Lot
A5
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Property Was Used in 1660 For:
Date Start
1656-01-00
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Full Stokes Entry (See images below)
Domine Johannes Megapolensis owned this large plot, covering the site of Nos. 7, 9, and II Broadway.
Megapolensis was a native of Koedyck, a village four miles north-north-east of Alkmaar, in North Holland; he arrived in New Amsterdam in the ship "den Houttuyn," August 4, 1642, accompanied by his wife, Machtelt Willems, daughter of Willem Steenge, and four children, "Hillegont, dirrick, Jan and Samuel." — Van Rensselaer Bowier MSS., 609, 623. He was under contract to Kiliaen van Rensselaer to preach the gospel at Rensselaerswyck for a term of six years.
His real name seems to have been Grootstadt, or van Grootstede. — Ibid., 828; Jameson's Nar. N. Neth., 165. Corwin says the original form of the name was van Mekelenburg, which was Hellenised when the elder Megapolensis moved to Holland. — Corwin's Manual of the Ref. Ch. in America, 4th ed., 614; cf. Eccles. Rec, I: 228.
He was the first Protestant missionary to the Indians, and, in 1644, pubhshed A short account of the Mohawk Indians, which is printed in Jameson's Narratives of New Netherland, 168-80. In 1648, he wrote to the Classis at Amsterdam: "I think that I have remained at my station here in this wild country (long enough)," and insisted upon returning to Holland. — Eccles. Rec, I: 239. Finally, he was persuaded, "for the honor of God . and the interest of men," to remain in New Amsterdam, where, in August, 1649, he was installed minister, with a salary of i,2co guilders ($480) a year. — O'Callaghan's Hist, of N. Neth., II: 97. This handsome income having been augmented by legacies from Holland, he bought the southerly part of his Broadway plot, in 1655. ['] — Liber Deeds, A: 26. There was a small house on the land, which may have been the house of Jan Stevensen, before his sudden departure for Holland. This parcel the domine sold, in 1663, to his son-in-law, Cornells van Ruyven, secretary and receiver of the West India Company, who built here a "large stone dwelling, " which he sold on June 22, 1674, to Gabriel Minvielle. — Liber Deeds, B: 5; cf. Deeds y Conveyances (etc.), 1659-1664, trans, by O'Callaghan, 296-7; Original Book of N. Y. Deeds, 1673-1675, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1913, pp. 27-8.
Megapolensis built his own residence, the large house shown on the Plan, on the upper part of the Stevensen land, which he acquired from Abram Verplanck, in January, 1656. — Liber Deeds, A: 27. From 1653 to 1656 he sent his younger son, Samuel, to Harvard College.— Corwin's Manual of the Ref. Ch. in America, 615. In 1657, he secured a further stated sum of 300 guilders a year "for house rent and firewood." — Cal. Hist. MSS., Dutch, 182. Megapolensis resided here until his death, in the latter part of 1669. — Eccles. Rec, I: 601, 604. His last days were made unhappy by accusations of treachery, brought against him by the West India Company because he had counselled the surrender of 1664. Although he vigorously defended himself in a letter of April 17-27, 1669, to the Classis, he seemed keenly affected by the charges. His letter concludes with a pathetic note of anxiety for his congregation, soon to be deprived of his services. His widow remained here until June, 1674, when, at the age of seventy-four years, and being on the eve of returning to Patria, she sold the house to Balthazar Bayard. — Original Book of N. Y. Deeds, 1673-1675, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1913, pp. 32-3; see Block L, No. 9.
More than fifty years later, Mr. Augustus Jay bought the property from the Bayard family. — Liber Deeds, XXXI: 245. Intending "to Erect several Houses thereon which when finished will be A Beauty and Ornament to the said Street," he petitioned the corporation to straighten Broadway {M. C. C, IV: 13), which being done, he built the fine houses at Nos. 9 and 11 Broadway — later the Atlantic Gardens. The original grant to Jan Stevensen and the deed from Verplanck to Megapolensis are in the possession of the N. Y. Hist. Society. The latter, to which is affixed a fine impression of the earliest seal of the city (1654), is reproduced in Wilde's The Civic Ancestry of New York-City and State, Pis. V and VI, and also in the Chronology.
