Anthony Janse van Salee, and van Vaes of New Amsterdam and Long Island

PART I

ANTHONY JANSE VAN SALEE is a unique and most interesting, and a not unimportant, figure in the early history of New Amsterdam. The form of his name indicates that his father, probably a Hollander, was named Jan, and the local designations "Van Salee" and "Van Vaes" indicate that he had lived at these towns in Morocco sufficiently long for them to be regarded as his home. These clues have led to much speculation as to his history, and to a considerable amount of careful investigation in the Dutch and French records relating to North Africa.

The late Hon. Teunis G. Bergen, founder and first president of the Long Island Historical Society, compiler of a
Register of the Early Settlers of Kings County (Brooklyn, New York, 1883), and a member of Congress, declared in a letter dated at New Utrecht, February 11, 1851, and published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle his belief that evidence as to the place of birth and the parentage of Anthony Janse van Salee might be found in a Dutch book published in 1715 dealing with the maritime career of Claes G. Compaan and his companion and later rival, Jan Jansen van Haarlem, both sea rovers. He said that Anthony was undoubtedly of mixed descent, and that when young, he had been subject to the Mohammedan faith sufficiently to give rise to the several instances of his being referred to (erroneously) in records as a "Turk," and to the designation of his farm on Long Island as the "Turk's Plantation." There was also very early a family of the name "Turk" (Turck) in New Amsterdam, with which our Anthony is not connected.

A copy of the book having to do with Claes G. Compaan, referred to by Dr. Bergen, is to be found in the New York Public Library. Its title is
Historisch Verhael Aller Ghederck Waerdigher Gheschiedenissen die hier en daer in Europa, als Duytslant, Vranckenrijck, Enghelant, Spaenjen, Hungarijen, Polen, Sevenberghen, Sweeden, Walachien, Moldavien, Turckijen, Switzerlant, Barbarijen, en Nederlant, Voorgevallen syn, by Nicholaes van Wassenaer. It is in twenty-three volumes.

This remarkable work gives in sufficient detail the career of Jan Janse of Haarlem, who turned buccaneer and became Admiral of the fleet of Muley Zidan, Sultan of Morocco, and who married, secondly, a lady of the Mohammedan faith, to make it evident that Anthony Jansen van Salee might have been his son, born at Salee in Morocco, where Jan Jansen made his headquarters.

The records of New Amsterdam and of Long Island reveal personal characteristics of Anthony Jansen van Salee in harmony with such a theory as to his origin. Further evidence bearing on Jan Jansen's remarkable career, and upon Anthony van Salee's possible origin may be found in the publication issued by the Dutch Government in 1910 under the title
Bronnen tot de Geschiedenis van den Levantschen Handel. The work is edited by Dr. K. Heeringa; the title means "Sources for the history of the Levantine trade." References that show that Jan Jansen was at Salee at various times between 1600 and 1630, and five references to an Anthony Janse at Salee in 1623-1624, will be found in Comte Henry de Castries' Les sources inedites de l'histoire du Maroc.

We now give our attention to the records concerning the life of Anthony Jansen van Salee in the New Netherland, and to the records of his descendants.

There is good evidence that Anthony Janse van Salee brought to New Amsterdam with him a copy of the Koran. The late Robert Bayles, president of the Market and Fulton National Bank of New York City, a descendant through the Van Sicklen and Gulick families, compiled an account of some of his ancestors, now in the New York Public Library, in which he wrote:

Fernandus van Sicklen, the father-in-law of Johannes Gulick, was the son of Fernandus van Sicklen, the emigrant, whose wife Eva was the daughter of Anthony Jansen van Salee, who, before coming to this country, lived for a time at Salee or Fez, a seaport town under the Turkish rule on the coast of Africa, at that time said to be a resort for pirate vessels. Anthony Jansen van Salee was known at Gravesend as "The Turk" and the farm on which he lived was referred to in the records of Gravesend as "Turk's Plantation."

