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CHRONOLOGY OF NEW YORK CITY'S FACTUAL "FIRST" 1524-1999
Researched and Compiled by Miriam Medina
S E C T
I O N
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*Please note this is a work in progress. New
researched information will be added periodically.
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1) Jamaica, Borough of Queens: Jamaica derives its
name from the Jameco tribe of Indians whose main village was
at the southern end of Baisley's Pond, or Nassau Lake as it
is now called. A charter for the town was granted to fifteen
English families in 1650 by Governor Peter Stuyvesant acting
for the States General of Holland and the Dutch West India
Company. The first settlement was made in that year around
Beaver Pond, which was full of Beaver in those days, and the
Beaver skins were the principal money of the colony. Each
man was granted a house-lot within the stockade, a
plantation lot for farming, a wood lot for fire-wood, and a
salt meadow lot for hay for cattle and horses. * (jama)
2) As early as 1650 schools were organized on Long Island.
The first school in Brooklyn was started in the Dutch church
in Bushwick. it was supported by the government, and was one
of the first public schools in America.* (b.d.e.) 10/1/1892)
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1) Flatbush was originally known as Midwout and was
first settled in 1651. * (NYS History)
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1) Allard Anthony came from Holland to New Amsterdam, now
the city of New York, about the middle of the 17th century.
The first reference to him in the records is dated 1652.
2) The first Latin school was established and the first
law against fast driving was passed. * (eonyc)
3) The Town of Flatbush (Midwout or Vlacke Bosch) is
chartered. The Dutch West India Company acquires Yellow Hook
(Bayridge) from the Nyack Indians. * (BTL)
4) On the 4th of April, 1652 a "burgher government "was
established at Manhattan. * (nycp&p)
5) In the autumn of 1652 the settlements of Middleburgh and
Midwout now Newtown and Flatbush were founded under patents
from Stuyvesant. * (nycp&p)
6) Staten Island, In 1652 the Waldenses founded a village at
Stony Brook which lasted until the middle of the eighteenth
century, when it crumbled away. The latter part of the
seventeenth century saw the Huguenots settling at Marshland,
now Greenridge. During Kieft's misrule, the island suffered
with the adjoining territory the ravages of the Indians. * (histguide)
7) Fulton Ferry: In 1652 the Burgomasters of New Amsterdam,
made an unsuccessful application to Governor Stuyvesant for
the ferry to Breukelen to defray the city expenses. * (B.D.E.
6/17/1872)
8) The Van Sicklen and part of the Emmons family of this
locality are his descendents. On November 22, 1652,
Cornelius Van Werokhoven, a member of the West Indian
Company who were the European proprietors of the New
Netherlands, purchased of the Indian proprietors what is
commonly known as the Nyack tracts, extending along the
Narrows and lower bay, from the line between the premises,
late of Albert N. Van Brunt and that of late Chandler White,
to what is known as Cortelyou's lane, or the end leading
from the bay near the residence of John C. Bennett, to the
Village of New Utrecht. * (B.D.E. 10/19/1877)
9) Flatbush and Newtown were founded in 1652.
10) The Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, one of a handful of
surviving Dutch farmhouses, dates from circa 1652, and is
believed to be the oldest structure in New York City. It was
built by Pieter Claesen Wyckoff, a former indentured servant
who rose to prosperity as a farmer. Until the early 1900s,
his descendants lived in the house, which is today a museum
of colonial Dutch life.
11) In Nieuw Amersfoordt lived for a time, Jacob Steendam,
the first verse-maker of Nieuw Nederlandt. In 1652, he
bought a bouwerie there, which,on returning to Holland eight
years later, he sold to the West India Company for one
hundred and
ninety schepels' of buckwheat. Among his verses, inspired by
his residence there, are " The Complaint of Nieuw Nederlandt
to her Mother," 1659, and the " Praise of Nieuw Nederlandt,"
1661.' *(E.L.I.)
12) The first Domine, coming in August, 1652, was Johannes
Theodorus Polhemus, a former missionary to Brazil. He
preached at Flatbush in the morning, and in the afternoon
alternately at Breuckelen ' and Nieuw Amersfoordt. On his
arrival the Director-
General called the congregation together for their approval
of him. They consented to receive him, and to pay a salary
of one thousand and forty guilders. Later the people of
Breuckelen objected to paying their proportion, on the plea
that his sermons were too short. *(e.l.i.)
