A few months ago (September 8th) at Flanders House New York I gave a talk on “The Flemish Contribution to the Discovery and Settlement of America”. The talk offered historical flashes of Flemish involvement from the official birth of Flanders (864 AD) up to and including the English takeover of Nieuw Nederland on September 8th, 1664. One of the ladies in the audience, who claimed (if I remember correctly) a metis ancestry, asked if there were notable examples of interracial offspring of Flemings and other ethnicities in Nieuw Nederland sine Nova Belgica.
Unthinkingly, I mumbled a few obscure examples of unions between the Pernambuco refugees (Jewish and African inhabitants of a Dutch outpost expelled when the Portuguese retook Brazil from the West India Company in 1654) and the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of New Netherlands. However, I failed to cite good cases. For example, well before the arrival of the Pernambuco refugees in the 1650s, there was the union between a Flemish emigrant from Gent, Ferdinand Van Sycklin, and Eva Van Salee, a young lady of North African or Moroccan ancestry (see my “Gentenaars in Nieuw Nederland for a slightly broader bio here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/07/gentenaars-of-nieuw-nederland.html ).
Later, reflecting further on the talk, I could have kicked myself. For in fact a far more intriguing story of the offspring of interracial love is recorded for Flemish America. This love child was a fully hyphenated Flemish American – a unique product of two cultures, Flemish and Native American. Curiously, our best source for information about him is from those whom he initially viewed as his enemies: native French speakers in North America. As a resident of 17th century New York, he is a direct link to the Flemish Protestants who settled Nieuw Nederland sine Nova Belgica.
Although modern text books rarely mention his name or story, America’s Pilgrim Fathers knew this man. The English speakers in the colonies sometimes referred to him as John Smith/Jan Smits. The residents of New Netherlands who had daily contact with him mostly called this vigorous Flemish American their version of a Mohawk name: Canaquesee [1]. Many of the French in Canada simply called this Flemish American, "Le Bâtard Flamand": The Flemish Bastard.
Unthinkingly, I mumbled a few obscure examples of unions between the Pernambuco refugees (Jewish and African inhabitants of a Dutch outpost expelled when the Portuguese retook Brazil from the West India Company in 1654) and the Dutch-speaking inhabitants of New Netherlands. However, I failed to cite good cases. For example, well before the arrival of the Pernambuco refugees in the 1650s, there was the union between a Flemish emigrant from Gent, Ferdinand Van Sycklin, and Eva Van Salee, a young lady of North African or Moroccan ancestry (see my “Gentenaars in Nieuw Nederland for a slightly broader bio here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2009/07/gentenaars-of-nieuw-nederland.html ).
Later, reflecting further on the talk, I could have kicked myself. For in fact a far more intriguing story of the offspring of interracial love is recorded for Flemish America. This love child was a fully hyphenated Flemish American – a unique product of two cultures, Flemish and Native American. Curiously, our best source for information about him is from those whom he initially viewed as his enemies: native French speakers in North America. As a resident of 17th century New York, he is a direct link to the Flemish Protestants who settled Nieuw Nederland sine Nova Belgica.
Although modern text books rarely mention his name or story, America’s Pilgrim Fathers knew this man. The English speakers in the colonies sometimes referred to him as John Smith/Jan Smits. The residents of New Netherlands who had daily contact with him mostly called this vigorous Flemish American their version of a Mohawk name: Canaquesee [1]. Many of the French in Canada simply called this Flemish American, "Le Bâtard Flamand": The Flemish Bastard.
To understand his story we will have to get there via a circuitous route. Because to understand this man we must understand the circumstances around his birth, the Europeans there, and their raison d’etre. My post here – in two parts – then, is an attempt to memorialize the life and times of Le Bâtard Flamand/The Flemish Bastard, one of the first, true Flemish Americans.
Beavers and the Fur Trade
“’The beaver is the main foundation and means why or through which this beautiful land was first occupied by people from Europe’, wrote Adriaen van der Donck in 1655.” [2] As New Netherlands historian, Jaap Jacobs, distilled it: “Originally, desire for beaver pelts had drawn the Dutch to New Netherland.” [3] De Laet mentioned that even in 1614 Adriaen Block went “in quest of beaver & fox skins”. [4]
Furs, in fact, were the reason for the exploration by Henry Hudson – Van Meteren, and the other Flemish employers of Henry Hudson (Dirck Van Os, Petrus Plancius, Judocus Hondius, and Emmanuel Van Meteren) [5] had intended for him to seek furs in Siberia on his way to China [6]. In the Middle Atlantic region of what is now the United States, the dominant and most marketable furs were beavers. [7] Perhaps most importantly, the chance to play a role in the illegal beaver fur trade motivated a number of Flemings, notably Cornelis Melyn the Patroon of Staten Island, to emigrate to New Netherland. [8]
Unlike the hunt for the buffalo hides in the 19th century, no part of the beaver went to waste. The Native Americans viewed beaver as a delicacy – so they rarely if ever sold beaver meat to the Dutch. [9] Although New Netherland exports went to Amsterdam, ultimately beaver hides and fur ended up in two primary markets: Muscovy (where the fur was highly prized) and France (as felt for hats). [10] The fame of the French made beaver hats was such that even English sovereigns – such as King Charles II in 1660 – purchased their custom made beaver felt hats from Paris chapeliers (hat makers). [11]
Unlike the hunt for the buffalo hides in the 19th century, no part of the beaver went to waste. The Native Americans viewed beaver as a delicacy – so they rarely if ever sold beaver meat to the Dutch. [9] Although New Netherland exports went to Amsterdam, ultimately beaver hides and fur ended up in two primary markets: Muscovy (where the fur was highly prized) and France (as felt for hats). [10] The fame of the French made beaver hats was such that even English sovereigns – such as King Charles II in 1660 – purchased their custom made beaver felt hats from Paris chapeliers (hat makers). [11]
Beavers occupied rivers and streams. Their tail made excellent steaks and in Europe since medieval times beaver testicles had been used for medicinal purposes. [12] But of course their fur and hide – the pelt turned into felt, such as what was used to make the Pilgrims’ broad, black felt hats – was the real prize.