A few years since (about 1886) at a sale of the household goods of Joachim Rule, a descendant of Joachim Gulick, a lot of old books was sold for a trifling sum, one of which attracted the buyer's attention by the strange characters it contained. On submitting it for examination to an expert it was declared to be the Koran in the Arabic language and of quite an old date. At the same time a small brass pan of peculiar and unusual pattern was also sold, which is now in the possession of the writer. A member of the family, Catherine Gulick, then over eighty years of age, stated at the time that the pan and book, with a copper teakettle, had kept company for many years as family relics and were supposed to have been brought to the New Netherlands by an early emigrant, one of her ancestors. A tradition (for a long time unexplained) to the effect that one of the ancestors of the Johannes Gulick family was a Turk seems now to be accounted for by the fact that that ancestor was Anthony Jansen van Salee, a Dutchman of Long Island, known there as the "Turk." It is said that the purchaser of the Koran [Richard M. Johnson of Kingston, New Jersey] sold it to a book collector in Philadelphia for nearly $100. [Extract from Mr. Bayles' MS in the MS Department of the New York Public Library.]

Richard M. Johnson, a descendant in the eighth generation, on being asked if he remembered having purchased the book, replied:

Feb. 21-1925. MR. HOPPIN. Dear Sir: Yours of nineteenth at hand. Would reply that I remember very well the Sale, and I bought many articles for curiosity and speculation. Among the books bought was a large book in a foreign language. I tried many to read it, but none could. I was told that there was a Jew in Trenton that kept a kind of curio shop. They called him "Jerusalem." I took it to him and he told me it was a Bible called the Koran--the Mohammedan Bible--and it was valuable. As it was no use to me I asked what he would give me for it. He said he could sell it and get me fifty dollars for it. I said, "give me the money." He said he would give me $25. and when he sold it $25. more. I never got the other $25. as he died shortly after. In a few days after I sold it a gentleman came to me and wanted the book, as his ancestors were connected. I told him I had disposed of it and to whom. Some years later Mr. Robert Bayles came to me, as he was tracing his genealogy, for the Koran as he traced the book to me, Mr. Bayles had a letter stating that Alexander Gulick often saw the book, and it had very many records in it. He stated the book was his aunt Katy Gulick's . . .

RICHARD M. JOHNSON.

The Register of the Provincial Secretary of the New Netherland, now preserved in the State Library at Albany, begins on April 19, 1638. The first record relating to Anthony Janse van Salee is dated only nine days later--April 28, 1638. It is the declaration of Ryer Stoffelsen and Jan Gerritsen respecting the manner of the death of Anthony Jansen van Salee's dog. [
Dutch Manuscripts, Register of the Provincial Secretary, Albany, I, 5.]

Under date of April 29, 1638, we have the declaration by Remmer Jewerden that Hendrick Jansen, tailor, called Anthony Jansen from Salee, a Turk, rascal, and horned beast. [Ibid., I, 6.] But it is evident from subsequent records that by 1638, he had been in New Amsterdam between one and four years. He had secured a bouwery (farm) "near Fort Amsterdam bounded westerly by Hendrick Jansen, tailor, and eastward by Philip de Truy." He had married at least a year before 1638, Grietje Reiniers, of New Amsterdam. She had been employed by Peter de Winters to assist in managing a tavern in Amsterdam (not in New Amsterdam as the
Calendar of Dutch Manuscripts [I, 80] has it). On what ship she came to New Amsterdam is not known, but under date of April 28, 1639, in the Calendar of Dutch Manuscripts (I, 52), there is reference to her complaint against two sailors of the ship because of some offense against her, and to their being condemned to leave the country within two months.

