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HALVE MAEN /fytaga^me of Ctje ^utrt) Colonial

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Vol. lxii No. 2

, Tublijbed by The Holland Society o/U^ew Torl(

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The Holland Society of New York

122 EAST 58th STREET, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10022 President

Arthur R. Smock, Jr.

Advisory Council of Past Presidents: Bruce S. Cornel] John H. Vander Veer Kenneth L. Demarcst Thomas M. Van der Veer Walter E. Hopper Gerrit W. Van Schaick James E. Quackcnbush Carl A. Willscy

Vice Presidents: New York County Harry A. van Dyke Long Island Adrian T. Bogart Dutchess County Kevin A. Denton Ulster County Kenneth W. DuBois Patroons John S. Van der Veer Central New York Paul H. Quackenbush, II Old Bergen County, N.J Rev. William J.F. Lydecker Essex, Morris Counties Daniel S. Van Riper Central New Jersey Kenneth L. Demarest, Jr. Connccticut-Westchester Harrold W. DeGroff New England Tweed Roosevelt Potomac David A. Voorhees Florida, East Coast James J. Ringo Florida, West Coast John L. Brouwer Niagara Frontier Chase Viele Mid-West Peter H. Schenck Pacific Coast Paul H. Davis Virginia and the Carolinas Kendrick Van Pelt South River William M. Alrich Old South H. John Ouderkirk Texas Branch Rev. Robert Terhune United States Army Col. William T. Van Atten, USA (Ret.) United States Air Force Lt. Col. Laurence C. Vliet, USAF United States Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard W. DeMott United States Marines Lt. Col. Robert W. Banta, USMC

Treasurer: Secretary: James M. Vrecland Rev. LouisO. Springsteen

Domine: Associate Domine: Rev. Dr. HowardG. Hagcman Rev. LouisO. Springsteen

Trustees: William M. Alrich James P. Snedeker Frederick W. Bogert James M. Van Buren, II Clifford A. Crispcll, Jr. John H. Vanderveer Ralph L. DeGroff, Jr. Peter Van Dyke John (). Delamater Daniel S. Van Riper Richard C. Deyo David W. Voorhees Hubert T. Mandeville John R. Voorhis, III Robert D. Nostrand Peter G. Voshburgh David Riker Ferdinand L. Wyckoff Tweed Roosevelt

Trustees Emeritus: John A. Pruyn

Editor: Rev. Dr. Howard G. Hagcman

Associate Editor David William Voorhees

Editorial Committee: Clifford A. Crispcll, Jr., Chairman

Dr. James Tanis (Fellow) Frederick W. Bogert Rev. Louis O. Springsteen Dr. Andrew W. Brink James M. Van Buren, II Peter Richard Christoph (Fellow) John H. Vanderveer Kevin A. Denton Kevin A. Denton David M. Riker

Burgher Guard Captain: Executive Secretary: Stephen Wyckoff Mrs. Barbara W. Stankowski

Organized in 1885 to collect and preserve information respecting the early history and settlement of New Netherland by the Dutch, to perpetuate the memory, foster and promote the principles and virtues of the Dutch ancestors of its members, to maintain a library relating to the Dutch in America, and to prepare papers, essays, books, etc. in regard to the history and genealogy of the Dutch in America.

The Society is principally organized of descendants in the direct male line ol residents of the Dutch Colonies in America prior to or during the year 1675. Inquiries respecting the several criteria for membership are invited.

De Halve Maen, published by the Society, is entered at the post office at Poughkeepsie. N.Y. Communications to the editor should be directed to the Society's address, 122 East 58th Street, New York, N Y 10022 telephone 212-758-1675.

Copyright ©The Holland Society of New York 1989.

ISSN 0017-6834

The Editor's Corner De Halve Maen will sail again! The replice of Henry

Hudson's vessel which first explored this area in 1609 has been under construction at the Snow Dock in Albany, New York and will be ready for its christening on June 10. This will take place at a ceremony at the Snow Dock at 1:00 p.m. Three weeks later on July 1 at 1:00 p.m. the ship will be commissioned at another ceremony to which the public is also invited.

Shortly thereafter de Halve Maen will begin its first journey, making its first stop at Hudson, New York on July 5 and continuing throughout the summer and early fall. Its southernmost stop will be Lewes, Delaware on October 1. After that it will travel back north, stopping at Liberty State Park in New Jersey on October 6. Its final destination will be the World's Fair Marina at Flushing Bay, Long Island on October 12. We cannot print the whole schedule here, but stops are scheduled for such New York towns as Kings-ton, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, and Tarry town with New York City stops at Battery Park and the South Street Seaport. Several shore towns in New Jersey will also be visited.

As we know, the vision of re-building this historic vessel and the responsibility for it are the work of our fellow member, Dr. Andrew Hendricks of Lumberton, North Carolina. To accomplish it he has put his own means at risk and needs the financial assistance of many more members of the Holland Society. A number of our members have made a contribution but many more are needed. The basic contribution is $35, but of course there are several categories of giving in higher amounts. Full information can be ob-tained from New Netherland Festival, Suite 1614, 301 North Harrison Street in Princeton, New Jersey 08540. The phone number is (609) 683-7690.

Since we Dutchmen often complain about the way in which New Netherland is ignored in American history, here is a dramatic chance for us to do something about it! De Halve Maen putting in at a number of ports along the east coast will be a vivid reminder of the Dutch role in the development of North America. We shall be carrying more details about the ship in our next issue.

IN THIS ISSUE

The Lutheran Struggle For Toleration In New Amsterdam - Part II 1

The Identity of Annatje Everts, Wife of Hendrick Van Ness 6

"On Being Dutch" 9

Society Activities 11

Here and There With Members 15

In Memoriam 15

Cover: The cover picture for this issue (one which has been used before) is from the William Burgess view of New York, first published in 1719. The tall gabled houses are on Water Street, facing Brooklyn. The large chim-neyed house behind them was the home of Robert Livingston, formerly the property of his associate, Cap-tain Kidd!

DC

HALVE VOL. LXII • NO. 2

MAEN LINE 1989 NEW YORK CITY

The Lutheran Struggle For Toleration In New Amsterdam - Part II

by Karl A. Lurix

On Oct. 10, 1657 a petition was sent by the Lutheran Church in New Amsterdam to the Director General and Council of New Netherland (today a copy of this petition can be found in the Ecclesiastical Records of the State of New York vol. 8, p. 405-7 and also in the Amsterdam Luthe-ran Church Archives). The petition read:

To the Honorable Director General and Council of New Netherland: Shew with due respect, we, the joint members of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, residing here in New Netherland under the jurisdiction of the honorable Directors of the West India Company, that on this date by order of your honors and the honorable Bur-gomasters of this city of Amsterdam in New Netherland, first by the court messenger, Gys-bert op Dyck, and shortly after by the Hon. Fiscal, Nicasius de Sille, verbal notice was served on the Reverend Magistcr Theologiae Johannes Ernestus Goetwasser (Gutwasser) that he should and must depart by the ship De Waegh, now lying ready to sail. Wherefore we hereby respectfully inform your honors that, in accor-dance with the orders and placards posted by your honors and sent to him, he has conducted himself in the matter as an honest person ought to do and has never opposed himself to your honors' orders and posted placards, but at all times has obeyed them, as we also have con-ducted ourselves therein with all quietness and obedience, expecting from higher hand some toleration of our religion of the Unaltered Au-gsburg Confession, which according to the letter sent to us we are still expecting. We therefore supplicate your honors that the sudden orders

Karl Lurix, a resident of Bridgeport, Connecticut is a rec-ognized author on the history of Lutheranisni in North America.

served on Domine Johannes Ernestus Goetwas-ser, one by the court messenger and the second by the fiscal, may remain suspended by your honors until we shall have received further and more definite orders from the fatherland, which may have been sent to us by their High Might-inesses, our Sovereigns, and then by the honor-able Directors of the Chartered West India Com-pany. Remaining your honors' faithful and vig-ilant subjects and good Christians, we. the joint members adhering to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in New Netherland, have in the ab-sence of the others, jointly signed this in haste. (Signed:) Mattheus Capito, Christiaen Niessen, Harmen Eduarsen, Hans Dreper, Laurens An-driesen, Lucas Dirricksen, Jan Jansen, Jochem Beeckman. Andries Laurensen, Andries Rees, Lucas Eldersen, Harmen Jansen, Jan Cornelis-sen, David Wessels. Hans Sillejonck, Henderick Hendericksen, Meyndert Barentsen, Harmen Smeman, Christiaen Barentsen, George Hamel, Pieter Jansen Winkelhoeck, Claes De Wit. Jacob Elders, Henderick Willemsen. We await hereupon your honors" favorable opinion. Amsterdam in N. Netherland, this [0th of Oc-tober 1657.

