PART III
The court minutes give no verdict in this case, which is of interest to us for the various forms in which the defendant is designated in it. Four years elapsed before Anthony Jansen van Salee was again in court. This time it was occasioned by his next-door neighbor, in Bridge Street, New Amsterdam, though Anthony was then residing on Long Island. During his absence on his Gravesend bouwery, one Hendrick Jansen, Smith, encroached upon Anthony's house lot in Bridge Street, and with the hope of maintaining his encroachment, October 26, 1660, began a suit against "Anthony Janzen van Salee," who was reported as too sick to come from Gravesend; so also on November 2, 1660, when he is called Antony Janzen van Vaas. On January 18, 1661, he was again summoned and again did not respond; whereupon the court declared "deft. Anthony Janzen van Vaas does not belong to this jurisdiction. The Court order pltf. to arrest and summon him when he comes here" [ibid., III, 249].
Although Anthony Jansen van Vaes (as he is more often called than Van Salee in the New Amsterdam court records after 1655) did not honor either of the three summonses of October 26, November 2, 1660, and January 18, 1661, served upon him at the instance of Hendrick Jansen, Smith, he was not too indifferent soon to devise, with the aid of his daughter Cornelia's husband, William Jansz van Borculo or Barckelloo, a means of defeating this opponent who had appropriated a part of the land in Bridge Street. The name "Hendrick Jansen, Smit," appears on the Innes map at page 80 of New Amsterdam and Its People as the owner of the house lot on the northern side of Anthony's house lot; hence the encroachment must have been on that side. Anthony brought a counter suit against Hendrick Jansen:
[Minutes of the Court of the Burgomasters and Schepens of New Amsterdam, III, 289. Translation]: TUESDAY May 3, 1661. Anthony Janzen van Vaas. pltf., vs. Hendrick Janzen Smitt, deft. Pltf. exhibits an account for the sum of twenty-six guilders for costs and loss of time caused to him by deft. Whereas the dispute between the parties consists mainly about division of a lot, the case was therefore referred to Daniel van Donck and Abraham Jansen, (* This man was not the "Abraham Jansen of Sylee, commonly called Turk," a possible brother of Anthony Jansen from Salee, who died shortly prior to April 9, 1659.) carpenter, to discuss the matter in presence of the Surveyor and to reconcile parties if possible; if not to render a report of their action to the Court.
[P. 321.] TUESDAY 21 June, 1661. Antony Janzen van Vaas, pltf. vs. Hendrick Janzen Smith deft. Pltf. demands from deft. seventy seven guilders eleven stivers for costs of unnecessary suit, according to account exhibited in Court. Deft. demands three feet of a lot coming to him of the ground which he bought. Burgomasters and Schepens found that Anthony Janzen's lot agrees with his ground brief and that Hendrick Janzen Smitt has two feet and a half of ground more than his ground brief mentions, order Hendrick Jansen Smitt to content himself with the aforesaid measurement and condemn him to pay pltf. the sum of forty guilders, the further costs remaining at the charge of the pltf.
[P. 338.] TUESDAY 5th July, 1661. Willem Jansen van Borckelo, attorney of Anthony Jansen van Vaes, requests execution on the judgment against Hendrick Jansen Smitt, dated 21 June, 1661. The Worshipful Court order the Bailiff to execute these.
This Willem Jansen had come from Borculo in the county of Zutphen and province of Gelderland in Holland as early as 1657, residing first at New Amsterdam; after his marriage to Cornelia, daughter of Anthony Jansen van Salee and his wife Grietje Reiniers, which occurred between that date and June 21, 1661, when he saved his new father-in-law a day's trip from Gravesend to New Amsterdam by appearing in court for him, he lived at Flatlands near Gravesend, Long Island, and at Gravesend. In 1664, he purchased a farm at Gravesend near his father-in-law's. Soon after he appeared in court for his father-in-law in July, 1661, he returned to Holland, but came back to New Netherland in 1662. This may have been the honeymoon journey of himself and his wife Cornelia, as their daughter, Jannetje, was old enough May 1, 1679, to marry Jan Barentsen van Zutphen, of Flatlands and Gravesend.
