de Halve Maen

Journal of The Holland Society of Fall 2015 The Holland Society of New York

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Advisory Council of Past Presidents 46 Editor’s Corner Roland H. Bogardus Kenneth L. Demarest Jr. Colin G. Lazier Rev. Louis O. Springsteen Peter Van Dyke W. Wells Van Pelt Jr. 47 A Fake Treaty, the Two Row Wampum, Walton Van Winkle III William Van Winkle Oral Traditions, and Shared Histories Charles Zabriskie Jr. in and Colonial New Trustees Christopher M. Cortright Gregory M. Outwater York: The View from 1614 Eric E. DeLamarter Alexander C. Simonson David W. Ditmars Henry N. Staats IV by William Starna Philips Correll Durling Kent L. Straat Andrew A. Hendricks Andrew S. Terhune John T. Lansing Samuel K. Van Allen 51 “For the best interest of the Douglass Mather Mabee R. Dean Vanderwarker III country,” the Landdag of New David D. Nostrand Frederick M. Van Sickle Edwin Outwater III Stuart W. Van Winkle Netherland: development of a provincial assembly (1649–1664) Trustees Emeriti Adrian T. Bogart David M. Riker by H. Cornelisse Ralph L. DeGroff Jr. David William Voorhees John O. Delamater John R. Voorhis III Robert G. Goelet Ferdinand L. Wyckoff Jr. 63 Book Review: Francis J. Sypher, Stephen S . Wyckoff Liber A of the Collegiate Churches Burgher Guard Captain of New York, Part 2 Sean F. Palen by Harry Macy Vice-Presidents Connecticut-Westchester Samuel K. Van Allen Dutchess and Ulster County George E. Banta 64 Here and There Florida James S. Lansing International Lt. Col. Robert W. Banta Jr. in New Netherland Studies Jersey Shore Stuart W. Van Winkle Eric E, DeLamarter Mid-West John T. Lansing 65 Society Activities New Eric E. DeLamarter New England Charles Zabriskie Jr. Niagara David S. Quackenbush 67 In Memoriam Old Bergen-Central New Jersey Gregory M. Outwater Old South Henry N. Staats IV The Holland Society of New York was organized in 1885 to collect and preserve Pacific Northwest Edwin Outwater III Pacific Southwes Kenneth G. Winans information respecting the history and settlement of New Netherland by the Patroons John Van der Veer Dutch, to perpetuate the memory, foster and promote the principles and virtues Potomac Christopher M. Cortright of the Dutch ancestors of its members, to maintain a library relating to the Dutch Rocky Mountain Lt. Col. Adrian T. Bogart III in America, and to prepare papers, essays, books, etc., in regard to the history South River Andrew S. Terhune and genealogy of the Dutch in America. The Society is principally organized Texas James J. Middaugh of descendants in the direct male line of residents of the Dutch colonies in the Virginia and the Carolinas James R. Van Blarcom present-day United States prior to or during the year 1675. Inquiries respecting United States Air Force Col. Laurence C. Vliet, USAF (Ret) the several criteria for membership are invited. United States Army Lt. Col. Adrian T. Bogart III United States Coast Guard Capt. Louis K. Bragaw Jr. (Ret) De Halve Maen (ISSN 0017-6834) is published quarterly by The Holland United States Marines Lt. Col. Robert W. Banta Jr., USMC (Ret) Society. Subscriptions are $28.50 per year; international, $35.00. Back issues United States Navy LCDR James N. Vandenberg, CEC, USN are available at $7.50 plus postage/handling or through PayPaltm. POSTMASTER: send all address changes to The Holland Society of New Editor York, 20 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036. Telephone: (212) 758-1675. David William Voorhees Fax: (212) 758-2232. Production Manager Copy Editor E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.hollandsociety.org Tessa Krijgsman Mary Collins Editorial Committee Copyright © 2015 The Holland Society of New York. All rights reserved. Peter Van Dyke, Chair John Lansing Cover:Adriaen Block’s map of his 1614 expedition to North David M. Riker Henry N. Staats IV America. It is the first map to use the term New Netherland Fall 2015 45 Editor’s Corner

T THE END of World War I, French historians the two-row wampum came into existence and became Lucien Febvre and Marc Bloch were among connected with the Tawagonshi Treaty. In the process, A the first to recognize the role historians play in he demonstrates the role of myth building as an expres- creating nation-building myths. Developing upon their sion of political expediency, adaptation, and the struggle work, early twenty-first century scholars acknowledge of groups to define their power and authority. that myths are powerful factors in affirming identity. Brecht Cornelisse similarly reminds us how myths Norwegian historian Linn Sollied Madsen wrote in influence national identity. In popular Anglo-American 2012, “Few things are as effective as a good myth history, the story of New Netherland is written as an when it comes to uniting a people or building a nation.” unsuccessful struggle by incompetent Dutchmen against Madsen goes on to say, “myths emerge all the time, despotic West India Company directors. Historians especially when it comes to our search for an identity came to assume that only the English understood as a people or a nation.” democratic traditions and “were more experienced This issue of de Halve Maen explores two popular with representative bodies or provincial assemblies.” perceptions about New Netherland: that the Dutch Although the West India Company was formed to trade recognized their relations with the Natives as being and not to settle, Cornelisse tells us, the “lack of a local one of two parallel sovereignties, and that it was the representative framework became a problem when New English and not the Dutch who introduced democratic Netherland was in crisis.” He thus explores the origin institutions into New Netherland. and development of a New Netherland representative In the issue’s lead essay, Dr. William Starna takes a look body, the Landdag, within a Dutch historic context. at early relations between the Dutch and Iroquoian peoples. To better understand this body, Cornelisse compares According to Starna, the historic record of an “ancient cov- the New Netherland Landdag with representative enant” between the Natives and a Dutchman by the name practices in the Dutch Republic and its other colonies. of “Jacques” first appears in the 1670s. Starna identifies He finds that its development was not based on a fixed Jacques with Jacob Eelckens, supercargo on the voyage Dutch model, but was nonetheless set in the minds of the Fortuyn to the Valley in 1613–1614 of New Netherland’s inhabitants from the beginning and commander of Fort Nassau near present-day Albany and adapted for their colonial arena. “Its members,” in 1615–1616. From 1614 to 1618 the New Netherland he notes, “experimented to discover how the Land- Company oversaw the fur trade, which indeed centered on dag could be used as a political instrument.” Though Eelckens’s person. Exchanges between Natives and Dutch, not fully mature at the time of the English conquest, Starna writes, were “complex and potentially volatile affairs Cornelisse suggests that given enough time the New marked by mutual suspicion and unease.” Social relations Netherland Landdag would have developed into a pro- had to be established through agreements in order for trade vincial assembly “somewhat resembling the laudable to take place. Government of our Fatherland.” Thus, consideration of Three centuries later, Starna notes, the record of such the representative body’s very existence, he writes, “is agreements took a new twist. In 1968, Lawrence G. Van indispensable for a better understanding of the history Loon, a physician living in Hawaii and a Holland Society of the Dutch colony of New Netherland and its influ- Member, published an article on, he claimed, the discovery ence in the development of colonial New York.” of an April 1613 treaty establishing Dutch-Indian relations. Marc Bloch wrote in The Historian’s Craft: The treaty, Van Loon stated, was written on two pieces of “A historical phenomenon can never be understood hide in Dutch and had been concluded at Tawagonshi near apart from its moment in time. This is true of every Albany. Van Loon, however, never produced the original evolutionary stage, our own and all others. As the old treaty, only a photostat copy. The discovery naturally Arab proverb has it: “Men resemble their time more caught the attention of historians, who quickly ques- than they do their fathers.” tioned its authenticity. In 1987, Van Loon’s treaty was definitively deter- The study of New Netherland, as with the study of all mined to be a fake and reference to it largely faded from past cultures, is not only a constant process of revising historical discourse. Nonetheless, in 2012, Starna notes, our understanding of that past but its place in shaping a group calling itself “Neighbors of the Onondaga Na- our identity in the present. tion” launched a campaign to commemorate the 400th anniversary of this “first treaty” between the Iroquois and the Dutch. To bolster their claim, the Neighbors referred to a Native tradition of a two-row wampum belt that allegedly represented the covenant between David William Voorhees two equal peoples. Starna reveals in these pages how Editor

46 de Halve Maen A Fake Treaty, the Two Row Wampum, Oral Traditions, and Shared Histories in New Netherland and Colonial New York: The View from 1614.

by William A. Starna

Right: Len Tantillo, “Fort Nassau, 1614,” courtesy of the artist. Below right: Mohawk man, from Johannes Megapolensis, Een kort ontwerp van de Fall 2015 Mahakvase Indiaenen (1651 edition). 47

