Artifact#5

Chapter I: "Province of New York - Origin of the Settlement at Albany – Singular Possession held by the Patron — Account of his Tenants."

It is well known that the province of New York, anciently called Munhattoes by the Indians, was originally settled by a Dutch colony, which came from Holland, I think, in the time of Charles the Second. Finding the country to their liking, they were followed by others more wealthy and better informed. Indeed some of the early emigrants appear to have been people respectable both from their family and character. Of these the principal was the Cuylers and the Schuylers, the Renselaers, the Delancys, the Cortlandts, the Tinbrooks, and the Beckamans, who have all of them been since distinguished in the late civil wars, either as persecuted loyalists or triumphant patriots. I do not precisely recollect the motives assigned to the voluntary exile of persons who were evidently in circumstances that might admit their living in comfort at home, but am apt to think that the early settlers were those who adhered to the interest of the Stadtholder’s family, a party which, during the minority of King William, were almost persecuted by the high republicans. They who came over at a later period probably belonged to the party which opposed the Stadtholder, and which was then in its turn depressed. These persons afterward distinguished themselves by an aversion, almost amounting to antipathy, to the British army , and indeed to all the British colonists. Their notions were mean and contracted; their manners blunt and austere; and their habits sordid and parsimonious: as the settlement began to extend they retired, and formed new establishments, afterwards called Fishkill, Esopus, &c.

To the Schuylers, Cuylers, Delancys, Cortlandts, and a few others, this description did by no mean to apply. Yet they too bore about them the tokens of former affluence and respectability, such as family plate, portraits of their ancestors executed in a superior style, and the great numbers of original paintings, some of which were much admired by acknowledged judges. Of these the subjects were generally taken from sacred history.

I do not recollect the exact time, but think it was during the last years of Charles the Second, that a settlement we then possessed at Surinam was exchanged for the extensive(indeed at that time boundless) province of Munhattoes, which , in compliment to the hier apparent, was called New York. Of the part of that country then explored, the most fertile and beautiful was situation far inland, on the banks of the Hudson’s River. This copious and majestic stream is navigable 170 miles from its mouth for vessels of 60 or 70 tons burthen. Near the head of it, as a kind of barrior against the natives, and a central resort for traders, the foundation was laid of a town called Oranienburgh, and afterwards by the British, Albany.

After the necessary precaution of erecting a small stockaded fort for security, a church was built in the center of the intended town. Which served in different respects as a kind of land-mark. A gentleman of the name of Renzelaer was considered as in a manner lord paramount of this city. A pre-eminence which his successor still enjoys, both with regard to the town and the land adjacent. The original proprietor having obtained from the high and mighty states a grant of lands, which beginning at the church, extended twelve miles in every direction, forming a manor twenty -four Dutch miles in length, the same in breadth, including lands not only of the best quality of any in the province, but the most happily situated both for the purposes of commerce and agriculture. This great proprietor was looked up to as much as republicans in a new county could be supposed to look up to any one. He was called the Patroon, a designation tantamount to the lord of the manor. Yet, in the distribution of the lands, the sturdy Belgian spirit of independence set limits to the power and profits of this lord of the forests as he might then be called. None of these lands were either sold or alienated. The more wealthy settlers, as the Schuylers, Cuylers, &c. took very extensive leases of the fertile plains along the river, with boundless liberty of woods and pasturage, to the westward. The terms were, that the lease should hold while water runs and grass grows, and the landlord, to receive the tenth sheaf. Of every kind of grain the ground produces. Thus ever accommodating the rent to the fertility of the soil, and changes of the season, you may suppose the tenants did not greatly fear a landlord, who could not neither remove them nor heighten their rents. Thus, without pride or property, they had all the independence of proprietors. They were like German princes, who after furnishing their contingent to the Emperor, might make war on him when _____ chose. Besides the profits(yearly augmenting) which the patroon drew from his ample possessions, he held in his own hands an extensive and fruitful demesne. Yet preserving in a great measure the simple and frugal habits of his ancestor, his wealth was not an object of envy, nor a source of corruption to his fellow citizens. To the northward of these bounds, and at the southern extremity also, the Schuylers and Cuylers held lands of their own. But the only other great landholders I remember, holding their land by those original tenures, were Philips and Cortlandt; their land lay also on the Hudson’s River, half way down to New York, and were denominated Philips’ and Cortlandt’s manors. At the time of the first settling of the country the Indians were numerous and powerful along all the river; but they consisted of wandering families, who, though they affixed some sort of local boundaries for distinguishing the hunting grounds of each tribe, could not be said to inhabit any place. The cool and crafty Dutch governors being unable to cope with them in arms, purchased from them the most valuable tracts for some petty consideration. They affected great friendship for them; and, while conscious of their own weakness, were careful not to provoke hostitities; and they silently and insensibly, established themselves to the west.”

This is the first chapter of my novel Memoirs of An American Lady.

Grant, Anne. Memoirs of An American Lady. London: Strahan and Preston, 1808. Web. <http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/albany/art/grant.html>.