Native Americans also depended heavily upon the beaver. One Chief was quoted as saying: “The beaver does everything well. He makes us kettles, axes, swords, knives, and gives us drink and food without the trouble of cultivating the ground.” [13] Nearly every flowing water between the Rio Grande River and the Arctic Circle was home to beavers in 1600, it was estimated that between 60 million and 400 million of the intelligent, chomping rodents populated North America. [14]
For the Europeans, trapping beaver was more efficient than the pursuit of literally any other fur-bearing game of the region. In part, this was because – at least for the residents of Beverwijck [15] [now Albany] – the Europeans did not actually trap the beaver themselves but rather traded goods they had for the pelts that the Maqua/Mohawk brought in. “Everyone’s life [was] arranged around the seasonal movements of the beaver, the natives, and the trade.” [16]
As a Dutch historian of New Netherlands so aptly described it, “In New Netherland, every colonist was somehow a trader.” [17]
However, as in many events in history, the strongest link between these peoples had much to do with wealth and its acquisition. The form wealth took in the European transactions with the Native Americans was in the exchange of European goods (textiles, knives, liquor and muskets) for furs (beavers, otters, etc.). All of the European colonies were chartered monopolies run with the profit motive foremost. Of course, this included the Dutch West India Company. “In the mid 1630s an ordinary seaman earned only ten guilders a month, a little over the value of one beaver pelt.” [18]
Shipments back to the Fatherland were substantial. “The ship which has returned home this month [November, 1626] brings samples of all sorts of produce growing there, the cargo being 7,246 beaver skins, 675 otter skins, 48 mink, 36 wild cat, and various other sorts; [also] many pieces of oak timber and hickory.” [19]
However, as in many events in history, the strongest link between these peoples had much to do with wealth and its acquisition. The form wealth took in the European transactions with the Native Americans was in the exchange of European goods (textiles, knives, liquor and muskets) for furs (beavers, otters, etc.). All of the European colonies were chartered monopolies run with the profit motive foremost. Of course, this included the Dutch West India Company. “In the mid 1630s an ordinary seaman earned only ten guilders a month, a little over the value of one beaver pelt.” [18]
Shipments back to the Fatherland were substantial. “The ship which has returned home this month [November, 1626] brings samples of all sorts of produce growing there, the cargo being 7,246 beaver skins, 675 otter skins, 48 mink, 36 wild cat, and various other sorts; [also] many pieces of oak timber and hickory.” [19]
Officially (until 1630) the beaver fur trade in Nieuw Nederland was a West India Company (WIC) monopoly [20] . But inevitably, individuals sought to undercut this trade through private dealings with individual Indians. And well before – and certainly after – the Europeans (who numbered only 270 souls in 1630 [21] ) engaged in frenzied trading for the lucrative beaver.
In the early years, the New Netherlands traders would journey out in small bands across country and literally drop in on the Maqua/Mohawk villagers. For example, in late 1634, in a manuscript attributed to the Flemish surgeon of Fort Orange, Harmen Mendertsz van den Bogaert, we learn that “the Maquas [Mohawk] wished to trade for their skins, because the Maquas Indians wanted to receive just as much for their skins as the French Indians [Mohicans] did.” [22]
As early as 1609 the French allied themselves with the Hurons against the Iroquois. [23] The practice took time to be accepted back in France but certainly by 1640 the French viewed hostility to the Iroquois as inevitable and a key part of policy for New France. Jerome Lalemant wrote to Cardinal Richelieu on March 28, 1640, of the successes and the hindrances of the Huron mission, and advising that that the authorities of New France intend to “interfere, in behalf of the savage allies of the French, to check the hostile advances of the Iroquois, who are encouraged and incited by the English and Flemish (Dutch) colonists on the coast.” If they do not act vigorously, the French missionaries feared the extinction of the Hurons, and the consequent cessation of the mission work [to convert Native Americans to Catholicism]. [24]
In short, the French saw trade with the Native Americans as key to their survival in North America. That trade required access to Indians willing to sell them beaver pelts. In part for altruistic reasons (everlasting salvation) the French viewed the conversion of the aboriginal peoples – especially the Huron Indians – to be part of this intricate relationship with trade. Only one thing stood in their way of attaining these multiple goals: the Mohawks and their “Dutch” allies. This could only mean war. “The motive for this conflict was clearly economic and was connected to the fur trade.” [25]
Maqua, Mohawks, Iroquois, and Others
A leading historian on New Netherland, Willem Nijhoff, wrote. “The Indians were the principal suppliers of the precious beaver skins, the furs for which the West India Company established trading posts in New Netherland and which were so important in the creation of the enormous hats and other fashion articles that we still admire in so many seventeenth-century pictures.” [26] For the Dutch that meant primarily the Mohawk Indians at Fort Orange (Albany).
The Mohawks, as many may be aware, were not the largest tribe of the Iroquois confederation (although they are now) [27] . But in Colonial times they were certainly the most feared. The Iroquois confederation consisted of five Native American tribes, [28] autonomous in governance but linked by language and cultural affinity.