HE YEAR 1614 marks the build- Company. The role Fort Nassau played ing of Fort Nassau on Castle in this trade, and indeed, in Indian-Dutch TIsland and the beginning of the relations, revolved principally around the regular engagement of American Indians person of one Jacob Jacobsz Eelckens, the and the Dutch in the Hudson Valley. To surrounding Mahicans, and the Mohawk this place, packing furs to exchange for Iroquois. Although Eelckens’s on-and-off European goods, came Mahicans from presence in New Netherland is document- around the fort, Munsees from farther ed from the time of Fort Nassau through dagas had asked Eelckens to establish downriver, and Mohawks from their large to 1633, he is first mentioned by Iroquois himself in their country, drawing also towns west of the Schoharie. Within three people themselves—the kanuhsyú:ni “the the Cayugas and Senecas into a “General years Fort Nassau is abandoned, replaced people of the extended house”—at a con- Covenant.”2 by Fort Orange in 1624. In 1630 the first ference held in Albany in 1678. Addressing The so-called covenant with Eelckens purchase of Indian lands around Fort colonial authorities, Onondaga headmen that the Iroquois recalled in the 1670s and Orange is made, followed by the found- spoke of a “Govr called Jacques” who, they 1680s is undoubtedly connected to the ing of Rensselaerswijck, which settled maintained, was in New Netherland at the trade he had conducted at Fort Nassau. any question about a Dutch foothold in time the Iroquois entered into an “ancient As was the case for Indians in the Hudson the region. covenant” with the Dutch.1 and Mohawk valleys and elsewhere in the From 1614 to 1618 the trade in furs The “Govr called Jacques” was Jacob region, the exchanges they entered into was overseen by the New Netherland Jacobsz Eelckens, supercargo on the were complex and potentially volatile 1613–1614 voyage of the Fortuyn and affairs marked by mutual suspicion and William Starna is Professor Emeritus of commander of Fort Nassau in 1615–1616. unease. Under such circumstances, for Anthropology at the State University of Moreover, it was this same Eelckens who trade to take place, a social relationship New York, Oneonta. A longtime student had forged and maintained a service- first had to be established among the in- of the Iroquoian and Algonquian peoples able level of profitable relations with 1 of eastern North America, Starna is au- the Indians who traded at Fort Nassau. Daniel K. Richter, “Rediscovered Links in the Covenant Chain: Previously Unpublished Transcripts of New York thor of From Homeland to New Land: Indeed, Eelckens was again remembered Indian Treaty Minutes, 1677–1691,” Proceedings of the A History of the Mahican Indians, by Iroquois headmen at a 1689 treaty, American Antiquarian Society 92 (1982): 48. 1600–1830 (2013), among numerous who declared he had come “with a Ship 2 Richter, “Rediscovered Links,” 49, 76, 81. For a confi - other works. This paper was originally into their Waters,” receiving them as mation of and an extended discussion on Richter’s fin - ings, see William A. Starna, “Retrospecting the Origins of presented at the 37th Rensselaerswijck brethren. The headmen went on to claim the League of the Iroquois,” Proceedings of the American Seminar in Albany in 2014. that the Mohawks, Oneidas, and Onon- Philosophical Society 152 (2008), 3: 279–321. Fall 2015 47 terested parties. That is, it is unlikely that relationship between Native people and History in 1987.8 trade could have been carried out between Euro-Americans had been spelled out in Setting aside entirely the finding that the Indians and Eelckens and his crew an early seventeenth-century treaty with Van Loon’s document was a fake, Hill without some sort of an agreement—a the Dutch. This treaty, “often called the nonetheless insisted that an examination kind of commercial understanding— ‘Silver Covenant Chain,’” Hill said, was of its contents in the context of “Iroquois and its necessary protocols.3 Moreover, also known in Iroquois oral tradition oral teaching” remained of paramount this agreement signaled the genesis, the as the “Two Row wampum belt.” The importance. This statement echoes that founding, of the Iroquois League or Con- phrase “silver chain” is in the text of of Van Loon, who said of the treaty: “If it federacy, which became operational in the Van Loon’s fake treaty. “Until recently,” be genuine, or if it is not, will make little 1620s. However, it is at this point where Hill explained, “the Two Row wampum difference so far as the contents are con- things become complicated.4 was the only evidence of [this] early cerned. The matter of the contents,” Van In 1968, after some wrangling with the agreement”—the so-called Tawagonshi Loon maintained, “which have a definite Holland Society over its authenticity and treaty.6 Furthermore, Hill continued, historic validity,” he said, was what his an offer to sell made to the State of New according to oral tradition, the two row article was all about.9 York, Lawrence G. van Loon, a physi- wampum symbolized the terms of that However, tying the fake 1613 Tawag- cian living in Hawaii, published what he treaty. One of the two parallel lines of onshi treaty—Van Loon’s document—to claimed was an April 1613 treaty. Written beads found in the two row belt signified the claim that there was an early seven- in Dutch on two pieces of hide, Van Loon the sovereign status of the Dutch while teenth-century treaty between the Dutch reported, the treaty had been concluded at the other that of the Iroquois, suggesting and the Iroquois is of recent vintage, obvi- Tawagonshi, near Albany. The parties to an ever separate but equal status for both ously traceable to Van Loon’s publication this alleged treaty, the original of which sovereigns. The metaphor of an Indian in 1968 and the treaty’s “discovery” by has never surfaced, were four Mohawk canoe and a sailing ship on adjacent but present-day Iroquois chiefs in 1978. The chiefs and two Dutchmen: Hendrick never intersecting courses completes the same can be said about claims that the Christiansen and our own Jacob Eelckens. symbolism of the two row belt.7 confirmation of this treaty was signaled Van Loon’s publication obviously caught Hill went on to state that the Tawag- by the two row wampum belt, alleg- the attention of historians, one of whom onshi treaty did not find its way into the 3 Throughout this paper a distinction is drawn between the was convinced by the story while others hands of the Iroquois chiefs until 1978—a meanings of “treaty” and “agreement.” The “agreement” voiced skepticism. There was nothing decade after Van Loon’s article—at which that Eelckens is said to have made with the Indians with whom he traded does not rise to the level of a “treaty.” An heard from Iroquois leaders, scholars, or time they publically announced its “dis- agreement is commonly regarded as an understanding or spokespersons.5 covery.” In 1984, goes the story, the chiefs arrangement between two or more parties. Covenant, as it appears in the colonial records, is an agreement between In 1987, Van Loon’s “treaty” was de- assigned a delegate to carry the document parties to do or refrain from carrying out certain acts termined to be a fake. Scholars troubled to the Netherlands for further study. None (OED). A treaty, on the other hand, is a compact made by the treaty were generally relieved to of these activities can be independently between sovereigns or otherwise autonomous political bodies or entities. It would bear the signatures of autho- learn of the finding. The single response verified. Again, Van Loon’s original has rized commissioners and then be ratifiedby the supreme from the Iroquois community was a 1990 never been seen. It exists only in photostat powers of each state (Black’s Law Dictionary). essay by Richard Hill, which asserted that form, a fact an Onondaga chief relayed in 4 Starna, “Retrospecting the Origins of the League.” On present-day Iroquois chiefs believed the a phone call with the editor of New York Eelckens, see Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the first Dutch voyages to the Hudson (Amsterdam, 1959), 54-55. 5 L. G. van Loon, “Tawagonshi, the beginning of the Second page of photostatic treaty era,” The Indian Historian 1(1968), 22–26. For differing first views on Van Loon’s treaty, see Ted copy of an agreement Brasser, “Mahican,” in Handbook of North American between four Iroquois Indians, Volume 15, Northeast, Bruce G. Trigger, ed. (Washington, D. C., 1978), 202; Francis Jennings, The chiefs and Jacob Eelckens Ambiguous Iroquois Empire: The Covenant Chain and Hendrick Christiaensen Confederation of Indian Tribes with English Colonies dated April 21, 1613, also (New York, 1984), 54; Francis Jennings and William N. Fenton, eds., Iroquois Indians: A Documentary History known as the Tawagonshi (Woodbridge, Conn., 1985), 1. treaty. The location of the 6 Charles T. Gehring, William A. Starna, and William original is unknown and N. Fenton, “The Tawagonshi Treaty of 1613: The Final Chapter,” New York History 68 (1987), 4: 373–93. For the only person to have the response from the Iroquois community, see Richard seen it was Dr. Van Loon. Hill, Sr., “Oral Memory of the Haudenosaunee: Views Lawrence Gwyn Van Loon of the Two Row Wampum,” Northeast Indian Quarterly 7 (1990): 21–30, quotes from 21. Collection, SC16677, New 7 The best analysis and history of the two row wampum York State Archives, Albany. is Kathryn V. Muller, “The Two Row Wampum: Historic Fiction, Modern Reality” (master’s thesis, Université Laval, 2004). 8 The chief was Irving Powless. Wendell Tripp, personal communication, 1987. 9 Hill, “Oral Memory,” 23; Van Loon, “Tawagonshi,” 24. 48 de Halve Maen English, and French colonial administra- tions, judiciaries, militaries, missions, or others, that resembles anything of what Portrait of a Munsee has been claimed about the two row believed to be from the belt’s principles and purpose. Whether lower Hudson. Wenceslaus described in physical form or in ideology, Hollar, “Unus Americans the two row wampum belt is not to be ex Virginia” (print, 1645). found in the documentation produced in the colonies or in Europe.14 Furthermore, if a treaty had been entered into with the Dutch in 1613, commemorated by the two row wampum, one would expect that the Iroquois would have exhibited the belt, or at least extolled its principles of parallel sovereignties, to the English at their suc- cession to New York colony. However, there is nothing in the council proceedings held in Albany or elsewhere during this period or afterwards to suggest that any edly known to the Iroquois as the “Silver sage a summary of this event. And second, 10 “Chain” in a political or diplomatic context first appears Covenant Chain.” And here stands a fatal as Hill put it, “wampum represents [the in the documentary record in 1656, “Covenant Chayn” anachronism, one of several found in Van Iroquois] interpretation of the agreements in August 1677, and “silver chaine” in May 1690. A chain of “the most precious metal, we shall keep this Loon’s fictitious text: Evidence for the that took place,” an understanding “that we covenant chain bright and shining” is mentioned in 1683. existence of a “silver chain,” or a specific have inherited from our ancestors, which See Reuben Gold Thwaites, ed., The Jesuit Relations mention of a silver chain, used in any is not subject to debate.”11 and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610–1791, 73 vols. context including that of the historically In the introduction to a collection of (Cleveland, Ohio, 1896–1901), reprinted facsimile, 36 known “Covenant Chain,” is not found in essays honoring historian David Henige vols. (New York, 1959), 43:107–109; Lawrence H. Leder, the extensive Dutch, English, or French is found his rather cogent perspective ed., The Livingston Indian Records, 1666–1723 (Gettys- burg, PA, 1956), 45; E. B. O’Callaghan, ed., Documents records until the 1670s and later. What is on doing history. Henige maintains that Relative to the Colonial History of New York; Procured more, there is no mention of or allusion historical hypotheses can be broken down in Holland, England, and France by John R. Brodhead, to a two row wampum belt.10 into three categories: ‘X transpired’; ‘X 15 vols. (Albany NY, 1853–1887), 3:712; A. J. F. van Laer, trans. and ed., Minutes of the Court of Albany, Nothing more was heard of the fake did not transpire’; and ‘We do not know Rensselaerswyck and Schenectady, 1680–1685, 3 vols. 1613 treaty for more than two decades. if X transpired.’”12 With this clarity of (Albany, 1932), 3:363. For discussions on the evolution of the silver chain, see Jennings, Ambiguous Iroquois Then, in 2012, it rose from the ashes like thought in mind, a closer look at the swirl Empire, 145–71, and Richard L. Haan, “Covenant and a Phoenix when a group calling itself of smoke around the fake Tawagonshi Consensus: Iroquois and English, 1676–1760,” in Beyond Neighbors of the Onondaga Nation, in treaty and its alleged association with the the Covenant Chain: The Iroquois and Their Neighbors in Indian North America, 1600–1800, eds. Daniel K. Richter partnership with the Onondaga Nation, two row wampum is in order. and James H. Merrell (Syracuse, 1987), 41–57. launched a campaign to commemorate To recap, the document purporting 11 See the links “Two Row History” by Rick Hill, “Two the 400th anniversary of what they alleged to be a 1613 “treaty” between Mohawk Row Translation and Context” by Robert Venables, and was the first treaty between the Iroquois chiefs and the Dutchmen Eelckens and “Analysis of the Two Row” by Jon Parmenter at http:// honorthetworow.org/learn-more/history/, accessed Sept. and “European settlers.” Posted on the Hendricksen is a fake. The silver chain 10, 2015. Hill recently qualified his position on the two row organization’s website is a statement on mentioned in that document is an anach- wampum, offering a new, interestingly accommodative the treaty by former Cornell historian ronism, a metaphor not recorded until the take: “I spoke in July at the Troy [New York] festival on the Two Row and I made the point that the actual treaty Robert Venables. Attached to his state- 1670s. Also found in the text is “sewant,” with the Dutch and the making of the Two Row wampum ment is a typescript dated April 2009 of a word, the equivalent of wampum, rou- occurred later [than 1613]. However, the firstreal contact the identical text Van Loon had fabricated tinely used by the Dutch. However, this we [the Iroquois] had with Dutch traders took place in 1613, thus the commemoration [of the 400th anniversary along with a “new” translation by persons too is an anachronism. Sewant is from of the treaty and two row].” Letter to the Editor, Syracuse identified only as “Dutch friends of the Pidgin Delaware, a contact language that Post Standard, Aug. 16, 2013. Onodnagas” [sic]. Also on the website did not develop until the 1620s. Finally, 12 Paul S. Landau, “‘How Do You Know?’: An Introduc- is a letter and an article referencing the there is no evidence that wampum belts tion to David Henige,” in The Power of Doubt: Essays in Honor of David Henige, ed. Paul S. Landau (Madison, treaty by Jon Parmenter, another Cornell were a part of Native material culture or Wisc., 2011), 5. historian, both of which contain misrepre- were otherwise found in the region before 13 See Charles T. Gehring and William A. Starna, “Re- sentations of fact and of the work of oth- the 1630s. Thus, based on our current un- visiting the Fake Tawagonshi Treaty of 1613,” New York ers. Last is a list of “talking points” on the derstanding, it is not possible to connect History 93 (2012), 1:95–101. history of the two row wampum prepared something called the two row wampum 14 A different view, one marred by presentisms, a disin- by Richard Hill, two of which are of inter- to a “treaty” that some claim took place genuous conflation of the Covenant Chain of alliances 13 with the two row wampum, and the faulty logic of apposi- est. First, that a “reading” of the two row in 1613. tive proof, is found in Jon Parmenter, “The Meaning of wampum reveals that the initial encounter Given its asserted importance, it Kaswentha and the Two Row Wampum Belt in Haudeno- between Mohawk Iroquois and the Dutch remains that there is nothing in the ex- saunee (Iroquois) History: Can Indigenous Oral Tradition be Reconciled with the Documentary Record?,” Journal took place in 1613 and includes in its mes- tensive, two-century record of Dutch, of Early American History 3 (2013):82–109. Fall 2015 49 such actions took place. One would also “They [the British and the Six Nations] the two row wampum and its message as expect that the treaty and belt would have were each to have their own way; not first reported in the 1864 news account been presented at each and every council hurting their customs or rules, or regula- For Iroquois nations in New York held with the English when the Iroquois tions . . . the Indian had his bark canoe . . today, the two row wampum and its as- had reason to believe that the alleged . the British have his large vessels” went sociated ideology, initially through the principles of the two row were violated. the reading. This theme of a canoe and use of Van Loon’s fake treaty and now The same would have been the case at ship—that is, two sovereigns on parallel oral history claims to an early agreement meetings with the estimable Sir William courses—was repeated in an 1872 petition with the Dutch, has found its way into Johnson, or with representatives of the and again in 1917, when the belt was men- contemporary political discourse, both at neighboring English colonies, or with the tioned by name: “The two row wampum the federal and state levels. Yet, however governments of New France, later British belt treaty,” the petition began, “signifies real and important to Iroquois people its Canada. Finally, there were many oppor- [that] two separate government[s] shall symbolic or political message is, the two tunities when it would have been in the exist,” listing the Iroquois nations as one row wampum does not have the standing Iroquois’ interests to present and explain government and the British nation as the of a treaty, nor is it of consideration in the belt’s significance through to the end other, both to be independent “forever.”18 legal proceedings. of the French and Indian War, and obvi- It is important to emphasize that in none But to return to 1614 and Fort Nassau, ously, at the 1783 Treaty of Paris ending of these councils are the Dutch or a treaty Jacob Eelckens, and the Indian residents the Revolution. Yet the record is silent.15 with the Dutch mentioned. of what would become New Netherland, But there is an answer to the question of Despite claims for an early seventeenth- including the Mohawk Iroquois, there how the two row wampum came into ex- century origin—tied to the fake Van Loon is this. The Tawagonshi treaty remains istence. And it comes as an expression of treaty or to an alleged but unverified a fake. No historical evidence has been political expediency, adaptation to chang- other compact with the Dutch—these discovered for an early agreement made ing circumstances, and Native genius. late nineteenth-century descriptions are between the Dutch and the Iroquois. Fur- The first known recorded account of a the first evidence for a two row wampum thermore, it is impossible to link claims belt exhibiting two separate and distinct and its message of two independent sover- for a two row wampum to this distant rows of beads is from an 1864 New eigns. Moreover, the two row appears—or past. However, a case can be made for York newspaper story. Among the belts better said—presented itself as a political a late nineteenth-century emergence of Iroquois chiefs were carrying to Washing- innovation at a critical time in the history the two row along with its expressed ton, where they planned to discuss treaty of the Six Nations Reserve. principles and ideology. In the end, once matters, was a “white wampum with two Since the 1850s the Six Nations com- the smoke is cleared, it is possible to get parallel lines running through it, signify- munity has faced the question of whether the history of past events right, a history, ing,” the article said, “the ever existence, it would govern itself through a system of it is important to emphasize, that is shared side by side, of the institutions of the red hereditary chiefs or an elected council. by Native and non-Native alike. men and the pale faces in a state of peace.” Complicating matters were efforts by 15 I am indebted to George Hamell for his insights on No further description was offered. It is the Canadian government to intervene the non-appearance and lack of mention of the two row important to add here that there are belts in the reserve’s governance. Intent on belt in the historic record. in collections or described in the historical maintaining its traditional governing 16 See Francis Jennings and William N. Fenton, eds., The History and Culture of Iroquois Diplomacy: An record dating from the eighteenth century procedures while dealing with internal Interdisciplinary Guide to the Treaties of the Six Nations that exhibit similar features but are called disputes and the interference of Cana- and Their League (Syracuse, 1985), 121. For a reasoned “road” belts. They too signified peace, where dian authorities, the Six Nations Council and balanced discussion on the relationship between the two row wampum and path or road belts, see Darren the diplomatic “road” or “path” between struggled to define its sphere of power and Bonaparte, “The Disputed Myth, Metaphor and Reality the parties was considered open and free of authority—the reach of its sovereignty, if of the Two Row Wampum,” Indian Country Today, Au- obstructions.16 A second belt mentioned in the you will. One example of how this was ac- gust 9, 2013. http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork. com/2013/08/09/ disputed -myth -metaphor- and-reality- news story had “a white man on one end, an complished was by codifying its laws and two-row-wampum, accessed September 29, 2015. Indian on the other, connected by a straight producing, in written form, a constitution 17 See clipping from an unidentified New York City or path ever open between them.”17 of the League of the Iroquois, thus dem- Long Island newspaper dated c. 25 Mar. 1864, in the This second belt, or a duplicate, said onstrating to Canada tangible evidence of author’s possession, from the files of George Hamell. 19 See similar stories printed in The Brooklyn Eagle, vol. to represent a covenant, was displayed at a Six Nations’ government. Another ex- 74, no. 72, p. 2, 5th column, 25 Mar. 1864, and The New a general council of the Six Nations on ample, of course, is the two row wampum. York Times, 26 Mar. 1864, p. 5. I thank George Hamell the Grand River, Ontario, in 1870. These Employing this device and its explicit for furnishing copies of these items. were loyalist Iroquois who had relocated message of separate sovereigns, the Six 18 See The General Council of the Six Nations and Delegates from different Bands in Western and Eastern to Canada after the Revolution. The belt Nations asserted that it was a sovereign Canada. June 10, 1870 (Hamilton, Ont.: Printed at the was said to represent the Six Nations and entity, a sovereign nation, distinct from Spectator Office, 1870), 9; Chief William Jacobs to Joseph the British government at the time of their the Canadian government and exercis- Howe, 11 May 1872, National Archives of Canada, RG 10, vol. 1862, file 239; The petition of the Six Nations first treaty, both of whom, it was said, ing jurisdiction over its people. Finally, Clanmothers to King George V, 31 Jan. 1917, Library “stand on their own rules.” Another belt, the frequent communication that went and Archives of Canada, RG 10, Indian Affairs, vol. called the “check Wampum,” given by on between the Six Nations Reserve and 6767, file 452-15, pt. 1 the British to confirm their understanding Iroquois communities in New York State 19 See Sally M. Weaver, “Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario,” in Handbook of North American Indians, Vol- of the treaty, described in metaphor the during the mid to late-nineteenth century, ume 15, Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger (Washington DC: principles behind the two row as follows: explains the presence here in New York of Smithsonian Institution Press, 1978), 525-36. 50 de Halve Maen “For the best interest of the country,” the Landdag of New Netherland: development of a provincial assembly (1649–1664) by H. Cornelisse

“Peter Stuyvesant and the Cobbler,” Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Foundations.

