AMERICAN DESCENDANTS OF H HOLLAND FAMILY,

LOURIS JANSEN OPDYCK.

Born 1600-20 in Holland; married Christina-------; came to New Netherland before 1653, in which year he owned a residence at Albany and bought a lot at Gravesend, L. I.; resided in Gravesend 1655 and in New York 1656-7; died 1659 at Gravesend.

He may have been the Louwre Jansen that baptized a daughter at Elburg on Dec. 10, 1635; and may have been a son of the Johan Louwrensen who was a witness in Elburg court on Sept. 18, 1602, or a son of Jan Lauren Dyck who baptized a daughter at Elburg on Oct. 2, 1636. We know positively that he was a Hollander, from his Gravesend petition complaining that the English inhabitants were determined " that no Dutchman should get into the Magistracy there," and by his widow's laying down " Holland's law." From what part of Holland he came, has not been discovered from the records in this country, because the Albany county records before 1654 are missing, as are those of the churches at Albany and on Long Island before 1660 when he was dead. He always wrote his name with only the \patronymic, according to the Dutch usage at that time, Louris Jansen meaning Louris the son of Jan.To one not familiar with it, this custom seems strange, but it was persistently followed for a century by most Hollanders whose family names are now, and were then, perfectly well known. It is this prevailing custom during the seventeenth century in Holland, of substituting the father's name for the family name, that has made it difficult for Dutch families to trace back their ancestors beyond that period.

Holland blood is a fit subject for pride. To Netherland belonged the brave Nervii who so nearly defeated Julius Caesar and his legions,- their, memory kept forever green by Shakespeare. Hollanders were the Batavians described by Tacitus, the boldest tribe of all the Germans, men of huge bodies and- muscular limbs. "Others go to battle, these go to war." Rome made them her friends and allies. The Batavian. cavalry turned the tide of battle at Pharsalia; the Batavian legion was the imperial lifeguard, made

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and unmade emperors, and down to the fourth century saved the Roman legions from defeat in many battles. In the middle ages they were the free Frisians." Charlemagne left them their ownership of their lands; they never had feudal tenure. "The Frisians," said their statute book "shall be free as long as the wind blows out of the clouds and the world stands."

The Count Dirk of Holland and his line, and the Bishops of Utrecht, governed them 400 turbulent years. Commerce plucked up half-drowned Holland and poured gold into her lap; fishermen and needy raftsmen became ocean adventurers and merchant princes. Clusters of hovels became cities. The burghers handled the cross-bow and grew formidable. In 1217 began their city charters and governments under their own Schout and Shepens. In the next century, six chief cities sent their deputies regularly to the Estates.

Then the House of Burgundy absorbed them; but Charles the Bold died and the Netherlands wrested from his successor the Magna Charta of Holland. Nowhere else upon earth at that day was there half so much liberty as this gave. Austrian Arch-Duke and Spanish Emperor curtailed these privileges again and again, but the struggle was always renewed by the brave Dutch Burghers.

In 1500, when the Netherlands included Belgium as well as Holland, Antwerp became the commercial capital of the world, the most beautiful, next to the largest, city in Europe. Its harbor often contained 2,500 ves sels; 500 daily came and went. Schools were excellent and cheap. Children wrote and spoke at least two languages. The cattle of Holland, grazing on the bottom of the sea, were the finest in Europe, its farm products the most valuable, its navigators the boldest, its mercantile marine the most powerful. Where of old were swamps and thickets, now dwelt three millions of people, the most industrious, the most prosperous, perhaps the most intelligent, under the sun; their love of liberty indomitable; their pugnacity proverbial; peaceful and phlegmatic, they were yet the most irascible and belligerent men of Europe. The Netherlands contained 208 walled cities, 150 chartered towns, 6,300 villages; the whole guarded by 60 fortresses. Out of the five millions of gold which Charles V. derived annually from all his subjects, the Netherlands furnished two millions; the commerce and manufactures of the ancient morass contributed four times as much as all the boasted wealth of Mexico and Peru.

Then came the Reformation. Erasmus of Rotterdam "showed the road" and Luther sent out his 95 propositions which flew in a few weeks through Europe. Charles V. made peace with Protestants in Germany that he might root them out of his paternal inheritance, the Netherlands; fearing that the new faith would carry the seeds of civil freedom, he sent Spanish priests with troops to introduce the Inquisition. It was only among the

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burghers that Protestantism was to be found, but it was not in their Dutch blood to change. their religious convictions through fear; and the Dutch nobles would not consent to surrender their country's chartered rights and liberties, possessed from time immemorial,-freedom from taxation exeq by consent of the Estates, independent judicature, exclusion of foreign officials and troops. A Spanish army at once occupied, and thenceforth held, the Belgian half of the Netherlands; but the seven provinces of Holland declared themselves "The Dutch Republic," and waged 80 years war with the most powerful empire on earth.

Thus Holland fought, alone for Europe, the fight of Protestantism against Catholicism, of freedom of conscience against the devilish Inquisition, of universal manhood against tyranny. The whole world expected her defeat. The veteran Spanish generals, Alva and Parma, with trained Spanish and Italian troops, enforced the edicts of Charles and of his still more fanatical son Philip, burning the obstinate Netherlanders, beheading repentant males, burying alive repentant females, putting to death 100,000 in twenty years. But all the armies Spain could send failed to conquer Holland. The little republic declared Calvinism the religion of the State, chose William of Orange for their Stadtholder, and when "William the Silent " was assassinated through Spanish gold and priestly fanaticism, filled his place with his son Maurice. When hard pressed, they raised the sieges of their cities by cutting their dykes and letting in the sea. The Dutch admirals swept the ocean, crushing Spanish navies and capturing the rich fleets from the Indies.

