Illustrations

persed. Eight of them were landed at Manhat-

tan, there to take possession for the West India

Company. Two families went to the eastward,

to seek a home near the Fresh or Connecticut

river. Four couples, who had been married at

sea, were sent by the first opportunity to form a

settlement on the South river, or Delaware,

about four miles below the present city of Phila-

delphia. Eighteen families remained on the

ship, which now proceeded up the North river.

Landing near the spot where the city of Albany

now stands, the settlers built a fort which they

called Orange. Around this fort huts of bark

were hastily constructed. Soon the friendly

natives came with presents of peltry, and a brisk

trade was opened with the Mohawks and other

tribes.

ing August, carried letters from New Netherland,

making a cheerful report of the settlement.
172 NEW NETHERLAND.
"We were much gratified," wrote the colonists,

"on arriving in this country. Here we found

August, beautiful rivers, bubbling fountains flowing down

into the valleys; basins of running waters in the

flatlands ; agreeable fruits in the woods, such as

strawberries, walnuts, and wild grapes. The

woods abound with venison. There is consid-

erable fish in the rivers; good tillage land ; here

is, especially, free coming and going, without

fear of the naked natives of the country. Had

we cows, hogs, and other cattle fit for food --

which we daily expect in the first ships --we

would not wish to return to Holland.".

1628. By the autumn of the year 1628, the village of

southern point of Manhattan Island, numbered

two hundred and seventy souls. Nearly all the

settlers who sought to establish themselves at the

South and Fresh rivers had returned. Troubles

with the Indians had broken up the settlement

commenced so hopefully at Orange, and all but

a few men left for a garrison had removed to

Manhattan. Among others came George de

Rapalie, and his wife Catalina Trico, with their

daughter Sarah, born at Orange on the ninth

day of June, 1625.

lina Trico are the only names of the Walloon or

French colonists brought over by the New

Netherland, in 1623, that have been known

hitherto. No list of the first settlers of New

Amsterdam has come down to us : and no records

of the colony, for the first fifteen years of its

FIRST SETTLERS OF NEW YORK. 173

council minutes, and other historical documents

in the possession of the State of New York, 1639.

date only as far back as the year 1638; while the

registers of the most ancient ecclesiastical body

in the state, the Reformed Protestant Dutch

Church of New York, commence in 1639.
In the absence of other sources of knowl-

edge, the list of Walloons and Frenchmen pre-

sented in July, 162 1, to Sir Dudley Carleton,

assumes a special interest. Among the sixty

names of families desiring to emigrate to Amer-

ica, it would seem highly probable that the

names of some, at least, of the thirty families

that emigrated to New Netherland less than

two years after, might occur. The presumption

is strengthened by the evidence that has been

given above, showing that meanwhile the pro-

ject was not abandoned ; that the leader of the

company that applied to the English govern-

ment for permission to go to Virginia, afterwards

sought the approval of the States-General of

Holland: and that within six months of the

time when the " New Netherland " sailed for

Manhattan, he was engaged in obtaining recruits

for the intended colony.
That Jesse de Forest came to America with

the band of emigrants he had organized, can

scarcely be doubted. In January following

the departure of the Walloons for New Nether-

land, Gerard de Forest, dyer, petitioned the

burgomasters of Leyden, representing that his

brother, Jesse de Forest, had lately left for the
174 NEW NETHERLAND.
West Indies, and asking that he might be allowed

to take his place in the practice of his trade.¹

wife, Marie du Cloux, and her five children.² A

young Huguenot student of medicine accom-

panied the De Forest family. He was, perhaps,

already betrothed to the only daughter of the

house. Jean Mousnier de la Montagne was a

native of the town of Saintes, in the province

of Saintonge, in France, and had come to the

Leide, ou il dit que son frere Jesse des Forest est recemment

parti pour les Indes Occidentales et a qui le Magistrat avait

jadis permis de colorer des serges et des camelots, il de-

mande maintenant de remplacer son frere qui est absent,

pour exercer le meme metier. Accorde en Janvier, 1624.

--Copie des actes du 24 Janvier, 1624. (Commui.icated

by Dr. W. N. du Rieu.)