“As Peter Stuyvesant had a singular inclination to govern his province without the assistance of his subjects, he felt highly incensed on his return to fi nd the factious appearance they had assumed during his absence. His fi rst measure therefore was to restore perfect order, by prostrating the dignity of the sovereign people in the dirt.”

CCORDING TO Washington “Why harkee master of mine,” cried Dutch as Landdag (plural, Landdagen; 4 Irving, the government of New Peter, “ . . . dost thou pretend to meddle literally “day of the country”). Netherland, in the person of with the movements of government— 1 Washington Irving, A History of New York, from the A beginning of the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty, Petrus Stuyvesant, did everything it to regulate and correct and patch and could to exclude the inhabitants from by Diedrich Knickerbocker, in The Library of America, cobble a complicated machine, the Washington Irving, History, Tales and Sketches (New any participation in policy making. In principles of which are above thy York, 1983), 669–72. this story, Stuyvesant took a huge silver comprehension?”1 2 Further development, a discussion whether the English watch out of his pocket and asked the or the Dutch were the people who brought democracy assembly orator to repair it. The fright- Irving’s colorful story illustrates the to America. Langdon G. Wright, “Local government and central authority in New Netherland,” New-York ened man replied that he was just a poor conventional view of New Netherland’s Historical Society Quarterly 57 (1973), 6–29, 7; Simon cobbler and that there were skilled men governance: an unsuccessful struggle by Middleton, “Order and Authority in New Netherland: The whose business it was to attend to those incompetent Dutchmen against despotic 1653 Remonstrance and Early Settlement Politics,” Wil- liam and Mary Quarterly 67 (2010), 1: 31–68, 31–32. matters. directors.2 Any Dutch efforts to obtain 3 Richard Middleton and Anne Lombard, Colonial Ameri- representative governance remain ob- ca, A History to 1763 (Malden, Mass., 2011), 145–47. Huibrecht Cornelisse studied archaeol- scure. In a recent historical overview of 4 The existence of the Landdag was mentioned in 1859 ogy and history at Leiden University, colonial New York, Richard Middleton by John Romeyn Brodhead, History of the State of New from where he completed his doctoral and Anne Lombard state that the assembly York. First Period. 1609–1664 (New York 1859), 573. Over one hundred years later Morton Wagman explored studies in 2014. He received the New of 1683, nineteen years after the English the topic in “The Struggle for Representative Government Netherland Institute’s Student Scholar takeover, was New York’s fi rst assembly in New Netherland” (Ph.D diss, Columbia University, Award for 2011–2012, and presented and the English took the lead in this devel- 1969). For more recent scholarship see Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland. A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century a version of this paper at the 35th New opment because they were “more familiar America (Leiden/ Boston, 2005), and “‘To favour this Netherland Institute Seminar in Albany, with such institutions.”3 In doing so, they new and growing city of with a court New York, in September 2012. He is cur- overlook an important development in of justice.’ The relations between rulers and ruled in New Amsterdam,” in G. Harinck and H. Krabbendam, rently working as a freelance archaeolo- the preceding Dutch period, the attempts eds., Amsterdam-New York. Transatlantic Relations and gist and historian. to create a representative body known in Urban Identities Since 1653, 17–29. Fall 2015 51 This essay explores the origin and de- Freedoms and Privileges, the removal Table 1: Establishment of Courts velopment of the New Netherland Land- of all abuses and the support of the of Justice in New Netherland dag as representative government within laws and statutes.6 Year both the Dutch historic context and local established Name circumstances, and its implications on the The freedoms to which this statement development of representative govern- refers was the WIC policy, stipulated in 1642 Middelburgh (Newtown) ment in colonial New York. the Freedoms and Exemptions of 1629, in 1644 Heemstede (Hempstead) which the patroonships (private colonies) 1645 Vlissingen (Flushing) The political context of the New Neth- and settlements not situated on Manhat- ‘s Gravesande (Gravesend) erland Landdag: When the West India tan were granted “the liberty to appoint a 1646 Breuckelen (Brooklyn) Company (WIC) settled New Netherland, Deputy, who shall give information to the 1652 Beverwijck (Albany) its methods of governing were executed Commander and Council . . . of all things 1653 New Amsterdam (New York) in military fashion. The Company was relating to his Colonie.”7 Bear in mind 1654 Amersfoort (Flatlands) formed to trade, not to settle. This situa- that only the patroonships were included, Midwout (Flatbush) tion became complicated when the Com- because no local governments had yet 1656 Oostdorp (Westchester) pany sold large tracts to investors known been established. In a charter of Freedoms Rustdorp (Jamaica) as patroons, with full rights to establish and Exemptions designed in 1640, the 1660 Haerlem (Harlem) independent courts, and established rural establishment of local governments was 1661 Boswijck (Bushwick) settlements, inhabited by free civilians included, but their power limited because Wiltwijck (Kingston) instead of company employees, separate “the Company reserves unto itself all Bergen New Utrecht from the WIC’s trading posts. large and small tythes [etc.], retaining 1664 Staten Eylandt (Staten Island) The lack of a structured local repre- the supreme authority, sovereignty and 8 sentative framework became problematic supremacy.” In 1644 only the English Jacobs, New Netherland, 152 (Table 3.1). when New Netherland was in crisis. In villages of Newtown and Hempstead were 1640 a war between the Dutch and Indians excluded from the centralized government real Landdag was called. On March 4, threatened to erase the colony. In an at- (see Table 1). Thus, in theory, the sug- 1649, Stuyvesant proposed “to summon tempt to recover provincial control, Com- gested six-monthly assembly contained two deputies from each colony and village pany director Willem Kieft realized that only the director and his council and the in New Netherland to hold a Landdag to he needed broad support and summoned deputies of Rensselaerswijck (the only pa- deliberate on the highly necessary delega- all heads of families together to discuss troonship at that time). Yet, this statement tion for the best interest of the country in the colony’s situation. This became the should have laid the basis of an assembly general.”10 first general gathering of the colony’s rep- or a Landdag, in which all the settlements Following Van der Donck’s release from resentatives and resulted in the creation were represented.9 confinement, a delegation was sent to the of an advisory council, the Twelve Men The reform of government did not Netherlands to present a remonstrance (after a reform, Eight Men).5 improve the situation. The Company and a petition to the States General. The From the outset this advisory council replaced Kieft with Petrus Stuyvesant petition contained sharp criticism of the did not serve the director’s interests. At as director in 1647. Stuyvesant also in- colonial government and requested the the end of 1644, the Eight Men wrote a stalled an advisory body. Nine men were establishment of a suitable civil govern- complaint about Kieft’s government to chosen from eighteen men nominated by ment, “such as your High Mightinesses the Amsterdam chamber of the WIC. As the people. Three men were chosen from shall consider adapted to this Province, a result, the chamber sent a report to the the merchants, three from the burghers, and somewhat resembling the laudable WIC governing board, the Heren XIX, and three from the farmers. All lived in Government of our Fatherland.”11 But suggesting governmental reform. the area of . Stuyvesant like the Dutch authorities, neither the States Kieft had difficulty in maintaining his General nor the Heren XIX, had any in- Further, as the respective Colonies authority over the assertive Nine Men. tention to reform the government again. are allowed by the 28th article of the A conflict arose in 1649 when the Nine After several years of delay, they did grant Freedoms to delegate one or two per- asked permission to discuss the problems permission to create a civil government sons to report their state and condition concerning the surrounding English colo- in New Amsterdam, which was installed to the Director and Council, at least nies in a meeting of all the inhabitants and on February 2, 1653.12 The provincial once a year, so are we of opinion that Stuyvesant proposed to invite the English 5 Jacobs, New Netherland, 135–40 the said delegates should, moreover, too. This would have been the first general 6 Edmund B. O’Callaghan, John Romeyn Brodhead, assemble every six months, at the meeting of all the settlements that could J. B. Carr and B. Fernow, eds., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York, 15 vols. summons of the Director and Coun- be called a Landdag. The Nine, however, (Albany, 1969), 1: 154 (hereafter cited as DRCHNY). wished to keep the English out of it, and cil, for mutual good understanding 7 DRCHNY 2: 253–57. and the general advancement of the as a result Stuyvesant refused permission 8 Ibid, 119–23. public welfare, to aid in advising for a meeting of the Manhattan inhabitants 9 them, besides, upon all affairs relating alone. The Nine persisted and Adriaan van Jacobs, New Netherland, 141. to the prosperity of their Colonies, der Donck, one its members, presented 10 Ibid., 141–46. the conciliation of the Indians and a petition on their behalf. Stuyvesant 11 DRCHNY 1: 259–61. neighbors, the maintenance of the imprisoned him. In this situation the first 12 See Jacobs, “To favour this new city.” 52 de Halve Maen Table 2. Participating Settlements.

government remained unchanged. from seven to seventeen (see Table 1). Yet, what resembling the laudable Govern- Nevertheless, the events of 1649 cre- no regular organized provincial meetings ment of our Fatherland.”17 ated precedent. The Landdag became the were held. It was almost ten years before Although no real effort was made, nei- offi cial platform for discussion between an offi cial Landdag again gathered in ther by the WIC nor the States General, the director-general and local magistrates. 1663. According to Jaap Jacobs it took the political development of New Neth- It would not, however, develop without so long because of the bad experiences in erland should be understood in the light another escalation of confl ict. In the end 1653.14 Nevertheless, Stuyvesant was not of this request. When the Landdag was of 1653 a Landdag was held without the that determined. His resolute reaction in created, a Dutch model would have been knowledge of the director-general. At 1653 did not mean that the various settle- in the minds of the colonial government this meeting a remonstrance was written ments had no opportunity to discuss issues and the inhabitants. The use of the term again heavily criticizing the Company. with each other, as in 1654 (see Table 2). “gemeene Lantsdagh” in a document writ- Because the English inititated this re- Morton Wagman suggests that there was ten in 1663 describing a general meeting monstrance while the Republic was at no real need to hold general discussions of the English colonies is remarkable, as war with England, Stuyvesant dismissed as no provincial-wide problems arose. it implies the establishment of the term in the Landdag and told the assembly not to The colony knew several peaceful years the Dutch colonial mindset at that time.18 meet again.13 in the 1650s. This changed in 1658, Rather than looking to the English, the Following 1653 much changed. New when troubles erupted with the Esopus, Dutch were viewing events in the terms Netherland rapidly developed into a settler reaching a violent climax in June 1663 of their own country. colony (see Figure 2). Between 1653 and with an Indian raid on Wiltwijck. In that A single “Dutch model,” however, did 1664 the number of local courts increased year the English also caused a crisis on not exist. The Dutch Republic was char- Long Island. To make a proper defense of acterized by many differences in methods New Netherland, in July 1663 a general of governing between the provinces. Each meeting of all the settlements became province claimed to be an independent necessary.15 After this date and until the sovereignty, as, in fact, did each city. English takeover in 1664 several Land- This situation was rooted in the medieval dagen were held (see Tables 2 and 3). period, when the provinces were ruled by autonomous counts, dukes, and overlords, The Landdag as a Dutch tradition: who granted many privileges and free- The petition that Adriaan vander Donck doms to the different cities. The provinces wrote in 1649 represented the thinking only united with the Dutch Revolt in the of several inhabitants of New Netherland late sixteenth century, when they bound when it asked to establish a borgerlycke 13 See Middleton, “Order and Authority.” (public or civil) government. The peti- 14 Jacobs, New Netherland, 167. tioners referred to the institutions of their 15 Wagman, “Struggle for Representative Government,” neighbors, the colony of New England. In 240–43. that colony, they stated, government was 16 Wright, “Local Government and Central Author- based on the people’s ability to choose ity,” 20-21. their own offi cials and therefore have a 17 DRCHNY 1: 259–61. voice in the central government.16 There 18 “heeft sich den E: Heere Directr: Genrl Petrus Stui- is, however, no reason to look for an jvesant selffs in persoon ao: 1650: getransporteert tot Figure 2: New Netherland in the late Herfort opde gemeene Lantsdagh vande Colonijen van 1660s (Jacobs, New Netherland). English example of the Landdag, as they N: Engelant,” NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 287 [6 asked to establish a government “some- september 1663. Fall 2015 53 themselves together to fi ght Spain and The nobility and the countryside were (local governments). However, because the king was offi cially renounced. The the most infl uential in the governments of the contribution of the cities during provinces were only united in a joint of the northern and eastern provinces of the war for independence, it was decided meeting of all the provinces, the States the Republic.23 at the end of the sixteenth century that General, while the individual provinces It is in the northern and eastern parts of the eleven cities could participate as a strengthened their own autonomy.19 As a the Republic where we fi nd Landdagen fourth district. Decisions were fi rst taken result, no clear institution for the Republic that could be models for New Nether- by deputies from every grietenij or city as a nation developed and the provincial land. In the province of Gelderland the on the meetings of the individual goën or differences remained. If something new meeting of the Staten was also known districts. On the Landdag each district had had to be created in New Netherland, as the Landdag. The Landdag, however, only one vote.27 the colonists had numerous examples to was not as important as the Staten in In the province of Groningen, the Land- choose from. Holland. Gelderland was divided into dag existed on two different levels. The The most infl uential province was Hol- three quarters: Nijmegen, Zutphen, and provincial Landdag only counted two land, and New Netherland was strongly Arnhem (Gelderland originally counted votes, one from the city of Groningen dependent on the economy and politics four quarters, but the quarter of Roer- and one from the Ommelanden (literally: of Holland. When the city of New Am- mond remained in hands of Spain). These surrounding lands, the countryside of sterdam was created, the model of Hol- quarters acted like independent countries Groningen).28 The Ommelanden had its land’s chief city, Amsterdam, was used.20 and the general meetings within each own Landdag. The Ommelander Land- However, the political and topographical quarter were seen as more important. The dag was a meeting of different nobles, situation of Holland was completely balance of power between the nobility landowners, and deputies of different different from that of New Netherland. and the cities in the quarters was equally kerspelen (local governments or par- Many cities dominated Holland’s politi- divided.24 Each quarter appointed six ishes). Because the composition of this cal arena, while a nobility represented the deputies, three from the cities and three meeting was complex, many confl icts countryside. Some cities even represented from the nobility, to represent the quarter arose about the regulations. And, while their surrounding countryside. The coun- on the Landdag. During this Landdag the the structure of the Ommelander Landdag tryside, therefore, had little infl uence and deputies discussed matters of national im- was democratic, in that a major part of rural villages no direct voice at all.21 portance along a Landschapstafel (table the community of the countryside had a As we will see, the New Netherland of the country) (see Figure 3.). As the voice in the meeting, the nobility was able Landdag was strongly tied to the country- most important task of the deputies was to strengthen its infl uence.29 Yet, because side, a situation unlike that in the province to defend the interests of their quarters, the Ommelanden had only one vote on the of Holland. The provincial assembly, the the Landdag remained a weak body.25 provincial Landdag, the city of Groningen Staten van Holland (Estates of Holland), In the Landdag of Overijssel the remained dominant. was a meeting of only the cities and a nobility were more powerful. Forty In the province of Drenthe, the only small group of noblemen. Eighteen cit- nobles participated, each having a vote province without cities or representa- ies each had one vote while the nobility against only three cities.26 The cities tion in the States General, the Landdag combined had one vote. The situation was were also easily outvoted in Friesland, was solely a meeting of the countryside. more or less the same in the province of where originally the cities had no voice 19 M. Prak, Gouden Eeuw, het raadsel van de Republiek Zeeland, where the cities also dominated in the provincial meetings, also called (Nijmegen, 2002), 184-85. the single voice of the nobility.22 The Landdag. Friesland was divided in three 20 Jacobs, “To favour this new city,” 20. province of Utrecht was unique, because goën (districts): Oostergo, Westergo and 21 R. Fruin, Geschiedenis der staatsinstellingen in Neder- it was not only the cities and the nobility Zevenwolde, like the quarters of Gelder- land tot den val der Republiek, uitgegeven door Dr. H.T. that had one vote, but also the clergy. land. Every go was divided in grietenijen Colenbrander (Den Haag 1980), 80, 230-31. 22 Prak, Gouden Eeuw, 189. Table 3. List of general meetings of the different settlements of New Netherland. 23 A. Th. van Deursen, “Staatsinstellingen in de Noord- elijke Nederlanden, 1579–1780,” in D. P. Blok, ed., Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 5 (Haarlem 1980), 350–87. 24 F. Keverling Buisman, “De bestuurlijke organisatie van het gewest Gelre (1543–1795/1798),” in F. Keverling Buisman, O. Moorman van Kappen, F. W. J. Scholten, Van Hertogdom Gelre tot Provincie Gelderland, hoofdstukken uit de geschiedenis van Bestuur en Bestuursinrichting van Gelderland 1339–1989 (Nijmegen 1990), 53–74, see especially 62–64. 25 Keverling Buisman, “De bestuurlijke organisatie van het gewest Gelre,” 67–69. 26 Fruin, Geschiedenis der staatsinstellingen, 251–52. 27 Ibid., 247–48. 28 Fruin, Geschiedenis der staatsinstellingen, 254. 29 W. J. Formstra, “Jonkers en boeren op de Ommelander landdag in de eerste helft der achttiende eeuw,” in W. J. Formstra, Geschiedenis tussen Eems en Lauwers, Gron- inger Historische Reeks 4 (Assen 1988), 115–41.

