greatest havoc in the 
East Indies and the Red Sea had been either fitted out 
in New York or Rhode Island, and manned from New 
York. The ships commanded by Mason, Tew, Glover, 
and Hore had their commissions from the Governor of 
New York, the last three from Fletcher, and although 
these commissions appeared to be given only against 
the King’s enemies, yet it was known to all the inhabit- 
ants of this city that they were bound to the Indies 
and the Red Sea, it being openly declared by the said 
commanders, whereby they raised men and were quickly 
able to proceed so notoriously publicly that it was gen- 
erally believed that they had assurance from Colonel 
Fletcher thgit they might return and be protected. Bel- 
lomont says further: 

Capt. Tew, that had been before a most notorious Pirate 
(complained of by the East India Company) on his re- 
turn from the Indies with great riches made a visit to New 
York, where (although a man of most mean and in- 
famous character) he was received and caressed by Coll: 
Fletcher, dined and supped often with him, and appeared 
publickly in his coach with him, and they exchanged 
presents, as gold watches, etc. with one another, all this 
is known to most of the City. 

Fletcher also received private presents for his wife 
and daughter. Mason’s ship returned under the com- 
mand of one Coats about 1693, an d was protected by 
Fletcher. 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



34i 



Bellomont found the officers of the Customs at New 
York most corrupt and negligent, and his removal of 
Mr. William Nicolls (chief broker in the matter of 
protection of pirates) from the Council made an enemy 
of him; and he and the merchants formed a cabal 
against the Earl. He also removed Brooks. His ene- 
mies charged that he had ruined the town by discour- 
aging “ privateering,” as they euphemistically termed 
piracy, and preventing goods to the value of £100,000 
from being landed. 

The obstacles thrown in the Governor’s path were 
many, and the opposition was exceedingly bold. 

Having intelligence where some uncustomed goods 
were, I sent Mr. Monsey and Mr. Evats, a Searcher, to 
seize them, who went, found and seized them at Mr. Van 
Sweeten’s house, but before they could convey them again 
to the Custome house, called together a number of the 
Merchants and by their advice locked up all the windows 
and doors, and made the said officers prisoners in a Close 
Garret, where they made the seizure and put them in 
danger of being stifled. News of this was brought to me 
about three hours after being nine of the clock at night 
with notice that the Officers were in danger of being 
murthered. I was therefore forced immediately to send 
my Lieutenant-Governor with three files of Soldiers and 
my own Servants from the Fort, who went and forth- 
with broke open the doors of Van Sweethen’s house 
(which were denied to be opened to them) and rescued 
the King’s Officers, and assisted in carrying the Goods 
seized to the Custom House. The Merchants of the Town 
were in such an uproar at this seizure (not being used to 
such things) that they exclaimed against me, as if all 
the English Laws and Rights were violated, and had the 
insolence to present to me, a most reproachful scandalous 
Petition. 



342 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



There is thus no mystery about the origin of the 
lacquer, porcelain, silks, brocades, embroideries, and 
other rich Oriental wares and fabrics found in such 
quantities in the New York inventories. 

Let us now follow from the breakfast-table the 
“ master ” of the house to his business. 

The model Seventeenth Century house in the Utrecht 
Museum contains a small office, or counting-house, cor- 
rectly furnished. On the right are two bookshelves full 
of books (also on the left wall), below which are a 
wooden bench and five rolls of tobacco. Against the 
wall, beneath the shelves, hang two shears, one saw, one 
chopper, and two strings of bills. Farther back in the 
room stands a bookcase in which are five packets of 
white paper tied with red tape and thirty-six bound 
books of white paper. Above the desk hangs a wooden 
shelf on which are twenty packs of paper tied with red 
tape. Under the bookshelf at the back stands a money- 
chest on carved legs, in which are packets of blue and 
of white paper tied with red tape and files of bills and 
receipted bills. In the front part of the room is a desk 
on which are a silver inkstand and an ivory seal with 
a monogram, a black etui case of silver work and a 
knife, three quill pens, a sand-shaker for drying the ink, 
a wooden paper-cutter, a wooden ruler, and a pile of 
letters. 

In front of the desk stands a high stool, on which a 
doll, representing the merchant, is seated. He wears 
an indoor jacket of brown silk with an orange silk 
scarf, white silk breeches, and red slippers. On the 
floor stands a basket containing long Gouda pipes and 
two bootjacks, and also a wooden cellaret with nine 
green glass bottles. 

The office usually contained also a clock, or an hour- 
glass, especially if clerks were employed. It was cus- 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



343 

tomary for both master and clerks to keep their caps 
or hats on while at work. 

The counting-house was entered either directly from 
the street or side passage, or else through the shop, 
for on no account would the strict housewife allow cus- 
tomers or business callers to walk through the hallways 
of their homes and soil the clean tiling. An Amster- 
dam Xantippe of the Seventeenth Century is heard to 
say : 

As soon as my husband’s feet reach the threshold off 
come his boots, and either leather or felt slippers which 
always stand near the entrance are put on. Then the 
servant hands him his dressing-gown and cap, while he 
takes off his street clothes ; and, quiet as a lamb, he steps 
into his office, and is buried in his books. If anybody 
ever comes to visit him, he never comes farther than the 
office. The rest of the house is mine, from front to rear, 
from top to bottom. Sometimes but very rarely, and when 
it is a special friend, he is allowed to bring him into the 
small front room to take a glass, but that is on special 
occasions only, and not a regular habit. Everything 
referring to his trade he knows ; and his room is full 
of bills of lading, insurance policies, ledgers, day- 
books, etc. 

