The Peace of Christ to You.
Reverend Sir, Well Beloved Brother in Christ, Kind Friend!
THE favorable opportunity which now presents itself of writing to your Reverence I cannot let pass, without embracing it, according to my promise. And, first to unburden myself in this communication of a sorrowful circumstance, it pleased the Lord, seven weeks after we arrived in this country, to take from me my good partner, who had been to me, for more than sixteen years, a virtuous, faithful, and altogether amiable yoke-fellow; and I now find myself alone with three children,(1) very much discommoded, without her society and assistance. But what have I to say? The Lord himself has done this, against whom no one can oppose himself. And why should I even wish to, knowing that all things must work together for good to them that love God? I hope therefore to bear my cross patiently, and by the grace and help of the Lord, not to let the courage fail me which in my duties here I so especially need.
(1) Two daughters and a son, Jan, whom he had placed in the
house and custody of skipper Jan Jansen Brouwer.
The voyage was long, namely, from the 24th of January till the 7th of April, when we first set foot upon land here. Of storm and tempest which fell hard upon the good wife and children, though they bore it better as regards sea-sickness and fear than I had expected, we had no lack, particularly in the vicinity of the Bermudas and the rough coasts of this country. Our fare in the ship was very poor and scanty, so that my blessed wife and children, not eating with us in the cabin, on account of the little room in it, had a worse lot than the sailors themselves; and that by reason of a wicked cook who annoyed them in every way; but especially by reason of the captain himself,(1) who, although I frequently complained of it in the most courteous manner, did not concern himself in the least about correcting the rascal; nor did he, even when they were all sick, given them anything which could do them any good, although there was enough in the ship: as he himself knew very well where to find it in order, out of meal times, to fill his own stomach. All the relief which he gave us, consisted merely in liberal promises, with a drunken head; upon which nothing followed when he was sober but a sour face; and he raged at the officers and kept himself constantly to the wine, both at sea and especially here while lying in the river; so that he daily walked the deck drunk and with an empty head, seldom coming ashore to the Council and never to Divine service. We bore all with silence on board the ship; but it grieves me, when I think of it, on account of my wife; the more, because she was so situated as she was—believing that she was with child—and the time so short which she had yet to live. On my first voyage I roamed about with him a great deal, even lodged in the same hut, but never knew that he was such a brute and drunkard. But he was then under the direction of Mr. Lam,(2) and now he had the chief command himself. I have also written to Mr. Godyn(3) about it, considering it necessary that it should be known.
(1) "Evert Croeger, with whom, prior to this, I had made
long voyages, but never before did I know him well."—Letter
of August 8 to Jan Foreest.
(2) Admiral Jan Dirckszoon Lam, who in 1625 and 1626 was in
command of a Dutch squadron on the west coast of Africa.
(3) Probably Samuel Godyn, a prominent director of the
company.
Our coming here was agreeable to all, and I hope, by the grace of the Lord, that my service will not be unfruitful. The people, for the most part, are rather rough and unrestrained, but I find in almost all of them both love and respect towards me; two things with which hitherto the Lord has everywhere graciously blessed my labors, and which in our calling, as your Reverence well knows and finds, are especially desirable, in order to make our ministry fruitful.
From the beginning we established the form of a church; and as Brother Bastiaen Crol(1) very seldom comes down from Fort Orange, because the directorship of that fort and the trade there is committed to him, it has been thought best to choose two elders for my assistance and for the proper consideration of all such ecclesiastical matters as might occur, intending the coming year, if the Lord permit, to let one of them retire, and to choose another in his place from a double number first lawfully proposed to the congregation. One of those whom we have now chosen is the Honorable Director(2) himself, and the other is the storekeeper of the Company, Jan Huygen,(3) his brother-in-law, persons of very good character, as far as I have been able to learn, having both been formerly in office in the Church, the one as deacon, and the other as elder in the Dutch and French churches, respectively, at Wesel.(4)
(1) Sebastian Janszoon Krol came out to New Netherland in
1626 as a "comforter of the sick" at Manhattan, but before
long went up to Fort Orange, where he was chief agent for
the company most of the time to March, 1632. Then, on
Minuit's recall, he was director-general till Wouter van
Twiller's arrival in April, 1633.
(2) Peter Minuit, born of Huguenot parentage in 1550 in
Wesel, west Germany, was made director general of New
Netherland in December, 1625, arrived in May, 1626, bought
Manhattan Island of the Indians that summer, and remained in
office till recalled early in 1632. In 1636-1637 he made
arrangements with Blommaert and the Swedish government, in
consequence of which he conducted the first Swedish colony
to Delaware Bay, landing there in the spring of 1638, and
establishing New Sweden on territory claimed by the Dutch.
During the ensuing summer he perished in a hurricane at St.
Christopher, in the West Indies.
(3) Probably the ame as Jan Huych, comforter of the sick.
(4) Jan Huyghens was deacon of the Dutch Reformed church at
Wesel in 1612; and probably Minuit was elder in the French
church there.
At the first administration of the Lord's Supper which was observed, not without great joy and comfort to many, we had fully fifty communicants—Walloons and Dutch; of whom, a portion made their first confession of faith before us, and others exhibited their church certificates. Others had forgotten to bring their certificates with them, not thinking that a church would be formed and established here; and some who brought them, had lost them unfortunately in a general conflagration, but they were admitted upon the satisfactory testimony of others to whom they were known, and also upon their daily good deportment, since one cannot observe strictly all the usual formalities in making a beginning under such circumstance.