Anthony Jansen van Salee's business affairs in New Amsterdam must have been many if one may judge from the number of lawsuits in which he figured. Some of his civil suits are unimportant, and are omitted; others give highly valuable evidence as to his character, movements, and affairs:
[Court of the Burgomasters and Schepens of New Amsterdam, IV, 176, 177. Translated extract]: TUESDAY, 9th Jan'y, 1663. Antony Janzen van Vaes, arrestant (* Arrestant. This is an awkward word. It simply means that the plaintiff had sued out an attachment ) and pltf. vs. Evert Dirckzon, woodcutter, arrested and deft. Pltf. demands from deft. twenty-eight guilders ten stivers arising from the purchase of an ox which his predecessor had bought of the said Anthony. Deft. says he knows nothing of it; requests time that he may pay. The Worshipful Court order the deft. to satisfy and pay the pltf. [This is the last appearance in court of Anthony Jansen van Salee under Dutch rule; hence the records thereafter are written in English.]
APRIL the 24th, 1666. In the difference between Anthony Jansen van Sale, pltf. and Thomas Cocx, deft. for the balance of rent, the Worshipful Court appoint as arbitrators, Mr. Samuel Edsal and Pieter Wolfertsen van Couwenhoven, to reconcile the parties, [etc.]. [Ibid., V, 350.]
JUNE 30, 1668. John Marshal plt: vs Anthony Jansen, deft., in an accon of debt to the summe of 225 plankes. This Worshipful Court did Decree that the deft. should make payment of the sd Plankes within the space of Eight dayes with Costs of Court. [Ibid., VI, 137.]
JULY 7th. 1668. Anthony Janz, Plt. vs Robbert Joanes, Deft. The Plt. declareth that the Deft. is Indebted unto him fl.(* Florins, which term superseded the Dutch "guilders" under English rule. A florin was equal to forty cents.) 122: 14 in wampum for wch he prayeth Condemnation with Cost. This Worshippll Court doe Condemne & order the Deft. to make payment of the sd 122:14 wampum in 14 dayes time wth Cost of Sute. [Ibid., VI, 139.]
JUNE 22d, 1669. Lambert van Neck vs Anthony Jansen. The Plt. demands the summe of fl. 242:14 wampum. The deft. ownes the debt to the summe of fl. 233 as also the surplus in case it be not discounted in the last acct The Worshipll Court did decree & order (arrest) against the defendant, who is called the gearresteerde, translated by Fernow as the party 'arrested.' " A. J. F. VAN LAER. that the defendt. should pay the sd. debt in wampum within 14 days next ensuing or sooner in case the plt. should depart for holland before the sd. time, and in the meane while the deft: is to give in security not to depart this Towne before the debt be Satisfied together with Cost of suit. [Ibid., VI, 182.]
Thus in June, 1669, seventy-six days before Anthony conveyed, September 6, 1669, all his real estate on Long Island to his son-in-law, Ferdinandus Jansen van Sichelen or Sigelen (Van Sicklen), he was residing on that estate, as the record indicates that he was present at New Amsterdam on June 22, 1669, on account of the suit; hence was ordered not to leave that jurisdiction until the judgment was paid. All the time, however, since 1643, he had owned the house and lot in Bridge Street, New Amsterdam; and within a few weeks after June 22, 1669, he entered into residence in that house and there resided until his death in 1676. This removal, and the sale in September, 1669, mark the death of his wife Grietje Reiniers, and the time of his second marriage to the widow, Metje Gravenraet. Anthony's daughter, Cornelia, who had married between 1657 and 1660 Willem Jansen van Barkelo, also had died by 1666; hence her name was connected with the petition of Anthony's three remaining children dated December 23, 1669, only as having been the mother of her minor children in whose behalf the petition was also made. Doubtless Anthony and Metje, being well-to-do and about seventy years old, preferred to take their ease in the city to having the cares of the Long Island plantation.
Between June, 1669, and October, 1671, Anthony was the plaintiff in three suits at law, and defendant in two. His house on the west side of Bridge Street, the third house from the corner of the present Broad Street, is represented in a crude, imperfect drawing of that part of New Amsterdam made in 1652 by Justus Danckers. This view, enlarged with additions taken from the ancient Visscher Views, appears at page 104 of New Amsterdam and Its People. The chief defect of the drawing is that it depicts the houses in Bridge and other streets as being built together; whereas the land records prove that the private houses were detached, each standing surrounded by its own open ground. The drawing also shows the houses smaller than some of them must have been; especially Anthony's house as it was in 1669, for he turned it into an inn and must have enlarged it before 1669 for that purpose. The drawing, while not defining the street alignments properly, does serve to indicate correctly by whom the houses were owned, and serves to show them in true order as one passed up the shore of the East River, though for convenience the original delineator crowded the houses together into a space much shorter than they actually covered. In fact, Anthony's house lot, nineteen rods deep, is crowded out.
