New Netherland Settler Sketches

Name

Andries van Angola.[1] “Van Angola” was not a hereditary last name, but served as an identifier to distinguish him from other men named Andries.

He was not the same person as Andries de Neger [Andries, the Black man] who had a child baptized in 1649,[2] since Andries van Angola died by 1647.[3]

Origin

Andries was originally from Angola, as indicated by the words “Van Angola” [from Angola] following his first name in his 1642 marriage record. Called a “neger,” he was a Black man.[4]

Migration

Andries van Angola’s race and origins suggest he was transported to New Netherland in bondage. He was in New Netherland by 28 September 1642.[5]

Settlement

Andries van Angola probably lived in or near New Amsterdam, probably at the “negroes’ plantation,” a community of free Black people just north of New Amsterdam,[6] where his widow later owned land.[7] Andries married in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam and had a child baptized there.[8]

Biographical Details

Andries van Angola was born between say 1592 (probably no more than 50 years old at marriage) and 1624 (probably at least 18 at marriage).[9] He died between 5 February 1645 (baptism of child)[10] and 8 February 1647 (wife called a widow).[11]

Marriage and Children

Andries van Angola, a “neger” [Black man] and Anna van Angola, widow of Francisco van Capo Verde, registered their marriage intentions at the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 28 September 1642.[12]

Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola had one known child:

1. Trijntje, daughter of Andries van Angola, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 5 February 1645. Witnesses: Pieter van Camp, Marie Anthonij.[13]

Enslavement

As a Black man in New Netherland by 1642, Andries van Angola was probably enslaved. It is possible he was manumitted. His widow received a grant of land in 1647, suggesting she had achieved half-free status by then, although Andries and Anna were not mentioned in the manumissions recorded before 1647.[14]

Holdings and Estate

On 8 February 1647, Anna Negrinne [Black woman], the widow of Andries d’Angola, received a patent for 3 morgens and 2 rods of land on Manhattan Island, in the “negroes plantation.”[15] They may have occupied the land before the formal grant, during Andries van Angola’s lifetime.

Church Membership

Andries van Angola married and had a child baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam.[16] He does not appear in the lists of confessed members of that church.[17]

Andries van Angola witnessed the baptisms of the following children:

• Marije, daughter of Anthonij Ferdinando, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 21 April 1642 (witnesses: Cleen Anthonij, “neger” [Black man], Andrie [sic] van Angola, Vrouwtje Gerrits, Isabel van Angola).[18]

• Barber, daughter of Emanuel Swager van Angola, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 28 September 1642 (witnesses: Andries van Angola, Maria van Angola, concubine of Anthonij Fernando).[19]

Associations

When Andries and Anna van Angola’s daughter Trijntie was baptized, they chose Pieter van Camp and Marie Anthonij as witnesses.[20] Pieter van Camp(en), also known as Pieter Tamboer,[21] owned land next to the land Anna received in 1647. Marie Anthonij later married Anthonij Mattheuszen. They were both Black.[22]

Andries must also have been close to Anthonij Ferdinando and Emanuel Swager van Angola, who asked Andries to witness the baptisms of their children.[23]

Literature

Christoph, Peter R. “The Freedman of New Amsterdam.,” in A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected Rensselaerswijck Seminar Papers. E, ed. Nancy Anne McClure Zeller. New Netherland Publishing, 1991. pp. 157–70. This chapter mentions Anna van Angola in the context of other freed slaves who were granted land.

Source Editions

Gehring, Charles T., ed. Land Papers, Volumes GG, HH & II, 1630–1664. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1980. p. 48. Translation of patent to “Anna Negerinna.”

Sypher, Francis J., ed. Liber A of the Collegiate Churches of New York, Part 2: Baptisms 1639 to 1697, Members 1649 to 1701, Marriages 1639 to 1701. Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015. pp. 25, 474. Transcriptions of the baptismal and marriage records.

Citations

[1] Marriage intentions of Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola, 28 September 1642, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, marriage register, 1639–1701, p. 574; imaged, “U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639–1989,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6961) > New York > Manhattan > Collegiate Church … > image 465 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[2] Baptism of Evert, son of Andries de Neger, 22 August 1649, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register 1639–1697, p. 275; imaged, “U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639–1989,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6961) > New York > Manhattan > Collegiate Church … > image no. 176 of 1410.

[3] Patent to Anna Negrinne, 8 February 1647, in New Netherland Colonial Council, patents and deeds, vol. GG, 1630–1651, p. 169; imaged, New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/51268), identifier NYSA_A1880-78_VGG_0169; citing series A1880-78, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[4] Marriage intentions of Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola, 28 September 1642.

[5] Marriage intentions of Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola, 28 September 1642.

[6] For the location of the plantation where free Black people lived see Andrea C. Mosterman, Spaces of Enslavement: A History of Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 2021), 50–51.

[7] Stille conveyance to Bastiansen, 23 December 1696, citing D’Angola conveyance to Stille, 11 April 1684, in New York City, New York, conveyances, 21:143; digital film 7178079, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9W5-GRXQ), image 295; citing Register’s Office, New York County, New York.

[8] Marriage intentions of Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola, 28 September 1642. Baptism of Trijntje van Angola, 5 February 1645, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register 1639–1697, p. 263; image 163 of 1410.

[9] Marriage intentions of Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola, 28 September 1642.

[10] Baptism of Trijntje van Angola, 5 February 1645.

[11] Patent to Anna Negrinne, 8 February 1647.

[12] Marriage intentions of Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola, 28 September 1642.

[13] Baptism of Trijntje van Angola, 5 February 1645.

[14] Kenneth Scott and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, eds., Council Minutes, 1638–1649, trans. A.J.F. Van Laer, New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. IV (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1974).

[15] Patent to Anna Negrinne, 8 February 1647.

[16] Marriage intentions of Andries van Angola and Anna van Angola, 28 September 1642. Also, baptism of Trijntje van Angola, 5 February 1645.

[17] Francis J. Sypher, ed., Liber A of the Collegiate Churches of New York, Part 2: Baptisms 1639 to 1697, Members 1649 to 1701, Marriages 1639 to 1701, Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015).

[18] Baptism of Marije, daughter of Anthonij Ferdinando, 21 April 1642, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register 1639–1697, p. 255; image 155 of 1410.

[19] Baptism of Barber Swager van Angola, 28 September 1642, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register 1639–1697, p. 256; image 156 of 1410.

[20] Baptism of Trijntje van Angola, 5 February 1645.

[21] I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498–1909: Compiled from Original Sources and Illustrated by Photo-Intaglio Reproductions of Important Maps, Plans, Views, and Documents in Public and Private Collections, vol. 6 (New York City, New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1928), 74.

[22] Marriage intentions of Anthonij Mattheuszen and Maria Anthonij, 1 February 1654, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, p. 589; imaged, “U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639–1989,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/6961) > New York > Manhattan > Collegiate Church … > image 478 of 1410.

[23] Marije, daughter of Anthonij Ferdinando, 21 April 1642. Baptism of Barber Swager van Angola, 28 September 1642