New Netherland Settler Sketches

Name

Cleijn Anthonij van Angola,[1] often recorded as Cleijn Anthonij [little Anthonij] without a last name,[2] was a Black man in New Netherland. The epithet “Cleijn” was presumably used to distinguish him from other men named Anthonij van Angola.

He was probably not the same man as Anthonij van Angola, widower of Catalina van Angola, who registered his intentions to marry Lucie d’Angool in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 5 May 1641.[3] Cleijn Anthonij acted as baptismal witness with this couple on 14 July 1641,[4] and a petition identified Cleijn Anthonij’s wife as Louwize or Louize, not Lucia.[5]

Origin

Cleijn Anthonij’s name indicates he was from Angola. Identified as a “neger,” he was a Black man.[6]

Migration

Cleijn Anthonij was probably one of the twenty-two Black slaves brought to New Netherland on the Bruijnvisch in 1627. Jaap Jacobs reconstructed this first arrival of enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam, and identified some of them with the group manumitted in 1644.[7]

In 1627, ships belonging to the Zeeland chamber of the West India Company seized a Portuguese ship carrying 225 Black people. The ship had sailed from São Tomé and may have been en route to Cartagena.[8] The captured ship was leaky. The Dutch took twenty-two of the healthiest people, and let the ship continue with the rest.[9] They transferred the captives to the Bruijnvisch, which sailed via Hispaniola and the Florida coast to New Netherland. They arrived on 29 August 1627.[10]

Settlement

Cleijn Anthonij van Angola lived on Manhattan, where he owned land.[11]

Biographical Details

Cleijn Anthonij was probably between say 15 and 25 years old in 1627, if he was one of the twenty-two healthiest people selected for continued enslavement, suggesting a birth date between say 1602 and 1612.[12] According to the adoptive parents of his son, Cleijn Anthonij died about five years after his son was baptized in 1643, which would have been around 1648.[13]

Marriage and Children

Cleijn Anthonij married Louize, also called Louwize, before 30 August 1643 (baptism of child).[14] The adoptive parents of her son said Louize died four weeks after his baptism, which would have been in September or October 1643.[15]

Cleijn Anthonij van Angola and Louize had one known child:

1. Anthonij, son of Cleijn Anthonij van Angola, “Neger” [Black man], baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam on 30 August 1643 (witnesses: Jan Augustinus, “Neger”, Victorie Paulus, “Negrinne” [Black woman]).[16] He died at an unknown date after 21 March 1661 (petition for his freedom).[17] He was also known as Cleijn Anthonij.[18]
   Anthonij was orphaned at a young age. On 21 March 1661, Emanuel Pietersen and his wife Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, free Black people, petitioned the director-general and council of New Netherland for the boy’s freedom. They explained that Reijtorij had witnessed the child’s baptism in 1643 and took care of him when his mother died four weeks later. When his father died about five years after that, she adopted the boy and raised him as her own. Since the boy was born of free parents and raised by free persons, at no cost to the West India Company, they asked that he be declared a free person. This would allow him to inherit the petitioners’ goods. Their petition was granted.[19] Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola must have been the woman identified as “Victorie Paulus” in the baptismal register.

Enslavement

If Cleijn Anthonij was indeed brought to New Netherland on the Bruijnvisch, he was first held in bondage by the Portuguese.[20] In 1627, Cleijn Anthonij would have been enslaved by the Dutch West India Company.

In 1644, eleven Black men, including Cleijn Anthonij, petitioned the New Netherland governor for their freedom. They explained how they had served the West India Company for eighteen or nineteen years and had long been promised their freedom. In the company’s service, it would be impossible to support their families. On 25 February 1644, Governor Willem Kieft granted their request. They would receive farmland to provide for their families. In return, they had to provide 30 schepel of corn annually to the company and remain available for (paid) work. Their current or future children would not be free, but would remain serfs of the West India Company.[21] Although the land patent called Cleijn Anthonij a “free Negroe,”[22] the imposed conditions indicate it was rather a half-freedom—with more rights than enslaved people, but fewer than free colonists.

In 1650, the New Netherland committee explained that the freed slaves had been confiscated from the Spanish and had served the West India Company for a long time before their eventual emancipation. Of all the children, only three were still used as slaves.[23] Apart from the nationality of the ship that first transported the slaves, this explanation matches Jacobs’s argument that the manumitted slaves were part of the human cargo transported on the Bruijnvisch. The 1650 committee report and the 1644 book documenting the capture were created years after the 1627 capture,[24] so minor discrepancies are to be expected.