The drawing now in the State Library, Albany, New York, from Montanus, "Nieuwe en Onbeken de Weereld," reproduced on steel in The Documentary History of the State of New York (IV, 76), more accurately portrays the same houses, facing the East River, and in their more detached and extended settings. This view is the best of New Amsterdam, 1650-60. In the center of this view are the three attached stone houses of the West India Company, each of two stories with a high attic above. Between these houses and the first tree to the right, is the Bridge Street house of Anthony Jansen van Salee, the second tall house to the right, with other low houses in front of it. The two-and-a-half-story house at the extreme right side of the picture is the City Tavern, built about 1652, afterward used as the Stadt Huys, the City Hall, in which our Anthony Jansen so many times appeared in litigation.
One of the financial transactions of Anthony Jansen van Salee is referred to on page 98 of liber 1-2 of the records of the Court of the Surrogate of the City of New York:
The Last Will & Testament of John Willson. . . . I give & bequeath unto Anthony Jansen, Turk, all my Tooles wch is at present in the House of Henry Morris in New Jersey, In consideration of a certain debt I owe to the said Anthony Jansen, as also what ever I have at present in the House of Anthony Jansen, or elsewhere in America under what Denomination soever, & all my Land scituate, lyeing & being in New Jersey according to the records of the said Towne (namely Elizabeth Towne) Always Provided That the said Anthony Jansen shall well and truly pay my just & due Debts. . . . Robert Bone & Henry Morris of New Jersey Executors. 10th day of October Ano 1672. JOHN WILSON. [Witnesses] OTTO GERRITSE, JNO SHARPE.
[P. 99.] Letters of Administracon of ye Estate of ye abovewritten Jno. Willson granted to Anthony Jansen Turk of this City as Principall Legatee. . . . Upon the Request of ye said Anthony Jansen & to ye End the Estate bee the sooner & better secured both for the benefitt of the Creditors & those concerned: These are to certify that the said Anthony Jansen is admitted as Principal Legatee of the whole estate of the said John Willson deceased. . . . And the said Anthony Jansen hath hereby full power & lawful Authority to enter into possession of the Premises; or otherwise to dispose thereof with the Advice & Consent of the said Executors or Trustees according to the tenor of the said will as an Heire or Principall Legatee by the Civill Law & the Lawes of this Governmt are allowed to doe. Given &c: this 15th day of Octobr 1672.
While Anthony Jansen's real estate was no longer extensive in area or large in value, he was included among the wealthy men to be assessed in the 1674 tax list of New Amsterdam. The entry in that list reads "Anthony Jansen Van Sal 1000." This was a tax on 1000 guilders in real estate, the same amount as assessed upon the property of Bay Roosevelt and upon the Dutch burghers whose descendants have since come to possess great fortunes in New York. Anthony's descendants did not inherit and hold his land in New York, but the descendants of his next-door neighbor, Hendrick Hendricksen Kip, did, with results in increased value, in time, that would amaze that founder could he but see the figures. While the Dutch were holding the city as New Orange, he figured in several court actions of unusual interest:
[Minutes of the Court of the Burgomasters and Schepens of New Orange, VII, 43]: COURT HOLDEN AT CITY OF N. ORANGE; 17th Jany A� 1674. Schout [Sheriff] A. De Mill, pltf., vs Anthony Jansen Salee, deft. Pltf. says that the deft. sold four mutejens of drink to the Indian, who was lately shot by the sentry, and as he is the cause of the consequent accident etc. Defts. wife appears and denies that she gave any drink to the Indian, and offers to confirm the same by oath. The Worshipful Court dismiss the pltf's complaint unless he can prove his statement.
Three to four months later occurred the attempt to prosecute Anthony Jansen for giving shelter for a night to a Quaker. This was preceded by a singular incident, of which but a fragment now remains of the original record. It is reproduced at page 331 of Volume XXIII, Part II, of the Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State (now in the State Library at Albany):
April 16, 1674. Fragment of an affidavit setting forth that Samuel Forman of Oyster Bay came to the city where he lodged at the house of Anthony Jansen from Salee, and, by inspiration of Christ Jesus, intended to repair to the church during divine service and exclaim: "O cry wath shall I cry, all flesh is grass, grass is the flower of the field, the flower falls and the grass withers, but the word of God Obeids forever."
Two weeks later came the formal charge by the sheriff:
[Minutes of the Court of the Burgomasters and Schepens of New Orange, VII, 82]: COURT HOLDEN IN CITY HALL AT CITY OF N. ORANGE on first of May A� 1674. Schout de Mill pltf. vs. Anthony Jansen Sale, deft. Pltf. makes his charge in writing. Deft.'s wife appears and says that the Quaker was brought at Nine o'Clock in the evening to her house by Margriet Philips' daughter who told her at the same time that the Schout was already notified of the said Quaker etc. Deft. is ordered to prove her statement at the next Courte day.