The Dutch had no natural advantages. All the corn raised in Holland was not sufficient to feed the men employed in keeping her dykes in repair. But year by year she grew stronger, while Spain grew weaker. The Dutch granted entire religious freedom to strangers of every race and creed. There came to Holland religious refugees from all countries of Europe, the most industrious and enlightened of their nations. The indefatigable people became the richest in the world, in manufacture, trade, commerce, agriculture and fisheries, all the while waging fierce war. Its territory, only a little larger than Wales, was a busy and populous hive, whose rich cultivation, canals, barges, shipping, mills, mansions, towns, picture galleries, astonished English travelers. Her manufactures were unrivalled, her universities and scholars unsurpassed. Enterprise and courage made her people the carriers of Europe; honesty made them the bankers of the world. After 40 years of war had made of Holland a great nation, Spain was so crippled as to be forced to sign in 1609 a twelve year truce, admitting the Dutch to trade with the East Indies; at the end of the truce, hostilities were renewed, but were ended in 1648 by the full acknowledgment of the sovereignty of the " United States of Holland." The Republic dictated decrees to the Empire of Spain. It had its dependencies in Asia, America,

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Africa, Australia; in Brazil, Guiana, the West Indies, New York, at the Cape of Good Hope, in Hindoostan, Ceylon, Java, Sumatra, New Holland; for a century it continued to sway the balance of European politics. It is to its constitution that we owe the model of our United States of America.

Louris sailed from Holland at about the date when peace had been made with Spain. His country's soldiers had become a terror to their enemies, a Dutch private being fit to be captain of a Spanish company, and a Spanish captain inferior to a Dutch common soldier. Maurice of Orange, Stadtholder, had taught Europe how to handle cannon, and generals of all nations attended his sieges to learn the art of war. The tide of war had ebbed from the shores of the hard-fighting Dutch and overflowed Germany in its terrible Thirty Years War, although the heroic Gustavus Adolphus and wise Richelieu had turned the current there in favor of the Protestants. Holland too bad lent an occasional hand to the ravaged Rhine provinces, surprised the Spanish garrison of Wesel at night and restored the town to its citizens. Probably then, if not before, the Wesel op den Dycks had quit the broken fortunes and ruined trade of their ancestral city, for prosperous Holland, where perhaps they had sought their Dutch kindred and had known their relationship. Gysbert may have preceded Louris to New Netherland and have written back to him glowing accounts, as others wrote, of the climate and country, of the abundance of deer, the many kinds of wild fowls, fish and fruit, and the soil well fitted to grow all kinds of grain and vegetables.

At all events Louris joined with friends and neighbors in the movement Westward Ho! Theirs was no such emigration as peopled the Spanish Main, Virginia or Massachusetts;-it was no armed chase for Indian gold and slaves, no fleeing from debts, no mournful exchange of religious persecution and prison for a rock-bound wilderness. They went to join friends under the Dutch flag, to seek sure fortunes in trade in the pleasant new country discovered and governed by wealthy Dutch merchants, to send back rich furs and fine tobacco, to do their share in sustaining the greatness of Holland. The most experienced men of their province gave full advice what to take with them; the magistrates congratulated them on their prospects and bade them treat the Indians kindly but to let no Spaniard whom they met escape; to be tolerant of all things but intolerance; the Domine prayed for them and preached to them like children, in the outspoken Dutch fashion, promising to send them ministers and schoolmasters. The town crier daily announced their approaching departure; crowds of friends accompanied them to the vessel and down the river; the wind-mills waved their long arms in gracious farewell as the broad prow of the bark courtesied to the swell of the ocean. In Louris' strong boxes in the hold of the ship, were doubtless the pictures mentioned as part of his effects in 1659. The voyage generally took eight weeks, sailing by the Canary Islands and Vir-

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ginia to avoid the North Atlantic gales, stopping to refit at the West Indies Indies if necessary.

To the Dutch, water was their native element, and the time passed quickly with tales of their experience in fights by sea and land, perhaps closing with such remarks as: "I tell you, those Spaniards are rank coward as all bullies are." "They pray to a woman, the idolatrous rascals, and no wonder they fight like women." "Oh! for such luck as to sight on the horizon a Spanish West Indian; " it would be their own fault if they did not "sweep it out as empty as a stock-fish."

As they sailed up New York Bay, the Captain doubtless pointed out the flourishing "bouweries (farms) as well stocked with cattle as any in Europe," Governor's Island which Director van Twiller had bought for himself, the fort at the Battery, and the wooden houses of the town. They must have been enchanted by the novelty of the rolling land, the magnificent forests, the bright sky and clear air. It was indeed a " brave country." They already lost desire ever to go back. As Louris and Christina looked over the taffrail, did they imagine that their descendants within 250 years would be numbered by thousands, scattered over a thickly settled country from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, knowing not the language of their ancestors, citizens of a country more populous than was then, not Holland alone, but all Europe combined.

The new-comers must have been welcomed by the Governor with much dignity at the fort, where, though the walls were out of repair, the new stone church and the stone warehouses and offices of the company were impressive. The citizens crowded forward for the pleasure of entertaining the strangers at home, where they might leisurely over pipe and bowl hear the latest news from the fatherland, and tell in return how the colony was prosperous, excepting only for the Indian troubles due to the mistakes of Kieft. They were the same industrious, frugal, honest and modest people as at home, and more hopeful in the glorious possibilities of a new country. Louris was a well-educated man, possessed of some means, and his settlement would naturally be watched with interest. He decided to enter into the fur-trade at Beverwyck, the head of navigation of the North River, where the Dutch had built Fort Orange at their first discovery, and where is now Albany. As the most advanced post in the wilderness, it offered the best facilities for trading with the Indians, the Iroquois, "Five Nations," bravest of the North American Savages, masters of all other tribes, yet never attacking the Dutch. The Indian war of 1643-5 spared Beverwyck alone of all the Dutch settlements. Thither went Louris up the mighty Hudson, meeting no settlement between Yonkers and Albany, but finding scenery as beautiful as the Rhine and far grander, and without the robber castles hated by the Dutch. We, who view the Hudson from the swift steamboat or railway car, can have no idea how Louris's heart swelled within

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him as day after day his little vessel crept up the noble river. In its fresh and untamed wildness, before its virgin banks had been desecrated by modern improvements, the sensation must have been as stronger and finer, as were the native Indians, at whose wigwams Louris sometimes smoked the pipe of peace, in comparison to their present degenerate descendants.

