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1721785 



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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL 
GENEALOGY COLLECTION 




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https://archive.org/detaiis/historyofschooio00newy_0 



HISTO RY OF THE SCHO OL 



OP THE 

REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHDRCR 



IN THE 

‘T . L. 

€Wi jof |:eto-|0rli, 



mow 1633 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



BY 

HENRY WEBB DUNSHEE. 



nn Kntrotruction 

BY 

REV. THOMAS HE WITT, D.D. 



Published by the Authority of the Consistory of the Collegiate Beformed Protestant 
Dutch Church, of the City of New-York, 



PRINTED BY JOHN A GRAY, 95 & 97 CLIFF, COR. FRANKFORT ST. 

1853. 



Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1853, 

By henry WEBB DUNSHEE, 

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for 
the Southern District of New York. 



1721785 



PIlOlEyOMElIA. 



The preparation of an inscription for the tablet intended to 
be placed in the front of the new edi6ce erected for the school 
of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, in the city of New* 
York, led to the inquiry : “ In what year was the school 
established ?” 

To this question no satisfactory answer could be obtained. 
History, indeed, informed us that the establishment of a school 
by the Dutch in New-Netheriand was synchronous with the 
founding of a colony ; and from this circumstance, the opinion 
was entertained by some that the germ of this institution was 
planted in New-Amsterdam at an early period in its history. 
But the generality of those who were acquainted with the 
school, supposed that the date of its origin could be traced to 
a period subsequent to the Revolutionary War. 

The traditionary knowledge of the school leading its Trus- 
tees to the belief that it was one of antiquity, that body, on 
the motion of Mortimer De Motte, Esq., one of its members, 
requested the Principal to compile such information with re- 
gard to it as authentic sources might furnish. The present 
work is the result. 

Identihed with the history of the city from its settlement, 
and with the most ancient church established therein ; per- 
petuated by our worthy ancestors, to whose children and 
children’s children, even to the present day, it has afforded 
a religious and intellectual training; endeared by associations 
of a most interesting character to numerous members of the 



IV 



PROLEGOMENA. 



Dutch Church now living, descendants of the original stock, 
and partakers in youth of its benefits ; an interest attaches to 
it, at once peculiar and delightful. 

Induced by these considerations, and with the view of pre- 
serving, in substantial form, the history of this the oldest 
educational institution existing at present in the Western 
World, the Consistory of the Collegiate Church, with its 
accustomed liberality, made provision for its publication. 

The materials for this work were principally derived from 
the Colonial Eecords of New- Amsterdam, preserved in the 
archives of the City and State Governments ; the Corre- 
spondence of the Classis of Amsterdam ; the Consistorial Min- 
utes of the Collegiate Church, (the Rev. Dr. De Witt ren- 
dering the translation from the Dutch language, in the two 
latter ;) Brodhead’s New-York, the Documentary History of 
the State, and the Minutes of the Board of Trustees. 

The Author acknowledges with kindness his lasting obli- 
gations to Hon. James W. Beekman, E. B. O’ Callaghan, 
M. D. ; James B. Brinsmade, Esq., of Albany ; A. D. F. Ran- 
dolph, Esq.; David T. Valentine, Clerk of the Common 
Council ; Theodore Nims, Jr., Esq. ; Samuel W. Seton, Esq. ; 
and to the Librarians of the Historical Society, Mercantile 
and Society Libraries of this city, for the facilities they so 
cordially afforded him in the prosecution of his researches. 

Extracts from the Minutes of the Board of Trustees and of 
Consistory : 

New-York, May 29, 1848. 

‘‘ On the motion of Mortimer Be Motte, it was unanimously 

^^Resohed, That Mr. Henry W. Bunshee be requested to 
investigate the records of our church, and gather together from 
them, and from such other sources as may be presented to him, 
all the facts attainable, in connection with and relative to the 
School of the Reformed Protestant Butch Church, in the city of 
New-York, for the purpose of preparing its history. 

Thomas Jeremiah, 

Sec. Board of Trustees. 



PROLEGOMENA. 



V 



Upon the completion of the work, it was approved by the 
pastors of the Collegiate Church and the Board of Trustees, 
before whom it was read, May 24, 1852. 

At a subsequent meeting of the Board, June 28, “ Messrs. 
Van Nest, Oothout, and Dunshee were appointed a commit- 
tee, with reference to the publication of the work.” 

‘‘ Oct. 25th. — ^The draft of a memorial .was presented at a 
meeting of the Trustees, by Mr. Van Nest, in behalf of the above 
committee, and it was on motion 

*‘^Eesolmd^ That the said memorial, signed by the officers of 
this Board, be presented to Consistory.’^ 

Geo. S. Stitt, Sec. 

In Consistory, February 3, 1853. 

On the request of the Trustees of the School of the Church, 
to publish its history for gratuitous distribution, 

^EesoUed^ That the sum of six hundred dollars be appro- 
priated for that purpose. 

^'Eesolved^ That the Rev. Dr. De Witt be requested to aid 
the Trustees in the said publication.” 

Extract from Minutes. 

Cornelius Bogert, Clerk. 

June 29, 1853. 

^^Eesohed^ That Messrs. Warner and Beadle be a special 
committee to superintend the publication of the History of the 
School.” Gamaliel G. Smith, Sec. 



BOARD OF TRUSTEES 



SCHOOL OP THE KEFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH, 
IN THE CITV OP NEW-YORK. 

1853 . 



PETER E. WARNER, Chairman. 
GAMALIEL G. SMITH, Secretary. 
Edward L. Beadle, M.D. 

John Van Nest. 

George S. Stitt. 

Charles S. Little. 

John I. Brower. 



TEACHERS. 

Henry Webb Dunshee. 

James T. Graff. 

Miss Harriet Parker. 

“ Maria Josephine Rogers. 
“ Elsie J. Nicholson. 



INTRODUCTION. 



A HISTORICAL SKETCH 

OF THE 

PAEOCHIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN HOLLAND 

SUBSEQUENT TO THE REFORMATION. 



BY REV. THOMAS *DE WITT, D. D. 



This volume gives the History of the School of the Re- 
formed Dutch Church in this city^ as far as it can be ascertained 
from surviving documents in various sources. This school was 
co-eval with the first settlement by Hollanders here, and has 
continued, to the present time, an instrument of much good 
in training the children, especially of the poorer class, under 
a direct religious influence. It has proved, under the Divine 
blessing, a nursery to the Church, gathering many into her 
communion ; and it has introduced a very large proportion as 
useful members of society. It was the custom, after the 
Reformation in Holland, to send out with emigrants going to 
any of its colonies, however few in number, a well-qualified 
schoolmaster, who was a member of the Church, and accredited 
by his competence and piety to take charge of the instruction of 
children and youth. During the absence or want of a minis- 
ter, he was bound to conduct public worship, by reading a-ser- 



8 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



mon, oflfering prayers, etc., on the Sabbath, and on other occa- 
sions. With the earliest agricultural settlement of Manhattan 
Island and its vicinity, such a schoolmaster and voorleser was 
sent out, and from the earliest period the School has conti- 
nued to this day. 

The importance of the religious element in early education 
cannot be too highly estimated in reference to the formation 
of character, and the direction of the future course of life. 
Under the Old Testament economy, the Divine direction was : 
These words shall he in thine heart; and thou shalt teach 
them diligently unto thy children^ and shalt talk of them 
when thou sittest in thy house^ and when thou walkest hy the 
way^ and when thou liest down, and when thou risest u;p^ 
In the early Christian Church, particular attention was paid 
to the scriptural and religious instruction of youth, and con- 
stant reference is made to the office and exercises of catechists 
and cateclyimens. The witnesses for the truth in the dark mid- 
dle ages of the reign of Papal usurpation were remarkable for 
their faithfulness in the religious instruction and discipline of 
their children. The excellent and devoted Waldenses were 
probably indebted, under God, to their peculiar diligence in the 
discharge of this duty for their remarkable success in keep- 
ing their body together, under the influences and persecu- 
tions that pressed upon them ; in transmitting their testimony 
from generation to generation, and in remaining continually 
a beacon -light amid the prevailing darkness, for the admira- 
tion and guidance of the Church in future times. History 
informs us that they bestowed constant and careful attention 
on the religious instruction of their children and youth, that 
they were in the habit of preparing excellent and appropriate 
catechisms and formularies, and that the pastors made the 
religious training of their youth a leading and unceasing 
object of their labors. 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN HOLLAND. 



9 



At the period of the Reformation, the difierent parts of 
the Protestant Church made this a prominent object of their 
care and efforts. Formularies of divine truth, and cate- 
chisms adapted to different ages, were early introduced. 
Many of them obtained ecclesiastical sanction and authority, 
and were directed to be explained in the pulpit and the 
. schools. It would be interesting to trace the history of the 
introduction and use of catechetical instruction in the 
churches and schools, from the earliest time of the Reform- 
ation, by the Church of England, the Church of Scotland, 
the Reformed Churches of France, Switzerland, Germany, 
and Holland, etc. Measures were taken in Scotland, at an 
early period of the Reformation, leading to the institution of 
parochial schools, widely diffused, under the supervision of 
the churches, and making religious instruction a pervading 
and distinguishing element. 

We can here only make a brief reference to the Church 
of Holland. No where was the struggle for the principles 
of the Reformation so severe and (we may say) so crushing. 
Charles V., who held the crown of Spain, and the patri- 
monial inheritance of the Netherlands, was elected Emperor 
of Germany. He found it his policy to treat the Protestant 
princes, and the professors of the Protestant faith there, with 
comparative indulgence ; while in the Netherlands, heredita- 
rily devolving upon him, he introduced his Spanish armies 
and the Inquisition. The page of history is replete with the 
account of the severity and extent of the religious persecu- 
tions by Spanish and Papal power. Thousands upon thou- 
sands lost their lives, while many more fled for refuge to 
other parts. But then the Word of the Lord took deep 
root. The first religious societies of the Reformed faith called 
themselves Kericen van Christus onder het Kruys:'''* 
“The Churches of Christ under the Cross.” In 1566 the 



10 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



first Synod met at Antwerp, minutes of whicli have not been 
handed down. The noted and cruel Duke of Alva succeeded 
to the Viceroyalty of the Netherlands in 1567. He boasted 
that during his seven years’ regency, eighteen thoumnd had 
been put to death by him for heresy* The Reformed held 
their Synod at Wesel, now in Rhenish Prussia, on the Rhine, 
in 1568; and at Embden, in East Friesland, in 1571 ; not 
being able to find a place of safety in the Netherlands. 
They called themselves '‘'‘Believers under the Cross scattered 
throughout the Netherlands^ At these Synods, particular 
reference was made, and provision secured, for the Christian 
education of the young. At subsequent Synods, held in 
Holland, before and after the Union of Utrecht, in 1579, 
the subject was carefully considered, and plans adopted. 
The principles thus adopted became more fully developed 
and matured in the action of the well-known Synod of Dort, 
held in 1618 and IfilO. In the seventeenth session of that 
Synod, November 30, 1618, the subject of the instruction 
and education of youth, and of catechising, was under dis- 
cussion. In the result, the following resolution was adopted, 
and minute made. The whole is inserted, as worthy of being 
read and well weighed : 

“In order that the Christian youth may be diligently 
instructed in the principles of religion, and be trained in 
piety, three modes of catechising should be employed. I. 
In the house, by parents. II. In the schools, by 

SCHOOLMASTERS. III. In THE CHURCHES, BY MINISTERS, 
ELDERS, AND CATECHISTS ESPECIALLY APPOINTED FOR THE 
PURPOSE. That these may diligently employ their trust, the 
Christian magistrates shall be requested to promote, by their 
authority, so sacred and necessary a work; and all who have 
the oversight of churches and schools shall be required to 
pay special attention to this matter.” * 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN HOLLAND. 



11 



“ I. The office of parents is diligently to instruct their 
children and their whole household in the principles of the 
Christian religion, in a manner adapted to their respective 
capacities; earnestly and carefully to admonish them to the 
cultivation of true piety ; to engage their punctual attend- 
ance on family worship, and take them with th*em to the 
hearing of the Word of God. They should require their 
children to give an account of the sermons they hear, espe- 
cially those on the Catechism ; assign them some chapters 
of Scripture to read, and certain passages to commit to 
memory; and then impress and illustrate the truths con- 
tained in them in a familiar manner, adapted to the tender- 
ness of youth. Thus they are to prepare them for being 
catechised in the schools, and by attendance on these to 
encourage them and promote their edification. Parents are 
to be exhorted to the faithful discharge of this duty, by the 
public preaching of the Word ; but specially at the ordinary 
period of family visitation, previous to the administration of 
the Lord’s Supper; and also at other times by the minister, 
elders, etc. Parents who profess religion, and are negligent 
in this work, shall be faithfully admonished by the ministers ; 
and, if the case requires it, they shall be censured by the 
Consistory, that they may be brought to the discharge of 
their duty.” 

“II. Schools, in which the young shall be properly 
instructed in the principles of Christian doctrine, shall be 
instituted not only in cities, but also in towns and country 
places where heretofore none have existed. The Christian 
magistracy shall be requested that well-qualified persons 
may be employed and enabled to devote themselves to the 
service; and especially that the children of the poor may be 
gratuitously instructed, and not be excluded from the benefit 
of the schools. In this office none shall be employed but 



12 



HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE 



such as are members of the Reformed Church, having certifi" 
cates of an upright faith and pious life, and of being well- 
versed in the truths of the Catechism. They are to sign a 
document, professing their belief in the Confession of Faith 
and the Heidelberg Catechism, and promising that they will 
give catechetical instruction to the youth in the principles of 
Christian truth according to the same. The schoolmasters 
shall instruct their scholars according to their age and capa- 
city, at least two days in the week, not only by causing them 
to commit to memory, but also by instilling into their minds 
an acquaintance with the truths of the Catechism. [An 
elementary small Catechism, the Compendium, and the Hei-^ 
delberg Catechism are those specified to be used by the differ- 
ent grades of children and youth.] The schoolmasters shall 
take care not only that the scholars commit these Catechisms 
to memory, but that they suitably understand the doctrines 
contained in them. For this purpose, they shall suitably 
explain to every one, in a manner adapted to his capacity,, 
and frequently inquire if they understand them. The school- 
masters shall bring every one of the pupils committed to their 
charge to the hearing of the preached Word, and particu- 
larly the preaching on the Catechism, and require from them 
an account of the same.” 

“ III. In order that due knowledge may be obtained of 
the diligence of the schoolmasters, and the improvement of 
the youth, it shall be the duty of the masters, with an 
ELDER, and, if necessary, with a magistrate, to visit all the 
schools, private as well as public, frequently, in order to 
excite the teachers to earnest diligence, to encourage and 
counsel them in the duty of catechising, and to furnish an 
example by questioning them, addressing them in a friendly 
and affectionate manner, and exciting them to early piety 
and diligence. If any of the schoolmasters should be found 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN HOLLAND. 



13 



seglectfui or perverse, they shall be earnestly admonished by 
the ministers, and, if necessary, by the Consistory, in relation 
to their office. The ministers, in the discharge of their 
public duty in the Church, shall preach on the Catechism. 
These sermons shall be comparatively short, and accommo- 
dated, as far as practicable, to the comprehension of children 
as well as adults. The labors of those ministers will be 
praiseworthy who diligently search out country places, 
and see that catechetical instruction be supplied and faith- 
fully preserved. Experience teaches that the ordinary 
instruction of the Church, catechetical and other, is not 
sufficient for many, to instil that knowledge of the Christian 
religion which should, among the people of God, be well 
grounded ; and also testifies that the living voice has very 
great influence ; that familiar and suitable questions and 
answers, adapted to the apprehension of each individual, is 
the best mode of catechising, in order to impress the princi- 
ples of religion upon the heart. It shall be the duty of a 
minister to go with an elder to all capable of instruction, 
and collect them in their houses, the Consistory-chamber, or 
some other suitable place, (a number particularly of those 
more advanced in years,) and explain familiarly to them the 
articles of the Christian faith, and catechise them according 
to the circumstances of their different capacities, progress, 
and knowledge. They shall question them on the matter 
of the public. sermons on the Catechism. Those who desire 
to unite with the Church shall, three or four weeks before 
the administration of the Lord’s Supper, be more carefully 
and frequently instructed, that they may be better qualified 
and be more free to give a satisfactory account of their faith. 
The ministers shall employ diligent care to ascertain those 
who give any hopeful evidence of serious concern for the 
salvation of their soul, and invite them to them ; assembling 



14 



HIStOllICAL SKETCH OF THE 



those together who have like impressions, and encouraging 
to friendly intercourse and free conversation with each other. 
These meetings shall commence with appropriate prayer and 
exhortation. If all this shall be done by the ministers with 
that cordiality, faithfulness, zeal, and discretion that become 
those who must give an account of the flock committed to 
their charge, it is not to be doubted that in a short time 
abundant fruit of their labors shall be found in growth in 
religious knowledge, and holiness of life, to the glory of God, 
and the prosperity of the Church of Christ.” 

In the above we find evidence of alliance between Church 
and State- to some extent, from which we are, happily, 
wholly free. But it suggests sentiments, and marks a course 
bearing upon the religious education of children and youth, 
well deserving the attention and approbation of the Church 
and Christian community. It is deeply to be regretted that 
with the extension of common school education through the 
entire community, under the patronage and by the provision 
of the State, certain influences have successfully operated to 
divest them of a Christian character. Some time since, the 
Romanists raised an organized opposition to our common 
schools as then conducted, demanding the alteration and 
excision of our school-books, and afterwards proceeded to 
object to the use of the Bible and the offering of prayer in 
the schools, until they ai;e deprived of the semblance of 
religious character. Succeeding in this, they raised the cry 
that the schools were godless and infidel, and claimed for 
themselves their proportionate part of the public moneys to 
support their own denominational schools, confounding the 
doctrines and rites of their own Church with religion. 
While the system of universal education, under the patron- 
age of the State, is to be preserved as of the highest importance, 



PAROCHIAL SCHOOL SYSTEM IN HOLLAND. 



15 



and no denominational claim should be allowed, it is most 
desirable and important that in the Christian community the 
Bible should be preserved in our schools, and that God should 
be acknowledged in them. But beyond this it is the province 
of the Church, from her own resources and means, to devise 
the best methods of providing an enlightened, sound religious 
education to her children, in a way the most practicable 
under existing circumstances. The minute extracted from 
the acts of the Synod of Dort furnishes principles of great 
value and enduring excellence, which, with some variety in 
the details caused by a change of circumstances in our posi- 
tion, should be carefully kept in view by the Church, to be 
faithfully carried into execution. The high importance of 
selecting or forming schools exerting a religious influence 
need not be dilated on. Pcirents should be led with greater 
fidelity to impart domestic instruction in the great truths of 
the gospel as embraced in our standards, and should accom- 
pany it with salutary guidance and example. Ministers and 
oflScers of the Church should pay particular attention to the 
young, in their early religious training, and seek to win 
them to the faith and service of the Redeemer. Is it not 
to be feared that in the facilities which modern times afford 
in the spread of universal education, the institution of 
Sabbath-schools, and the multiplied and cheap issues from 
the press, there is yet a decline in the careful attention of the 
Church, in the use of the various means exhibited in the 
article quoted from the acts of the Synod of Dort, for the 
acquisition of sound and well-digested religious knowledge 
found among the children of the Church in earlier days ? 

This volume, giving the history of the school of our 
Reformed Dutch Church in this city, is not without its 
interest to the general reader as a research into the ^^oldea 
times and connected with the earliest period of our city’s 



16 



HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



history. But it bears peculiar interest to the friends of our 
Church, and all who feel the importance of the religious 
training of the children of the Church, particularly of those 
who might otherwise be neglected. This history has been 
prepared by the present Principal of the school, after careful 
investigation of remaining sources of information. It is to 
be regretted that so few materials as to some periods have 
been preserved. In the school there has ever been preserved 
a course of instruction in the branches of knowledge adapted 
to prepare for practical life, while sound religious instruction 
has been carefully imparted. The happy and salutary influ- 
ence of the school has been experienced through its continued 
existence, and it is now flourishing under the wise and faith- 
ful direction of the present Principal, who has prepared this 
volume at the request of the Board of Trustees appointed by 
the Consistory. 

Thomas De Witt. 

New-York, Sept. 20, 1863. 



14 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL 



OP THE 

REFORMED PROTESTANT DUTCH CHURCH, 

IN THE CITY OF NEW-YORK, 



OHAPTEE I.* 

A Brief Outline of the Discovery and Settlement of 
New- Amsterdam *. 1609 — 163 ^. 

Special preconcerted eflforts, authorized by Government or 
induced by religious persecution, led to the settlement by the 
English of ten out of the thirteen original colonies, extending 
on the sea-coast from Maine to Georgia, inclusive. How, then, 
did Holland obtain a foothold on this continent, and how 
came the Dutch Government, with its Church and School, 
to be the first established in the Empire State ? 

A brief outline of the circumstances which led to the dis- 
covery and subsequent colonization of New- Amsterdam will 
not only afibrd a solution to these questions, but also demon- 
strate the fact that a public school was established therein as 
soon as the circumstances of the settlers permitted it. 

The discovery of America by Columbus while attempting 
to reach China and Cathay by a westward passage, did not 

The contents of this chapter were culled from the first eight chap- 
ters of Brodhead's New- York ; and here, as elsewhere throughout the 
work, his language has at times been appropriated. 



18 



OUTLINE OF THE DISCOVERY 



in the least repress the efforts prompted by the commercial 
spirit of the age, to accomplish that undertaking. The 
voyages made for that purpose resulted in the exploration of 
most of the large rivei*s and estuaries on the entire eastern 
sea-board of the continent. The southern route, discovered 
by Magellan in 1520, affording no advantages over the ac- 
customed route through the Indian Seas, a passage was sought 
for on the north-west. Foremost and most persevering in 
this enterprise, was England ; no less than thirty voyages, 
with this design, having been undertaken by British naviga- 
tors ; among whom was Henry Hudson. Failing to achieve 
the object of his ambition in the two attempts made by him 
in 1607 and 1608 in behalf of the English “Association for 
the Discovery of the North-west passage,” he offered his ser- 
vices to the East India Company of Holland ; and, on the 6th 
of April, 1609, departed in the “Half Moon,” from Texel, 
with instructions to “ explore a passage to China by the 
north-east or north-west.” Prevented by the ice from proceed- 
ing eastward toward Nova Zembla, he touched at the island 
of Faro, sailed thence to the Banks of Newfoundland, ran 
down the coasts of Nova Scotia, Maine, and Massachusetts; 
and failing to find an opening to the west, put to sea again* 
A fortnight after, he made land off the capes of the Chesa- 
peake, whence, sailing northward along the coast of Mary- 
land, he entered Delaware Bay. Proceeding thence cautiously 
up the eastern coast of New-Jersey, he entered the Narrows, 
and, on the 11th of September, anchored in the lower bay. 
Subsequently, in prosecution of his main design, he passed 
up the river, which now bears his name, to the vicinity of 
Albany ; and, having ascertained by soundings that no far- 
ther advance could be made, he reluctantly returned to the 
neighborhood of Hoboken. On the 4th of October he 
weighed anchor for the last time, and having re-crossed the 



AND SETTLEMENT OP MANHATTAN. 19 

ocean, landed, in November, at Dartmouth in England, whence 
he communicated to the Company at Amsterdam an account 
of his discoveries. 

“ Thus the triumphant flag of Holland was the harbinger 
of civilization along the banks of the great river of New-York. 
The original purpose of the Half Moon’s voyage had failed 
of accomplishment ; but why need Hudson repine ? He had 
not, indeed, discovered the passage to the eastern seas, but 
he had led the way to the foundation of a mighty state. 
The attractive region to which accident had conducted the 
Amsterdam yacht, soon became a colony of the Netherlands, 
where, for half a century, the sons and daughters of Holland 
established themselves securely under the ensign of the re- 
public, transplanted the doctrines of a reformed faith, and 
obeyed the jurisprudence which had governed their ances- 
tors.”^ 

In 1610, ttiegreat ‘‘ River of the Mountains” was visited a 
second time by a vesssel from Holland, in pursuit of beaver 
and other valuable furs. 

In 1611, Christiaensen and Block made a joint voyage to 
the river for the purposes of trade ; and the reports which 
they made of the country on their return to Holland, led 
three influential merchants of Amsterdam to dispatch with 
them, in 1612, two vessels for the purpose of continuing the 
traffic with the natives. 