Serves for apostil: That the Director General and Council do not recognize the Unaltered Au-gsburg Confession, much less any members thereof. They persist, therefore, in their order and resolution dated the 4th of September, sent more than 5 or 6 weeks ago to Johannes Ernestus Goetwater, who styles himself Lutheran Pastor at Amsterdam in New Netherland. since which time two ships have sailed, on one of which the aforesaid Goetwater was ordered to depart. As he has neglected to do so in contempt and disre-gard of the government of this province, he is

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hereby once more ordered to depart on one of the ships lying ready to sail, the more so as the Director General and Council consider this necessary for the. . .promotion of the Reformed religion, and the mutual tranquility, peace and harmony of this province. Thus done at the meet-ing of the Hon. Director General and Council held in Fort Amsterdam in New Netherland, the 16th of October, 1657. By order of the Hon. Director General and Council above named. (Signed) C. van Ruyven, secretary.

On Dec. 26, 1657 a letter was sent from the Amsterdam Consistory to the Lutheran Church in New Amsterdam. (An original copy of this letter is in the Portfolio America—in the Amsterdam Lutheran Church Archives.) The Amsterdam Consistory wrote:

To the Community in New Netherland. Rever-end, Attentive, Learned Gentlemen, especially good Friends and very dear Brethren in Christ. The letter written to us by Magister Goetwater, your spiritual leader, dated the 8th of September last, was duly received by us, from which, as well as from the enclosed extract from the regis-ter of resolutions of the honorable Director Gen-eral and Council of New Netherland, we learn with sorrow the sad and distressful situation of your church. We heartily wish that we could provide therein as we should wish. According to the promises heretofore made, we have through some delegates from our midst made many efforts and by various solicitations and all conceivable remonstrances pertaining to the matter that were presented in private to some important persons most urgently requested and insisted that the friends and Christians of our Confession, residing as colonists of this our free republic in New Netherland, might be granted freedom of consciences and be left unmolested in the exercise of their religion. Whereupon by one person and another good consolation was offered and it has already been promised that they would write about the matter to the honor-able Director Stuyvesandt (which we trust has in effect also been done), and that if the friends would keep quiet and be moderate, the exercise of their religion would no doubt by connivance be allowed to them, but that they would not obtain the same by authority of those in control, as indeed is to be expected and readily com-prehended according to the constitution and the form of government of this country, where none of our churches is tolerated except by conni-vance. Therefore, our counsel and advice is that the friends during the persecutions be pleased to arm themselves with patience and forbearance and that meanwhile, in all stillness, they keep together as far as is possible. Also, that always and in everything they obey their lawful au-thorities as far as the civil and political govern-ment is concerned and this can be done without hurting their conscience, and that by this means and by all friendly, humble and modest suppli-cations to be made by them in common and

also, especially, by some of them in private, they seek to gain their good will and to move them to a policy of lenient connivance, for which we shall with your honors implore God in prayer that He may grant his blessing and grace and move the hearts of your honors' magistrates to do what is best. After our Christian and brotherly greetings we hereby commend your honors all together to God's gracious protection and gui-dance, In Amsterdam, the 26th of December Anno 1657. Your honors' faithful friends and brethren in Christ, the pastors and deputed elders of the Christian congregation there adhering to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. By order of the same.

The Lutherans in New Netherland wrote again to the Amsterdam Consistory on May 5, 1659 (copy of this letter— N.Y. Public Library and Tilly Family Papers). The letter read:

Reverend, Estimable, Highly Learned Pastors, and Honorable, Wise and Very Discreet Gentle-men, Leaders and Overseers (Voorstanders ende Opperhoofden) of the Unaltered Augsburg Con-fession (The Lutheran Church): We, the joint members adhering to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession in New Netherland, wish you pros-perity and salvation! According to our utmost ability and Christian zeal we have in divers let-ters, in order to satisfy our consciences, be-sought and requested your honors that we might have a pastor of the U.A.C. here, who (being the Reverend Johannes Ernestus Goetwasser), by your honors' favor, was sent to us now about two years ago. However, due to the great obsta-cles placed in his way by the ordinances of this country here, his persecution and interdicts, as well as the custody of him by court messengers and soldiers here, we have had to suffer, al-though many and divers petitions about it were presented, that he must depart by the first ship that is to sail, to the great sorrow, distress and sadness of many anxious hearts and souls here. However, we must now as heretofore console ourselves. Therefore, we now once more and anew address ourselves to your honors and re-quest that for our sake and out of Christian zeal and diligence you may be pleased to obtain this much from the High and Mighty Lords the States General as well as from the honorable Directors of the Chartered West India Company that we in these regions of New Netherland may at last obtain the free exercise of our religion of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, which we de-sire with all our hearts. Heretofore, a taste has been given by and to us and we have greater reason, yes, greater than before, for obtaining the same. From the Reverend Goetwasser your honors will learn everything in greater detail, both from the copies kept by him, which have been gathered into a book, and from his verbal report. We trust, as we have always trusted, that your honors will do your utmost duty therein for the propagation of the pure doctrine of the

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U.A. Confession. And having obtained the said toleration by connivance or otherwise, we also request you to send back to us our now returning pastor above named, since, to our contentment, albeit in isolated hiding places, we have seen and heard sufficient proofs of (his ability to con-duct) divine worship. The further expenses in procuring everything we shall gratefully refund to your honors, for we have found in a small way what in time in a large way may be obtained from our people in order to have a treasury. Closing herewith, we commend your honors, together with all the members there, to God's protection and ourselves to the prayers of your honors and the congregation for the carrying out of our Christian plans. Amsterdam in New Netherland, this 5th of May 1659. (Signed by us) in the absence of the other joint members of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession here in New Netherland. Mattheus Capito, manu prop-ria, Chrystyaen Nyssen, I.B. (the mark of Jochum Beekman), Davit Wesels, Hinderick Willemsen, Barendt Krudup.

On May 20, 1659 the Lutherans of New Netherland sent a petition to the Directors of the West India Company (today a copy of this petition is in the N.Y. Public Library and an original copy is in the Tilly Family Papers). The petition read:

Hon. etc. We, your honors' faithful and obedient adherents of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, residing under your jurisdiction in N. Netherland, on the Manhates, Long Island, Fort Orange and the colonies thereabout (those in Fairfield, Connecticut, at Black Rock Village, and Stratford, Connecticut, at Stratfield Village) hereby humbly show with due reverence and submissiveness that we finding ourselves to-gether in these parts of America from different countries of Europe, and thinking of the great and eminent benefits which those of our Faith enjoy under the High and Mighty Lords the States General, our Sovereigns, in the United Provinces, by the toleration of the doctrine of the U .A .C , we have already for more than five years written to our Consistory at Amsterdam to petition and solicit for us from the Hon. Di-rectors of the Chartered West India Company, our superiors, the Exercitium Religionis, which (Consistory) in a letter dated June 14, 1656 in-formed us that some of our lords (Directors) had advised their committee that it was resolved and decided by them that we here in this country adhering to the U.A. Confession would, like those in patria, be tolerated by connivance. Whereupon, being rejoiced thereat, we made known this report in a petition to the Hon. Direc-tor General Petrus Stuyvesant, whose apostil thereon was that he would find out the truth about it, so that he had no objection. We after-wards further wrote to our Consistory and de-sired that in accordance with the promises made by some of our lords Directors they would send us a faithful pastor, which indeed was done in the year 1657, on the 10th of April, about two

years ago, but upon his arrival our Hon. Director General expressly declared that, assuming that the Hon. Directors of the West India Company had consented to it, he would nevertheless not allow himself to be dictated to therein by them, inasmuch as he had taken an oath before their High Mightinesses. He thereupon proceeded sharply, had ordinances publicly posted against our meetings upon forfeiture of 100 pounds Flemish, drove our spiritual leader from Manhat-tan Island, served several notices on him to leave the province, threatened to fine those who of-fered him assistance, had him arrested and placed in the custody of court messengers and soldiers and now, finally, has sent him back to the fatherland, which causes us much sorrow and affliction. But since in these two years and as long as our pastor has been in this country many people, thinking that here freedom of wor-ship had been obtained for us, have come and still continue to come, we now find ourselves considerably stronger than before; at Fort Orange there are from 70 to 80 families, here at the Manhatans and on Long Island also fully that many, including permanent residents and mechanics, but mostly farmers. As we cannot well leave, yet, without the exercise of religion can still less live, we have, in a petition to our magistrates and the Hon. Director General, re-quested to grant us a wild, uninhabited place on the island, two or three miles from the Manha-tans, or at the ferry, or on Long Island, or at Paulus Hoeck, or wherever it might be, to prac-tice our religion in all quietness and reverence, and this in order that we might not be in their way and that thereby a wild place might be brought under cultivation, but this also has been refused us. We therefore turn to your honors praying, and beseeching you to be pleased to consider among yourselves the welfare and profit of this country, consisting in populating the same, and to inquire how many farmers are already leaving the land, selling their farms and preparing to leave, and how many (others) are auctioning off and selling their houses and so must reluctantly give up their business. Further-more, the sight thereof will turn many against this country, who otherwise would have liked it and will even be kept away from it, all of which can be prevented by the toleration of our religion of the U.A. Confession. This, as faithful and vigilant subjects we humbly wished to bring to your honors' attention and we remain your honors' faithful and obedient members adhering to the U.A. Confession in New Netherland, and in the absence of the others we have jointly signed this in haste, the 20th of May 1659, at Manhatans, in N. Netherland. Harmen Yansen, Eldert Juryanse van Stenhuse, Gerrit Meyer, (X) Peter Jansen, (X) Albert Jansen, Eberhardt Hedeman, Mattheus Capito, Lucas Dircksen, Christin Peters, Juryen Jansen, Marten Hoffman, John Seunson, Eurt Luc, Hans Kettel, Is Mensen, (J. Smensen), Johan Mastrs (Mas-