The industries of New Netherland were very trifling. 
The temptations and profits of trade and barter, legiti- 
mate and illicit, were too strong to induce the cobbler to 
stick to his last. Very little merchandise was manu- 
factured, — some furniture, brick, beer, fur garments, 
homespun linen, and woollen stuffs, shoes, and, of 
course, cereal and dairy products were made, but for 
their wealth the inhabitants of the colony depended on 
domestic and foreign exchange of commodities. Miller 
(1695) writes: 



344 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



The industry that now is used is but little; the few 
inhabitants, having a large country before them, care 
not for more than from hand to mouth, and therefore 
they take but little pains, and yet that little produces very 
good beer, bread, cider, wine of peaches, cloth stuffs and 
beaver hats, a certain and sufficient sign how plentiful and 
beneficial a country it would be did but industrious art 
second nature’s bounty, and were but the inhabitants more 
in number than at present they are. 

Merchandizing in this country is a good employment, 
English goods yielding in New York generally ioo per 
cent, advance above the first cost, and some of them 200, 
300, yea, sometimes 400: this makes so many in the 
city follow it, that whosoever looks on their shops would 
wonder, where there are so many to sell, there should be 
any to buy. 

This, joined to the healthfulness, pleasantness, and 
fruitfulness thereof, are great encouragements to people 
rather to seek the bettering of their fortunes here than 
elsewhere; so that it may be hoped that a little time will 
render the inhabitants more numerous than at present 
they are. 

In 1670, Denton says: 

they sow store of flax which they make every one cloth 
of for their own weaving, as also woollen cloth and linsey- 
woolsey, and had they more tradesmen amongst them, 
they would in a little time live without the help of any 
other country for their clothing. Here you need not 
trouble the shambles for meat, nor bakers and brewers 
for beer and bread, nor run to a linen-draper for a supply, 
every one making their own linen and a great part of 
their woollen cloth. 

With regard to the trades, the only ones that cor- 
responded to some degree with the Dutch guilds were 
those of the butcher, baker, and brewer. The houses 
with the verandas under which goods were displayed in 




»' From an old print 



OLD DUTCH HOUSE IN BROAD STREET 
NEW AMSTERDAM, 1698 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



345 



Holland existed here; but, as a rule, the shop-goods 
consisted of a heterogeneous conglomeration in which 
the purchaser might find anything from a prayer-book 
to a pack of cards, a Jew’s-harp to an anchor. The 
bakers, of course, confined their wares to the favorite 
Dutch confectioneries. Thus, in 1661, Hendrick Jan- 
sen was sued for exhibiting gingerbread in his window 
without offering large bread for sale. 

It may be noticed, in passing, that authorities whose 
duties corresponded to a modern board of health de- 
prived the owner of perishable goods when they became 
sufficiently malodorous to create a nuisance and sold 
them for the benefit of unnamed parties — perhaps for 
negro or Indian consumption. Thus, in May, 1660, 
some Dutch imported cheeses were seized and sold by 
auction because they created a great stench both in Van 
der Vin’s cellar as thereabout. 

Very few merchants made a specialty of any com- 
modity; the average inventory gives only the jumble 
of a country store. To take only one (and a very small 
one) of the innumerable shops as an example, we find 
among the goods of Peter Marius : 140 small Dutch 
books of several sorts; 25 pieces blue tape; 17J4 ells 
of calico painted ; 29 white washes and one hand-brush ; 
6 scrubbing-brushes and 5 hand-brushes ; 5 pieces and 
3 remnants of blue linen ; two small pictures, one church 
chair, a small Dutch hamper, a cask of sugar, a white 
wood chest, 4 small pewter salts, 50 Indian stools, 41 
“ dustails,” one dozen small butter ladles, one sugar 
loaf, 15 “ old-fashioned Dutch childrens bodyes,” 22 
lbs. of “ suggar candy in a tin box ” ; 31% pounds of 
fine hooks and eyes; one large nickers and 60 dozen 
of other ties,” iy 2 lb. long Indian beads, one Dutch sea- 
card or draft, and “ 19 lbs. of swan shott.” 

We have seen that the ordinary currency was warn- 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



346 

pum and beaver, Carolus guilders and other florins and 
dollars. In a port resorted to by pirates and all the 
traders of the earth, however, it is only natural that the 
merchant’s money-box should contain coins of every 
ancient and modern mint. Arabian gold, which seems 
to have been the principal currency among the Mada- 
gascan pirates, frequently appears (see page 337). 
Lewis Morris (1691) had one hundred and eighty 
guineas, one double guinea, six half guineas, four 
quarter guineas, one pistole, and two double doubloons. 
For the relative value of Dutch, New York, and Eng- 
lish money at the end of the century, we may quote the 
following from the inventory of John Coesart (1700) : 

11181 guilders 10 stivers at % prime cost Dutch money 
the prime cost in Dutch money amounts in the whole 
1 1 189-10-4 15095-10-11 to which at 50% advance 
amounts to £2830-8-9 New York money. 