54 de Halve Maen the villages, even from where they have complains, have to be present.36 Each Landdag followed a standard sequence of events. The governor entered the meeting in a military procession after which the deputies from the native vil- lages could take their seat. The governor opened with an address in which the Company’s policies were pointed out. Then the authority of the past year’s elders was transferred to the new year’s elders, followed by a court in which local mat- ters were discussed. Thereafter a second address followed and the Landdag ended in a banquet in which Dutch and natives participated in a party of eating, drinking, Figure 3: The deputies of the different quarters of the province of Gelderland and dancing until deep in the night.37 on the Landdag gathered around the Landschapstafel (Keverling Buisman, The Formosa Landdag was therefore “De bestuurlijke organisatie van het gewest Gelre,” 55.). more ceremonial than political. According to Andrade, the ceremony was designed The Landdag was based on kerspelen, side was always represented by a group to further the VOC’s rule on Formosa: similar to the Ommelander Landdag, of nobles or a city, or united in a district Its most important purpose was to but the Landdag of Drente was a com- with only one vote (or even less, like the impress the natives with the awesome position of six dingspelen.30 A dingspel dingspelen). The New Netherland Land- power of the Dutch, to capitalize on the was an institution of justice, in which dag resembled the Landdagen discussed glory the Company had already gained juridical matters between the different above, but it adjusted to the situation of for itself through its spectacular military landowners or kerspelen were discussed the colony and was therefore unique. victories.38 in the so called hagelsprake (court).31 Let us now turn to the practices in other The nobility of Drente had one third Dutch colonies. The Dutch East India The VOC made a show of it. The parade of the votes in the Landdag, the other Company (VOC) introduced a Landdag of soldiers in their best uniforms dem- two were divided by the six dingspelen. on the island of Formosa (present-day onstrated the Company’s might, while Each dingspel had in fact only one third Taiwan). In 1624, the VOC built a trading 30 J. Heringa, “De samenstelling van den Landsdag: of a vote. Consequently, the different post on Formosa, the fortress of Zeelan- volmachten van kerspelen of van dingspelen?” in Ons dingspelen had to be unanimous to have dia, but saw economic opportunities in Waardeel, tweemaandelijkse uitgave van de Drentse Historische Vereniging, vereniging voor geschiedenis any influence at a provincial level. It was the trade in deerskins from the island’s en genealogie jaargang 7 (1987), 6: 182–84. even more difficult for every individual interior, so it was decided in 1636 to 31 I. H. Gosses, De organisatie van bestuur en rechtspraak 34 kerspel, or landowner, to have a voice on gain control over the whole island. The in de landschap Drente (tot den tijd der Republiek) the general meeting. Therefore, the dif- island, however, was already populated (Groningen, 1941), 174–75. ferent dingspelen and the local kerspelen by native peoples who lived in several 32 F. R. H. Smit, “Bestuursinstellingen en ambtenaren were viewed as more important than the small towns, while the Dutch only lived van de landschap Drente 1600 tot 1750,” in Drentse Historische Studiën 8 (1984), 8–183, 42–43. provincial Landdag.32 in and around the fortress of Zeelandia. 33 Van Deursen, “Staatsinstellingen in de Noordelijke To conclude, in the Dutch Republic In order to maintain their authority over Nederlanden,” 383. a Landdag was largely a northern and the natives, the VOC established a Land- 34 T. Andrade, “Political Spectacle and Colonial Rule, eastern institution. According to Van dag; a gathering of deputies from the The Landdag on Dutch Taiwan, 1629–1648,” Itinerario Deursen, a Landdag was a social event native towns.35 Caspar Schalkalden, a 21 (1997), 3: 57–93, 60–61. in these regions, a meeting of provincial German who traveled around the world 35 Andrade, “The Landdag on Dutch Taiwan,” 68–69. aristocrats. While the provincial assem- in 1642–1652, visited Dutch Formosa and 36 “Damit aber auch unter den Inwohnern eine Ordnung blies of Holland and Zeeland frequently wrote about its Landdag: und Disziplin gehalten würde, hatte die Edl. Compagnie met, the Landdagen only met once or in allen Dörfern gewisse Personen aus ihrer Nation zu In order to hold authority and discipline Capitains verordnet, welchen die anderen Nachbarn twice a year.33 Local affairs were more under the inhabitants, the noble Com- mußten untertänig sein. Und damit auch solche Capit- important and it could be stated that a ains ihr Amt nicht mißbrauchten, wurde [alle] Jahr zu pany have nominated in every village Landdag only gathered when the States gewisser Zeit ein Landtag auf Provincia gehalten, auf some appointed persons from their own welchem die Capitains und Ältesten aus allen Dörfern, General needed input in national matters, auch wer sonst etwas zu klagen oder fürzubringen hatte, nation as captains to which the others such as taxation. A Landdag was really erscheinen mußten.” C. Schmalkalden, Die wundersamen have to be submissive. And also to Reisen des Caspar Schmalkalden nach West- und Ostin- a matter of the countryside, a gathering prevent that those captains abuse their dien 1642–1652. Nach einer bisher unveröffentlichten of overlords and farmers. However, no Handschrift bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Wolfgang function, every year a Landdag of the Landdag was created out of different Joost (Leipzig 1983), 146. country is organized on a set time, on deputies from local settlements, as in the 37 Andrade, “The Landdag on Dutch Taiwan,” 71–72. which the captains and elders from all New Netherland Landdag. The country- 38 Ibid., 72. Fall 2015 55 Figure 4: “Landtag auf der Insel Formosa,” drawing by Caspar Schmalkalden. In the back the governor is seated in a garden house, surrounded by guards, while the deputies from the different villages are seated on the long dining tables (Schmalkalden, Die wundersamen Reisen, 147). the governor and the council were seated can assume then that in Dutch colonies month of November, two representatives in a separate high place, surrounded by Landdaggen were used as instruments to from Your People’s villages, all provided armed soldiers. The wide social distinc- control conquered territories rather than with full power of attorney”44 A New tions between ruler and subjects is clearly as a representative body of residents. To Amsterdam court record of September 9, evident in a drawing of the Landdag made understand how the Landdag was applied 1653, shows how delegates were chosen. by Schmalkalden (see Figure 4).39 The in New Netherland we need to look at its Each member of the bench nominated two captains of the natives were also bound organization and proceedings. of his colleagues, after which the two with to the VOC by giving them symbols of the most votes were elected as deputies.45 authority; according to Schmalkalden, a The New Netherland Landdag: In New How this was done in other settlements “Regiments rod”: a stick “covered with Netherland, Landdaggen were called is unknown, but we expect by a similar silver on top and bearing the sign of the when situations required province-wide process. Company.”40 And, finally, the closing actions. In the report of the Board of Ac- Who was permitted to join the dif- feasting and dancing was more ritual or counts written in 1644, it was stated that ferent meetings? Unfortunately the cultural than a political debate. “delegates should, moreover, assemble council minutes provide no information In Brazil, the most important West India every six months, at the summons of the as to who was invited to the first official 42 Company colony, a general meeting of Director and Council.” Although the 39 Ibid., 72–73. deputies was mentioned in 1640, shortly basis was laid for a frequently held as- 40 ein Stock oben mit Silber beschlagen und der Com- after the Dutch conquest of Portuguese sembly, it was never organized that way. pagnie Zeichen darauf. Schmalkalden, Die wundersamen Brazil. To maintain good relations with As noted above, the Landdag was not Reisen, 146. the Portuguese settlers, Johan Maurits held annually but when required. In the 41 “eene soort van landdag” (a sort of landdag): N. van Nassau Siegen, the Dutch governor- first years the host was often the director- G. van Kampen, Leven van beroemde Nederlanders: sedert het midden der zestiende eeuw, vol, 2 (Haarlem, general, called an assembly of deputies general and his council. On March 4, the 1840), 255. from the various districts, called a Land- director-general was of the opinion that 42 DRCHNY 1: 154. dag by Van Kampen.41 Little, however, it was necessary to hold a “lant dach,” 43 NYHM 4: 583 (427) (Gehring transcribed the text as is known about this Landdag, while later whereupon each colony and village in land dach, but the original is lant dach). developments in the colony made the New Netherland was summoned to send 44 oversulcx word[en] U.L. bij desen gerequiseert tegens establishment of a colonial assembly in two deputies.43 donderdach naestkoomende sijnde den eersten vande Brazil difficult. Nevertheless, it seems Each Landdag was announced in a aensta[ande] maent Novembris twee gecommitteerdens uij[t] U.L. dorp alhier te willen senden met behoorlijcke that Johan Maurits van Nassau Siegen similar manner. On October 29, 1663, volmacht voorsien. NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 355. used this Landdag to bind his Portuguese it was summoned as follows; “so Your 45 B. Fernow, ed., The records of New Amsterdam from subjects closer to the Dutch govern- People are hereby requested to send just 1653 to 1674 anno domini, 7 vols. (Baltimore 1976),1: ment, as the VOC did on Formosa. We before next Thursday, the first of the next 117 [hereafter cited as RNA].