A Dutch fort had been established at Albany in 1614, and here had been made the first formal treaty between the red man and the Hollander, often renewed and never violated, although the fort was a poor affair of logs " with five cannon and as many swivels." Van Rensselaer, an Amsterdam pearl-merchant, had obtained patents for a large part of the present counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and Columbia, and brought out some set tlers to colonize it. The little hamlet of Beverwyck had begun to cluster around the walls of Fort Orange. The fertile soil yielded abundant crops, deer and wild turkeys filled the forests, pike and sturgeon abounded in the waters, and the happy settlers wrote home joyous letters which brought fresh colonists of substantial means from Holland in 1636. The Classis of Amsterdam had sent out Domine Megapolensis in 1642 with plans for a church and parsonage, and the next year the church was built, 34 feet long and 19 wide, within range of the guns of the fort. The pulpit was sent out from Holland and is still preserved. The Domine studied the Mohawk language and conversed with the Indians who attended his services, stand ing with long tobacco pipes in their mouths. The colony, through their friendship with the savages, were able to save the lives of several French missionaries about to be put to torture and death. In 1643 Beverwyck contained about 100 persons, living in 25 or 30 wooden houses along the river, buying of the Indians beaver skins and selling them fire-arms and powder,-forbidden to go into the bush to trade, but continually doing so. In 1650 a school-house was built and the first schoolmaster appointed; in 1652 a Court of Justice was established. The importance of the fur trade of the colony may be seen from the fact that in 1656 it sent 35,000 beaver and otter skins to Holland. In 1653 "Lourens Janse" (Opdyck) received from Governor Stuyvesant a ground brief for a lot 92 1/2 feet square on the northwest corner of the intersection of what are now State Street and Broadway,-opposite the new church erected in the middle of the square three years later, rebuilt in 1715 on the same ground, and standing until 1806. Louris' valuable corner now faces the Post Office and is in the very heart and business centre of Albany. He had a house upon this lot, but in 1655 he made over his groundbrief to himself and Cornelius Steenwyck for the use of a third party. This Cornelius Steenwyck afterward became Burgomaster of New Amsterdam, Councillor of War over the Dutch ships at their recapture of New Netherland from the English in 1673, and one of the Common Council of New York after the second surrender to the English.

Our Louris is also found in 1653 buying lot No. 34 at Gravesend, Long

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Island, where two years later we find numerous proofs of his presence and activity. The patent for Gravesend had been granted in 1645 to a colony of English, under the leadership of Lady Deborah Moody, a woman of wealth and education who left England to avoid despotism, emigrated to Massachusetts, and was excommunicated at Salem for her views on baptism. The soil, though somewhat light and sandy, is yet very productive, the climate remarkably healthful and agreeable in summer and winter from its ocean breezes. It was hoped, from its situation at the mouth of the Nar rows, with the ocean on one side and the flourishing village of New Amster dam on the other, to make Gravesend an important centre of commerce, "a city by the sea," with Gravesend Bay for a harbor. On a favorable site Dear the centre of the grant a square was measured off containing about about sixteen acres of ground, and a street opened around it. This larg square was afterwards divided into blocks of four acres each, by opening two streets at right angles through the centre. The whole was then enclosed by a palisade-fence of balf-trees standing seven feet above ground, as a protection both against hostile Indians and the depredations of wolves and other wild animals which were then common upon Coney Island. Each of the four blocks was divided into ten equal sections, laid off around the outside and facing the outer street. This gave forty sections in all; and thus one section was allotted to each of the forty patentees. By this arrangement every family could reside within the village, and share its palisade defence. In the centre of each block was reserved a large public yard, where the cattle of the inhabitants were brought in from the commons, and herded for the night for their better protection. On one of the four blocks was the church, on another was the school-house, on snot another the town hall, and on the fourth the burying ground. The original plan of the town is preserved in its main features to this day, after almost 250 years. The 40 planters' farms radiated from the village in diverging lines. like the spokes of a wheel, enabling each owner to go from his house within the village defenses directly to his farm; and several of the farms have retained this outline to the present time. Scarcely had the first house of the new settlement been completed when the savages, exasperated by the unwise policy of Director Kieft, rushed from their destruction of the Mespath colony to attack the newly begun village of Gravesend. But the settlers, under the command of Nicholas Stillwell, silently awaited their night approach in the rude log house, and received them with such well directed volleys of musket-shots as to slay a large number and drive the rest to retreat in panic. Apart from Fort Amsterdam, Gravesend was the only colony that successfully defended itself.

The English of that day frequently called Fort Orange (Albany) "Fort Aurania;" and hence, never very particular about the spelling of names, wrote on the records " Lowrace Johnson of fforte of Arren " at his first

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purchase of land in Gravesend. Two years later, 1655, Louris joined with seven other Dutch residents in a letter to the Council, protesting against the confirmation of the magistrates nominated by the English of the town, saying that these English had allowed traitors, absentees, and men under confinement, to vote, but had refused to honest Dutchmen both votes and office; and also that these English were endeavoring to enforce the orders of their chief traitors, Baxter and Hubbard, who were then in Fort Amsterdam prison for hoisting the British flag and asserting the sovereignty of England. The Council from motives of policy confirmed the election; the West India Company however sent strict instructions "to avoid bestowing any office of trust upon foreigners who are not interested in the country, and who but seldom can deserve our confidence."

In the autumn of 1655, the second Indian war broke out. A large body of savages,-having swept Manhattan Island down to Fort Amsterdam, killed or captured most of the settlers at Hoboken and Pavonia, laid. waste the Jersey shore, killed 67 colonists on Staten Island and destroyed their bouweries, thereupon crossed the Narrows and made a fierce attack upon Gravesend; its inhabitants were unable to drive away the invading foe, but bravely stood their ground. Louris and five other Dutch residents wrote an urgent letter to Governor Stuyvesant for assistance; in reply, the Director and Council immediately sent a force of Dutch soldiers from Fort Amsterdam, with whose aid the town drove off the savages.

