New Netherland Settler Sketches

Name

Jan Kindt was a sailor.[1]

Origin

Jan Kindt was probably from the Southern Netherlands. He was a cousin of Frans Pelgroms Gerartsen or his wife Barbara Sprangers,[2] who were from “Norenberg” [Nüremberg in present-day Germany] and Antwerp, respectively, when they married.[3] The Pelgroms were originally from Antwerp.[4]

Migration

Jan Kindt was a member of the first few crews to explore the area that became known as New Netherland. His first visit was in 1612–1613.[5] During his second voyage he arrived at the Hudson around January 1614.[6]

Biographical Details

Jan Kindt was born about 1583/84. He was about 28 years old on 14 July 1614, when he gave a declaration about the voyage on the Tijger.[7] He died at an unknown time after 14 July 1614,[8] after 1618 if he was the junior merchant Jan Kindt stationed in the Dutch East Indies at that time.[9]

Marriage and Children

He may have been the father of Pieter Jansz Kindt, who traveled to New Netherland as a ship’s carpenter on the Nieuw Nederland in 1632.[10] Pieter’s patronymic, last name, and seafaring profession are consistent with Jan Kindt’s details. However, there were multiple men named Jan Kindt, so it is uncertain which of these fathered Pieter.[11]

Occupation

Jan Kindt served as supercargo on the Fortuijn (1612–1613)[12] and Tijger (1613–1614).[13] As supercargo he represented the interests of the ship owners, buying and selling merchandise at a profit. He was a “cosijn” [cousin] of Frans Pelgroms Geerartsen, one of the owners of the ships, who mentioned Jan Kindt in a letter to his wife on 30 July 1613. Frans wrote that skipper Adriaen Block and cousin Jan Kindt were both healthy and had had a good journey.[14]

Jan Kindt first sailed to New Netherland as a supercargo at the end of 1612, probably on the Fortuijn out of Amsterdam.[15] He served under skipper Adriaen Block on the skipper’s third voyage to the New World. They stayed for several months at the Hudson River to trade with the Native population. There they were joined by another Amsterdam ship, which tried to outbid them for the furs. Eventually the skippers came to an agreement.[16] Adriaen Block and his crew returned to Amsterdam by 30 July 1613.[17]

Jan Kindt’s second voyage to New Netherland, again under skipper Adriaen Block, was more eventful. They sailed from Amsterdam on the Tijger in October 1613, arriving at the Hudson River around January 1614. The Tijger caught fire and burned later that month or at the beginning of February 1614. Block refused help from the other Dutch ships, which would have required him to give up part of his furs, and built a new ship. Simon Hart, in his book about the prehistory of the New Netherland Company, assumes this new ship was the Onrust.[18] Some of Block’s crew committed mutiny and overtook the Nachtegael, one of the other Dutch vessels. Block’s loyal crew members, including Jan Kindt, shot at the mutineers, who fired back. Kindt and four others then took a sloop to go up the river to get help from the Fortuijn. The Fortuijn’s crew refused to attack the mutineers, and the Nachtegael escaped to the West Indies.[19] Two other Dutch ships arrived, and the four captains agreed to share the trade. Kindt may have sailed home on the Fortuijn.[20]

He was probably the “onderkoopman” [junior merchant] Jan Kindt who worked for the Dutch East India Company in 1618. Together with senior merchants Sijmon Joosten and assistant Adrijaen Lambrechtsen, that man served at a ship at the coast of “Tierepopuluerij,” an unknown location in the Dutch East Indies.[21]

Associations

Jan Kindt was a cousin of Frans Pelgroms Gerartsen, an Amsterdam investor who was a joint owner of the ships on which Jan Kindt sailed.[22]

Literature

Hart, Simon. The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson. City of Amsterdam Press, 1959. Describes the voyages in which Jan Kindt participated in great detail (pp. 21–31); includes short biography of Jan Kindt (p. 53). In the sketch, Hart called Francoys Pelgrom the uncle of Jan Kindt. However Pelgrom himself, in his letter to his wife, used the expression “onse Cosijn” [our cousin], indicating Kindt was a cousin rather than a nephew.

Source Editions

Hart, Simon. The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson. City of Amsterdam Press, 1959. English translation of letters from Francoys Pelgroms to wife Barbara Sprangers (p. 74), notarial declaration (pp. 87–89).