56 de Halve Maen Landdag held on March 8, 1649, while before the winter, if for the present the under oath of allegiance to us, they in a statement made by a witness, only 46 magistrates of the neighboring villages would fight rather against, than for “the people” are mentioned. However, and hamlets were convened and if what- us and therefore the Director-General it seems probable that only villages with ever might be proposed or advised and Council have unanimously con- local government were invited. When by them . . . were communicated in cluded to pass them in silence and not different villages gathered in a Landdag writing.54 to call upon them either for the repairs without the knowledge of the director- or for the defense, that we may not general and council on December 12, It is not known whether the northern ourselves drag the Trojan horse within 1653, Stuyvesant reacted that some of settlements used this possibility, but oth- our walls.60 the villages (Midwout, Amersfoort, and ers did, namely on July 6, 1663, when Breuckelen) “have neither court nor juris- the villages of Harlem and Bergen (New In these years relations between the Dutch diction, consequently they are unqualified Jersey) sent no delegates “but have and English nations were hostile, but in to send any commissioners.” 47 Actually, sent their opinion in a letter to the lord the peaceful year of 1663 most of the Eng- the director-general had taken in consid- director-general.”55 In the Bergen letter it lish were absent again. Only the English eration to grant these villages a court of is recorded that the invitation was indeed village of Gravesend was present once, on justice, just a few weeks earlier, “so that read to the whole community (gemeente) July 6, so the English seem to have been on all future occasions, together with Fort after which a general decision was made invited. Did the English no longer react Orange and the others, there would be about the matter.56 to the Dutch invitations? Whatever was sufficient votes against [the English]. 48 It is remarkable that the northern the case, the Landdag became a Dutch This means that the fi st Landdag of settlements were not present during the matter. 1649 consisted of a rather small group first years the Landdag was organized Although the first Landdagen were of people. In that year only the director- (except perhaps in 1649 and once in initiated by the director-general, local general and the council and the villages 1653). Participation in a Landdag was governments also organized a Landdag of Middelburgh (Newtown), Heemstede not obligatory, so it is possible that the (see Table 3). However, they had to ask (Hempstead), Vlissingen (Flushing), and government of Rensselaerswijck was permission from the director-general and Gravesend could be present, while only unwilling to attend any general meeting. the council. An illustration is that after the Fort Orange and the court of Rensselaer- At least, they tried not to be involved in Landdag of November 26, 1653, the del- swijck represented the northern part of some matters, as the WIC’s Amsterdam egates of New Amsterdam and the English the colony.49 Although in 1653 a reference Chamber wrote to Stuyvesant in 1653: towns met again the next day, November was made to settlements on the South “We are not pleased with the assertion of 27, but the delegates of the council, Cor- River, these settlements were probably the authorities of the Colony of Renselaer- nelis van Werckhoven and La Montagnie, not represented, because local courts had swyck, that even in time of need and war were not invited. The assembly decided not yet been established.50 they are not obliged to assist.”57 It would 46 DRCHNY 1: 352. As more villages received local courts, be 1663 before an invitation is known and 47 NYHM 5, 94 (167). delegations to the Landdag increased (see to 1664 when the presence of the northern 48 Ibid., 85 (152). Table 2). Not every Landdag counted all colonies is supported by the records (see 49 According to Stuyvesant, Breuckelen could not settlements. At the Landdag held in No- Table 2). be represented in 1653, although a local court had been granted in 1646. Probably the court was not yet function- vember 1653, for example, only delegates The first Landdagen were dominated ing in 1653, as would happen in Haerlem, which though from the council, New Amsterdam, and by the English villages, but during the last granted a court in 1658 was not established until 1660, the villages on Long Island attended. It is meetings, in 1663 and 1664, the assem- when a required minimum of twenty to twenty-fivefami- possible this was because of the discus- bly was completely Dutch. In a proposal lies was achieved (Jacobs, New Netherland, 155). 50 sion topic was the defense of the coast.51 to hold a Landdag in 1664, the English NYHM 5, 86 (153). It is also possible that it was due to the villages were evidently excluded, as the 51 See Jacobs, New Netherland, 165. season, as it was stated that “at this time request mentions only “the respective 52 NYHM 5: 86 (153). of year were not able to wait for advice Dutch villages,” and the director-general’s 53 J. Venema, Beverwijck: a Dutch Village on the American from Fort Orange, Rensselaerswijck and official list of invited settlements contains Frontier, 1652–1664 (Hilversum 2003), 176. the South River, because the ships are no English villages.58 It was not necessar- 54 A. J. F. van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 52 being the letters of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, 1630–1643, ready to depart.” ily due to ethnic exclusion, for in January and other documents relating to the colony of Rens- Fort Orange (later Beverwijck) and 1664 all the English villages on Long selaerswijck (Albany 1908), 785. Rensselaerswijck were probably never Island were taken over by force by the 55 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 189 (“Die vande durpen present during the winter months, as the English Captain John Scott, and since Haerlem, nogh Bergen hebben geen gecommitteerdens frozen river made travel nearly impos- the magistrates appointed by the Dutch gesonden, maer hebben haere meeninge missive den heere Direct: Generael toegesonden.”). 53 sible. Stuyvesant thought it government were expelled, none of the 56 Ibid., 191 (the letter of Harlem has not been found). villages were able to send delegates to the 57 more expedient, owing to the unsuitable 59 Charles T. Gehring, ed., Correspondence, 1654–1658 Landdag. The same happened in May (Syracuse, 2003), 4. time because of the approaching winter 1654. The English villages were ignored 58 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 71, 145. and because it is hardly possible for the because delegates of the colony of Rensselaer- 59 Martha Dickinson Shattuck, “The Dutch and English swijck and the village of Beverwijck it has been sufficiently proved by their on Long Island, an uneasy alliance,” De Halve Maen 68 (1995), 4: 80–85; NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 185. to sail down the river and up again utterances and actions, that although 60 DRCHNY 14, 270. Fall 2015 57 thereupon to meet again on December 10. Since sheriff, mayor and schepens mayors of New Amsterdam. The chair- The court of New Amsterdam started to of this city [of New Amsterdam], man was important as on November 26 prepare the next meeting on Saturday the because of the dangerous situation the English were dissatisfied with the 29th, and wrote a letter to the director- of the country, . . . had requested representatives of Stuyvesant as chair- general who was requested “to summon to call some delegates from the man, after which the meeting could not commissioners from the respective Dutch surrounding villages, to gather and proceed.76 The Landdag of April 10, villages and settlements to appear on the assembly in the way of a Landdag, 1664, began with a dispute between the appointed day.”61 Stuyvesant responded . . . this reasonable and sensible re- delegates of New Amsterdam and Rens- in a long letter that “it was by no means quest we could not, nor we would selaerswijck over the correct hierarchy: the intention of the director-general and not reject.70 the patroon of Rensselaerswijck claimed council that subjects bound to the author- (unsuccessfully) the role of chairman (de It was not just New Amsterdam that ity . . . should be allowed to enter with voorsittinge) as the representative of the initiated a Landdag. In a document pos- one another into a defensive and offensive oldest colony. Jeremias van Rensselaer sibly written on March 18, 1664, or some- alliance without the knowledge or order wrote to his brother, “under protest we what earlier, the villages of Amersfoort, of their government,” but nevertheless sat without special order.” But he wanted Breuckelen, Midwout, and New Utrecht allowed the mayors to organize an as- to improve this matter because he asked wrote to the director-general requesting sembly, however, “in the presence of two his brother “to discuss this further with him to “announce a meeting of all the del- deputies [of the council].”62 And so, on the honorable Company.”77 Such debates egates from the respective Dutch villages December 8, an invitation was sent to dif- over hierarchy also occurred in the Land- on Long Island.”71 However, the villages ferent villages with the director-general’s dagen of the Republic, for example in the did not organize the Landdag they had knowledge.63 meeting of the delegates from the quarters proposed (a local Landdag). New Amster- Things did not work out right. How of the province of Gelderland.78 Discus- dam probably thought it was important to the meeting proceeded is unknown, but sions were recorded by skilled clerks. For include all the villages and sent a similar a remonstrance was written on the 11th, example, documents were often written request, but now including the northern when no council delegates were pres- and undersigned by Johannes Nevius, 64 settlements of Rensselaerswijck, Bever- ent. Stuyvesant declared the assembly 61 wijck, and Wiltwijck. Consequently, the NYHM 5, 85 (153), 86 (154). illegal because it had contradicted “the 62 Landdag was held in the city hall of New Ibid. 5: 87–89 (156–57). orders and decisions made by the director- Amsterdam.72 Nevertheless, it was the 63 Ibid. 5: 90 (159). general and council at the request of villages on Long Island who had made 64 Jacobs, New Netherland, 166. the mayors and schepens,” namely to up the agenda to get the organization of 65 gather in presence of the delegates of NYHM 5: 94 (167). the Landdag started. This is a significant 66 the council.65 Further, in a letter to the Ibid. 5: 103 (186). illustration of the self-consciousness of Dutch villages on Long Island he wrote 67 “van opdien naem en tijtel als Lantsvergaderinge ofte the local villages. that “the mayors and schepens of this gecommitteerdens geen addres meer aen dr. grl. en raden te maecken,” NYHM. 5: 101 [180]. city have in our name invited delegates The proceedings of the meeting: The 68 “in soodanige soort ende manier niet meer te verga- from your villages and told you that it first Landdag was held in the church of deren,” NYHM 5: 101 [181]. was done with our consent and approval. New Amsterdam, other meetings also 69 Jacobs, New Netherland, 166. We hereby declare that it was not so.”66 took place in Fort Amsterdam (see Table 70 “Alsoo schout, borgemeesteren en schep[enen] de- Therefore, the assembly was told “not to 3, page 54).73 After a New Amsterdam city ser steede ons, uijt consideratien van[den] dangereuse address the director-general and council gelegentheijt des lants,[ ] versocht hebben dat uijt de council was established in 1653, it became anymore under the name and title of omleggende dorp[en] eenige gecommitteerdens in forme possible to hold the Landdag in the New van een Lantdach mochten beroepen ende vergade word lants vergaderinge [meeting of the prov- Amsterdam city hall.74 In fact, most of the [ ], welck h[ ] reedelijck en billijck versoeck niet hebben ince].”67 After these words it is not hard konnen noch te willen weijgeren,” NYSA NYCM vol. meetings were held here. These meeting to imagine a Washington Irving-like scene 10, part 2, 355 (November 1, 1663). places seem self-evident because in Fort 71 of Stuyvesant showing a big silver watch, NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 71–72. Amsterdam the director-general and the 72 but it was actually the assembly who was NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 107–108, 145. council gathered, while in the city hall wrong by following the incorrect proce- 73 DRCHNY 1: 352; NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, the courts were held. These choices were dure, because the assembly was told not 190. probably also made for pragmatic reasons, 74 to meet again “in such a form and man- NYHM 5: 79 (142–43). as a large number of delegates needed to ner.”68 Moreover, Stuyvesant’s reaction 75 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 154, 165–66, see for be accommodated. On April 12, 1664, the is understandable as any independent act the complete list of names E. B. O’Callaghan, History largest known Landdag was held. After of New Netherland; or New York under the Dutch (New by the inhabitants could be seen as rebel- this meeting each representative signed a York, 1855), 506. lion, especially since it was initiated by 76 remonstrance individually, which resulted NYHM 5: 84 (152). the English while the Dutch were at war in a list of twenty-four men, not including 77 A. J. F. van Laer, Correspondence of Jeremias van with England.69 the council delegates.75 Rensselaer (1651–1674) (Albany, 1932), 353. Nevertheless, after ten years had passed 78 Discussions were led by a chairman Keverling Buisman, “De bestuurlijke organisatie van it was still possible for New Amsterdam to het gewest Gelre,” 68. The council of New Amsterdam appointed for the session, probably by organize a Landdag, of course only after also faced quarrels about the correct procedure. According the Landdag’s initiator or host, that is to to Jaap Jacobs this was “an essential way of delineating it was requested politely to the director- say, Stuyvesant or his delegates, or the power in the seventeenth century.” Jacobs, “To favour general: this new city,” 24. 58 de Halve Maen the municipal secretary of New Amster- should develop at all. During that meeting “their deputies and dam.79 The first Landdag oddly differs from the delegates of the respective colonies To conduct discussions in orderly fash- later ones because of a dramatic twist. and courts of New Netherland enacted, ion, delegations were provided with the On March 4 Director-General Stuyvesant published and posted divers ordinances discussion topic in order to prepare them- consulted with his council to discuss and regulations touching the great and selves at home.80 On October 29, 1663, the Adriaan vander Donck’s petition to send excessive dearness of all sorts of mer- mayors and schepens of New Amsterdam a delegation to the Netherlands. Vander chandize.”91 This implies the Landdag arranged the Landdag for November 1, Donck was confined and Stuyvesant was involved in decision-making about for which they chose two delegates, and needed to decide what to do. After this taxation, or, at least, that Stuyvesant provided them with three points contain- meeting, Stuyvesant thought it necessary was not able to order new taxes without ing the opinion of the council.81 It was also to discuss this matter again at a Landdag, consulting the settlements. However, possible to address opinions by sending the first official one, on March 8, 1649.85 the power to construct new ordinances letters, as Harlem and Bergen did on July Before the meeting began, Stuyvesant was soon restricted by the Company. On 6, 1663.82 When instructions were not suf- presented a writing to the council and March 12, 1654, the Amsterdam Chamber ficient, delegates were given the possibil- asked them whether or not the documents wrote to Stuyvesant: ity to consult with their home community. should “be read to the entire commonalty The resolutions adapted by Your Honor At the same meeting the “delegations when met.”86 It is probable that Stuyve- at the convoked assembly (Lantdach) requested several days of time to consult sant intended to consult the Landdag [of September 1653] have appeared to the inhabitants of their respective villages about Vander Donck, however there was us singularly strange and unexpected, more closely, and promised to send a brief no debate. and still more strange the publication answer by letter, after which the meeting The meeting proceeded as a dispute thereof, without waiting for our advice was dismissed.”83 between Stuyvesant and Cornelis Melijn, or approbation. . . . To prevent this in the At home the delegates discussed the one of the former Eight Men.87 Melijn future, we have resolved to command, matter with their community, and, af- was one of the two members who had that you shall act strictly in accordance ter everyone had given advice, a final libeled Kieft in a letter to the Amsterdam with the laudable customs and ordi- statement was prepared to be sent to the Chamber in 1647, and found guilty of lese nances of this city [of Amsterdam] (sent director-general. In this case the military majesty. He was sentenced to seven-years’ you heretofore), at least in so far as the court had proposed to form volunteer banishment. However, Melijn complained nature and condition of the country and militias, but the inhabitants of Amersfoort to the States General, after which he its inhabitants may admit.92 refused to make a list of volunteers and gained the right to appeal the sentence. only promised to do their best to assist In January 1649 Melijn returned from the Six weeks later the next Landdag was other villages in need, while the inhabit- Dutch Republic, and at the Landdag he held. A pirate named Thomas Baxter was ants of Breuckelen stated “that they are proudly presented a letter from the States looting along the New Netherland coast. willing to protect their neighbors on General in which the director-general was The settlements on Long Island were suf- Long Island as much as possible, but ordered to either return to the Republic in fering large losses, in Amersfoort ten or are not able to hold several men for that person or send a representative to defend 79 purpose because the village is too poorly the sentence passed on Melijn.88 Jacobs, New Netherland, 350. populated.”84 After which the original After this unexpected turn, a debate 80 For instance: NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 355. idea was proved impossible and declined. ensued, but it is unknown what role the 81 RNA 4, 325. This was the only known meeting in delegates of the Landdag played in the 82 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 189. 89 which such a procedure was followed and event. The dispute between Stuyvesant 83 “De gecommitteerdens versochten eenige daegen although only two letters have survived, and Melijn interrupted the whole discus- t[ijt] omme de saacke nader met de ingesetenen ider in sijn respective durpe te overleggen belovende haere they provide a beautiful example of the sion about Vander Donck, so it is unclear antwoorde in’t corte schriftelijck over te sende, waer- interaction between central authority and what Stuyvesant wanted the Landdag to meede de vergaderinge is gescheijden,” NYSA NYCM local government. do. Did he only wish to hear advice on vol. 10, part 2, 190. how to handle Vander Donck, like a grand 84 “datse wel gewillich sijn soo veel het mogelijck is haer The New Netherland Landdag, its jury in preparation for a trial? On March nabueren te beschermen hier op’t Lange Eilant, [m]aer tot de mannen daer toe te houden het selvige niet kunnen meaning and legacy: The development 4, Stuyvesant stated that he wanted to doen alsoo de plaets swack van volck is.” NYSA NYCM of an institution such as the Landdag took remove “all differences and disputes [and] vol. 10, part 2, 193, 195. several years and, as it was not based on to deliberate on the highly necessary del- 85 NYHM 4: 580–83 (426–27). a fixed model, the institution had to set egation for the best interest of the country 86 Ibid. 4: 584 (428). 90 in the minds of the inhabitants of New in general.” Was this an attempt to bond 87 DRCHNY 1: 352. Netherland first. Just as the meeting had the inhabitants of the colony and to give 88 Jacobs, New Netherland, 142–46. to develop their own rules and traditions them a voice to express their opinion 89 DRCHNY 1: 352. over the years, it also needed to determine about the matters Vander Donck at first 90 their position in the colonial political wanted to petition on his own account? NYHM 4: 583 (427). 91 arena. Its members experimented to dis- However, neither the first nor the second NYHM 5: 78 (141). cover how the Landdag could be used as possibility could occur. 92 Gehring, Correspondence, 3–4; E.B. O’Callaghan, ed., Laws and ordinances of New Netherland, 1636–1674 a political instrument. At the beginning it The second known Landdag was held (Albany, 1868), 149–50 (Dutch reference to Lantdach was not clear what activities the Landdag several years later on September 11, 1653. by O’Callaghan). Fall 2015 59 twelve horses were stolen. On the 24th it the Dutch to live close together in a new necessary.101 was decided to hold a meeting “to deliber- village protected by a palisade, which The mayors and schepens proposed ate with the other deputies for the reputa- was named Wiltwijck. A second village therefore to hold a Landdag, a proposal tion and greater security of the country and soon arose, Nieuw Dorp. In June 1663, Stuyvesant was pleased to submit. its good inhabitants upon some effective the Indians broke the peace, burned down A Landdag was announced to be held remedies and means to prevent and stop Nieuw Dorp, and attacked Wiltwijck.97 on November 1. Almost all the Dutch these incursions, of which deliberations Stuyvesant initiated a meeting to discuss settlements were present except for Rens- they will give us a report with all due some measures to protect the inhabitants. selaerswijck, Beverwijck, and Wiltwijck, speed.”93 He thought it was wise to travel in the which had been requested to attend as the The delegates gathered in New Am- company of three to five men, each well mayors wrote that “especially also from sterdam’s city hall on November 26 and, suited with proper arms. Further, he wanted the hamlet of Beverwijck and the colony of after the Landdag began, Stuyvesant’s “in every village, each in relation to their Rensselaerswijck some delegates should representatives proposed that the delegates size and possibility, 8 10 or 12 capable be convened and called together.”102 “should give their advice respectfully as to persons will be held as guards, so when Stuyvesant, however, foresaw that the how and by what means these robbers can it is necessary a reasonably force of men delegates of these settlements could be stopped.” But instead of giving advice, will be ready to assist and help the one or encounter trouble traveling due to winter the English delegates began to complain the other village when it is in need.”98 weather and added a note suggesting they about the colonial government and refused Again, at this Landdag only New communicate in writing.103 It is unclear to debate in presence of the representatives Amsterdam and several villages from whether such letters were written. How- of Stuyvesant as chairman.94 As a result, the Long Island were present, but some ef- ever, the patroon of Rensselaerswijck was delegates gathered without the representa- forts were made. Haarlem and Bergen given an important position. tives of the council and wrote a remon- promised immediately to keep eight men During the Landdag it was decided to strance in which the colonial government ready to be called in times of need.99 The write a remonstrance to the WIC direc- was criticized. Stuyvesant declared the other deputies thought these measures tors. Jan Baptist van Rensselaer, patroon Landdag illegal and dismissed it without were essential, but the population of of Rensselaerswijck, and Johannes van taking any actions against Baxter.95 their settlements had not yet had the op- Brugh, former New Amsterdam schepen, In May 1654, shortly after the end of first portunity to discuss the matter and select were appointed as commissioners. Both Dutch-Anglo War, it was reported that six volunteers. So the deputies asked for some men were in the Netherlands at that time war ships had arrived in Boston. Stuyve- respite to consult their communities and and thus able to deliver the remonstrance sant consulted the mayors and schepens promised to respond in writing. It is not in person. But to make their effort more of New Amsterdam about new taxation known whether or not the measures were secure, a second delegation was appointed and other proposals in order to bring the executed, because only two letters have in the person of Cornelis Steenwijck, for- coast in a state of defense. New Amser- survived. The villages of Amersfoort mer New Amsterdam schepen (see Figure dam’s mayors and schepens wanted to (New Amersfort) and Breuckelen (Brook- 5).104 As a result, numerous writings had consult the other members of the country, lyn) promised to do their best when other to be produced in the name of the delega- but possibly because the coastal defenses villages were in trouble, but neither the tions of the Landdag. On November 10 had to be urgently organized, the northern one or the other was willing to make a list a list was made of the papers sent to the settlements were not invited (or unwilling of volunteers or to hold a group of men Netherlands. It contained a copy of the to participate), while the English villages ready.100 Here it is clear that Stuyvesant petition presented by the court of New were not trusted and excluded.96 Thus, was not able to impose his will on the Netherland to the director-general and the there were no other settlements to consult delegates of a Landdag. 93 NYHM 5: 79 (142–43). than the small Dutch villages. Perhaps Six months later in October 1663, 94 NYHM 5, 84 (152). because the assembly was too small, it Indian relations were still unresolved. 95 accomplished nothing. Further, the Dutch were again concerned Jacobs, New Netherland, 165–66. All the meetings were called by Stuyve- about an English threat. The mayors and 96 NYHM 5, 138–39 (254–56); RNA, 200–201. sant to consult with the deputies and schepens of New Amsterdam had spoken 97 Dingman Versteeg, trans., Peter R. Christoph, Kenneth Scott, Stryker-Rodda, eds., Kingston Papers 1661–1675 develop strategies to tackle serious issues, to Stuyvesant several times about the (New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch) vol. 1 (Bal- but none of these meetings had practical re- timore, 1976), xi. dangerous situation and condition of sults. And, because all the initiatives taken 98 the country, both with regard to the “in ider durp elck nae sijn groote en gelegentheijt 8: by the different deputies were nullified, 10: a 12 bequame persoonen gelijssel en gereet wierden dangerous war with the barbarous the development of a Landdag seemed gehouden om de gelegentheijd sulcx verijschende een Esopus nation and their followers taemelijcke troup gereed te hebben ende te houden tot pointless. Everything changed in 1663. In and the threatening advance and ap- adsistentie en hulp van’t een off’t ander durp ‘twelcke that year the threat did not come from the in noot mochten wesen,” NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part proach of the neighbors together with 2, 179. English but from Indians. A Dutch settle- the mutinous revolts of some English 99 ment in the Esopus area was attacked by NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 189. subjects which have already taken 100 native tribes in September 1659 resulting NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 193, 195. place, and for the prevention of fur- in the first Esopus War. Although a peace 101 Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 784. ther inroads to solicit not only advice treaty was signed in July 1660, relations 102 Ibid.; NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 355. but also deeds and assistance, which between the Dutch and the Esopus Indians 103 truly are most urgently required and Van Laer, 785. remained strained. Stuyvesant ordered 104 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, 361–63. 60 de Halve Maen selected settled and occupied.” This meant Dutch Republic. But all the claims and de- that the company should defend the inhab- mands made by the States General were not itants against all enemies, and, further, that supported by armed force and no soldiers the directors of the WIC should were sent to defend the inhabitants of New Netherland, which was the principal goal endeavor, with the high and mighty of their remonstrance.111 Lord States General . . . to work out Meanwhile, the situation in New Neth- and secure commission and patent, erland worsened. The Dutch not only faced in due form, whereby your real and an enemy from the west, as the Esopus legitimate jurisdiction over this War was still going on, but also from the province and its territories could east. The English from Connecticut were be shown, demonstrated and justi- eager to annex the English villages on fied. And afterwards, effectively Long Island and commissioned Captain obtain, through the aforesaid John Scott to form an army. In January lords states, from his royal maj- 1664 he arrived with a small army on esty of England, an absolute and Long Island and claimed it in the name definitive settlement of the bound- of the Duke of York. The English vil- ary with his subjects, the English lages chose to become independent under Nations, our neighbors here and Scott as president until the Duke or the the ratification and approbation King established a government.112 In the thereof.106 meantime, Stuyvesant received disturbing The Landdag therefore stated that “this messages that Scott was threatening the Province [of New Netherland] ought to Dutch villages. Amersfoort, Breuckelen, and Midwout desperately wanted to re- Figure 5: Cornelis Steenwijck (1626– be reinforced by a requisite number of good soldiers and the means thereunto re- solve the problem and proposed a meeting 1684), one of the commissioners quired. The aforesaid being the principal on Long Island. Shortly thereafter New appointed by the Landdag (New-York and universal foundation on which (next Amsterdam proposed to hold a general Historical Society, photo by author). to God) rest and stand the tranquility, Landdag as the situation had drastically preservation and security of this Province changed since the previous one held five council and the resolution thereupon, the and its inhabitants. Nevertheless they, the months earlier in November. As a result, a remonstrance, a letter from the delegates to remonstrants, have, to their innermost Landdag was organized on April 10 with the two commissioners, a copy of a letter grief and pain, found themselves woefully all the Dutch settlements present, even the to the WIC directors, the commission of frustrated and disappointed both in the northern ones.113 Jan Baptist van Rensselaer and Johannes one and the other.”107 The delegates wrote a critical reflection van Brugh, and a letter from the city of The WIC directors received this remon- on the last Landdag and the reaction from New Amsterdam. The letters were under- strance in January 1664 and redirected it to Patria. They asked whether the States signed: “Your honors’ willing servants and the States General. The States discussed it General and the WIC directors were able to affectionate friends, the delegates to the on January 21 and took it into serious con- prove “as clear as the sun in the afternoon” gemeene Landts vergaderingh [general sideration.108 Two days later a resolution that they had done everything they could to provincial assembly] held within this city was declared in which the boundaries of protect the inhabitants of New Netherland of Amsterdam in New Netherland,” and New Netherland were officially confirmed. and to maintain the colonial army. The authorized by one of the mayors of Am- It was promised to write a letter to the delegates thought they had not, because, 105 sterdam and the secretary. English villages on Long Island to sum- 105 Van Laer, 788. This was the first Landdag to make a mon them to remain under the obedience 106 DRCHNY 2, 477 (NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 2, concerted independent effort. Stuyvesant’s of the Dutch Republic and to complain 369) suggestions were rejected, after which the about the matter at the court of the King 107 Ibid., 478. Landdag developed its own strategy. The of England.109 Consequently, an order went 108 DRCHNY 2, 224–26. remonstrance it produced was a bitter to the towns on Long Island: 109 DRCHNY 2, 227. complaint and a request for help, but more 110 DRCHNY 2, 228–29. important, it was written in the name of a Therefore, we . . . have resolved hereby well and strictly to charge 111 Although in DRCHNY 14: 547 reads: “strengthened representative body, clearly protecting the by the soldiers now sent,” in the original (NYSA NYCM interests of the colony’s inhabitants. The you that in case you, forgetful of vol. 15, 121 (3) is written: “supported by the sent soldiers” Landdag now truly represented the will of your plight, should have repaired (“gestijft door de gesondene Soldaten”), and because under the government of the English, there is no other evidence that more troops were sent the people. The remonstrance stated that over in that period, probably only the soldiers who were the WIC, by publishing the Freedoms and to return again under our allegiance already in the colony were meant (see also Jacobs, New Exemptions, had bound themselves to offer as soon as you have received these Netherland, 54–55). 110 New Netherland’s inhabitants “reasonable presents.” 112 Shattuck, “The Dutch and English on Long Island,” protection, peaceable use and enjoyment 85. Altogether not a small accomplishment 113 of the bona fide property of the lands and DRCHNY 2, 401–409, 480 (January), 480–83 for the Landdag, as its remonstrance was (February); NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 71–72, 107, whatever thereunto appertained which they recognized by the highest authority of the 145, 153. Fall 2015 61 as was stated, all the taxes paid by the because without contributions it would became an instrument of the people. inhabitants were not used to the benefit be impossible to “keep the almost sinking After 1654, as the settlements able to of the colony. Therefore, they wanted to ship of New Netherland floating and thus participate in it increased from ten to send another request for help.114 be forced to decrease more than one half eighteen, it was no longer dominated by Stuyvesant responded that they were of the army we still have in service, what the director-general and his council or by not called to write a remonstrance all over the consequence will be the deputies can English settlements. The Landdag became again, “but to speculate with a unanimous slightly judge for themselves.”120 a broad assembly of deputies from all over advice how this province and good inhab- On April 15, the deputies definitely the colony representing (almost) the entire itants itself should defend and protect, decided to write a remonstrance and Dutch population. The representation of both against the vicious neighbors and Stuyvesant approved to meet again.121 A the delegates is therefore most important the wild barbarians.”115 He had several week later, the deputies gathered at the and, as in the Netherlands, was symbol- suggestions: if the inhabitants would con- Landdag in Fort Amsterdam to discuss ized by a hierarchical seating order. tribute once more, in money or a volunteer the matter, but probably no remonstrance After 1663, the director-general, the militia, recruited out of one fifth or one was written.122 On the other hand, also no WIC directors, and the Republic’s govern- sixth of the population, the war against contributions or volunteer armies seem to ment took the delegates of the Landdag the Indians would be over within a year. be provided. The only document touching more seriously. The Landdag were able to Further, he suggested that the English this matter is a letter written by Stuyvesant appoint different delegates to remonstrate threat was nothing more than words.116 to the directors of the WIC, four days later. at home and achieved attention from He knew that the remonstrance requested In this letter he described the precarious the States General. Although neither the by the Landdag would have no use at all, situation, explaining why he could do noth- Company nor the States sent real aid to that there was no assistance coming and ing at all. In the matter of fact, he asked for the colony, the delegates of the Landdag that New Netherland was expected to fix help and therefore followed the advice of must have felt an increasing recognition. the problems on its own. On February 2 the different delegates of his subjects: If Director-General Stuyvesant made an he had received a letter from the direc- effort to control them, he was unable to We hope to accomplish more by keeping tors in which he was ordered “to deliver ignore them, and ultimately he failed to our promise and using persuasion, than immediately the letters to the village on implement his own plans. In fact, in a letter by hostile opposition; anyway it will Long Island and the mainland, publish to the Heren XIX, Stuyvesant had to ask place the country people in less danger. the patent, sending at the same time for help because the Landdag had left him . . . Considering our present force, the such military force, as you have there, no other option. If given enough time it is situation of affairs and the unsafe posi- to depose the Magistrates, appointed by possible that the New Netherland Landdag tion, in which we still find us as regards the English and reinstate the former, after would have developed into a real provin- the savages, we deem it best to await which you shall leave the soldiers in the cial assembly “somewhat resembling the further developments or more help and said villages as garrison, to prevent the laudable Government of our Fatherland.” succor and remain on the defensive, for people of Hartford from returning and The New Netherland Landdag matured they can bring into the field ten, if not repeating their proceedings.”117 only during the final years of the Dutch twenty, against one of ours.123 As a result, April 12 was spent by period, but consideration of its existence exchanging letters between Stuyvesant Help, however, did not come, but the out- is indispensable for a better understanding and the Landdag. The delegates of the come can be considered a political victory of the history of New Netherland and its Landdag asked Stuyvesant to declare their for the Landdag’s deputies. influence in the development of colonial request invalid because they were afraid New York. that it would be interpreted to their dis- Conclusion: Historians have assumed 114 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 147–48. 118 advantage, which was permitted. How- that it was the English population who 115 “maer om met ee[n]paerigh advijs op behulpmid- ever, one of the letters was enclosed with struggled to get represented in an as- delen t[e]speculeren waerdoor dese provintie ende goede a record of different points discussed by sembly in New York and took the lead ingesetenen des selfs mochten, beijde tegens quaatwillige naebueren en wilde barbaeren, gedefendeert ende bes- the Landdag, and the delegates had still no in government reform. It was always chermt worden.” (NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 147). other idea than sending a request for help, believed that the English understood a 116 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 149–51. stating that not even a stuiver was spent “democratic” tradition and were more 117 DRCHNY 14, 547. on the protection of the province, nor on experienced with representative bodies 118 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 153–55, 157–61. the support of the troops. The tax income or provincial assemblies. However, the 119 was only spent for the benefi of the Com- NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 158. This almost development of the Dutch Landdag de- sounds like a Dutch version of the phrase: No taxation pany itself, and if was otherwise, then the serves serious consideration. without representation. delegates wished to see some proof. The The New Netherland Landdag was 120 “het bijnae sinckende schip van Nieu Nederlant inhabitants had already paid, now the a Dutch institution adapted from the booven water te houden en sulcx genootsaackt sijn Company had to act.119 Stuyvesant held homeland. Though the Landdag existed de noch in dienst hebbende militie meer dan op de helft te vermind[eren] wattet gevolch sal sijn konnen his own opinion. He still doubted that in many different forms in the Republic, de gecom[mitteer]dens lichtelijck oordeelen.” (NYSA writing a new remonstrance would have it is hard to find a specific model for the NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 161). any effect and thought that there was New Netherland Landdag as it developed. 121 NYSA NYCM vol. 10, part 3, 163–66. no other option than organize an army It would seem logical to view the New 122 At least none appear to have survived. NYSA NYCM on his own charges. He urgently asked Netherland Landdag as an instrument vol. 10, part 3, 181, 183. the delegates to take it in consideration, of the Company government, but it soon 123 DRCHNY 14, 547. 62 de Halve Maen Book Review

