p63  III

The Island in the Delaware

In 1625 the West India Company sent a new commander to New Netherland — none other than Willem van der Hulst, the same testifier who had made his first voyage to America the previous year with May on the Nieu Nederlandt. The official title given him was "provisional director," and we will call him by the form of his name preferred by van Laer, i.e. Verhulst. He sailed to America on his second voyage in the vessel Den Orangeboom ("The Orange Tree"), probably leaving Holland in January, 1625. The vessel brought additional colonists, as well as cattle, seeds, trees, vines, farm implements, and other supplies.⁠1 Accompanying Verhulst as comforter of the sick, and also experiencing his second voyage to America, was Bastiaen Jansen Krol.

Wassenaer had written the previous year, about affairs in New Netherland, "Respecting this colony, it has already a prosperous beginning; and the hope is that it will not fall through provided it be zealously sustained not only in that place [Fort Orange] but in the South River."⁠2

The instructions issued to Provisional Director Verhulst prior to his departure for America contain the following two paragraphs of utmost importance in identifying the unnamed island where Lourenson saw the remains of the Walloons' settlement:

Whether or not the island "to be called the High Island" is the same as the one Wassenaer called Prince's or Murderer's Island is something the documents do not make clear, but that possibility exists. The island "to be called the High Island," but still without a name to the Dutch prior to the issuance of the instructions to Verhulst, lay "below the first falls." Lourenson said that the unnamed island where the Walloons had lived was "near" the falls, which would place it south of present‑day Trenton. It could have been north of Trenton, because Laurenson arrived by sloop, and the river was not navigable to sloops as the falls were approached. (The "falls" was actually an extensive area in the bed of the river where rocks interfered with navigation. The lower area was sometimes known as "the first falls.") Lourenson refers further to the settlement being "neare the west side thereof," which is usually interpreted to mean the island was on the west side of the river. He probably meant that the settlement was on the west side of the island, which agrees with the above description in the Verhulst instructions  p65 of the most suitable place being the "lower" [i.e., western] end of the said island."

The opening phrase, "Whereas we have received and examined a report," can only mean that someone had been on this island, and had been impressed with its resources. That person could have been May, or even Verhulst, since both had previously been in New Netherland. Furthermore, the evidence points in the direction that "the island to be called the High Island" was the site of the first Delaware settlement, and that the Walloons were still in residence there when Willem Verhulst arrived in New Netherland with additional colonists.

The instructions to Verhulst go on to say, and we have italicized the significant words:

There can be no question that the intent was not only to populate High Island with all the families, but to situate the "usual place of residence" of the provisional director there, which would make it a seat of the Dutch government in New Netherland. In fact, the instructions direct Verhulst, his family, and members of his council as well as "such others as he shall deem fit" to sit at one table to eat, and "rations shall be dealt out to the farmers and their families and other persons, until other arrangements therein shall be made by the company."⁠5

 p66  The families accompanying Verhulst were to be distributed in all occupied places, "but he shall strengthen the population of the southern colony most."⁠6 The significance of this phrase is evident; the Company intended that the heaviest concentration of colonists should be placed on the Delaware River. Based on information that had been received from May, Verhulst, and others, after the return of the Nieu Nederlandt, the directors decided to make the main settlement of New Netherland on the Delaware, and to reinforce the other occupied places on the Hudson.

The documents do not make it certain that Verhulst settled on High Island as directed — he may have placed his colonists elsewhere, probably on Manhattan Island. Unfortunately his administration was short and information about it is meager. It was written that the colonists were "harshly ruled by Verhulst and that without any legal formality, but merely upon his own authority." It was further written that "only that was punished which offended Verhulst or his dignity, not according to law, but according to his pleasure."⁠7 There is one clue that faintly suggests Verhulst may have come to the Delaware. A Dutch map, c. 1629, entitled Caert vande Sydt Rivier in Niew Nederland has an entry "Verhulsten Island" in the Delaware River.⁠8 In view of the practice of attaching personal names to places discovered, visited, occupied, or otherwise associated with an individual it is possible, but by no means certain, that Verhulst had something to do with this island. Unfortunately, Verhulsten Island cannot be located with exactness on the above map nor on maps of the later Jansson-Visscher series on which it later appeared. Its general position on the c. 1629 map is approximately the same as  p67 present‑day Biles Island.⁠9 Inasmuch as High Island was below the first falls, and the above map shows Verhulsten Island above the first falls, they must have been two different places.