During 1613, three other trading-vessels visited the island 
of Manhattan, returning in 1614, freighted with large cargoes 
of valuable furs. The ship under the command of Block 
having been burned while he was preparing to return to Hol- 
land, he was obliged to build a yacht, which caused him to 
remain at Manhattan during the winter of 1613-14 ; and the 



* Brodhead, N, Y., 36. 



20 



OUTLINE OF THE DISCOVERY 



few huts erected by him at this time near the southern point 
of the island, were the first European abodes upon it. For- 
saking these temporary structures upon the completion of his 
yacht, he explored the bays and rivers on the coasts of Con- 
necticut, Ehode Island, and Massachusetts. Here he found 
Christiaensen’s ship from Manhattan, in charge of Cornells 
Hendricksen ; and having exchanged vessels with him. Block 
returned to Holland. In the meanwhile. Fort Nassau was 
built by Christiaensen, on Castle Island, a little below Albany, 
as a warehouse and military defense for the traders. 

Previous to Block’s return to Amsterdam, the States-Gen- 
cral had passed an Octroy, granting and conceding that 
“ whosoever shall from this time forward discover any new 
passages, havens, lands, or places, shall have the exclusive 
right of navigating to the same for four voyages.” The 
merchants who had employed Block, encouraged by the 
results of his voyage, formed an Association, and lost no time 
in taking the steps necessary to secure to themselves the 
special privileges guaranteed in the general ordinance. 
Through their deputies at the Hague, they laid before the 
States-General a map and report of the newly-explored 
countries, which now, (1614,) for the first time, received the 
name of New-Netherland. Their High Mightinesses having 
granted their request, they assumed the title of “ The United 
New-Netherland Company,” and enjoyed for three years 
from January, 1615, the exclusive trade “ of all lands from the 
fortieth to the forty-fifth degree of latitude.^” 

In the spring of 1617, Fort Nassau was destroyed by a 
freshet, and a new fortified post was erected by the traders 
on the main land, on a commanding eminence called Tawass- 
gunshee, at the mouth of Norman’s Kill, immediately south 
of the present city^of Albany. 

* Brodhead, N. Y. 60 , et seq. 



AND SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN. 



21 



On the expiration of the Company’s charter in 1618, the 
trade of the Manhattans was thrown open, and many vessels, 
heretofore excluded, resorted thither for traffic. 

The next important movement affecting the interests of 
New-Netherland, was the establishment by charter, in 1621, 
of the Dutch West India Company. The central power of 
this Association was divided, for the more efficient exercise of 
its functions, among five branches or chambers, located in the 
different cities of the Netherlands, the managers of which 
were styled Lords Directors. That of Amsterdam was the 
principal ; and to it was assigned the management of affairs 
in New-Netherland. The general supervision and govern- 
ment of the Company were lodged in an Assembly or Col- 
lege of nineteen delegates. This Company, with the appro- 
bation of the States-General, appointed the Director-General, 
and all other officers, civil, military, judicial, and executive. 
“ The profit and increase of trade” was its main object, al- 
though it was expected to promote colonization. Two years 
elapsed before the company was prepared to go into operation ; 
the trade of New-Netherland, however, was constantly in- 
creasing. 

In 1623, thirty families were dispatched from Holland, 
and, upon entering Hudson river, eight men were left to take 
possession of Manhattan Island, and eighteen families were 
taken to the neighborhood of Albany. The remainder were 
sent to locate upon the Connecticut and Delaware rivers and 
the Wallabout. This was the first attempt at colonization. 

In 1624, Cornelius Jacobsen May was appointed First 
Director of New-Netherland, and during his administration. 
Fort Orange, which had been commenced the year previous, 
was completed. 

During 1625, forty-five new settlers were added to the 
population of New-Netherland ; but it was not till 1626 



22 



OUTLINE OF THE DISCOVERY 



that any permanence was given to the colony at Manhattan. 
In this year Peter Minuit commenced his administration as 
Director-General, and a council of six individuals was ap- 
pointed for the administration of affairs. The island, here- 
tofore occupied by mere sufferance, was purchased from the 
natives for twenty-four dollars. Fort Amsterdam^ was com- 
menced near the Battery, and became the head-quarters of 
the Government ; and religious services, in the absence of a 
regular clergyman, were commenced by the reading of the 
Scriptures and the Creed, by the Consolers of the Sick. This 
may be deemed the commencement of a city now unrivalled 
in the western world. 

Compelled by the hostility of the neighboring Indians, 
the eight families now constituting the colony at Fort 
Orange, and the settlers on the Delaware, removed to Man- 
hattan ; so that, in 1628, the population of Manhattan 
amounted to two hundred and seventy. But serious causes 
operated to prevent the prosperity of the colony. The In- 
dians were unfriendly, difficulties existed between the colony 
and the settlements in New-England and on the Delaware; 
and the colonists received but little attention from the West 
India Company, in consequence of their commercial interest 
being involved in the war then existing between Ilolland 
and Spain. By the Charter of Privileges and Exemptions 
granted to the Patroons, in 1629, colonies were established 
beyond Manhattan, and the commerce of New-Netherlands 
was prosperous, the imports, in 1632, amounting to $57,200; 
but the small community located in the vicinity of Fort 
Amsterdam, being principally engaged in agricultural pur- 



* This fort was between Whitehall and State streets, directly 
facing the Bowling Green. The “ Government House” afterwards 
occupied this site. 



AND SETTLEMENT OF MANHATTAN. 



23 



suits, supported themselves, in the absence of supplies from 
the ^therland, with great difficulty. 

Minuit, who was recalled in 1632, had done much for the 
advancement of trade, to which his attention had been 
chiefly directed ; but the affairs of the colony were far from 
possessing any considerable degree of stability. Several 
families of Manh'^ttan returned with Minuit to Holland, and 
for twelve months the colony was left without a Director- 
General ; when the West India Company, learning that the 
English, who had for some years laid claim to the country, 
were making preparations to establish settlements in certain 
portions of the territory under their jurisdiction, sent over 
Wouter Van Twiller as Director-General, accompanied by 
one hundred and four soldiers; the first military force in the 
colony. A certain degree of security against the encroach- 
ments of the Indians and English was now established; 
prompt and energetic measures for the more efficient manage- 
ment of the internal affairs of the colony were adopted, and 
the individual interests and prosperity of the settlers were 
provided for ; all of which imparted an impetus which 
enabled the brave and industrious pioneers at Manhattan to 
overcome all the difficulties from within, and foes from with- 
out, with which for many years they were called to contend : 
and it is at this period we shall, in the subsequent chapter, take 
up the subject of the establishment of the oldest school now 
m existence in America, 



HISTORY OF THE SOHO 02., 



S4 



CHAPTER II. 

HISTORY OP THE SCHOOL PROM ITS ESTABLISHMENT, 1633,, 
TO THE CAPITULATION, 1664 ; EMBRACING A PERIOD OF 
THIRTY-ONE YEARS. 

In the “ Historical Sketch” we have seen that the Dutch 
have long been distinguished for their interest in education. 
“ N’either the perils of war, nor the busy pursuit of gain, nor 
the excitement of political strife, ever caused them to neglect 
the duty of educating their offspring. Schools were every 
where provided, at the public expense^ with good school- 
masters, to instruct the children of all classes in the usual 
branches of education ; and the Consistories of the churches 
took zealous care to have their youth thoroughly taught the 
Catechism, and the Articles of Religion.”'^ 

Their national prosperity must be attributed, in no small 
degree, to their moral character ; and when, in the course 
of Providence, they commenced the colonization of New- 
!N'etherlands, the settlers, noted for their sterling virtues and 
adherence to the principles which they had embraced, not 
only brought with them and established, as far as the cir- 
cumstances of a new colony rendered it practicable, the civil 
polity to which they had been accustomed, but had secured 
to them, by legal enactment, the institution of churches and 
schools. 

The West India Company, with whom the work of colo- 
nization commenced, bound itself “to maintain good and 



^ Brodhead,. i. 462, 



FROM 1633 TO 1664 . 



25 



fit preachers, schoolmasters, and comforters of the sick.”^ 
“They recognized the authority of the Established Church 
of Holland over their colonial possessions ; and the specific 
care of the transatlantic churches was early intrusted by the 
Synod of North Holland to the Classis of Amsterdam. By 
that body all the colonial clergy were approved and com- 
missioned. For more than a century its ecclesiastical su- 
premacy was afiectionately acknowledged ; and long after the 
capitulation of the province to England, the power of ordi- 
nation to the ministry, in the American branch of the Re- 
formed Dutch Church, remained in the governing Classis of 
Holland, or was exercised only by its special permission.”! 

The establishment of schools, and the appointment of 
schoolmasters, rested conjointly with the Company and the 
Classis of Amsterdam ; and it is from this circumstance that 
much relating to the early history of the school under con 
sideration has been preserved. 

When the special Charter of “ Freedoms and Exemptions” 
was granted by the Company to the Patroons, for the 
purpose of agricultural colonization, they were not only 
obligated to satisfy the Indians for the lands upon which 
they should settle, but were to make prompt provision for 
the support of “a minister and schoolmaster, that thus the 
service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool, and 
be neglected among them ; and that they do, for the first, 
procure a comforter of the sick there.”J Thus religion and 
learning were encouraged; and we find accordingly, in the 
early records, frequent references to the judicial support and 
maintenance of schools at Fort Orange, Flatbush, Fort Casi- 
mir, and other settlements. In the contract made with the 

* O’Call. N, N. i. 220. f Brodhead, i. 614. 

X Vide Charter of “ Privileges and Exemptions,” O’CalJ, N, N. 
i.119. 



2 



26 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Rev. Gideon Schaets, when engaged as minister at Eens- 
selaerswjck, he was required, among other duties, “ To use 
all Christian zeal there to bring up both the heathens and 
their children in the Christian religion. To teach also the 
Catechism there, and instruct the people in the Holy Scrip- 
tures, and to pay attention to the office of schoolmaster for 
old and young. And further, to do every thing fitting and 
becoming a public, honest, and holy teacher, for the advance- 
ment of divine service and church exercise among the young 
and old. And in case he should take any of the heathen 
children to educate, he was to be indemnified therefor as the 
Commissioners shall think proper.”^ This is not the only 
instance where public provision was made by our ancestors 
for the education of all classes, including even the children 
of the natiyes. 

The course most commonly pui^ued, when a colony was 
to be established, was, to have a schoolmaster accompany 
the settlers, and, to a certain extent, conduct religious services. 
After habitations were erected, and the settlement had as- 
sumed a warrantable degree of stability, it was provided with 
a minister. A settlement on the Delaware furnishes a case 
in point. Settlers were encouraged to proceed to New- 
Amstel by certain conditions, thirty-five in number, the 
seventh of which was, “ The city of Amsterdam shall send 
thither a proper person for schoolmaster^ who shall also read 
the Holy Scriptures in public^ and set the Psalms, The 
eighth article stipulated, “ The city of Amsterdam shall also 
provide, as soon as convenient, for the said schoolmaster.” 
When the population should amount to two hundred, a 
minister and Consistory were to be appointed. Accordingly, 
about one hundred and sixty-seven colonists embarked, ac- 
companied by ^'‘Hvert Pietersen^Yiho had been approved, 



^ O’Call. N. K ii. 66Y. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



27 



examination before the Classis^ as schoolmaster and Zieken- 
trooster “ to read God’s Word, and lead in singing.” Not- 
withstanding disasters at sea, the colony was soon organized 
under auspices favorable to its prosperity. “ Tlie religious 
instruction of the colonists was superintended by Pietersen,” 
until the arrival, a few months afterwards, of Domine Eve- 
rardus Welius, accompanied by about four hundred new 
emigrants. A church was immediately organized, and two 
elders were appointed, with “ Pietersen as fore-singer, Zieken- 
trooster, and deacon,” with a colleague. The colony seemed 
very prosperous, and was augmented by thirty families from 
Manhattan."^ 

Creditable in the extreme was this determination of the 
Dutch to transplant in the New World those institutions 
which had long been the. pride of their native land; and 
notwithstanding the many, and formidable difficulties with 
which these had to contend in those troublous and perilous 
times, their influence in the community has not yet ceased. 

Would that the Dutch descendants of the present gen- 
eration, the recipients of a noble inheritance, and participants 
of its resultant blessings, were as ardently attached to these 
institutions, and as zealous as weie their forefathers in sus- 
taining and extending them ! 

1626. — On the settlement of Manhattan, we find nearly 
the same course pursued as in the case of New-Amstel. 
When a colonial government was organized, 1626, by Kieft, 
the first Director-General, we find the place of a clergyman 
supplied, to a certain extent, by Sebastian Jans Crol, and 
Jan Huyck, two “ Krank-besoeckers,” “ Zieken-troosters,” or 
“ Comforters of the Sick,” whom they were to visit and pray 
with. It was their especial duty to read to the people, on 
the Sabbath, some texts out of the Scriptures, together 

*Brod. N.Y. I 631-633. 



28 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



I with the Creeds.” “ Fran 9 ois Molemaecker was at the same 
time employed in building a horse-mill, with a spacious room 
above to accommodate a large congregation ; and a tower 
was also to be erected in which the bells brought from Porto 
Kico were intended t6 be hung.”^ 

Thus, coeval with the arrival of the first organized body 
of colonists, we have the introduction of public religious 
services ; the settlers being exclusively from Holland, and of 
the Reformed religion. 

Exigency of circumstances, in a new settlement, sometimes 
demanded that the exercise of the functions pertaining to the 
otfices of the minister, the schoolmaster, and the Krank- 
besoecker, devolved upon the same individual : so that we 
might with propriety be justified in claiming the introduction of 
public education as early as 1626 ; but as the term schoolmaster 
is not expressly applied to either of the Krank-besoeckers, we 
will waive the position. It will be observed, however, that 
I this peculiarity of the Reformed Church was introduced into 
Manhattan previous to any legal enactment of requirement, 
as it was not until 1629 that the condition was imposed of 
appointing a ‘‘ comforter.” 

1633. — In the spring of 1633, Wouter Van Twiller arrived 
at Manhattan, as the second Director-General of New- 
Netherlands. In the enumeration of the Company’s oflScials 
of the same year, Everardus Bogardus is mentioned as offi- 

* Memoir on the Colonization of New-Netherlands, by J. R. Brod- 
head, Esq. ; collected from “ Wassenaar’s Historiche Verbael.” (Amst. 
1621-1632.) “ The Creed is still read in the churches in Holland by 

the ‘ Voorleezers’ or clerks, from the ‘ Doop-lmy-sje^ or baptistery, 
under the pulpit. Until a recent period, this custom was kept up in 
the Reformed Dutch churches in this country.” ii. N. Y. H. S, Coll, 
ii. 363. Brod. N. Y. i. 165. Doc. Hist. N. Y. iii. 42. 



29 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 

elating as minister at Fort Amsterdam, and Adam- Roe- 
LANDSEN as the Jhst schoolmaster.^ 

Here, then, in accordance with the custom of the age, the 
usage of the home Government, and by charter stipulations, 
we have the introduction of the first- schoolmaster in Man- 
hattan, establishing, as the sequel wdll prove, the foundation 
of an institution which the Church has never lost sight of ; 
and although it is probable tl^at at times, the school was kept 
somewhat irregularly, owing to the unsettled state of affairs 
arising from Indian depredations, and the hostile attitude 
and aggressions of the colonists in New-En gland, yet the 
records furnish direct and indisputable evidence of the efforts 
made for its support and continuance. ■ 

On the arrival of Van Twiller, he found affairs in a sad 
condition, the colony having been for a year without an 
executive officer. “Fort Amsterdam^ now dilapidated, was 
repaired. A guard-house and barrack.for the newly-arrived 
soldiers were constructed within the. fort; three windmills 
were erected ; brick and frame houses were built for the 
Director and his officers ; small houses w^ere constructed for 
the corporal, the smith, the cooper, and the midwife ; and 
the ‘upper room’ in the mill, in which the people had wor- 
shipped since 1626, was replaced by a plain wooden build- 
ing, the first church edifice of New- Netherlands^ situate on 
the East river, in what is now Broad street, between Pearl and 
Bridge streets and near this “ Oude Kerch,” in Whitehall 
street, near Bridge, a dwelling-house and stable were erected 
for the use of the Dorainie.J 

In an extended list of the officers and servants of the 
* Alb. Rec. i. 52. 

f Now known as 100 Broad street. Alb. Rec. x. 335. Benson’s 
Hist. Mem. 42. O’Call. N. N. i. 155. 

X Val. Man. Com. Conn. 1853, 427 et seq. 



30 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Dutch West India Company, in 1638, Rev. Everardus Bo- 
gardus is again mentioned as minister at Fort Amsterdam, 
where Adam Roelantsen was still the schoolmaster.* Roe- 
lantsen is mentioned also as having a lawsuit this year with 
one Jan Jansen ; and also as testifying in another suit, at the 
request of Rev. E. Bogardus.f The following year he re- 
signed his charge, and left the colony ; as in the list of settlers 
arrived in Rensselaerswyck, in 1639, we find the name of 
‘‘Adam Roelantsen Van Hamelwaard, previously school- 
master at New-Amsterdam.”J Jan Cornelissen, carpenter, 
who had preceded him thither in 1635, § possibly learning 
from Roelantsen himself (as the settlement was small) of the 
vacancy in the school, subsequently came to New- Amsterdam, 
and was appointed the schoolmaster. 

In 1642, the church on Broad street having become some- 
what dilapidated and reproachful in appearance, an efibrt 
was made to procure a new one, and at the same time was 
commenced the laudable undertaking of building a school- 
house with suitable accommodations. The Vertoogh, after 
mentioning the efforts made to raise subscriptions for building 
a new church, adds : “ ‘ The bowl has been going round a 
long time, for the purpose of collecting money for erecting a 
school-house ; and it has been built with words ; for, as yet, 
the first stone is not laid : some materials .only are provided. 
The money, nevertheless, given for the purpose, has all 

^Alb. Rec. ii. 18-15. f Ibid. i. 43. 

X O’Call. N. K i. 438. In 1643, Roelantsen is again in New- 
Amsterdam, purchasing a lot for a house and garden. Reg. Deeds, 
N. A. 134. In 1644, according to the Baptismal Records of the Dutch 
Church, which commenced in 1639, he had a son baptized by the 
name of Daniel. In 1653, “Adam Roelantsen” was a member uf the 
Burgher Corps of New-Amsterdam. O’Call. K N. ii. 569. Alb. 
Rec. viii. 

§ O’Call. N. K i. 435. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



31 



found its way out, and is mostly spent.’ The church, how- 
ever, was commenced in the Fort, by John and Richard Ogden. 
It was to be built of stone, 72 feet long, 52 broad, and 16 
over the ground. Joachim Pietersen Kuyter was elected 
deacon, and with Jan Dam, Captain De Vries, and Director 
Kieft, formed the first Consistory to superintend its erection.”^ 
But in 1646 the church was still unfinished, as the Director- 
General, being distressed for money, had applied to his own 
use the funds appropriated ; and from the same cause, the 
laudable undertaking of erecting a school-house had failed.”! 

But NeW' Amsterdam had, indeed, been experiencing trou- 
blous times. “Even the poor-fund of the deaconry was 
sequestered, and applied to the purposes of war.” Parties of 
Indians roved about, day and night, over Manhattan Island^ 
killing the Dutch not a thousand paces from Fort Amsterdam ; 
and no one dared “ to move a foot to fetch a stick of fire- wood 
without a strong escort.” “ The mechanics who plied their 
trades were ranged under the walls of the fort ; all others 
were exposed to the incursions of the savages.” For the pro- 
tection of the few cattle which remained to the decimated 
population, “ a ggod solid fence” was ordered to be erected 
nearly on the site of the present Wall street. The authori- 
ties write : “ Our fields lie fallow and waste ; our dw.ellings 
and other buildings are burnt. We are burthened with 
heavy families ; we have no means to provide necessaries for 
wives or children ; and we sit here amidst thousands of Indi- 
ans and barbarians, from whom we find neither peace nor 
mercy.” “At Manhattan, and in its neighborhood, scarcely 
one hundred men, besides traders, could be found.” Such 
being the state of affairs, it is not surprising that the church 

* Van Der Bonck’a Vertoogh. ii. N. Y. H. S. Coll. vii. 2^94. O’Call 

I. 260. 

f O’Call. i. 395, 396. 



S2 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



was unfinished, and the school-house not commenced ; for the 
money which the impoverished commonalty had contributed 
to build the school-house had “ all found its way out,” and 
was expended for the troops.”^ Yet, notwithstanding these 
difficulties, the subject was not forgotten. 

1647. — In the following year, 1647, a new feature was in- 
troduced in the government of New- Amsterdam by the appoint- 
ment of JS^ine Men, The introduction of this description of tri- 
bunal furnishes an additional proof that Holland was the source 
whence New-Netherland derived its municipal institutions, 
and shows how strongly its settlers were attached to those 
freedoms with which they were so familiar in their father- 
land. 

The Director and Council, desirous “that the government 
of New-Amsterdam might continue and increase in good 
order, justice, police, population, prosperity, and mutual har- 
mony, and be provided with strong fortifications, a church, a 
school, &c.,” permitted the inhabitants to nominate eighteen 
of the most notable, reasonable, honest, and respectable citi^ 
zens, from whom the Director and Council selected nine, “ as 
is customary in Fatherland.”f 

These JVine Men were the Eepresentatives of the people. 
They were consulted in all matters of importance, were 
invested with limited judiciary powers, and those who ap- 
pealed from their decision subjected themselves to a fine. On 
the organization of this body, Director Stuyvesant, who thiS 
year superseded Kieft, called their special attention, among 
other things, “ to the condition of the fort and of the church, 
and to the state of public education informing them that, 
“ owing to the want of proper accommodations, no school had 
been held for three months.” Subsequently, “he consented 

^ Brod.N. Y. i. 397,. 3'74, 392, 398,410, 

t O’Call. N. N. ii. 3^ 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



33 



to defray, on behalf of the Company, a portion of the expenses 
necessary for the encouragement of education, and to continue 
such assistance in future, to ‘ promote the glorious work.’ ” 
“Meanwhile, he informed them that a convenient place for a 
school-house and dwelling for the school-master would be pro- 
vided for the winter, either in one of the outhouses of the 
Fiscaal’s department, or any other suitable place that the 
Deacons of the church might approve.” “ The arrangements 
for completing the church, and for fostering the school, met 
with no objection.” A plan, however, which he had proposed 
for repairing the fort was condemned by them.^ 

It will be observed that when a school is spoken of under 
the Dutch administration, special reference is invariably made 
to the official public school, supported by the authorities, and 
in connection with the Established Church, the schoolmasters 
whereof were appointed by the West India Company. From 
the first organization of the school till the year 1808, when 
a special Board of Trustees was appointed, the supervision 
and management of the school was in the hands of the 
deacons ; hence the reference made to them above. 

No private school teachers, as will hereafter be shown, 
could follow their calling without a license from the civil and 
ecclesiastical authorities. 

The Records furnish the names of some such in the city at 
this period,! but the provision made above is for a school- 
house and dwelling for the school-master, the direction 

of the deacons ; and, furthermore, the statement that, for want 
“of proper accommodations, no school had been held for 
three months,” must have reference to the public school in 
connection with the church; for one Jan Stevenson was 
actually teaching at the time, and had been so doing for five 

* O’Call. KN.ii. 41, 42. 
t N. Am. Rec., 102. Alb. Rec. I v. 81. 

2 ^ 



34 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



years. The same statement is also conclusive evidence of the 
preexistence of the school ; the temporary suspension arising 
“ from want of proper accommodations.” 

Jan Corneliiisen was the schoolmaster for whom the dwell- 
ing was to be provided. 