Francis J. Sypher, editor and translator, explains that the handwriting is quite either printed in Dutch without translation Liber A of the Collegiate Churches of consistent, for it is all that of one man. The or omitted altogether, sometimes to avoid New York, Part 2, Baptisms 1639 to original records before 1682 no longer offending Victorian sensibilities. All of 1697; Members 1649 to 1701; Mar- exist, and those for that period in Liber A these notations are translated in full in this riages 1639 to 1701 (Grand Rapids, were copied from the originals by Domine version. Researchers will also note some MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Henricus Selijns (1639–1701), to whose typographical differences, for example Company, 2015). memory this new volume is dedicated. As NYG&B’s ÿ is shown here as ij, and ú far as possible the layout of the records as plain u, the mark used to distinguish u IBER A IS the oldest volume in the as presented here resembles that used by from n in handwriting being irrelevant in archives of Manhattan’s Collegiate Selijns. printed text. Churches, officially known as The Following Sypher’s transcriptions Thorough use of the NYG&B versions L are seventy-one pages of notes, some of requires checking multiple indexes or re- Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New York, part of the Reformed which provide additional information lying on online searches. For his volume Church in America. Francis J. Sypher is on individuals named in the records, Sypher has created a single 124-page the archivist of the Collegiate Churches, although he advises that “it is beyond index to personal names, and a six-page and his transcript and translation of Part the scope of this edition, except in oc- index to place names, prefaced by an ex- 1 of Liber A, containing records of the casional instances,” to annotate these planation of the methodology behind the Consistory, the Royal Charter of 1696, personal names. On the other hand, he has indexes. These two indexes are going to and other documents, was published in attempted in his notes to identify almost be extremely useful. NYG&B’s volume 2009. every place name in the marriage or mem- of baptisms does not index the names of In Part 2 Sypher has created a complete- bership records, names which reflect the the children, but they are all indexed here, ly new transcription and translation of the amazing diversity of New Amsterdam’s followed by their fathers’ names, which earliest baptismal, marriage, and member- population. The difficulties posed by will make finding a baptism much easier. ship records of the Collegiate Church- some of these place name identifications The place name index, which has not es’ predecessors, the Dutch Reformed means that they “must often be regarded been attempted before, makes it possible Church in the fort and its 1693 successor as provisional interpretations,” a very to quickly identify multiple settlers from the Garden Street church. The records wise warning. a given location. cover baptisms 1639–1697, marriages The earlier transcriptions and transla- This volume is the result of an enor- 1639–1701, and members 1649–1701. tions of these records were published in mous amount of painstaking work, They have long been essential sources for several parts by The New York Genealogi- which is beautifully presented. Having genealogists, biographers, and historians cal and Biographical Society (NYG&B), all the seventeenth-century records in who are attempting to reconstruct families beginning in 1874 in their Record and one volume, with a single index, will that lived in or near Manhattan Island in later also in their Collections series. The greatly simplify research. Liber A of the the seventeenth century. Some historians NYG&B publications are now widely Collegiate Churches of New York, Part 2 have also found these records a goldmine available, in print, film, or online. Sypher should become the preferred source for for demographic studies. points out some places where he and the citing these records. Most of this 854-page volume is devot- NYG&B compilers read records differ- ed to these records. They are preceded by ently, but for the most part he agrees with —Harry Macy, Editor a 52-page introduction in which Sypher the NYG&B readings. There were some The NYG&B Record describes the rites and customs associated notations in the records that NYG&B 1987–2006 with baptism and marriage in the Dutch Reformed churches and community, Spirit of the Half Moon as well as the requirements for church membership. He notes that there are no HE NEW NETHELAND Museum’s book, Spirit of the death or burial registers before 1724, Half Moon, is in galley proofs with plans to be released in but the membership records in Liber A T time for the gift-giving season of 2015. It is a celebration of the sometimes provide dates of death or note people whose lives have been touched by the unique replica ship, removals to other churches. The dates in Half Moon. The book is richly illustrated with hundreds of color the marriage records may be those when photographs and organized into twenty-three chapters. the intention to marry was recorded and The New Netherland Museum plans to self publish the book not when the marriage actually took place, and is seeking further support for printing and distribution. Visit a distinction often overlooked in works the New Netherland Museum website at http://www.newnetherlandmuseum.org/ that utilize these records. or museum shop at http://emporiumofnewnetherlandmuseum.org/products for The introduction also includes a very more information about the book and a multiple choice on how you can help. All detailed explanation of Sypher’s meth- proceeds are for the educational foundation and are tax deductible. odology in interpreting the records. He Fall 2015 63 Here and There in New Netherland Studies

