Source Text:
On February sixth, 1697, ^ petition signed by Peter
Schuyler, Dr. G. Dellius, Dirck Wessells, and Evert
Bancker, was presented to the Governor and Council, ask-
ing permission to purchase a tract of land on the Mohawk
River, extending about fifty miles in length and two in
breadth, on each side of the river. In June permission
was granted the applicants to make the purchase, " pro-
vided Judge Pinhorne be included." On July the eighth
a bill of sale was signed by the chief Sachem " Rode "
and seven other Mohawks.
24 The Mohawk Patent
The story of this grant, and the trouble it brought
upon those deeply interested in it, is a long one, and for
many reasons very sad. The deed given and signed by
the Mohawks contained the following condition : " It is
the true intent and meaning of this instrument that if
we, or any of our posterity, shall have occasion or need
of any part of said land, we or they shall have provision
for our planting or occupancy." The same month the
deed was presented, and a patent given. But, strangely
enough, the description of the tract in the patent did
not agree with that in the deed ; it made no reservation
for the occupancy of the Indians at the present, or for
future time.
When this became known, it created great excitement ;
two of the Indians testified they had never intended to
alienate their lands, and they desired the patent annulled.
After public meetings and deliberations two patentees,
viz., "Colonel Schuyler and Major Wessells, both of
Albany, freely and of their own accord, resigned their
respective intereststherein to His Majesty." ^^ The Coun-
cil decided this, and other exorbitant grants, to be of
"great prejudice to the City and Country, and a source
of discouragement to the Indians." The remaining pat-
entees were requested to resign, Dr. Dellius was sus-
pended from the exercise of his ministerial functions,
and the Mohawk patent was annulled.
Why the descriptions in the patent and the deed did
not agree, it is difficult and impossible to answer. It is
manifestly unfair to ascribe the change to any of the four
original patentees ; they had been, and continued to be,
the best friends the Indians knew. Dr. Dellius had been
The Westenhook Patent 25
highly regarded by them, and by all ; he had learned the
Indian language, instructed them in the faith, and bap-
tized many of them. One of the Indians at his departure
said, " I am grieved to my soul that you are going
away."
In the Records we find a patent for what probably
proved to be the final purchase Dirck W. Ten Broeck
made of these large tracts. The Indian deed, and the
stamp of the seal of the Province, attesting the sale to
nine gentlemen, of whom one was Major Wessells Ten
Broeck, were dated October, 1703, and April, 1704, and
describe the patent known as the Westenhook. Kinder-
hook was the western line, and Claverack the southern
of this tract, stretching east to Massachusetts and north
to Rensselaerwyck.
The partition of this tract among the patentees did
not take place until Dirck W. Ten Broeck and all his
children had passed away.
It has been reserved until last to refer to an invest-
ment which proved the greatest satisfaction and pleasure.
This was two tracts of land, the one lying on both
sides of Roelof Jansen's Kil, of twelve hundred acres,
and the other situated on the Hudson River, containing
six hundred acres, both of them part of the finest land
included in the tract that had been erected into Living-
ston Manor in 1686. The smaller tract commenced at a
point but two thousand paces south of the Manor House.
It has been questioned why Livingston parted with
this valuable tract, and whether Dirck Wesselse Ten
Broeck might not have been a silent partner in the origi-
nal grant. But the fact remains that " Dirck Wesselse
4
26 - The Bouwerie
Ten Broeck, merchant of Albany," received deed from
Robert Livingston for these lands on October twenty-
sixth, 1694, in consideration of fifteen pounds and an
annual rental of ten shillings.
The creek, or Kil, running through the larger of these
tracts, is still called by the unusual name of those days,
when it first gave the distinctive title to the Bouwerie,
or farm, of Major Ten Broeck. Roelof Jansen, the first
husband of Anneke Jans, was Assistant Bouwmeester
for the Patroon of Rensselaerwyck ; he died about 1636.
The current tradition regarding the name of the stream
is as follows : Owing to a very severe winter in those
early times, Roelof Jansen's boat became so wedged in
the ice of this Kil, that he was obliged to spend the sea-
son with the neighboring Indians, and await the warm air
of spring to release him, and ever thereafter the waters
bore his name.
On the banks of this Kil, on a gentle rise of ground,
Dirck W. Ten Broeck had dwelling and barns erected,
and his interest grew and centered here, as the years
passed on. His great-granddaughter, Albertina Ten
Broeck (No. 140 who subsequently became the wife of
Mr. John Sanders), was probably the last of the family
born in the house then erected upon the Bouwerie. She
made a silhouette illustration of the place, which is both
curious and interesting — a blending of imagination and
reality. It will recall the situation of the house to any
whose good fortune it has been to visit the spot so fraught
with interest, and shows the strength and force of a few
lines to picture the life of the period.
While Dirck Wesselse Ten Broeck withdrew from the
SILHOUETTE OF THE TEN BROECK BOUWERIE,
As it appeared from 1698 to 1762.
THE NEW YC
PUBLIC LIBR/.
ASTOR, LENOX AT
TILDCN FOUNDATi:
Church Interests 27
more arduous cares and responsibilities of public life, he
was still retained as Schepen, or Justice Magistrate, to
which office Governor Dongan had appointed him many-
years previous.
Photo from
https://archive.org/stream/tenbroeckgenealo00runk#page/26/mode/2up
Source Facts:
location, name
Source Files:
PNG, 315KB, created 05/18/17 11:08:15PM