During the years 1656-7 Louris resided in New Amsterdam (New York). There is in 1656, upon the books of the Burgomaster and Schepens' Court, a record of "Lourans Jansen's wife" defending a suit there brought for supplies of meat, amounting to 28 Pounds Sterling of money, which she opposed " according to the account of the year 1653." The same year 1656 we find a minute of a suit brought by " Lourens Jansen of New Amsterdam" before the Director and Council, against George Baxter of Gravesend. Among the early Dutch Books of New York Deeds, at the City Hall, is recorded the purchase by " Lourens Jansen " in the same year, of a house and lot on the south side of the present Pearl Street between State and Whitehall Streets, and its sale by him the following year. The terrible massacres by the Indians in the previous year probably led him to withdraw his family temporarily from Gravesend. The location of his New York house was close to the fort, the favorite building locality from the time the fort was first laid out. Pearl Street originally formed the edge of the river a little east of Louris' house, and was selected as a residence by many wealthy burghers on account of its fine river prospect. Whitehall Street was also on the line of the fort and took its name from the large white residence of the Governor. Here were the Company's five storehouses built of stone, and the parsonage with its garden of variegated tulips and alleys of clipped box-wood and cedars; near by were the bakery, brew-

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ery, and the first market-house. Above these was Bowling Green, the village park, used for Maypoles, holiday dancing festivals, and as a parade ground of the soldiers from the fort.

We find also on the records of Flatbush a reference to " Louweres Janse" in 1659; and to " Lourens Jansen " in 1661 as then deceased but as having owned previously two stone-houses and lots in that village. These record afford additional evidence that he was a man of enterprise and means, and interested in many ventures.

Flatbush, settled by the Dutch in 1651, was now the most thriving Dutch colony on Long Island, and contained more people than Brooklyn. Itbounded Gravesend on the northeast, and the direct road from New Amsterdam to Gravesend ran through it. It was here that the fir Dutch Church on Long Island was organized. Louris no doubt attend service in the church edifice which was then begun, although not entire . completed until 1660, after his death. It was of wood and built in form: a cross, 28 by 60 feet, and 12 or 14 feet between beams, the rear used the minister's dwelling. A portion of old Flatbush is now included i Prospect Park of Brooklyn.

We conclude that Louris' wife and children resided in New Amsterdam (New York) the greater part of the time from 1653 to 1657, while he frequently left them to trade in furs at Albany or to see to the cultivation of his Gravesend farm and the improvement of his Flatbush property. No doubt they enjoyed an occasional trip with him up the North River in pleasant weather, and occupied at times the house at Albany. The elder sons must have assisted on the Gravesend farm in the summer season, and attended in winter at Fort Amsterdam the flourishing Latin school presided over by Dr. Curtius who had just been sent out from Holland at the request of many citizens. On holidays they would resort to the " Locust Trees " on a bluff of the North River, a little south of the present Trinity church-yard which was then the West India Company's garden. Or they would roam in the shady valleys, Maiden Lane and others, surrounding the village; or follow the neighboring roads leading quickly into forest wolds almost as solitary as the native wilderness. On such occasions they would not fail to invite some of the fair maidens for whom the town was celebrated, the daughters of the early settlers, now just coming into wom hood, with their fair Dutch complexion beautified by the American climate In those days a lady wore no hat. Her dress was a bright colored petticoat, short to give freedom in walking, a waist of different material, colored stockings of homespun wool, high-heeled and thick-soled shoes suitable to streets without sidewalks or pavements, and all the jewelry she could afford.

The men wore their hair very long. Their dress was a soft hat with broad brim and tapering crown adorned with a feather, a short sleeveless

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doublet girt at the waist with a stout leather belt or wide sash with hanging ends, very full short breeches tied just below the knee with bow-knots, long woolen or linen stockings, high boots with flaring or reversed tops, wide turned-over linen collar and cuffs; in cold weather, a cloak hanging loose from the shoulders; for full dress, silk stockings, broad ruffs or lace at the neck and wrists, sometimes at the knee.

The town lots were large enough for gardens and orchards. Each resident kept his cows, and the city herdsman collected them every morning, blowing a horn to give notice of his approach, and drove them through the town gate at Wall Street to the public pasture at the present City Hall Park. It must have been the ambition of the little Johannes to let down the rail for his father's cattle to join the herd. He it was who brought the water from the well in the street. He could amuse himself tumbling in the hay barrack which was permitted to stand in the highway in front of the house; or watching the dark and taciturn Indians in their dress of skins or feathers, in single file, coming occasionally to the fort. Sometimes no doubt he would steal away to the never-failing spring at what is now John Street, and linger along its brook as it bubbled down the rocks on the present line of Gold Street; or in winter he would play truant and dare to venture to the far-distant lake at what is now Canal Street, for a day of skating. At other times he would inspect the 250 fire-buckets with hooks and ladders, just imported from the fatherland for the '° rattle watch" of eight men; or he would watch the boats in the canal which is now Broad Street, and hear the neighbors talk of making the whole city so, " to be like Holland."

On the Sabbath the whole family, arrayed in their best, would proceed to church, Christina carrying her handsomely bound bible and psalm book, with silver edging and clasp, hung to her girdle by a silver chain. The sexton,. having rung the bell, formed a procession of himself and his assistants to carry the cushions of the burgomaster and schepens from the City Hall, to furnish the church pew appropriated to the city magistrates. The schout at the same hour went his rounds to observe that quiet was kept in the streets during service, and to stop the games of the negro and Indian slaves, who were allowed recreations on Sunday except during church time. As the church was within the walls of the fort, the adjoining open field, now Bowling Green, displayed a numerous concourse of country wagons arranged in order, while the horses were let loose to graze on the shady hillside which led west of Broadway down to the water at what is now Greenwich Street.