Sometime after his arrival in New Netherland, Verhulst was reinforced by additional families of settlers, who left Holland in April of 1625. Wassenaer said of these reinforcements that "an extraordinary shipment was sent thither this month," stating that "country people have joined the expedition" and that stallions, mares, bulls, cows, hogs, sheep, seeds, and more agricultural implements were sent.⁠10 The ships in the second expedition were the Paert, Koe, Schaep, and Mackerel.

The Mackerel brought a second set of instructions, dated April 22, 1625, drawn up by the directors of the Amsterdam Chamber for "Willem van der Hulst, commissary and for the members of the Council residing on the rivers, islands, and the mainland of New Netherland, etc."⁠11 In these instructions one senses a change in the directors' attitude, apparently due to the additional reports that had reached them and of which regrettably there is no record. The directors, in the second instructions, are less certain about the South River being the most suitable locale for the seat of the colony. The new contingent of colonists are "to take up their abode on the South or North River or at such other places as may be most advantageous to the Company."⁠12

Among the newcomers was Cryn Fredericksz, an engineer and surveyor, who had been given written instructions to assist Verhulst in building a fort according to detailed specifications prepared by the directors. The site of the fort was not stipulated, but Verhulst was instructed to "investigate which is the most suitable place, abandoned or unoccupied, on either river, and  p68 there settle with all the cattle and build the necessary fortification."⁠13 Fredericksz was told in his special letter of instruction that he should proceed when Verhulst and council, pursuant to instructions, "have found a suitable place in which to establish a settlement with all cattle." The fort was to be called Amsterdam.⁠14

New settlers who reinforced the colony arrived in the late spring of 1625 — and others followed in later vessels — but in the fall of 1626 Willem Verhulst was on his way back to Holland in disgrace, banished from the colony for bad conduct. The exact nature of his malfeasance is not known, but the council tried him, found him guilty, relieved him of his office, and sent him and his wife back home on the ship Wapen van Amsterdam ("Arms of Amsterdam") which departed from Manhattan September 23, 1626.⁠15

After discharging Verhulst, the council appointed Peter Minuit as his successor. Although of French descent, Minuit came from Wesel, Germany, a city on the Rhine famous as an asylum for persecuted Protestants. His name appears variously as Menuet, Minuict, Minuyt, or Menewe — a Dutch transliteration of the French sound — and sometimes in the Germanized forms, Minnewit or Minnewitz. Evidently he was a man of education; he wrote excellent Dutch although with distinctly German spelling, and he had been an elder in the French church at Wesel, suggesting knowledge of that language. Jameson said that Minuit  p69 arrived in New Netherland on May 4, 1626, taking this information from Wassenaer, who wrote that "Adriaen Joris [Thienpoint — the same skipper referred to in the previous chapter] went out there on the 19th of December of the year 1625 with the ship Sea‑mew and conveyed Pieter Minuit aforesaid . . . . the Sea‑mew arrived there 4th May, 1626." Wassenaer also stated that Minuit "went thither from Holland on January 9 Ano 1626."⁠16 This contradiction in dates caused Jameson and others to speculate that the Sea‑mew left Amsterdam on December 19, 1625, was delayed by weather, and did not depart from the Texel until January 9, finally arriving in America on May 4. If true, this would be an unusually long time for a voyage that normally required six to eight weeks. Jameson, of course, did not have access to the Van Rappard Documents wherein there is information strongly suggesting that Minuit was in New Netherland prior to May 4, 1626.