Occupation

The West India Company exploited Cleijn Anthonij’s labor between 1627 (when he probably arrived) and 1644 (when he was manumitted). After obtaining his freedom, he still had to be available to work for the company, for a wage.[25] Laborers enslaved by the West India Company were tasked with building Fort Amsterdam (completed in 1635), cutting timber and firewood, clearing land, burning lime, and gathering the harvest.[26]

Holdings and Estate

On 30 December 1644, Director-General Willem Kieft granted land on Manhattan to Cleijn Anthonij, “a free negroe.” The land stretched along by the land of Pieter Santomee, south-west somewhat more westerly 56 rods, along by the land of Simon Congo to the land then belonging to old Jan west south west 30 rods, then along the said Old Jan’s land south-south-east 27 rods, further east by north a little more northerly 23 rods, further on east by north and east north east 65 rods, to the first descent north by west somewhat more northerly 43 rods, in total about 6 acres or 3 “margen” 549 rods large. On 19 October 1667, Governor Nicolls confirmed the Dutch patent. This was after the death of Cleijn Anthonij, so the land devolved upon his son, also called Cleijn Anthonij.[27]

Cleijn Anthonij’s patent is also named as a neighbor in the patent to Paulo Dangola, granted on the same day as Cleijn Anthonij’s. Paulo died before 18 October 1667, when the English governor Nicolls confirmed the patent to Etoria Dangola, his widow, who had remarried Manuel Pieters.[28] She was the woman known as Victorie Paulus (Victorie, Paulus’s wife) and Reijtorie or Dorothe van Angola, who adopted Cleijn Anthonij’s son.[29]

Church Membership

Cleijn Anthonij van Angola witnessed the baptisms of several children in the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam:

• Catharina, daughter of Jacom Anthonij van Angola, baptized on 7 July 1641 (witnesses: Cleijn Anthonij van Angola, Susanna van Angola).[30]
• Anthonij and Maria, twins, children of Anthonij Portugies, “Neger” [Black man], baptized on 14 July 1641 (witnesses: Jacom Anthonij van Angola, Cleijn Anthonij van Angola, Lijcije and Anthone van Angola).[31]
• Marije, daughter of Anthonij Ferdinando, baptized 21 April 1642 (witnesses: Cleen Anthonij, “Neger” [Black man], Andrie van Angola, Vrouwtje Gerrits, Isabel van Angola.[32]
• Lovijse, daughter of Catharina van Angola, baptized on 19 April 1643 (witnesses: Pieter van Camp, “tambour” [drummer], Cleijn Anthonij van Angola, Susanna Pieters, “Negrinne” [Black woman]).[33]
• Michiel, son of Emanuel van Angola, baptized 17 April 1645 (witnesses: Cleijn Anthonie van Angola, Marij Grandes).[34]

Associations

Cleijn Antonij was part of a group of Black men that appear in several records together. He was accused of Jan Premero’s murder along with Paulo d’Angola, Jan van Fort Orange, Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, Anthonij de Portugees, Manuel Minuit, Simon Congo, Gracia d’Angola, and Groote Manuel.[35] Most of these men were among those that requested manumission in 1644 alongside Cleijn Antonij: Paulo Angolo, Groot [Big] Manuel, Cleijn [Little] Manuel, Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, Simon Congo, Gracia d’Angola, Antonij Portugis, Piter Santomee, Jan Francisco, and Jan Fort Orange.[36] He was also close to Jan Augustinus and Victorie Paulus, also known as Dorothea van Angola, who witnessed the baptism of his son,[37] and Jacob Anthonij van Angola, Anthonij Portugies, Anthonij Ferdinando, Catharina van Angola, and Emanuel van Angola, who asked Cleijn Anthonij to witness their children’s baptisms.[38]

Additional Details

On 17 January 1641, Cleijn Antonij was one of nine Black men accused of killing Jan Premero, also a Black man. The men confessed to killing Premero on 6 January 1641 in the woods behind their houses, but did not say who had dealt the final blow. The New Netherland Council decided to draw lots instead of convicting everyone. Manuel de Gerrit de Reus was selected and sentenced to death, though he was later pardoned after a failed execution. Cleijn Antonij and the other seven men were acquitted.[39]

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 paper conflates Cleijn Anthonij (“Little Anthony”) with the husband of Lucie d’Angola (see Name). Discusses the adoption of son Anthony.