The Maqua/Mohawks were also among the first Native Americans to come into contact with Henry Hudson in 1609 when he sailed up the Hudson River to land near modern day Albany, New York. The man who first passed along in print the findings of Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage, the Flemish historian (and Dutch Consul in London, 1583-1612), Emanuel Van Meteren, wrote (in 1610) this about Hudson’s encounter with the Maqua/Mohawk: “In the upper part [of the Hudson River] they [Hudson and his crew] found friendly and polite people, who had an abundance of provisions, skins, and furs, of martens and foxes, and many other commodities, as birds and fruit, even white and red grapes, and they [Hudson and his crew] traded amicably with the [Mohawk] people.” [29]
The Mohawks, as many may be aware, were not the largest tribe of the Iroquois confederation (although they are now) [27] . But in Colonial times they were certainly the most feared. The Iroquois confederation consisted of five Native American tribes, [28] autonomous in governance but linked by language and cultural affinity.
The Maqua/Mohawks were also among the first Native Americans to come into contact with Henry Hudson in 1609 when he sailed up the Hudson River to land near modern day Albany, New York. The man who first passed along in print the findings of Henry Hudson’s 1609 voyage, the Flemish historian (and Dutch Consul in London, 1583-1612), Emanuel Van Meteren, wrote (in 1610) this about Hudson’s encounter with the Maqua/Mohawk: “In the upper part [of the Hudson River] they [Hudson and his crew] found friendly and polite people, who had an abundance of provisions, skins, and furs, of martens and foxes, and many other commodities, as birds and fruit, even white and red grapes, and they [Hudson and his crew] traded amicably with the [Mohawk] people.” [29]
The Mohawks may have been friendly to Henry Hudson in 1609 in part because of concurrent geopolitical events in North America. For at least 100 years before Henry Hudson sailed up the Great River, Iroquois Indians had bartered animal furs for European goods in chance, coastal meetings. [30] “It was the Mohawk [among the Iroquois] who were to undertake aggressive action to secure trading privileges with Europeans.” [31]
More importantly, the Algonquin-speaking tribes [32] had early on allied themselves with the French. In 1609 the Hurons with their new French allies launched a series of unexpected attacks upon Iroquois villages. [33] Literally, as Hudson was sailing up the river to explore and trade, the French and Hurons were paddling down Lake Champlain and other Canadian waterways [34] to attack and burn Iroquois longhouses. [35]
The Iroquois’ military prowess and diplomatic guile made them a force to be reckoned with during North America’s colonial period (circa 1500-1800). While the Six Nations (an additional tribe joined later) of the Iroquois Confederation now occupy bits of upstate New York, their swathe of regional influence in the 1600s was much greater than it is today. Either directly or through their projected power, the Iroquois dominated a territory that stretched from the Great Lakes in the west to the St. Lawrence River in the north, east to the Atlantic seaboard and south to the Delaware River. Within this region, the Maqua/Mohawk territory primarily included the western bank of the Hudson River nearly from its mouth up to Lake Huron (please see map).
The enemies of this confederation were a medley of Native American tribes surrounding the Iroquois: the Algonquins, Hurons and Mohicans. [36] As Johannes De Laet of Antwerp [37], a Founding member of the West India Company (and the father and grandfather of New Netherland settlers) [38] , described it in 1624, “On the west side of the [Hudson] river, where dwell the Mackwaes [Maquas/Mohawks], the enemies of the Mohicans. Almost all those who live on the west side [of the Hudson River], are enemies of those on the east, and cultivate more intercourse and friendship with our countrymen than the latter.” [39]
Besides the Mohicans, the Mohawk viewed an Iroquois tribe called the Hurons as arch enemies. The Hurons and Algonquin sought out the French as allies. The French referred to the Huron as the “good Iroquois”. [40] The Hurons were “good” because they traded beaver (and other furs) exclusively with the French and submitted to Christian baptism. The Hurons also were competitors for the fur trade trade between the French and the Iroquois. [An absolute must see flick on this subject for those of you who have not yet is "The Black Robe" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Robe_(film)]
Firearms, Firewater and Females
The acquisition of European finished goods were the reason the Mohawks traded. Perched at the edge of a vast wilderness, with smaller numbers and unsettled posts but claiming a broad patch of land, the New Netherlanders looked for an edge and they found it in the weapons trade.
Nicolas Van Wassenaer, writing in February, 1624 noted that for the Maqua/Mohawk, “Their trade consists mostly in peltries [furs], which they measure by the hand or by the finger….In exchange for peltries they receive beads, with which they decorate their persons; knives, adzes, axes, chopping knives, kettles and all sorts of iron work, which they require for house-keeping.” [41]
Of course he neglected to mention the most important and lucrative of the ‘iron work required for house-keeping’: muskets. As the meticulous and uncharitable Reformed Church minister Megapolensis observed (in 1644): “Their weapons in war were formerly a bow and arrow, with a stone axe and mallets; but now they get from our people guns, swords, iron axes and mallets.” [42]
Although the New Netherlanders were the most reliable source of highly coveted muskets, the trade was unregulated and ad hoc. As Father Isaac Jogues, a French Jesuit who rescued by Dutch traders [43] , spent some time in New Netherlands in 1643 wrote: “Trade is free to all; this gives the Indians all things cheap, each of the Hollanders outbidding his neighbor, and being satisfied he can gain some little profit.” [44]
The primary – although not the only way – that Native Americans obtained European goods they desired was through trade. However, there were instances when they traded their labor for payment in kind. In 1625, when the Flemish Director General Verhulst was building a fort on Manhattan and short of laborers, the WIC Directors suggested that he employ local Indians at reduced wages (compared to Europeans) of 2 stuivers per day. At the end of seven days work the Indians could then purchase an ax – at inflated prices with their subpar wages. [45]
The actual trading period occurred from roughly May through November – what the locals of the time called the trading time (handelstijd). Indians would make their way – singly or in groups – to various homes and barter the pelts they carried for sewant (wampum – threaded black, white and sometimes colored shells or beads [46] ) and European goods. Native American women also traded for goods – although I am unaware of any recorded instance of them trading for weapons, they did trade sex for wampum and goods (more on which below).