Christina would sometimes accompany Louris to Gravesend, mounted behind him on horseback upon a pillow or padded cushion. Their road took them along Pearl Street, which was then the river shore, halting a moment at the inn to chat with Gysbert, to the ferry at Peck Slip; the ferryman owned a farm hard by and came at sound of the horn that hung

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against a tree, to row them over the river in a little skiff, for three stivers in wampum, to what is now Fulton Street in Brooklyn,-although Brooklyn was then a mere hamlet containing only a few scattered farms. A ride of seven miles, winding through woods and miniature prairies, took them past Louris' lots and stone houses in Flatbush to Gravesend. Some of the giant trees now just beyond Prospect Park may have seen them passing. Or they would take the whole family in the lumber wagon, or in the sleigh running upon split saplings, drawn by pot-bellied nags which were bred wild in the woods on the upper part of the island, and which seldom quit a dog-trot. In the summer Johannes would beg to go along to bathe in the surf at Coney Island, and to gather a large basket of wild strawberries in the woods. Or, if the wind was fair, they would make the trip almost from door to door in their boat on the bay, for the boys must have been natu sailors like all the Dutch. To appreciate the beauty of this sail, it must still be made in a small yacht.

Their home, if like the average New York house of that day, was worth less than $500, including the lot. Its " great room" was both parlor and dining-room, and contained also the guest's bed, built in the house like a cupboard in a partition, to save space, with doors closing upon it when unoccupied; two ample feather-beds upon it, one to sleep on and the other for a covering, made up in comfort what they lacked in display. Here too was the cupboard on which were displayed the pewter and earthenware ware with a few pieces of silver; for ordinary use, wooden and pewter table-ware were good enough; the blue and white china was kept for company. The round dining-table had folding leaves, in order to economize space. The best chair was covered with leather and adorned with brass nails. Carpet there was none, but the well-scrubbed floor was carefully sanded. Some engravings in narrow black frames adorned the walls, and the window was contained with a strip of the cheapest cloth run upon a string. It was before the era of tall eight-day clocks, and the small clock was not so trustworthy , as the hour-glass. There were not half a dozen watches in the Dutch Colony, and those had brass or silver cases and were generally out of order. The great fireplace could easily contain the three boys in its corners. An extensive store of linen, the pride of Christina, was kept in the iron-bound chest. Linen was cheaper then than cotton. Books were rare; life in the new country was more exciting than fiction; and as for history, they were making it. The house contained several stories above the eaves, with dormer windows for each story, the roof being higher than the walls. First. was the garret containing the sleeping rooms and bins for storing grain; next was the loft, used for lumber and articles of only occasional need; next the cock-loft, the receptacle for rubbish. The beams were ornamented with some carving, and were used for hanging household articles, guns, powder-horns or hats. The ceilings were seven or eight feet high.

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The family used a pestle and mortar to grind their own grain into flour for domestic use. Their table saw little of the fruits, sweets or spices of the tropics. Its food was furnished from the farm and surrounding forests or waters. The family clothing was the product of the farm, spun and woven by Christina.

Louris was a man of standing, as we have seen. But, except good character, there were no social distinctions in that day when all could remember their recent coming hither in search of fortune, bringing but little with them. The roystering young farmer danced with the daughter of the city magistrate; for she was herself her father's dairy-maid. The household work and the farm work were done by the family, with perhaps the assistance of a worthless slave or two. The worst trait of character was thought to be idleness. It was the arcadian age of New York. We must recollect that money was so rare that purchases were made largely with beaver skins, either wholes or halves. The first brickyard was just started and the first street just paved; sidewalks were not yet in contemplation; the average price of the best city lots had reached only $50, and houses rented at from $25 to $100 per year; there was but one wharf; the whole population of the city was only 1,000, of whom one fourth lived on Pearl Street.

Louris must have finally removed his family back again to the Gravesend house, for we find them residing there at his death. The records ascribe to him only twelve acres in cultivation, but in those days the ground was cultivated like a garden, as in Holland. Rotation of crops was not practised until a century later. Pasture and hay were obtained from permanent "meadows" which were never ploughed. The meadow of Gravesend was Coney Island, since included in the boundaries of the town.

The town records of Gravesend were kept in the English language, and are still preserved from the year 1645. They contain wills, inventories, contracts, sales, and lawsuits. Town-meetings, called by a beating of a drum, were held monthly in a private house, and all failing to be present were fined five guilders. The town elected one magistrate, who chose a second; these two a third, and so on until six had been chosen, all to be approved by the town. Every man was required to maintain his own share, of the palisade at the head of his lot, to provide himself with a ladder 20 feet long, and with a gun, powder and lead, under penalties of heavy fines. The following vote was passed: "ye pastures att ye end of ye lotts shall be for ye use of any of ye inhabitants for a calf or cow yt is sick, or for a horse in case a stranger comes to ye town." The town hired a man to herd the calves three months on Coney Island, for 60 guilders " to be paid in money, tobacco; or corn and some bitters, if desired." It was voted "that all who tapp or drawe out stronnge beare to sell, shall provide that ye sd beare bee as good yt wch is usually sould att the Manhattoes;" and the price was regulated. It was forbidden to sell liquor to Indians; also to

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indulge on Sundays in trading, amusements, or excessive drinking. Marriages were performed by a magistrate, after publication of the banns at the nearest church, and were entered in the town records, as were also burials. The Court records are full of trials for slander, and the cases became so common that a fine of 50 guilders was imposed upon those who brought such actions without good proof; in cases of conviction, the punishment was fine, imprisonment, stocking or standing at a public post. There are those still living in Gravesend who remember well the old stocks, which were placed near the town-hall, where prisoners convicted of petty crimes were made a public show and were hooted at and pelted by the boys of the neighborhood. This custom was introduced from England; in a list of 70 male inhabitants in 1656, there do not appear more than a dozen Dutch names, including Louris Jansen. Among the settlers appear Richard Stout, Samuel Holmes, and others whose descendants in New York and New Jersey have been numbered by thousands. The famous Penelope Prince appears on the records as having remarked that "the wife of Ambrose London did milk the cows of Thomas Applegate; " she, " being questioned, acknowledged her fault in soe speaking, and being sorrie for her words, she spoke satisfaction on both sides."

