Document: Ordinance|Director General and Council concerning the formation of villages and prohibition of thatched roofs

[Text is continued in  NYC-RNA_V1_029, 030.  Presented complete here for continuity.  NAHC]

Sad experiences have from time to time shown, that the separate dwellings of the country people, built plainly against the orders and good intentions of the Company and their representatives here, have led to many murders of people, the killing of cattle and burning of houses by the savage natives of this country; all which might be prevented with Gods assistance, if the good inhabitants of this Province would settle together in villages, neighborhoods or hamlets, like our neighbors of New England, who are never or only seldom, because of their dwelling together, subjected to the manifold and general troubles, as we and our nation, which in the first place come upon us, as the merited punishment of our sins by God and then because we give an inducement thereto to the savages by the separate dwelling of the country people, while we in time of need cannot come to the assistance of the one or the other because of the distance between the places, it being impossible for the Director General and Council to provide each farmhouse with a safeguard. Because of the aforesaid murders, injuries and destructions of persons, bouweries and plantations and finally the noticeable damage and decline of this country with its inhabitants and because of what has happened may occur again, unless the good people are taught by their own misfortunes as well as by those of others to be more prudent and careful and to conduct themselves properly, as they ought to, by forming villages at convenient places in such a manner, as the Director General and Council or their officers shall indicate, when with Gods help and the assistance of higher authority they trust to be able better to support and protect their subjects and that this may be made possible, The Director General and Council hereby not only warn their good subjects, but also order, that they shall move closer together in villages, neighborhoods and hamlet during the coming spring, that they may be better protected against attacks and surprises by the savages through their own efforts and through the faithful soldiery of the Director General and Council. All those, who contrary to this order shall remain living on their isolated plantations, do so at their own peril without assistance in the time of need from the Director General and Council; they shall also ' yearly pay a fine of 25 fl. for the public benefit. It is also ordered, in order to prevent sudden conflagrations, that henceforth no house shall be roofed with straw or reeds and no chimney be made of shingles or wood.

Thus done etc., January 18, 1656.