Citations

[1] Declaration about ship under skipper Adriaen Block, 14 July 1614, in Jan Franssen Bruijningh, notary (Amsterdam), minutes, 28 January 1614–13 January 1617, fol. 99r–101v; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/45be76cb-a609-471a-766f-7cf0edcef38e), image 98–101 of 799; citing call no. 198, Record Group [RG] 5075: Archief van de Notarissen ter Standplaats Amsterdam [Records of the Notaries Residing in Amsterdam], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[2] Letter from Francoijs Pelgroms Geerartsen to wife Barbara Sprangers, 30 July 1613, in Willem Cluijt, notary (Amsterdam), miscellaneous records, vol. 2, letter book by Francoijs Pelgroms Geerartsen; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/4b8cdcb3-15fc-d485-80aa-6887b79201ab), image 173–74 of 481; citing call no. 373, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam.

[3] Marriage intentions of Franchois Pelgrom Geeraerds and Barbara Sprangers, 4 October 1608, in Amsterdam, marriage intentions of the city, 1606–1612, p. 147; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/d641b7c9-143f-40cf-b455-563f3d67fc6f); citing call no. 666, RG 5001: Archief van de Burgerlijke Stand: doop-, trouw- en begraafboeken van Amsterdam (retroacta van de Burgerlijke Stand) [Archives of the Civil Registration: baptismal, marriage, and burial books of Amsterdam (predecessors of the civil registration)], Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[4] Raimond Veenstra, “Een vergeten compagnie: De Gotenburgse compagnie van coophandel te Amsterdam en Gotenburg (1606–1611)” Jaarboek van het Genootschap Amstelodanum 101 (Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amstelodanum, 2009): 86–120 (p. 92).

[5] Letter from Francoijs Pelgroms Geerartsen to wife Barbara Sprangers, 30 July 1613.

[6] Declaration about ship under skipper Adriaen Block, 14 July 1614.

[7] Declaration about ship under skipper Adriaen Block, 14 July 1614.

[8] Declaration about ship under skipper Adriaen Block, 14 July 1614.

[9] Roll of merchants lying on the coast, 1618, in Dutch East India Company, copies of resolutions of the governor-general and council in the Indies, 13 March–5 October 1618, fol. 339; imaged, Nationaal Archief (https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/onderzoeken/archief/1.04.02/invnr/1068), image 761 of 1024; citing call no. 1068, RG 1.04.02: Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie [United East India Company], Nationaal Archief, The Hague, Netherlands.

[10] Deposition by Arent Pietersz and Jan Bruinen at the request of Pieter Jansz Kindt, 28 August 1632, in Johan Dirksz Verheij, notary (Amsterdam), minutes and copies, 1 July 1632–30 November 1633, p. 114; imaged, Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/inventarissen/file/44291a41-4630-309e-cdff-ae90dab17db9), image 62 of 509; citing call no. 770, RG 5075, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[11] For example, Jan Willemsz Kint registered his marriage intentions in Amsterdam on 7 May 1595 to marry Dirkje Adriaens. Marriage intentions of Jan Willemsz Kint and Dirkje Adriaens, 7 May 1575, in Amsterdam, extra-ordinary register of proclamations, 1591–1611, p. 59; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/19bddcc2-5c25-449a-a7d9-4c7420ec80fc); citing call no. 762A, RG 5001, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Jan Tonisz Kint had a daughter Anna baptized on 28 December 1625. Baptism of Anna Kint, 28 December 1625, in Oude Kerk Dutch Reformed Church (Amsterdam), baptismal register 1622–1634, p. 130; imaged, “Indexen,” Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief (https://archief.amsterdam/indexen/deeds/bd9d1899-0d20-4420-9226-b20edda3bc33); citing call no. 6, RG 5001, Stadsarchief Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.

[12] Letter from Francoijs Pelgroms Geerartsen to wife Barbara Sprangers, 30 July 1613.

[13] Declaration about ship under skipper Adriaen Block, 14 July 1614.

[14] Letter from Francoijs Pelgroms Geerartsen to wife Barbara Sprangers, 30 July 1613.

[15] Simon Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company: Amsterdam Notarial Records of the First Dutch Voyages to the Hudson (City of Amsterdam Press, 1959), 22.

[16] Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company, 22.

[17] Letter from Francoijs Pelgroms Geerartsen to wife Barbara Sprangers, 30 July 1613.

[18] Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company, 28.

[19] Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company, 29–30.

[20] Hart, The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company, 28–31

[21] Roll of merchants lying on the coast, 1618.

[22] Letter from Francoijs Pelgroms Geerartsen to wife Barbara Sprangers, 30 July 1613.