The goede vrouw of Mana-ha-ta at home and in society, 1609-1760

Front matter

F

All books are subject to recall after two weeks Olin/Kroch Library

DATE DUE

Preface

It has been well said in the preface to the Lives of the Lindsays that " Every family should have a record of Its own. Each has its peculiar spirit running through the whole line, and in more or less development, perceptible in every generation. We do not love our kindred for their glory or their genius, but for their domestic affections and private virtues. An affectionate regard to their memory is natural to the heart ; it is an emotion totally distinct from, pride — an ideal love. Our ancestors, it is true, are denied to our personal acquaintatice, but the light they shed during their lives survives within their tombs, and will reward our search if we explore them."

Encouraged by these wise words, I am emboldened to lay before the public the results of my researches into the lives of the women who, by their industry, their courage, and their piety, helped to create a colony in the New World, and I have followed out the history (as far as zvas possible) to their descendants of the third and fourth generation. The information contained in this volume was culled from various sources, many of them not open to the public, such as private family papers to which I have fortunately had access, and some of which

Preface

/ had inherited, they having been lain aside by an older member of the family with the view of compiling a family history, which was never accomplished. Family traditions have been used which have always been given for what they are worth and always noted, histories were consulted that have been long out of print, and are now to be found only on the back shelves of some oldfashioned library, as well as those that are commonly known and often consulted by the public. All of these I have woven into a web. If the pattern is not clear, or the colors are not properly assorted, it must be excused, as being the work of a woman, done in a womanly way, from a woman's point of view.

History is generally written by men, who dwell on politics, wars, and the exploits of their sex. Household affairs, women's influence, social customs and manners, are seldom chronicled, and are only to be discovered underlying what are deemed the important events of life, more by inference than from anything that is actually written about them.

This conglomerate history of the lives of the dames of Mana-ha-ta has been compiled with infinite difficulty, owing to the scanty data that have been preserved concerning them. It was customary to destroy all letters that dealt with family life, particularly anything concerning the women of the family, as if in their lives and daily occupations there was something to be ashamed of.

Preface

Volumes of letters and trunks full of bundles of old papers have been preserved in many families, but in all those that I have laboriously studied, I have not found more than about a dozen written by women ; but those were filled with interesting details, and were far more valuable to the historian than those of the men of the day, which were on dry business affairs that might have been of importance at the time, but are of no value now, and m,ake one wonder why they were preserved. Among them are sometimes provoking references to family affairs that excite the curiosity without gratifying it, although there must have been as much to say of the women of the past as there is of the women of the present or of the future. The life of the " Goede Vrouw of Mana-ha-ta " was written between the lines of contemporaneous history ; I have merely taken the liberty of placing her in the foreground, with the men of the day in shadow as her background, thereby throwing her into strong relief, instead of {as is usually done) reversing the process.

The books that I have consulted are : Puritans in England, Holland, and America ; Macaulay's Essays, Walpole's Letters to Sir Horace Mann, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, Life of Bishop Berkeley, Diary of William Pynchon, Settlement of the Jews in North America, Early Maryland, Queens of American Society, Old New England Town, Impressions of America, Memoir of an

Preface

American Lady, Historic Tale of Olden Times, Klam's Travels, Voyages of de Fries, Five Indian Nations, Letters on Smith's History of New York, Calendar of Dutch Manuscript, Calendar of Wills, New York, Old New York, Old New York and Trinity Church, New York Genealogical Record, Manual of the Common Council of New York, the histories of New York, viz. : Valentine's, Dunlop's, Brodhead's, Booth's, Lamb's, Hunt's, Francis's, Denton's, Watson's, Knight's, local histories of Putnam County, Dutchess County, Westchester County, Norwalk, Fairfield, Pennsylvania, Rhinebeck, Long Island, Newtown, Flushing, Flatbush, St at en Island, Albany ; Documents of Colonial History, Records of North America, Family Records and Events, Huguenot Family, Biography of the Lewis Family, The Van Rensselaer s of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, Annals of the Family of the Van Rensselaers, Historical Gleanings, Lion Gardiner and His Descendants, Winthrop's History of His Time, The Family of Bolton, Registers of the Old Dutch Church at Kingston, Records of the Old Dutch Church, New York; Records of the French Church, New York; Original Lists, McKean Family ; Cutt's Genealogy, Todd Family, History of Harlem, New fersey Archives, Newspaper Extracts, New York as It Was, Journal of a Voyage to New York, i6yp ; Memoir of Sir William Alexander, Life of Lord Stirling, Life of Major-General William Alexander, Sixth Earl of Stirling, etc.

Hendrick Hudson and the Wilde Menschen— The First Traders at Mana-ha-ta — Indian Castle of Laap-haw-ach-king — Giovani da- Verrazzano— Fort Orange — Der Heer Van Rensselaer — College of XIX.— The Patroons— The Laws Regulating Purchase— The Colonization of Mana-ha-ta in 1624 — Purchase of the Island — Erection of a Fort — Derivation of the Name — Dr. Denton, the English Author, and Diedrich Knickerbocker — Provision for the Comforts of the Settlers — The Midwife and the Kranck-besoeckers . Page i

II

Education of the Dutch Women — Queen Elizabeth and the Hollanders — Industries of the Housewife — New Flowers in America — Pioneer Women — The Servants of the West India Company — Serving-maids — Mesdames Van der Donck and Varleth . Page 10

III

Peculiarities of the Names — Marriage of Annekje Jans — " An. nekje Jans's Land " — Dominie Bogartus — Tryntje Jans — Dr. Kier. stede— The First Market— The Wilden's Gift— The Old Dutch Bible — The Nickname of Stone Street — A Slaap-bauck— The Kraeg — Labbadist Missionaries — The Phillipse Manor — Cornelia Lubbetse — The Two Governors .... Page iS

IV

The Wilden's Castle — Canoe Place — Kloch-Hoeck — Indian Industries — Wampum and Sewant — Oyster-shells and Lime — The First Tide-mill — The Catiemuts Windmill — Negro Cemetery — Earthen-ware — Windmill Sails as Signals — Flax and Its Preparation — Der Halle — Weather Predictions— Iphetonga — The Great Dock — The First Exchange — Imported Cattle — The " Tea-water Pump" Page 39

V Homes of the Settlers

Birth and Christening Customs — Caudle-parties — Christening-gifts — Izer-cookies — Folk-lore — Lullabies and Fireside Tales — The Aanspreecker — Pall- bearers and Their Presents — Funeral and Marriage Ceremonies — Brides and Their Quaint Costumes — Dress Page 54