Anthony Janse van Salee's farm was on the north side of the stockade built across the island on the line of the present Wall Street. It was called "Wallenstein," apparently in honor of the great general of that name, but the farm seems to have been laid out and to have been given its name by the Dutch West India Company before Van Salee acquired it. It occupied the area from Broadway to the East River between Ann Street and Maiden Lane. A map of 1644 showing "Wallenstein" and other "bouweries" in the neighborhood appears on page 1 of New Amsterdam and Its People, by Innes (1902). In this same book, pages 310-313, is found a description of "Wallenstein" in 1640. Mr. Innes says of this farm, page 310 ff. of his book,
New Amsterdam and Its People:

This bouwery is spoken of as belonging to Cornelis van Tienhoven as early as the year 1640, though he did not receive his formal ground-brief or patent for it until 1644. He was not, however, the first owner or tenant of the farm, which was in all probability laid out at a very early date, and its buildings, perhaps, erected by the West India Company.

May 7, 1639, Anthony Janse van Salee sold "Wallenstein" to Barent Dircksen, baker. A translation of the record of the conveyance is found in
Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, XIV, 20:

Deed for a bowery near Fort Amsterdam. This day, the 7th May Ao 1639, before me, Cornelis van Tienhoven, secretary of New Netherland, came and appeared in their proper persons, Anthony Jansen from Vees, of the one part, and Barent Dircksen baker, of the other part, and acknowledged in the presence of the undersigned witnesses, to have agreed and contracted in amity and friendship about the purchase of the Bowery hitherto occupied by Anthony Jansen, situate near Fort Amsterdam, bounded westerly by Hendric Jansen, tailor, and eastward by Philip de Truy, on the conditions and terms here under written.

First said Anthony Jansen shall deliver, as he now is doing to Barent Dircksen aforesaid, who also acknowledges to have bought and this day received from said Anthony the land as it is sowed and fenced, the house and barn, together with all that is fastened by earth and nail, except the cherry, peach and all other trees standing on said land, which said Anthony reserves for himself and will remove at a more seasonable time, on settlement of two years, on ditto of one year, 1 wagon, plough, and one harrow with wooden teeth.

For all which Barent Dircksen shall pay to said Anthony Jansen the sum of fifteen hundred and seventy guilders to be paid in two consecutive years; immediately after the list of what is aforesaid, he Barent Dircksen shall pay to said Anthony Jansen, or his order, one just fourth part of the above mentioned money, and six months after the date hereof the second fourth part, and so on, one fourth part every half year until the last payment inclusive.

For all which parties pledge their persons and properties, movable and immovable, present and future without any exception under bond as prescribed by law, without reservation or deceipt. Hereof are two copies made of the same term and signed by parties.

This is the mark of ANTHONY JANSEN above named. This is the P mark of BARENT DIRCKSEN. This is the R mark of HENRY C. HARMSEN.
GILLIS DE VOOCHT, witness. CORNELIS VAN TIENHOVEN, secretary.

Barent Dirckson leased the property to Cornelius Jacobsen van Tienhoven, the secretary of the province, immediately, though van Tienhoven did not obtain the patent for the property till 1644. Governor Kieft at his request granted Van Salee one hundred morgens of land, the first grant within the limits of what became the towns of Gravesend and New Utrecht.

[Book G.G. Land Papers. Albany, p. 61. Translated abstract]: PATENT FOR LAND ON LONG ISLAND. We, Willem Kieft, Director General and Council of New Netherland etc., herewith testify and declare, that on the first of August 1639 we have given and granted to Anthony Jansen of Salee 100 morgens of land lying on the bay of the North river upon Long Island opposite Coney Island, stretching along the shore two hundred and fifty-three rods, N.N.W., from the shore about N.E. by E. two hundred and thirty-six rods, again along a bluff one hundred and twenty-four rods about S.E., S.W. by W., 24 rods, S. 54 rods, further to the strand S.W. by W. 174 rods, with some points of land lying on the south side, containing 87 morgens, 49-1/2 rods; also a point of land stretching southward from the house, surrounded on three sides by meadows, reaching S.W. by W. 72 rods, S.E. by S. ninety rods being an oblong with some protruding points containing 12 morgens five hundred and fifty and one-half rods, under the express condition and stipulation etc., at a perpetual yearly rent of one hundred carolus guilders.