For example, in the first instructions (January, 1625) Verhulst was told to have "Pierre Minuyt and others whom he shall deem fit investigate what minerals and crystals there may be both on the North River and on the South River." The same instructions order him to have "Pierre Minuyt, as volunteer, and others whom he deems competent thereto sail up the river as far as they can in any way do so, in order to inspect the condition of the land . . . ."⁠17 In the second instructions (April, 1625) Minuit is named as one of the members of Verhulst's council.⁠18

 p70  If — as this evidence seems to indicate — Minuit was in New Netherland with Verhulst in 1625, and if, as Wassenaer states, he arrived in May of 1626, he must have made two trips. There is no reason to doubt this, because some of his contemporaries in Company's employ — Verhulst, May, Thienpoint, and Krol, for example — had been in New Netherland more than once prior to 1626.

Another item has come to light that further complicates the question of the date of Minuit's departure from Holland. The notarial records contain a declaration under date of January 15, 1626, by "Peter Minuit of Wesel" who stated that some time previously he had entered into partner­ship with Jan Valck to buy grain at Frankfort for which Valck furnished the money; that the grain was taken from them; that Valck demanded of Minuit one half of the purchase money; that he was unable to pay, and that Valck forced him to cause "his brother-in‑law Geurt Raets, residing at Cleves, to become security for 600 rixdollars."⁠19 Obviously, Minuit could not have departed Amsterdam on December 19, the Texel on January 9 — and made a declaration before an Amsterdam notary on January 15.

One inference to be drawn from this declaration is that Minuit had been a merchant of sorts prior to his leaving for New Netherland. Having encountered heavy losses, it may have been the state of his finances that prompted him to seek employment with the West India Company as a member of the Verhulst expedition.

Apart from the question of the date of Minuit's departure from Holland, it is made clear in the Van Rappard Documents that he was not originally sent as governor, as so many historians have maintained. It was intended by the directors that he play a lesser role in the colony than that which circumstances forced upon him after his arrival. Nor was the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians — an incident for which Minuit receives credit in  p71 American histories — made when he first arrived. At that time, he was not the ranking officer and as yet had no authority to make land purchases for the Company. As the reader has seen, Minuit, probably on his second visit, was advanced to become "Director-General" of New Netherland because of Verhulst's reprehensible conduct.

The brief reference to the purchase of Manhattan Island from the Indians is found in a letter written at Amsterdam November 5, 1626 by Peter Schagen, the Deputy of the States General. The letter was unknown in America until John R. Brodhead returned from Holland with a photostat of it in 1844. Prior to that date no historical work on the New Netherland that has come to attention refers to Minuit buying Manhattan Island. In fact, neither Minuit's name nor the date of the purchase is mentioned in Schagen's letter, which states in part, "Their women, also, have borne children there, they have brought the island Manhattes from the wild men for the value of sixty guilders, is 11,000 morgens in extent. They sowed all their grain in the middle of May, and harvested it in the middle of August."⁠20

Those who have said that the purchase was made by Minuit have so assumed because they inferred he was the Director-General at this time of the purchase. If there was a deed covering the sale, which would settle the question, it, unfortunately, has not yet come to light.

If Schagen meant that the colonists planted their grain on Manhattan Island in May, it can be argued that the island must have been purchased before this time. It is inconceivable that the Company would have started planting without acquiring owner­ship  p72 of the land. Unless Minuit was the Director-General in May, which the information to follow will suggest is not a certainty, then it could have been Verhulst or someone else who initiated the memorable purchase. Under the erroneous impression that Minuit was sent as the first "governor," many historians interpreted Schagen's letter to mean that Minuit was in office in May, 1626, but this has not yet been established.⁠21 Not until November, 1626, does an entry appear in Wassenaer's account to the effect that "The Honorable Pieter Minuit is Director there at present," although de Rasière indicates he held the post earlier.