[P. 82.] CITY HALL OF CITY OF N. ORANGE 22nd May A� 1674. Schout De Mill, pltf. vs. Anthony Jansen Sallee, deft. Pltf. says that in the night between the 28th and 29th of April the deft. suffered an Englishman, named Edward Bambri, dwelling at Martenaer's Neck to sleep (at his house) which is directly contrary to the Placard of the Honble Governr General enacted on that subject: therefore he concludes that the deft. ought pursuant to the said Placard be condemned to a find of fl. 600(*) with costs.
The Worshipful Court, having heard pltf's demand asked the defendant if she could, pursuant to the order of the last Court day, prove, that when Margt Philips daughter brought the Englishman to her house, the said daughter stated, the said Englishman was already returned to the Schout etc. Deft replies that she has no other proof than her husband and child. The Worshipful Court having heard the denial of Margt Philips and her said daughter hold the case in deliberation until the next Court day. Meanwhile their worships shall further examine the Placard.
Anthony Jansen was alert over the possible results of the denial of the Philips woman, so, quitting the defensive attitude, he took aggressive and determined action, viz.:
Anthony Jansen Salee pltf. vs. Margriet Philips deft. Pltf. says that the defts. daughter brought an Englishman to lodge at his house, saying that the Schout was already notified about him, but such not being the case (as to such notification), the Schout now proceeds against him. Deft. denies it and says she never saw the Englishman before, but that he came to her house and requested a night's lodging, whereupon through charity she gave him one English and one Holland shilling and sent him with her daughter to the pltfs. to find out where the said Englishman could lodge for money--but never ordered her daughter to say so--who being called in denies having told the pltf. so. The Court postpones the case until the next court day. [Ibid., VII, 84, 85.]
AT A COURT OF SCHOUT. BURGOMASTRS AND SCHEPENS holden at the City Hall of the City of N. Orange the 29th May A�, 1674. Present Capt. Willem Knyff, Anthony De Mill, Schout; gidius Luyck, Johannes van Brugh, Johannes de Peyster, Burgomasters; Jeronimus Ebbingh, Jacob Kipp, Lowrens v: Spiegel, Guilaine Verplanck, Schepens.
Schout Anthony de Mill, pltf. vs Anthony Jansen van Salee, deft. Pltf. says that the deft. furnished lodging in the night between the 28th and 29th April to an Englishman named Edward Bambri, residing at Martenaer's Neck, which is directly contrary to the Placard made on that subject: he concludes, therefore, that the deft. shall be condemned according to said Placard to a fine of fl. 600 in beavers with cost. Burgomasters and Schepens having heard defts. excuse condemn him (for reasons) only in a fine of one beaver with costs . . . June 19, 1674. The Schout demands execution of judgment on Antony Jansen van Sale, of twelve florins in all [$5.75].
This affair having occurred while Holland and England were at war, and while the Dutch were holding New Netherland by force of arms against the English, the placard was posted to prevent the lodging within the city of any Englishman from without, until previous notice had been given to the sheriff, regardless of the visitor's religion or business. The fine of six hundred florins' worth of beaver skins was very heavy, but being mitigated to one skin, it became merely a nominal judgment of a few shillings' value with costs of court.
Two valuable records illuminating two periods of the ownership and occupancy of that property while Anthony Jansen was residing on Long Island have been found, which indicate that Anthony was on friendly terms with the Kips, though not with Hendrick Jansen Smit, viz.:
[Registry of Deeds, City of New York, Liber A, 85, 86, translation from the Dutch original. Abstract]: We the undersigned Schepens of the City Amsterdam in New Netherland do hereby declare that before us came and appeared Anthony Jansen van Vaes at present residing on Long Island who declares to cede and to convey to and for the behoof of Isaac Kip, a certain portion of his lot situate within this City in the rear or to the South of Jacob Kip's house between the lots of Hendrick Jansen Smith and Jacob Kip's lying in the rear of the appraiser's lot where formerly a part, or an oblique strip of about 3 or 4 feet was taken off on which one end of Isack Kip's house stands in compensation or payment for which so much is again taken and given to him Anthony Jansen by Hendrick Kip senior. . . . In witness whereof these presents are signed by the Cedant and the Worspll Schepens Jacob Strycker and Will Beeckman this 21st novr. 1656 at Amsterdam in New Netherland.
This is the mark of ANTHONY JANSEN VAN VAES X made by himself. To my knowledge, JACOB KIP, Secretary. JACOB STRYCKER. WILL BEECKMAN.