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1) A defensive wall across lower Manhattan, extending
from the North Hudson River to the East River is constructed
by the New Amsterdam colonists, fearing hostile Indian
attacks as well as assaults by the British, giving Wall
Street its name. *(Bwy)
2) .New Amsterdam, now New York City, was incorporated,
February 2, 1653. *(afp.com)
3) The New Utrecht Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery,
established around 1653-1654, before the church was
organized, is an important reminder of the town's earliest
period of development. The cemetery was centrally located on
the village's Main Street, now 84th Street, and the original
church was constructed adjacent to it in 1700. * (nyclc)
4) On February 6, 1653 the first city magistrate were Arendt
van Hattem and Marten Kregur, Burgomasters: Paulus
Leendertsen van der Grist, Maxmillian van Gheel, Allard
Anthony, Pieter Wolfertsen van Couwenhoven, and William
Beekman, Schepenen. Their first meeting was February 6. * (NYS
History)
5) Lambert Janse Dorlandt came to New Netherland on the
ship "Bonte Koe" arriving in New Amsterdam in 1653. He first
settled at Flatbush (now Brooklyn, N.Y.) and was constable
there in 1671 and magistrate in 1673. * (Hollanders)
6) The Van Brunt family belongs among the earliest Dutch
settlers in the New World. The first progenitor to come to
America was Rutger Joesten Van Brunt, who arrived in New
Netherland in 1653 and settled at New Ultrecht, L.I. in
1657. * (Hollanders)
7) The first progenitor who embarked for the New World was
Jan Van Cleve who came from the Netherlands and settled at
New Utrecht, L.I. in 1653. * (Hollanders)
8) The first prison was built inside the fort. * (eonyc)
9) The first poorhouse was erected at 21-23 Beaver street. *
(eonyc)
10) The city tavern became the first City Hall . A night
watch was created. * (eonyc)
11) It was under Stuyvesant, in 1653, that the town was
formally incorporated as a city, with its own local schout
and its schepens and burgomasters whose powers and duties
answered roughly to those of both aldermen and justices. The
schouts, schepens, and burgomasters together formed the
legislative council of the city; and they also acted as
judges, and saw to the execution of the laws. There was an
advisory council as well. * (Bartleby)
12) Fulton Ferry: It is recorded that "on the 10th of
October, 1653, an ordinance was passed by the government of
New amsterdam, regulating the rates of ferriage at three
stivers each for foot passengers, except Indians, who paid
six, unless there were two or more." As the Indians were
charged more than the pale faces, it is likely that they
ferried themselves over when possible, and that thus
originated the saying, "Paddle your own canoe." * (B.D.E.
6/17/1872)
13) In 1653 there were seven settlements on western Long
Island, viz., Breuckelen (Brooklyn). Midwout (Flatbush),
Middle-burgh (Newtown), Heemstede (Hempstead), Amersfoordt
(Flatlands) Flushing and Gravesend. Of these Flatbush, which
had become a place of fashionable residence, was the
largest, while Brooklyn came next in importance. These towns
were governed by the director general and his council. * (b.d.e.
10/1/1892)
14) In 1653 the great wall was erected across the island,
and stood until 1699, when the increase of population and
the scarcity of building room within it forced its
demolition. This wall was of earth and palisades, with two
gates (or poorts), the so-called land gate in Broadway,
corner of Wall street, and the water gate in Wall street,
corner of Pearl street, then close to the water. Outside of
the wall were six houses and one windmill on the highest
land, and inside of it were 114 houses.
15) New Amsterdam was incorporated in 1653, and the beaver,
as the appropriate symbol of the source of New Amsterdam's
wealth, was selected as a part of the seal of the city. The
population of the province was then 2,000, that of New
Amsterdam 800; and the population continued to increase
rapidly. People of means came from the English colonies and
from Holland and made small fortunes out of the river trade
in furs and the coastwise trade. * (honysy)
16) Early Long Island was thickly wooded, and its town
legislation showed a rare wisdom in regard to the
preservation of its trees. In 1653, " South Old resolved
that no persons should cut trees or sell wood from the
common lands, without the towne's libertie." *(E.L.I.)
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1) A French privateer named the "St. Charles" sailed
into New Amsterdam harbor with 23 Jews aboard___refugees
from Brazil. These were the founders of the first Jewish
community in what is today the United States.