It cannot be proved that Minuit did not buy Manhattan Island, because it is still uncertain when he succeeded Verhulst, and the Van Rappard Documents do not name a specific date. An important clue, however, is found in the letter written by de Rasière on September 23, 1626, from which a passage was quoted in the previous chapter. This letter states that "on Minuyt's arrival here he was placed in command by the Council . . . ." This brings us back to the contradiction in dates concerning his arrival in New Netherland. If Minuit arrived (on a second trip) on May 4, 1626, the date given by Wassenaer, and was then placed in command by the council, it is extremely unlikely that they would have allowed five months to elapse before sending Verhulst back to Holland. Several Dutch ships moved back and forth across the Atlantic during those months, and there would seem to have been no reason to delay Verhulst's sailing until September 23, 1626. It should also be noted that the Arms of Amsterdam which took Verhulst back to Holland also carried de Rasière's letter, and the news about the purchase of Manhattan  p73 Island that Schagen covered in his letter to the States General. This leaves no doubt that Verhulst was in America at the time the island was purchased.

De Rasière's letter bears closer examination because a meaning can logically be drawn from it which, if correct, would place the events in a different sequence. He wrote that "On our arrival there [at Fort Amsterdam, July 28, 1626] we did not find Minuyt, he having gone to Fort Orange to inquire into the disaster caused by the reckless adventure of Crieckenbeeck."⁠22 He then goes on to inform the directors of Minuit's advancement:

Then, in the following paragraph, he explains further that:

Presumably the letters de Rasière delivered were intended for Verhulst and contained instructions from the directors along with other matters of business. De Rasière's phrase "on Minuyt's arrival" can be interpreted to mean when he arrived back at Fort Amsterdam from his trip to Fort Orange and not necessarily his arrival date in America. It would then follow that Minuit was placed in command at the meeting of the Council the following day attended by de Rasière, who had a voice in the proceedings. Until this meeting took place Verhulst had probably not been sentenced, for de Rasière said in his letter that he was sending the directors "a copy of the judicial proceedings which  p74 took place in the Council during my time."⁠24 These proceedings, which are missing, included the accusations against Verhulst and his defense. In referring to the deportation of Verhulst and his wife, de Rasière repeats the plural we three times, leaving no doubt that he participated in the sentence. The following is his phraseology, with italics supplied:

Minuit now recognized that his tenure would be permanent, and in November he sent for his wife to come to New Netherland.⁠26 This fact must also be considered, for had Minuit taken Verhulst's place at the time of his arrival in the colony, he probably would have sent earlier for his wife. De Rasière's letter was the first notice to the directors of the change in commanders — if Minuit had taken office as early as May it would not have been necessary for the secretary to report the incident more than five months later. The directors had good intelligence of the affairs in New Netherland, and they would have known about a change in their principal officers before the lapse of five months.

Following Verhulst's departure, all the settlers living on the  p75 Delaware, and the majority of those at Fort Orange, were transferred to Manhattan. Minuit played an important part in consolidating the population at Manhattan, which by 1628, according to Wassenaer, "numbered 270 souls." In November, Wassenaer wrote, "Those of the South River will abandon their fort and come hither [to Manhattan]."⁠27 Soon afterward he noted, "The fort at the South River is already vacated in order to strengthen the colony. Trading there is carried on only in yachts, in order to avoid expense."⁠28 In an entry dated October, 1628, he makes it clear that all of the settlers on the Delaware had gone to Manhattan: "Those of the West India Company have also removed all those who were at the South River."⁠29

The records do not disclose how many colonists actually lived on the island in the Delaware, but there can no longer be any doubt that such a settlement existed; that the West India Company sent Verhulst as the "governor" in 1625 with orders to expand the settlement; the expansion never materialized; Verhulst was banished from the colony; the settlers on the Delaware were then withdrawn and sent to live under the jurisdiction of Minuit on Manhattan Island, which was destined to become New Netherland's political and economic center.