That deed is indexed "Anthony Jansen van Fez." Although he purchased this house and lot in 1644, he did not reside in it with his family before 1669, save for the period of his lease to Edmund Adley of his bouwery on Long Island--September 6, 1646, to September 6, 1651. But he seems to have used a room in the house whenever he came from Long Island to remain over night in New Amsterdam. His situation as to this house between 1651 and 1669 is interestingly defined in two of the leases he made of the property:
[CITY CLERK, CITY OF NEW YORK. Powers of Attorney, Acknowledgments, Indentures of Apprentices, Inventories, etc. Translated abstract]: 1655. May 26, Antony Jansz Van Vaes rents to Claes Tysen, cooper, part of a house and lot in New Amsterdam, on the East River, between Handrick Kip's and Hendrick Jansz's, namely, the front part of the house and half of the loft, with the place and lot belonging to the house. Said lease to continue one year, at an annual rent of 140 Carolus guilders, or so much longer as lessor and lessee shall agree upon. Witnesses, ISACK KIP, CORNELIS VONCK.
[CITY CLERK, CITY OF NEW YORK. Translation of Register of Walewyn van der Veen Notary Public of New Amsterdam 1662-1664, p. 68]: This day, the 30 March 1663, before me Walewyn van der Veen, Notary Public, admitted by the Right Honble Director General and Council, residing at Amsterdam in New Netherland, and before the undernamed witnesses, appeared the worthy Anthony Jansen van Fes, called van Salee, to me the Notary known, who declared to have leased, as he hereby doth, his house and lot standing and situate in the New Bridge Street, between the houses of Hendrick Kip and Hendrick Jansen Smit, to Egbert Meyndersen who also appeared and accepted the said lease, and that for the term of two consecutive and following years, beginning the first of May 1663, and ending on the same date 1665, for which lease the tenant shall be bound to cover the said house with good tiles at his own expense, to wit:
He shall defray the expense of the tiles and back thereunto required together with the labor-wages, on condition that the tenant shall, over and above his occupation, receive from the lessor thereto, in January of the coming year 1664, one hundred and sixty-two guilders, ten stivers, payable in wampum or corn in the value thereof, and fifteen vuyren plank; further, the wood work and dependencies with the builder's wages belonging to the frame of said roof shall be at the expense of the lessor.
It is therefore conditioned that the lessor shall enjoy at his convenience in said house a suitable sleeping place, and may store therein one or two Chests; all which aforesaid the appearers promise each for himself punctually to perform and observe under bond of their respective persons and properties, submitting the same to all courts and judges. Thus done and executed at the city aforesaid, in the presence of Resolvit Waldron and Jacobus van de Water, witnesses hereunto invited who have subscribed these presents with the appearances and me the Notary on the date as above:
This is the mark made by the own hand of ANTHONI JANSEN VAN FES.
EGBERT MYNDERS, RESOLVERT WALDREN, JACOBS VAN DE WATER.
12 June 1663 gave engrossed copy hereof to Anthony Jansen.
In 1671 while Anthony Jansen van Salee was residing in Bridge Street, New York City, the town of Gravesend again encroached upon the property that formerly was his, and which was held by Francois de Bruijne. Whereupon on December 5, 1671, De Bruijne petitioned the Executive Council of the Province of New York for relief. [Executive Council Minutes, I, 114.] Victor Hugo Paltsits, when State Historian of New York, arranged and edited the executive council minutes, and he informed us, on December 10, 1924, that among the papers in the case of Francois de Bruijne v. the town of Gravesend on December 5, 1671, which he examined was one bearing the testimony of Anthony Jansen van Salee, who had been summoned because of his being an aged and worthy man esteemed for his knowledge of the old boundaries of land on Long Island.
These papers [says Dr. Paltsits] were destroyed in the fire of 1911 in the State Library; but I recall that Anthony Jansen van Salee was described in them as a man highly esteemed for his knowledge of land bounds, and that his evidence was accepted as important and trustworthy.