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ters), Cllass Schardyc, Teirck Jansen, Jochum Schoemacker, Gerrit Molenaer, Hendrick Jan-sen Spieringh, Jan Raynertsoon (Maynertsoon), Hacken Bruyb, Mayndert Barensen, Cornelis Marisenfactor, Stofve Stofssen (Stoffel Stof-felsen), Carsten Jansen, Chrysteyan Nyssen, Yan Cornelsen, Matys Moller, Davit Wesel, Jan Pietersoon, Cobes Wilbordt, Albert Pietersen (trompetter), Lorens Andres, Barendt Krudup, Wilmen Traphegen (Wilman Traphagen), Cris-tian Wolf, Poules Cristianesz, Pieter Jansen (smith), the mark (X) of Heynrick Jansen Sluy-ter, Dirrich Jacobsenn, Siester Michgalsen, Nicklas Jssersen, Woogang Karsten von Vol-ffenbuttel (Wolffenbiittel), Andreas Rees von Der Liebstadt (Von Lippstadt), Andreas Leen-sen, Heinrich Heinrichsz, Simon Jansen, (X) is the mark of Jansen von Der Ham, Corneelus Matheysen, Claes Tysen, Claes Bom, Jonas Magni (Magnus), Magnus Pittersz, Willsz Dober, Andreas Hansen, Herman Smeman, (X) the mark of Claes Snyder, (X) the mark of Jan Brouwer, Casper Steinmets, (X) the mark of Marten Jansen Meyer, (X) the mark of Mathys Dirksen, Hans Drepery (Dreper), Jan Hyn-drychse Steehnan, Volgart Jansen, the mark (X) of Lodewyk Jonge.

n July 20, 1659 the Lutherans wrote again to the Luthe-onsistory in Amsterdam, Holland: Reverend, Estimable, Highly Learned Pastors and Honorable, Wise and Very Discreet Gentle-men, leaders and overseers of the congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. Greet-ings! We trust that by the bearer, the Reverend Johannes Ernestus Goetwasser, our pastor sent back by the magistrates here by the ship De Bruynvis, you will have received our last letter, dated the 5th of May, in which your honors can find a sufficient account of the prevention of our religion and the sending back of our aforesaid pastor. Our previous letters sent to your honors and your honors' reply sent to us under date of June 14, 1656, that a promise of toleration by connivance had been obtained for us by your honors in the fatherland animate us again to write to your honors with the Christian and urgent request that your honors, in order duly to promote this matter, might be pleased, in the name of Christ and for the sake of our, formerly in the fatherland and now also here, dear religion, and fundamentally for us, as hav-ing now no pastor whom we can seek, to request, in whatever way or manner it may be, that we, according to our eager and Christian pious de-sire, may at last obtain our heartfelt wish. Not doubting but that your honors will not neglect this or remain remiss herein, but rather hoping that you will exert all zeal and diligence in this matter of our pious Christian request, as we trust you will, we expect at the first opportunity good news, or what would be still better for us, our aforesaid deported pastor Dominus Joh. Ern. Goetwasser, or in his absence another according

to the contents of our previous letters. Breaking off herewith, in order to be brief, we commend your honors to God's protection and ourselves to your honors' prayers and those of the congre-gation Amsterdam in New Netherland, this 20th of July 1659. We remain your honors' willing servants, in the name of all the members of the U.A. Confession here, Hans Dreper, Barendt Krudup, Heinderich Willemsen, Davit Wessels, the mark LB. of Jochem Beeckman, made by himself, and Mattheus Capito manu propria. Note: The reply to us your honors will please send under cover either to Henderick Willemsen, the baker, or to Hans Dreper, tavernkeeper, by a trusted man, in order that it may not be inter-cepted with other letters. Valete ut supra.

On Aug. 19, 1663 Hendrick Bosch who was a member of the Lutheran Church in New Amsterdam wrote to the Consistory in Amsterdam, Holland (a copy of this letter is in the N.Y.P. Library and the Amst. Luth. Ch. Arch.):

Grace and the peace of God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be unto you. Reverend, Learn-ed, Honorable, Wise, Prudent Gentlemen: There is no one among us who does not know what persecution and distress the Church of Christ, from the beginning until now, has had to endure and suffer, and particularly from those who call themselves also members of Christ's Church. Having come here a little over two years ago as one of the least of the members of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ I found here a large con-gregation adhering to our Christian Unaltered Augsburg Confession, and although hope among us has not lessened, and we still do hope, that some day we may be rightly helped, the fact is, alas, that many of the congregation begin to stray like sheep and that they dare not come together here to offer any sign of devotion, much less trust themselves jointly to sign a petition to your honors, for fear of being betrayed. And whereas it is very well known to me what great Christian care was exercised by your honors (during the twenty years that I lived at Leyden) to make everything right wherever in our churches things were not going well and that no trouble or expenses were spared to build up and propagate Christ's Church. I am thereby, having considered the same, emboldened to inform you, Reverend, Honorable, Wise, and Prudent Gent-lemen of this high need and to pray and beseech you, for Christ's sake to lend us the helping hand, in order that we may be provided with a pious, godly and learned man. His love and eternal blessing and help promote such godly work in such a distant country that you your-selves will find joy therein. Your co-operation will, by us and our successors, be held in ever-lasting remembrance and redound to your honor and glory in the sight of God. Reverend, Learn-ed, Honorable, Wise, Prudent gentlemen after wishing you all that is good for body and soul, I commend you to the protection of the Most High. Amsterdam in N.Netherland—1663, Au-

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gust 19. Your honors' willing and humble ser-vant, Hendrick Bosch.

In 1664 when the English received the colony from the Dutch (New Amsterdam becoming New York), a new char-ter was granted to the Lutheran Church and a new larger church (near present Hanover Square) was built called the Templum Lutheranorium —commonly referred to as the Lutherische Kerk. This church was still not large enough, and in 1673 a bigger church was built, where the Lutherans had their Burial Ground (according to WPA Lutheran Churches Directory on p. 4) "where the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Trinity now mothers its tombstones at the head of Wall Street on Broadway". Today the Old Lutheran

Dutch Mint Continues to Produce Coin of Longest Standing Design

Except for some informed numismatists, few Americans realize or appreciate that the Dutch Mint at Utrecht still produces a gold trade coin first struck in 1586—the Gouden Dukaat.

The four-centuries-old coin has a rich and fascinating history, one that is unique to world trade. The design, fine-ness of metal, weight, and diameter have remained basically unchanged since the coin was first introduced to the banking community of Europe more than 400 years ago. To own a Gouden Dukaat, regardless of date, is to have a specimen of the longest standing coinage issue in history.

The first Gouden Dukaats were issued four centuries ago, authorized by the States-General of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. Featured on the obverse was a knight in full armor. The coins soon became the standard in international trade, circulated widely, and were so univer-sally accepted that they were imitated by several European powers.

Over the centuries, the image of the knight changed slightly to fit the contemporary interpretations by mint en-

Burial Ground can still be visited—it is the oldest portion of Trinity Churchyard, and a collection of colonial Lutheran records of New Amsterdam can be seen in the Church Arc-hives there. In addition the old colonial Lutheran Church also can be still seen standing, having been moved to Harlem in colonial days. It is located at 421 West 145th Street. Today this is Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, with St. Mark Deaf Lutheran Church also located here. On the front of the old colonial Lutheran edifice is a set of two tombstones in German marking the graves of a number of the Lutheran clergy that served the Lutheran Church in New York from 1664 onward—all earlier Lutheran graves in the old Lutheran Burial Ground.

gravers as to what a knight should look like. However, neither the name of the coin, its weight (3.494 grams), fineness (.983 fine gold), or diameter (21mm-the size of a U.S. nickel), has changed since the 16th century.