The conjecture that Jesse de Forest may have joined the

naval expedition against Brazil, that left Holland in the

latter part of December, 1623, and perished in the course of

that ill-starred enterprise (History of Harlem, N. Y., pp. 93,

94), is certainly unwarranted. His disappearance from

Leyden, at the very time when the scheme of emigration

which he had long sought to promote, reached its fulfillment,

can be better accounted for by the presumption that he emi-

grated with the body of colonists who sailed in that year for

New Netherland.

est) and Marie du Cloux, were Jean, Henri (born in 1606),

Rachel, Jesse (born in Leyden, March 1, 1615), Isaac (born

in Leyden, July 7, 16 16), Israel (born in Leyden, and bap-

tized October 7, 16 17), and Philippe, born in Leyden, and

baptized September 13, 1620. (Records of the Walloon

Ckurch, and Archives of the City of Leyden.) Two of

these doubtless died young.

For an account of the De Forest family in America, de-

scended from Isaac de Forest, son of Jesse, see the invalu-

able History of Harlem, N. Y., by Mr. James Riker, pp.

571-574.

DEATH OF JESSE DE FOREST. 175
city of Leyden a few years before the emigra-

tion, to attend the University.

tion, whose names may be recognized more or less

readily, in spite of the Batavian disguises in

which they appear, beyond the gap of fifteen or

twenty years in the records of New Amsterdam.

Such are the names of De la Mot, Du Four,

Le Rou, Le Roy, Du Pon, Ghiselin, Cornille,

De Trou, De Crenne, Damont, Campion, De

Carpentier, Gille, Catoir, de Croy, Maton, Lam-

bert, Martin, Caspar, and others.

colonists reached New Netherland, their leader

died. The widow of Jesse de Forest soon re-

turned with her family to Holland, accompanied

by the young medical student, Jean de la Mon-

tagne, whose marriage to Rachel de Forest took

place in Leyden on the twenty-seventh day of

November, 1626. Ten years later, Doctor de la

Montagne, now known as a " learned Huguenot

physician," went back to New Netherland, with

his wife and children, and at once took a leading

place in the colony,

Meanwhile, New Amsterdam had become the

home of other French-speaking immigrants.

Peter Minuit, the second director, was himself a

Walloon. His family, during the persecutions

in the southern provinces, half a century before,

had taken refuge in Wesel, where Minuit was a

deacon of the Walloon Church the time of his

appointment as director.
It was during his term of office that New
176 NEW NETHERLAND.
Amsterdam was visited for the first time by a

minister of religion. Jonas Michaelius, a clergy-

man of the Reformed Church of Holland, came

over in the year 1628. It is not known how

long he remained ; but a congregation was

gathered, and public worship was instituted, both

for the French and for the Dutch inhabitants.

Two elders were chosen, the one of whom

was "the honorable director" himself. "We

have had, "writes the worthy pastor, " at the

first administration of the Lord's Supper, full

fifty communicants, Walloons and Dutch: not

without great joy and comfort for so many.

Of these, a portion made their first confession

of faith before us, and others exhibited their

church certificates. Some had forgotten to

bring their certificates with them, not thinking

that a church would be formed and established

here; and some, who had brought them, had

lost them unfortunately in a general conflagra-

tion; but they were admitted upon the satisfac-

tory testimony of others to whom they were

known, and also upon their daily good deport-

ment. We administer the Holy Sacrament of

the Lord once in four months, provisionally,

until a larger number of people shall otherwise

require. The Walloons and French have no

service on Sundays, other than that in the Dutch

language, of which they understand very little.

A portion of the Walloons are going back to

Fatherland, either because their years here are

expired, or also because some are not very

serviceable to the Company. Some of them
RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN FRENCH. 177
live far away, and could not come on account of

the heavy rains and storms, so that it was

neither advisable, nor was it possible, to ap-

point any special service for so small a number

with so much uncertainty. Nevertheless, the

Lord's Supper was administered to them in the

French language, and according to the French

mode, with a preceding discourse, which I had

before me in writing, as I could not trust myself

extemporaneously." ¹

by some of the Walloons and French, on the

neighboring shores, and at the upper end of

Manhattan Island. Of this fact we have an

intimation in the letter just quoted; from which

it would appear that already, in 1628, a number

of these colonists were living at some distance

from New Amsterdam. The scanty records of

these ancient times, however, afford us no

more definite information on the subject. In

1636, William Adrianse Bennet and Jacques

Bentyn purchased a tract of land at Gowanus;

and in the following year, George de Rapalie

bought the farm that long remained in the

possession of his descendants, on a bay opposite

to Corlear's Hook, which became known as the

Waal-bocht, or Wallabout. Both of these local-

ities are now within the limits of the city of

Brooklyn. Tradition assigns a much earlier

date to the settlement at Wallabout: and the

of New York. Vol. II., pp. 764-765.

supposition that some of the first colonists had

found a home on the "bay of the Walloons."