2) The first individual Jewish settler, however, was Jacob
Barsimson, who had been here for about two weeks when the 23
arrived. He arrived from Holland on July 8, 1654. * (epic)
3) 1654 Brooklyn's first church, Flatbush Dutch Reformed
Church, is founded. *(BTL)
4) Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum and Gardens, at Shore Road,
Pelham Bay Park, Bronx, N.Y.. On November 14, 1654 Thomas
Pell obtained 9000 acres of land from the Sewanae Indians.
The original manor house is said to have burned to the
ground. The present mansion was built sometime between 1836
and 1842. * (Museums)
5) An orphanage was established in New Amsterdam (now New
York City) in June 1654. 50 orphan children were sent from
Holland. * (fff)
6) Jan Van Stryker founded the Dutch Colony at Flatbush on
L.I. in 1654. He was a magistrate in Flatbush and later
Schepen of the Towns of Midwout, Breuckelin, Amersfoort,
Utrecht, Boswyck and Gravesend. * (Hollanders)
7) On August 12, 1654 Stuyvesant ordered a thanksgiving
because peace had been reached between Holland and England.
Men and woman danced around a huge bonfire and guzzled free
beer provided by the city fathers. * (eonyc)
8) Coney Island (Conye Islant) is acquired from the Indians
by the Town of Gravesend. Brooklyn's first church, Flatbush
Dutch Reformed Church, is founded. *(BTL)
9) In 1654 the first church on Long island was built at
Midwout or Flatbush, and Domine Johannes Polhemus, was
installed at a salary of 600 hundred guilders.
10) The first Rosh-Hashanah service in North America was
held on September 12, 1654 when a group of Jewish men met
secretly in New York City. * (epic)
11) The beginnings of the first Jewish congregation in North
America, Congregation Shearith Israel, go back to shortly
after the settlement of the first Jewish pilgrims in 1654,
when the Jews, forbidden to hold public religious services,
congregated in their homes.* (ajtg)
12) Fulton Ferry: In 1654, an ordinance was passed
regulating the rates of ferriage. *(B.D.E. 6/17/1872)
13) In 1654 a ferry was established from Peck slip, in New
Amsterdam, the ferry on the Brooklyn shore. At first it was
under the city's control, but in 1658 it was leased to a
private individual for 300 guilders a year. From the ferry
on the Brooklyn side there was a road to Flatbush, which
corresponded very nearly with the present lower Fulton
street. Up to this time the people of Brooklyn had been
without a church or a minister, but in 1654 the Rev.
Johannes Theodorus Polhemus came to Flatbush, where a small
wooden church had been erected. Dominie Polhemus preached
every Sunday morning at Flatbush, and in the afternoons at
Brooklyn and Flatlands alternately.* (b.d.e. 10/1/1892)
14) In 1654 the Town of Southold passed a resolution that no
person should cut trees or sell wood from the common lands
of the town "without the town's liberty." (b.d.e. 8/8/1886)
15) Very early in the planting of Midwout the first Dutch
Church on Long Island* was organized, December 17, 1654, and
the specifications were given for building a house at
Midwout, " sixty feet by twenty, where a chamber eight by
fourteen may be
partitioned off in the rear for the preacher, where divine
service may be held in the front part until we have more
funds and the material necessary for a church has been
collected. Then this building shall be used as a parsonage
and barn." The church was finally finished at a cost of four
thousand six hundred and thirty-seven guilders ($1854.80),
of which nearly one-tenth was raised by Flatbush, and the
amount made up by Nieuw Amsterdam, Fort Orange, and the West
India Company, the source of all unusual supplies to the
colony. *(e.l.i.)
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1) In November, 1655 Allard Anthony burgomaster and
councillar Dr. La Montagne constituted a committee to report
upon the work of the surveyors. * (NYS History)
2) The Bancker family belongs to the earliest Dutch settlers
in the New World. The first progenitor to emigrate to
America was Gerrit Bancker who arrived in New Amsterdam from
the Netherlands in 1655. * (Hollanders)
3) In 1655 the first lottery was held. * (eonyc)
4) On February 9, 1655, the Governor of New Amsterdam
ordered the people of Brooklyn and Amersfort to assist the
people of Midwout or Flatbush in cutting timber to build a
house of worship sixty feet in length by thirty-eight in
breadth, the whole to be fourteen feet in height below the
beams. The cost of the building was 4,637 guilders. * (b.d.e.