The obverse of the latest issue, the 1989 Gouden Dukaat, features a modern likeness of the original standing knight, recreated to conform to his appearance on the original issue of 1586. The figure is circumscribed by the ages old Latin motto, "CONCORDIA RES PARVAE CRESCUNT," meaning "Unity Makes Small Things Great," and refers to the unity of the Dutch provinces.

The other side of the coin features an ornately enscrolled tablet carrying a message mandated by Dutch law, "MO.AUR. / REG. BELGII / AD LEGEM / IMPERII." These abbreviations stand for, "Gold Coin of the Kingdom of the Netherlands According to the Law of the Empire."

Holding the coin in one's hand enables one to sense the rich heritage of tradition of more than four centuries, stand-ing. The coin, too, is a remarkable value. The famous Gouden Dukaat is one of the few proof, collector coins available from any country today for under $100.00! The dukaat may be obtained from the same direct source that coin dealers and numismatists use to buy their collectible coins—the North American office of the Dutch Mint.

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The Identity of Annatje Everts, Wife of Hendrick Van Ness

by David M. Riker

Comelis Hendrickse Van Ness was accompanied by his wife, two daughters and a three-year-old son named Hen-drick, when he arrived at New Amsterdam aboard the ship "Eyckenboom" in 1641. Comelis had lived at Vianen, on the Haverdijk, in south Holland in the year 1625 and had probably been married shortly before to Maeyken Van den Burchgraeff. Comelis was under contract to Kiliaen Van Rensselaer to be a farmer at Rensselaerswyck colony sur-rounding Fort Orange (Albany, New York).'

Hendrick Comelisse Van Ness grew to adulthood at Greenbush in Rensselaerswyck where Comelis leased a farm for eight years in 1650. Greenbush (Greynbos, meaning Pinewoods) was located five miles south of Fort Orange on the opposite side of the (Hudson) River. When Hendrick married in 1663, he traveled fifty-seven miles downriver to Wiltwyck (Kingston, New York) in the Esopus region. The marriage record at the Dutch Reformed Church at Wiltwyck reads as follows:2 "Hendrick Cornelisse, van Nes, j .m. , of New Netherland in the colony of Rensselearswyck, residing in the Greenbush, and Anneken (Ann) Evers, j .d. of New Netherland in the colony of Rensselearswyck, residing in Wiltwyck, dated 21 October 1663."

After the marriage, Hendrick and his bride returned to live at Greenbush and raised a family of eight children. Unfortunately there are no existing baptism records for the Albany area prior to 1683, the date the records start at the Albany Dutch Reformed Church. Baptism records would be very helpful in determining the parents of Hendrick's wife since it was the custom of the colonial Dutch to use near relatives such as brothers, sisters, parents, aunts or uncles as witnesses to baptisms. This often allows the re-searcher to identify the wife's family by analysis even if the witnesses use only their patronymic as a surname.

Fortunately there is one other existing record which names Hendrick's wife and children. Prior to Hendrick's second marriage on 25 November 1688 to Catarina van Dam, he made a pre-nuptial agreement with Catarina which referred to Hendrick as the widower of Annatje Everts.1

This agreement also lists Hendrick's eight children by An-natje as follows: Symon age 22 years, Anthy (Annatje) age 20 years. Cornel is age 18 years. Evert age 16 years, Hen-drick age 14 years, Mayeke age 12 years, Jan age 10 years and Gerrit age 8 years.

The parents of Annatje Everts have been referred to as unknown by genealogists because a record does not exist which documents their identity and there is no record of an Everts family in the region. One genealogist, who was famil-iar with New England families, thought she might have been a daughter of an Englishman, John Everts, of Guilford, Connecticut.

David Riker is a trustee of the Society and serves on its Committee on Genealogy.

Most researchers familiar with colonial Dutch genealogy would wonder if Everts might be a patronymic name. This is possible since the name has one of the standard patronymic endings and one of Annatje's sons was named Evert, the basis of the patronymic. If this is correct, then Annatje's father was named Evert and according to Annatje's marriage record had lived in Rensselaerswyck but was living at Wiltwyck in 1663.

An investigation of the Rensselaerswyck records re-vealed three possible men, Evert Jansz, Evert Nolden and Evert Pels.4 An investigation of the Wiltwyck records for the year 1663 shows one possible man, Evert Pels.5 It became apparent that a further investigation of Evert Pels and his family might be helpful in revealing additional circumstan-tial evidence.

Evert Everts Pels, bom 1616 in Statijn (probably Stettin in Pomerania, now Szczecin, Poland), married on 15 De-cember 1641, at the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, Jannetje Symens, a native of Amsterdam. He was a sailor, probably in the Dutch merchant marine. Soon after the marriage, Evert made a contract with Kiliaen Van Rensselaer to be a brewer at Rensselaerswyck. Evert Pels, his wife, and a servant arrived at New Amsterdam on 4 August 1642 on board the ship "Houttuyn". Evert brought with him four large barrels containing malt for brewing. That same year Pels established his brewery beside the Mill Creek at Green-bush in Rensselaerswyck. In 1649 he leased jontly with another settler a farm in Greenbush for which he was charged an annual rent of 400 guilders in the Colony accounts from May 1649 until 1661. A memorandum of farms in the Col-ony, made in 1651, lists the Pels farm as being on the east side of the river at Greenbush and consisting of 40 acres of land including livestock of seven horses and eight cows. He was also the owner of two sawmills in Greenbush which he offered for sale to the highest bidder in 1658. Evert Pels evidently engaged in the fur trade for a short time, for in 1657 he sent 2100 beaver pelts downriver to New Amster-dam, and a year later was recorded as owner of a sloop which operated between Beverwyck (Albany) and New Amsterdam.h

A.J.F. Van Lear. "Settlers of Rensselaerswyck 1630-1658", Excerpted from the Van Rensselaer Bowicr Manuscripts, Gen. Pub. Co., Baltimore 1965 (hereaftercalled Bowier Manuscripts).

Roswell R. Hoes, ed., "Registers of The Dutch Church of Kingston, New York 1660-1809" Reprint Gen. Pub. Co. Baltimore 1980 (hereafter called Kingston Church records).

William J. Hoffman. "An Armory of American Families of Dutch Descent - Van

Ness" New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 72, p. 151.

Bowier Manuscripts.

"Domine Hermanus Blom of Wiltwyck and His Account Book", 1663-1666, New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 108, pp. 146-149.

Robert G. Cooney, Jr., "The Marriage of Evert Pels", New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 118, p. 75; Frank L. Van Wagnen, "The Ancestry of Garret Conrad Van Wagnen in the Five Collateral Lines of Pels:, 1946, Chapter I.

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It must have been during one of these trips downriver that Evert Pels became interested in the Esopus region for in April of 1661 he moved his family to the village of Wiltwyck. The village was given municipal status a month later by Director-General Stuyvesant, and Pels was desig-nated by the village charter as one of the three Schepens (Magistrates). The name Wiltwyck was discarded after the English takeover in 1664, and the name Esopus used until 1670 when the English changed the name to Kingston. Evert Pels was listed in the records of Kingston as late as 1684 when he was recorded as a jury member.

Seven children of Evert Pels and Jannetje Symens have been identified by genealogists using baptism and marriage records.7 Since Pels spent the first twenty years of his mar-riage residing at Rensselaerswyck, only three of these chil-dren have baptism records. These seven children were: (1) Evert, born about 1648, married 13 August 1670 (at New York) Bridget Elsworth, daughter of Theophilus Elsworth and Annetje Jans, died prior to 5 May 1678.s Their children: Annetje, Evert and Theophilus (Christoffel); (2) Clara, bap-tized 10 September 1651 (New Amsterdam), married about 1678 Gerrit Aertsen, son of Aert Jacobsen (ancestor of a Van Wagenen family) and Annetje Gerrits.9 Their children: Aert, Evert, Barent, Goosen, Jannetje, Annetje, Jacob, Simon, Neeltje and Rebecca; (3) Sara, born 3 July 1659, married 25 February 1677 Jacob Aertsen, brother of her sister Clara's husband. Their children: Annetje, Aert, Evert, Rebecca, Geertje, Jannetje, Gerrit, Simon, Jacob, Benja-min, Abraham, Sara and Isaac; (4) Elizabeth, married 1678 (at Kingston) Jochem Engelbertse Van Namen (ancestor of the Van Name family)."'Their children: Delejaentje, Evert, Engelbert, Annetje, Hendrick, Simon, Johannes, Anna, Sara and Marytie; (5) Maria, married about 1678 Arie Aldertse Roosa, son of Aldert Heymanse Roosa (ancestor of the Roosa family) and Wyntje Ariens de Jong." Their children: Evert, Weyntie, Engeltje, Annetje, Arien and Maria; (6) Rebecca, baptized 13 November 1661 (at Wiltwyck); and (7) Symen, baptized 29 March 1665 (at Esopus), married first 1 January 1683 (at Kingston) Maritie Hendrix and sec-ond about 1689 Maria Aertsen. Their children: Evert, Hen-drick and Johannes.

