Before[1] me, Cornelis van Ruyven, appointed secretary in New Netherland in the service of the General Chartered West India Company, appeared the Honorable and Valiant Petrus Stuyvesant, director general of New Netherland, etc., of the one part, and the worthy Jacobus van Daelen,[2] of the other part, who in the presence of the undersigned witnesses declared that they had entered into and concluded together the following contract on the terms and conditions hereinafter written, to wit:
The Honorable Petrus Stuyvesant leases to Jacobus van Daelen, who also acknowledges that he has hired the lessor's farm, situated in the village of Amesfoort on Long Island, together with the house, hayrick, barn and lands thereto belonging, fenced and unfenced, the property of the aforesaid director, for the term of four years, commencing the 4th of October A°. 1655 and ending the first of October A°. 1659,[3] but with this express condition that upon the expiration of the four years it shall be at the option of the lessee to continue the lease for another two years or to give up the same.[4] The honorable lessor promises to deliver with the said farm within the month of May 1656 eight milch cows, four draft horses, two draft oxen, or so many milch cows as the lessee may need[5] and can be conveniently added by the lessor. Furthermore, the honorable lessor promises to deliver with the said farm one wagon and one plow which shall be fit for use, together with two siths and two scythes and one winnowing basket.[6]
The lessee promises to keep the house and lands in good condition, the building roof and window tight and the fences tight during the term of the lease, and at the expiration thereof to deliver the same again in proper repair. For the use of which house and lands etc. the lessee promises to pay promptly every year, to wit, the first year three hundred and fifty guilders and the following years each year four hundred guilders It is also agreed that after the expiration of three years the increase of the cattle shall be divided half and half, and upon the expiration of the lease the whole of the stock of cattle now delivered shall be first set aside in quantity and delivered to the proprietor and lessor, after which the remaining increase shall be divided and distributed half and half by the respective parties, the lessor and the lessee incurring equally the risk of death of the cattle which are now or may hereafter may be delivered.
The lessee promises to pay annually for each milch cow 16 lbs of good butter as rent of the year. It is also stipulated that the lessee shall leave on the farm at the expiration of the lease as much straw as shall then be on the farm. Whatever necessary repairs or expenses on the house the lessee may incur with the knowledge and consent of the honorable lessor, he shall be at liberty to deduct in payment of the rent.
For the performance of all that is above written the parties bind their respective persons and properties, present and future, submitting the same to the control of all courts, tribunals and judges. In testimony whereof they have signed this in presence of the undernamed witnesses. Actum, Amsterdam in New Netherland, the 28th of August 1655.
P. Stuyvesant
Nicasius de Sille
Willem Berckhout
Cornelis van Ruyven