8/8/1887)
5) In 1655 Egbert Van Borsum leased the ferry from Governor
Stuyvesant (whose perquisite it seems to have been) for 300
guilders per annum, and erected the first ferry house on the
Long island Shore. This was known as the Ferry Tavern and
appears to have been quite a fashionable resort in its day.
* (b.d.e. 5/11/1890)
6) The first privately owned slave-ship to enter New York,
so far as can be learned, was the White Horse, which, in
command of Jan de Sweerts and Dirck Pietersen, arrived in
the spring of 1655, and the best slaves were sold for $125
each. Many of this importation died immediately. * (honysy)
7) Early in the settlement of the town, the inhabitants were
much troubled by their fences being stolen at night. In
1655, the Director-General issued a proclamation, twice
repeated, setting forth the inconvenience thereof and
establishing the penalty - " For
the first offence of being whipped and branded; for the
second, of being hanged with a cord until death follow,
without favour to any person." *(E.L.I.)
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1) The first Jewish cemetery in New York City , known by
various names: The New Bowery Cemetery, the Oliver Street
Cemetery, or the Chatham Square Cemetery, with the last name
most common was granted in answer to a petition by Abraham
de Lucena, Salvador Dandrada and Jacob Cohen Henricques on
behalf of the New Amsterdam Jews. Its history began in 1682,
when it became the successor to the ground granted in 1656
to the Jews of Amsterdam by Peter Stuyvesant. The original
ground was purchased from William and Margery Merret.
2) In 1656, Domine Johannes Theodorus presided over the
church in Flatbush. * (NYS History)
3) When New Amsterdam was first surveyed in 1656 it
contained one hundred and twenty houses and one thousand
souls. * (History of NYC)
4) The Luyster family belongs among the earliest Dutch
settlers in the New World. The first progenitor to arrive in
America was Peter Cornelius Luyster, who came from
Netherland to New Amsterdam in 1656. * (Hollanders)
5) The first market in New York city was established at
Whitehall & Pearl streets. * (eonyc)
6) Rev. Joannes Theodorus Polhemus preached to the people of
Flatbush in the year 1656. Mr. Polhemus also preached in
Brooklyn on alternate Sundays.* (b.d.e. 8/8/1886)
7) In 1656 the Town of Jamaica imposed a fine of thirty
guilders on any who sold strong drink to an Indian. (b.d.e.
8/8/1886)
8) The first notice we find of the Lutherans in New
York is in the Dutch Manuscripts at Albany, in which,
under date of October 24, 1656, appears a. " petition of the
Lutherans of New Amsterdam to be allowed to continue
their public worship as; they expect a minister next
spring." * (lcr)
9) In 1656 the first census of the city was taken, and it
contained one hundred and twenty houses and one thousand
inhabitants. This year the first houses were built in
Wall-street, which is now so famous as the great financial
street of the city, with its
numerous banks, its Custom House and Exchange. Real estate
was not as high then as now. The average price of city lots
was fifty dollars. There has been a small advance in real
estate since that time. (lcr)
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A) A log cabin fire prompted New Amsterdam's Dutch colonists
to establish a group of eight night watchmen, whose duty was
to wander the streets after dark, looking for fires or
suspicious individuals. Officially, the watchmen were called
the "Rattle Watch" because of the wooden rattles they
carried to sound a fire alarm, but the town's people simply
referred to them as the
"Prowlers." When the "Prowlers" rattled their alarms,
everyone was supposed to come out and help fight the fire. *FDNY
2) Quakers or Society of Friends settled first on Long
Island (1657) whence they spread to Manhattan and the
Mainland. * (Concise).