1649. — In the year 1649, serious difficulties arose between 
the Nine Men on one part, and the Director-General and his 
Council, in consequence of which, a delegation from the Nine 
Men, at the head of which was Adriaen Van Der Donck, the 
President of that body, proceeded to the Hague, and laid 
before the States-General a remonstrance, known as the Ver- 
toogh, in which they complain of many grievances existing 
in the administration at New-Amsterdam. Speaking of the 
Church, they say : “As for its revenue, we know of none. No 
pains were taken by the Director to create any. There has 
been a good deal said about the building of a school-house, 
but, as yet, the first stone is not laid. The funds collected 
for this object have been misapplied. No provision has been 
made for the poor, who had to depend entirely on the congre- 
gation and a few fines and offerings. But the greater part of 
the sacred fund had found its way into the Company’s hands, 
on interest, it was pretended, but, as yet, neither principal nor 
interest was forthcoming. Furthermore, they desire that the 
school be provided with at least two good schoolmasters, so that 
the youth may be instructed and trained, not only in reading 
and writing, but also in the knowledge and fear of the 
Lord.”'^ 

Cornelius Van Tienhoven, the Schout or Sheriff of New- 
Arasterdam, proceeded to the Hague, and presented a reply 
to the Vertoogh, and in answer to the above says : “It is 
true the new school-house has not been built, but this was not 
the fault of the Director, who is busy collecting materials, but 

* Hoi. Doc. iv. O’Oall. N. N. ii. 114, 120. 



FROM 163^ TO 1664, 



35 



of the churchwardens (or deacons) who had charge of the 
funds, provided in part by the commonalty, and in part by 
subscriptions.” In the meanwhile, Jan Cornelissen had kept 
the school, a place for which had been provided ; and then 
immediately adds: Other teachers^ keep school in hired 

houses, so that the youth are furnished with the means of 
education,” although there is, as yet, no Latin school or 
Academy, “ If,” he adds, “ the remonstrants be such friends 
to religion and education as they pretend, let them be leaders 
in a subscription to such laudable undertakings, and not 
complain as they did when asked to contribute for the 

church and school-house.”f 1721785 

This Jan Cornelissen is the second teacher mentioned in 
connection with the public school under the care of the church. 

The same year. Dominie Backerus, who had succeeded 
Bogardus in 1647, by the permission of the Classis, took 
leave of the church at. Manhattan, with the intention of 
returning to Holland. Jan Cornelissen J having signified his 
intention to resign his situation, Stuyvesant embraced the 
opportunity of the Dominie’s return to write earnestly to the 
Classis of Amsterdam “ for a pious, well- qualified, and dili- 
gent schoolmaster.” “Nothing,” he adds, “is of greater im- 
portance than the right, early instruction of youth.” § 

- Subsequent to the departure of Backerus, Dominie Mega- 

* These undoubtedly were Jan Stevenson and Aryaen Jansen, ac- 
counts of whom, as schoolmasters, are found from 1643 to 1649, but no 
where as connected with the Church School. — N Am. Rec. v. 31, 150, 
169. 

t ii. N Y. Hist. Soc. Col. ii. 331. O’Call. ii. 123, 126. 

J In 1653, Cornelissen was working at his trade, as he had done in 
Rennselaerswick.— Y. Am. Rec. i. 340. 22d Dec., 1653, “Jan Cornel- 

issen claims payment for a building which he had erected on the land 
which he hired from Borger Jarisen.” 

§ Cor. Cl. Am. Brod. i. 508. 



^6 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



poleiisis arrived in Manhattan, on his way from Rensselaers- 
wyck to Holland, whither his wife had already returned* 
The church being vacant, he was solicited by Stuyvesant to 
remain, as children were every Sunday presented for baptism, 
‘‘sometimes one, sometimes two, yea, sometimes three and 
four together” The Dominie being prevailed on to stay, was 
formally installed.'^ 

1650. — Jacob Pergens and S. Ryckaerts, Directors of the 
West India Company, in reply to Stuyvesant’s letter, state : 
“We will make use of the first opportunity to supply you 
with a well-instructed schoolmaster ; and shall inform ourselves 
about the person living at Harlem, whom your Honor re- 
commended.”! 

The Committee of the States-General, to whom the remon- 
strance above spoken of was referred, accorded, in 1650, a 
Provisional Order for the Government of New-Netherland, 
in which they direct that three new ministers shall be called 
and supported ; one for Rensselaerswick, one for distant parts 
of the country, and one in and around New- Amsterdam : 
and the youth were to be instructed by good schoolmasters. 
We accordingly find that the Rev. Samuel Drisius was sent out 
to assist “ that worthy old servant, the Rev. Megapolensis.”J 

In the same year, Pergens and Ryckaerts again write to 
the Director-General, and say : “ We appoint, at your request^ 
a schoolmaster, who shall also act as Comforter of the sick. 
He is considered an honest and pious man, and shall embark 
the fir t opportunity .Ӥ 

In a subsequent letter, they write : “ The schoolmaster that 
had been sent for, came over with the wife of Rev. Megapo- 
lensis,”|| on her return from Holland to Manhattan, where 
her husband had been induced to remain. 

* Brod. K Y. i. 508. f ^Ib. Rec. iv. 11. 

X O’Call. N. N". ii. 134, 191, § Alb. Rec. iv. 23. | Ibid. iv. 80. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



37 



This third teacher and successor to Cornelissen was Wil- 
liam Vesteks. 

In 1654 he petitioned the Classis of Amsterdam for an 
increase of salary.”^ 

1655. — The following yearhe withdrew from the school, and 
Harraanus Van Hoboocken was appointed to supersede him, 
as appears from the following minute : 

“ Whereas William Vestius, [Vestens,] Chorister and 
Schoolmaster of this city^ hath several times earnestly soli- 
cited leave to depart for the Fatherland, so is his request 
granted him ; and in consequence thereof have the N oble 
Lords of the Supreme Council, with the consent of the respected 
Consistory of this city, appointed HarmanusVan Hoboocken 
as Chorister and Schoolmaster of this city, aty,S5 per month, 
and ^.100 annual expenditures ; who promises to conduct 
himself industriously and faithfully, pursuant to the instruc- 
tions already given, or hereafter to be given. 

“Done in Am, N, Neth. 23 March, 1655. 

(Signed) Nicasius De Sille, 
Xa Montagne^\ 

The appointment of Vestens by the West India Company ; 
his office as Krank-besoecker ; his petition to Classis for a rise 
of salary ; and his formal dismissal by the Council, denote him 
as the (third) teacher of the Reformed Dutch Church School.J 

* Cor. Cl. Am. 1654. f Alb. Rec. xxv. 133. 

\ There were others in the city at this time engaged in teaching 
private schools. These were licensed by the Council ; and in conse- 
quence of the connection between the Church and Government, its 
sanction was necessary. On the application of Andries Hudde for a 
license to keep school, the Director and Council informed him that they 
would first ask the opinion of the Ministers and the Consistory. One 
Jacob Van Corler having arrogated to himself to keep school, is di- 
rected to apply for a license, which he did repeatedly, and finally 
received as answer, actum'^ Permission was granted by the 

Council for Jan Lubherts to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic, 
“ provided he conducted himself as such a person ought to do,” and so 
of others. Alb. Rec. ix. 304. N. Am. Rec. 



38 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



1652. — The Vertoogh of 1649 having eventuated in a provi- 
sional Order of Government for N^ew-Netherland, and to the 
consequent adoption of such measures as were deemed essential 
to the promotion of its best interests ; and as among these was 
reckoned the advancement of religion and education, the vacant 
churches were supplied with ministers, and a second public 
school established, in accordance with the desire of the remon- 
strants, that “ at least two good schoolmasters may be pro- 
vided, so that the youth may be instructed and trained, not 
only in reading and writing, but also in the knowledge and 
fear of the Lford.”^' 

A seeming necessity existed for this, in the fact that New- 
Amsterdam contained at that time a population of seven or 
eight hundred souls ; f and, as the result of correspondence 
between the Director-General and the Company, as to the 
selection of a teacher, and* a suitable place for holding the 
school, the Directors of the West India Company, April 4, 
1652, wrote to Stuyvesant: “We reccommend to you Jan 
De La Montagne, whom we have provisionally favored with 
the appointment. Your Honor may appropriate the City 
Tavern for this purpose, if this is practicable.” A few weeks 
subsequently, they wrote to the Director and Council : “John 
Mantagne is appointed schoolmaster, with a salary of 250 
guilders.” J 

Under the head of “ Churches and Clergyman,” which 
sufficiently identifies the school with the church, we find the 

*Aate, p. 34. f Brod. K Y. i. 548. 

f Alb. Rec. iv. 68. The City Tavern, subsequently named the Stadt 
Huys or City Hall, stood on the corner of Pearl street and Coenties 
alley. This spot was occupied in 17'75 by Brinckerhoff Van Wyck *,. 
in 1806, by Abraham Brinckerhoff, and in 1825 by his heirs. Moulton, 
i. 27. The present site is known as 7l and 73 Pearl street. For view 
and description of this ancient edifice, vide Yal. Man. Coin., Coun. 18524, 
pp. 378, 403. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664 . 



39 



following : “ On the petition of John Morice De La Montagne, 
the Director-General and Council command the Comptroller 
to pay the supplicant three or four months of his wages.”^ 

*Alb. Rec. vi. 49. While Montagne, as an official schoolmaster, was 
remunerated from the Government funds, we have Joost Carelse, 
Adriaen Van Ilpendam, and others, instituting law-suits against indi- 
viduals, for the payment of tuition in beavers and shillings.— Alb. Rec. 
X. N. Am. Rec. 

The following reminiscences, illustrative of things an they were, are 
deemed worthy of insertion. The quaint and elliptical language in 
which the latter is given, is characteristic of the author, Judge Benson. 
In his memoir, read before the New-York Historical Society in 1816, 
speaking of John De La Montagne, ordinarily pronounced, Jan Mon- 
tagne, sexton of the old Dutch church in Garden street, he says. “I 
saw him at the house of my parents ; I in my earliest youth, he ap- 
proaching to fourscore. He was on his way to collect the Dominie’s 
gelt ; for the Dutch always took care the stipend to the minister should 
be competent, that so he never might be straitened ‘ to desire a gift.’ 
He told me his father and grandfather before him, (the names of all 
these individuals may be found in the old Direetories,) the latter pro- 
bably the same as mentioned in the records, ‘Jan De La Montagne, 
Schoolmaster, with 250 guilders salary,’ had been the sexton of the 
congregation ; so that, as I have it from the relation of others, the suc- 
cessive incumbents, having been as well of the same Christian as sur- 
name, the name had, as it were, become the name of the ^office, like 
Den Keyser, the Ccesar, the Emperor; and accordingly, when the Eng- 
lish, having built a church, had alsi a sexton, the Dutch children, 
and not impo-sible some adults, called him, ‘ De Engelishe Jan Mon- 
tagne.’ He told me his grandfather was the sexton when the church 
was within the fort. On his (the third Jan’s) death, the Consisto»-y 
^appointed his son Jan, who remained sexton till the dispersion of the 
congregation on the invasion of the city, 1776.” 

The Judge records also the following: “ There was a day always 
kept here by the Dutch, and the keeping of it delegated by the mothers 
to their daughters, still at school. Vrouwen Dagh, Woman’s Day; 
the same with the Valentine’s Day of the Engli h, atid although differ- 
ently, still, perhaps, not Jess salutarily kept. Every mother’s daugh- 
ter, furnished with a piece of cord, the size neither too large nor too 



40 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



The fact that this second school was commenced and carried 
on for a brief period, is clear ly established ; but the absence of 
any subsequent reference to it, leads to the strong inference 
that its existence was of short duration. The principal school, 
however, was uninterruptedly conducted by Yestens, from 
1650 to 1655. 

In 1653, New-Amsterdam was incorporated with munici- 
pal privileges; and a court of justice, similar to that of Am- 
sterdam in Holland, consisting of a schout, burgomasters and 
schepens, was instituted. Director Stuyvesant relinquished 
to the burgomasters the excise license"^ on condition that they 

small ; the twist neither too hard nor too loose ; a turn round the hand, 
and then a sufficient length left to serve as a lash; not fair to have a 
knot at the end of it, but fair to practise for a few days to acquire the 
sleight ; the law held otherwise, duelling. On the morning of the day, 
the youngster never venturing to turn a corner without first listening 
whether no warblers were behind it, no golden apples to divert him 
from the direct course in this race. Schoolboy Hipporaenes espied, 
pursued by Charmer Atalanta ; he encumbered with his satchel, still 
striving to outrun, and, to add to his speed, bending forward, thereby 
giving the requisite roundness to the space between the shoulders : 
she, too swift afoot for him, and overtaking him, and three c*r four 
strokes briskly and smartly laid on ; he, to avoid a further repetition, 
stopping ahd turning ; she looking him steadfast in the eye, and per- 
ceiving it reqiiirecf all the man in him to keep back the tear; not all 
the fruit in all the orchards of the Hesperides, and in their best bearing 
year, to compensate for the exultation of the little heart for the 
moment. 

The boys requested the next day should be theirs, and be called 
Mannen Dagh, Man’s Day ; but my masters were told, the law would 
thereby defeat its own very purpose, which was, that they should, at an 
age and in a way most likely never to forget it, receive the lesson qf 
manliness, he is ne^ er to strike.” 

This privilege has been neglected for such a length of time, that 
perhaps it is never again to be recovered. — Ben. Mem. 41. 

*This was the first revenue in the treasury of New-Amsterdam. 
Paulding, 34. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



41 



paid out of it the salaries of the Ecclesiastique, to wit : one 
of the ministers, (Megapolensis or Drisius,) one precentor^ 
headle^ or schoolmaster^ and one dog-whipper, now called 
sexton ; and of the Polity, to wit : the Sellout, both the Bur- 
gomasters, the five Schepens, the Secretary, and the Court 
Messenger.'^ 

1654. — The following year, 1654, the Director and Council 
re-claimed the excise, “inasmuch as the burgomasters had 
failed to pay the clergyman and school-master or beadle.”f 

This presents another valid proof of the connection existing 
between the school and the church. “The schoolmaster 
was always, ex-officio^ clerk or beadle, chorister, and visiter 
of the sick.”J 

1655-56. — We have recorded the supersedure of Vestens, 
in 1655, byHarmanus Van Hoboocken. The following spring, 
1656, the first survey of the city was made, and it was ascer- 
tained to possess 120 houses, an'd 1000 souls ; and “ the num- 
, her of children at the public school having greatly increased, 
further accommodation was allowed to Van Hoboocken, the 
schoolmaster.Ӥ 

His school-house having been burned partly down, he ad- 
dressed the following application to the city magistrates : 

“ To the Heeren Burgomasters and Schepens of the City of 
New- Amsterdam : 

“The reverential request of Harmanus Van Hoboocken, 
schoolmaster of this city, is, that he may be allowed the use 
of the hall and side-chamber of the City Hall, for the use of 
his school and as a residence for his family, inasmuch as he, 
petitioner, has no place to keep school in, or to live in during 
the wfinter, it being necessary that the rooms should be made 
warm, which cannot be done in his own house, from its 

* Val. Man. Com. Conn., 1848, p. 377. O’ Call. K N. ii. 269. 

f O’Call. ii. 270. X Watson’s Annals, 166. 

§ O’Call. ii. 640. Brod. i. 623. 



42 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



unfitness. The petitioner further represents that he is bur- 
thened with a wife and children, .... so that he is 
much at a loss how to make accommodation for his family 
and school-children. The petitioner, therefore, asks that he 
may use the chamber wherein Gouert Coer ten at present 
dwells. Expecting a favorable answer, 

Harm. Van Hoboocken.”^ 

The reply of the burgomasters to this petition was as fol- 
lows : 

“ Whereas the room which petitioner asks for his use as a 
dwelling and school-room is out of repair, and moreover is 
wanted for other uses, it cannot be allowed to him. But, 
as the town youth are doing so uncommon well now, it is 
thought proper to find a convenient place for their accommo- 
dation, and, for that purpose, petitioner is granted one hun- 
dred guilders yearly. 

“4th Sept, 1656.”f 

The burning of the schoolhouse, while the youth were 
“ doing so uncommon well,” led to the revival of the question 
of procuring a suitable edifice ; and the magistrates' of the 
city, writing the Yth of the following November to the West 
India Company, “ assert that the only revenue to the city 
was that arising from the excise of wines and beers, and that 
this was needed for immediate expenses in repairing the city 
wall, the Schoeyinge, the City Hall, the watch apartments, 
the building of the schoolhouse, and for several other improve- 
ments, and ask thereon the advice of the Company.’’^ It is 
not kpown what answer was returned to this application, but 
one thing is certain : the condition of the city finances was 
such, “the old debt made in the time of the English troubles 
being yet unliquidated,” that the schoolhouse was not built. 

^ Paulding, N. Am. 40. f Paulding, N. Am. 41. 

:f Paulding, N. Am. 41. It was in this year that streets were first 
regulated. The first tax list was made out in 1655, to defray the 
expense of fortifying the city. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



43 



During the winter of 1658-59, the colony at New-Amstel 
on the Delaware experienced great distress. The crops hav- 
ing failed, famine and epidemic fejer, induced by the nature 
of the soil, nearly decimated the population. Among those 
who fell victims to the prevailing disease, were the surgeon, 
the Commissary, the Director’s wife, and six of his household, 
and the good Dominie Welius. The Director himself died 
also. In the midst of these calamities, information was re- 
ceived from Maryland that Lord Baltimore was about to 
extend his jurisdiction over their territory. This added to 
the consternation, and many of the settlers sought safety 
elsewhere, so that in a few months, famine, sickness, and 
desertion had reduced the population from over 600 persons 
to less than 30 families.^' Several of those who left the colony, 
came to New-Am terdam, and among them was Evert 
P iETERSEN, who fi’om the first had been their schoolmaster. 
Here he was employed by the Director-General either as a 
colleague with Van Hoboken^ or as his locum tenens^ while 
he was disqualified from teaching by sickness. 

The period of Pietersen’s engagement is not definitely 
known ; but on his return to Holland, he petitioned the West 
India Company for a permanent engagement, the Director- 
General and magistrates recommending his reappointment. 

The Directors of the Company wrote to Stuyvesant, (1660,) 
“We will consider the petition of Mr. Evert Pietersen, late 
schoolmaster and chorister in the colony of the city, to be 
employed again in the Company’s service, and return thither 
with his wife, and inquiie about his character, conduct, and 
abilities, when we shall communicate the result to your 
Honor.”t 

* O’Call. N. N. ii. 374-888. Brod. N. Y. 652 et passim, 
f Alb. Rec. iv. 364. 



44 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Subsequently, the following letter, dated May, 1661, was 
received by Governor Stuy vesant : 

“ The Directors of the West India Company, department of 
Amsterdam, to the honorable, prudent, beloved, trusty Petrus 
Stuyvesant, Director-General and Council, make known : 

“ Whereas we have deemed it necessary to promote religious 
worship, and to read to the inhabitants the Word of God, to 
exhort them, to lead them in the ways of the Lord, and console 
the sick, that an expert person was sent to New-Netherland in 
the city of New- Amsterdam, who at the same time should act 
there as Chorister and Schoolmaster ; so is it, that we, upon the 
good report which we have received about the person of E'cert 
Pietersen^ and confiding in his abilities and experience in the 
aforesaid services, together on his pious character and virtues, 
have, on your Honor’s recommendation, and that of the magis- 
trates of the city of New- Amsterdam, appointed the aforesaid 
person as Consoler of the sick. Chorister and Schoolmaster at New- 
Amsterdam in New-Netherlands, which charge he shall fulfil 
there, and conduct himself in these with all diligence and faith- 
fulness ; so as we expect that he shall give others a good exam- 
ple, so as it becomes a pious and good Consoler, Clerk, Chorister 
and Schoolmaster ; regulating himself in conformity to the in- 
stTmtions which he recehed here from the Consistory^ and prin- 
cipally to the instructions which he received from us, which he 
shall execute in every point faithfully ; wherefore, we command 
all persons, without distinction, to acknowledge the aforesaid 
Evert Petersen as consoler, clerk, chorister, and schoolmaster in 
New- Amsterdam in New-Netherlands, and not to molest, disturb, 
or ridicule him in any of these offices, but rather to ofiler him 
every assistance in their power, and deliver him from every 
painful sensation, by which the will of the Lord and our good 
intentions shall be accomplished. 

“ Done by the Department of Amsterdam, on the 2d of May, 
XVI® and sixty-one. 

‘‘(Signed,) Abram Wilmerdoncx. 

“ By order of him, 

lower stood. “ C. Van Seventer.”* 

In a few days, another letter from the same source, dated 
May 9th, 1661, was received, in which Pietersen’s salary is 
ixed, and instructions given with respect to the books he 
vould need as Krank-besoecker. 

*Alb. Rec. viii. 321. 



From 1633 to 1664. 



45 



“ Honorable, prudent, beloved Trustees : 

‘‘Our last was of the 11th of April, by the way of Cura^oa, 
of which we now have enclosed the duplicate; since which 
period, nothing has occurred here of consequence — i. e., which 
deserves to be mentioned — as only, that we have engaged, on 
your Honors’ recommendation and that of the magistrates of 
the city of New- Amsterdam, Mr. Evert Pietersen as schoolmas- 
ter and clerk, upon a salary of ^.36 per month, [$15,] and 
^.125 [$52 + ] annually for his board, who is now embarked in 
the ship the Gilded Beaver,* but not with his wife, whose indispo- 
sition, as he said, prevented her departure. And whereas he 
solicited to be supplied with some books and stationery, which 
would be of service to him in that station, so did we resolve to 
send you a sufficient quantity of these articles, as your Honor 
may see from the invoice. Your Honor ought not to place all 
these at his disposal at once, but from time to time, when he 
may be in want of these, when his account ought directly to be 
charged with its amount; so, too, he must be charged with all 
such books of which he may be in want as a consoler of the 
sick, which he might have obtained from your Honor, which 
afterwards might be reimbursed to him, whenever he, ceasing 
to serve in that capacity, might return these ; all this must be 
valued at the invoice price.’ ! 

This correspondence establishes Evert Pietersen as the 
sixth schoolmaster of the Reformed Dutch Church school. 

1660-1661. — Governor Stuyvesant’s mansionj was 
erected on a large “ bouwery” which the Director-General 
purchased in or previous to the year 1649. Settlers gradu- 
ally located in this vicinity, and the plantation, or the 
“bouwery,” became a sort of “stopping-place and the plea- 
sure-ground of the Manhattans.” In the year 1660, arrange- 
ments were made for conducting divine service here, under 

* Doc. Hist. N. Y. hi. 58. \A\h. Rec. iv. 373. 

! This building stood east of the Third Avenue, between Twelfth 
and Thirteenth streets. The exact situation of Stuyvesant’s estate 
may be found on a map obtained from Cornelius De Witt, Esq,, Val. 
Man. Cora. Coun., 1852, 462. The “old pear tree,” still standing at 
the junction of Thirteenth street. and the Third Avenue, was near the 
Governor’s dwelling. 



46 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



the following circumstances : Dominie Selyns was this year 
installed as the first clergyman of the church in Brooklyn, 
which consisted of 24 members ; the population of the vil- 
lage being 134 persons. The bounds of the Dominie’s charge 
included “ the Ferry, the Waal-bogt, and Gujanes.” “As 
the people there were unable of themselves to pay his salary, 
they petitioned the Council for assistance, and Stuyvesant 
individually agreed to contribute two hundred and fifty guil- 
ders, provided Dominie Selyns would preach a sermon on 
Sunday afternoons at the “Director’s bouwery, on the island 
of Manhattan. To this arrangement the Dominie assented.” 
“ Thither the people came also from the city for evening ser- 
vice.”^ 

The establishment of church service at the bouwery, and 
the remote distance which the children in its vicinity were 
from Pietersen’s school, at the lower extremity of the island, 
rendered it necessary to procure a chorister and schoolmaster. 
Accordingly, we find the following : 

“ Order in Council. — Present, the Director-General, Petrus 
Stuyvesant, and the Hon. Johan de Decker. 

“ Whereas, Harman Van HohoocJcen^ before schoolmaster 
and chorister, was removed because another was sent to 
replace him [Pietersen] by the Lords Directors and the Con- 
sistory, solicits to be employed again in one or other man- 
ner in the Company’s service, so is he engaged as Adelborst, 
and allowed 10 guilders per month, and 175 g, for board 
from 27th Oct., 1661. 