There is no good reason to believe that there was a Dutch Church organization in Gravesend before 1763. The people were inclined to strong free thinking; they rejected infant baptism, the Sabbath, the office of preacher, and the teachers of God's word, saying that " through these have come all sorts of contention into the world." Whenever they met together, one or other "read something for them." Here was held the first Quaker meeting in America, in 1657; they were regularly held from that time at the house of Lady Moody, and from 1659 the town became the "Mecca of Quakerism," in spite of much persecution from Director Stuyvesant.

The early houses were simple; we find "I house framed upon sills of 26 foote long, and 16 foote broad and 10 foote stoode, with 2 chimneys in ye middle and 2 doors and two windows, and to clapboard only ye roof and dobe the rest parte; " the price was 110 guilders, or instead, " one Dutch cow." Furniture and personal effects were also simple; an inventory in 1651 of a deceased, signed by Lady Moody as witness, shows: "1 Kettle 1 Frying pan, 1 Traye, 1 Jarre, 1 pair breeches, 1 Bonott, 1 Jackett, 1 Paile, 2 Shirts, 1 Tubbe, 1 Pair shoes, 2 pair ould stockings, 9 ould goats money in chest, 32 guilders." Yet Gravesend was sufficiently important to hold the Court of Sessions from 1668 to 1685, when it was removed back to Flatbash, whence it was finally changed to Brooklyn. The farmers raised all kinds of grain, tobacco, hemp, flax, pumpkins, melons, &c.; growing , wild were found mulberries, persimmons, grapes large and small, huckle berries, cranberries, plums, raspberries, and such abundance of strawberries "that in June the fields and woods were dyed red; " wild roses and other

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flowers bedecked the landscape and perfumed the air all the summer. Imagine all of these by the sea. Such we learn was Gravesend when Louris there lived and died.

In the new world, people married not only early; but often. The Dutch church records are full of second and third marriages. It was required by the laws of New Netherland that any widow, or widower, about to contract a second marriage and having already children, should apply for the appointment of guardians of the children, in order that their share of the estate under the Dutch rules might first be set aside for them. On March 16, 1660, we find on the records that "Stincha (Christina) Loras widow" (of Louris Jansen Opdyck deceased) had such guardians appointed for her children, Peter, Otto, and Johannes. The estate was appraised at 2,100 guilders (a considerable sum in those days), of which she received one half upon her declaration to the English of Gravesend that this was the law of Holland; a pretty strong proof that she was a woman of force of character and of consideration. Six days earlier Lourens Petersen, from Tonsbergen in Norway, a widower, also states that his wife Annetie is deceased, that he is now engaged to marry " Styntie Laurens " of Gravesend, and desires trustees appointed for a division of a proper share of their mother's estate to his two daughters; which is accordingly done, as recorded in the minutes of the Council at Fort Amsterdam. Lourens Petersen had been married at New Amsterdam in 1641, and had there baptized his daughter Sytie in 1642 and his daughter Engeltie in 1646; Sytie had been married at 16 years to Barent Joosten, a " ridder" (knight) from Witmont in Emberland, and afterward a magistrate of Bushwick. In 1661 Eugeltie, then in her 15th year, married Jan van Cleef, a settler at Gravesend and later an official of New Utrecht. Lourens Petersen, after living some years in New Amsterdam, where he sold his house and lot in 1656, had taken up his residence in Gravesend, and there signed a petition for a minister. He had been spoken of some years before as " of good report amongst the English " in and near New Amsterdam.

Peter, (eldest son of Louris Jansen Opdyck,) upon the occasion of the above division of his father's estate, voluntarily surrenders to "his mother Stincha Loras " the interest of his portion, "for the bringing up his younger brother," to whom he leaves the principal in case he die first; "his young brother" also leaving to Peter his whole portion in case of death; - a pleasing evidence of mutual affection. The following year, Lourens Petersen conveys lot number 34 at Gravesend, with farming implements, to Peter and Otto, for their shares of the estate. Peter and Otto at the same time acknowledge the receipt, from their father-in-law " (a very common expression in those days for step-father) Lourens Petersen, of 300 guilders, the portion of "their brother Johannes Loras, according to the dividend of the estate of their deceased father Loras Johnson." They also agree to pay

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to "their mother Stincha Loras" interest on Johannes' portion, for his support. Two years later Christina, "in behalf of her sons Otto Loras and Johannes Loras," ratifies a sale of the farm made by her son Peter. Thus their relationships are distinctly and repeatedly acknowledged. These various acknowledgements also show that Peter was of legal age in 1664 and that therefore his father was born before 1620 and married before 1643.

Records

1653, Aug. 22. "Lowrace Johnson of fforte of Arren " buys lot No. 34 Gravesend, Long Island, from Walter Wall.. (Gravesend Rec., II, 13.)

1653, Oct. 8.Lawrence Jansen was granted by Gov. Stuyvesant a ground brief for a lot in Beverwyck (Albany); and

1655, July 30, he transferred the same to himself and Cornelius Steenwyck for the use of Gabriel Leendertse; the same day it was conveyed to Carsten and Myndert Fredericksen. Lawrence Johnson is stated to have had a house on this lot..... (Gov. Nicolls' Confirmatory Patent to Myndert Fredericksen, No. 71. Alb.)

In Munsell's Albany Collections, Vol. IV, 203, it is stated that "this square was patented to Louras Janse in 1653," and a diagram of the property is given, showing it to have been on the northwest corner of State Street and Broadway, 92 1/2 feet on each street. The same authority says that " after 1652 Fort Orange ceased to be the centre of the embryo city, which thereafter clustered around the new church built at the junction of State Street and Broadway."

1655, July 9. "To the Noble Very Worshipful, their Honors of the High Council of New Netherland.