3) A plaque in the garden of the Bowne House in Flushing,
N.Y. commemorates the Flushing Remonstrance, an appeal dated
December 27, 1657, petitioning the governor for liberty of
conscience for the Quakers. * (Museums)
4) A fire department had been in existence even before the
incorporation of the city, but in 1657, the peril from that
source was met by more elaborate precautions hooks, ladders,
ropes and leather buckets were provided. * (NYS History)
5) In 1657 Stuyvesant introduced the "Burgher Right" by
which the populace was divided into 2 classes, Great and
Little Burghers. The former were the landowners and wealthy
merchants and the latter had no right to hold office. * (NYS
History)
6) The Hoffman family belongs among the earliest Dutch
settlers in the New World. The first progenitor to come to
America was Martin Hermanzen Hoffman a Native of the
Netherland who arrived in 1657 and resided on Lower
Broadway, New Amsterdam. * (Hollanders)
7) In 1657 the first half from whitehall street to Broad
street was laid with cobblestones. * (eonyc)
8) In 1657 Jacques Cortelyou became the first commuter by
traveling daily between the Long Island home & Manhattan. *
(eonyc)
9) The Town of New Utrecht is chartered by Jacques Cortelyou.*
(BTL)
10) In 1657 burgers were registered. Thus for the first time
in the City's history, citizenship became an accomplished
legal fact. * (epic)
11) Early in July, 1657, the first Lutheran pastor, John
Ernestus Gutwasser arrived on Manhattan Island, to the great
joy of the Lutherans.* (olcia)
12) Jacob Kip's house in the city was built in 1657, on a
lot purchased by him or 100 guilders (about $35.) It was
situated in what was called the "Prince graaft," now known
as Exchange street and was also the first who held the
office of Clerk of the Municipal authorities of this city.
.* (mccny)
13) The Jews had to struggle constantly for virtually every
civil and political right and for greater religious freedom.
They were at first excluded from standing guard in defense
of the town and burdened with a special tax in lieu of the
military service. In November 1655, Asser Levy, one of the
original 23 settlers and very likely the shohet for the
small Jewish community, and Barsimson unable to pay the
special tax but willing to stand guard, requested that they
be permitted to stand guard. At first, their request was
denied, but finally it was granted. Then, on April 11, 1657,
Levy asked to be admitted as a burgher. His petition was
rejected by the New Amsterdam court. Some of the leaders of
the Jewish community: Salvador Dandrada, Jacob Cohen
Henricques, Abraham De Lucena, and Joseph d'Acosta,
thereupon appealed once more to Stuyvesant, and on April 20,
1657, Stuyvesant and his Council authorized the admission of
Jews who lived in New Amsterdam to the rights of burghership.
* (ajtg)
14) Broad street, originally the line of a brook or inlet,
was called in 1657 the Heeve graft and the Prince graft. The
ditch was filled in in 1676 and has been known since as
Broad Street.
15) William street, originally called Borger Joris path,
1657; a part was also called in 1657 the glass maker's
street, and the suice straat in 1691, King street in 1728
(part), Smith street in 1728, upper part William street,
after William Beckman, part King George street in 1755, and
all known as William street in 1797.
16) Exchange place, originally Tschaape Waytre, or sheep
pasture, in 1657; afterwards Tuyen straat or Garden street
in 1691, Church street in 1728, part known as Garden street
in 1728, part known as Flatten barrack in 1797, than all
known as Garden street, this name being changed after the
erection of the exchange in Wall street.
17) The QUAKERS made their appearance before the overthrow
of the Dutch power, as early as 1657. This year several of
this persuasion arrived from London, two of whom, Mary
Witherhead and Dorothy Waugh, were confined in prison for
delivering exhortations to the people. Their doctrines were
making such fearful progress that the inhabitants of
New-Amsterdam became alarmed, and in 1659 appointed a day of
prayer that the heresy might spread no further. * (lcr)
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1) A meat market, the first in the city, was established in
the same place, Marketfield (Bowling Green) and a shed was
erected for the purpose. *(Bwy)
2) In 1658, the inhabitants of Brower Street were directed
to pave their street in order to facilitate traffic, as the
street was almost impassable. This was the first street in
the city that was paved, and in consequence it became known
as Stone Street. *(Bwy)
3) Nieuw Haarlem, a village established in 1658 by Peter
Stuyvesant and bounded by the Harlem River, Morningside
Heights, 110th Street, and 155th Street. * (mcny.org)
4) The first public police force was formed in New
Amsterdam. It consisted of ten watchmen who were paid 24
stuyvers (about fifty cents) per night. Their salaries were
collected from the townspeople each month, August 12,1658.
*(afp.com)
5) The house built of wood, with its wooden chimney and its
thatched roof was recognizable as highly combustible. An
ordinance of that year required the heads of families to
build Chimneys of stone or brick and prohibited roofs of
straw or reeds. So from that date may be noted the change in
the character of the dwellings of the city and the
appearance of houses of some pretension. * (NYS History)
6) Anthony de Mel born in Holland in 1625 came to America
with his wife and two children arriving in New Amsterdam on
the "De Vergulde Bever" on May 17, 1658 and bought his home
and adjoining lands extending from Beaver street to the
River. * (Hollanders)
7) A law of 1658 forbade the whipping of negro slaves
without permission of the city magistrate.