The differences in Holland and New Amsterdam 
values frequently gave rise to disputes which had to be 
settled by the courts here. 

The arithmetical troubles, however, that required ex- 
pert accounting in consequence of the multitudinous 
coins, tokens, and values were fewer than might be 
supposed. The reason for this is that the bulk of the 
domestic trade was transacted in kind. One man would 
supply another with dairy produce or build a house 
for him or give professional, or other, services, and be 
credited in return with shop-goods or labor. Countless 
instances of this practice appear in the records. For 
example, in May, 1654, when Matewis de Vos sues 
Beeltie Jacobsen for 9.4 florins for stockings, shoes, 
and a clothes-line, Beeltie says she has paid him 3.10 
florins in peaches and washing. 

One striking point in New Netherland trade is the 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



347 



extent to which women were independent participants, 
thus rendering them very desirable widows. It is also 
noticeable that many of the opulent matrons had two or 
three husbands. Among the rich widows may be men- 
tioned Anneke Jans ; Mrs. Drisius, the latter’s daugh- 
ter ; Mrs. Cornells Steenwyck ; Margaret Philipse, who 
traded directly with Fatherland, travelling in her own 
ships; and many others. Lysbet Greveraet, first mar- 
ried to Mr. De Reimer, a young merchant of New 
Amsterdam, became the wife of Dominie Samuel Dri- 
sius. She owned much real estate and the mercantile 
effects of her late husband. Her shop was in Pearl 
Street between Whitehall and Broad Streets. When 
she died, she owned, among other property, four houses 
in New York worth £371, £300, £300, and £275, re- 
spectively. Many of the wealthy wives and widows 
made their money in tavern-keeping. 

A short survey of the conditions of commerce in 
New Amsterdam would not be complete without an 
inquiry as to the standings of the Jews here. When 
Portugal monopolized the trade of the Eastern seas, 
the bulk of the trade was in the hands of the Portu- 
guese Jews, and to the Dutch who then transshipped 
Oriental goods from the Tagus to the Texel the name 
Portuguese was synonymous with Jews. When Philip 
II, the oppressor of the Low Countries, took posses- 
sion of Portugal and the Jews were subjected to the 
tortures of the Inquisition, they found a welcome asy- 
lum in Amsterdam, where they were allowed the free 
exercise of their religion and where they still have 
many synagogues. They were not only tolerated, but 
they stood high in the councils of the nation and in 
art, and, particularly, in commerce. The ultra-secta- 
rians of the Protestant religion, like Stuyvesant, hated 
the Jew, and, like Cromwell in England, would gladly 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



348 

have excluded and banished him; but to the level- 
headed Directors of a trading-company such a policy 
was naturally distasteful. However, for a long time 
the West India Company refrained from granting Jews 
Patroon rights, and frowned upon all attempts of mem- 
bers of that race to found colonies. In 1651, however, 
as a result of “ continual coming,” the Jews had evi- 
dently wearied the Directors, for they informed Stuy- 
vesant that they had licensed Jan de Illau to settle with 
some of his co-religionists at Curagao as an experiment, 
although the Company shrewdly suspected that the real 
project of the “ colony ” was to trade thence to the 
West Indies and the Main. Three years later, a com- 
pany of Jews headed by Asser Levy arrived in New 
Amsterdam from the West Indies, and the popular 
prejudice against them, which was fully shared by 
Stuyvesant, immediately showed itself in published 
disabilities. 

They were forbidden to train and mount guard with 
the trainbands for two reasons : — first, the disgust and 
unwillingness of these trainbands to be fellow-soldiers 
with the aforesaid nation and to be on guard with them 
in the same guardhouse and on the other side, that the 
said nation was not admitted or counted among the citi- 
zens, as regards trainbands, or common citizens’ guards 
neither in the illustrious City of Amsterdam nor (to our 
knowledge) in any City in Netherland. 

On Nov. 5, 1655, Jacob Barsimon and Asser Levy’s 
petition to stand guard like other burghers of New 
Amsterdam, or to be relieved of the tax paid by other 
Jews, was refused, and the petitioners were told they 
might go elsewhere if they liked. On Dec. 23, 1655, 
Salvador Dandradi, a Jewish merchant, prayed for a 
deed of a house he had purchased at public auction. 



MERCHANTS AND TRADE 



349 

being ready to pay the money. His petition was 
refused. 

Instead of going elsewhere, they stayed; but, in 
view of their problematical ultimate destination, they 
asked to have a place allotted to them where they might 
bury their dead out of their sight. This request was 
refused on the ground that it was not yet necessary; 
but one of their members, having obligingly removed 
the objection, on Feb. 22, 1656, the Jews were granted 
a burying-place outside the city. 

The ostracizing of the Jews by Stuyvesant and his 
subordinates naturally aroused the indignation of the 
Directors in Holland, who, on June 14, 1656, wrote 
to Stuyvesant: 

We have seen and heard with displeasure that against 
our orders of the 15th of February, 1655, issued at the 
request of the Jewish or Portuguese nation, you have 
forbidden them to trade to Fort Orange and the South 
River, also the purchase of real estate, which is granted to 
them without difficulty here in this country, and we wish 
it had not been done and that you had obeyed our orders 
which you must always execute punctually and with more 
respect: Jews or Portuguese people, however, shall not 
be employed in any public service (to which they are 
neither admitted in this city), nor allowed to have open 
retail shops, but they may quietly and peacefully carry 
on their business as before said and exercise in all quiet- 
ness their religion within their houses, for which end they 
must without doubt endeavour to build their houses close 
together in a convenient place on one or the other side of 
New Amsterdam — at their own choice — as they have 
done here. 