Dewulf, Jeroen. “The Captives of the Bruynvisch (1627): New Insights into the Origins and Ladino Identities of Manhattan’s First Enslaved Africans.” Colonial Latin American Review 34 (September 2025): 367–91. DOI: 10.1080/10609164.2025.2562693. Discusses Cleijn Antonij as part of the group of first enslaved Africans.

Goodfriend, Joyce D. “Black Families in New Netherland.” In A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected Rensselaerswijck Seminar Papers, edited by Nancy Anne McClure Zeller. New Netherland Publishing, 1991. Discusses the petition for the freedom of Cleijn Anthonij’s son in the context of Black families securing property and status (pp. 151–52).

Mosterman, Andrea C. Spaces of Enslavement: A History of Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University, 2021. Pages 13, 26, 42–43, 154.

Phelps Stokes, Isaac Newton. 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. 6 vols. Robert H. Dodd, 1915–1928. Discussion of the land grant to Cleijn Anthonij (6: 75–76). Phelps Stokes identified Cleijn Anthonij as the Anthony from Angola who married Lucie D’Angola on 5 May 1641. However, this must have been a different man (see Name).

Romney, Susanah Shaw. New Netherland Connections: Intimate Networks and Atlantic Ties in Seventeenth-Century America. The University of North Carolina Press, 2014. Discussion of the fictive kinship network between Black people who acted as baptismal witnesses, including Cleyn Anthony (pp. 214–15); and the emancipation of the group including Cleijn Anthonij and their resulting half-freedom (p. 223).

Shorto, Russell. Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America. Swift, 2025. Adoption of son Anthony by Dorothea Angola (p. 147).

Van Zwieten, Adriana A. “‘[O]n her woman’s troth’: Tolerance, Custom and the Women of New Netherland.” Halve Maen 72 (Spring 1999): 3–14. Discusses Dorothe Angola’s adoption of Anthonij (pp. 13–14).

Source Editions

Dickenson, Richard. “Abstracts of Early Black Manhattanites.” New York Genealogical & Biographical Record 116 (April 1985): 100–104.

Scott, Kenneth, and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, eds. Council Minutes, 1638–1649. Translated by A. J. F. Van Laer. Vol. 4. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1974. Murder of Jan Primero (pp. 97–100), manumission (pp. 212–13).

Scott, Kenneth, and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, eds. The Register of Salomon Lachaire, Notary Public of New Amsterdam, 1661–1662. Translated by E. B. O’Callaghan. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1978. Petition for freedom of Anthony, son of Kleyn Anthony and Louize (pp. 22–23).

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. Baptism of son (p. 18), baptismal witness (pp. 9, 12, 17, 18, 26).

Citations

[1] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661, in Salomon LaChaire, notary (New Amsterdam), records, 20 January–23 May 1661 fol. 26r–v; imaged, “Digital Collections,” NYC Department of Records & Information Services (https://nycrecords.access.preservica.com/), identifier MSS0040_1_6_01, images 55–56 of 120; citing subseries 1.6: records of the notary public, series 1: Original Dutch records of New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam records, New York City Municipal Archives, New York City, New York.

[2] Confirmation of patent to Cleijn Antonio, 30 December 1644, confirmed 18 October 1667, in Richard Nicolls, governor (New York), letters patent, vol. 2, pp. 130–31; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/88136), identifier NYSA_12943-78_V02_p130-131; citing series 12943-78, Department of State, Bureau of Miscellaneous Records, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[3] Marriage intentions of Anthonie van Angola and Lucie d’Angool, 5 May 1641, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, marriage register, 1639–1701, p. 572; 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 463 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[4] Baptism of Anthonij and Maria, children of Anthonij Portugies, 14 July 1641, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 253; 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 153 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[5] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661.

[6] Baptism of Marije, daughter of Anthonij Ferdinando, 21 April 1642, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 258; image 155 of 1410.

[7] Jaap Jacobs, “The First Arrival of Enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam,” New York History 104, no. 1 (Summer 2023): 96–114, https://doi.org/10.1353/nyh.2023.a902905.