Done at Fort Amsterdam in N.N. this 27th of May 1643.
WILLEM KIEFT, CORNELIS VAN TIENHOVEN Secr.
[Translation in
Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York, XIV, 45.]

He rented goats from Andries Hudde for his new plantation as the following record shows: In February 13, 1640, Claes Jansen Ruyter manifested his confidence in Anthony Jansen van Salee by becoming surety on Anthony's bond to Andries Hudde for his return of a number of milch goats which were loaned or rented to Anthony for his temporary use at his new plantation below the Narrows. [
Register of the Provincial Secretary, I, 186.]

Though he probably continued to live at Gravesend till 1646, when he leased his property there, May 24, 1643, he bought from Abraham Jacobsen van Steenwyck a lot in New Amsterdam. This lot and house are marked on "
The Plan of Brouwer Straet and Hoogh Straet in New Amsterdam, from Fort Amsterdam to the Stadt Huys, A.D., 1655," page 80 of New Amsterdam and Its People. It is the third lot, facing the East River, southward from the present Broad Street, on the westerly side of the present Bridge Street, about one hundred feet from Broad Street. A picture of the house in which Anthony must have lived, is given on page 104 of this book, reproduced from the drawing made by or for Justus Danckers and Visscher. The following record shows that he was living at Gravesend in 1643:

DECLARATION CONCERNING DEPREDATIONS ON LONG ISLAND. Before me Cornelis van Tienhoven, secretary of New Netherland, appeared the underwritten witnesses, who, at the request of Anthony Jansen from Salee, attest, testify and declare in place and with promise of a solemn oath, that it is true and truthful that about noon yesterday the crew of the
Seven Stars and the privateers went together on the land of Anthony Jansen from Salee situate in the Bay, who, as an Englishman, sailing in one of the said ships, took from there fully 200 pumpkins. The witnesses asked, What were they doing there? They answered, We are in search of the hogs on Coney Island; if we find the hogs, we shall take them all away with us. Thereupon the deponents replied, Those who are running there are Lady Moody's hogs. We shall not then go there, said the Seven Stars' crew. Done the 13th October 1643.

This is the R mark of RITSCHERT AESTEN. This is the A mark of AMBROSIUS LONEN. This is the + mark of RITSCHERT STOUT. [Translation from
Register of the Provincial Secretary, II, 79.]

Then three other men (not of record as related to Anthony Jansen) visited one of the privateer vessels in the bay and reported:

We the undersigned attest that there is not on board the frigate
La Garce more than 1/2 barrel of cabbage, being about 20-30 heads therein; among these are small cabbages not bigger than a fist, and about 70 pumpkins and a few turnips, 16 fowls for the Seven Stars and her crew, without having injured or taken any other animals.

This is the mark P of PHILIP JANSEN. This X is the mark of ABRAHAM JANSEN
By me SYMEON HOBBINS. ARY LEENDERSEN, pilot of La Garce. [Ibid., II, 79.] [Philip Jansen and Abraham Jansen were part-owners of
La Garce.]

In 1643 a colony of Englishmen under the leadership of Lady Deborah Moody secured permission from the Dutch authorities to settle at Gravesend. She was a daughter of Walter Dunch, and widow of Sir Henry Moody, Baronet, of Garesden, Wiltshire, England. In 1640, with her son Sir Henry, she settled at Lynn, in Massachusetts. In 1643 she was expelled from that colony because of her disbelief in the efficacy or necessity of baptism of infants. The formal patent is dated December 19, 1645. The record of the lease of his farm at Gravesend to Edmund Adley follows:

[
Register of the Provincial Secretary, II, 148. Translation in Documents Relating to the Colonial History of N.Y. XIV, 73-74]: LEASE OF A BOWERY NEAR THE NARROWS ON L. I.