8) The first coroner's inquest in New York City was held. *
(eonyc)
9) Dutch Settlers in New Amsterdam move north on Manhattan
Island to found Nieuw Haarlem, today Harlem. *(Bwy)
10) When the colonists were organized in 1658, bucket
brigades were formed and equipped with 250 leather buckets
made by Dutch shoemakers of the colony. Thus, our first
inauspicious beginning was made. Seven years later, in 1664,
the colony became a British settlement and was renamed New
York.
11) Oyster Bay, village SE. N.Y. on NE Long Island W. of
Huntington was settled in 1653. * (C.E.)
12) The Van Vleck family is one of the oldest and most
distinguished among the Dutch settlers in America. They
descend directly from Tielman Van Vleeck who migrated from
Maastricht, Province of Limburg, in the Netherlands to the
New World and settled at New Amsterdam in 1658, where he is
recorded as practicing Law there. *(Hollanders)
13) A law of 1658 forbade the whipping of Negro slaves
without permission of the City magistrates, they enjoyed
fairly humane treatment. * (Epic)
14) Stuyvesant promised that when twenty-five families
settled in Harlem, he would provide them with a ferry to L.I.
and a minister of their own. The first settler broke ground
on August 14, 1658 near the foot of 125th street and the
Harlem River. * (epic)
15) Nicholas de Meyer: This gentleman was one of the
wealthiest citizens of New Amsterdam. The first mention made
of him in the public records is in 1658, when he purchased
of Jacob Van Couwenhoven "his stone house, mill and lot." De
Meyer also owned a farm on the Harlem river, which he had
worked by a farmer. His own residence was on Pearl street,
near Broad, where he continued to reside for many years. His
descendants are numerous in this state.* (mccny)
16) August 12, 1658: The first police force or ratelwacht
was formed in New Amsterdam, it consisted of 10 watchmen who
were paid 24 stuyvers (about 50 cents) a night, the money
collected from the Town's inhabitants each month. Any guard
caught sleeping on duty was fined ten stuyvers. Guards were
enjoined not to swear, fight or drink. * (eoafd)
17) Perhaps the first hospital in what is now the U.W. was
set up in New Amsterdam by a Dr. Varravanger surgeon of the
West India Co. It consisted of a clean house with plenty of
firewood and fire and was supervised by a matron. * (eoafd)
18) Fulton Ferry: The ferry became a source of revenue to
the city over the river as far back as 1658. It is recorded
that "On the 19th of March, 1658, the ferry was put up at
auction, and leased to Hermanus Van Bossom for three years
at three hundred guilders ($120) a year." Some few years
afterward, the ferry lease was mortgaged for fifteen years
in order to replenish the exchequer of New Amsterdam. * (B.D.E.
6/17/1872)
19) Fulton Ferry: In 1658 Harmanus Van Bossom hired the
ferry from Governor Stuyvesant, at auction, at an annual
rent of three hundred guilders, and became the successor of
his father Cornelius, who had died a short time before.* (B.D.E.
6/17/1872)
20) The first shipwreck on the coast in the vicinity of
Manhattan, of which we have any account, was in December,
1658, when the "Prince Maurice" went ashore about midnight
on the south shore of Long Island at a place called
Sicktewacky, near Fire Island inlet. The passengers were
saved, but the ship was lost. * (honysy)
21) The first school in Flatbush was opened in 1658-9, by
Adrian Hegeman. A little later, Johannes van Eckellen, Clerk
of the Church, was employed by the Consistory as
schoolmaster. *(E.L.I.)
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1) Carl de Beauvois, a french Huguenot arrived at New
Amsterdam on February 17, 1659 on the ship "Otter" and was
accompanied by his wife, Sophia Van Lodensteyn and their
three children, aged respectively eight, six and three. *
(Hollanders)
2) The earliest ancestor of the Banta family in America was
Epke Jacobse who arrived in New Amsterdam, in New Netherland
from Holland on February 12, 1659 with his wife and children
settling at Flushing, north shore of Long Island. *
(Hollanders)
3) Jan Meindersen Van Jever emmigrated from the Netherlands
and arrived in Neuw Amsterdam in February of 1659.