They add : 

The permission given to the Jews to go to New Nether- 
land and enjoy there the same privileges, as they have 



DUTCH NEW YORK 



350 

here, has been granted only as far as civil and political 
rights are concerned, without giving the said Jews a claim 
to the privilege of exercising their religion in a syna- 
gogue or at a gathering; as long therefore, as you re- 
ceive no request for granting them this liberty of religious 
exercise, your considerations and anxiety about this 
matter are premature and when later something shall be 
said about it, you can do no better than to refer them to 
us and await the necessary order. 

On March 14, 1656, Abraham de Lucena, Jacob 
Cohen Henricque, Salvador Dandrada, Joseph Dacosta, 
and DavM Frera, petition that as they are taxed as 
other citizens they should have same rights in trading 
and acquiring real estate according to grant, Feb. 15, 

1655- 

On April 11, 1657, Asser Levy, a Jew, appears in Court 
requests to be admitted a Burgher; claims that such 
ought not be refused him as he keeps watch and ward 
( tocht en wacht) like other Burghers, shewing a Burgher 
certificate from the city of Amsterdam, that the Jew is 
burgher there. Which being deliberated on, ’t is decreed 
as before that it cannot be allowed and he shall apply to 
the Director-General and Council. 

In the end, the local authorities had to give way, and 
the Jews were admitted to the right of citizenship in 



INDEX 



INDEX 



Aelst, W. van, 32, 102 
Albums, 314 

Anabaptists, 186, 189, 199 
Anchorage ground, 324-325 
Andros, Gov., 53, 192, 199 
Apron, 61 

Arabian gold, 337, 346 
Arak, 268 
Archery, 296 

Arms of Amsterdam , The, 2, 3, 5 
Assault with a glass, 270 

Backerus, Johannes, 187 
Backgammon, 297 
Bakers, 126-127 
Ball, 200 

Bann dinners, 221 
Banns, laws regarding marriage, 
209-210 

Banns, marriage, 209-213 
Baptism, 248 
Baptisms, irregular, 249 
Baptists, 189, 199, 200 
Barber surgeons, 237-239 
Barbers, ships’, 238-239 
Barentsen, Peter, 2 
Barter, 346 

Baxter, T. (pirate), 335 
Beaker, no 
Beaver, The , 196 
Beds, 83 

Beeck, Johannes van, 212-214 
Beer, 121, 229 
Beers drunk in Holland, 267 
Bellomont, Earl of, 225 
Bells, hand, 129 
Betrothal, 210, 217-220 

23 



Betrothal gifts, 217-218 
Betrothal, infant, 207 
Beverninck, 29 
Bibles, 181 

Bigamy, punishment for, 216 
Bill of lading, 325 
Billiards, 297 
Birch-beaker, 270 
Bird cutting, 296 
Biscuit, lying-in, 247 
Bitters, 268 
Bleachery, 160 
Block, Adriaen, 1 
Blom, Hendricus, 1 94-1 95 
Bogardus, Dominie, 6, 17, 60, 159, 
183, 185, 186 
Books, 180-181 

Borsum (or Borssum), Egbert van, 
44-45 

Bouwerys, the Company’s, 16-17 
Bowery, Stuyvesant’s, 42, 195-196 
Bowne, John, 156, 191, 192 
Boys, mischievous, 23 
Brandy, 268 

Brandy distillery, Kieft’s, 276 
Breach of promise, suits regarding, 
210-211 
Bread, 121 
Breads, festival, 300 
Breakfast, 12 1 
Bressani, Father, 186 
Breweries, early, in New Amster- 
dam, 276 

Brewer’s street, 48, 165 
Brickman, quoted, 104, 136-137 
Bricks, 39, 40, 41, 45, 54 
Bride, 218, 220, 223-232 

353 



354 



INDEX 



Bride and groom, insult to, 227, 
233-234 

Bride’s bouquet, 226 
Bride’s crown, 222, 226 
Bride’s dress, 220-221, 222, 223- 
224 

Bridesmaids, 218-219, 223 
Bride’s reception, 221-222 
“Bride’s Tears,” 219, 226 
Bride’s veil, 224, 226 
Bridegroom, 220 
Bridegroom, dress of, 225 
Bridegroom, gifts to, 226 
Broad Street, 30, 319 
Bundling, 207-208 
Burgomasters, suit of, 72 
Burial customs, 256-262 
Burial of suicides, 260 
Bush- burning, 12-14 
Buttons, 71-72 

Byrd, William, quoted, 54, 199 

Cake-pasting, 298 
Cakes, 125-126 
Cakes festival, 301, 302 
Cappoens, Cristina, 65, 67, 68, 104, 
106, no, 112, 114-115, 129, 181 
Caps, 63 
Cards, 297 

Carrying into the Sea, 310 
Carter, Capt. C., 74, 75, 76, 78, 79 
Carters, 53, 296 
Carts, 53, 296 
Casket, 87 
Castle Philipse, 47 
Cattle, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 40, 
160 