Hungry Women and Lonely Men
In general, trade relationships between Native Americans and Europeans implied alliances. The Native Americans in general did not trade with those they did not trust. As an Iroquois leader later stated during negotiations at Albany: “Trade and Peace we take to be one thing.” [47]
Trade relationships between the races were cemented through trade, religion, and in some cases – especially between the French and the Hurons – through interracial relationships. The West India Company, on the other hand, did not pursue an official policy of intermarriage with de wilden (the savages) – as the Nieuw Nederlanders often referred to them..
Some of these Indian traders were, of course Maqua/Mohawk women. Johannes De Laet, a Patroon and a Director of the West India Company, (but without first-hand experience) called the Native Americans “extremely well-looking.” [48] De Laet also quoted Adriaen Block (with whom he almost certainly had direct contact) as describing the Native Americans as “strong of limb”. [49]
The keen observer Van Wassenaer, in April, 1625 (just after De Laet’s book was first published) reported: “Chastity appears, on further enquiry, to hold a place among them, they being unwilling to cohabit with ours, through fear of their husbands. But those who are single, evince only too friendly a disposition.” [50]
It is inevitable, given the close proximity of lonely Dutch-speaking men and relatively uninhibited young Native American women that some contact went beyond simple barter for beaver pelts. After all, in a wilderness where distractions were few and as late as 1630, there were not more than 270 Europeans in all of New Netherland – and the overwhelming majority were male – these young Dutch-speaking men were likely to feel the absence of companionship acutely.
On the frontier between isolated European posts and Native American villages there was a process that transcended fluency in spoken language. “A man and woman join themselves together without any particular ceremony other than that the man by previous agreement with the woman gives her some zeewant or cloth, which on their separation, if it happens soon, he often takes again. Both men and women are utterly unchaste and shamelessly promiscuous.” [51]
The aforementioned Van Wassenaer may have been thinking of a certain rendezvous point in particular, when he described the Indian maidens’ “friendly disposition”. “In the early days of the colony [New Netherland] there was certainly some racial mixture, as evidenced by the ‘Whores’ channel’ (Hoeren-kill) given to a locality where ‘the Indians were generous enough to give their young women and daughters to our Netherlanders there.’” [52]
On the frontier between isolated European posts and Native American villages there was a process that transcended fluency in spoken language. “A man and woman join themselves together without any particular ceremony other than that the man by previous agreement with the woman gives her some zeewant or cloth, which on their separation, if it happens soon, he often takes again. Both men and women are utterly unchaste and shamelessly promiscuous.” [51]
The aforementioned Van Wassenaer may have been thinking of a certain rendezvous point in particular, when he described the Indian maidens’ “friendly disposition”. “In the early days of the colony [New Netherland] there was certainly some racial mixture, as evidenced by the ‘Whores’ channel’ (Hoeren-kill) given to a locality where ‘the Indians were generous enough to give their young women and daughters to our Netherlanders there.’” [52]
Sometimes, it seems, circumstances conspired to bring New Netherlanders and Native American women together in situations almost certain to result in forced intimacy. On 1634 December 12th, the Flemish surgeon of Fort Orange wrote (10 years after Van Wassenaer): “After we had been marching about eleven leagues, we arrived at one o’clock in the evening half a league from the first castle at a little house. We found only Indian women inside…so we slept there.” [53]
The priggish Dutch minister in New Netherlands, Johannes Megapolensis, writing 10 years later, in 1644, made the following claim about the Native American women. “The women are exceedingly addicted to whoring; they will lie with a man for the value of one, two, or three schillings [i.e., 12 cents, 24 cents or 36 cents], and our Dutchmen run after them very much.” [54]
The priggish Dutch minister in New Netherlands, Johannes Megapolensis, writing 10 years later, in 1644, made the following claim about the Native American women. “The women are exceedingly addicted to whoring; they will lie with a man for the value of one, two, or three schillings [i.e., 12 cents, 24 cents or 36 cents], and our Dutchmen run after them very much.” [54]
By the next decade, however, it appears that Netherlandic men and Native women found ways to ‘hook up’, despite daunting obstacles of language, social convention and locale. ”Jacob Van Leeuwen, a trader who visited New Netherland in the 1650s, certainly did not feel any ties with the kin of a ‘certain Indian woman of beautiful figure.’ After they had sexual intercourse in the attic of the court house during church [services on Sunday morning], he gave her a necklace of blue and red beads that she was wearing when they came down the staircase, and which she often wore later.” [55]
It is in the context of these liaisons, amidst the milieu of trade, Christianity, and warfare, that our hero, Le Bâtard Flamande, came into the world.
Endnotes
[1] The Mohawk word "Canaque", or rather "Khanake", means "along the water" The ending "ees(e)" could be the Dutch suffix for someone coming from a place called ‘Canaque’.” Peter Lowensteyn, “The Role of Canaquese in the Iroquois Wars,” downloaded 04/10/2009 19:06:20 http://www.lowensteyn.com/iroquois/canaqueese.html Note that the name of the Mohawk in their own language is Kanien’keha:ka which reportedly means “People of the Flint” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawk_nation
[2] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 197. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate the origin of this quote in J. Franklin Jameson’s translation of Van Der Donck’s “Representation of New Netherlands” [from whence the quote is sourced].
[3] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 20.