An analysis of the first names in the Pels family reveals the frequent use of Evert and Simon (Symen) which are not common in colonial Dutch families, especially when com-pared with names like Hendrick, Cornells and Jan. These first names of Evert and Simon were used by Hendrick Van Ness and Annatje Everts when naming their children but were not used by Hendrick's immediate ancestors. Other pertinent facts are that no Annatje has previously been iden-tified as a child of Evert Pels and there is a six-year period of time between Evert Pels' marriage and the supposed birth of his son Evert, a period in which several children could have been born. If Annatje were eighteen years old at the time of the marriage, her birth date would have been 1645. Additional information from the marriage record reveals that Annatje came from Rensselaerswyck but was living at Wiltwyck and that Hendrick was living at Greenbush in Rensselaerswyck.

Once the known facts are analyzed, a theory may be developed and supported by the circumstantial evidence. The theory is that Annatje Everts was the older daughter of Evert Pels, that she was born and grew up in Greenbush, Rensselaerswyck, and that she was a childhood friend of

Portion of Adriaen Van der Donck 's map of New Setherland - 1656 showing Rensselaerswyck colony and the Esopus region.

Hendrick Van Ness. Annatje's parents took her to Wiltwyck in 1661, but two years later when Hendrick decided to marry, he picked his childhood friend living at Wiltwyck and brought her back to Greenbush.

When the English settled New England, they came as homogeneous groups, establishing towns with local govern-ment and the church as the center of their community. As a result, records were kept from the beginning of settlement. In contrast, the colonial Dutch came to New Netherland with a wide diversity of nationalities, religions and motives for immigration. The colonial Dutch settlers tended to spread out in areas away from a community. At one time during the Indian wars of the I650's, Director-General Stuyvesant had to order settlers to establish stockaded villages such as Bergen (Jersey City, New Jersey). Consequently many areas of New Netherland were settled well before the keeping of church records. For example, rapid settlement on Staten

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Island began in 1660 but the existing records of the Port Richmond Dutch Reformed Church do not start until 1696.

This presents a special problem to those interested in tracing colonial Dutch families. Researchers without the use of church records may have to depend an analysis of other records and base their conclusions on circumstantial evi-dence rather than documentary proof. They may have to reconstruct a family such as the Pels. This is made easier by the colonial Dutch naming customs and their use of patronymics, as well as later baptism records which might identify relatives as witnesses.i: Colonial Dutch genealogy is not just a matter of copying records, but a science in which analysis of records is an important method of identify-ing families.

The Settlements of New Amersfoort, Amersfort and Flatlands

The original settlement of Nieuw Amersfoort (Dutch spelling) was said to have been named for the town of Amersfoort in The Netherlands from which Wolphert Ger-ritszen van Couwenhoven came. Having received confirma-tion oi' their Indian purchase from the Director-General, Wouter Van Twiller, in 1636, Wolphert Gerritszen and An-dries Hudde laid out a bouwerie called Achtervelt "on the westernmost of the flats. . .on the island called Seawanhacky (Long Island)" which is today part of Brooklyn, New York.

On July 9. 1638 the two partners erected a building there described as "surrounded by long, round palisades. . .26 feet long. 12 feet wide and 40 feet deep with a roof covered above and all around with planks, two garrets, one above the other, and a small chamber on the side with an outlet." A local court was established as early as 1654, the same year in which the first Dutch Reformed Church was or-ganized there. By 1657 it is claimed that there were 17 families living in what gradually became known as "Amersfoort."

By 1665, however, following the conquest of New Netherland by the English, the settlement was called "Flat-lands" by the English governor, Richard Nicolls, a designa-tion which was thereafter used by succeeding English gov-ernors as well.

The Patroon's Uncompleted Wagon

Among the court cases heard in Albany in November 1668 was that of the patroon, Jeremias Van Renssealer, who sued Paulus Martenszen for not completing "within the proper and stipulated time" a wagon he had ordered Mar-tenszen to make for him. Due to the scarcity of iron, the new wagon was to be equipped with ironwork taken from one of Van Rensselaer's old wagons. Citing the inconveni-ence caused him because the new wagon had not yet been completed and would be "out of season" in the winter months just ahead, he requested Martenszen to return "his ironwork" and fit it again to the Van Rensselaer wagon from which it had been taken. He also asked the court to require Mar-tenszen to repay him for the costs which included "brandy and other expenses."

Martenszen, in turn, asked the court to submit the matter to two impartial referees "to see whose fault it is." The court ignored Martenszen's request and ordered him to replace

"Baptisms in the Reformed Dutch Church, New York", Collections of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, Reprint, The Gregg Press 1968; Kings-ton Church records.

KH.S.r\ Randolph, "The Flsworth Family of New York City", New York Genealog-ical and Biographical Record. Vol. 64. p. 158.

Gerrit H. Van Wagenen. "The Van Wagenen Family (First Four Generations) New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Vol. 10, p. 86. 1 Elmer G. Van Name. "The Karly History of The Van Name Family". The Staten

Island Historian, Vol. XIV. July-September 1953.

Lila J. Roney, "Roosa Notes". New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Vol. 69. p. 309.

"R. F. Bailey, "Dutch Systems in Family Naming: New York and New Jersey," National Genealogical Society Quarterly,, Vol. XI.I. March 1953.

the ironwork on the original wagon and put the wagon into working order "within the space of three times 24 hours and to pay a fine of 12 florins for the poor."

Recognition of Womens' Rights in New Netherland

Throughout New Netherland women were eligible, along with men, for both the small and great Burgher Right, en-titling them to civic and mercantile privileges. Under the Roman-Dutch law practiced throughout the Dutch settle-ments, a community of goods was recognized between hus-band and wife thus permitting a widow to inherit and con-tinue to operate whatever business enterprise her husband had been engaged in. Unlike English law of primogeniture by which the eldest son received all his father's inheritance after death, Dutch daughters could—and did—inherit par-ents' or fathers' properties and estate equally with their brothers.

Van Loon Museum In response to the Presidential Newsletter of February

1989, member Eugene M. Van Loan, Jr., submitted the following interesting material on the Van Loon Museum in Amsterdam.

"In November of 1988, my wife and I made a stop in Amsterdam to visit the Ann Frank House and the Museum van Loon:

"The van Loon Museum offers visitors the opportunity to step inside one of Amsterdam's great homes and discover how the 17th and 18th century merchant princes lived.

"The van Loon Museum, housed in a 1671 mansion, is completely furnished with several centuries of this family's furniture, carpets, china, and silver—plus more than 50 portraits from the 17th century golden age of Dutch painting. The dining room, for instance, is furnished down to the occupants' 18th century silver on the table and their porcelain the china closets.

"The house is now owned and occupied by Maurits van Loon and his wife Ghislaine. He and his wife restored many of the 18th century decorative details that had been covered up or removed during prior restorations. They assembled 17th and 18th century van Loon furniture and portraits in order to give the rooms the look of a house that had been occupied by a family for several centuries.

"The van Loon Foundation owns over 50 family portraits which we found particularly interesting in view of the pos-sible relationship."

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"On Being Dutch" Remarks by Michael D. Dingman, Chairman and CEO of The Henley Group, Inc., at the presentation to him of the

Distinguished Achievement Medal to Members at the annual meeting of The Holland Society, April 6, 1989.

Jr., President Smock, Medalist Michael Dingman, Paul Comegys, and David Voorhees at the annual Michael Dingman meeting.

It always conies as a pleasant surprise when other people find something worthy of recognition in one's life. But when those people are the members of the venerable and renowned Holland Society, then the surprise turns into a profound sense of pride and gratitude. I've seen the roster of the previous winners of this award, and I'm deeply honored that you've put me in their company.

I will treasure this medal and all that it represents. Yet as honored as I am, I'm not deceived. I understand

pefectly well that it's awarded on the basis of two criteria. The first relates to the good fortune I've enjoyed in my professional life. Here I can claim some credit. But the second— my being fortunate enough to be born with Dutch blood—is purely a question of luck.

I'm proud of this ancestry, of course. But I had no role in bringing it about. And of the two criteria, the really important one from tonight's perspective is the latter. I point this out because it presented me with a bit of a quandary.

The whole point of this gathering is to celebrate our Dutch roots. But to be honest, it's not something I've ever spent much time dwelling on. In this I think I've been fairly typical. Despite the good work of the Holland Society, most Americans who share this heritage place it in the same

category as their height or the color of their eyes. It's a given—a piece of the genetic luggage that they were handed at birth. It's not something they think about.