Before me, Cornelis van Tienhoven, Secretary of New Netherland, appeared Anthony Jansen from Salee, who in the presence of witnesses here underwritten declared and acknowledged that he leased his bouwery situate below the narrows (door de hoofden) on Long Island, to Edmund Adley, who also acknowledged to have hired it for the term of four consecutive years, commencing on the 2d of September 1650. Anthony Jansen shall also be bound to have built a house fit to live in, and the Lessee [evidently a mistake for "Lessor"] shall cause the arable land to be enclosed once for all with posts and rails, which fence Edmund remains bound to deliver back, on the expiration of the four years as good (at least tight) as it now will be delivered, and the Lessee promises to keep the house and fence in repair at his own expense during the lease. The Lessee shall annually pay as rent of the aforesaid Bowery, cattle and implements which Anthony now delivers, the sum of two hundred guilders the first year, and two hundred and fifty guilders every year the three succeeding years, with five pounds of butter annually. The other property which Anthony Jansen now delivers, as per the subjoined inventory Adley is bound to restore at the end of lease, when the number of the cattle that the Lessee [evidently a mistake for "Lessor"] now delivers shall first of all be deducted, and then the increase shall be divided half and half between the Lessor and the Lessee. It is also expressly stipulated that the risk of the cattle shared be shared in common both by the Lessor and Lessee during the lease, and if any of the cattle happen to die, the loss must first of all be made good from the increase. [Remainder of MS destroyed.]

Inventory of the property, implements and cattle delivered by Anthony Jansen, lessor, to Edmund Adley, lessee, who acknowledges to have received the same, and promises to deliver them on the expiration of the lease, as appears by the preceding contract, to wit: 1 stallion 12 years old; 1 stallion of 3 years. 1 mare of 4 years. Edmund shall allow one stallion colt and two bull calves, at the end of the four years, though the colt may be grown, and the bull calves, oxen; because Anthony receives so little butter; of which colt and calves the Lessee runs no risk, unless the animals be lost through the Lessee's negligence. [Here follows a list of cattle and farming implements.] In testimony this is signed by parties the 6th of September 1646. New Netherland.

This is the X mark of EDMAN ADLEY, made by himself. This is the X mark of ANTHONY JANSEN VAN ZALEE, made by himself. CORNELIS VAN DER HOYKENS, witness. ADRIAEN VAN TIENHOVEN, witness. To my knowledge. CORNELIS VAN TIENHOVEN, SECRETARY.

That Anthony Janse van Salee was dissatisfied with the conduct of Edmund Adley, appears from the following record:
Anthony Jansen vs Edmund Adley, for damages; ordered that the plaintiff prove
damages to his cattle and bouwery, and that the case be referred to Jan Evertsen Bout and Huyck Aertsen, magistrates of Breuckelyn, to examine Jansen's stock and bouwery and determine whether Adley acts as an honest tenant. If he do not, then he shall quit the premises or give security. [
Council Minutes. Court Proceedings, IV, 274.]

Adley's four-year lease expired September 2, 1651. In 1654 arose a controversy between Anthony Janse van Salee and the town of Gravesend respecting the boundaries of his land. The town arrested him on an allegation of trespass in February, 1654. Whereupon on February 25, 1654, the Director-General (Peter Stuyvesant) and Council ordered "the magistrates of Gravesend to release Anthony Jansen from Salee, and to appear and proceed before the Director and Council according to law." [
Council Minutes, V, 216.] The patent restricted the authority of the magistrates of Gravesend to cases involving not more than fifty Holland guilders; consequently they had acted ultra vires in bringing their action against Anthony Janse van Salee, and the Governor and Council reminded them of the proper course of action. In his turn Van Salee brought an action March 3, 1654, against the town of Gravesend for trespass; the Council ordered him "to serve a copy of his complaint on the defendants who are cited to appear. [Council Minutes, V, 230.] September 3, 1654, the Governor sent the following interesting letter to Lady Moody:

[Letter from Director Stuyvesant to Lady Moody at Gravesend in regard to the appointment of commissioners to settle certain boundary disputes.]