On the map of Manhattan of 1639, entitled De Manatus op de Noort Rivier, now owned by the Italian Government, and preserved in the Villa Castello near Florence, Italy, is seen, among the names of the landowners in that year, the name "22 Bou van Antoni du Turck"--Bouwery of Antoni the Turck, marked on the map by the number 22. This map, being of the entire island with large sections of New Jersey and Long Island included, gives no details of that bouwery, other than showing, by the number 22, its approximate location among the eleven bouwerys then extant on the island. The Iconography of Manhattan Island (by I. N. Phelps Stokes, in five volumes), the most exhaustive, elaborate, and remarkable work ever prepared upon the subject of the land of any American city, and, perhaps of any city in the world, refers to this map of 1639 and to "22 Bou van Antoni du Turck," viz.:
The farm of Anthony Jansen, of Salee or Fez (Fees or Vees) in Morocco, called, on account of his having embraced (*This is inaccurate. He did not embrace Mohammedanism. It embraced him--in his youth. He had no choice in the matter when young. He threw off all influence of it after coming to America, and became a Christian and an estimable and honorable burgher of Manhattan.) Mohammedanism, "the Turck." He is mentioned as early as April 29, 1638. The position of this number [22] on the Maps seems to correspond with the early transport to Van Fees (date unknown) of land which was regranted to Govert Loockermans, September 15, 1646--Liber G.G.: 158 (Albany). This land lay on the east side of the Ditch (Broad Street), and extended from the present Stone to South William Street.
Anthony Jansen owned, also, at this time another farm on Manhattan Island, bounded westerly by Hendrick Jansen, tailor, and easterly by Philip de Truy. This upper farm he deeded, on May 7, 1639, to Barent Dircksen. . . . This plantation was afterwards granted to the provincial secretary, Cornelis van Tienhoven. . . . It lay north of Maiden Lane and east of Broadway.
The Iconography of Manhattan Island (II, 382) in the citation of the Dutch land grants gives further and more minute particulars about the house and land in Bridge Street, New Amsterdam, that Anthony Jansen van Salee bought in 1644, and which he held at his death in 1676, and on which he had resided continuously since 1669. In view of the truly wonderful bird's-eye view of the streets, houses, and gardens of New Amsterdam in 1660, shown in the great drawing made for The Iconography of Manhattan Island, which drawing depicts the house and garden of Anthony Jansen, we quote the description of that house lot (II, 382):
The Dutch Grants, Block E, Lot 13. 1644. May 24. deed. Abraham Jacobsen Van Steenwyck to Anthony Jansen Van Fees; lot containing 17 rods, 6 feet, 2 inches 5 grains, being the most westerly part of the lot of Abraham Jacobsen, where the lot of Hendrick Kip lies westward of it, extending in breadth in front of the house of Anthony Jansen, 2 rods, 3 feet and 7 inches; on the east side its length is 9 rods, 5 inches; its breadth for the length of 1 rod and 7 feet, measured on the West side, is 2 rods, 3 feet and 7 inches; for the length of 5 rods, 2 rods 4 feet and 4 inches; for the same length being an inward point (angle), 1 rod, 3 feet, 7 inches; for the length of 3 rods (being the North end of the lot of Anthony Jansen aforesaid) 1 rod 3 feet 7 inches, 5 grains, amounting in all to the aforesaid 17 rods 6 feet 2 inches, 5 grains--[pepper corns].
So far as is determinable, Anthony Jansen van Salee passed his last days at his home in Bridge Street, the third house southward from the Graft, now Broad Street, facing the East River. His widow was residing therein ten years after his death. About seven months after he passed away his property was taxed:
An assesmt and Tax made The 10th Day of November 1676 for ye defrayinge of the Charges of the New docke & Payinge the Citty debts and other Publique dutyes att One penny halfe Penny P Pounde . . . 150--Anthony Jans Turke--00-18s-09d [Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York, I, 29.]
That is next to the last record of Anthony. The next tax list preserved was taken sixteen months and some days after his death, but his name occurs in it in connection with some real estate in the Marckveldt (now Whitehall Street) or between that street and Winkle Street (closed up in 1680); in the same list his widow's real estate, very near by at the foot of Broadway, is also named. The land taxed was a part of his intestate estate in July, 1677, when his estate was being settled in the Surrogate's Court. The house occupied by the English Governor of the province of New York was close to the house that Anthony's widow owned both before and after he married her; the Governor's house and lot were taxed only two and a half times the widow's tax.
CITTY OF N. YORK. A Rate of taxacon made this 24th Day of July 1677 by ye Mayor and Aldermen upon houses and Vacant Lands within this Citty for ye Defraying and discharging ye Citty Debts and expenses to be payd as followeth Vizt: The one Moety or halfe thereof Imediately and ye other 25th of 7ber next ffollowing. . . . The Markett Feild & Broadway: Mattie Greverart, 0-4s-0d. Governor Lovelace -0-10-0. Paulus ye Turk -0-6-0 . . . The Marvelt Street & Winkle Street: Anthony Jonson -0-8-0. [Ibid., I, 52, 53, 62.]