But this award has changed my attitude. Or, more accu-rately, trying to figure out what I'd say here this evening has caused me to look more closely at what I was accustomed to taking for granted. To begin, when I was first told I'd be expected to make a speech, I thought I'd try to treat the subject lightly, tell a few jokes and be on my way. Unfor-tunately, coming from a long line of Dutch Calvinists, I'm not inclined towards the comic. I don't know many jokes. So I looked in a bookstore under ethnic humor. There were books of Polish, Irish, Jewish and Italian jokes. But nothing for the Dutch.

Finally I found an anthology entitled A Bad Word for Everybody: A Thousand and One Totally Tasteless Ethnic Jokes. I read the first few pages. "Tasteless" was putting it mildly. I flipped past the Albanians, Bulgarians and Cana-dians until I got to the "D's". There was only one entry. It said "for the Dutch see entries under Germans."

Now that made me mad. Here we are, America's oldest ethnic group, and in a book about everybody we were treated as nobodies. Worse, to add insult to injury, we're lumped

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in with a nationality which the Dutch have had little more in common with than geographic proximity. I was discour-aged but not defeated. I decided that instead of trying to get by with a little humor, I'd talk seriously about the Dutch in America, and I began to look into history books and works on American culture.

1 looked hard. And in no time I grasped that it wasn't only the joke books we'd been left out of. The same curtain of silence extends across practically the whole of the Amer-ican experience. As far as most of the books were concerned, once the English pirate Richard Nicolls and his fleet had sailed into New Amsterdam harbor in August of 1664 and claimed it for the British king, the Dutch in America van-ished into thin air. Except as local color for the stories oi' Washington Irving, they had simply ceased to matter. We had become America's silent minority, its forgotten ethnic group. The sole celebration of our presence seemed to be on Madison Avenue in the selling of Dutch Boy paint and Dutch Master cigars and Dutch Cleanser—small enough tributes to the stereotypes of Dutch people as neat, solemn, hard-working.

All of this led me to face up squarely to the reality of what it means to be an American of Dutch extraction. I admitted to myself that Dutch-Americans will never be known for making one grand unmistakable contribution to American culture in the way Irish-Americans are celebrated for influencing our politics or Afro-Americans for shaping our music or Jewish-Americans for enriching our humor or Anglo-Americans for giving us our language.

Yet while our contributions may be less obvious than some, I believe that ultimately they are more important than anyone else's—more central to the shared body of beliefs that draws this nation together. In fact, although we Dutch are by upbringing and tradition steeped in the importance of being modest, let me indulge an "un-Dutch" instinct tonight and do a little bragging on our behalf.

Back in the l°4()'s Henry Luce, the founder of Time, Inc., called our age "The American Century." Luce under-stood that American values and know-how and vision were coming to shape the perceptions and hopes of the entire globe. He was right. But before the American Century there was the Dutch Century. Back in the seventeenth century, in the infancy of America, when the unique values of this nation were being formed, it was the Dutch who showed the way.

In their long struggle for independence from foreign dominion, the Dutch became the first people in the modern world to prove that if a small people were resolute and determined enough, it could defeat an empire. The Spanish had far more men and ships, far more guns and ammunition. They had more experience in the art of war. But the Dutch had something more powerful. They had faith in the possi-bility of human freedom. And because of that they had more hope and more confidence than their would-be masters.

At the siege of Antwerp when the Dutch commander was told the Spanish guns were so numerous that their can-nonballs would block out the sun, he replied. "Good, the Spanish are used to the heat but now we shall have the advantage of fighting in the shade."

It was profiles in courage such as these that the American colonists remembered and looked back to for inspiration. And it didn't end there. The Dutch were the pioneers of a whole new age. In a world where sectarian intolerance was

taken for granted, the Dutch developed a relaxed acceptance of religious differences. While the religious wars raged in Europe, the Dutch Calvinists of New Amsterdam rescued French Catholic priests from the Iroquois and nursed them back to health.

Indeed, when it came to the question of the other nationalities who settled in New Netherland, the Dutch were more concerned with whether a man was willing to work rather than what church he attended. You've all heard the line about how when the English settlers landed at Plymouth Rock, "First they fell upon their knees and then upon the aborigines." The Dutch did neither. Since they had already won the right to practice their religion at home, they had no need to fall upon their knees. They came here not to pray but to make money. And as for falling on the aborigines, the Dutch were more interested in bargaining with the native Americans than in fighting them.

Take, for example, Peter Minuit's famous purchase of Manhattan Island. Whether Minuit knew that he was buying what would become the world's priciest piece of real estate is dubious. And since the Canarsie Indians, who sold it, were only passing through and didn't own it, they probably thought they'd pulled a fast one on the Dutch.

But I think Minuit undoubtedly felt he'd got the best of it. Here he was in the middle of an endless wilderness, reduced to using sign language to make himself understood. Yet he'd managed to spend an entire day haggling and bargaining, all the while honing his skill at what a twentieth-century investor in Manhattan real estate would describe as "The Art of the Deal." Minuit was interested in getting the most for the least money. And the Indians were selling what didn't belong to them. But the important point is that this was a transaction based not on racial hatred or violent con-quest but on an equal desire for profit. Think how much happier the history of the relationship between European settlers and native Americans would have been if we had stuck to this track.

And this love of profit is central to the Dutch experience. With it they helped give birth to a new order in the world. At a time when almost all societies were rigidly divided into the "haves" and have-nots" with the aristocracy living in idle luxury and the masses toiling in abject misery, the Dutch created a culture based on ambition and individual effort where everyone could earn some small measure of security and comfort.

Remember that the English took as a symbol of their empire the Lion—roaring, ferocious, feeding on all that came its way. The French mounted eagles on their imperial standards—soaring, haughty, their talons greedy for prey. But the Dutch took as their symbol the beaver—a commer-cial commodity valuable for its fur and, equally important, an industrious, diligent, patient, skillful dyke-building ani-mal that sticks to its own work and leaves the rest of creation in peace.

And yet, if our ancestors were pragmatic and peaceable, they were also uncomfortable with old ways and narrow horizons. In an age when, except for a few lonely, brave souls, most peoples' vision barely reached beyond the next village, the Dutch took to the open seas en masse. As mer-chants and adventurers, they travelled the length and breadth of the world's oceans and waterways, long before anyone dreamed of a global village. The Dutch were accustomed to treating our planet as one great marketplace.

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The fact of the matter is that many of the qualities we think of as American—the skill at business, the toleration of diversity, the sense of fair play, the ingenuity, the indus-try, the drive, the quest for new frontiers—are the enduring legacy of the Dutch who settled here and planted their trad-itions here. Yes, it often seems that our ancestors' contribu-tions have been largely forgotten or sold short. Yes, at first glance it may appear that the Dutch are one small, barely distinguishable ingredient in the American melting pot.

But I'd suggest that everyone take a better look. I'd suggest that they look at the pot instead of just its contents. That melting pot—the great cauldron of values, beliefs, hopes and traditions that have shaped and defined what it means to be an American—resembles nothing so much as a Dutch oven. That melting pot is solid, sturdy, dependable, and, God willing, will last forever. And well it might because stamped on its bottom, out of ordinary view, are the words "Made in Holland."

Members of The Holland Society, sometimes it is the most obvious things that people fail to see. I thank you for giving me this opportunity to see for the first time, with real clarity, the magnificent heritage we share. Along with this medal, it is a possession I will always treasure and keep close to my heart.

Site of Early Dutch Artisan Unearthed

An article appearing recently in The New York Times featured the archeological investigation of sites allied with New York City's past in lower Manhattan. It disclosed, among other facts, that included with 'hundreds of items" uncovered were a number of Dutch Delft tiles "with biblical or pastoral scenes and sets of ceramic crucibles in which metal was melted." These artifacts were found at the former home and shop of Daniel Van Voorhis, 18th-century sil-versmith and goldsmith, in an area bounded by Water, Wall, and Pearl Streets.

Society Activities

BANK AWARDED FOR DESIGN—The Dutchess County chapter of the Holland Society of New York presented their 1988 Dutch Heritage award to The Fishkill National Bank for the architectural design of their new building on Route 55 in LaGrangeville.

Founded in 1885, the society promotes an appreciation of Dutch heritage and influence by providing scholarships and grants to students and researchers of Dutch history, as well as maintaining a 6,000 plus volume library.

In preserving the "Old Dutch" language, the society sponsors discovery, translation and publication of primary Dutch sources. Presently, the group is supporting a project to construct a replica of Henrik Hudson's "Half Moon" which will be sailing down the Hudson sometime in July.