[4] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 294
[5] Van Meteren, the “Dutch Consul” at London, and Van Os, the head of the VOC, were both natives of Antwerp. Plantius was a native of Dranouter, near Ieper (Ypres) in West Flanders and Hondius was a native of Wakkene near Ghent. They were Dutch in speech and Dutch in allegiance to the fight of Protestants viewing the occupying Spaniards as the enemy, but they were Flemish in origin. See my recent posting that discusses the heavy, overwhelming Flemish involvement here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2010/12/flemish-influence-on-henry-hudson.html
[6] Joannes de Laet, Extracts From the New World – Or, A Description of the West Indies, (Translated from the original Dutch by The Editor), Cornell University Reproduction, p.290.
[7] For an interesting modern review of beaver trapping techniques see http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/beaver-trapping-tips.html [and, for the record, there is no connection whatsoever between “Fleming Outdoors .com and the Flemish American blogspot].
[8] Dr. Jan Kupp and Dr. Simon Hart, “The Early Cornelis Melyn and the Illegal Fur Trade”, in De Halve Maen, Vol. 60, No. 3 (October, 1975), pp. 7-8, 15. The notarial records that Dr. Hart had access to tell a very interesting story. The details behind Cornelis Melyn and the overwhelming involvement of Antwerpenaars in New Netherland is grist for a future post.
[9] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 20.
[10] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), pp. 20. The untreated fur sent to Muscovy was called castor sec. The treatment for the furs that became felt was called castor gras. The treatment, incidentally, of castor gras, was somewhat unscientific. After a period of roughly 18 to 24 months, an untreated fur worn close to the body of a Native American became soft and oily as the outer fur was worn away. It was this product that was turned into felt hats in France.
[11] Antonia Fraser, Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration, (New York: Dell Publishing, 1979), p.269.
[12] See the excellent medieval manuscript illustration on this subject: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/comment/11r.hti . Peter C. Newman, Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers That Seized a Continent, (New York: Penguin, 1998), pp. 44-45, offered this excellent excerpt of a 1685 medical expert: “Castoreum [the orange-brown alkaloid substance found in the beaver’s scent glands] does much good to mad people, and those who are attacked with pleurisy give proof of its effect every day…Castoreum destroys fleas; it is an excellent stomachic; stops hiccough; induces sleep; strengthens the sight, and taken up the nose it causes sneezing and clears the brain…in order to acquire a prodigious memory…it [is] only necessary to wear a hat of the beaver’s skin.” Parenthetically, my wife, who is a food scientist, tells me that beaver testicles in ground form are used today as a flavoring for beverages!
[13] Peter C. Newman, Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers That Seized a Continent, (New York: Penguin, 1998), pp.43-44
[14] Peter C. Newman, Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers That Seized a Continent, (New York: Penguin, 1998), p.45. Newman quotes MIT biologist Robert J. Naiman as stating that in 1670, the time when the Flemish Bastard moved up to Canada, there were approximately 10 million beavers within the boundaries of present day Canada.
[15] Beverwijck was literally an outpost whose population went from approximately 150 (overwhelmingly male) inhabitants in 1642 to 200+ by 1652 and more than 1,000 by 1660. Janny Venema, Beverwijk: A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664, (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003), Appendix I, pp.428-429.
[16] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.13. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
[17] Willem Nijhoff, “New Views on the Dutch Period of New York”de Halve Maen: The Magazine of the Dutch Colonial Period, Vol LXXI, Summer 1998, No. 2, p.30 EDIT
[18] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.115. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
[19] From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.83. Since beaver skins weighed between 10 and 15 pounds each, this was a fully loaded ship. That said, this was likely a substantial part of the furs sent back for the year, since the trading season ended in November.
[20] “The fur or other trade remains in the [exclusive hands of the] West India Company, others being forbidden to trade there [New Netherlands].” From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.78.Van Wassenaer wrote that in December, 1624, but although official policy, it was a difficult to enforce policy.
[21] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.64 and pp.185-186. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_the_United_States
[22] “Narrative of a Journey Into the Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635” in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.139.
[23] Thomas B. Costain, The White and the Gold: The French Regime in Canada, An Intimate, living Story of the Making of Canada, (Garden City, NY: The Country Life Press, 1954), 1st Edition, p.66.
[24] Please see Book XXX of the Jesuit Relations – in English here: www.puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_17.html . Jerome Lalement was the Superior of the mission in New France.
[25] Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 223.
[26] Willem Nijhoff, “New Views on the Dutch Period of New York”, de Halve Maen: The Magazine of the Dutch Colonial Period, Vol LXXI, Summer 1998, No. 2, p.23
[27] Although they were not the largest Iroquois nation in the 17th century, Wikipedia lists more official members today than for any of the other Iroquois nations.
[28] These tribes are the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca. The Tuscarora joined the Confederation in 1722, thus becoming the Six Nations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_League . However, one historian whose expertise is specifically that of the Native American tribes of this period states that, “it is unclear when, and under what circumstances, the Iroquois confederacy developed.” Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 224.
[29] The original is in the 31st book of Emanuel Van Meteren’s Belgische ofte Nederlantsche Oorlogen ende Geschiedenissen/Histoire der Neder-landscher ende haerder Naburen Oorlogen ende Geschiednissen, (1st edition at Delft in 1599; our version Utrecht in 1611). The English translation quoted here is from the 1611 edition and found in J. Franklin Jameson, Ed., Narratives of New Netherland, (New York, 1909), Elibron Reprint, 2005, p.7.
[30] It is likely – although not proven by any record – that Flemish See Bruce G. Trigger, SOURCE p.178
[31] Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 224.
[32] Actually, the Hurons were an Iroquois-speaking tribe but for a variety of reasons largely to do with trade and political alliances had become more allied with the Algonquins and against the Iroquois.
[33] Thomas B. Costain, The White and the Gold: The French Regime in Canada, An Intimate, Living Story of the Making of Canada, (Garden City, NY: The Country Life Press, 1954), 1st Edition, p.66.
