New York Historical Manuscripts

N EW YORK HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS: DUTCH COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATION RALPH L. DE GROFF: Chairman Trustee—The Holland Society of New York Trustee—The Institute on Man and Science KENNETH SCOTT: Co-editor Trustee—The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Fellow—The American Society of Genealogists KENN STRYKER-RODDA: Co-editor President—The National Genealogical Society Fellow and Past President—The American Society of Genealogists GANO R. BAILEY: Advisor Trustee—The Louis Beach Vreeland Foundation Executive Secretary—The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York ROBERT G. GOELET: Consultant Trustee—The Holland Society of New York President—The New York Historical Society JULIAN K. ROOSEVELT: Consultant President—The Holland Society of New York Trustee—Museum of the City of New York N EW YORK HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS: DUTCH Translated and Annotated By ARNOLD J. F VAN LAER Edited with Added Indexes by KENNETH SCOTT and KENN STRYKER-RODDA Published under the Direction of The Holland Society of New York Volume I Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1638-1642 GENEALOGICAL PUBLISHING CO., INC. BALTIMORE 1974 Reproduced from Original Typescripts in the Possession of the New York State Library Albany, New York Front Matter and Indexes Added Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, 1974 Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 73-14890 International Standard Book Number 0-8063-0584-3 Copyright © 1974 The Holland Society of New York All rights reserved Made in the United States 6f America DEDICATED TO THE HOLLAND SOCIETY OF NEW YORK whose prime object is “to collect and pre serve information respecting the early history and settlement of the City and State of New York by the Dutch and to discover and pre serve all still existing documents relating to their genealogy and history.” This purpose, since 1885, has provided a stimulus for his torical research and analysis of the New Netherland era in America. PREFACE By Dr. Louis Leonard Tucker State Historian of New York In 1969 I attended an international history colloquium in Ottawa, Canada at which one session was devoted to the history of New Netherland. W hat I found particularly noteworthy about this session was the focus upon the most fundamental issues concerning the history of New Netherland. For example, there was extended discussion on the question of whether the Dutch purposely developed New Netherland with a view toward its permanent settlement. One would suppose that after a century of “professional” historical investigation in the United States such a fundamental point would be resolved and no longer worthy of consideration at a major convocation of historians. But this is not the case. What the session underscored was the primitive state of this area of American historiography. As George O. Zabriskie bluntly phrased it at a 1971 Dutch seminar in Rensselaerville, New York, “the story of New Netherland is one of the best-kept secrets in American history.” And so it is. American libraries bulge with accounts of the English phase of our colonial history, especially of the founding and settlement of New England, but they are conspicuously lacking in works on New Netherland. One need only glance through textbooks on colonial American history to realize the extent to which the Dutch phase has been ignored. The story of early New York, perhaps the most important aspect of the New Netherland episode, is generally sketched in broad, superficial strokes until the English assume control, at which point the scenario is developed in lavish detail. It is not really surprising that scholars are still debating fundamental issues on the history of New Netherland. There are sound reasons for this elementary focus. The principal reason is the scarcity of primary sources.The destruction of much of the Dutch West India Company records constituted a devastating blow to scholarship. Without these files scholars have been obliged to recon struct the history of New Netherland on the basis of peripheral sources. In addition to the problem of inadequate source materials, there is a problem of language. Notwithstanding the loss of many Dutch documents, some basic collections are available, but they are in Dutch and less than a handful of American scholars are equipped with the necessary language skills to decipher them. Unfortunately, American graduate schools do not show a penchant for producing scholars with a facility for seventeenth-century Dutch. Those few scholars who do develop an interest in the history of New Netherland are com pelled to rely on English translations of Dutch documents; and even so they face imposing prob lems. Beginning in the early nineteenth century, attempts have been made to translate the crabbed script of the Dutch records, but the results, with one notable exception, have been disappointing. One thinks of the major work of translation undertaken by Francis Adrian van der Kemp in 1817 under the sponsorship of Governor De W itt Clinton. This translation, said to have been inaccurate, was destroyed in the State Library fire in 1911. Of the handful of editors who have translated early Dutch documents, one has achieved distinction and is deemed ar. entirely reliable authority: Arnold Johan Ferdinand van Laer. During his lifetime, this careful and skilled archivist produced twelve remarkable volumes of translations. Modern scholars should shout hosanna over the publication of four additional volumes of van Laer translations. It is to be hoped that the appearance of these four significant volumes will herald the advent of a new age in American historiography. May it mark the beginning of a renaissance of interest in the Dutch settlement of New York; may it assist in the production of a generation of scholars who will dedicate themselves to learning a difficult language, discovering new source material, and translating this material for the use of their colleagues. It is time to end the intellectual blackout which has darkened the early history of the Empire State. W hat was the Dutch legacy to New York and the nation? How did Dutch insti tutions and mores and attitudes shape the character of the New World? Perhaps partial answers to these critical questions are rooted in van Laer's translations. If they aTe not, the search must continue. The seminal work of this talented archivist should provide inspiration for future stu dents of the Dutch phase of American history. Some day the obscurity shrouding the beginnings of the Empire State will pass and we shall be in a position to determine what really happened in “old New York.” ARNOLD J. F van LAER (1869-1955) An Appreciation* By C harles K. W in n e , Jr. Arnold Johan Ferdinand van Laer was born in Utrecht, Holland, October 21, 1869, the only son in a family of three children of well-to-do and educated parents of long lineage. His father (1818-1891) Johannes Renatus Eugenius van Laer, Ph.D., was a mineralogist and the Professor of Chemistry and Physics at the State Veterinary College of Utrecht. After preliminary schooling, Mr. van Laer attended the University of Delft, where he received the degree of Mechanical Engineer. He soon found, however, that the profession he had chosen was not to his liking and that “there were other things in life than engineering." He was primarily a student, and he much preferred a quieter and cleaner occupation than working in the noise, confusion and grime of a machine shop. After an interval of two or three years spent in European travel, he came to America and settled temporarily in Philadelphia, probably attracted to that city by the presence there of some distant relatives. It was there he met his future wife. He went back to Holland to settle his affairs but returned to America permanently in August, 1897 On December 27 of that year he married Miss Naomi van Deurs, the daughter of the Reverend George van Deurs (a Dane) and his wife. Miss van Deurs was, in a way, a cousin of Mr. van Laer, as her mother was the sister of his father's first wife. She was born in Troy, New York, on August 21, 1868 and died in Albany on October 6, 1930. They had three sons, all of whom survived him. At this time he decided to change his profession from engineering to library science, and he entered the New York State Library School in Albany. During his student days there, the State Archivist asked him for help in translating some Dutch manuscripts, an incident which probably led him later into the main work of his career. It is also known that he enjoyed this city on account of its early Dutch origin and the survival here of some of the Dutch traditions and influences. He was appointed Assistant State Archivist in 1899 and Archivist five years later, a position he held until his retirement from State service at the age of seventy, a span of forty years in the two offices. Mr. van Laer used to relate a rather amusing incident connected with his examination for original appointment. He reported for the examination and found the room filled with persons ready to take examinations. He supposed they were all seeking the position he wished to fill and thought that he, a foreigner, would have little chance in competition with Americans, who were so much better acquainted with the language than he was at that time. He was inclined to give up the opportunity, but before doing so spoke to the chief examiner about the matter. He was promptly told that the crowd were seeking other positions, that he was the only candi date for the one he wanted, and that his examination was to be held in another room.

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