Cattle fair, 315-316 
Cattle, slaughter of, nc; 

Chairs, 87-88 

Chatelaines , 56, 64, 217-218 
Cheese, 125 
Chess, 297 

Children, clothes of, 69-70 
Children, wills concerning, 147-149 
Chocolate, 133 
Chocolate-pot, 133 



Christening-customs, 248-251 
Christening-dinner, 250 
Christening-gifts, 251 
Christening- robes, 249-250 
Christmas, 301 
Church, 7, 41, 183-185 
Church seat, 135-136 
Churching feast, 248 
Churching of women, 248 
City improvements, 24 
City Taverns, 271-272 
Clarkson, Matthew, 74, 78, 80, 141 
Clarkson, Mrs. M., 59, 61, 62, 63 
Classis of Amsterdam, 182, 194, 198 
Cleaning, 122, 136-138 
Cleef, Hendrick Christiaensen van, 1. 
Clergy, Dutch, 235 
Cloaks, 79 

Clothes, men’s, 71-80 
Clover leaf, 230, 269-271 
Clubbing the Cat, 292-293 
Coffee, 12 1, 133 
Collect, The, 312 
Comforters of the Sick, 4, 164 
Company’s counting-house, 4 
Confections, 125-126, 229 
Confections, festival, 300 
Consolers of the Sick, 182, 252 
Conventicles, 189-190, 200 
Coronets, bridal, 222-223 
Corpse dressers, 255 
Corrupt revenue officers, 339, 341 
Cortlandt, Catharine van, 46, 47 
Cortlandt, Olaff Stevensz van, 45, 
46, 82, hi 

Cortlandt, Stephanus van, 46 
Cortlandt, van, house, 46 
Counting-house, 342 
Courtship, 208-209 
Cox, Sarah, 98-99 
Cox, William, 98 
Crundall, Thomas, house of, 97 
Cupboard. See Kast 
Currency, 327, 346 
Curtains, 88 

Curtius, Alexander Carolus, 1 74-1 75 
Cushions, 88 



INDEX 



355 



Damen, Jan, lots of, 15-16 

Dancing, 177-179, 230-231 

Death customs, 252-255 

Death robes, 253 

Death “wade,” 253 

Deldyke, L., 61, 68, 73, 74, 75, 76, 

77, 78, 79, !3 2 , 2 97, 3 J 4 
Delft ware, 113 
De Vry, quoted, 220-221 
Diamonds, 67-68 
Dice-throwing, 297 
Dinners at City Tavern, 273 
Dinners, civic, 272 
Dinners, complimentary, 273 
Directors, the first, 3 
Disc-throwing, 292 
Divorce, 214-216 
Doctors, Dutch, 235-237 
Doctor’s fees, 241-245 
Dogs, 19-21, 134 
Dolls’ houses, 118 
Donck, A. van der, quoted, 10-11, 
12-14, 29, 32-34, 124 
Dongan, Gov., 46, 54, 199 
Dress, rich, of Dutch women, 56 
Drink measures regulated, 276 
Drinking, immoderate, laws against, 
2 7S 

Drinking- vessels, 269 
Drinks, Dutch, 219, 267, 312, 318 
Drinks, favorite, in New Nether- 
land, 268 

Drisius, Samuel, 187, 188, 190, 194, 
196, 197, 198, 200 
Drunkenness an excuse for forget- 
fulness, 265 

Drunkenness, Dutch, 326 
Drunkenness no crime, 265 
Dutch service, 192-193 
Dyck, Cornelis van, 90, no 

East India goods, 83, 336, 337, 
340, 34 2 

East India pictures, 107 
Ebony, 81-82 
English colonists, 7 
Entombment, 256, 258 



Excise cases in court, 285, 286 
Excise laws, 276-284 
Excursions, 309 

Fans, 57 

Farm, the Company’s, 16 

Farmers, clothes of, 80 

Farm-houses, 14 

Farms, 4, 14-15 

Farral, Joseph, 73-74, 77. 7^ 

Fast Days, 203, 204 

Fences, 19, 21-22, 40 

Fencing, 178 

Fiddlers, 314 

Fire, danger from, 50-51 

Fire-wardens, 50 

Fish, 1 2 4-1 2 5 

Fish suppers, 310 

Fletcher Gov., 83, 336, 338, 340 

Flowers, 27-30, 122 

Food, 130 

Foot-warmer, 135 

Forks, 107, 108, 109, no, 129 

Fort, 6 

Fort Amsterdam, 4, 5 
Fort Orange, 2, 9, 40, 41 
Fort Wilhelmus, 2 
Fortune-telling, 204 
Frederijcke, Krijn, 4 
Free trade, 331 
French, 177 

Fresh Water, the, 18, 19, 38 
Fruits, 27-38 
Funeral expenses, 261-263 
Funeral feasts, 259, 260 
Funeral pomp, 258 
Furniture, 81-101 
Fur trade, 2, 3 

Gallows, 10 
Game, 17-18, 124 
Games, 290-297 
Games, winter, 31 1-3 14 
Gaming-houses, 297 
Garden, the Company’s, 15, 30 
Gardens, 14, 27-34 
Gate City, 52, 53 