[34] “Judging from appearances, this river [the Hudso River] extends to the great river St. Lawrence, or Canada, since our people assure us that the natives come to the fort [Fort Orange/Albany] from that river, and from Quebec.” Joannes de Laet, Extracts From the New World – Or, A Description of the West Indies, (Translated from the original Dutch by The Editor), Cornell University Reproduction, p.299.
[35] Thomas B. Costain, The White and the Gold: The French Regime in Canada, An Intimate, Living Story of the Making of Canada, (Garden City, NY: The Country Life Press, 1954), 1st Edition, p.66 ff.
[36] However, as Peter Lowensteyn has pointed out (“The Role of the Dutch in The Iroquois Wars”
http://www.lowensteyn.com/iroquois/), ethnic and linguistic self-identification were not the sole determinants of which side each tribe aligned with. Still, until the mass-migrations and the added strategic factor of European trade reared its head, blood/clan ties were strong.
[37] Joannes De Laet deserves a biography. The Antwerpenaar was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin and English (at least). He was a protégé of Emmanuel Van Meteren and spent some time with Van Meteren in London. Besides being a prolific correspondent – see, for example, his correspondence with John Morris [cf, J.A.F. Bekkers, Correspondence of John Morris With Johannes De Laet (1634-1649), ('s-Gravenhage: Van Gorcum, 1971)] – De Laet was also a successful scholar-merchant. A recognized authority on the voyages to America, his published work was printed in multiple languages and ran through several revised editions between 1625 and 1640. De Laet was also an ardent Protestant and participated in the Dordrecht Synod. De Laet’s daughter eventually became a settler in New Netherland after De Laet’s death in 1649. As far as I am aware, there is no published biography on De Laet in any language.
[38] It was De Laet’s daughter, curiously named Joanne, who settled in New Netherland from before 1659 to 1676. Married twice, she had several children. One of whom, a slight girl of 13 named Mary, died a horrible death from the plague. Likely heartbroken after this death and the death of her second husband, (whom she married 2/22/1659 in Nieuw Amsterdam), the German Jeronimus Ebbing, she returned to Amsterdam in 1676 to be near her grown children from her previous marriage to Johannes de Hulter. See, Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005). Parenthetically, De Laet's son and namesake, Johannes De Laet, Jr., moved to England and was naturalized there in 1656. J.A.F. Bekkers, Correspondence of John Morris With Johannes De Laet (1634-1649), ('s-Gravenhage: Van Gorcum, 1971), p. xiv.
[39] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 299
[40] Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 245. This was how the Huron were described to Champlain, during his early contact with them circa 1600.
[41] “From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.71.
[42] Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.176
[43] Later declared a saint, Fr. Jogues was captured by the Maqua/Mohawks August 2, 1642 and tortured for a year in captivity. Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.175, n1. Megapolensis also wrote that “Though they [Maqua/Mohawks] are so very cruel to their enemies, they are very friendly to us, and we have no dread of them.”
[44] Letter written August 3, 1646 from Trois Rivieres, New France in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.262
[45] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.118. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
[46] “Their money consists of certain little bones, made of shells or cockles, which are found on the sea-beach; a hole is drilkled through the middle of the little bones, and these they string upon thread, or they make of them belts as broad as a hand or broader, and hang them on their necks, or around their bodies. …They value these little bones as highly as many Christians do gold, silver and pearls; but they do not like our money, and esteem it no better than iron.” Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.176.
[47] Peter Wraxell, An Abridgement of the Indian Affairs Contained in Four Folio Volumes, Transacted in the Colony of New York, from the Year 1678 to the Year 1751, ed. Charles Howard McIlwain (1915; New York: Benjamin Blom, 1968), p. 195. Quoted in Timothy J. Shannon, Iroquois Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier, (New York: Viking, 2008), p.22
[48] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 292
[49] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 294
[50] From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.81.
[51] “Representation of New Netherland” in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.302. This was the Remonstrance, signed by Loockermans, his brothers in law Van Couwenhoven and Van Courtlandt on October 13, 1649.
[52] Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1970), 2nd Edition, p.229.
[53] “Narrative of a Journey Into the Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635” in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.140
[54] Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.174. Certainly, the good Reverend’s detailed knowledge of such a subject makes one wonder whether this was acquired through first-hand experience.
[55] Janny Venema, Beverwijk: A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664, (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003), p.168.
[1] The Mohawk word "Canaque", or rather "Khanake", means "along the water" The ending "ees(e)" could be the Dutch suffix for someone coming from a place called ‘Canaque’.” Peter Lowensteyn, “The Role of Canaquese in the Iroquois Wars,” downloaded 04/10/2009 19:06:20 http://www.lowensteyn.com/iroquois/canaqueese.html Note that the name of the Mohawk in their own language is Kanien’keha:ka which reportedly means “People of the Flint” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawk_nation
[2] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 197. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate the origin of this quote in J. Franklin Jameson’s translation of Van Der Donck’s “Representation of New Netherlands” [from whence the quote is sourced].
[3] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 20.
[4] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 294
[5] Van Meteren, the “Dutch Consul” at London, and Van Os, the head of the VOC, were both natives of Antwerp. Plantius was a native of Dranouter, near Ieper (Ypres) in West Flanders and Hondius was a native of Wakkene near Ghent. They were Dutch in speech and Dutch in allegiance to the fight of Protestants viewing the occupying Spaniards as the enemy, but they were Flemish in origin. See my recent posting that discusses the heavy, overwhelming Flemish involvement here: http://flemishamerican.blogspot.com/2010/12/flemish-influence-on-henry-hudson.html
[6] Joannes de Laet, Extracts From the New World – Or, A Description of the West Indies, (Translated from the original Dutch by The Editor), Cornell University Reproduction, p.290.