Pictured from left to right: Joseph Jordan, president and CEO and Roy C. Ketcham, chairman of The Fishkill National Bank; Kevin Denton, Holland Society; Louis Battoglia and Bernard Lanza, Battoglia Architectural Group, P. C.

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South River Branch Meeting

Members of the central area of the South River Branch met Saturday, February 18th, for an evening of dinner and socializing at the Haydn Zugs Restaurant in East Petersburg, Pennsylvania, near Lancaster. Following the dinner Dr. David W. Voorhees spoke to the gathering on the early settlement of the South (Delaware) River area and encour-aged members to preserve family records and other papers which might prove to be valuable to those doing future research. Branch President William Alrich later discussed future plans for the South River Branch.

Those in attendance were: Trustee and Mrs. William Alrich, Trustee and Mrs. David M. Riker, Trustee and Mrs. John H. Vanderveer, Mr. and Mrs. Donald J. Lott, and Scott E. Van Valen who made the arrangements for and coordinated the dinner meeting.

Trustees Elect New Fellow of the Society

drawn attention to and inquiries about the Society and its membership requirements. The inquiries were referred to the Membership Committee for further action.

In connection with the special project of copying the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church manuscripts, the trustees voted to allot a budget of $600 for translating and transcrib-ing them, contingent upon the approval of the minister and consistory of that church. The regular church baptismal and marriage records have already been copied and bound.

The following applicants for membership were presented as duly qualified and were approved:

Paul Ringold Comegys, Jr. David Lester DuBois Miami, Florida Coram, New York

Gary Frederick DuBois Brick, New Jersey

Merton Sherman DuBois Wayside, New Jersey

Jeffry Sherman DuBois Wayside, New Jersey

Neal Cadmus Vreeland Poultney, Vermont

Peter Daniel Wynkoop Perth Amboy, New Jersey

Meeting at the Union Club in New York City on March 9th, the trustees elected a distinguished scholar, Dr. Oliver A. Rink, to the office of a Fellow of the Society. Dr. Rink, a professor of history at California State University in Bakersfield, is the author of Holland on the Hudson, a history of New Netherland in which he traces the commercial success of the Dutch venture in North America. The book won the 1987 Hendricks Award for the "best manuscript on the Dutch Colonial Experience in North America." He has written a number of articles on the Dutch presence in North America, including one appearing in de Halve Maen of January 1986 on New Netherland and the Amsterdam mer-chants.

In other matters considered at the meeting the trustees accepted with regret the resignation of Trustee Stanley L. Van Rensselaer due to ill health, voted to reimburse Henry N. Staats of the Virginia and the Carolinas Branch for an unexpected deficit in connection with the branch meeting last October, donated $200 to the Lefferts Homestead in Brooklyn, New York, for information materials, and adopted a change in the By-Laws recommended by the Executive Committee. The latter change removes the restric-tion that each committee consist of at least three Trustees or Past Presidents, reducing such representation on commit-tees to "at least one Trustee or Past President" with the rest of the committee to be composed of members.

Burgher Guard Captain Stephen Wyckoff reported that he had sent a letter to all members of the Guard urging them to attend the annual meeting where they will be seated to-gether at selected tables and invited to suggest activities for the coming year. Further, that a packet of materials pertain-ing to the Society will be given each Guard member to acquaint him with events which offer opportunities for Guard participation.

In his report President Arthur R. Smock Jr. noted the recent news item in The Wall Street Journal on the building of the replica of The Half Moon at Albany and cited the interest it seemd to have aroused. In particular, he called attention to a paragraph in the item relating to the Holland Society and its part in the project, pointing out that it had

Adrian Bogart, chairman of the Long Island Branch, enjoys the annual meeting with his two sons Adrian III and Clint.

104th Annual Meeting Held at the Union Club

More than one hundred members came to the annual meeting of the Society on April 6th at New York City's Union Club. The business meeting featuring the election of officers and trustees was followed by a cocktail hour hosted by former trustee Kenneth E. Hasbrouck in memory of his son and late member, Charles Jackson Hasbrouck. The din-ner, as usual, was complimentary due to the bequest of the late Frank H. Vedder.

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All of the members of the Wyckojf family who were at the annual meeting.

Re-elected to office were Arthur R. Smock, Jr., Presi-dent, the Rev. Louis O. Springsteen, Secretary, and James M. Vreeland, Treasurer. The vice presidents who serve as presidents of the Society's 25 widespread branches are cho-sen by branch members. Three trustees were renamed to office: Ralph L. DeGroff, Jr., Robert Nostrand, and Tweed Roosevelt. Newly-elected trustees are James P. Snedeker and Dr. David William Voorhees.

Reporting to members on the past year's activities. Pres-ident Smock recounted a number of projects supported by the Society. Among these he cited the translation and trans-cription of some 3,000 pages of records of the old Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church in Brooklyn, the provision of schol-arships, regular publication of the Society's quarterly magazine, and support for both the New Netherland Project engaged in translating and publishing Dutch colonial records and the construction of the replica of Henry Hudson's ship de Halve Maen in Albany, New York. He also announced the election of a new "Fellow" of the Society, Dr. Oliver A. Rink, whose book, Holland on the Hudson, together with a two-part article appearing in de Halve Maen, examined the commercial relationships between New Netherland and the mother country.

A highlight of the evening was the award by President Smock of the Medal for Distinguished Achievement for members. This year's recipient was Michael D. Dingman, Sr., President and Chief Executive Officer of The Henley Group, Inc., for "outstanding performance as a leader of industry." Mr. Dingman, a direct male descendant of Adam Dingman who was living in Greenbush, New York, by 1663, later moving to Kinderhook, New York, in his remarks following the bestowal of the medal, noted that the award had caused him to take a closer look at his Dutch heritage as well as at "the love of profit (which) is a Dutch feeling and I am a part of it." Calling attention to the "ingenuity, industry, and drive of the Dutch" which he said caused the Dutch to treat "our planet as one great marketplace," Mr. Dingman suggested that what others have called the "melting pot" of New Netherland should rather be called "a Dutch oven." (The complete remarks of Mr. Dingman appear else-where in this issue.)

As in previous years, members gathered after dinner to enjoy a social evening of renewing old acquaintances and making new ones while enjoying the traditional beer and cheese and being entertained by the Holland Society Singers.

List of Contributors to The de Halve Maen Reconstruction Fund as of April 3, 1989

Officers and Trustees of the Society Arthur R. Smock, Jr., President James M. Vreeland, Treasurer James M. Van Buren, II John O. Delamater John A. Pruyn John R. Voorhis, III Ralph L. DeGroff, Jr. Daniel S. Van Riper Peter G. Vosburgh John H. Vander Veer William M. Alrich, Jr. John H. Vanderveer

James E. Quackenbush Frederick W. Bogert Kevin A. Denton

Members of the Society John H. Van Schaick Frederick P. Palen A. T. Van Rensselaer Albert H. Hardenbergh Albert A. Van Riper Adrian B. Van Riper John P. Kipp John C. Vredenburgh

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Frederick P. Sloat Robert E. Van Gelder Donald W. Vreeland Hendrik Booraem, Jr. Howard G. Braisted K. P. Egbertson Stanley G. Hagerman A. Ten Eyck Lansing Robert T.E. Lansing Robert C. Lydecker J. W. Putman Harry R. Schanck John P. Schermerhorn Peter G. Ten Eyck, II John M. Van Aken Kipp C. Van Aken Hobart D. Van Deusen Egbert M. Van Duzer Harry C. Van Home Jan A. Van Loan Edwin D. Van Riper Edward E. Wendell, Jr. Neilson Abeel John D. Blauvelt Francis C. Bradt Samuel F. Brink Alfred H. Brower John I. Brower J. Garrett DeGraff Dr. Robert W. De Groat James E. Dingman John I. Eckerson Peter H.B. Frelinghuysen Alfred Hasbrouck Amos N. Hoagland James L. Hoagland Donald B. Kipp Arthur B. Kouwenhoven Frederick B. Krom, III Livingston Lansing Leigh K. Lydecker, Jr. Douglas M. Mabee Francis R. Schanck C.V.R. Schuyler Edwin E. Suydam, Jr. Charles B. Swartwood, III John I. Tappen Edward Traphagen William T. Van Atten Wynant D. Vanderpool Courtland Van Deusen, III Paul B. Van Dyke George S. Van Duyne Louis B. Van Dyck George N. Van Fleet George W. Van Horn John Van Horn Pieter M. van Houten

William H. Van Marter E.V.B. Van Pelt Joel N. Van Sant I. Eugene Van Sickle John K. Van Vranken John D. Van Wagoner Peter K. Van Winkle Peter S. Van Winkle Thomas S. Van Winkle C. Curtis Vreeland Dr. John V. Whitbeck Edward J. Wynkoop Robert W. Zabriskie Donald G. Ackerman Robert W. Banta Kenneth A. Benson Richard B. Bevier Elmer Blauvelt Andrew Brink Dr. William S. Bronk Chester A. Brower T. Eugene Depew The Michael D. Dingman Foundation John Dusenberry David L. Smock Sedgwick Snedeker William A. Snedeker Hon. Charles B. Swartwood William B. Ten Eyck John C. Van Riper E. Hawley Van Wyck Kenneth W. Zabriskie Hevlyn Benson, Jr. Bailey Brower, Jr. Robert Coykendall William H. Dutcher, HI Carl R. Fonda Edmund O. Fountaine Hubert C. Mandeville James H. Polhemus John D. Quackenbos David L. Ringo Dr. Robert R. Schenck Steven B. Snedeker Everit B. Terhune, III Dr. Edwin H. Updike Arthur W. Van Dyke Richard P. Van Etten Dr. James A. Van Fleet Alan E. Van Sciver Charles Zabriskie, Jr. Stephen L. Zabriskie Vinton P. Ostrander Nicholas P. Veeder

Non-Members Anne Conover Carson

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Here and There With Members

The Society expresses its sympathy to Jacob R. Lefferts III and Leffert Lefferts whose father, Jacob R. Lefferts, passed away in Vero Beach, Florida, recently.