INDEX 



356 

Gate, East River, 47 
Gate, the Water, 47 
Gideon, The, 156 
Gin, 268 
Glass, 11 7 

Glass, window, 42-43 
Glaziers, 42-43 
Glover (pirate), 340 
Gloves, 64, 77 
Goats, 18, 19, 23, 26 
Gold, Arabian, 337, 346 
Gold headdress, case regarding, 65, 
66-67 

Golf, 290-291, 312 
Governor’s Island, 6 
Graveraet, Mrs. E., 64, 65, 69, 77 
Great Burgher right, 332 

Hard drinking, 233, 271 
Hardenbrook, Margaret, 46 
Hats, 78-79 
Head ornaments, 64-65 
Heem, De, 32, 102 
Heere Graght, 48 
Hell Gate, 6, 311 
Herb garden, 33 
Herring, The, 6 
Hobbema, 103 
Hockey, 312 
Hogs, 18, 25-26 
Hondius, 28, 31 
Hoods, 63 
Hoorn, Cornelis, 3 
Hore (pirate), 340 
Horses, 15, 17 

Houses, 40-41, 42, 46, 47, 89-101 
Houses, furnishing of, 97 
Hudson, 1 

Huges, Dr. J., 240, 243 
Hulst, Willem van, 3 
Hutchinson, Anne, 186 
Huych, Jan, 4 

Ice, games on the, 292, 311-313 
Illiteracy, 172 
Independents, 199 
Indian convert, 187 



Indian labor, 330 
Indians, drunken, 330 
Indians, harboring, 330 
Indians, illicit trade with, 330 
Industries of New Netherland, 343- 
344 

Injury, compensation for, 238 
Inn, 44 

Interiors, paintings of, 1 02-1 03 
Irving, W., 58 

Jans, Annetje, 60, 183 
Jew burghers, 350 
Jewels, 64-69, 222, 224-225 
Jews, 127, 199, 347 
Jews, disabilities of, 348-350 
Jews, Stuyvesant’s intolerance of, 
reproved, 349 
Jew’s-harps, 314 
Jogues, Father, quoted, 8-9, 186 
Jokes, practical, 233-234 
Josselyn, John, quoted, 45 
Justice, administration of, 3 

Kaetzen, 290 

Kas, kast, hasten, 83, 84-87, 93, 99 
Kermis, 209, 315, 320 
Kermis , Amsterdam, 316-317 
Kidd, Capt., 98, 337, 338, 339 
Kieft, Willem, 6, 7-8, 15, 16, 46, 
184-186, 203,-315 
Kierstede, surgeon, 183, 239, 241, 242 
Kint in ’t Water, 51-52 
Kip, Jacob, house of, 45 
Kissing, 311 
Kissing Bridge, 311 
Klootbaan, 291 
Klos, 291 

Knight, Madam, quoted, 54-55, 
200, 212 
Krol, S. J., 4 

Labardist Fathers, 36, 43 
Lange, Dr. De, 57, 67, 68, 73, 74, 
75, 76, 77 , 78, 79 , 83, 88, 90-93, 
104, 105-106, 107, 114, 1 16, 132, 
180-181, 314 



INDEX 



357 



Lange, Mrs. De, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 
65, 67, 138 
Latin, 174 

Laws of trade, violation of, 332 
Lawson, John, quoted, 56 
Laying out the corpse, 253 
Leisler, Jacob, 198 
Le Notre, 28 

Levy, Asser, 62, 68, 73, 74, 77, 78, 
79, 108, 129 

Levy, Mrs. Asser, 57, 59, 61 
Libraries, 180 
Life, daily, 120 
Linen, household, 138-142 
Linen, table, 127-128 
Liqueurs, 268 

Live-stock, care in transporting, 321 
Long Island (pirate resort), 337 
Long Island, religious services on, 
188, 196 
Lutherans, 199 
Luyck, /Egidius, 175 
Lying-in, 247 

Mackerel, The, 2 

Madagascar, a pirate clearing- 
house, 336, 337, 338, 339 
Mahogany, 82 
Maize, 14, 34 

Manhattan Island, population of, 4 
Manhattes, Island of, purchased, 3 
Marchpane, 125, 126, 227, 300 
Marius, Peter J., 65, 67, 68, 109, 
129, 141, 262 

Marius, Peter J., house of, 93-95 
Market days, 316 
Marketing, 123-12 5 
Marriage, ceremony of, 21, 226-227 
Marriage of poor people, 232 
Marsepein. See Marchpane 
Marshes, 18 
Mason (pirate), 340 
Masquerading, 304 
Mauritius River, 1, 2, 3 
May Day, 301-302, 305-306 
May-pole decorated with rags, 234 
May-poles, 301, 302, 305, 306 



May-tree, 307 
Meal, noonday, 130 
Medals, funeral, 263 
Medals, wedding, 230 
Medicinal plants, 245-246 
Megapolensis, 187, 189, 194, 197, 198 
Megapolensis, Samuel, 197-198 
Melons, 32 