[7] For an interesting modern review of beaver trapping techniques see http://www.flemingoutdoors.com/beaver-trapping-tips.html [and, for the record, there is no connection whatsoever between “Fleming Outdoors .com and the Flemish American blogspot].
[8] Dr. Jan Kupp and Dr. Simon Hart, “The Early Cornelis Melyn and the Illegal Fur Trade”, in De Halve Maen, Vol. 60, No. 3 (October, 1975), pp. 7-8, 15. The notarial records that Dr. Hart had access to tell a very interesting story. The details behind Cornelis Melyn and the overwhelming involvement of Antwerpenaars in New Netherland is grist for a future post.
[9] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), p. 20.
[10] Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005), pp. 20. The untreated fur sent to Muscovy was called castor sec. The treatment for the furs that became felt was called castor gras. The treatment, incidentally, of castor gras, was somewhat unscientific. After a period of roughly 18 to 24 months, an untreated fur worn close to the body of a Native American became soft and oily as the outer fur was worn away. It was this product that was turned into felt hats in France.
[11] Antonia Fraser, Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration, (New York: Dell Publishing, 1979), p.269.
[12] See the excellent medieval manuscript illustration on this subject: http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/comment/11r.hti . Peter C. Newman, Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers That Seized a Continent, (New York: Penguin, 1998), pp. 44-45, offered this excellent excerpt of a 1685 medical expert: “Castoreum [the orange-brown alkaloid substance found in the beaver’s scent glands] does much good to mad people, and those who are attacked with pleurisy give proof of its effect every day…Castoreum destroys fleas; it is an excellent stomachic; stops hiccough; induces sleep; strengthens the sight, and taken up the nose it causes sneezing and clears the brain…in order to acquire a prodigious memory…it [is] only necessary to wear a hat of the beaver’s skin.” Parenthetically, my wife, who is a food scientist, tells me that beaver testicles in ground form are used today as a flavoring for beverages!
[13] Peter C. Newman, Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers That Seized a Continent, (New York: Penguin, 1998), pp.43-44
[14] Peter C. Newman, Empire of the Bay: The Company of Adventurers That Seized a Continent, (New York: Penguin, 1998), p.45. Newman quotes MIT biologist Robert J. Naiman as stating that in 1670, the time when the Flemish Bastard moved up to Canada, there were approximately 10 million beavers within the boundaries of present day Canada.
[15] Beverwijck was literally an outpost whose population went from approximately 150 (overwhelmingly male) inhabitants in 1642 to 200+ by 1652 and more than 1,000 by 1660. Janny Venema, Beverwijk: A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664, (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003), Appendix I, pp.428-429.
[16] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.13. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
[17] Willem Nijhoff, “New Views on the Dutch Period of New York”de Halve Maen: The Magazine of the Dutch Colonial Period, Vol LXXI, Summer 1998, No. 2, p.30 EDIT
[18] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.115. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
[19] From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.83. Since beaver skins weighed between 10 and 15 pounds each, this was a fully loaded ship. That said, this was likely a substantial part of the furs sent back for the year, since the trading season ended in November.
[20] “The fur or other trade remains in the [exclusive hands of the] West India Company, others being forbidden to trade there [New Netherlands].” From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.78.Van Wassenaer wrote that in December, 1624, but although official policy, it was a difficult to enforce policy.
[21] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.64 and pp.185-186. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_the_United_States
[22] “Narrative of a Journey Into the Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635” in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.139.
[23] Thomas B. Costain, The White and the Gold: The French Regime in Canada, An Intimate, living Story of the Making of Canada, (Garden City, NY: The Country Life Press, 1954), 1st Edition, p.66.
[24] Please see Book XXX of the Jesuit Relations – in English here: www.puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/relations_17.html . Jerome Lalement was the Superior of the mission in New France.
[25] Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 223.
[26] Willem Nijhoff, “New Views on the Dutch Period of New York”, de Halve Maen: The Magazine of the Dutch Colonial Period, Vol LXXI, Summer 1998, No. 2, p.23
[27] Although they were not the largest Iroquois nation in the 17th century, Wikipedia lists more official members today than for any of the other Iroquois nations.
[28] These tribes are the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca. The Tuscarora joined the Confederation in 1722, thus becoming the Six Nations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois_League . However, one historian whose expertise is specifically that of the Native American tribes of this period states that, “it is unclear when, and under what circumstances, the Iroquois confederacy developed.” Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 224.
[29] The original is in the 31st book of Emanuel Van Meteren’s Belgische ofte Nederlantsche Oorlogen ende Geschiedenissen/Histoire der Neder-landscher ende haerder Naburen Oorlogen ende Geschiednissen, (1st edition at Delft in 1599; our version Utrecht in 1611). The English translation quoted here is from the 1611 edition and found in J. Franklin Jameson, Ed., Narratives of New Netherland, (New York, 1909), Elibron Reprint, 2005, p.7.
[30] It is likely – although not proven by any record – that Flemish See Bruce G. Trigger, SOURCE p.178
[31] Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 224.
[32] Actually, the Hurons were an Iroquois-speaking tribe but for a variety of reasons largely to do with trade and political alliances had become more allied with the Algonquins and against the Iroquois.
[33] Thomas B. Costain, The White and the Gold: The French Regime in Canada, An Intimate, Living Story of the Making of Canada, (Garden City, NY: The Country Life Press, 1954), 1st Edition, p.66.
[34] “Judging from appearances, this river [the Hudso River] extends to the great river St. Lawrence, or Canada, since our people assure us that the natives come to the fort [Fort Orange/Albany] from that river, and from Quebec.” Joannes de Laet, Extracts From the New World – Or, A Description of the West Indies, (Translated from the original Dutch by The Editor), Cornell University Reproduction, p.299.