The death of Anthony Jansen van Salee and van Vaes in March, 1676, and the disposition of his estate to his widow, instead of to his children, are known from other records:
[RECORD COMMISSION, COUNTY OF NEW YORK. Mayor's Court Minutes Nov. 1675
to Nov. 1677, pp. 80-82]: Citty of Newe Yorke. The Cort of Record of the Citty aforesaid holden att the Citty Hall within the Said Citty the XXVI dayth day of September 1676 Before (etc.) . . .
To the Worppll ye Mayr and Aldrmen--. The humble Peticon of Thomas Southward Wm Johnson John Emans & ffardingando Van Stickland (all who) Entermarried with Annica Cornelia Sara and Eva--Daughters & heirs unto Anthony Johnson late of this Citty who dyed intestate about Six months Since--
Sheweth--That Metia Graverod Widdow unto ye intestate hath not brought into this Court a true Inventerie of his Estate--Therefore Prays yt the sd Metie Graverod may be Compelled by this Worshippfull Cort to there to p'duce an Inventorie according to Law & yt yor Peticoners may have their Equall shares & Portions of the said Intestate's Estate. And they Shall pray &c.
[New York City--Surrogate. Liber 1-2, p. 158]: Administration granted to Mtti Grevenraet, of her husband's Estate. EDMUND ANDROS ESQR [Governor]
Whereas Anthony Jansen of this Citty dyed Intestate and Metti Grevenraet, his Widow & Relict haveing in order to her takeing out Lettrs. of Administracon Exhibited an Inventory of her sd husband's estate into ye Mayors Cort of this Citty, & likewise produced a Contract made between her sd husband, & her before Marriage, that ye longest liver of them should remaine in the ffull possession of the whole Estate during the Survivor's life, the proofe whereof was allowed of by the Cort & Recomended to me for Lettrs of Administracon: These prsents may Certify and declare that the sd. Metti is admitted & confirmed to all intents and purposes, Administratrix of her sd husband's Estate, & She hath hereby full Power & Authority to act in ye prmises, as Administrator by ye Lawes of this Governmt are to do, She giveing Security to pforme the Contract, accordingly. Given under my Seale ye March 25th 1677.
The inventory of the estate was filed with the court, but was not recorded. The filed papers in this court of the surrogate were removed to Albany when the seat of government was removed. Having failed to find the inventory there, it is possible that it was burned in the State Library fire of 1911 when two hundred thousand printed volumes and thousands of ancient manuscripts were destroyed, perhaps as the result of a lighted cigarette's being thrown into a waste paper basket. Among the burned manuscripts was the petition of December 23, 1669, of Anthony's living daughters and heirs for the conservation of the estate of their deceased mother, Grietje (Reiniers) Jansen, together with the evidences of such agreement as was reached between them and their father. The ultimate recipient of the Bridge Street house and land that Anthony Jansen van Salee left to his wife is not clear. She as his widow was residing there in 1686, but did not bequeath the property by will or convey it by any deed now of record. It may have gone to one of her own children by her first husband, as none of the children of Anthony appear in any connection with it after his death.
In the list of church members in New Amsterdam for 1686, when the Rev. Henry Selyns was pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, we find: "Brug Straat. Metje Grevenraedt, weduwe van Anthony Jansen." [New York Historical Society Collections, 2 ser., I, 359.] Her neighbors in that short street were the Kips, Van Cortlandts, Van Vorsts, Gerretsens, and a few others.
"He is said to have been a man of prodigious strength," says Thompson on page 171 of Volume II of The History of Long Island. The Early Settlers of North America (Holgate, p. 23) in referring to the Jansens-Johnsons of Gravesend and Brooklyn, states: "This family has been distinguished for extraordinary strength. Antonie himself, the ancestor of the family, was a man of great vigor." Earlier than either of these publications appear the results of an interview, prior to 1845, with General Jeremiah Johnson of Brooklyn (born in 1766) by Nathaniel S. Prime, who related the same on page 361 of his History of Long Island, published in 1845. On page 360 Prime alludes to "the prodigious stature and strength" of Anthony Jansen van Salee, and on the next page adds:
The reputed stature and strength of this individual may not be without foundation, and is rendered probable, by the occasional reappearance of the same peculiarities in the line of his posterity. His [great-great] grandson, William Jansen, (* William Jansen, born July 4, 1718, son of Barent Jansen, the eldest son of Jan Barentse van Zutphen, who married Jannetje daughter of William Jansen van Borckelo. The latter's first wife was Cornelia, daughter of Anthony Jansen van Salee. ) of Gravesend, is known to have been six feet four inches in height; and on one occasion, to give a specimen of his strength, he carried ten bushels of wheat from his barn to the house, and up the chamber stairs. Gen. Johnson says that, when in his youth he visited his great-uncle at Gravesend, he inquired into the truth of the statement, and the manner of performing the act; to which the old gentleman replied: "I took one bag on each shoulder, one in each hand, and one in my teeth"; and then opening the chamber door, he showed the staircase which he ascended, and the place where he deposited his load. He died in the early part of the present century, being above eighty years of age. Another descendant of Antonie Jansen, by the name of Ruleph Vanbrunt, in New Utrecht, being attacked, in the time of the last war [1812] by two workmen whom he caught stealing melons in his field, seized one in each hand, and holding them at arm's length, pummeled their heads and bodies together, till, being let go, they were glad to run away, without making any further aggression. The mother of this Vanbrunt, a granddaughter [? great-great-granddaughter] of Antonie Jansen, is now [1845] living at Yellow Hook, in New Utrecht, at the advanced age of ninety-five years. . . . The descendants of this family [Jan Barentse van Driest [Zutphen] whose children took the same surname (Jansen-Johnson) as his wife, Jannetje Jansen van Barkelo, granddaughter of Anthony Jansen van Salee], now invariably write their name Johnson, which although differing in orthography, varies very little from the Dutch pronunciation of the original name. . . .