Merchant, subservient to wife, 343 

Merry Mount in the Fort, 305 

Michaelius, 182 

Mignon, 32, 102 

Miller, John, quoted, 18, 200 

Milt, A. De, 101 

Minister, regulations regarding, 
186-187 

Minuit, Peter, 2, 4, 5, 6, 182, 183 
Mirrors, 88-89 
Montagne River, 1, 2 
Montanus, quoted, 9-10., 11-12, 37 
Moody, Lady Deborah, 186 
Morris, Lewis, 156, 157, 193 
Mourning, 235-236 
Mourning-gloves, 261 
Mourning-hatbands, 261 
Mourning-rings, 261 
Mourning-scarfs, 261 
Muff, 57 

Murderer’s Island, 2 

Neckwear, men’s, 74-75 
Neer, Aert van der, 103 
Negro Quarter, 155 
Negroes, 26, 82, 153-157, 196 
Negroes, the Company’s, 156-157, 
160 

New Amsterdam, city, 24 

New Amsterdam, streets of, 47-53 

New Amsterdam, view of, from bay, 

324 

New N etherland, The, 1, 2 
New Year’s Day, 203, 301-302, 306 
Nicholas, Saint. See Saint 
Nicholas. 

Nieuwenhuys, William, 198 
Nut Island, 6 
Nutwood, 3, 82, 86 



INDEX 



358 

Orchards, 36-38 
Oriental goods, 83, 107, 108 
Orphans, 136-152 
Ort, Sarah, no, 116 

Palisades, the, 47, 48 
Palms, wedding, 227 
Parival, De, quoted, 105, 136-137 
Parrot, 134-135 

Partridge, Elizabeth, 59, 61, 62, 63, 
128, 129, 141 
Passage money, 322 
Patroons, 4 
Peaches, 36-37 
Pearl necklace, 225 
Pearl pins, case regarding, 69 
Pearl Street, 6, 39 
Peasants, costume of, 70-71 
Penn, Wm., 156 
Perfumes, 64 
Petticoat, 58-60 
Pets, 134 
Pewter, 112-113 
Philipse, Frederick, 46 
Pictures, 1 03-1 07 
Pigs, 23, 24 
Pinkster, 307 

Pipe, bridegroom’s, 218-219 
Piracy, 333-341 
Pirates, harboring, 335 
Piratical New York merchants, 
336-341 

Plak, the, 166, 168-169 
Playmates, 218, 219, 226, 228, 

235 

Play-youths, 218, 219 
Plucking the Goose. See Pulling 
the Goose 

Polhemus, J. T., 188 
Porcelain, 113-117 
Presbyterians, 199 
Prince’s Island, 2 
Princess , The , 8, 186 
Privateering, 341 
Pulling the Goose, 293-296 
Pumpkin, 33 
Punishments, 108-109 



Quakers, 189, 191, 192, 1 93-1 94, 
199, 200 
Queester , 208 

Racing with carts, 296 
Rain dress, the, 60 
Rapelje, Sara de, m 
Rasieres, De, 4 
Religion, 8, 179-180, 199-200 
“ Remonstrance,” quotations from, 
i55> 162 

Rensselaer, Dominie N. van, 106, 
115, 142, 180 

Rensselaer, Patroon van, 6, 9, 225 
Rensselaerswyck, Colony of, 7, 9 
Riding the Goose, 304. See Pulling 
the Goose 
Rijks Museum, 117 
Rings, finger, 222, 224, 225 
Roelantsen, Adam, 6, 159-161 
Roelofs, Sara, 172 
Roman Catholics, 199 
Rombouts, F., 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 
99-100, no, 115 
Romeyn, The , 162 
Rommel- pot, 304 
Rosa Solis, 268 
Ruffs, 62-63 
Ruisdael, 103 
Ruysch, Rachel, 32, 102 

Sabbath-breaking, 285-288 
Sacredaan, 87, 88 
Sailors’ freight, 333 
Saint Martin’s Eve, 308-309 
Saint Martin’s fires, 309 
Saint Martin’s goose 308-309 
Saint-Martin-shake-the-basket-day, 
3 ° 9 

Saint Nicholas, 125, 126, 297-299 
Saint Nicholas bread, 298, 300 
Saint Nicholas cake, 298, 300 
Saint Nicholas Church, 297 
Saint Nicholas Eve, 297, 300 
Saint Nicholas rhymes, 298, 299 
Salisbury, Capt. Sylvester, 77, 148 
Samare, 60-61 



INDEX 



359 



Sausage-making evening, 314-315 
Sauzeau, Mme., 129 
Schceyinge, the, 47 
Schoolmaster, the, 167-168 
Schoolmaster, the first, 6 
Schoolmasters, 159-165 
Schools, 158, 159, 166, 169, 172-173 
Schools, girls’, 170 
Schools, Latin, 174-177 
Scotchmen, 332 
Sea Mew , The, 2 
Sea wan, 327-329 
Selyns, Henricus, 195-196, 198 
Senneca, 297 
Servants, 143-15 7 
Sheep, 18, 23 
Shelly, G. (pirate), 83, 338 
Shipbuilding in New Netherland, 
324 

