Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 Part 13

(2) To New Amsterdam.

The four other villages on Long Island, viz., Gravensand, Middleburgh, Vlissingen, and Heemstede(1) are inhabited by Englishmen. The people of Gravensand are considered Mennonites. The majority of them reject the baptism of infants, the observance of the Sabbath, the office of preacher, and any teachers of G.o.d's word. They say that thereby all sorts of contentions have come into the world. Whenever they meet, one or the other reads something to them. At Vlissingen, they formerly had a Presbyterian minister(2) who was in agreement with our own church. But at present, many of them have become imbued with divers opinions and it is with them quot homines tot sententiae.(3) They began to absent themselves from the sermon and would not pay the preacher the salary promised to him. He was therefore obliged to leave the place and go to the English Virginias. They have now been without a preacher for several years. Last year a troublesome fellow, a cobbler from Rhode Island in New England,(4) came there saying, he had a commission from Christ. He began to preach at Vlissingen and then went with the people into the river and baptized them. When this became known here, the fiscaal went there, brought Him to this place, and he was banished from the province.

(1) Gravesend, Newtown, Flus.h.i.+ng and Hempstead.

(2) Reverend Francis Doughty.

(3) As many opinions as men.

(4) William Wickenden. The schout of the village was fined fifty pounds for allowing him to preach in his house.

At Middleburgh, alias Newtown, they are mostly Independents and have a man called Johannes Moor,(1) of the same way of thinking, who preaches there, but does not serve the sacraments. He says he was licensed in New England to preach, but not authorized to administer the sacraments.

He has thus continued for some years. Some of the inhabitants of this village are Presbyterians, but they cannot be supplied by a Presbyterian preacher. Indeed, we do not know that there are any preachers of this denomination to be found among any of the English of New England.

(1) John Moore, formerly minister at Hempstead; died this year, 1637.

At Heemstede, about seven leagues from here, there live some Independents. There are also many of our own church, and some Presbyterians. They have a Presbyterian preacher, Richard Denton,(1) a pious, G.o.dly and learned man, who is in agreement with our church in everything. The Independents of the place listen attentively to his sermons; but when he began to baptize the children of parents who are no members of the church, they rushed out of the church.

(1) Reverend Richard Denton (1586-1662), one of the pioneers of Presbyterianism in America, was a Cambridge man, who came over with Winthrop in 1630, and was settled successively at Watertown, Wethersfield and Stamford. His differences with the Congregational clergy of New England had led to his withdrawal, and since 1644 he had been at Hempstead.

On the west sh.o.r.e of the East River, about one miles beyond h.e.l.lgate, as we call it, and opposite Flus.h.i.+ng, is another English village, called Oostdorp, which was begun two years ago. The inhabitants of this place are also Puritans or Independents. Neither have they a preacher, but they hold meetings on Sunday, and read a sermon of some English writer, and have a prayer.(1)

(1) Oost-dorp ("East Village") is the present Westchester.

"After dinner [Sunday, December 31, 1656] Cornelis van Ruyven went to the house where they a.s.semble on Sundays, to observe their mode of wors.h.i.+p, as they have not as yet any clergyman. There I found a gathering of about fifteen men and ten or twelve women. Mr. Baly made a prayer, which being concluded, one Robert Ba.s.set read a sermon from a printed book composed and published by an English minister in England. After the reading Mr. Baly made another prayer and they sang a psalm and separated." (Journal of Brian Newton et als., to Oostdorp, _Doc. Hist. N.Y._, octavo, III.

923)

Such is the condition of the church in our province. To this we must add that, as far as we know, not one of all these places, Dutch or English, has a schoolmaster, except the Manhattans, Beverwyck, and now also Fort Casimir on the South River.(1) And although some parents try to give their children some instruction, the success if far from satisfactory, and we can expect nothing else than young men of foolish and undisciplined minds. We see at present no way of improving this state of affairs; first, because some of the villages are just starting, and have no means, the people having come half naked and poor from Holland, to pay a preacher and schoolmaster; secondly, because there are few qualified persons here who can or will teach.

(1) Harma.n.u.s van Hoboken at New Amsterdam, Adriaen Jansz at Beverwyck (Albany), and since April of this year Evert Pietersen at Fort Casimir. Two years later (1659) the company sent over Alexander Carolus Curtius, "late professor in Lithuania," to be master of a Latin school in New Amsterdam.