My Lady. Agreeably to your Ladyship's request and our promise we have commissioned Mr. Nicasius de Sille, Jan de la Montagne, members of our High Council, and Paulus Leendertsen van der Grift and Oloff Stevensen Cortlandt, Schepens [magistrates] of this City, to settle the boundaries between the lands of the village of Gravesend, of Anthony Jansen on Coney Island and the land formerly owned by Robert Penoyer, according to the letters-patent and deeds. Our aforesaid commissioners will, if it so pleases God, report tomorrow morning and these lines are to request and admonish your Ladyship to send some persons there, who may take care of your Ladyship's rights.

Recommending your Ladyship with cordial greetings to God's protection, we remain, my Lady,

Your Ladyship's affectionate friend

P. STUYVESANT New Amsterdam Septbr 3, 1654.

The case dragged on till 1656. The two records following show the outcome:
20 of June 1656. Resolved and decided in Council that their Honors, the Director-General and Council of New Netherland proceed tomorrow to the village of Gravesend on Long Island, to settle the question so long pending about the boundaries between said village and Anthony Jansen, Robert Pennoyer and others; if possible in the presence of some prominent and impartial Englishmen. [
Council Minutes, VIII, 31. Translation in Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of N.Y. 14.]

JUDGMENT IN THE CASE BETWEEN GRAVESEND AND ANTHONY JANSEN
The Director-General and Council of New Netherland, after having on Wednesday last, the 21st of this month, personally inspected the enclosures or posts and rails put up lately by the inhabitants of Gravesend and also compared them on the spot with the tenor of title deeds, find, that the posts and rails are not put up or placed in accordance with their patent, which begins at the kil or creek next to Coney Island and not at the middle of the bay as their fences stand, and stretches thence not along the shore of the bay, but to the point, where the land of Anthony Jansen and Robert Penoyer join each other, thence to the western side of a pond in an old Indian's land, which meets and bounds have evidently not been adhered to by the people of Gravesend; therefore the Director-General and Council direct the Magistrates of the said village, upon receipt hereof, to take up the posts and rails set and put to the land lately fenced in by them on their own responsibility to the prejudice of the partnership of Anthony Jansen and William Bredenbent into its former condition; after this has been done, the Director-General and Council or their impartial committee shall assign to them, according to their patent, the limits of the village, to be enclosed in obedience to the patent.

In case of refusal and further contumacy the Fiscal [Attorney General] is directed to do it or have it done nomine officii and to proceed according to law in regard to the damages already suffered or yet to be suffered by their contumacy. Thus done in Council of Director-General and Council of New Netherland held at Fort Amsterdam the 24th of June A� 1656.

P. STUYVESANT, NICASIUS DE SILLE, LA MONTAGNE. [
Council Minutes, VIII, 31.]
The people of Gravesend showed their contempt for the Dutch authorities by forcibly ejecting Van Salee from the land in question. He appealed to the governor and council, July 11, 1656. Within a few days two arbitrators, one of whom was Van Tienhoven, went to Gravesend to set up the markers on the line fixed by the governor and council on their visit to Gravesend. They failed to do so, and on July 19, 1656, made a report rather adverse to Van Salee's claims, recommending a survey. Encouraged by this recommendation, the men of Gravesend drove off twenty-four of Van Salee's cattle from the disputed land. The governor and council ordered the magistrates to restore the cattle and to bring suit against Van Salee for trespass if they thought they had cause for action. [
Council Minutes, VIII, 117-118.] The trial was held in the Fort at New Amsterdam on August 21, 1656. The result appears from the following record:

JUDGMENT IN A CASE OF THE TOWN OF GRAVESEND AGAINST ANTHONY JANSEN FOR TRESPASS.
Monday 21st of August 1656. Extraordinary Session at Fort Amsterdam in N.N.
Having heard the debates pro and contra and examined the evidence the Director-General and Council find, that the complaints of the Magistrates of Gravesend are unfounded, because the ocular inspection, made by the Director-General and Council on the 25th of June, has proved, that the people of Gravesend without justification of law have fenced in a part of Anthony Jansen's land and the meadow of William Bredenbent and placed their posts and rails not in conformity with the consent of the Director-General and Council upon the land granted them by their patent, but, as it has been stated, partly upon the land of Anthony Jansen and through the meadow of William Bredenbent.