Prominent Dutch Fulbright student, Joris van den Tol, who just what the companies were doing or Americans will speak on his research “Permeability just what the colony governments were of power: the duality of structure and doing.” EW ARE AWARE that there is a colonial lobbying in the Dutch Atlantic.” Future episodes are expected to feature Fwebsite where one can find biographi- At 4:30 pm Harvard Professor Tamar Her- scholar Jeroen DeWulf and New Nether- cal profiles of many prominent Dutch zog will give a lecture on “Did European land Research Center Associate Director Americans New Netherland’s founding Law Turn American? Territory, Property, Dr. Janny Venema. to the present day. But such a website and Rights in an Atlantic World.” In ad- One can subscribe to the series via exists. C. Carl Pegels, former professor dition, on January 29 Dagomar Degroot iTunes, or listen to individual episodes. State University of New York at Buffalo’s will present a paper on “Climate Change For further information go to: http://newy- School of Management, has compiled and and the Dutch Wars of Independence, orkhistoryblog.org/2015/10/19/new-neth- written minute biographies of over 350 1564-1648” erland-praatjes-podcast-launched/#more- Dutch Americans and placed them online. Please register via Suze Zijlstra at 16337 Entries include not only such famous [email protected]. Participants in personalities as three United States Presi- the workshops are expected to read the pa- Historic House Demoli- dents, but also those who served in the pers that will be circulated in advance. United States Congress for perhaps one tion Spurs Film Project session and were never heard of again. As the list begins with sketches of the first New Netherland Praatjes INA TRASTER REPORTS on an Au- immigrants who arrived in 1624, it is not Tgust 4, 2015, New York History blog, surprising that many of those listed are no HE NEW NETHERLAND Institute “Blink and another house is bulldozed.” longer with us. But that does not diminish Thas produced four podcasts hosted The Lent House, located in Orangetown, the important imprint they left. by best-selling author Russell Shorto. En- Rockland County, New Jersey, was an A few of the well known names include titled “New Netherland Praatjes” (Dutch important and exceedingly rare example Roosevelt, Van Rensselaer, Schuyler, Van for ‘chat’), the audio series consists of of a New World Dutch sandstone-walled Cortlandt, Vanderbilt, Frelinghuysen, and conversations with historians, archaeolo- house. The house was built in 1752 for Fonda. Others of note were developers gists, and other experts on New Nether- Abraham Lent, a colonel during the of new ideas such as Edison, the Wright land and the world of the seventeenth- American Revolution, and is linked to Brothers, and Lee De Forest. Then, of century Dutch. The first episode, released Abraham de Ryck, one of the earliest set- course, there is author John Updike, Jus- on April 24, features New Netherland tlers in New Amsterdam. Ffteen years ago tice Oliver Wendell Holmes, newscasters Research Center Director Dr. Charles it was purchased for commercial use, and Walter Cronkite and Tom Brokaw, and Gehring, the second episode, released on although eligible for National Register of five Nobel Laureates. Not surprising is June 12, features archaeologist Dr. James Historic Places listing, no application was that many of those listed were members Bradley, and the third, released on August ever made. Instead, sitting on a one-acre of the Holland Society of New York. 10, features historic interpretation fine parcel adjacent to Orangeburg Commons, To access the biographies go to artist Len Tantillo. a shopping center built by New York- newnetherlandinstitute.org and click on The most recent episode is an interview based RD Management in 2012, it was Dutch Americans. Access is free. with historian Susanah Romney, whose ripe for development. book New Netherland Connections: Inti- For nearly a year it was hoped that a mate Networks and Atlantic Ties in Sev- small group of activists would come up Early Modern Global enteenth-Century America received the with roughly $50,000 to disassemble the History Seminar 2014 Annual Hendricks Award. Romney house and move it to another location, but challenges the assumption that state actors Save The Lent House could not raise the N JANUARY 13, 2016, the Early and trading companies were predomi- money. Despite efforts to halt demolition OModern Global History Seminar nantly responsible for the perpetuation of until proper permits were obtained— at Georgetown University in Washing- New World colonies. The companies and including reviews for historic and cultural ton, DC, will present a workshop on the governments generated the documents impacts—and while advocates sought le- “The Dutch Atlantic in the Seventeenth and are therefore easiest to know about, gal action, developers quickly and quietly Century.” Beginning at 1:00 pm in the Romney argues in the interview, but “it bulldozed the historic Dutch structure university’s Edward B. Bunn, S. J. In- seems more likely that all the small-scale To read Traster’s full report go to: http:// tercultural Center (ICC), there will be connections that individuals were mak- newyorkhistoryblog.org/2015/08/04/ two sessions with two presenters each, ing across the ocean really added up to historic-house-demolition-spurs-film- including the New Netherland Institute’s something that was a lot weightier than project/#more-15965.

64 de Halve Maen Society Activities

Niagara Frontier Branch Meeting

N WEDNESDAY, September 16, O2015, the Niagara Frontier Branch of the Holland Society of New York held its annual dinner meeting at the Saturn Club in Buffalo, New York. The annual meeting is an occasion in which Members, Friends, their families, and guests have an opportunity to socialize as well as deepen their understanding of their New Neth- erland ancestors. The Niagara Frontier Branch encompasses a large geographic area including western New York State and parts of southern Ontario, Canada. The meeting’s guest-speaker was Nancy Knechtel, professor of Fine Arts Niagara Frontier Branch Meeting at the Saturn Club in Buffalo, New York. at Niagara County Community College. Her PowerPoint presentation, entitled Quackenbush, Adrian Quackenbush and quite a feat in the rainy Low Countries, “A Walk through the Golden Age: Dutch his wife, Molly, Nancy Knetchel, Thomas especially in the fall season. Artists, Museums and Canal Houses,” Schofield, Scott Van Buskirk, Glenn On the first day the group assembled gave a fascinating window into aspects of Van Buskirk, T. J. Van Deusen, Ted Van to visit the Van Gogh Museum under the seventeenth-century Dutch life and how Deusen, Vandy Van Deusen, Charles enthusiastic expert guidance of art his- that culture resonates in the present day. Zabriskie Jr. and his wife, Star, and Con- torian Anneke Krijgsman. The museum, In addition to the guest-speaker, two nie Constantine. housing the world’s largest collection of former national Holland Society Presi- works by Vincent van Gogh, presents all dents attended, Colin Lazier and Charles stages of the artist’s creative life from Zabriskie Jr. Prior to Dr. Knechtel’s talk, Holland Society Trip to the dark paintings of his early period in past Presidents Lazier and Zabriskie the Netherlands the Netherlands to the chaotic and bright addressed the attendees about Society paintings of his last days in France. Fol- activities. INETEEN MEMBERS AND Friends lowing the tour, the group enjoyed a sunny Members and guests attending the Ni- Nof the Holland Society of New York boat ride through Amsterdam’s canals agara Frontier Branch meeting were Hen- and their spouses arrived in Amsterdam while dining on typical Dutch sandwiches rietta Jockin, Colin Lazier and his wife, on Saturday, September 26, for a very spe- [broodjes] consisting of warm meatballs Barbara, Wayne Maybee and his wife, cial visit to the Netherlands.The weather with mustard. Katie, John and his wife Rebecca, David was beautiful the entire week, which is The next morning the group visited the masterpieces at the honorary gallery of the Rijksmuseum, including works byVermeer and Rembrandt’s famous “Night Watch.” Following lunch, the group visited a gentleman’s canal house Art historian from the Van Loon family, which still Anneke Krijgsman shows the splendor of the Golden Age and presents the history has remained largely intact. “Restaurant of de Waag on the de Nissen,” a former seventeenth-century Nieuwmarkt in warehouse on the Rokin, served tradi- Amsterdam. tional Dutch fare to cap the day. One of the highlights of the trip came on Tuesday with a visit to the Half Moon replica ship, currently at the Westfries Museum in the city of Hoorn. Westfries Museum Director Ad Geerdink personally welcomed the group and treated them to a fabulous lunch and a trip back in time to Fall 2015 65 seventeenth-century Hoorn with an Oculus rift 3D experience. An added honor was to have the ship’s owner, Dr. Andrew Hen- dricks, in attendance. On Wednesday the group moved to the charming Carlton Ambassador Hotel in The Hague. The day began with a tour of the recently renovated Mauritshouse Museum, which has an astonishing number of master- pieces for a relatively small museum, from Vermeer’s “Girl with the Pearl Earring,” Fabritius’s “The Goldfinch,” and, especially interesting for the doctor’s in the group, Rembrandt’s “The Anatomy Lesson of Top left: Herring and bread Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.” An elaborate luncheon celebration, Leiden. consisted of authentic Dutch cuisine, includ- Top right: Panorama Mesdag ing fresh croquettes [kroketten], soup, and Museum, The Hague. famous chocolate sprinkles. After touring Bottom left: At tasting of the the Binnenhof [Inner Court] of The Hague, herring, Third of October the center of Dutch democracy, and catching Association President Michiel a glimpse of Dutch Prime Minister Mark Zonnevylle, Holland Society Rutte entering the building under heavy President Dr. Robert Schenck, security, the group explored the center of Katwijk Mayor Jos Wienen, and The Hague. The big surprise of the day was Leiden Mayor Henri Lenferink. an afternoon visit to the Panorama Mesdag Museum, a cylindrical painting showing the honorary guest of Leiden’s Third of October lunch the group was treated to honory seaside scenery of Scheveningen. The group Society for Leiden’s festivities celebrating balcony seats with champagne to watch was able to go behind the scenes and learn the liberation of that city from the Spanish the yearly parade. The main highlight was about the optical illusions behind this paint- siege in 1574. The first day included an the participation in the parade of Holland ing. Mr. Mesdag built the museum before impressive opening of the celebration with Society President Dr. Robert Schenck and painting the cylindrical masterpiece. youngsters performing complicated acro- his wife Marcia Whitney-Schenck, Trea- The next day the group visited the batics and concluded with the eating of the surer John Nevius, and Trustee Dr. Andrew Prinsenhof, former residence and site of traditional hutspot (stew)—legend has it the Hendricks riding in one of the two golden the murder of William the Silent, and the Spanish retreated from the city so quickly coaches in the Netherlands. The other gold Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. In the afternoon they that they abandoned a kettle of brewing coach is presently used by the King and received a demonstration at the Candelaer stew. The next day began with a church Queen; very good company indeed. As an Delft Blue factory and enjoyed the bustling service in the Pieterskerk, best known today added honor, the Third of October Society market. That evening the group enjoyed a as the church of the Pilgrim Fathers. Several announced that each President of the Hol- traditional Indonesian rice table of enjoy- American hymns were song to honor the land Society would become an honorary able flavors Holland Society gathering and the royal member and invited to attend the yearly The following two days were a once-in- domine mentioned the Holland Society in festivities. a-lifetime experience as the group was the his welcoming words. After a hearty hutspot On this high note the 2015 Holland So- ciety visit to the Netherlands concluded. It was a huge success; the enthusiasm of art historian Anneke Krijgsman made each Holland Society museum come alive with her expertise, President Dr. Robert open arms welcomed the group every- Schenck, his wife where, the food was excellent, the hotels Marcia Whitney- comfortable, and, above all, rain stayed Schenck, Treasurer away the entire week. John Nevius, and The group included Dr. Robert R. Trustee Dr. Andrew Schenck and Marcia Whitney-Schenck, Hendricks riding Richard and Sally Polhemus, Phillip and in the golden coach S-K Keirstead, Jim and Mary Hotaling, during Leiden’s James and Michele Polhemus, John Lan- October Third sing and Wilma (“Billie”) Jean Wegler, Celebration. Nicholas and Chay Veeder, Gerrit and Brenda Lydecker, Andrew Hendricks, John Nevius and Frederick (“Rick”) C. Barrett, Jr. 66 de Halve Maen In Memoriam