“Nota: Whereas the aforesaid Harman is a person of 
irreproachable life and conduct, so shall he be employed on 
the bouwery of the Director-General as schoolmaster and 
clerk, [Voorleser,] with this condition, that the Director- 
General, whenever his service^ might be wanted for the 



*Brod. 680-681. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



47 



Company, as Adelbor^t, shall replace him by another expert 
person.”^ So that from this date, until after the capitula- 
tion, there were two schools under the care of the Consistory, 
Pietersen’s, at or near Fort Amsterdam, and Van Hoboocken^s, 
on the Bouwery. “The church at New- Amsterdam was 
now in a flourishing condition under the administration of 
Megapolen is and Drisius.”f 

The year following, 1662, the burgomasters petitioned the 
“ noble, great, and respectful Director-General and Council 
in New-Netherland,” to grant a lot of ground in Brewer 
street,! (in the vicinity of Whitehall and Stone streets,) oppo- 
site the lot of Johannes de Peyster, for a school-house, and 
also a lot outside the gates for a burying-ground and 
the Director-General and Council “ deem it, for various rea- 
sons, more pioper that the school -house was constructed on 
a part of the present churchyard,Ӥ i. e., within the fort. 

There is no evidence to support the conclusion that the 
schoolhouse was built as contemplated. 

1664. — In 1664, Evert Pietersen still remained as the 
schoolmaster; [| and on the l7th day of March, the Director- 
General and Council issued an edict, requiring the practice 

*Alb. Rec. xix. 383. Governor Fish, in a letter to the author, 
writes : I have an impression, although it is but vague and indefinite, 
that Mr. Stuy vesant pointed out to me the location of the old school, 
house, as situate on what now is the site of Tompkins Market, about 
the corner of Sixth street and Hall Place.” It is well known that 
Governor Stuyvesant provided for the education of the colored per- 
sons on his extensive bouwery, and it is highly probable that Van 
Hoboocken had them under his instruction. 

t Brod. 681. 

X Here were several breweries. This was the first street regulated 
and paved in New- Amsterdam ; hence its present name (Stone street). 

§ Alb. Rec. XX. 39, 40. 

I N. Am. Rec. v. 428. 



48 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



of a custom long known in the fatherland, and productive of 
good wherever conformed to, but which at the present day, 
with us, has grown into sad desuetude ; to wit, “ the public 
catechising of the children.” In view of the beneficial results 
accruing from it, both to the children and the Church, the 
immediate revival of this good custom is greatly to be de- 
sired. 

The first civil ordinance in New- Amsterdam enjoining'^ 
this practice was as follows ; and it speaks creditably of the 
youth-loving and God-loving hearts of its authors : 

“ Whereas, it is highly necessary and of great consequence 
that the youth , their childhood^ is well instructed in 
reading, writing, and arithmetic, and principally in the prin* 
ciples and fundaments of the Christian religion, in conformity 
to the lesson of that wise King Solomon, '‘Learn the youth 
the first principles^ and as he proto s old^ he shall then not 
deviate from it so that in time such men may arise from 
it, who may be able to serve their country in Church or in 
State ; which being seriously considered by the Director- 
General and Council in New-Netherland, as the number of 
children by God’s merciful blessing has considerably increased, 
they have deemed it necessary, so that such an useful and 
to our [us] God agreeable concern may be more eflfectually 
promoted, to recommend the present schoolmaster, and to 
command him, so as it is done by this, that they [Pietersen, 
the Principal, and Van Hoboocken, of the branch school on 
the Bouwery] on Wednesday, before the beginning of the 
sermon, with the children intrusted to their care, shall ap- 
pear in the church to examine, after the close of the sermon, 
each of them his own scholars, in the presence of the reverend 
ministers and elders who may there be present, what they, 

^ The custom, introduced from fatherland, had previously obtained 
in New-Netherland. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



49 



in the course of the week, do remember of the Christian com- 
mands and catechism, and what progress they have made ; 
after which the children shall be allowed a decent recrea- 
tion. 

‘‘Done in Amsterdam, New-Netherland, this 17th March, 
1661pby the Director-General and Council.”^ 

^AJboutA i^e e “y oars - a ffe e -r this, (*12th March, 1664,) an event 
transpired in England, which was soon to issue in a change 
in the name, government, and destiny of New- Amsterdam, 
“which now contained a population of 1500 souls, and wore 
an air of preat prosperity,” notwithstanding the sad reverses 
it had experienced. On the 12th of March, James II. 
granted to his brother, Duke of York and Albany, the terri- 
tory lying between the Connecticut and Delaware rivers 
including all the possessions of New-Netherland. 

In August following, the Duke’s squadron, under the 
command of Colonel Richard Nicolls, consisting of four ships, 
carrying 94 guns and 450 soldiers, was off New- Amsterdam, 
opposite to which, just below Brooklyn, was an encampment 
of volunteers from New-England and the Long Island vil- 
lages. To resist this force, the city was wholly unprepared ; 
for although the fort mounted 24 guns, its single wall of 
earth rendered it by no means invulnerable. It was garri- 
soned by only 150 soldiers; and though there were 250 of 
the citizens able to bear arms, they were not disposed to 
hazard their lives in a vain resistance. Moreover, “ there 
was scarcely six hundred pounds of serviceable powder in 
store.” Upon the faith of Nicolls’ promise to deliver back 
the city and fort, “ in case the difference of the limits of this 
province be agreed upon betwixt his Majesty of England and 
the high and mighty States-General,” Stuyvesant consented 
to capitulate upon terms which had been mutually agreed 



50 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



upon fey commissioners ; and on the morning of the 8th day 
of September, the Director-General, at the head of the gar- 
rison, having marched out of Fort Amsterdam with all the 
honors of war, the British took possession of the city. The 
name of Fort Amsterdam was immediately changed to Fort 
James. And though New-Amsterdam became New-York, 
in name, the ascendency of the Dutch in numbers and cha- 
racter did not fail to perpetuate that influence which they 
had originally imparted ; so that even now, after a period of 
nearly two hundred years, notwithstanding the vicissitudes 
which the city has experienced, and the present heteroge- 
neous character of its population, there is not wanting 
abundant and gratifying evidence of the early presence here 
of those who brought with them ‘‘the liberal ideas, and 
honest maxims, and homely virtues of their fatherland ; who 
carried along with them their huge clasped Bibles, and left 
them heir-looms in their families; who introduced their 
church and their schools, their Dominies and their schoolmas- 
ters.”^ 

RECAPITULATION. 

At the close of Stuyvesant’s administration, in consequence 
of charter provisions, and the efibrts of the clergy, “ schools 
existed in almost every town and village”f ia New-Nether- 
land : of this the records furnish abundant evidence. The 
whole system was but a counterpart of that to which the 
settlers had been accustomed in their native land. From 
the material furnished in this chapter, it is evident that 
education received a considerable degree of attention in KTew- 
Amsterdam ; and that there was a public school therein, 
dispensing education gratuitously^ the teachers receiving 
their appointment and remuneration from the constituted 

* Brod. chap. xx. passim. f O’Call. N. N. ii. 646. 



FROM 1633 TO 1664. 



51 



authorities^ is undoubtedly established. The following is a 
summary of facts connected therewith : 

Adam Roelandsen,^ first schoolmaster; 1633 to 1639. 

Efforts made by commonalty to procure suitable accom- 
modations for the school, 1642, 1647, 1652, 1656, 1662. 

Jan Cornelissen, second schoolmaster; to 1650. 

William Vestens, third schoolmaster and Kranck-besoecker ; 
1650 to 1655. 

Jan De la Montagne, fourth schoolmaster ; in City Tavern, 
1652. 

Harm anus Van Hoboken, successor to Vestens, fifth school- 
master; 1655-1664. 

Evert Pieterson, sixth schoolmaster; 1661-1664. 

Introduction of catechetical exposition to schools of the 
last-named schoolmasters; 1661. 

OTHER FACTS CONNECTED WITH EDUCATION IN NEW- 
AMSTERDAM DURING THE PERIOD OF THIS CHAPTER. 

Previous to 1664, the individuals who had been engaged 
in teaching school on their own account, under license from 
the conjoined civic and ecclesiastical authorities, were : Jan 
Stevensen, Aryaen Jansen, Andries Hudde, Jacob Van Cor- 
lear, Jan Lubherts, Joost Carelse, Adriaen Van Ilpendam, 
Juriaense Becke«, and Johannes Van Gelaer.f 

In addition to the means of education thus afforded by the 
free church schools, and those taught privately, many of the 
inhabitants desired the establishment of an academy, Latin, 
or high school. 

Dominie Drisius, when appointed as colleague with Mega- 
polensis, in 1652, had called the attention of the West India 

* The names of all these schoolmasters are found enrolled as mem- 
bers of the Dutch Church. 

f Alb. and N. Am. Rec. 



52 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Company to this subject ; and it is highly probable that the 
abortive attempt of Montagne, at the City Tavern, was the 
result. 

“The foundation of the first academy and classical school 
in the city was based upon the following representation, 
which was transmitted to Holland, 19th September, 1658, 
as part of a petition of the burgomasters and schepens to the 
West India Company. 

“It is represented that the youth of this place and the 
neighborhood are increasing in number gradually, and that 
most of them can read and write ; but that some of the citi- 
zens and inhabitants would like to send their children to a 
school the Principal of which understands Latin, but are not 
able to do so without sending them to New-England ; fur- 
thermore, they have not the means to hire a Latin school- 
master, expressly for themselves, from New-England, and 
therefore they ask that the West India Company will send 
out a fit person as Latin schoolmaster, not doubting that the 
number of persons who will send their children to such 
teacher will from year to year increase, imtil an academy 
shall be formed, whereby this place to great splendor will 
have attained, for which, next to God, the Honorable Com- 
pany which shall have sent such teacher here shall have laud 
and praise. For our own part, we shall endeavor to find a 
fit place in which the schoolmaster shall hold his school.”^ 
In compliance with this petition, the West India Company 
sent out Dr. Alexander Carolus Curtius, a Latin schoolmaster, 
from Lithuania. On the 4th of July, 1659, (when about 
entering upon his duties,) he attended the meeting of the 
city magistrates, to learn definitely the terms upon which he 
was to be employed. The burgomasters proposed to give 
■ him, out of the city treasury, five hundred guildei’s annually, 
* Pauld. N. Am. 41. 



FROM 1G33 TO 1664. 



53 



and tendered him fifty guilders, in part thereof, in advance. 
He was allowed the use of a house and garden, and was per- 
mitted to charge six guilders per quarter for each scholar. 
He was also privileged to practise medicine. In 1660, he in 
several instances demanded a beaver,*^ (valued at eight guild- 
ers ;) in consequence of which over-charge, his annual salary 
was withheld. 

He likewise lacked the sine qua non for a schoolmaster, 
and the parents complained of the want of proper discipline 
among his pupils, “ who beat each other, and tore the clothes 
from each other’s backs.” He retorted, by stating that ‘‘ his 
hands were tied, as some of the parents forbade him punish- 
ing their children.” (The race of such is not extinct.) The 
result was, the school changed teachers ; Curtius returned to 
Holland, and the Rev. JEgidius Luyck, who had been acting 
as tutor to Stuyvesant’s sons, became Principal of the High 
School, 1662. Under his charge, it attained so high a 
reputation, that children were sent to it from Virginia, Fort 
Orange and the Delaware, to receive a classical education.! 

*The currency of New- Amsterdam was in general composed of the 
Indian money called wampum or seawant, and of beaver skins. Sea- 
want consisted of small perforated shells, “loose” or “strung.” This 
was used in trading at the market, the grocer’s, or the baker’s. Six 
white or three black seawants, “ loose” or “ commercial,” were valued 
at one stuyver; i. e., about two cents. The stated value of the “bea- 
ver” was eight guilders, or about three dollars. When divided into 
“half beavers,” they depreciated in value. Paulding, N. Am. 28. 

f Brod. 656-694 ; Pauld. N. Am. 42 ; Alb. and N. Am. Rec. Luyck 
resided in Whitehall street, near Stone street. 



54 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



CHAPTER III. 

FROM THE CAPITULATION, 1664, TO THE REVOLUTIONARY 
WAR, 1776; EMBRACING A PERIOD OF 112 YEARS. 

Although at the Capitulation of New- Amsterdam, the 
government of the Dutch as a nation ceased, her people, her 
Church, her school still remained. By the articles of capi- 
tulation, the Dutch had secured to them “ the liberty of 
their consciences in divine worship and church discipline, with 
all their accustomed jurisdiction with respect to the poor and 
orphans.”^ 

It is highly probable that the school of Van Hoboocken, 
on the Bouwery, was disbanded ; but Evert Pietersen con- 
tinued to teach as heretofore, residing near his school, in 
1665, in De Brouwer Straat.f 

The ecclesiastical organization of the Dutch Reformed 
Church remaining intact, she still acknowledged the juris- 
diction of the Classis of Amsterdam. The school continued, 
as heretofore, under the direct supervision of the deacons ; 
and being now deprived of all aid from the treasury of the 
colonial government, its support wholly devolved upon the 
Consistory ; and the institution had such strong hold on the 
affections of the Dutch people, that they could not and would 
not relinquish their jurisdiction over it, even when eflforts 

* Vide Art. of Capit. in full, O’Call. K N. ii. 632. 
f Vide Directory of N. Am., Val. Man. Com. Coun., 1860, p. 454. 
Paulding, K Am. 109. 



FROM 1664 TO 1776. 



55 



were made to compel them so to do, as will be presently 
shown. 

The English governors, solicitous to produce uniformity in 
religion and language, encouraged English preachers and 
schoolmasters to settle in the colony ; and although for many 
years after the Capitulation, there were comparatively but 
few Episcopalians in the city, independent of the Government 
officers and the military, yet the Dutch, with magnanimous 
spirit, granted them the occupancy of the church in the fort 
a portion of each Sabbath.'^* 

In the year 1673, England and Holland being then at 
war, the city surrendered to the Dutch, and Governor Colve, 
in granting charters to the several towns of Long Island and 
the Hudson, enjoined, first of all, that the authorities “should 
take care that the Reformed Christian religion be maintained 
in conformity to the Synod of Dordrecht.” They were also 
empowered to enact “ ordinances for the observance of the 
Sabbath, erecting churches and schoolhouses, or similar pub- 
lic works ;”f but Colve’s administration was brief, the pro- 
vince being ceded to the British by the treaty of November, 
1674. 

Subsequently, 1687, Governor Dongan, in his Report to 
the Committee of Trade on the Province of New-York, states, 
“Here bee not many of the Church of England. The most 
^prevailing opinion is that of the Dutch Calvinists, It is the 
endeavour of all Psons here to bring up their children and 
servants in that opinion which themselves profess ”J 

During Fletcher’s administration, the Assembly passed a 
law providing for the settlement of ministers of the gospel, 
to he chosen hy the people. The Council added an amend- 
ment, giving to the Governor the power of approval or rejec- 

* Doc. Hist. N. Y. i. 186. f Ib- i- 655, et seq. X Ib. i. 161, et seq. 



56 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL^ 



tion. The House, composed in the main of those attached 
to the Church of Holland, refused to concur in the amend- 
ment, when Fletcher, addressing them in an angry speech 
prorogued them to the next year.”^' 

The repeated efforts made in behalf of the English Church 
bore hard at times upon the prospective welfare of that of 
the Dutch; but tolerant to all, while watchful for herself, 
she maintained her position, and continued, as from the first,' 
in the enjoyment of her worship and her school.. 

But, undoubtedly, the greatest severity which the people 
of the Reformed Dutch Church experienced, was at the 
hands of Lord Cornbury. 

His imprisonment and amercement of two Presbyterian 
ministers, for preaching without his license, and his breaking 
up by stringent measures the Dutch schools on Long Island, 
testify to his misguided zeal.f That he was acting in oppo- 
sition to the principles and teachings of the Episcopal Church, 
cannot for a moment be doubted ; the censure attaches to 
him as an individual. 

Of the Dutch Church in New- York maintaining the as- 
cendency in numbers and influence, he was somewhat wary } 
but on the recurrence of a favorable opportunity, he unhesi- 
tatingly gave them to understand that no Dutch minister or 
schoolmaster would be allowed to exercise his calling without 
a special gubernatorial license ; and this in direct opposition 
to the previously-granted charter of incorporation, given by 
William III. to the Reformed Dutch Church in America, in 
which is the following concession : '‘^And our will and plea- 
sure further is, and we do hereby declare that, that the min- 

* Hale’s U. S. 76. 

f Smith’s Hist., published at Philadelphia by Benj. Franklin &. D. 
Hall, MDCCLY. 114. Hardie, 67. Dunlap, ii. Ap. U. 254. Greenleaf’s 
Hist, of Churches in H. Y. 125. 



FROM 1664 TO 1776. 



57 



isters of said Churchy for the time being ^ shall and may^ by 
and with the consent of the elders and deacons of the said 
Churchy for the time being ^ nominate and appoint a school- 
master and such other under officers as they shall stand in 
need In view of this right to the jurisdiction of an 

institution which they considered of vital importance, and to 
which they were endeared — a right affirmed at the capitula- 
tion, and subsequently, the Consistory, with a spirit worthy 
of their high trust, took a decided stand in opposition to the 
Governor’s claims ; as in their records is a minute referring “ to 
the arbitrary measures of Lord Cornbury, who had taken the 
regulation of schools into his own hands, and claimed the 
direct appointment of the schoolmaster.” 

They were now without a teacher, although a nomination 
had been made and presented by Goulet and Kerfbyl. A 
committee of the Consistory remonstrated against the Gov- 
ernor’s claim, as being contrary to the provision in the Charter 
of Governor Fletcher to the Church. This remonstrance was 
declined. Whereupon the Ruling Consistory, deeming this 
a matter of great importance, directed a meeting of the Great 
Consistory on January 16, when it was resolved, “that the 
members of the Great Consistory should have, with respect 
to this matter, [the appointment of the schoolmaster,] not 
merely an advisory, but also 2 l deciding^ vote with the Ruling 
Consistory.”! So that, notwithstanding the Governor’s man- 
datory prohibition, so unjustly and disastrously effectual in 
other parts of the province, the Dutch in New-York retained 
their rights, and continued to call and settle their school- 
masters as heretofore. 

The name of the individual appointed to fill 4he vacancy 

* Vide Incorporation Act of Refcrmed Protestant Dutch Church. 

f Consistorial Minutes, L 47. 

^3 



58 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



above alluded to is not known ; but subsequently, 1726, the 
school was under the care of Barent De Foreest.^ 

The attention of Consistory having been engrossed for 
some time with other subjects of paramount importHnce, we 
find no direct reference to the school in their records, until 
the year 1743; when commences a series of minutes, from 
which we are able to furnish a full and uninterrupted chain 
of interesting facts respecting the size and progress of the 
school, with a complete list of the schoolmasters up to the 
present day. 

The increasing population had not only rendered necessary 
the erection, “ farther up town,” of a second house of worship, 
but a second school was to be provided for, as the deacons, 
in their capacity as trustees, informed Consistory “ That, for 
the encouragement of another Dutch school, they had, during 
this month, [November 21, 1743,] directed Mr. Abraham 
De Lanoy to present the names of ten (10) children of poor 
parents (who lived at too great a distance, particularly in 
winter, to come to the school of Mr. Huybert Van Wa- 
GENENf) to the deacons, in writing ; that, after investi- 
gation of their cases, they may be approved. Mr. De Lanoy, 
for instructing them according to the rates prescribed by 
Consistory, shall receive, in quarterly payments, the same 
amount of money and firewood which Mr. Van Wagenen 
received for the same number. Mr. Van Waofenen shall 
attend to the catechetical instruction of the children in the 
Old Church, [G-arden street,] and. Mr. Delanoy in the New 
Church, [the Middle.] This arrangement was approved by 
Consistory .”J 

* Con. Min. 

f Neither the date of Barent De Foreest’s resignation, nor of Mr. 
Van Wagenen’s appointment as schoolmaster, can be now definitely 
ascertained. 

X Cod. Min. i. 196. 



from 1G64 TO IYVG. 



5b 

Accommodations having been secured, the school of Mr. 
Delanoy went into operation."^ While it existed, there was 
a school to each church ; and had the plan been strictly 
carried out of establishing a school by the side of each 
Dutch church subsequently erected, is it not reasonable to 
suppose that it would have proved a source of rejoicing to 
our denomination at the present day ? May she not awake 
to a sense of her duty in this respect, when it is too late ! 

In 1746, Consistory resolved, ‘‘That there should be 
appropriated to Mr. Huybert Van Wagenen, in addition to 
the sura pledged to him for the instruction of the children in 
the school ,, pounds New-York currency, for one year, on 
condition that he should officiate as chorister alternately in * 
the Old and New Church, as shall be directed by Consistory. 
If this should prove satisfactory, the Consistory will take 
further action.” 

This was accompanied with resolutions relating to Isaac 

• 

*Mr. Abram Brower, who at the time of his death, in 1832, was 
between eighty and ninety years of age, states that, when a lad, “ he 
went to the Dutch school, to his grandfather, Abraham Delanoye, (a 
French Huguenot, via Holland,) whose school was in Cortlartdt 
street.” (Wat. An. 172.) This being in the vicinity of the Middle, 
Church, was, in all probability, the school organized by the deacons, 
as above stated. 

The late J udge Benson, in his early youth, “ attended school at the 
corner of Marketjield and Broad streets, where he learned the Dutch 
Catechism. They used in the Dutch churches,” he adds, “ an houi •» 
glass, near the clerk, to ascertain the length of the sermon, which was 
always limited to one hour. They made the collections in a bag, 
with a bell to give notice of the approach of the deacons (gatherers.”) 
(Vide Wat. An. 191.) The whole complexion of the Judge’s state- 
ment, in connection with the statement of the Consistory of that date, 
“that there was (then) no other suitable school of the Low Dutch in 
the city,” (post, 63,) renders it highly probable that the locality 
mentioned was the site of Mr. Van Wagenen’s labors at this date. 



60 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Stoutenburgli and John Van Aarnam, choristers in the 
Old and New churches, providing for Mr. Van Wagenen 
taking their places occasionally, and paving the way for his 
permanent appointment.'-^' 

In 1748, the subject of erecting a schoolhouse was refer- 
red to a Committee of Consistory, and Mr. Van Wagenen 
having signified his intention to resign, Consistory engaged 
“ Mr. Daniel Bratt, chorister in the church of Catskill, to 
be chorister in the New Church for the five subsequent years, 
for which service he is to receive, in addition to the fees 
for entering baptisms, £12 105. He is also to officiate as 
the schoolmaster^ for which he shall be provided with 
a dwelling-house and school-room by the Old Church, and 
also with twelve free scholars^ six in reading and six in 
writing ; for which he shall receive £12 105., and also a load 
of wood for each scholar^ annually, half nut and half oak. 
His services to commence April, l749.”f 

August 15. — “The Committee^ for preparing a plan for 
the building of a school and dwelling-house, exhibited one 
which was unanimously approved ; and it was resolved, that 
the erection of a building, according to such plan, should 
forthwith proceed.’’^ 

• In the year 1691, the Dutch Church purchased, for $450, 
from the Common Council, a tract of land on Garden street^ 
between William and Broad streets, “on the north side 175 
feet, on the south side 180 feet, more or less.” A church 
was erected here, in 1693, on the north side of the street; 
and opposite this, on the south side, several feet back from 
the building-line, the school-house (with teacher’s dwelling 
attached) was built.§ 

* Con. Min. i. 208. Stoutenburgli, in 1746, was Voorlezer in the 
Oude Kerke, and Van Aarnam in the IS’ew Kerke. Rec. Col. Ch. 

1 Con. Min. i. 213. J Con, Mm. i, 123, 

§ The exact site of this building is designated on an ancient map of 



FROM 1664 TO 1776. 



61 



1751. December 12 — “ Mr. Van der Sman was appointed 
Consoler of the Sick and Catechiser.”^ 

Mr. Bratt, from the complexion of the records, had been 
selected with reference to his abilities as chorister. As an 
instructor of youth and catechist, he seems not t<t have ren- 
dered complete satisfaction ; hence the division of his labors 
by the above appointment, and his subsequent dismissal; 
for in 1753, April, he was “notified that his services as 
schoolmaster would end in May, l754.”f 

1755. — The Consistory, at this period, finding themselves 
unable to procure here the services of an individual possessed 
of those varied qualifications deemed by them essential in a 
voorlezer and schoolmaster, and being anxious of obtaining 
one capable of performing aright those important and respon- 
sible duties connected with the instruction of youth, especially 
where the cultivation of their moral faculties was to be ap- 
propriately considered, Resolved (January 27) to call a cho- 
rister^ catechist^ and schoolmaster from Hollandr Arti- 
cles were prepared, prescribing the duties required, and stipu- 
lating the salary, which were committed to the President, to 
prepare a letter to certain persons in Holland, to be forwarded 
by the first opportunity. 