The Director-General and Council therefore, by their resolution, ordered, that the inhabitants of the said village remove the posts and rails put up by them from the land in question and return and leave the land not belonging to them in statu quo prius, as directed by the resolution of the 24th of June to which reference is here made.

Although at the request of the said Magistrates this order has been in so far modified by the Director-General and Council that for the prevention of damage to the grass and other crops the posts and rails should remain until further order and the gathering of the harvest; yet, as the inhabitants of the said village without the knowledge and against the order and intention of the Director-General and Council have let their calves and other cattle graze on the meadow in question, which is proved by credible witnesses and not denied by the Magistrates, thereby causing and inducing Anthony Jansen, as he declares, to let his cattle also run along the strand upon the same meadow, so that the subsequent disorders were not occasioned by him, but by the people of the said village, who by their own authority and in contempt of the supreme government have acted as parties and judges in the matter, as well as carrying off Anthony Jansen's cattle, as in making hay from and on land not belonging to them--the Director-General and Council to maintain their own authority and the administration of law and justice find themselves compelled to detain the said Magistrates, until they shall give due satisfaction to the Director-General and Council for the contempt shown their authority, returned the land unlawfully fenced in in statu quo prius, and paid the costs and mises of law.

Meanwhile Anthony Jansen and Jaques Corteljouw are requested and charged to gather the mown hay at the expense of the Director-General and Council for the future disposal thereof.

P. STUYVESANT, NICASIUS DE SILLE, LA MONTAGNE. [
Council Minutes, VIII, 143, 156.]
The incident is closed by the two following orders for surveys, leaving Anthony Janse van Salee victor in the long contest:

ORDER FOR A RESURVEY OF THE BOUNDARIES OF JANSEN'S AND PENNOYER'S PATENT.
23d of August 1656 at Fort Amsterdam. Present in Council GENERAL PETRUS STUYVESANT, and the Councillors NICASIUS DE SILLE and LA MONTAGNE.

Jacques Corteljouw is hereby requested and authorized to survey once more with a compass, according to the tenor of their patents the lands of Anthony Jansen and Robert Pennoyer to the extent of as many morgens as covered by the patents and to place marks at every corner. After he has done this he is to draw a line from the mouth of the kil, to the easternmost point of Anthony Jansen's land, where it touches the westernmost point of Robert Pennoyer's; this line is according to the patent the boundary line of Gravesend; he is to do all to the best of his knowledge, without favor, dissimulation or regard of persons, also to gather the hay and leave it in hocks on the place until our arrival. You will be paid for your work. [
Council Minutes, VIII, 150.]

On Saturday last [August 26, 1656] the Magistrates and inhabitants of the village of Gravesend were shown their boundaries persuant to their patent and other title deeds, beginning at the mouth of the kil the west side of which is nearest to Coney Island, where their boundaries begin, stretching thence pursuant to their patent along Robert Pennoyer's and Anthony Jansen's lands, thence north to a point in an old Indian field [etc.]. This done in Council at Fort Amsterdam in N.N.

Stuyvesant died four years before the death of Van Salee and eight years after the seizure of New Netherland by the English in 1664. His tomb in the churchyard of St. Mark's P.E. Church, Tenth Street and Second Avenue, in New York City, may be visited by all who honor him for his sturdy honesty, his justice, and his courage.

Continued PART II and PART III
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