Fort Orange

Colonial Conflict, Native People, Anti-Catholicism & The Burning of Schenectady

January 12, 2022 by Peter Hess 5 Comments

In 1652, New Netherland Director General Peter Stuyvesant declared that Fort Orange and everything around it, including the village outside the fort, often called Oranje after the fort, was independent of the ownership of the Van Rensselaer family. He named the small mostly Dutch village “Beverwyck.”

Possibly at the urging of the Van Rensselaers, their earlier manager Arendt Van Curler (Corlear) began planning the construction of a new village. [Read more…] about Colonial Conflict, Native People, Anti-Catholicism & The Burning of Schenectady

Father Isaac Jogues, Pastor Johannes Megapolensis & Native People

December 21, 2021 by Peter Hess 6 Comments

By 1642, the number of inhabitants of the van Rensselaer Manor Rensselaerswyck had grown and Patroon Kiliaen van Rensselaer willingly complied with a requirement of the Dutch West India Company to secure a clergyman for a Dutch Church to conduct services for the settlers.

The Reverend Doctor Johannis Megapolensis, Jr., the dominie (pastor) of the congregation of Schorel and Berg, belonging to the classis of Alkmaar in Holland, was selected and accepted the call. He was to serve for six years at a salary of one thousand guilders (about $400) per year. He was also to receive a yearly donation of thirty schepels (22 ½ bushels) of wheat and two firkins of butter. [Read more…] about Father Isaac Jogues, Pastor Johannes Megapolensis & Native People

The Third Patroon & The English Take-Over of New York

December 6, 2021 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

The third patroon was Kiliaen Van Rensselaer II (1655-1687) son of Johannes, who was the first patroon to live at Rensselaerswyck, the van Rensselaer Patroonship in most of what is now Albany and Rensselaer Counties, along with parts of Columbia and Greene Counties.

Kiliaen II was only seven years old when his father died however, so his uncles continued to manage the colony. Jeremias was director in 1664 when the English seized New Netherland and renamed Beverwyck “Albany.”

Jeremias’ constant conflict with Stuyvesant and his possible establishment of overland fur trade with the English in Massachusetts, avoiding Peter Stuyvesant’s tax collections in New Amsterdam (New York City), may have facilitated the English take-over. [Read more…] about The Third Patroon & The English Take-Over of New York

Rensselaerswyck, Beverwyck & Schenectady: The Stuyvesant, Van Rensselaer and Van Slichtenhorst Conflict

December 5, 2021 by Peter Hess 2 Comments

In spite of his involvement and investment, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer never visited his new patroonship Rensselaerswyck; it was managed by his agent, and cousin, Arendt van Curler, commissioner general of the colony of New Netherland.

The second patroon, Johannes Van Rensselaer (1625–1662) succeeded his father after his father’s death in 1643 but also never came to America. He governed through an agent, Brant van Slichtenhorst. [Read more…] about Rensselaerswyck, Beverwyck & Schenectady: The Stuyvesant, Van Rensselaer and Van Slichtenhorst Conflict

New York, New France: French Ambitions at Oneida Lake in 1634

November 30, 2021 by Daniel Koch 1 Comment

When a Dutchman, Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, traveled from Albany (then Fort Orange) to the main village of the Oneidas in the dead of winter 1634, he was on a mission to thwart the French, who had found their way to Oneida Lake.

In the struggle for influence in Iroquoia, there was no time to lose. The Dutch had a firm hold on the Hudson Valley at this point and a profitable relationship with the Mohawk, but New Netherland’s trade was threatened by New France, which controlled the St. Lawrence River from Lake Ontario to the Atlantic. [Read more…] about New York, New France: French Ambitions at Oneida Lake in 1634

Dutch, Mohawk & Mohican Fur Trade

November 29, 2021 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

After a 1627 conflict, when the Dutch sided with the Mahicans against the Mohawks, the relationship between the first settlers and the Indigenous People was relatively peaceful and cooperative.

This was due in part to the fact that the Patroon had purchased the land from them and also due to the business relationship established between local Indigenous People and the fur traders. [Read more…] about Dutch, Mohawk & Mohican Fur Trade

Early Settlers at Albany: The Founding of Rensselaerswyck

November 23, 2021 by Peter Hess 1 Comment

In 1620, the English Puritans landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts and the following year the Dutch West India Company was chartered and given the exclusive right to conduct trade in New Netherland.

In 1624, eight families joined the Dutch traders at Albany arriving on the ship New Netherland captained by Cornelis May.

These settlers built homes and cultivated farms; they also constructed Fort Oranje (Fort Orange) on the west bank of the Hudson River. [Read more…] about Early Settlers at Albany: The Founding of Rensselaerswyck

State Museum Opening Fort Orange Exhibit May 5th

April 26, 2018 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

On May 5, the New York State Museum is set to open an exhibit highlighting artifacts from Fort Orange, the 17th-century precursor of the state’s capital city.

The exhibition, titled “a small fort, which our people call Fort Orange,” examines the archaeological discovery of the fort in 1970, as well as the lasting impact of Dutch settlement of New York 400 years ago. The title is taken from Johannes De Laet, a director of the Dutch West India Company, recorded in 1625. [Read more…] about State Museum Opening Fort Orange Exhibit May 5th

Researcher Pinpoints 1614 Albany Fort Location

August 21, 2014 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

A local historian believes he has pinpointed the exact location of a 1614 colonial fort in Albany.

“Fort Nassau” was North America’s oldest Dutch trading house, built in 1614 near the present-day Port of Albany. But the precise location of the ruined structure has been largely forgotten over time as the natural and built environment changed during four centuries.

“Fort Nassau is very significant to American, Dutch and Indian history,” said John Wolcott, the researcher who identified the location. “But its exact location had been lost over the years. Not only has the geography changed, but the latitude readings provided by early maps have to be adjusted for problems caused by being inland using instruments of the time.” [Read more…] about Researcher Pinpoints 1614 Albany Fort Location

Amsterdam to Albany: An Address by Russell Shorto

June 11, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Russell Shorto, the 2013 New Netherland Research Center Senior Scholar and author of The Island at the Center of the World and Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City, as well as other acclaimed works, will talk about Dutch cultural heritage from Amsterdam and its influence on Albany, New York.

The talk will be followed by a signing of his most recent book Amsterdam: A History of the World’s Most Liberal City, named one of Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2013 and described as “an expertly told history of a city of new, shocking freedoms and the tough-minded people that developed them.” Copies of the book will be available for sale. [Read more…] about Amsterdam to Albany: An Address by Russell Shorto