To Daniel Bratt, who had still been retained in the school, 
notwithstanding the notification of April, 1753, “notice was 
directed to be given, ‘ to look out for another place.’ ”J 
The letter which was prepared and sent to Holland, as 
above directed, was as follows : 

To Mr. John Breves ; N. N. Schoute, Chorister of the South 
Church, Amsterdam ; and Christian Bording : 

Bespected Sirs: — The Consistory of the Dutch Reformed 

the city, 1763, which is to be found in Val. Man. Com. Coun., 1850, 
220. This property is now known as Nos. 50 and 52 Exchange Place. 
* Con. Min. i. 218. f Ibid. i. 223. X Ibid. i. 232. 



G2 



niSTOJlY OF THE SCHOOL 



Church in the city of New-York, encouraged by the recom- 
mendation of Mr. Cornelius Clopper, Jr., who is acquainted 
with you, take the liberty to send you this letter, requesting 
you, as being able and willing, to aid us in the matter proposed. 
Our congregation has for some time been destitute of a cajpaMe 
schoolmaster and chorister, to the evident injury of our youth 
and the cause of religion : the Consistory have finally resolved 
to incur the trouble and expense of procuring one from Holland 
and for such beseech your most friendly help and support, and 
offer such emoluments as will be nearly double of what has been 
before enjoyed by any one in that capacity. This is the strong- 
est evidence of our ardent desire to obtain a worthy person, 
who shall fulfil our expectations, and discharge the duties of 
his station to satisfaction. 

The requisites which the Consistory desire in the person 
whom you may be so good as to procure for us, are : 

Firsts That he be a person of suitable qualifications to offi- 
ciate as schoolmaster and chorister^ possessing a knowledge of 
music^ a good voice, so as to be heard; an aptitude to teach 
others the science, and that he should be a good reader^ writer^ 
and arithmetician. 

Second., That he should be of the Reformed religion, a mem- 
ber of the Church., bringing with him testimonials of his Chris- 
tian character and conduct. 

Thirds That, whether married or unmarried, he be not under 
twenty-five, nor over thirty-five. 

The following are the emoluments which the Consistory pro- 
mise and pledge to said person, for the required services, annu- 
ally, so long as he seems capable of discharging his duties in the 
school and church, and so long as his Christian conduct is to 
the edification of the congregation — 

First., A free dwelling-house., a new and commodious one, 
standing directly over [opposite] the church in which he is to 
officiate as chorister, not only twice, and sometimes three times 
on the Sabbath, but also every Wednesday. In this house, 
besides the large school-room, there is a small chamber, a kit- 
chen, a cellar under the house, behind the house a fine kitchen- 
garden, a well, with a pump therein, and other conveniences 
besides, the annual rent of which would be valued at more than 
ticenty pounds New-York currency. While the sums men- 
tioned are New-York currency, we deem it necessary to state, 
that one pound, New-York currency, must be reckoned at six 
guilders and twelve stivers. 

Second., For leading the singing at the times before stated 
annually, fifteen pounds. 



FROM 1664 TO 17Y6. 



63 



Thirds As the master shall be bound to instruct twenty poor 
ohildren in reading^ loriting^ and ciphering^ he shall receive 
annually twenty-four pounds^ whether the whole number be 
filled up or not. 

Fourth^ Firewood for these children, six pounds annually. 

Fifths For heeping the account-boohs of receipts and expend- 
itures of the church, neatly executed, eight pounds. 

Sixths For entering baptisms in the Church Register. This 
cannot be accurately defined, but will at least average seven 
pounds. 

Seventh., Besides these, an annual salary of twenty pounds. 

Total, eighty pounds ($200) and dwelling. 

Upon this, gentlemen, the schoolmaster coming over may 
confide with certainty. To this may be added, that the school 
is open for the children of all the citizens^ and from those who 
learn, whether reading alone, or writing^ singing., or ciphering., 
a considerable sum may be expected, as there is no other suitable 
school of the Low Dutch in the city. The master may therefore 
confidentl}^ expect that, with his zeal and industry, his income 
will increase, so that forty pounds more may at least be added. 
Finally., in order that nothing may be omitted in endeavors to 
attain this pious object, the Consistory (as the person selected, 
cannot come here without expense) promise, on his arrival, to 
remunerate him to the amount of fifteen pounds. If you should 
seek to gain this object as speedily as practicable, so that the 
person selected may come over to us with Captain John Ketel- 
tas, a great service will be rendered to us and our church, and 
we shall feel ourselves obligated to acknowledge our gratitude. 

We subscribe ourselves, with prayer for the blessings of grace 
upon your persons and families. 

Your servants. 

The Consistory of New-York. 

In their behalf, 

J. Ritzema, Pres. 

February 17, 1755. 

N. B. This comprises, under the name of (V oorsaiiger) cho- 
rister, also that of (Voorleser) leader in reading, whose duty it 
shall be, during the absence or sickness of the minister, (as we 
are not provided with candidates,) to read a sermon for the edifi- 
cation of the congregation. 

P. S. The Consistory also requests that Captain John Ketel- 
tas may be consulted as to the qualifications of the person who 
may be selected.* 



* Con. Min. i. 232. 



64 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



This call happily provides us with the aspect of the school, 
and the standard of the schoolmaster’s qualifications, one 
hundred years ago-; and it resulted in the procurement of a 
teacher from Holland, who served the school faithfully till 
called away by a messenger from God. 

1755. — Mr. John Nicholas Welp having arrived from 
Amsterdam as chorister and reader in the Old Church, and 
also as schoolmaster^ delivered his testimonials, which were 
satisfactory to the Consistory. It was Resolved, that eight 
pounds be appropriated for the freight, etc., of his goods from 
New-London, in addition to the fifteen pounds promised for 
the expenses of his voyage and the following letter 
betokens the kind hearts and magnanimous spirits which 
constituted the Consistory of that day: 

'‘'‘Letter from Consistory to Messrs. John Dreres^ N. M. Schoute^ 
and Christian Bor ding. 

Mr. Cornelius Clopper, Jr., one of our members, has already 
made you acquainted with the course of correspondence and 
safe arrival here of Mr. John Nicholas Welp, with his wife and 
children, in good health. We, however, feel ourselves in the 
highest measure obliged to expre^ss unto you our obligations 
more particularly, and to acknowledge with cordial thankful- 
ness the trouble and care taken for us, and feel ready to recipro- 
cate in any thing which can be done on our part. What re- 
spects the small expenses of which Mr. Hording makes mention, 
in his letter, we send accompanying this, with Captain Anthony 
Rutgers,! four Spanish pieces, with the charge to pay in our 
name any thing further which may exist. You, gentlemen, 
doubtless expect to learn from us whether the person of Mr. Welp 
satisfies our expectation. We can say, although all is yet new, 
that there is nothing which can lead us to apprehend that the 
Consistory will regret the heavy and unusual expenses incurred 
by obtaining a person from Holland for such a service. His 
testimonials are highly laudatory, and the proof of his work 
hitherto being satisfactory to the congregation, good hope is 

* Con. Min. i. 248. 

f Memb. Com. Coun. for ten years. Val. Man. 1850, 221 et seq. 



FROM 1G64 TO 1770. 



65 



entertained that by his example and labors he will be very useful 
in our church, if it should please the Lord to spare him for some 
years, which we also desire on his account. The Consistory 
have, according to their promise, paid the- passage-money from 
Holland, and have also paid, besides this, the expenses from 
New-London, which were a little more than eight pounds. Also, 
considering the loss which Mr. Welp Suffered in the sale of his 
goods, on account of his removing from Amsterdam at a short 
notice, as was mentioned in the letter of Mr. Bording, the Con- 
sistory have voluntarily made up a present of twenty pounds, 
which was very gladly received by Mr. Welp. We thus trust 
that, diligently employed in his school labors, he will feel him- 
self satisfied with his situation, and find matter for thankfulness 
to the providence of God which has brought him here, of which 
he already gives tokens of acknowledgment. This, we believe, 
gentlemen, will give you satisfaction in the work you have done. 
We pray the God of heaven to bless you and the land of your 
residence, that it may not prove a prey to ambitious tyranny, 
especially not to the anti-Christian King of France, whose irre- 
ligious cruelty many, especially on the borders of our neighbor- 
ing provinces, experience by the murders and burnings commit- 
ted by the barbarous heathen hired by money, and mated for 
this purpose. 

We subscribe oursefves, with great respect and affectionate 
greetings to Jaffron Bording, respected and well known, gentle- 
men, your obedient and obliged servants. 

In the name of Consistory,* 

J. Ritzema.’’ 

*Con. Min. i. 249. The closing paragraph alludes to the barbari- 
ties perpetrated by the savages on the frontier inhabitants during the 
French and Indian war, 1754-1763. On the surrender of Oswego, 
the terms which had been agreed to were shamefully violated. Sev- 
eral of the British officers and soldiers were insulted, robbed, and 
massacred by the Indians. Most of the sick were scalped in the hos- 
pitals, and the French general delivered twenty of the garrison to the 
savages, that being the number they had lost during the siege, and 
these were tortured and burnt. Subsequently, on the surrender of 
Fort William Heniy, on Lake George, “ it was expressly stipulated 
by Montcalm that the prisoners should be protected from the savages 
by a guard, and that the sick and wounded should be treated with 
humanity. But the next morning, a great number of Indians, having 
been permitted to enter the lines, began to plunder. They massacred 



m 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



“Until a few years before the erection [lYGQ] of the North 
Church, all the public religious services had been held in the 
Dutch language. ‘ But the increase of the English language 
among the people, and the proportionate decline of the Dutch, 
became too apparent to escape the notice of observing men ; 
and it became more and more evident to reflecting minds 
that unless the English language was introduced, the younger 
people* would attach themselves to churches where that lan- 
guage was used, and the Dutch churches would dwindle 
away. Long discussions were held on this subject, and no 
little excitement was produced by the resolution which was 
finally adopted by the Consistory of the Collegiate Church, 
to call a minister who should officiate in the English lan- 
guage, while the Dutch was still to be continued for a part 
of each Sabbath. The Rev. Dr. Laidlie was the person 
called, and he preached his first sermon in English in the 
Middle Dutch Church on the afternoon of the last Sabbath 
in Marcli^ 1Y64, from 2 Cor. v. 11: ^Knowing therefore the 
terror of the Lord^ we •persuade men^ All the services were 
conducted in English except the singing, which was per- 
formed in Dutch, led by Jacobus Van Antwerp^ (Yoorsanger,) 
‘ the fore-singer,’ as the congregation were unacquainted 
with the English psalmody. The house was densely crowded ; 
the aisles were filled, many climbed up in the windows, and 



the sick and wounded, and attacked the defenseless troops with fiend- 
like fury. The stipulated guard was denied. On every side savages 
were butchering and scalping their wretched victims. Their hideous 
yells, the groans of the dying, and the frantic shrieks of others shrink- 
ing from the uplifted tomahawk, were heard by the French unmoved. 
The fury of the savages was permitted to rage without restraint, until 
a large number were killed, or hurried captives into the wilderness.” 
Hale, 119. 



FROM 1664 TO lYYe. 



6Y 



many of the most respectable people stood through the whole 
exercise.”^ 

This measure, as might naturally be expected, gave great 
offense to some individuals, and their opposition to it was 
manifested for a long time, until, finally, finding expostulation 
vain, they invoked the aid of the civil power. 

On the 6th day of July, 1767, more than three years after 
the settlement of the “ English preacher,” a few members of 
the Dutch Church, opposed to his appointment, presented a 
remonstrance to his Excellency, Sir Henry Moore, Bart., 
Governor of New-York, in which they complain that the 
Consistory had impinged upon the Constitution of the Church, 
by violating certain liberties and privileges originally con- 
ferred at the capitulation in 1664; confirmed and enlarged 
by William III.’s charter, 1696 ;f and still further established, 
confirmed and extended to the ministers, elders, deacons, 
and members of said Church by George II., in 1755. The 
remonstrance was signed by Abel Hardenbrook^ Jacobus 
Stoutenburgh^ and Huybert Van Wagenen.'^^ It consists of 
ten grievances, bearing directly or indirectly upon the intro- 
duction into the pulpit of the English language in the per- 
son of Mr. Laidlie. The sixth article was as follows: 
“That the catechising in the Dutch language is forbidden by 
one of the elders, alledging it was a. detriment to Mr. Deadly. 
And Mr. Deadly has forbidden Mr. Deydecker (who was 
qualified for that business) to catechise, and say’d that^ the 
Consistory did npt approve of it.” The seventh states “ that 
the Dutch school is not taken care of by the Rulers, to the 
total Ruin of the Dutch Education.” 

*Greenleaf’s Hist. N. Y. Churches, 15. f Ante, pp. 54, 56. 

t This last-named individual was he who was the schoolmaster in 
1743. This remonstrance having failed of its object, he withdrew and 
connected himself with the English Chiyrch. 



68 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



The Rev. John Ritzema, in the name and by the order of 
Consistory, addressed to his Excellency an answer to the 
Remonstrance, in which he sets the whole matter before the 
Governor and Council in its true light, and ably vindicates 
the action of Consistory. The following extract disposes of 
the charges which refer to the school : 

“ The sixth article alledges that catechising in the Dutch 
language was forbid by one of the elders, as also by Mr. 
Laidlie ; this is not true, and if it was, the complainants must 
know that no one member of our Consistory has a right to 
forbid any thing. Mr. Ley decker never was appointed by 
the Consistory to catechise in our congregation, and is there- 
fore not qualified ; though one Adrian Van Demmart^ was 
so appointed; but on finding Him a man of very immoral 
Behaviour, having forged the Hand Writing of the Rev. Mr. 
Ritzema and others ; wrote and subscribed letters directed to 
the Synod of North Holland, recommending himself as a 
proper Person for the ministry, by which the Rev. Mr. Rit- 
zema at that time suffered much in his character ; on the dis- 
covery of this fact, the Consistory thought proper to dis- 
charge him from that office, and immediately appointed 
another in his stead ; since which he has been upheld and 
supported by Mr. Hardenbrook’s Party. 

“In answer to the seventh article, ‘That the Dutch 
School is not taken Care of, to the Ruin of the Dutch Educa- 
tion,’ we say that we have at present, and for twelve years 
last past have employed Mr. Whelp, who was sent for to 
Holland as a schoolmaster and catechist; he keeps a school 
constantly open, receives payment from us for teaching the 
poor children of the congregation, to the number of thirty^ 
which number never was compleated. He is a person very 
well qualified to catechise and teach a school, and we pay 
him a very handsome salary for his service ; insomuch that 
his place is coveted by others. It has been insinuated to 
some of our congregation that if Mr. Vandersman could be 
restored as a catechist, and Mr. Stouten burgh have Mr. 



*Ante, p. 61 . 



FROM 1664 TO 1776. 



69 



Whelp’s place, all would be well. The first cannot be done, 
from the character above given ; the latter cannot in honor 
be agreed to, as Mr. Whelp is, beyond all comparison, better 
qualified, and ^Yas encouraged to come from Holland by the 
then Ruling Consistory.” 

It is observed, moreover, 

“ That the Protest was wrote by Mr. Stoutenburgh, and 
all the names subscribed in his own hand writing, and some 
of the same persons twice mentioned. It never appeared to 
the Consistory that Mr. Stoutenburgh had any directions 
from the people whose names he put down, and some of them 
denied that they ever had given him any.” 

This answer was dated 23d September, and on November 
1 1th, it was read in Council, and an Order made dismissing 
the Petition of the Remonstrants,"^ 

1773. — The expectations created by the appointment of 
Me. Welp were fully realized. For more than seventeen 
years, his duties as schoolmaster and chorister were faithfully 
and satisfactorily performed, when, yielding to the mandate 
from on high, his labors of love and usefulness were closed. 
He was the first and only schoolmaster who, while connected 
with the school, has been called away by death. 

The English language (introduced into the pulpit just nine 
years previously) having now become quite prevalent, regard 
was had to this in the selection of his successor. 

March 19, a proposition was offered to the Consistory, 
relating to a new schoolmaster in the place of the deceased, 
Mr. Welp, which was taken into mature deliberation. This 
proposition was in the following words : 

“ Inasmuch as Mr. Nicholas Welp, who was our Free 
School master, is deceased, and it is highly necessary that 
another schoolmaster should be appointed to instruct thirty 

^Yide Remonstrance and Reply in full, Doc. Hist; N. Y. iii. 511, 
et seq. 



70 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



poor children in readings writing^ and arithmetic, as well as 
in both the Enylish and Dutch languages, and as in the 
nieanlinie, after inquiry, a suitable y)ersori has been found in 
the person of Mr. Peter Van Steenburgh, who is qualified 
to teach in both languages ; and as the present schoolhouse 
and Consistory-chamber^ is so far decayed that it cannot 
stand much longer, it is, therefore, submitted to the consid- 
eration of the Consistory, whether it is not advisable to pull 
down the school-house now standing, and erect a new one, 
— more feet in breadth and — feet more in length than the 
present ; and also to erect a second story above it for a Con- 
sistory-chamber, and a free room for catechising, and the 
new school-building to be under one roof with the dwelling- 
house, and to be a frame building with a brick front. This 
can be done before the schoolmaster be ready to enter upon 
his labors. If the Consistory should deem it necessary to 
call the above-named schoolmaster, it is then submitted to 
them whether the following will not prove an adequate 
salary.” 

Here follow the six articles of stipulation, which will be 
found in the call made to Mr. Van Steenburgh. 

The Consistory immediately resolved to carry the above 
proposition into execution, “ as being the best which, in pre- 
sent circumstances, can be devised.” 

It was further resolved that a committee be appointed to 
prepare a call, according to the above proposition, on Mr. 
Van Steenburgh for one. The President and the elders. A, 
P, Lott, Brinckerhoff, Papelye, and Duryee, were appointed 
said committee. The elders, Brinckerhoff, and Duychingh, 
and Beekman,\ and the deacons, Aheel\ and Hoffman, were 
appointed a committee for the building of a new school-house.§ 

* Erected 1748. 

f Member Com. Coun. for nine years. Val. Man. 1850, 225 et seq. 

\ Member Com. Ct)un. for six years. Yah Man. 1850, 222 et seq. 

§ This second school-house was erected 1773, on the site of the former 
one, but being larger, its front was nearer the line of the street. It 
was built by Mr. Anthony Post, an elder in the Dutch Church. 



FROM 1064 TO 1770. 



71 



“Call"^ of the Consistory of the Dutch Reformed Church 
of New- York on Mr, Peter Van Steenburgh, at present school- 
master at Flatbush, on Long Island. 

“ On account of the death of Mr. Nicholas V^elp, school- 
master of the Dutch congregation at New- York, the school 
is broken up, on which account the children of the poor of 
our congregation are destitute of necessary instruction : and 
as daily experience teaches us that the English language in 
this land gains such prevalence, that the Low Dutch lan- 
guage is continually diminished, and grows out of use, the 
Consistory of New- York have therefore deemed it proper to 
call a person who is qualified to instruct and educate the 
children in the English as well as the Dutch language, thus 
opening the way to induce the children of the poor of our 
congregation to receive instruction in the language which 
they or their parents may choose. The Consistory having 
heard many favorable testimonials of your gifts and qualifi- 
cations, and also having seen some proofs thereof, have unani- 
mously agreed that you was a proper person to whom a call 
should be presented ; and learning that you are favorably 
disposed to undertake the service of schoolmaster, if an ade- 
quate support should be given, they have resolved to make a 
call upon you ; and they hereby call you to instruct the 
children of the poor of the congregation, hereafter named, 
both in the English and Dutch languages, as may be required 
to teach them reading^ writing^ and arithmetic^ also the 
questions in the Heidelbergh Catechism^ or such other as is 
conformable to the doctrine of our Low Dutch Church. The 
scholars are to be instructed and exercised therein at least 
once a week. The school is to be opened every morning, 
and also closed, with prayer, that all may be conducted with 
order and to edification, and prove a good example to all 
present. We promise to pay you for the service thus ren- 
dered. 

First, For the instruction of thirty poor children in the 
Low Dutch or English language, as above stated, in reading, 
writing, and arithmetic, the fourth part of which shall be 
paid every three months, £60. 



* Con. Min. i. 126. 



V2 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Second, Firewood for one year,* £8. 

Third, Books, paper, ink, quills, &c., for one year, £o. 

Fourth, For taking care of and cleaning the Consistory and 
catechising-chamber, and the making of fires and lighting 
when required, £8. 

N. B. The wood and candles for the same shall be fur- 
nished by the deacons. 

Fifth, For your encouragement, you shall have dwelling- 
house and garden free^ and also a good room for the school. 

Sixth, It shall be allowed to you to instruct as many other 
children as may offer themselves to you, but not beyond the 
number of thirty^ and also to keep an evening school, 

“This, our agreement with you, shall, according to your 
request, be for one year, reckoning from the 1st day of June 
next. If then it shall not be agreeable to you to continue 
longer our schoolmaster, you shall be obligated to give notice 
to Consistory three months before the expiration of your 
labors, that they may during that time provide another 
teacher; and if then the Consistory should be satisfied 
with your instruction and service, and be desirous that you 
should longer continue our schoolmaster,” further stipulations 
may then be made. We hope the above offer will meet with 
your approbation. Wishing you and your family all pros- 
perity and blessing, we remain, with great respect, 

In the name, and by the order, of the Consistory, 

Your servants. 

Arch. Laidlie, P.t. Pres., 
Jacob Duryee, 

Gerrit Rapelye,^ 

Abraham P. LoTT,f 
Dirck Brinckerho.ff.”J 

This call, which was accepted by Mr. Yan Steenburgh, 
was dated March 20, 1V73. 

On the 6th of August following, the newly-huilt schoo!- 

^ Member Com. Coun. for three years. Val. Man. 1850, 220. 

f Member Com. Coun. for eight years. Val. Man. 1850, 221. 

X Member Com. Coun. for five years. Val. Man. 1850, 220 



FROM 1C64 TO 17Y6. 



78 



house was ready for the reception of school-children, and 
Mr. Van Steenburgli entered upon his duties. 

For three years, in ^e raidst of intense public excitement, 
the school continued its operations under Mr. Van Steen- 
burgh, when, by force of uncontrollable circumstances, it 
was obliged to disband. 

Opposition to those measures which eventually led to a 
rupture with the mother-country was nowhere more strongly 
manifested than in New-York. Here the Provincial Con- 
gress met, (1765,) and passed the famous Declaration of 
Rights. Here the stamped paper had been destroyed, and 
the Lieutenant-Governor hung in effigy, (1765.) The As- 
sembly had refused to provide quarters and provisions for 
such troops as England wished to march into the colony, 
(1767 ;) and on the arrival of a cargo of tea, (1773, the year 
of Van Steenburgh’s appointment,) the “ Sons of Liberty,” a 
formidable organization, destroyed it. These, and other like 
measures, when the crisis arrived, led to the early subjuga- 
^ tion of the city, which, as the head-quarters of the British 
army, was under martial law. Many of the citizens fled to 
neighboring places. All the churches and schools were 
closed, and naught was heard save the accidents of war. 

RECAPITULATION. 

The disseveration of the Dutch Church from the Colonial 
Government, the absence of Consistorial records, and there 
being no newspapers as yet established, the information 
respecting the school for several years after the capitulation 
is necessarily very limited ; but, identified with the Dutch 
Church as ah institution of long-cherished inheritance, she 
could not dispense with it, without the violation of princi- 
ples and feelings totally incompatible with her constitutiop 



74 



HISTORY OF TIJE SCHOOL, 



and aims. The testimony of its existence by the Roman 
Catholic, Dongan, and by some of the Episcopal governors, 
Tvho strenuously promoted the extension of their own de- 
nominational peculiarities, so much so as to call for decided 
action on the part of Consistory, when attempts were made 
under the guise of authority, even in the face of chartered 
privileges, to suppress or control it, is not only strongly 
inferential, but of a decidedly positive character. 

1665. — Evert Pietersen, who was appointed in 1661, con- 
tinued to teach at least one year after the capitulation. 

IVOS. — Upon the existence of a vacancy, Lord Cornbury 
claimed the right of appointing the schoolmaster, notwith- 
standing the clause in the incorporation-act of William III., 
(1696,) reserving this right to the ministers and Consistory. 
This claim led to a meeting of the Great Consistory, who 
determined to preserve their chartered privileges inviolate. 