[35] Thomas B. Costain, The White and the Gold: The French Regime in Canada, An Intimate, Living Story of the Making of Canada, (Garden City, NY: The Country Life Press, 1954), 1st Edition, p.66 ff.
[36] However, as Peter Lowensteyn has pointed out (“The Role of the Dutch in The Iroquois Wars”
http://www.lowensteyn.com/iroquois/), ethnic and linguistic self-identification were not the sole determinants of which side each tribe aligned with. Still, until the mass-migrations and the added strategic factor of European trade reared its head, blood/clan ties were strong.
[37] Joannes De Laet deserves a biography. The Antwerpenaar was fluent in Dutch, French, Latin and English (at least). He was a protégé of Emmanuel Van Meteren and spent some time with Van Meteren in London. Besides being a prolific correspondent – see, for example, his correspondence with John Morris [cf, J.A.F. Bekkers, Correspondence of John Morris With Johannes De Laet (1634-1649), ('s-Gravenhage: Van Gorcum, 1971)] – De Laet was also a successful scholar-merchant. A recognized authority on the voyages to America, his published work was printed in multiple languages and ran through several revised editions between 1625 and 1640. De Laet was also an ardent Protestant and participated in the Dordrecht Synod. De Laet’s daughter eventually became a settler in New Netherland after De Laet’s death in 1649. As far as I am aware, there is no published biography on De Laet in any language.
[38] It was De Laet’s daughter, curiously named Joanne, who settled in New Netherland from before 1659 to 1676. Married twice, she had several children. One of whom, a slight girl of 13 named Mary, died a horrible death from the plague. Likely heartbroken after this death and the death of her second husband, (whom she married 2/22/1659 in Nieuw Amsterdam), the German Jeronimus Ebbing, she returned to Amsterdam in 1676 to be near her grown children from her previous marriage to Johannes de Hulter. See, Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America, (Boston: Brill, 2005). Parenthetically, De Laet's son and namesake, Johannes De Laet, Jr., moved to England and was naturalized there in 1656. J.A.F. Bekkers, Correspondence of John Morris With Johannes De Laet (1634-1649), ('s-Gravenhage: Van Gorcum, 1971), p. xiv.
[39] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 299
[40] Bruce G. Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic: A History of the Huron People to 1660, (Montreal: McGill University Press, 1976) First paperback edition, 1987, p. 245. This was how the Huron were described to Champlain, during his early contact with them circa 1600.
[41] “From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.71.
[42] Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.176
[43] Later declared a saint, Fr. Jogues was captured by the Maqua/Mohawks August 2, 1642 and tortured for a year in captivity. Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.175, n1. Megapolensis also wrote that “Though they [Maqua/Mohawks] are so very cruel to their enemies, they are very friendly to us, and we have no dread of them.”
[44] Letter written August 3, 1646 from Trois Rivieres, New France in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.262
[45] Donna Merwick, The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland, (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006), p.118. NOTE: Although chock full of interesting facts, the source citation should be double checked. Mis-citations occasionally appear in this otherwise fine work. For example: the citation on page 293, footnote 8 states a certain quote (“The VOC urged its personnel and burghers to marry indigenous women ‘after the Roman and Portuguese precedents.’”) as coming from Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire. Merwick states she found the quote in this book on p. 242 and that she found it in the 1965 Penguin edition. Since the book was published by Alfred Knopf in 1965 and the citation she mentioned is actually on page 216 (and, in my opinion, somewhat taken out of context – she says the VOC advocated inter-racial marriage when in fact Boxer says that one of the officials in the East Indies wrote to his superiors in Holland seeking this in a letter). In short, I would double check all sources Ms. Merwick cites.
[46] “Their money consists of certain little bones, made of shells or cockles, which are found on the sea-beach; a hole is drilkled through the middle of the little bones, and these they string upon thread, or they make of them belts as broad as a hand or broader, and hang them on their necks, or around their bodies. …They value these little bones as highly as many Christians do gold, silver and pearls; but they do not like our money, and esteem it no better than iron.” Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.176.
[47] Peter Wraxell, An Abridgement of the Indian Affairs Contained in Four Folio Volumes, Transacted in the Colony of New York, from the Year 1678 to the Year 1751, ed. Charles Howard McIlwain (1915; New York: Benjamin Blom, 1968), p. 195. Quoted in Timothy J. Shannon, Iroquois Diplomacy on the Early American Frontier, (New York: Viking, 2008), p.22
[48] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 292
[49] John De Laet, Extracts From The New World or A Description of the West Indies, J. Franklin Jameson, ed. & trans., (no date or place of publication), Cornell University facsimile reproduction, 1993. p. 294
[50] From the ‘Historisch Verhael,’by Nicolaes Van Wassenaer, 1624-1630 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.81.
[51] “Representation of New Netherland” in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.302. This was the Remonstrance, signed by Loockermans, his brothers in law Van Couwenhoven and Van Courtlandt on October 13, 1649.
[52] Charles Ralph Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1970), 2nd Edition, p.229.
[53] “Narrative of a Journey Into the Mohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635” in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.140
[54] Letter written by Reverend Johannes Megapolensis the Younger, August 26, 1644 in J. Franklin Jameson, Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664, (New York: Elbiron, 2005) [reprint of 1909 edition], p.174. Certainly, the good Reverend’s detailed knowledge of such a subject makes one wonder whether this was acquired through first-hand experience.
[55] Janny Venema, Beverwijk: A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664, (Albany: SUNY Press, 2003), p.168.
Copyright 2010 by David Baeckelandt. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction without my express, written consent.
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