"Show very humbly we, the undersigned inhabitants of the village of Gravesend in the Province of New Netherland, your Worships subjects, that we have assembled together in the said village yesterday, the 8th of July to make a nomination, from which the Magistrates for the next term might be chosen by your Worships, the order for making this nomination or (as they call it in their pride) election is said to have come from your Worships, but they did not show it to us: whereupon we, the undersigned having purchased and paid for our parcels of land and houses there, maintain, that we shall and must enjoy the same privileges, as the parties from whom the land or lands were purchased. We find, however, that we are prevented by underhand and treacherous measures and for this and other reasons we are compelled to turn to your Worships will as our only recourse and respectfully request, that your Worships for the present suspend the confirmation of these illegal elections, as well as that of the Schout for the following and other reasons, which we will submit to your Worships, whenever ordered so to do:

"First: Your Worships' order to make a selection was not shown to us,

"2d. They produced votes of persons, who were in close confinement for misdemeanors committed by them,

"3d. Also of persons, who on account of conscientious scruples have left the place,

" 4th. Also of persons who have conspired against the government of the country,

"5th. They would not allow that an honest Dutchman, who was a hired man, should cast a vote, his master being absent,

1ST GENERATION; LOURIS JANSEN OPDYCK. - 151

6th. They said to several people, that no Dutchman should get into the Magistracy there, else they would leave,

"7th. They promised solemnly to nominate Dutchman as well as Englishman, which promise has not been kept,

"8th. They demanded, that all orders issued by the patentees, who have been Magistrates all along and had formerly on account of their misdeeds not only been exiled, but also imprisoned, should be strictly obeyed: which we cannot promise to do any further, than the welfare of the government, under which we live and which protects us, requires. Submitting all this to your Worships' consideration and good will for the welfare of this place we remain "Your Noble Worships' very obedient servants.

(Signed) Jacobus van Curler, Jacob Hellakers, Lucas van der Liphorst, in the name of Anta Thomas, Louris Jansen, Jan Thomassen, David Provoost as attorney for Peter Ebel, Cornelis Dircksen Hoochlant and Dirck Cornelissen. Midwout, 9th of July 1655 upon Long Island in N. N.

"The foregoing has been entered by order into the Register of Resolutions and an answer to it deferred until another time........ (Doe. Col. Hist. N. Y., XIV, 329. )

1655, Oct. 20." Honorable General.

"We are at present surrounded here by Indians, of whom some have been permitted by the English to come in. They say, the English never give them anything to drink, they will have nothing to do with them; it may well be that our turn will come soon, at the latest to-night. We ask for speedy assistance, for the English allow the savages to go in and out; the blow will undoubtedly fall on our heads. We are confident, that since they are without restraint, no assistance will be given to us, so that we all, with wives and children, are very anxious and request therefore respectfully, young as well as old people, to send us speedy help, In the name of all (signed) Jacob Swart, Jan Tomassen, the mark of Antony Jansen, Lauris Jansen, the mark P. E. of Pieter Ebel, J. van Curler.

" The Honble Director-General and Council having seen and considered the aforesaid request, resolved to succor the inhabitants of Gravesend as far as possible with twenty men and to direct them to secure the safest place. Date as above, New Amsterdam (signed) P. Stuyvesant, Lamontagne, Cornelis van Tienhoven ........ (Doe. Col. Hist. N. Y., XHI, 47.)

1656, Jan. 24. Lourens Jansen of New Amsterdam petitions for payment of a debt due him from Geo. Baxter........ (Dutch MSS., VI, 239.)

1656, Mch. 20. Lourans Jansen's wife is defendant in suit brought by Nicholaes Boot, for 28 pounds 15 sh. Deft. admits debt of 12 pounds " according to account of the year 1653"and says she paid the rest to plaintiff's wife ................ (Burgomaster's and Schepens' Rec., II, 402,....N. Y.)

1656, Aug. 10. Lourens Jansen buys of Rem Jansen of Beverwyck a house and lot on Pearl St., in New Amsterdam (New York City), between State St. and Whitehall, granted to Rem Jansen in 1647 by Director and Council .............. (N. Y. Deeds, 1654-8, page 124.... Val. N. Y. Man. 1861, 597.)

1656. Lawrence Johnson on list of freeholders of Gravesend...... (Thompson's Hist. Long Island, II, 177.)

1657, April. Lorence Johnson appears on "A List of what land every man has in tillage in Gravesend," ninth on the list, as having 12 acres... (Gravesend Rec., III, 4.)

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1657, Oct. 4. Laurens Janse sells to Pieter Jacobsen Marius the house and lot on Pearl St., being premises patented March 29, 1647, and assigned to said Laurens Janse..... (N. Y. Deeds, 1654-8, page 196. Val. N. Y. Man. 1861, 593.)

1659. "Adrian Hegeman, Attachor. The Attachor says that Louweres Janse owes him the sum of 13fl., 12 stivers, whereupon he has attached two pictures in the hands of Louis Janss, Schepen," (This was probably after Louris Jansen's death) ...... (Flatbush t. Rec., B, 71-2.)

1660, March 10. Lourens Petersen, the norman, states that his wife Annetie Peters is deceased; that he is now engaged to marry Styntie Laurens of Gravesend, and as he has two children, daughters, by his first wife, of whom one is married to Barent Joosten, the other yet a minor, he desires guardians appointed for them in the division of their mother's estate. Appointed accordingly.... (Dutch MSS. IX 123.)

1661, Jan. 20. The guardians of Lourens Petersen's children report that a partition has been agreed upon, and that Engeltie Peters, the daughter of Lourens Petersen, wants them to surrender her share. Referred to the father............................. (Dutch MSS. IX, 502.)

1661, March 10. Engeltie being married to Jan van Cleef, the father Lourens Petersen has no objection to her share being given her. . .. (Dutch MSS. IX, 555.)