Others established themselves on Staten Island.

At a later day --in 1658 --the village of New-

Harlem was laid out, on the northern end of

Manhattan Island; and of thirty-two male in-

habitants of adult age in 1661, nearly one-half

were Frenchmen and Walloons.
The appointment of Petrus Stuyvesant to be

director-general of the colony, marked an import-

ant epoch in the social as well as in the political

life of the settlement on Manhattan Island. Stuy-

vesant, we have seen, had married in Holland

Judith Bayard, the daughter of a French Prot-

estant clergyman: and he was accompanied to

America by his widowed sister, who had married

Samuel Bayard, the son of the refugee. This

two-fold alliance with a Huguenot family of

high position, must have brought the new gov-

ernor into close relations with the Walloons and

French who had preceded him to New Amster-

dam; while it doubtless contributed not a little

to strengthen the interest that he felt, as his

correspondence shows, in the exiles for con-

science' sake who sought a home in the province

during his long administration.

arrival, the ships of the Dutch West India Com-

pany continued to bring over to New Amsterdam

small bodies of French colonists, who had prob-

ably found a temporary home in Holland. The

greater number of these emigrants came from

a native of Calais, in Picardy, arrived in 1652,

and gave his name to the island in the harbor

of New York, known as Bedloe's Island. The

three brothers De la Grange, who came from

Amsterdam in 1656, were natives of Nor-

mandy. Of the same province was Jean Perie,

noted as the first trader that sent out a ship

from New Amsterdam with a cargo for Canada.

The first settlers of Bushwick, on Long Island --

Toussaint Briell, Francois Grion la Capelle,

Jean Casjou, Claude Barbier, and Antoine

Jeroe, arrived about the same time, and origin-

ated probably in the same part of France.

was now at hand in France, the consequences of

which would soon be seen in a much more con-

siderable emigration to America. During the

early years of the reign of Louis XIV., the

Protestants of France had enjoyed comparative

tranquillity. In the political troubles that in- 1648.

troduced that reign, they had given such proof

of their loyalty to the crown as to call forth the

thanks of the young king and his minister, Car-

dinal Mazarin. In recognition of these services,

Louis had confirmed the Edict of Nantes, and

all other edicts and regulations in favor of his

subjects of the Reformed religion. Various in-

fractions of those laws, which had been per-

mitted to occur, were redressed ; places of wor-

ship were re-opened ; Protestants were admitted

to public orifices from which they had been ex-

cluded; religious liberty prevailed to a greater
180 NEW NETHERLAND.
degree than at any time since the reign of Henry

IV. But the tolerant course adopted by the

government was watched with growing displeas-

ure by the clergy of the Church of Rome: and

soon the king, yielding to their persuasions, en-

tered upon a reactionary course which was to

culminate in the revocation of the Edict of

Nantes, and in the suppression of the Protestant

faith in France. One by one, the rights con-

ceded to the religionists were withdrawn.

Among the first of these repressive measures,

was a decree depriving pastors of the privilege

of preaching in the annexes, or out-stations, con-

nected with their charges. Other decrees, rap-

idly succeeding, enjoined upon the Protestants

the observance of the fasts and feasts of the

Roman Catholic Church; prohibited the singing

of psalms in private houses, in such a manner as to

be overheard in the streets; and required Protest-

ants to kneel, like the Roman Catholics, when

the host was carried in public procession. The

clergy, encouraged by the attitude which the

government was now assuming toward the here-

tics, inflicted upon them various forms of perse-

cution not yet legalized. The sick and dying were

beset by the monks and priests with persuasions

and threats, to induce them to abjure their faith.

Children were enticed or carried off from their

homes, to be educated as Roman Catholics.