We can say but little of the conversion of the heathens or Indians here, and see no way to accomplish it, until they are subdued by the numbers and power of our people, and reduced to some sort of civilization; and also unless our people set them a better example, than they have done theretofore.

We have had an Indian here with us for about two years. He can read and write Dutch very well. We have instructed him in the fundamental principles of our religion, and he answers publicly in church, and can repeat the Commandments. We have given him a Bible, hoping he might do some good among the Indians, but it all resulted in nothing. He took to drinking brandy, he p.a.w.ned the Bible, and turned into a regular beast, doing more harm than good among the Indians.

Closing we commend your Reverences to the gracious protection of the Almighty, whom we pray to bless you in the Sacred Ministry.

Vestri et officio et effectu,(1)

(1) Yours both officially and actually.

JOHANNES MEGPOLENSIS. SAMUEL DRISSIUS.

Amsterdam, in New Netherland, the 5th of August, 1657.

Revs. Megapolensis and Drisius to the Cla.s.sis of Amsterdam (October 25, 1657).

Brethren in Christ:

Since our last letter, which we hope you are receiving about this time, we have sent in a pet.i.tion in relation to the Lutheran minister, Joannes Ernestus Gutwa.s.ser. Having marked this on its margin, we have sent it to the Rev. Brethren of the Cla.s.sis. We hope that the Cla.s.sis will take care that, if possible, no other be sent over, as it is easier to send out an enemy than afterward to thrust him out. We have the promise that the magistrates here will compel him to leave with the s.h.i.+p De Wage. It is said that there has been collected for him at Fort Orange a hundred beaver skins, which are valued here at eight hundred guilders, and which is the surest pay in this country. What has been collected here, we cannot tell. Our magistrates have forbidden him to preach, as he has received no authority from the Directors at Amsterdam for that purpose.

Yet we hear that the Hon. Directors at Amsterdam gave him permission to come over. We have stated in a previous letter the injurious tendency of this with reference to the prosperity of our church.

Lately we have been troubled by others. Some time since, a shoemaker,(1) leaving his wife and children, came here and preached in conventicles.

He was fined, and not being able to pay, was sent away. Again a little while ago there arrived here a s.h.i.+p with Quakers, as they are called.

They went away to New England, or more particularly, to Rhode Island, a place of errorists and enthusiasts. It is called by the English themselves the latrina(2) of New England. They left several behind them here, who labored to create excitement and tumult among the people--particularly two women, the one about twenty, and the other about twenty-eight.(3) These were quite outrageous. After being examined and placed in prison, they were sent away. Subsequently a young man at Hempstead, an English town under the government, aged about twenty-three or twenty-four years,(4) was arrested, and brought thence, seven leagues. He had pursued a similar course and brought several under his influence. The magistrate, in order to repress the evil in the beginning, after he had kept him in confinement for several days, adjudged that he should either pay one hundred guilders or work at the wheelbarrow two years with the negroes. This he obstinately refused to do, though whipped on his back. After two or three days he was whipped in private on his bare back, with threats that the whipping would be repeated again after two or three days, if he should refuse to labor.

Upon this a letter was brought by an unknown messenger from a person unknown to the Director-General. The import of this, (written in English), was, Think, my Lord-Director, whether it be not best to send him to Rhode Island, as his labor is hardly worth the cost.

(1) William Wickenden, of Rhode Island.

(2) Sink.

(3) Dorothy Waugh, afterward whipped at Boston, and Mary Wetherhead.

(4) Robert Hodgson, who had come on the same s.h.i.+p with the preceding. A contemporary Quaker writer attributes his release to the intercession of Stuyvesant's sister, Mrs.

Anna Bayard. Persecution of Quakers and other sectaries in New Netherland was continued by Stuyvesant, and finally culminated in the case of John Bowne, of Flus.h.i.+ng, a Quaker, who has left us an interesting account of his suffering, printed in the _American Historical Record_ I. 4-8.

Banished from the province and transported to Holland, Bowne laid his case before the directors of the West India Company, who reproved Stuyvesant by a letter in which they said (April 16, 1663): "The consciences of men ought to remain free and unshackled,... This maxim of moderation has always been the guide of the magistrates in this city; and the consequence has been that people have flocked from every land to this asylum. Tread thus in their steps, and we doubt not you will be blessed."