1726. — Parent De Foreest, schoolmaster. 

1743. — Huy her t Van Wagenen, previously appointed, 
kept the school, corner of Marketfield and Broad streets, 
(l746.) He was the chorister for the Old and New Churches, 
alternately. Resigned, 1749. 

The population having extended “far up town,” the dea- 
cons opened a school in Cortland t street, of which Abraham 
Delanoy was appointed teacher. He commenced with Un 
scholars, receiving from Consistory, in quarterly payments, 
the amount of money and firew^ood which Mr. Van Wagenen 
received for the same number. The catechetical instruction 
in the Garden Street Church was attended to by Mr. Van 
Wagenen, and in the Middle Church by Mr. Delanoy. 

1748. — The first school and dwelling-house for the teacher 
were built in Garden street, opposite the church. 

1749, April 1. — Daniel Bratt, schoolmaster and chorister 
in the Middle Church. He had twelve free scholars, six in 



FROM 1664 TO 17 76. 



75 

reading and six in writing, for which he received £12 105., 
and a load of wood for each scholar, annually, half nut and 
half oak. For his services as chorister, he received £12 105. 
and fees for entering baptisms. Removed by Consistory 
in 1755. 

1751. — Adrian Van Dersman, visitor of the sick and cate- 
chiser; removed by Consistory previous to 1767. 

1755. — John Nicholas Welp was called from Holland, as 
schoolmaster and chorister in the Old Church. He had 
twenty scholars, and a salary of £80, and the use of dwelling- 
house. Deceased in 1773. 

1767. — Complaint made to the Governor by certain par- 
ties respecting the management of the school, and the intro- 
duction therein of the English language ; which complaint 
was dismissed. 

1773. — Peter Van Steenburgh succeeds Mr. Welp. Read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic taught in both languages. The 
school and dwelling-house rebuilt; the Consistory-chamber 
and catechising-room occupying the second floor. Number 
of pupils, thirty. Salary, same as Mr. Welp’s. He had the 
privilege of receiving thirty pay scholars, and of teaching 
evening school. On the arrival of the British army, in 
1776, the school disbanded. We have now lost sight of the 
Krank-besoecker, the Yoorsanger, and the Yoorleser. 

ADDITIONAL FACTS 

CONNECTED WITH EDUCATION IN NEW-YORK, WHILE UNDER 
THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE ENGLISH. 

1073. — The Latin school, established by the Dutch in 
1659, and which was so successful under the management 
' of ^gidius Luyck, was sustained by the English authorities 



76 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



for eight years, when it was closed. In 1673, Luyck was 
appointed a Schepen. 

1676. — M. llilyar taught a school. 

1702 — A free grammar school was founded, and built 
on the King’s farm. 

1704. — William Vesey, Episcopal missionary, opened a 
catechising school for blacks. 

1705. — A. Clarke a schoolmaster. 

1710. — The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in 
Foreign Parts appointed William Huddlestone, the first 
schoolmaster of the Episcopal Church school. The names 
and dates of the appointment of his successors were as fol- 
lows: 1723, Thomas Huddlestone, son of the above; 1731, 
Thomas Noxon ; 1741, Mr. Hildreth ; 1777, Mr. Amos Bull. 
Rev. William Morris is rector of the school at present. It is, 
located at the corner of Varick and Canal streets. It has 
received from Trinity Church over $60,000, in money and 
real estate, which is now very valuable. It was known as 
the Episcopal “Charity School” from 1748 to 1826 ; sub- 
sequently, as the Kew-York Protestant Episcopal Public 
School ; and since 1845, as the Trinity School. 

1732. — The first free school was established by law, for 
teaching the Latin and Greek, and practical branches of mathe- 
matics. Mr. Alexander Malcolm, of Aberdeen, was appointed 
Principal, at £40 per annum. He remained seven years. 

1748. — Cornelius Lynch taught writing, arithmetic, vulgar 
and decimal fractions, navigation, gauging, surveying, dialling, 
mensuration, and merchants’ accounts, in Stone street. 

George Gordon taught book-keeping, next the French 
Church. 

1749. — Benjamin Leigh, Broad street, near the Long 
Bridge ; Thomas Evans, shoemaker, near the new dock, read- 
ing, writing, and arithmetic. 



FROM 1664 TO 1776. 



77 

1750. — By the Governor’s permission, a benefit was given 
the Episcopal school, at the theatre in Nassau street. , 

Charles Dutens, teacher of French, and jeweller, in a long 
advertisement, full of self-conceit and egotism, and bounti- 
fully interlarded with Latin phrases, proclaimed that he taught 
a school, “ for the use of young ladies and gentlemen, whose 
love of learning might incline them to take lessons from him in 
French, at his house, on Broad street, near the Long Bridge, 
where he also makes and vends finger and ear-rings, solitaires, 
stay-hooks and lockets, and sets diamonds, rubies, and other 
stones. Science and virtue are two sisters, which the most 
part of the New-York ladies possess,” &c. 

1752. — Thomas Allen, near Alderman Cortlandt’s. 

Eobert Leith, Wall street. 

July 6, 40 boys and 12 girls. Episcopal charity scholars, 
were present at the consecration of St. George’s Chapel. 

1753. — John Lewis, Broad street, near Long Bridge. 

1757. — Richard R. Smith, Nicholas Barrington, and 

Thomas Clark, taught private schools in Maiden Lane. 

Edward Willetts, day and night school, Broadway. 

First notice of charity sermon at Trinity Church. Collec- 
tion taken to clothe the children, and suitable anthem sung. 

1762. — Thomas Jackson, Latin and Greek, head of New 
street, opposite Presbyterian Church. 

William Clajon, teacher of French, Beaver street. 

1772. — Episcopal school-house, built near and for St. Paul’s 
Church. 

1773. — Thomas Byerly opens an English grammar-school. 

1777. — Charity sermon at St. George’s Chapel. Fifty-six 

boys and thirty girls ; reading, writing, and arithmetic taught, 
and needle- work to the girls. Mr. Wood, teacher. 

Vanbombeler was the last schoolmaster who taught in the 
Dutch language exclusively, about the year 1785. 



78 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



CHAPTEE IV. 

HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL OF THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, 
FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT. TIME. 

Durino the Revolutionary War, New-York was the head- 
quarters of the British power in America, and here the most 
important schemes for operations against the patriots were 
planned and put in motion. The municipal government was 
overthrown, martial law prevailed, and the business of the 
city degenerated almost into the narrow operations of suttling. 
Many of the residents left the city, and their deserted houses 
were taken possession of by the officers of the army and the 
refugee loyalists. Barracks and entrenchments were erected 
from Corlaer’s Hook, and on the line of Chambers street to 
the ISTorth river. Five thousand American prisoners were 
confined in the jails, sugar-houses, and dissenting churches 
of the city. For about two months, several hundred prison- 
ers were huddled together in the Middle Dutch Church, 
when they were removed, and it was converted into a riding- 
school. The North Church contained eight hundred prison- 
ers ; it having been floored over from gallery to gallery. The 
mahogany pulpit was carefully removed, sent to London, and 
placed in a chapel there ; the pews weie used for fuel. A 
theatre was established; tennis-courts and other kinds of 
amusements were introduced ; and for sei/en years the city 
remained a prey to the licentiousness of strong and idle 
detachments of a well-provided army. To add to these evils, 
in July, 1776, four hundred and ninety-three houses, located 
between Whitehall slip and Cortlandt street, and from the 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



79 



North to the East rivers, were consumed by fire, Trinity 
and the Lutheran Church falling a prey; and again, in 
August, 1778, three hundred houses were consumed in the 
neighborhood of Coenties slip. “ There were no public moneyed 
or charitable institutions; no banks or insurance offices; all 
church services were suspended ; education was entirely neg- 
lected, and the schools and college closed.”^ On the cessa- 
tion of hostilities, the scattered inhabitants gradually returned ; 
but the evils of war were protracted long beyond its duration ; 
and the impoverished inhabitants, as well as the municipal 
government suffered for many years from the disastrous con- 
sequences of British occupation. 

Yet, notwithstanding this sad and calamitous state of aflfairs, 
both public and private, oh the reorganization of Consistory, 
while the interiors of the churches were still in a dilapidated 
condition, it was 

Resolved, That Mr. Peter Van Steenburgh, who was the 
public schoolmaster of this congregation at the commence- 
ment of the war, and is again returned to this city, shall be 
considered as bound by his former call, and shall have per- 
mission to dwell in the school-house, and open his school in 
the large room built for that purpose.”f 

This resolution is dated September 7th, 1783, but four 
days subsequent to the signing of the treaty of peace at 
Paris. Thus, while the British still remained in possession of 
the city, the school was reorganized ; the evacuation not 
taking place till the 25th of November following. 

1784, March 2 2d. — ‘‘ It was ordered that the number 
of children to be educated by Mr. Van Steenburgh, as charity 
scholars, shall be restricted to teny\ 

This is the first use of the term “ charity.” The school, 

* Lossiog’s Field-Book of the Revolution, 835, 836, 865. Valentine’s 
Man. Com. Coun. 1852, p. 435 et seq. 

f Consist. Rec., anno 1783, p. 3. \ Ibid, anno 1784, p. 16. 



80 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



from the date of its establishment, up to the passnge of the 
last resolution, was designated as the Public^ Free, or Low. 
Dutch School, Subsequent to the war, there being no pub- 
lic provision for the education of youth, schools were estab- 
lished in connection with the different religious denominations. 
These depended for their support upon the voluntary contri- 
butions of church members. The Episcopal Charity School, 
known as such since 1748, had received many valuable lega- 
cies fiom individuals in that communion, and was materially 
aided by the large annual collections of the Episcopal churches. 
These facts led to the adoption of the term charity” by 
the varioirs schools organized, as, in that day of general 
poverty, some such movement was necessary in order to work 
effectually on the sympathies of the people; but, like every 
thing adopted upon the principle of availability, in the end 
it proved most disastrous to the well-being of those very in- 
stitutions for whose pecuniary interests its use was originally 
introduced. The Episcopal school subsequently discarded 
the term, and became a chartered institution under a new 
and less repulsive title. Our own school, dearly loved and 
cherished from principle, though laboring for many years 
under the disadvantages arising from the use, under the 
sanction of custom, of the obnoxious term, still exists, though 
it cannot be denied that its usefulness, from this cause, in 
days that are past, was seriously impaired. 

The term charity may be as appropriately applied to 
Sabbath- schools or to our common schools as to church 
schools ; yet who is there that would advocate the application 
of this term to them ? No I It may answer for other lati- 
tudes; but there is that in it so repi^gnant to the republican 
spirit of our people and institutions, that where used injudi- 
ciously and unnecessarily in connection with any institution, 
it so wounds those fine and correct sensibilities of our nature 



FROM 1Y83 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 81 

that even the necessitous are led to keep aloof from it, lest 
they may be pointed at by the finger of derision. 

The church schools that sprung into existence towards the 
close of the last century have long since ceased to exist. 

The period succeeding protracted war has ever constituted 
the dark days of religion and literature ; and such was the 
crippled condition of the Collegiate Church at this time, that 
it was with difficulty the school was sustained. As yet, no 
fund had been instituted for its support, nor had collections 
been made for it in the churches; and as Mr. Van Steen- 
burgh was privileged to have thirty pay scholars, exclusive 
of those educated by the Church, a proposition was nade for 
renting the school-house and attached dwelling to him, on 
condition that he would teach such children as the Consistory 
might send him, at the same rate per quarter for tuition as 
he received from his other scholars. 

An arrangement to this effect was consequently entered 
into with Mr. Van Steenburgh, Consistory furnishing him 
with twelve scholars.^ The result, however, was far from 
satisfactory. 

The Church felt that she was not performing her full duty 
towards her children. This institution was her time-honored 
legacy ; she had long realized the important blessings fiow- 
ing from it, and she could not relinquish it, nor her jurisdic- 
tion over it, without coming short of imperative obligations 
to her youth. 

Impelled by a recurring sense of her responsibilities to her 
youth, and actuated by a regard to her future interests, spe- 
cial efforts were made for a thorough reorganization of the 
school. 

To effect this, a committee of Consistory, consisting of 
^ Con. Rec. Leg. G. S'?. 

‘4^ 



82 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Messrs. John Stagof, William Harden brook, Elias Nexsen, 
Nicholas Anthony, and Leonard Bleecker, was appointed. 
This was in December, 1788. The arrangement with Mr. 
Van Steenburgh, which had been existing for three years, 
was revoked. A new engagement was entered into with 
him, to commence in May following, whereby he was to 
educate thirty free scholars, for which he was to I'eceive from 
Consistory £35 per annum.^ 

In April, 1789, the above Committee reported to Consis- 
tory certain regulations respecting the school, which were 
unanimously adopted, “subject, however, to such alterations 
as the Consistory shall hereafter judge necessary to be 
made.” 

The first of these was, “ That the free school shall always 
be considered as depending for its existence and support on 
the Consistory, and as such be subject to the direction and 
control of the whole Board.” 

The school, replaced under the jurisdiction of the Board of 
Deacons as a standing committee, was to be visited by the 
whole Consistory quarterly; viz. : in the first week after every 
administration of the Lord’s Supper ; and provision was made 
for the attendance of the children on divine service. The 
remaining regulations, relating mainly and specifically to the 
internal management of the school, were substantially the 
same as those now in force in the institution.f 

In the fall of this year, so far as can be ascertained from 
the Church records, commenced the practice of providing 
each scholar with a full suit of clothing, collections being 
made in the Collegiate Church for that express purpose. The 
first sermon upon this subject was preached in the North 

* Con. Rec. Leg. G. 146, 147. f Con. Rec. Leg. G. 154 et seq. 



FROM lYSS TO THE RESENT TIME. 



83 



Church, December 17, services commencing at 5^ P. 

The sum contributed by the congregation amounted to 
$216 05, the most of which was expended by the deacons for 
the object contemplated. 

The year following, 1790, collections were taken in the 
Old, New, and North Churches, and the Consistory rejoiced 
in finding themselves enabled, by the generous donations of 
the congregations, to increase the number of scholars, and 
resolved unanimously to admit twenty more children in the 
school on the 1st of February next.”f 

For a number of years, the liberality of the Collegiate 
Church in this cause \vas proverbial, the donations in one’ 
instance amounting to $753 ; but of late, from the operation 
of various causes, the collections have materially diminished. 
Notwithstanding this, the trustees of the institution, with an 
humble and firm reliance upon Divine Providence, have never 

* A public journal of that day, in publishing the notice for this ser- 
mon, adds the following : 

“ Institutions of this kind, which afford to poor children the means 
of education, and prepare them for usefulness in Church or State, 
appear of all charities the most laudable. Several denominations of 
this city have accordingly turned their attention to them. The Re- 
formed Dutch Church had, before the war, a charity school, which, 
during this year, they have been able to revive. They have at 
present thirty scholars, who are instructed in such branches of learn- 
ing as will qualify them to be good members of society. The school 
is visited monthly by the deacons, and quarterly by Consistory ; and 
whenever the scholars have made such proficiency as is judged neces- 
sary, their places are supplied by others. This church depend for the 
clothing and tuition of the children wholly upon charitable donations, 
and they trust that their endeavors will be countenanced by the pub- 
lic.”' Vide “New-York Journal and Weekly Regbter,” December 17, 
1789. 

f Con. Rec. Leg. G. 195. 



84 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



yet been coerced to say to any of the necessitous committed 
to their charge, “Be ye clothed.” 

Since the year 1842, when Miss Campbell was appointed 
to supervise the girls’ department, a portion of time in each 
week has been devoted to the improyement of the girls in 
sewing ; and since the school has occupied the present build- 
ing, which affords admirable accommodations for the pur- 
pose, all the girls’ dresses, having been cut and fitted by Miss 
Parker, the present Principal, have been made up under her 
direction by the girls themselves, thus not only effecting a 
saving of expense to the school, but affording to her pupils 
an opportunity of qualifying themselves in that branch, a 
competent knowledge of which is so essential an element in 
domestic economy. 

1791. — Frora'4he establishment of the school in 1633, the 
schoolmasters had, with but one or two exceptions, acted as 
choristers ; and in order to preserve this peculiarity, Mr. Stanton 
Latham, who had been clerk in the North Church from Octo- 
ber, 1789, was appointed in January, 1790, to supersede 
Mr. Van Steenburgh ; but the change did not actually take 
place till May 1, 1791. On the 11th of January of this year, 
a committee,, appointed to confer with Mr. Latham, made a 
report to Consistory, and produced a written proposal, 
signed by Mr. Latham, in which he offered to teach fifty 
scholars for seven shillings per quarter. After some delibera- 
tion, it was resolved to accept the offer ; and Mr. Latham was 
accordingly appointed to be the schoolmaster of the school 
under the patronage of this Consistory, and to commence in 
that duty 1st May next, on which day “he is to take posses- 
sion of the house in which Mr. Van Steenburgh now lives, 
and occupy as much of the same as Mr Van Steenburgh now 
occupies, which house, and the aforesaid sum of seven shil- 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 85 

lings per quarter for fifty scholars, shall be the whole of his 
salary as schoolmaster. 

^'‘Resolved, further, that this Consistory have a high sense of 
the abilities, assiduity, and faithfulness which Mr. Van Steen- 
burgh has for many years exerted in the school which has 
been under his care, and excepting for the particular reason 
which respected Mr. Latham as a singing-master in the con- 
gregation, would have been loth to part with him. 

^^Resolved^ further, that a copy of this minute be made and 
given to Mr. Van Steenburgh, which will be at the same 
time a notification that Mr. Latham is to take possession of 
the house in which Mr. Van Steenburgh now lives, 1st May 
next.”"^ 

November 27, a collection was taken for the school in the 
Garden Street Church in the afternoon, and in the Middle 
Church in the evening, where the children were in attend- 
ance, and sung a hymnf suited to the ocfcasion. 

Jo/auary 5. — ^Dr. Livingston, Messrs. Iloughtenburgh, 
Oothout "Wilson, Gilbers, and Sickels, were appointed a com- 
mittee of Consistory to digest a plan for the most successful 
promotion of the interests of the school. 

February 2. — The above Committee reported as follows : 

“In order as far as possible to extend the benefit of this 
institution, and to secure to the boys admitted into the school 
the permanent advantages of the instruction there received, 
they conceive it proper that it be an indispensable condition 
of the admission of boys in future, that their parents or 
guardians do previously, by bond, engage themselves to bind 

*Con. Rec. Leg. G. 199. 

fThis custom, whicli still exists, was borrowed from the Episcopal 
Church school, in winch it had obtained as far back as the year 1757, 
and probably a few . years earlier. The hymns used by the children of 
the Reformed Dutch school on these occasions have been prepared, 
from year to year, by the friends of the institution. A majority of 
these compositions, running back as far as the year 1813, are now in 
the possession of the present Principal. 



86 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



them to some useful profession or employment at the expira- 
tion of their terms in school, or secure to Consistory the 
power of so doing.” 

This article was never carried out. 

“ That as far as the consent of the parents or guardians 
can be obtained, the same resolution be extended to the boys 
already admitted. 

“That ten boys be admitted into the school, in addition to 
the present number under the care of Mr. Latham. 

“ That ten girls, at present under the tuition of Mr. La- 
tham, be removed and put under the care of a female in- 
structor.”^ 

Miss Elizabeth Ten Eyck was accordingly engaged, and ■ 
continued in this capacity until the year 1809, when, upon 
the introduction into the school of the Lancasterian system 
of education, “ the Madam’s school was dispensed with.” 
She immediately opened a private school, to which, during 
a period of three years, the trustees occasionally sent some of 
their female pupils to receive instruction in sewing.f Dur- 
ing Miss Ten Eyck’s connection with the school, and for thirty 
years afterwards, she had the making of the girls’ clothing ; 
and in whatever capacity she was engaged by the trustees, 
her duties were always performed in a satisfactory manner. 

lYOS. — Mr. Latham, like his predecessor, enjoyed the 
privilege of having pay scholars ; but the Consistory, im- 
pressed with the necessity of having the school composed 
exclusively of charity scholars, had an interview with him, 
and, on the 8th day of January, they Resolved^ that from and 
after the 1st February next, none but charity scholars shall 
be admitted into the school ; and that the number of such 
shall remain unlimited, and depend from time to time upon 
the direction of Consistory.” And further, ^'‘Resolved^ that 

* Con. Rec. Leg. G. 225-227. 
f Trus. Min. i. 26, 30, 32, 40, 67, 73. 



FROM 1Y83 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 87 

from and after the said day, the Consistory will pa}^ unto 
Mr. Latham £200 per annum, and that he shall continue to 
remain in the house, as hitherto, free of all rent.” Also, 
Resolved^ to allow twelve loads of wood every year for the 
school ; and it is expressly understood that, besides the usual 
education in literature, Mr. Latham shall teach the scholars 
psalmody, as is usual in all institutions of this nature.” 

“Mr. Latham being called, and these resolutions commu- 
nicated to him, he acquiesced, and declared his willingness 
and gratitude for this arrangement ; and it is now recipro- 
cally understood that all former agreements are hereby super- 
sedt^d, and that this shall be the basis for the future services 
of Mr. Latham, and no alteration is to be made therein on 
either side under at least six months’ notice; and that a copy 
of this minute be handed to Mr. Latham.”^ 

June 17. — Dr. Linn reported he had received from Dr. 
Joshua Lathrop, of Norwich, Conn., a guinea for the benefit 
the school.f 

1799, May 25. — By a resolution of Consistory, the 
number of children was restricted to fifty ;J probably in con- 
sequence of the withdrawal of the funds which, during the 
years“ 1796 and 1797, the school had received from the 
State. 

1801. — The catechising of the scholars by the ministers 
was transferred to the North Church. 

1804 . — March 1. The number of scholars under the care 
of the master was limited to sixty ; and he was privileged 
o receive six pay scholars.§ In addition to the studies 
already taught in .the school, the boys, if time and circum- 
stances admitted, were to be instructed in the principles of 
English grammar. 

^ Con. Rec. Leg. H. 1. f Ibid. 21. 

:]; Con. Rec. Leg. H. 138. 

§ Con. Rec. Leg. H. 326. 



88 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



A committee was appointed to report upon the propriety 
of extending the benefits of the institution to such individual 
or individuals, of superior talents or acquirements, as might 
be calculated to fit them for future usefulness in Church or 
State. 

1808. — For a period of one hundred and seventy-five 
years, commencing in 1633, the deacons had constituted the 
Standing Committee of Consistory for the management of 
the school ; but in the year 1808, May 5, the code of 1789 
was amended so as to place the institution under the care of 
a “Board of Trustees,” whose duty it should be “to advise 
with Consistory in all matters that may be deemed import- 
ant, and in all things to be under their control.”^ 

The original members of the Board were, Messrs. John 
Stoutenburgh, Richard Duryee, Isaac Heyer, Abraham 
Brinckerhoflf, Anthony Dey, Jesse Baldwin, and John Nitchie, 
Jr. Their first meeting was held June 9, 1808, in the Con- 
sistory-chamber, Garden street. John Stoutenburgh was 
chosen Chairman, and John Nitchie, Jr., Secretary. 

The Vllth Article of their by-laws provided for a com- 
mittee of two of the Trustees, to be called the School Com- 
mittee ; and at each stated meeting the “Chairman shall 
appoint one of the School Committee in succession from the 
Trustees, to supply the place of one whose term shall expire.” 
This was amended in 1831, so that there is now but one 
member on the Visiting Committee. 

1809, January 1. — The school-room having been en- 
larged, the Lancasterian or monitorial system was introduced 
into the school, and the number of scholars was increased 
from seventy- two to one hundred. 

* The Rules for the government of the Board of Trustees are con- 
tained in the “ Standing Rules of the Consistory of che Collegiate R. 
P. D. Church,” Art. xiii. 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESEOT TIME. 



89 



February 27. — Thirteen girls each received a pair of 
scissors for their improvement in writing; and twelve boys, 
each a penknife. These were presents from Kichard Duryee 
Esq. At subsequent dates,- useful articles, the gifts of differ- 
ent individuals, were presented to the most meritorious 
children. 

March 7. — The number of scholars having been increased, 
and Mr. Latham having relinquished the pay scholars granted 
him in 1 804, his salary was advanced to six hundred dollars 
per annum, and his house-rent. 

^December 6. — Mr. Latham presented his resignation, to 
take effect the first of May following ; and Joseph Hinds, 
who graduated from the school in 1808, was engaged as an 
assistant teacher for a period of seven weeks. 