High Island and the unnamed island occupied by the Walloons were unquestionably one and the same place, but to identify this island in terms of today's geography requires documentary research in a later period. Fifty years after the Walloons had departed, another Dutch "governor" chose a Delaware island as his estate. During these fifty years, Swedes and English had both contested with the Dutch for control of the Delaware, and the Dutch had returned with a new contingent of settlers. Reference  p76 to the island is found in a journal of two Dutch travelers under date of November 18, 1679. The italic has been added by the authors:

The former Dutch "governor" mentioned in this quotation was Alexander d'Hinoyossa, a tyrannical, unprincipled man who was promoted to office in 1659, having formerly been an army officer. He was still holding his high position in 1664 when Sir Robert Carr descended on the Dutch settlement on the Delaware and seized control on behalf of the Duke of York. Carr confiscated the lands, houses, and personal possessions belonging to the Dutch officials, including d'Hinoyossa's property. Carr kept the latter for himself, "that is to say, the Governor Inniosa's island."⁠31 In Chapter 10 the reader will find further discussion of  p77 Carr's attack on the Delaware and the properties seized by him and his officers.

Sir Robert remained only for a few months on the Delaware following the attack, and after his departure the island was for a time in the custody of Captain John Carr, one of his officers, who would later become the chief English administrator at New Castle. On December 15, 1668, letters were issued to Captain John Carr directing him to surrender, to Peter Alricks, "Matinicom als [alias] Carrs Island in Delaware ryver & all the Stock Goods and other materials there upon heretofore in your care and Custody . . . . and whatever else was delivered to you there by Sr Robert Carr."⁠32

Peter Alricks was a brilliant and resource­ful business man who had come to New Netherland from Groningen prior to the English attack. The burgo­masters of Amsterdam employed him as an official in their Delaware colony where, soon after his arrival, he acquired large land holdings. He lost these lands, as well as his other possessions, to Carr's forces in the attack. After the smoke of battle settled, Alricks became friendly with the English officials, who soon recognized that his influence and ability could be utilized to their best interests. Within a few years his position as landholder had been restored, and he not only acquired d'Hinoyossa's Island, but the English authorities confirmed the patents of two other islands to him on February 15, 1667. They were described as "scituate lying and being on ye West side of ye said River and about South West from ye Island called Matineconck." The bigger of the two islands was "formerly known by the name of Kipps Island and by ye Indian name of Koomenakannokonck, containing about a myle in length and half a myle in breadth and  p78 ye other Island lying somewhat to the North of ye former being of about half a myle in length and the quarter of a myle in breadth . . . ."⁠33 Before the English attack, Alricks had owned another island, on which there was a plantation, in the Delaware seven miles below New Castle.⁠34

This insular Dutchman was, therefore, owner at different times of four islands in the Delaware, of which Matinakonk was the largest and by far the most valuable. The latter island remained in his possession for about six years, and he employed others to cultivate it for him while he sought profit in other directions. In 1671 two of his Dutch servants were killed by Indians on the island "of Matiniconk in Delaware River," which provoked retaliation against the Indians by the English.⁠35

In 1673, the Dutch wrested control of New Netherland from the English, and for a brief period Anthony Colve, former "captain of a company on foot," held office, having been appointed August 12 by Jacob Benkes and Cornelius Evertsen "to govern and rule these lands." In the role of Governor-General, with headquarters at New York, Colve on September 19 appointed Peter Alricks as "Commander and Schout" on the Delaware, which further attests to Alricks' executive ability, recognized alike by the English and his own countrymen. Needless to say, the former English officers on the Delaware were made extremely unhappy by this turn of events, which again gave the Dutch political control of the colony. Following the signing of the Treaty of Westminster between Holland and England, the English position was restored, and English officials resumed authority on the Delaware. Alricks then found himself in bad graces; the English accused him of having "been too eager to work in Dutch  p79 interests" during the interlude when they were out of office.⁠36 Evidently it was at this time that his island property was confiscated, for on November 18, 1678, Edmund Andros, who had succeeded Lovelace as governor, leased "Mattiniconck Island in Delaware River unto Robert Stacey for the Term of Seven Yeares."⁠37 Stacy, a Quaker from Yorkshire, had come from England in 1677, along with two hundred others of the same sect, to settle in New Jersey, or Nova Caesaria. Thus, at the time of the visit in 1679 by the two Dutch travelers the island belonged to the English governor, and was, indeed, occupied by Quakers, as they stated. When Stacy obtained his lease, Peter Jegoes and Henry Jacobs had been renting the island from Governor Andros. Jegoes' name was corrupted to "Chygoe," and the island was also known by this name for a time.⁠38