4) In 1659 the first hospital on Bridge Street was erected.
* (eonyc)
5) The first classical elementary school in New Amsterdam
was established. * (eoafd)
6) January, 1659: The severity of colonial punishments was
demonstrated by an ordinance passed in New Amsterdam. "No
person shall strip the fences of posts or rails under
penalty for the first offence of being whipped and branded
for the second of punishment with the cord, until death
ensues." * (eoafd)
7) In 1659 the Town of Huntington resolved that no timber
should be cut for sale within three miles of the settlement
under a penalty of five shillings for every tree so cut
down. At the time of the first settlement of Long island it
appears that the western part was almost wholly bare of
timber. It was a custom of the Indians to annually burn the
wooded lands and thus afford better opportunities for the
hunting of deer and other game.*(b.d.e. 8/8/1886)
8) The Jews made their first appearance in 1660, but were
denied the rights of citizenship. But about the beginning of
the last century they built their first synagogue on what is
now South William- street. It was very small. Now they have
a number
of splendid synagogues. * (lcr)
9) Another slave-ship, the Oak Tree, owned by the company,
sailed in 1659, and her dimensions give an idea of within
how small a compass the poor negroes were crowded. She was
120 feet in length, 11 feet draught, 5 to 6 feet free-board,
and had a poop-deck. As her ordinary lading was no less than
from 350 to 400 slaves, it is no wonder that from 25 to 50
per cent, were expected to die on the voyage. * (honysy)
10) In 1659, the planters represent their land as
insufficient, and petition for a part of the Canarsie
Meadows, which was given them. *(E.L.I.)
11) Here is the license for an Inn, entered May 13, 1659:
"John Smith, Rock,1 is licensed to keep an ordinary and to
sell meat and drink and lodging for strangers with their
retinue, both for horse and man and to keep such good order
that it may not be
offensive to the laws of God and of this place " ( Book A,
p. 54). A high license law had already been passed by the
General Town Meeting, November 27, 1658: "It is ordered that
any manner of person or persons inhabiting within the town
of Hempstede that after the day of the date hereof, shall
sell eyther wine, beere, or any manner of drams, or stronge
licquors, that they shall make entry of the same unto the
Clerck, and shall pay for any kinde of drams or spannish
wine, the som of 5 guilders the ancker : for the half satt
of strong beere 12 guilders, for the ancker of French wine 3
guilders, one half to be imployed for the provision of amoni-
tion for the use of the town, and the other moytie and half
part for the education of poor orphants, or other poore
inhabitants children." *(E.L.I.)
1 6 6 0
1) The Rev. Henricus Selyns, a learned and devout young
clergyman of a prominent Amsterdam family came to Breuckelen
in 1660. At first his parishioners worshipped in a barn, but
a meeting-house was soon erected. When Dominie Selyus
arrived the population of the village was 134 persons in
thirty-one families. * (Historic Towns)
2) A school was started also for the benefit of the children
of the settlement which had grown up around Stuyvesant's
Bouwery in the neighborhood of 13th street and second
avenue. Here also religious services were held in the
afternoon of Sundays, the Rev. Henry Selyns who came to
Breuckelen in 1660, officiating there, as well as at the
Wallabout and Gowanus. * (NYS History)
3) In April, 1660 the "Spotted Cow" brought over two
families with seven children and one with eight children. *
(NYS History)
4) The Cruiser family belongs among the earliest Dutch
Settler in the New World. The first progenitor to arrive in
America was Garret Dirksen Croesen (or Cruser) who arrived
in New Amsterdam in 1660 where he settled in Gowanus
Breuklen. * (Hollanders)
5) Antoine Crispell arrived at New Amsterdam, (now the City
of N.Y.) in company with his father -in-law, Matthew
Blanchan, on the ship "Gilded Otter" in June of 1660. *
(Hollanders)
6) The Elting family belongs among the earliest Dutch
Settlers in the New World. The first progenitor who came to
America was Jan (Eltinge) Elting born in the Netherlands in
1632. He arrived in New Amsterdam about 1660 and settled on
Long Island. * (Hollanders)
G) The first post office was opened. * (eonyc)
7) In 1660 the first city directory was published. * (eonyc)
8) Elias Van Guysling or Gyseling who came from the
Netherlands in "De Bonte Koe" and landed at New Amsterdam in
1660.