[8] Jacobs, “The First Arrival of Enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam.”

[9] Joannes de Laet, Historie ofte iaerlyck verhael van de verrichtinghen der geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, zedert haer begin, tot het eynde van ’t jaer sesthien-hondert ses-en-dertich; begrepen in derthien boecken, ende met verscheyden koperen platen verciert: beschreven door Ioannes de Laet . . . (Elzevir, Bonaventura & Abraham, 1644), 117.

[10] De Laet, Historie ofte iaerlyck verhael, 119.

[11] Confirmation of patent to Cleijn Antonio, 30 December 1644, confirmed 18 October 1667.

[12] Jacobs, “The First Arrival of Enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam.”

[13] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661.

[14] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661. Baptism of Anthonij, son of Cleijn Anthonij van Angola, 30 August 1643, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 258; image 158 of 1410.

[15] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661.

[16] Baptism of Anthonij, son of Cleijn Anthonij van Angola, 30 August 1643, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 258; image 158 of 1410.

[17] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661.

[18] Confirmation of patent to Cleijn Antonio, 30 December 1644, confirmed 18 October 1667.

[19] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661.

[20] Jacobs, “The First Arrival of Enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam.”

[21] Manumission of eleven black men, 25 February 1644, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial council minutes, vol. 4, 1638–1649, p. 183–84; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/11580), identifier NYSA_A1809-78_V04_p183-184.

[22] Confirmation of patent to Cleijn Antonio, 30 December 1644, confirmed 18 October 1667.

[23] New Netherland committee, reply to the remonstrance about situation in New Netherland, 31 January 1650, article 43, in States-General, records regarding the situation in New-Netherland, in particular the position of patroons and population, 1649–1650; call no. 12564.30A, Record Group 1.01.02: Archief van de Staten-Generaal [Records of the States-General], Nationaal Archief, The Hague, Netherlands; scans supplied by Nationaal Archief.

[24] De Laet, Historie ofte iaerlyck verhael, 119.

[25] Manumission of eleven black men, 25 February 1644.

[26] “Deposition of Jacob Stoffelsen, overseer of Negroes, as to the employment of said Negroes during the administration of Wouter van Twiller,” Kenneth Scott and Kenn Stryker-Rodda, eds., Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1638–1642, trans. Arnold J. F Van Laer, vol. 1 (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1974), 112–13.

[27] Confirmation of patent to Cleijn Antonio, 30 December 1644, confirmed 18 October 1667.

[28] Confirmation of patent to Paulo D’Angola, 30 December 1664 [should be 1644], confirmed 18 October 1667, in Richard Nicolls, governor (New York), letters patent, vol. 2, pp. 128–29; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/88133), identifier NYSA_12943-78_V02_p128-129.

[29] Petition of Emanuel Pietersen and Reijtorij or Dorothe Angola, for freedom of their adopted son Anthony, 21 March 1661.

[30] Baptism of Catharina, daughter of Jacom Anthonij van Angola, 7 July 1641, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 253; image 153 of 1410.

[31] Baptism of Anthonij and Maria, twins, children of Anthonij Portugies, 14 July 1641, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 253; image 153 of 1410.

[32] 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.

[33] Baptism of Lovijse, daughter of Catharina van Angola, 19 April 1643.

[34] Baptism of Michiel, son of Emanuel van Angola, 17 April 1645.

[35] Fiscal vs. Cleijn Antonio and others, 17 January 1641, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial council minutes, vol. 4, 1638–1649, p. 83; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/11480), identifier NYSA_A1809-78_V04_p083; citing series A1809, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[36] Manumission of eleven black men, 25 February 1644.

[37] Confirmation of patent to Cleijn Antonio, 30 December 1644, confirmed 18 October 1667.

[38] Baptism of Catharina, daughter of Jacom Anthonij van Angola, 7 July 1641. Anthonij and Maria, twins, children of Anthonij Portugies, 14 July 1641. Baptism of Marije, daughter of Anthonij Ferdinando, 21 April 1642. Baptism of Lovijse, daughter of Catharina van Angola, 19 April 1643. Baptism of Michiel, son of Emanuel van Angola, 17 April 1645.

[39] Fiscal vs. Cleijn Antonio and others, 17 January 1641.