Judicial rights which had been secured to the

Protestants by the Edict of Nantes were with-

drawn. The complaints addressed to the court,

in view of these abuses, were coldly received or
CONDITION OF FRENCH PROTESTANTS. 181
unheeded. At length the government proceeded .

to break up the ecclesiastical organization of the

French churches, by interdicting the Colloquies

and the national Synods, the last of which was

held in November, 1659.
Emigration from the northern provinces.
The Protestants of France had grown in num-

bers and in wealth during the period of com-

parative repose that lasted through the early

years of the reign of Louis XIV. They no

longer formed a political party in the land, and

were now devoting themselves chiefly to enter-

prises of commerce and manufacture. At least

one-third of the tradesmen in the country were

of the Reformed religion. In every sea-port

there were to be found wealthy Protestant mer-

chants, who by their ability and integrity com-

manded the confidence even of the Roman Catho-

lics, and who were the trusted agents and cor-

respondents of foreign houses. Many important

branches of industry were controlled almost en-

tirely by Protestant artisans. Acquainting

themselves with the methods of business pur-

sued in Protestant England, Germany, and Hol-

land, they adopted very generally the system of

combined labor, which enabled them to secure

the best workmen, and to carry on extensive

business enterprises. The northern provinces

of the kingdom possessed a large share of this

commercial and industrial wealth. The linen

manufactures of Picardy, Normandy, Maine,

and Bretagne, gave employment to thousands of

families in the villages of those provinces, and

enriched many a powerful commercial house,

later day came to New York.

toward its Protestant subjects, at this period,

led many of them to remove from the kingdom.

As in the case of the earlier emigrations, the

greater number of these refugees made their

way to Holland; and from Holland not a few,

between the years 1657 and 1663, crossed over

to America. For the most part, they were

natives of the northern provinces. Marc du

Soisson, Philippe Casier, Francois Dupuis, Da-

vid de Marest, Daniel Tourneur, Jean Mesurole,

Martin Renard, Pierre Pia, David Usilie, were

from Picardy. Jean le Conseiller, Robert de la

Main, Pierre Pra, Jean Levelin, Pierre de Marc,

were from Normandy. Arnout du Tois, of

Lisle, Jean le Clercq and Adrien Fournie, of

Valenciennes, Simon Drune, Bastien Clement,

and Adrien Vincent, of Tournay, Juste Kock-

uyt, of Bruges, Meynard Journeay, Jean Ger-

von, Walraven Luten, and Juste Houpleine, were

from Flanders. A few are mentioned as natives

of other parts of France. Jean Lequier and

Pierre Richard came from Paris; and Jacques

Cousseau, Etienne Gaineau, Paul Richard, Jean

Guenon, and Etienne Genejoy, came from La

Rochelle.

are not recorded, emigrated about this time to

New Amsterdam, by way of Holland. We

have the names of Charles Fonteyn, Simon

Bouche, Amadee Fougie, Jacques Reneau,
THE WALDENSES OF PIEDMONT. 183
Jacques Monier, Pierre Monier, Matthieu Sava-

riau, Pierre Grissaut, Simon Cormie, Gedeon

Merlet, Louis Louhman, Jacques Cossart, Jean

Paul de Rues, Jacques de Beauvois, Francois

Bon, Louis Lackeman, Francois Rombouts,

Paul Turck, Alexandre Cochivier, Jean Apre,

Francois Breteau, Claude Charie, Guillaume de

Honeur, Jacob Kolver, Jean Couverts, Antoine

du Chaine, Laurent de Camp, Nicolas de la

Plaine, Jean de la Warde. Though the fact is

not expressly stated, it may be presumed that

the greater number of these immigrants, like

those previously named, originated in the prov-

inces of Picardy, Normandy, and Bretagne.

rival of a band of colonists from the valleys of

Piedmont, a portion of the persecuted people

known as Waldenses. This ancient race, hidden

among the Cottian Alps, between Italy and

France, had preserved, according to their own

traditions, the Christian faith in its simplicity

from a very early age. Unnoticed and unmolested

in their mountain retreats for twelve centuries,

it was not until these valleys came into the pos-

session of the dukes of Savoy, that efforts were

made to convert or exterminate them as heretics

in the eyes of the Church of Rome. Between

the year 1487 and the close of the seventeenth

century, the historians of the Waldenses count

thirty-three distinct crusades waged against this

innocent and unresisting people. One of the

most dreadful of these assaults occurred in April,

1655, when by the order of the duke of Savoy
184 NEW NETHERLAND.
an army of fifteen thousand men entered the

valleys, and commenced a massacre, which for

April, horrors of cruelty is scarcely paralleled in the

history of civilized men. The sickening details

of this deed of blood, amply authenticated, were

published throughout Europe, and called forth in-

dignant remonstrances from all the Protestant

powers. Cromwell was foremost in stimulating

those powers to action, and hastened to offer the

Waldenses a home in Ireland ; while Milton, his

secretary for foreign tongues, wrote upon this oc-

casion his famous ''Sonnet on the late massacre

in Piedmont."