In Stacy's lease, Matinakonk Island was described as being "in delaware River towards the ffals. " High Island was "below the first falls" and the unnamed Walloon's island was "near the falls." Furthermore, the fertility and size of High Island were highly praised, and when this description is compared with the statement that Matinakonk was the "biggest and best" island, there is little reason to doubt that High Island, Matinakonk Island, and the unnamed Walloons' island were all the same place.⁠39

The island had another name, recorded in 1633 by the Dutch navigator de Vries, to whom later reference will be made. He  p80 described an island he had touched in the Delaware River in these words: "ende raeckten met die Vlot tot het Schoone Eylandt toe."⁠40 This is translated to mean that he arrived at "the Beauti­ful Island." By capitalization and use of the definite article, de Vries particularized the island which suggests he was familiar with its name, possibly from a map in his possession.⁠41 The previously mentioned Caert van de Sydt Rivier in Niew Nederland has the entry Schoon Eylandt ("Beauti­ful Island") which, if one may judge from its position, can only be the island known today as Burlington Island. Murphy, who translated and edited the journal of the two Dutch travelers who were on the Delaware in 1679, indicates that Burlington Island and Matinakonk Island were the same place.⁠42 The present authors are in agreement with this identification.

The following passage taken from the writings of Gabriel Thomas, a Welsh yeoman and resident of William Penn's colony of Pennsylvania in 1681, adds finality to the identification of the Walloons' island. In his account, he explains that the Indians were the first occupants of the Delaware River. Then follows this very significant passage:

There is scarcely room for doubt that Thomas was describing the site of the short-lived Walloon settlement, and he refers  p81 specifically to the island as "Stacies Island." This was one of the names for Matinakonk Island — other names for there are island were High Island, Schoon (Beauti­ful Island, d'Hinoyossa's Island, Carr's Island, Chygoes Island, and — today's name — Burlington Island.

Due to modern dredging operations to obtain sand and gravel, the lower end of Burlington Island has been partially destroyed and any evidences of the first Dutch occupation obliterated. On April 22, 1961, the writer [C. A. W.] and several associates⁠44 explored the island, which now plays an important commercial role in supplying the city of Burlington with fresh water. There are five water wells having a total capacity of five million gallons daily, pumped to Burlington by submarine pipe.

The lower, or western, portion of the island formerly arose to a 20‑foot elevation, and was, indeed, "high" land and ideal for house sites. The fertility of the soil, the remains of woods, the bird and animal life, and its strategic location and accessibility set it apart from other Delaware River islands. One can readily understand why the Dutch singled out this beauti­ful and useful location as the seat of their first Delaware colony.

---

The Author's Notes:

1 Van Laer, pp56, 59.

2 Narratives, Jameson, p76.

3 Van Laer, pp48‑51.

4 Van Laer, p64.

5 Ibid., pp74‑75.

6 Ibid., p40.

7 Van Laer, pp187, 188.

8 Dunlap & Weslager, 1958.

9 Ibid. Van Laer erred, p260, in identifying High Island with Verhulsten Island; he was evidently unaware of the existence of two falls.

10 Narratives, Jameson, p79.

11 Van Laer, p82.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid., p106.

14 Ibid., p152.

15 Among Verhulst's goods was his wife's coat, made of thirty‑two otter skins, and his own tabard, of sixteen beaver skins. Both garments were made of the finest black pelts (ibid., 244). Perhaps there were some of the skins Verhulst took illegally from Jan Price, barber-surgeon, who later petitioned the Company for settlement of his account, claiming that Verhulst unjustly took possession of pelts he had earned by "bleeding the Indians" (Iconography, 4:67). This is one of the earliest references to medical practice among the natives.