George O. Zabriskie

George Olin Zabriskie, a life member of The Holland Society of New York since 1955 died, at the age of 88 years on September 25, 1988. Descended from Albert Zaborowski who came to New Amsterdam in 1662, he was born April 26, 1904 in Fairview, Utah, the son of George A. Zabriskie and Mary M. Breckenridge.

A civilian employee of the Department of the Army for 30 years during which time he served in Washington, D.C.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Ogden, Utah; and Honolulu, Hawaii; he earned the Department of the Army Decoration for Meritorious Service on three different occasions and became Deputy Program Coordinator in Headquarters, U.S. Army, Hawaii, before his retirement in 1965. After his retirement he continued to reside in Honolulu and was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, having filled the offices of bishop and high counselor in that denomi-nation.

Mr. Zabriskie was, however, best known as an eminent genealogist, specializing in New Netherland families, and as a knowledgeable historian of the Dutch colonies in North America. Many of his articles appeared in de Halve Maen over the years from 1958 to 1977, including a series on "The Founding Families of New Netherland" featuring prominent emigrants to New Netherland who founded dis-tinctive family lines, and a six-part historical series of articles on "The Founding of New Amsterdam" written in conjunc-tion with Dr. Alice P. Kenney. He was the featured speaker at the first Holland Society Seminar held at Rensselaersville, N.Y., in 1971 as well as at subsequent seminars. A contribut-ing editor of The American Genealogist, he contributed numerous articles to other genealogical publications, too, and in recognition of his competence in this field he was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists.

In 1961 he published his two-volume genealogy. The Zabriskie Family, which was hailed by one reviewer as "a major contribution to American-Dutch genealogy and a model of all the historical and technical qualities which too often are lacking from works of this kind." He also wrote and published in 1969 Climbing Our Family Tree Systemat-ically, a book on genealogical research techniques.

Mr. Zabriskie served on three committees of the Holland Society; those concerned with Genealogy, History & Trad-itions, and de Halve Maen. He was a former President of the Hawaii Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and a member of the Dutch Settlers Society of Albany, N.Y., the National Genealogical Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and the Genealog-ical Society of New Jersey. He also taught courses at various

Rev. Dr. Howard G. Hageman was the 1988-1989 Henry Bast Resident Preacher at Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan, April 3rd through April 14th.

genealogical seminars throughout the country. He was married three times. His first wife was LaVera

Lublin whom he married in 1926 and from whom he was divorced in 1937. In 1939 he married Dorothy L. Robinson from whom he was divorced in 1949. In 1950 he married Mildred Seeger. Nine children were born of these three marriages. Further details, including survivors, have not been made available.

Gordon F. Van Riper

Gordon Ferdinand Van Riper, a member of The Holland Society of New York since 1962, died at the age of 73 years on November 9, 1988 in Vero Beach, Florida. Descended from Juriaen Tomassen (Van Riper) who came to New Amsterdam in 1663, Mr. Van Riper was born May 24, 1915 in Clifton, New Jersey, the son of Ferdinand S. Van Riper and Lucy Shorter.

Mr. Van Riper spent his business career in the brush manufacturing industry. Before his retirement in 1978 he was the President of J. B. Ward & Sons, Inc., a firm that produced brushes in Paterson, New Jersey. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Paterson, the Benevolent and Protec-tive Order of Elks, and of the Order of Moose. He was also a member of the Local Masonic Lodge.

His wife, the former Florence Lea, predeceased him in 1975. He is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Edward Boscia, Ogdensburg, N.J., and two grandchildren.

Gilbert W. Longstreet

Gilbert Wendel Longstreet, a member of The Holland Society of New York since 1975, died at the age of 83 years on February 23, 1988 in Delray Beach, Florida. A descen-dant of Dirck Stoffels Langestraat who came to New Nether-land in 1657, he was born May 29, 1904 in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of David W. Longstreet and Julia A. Buechel.

Mr. Longstreet's lifelong career was a reflection of his versatility and his enterprise. His academic background in-cluded studies at Williams College, the University of Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the award of the Master of Arts degree from Harvard University, in addition to several scholarships enabling him to study in Europe. For a time his attention was centered upon the 17th century Dutch genre and landscape painter, Jan Vermeer. He was forced to forego this study due to an unfortunate accident while he was in The Netherlands together with the economic difficulties of the 1930's.

In Memoriam

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He became a staff member of the Isabella Stewart Gard-ner Museum in Boston where he compiled the catalog for that institution's collection. For a time he served as a copy editor for various publications including The New Yorker magazine. He was the founder and first director of the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago and later became public relations director for the National Blue Cross in Chicago. After retire-ment he moved to Delray Beach.

He is survived by his wife, the former Christine L. Reb, whom he married in 1965. Services were held at the Pearson Funeral Home, Louisville, Kentucky, with interment in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville. A memorial service was held April 15, 1988 in Thorndike Hilton Chapel of the Chicago Theological Seminary.

Thomas Goelet

Thomas Goelet, a member of The Holland Society of New York since 1967, died near Cadiz, Spain, on November 14, 1988 a the age of 32 years. Descended from Francis Philipse Goelet who came to New York in 1676/78 (Mr. Goelet's eligibility for membership in the Society was de-rived from his great grandfather, Robert Goelet, elected a charter member of the Society on April 6, 1886), he was born November 19, 1956 in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of John Goelet and Henrietta Fanner.

Reared in France and England by his parents, he went to school in England at Summerfields School, Oxford; and Eton College, Windsor. After graduation he spent a year in France and Spain studying wine making and oyster culture before returning to England to enter Pembroke College, Cambridge University, where he obtained a B.A. degree in Law, together with studying modern languages.

In 1979 he moved to New York and joined the investment department of the Fiduciary Trust Company. While in New York he took an active interest in and supported the Chil-dren's Storefront, a school for underprivileged children in Harlem. In 1984 he went to Andalusia, Spain, to pursue his varied interests in marine biology, commerce, and Spanish culture. He developed new methods of aquaculture and founded a marine farming company known as Amalthea. It was near Cadiz, Spain, while looking over prospective tidal acreage for the company with a colleague, that he was struck and killed by a high-speed train.

George W. Denton

George Walter Denton, a member of The Holland Soci-ety of New York since 1966, died at the age of 64 years on February 14, 1989 in Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York. He lived atCroton-on-Hudson, New York. Descended from the Rev. Richard Denton, a Presbyterian minister who came to New England in 1630 and later settled at Hempstead, New York in 1644, he was born November 9, 1924 in Jamaica, New York, the son of Clarence M. Denton, a Holland Society member, and Elsie Weldon.

A leading figure in the metropolitan New York insurance field, he served as vice-president of D. J. Lizotte Associates in New York City. Later he became a partner in the firm of Newhouse, Denton, Hyman, O'Brien, Inc., in White Plains. From 1985 to 1988 Mr. Denton was president of the National Pension Service, becoming chairman of this firm in the latter year. He was also an agent for the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America as well as chairman of Denton Hyman Insurance Agency of White Plains.

He is survived by his wife, the former Barbara Embleton; a son, George Hallett Denton of Brooklyn; two daughters, Laurie of Arlington, Virginia; and Lisa of Croton-on-Hud-son; a brother, John of Hampden, Massachusetts; and a grandchild.

Memorial Church Service

The annual memorial service commemorating members of the Society who died during 1988 and 1989 was held on the afternoon of May 7 in the old French Church in New Paltz, New York. It was conducted by the Rev. William Lydecker and Louis Springsteen with Domine Hageman as the preacher. Our next issue will carry a full report on the service and the full text of Domine Hageman's sermon.

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