1660, March 16. The Estate of Stincha Loras Widdow living and residing here in Gravesend was vallued and appraised by William Bowen, William Williams and Nicholas Stillwell, and that for as much as the said Stincha being intended to alter and change her conditio into married condition wherefore the above said men were chosen that was William Williams for Peeter Loras, William Bowne for Otte Loras, and Nicholas Stillwell for Johannes Loras, the children of the sd Stincha the Estate then taken notice of as followeth

Gs. st

Improved the plantation Corn and housing thereon 1100 00

2 steares and 2 oxen 0400 00

5 cows att 80 Gs per Cow 0400 00

1 young cow and one bull 0100 00

1 heifer of 2 years ould and 2 earlings 0100 00

2100 00

"Out of the above sd Summe the children of the sd Stincha cometh 1050 00

of which the sd Sticha promiseth to performe and make good unto the sd 3 children 300 Gs a piece 0900 00

"The sd Stincha claiming a share with them of the one half of thhe Estate which being divided as foresd : and come them unto; And this is said shee Hollands law: Concerning which it rests undetermined by ye : 3 men.

"Peeter Loras voluntarily bath and did give unto his mother Stincha Loras the Rent of his share pt or portion for the bringing up his younger brother and in case bee shall dye bee doth give him the whole Summe: and his young brother likewise bath given him all his portion in case bee dye first.

"January the 9th Anno 1662. The above sd Moneys was payed; as uppon ye Records ffurther att large is specified^....... (Gravesen Rec., III, 11.)

1661, Oct. 27. "Appeared before me Cornelis van Ruyven, Secretary in the service of the West India Company * * * Curators of the

1ST GENERATION; LOURIS JANSEN OPDYCK, - 153

Estate of Nicholas Voethuyzen who, in presence of the Honorable Councillors Nicasius de Sille and Johan de Dochere, transfer" --- several parcels of land in Midwout (Flatbush),-" as also two stone houses and lots situated in the village afore mentioned, which were transferred to Nicholaas Voethuyzen by the Curators of the estate of Lourens Jansen who died without settling his affairs. * * * Signed by the appearers together with the Councillors in Fort Amsterdam of New Netherland, 27 Oct. 1661 ....... (Flatbush Rec. A. p. 109; Bergen's Early Settlers, p. 162.)

1662, Jan. 9. "Loras Peeters before us the magistrates of ye towne of Gravesend as under written did and doth acknowledge by vertue heareof Absolutely to sell Assign and make Over all his rite title interest and Claime from him his heyres Executours Administrators and Assignes for Ever unto a Certain peell of Land wth all the corn thereuppon togeather with the housing Guarden orchard and all prvelledges and Appurtinences thereunto belonging with one Cart one plow and all tackling thereunto & allso one sow, the said Land lyeing and being in Gravesend in ye Province of ye Niew Neatherlands & commonly knowne by ye name of number thirtie fowre unto Peeter Loras and Oate Loras their heyres Executors Administrators or Assigns And for them the said Peeter and Cate to enjoye in as large and ample manner in every respectte as bee the said Loras mighte or could doe by vertue of any purchase gwifte graunte towne Order or any otherwise; the said Loras Peeters acknowledging to have Received full and plenary sattisfaction for all the above said housing and Land et.

"In wituesse whereunto for the confirmation heareof the said pties have sett their hands the day and yeare above written. Loras Peeters, Pieter Louresse, Otto Louresse.......... (Gravesend Rec., II, 141.)

1662, Jan. 9. "Peeter Loras and Oate Loras Received in to their hands from their ffather in Law Loras Peeters ye summe of 300 GI wh said moneyes are that parte or portion wch come their brother Johannes Loras Unto according to the divident of ye Estate of their dyceased ffather Loras Johnson as by ye Records thereof beareing Date March 16th 1660 maye further appeare and during ye time the sd Peeter & Oate holds the sd Moneys in their hands they are to pay Answerable sattisfaction yearley as by a bill under their owne hands given unto their mother Stincha Loras for ye payment thereof unto her January ye 9th Ann. 1660 doth & may appeare.

"Peeter Loras and Oate Loras Received of Loras Peeters their father in Law ye full summe of six hundred gillders & is in full payment of all such moneys remining them unto according to the Devident of their dyceased ffather Loras Johnson his Estate made and taken March ye 16th Ann o 1660 as afore sd". . (Gravesend Rec., III, 19.)

1664, Jul. 3. "This 3d day of ye 5th moth called July Anno 1664. Stinckah Loras * * * doth acknowledge by vertue of yo power she hath, and in ye behalfe of her sonns Oate Loras and Johannes Loras * * * hereby to sell * * * all her and their sd interrest * * unto a certain pcell of land * * * of ye number 34 * * * unto William Johnsonn of ye same town * * * and also the sd Stinckah doth hereby more fullie rattiffie * * a certaine deed of sale formerlie passed betwixt Peeter Loras her son & ye sd William for ye sd Land, giveing and graunteing unto ye sd William Johnson free libertie to * * * posese * * * all and every of ye prmises, in as large 'and ample a

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manner * * * as either shee or Peeter Loras or Oate Loras or Johannis Loras mighte * * * And in Leiw and considderation of ye sd land * * * the said William is yett further to paye unto. Oate Loras and Johannes Loras or their assigns the summe of 640 gillders att or uppon the 20th day of ye 11th month called Jany, next * * *

"And for the true and faithfull performance hereof the said Land * * * is to stand & remine for security unto ye sd Oate & Johannis for ye sd moneys that is to say Sewon or goods at yt price. Stincha Loras, William Johnson.

"Received by me Oate Louarce of Will Jansen in part of this. some above written the sum of 190 Gilders & duly received by mee. Otto Louerse........................... (Gravesend Rec., 11, 159.).

Children of Louris Jansen Opdyck.

Peter; born before 1643 ; nothing found concerning him after his sale of the farm in 1664 ; he may have returned to Holland that year, as did many other Hollanders when the English captured New York.

Otto; born about 1646 ; lived in Mespath 1661 when he married Marretje Jans, a widow; in 1671 was assigned land at Newtown by Lourens Petersen, and also brought suit against Thomas Wandell in Newtown court.

Johannes; born 1651; married Catherine; lived at Newtown, L. I., and Hopewell, N. J., where he died 1729. See following sketch.