Leslie Van Wagoner Mr. Cooper served over forty-two years Douglas Arthur Buys Cooper with Bell Labs in various positions. He lived in Glen Rock, New Jersey, while Holland Society of New York Member Holland Society of New York Life raising his five children. When Bell Labs Douglas Arthur Buys died suddenly on Member Leslie Van Wagoner Cooper died closed their New York laboratories, he June 19, 2015, in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 3, 2015. Mr. Cooper was born was transferred to Murray Hill, New at the age of sixty-one. Mr. Buys was on April 4, 1922, in Paterson, New Jersey, Jersey, and the family relocated in 1965 born on October 1, 1954, in Beacon New son of Irving B. Cooper and Sarah Merse- to Mountainside, New Jersey. In anticipa- York, son of Douglas Charles Buys, a lis Van Wagoner. Mr. Cooper claimed de- tion of retirement he and his wife moved Holland Society Member, and Gertrude scent from Claes Janszen van Purmerendt, in 1983 to Watchung, New Jersey. At the Barbara Smith. Mr. Buys claimed descent a cooper (cuyper) by trade, who came time of his retirement in 1984, he was from Jan Cornelis Buys, who arrived in to New Netherland from Purmerende in Financial Statistic Supervisor with Bell New Netherland from Bunickin, Utrecht, Holland about 1655 and settled in what Labs. Mr. Cooper also served on the board about 1648. Mr. Buys joined the Holland later became Bayonne, New Jersey. Mr. of directors of the Paterson Vehicle Com- Society in 1971. Cooper joined The Holland Society in pany for many years before its liquidation Mr. Buys attended public schools in 1990. in 1966. Beacon, New York. He graduated from Mr. Cooper attended grammar school In addition to his membership in The Beacon High School in 1972. While in in Paterson, New Jersey, and graduated in Holland Society, Mr. Cooper was a mem- high school he studied music theory at 1939 from Ramsey High School. Follow- ber of The Order of the Founders and Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, ing graduation he was employed by New Patriots of America, the National Society being in that time the youngest student to Jersey Bell. In 1942 Mr. Cooper enlisted of the Sons of the American Revolution, attend Vassar. He was subsequently spon- in the United States Army. After eighteen the Rockland Historic Society, the North sored by the French government to study months of training at Officer Candidate Jersey Gun Club, the Glen Rock Athletic with the Casadesus family and Nadia School in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, Association, the Bell Labs Pioneers of Boulanger in Paris and at the American he received a commission as a 2nd lieu- America, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Conservatory of Music of Fontainebleau, tenant and assigned to the 3112th Signal the Knights of Columbus, the Holy Name France. Mr. Buys received his bachelor’s Service Battalion. His unit was sent to Society, in which he served as a president, and master’s degrees from the Juilliard Europe in 1944 and was assigned to the and the New Providence Amateur Radio School as a scholarship student of Rudolf Advance Section Communications Zone. Club-WA2KXT. A former member of Firkusny. The 3112th participated in five campaigns the Dutch Reformed Church of Paterson, Mr. Buys appeared in recitals and from D-Day in Normandy to the Battle New Jersey, he joined the Roman Catholic with orchestras in the United States and of the Bulge in the Ardennes. France Church. He was a Lector and Eucharistic Europe, most notably in a two-piano awarded the unit the Croix de Guerre. minister in both St. Catherine’s Church repertoire with Firkusny. Concerts took Following his discharge in March and our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. him to summer festivals in California and 1946 as a 1st lieutenant, Mr. Cooper His principal recreations included tennis, Vermont, and he taught and gave master rejoined the Bell System as an equip- golf, bowling, and jogging, receiving over classes and recitals at Humboldt State ment engineer with Western Electric thirty awards and medals in these various University, San Francisco Conservatory, and a technical writer for Bell Labs. sports. He was a member of the Westfield, and University of Idaho. In 1988, Mr. He attended the American Institute of New Jersey, Tennis Club and the Echo Buys received the Presidential Certificate Banking, the Newark College of Engi- Lake Country Club. for Excellence in Teaching at a National neering, and Rutgers University. Mr. Mr. Cooper’s survivors include his wife Press Club ceremony with Vice President Cooper earned a Bachelor of Science and of sixty-seven years, Virginia, children George H. W. Bush. Mr. Buys taught mu- a Masters of Business Education from Leslie Francis Cooper, a member of The sic theory in New England Conservancy’s New York University. Holland Society since 1979, Sally Ann College in Boston from 1995 and piano Mr. Cooper married Virginia Rose Cooper Chardos, Karen Elizabeth Cooper in the Conservancy’s Preparatory School Marron at the Ridgewood Country Club, McAuley, and Diane Catharine Cooper and School of Continuing Education from Paramus, New Jersey, on November von Nessi, twelve grandchildren, and 1980 through his death in 2015. 5, 1947. The couple had five children: twenty-one great-grandchildren. Funeral Information regarding his funeral or twins Leslie Francis and Sally Ann, born services were held on Saturday, March interment has not been received. February 15, 1949, Karen Elizabeth, 7, 2015, at Higgins Home for Funerals born March 12, 1950, Diane Catharine, in Watchung, New Jersey, followed by a Richard Relyea Hasbrouck born December 25, 1953, and Michael Mass of Resurrection at St. Mary’s Stony Joseph, born September 25, 1955. His son Hill Church, Watchung. Interment was Holland Society of New York Life Michael predeceased him in an ultra-light in Fairview Cemetery, Westfield, New Member Richard Relyea Hasbrouck plane accident at the age of thirty-one. Jersey. passed away peacefully on August 16, Fall 2015 67 2015, at his home in New Paltz, New children. Services were held at Copeland Society, serving on the board of directors. York, at the age of eighty-seven. Mr. Funeral Home, New Paltz, New York, He worked to support the Old Stone Fort Hasbrouck was born on October 2, 1927, on Thursday, August 20, 2015, followed Museum Complex in Schoharie, New son of Walter Hasbrouck and Lois Relyea. by burial in Lloyd Cemetery with full York. For many years he was a member He claimed descent from Jean Hasbrouck, military honors. of the Cobleskill Rotary Club. He was a one of the original patentees of New Paltz, member of the Northern New York Hiking who came to New Netherland in 1673 Harold Brewster Vroman Club of the Long Path Hiking Trail. He from Calais France via Mannheim, Ger- was a leader in the establishment of the many. Mr. Hasbrouck joined The Holland Holland Society of New York Life Vroman Nose Preservation Corporation Society in 1953. Member Harold Brewster Vroman to preserve the nature of a prominent From 1946 to 1948 he served in the passed away on September 20, 2015, geological feature in the town of Fulton, United States Army, rising to the rank of in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, at the age of New York, for which he was Executive Sergeant, serving with field artillery. He nine-two. Mr. Vrooman was born on Director for many years. served in Japan during its occupation, September 5, 1923, on the family farm in Mr. Vroman married Marian Ruth Wor- earning the Japanese Occupation and the Fulton, Schoharie County, New York, son man in Guilderland Center, New York on Victory Medals. of Myron Vroman and Ida M. Brewster. September 22, 1951. The couple had three Mr. Hasbrouck graduated from Cham- He claimed descent from Hendrick Meese sons, Jay Richard Vroman, born January plain College in 1952. After graduation Vrooman who came to New Netherland 21, 1953, David Bruce Vroman, July he was employed by the Central Hudson in 1664 from Leiden, Holland. 17, 1955, and Theodore (Ted) Thomas Gas and Electric Corporation in Pough- Mr. Vroman graduated from Middle- Vroman, born August 15, 1961. Marian keepsie, New York. burgh Central School in 1942. He re- Ruth Vroman died on May 26, 1975. He Mr. Hasbrouck was an active life time ceived a Bachelor of Science in 1948 married for his second wife Doris Mau member of the New Paltz Reformed and a Master of Science in 1953 from in Cobleskill, New York, on January 1, Church, where he sang in the choir, Cornell University. Cornell employed 1978. She predeceased him on September taught Sunday school, and served as him in research in Agricultural Econom- 24, 1996. His son, David Bruce Vroman, both an Elder and church historian. He ics and Rural Sociology. He served in the also predeceased him on July 2, 1991, at was Cub master of Cub Scout Pack 172. New York State Extension Service as an the age of thirty-five He served a term as Commandant of the Agricultural Agent, Tompkins County. Mr. Vroman was a former member of Brannen-van den Berg VFW post 8645. From 1953 to 1965, Mr. Vroman worked the Dutch Reformed Church in Middle- On the grounds of his family home he for the Beacon Milling Company in burgh, New York, and Zion Lutheran created Hasbrouck Field, which served Cayuga, New York, in poultry feed re- Church of Cobleskill, New York. At the the New Paltz Baseball Association for search. During this period he resided in time of his death he was living with his nearly thirty years. Auburn, New York. In 1965 he accepted son Ted in Plattsmouth, Nebraska. Mr. Hasbrouck married Maureen a teaching position at S.U.N.Y Cobleskill, Mr. Vroman is survived by his sons Adrian. The couple had four children: and moved to Cobleskill, New York. He Jay Richard Vroman of Edison, New Thomas Ralyea, Heidi V., Christopher advanced to full professor, and in 1988 Jersey, and Theodore T. Vroman of John, and Paul Adrian. His wife Maureen retired as a professor emeritus. Plattsmouth, Nebraska, stepchildren predeceased him. Mr. Hasbrouck married Mr. Vroman traveled extensively. He Colleen Hadsell O’Brien of Broadalbin, Vivian Guiglotto. was instrumental in establishing a World New York, Cherie Hadsell Wessels of Mr. Hasbrouck is survived by his wife, Travelogue organization at Cobleskill. Springhill, Virginia, and Walter J. Hadsell Vivian, children Thomas Hasbrouck of He was active in the Cayuga and Scho- of Cobleskill, New York, four grandchil- New Paltz, Heidi Hasbrouck of New harie Counties chapters of NYSARC, an dren, twelve step-grandchildren, and two Paltz, Christopher Hasbrouck, and Paul organization serving people with devel- great-grandchildren. Services were held A. Hasbrouck, step-sons Michael Gui- opmental disabilities, serving on its board at Palmer and Shaylor Funeral Home, glotto of Highland, New York, and Brian of directors, on numerous committees, Middleburgh, New York, on September Fenwick of San Francisco, California, and as president. Mr. Vroman was also 26, 2015. Interment was in the family plot ten grandchildren, and five great-grand- active in the Schoharie County Historical in Middleburgh Cemetery.

68 de Halve Maen Benefactors Society Members 2015 Gerald Auten John Marsellus Paul Kenneth Van Valkenburg Sr. Robert W. Banta John G. Nevius Robert E. Van Vranken Brooks Banker David S. Quackenbush James Van Wagner Jr. Kip C. Bevier-Lee James E. Quackenbush* Daniel H. Van Winkle Adrian T. Bogart III Peter K. Roosevelt Stuart W. Van Winkle Richard E. Brink Robert R. Schenck, M.D. William Van Winkle Kenneth Chase David F. Springsteen F. Bronson Van Wyck Bradley D. Cole Rev. Louis O. Springsteen F. Bronson Van Wyck Sr. Paul R. Comegys Sr. Kent L. Straat John H. Vanderveer* Ralph L. DeGroff Jr. Donald E. Teller Sr. George Gilbert Voorhees III Joseph R. D. deKay William B. Ten Eyck Arthur Waldron Eric E. DeLamarter Peter G. Ten Eyck II Charles W. Wendell, Ph.D.* Larry DeLamarter Andrew Terhune Edward E. Wendell Jr. Frederick Fulkerson IV Everit B. Terhune III Donald Westervelt Robert V. F. Garretson John F. Terwilliger Kenneth Winans Robert G. Goelet W. Kent Van Allen, Jr. John M. Woolsey Robert Gardiner Goelet Peter H. Van Demark Ferdinand L. Wyckoff Andrew A. Hendricks, M.D. Paul Van Dyke Jr. Stephen S. Wyckoff David S. Hornbeck Jr. Dirk Van Emburgh Charles Zabriskie* Phillip O. Keirstead Levi W. Van Der Veer Charles Zabriskie Jr. James S. Lansing John W. Van Etten III Charles Zabriskie III John T. Lansing Everett H. Van Hoesen Charles Lansing Zabriskie Robert T. E. Lansing William H. Van Pelt IV Christopher W. Zabriskie William Lansing William H. Van Pelt V John W. Zabriskie Colin G. Lazier Alexander T. Van Rensselaer Rev. Marek P. Zabriskie The Hon. Norman F. Lent* Kiliaen Van Rensselaer Phillip M. Zabriskie William Longstreet* Douglas R. Van Riper Stephen L. Zabriskie Douglass M. Mabee Anthony G. Van Schaick Kendall Zeliff

* In memoriam

HE BENEFACTOR’S SOCIETY continues to grow through both Society Members and friends and fami- Tlies who wish to remember a deceased relative who enjoyed their Society membership. As the son of the late Charles Zabriskie, who raised me in a household surrounded by mementoes and warm discussions about his Holland Society meetings, the annual dinner in Manhattan, and historic moments in Dutch and New Netherland history, I am honored to add his name in memoriam to the List of Benefactors and see my father living among the contributors to our great Society.

Wishing all Holland Society Benefactors, Members, Friends, and their families a warm and joyous Christmas season, — Charles Zabriskie, Jr. Past President