9) The Van Wyck family descends from Cornelius Barentse Van
Wyck one of the first emigrants from the Netherlands who
came over in 1660 and settled at Midwout (Flatbush) Long
Island. He married Anna Polhemus a daughter of Theodorus
Polhemus, the first reformed Minister on Long Island.*
(Hollanders)
10) Stephen Coerten Van Voorhees settled in Flatlands, Long
island November 29, 1660 where he bought thirty-one margins
of land and a house and house-plot in the village of "Amersfoort"
with the Brewery brewing apparatus, Kettlehouse and casks.
He signed his name "Steven Koertin", also "Steven Koerts." *
(Hollanders)
11) On the 22d of December, 1660, a court of justice
consisting of a schout and three commissioners, was
appointed for the town, with civil and criminal
jurisdiction, allowing an appeal in judgments exceeding
fifty guilders to the Director General and Council. Of this
first court Adrian Hegeman, of Flatbush, was appointed
Schout and Jan Tomassen (Van Dyke), Rutgert Joosten (Van
Brunt) and Jacob Hellikes Commissioners. * (B.D.E.
10/19/1877
12) Bushwick was founded in 1660.
13) In 1660 Rev. Henricus Selwyn was installed in Brooklyn
at a salary of 600 guilders a year, one-half of which was
paid by Brooklyn and the other half by the Fatherland or
Holland. * (b.d.e. 8/8/1886)
14)Early in 1660, orders were given to palisade the village
and to "cut down trees within gun-shot so that men might see
afar off."' Great alarm was felt over the menace of the "
River Indians," and the Fiscal's house, the only tiled roof
in the village, was
fortified as a place of refuge. Soon after, a blockhouse was
built for protection against " Indians, pirates and other
robbers." The same year, the settlers asked Stuyvesant to
appoint a Schout, a Clerk, and an Assessor, with authority
to allot the unassigned
lands that they might be enclosed and cultivated. *(E.L.I.)
1 6 6 1
1) The first permanent white settlement on Staten Island, or
the Borough of Richmond as it is officially known, was made
by the Dutch in 1661.
2) The Bowne House on Bowne Street at 37th avenue in
Flushing, N.Y.. The oldest part of this two-story saltbox
was erected in 1661 by John Bowne on land purchased from the
Indians ten years earlier. It is considered a shrine to
religious freedom. * (Museums)
3) In 1661, Carl De Beauvois an emigrant from Holland of
Huguenot extraction was the first schoolmaster of Brooklyn's
First school. * (Brooklyn Eagle)
4) Dirck De Wolf having obtained from the Amsterdam Chamber
in 1661, the exclusive privilege of making salt for seven
years in New Netherland, began its manufacture upon Coney
Island, but the Gravesend settlers who claimed the spot
arrested the enterprise. * (History of NYC)
5) The Dubois family descends from Louis du Bois (1626-1695)
a Huguenot who came from France to America on the St. Jean
Baptiste and landed at New Amsterdam in 1661. * (Hollanders)
6) 1661 First free public school opens in Brooklyn, near
present site of Fulton and Hoyt Streets.
7) In 1661 the first unemployment relief went into effect. *
(eonyc)
8) In 1661 the first law against loan sharks was passed. * (eonyc)
9) The Town of Bushwick (Boswick) is chartered by Governor
Pieter Stuyvesant.*(BTL)
10) In 1661 nineteen Dutch and French Settlers, established
the first permanent colony on the island near the present
site of Fort Wadsworth. They called it Oude Dorp, or Old
Town.* (epic)
11) The Dutch settlements were formed into one
administrative District in 1661.' Nieuw Amersfoordt and
Midwout, which had been united under a single Court, were
then separated ; Boswyck and Nieuw Utrecht were annexed,
and, with Breuckelen, which
had had the first Court, they formed " The Five Dutch
Towns." *(E.L.I.)
12) school was first opened in the summer of 1661, by Carel
de Beauvais, who was not only teacher but messenger of the
courts, precentor, bell-ringer, and grave-digger. *(E.L.I.)
13) In 1661, Dirckde Wolf obtained from the Amsterdam
Chamber a monopoly of the salt works in Nieuw Nederlandt.
The manufacture was carried on at Coney Island, of which he
then received a grant. The people of Gravesend claimed the
island ' and
forced him to leave, although a body of soldiers had been
sent for his protection. *(E.L.I.)
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