The same physical prowess, courage, and longevity will be found characterizing the personalities of other and later descendants of Anthony Jansen van Salee. Today none of them own any of the property that was his in Broadway, New York, unless they are stockholders in the National Park Bank that stands upon the northwestern (Broadway and Ann Street) corner of what was Anthony's bouwery in 1639, or upon that bouwery's southwest (Broadway and Maiden Lane) corner held by the Title Guarantee & Trust Company, or in the Federal Reserve Bank, at Maiden Lane and Nassau Street.
Anthony Jansen, having died on the island of Manhattan, may be supposed to have been buried in the graveyard that occupied the present site of numbers 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, and 39 Broadway on the western side of that street. His first wife, Grietje Reiniers, died when they were living near Gravesend, and so she may have been buried there, even if he was not. A record of the death of Metje Grevenraet has not been uncovered; nor has a record of what she did with the real estate she received from Anthony at his death been found. The sumptuous five-volume Iconography of Manhattan Island, by I. N. Phelps Stokes (II, 261) states as to Metje: "his widow was living with his two sons, Jeremias and Abraham in New Amsterdam on the 'Brug Straet' as late as 1686." It is true that persons of those names were then living in that street; but by no possibility could either this Jeremias Jansen and this Abraham Jansen have been sons of Anthony Jansen van Salee. The latter had been living for twenty years in America when Abraham Jansen came from "Zuydtland" in Brielle, South Holland, and married on August 10, 1659, Trintje Kip of Bridge Street. This marriage caused this man to reside near or on the property of his wife's relatives, the Kips, in 1686. As to Jeremias Jansen, he was an adult defendant in the court of New Amsterdam on March 22, 1661. [Records of New Amsterdam, III, 253.] There is no evidence that he ever lived on Long Island or was in any way connected with Anthony Jansen van Salee or either of the latter's two wives. In fact in the office of the City Clerk of New York, in Volume II of Minutes of the Orphans' Court, under date of November 26, 1660, is written--"Jeremias Janzen is authorized to inventory the estate of his father Jan Jans Hagenaer," and under "April 14, 1661, Jeremias Jansen Hagenaer is 22 years old." The author of the Iconography was misled by the fact that these two Jansens were residing in Bridge Street in 1686 at the same time as Anthony's widow was residing in the third house on the west side of that street from Broad Street. She did not marry Anthony until nine years after these two men appear in the records as adults. Nor did either of these men reside in her house in 1686; nor did they inherit that property. Jeremias is then recorded as living in a house by himself; while Abraham lived in a part of a larger house shared by his wife's relative, Abraham Kip. [Collections of New York Historical Society, 2d ser., I, 395.]
The Iconography is not a genealogy and does not attempt to delve into early family history. It treats of real estate and who owned it, and gives some details about the owners. It adds (II, 261), when mentioning the land between Bridge and Stone Streets owned by Anthony Jansen van Salee, that he was "A Hollander whose father, possibly in the course of commercial ventures to the Barbary States, is said to have embraced the tenets of Islam."
In the Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, 1863, at page 484, occurs a facsimile of the bold characters with which Anthony Jansen signed important documents. The representation is given under the heading: "Fac-Similes of the original Autographs of Burgomasters, Schepens, and many other distinguished individuals of this City," viz.--"Anthony Jansen Van Fes, 1663."
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From: The Washington Ancestry and Records of the McClain, Johnson and Forty Other Colonial American Families, by Charles Arthur Hoppin, Greenfield, Ohio: Privately Printed 1932.