Lot: Petrus Stuyvesant - 1651-03-12 (1 of 3) (Original Grants and Farms)

B. BOUWERY No. 2

"The lands [farms] Nos. I and 1 shall each be 80 rods in width along the road and shall extend in length so as to contain up to 60 morgens, instead of 50 morgens as put down on the plan, so that they will be 450 rods in length."

"Farm No. 2 shall be reserved for each succeeding commissary on the same conditions [as in Farm No. i] which farm the comforter of the sick may provisionally take up." Special Instructions for Cryn Fredericksz, April 22, 1625. — Van Rappard Doc. E.

Bouwery No. 2 was 80 rods (1000 feet, English) along the road, from Stuyvesant St. south to the Minthorne farm.

There is nothing in the records to show that Sebastiaen Jansen Crol, who came with Verhulst as comforter of the sick, ever took the farm over. He was appointed commissary at Fort Orange in 1626, and subsequently spent most of his time at Rensselaerswyck.

May I, 1630, the bouwery was leased to Gerrit Theunisz de Reux (Gerrit Matheusz de Reuz, also known as Geurdt van Gelder) for six years.

After he had paid the first instalment and the first years rent he was summoned home by the company, probably because he had sold so many animals from the farm to Kiliaen van Rensselaer.

Van Rensselaer was only interested in his own colony, and it was essential that his settlers there should have cattle, horses, and farming implements. These were to be had from the farmers of Manhattan, who were so harrassed by the Company that they were ready to sell their stock and quit.

When Gerrit de Reux was recalled, his farm was engaged for Coenraed Notelman, a kinsman of van Rensselaer.

July 2, 1631, Van Rensselaer wrote to Notelman: "Your Honor will also take care that the farm of Geurdt van Gelder [Gerrit de Reux] which has been allotted to you, and the cattle left to me, shall also be supplied" (with animals). — Van Winkle, Manhattan t624-i6jg, 46.

At the same time he engaged Gerrit de Reux to establish a farm for him near Fort Orange, contracting to supply him with two men and two boys, "with horses and tools and all sorts of supplies needed;" possibly the same animals and tools that De Reux had sold from Bouwery No. 2. — P'an Rennselaer-Bowier MSS., 198.

De Reux returned to New Netherland on "den Soutberg," the same ship that brought Van Twiller, arriving April, 1633. No record has been found that he ever returned to Bouwery No. 2. He was useful to the patroon at Rensselaerswyck and died there between May 10, 1638, and May 13, 1639. He evidently retained interests in New Amsterdam, for Van Rensselaer wrote: "he did not die and leave an estate in my colony or jurisdiction but at the manhatans." For this settler, see ibid., 290-295, 416, 44Q, 580.

Barent Dircksen, baker, seems to have been the next occupant of this farm. When he leased his bouwery of "Walensteyn," May 14, 1638, he made a condition that he should "be allowed to remain in his house until he had found another suitable dwelling."^^ Y. Col. Docs., XIV: 7.

Barent Dircksen died after Aug. 16, 1640. His widow, Eliza-

beth Everts, married Harmen Smeeman, Dec. 14, 1645. — Marr. in Ref. Dutch Ch., 13.

The grant to Smeeman covered only the easterly part of Bouwery 2. The house evidently stood near the river.

The description in the ground-brief is not exactly the same as that in the confirmation.

There can be no doubt that the grant covered that part of the original bouwery lying along the East River, including "Burnt Mill Point," but its westerly boundary is rather uncertain; probably it was the old orchard lane.

The area would have been greater than the patent calls for, but that acreage may not have included the salt meadows which formed so large a part of it. In the calculation of the area of the Schout's Bouwery, the meadows were not included. A century later, Jan. 9, 1760, the common council gravely recorded the fact that "this kind of Land (swamp) it is well known was not Antiently esteemed worth patenting." — M. C. C, VI: 200.

Barent Dircksen's widow, through her second husband, procured a patent.

WiLiEM KiEFT, Director, etc., to Harmen Smeeman, husband of Barent Dircksen's widow. Ground-brief dated April 2, 1647. — Liber GG: 207 (Albany).

Conveys "A certain piece of land situated on the East river on the island of Manhattans, bounded on the north by the noble company's great bouwery and extends from the house next a certain valley (marsh) and along the beach of the said river, southeast, 80 rods; further around the point; further west-north-west, a little north, 80 rods along a certain valley (meadow) to a certain Cripplebush (swamp). North by west to [along] a certain Cripplebush, 27 rods. Further into the woods west (>2 rods, through the woods 75 rods, then northeast 60 rods to a Cripplebush, along the Cripplebush in different courses or directions to the place of beginning. Amounting in all to 23 morgens, 486 rods."

Herman Smeeman to William Beeckman. Deed dated April I, i(,i2-— Liber HH: 26 (Albany).

Conveys the farm as in the ground-brief.

William Beeckman to Peter Stuyvesant. Deed dated 1656. Not found of record; recited in Patents, II: 139 (Albany).

Conveys 46 acres, same as Smeeman to Beeckman.

Richard Nicolls, Governour, etc., to Peter Stuyvesant. Confirmation, dated Nov. 6, 1667. — Liber Patents, II: 139 (Albany).

Recites ground-brief to Harmen Smeeman, dated .April 2, 1647, deed Smeeman to Beeckman, April I, 1653, and deed Beeckman to Stuyvesant, 1656. Conveys same property.

That part of Bouwery No. 2 not included in the Smeeman grant was already in Stuyvesant's possession by virtue ot the deed from the directors at .'\msterdam, dated March 12, 1651, previously noted.