December 7. — James Forrester was unanimously elected, 
by Consistory, to supersede Mr. Latham. His competitors 
were Eichard Witts and Paul J. Micheau.^ 

1810, May 1. — Mr. Forrester entered upon his duties, 
and the school was divided, under the Lancasterian system, 
as follows: 



In sand. ^ 



> 



On slate. ^ 



First Class — A B C, and figures. 

Second Class — Monosyllables. 

Third Class — Words of two iyllables, and 
writing same on slate. 

Fourth Class — Words of more than two sylla- 
bles, and irregular words. 

Fifth Class — Heading in Child’s Instructor ; 
Catechism. 

Sixth Class — Reading in New Testament ; 

Heidelbergh Catechism. 

Seventh Class — Reading in Old Testament, 
Murray’s Grammar, and penmanship. 



* Con. Eec. Leg. I. 107. Trus.Min. i. 24, 26, 36. 



90 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



All to study arithmetic, at the discretion of the teacher. 

June 21. — In case the minister was absent, from sickness 
or otherwise, one of the elders was to conduct the catechetical 
exercise. 

1811, January 10. — The eight-day clock, which had hung 
for many years in the Garden Street Church, was cleansed and 
re-cased by M. Demilt, at an expense of twenty- five dollars. 
It was then put up in the school-room. What the bank or 
railway clock is to the adult, this, for many years, has been 
to anticipative youth ; and though it cannot foretell, yet its 
indications have signalized the period for the resumption of 
study, or the. desired release. Venerable by age, and faith- 
ful amidst all the changes of time, suspended on the walls of 
the present building, it still answers nobly the precise object 
for which it was made; and, were it gifted with speech, it 
could undoubtedly reveal more knowledge of mischievous 
frolic than ever fell under the cognizance of the teacher. 

January 25. — Mr. Nitchie having resigned his situa- 
tion as Secretary of the Board, a unanimous vote of thanks 
was passed to him by the trustees, for the diligent and able 
discharge of his duties for nearly five years ; and at the 
annual election of officers in 1814, Mr. Richard Duryee hav- 
ing been chdien chairman, it was on motion resolved, that 
the thanks of the Board be communicated to Mr. Stouten- 
burgh, for his faithful and punctual attendance as chairman 
for nearly six years. 

1813. — “On the 2d of April, 1805, (the same year in 
which the Free School Society was founded,) the Legislature 
passed an act providing that the nett proceeds of 500,000 
acres of the vacant and unappropriated lands of the people 
of this State, which should be first thereafter sold by the 
Surveyor-General, should be appropriated as a permanent 
fund for the support of common schools ; the avails to be 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



91 



safely invested until the interest should amount to $50,000, 
when an annual distribution of that amount should be made 
to the several school districts. This act laid the foundation 
of the present fund for the support of common schools.” 
“By the act to incorporate the Merchants’ Bank in the 
city of Nevv-York, passed the same year, the State reserved 
the right to subscribe for three thousand shares of the capital 
stock of that institution, which, together with the accruing 
interest and dividends, were appropriated as a fund for the 
support of common schools, to be applied in such manner as 
the Legislature should from time to time direct.” 

“By acts passed March 13, 1807, and April 8, 1808, the 
Comptroller was authorized to invest such moneys, together 
with the funds arising from the proceeds of the lotteries 
authorized by the act of 1803, in the purchase of additional 
stock of the Merchants’ Bank, and to loan the residue of the 
fund.”^' 

On the 19th day of June, 1812, an act was passed for the 
establishment of common schools in this State, and provision 
was soon after made, in accordance with the act of 1805, for 
the distribution of the interest arising from the common 
school fund.f As there were several Societies in the city of 
NeW‘York at this time already engaged in the work of edu- 
cating the poor, all of which had for many years been suc- 
cessfully and satisfactorily engaged in this laudable under- 
taking, a law was passed March 12th, 1813, “directing 
that the portion of the school^ fund received by the city 
and county of New-York shall be apportioned and paid 
to the trustees of the Free School Society of New-York, 

* Common School System of the State of jSTew-York, by Samuel 
S. Randall, Dep. Sup. Com. Sch., p. 9. 
j* Rand. Com. Sch. Sys. S. N. Y. 13. 



92 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



the trustees or treasurers of the Orphan Asylum Society, 
the Society of the Economical School, the African free 
school, and of such incorporated religious Societies in said city 
as supported or should establish charity schools ^ who might 
api)ly for the same.” Under the operation of this law, as the 
money to be received was to be in proportion to the number 
of scholars on register, it is natural to suppose that efforts 
would be made by each school sharing in the distribution of 
the fund, to obtain as many scholars as possible. So far as 
the Dutch Church school was concerned, however, the limit 
of scholars fixed in 1809, four years previously, remained 
unaltered. 

Impressed with the necessity and importance of imparting 
religious instruction to the youth under their charge, the trus- 
tees of the Free School Society, ‘"on the suggestion, and to 
meet the wishes of numerous well-meaning individuals, yielded 
readily to a proposition that an Association of more than fifty 
ladies, of high respectability and of different religious de- 
nominations, who had volunteered for the purpose, should 
meet in the school-room one afternoon in each week, to give 
instructions to the pupils from such denominational cate- 
chisms as might be designated by their parents. At the 
same time, to meet their expressed wishes, monitors were 
appointed to lead them on the Sabbath to their appropriate 
places of worship.”^ 

This movement was naturally calculated to affect the 
charity schools then existing in the city; and on receiving 
an assurance from the Free School Society that their children 
should enjoy the same privileges, literary and religious, which 
they had enjoyed among themselves, the trustees of the 

* Vide Sketch of the Rise and Progress Pub. Sch. Soc.,xxxvii. An. 
Rep. 20. 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



93 



Presbyterian school relinquished the portion of the State fund 
to which they were entitled, and the school eventually dis- 
banded ; but the Dutch Church, adhering to her principles 
on this subject, and to the practice which for centuries had 
obtained with her, declined the overture ; and the Consistory 
on the 14th of January resolved “ that the children belonging 
to the Dutch Church who attended the New-York free school, 
be presented each with a catechism, and be invited to attend 
a public catechising every Wednesday, at 3 P. M., in the 
North Church.”'^ 

One week later, a communication was received by the 
Consistory from the Free School Society, accompanied by a 
resolution of the trustees of that institution, in the following 
words : 

*^^Resolved^ That the afternoon of Tuesday (third day) in 
each week be appropriated for the instruction of the children 
of the Nevv-York free school in the principles of the Chris- 
tian religion ; and in order that they may be eaucated in the 
peculiar tenets of the denomination io which they respectively 
belong, the several churches with which they are connected 
be respectfully invited to send suitable persons to catechise 
and otherwise so to instruct them.” 

Thereupon the Consistory resolved, 

“ That John Vanderbilt be appointed to instruct the child- 
ren connected with the Dutch Church, attending the New- 
York free school on the day designated, until further arrange- 
ment be made.”f 

*Con. Rec. Leg. I 228. 

jf Con. Rec. Leg. I. 232. A communication and resolntioii of the 
same character were presented to Uie Vestry of Trinity Church, 
and “it was thereupon ordered that the Assistant Rector and 
other Clergy of this church be requested to give the necessary 
attention to the said resolution, and that 200 Common Prayer 



94 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



The name of Mr. Vanderbilt does not occur again in this 
connection ; and it is presumed that the catechising of the 
children connected with the Dutch Church and attend injj the 
free school was left in the hands of the ladies associated for 
that purpose/^ 

books be appropriated to the use of the scholars who belong to 
the Episcopal Church, to be distributed under the direction of the 
Assistant Rector.” Vide Hist. Trin. Ch. p. 254. 

* The following extracts from the Annual Reports of the Free School 
Society, furnish probably all the information now to be had upon 
this subject. 

In their ISTinth Annual Report, bearing date May 2, 1814, over 
the signature of De Witt Clinton, President, after speaking of the 
progress of their pupils in intellectual attainments, the Report adds: 

“ While the Trustees have been thus engaged in communicating to the 
understandings of the children, the elements of useful knowledge, they 
have not been unmindful of the importance of imbuing their minds also 
with a sense of moral and religious obligation.” 

“ The afternoon of every Tuesday, or third day of the week, has 
been set apart for this purpose ; and the children have been instructed 
in the catechisms of the churches to which they respectively belong. 
This pious office is performed by an Association of highly respect- 
able females, who are in profession with the different religious deno- 
minations in the city. The number of children educated in the pecu- 
liar tenets of each religious community is, at the present time, as 
follows : 



Presbyterians, 

Episcopalians, 


271 


- 186 


Methodists, 


172 


Baptists, - 


- 119 


Dutch Church, 


41 


Roman Catholic, 


9 



“In the furtherance of the same interesting object, the children 
have been required to assemble at their respective schools on the 
morning of every Sabbath, and proceed, under the care of a monitor, 
to such place of public worship as was designated by their parents or 
guardians. This requisition has been regularly attended to by many, 
but the want of suitable clothing has prevented others from comply- 
ing with it. It is believed that this deficiency might be amply sup- 
plied by the appropriation to this purpose of the garments which are 
laid aside as useless, in the families of our wealthy fellow-citizens. 
And, surely, few acts of charity could be more truly benevolent and 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



95 



The disparagement between the number of children at- 
tending these schools from the Presbyterian and Dutch 
churches, the former being 37 per cent, and the latter only 
4 per cent., may be accounted for by the discontinuance of 
the Presbyterian charity school, as above stated ; while the 
Dutch Church continued to sustain her institution, and the 
weekly catechetical expositions to her children. 

In the year 1815, in order to give more efficiency to these 
exercises, the Consistory resolved that each of the ministers 

useful. It would not only contribute to the personal comfort of the 
children, but it would enable them to join in the public celebration of 
religious worship.” 

“ In cases where an attendance at school previous to going to church 
is particularly inconvenient, liberty has been given for the children to 
attend public worship in company with their parents or guardians.” 

Extract from the Tenth Annual Report of May 1, 1815 : 

“ The office of communicating religious instruction to the children, 
by teaching them the catechisms of their respective churches, is still 
performed by the Association of benevolent females who so zealously 
engaged in it. Their kindness has also prompted them to furnish 
many of the scholars with comfortable clothing during the late incle- 
ment season.” 

“ The children at present under the care of the Society are said to 
belong to the different religious denominations as follows: 



Presbyterians, 


865 


Methodists, 


- 175 


Episcopalians, 


159 


Baptists, 


- 144 


Roman Catholics, 


57 


Dutch Church, 


- 33.’ 



Extract from the Eleventh Annual Report, May 6, 1816 : 

“The children continue to receive the advantages of religious 
instruction communicated to them from the catechisms used in the 
respective churches to which they belong, in the manner mentioned in 
the Report of last year.” 

The wide extension of the free schools, and the establishment this 
year of Sunday-schools, “ to which excellent institutions they thereafter 
commended their pupils,” led to a discontinuance of this measure. 

The free schools in operation at this time were No. 1, opened in 
1809, at the corner of Chatham street and Try on Row ; and No. 2, 



1)5 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



ought to have separate classes of the children and youth, and 
on different days, so as not to interfere with each other ; and 
the ministers were directed to carry this out. Two months 
subsequently, on the request of the Rev. Dr, Milledoler, the 
Elders Wilson and Duryee were appointed to assist him in 
catechising the children,^ Mr. Forrester’s scholars, in common 
with the other children connected with the Dutch Church, 
assembling as usual in a body for that purpose. 

1818, March 12. — The Teacher’s Annual Report to Con- 
sistory sets forth the attainments of the children at this time, 
and presents the school in a very favorable aspect. He says : 
“The school consists of 100 scholars, viz., 76 boys and 24 
girls. Of these, 24 boys and 8 girls read in the Old Testa- 
ment, and 17 boys and 11 girls, in the New Testament; the 
remaining 15 boys and t> girls write on sand-tables, and 
read in the Child’s Instructor, and Spelling-Book : 48 boys 
and 12 girls are in arithmetic; 5 of the boys have been 
through Vulgar and Decimal Fractions, and are now in 
Interest. The second class consists of 10 in the Rule of 
Three. The third class, of 10 in Reduction. The fourth 
class, of 19 in Compound Addition : 7 of the girls have been 
through Practice, and 6 more are in Compound Addition ; 43 
boys and 12 girls recite a new section of the Heidelbergh 

opened in 1811, in Henry street. The original object of this Society 
was “the education of children who do not belong to, and are not pro- 
vided for by any religious society but in 1808, they received “ author- 
ity to educate all children who were proper objects of gratuitous 
instruction.” Clothing donated for the purpose was at times distri- 
buted to the necessitous. For the use of the Reports from which 
the above extracts were taken, the author is indebted to the kindness 
of Samuel W. Seton, an individual who has rendered incalculable ser- 
vice to the cause of education in this city. 

* Con. Rec. Leg. I. 340, 850. 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



97 



Catecliism every week; 31 boys and 10 girls study the 
Shorter Catechism, and every week commit a portion thereof 
to memory, according to their several capacities : 24 of the 
children can recite the Heidelbergh Catechism throughout.” 

The Annual Report of the Trustees, accompanying that of 
the teacher, closes with the following commendatory lan- 
guage, which shows the high estimation in which his services 
were regarded : ‘‘ The Board rejoices in being able to say 
that they are satished with the zeal, ability, and attention of 
the teacher, and particularly with the parental care with 
which he watches over the religious and moral condition of 
those committed to his charge.” 

December 24. — Commenced the custom of closing the 
school between Christmas and New-Year’s. 

December 28. — Hereafter the school was kept from nine 
o’clock to three, from the 15 th of November to the 15 th of 
March. 

1819, March 4. — ^^A committee of Consistory having de- 
termined that the state of the funds warranted an increase 
of scholars, the number was extended from one hundred to 
one hundred and ten. 

April 26. — Bell’s system of instruction was introduced 
into the school. 

December 27. — The parents were required to furnish cer- 
tificates of the baptism of children hereafter admitted. 

1820, May 29. — From this date the school sessions have 
been between the hours of nine and three, throughout the 
year. 

1825. — During the years 1796, 1797, and 1801, this 
school, in connection with the other charity schools of this 
city, received from the State certain appropriations, and 
enjoyed for a nuinber of years, in common with the Free 
5 



98 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



School Society, and other educational institutions, the privi- 
leges granted by the law of 1813; but, in the year 1820, 
the Bethel Baptist Church organized a free school in the 
basement of the church corner of Delancey and Chrystie 
streets; and subsequently, in 1822 and 1823, by the per- 
mission of the Legislature, two others, from the surplus money 
which they had in hand : thus they enjoyed privileges 
equal to those of the Free School Society,- the Trustees of 
which, apprehensive that the buildings thus erected for the 
Bethel free school, “ becoming church property, might also be 
appropriated to other purposes than exclusively for the 
education of the poor,” memorialized, with the sanction 
and cooperation of the Common Council, the State Legis- 
lature for a repeal of the law enacted in favor of the 
Baptists, and for an amendment to the law relative to the 
distribution of the school-fund in this city, so as “to prevent 
any religious society,, entitled to a participation in the fund, 
from drawing for any other than the poor children of their 
respective congregations.” “ For,” say they, “ the Bethel 
free schools have taken away many scholars from the Soci- 
ety’s schools, and thereby diminished the amount of attend- 
ance upon them, and, consequently, their revenue derived 
from the Common* school Fund.” 

The Trustees of the Free School Society thought also that 
they had “ discovered a manifestation of a disposition, on the 
part of some other religious societies, to follow the example 
of the Bethel Baptist Church to the extent of enlarging their 
schools so as to receive for instruction poor children gene- 
rally, without restricting themselves, as heretofore, to those of 
their own particular congregations. A school of this descrip- 
tion has been opened in Grace Church, unde • the pastoral care 
of the Rev. Mr. Wainwright; another, for the education of 
female children, by the Congregational Church in Chambers 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



99 



street ; and a third will soon be opened by the Dutch 
Church, in the large rooms in Harmony Hall, at the corner 
of William and Duane streets “ and when it [the Dutch 
Church School] shall get in full operation, the Trustees have 
little doubt that they shall be under the necessity of discon- 
tinuing Free School No. 1.” 

• So far as the location of the Dutch Church School and the 
intentions of its Trustees were concerned, the knowledge of a 
few facts would have materially allayed the fears of the Trustees 
of the Free School Society. Since the year 1809, when the 
six pay-scholars allowed the teacher were removed, up to the 
present day, the school has been sustained exclusively for 
children whose •parents were either members or habitual 
attendants of the Dutch Church, The Trustees never enter- 
tained the idea of ‘‘ conferring a gratuitous education upon 
poor children, without distinction of sect,” which was the 
peculiar province of the Free School Society. From the year 
1809 to 1819, the number of children to be received into the 
Dutch Church School was limited by Consistory to one 
hundred. 

Again, the erection of additional school-houses was never 
contemplated by the Dutch Church. For seventy-six years 
the school had been held in Garden street; and the general 
occupation of this section of the city at this period by mer- 
cantile warehouses, and the consequent removal of the most 
of the children from the neighborhood of the school, rendered 
its removal to a more convenient locality a work of absolute 
necessity. And when the school was opened in Duane street, 
the premises in Garden street were leased for a number of 
years, and occupied for other purposes ; and the fear ex- 
pressed that the four hundred and sixty-six children attending 
Free School No. 1 would be withdrawn from it, to attend the 
Dutch Church School, was groundless, as accommodations 



100 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



were provided in Duane street for no more scholars than the 
Trustees were restricted by Consistory to receive. 

The strenuous opposition of Rev. Johnson Chase, the prin- 
cipal opponent to the revision of the law, as proposed by the 
Free School Society, was of little avail, as in the November 
session of 1824, the Legislature passed “an act by which 
that portion of the common school fund, drawn for the city 
of New-York, was left to the disposal of the Common Coun- 
cil, who were directed by it to designate to whom such dis- 
tribution should from time to time be made.” The com- 
mittee of the Common Council to whom the subject was 
referred to hear and report upon the claims of the respective 
parties applying Under this act for a share of the fund, deeming 
“ that the school fund of the State was purely of a civil cha- 
racter, designed for civil purposes ; and that the intrusting 
of it to religious or ecclesiastical bodies was a violation of an 
elementary principle in the politics of the State and coun- 
try,” “reported against distributing any portion of the 
fund to the schools of religious societies;” and in 1825, in- 
troduced an ordinance, which was unanimously adopted, 
directing the distribution to be made to the “ Free School 
Society,” “ Mechanics’ Society,” the “ Orphan Asylum So- 
ciety,” and the “Trustees of the African Schools.”"^ 

1831. — During Mr. Forrester’s connection with the school, 
it had no female teacher, consequently the girls were not 
instructed ia needlework.f To meet this want. Miss Eliza 
Duryee informed the Board, November, 1831, that an Asso- 
ciation had been formed by several ladies for the purpose of 
teaching the children the ordinary branches of sewing and 
needlework ; and it was resolved that this facility should be 

* For the details of this whole subject, vide xx. An. Rep. IN'. Y. P. 
S. Soc. 1826. 

\ With the exception stated ante, p. 86. 



FROM I'ZSS TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



101 



afforded to the girls two afternoons in the week ; this regu- 
lation existed for some time. 

September 8, 1835. — The death of their late President 
having been announced to the Board, they unanimously 

'‘'‘Resolved^ That in the decease of our beloved and lamented 
friend, Richard Duryee, we have been deprived of an able 
counsellor, a warm-hearted friend, and an active, useful mem- 
ber of this Board. 

^'‘Reholved^ That the charity children of this church have 
sustained an irreparable loss, in his fervent prayers, affection- 
ate admonition, and Christian example. 

^'‘Resolved^ That we recognize the hand of our covenant God 
in taking him to his eternal rest, and bow with submission 
to His holy will, believing that our loss is his gain. 

^'"Resolved^ That we tender to his^ bereaved widow and 
afflicted family our sincere and warm sympathies under this 
painful stroke of Divine Providence, and commend them to 
the guidance, support, and protection of Him who hath said, 
‘Leave thy fatherless children ; I will preserve them alive ; 
and let thy widows trust in me.’ 



^'‘Re^oWed^ That a copy of the above resolutions be pre- 
sented by the Secretary to his willow.” 

1840. — The increase of our denomination in the city, and 
the growing demand for a more extended course of study 
than that pursued in the school, had long imjDressed the Trus- 
tees with the necessity of endeavoring to procure an edifice 
for the express accommodation of the school, and of devising 
such ways and means for increasing its income, that its bene- 
fits might be more greatly extended. 

After mature deliberation, a communication,^ prepared by 
the Secretary, fully expressing the unanimous views of the 
Board upon these subjects, was presented to Consistory. 

1842. — Mr. Forrester, the Principal of the school, was now 
approaching the allotted period of threescore and ten. 



^ Vide Trus. Min. iii. 116 et seq. 



102 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



For more than forty -five years, the last thirty-two of which 
he had spent in this school, he had been engaged in perform- 
ing the arduous and responsible duties which devolve upon 
an instructor of youth, and the Trustees felt that he “ ought 
to be relieved in a great measure from the bustle and noise 
with which he had so long been surrounded, and be suffered 
to enjoy his advancing age with more peace and quietness 
than could be expected if required to continue in his present 
station.” They therefore recommended a division of the labors 
of the school, by the employment of a younger person for 
the general education of the children, while Mr. Forrester 
should be retained as catechist. In doing this, the Trustees 
cheerfully bore their testimony to the faithfulness of Mr. For- 
rester, and of their confidence in his desire to promote the 
welfare of the children. Those whom he had instructed in 
the year 1810, the first year of his connection with the school, 
if still living, had now attained to middle age. During this 
period, in the commencement of which the schoq^ of this 
country were in their infancy, rapid advances had been made 
in the system of instruction ; many new text-books had come 
into use, and studies had been introduced into the schools, 
which at an earlier period would have been deemed super- 
fluous ; and it was with the view of enabling the school to 
enjoy the advantages of these improvements that the Trustees 
proposed the above change. Consistory having taken action 
upon the subject, the object which the Trustees had in view 
was consummated in 1842 by the appointment of the present 
Principal. Mr. Forrester was retained as catechist, the duties 
pertaining to which office he faithfully performed for twelve 
months, when his connection with the school ceased alto- 
gether.^' 

* Mr. Forrester was born in the environs of the city of Edinburgh, 
February ^6, I'IVS, and was baptized in the West Kirk by Sir Harry 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



103 



Thirty-three years ! One generation had passed away, and 
another had taken its place on the stage of existence. 

Forty-five years of joy and sorrow, of labor and reward ! 
Eternity alone can reveal the nature and importance of those 
influences which it is the duty and privilege of a teacher to 
exert, for so many years, over the hearts and minds of young 
immortal beings. 

Many are they, now members of the body of Christ, whose 
religious feelings and exercises were called forth and strength- 
ened while under his instruction ; and to him it is ever a 
source of grateful acknowledgment, that he has been the 
instrument, under God’s hand, of leading so many to walk in 
the ways of truth. 

Mr. Forrester, in withdrawing from the charge which he 
had so long sustained, retired in the enjoyment of the “ confi- 
dence and esteem of the Trustees in his moral and Christian 
character, and in his desire to promote the well-being of the 
numerous children which had been intrusted to his care.” 

Though on the verge of eighty, and experiencing the in- 
firmities of declining years, he still survives among us, a 
monument of the faithfulness and mercy of a covenant God. 

I^oncrief. In the year 1Y94, he set sail for America. Before reach- 
ing port, he, with a number of others, was impressed and placed on the 
British man-of-war, the “Africa.” Subsequently, for some reason un- 
known to him, he was placed on board the ship Fanny, and landed 
October 16,*at the Fly Market. He shortly afterwards located in 
Tappan. In the year 1796, at the age of twenty years, he commenced 
teaching school at Closter. Here he remained three years and a half, 
when he returned to the “ Liberty Pole,” six miles nearer to this city. 
Here he taught for eight years, when he was offered the charge of the 
school in Isassau street, opposite the Middle Dutch Church, then under 
the care of the Presbyterian Church. Having spent three years in 
this connection, he was appointed, in the year 1810, as the master of 
the Dutch Reformed Church School. 