16 Narratives, Jameson, p83, fn. 1, p88; also van Laer, p260. In 1895 the Assembly of the State of Delaware appointed a committee to prepare a brief but authentic sketch of Minuit's life, resulting in a memorial service April 23, 1895, in Dover described in a pamphlet entitled Memorial Services in Honor of Peter Minuit. The pamphlet states that Minuit was born in 1580; that his name appears in the civil records of Wesel, March 5, 1619, as guardian of his deceased sister's children; that the records show that on April 15, 1625, he "left for foreign countries."

17 Van Laer, pp44, 75. Several years later Minuit was able to inform van Rensselaer where to find rock crystal on his lands (VRB, p198).

18 Van Laer, p90.

19 Iconography, 6:13.

20 The first translation appeared in NYCD, 1:xxix. A facsimile of the original letter appears opposite p106 in John Fiske, The Dutch and Quaker Colonies in America, 1903. In NYCD, 1:56, a letter from the States General in 1632 stated, "having purchased from the native inhabitants and paid for a certain island also called Manathans, etc."

21 Brodhead, p164 (1853), said that Minuit bought the island for sixty guilders. The price is from Schagen's letter, but, as explained, the letter does not connect Minuit with the purchase. One of the first textbook references to his having paid the equivalent of "twenty-four gold dollars" was John J. Anderson and A. C. Flick, A Short History of the State of New York, 1902.

22 Van Laer, p175. This refers to the war between the Mohawk and Mohegan in which Krieckenbeeck, then in charge at Fort Orange, had foolishly become embroiled, losing his life and the lives of three of his men.

23 Ibid., p176.

24 Ibid., p183.

25 Ibid., p183.

26 Ibid., p259.

27 Narratives, Jameson, p84.

28 Ibid., p86.

29 Ibid., p88. All the people from Fort Orange, except fifteen or sixteen men, were also transferred to Manhattan.

30 Journal of a Voyage to New York in 1679‑1680 (Danckers and Sluyter), Memoirs, Long Island Historical Society, 1 (1867), 174. The two travelers had passed five islands in the Delaware, and they observed that Matinakonk and Tinicum "are the principal islands and the best and largest" (ibid., p177). Matinakonk and Tinnicum both derive from an Algonkian word meaning "at the island," although they are different places.

31 PA., 2nd Series, 5:600.

32 Ibid., pp603‑604. Dunlap, 1956, p38, lists "Inniosa's Island," but at that time was in doubt about its location.

33 NYCD, 12:461. He paid four otter skins annually as quit rent; his name is shown on the rent list of 1671 (ibid., p492). His tract of 560 acres on St. Augustine Creek was known as Groningen (DYR, p100).

34 DYR, p26. The English confiscated this also in 1664.

35 PA., 2nd Series, 5:629‑630.

36 NYCD, 12:513. For a translation of Colve's commission and information about his appointment see William Smith, A History of New York, Albany, 1814, p59; the commission was later printed in NYCD, 2:609‑610.

37 NYCD, 12:614.

38 Ibid., p615.

39 It is now possible to understand the unsigned, undated petition in the New York records which heretofore has not been explained. Written in wretched English, the petitioners ask Andros to grant them a tract of four-thousand acres, four miles above and four miles below the falls, including the islands. It seems evident that they were Quakers (ibid., pp521‑522).

40 David Pietersen de Vries, Korte Historiael ende Journaels Aeteyckeninge, ed. H. T. Colenbrander, 's‑Gravehage, 1911.

41 A map made in Minuit's time, c. 1630, shows Schoon Eyland and immediately above it the name Matonancons, another form of Matinakonk (Iconography, 2: Pl. 39).

42 Journal of a Voyage, p174, fn. 1.

43 Narratives, Myers, p344.

44 Members of the party were Dr. Walter Dew, James Hain, Lee Ward, and two New Jersey archaeologists, Charles Kier and Fred Calverley. We are indebted to George A. Schultz, officer in charge of the island, for his courtesy and co‑operation. Although there are some summer residents, Mr. Schultz is the only all‑year occupant.

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