Shipping regulations, 324-325 
Ships, names of, 323-324 
Shoes, 64, 77 

Shoes, Saint Nicholas supposed to 
fill, 299 

Shop goods, 57-58, 345, 346 
Shops, 344 

Shrove-tide, 294, 304-305 
Shrove Tuesday, 293, 296, 303-304 
Sick, Comforters of the, 4. See 
Consolers of the Sick 
Silver, 1 07-1 12 
Skates, 312 
Skating, 31 1-3 13 
Skittles, 291-292 
Sleepy Hollow Church, 47 
Sleeve, 62 
Sleighing, 31 1-3 13 
Small Burgher right, 332 
Smith, Col. William, 74, 79, no 
Smuggling, 24, 278, 333-334 
Soldiers, first, 6 
Spoons, 107, 108, 109, no 
Sport, 296 
Squash, 33 
Stadt Huys, 40 
Staple right, 331 
Staten Island, 5 



States-General, 3 

Steen, Jan, Parrot Cage, 102, 103, 
126, 300 

Steenwyck, C., 48, 57, 68, 69, 72- 
7 3> 74, 7 6 > 79, 86 > Io6 > io 9, 122, 
128, 130, 134, 138, 141, 156 
Steenwyck, C., house of, 93-95 
Stockings, 70, 76-77 
Stomacher, the, 63 
Storehouse, the Company’s, 331 
Strand, the, 39, 47, 319 
Streets, 47“53 
Streets, filth in the, 25-26 
Streets, lighting of, 53 
Stuyvesant, 24, 47, 135, 147, 150, 
161, 162, 187, 190, 191, 192, 194, 
195, 197, 200, 206, 293, 302, 318 
Stuyvesant Bouwery, 164 
Stuyvesant, dinner to, 273 
Stuyvesant, garden of, 42 
Stuyvesant, house of, 42 
Succotash, 34 
Suicides, 260 

Sunday closing, 275, 279, 283 
Sunday, holiday making on, 309 
Sunday, keeping of, 200-203 
Sunday, laws regarding, 200-203 
Sunday, profanation of, 185-186 
Superstition, 204-206 
Supper, 134 

Surgeons in New Netherland, 239- 
241 

Swords, 79-80 
Sylvester, N., 99, 116, 142 

Tables, 87 
Table-ware, 128 
Tankards, no, in 
Tap-houses, grades of, 274 
Tavern, 10 

Tavern brawling, 272, 288 
Tavern dinners, 272 
Tavern games, 291, 297 
Tavern keepers, women, 347 
Tavern life in Holland, 265 
Taverns, civic importance of, 265- 
266 



INDEX 



360 

Taverns, Dutch, good and bad, 266 
Taylor, Dr. H., 244 
Taylor, Matthew, 57 

Tea, 132-133 

Tea, afternoon, 132 
Teaching, 170 
Tew (pirate), 340 
Thanksgiving Day, 203 
Three Kings , The, 5 
Three Kings’ Night, 302-303 
Tienhoven, quoted, 14 
Tiles, 42, 54-55 
Tobacco, 37 
Tobacco house, 17 
Toys, 119 
Toys, silver, 108 
Trade, 346 

Trade commodities, 325-326 
Trade, Indian, 327-329 
Trade, volume of (1624-35) 3 2 & 
Traders, women, 347 
Treating, 269 
Trees, 12 

Trousseau, 232-233 
Twelfth Night, 302-303 
Twelfth Night Cake, 302 
Twiller, Wouter van, 6, 16, 159, 183 
Tulip mania, 28, 30 

Union, The, 6 

Utrecht Museum, miniature house 
in, 118 

Varick, Mrs. Margarita Visboom 
van, 65, 67-68, 72, 83, 88, 

104, 106, 108, 119, 122, 129, 130, 

I 3 2 > 134, i35> I 39> l8o > I 99> 3 01 
Varick, Rudolphus van, 198, 199 
Varleth, Judith. See Verleth 
Vasten avond, 303 
Vegetables, 14, 27, 33 
Velde, Adriaen van de, 103 
Verleth, Casper, 2 12-2 14 
Verleth, Judith, 21-22, 206, 214 
Verleth, Maria, 2 12-2 14 
Voorhuis, 89-91 



Voyage, Atlantic, 321 
Vries, De, quoted, 183-184 
Vries, P. R. de, 46 

Wade, 253 
Walking-sticks, 79-80 
Wall Street, 47 
Walloons, 1, 182 
Wampum, 327-329 
Wassenaer, quoted, 17-18 
Watch, Burgher, 52 
Watch, Citizen’s, 52 
Watch, Rattle, 52 
Watkins, Ann, 61, 62, 63 
Wedding, 221 
Wedding- dinner, 228-230 
Wedding- entertainments, 233 
Wedding-gifts, 222, 231-232 
Wesseis, Dr. H., 240, 244, 245 
West India Company, 1, 2, 5, 6, 15, 
40 , i5°> I 53> i5 8 > i82 > i86 > i 94> 197 
Westerbaen, 29 
Whipping-post, 10 
Whitehall, 39, 42, 319 
Whitsuntide, 307-308 
Whitsuntide bride, 307-308 
Wigs, 78 

Williams, Roger, 33 
Winder, John, house of, 98 
Windmill, 4, 39 
Wine, 37 

Wines drunk in Holland, 229, 267 
Wines, wedding, 229 
Witchcraft, 204-206 
Witchcraft, trials for, 206 
Witches, 204-205 
Witch-finders, 205 
Wittepaert, The, 156 
Wolves, 19 
Woods, 12, 81-83 
Woolley, quoted, 313 
Wounded, care of, 238 

Zee-dragen. See Carrying into the 
Sea 

Zoutberg, De, 6 






ft