104 



IIISTOllY OF THE SCHOOL, 



Heretofore, the children of both sexes had been classified 
together for the purpose of receiving instruction ; but on the 
reorganization of the school in 1842, the girls were segre- 
gated, and placed under the supervision and care of Miss 
Frances Campbell. This was an important advantage se- 
cured to the school, the need of which had been long felt. 

In the year 1844, Miss Campbell resigned her charge to 
take charge of a school out of the city, and Miss Henrietta 
Garus, who for a number of years had been a pupil in the 
school, was appointed to fill her place. Her marriage and 
retirement, in Kovember, 1846, led to the appointment of the 
present efficient teacher. 

Within the past seven years, Mr. John H. MaGonigle and 
the Misses Sarah and Rachel Mickens, from being scholars in 
the school, arose to the occupancy of subordinate stations as 
instructors in the junior classes ; and the duties devolving 
upon them, in the capacities which they severally sustained, 
were rendered with efficiency and satisfaction. 

It is ever a subject of regret, when any institution is de- 
prived of the counsels, labors, and prayers of an efficient 
officer, through whose instrumentality its advantages have 
been secured and its best interests advanced. 

Such a deprivation this school was called to experience in 
1848, in the decease of J^oah Wetmore, Esq. For the 
thirteen years that he had been a member of the Board of 
Trustees, (a period longer than any of his predecessors in 
office had served,) he had been its presiding officer. Possess- 
ing, in an eminent degree, those estimable qualities which 
ever adorn the man and the Christian, he enjoyed uninter- 
ruptedly the esteem and confidence of all who knew him. 
Within a few years previous to his decease, persuaded by 
the weight of increasing infirmities that his days of active 
usefulness were drawing to a close, he frequently expressed a 



FROM lISS TO THE PRESENT TIME. 105 

desire to retire from the Board ; but its members, unwilling 
to lose his valuable counsels and prayers, induced him to 
retain his seat; and he continued to perform the functions 
pertaining to his office till within a few weeks of his decease. 
And when at last, 

“ Life’s duty done, its trials o’er,” 

he “fell on sleep,” the Trustees experienced the double loss 
of an able counsellor and a private friend. 

The institution over which he so long presided was with 
him an object of special interest, and memory dwells with 
peculiar delight on the touching, impressive, and fervent 
prayers which he offered in its behalf. 

All the children loved him ; and when summoned to sur- 
round his bier, the remembrance of his solicitude for their 
spiritual welfare and of his counsels, coming as they did from 
a warm heart, full of fatherly kindness and love, caused many 
tears of heartfelt sorrow. 

May his prayers for them and for the church which so 
long and so kindly nurtured them be answered ; and may 
his counsels to them be so implicitly followed that their last 
end may be like his ! 



6 ^ 



106 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



ATTENDANCE OP THE CHILDREN ON THE SABBATH. 

In conformity with a prominent feature of this institution, 
which happily combines religious with intellectual educa- 
tion, its pupils, independent of instruction in the principles of 
divine truth received through the week, have ever been re- 
quired to attend divine service on the Sabbath. Subsequent 
to the Revolutionary War, the children assembled every Sab- 
bath at the school-room in Garden street, in ample time to 
proceed with their teacher to the seats provided for them in 
the “Old Church.” 

After Sabbath-schools were established in the city, they 
attended the one held in the Consistory building, at the cor- 
ner of Nassau and Ann streets, till the year 1829, when a 
school was organized in the New or Middle Church ; and 
here, under Sabbath-school instruction and the teachings of 
the sacred desk, they remained till the year 1840, when they 
occupied the gallery of the North Church, attending at the 
same time the Sabbath-school in Ann street. In September, 
1841, a majority of the children having been found to reside 
north of Grand street. Consistory directed them to attend 
the Sabbath-school and church in Ninth street. 

This institution being the only one of the kind connected 
with the Dutch Church, and being composed of children 
whose parents resided in the vicinity of the churches which 
they respectively attended, it became an onerous duty for the 
scholars to attend twice on the Sabbath, from distances 
ranging from Dey street to Twenty-third street, and from the 
North to the East river ; and many communications on the 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 107 

subject having been addressed to the Trustees by the parents, 
the Consistory, in January, 1847, granted the Board the 
privilege of permitting the children to attend Sabbath-school 
and church at those churches with which their parents were 
connected, and near which they resided. 

This privilege is now generally enjoyed by the children, 
under the following regulations, which accompany each cer- 
tificate : 

^'‘Resolved,, That in all cases in which any pupil of the school 
is permitted to attend Sabbath-school and church elsewhere 
than at Ninth street, it shall be the duty of such child to pro- 
duce a monthly certificate from his Superintendent, that he 
regularly attends the Sabbath-school and church with which he 
is connected; and it ^hall be the duty of the Principal of the 
school to report all cases of omission to this Board, accompanied 
wdth explanations of the cause.” 

^'‘Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be communicated by 
the Principal to parents, guardians, and Superintendents who 
are interested in the same.” 

As one great object of the school is religious instruction, the 
above resolutions have been adopted, that the Trustees may be 
assured that the Sabbath is not violated by any of the pupils of 
the school, but that they are in the enjoyment of religious 
instruction in the Sabbath-school, and under the preaching of 
the gospel. Thomas Jeremiah, Secretary, 

January 25, 1847. 



108 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



REVENUE OF THE SCHOOL. 

During the first thirty years of the existence of the school, 
its teachers, appointed by the Dutch West India Company, 
in connection with the Classis of Amsterdam, were remune- 
rated from the treasury of the Colonial Government, 

While the city was under the jurisdiction of the English, 
the support of the school devolved entirely upon Consistory. 
Whether its expenses, which were not very great, were de- 
frayed by annual collections in the churches, or by a resort to 
such liniited sources of revenue as the Church may have 
possessed, cannot be definitely ascertained. 

On the reorganization of the school, subsequent to the 
Eevolutionary War, commencing in 1789, collections were 
annually made in the three branches of the Collegiate 
Church. The money thus obtained was expended in clothing 
the children ; the teacher’s salary, and other expenses of the 
school, were defrayed from the general fund of the Church. 

Subsequently, (1792,) a legacy, amounting to seven hun- 
dred and fifty dollars, was bequeathed by Elias Brevoort to 
Consistory, for the benefit of the school. This gave rise to 
an effort “to secure an independent revenue for the future 
advancement of the seminary and it was Resolved^ “ That 
measures be taken for establishing a fund to be put at in- 
terest.” “That, in addition to testamentary and other dona- 
tions which have been or may be given for the support of the 
school, the overplus of all moneys annually collected, after 
the payment of all charges, be added to the fund.” “ That 
all money received and collected for the use of the school 



FROM 17; '3 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



109 



shall be received by the Treasurer, and paid by him, on the 
warrants of Consistory.” In the year 1808, this was amended 
so as to read, “ on the audit and order of the Board of Trus- 
tees only, and not otherwise.” And it was further Resolved^ 
(1792,) “That the Treasurer shall hereafter keep a separate 
and distinct account of all moneys received on account of this 
fund, and of their appropriation ; and that both principal and 
interest of said moneys shall be applied invariably to the 
maintenance of this charity, and the promotion of its in- 
terests.” The Treasurer, in his Annual Eeport to Consistory, 
renders an account of the receipts and expenditures of this 
fund, which report is audited by a Committee of Consistory, 
appointed for the purpose. 

As the combined result of four different legacies,^ and 
annual collections in the Collegiate Church, the fund of the 
school, in 1826, amounted to eleven thousand and twenty- 
seven dollars and ninety-two cents. ($11,027 92.) 

This was subsequently increased by annual collections in 
the Collegiate Church, so that, in 1847, the fund amounted 
to sixteen thousand two hundred and eighteen dollars and 
eight cents. ($16,218 08.) . 

The purchase of the lots on Fourth street, and the erection 
of the school-house, exhausted $9,260 7o of this; which, 
with subsequent outlays upon the building, amounting to 
$561 79, leaves the amount now in the Treasurer’s hands 
$6,395 59. 

The salaries of the teachers, the clothing of the children, 
fuel, books, and stationery, amounted, for the year 1852, 
according to the Treasurer’s Annual Report, to $2,412 72. 

The income from the different sources of revenue, for the 

* Elias Brevoort’s, 1792, $750; Sarah De Peyster’s, 1802, $5,392 
78 ; Isaac Slidell’s, 1804, $831 37 ; Mary Bassett’s, 1807, $1,500. 



110 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



same year, amounted to $1,121 74; leaving a deficit of 
$1,290 98, which was met by Consistory. 

Is there not sufficient of the spirit of our godly ahcestors, 
who founded and sustained the school for so many genera- 
tions, to induce its friends, in view of the incalculable good 
which the institution has accomplished in days that are past; 
in view of its present acknowledged usefulness to the children 
of our Church, to make an effort to secure for it an inde- 
pendent fund, fully adequate to its support? We believe 
that there is. 



FROM lYSS TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



1 1 



LOCALITY OP THE SCHOOL. 

For more than a hundred years after its establishment, the 
school was kept at various places in the vicinity of the 
Bowling-Green, apartments being hired for that purpose. 
The first edifice erected for its accommodation was in Garden 
street, in and here it remained for a period of 

seventy-six years ; but as the congregation removed from 
the lower extremity of the city, the North Church be- 
came its centre ; and under these circumstances, the pro- 
perty, No. 9 Duane street, near William street, was leased ; 
and after undergoing some necessary alterations the school 
was removed thither ; and a dwelling-house for the teacher 
(in lieu of the one vacated in Garden street) was erected 
in William street, east of Duane street. The Shaks- 
peare Hotel now occupies the space formerly # intervening 
between the school-house and the teacher’s residence. Here 
the school remained till 1835, when it removed to No. 106 
Elm street, south-west corner of Canal street, and the teacher 
resided No. 25 Carmine street. 

From 1836 to 1841, it occupied the basement of the 
church corner of Broome and Greene streets, removing thence 
to the basement of the church on the corner of Greene and 
Houston streets, where it remained for one year, removing, in 
1842, to the premises No. 91 Mercer street. Here it con- 
tinued for five years, when a temporary provision was made 
for it in the basement of the Ninth Street Church, pending 
the erection of the present edifice. 

In the beginning of the year 1840, the Trustees, impelled 



112 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



by a sense of duty towards the children under their care, 
prepared and presented a communication to Consistory, in 
which their attention was drawn to the necessity of providing 
a suitable and permanent locality for the school, as previously 
mentioned, and of adopting such other reformatory measures 
as would be calculated to increase the efficiency of the insti- 
tution over which they presided. This was the commence- 
ment of a series of efforts which secured to the school, from 
time to time, important advantages, and \yhich, after a period 
of seven years, eventuated in the purchase of the ground in 
Fourth street. Immediate measures were taken to erect 
thereon an edifice suitable for school purposes, Messrs. Peter 
K. Warner, Mortimer De Motte, and Thomas Jeremiah 
constituting the Building Committee. 

Ground was broken in July, 1847, and on the 10th day 
of November following, Noah Wetmore, Esq., who was then, 
and had been for many years, the presiding officer in the 
Board of Trustees, commenced the opening exercises of the 
school in the present edifice, by commending the school in 
all its interests to the favor of the Almighty. 

The labors and prayers of this venerable man of God, in 
behalf of the institution, had been many and fervent ; and 
as he remembered God’s goodness towards it in former days, 
and looked upon its present condition and prospects, the 
expression of his feelings in prayer, flowing from a confiding 
and grateful heart, was such that all present were deeply 
affected. 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



113 



0 

NAMES OF THE MEMBERS 

OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, FROM THE YEAR 1808 TO THE PRE- 
SENT TIME. 

When appointed. 

June 2, 1808, John Stoutenburgh,* Chairman, term expired 



(( u 


Dec. 31, 1814. 

John NiTCHiE,jr.,*Secretary, resigned Jan., 1813. 
Richard Duryee,* Chairman from Jan. 1, 1814, 
to Jan., 1815, when his term expired. Re- 
elected as Trustee and Chairman, Oct., 1831. 
Deceased Sept., 1835. 


t( u 


Isaac Heyer,* Chairman from Jan., 1815, to 
the time of his decease, April, 1827. 


(( u 


Abraham Brinckerhoff, Jr.,* resigned Jan., 
1813. 


ti u 

n a 

Feb., 1810, 


Anthony Dey, resigned Feb., 1810. 

Jesse Baldwin,* resigned March, 1812. 
Huybert Yan Wagenen,* Secretary from Jan., 
1813, to Jan., 1815. Term expired Dec. 31, 
1817. * 



March, 1812. Henry J. Wyckoff,* term expired Feb., 1818. 
Feb., 1813. John D. Keese,* term expired Jan., 1819. 



(( u 


John Y. B. Yarick,* Secretary from Jan., 1815, 
to Jan., 1820, when his time expired. 


Jan., 1814. 
“ 1815. 


John Kane,* resigned Jan., 1818. 

Michael Schoonmaker,* removed from the city, 
Oct., 1823. 


“ 1817. 

“ 1818. 


John Clarke, M. D.,* resigned July, 1824. 
William Hardenbrook, Jr., removed to Harlem, 
April, 1827. 


Feb., 1818. 
Jan., 1819. 


John Yan Yechten,* deceased Oct. 13, 1821. 
Jeromius Johnson,* Secretary, Jan., 1820, re- 
signed July, 1824. 


March, 1820. 
Sept., 1821. 
Nov., 1821. 

(( u 

Oct, 1823. 
July, 1824. 


Peter I. Nevius, resigned Sept., 1821. 

John A. Lent,* deceased Oct. 13, 1821. 
Timothy Hutton,* resigned July, 1824. 
Obadiah Holmes, resigned July, 1824. 
Abraham Yan Nest, resigned March, 1826. 
Abraham Bloodgood,* resigned March, 1826. 



* Deceased. 



114 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



When appointed. 

July, 1824, 

u u 

u u 



March, 1826. 

u u 

May, 1827. 

April, 1828. 
Oct. 6, 1831. 

a a 

a (( 

(c a 

a << 

Feb., 1834. 
Jan., 1835. 
Feb., 1835. 

Oct., 1835. 
Sept, 1836. 

a a 



Nov., 1838. 
Feb., 1839. 
Sept, 1839. 

a (( 

Jan., 1842. 
Oct, 1843. 



James C. Roosevelt,* Chairman, April, 1827, re- 
signed July, 1831. 

John Nexsen,* resigned July, 1831. 

Isaac Young, Secretary, July, 1824, resigned 
July, 1831. 

John I. Labagh,* resigned July, 1831. 

Stephen Van Brunt,* deceased Feb., 1828. 

Peter Stagg,* resigned July, 1831. 

Theophilus Anthony, resigned July, 1831. 

John Oothout, resigned July, 1831. 

John Clark,* resigned Dec.^ 1834. 

John Limberger,* resigned Nov., 1836. 

James V. H. Lawrence, Secretary, Oct, 1831, 
resigned July, 1836. 

James Ward, term expired Feb., 1844. 

James Van Antwerp, resigned Jan., 1834. 

Reuben Van Pelt, resigned March, 1839. 

David L. Haight,* resigned Feb., 1839. 

Noah Wetmore,* Chairman from Sept, 1835, to 
his decease, July 12, 1848. 

James Suydam, resigned July, 1836. 

Joseph Y. Yarick,* removed from the city Oct, 
1838. 

James Simmons, Secretary, Sept., 1836, removed 
from the city Aug., 1839. 

Peter R. Warner,! Secretary, Sept., 1839, re- 
signed on account of protracted illness, Oct, 
1843. Reelected to Board, Feb., 1844. Sec. 
retary from Feb. 1845, to Feb., 1846. Re- 
signed, Feb., 1848. Reelected to the Board, 
Oct, 1852, and elected Chairman, February, 
1853. 

John I. Brower,! expired Feb., 1846. Re- 
elected Dec., 1849. 

Valentine Van De Water, term expired Feb., 
1845. 

Charles Devoe, Chairman, July, 1848, removed 
to Michigan, 1850. 

John I. De Foreest, resigned Jan., 1842. 

James D. Oliver, term expired Feb., 1846. 

John Ackerman, Secretary from Dec., 1843, to 
Feb., 1845. Resigned April, 1849. 



^ Deceased. 



! Present members of the Board. 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



115 



When appointed. 

Feb., 1846. 

“ 1846. 



April, 1848. 
Feb., 1849. 

April, 1849. 
Oct., 1860. 

U (( 

April, 1851. 
Feb., 1852. 



Mortimer De Motte, term expired Feb., 1851. 

Thomas Jeremiah, Secretary from March, 1846, 
till his term expired, Feb., 1852. 

Edward L. Beadle, M. D.,f Chairman from Nov., 
1850, to Feb., 1853. 

John Van Nest.| 

Huybert Van Wagenen, Jr.,* deceased Sept. 10, 
1850. 

George Zabriskie,* deceased Aug., 1849. 

George S. Stitt,! Secretary from March, 1852, 
to Feb., 1853. 

Charles S. Little.| 

Henry Oothout, resigned Sept., 1852. 

Gamaliel G. Smith,! Secretary, Feb., 1853. 



The stated meetings of the Board of Trustees were held, 
rom 1808 to 1824, in the Consistory-chamber, Garden 
street. From 1824 to 1843,. in the Consistory -chamber, 
corner of Nassau and Ann streets. From January, 1843, to 
February, 1846, at the school-rooms in Mercer street. From 
March, 1846, to November, 1847, in the Consistory-room, 
Fourth street; and since December, 1847, they have been 
held in the present school-rooms. 



^ Deceased. 



! Present members of the Board. 



116 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



THE SCHOOL: 

ITS PRESENT CONDITION, COURSE OF STUDY, ETC. 

The building INo. 183 Fourth street, erected for the Express 
accommodation of the school, and which it at present occu- 
pies, is a substantial brick edifice, forty feet front by forty- 
five feet deep. 

The main room on the first floor is occupied by the Boys’ 
Department ; adjacent to which are two class-rooms, and a 
wardrobe for their accommodation. 

The second floor is occupied by the Girls’ Department. 
It consists of one large room and four class-rooms. In one 
of these the Trustees hold their stated meetings ; and its 
walls are occupied with specimens of drawings and orna- 
mental needlework executed and presented by the graduates 
of the institution; and also with frames containing their 
daguerreotypes, from the establishment of Abraham Bogar- 
Dus, Greenwich street. 

The rooms on the third floor are appropriated to exercises 
in sewing, drawing, etc. 

Outline maps are delineated on the walls of the school- 
rooms, and each department is supplied with the Croton 
water. 

The Trustees of the institution, desirous of providing for 
the children the means of enriching their minds with profita- 
ble reading, and of cultivating among them a taste for lite- 
rary pursuits, induced a number of its friends to contribute 
funds sufficient to procure not only a list of miscellaneous 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. Il7 

works adequate at that time (1843) to the wants of the 
school, but also some astronomical apparatus. The number 
of volumes in the library has since been augmented by some 
valuable works donated by Hon. James W. Beekman. 

Number of Scholars, — Previous to the Revolutionary War^ 
the greatest number of children in the school at any one 
period was thirty. Subsequently, (1783,) when the ravages 
of war had unsettled every thing relating to educational 
affairs, and the resources of the Church were limited, the 
school reorganized with ten scholars. 



In 1786, the number of pupils was limited to twelve. 


“ 1789, 


U 


« 


a 


u 


thirty. 


“ 1791, 


U 


u 


u 


u 


fifty. 


“ 1800, 


u 


a 


u 




seventy. 


“ 1808, 


u 


6C 


u 


u 


seventy-two. 


“ 1809, 


u 


ic 


u 


u * 


one hundred. 



Up to this date, as a general thing, the Principal had 
enjoyed the privilege of having juay-scholars, in addition to 
the numbers above given ; but none of that class have 
been received since. 

In 1819, the limit was extended to one hundred and ten ; 
which number, however, was not complete till the year 1842. 
Subsequently, the number of applicants for admission greatly 
increased. This fact, coupled with the earnest desire of the 
Trustees to extend the peculiar privileges of the school to as 
many pupils as the building would accommodate, led, in the 
beginning of 1850, to the simultaneous admission of forty 
new scholars : thus establishing the present limit of one hun- 
dred and fifty. 

Qualifications for Admission into the School, — During the 
greater part of the first one hundred and seventy-five years 
of the existence of the school, its doors were open to all the 
citizens who wished to have their children educated therein. 



118 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL, 



But as our denomination increased in the city, by the forma- 
tion of different congregations issuing from the Collegiate 
Church, it was found necessary to confine the privileges of the 
school to those whose ancestors had been its liberal support- 
ers ; and the common schools having sprung into existence, 
those precluded were not left destitute of the means of edu- 
cation. The school is therefore now, from necessity, main- 
tained exclusively for the children of those persons who are 
either communing members, or habitual attendants, of some 
church in our denomination ; a certificate to that efifect, 
signed by the pastor, being required from the applicant. 

All the children are required to attend Sabbath-school 
and church, at one of the churches of our denomination, 
under the regulations prescribed.* 

This feature of the school must commend itself to every 
reflecting mind; for the habitual attendance of youth, for 
many years, upon Sabbath-school instruction and the services 
of the sanctuary, will, by the influences thereby exerted upon 
their hearts and consciences, almost invariably preclude them 
from swelling the hordes of those who now find pleasure in 
the desecration of the holy Sabbath, reverencing neither it 
nor its God. 

CURRICULUM OF STUDY. 

Reading, Orthography, and Definitions. 

Penmanship. 

Arithmetic and Book-keeping. 

Geography. 

Grammar. 

History of the United States. 

Universal History. 

Composition. 



* Yide ante, p. 106. 



FROM 1783 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 



119 



Astronomy. 

Physiology. 

Botany. 

Elocution. 

Plain and Ornamental Needlework. 

Drawing. 

Catechism. 

Fov the past sixty years, at first quarterly, and subsequently 
semi-annually, in April and October, the school has been 
examined by the Board of Trustees and the Consistory. 
During the past ten years, an annual exhibition has been 
given, consisting of examinations in the various branches 
taught, and of exercises in declamation and vocal music. 
On these occasions, also, premia are distributed to those 
pupils who have distinguished themselves by diligence in 
their studies, and correct deportment ; and the “ Honors” of 
the school are presented to those children who may be gra- 
duating from it. These Honors consist of a Bible ; a psalm- 
book, containing the Catechism and Liturgy of our Church ; 
and a mounted Testimonial,^ signed by the officers of the 
Board of Trustees. 

The extent and thoroughness of the instruction imparted, 
the correct habits induced, and the integrity of their moral 
character, have acquired for the children a worthy reputation. 
Of late years, the demand for clerks and apprentices, from 

^ These testimonials, originally written, were first presented in 
1792- In 1827, they were printed from a copperplate engraved 
expressly for the purpose. The Bible was added in 1809, and the 
psalm-book in 1812. Many individuals who hold these honors are 
now maintaining, by their integrity and usefulness, a high rank as 
merchants, artisans, and members of the learned professions; 
among whom may be found the names of a few in the ministerial 
calling. Books were first distributed as premia in 1810. 



120 



HISTORY OF THE SCHOOL. 



among merchants and others, mostly connected with the 
Dutch Church, has exceeded the ability to supply them. 
Many children have thus obtained desirable situations with 
individuals, in whose employ no fear is entertained of the 
corruption of their moral principles ; and of the whole num- 
ber of these who have graduated within the past ten years, 
and entered upon the active duties of life, not one, so far as 
is known, has failed to sustain a reputation for intelligence, 
ability, and moral worth. And it is a happiness to know 
that several of them, under the influences of the Holy Spirit, 
have embraced the truth inculcated and early impressed, and 
are now wielding their influence for the advancement of their 
Saviour’s cause. 

Thus fruit abounds to the praise of Him who has watched 
over and guided this institution amidst all the vicissitudes of 
changing time, till it now stands a venerable monument of 
the past, yet possessed of pristine vigor to meet the claims of 
the future ; contemplating, as the true idea of education, the 
simultaneous and harmonious development of the moral, 
intellectual, and physical powers ; cooperating in rendering 
efficiency to the instructions of home and the sanctuary; 
preparing the future citizen for usefulness and happiness here 
and hereafter, and imparting light to the future saint, whose in- 
fluence shall be on the side of truth, and whose fervent prayer 
will go up to the God of love and grace, for the hastenhig 
of the day when “ wisdom and knowledge shall he stability 
of the timesf and for the fulfilment to His Church of the 
promise of the covenant-keeping God: ^^All thy children 
shall he taught of the Lord^'' 







. 







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