Megapolensis was a native of Koedyck, a village four miles north-north-east of Alkmaar, in North Holland; he arrived in New Amsterdam in the ship "den Houttuyn," August 4, 1642, accompanied by his wife, Machtelt Willems, daughter of Willem Steenge, and four children, "Hillegont, dirrick, Jan and Samuel." — Van Rensselaer Bowier MSS., 609, 623. He was under contract to Kiliaen van Rensselaer to preach the gospel at Rensselaerswyck for a term of six years.
His real name seems to have been Grootstadt, or van Grootstede. — Ibid., 828; Jameson's Nar. N. Neth., 165. Corwin says the original form of the name was van Mekelenburg, which was Hellenised when the elder Megapolensis moved to Holland. — Corwin's Manual of the Ref. Ch. in America, 4th ed., 614; cf. Eccles. Rec, I: 228.
He was the first Protestant missionary to the Indians, and, in 1644, pubhshed A short account of the Mohawk Indians, which is printed in Jameson's Narratives of New Netherland, 168-80. In 1648, he wrote to the Classis at Amsterdam: "I think that I have remained at my station here in this wild country (long enough)," and insisted upon returning to Holland. — Eccles. Rec, I: 239. Finally, he was persuaded, "for the honor of God . and the interest of men," to remain in New Amsterdam, where, in August, 1649, he was installed minister, with a salary of i,2co guilders ($480) a year. — O'Callaghan's Hist, of N. Neth., II: 97. This handsome income having been augmented by legacies from Holland, he bought the southerly part of his Broadway plot, in 1655. ['] — Liber Deeds, A: 26. There was a small house on the land, which may have been the house of Jan Stevensen, before his sudden departure for Holland. This parcel the domine sold, in 1663, to his son-in-law, Cornells van Ruyven, secretary and receiver of the West India Company, who built here a "large stone dwelling, " which he sold on June 22, 1674, to Gabriel Minvielle. — Liber Deeds, B: 5; cf. Deeds y Conveyances (etc.), 1659-1664, trans, by O'Callaghan, 296-7; Original Book of N. Y. Deeds, 1673-1675, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1913, pp. 27-8.
Megapolensis built his own residence, the large house shown on the Plan, on the upper part of the Stevensen land, which he acquired from Abram Verplanck, in January, 1656. — Liber Deeds, A: 27. From 1653 to 1656 he sent his younger son, Samuel, to Harvard College.— Corwin's Manual of the Ref. Ch. in America, 615. In 1657, he secured a further stated sum of 300 guilders a year "for house rent and firewood." — Cal. Hist. MSS., Dutch, 182. Megapolensis resided here until his death, in the latter part of 1669. — Eccles. Rec, I: 601, 604. His last days were made unhappy by accusations of treachery, brought against him by the West India Company because he had counselled the surrender of 1664. Although he vigorously defended himself in a letter of April 17-27, 1669, to the Classis, he seemed keenly affected by the charges. His letter concludes with a pathetic note of anxiety for his congregation, soon to be deprived of his services. His widow remained here until June, 1674, when, at the age of seventy-four years, and being on the eve of returning to Patria, she sold the house to Balthazar Bayard. — Original Book of N. Y. Deeds, 1673-1675, in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Collections, 1913, pp. 32-3; see Block L, No. 9.
More than fifty years later, Mr. Augustus Jay bought the property from the Bayard family. — Liber Deeds, XXXI: 245. Intending "to Erect several Houses thereon which when finished will be A Beauty and Ornament to the said Street," he petitioned the corporation to straighten Broadway {M. C. C, IV: 13), which being done, he built the fine houses at Nos. 9 and 11 Broadway — later the Atlantic Gardens. The original grant to Jan Stevensen and the deed from Verplanck to Megapolensis are in the possession of the N. Y. Hist. Society. The latter, to which is affixed a fine impression of the earliest seal of the city (1654), is reproduced in Wilde's The Civic Ancestry of New York-City and State, Pis. V and VI, and also in the Chronology.