Since the arrival of De Wage from the South River [the Director?] has again written to Joannes Ernestus Gutwa.s.ser to go away. On this he presented a pet.i.tion, a copy of which herewith transmitted, as also a copy signed by several of the Lutheran denomination. We observe that it is signed by the least respectable of that body, and that the most influential among them were unwilling to trouble themselves with it.

Some a.s.sert that he has brought with him authority from the West India Company to act as minister. Whether dismission and return will take place without trouble remains to be seen.

We are at this time in great want of English ministers. It is more than two years since Mr. Doughty, of Flus.h.i.+ng which is a town here, went to Virginia, where he is now a preacher. He left because he was not well supported. On October 13, Mr. Moore, of Middelburg, which is another town here, died of a pestilential disease, which prevailed in several of our English towns and in New England. He left a widow with seven or eight children. A year before, being dissatisfied with the meagre and irregular payments from his hearers, he went to Barbadoes, to seek another place. Mr. Richard Denton, who is sound in faith, of a friendly disposition, and beloved by all, cannot be induced by us to remain, although we have earnestly tried to do this in various ways. He first went to Virginia to seek a situation, complaining of lack of salary, and that he was getting in debt, but he has returned thence. He is now fully resolved to go to old England, because his wife, who is sickly, will not go without him, and there is need of their going there, on account of a legacy of four hundred pounds sterling, lately left by a deceased friend, and which they cannot obtain except by their personal presence.

At Gravesend there never has been a minister. Other settlements, yet in their infancy, as Aernem,(1) have no minister. It is therefore to be feared that errorists and fanatics may find opportunity to gain strength. We therefore request you, Rev. Brethren, to solicit the Hon.

Directors of the West India Company, to send over one or two English preachers, and that directions may be given to the magistracy that the money paid by the English be paid to the magistrate, and not to the preacher, which gives rise to dissatisfaction, and that at the proper time any existing deficiency may be supplied by the Hon. Directors.

Otherwise we do not see how the towns will be able to obtain ministers, or if they obtain them, how they will be able to retain them. Complaints continually reach us about the payment of ministers. Nevertheless in New England there are few places without a preacher, although there are many towns, stretching for more than one hundred leagues along the coast.

Hoping that by G.o.d's blessing and your care something may be effected in this matter, we remain,

(1) Arnhem was a village begun on Smith's Island in Newton Creek.

Your friends and fellow laborers,

JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS. SAMUEL DRISIUS.

Manhattans, Oct. 22, 1657.

Rev. Brethren:

Since the writing of the above letter, and before sealing it, we have learned from the Hon. Directors and the fiscaal, that Joannes Ernestus Gutwa.s.ser is not to be found, that his bedding and books were two days ago removed, and that he has left our jurisdiction. Still it is our opinion that he remains concealed here, in order to write home, and make his appearance as if out of the Fatherland; and to persevere with the Lutherans in his efforts. We therefore hope and pray that you may, if possible, take measures to prevent this.

SAMUEL DRISIUS. Oct. 25, 1657.

To the Rev. Learned, etc. the Deputies ad res Indicas of the Cla.s.sis of Amsterdam.

Rev. J. Megapolensis to the Cla.s.sis of Amsterdam (September 28, 1658).

Rdi. Patres et Fratres in Christo:(1)

In a preceding letter of September 24, 1658,(2) mention was made of a Jesuit who came to this place, Manhattans, overland, from Canada. I shall now explain the matter more fully, for your better understanding of it. It happened in the year 1642, when I was minister in the colony of Rensselaerswyck, that our Indians in the neighborhood, who are generally called Maquaas, but who call themselves Kajingehaga, were at war with the Canadian or French Indians, who are called by our Indians Adyranthaka. Among the prisoners whom our Indians had taken from the French, was this Jesuit,(3) whom they according to their custom had handled severely. When he was brought to us, his left thumb and several fingers on both hands had been cut off, either wholly or in part, and the nails of the remaining fingers had been chewed off. As this Jesuit had been held in captivity by them for some time, they consented that he should go among the Dutch, but only when accompanied by some of them.

At last the Indians resolved to burn him. Concerning this he came to me with grievous complaint. We advised him that next time the Indians were asleep, he should run away and come to us, and we would protect and secure him, and send him by s.h.i.+p to France. This was done. After concealing him and entertaining him for six weeks, we sent him to the Manhattans and thence to England and France, as he was a Frenchman, born at Paris.(4)