Rutger Hendricksz

Name

Rutger Hendricksz.[1] He was often called Van Soest [from Soest], but it is unclear whether that was just an indicator of origin or also used as a last name.

Origin

Rutger Hendricksz was from Soest,[2] probably the same-named place in the Dutch province of Utrecht. There is also a Soest in Westphalia [present-day Germany], but in a Dutch colony, “Soest” without further qualifications is more likely to refer to Soest in Utrecht.

Migration

Rutger Hendricks sailed to New Netherland on the Eendracht, which departed from Texel on 21 March 1630 and arrived at New Amsterdam on 24 May 1630.[3] Rutger left New Netherland, probably around May 1634, when his term expired.[4] He had left by 3 October 1636, when Van Rensselaer discussed Rutger’s final account.[5]

Settlement

Rutger Hendricksz lived on Manhattan and in Rensselaerswijck. In 1630, he took over Evert Focken’s farm in Manhattan.[6] In 1632, he worked on Kiliaen van Rensselaer’s farm Rensselaersburg on West Island.[7]

Biographical Details

Rutger Hendricksz was born, probably in Soest, around 1597–1598. He was 32 years old on 16 January 1630.[8] He died at an unknown date after 27 April 1634.[9] His patronymic indicates his father’s first name was Hendrick.

Education

From Soest, Rutger Hendricks would have spoken Dutch. He probably was only minimally literate. In a letter to Dirck Cornelisz Duyster, Kiliaen van Rensselaer remarked that “Rutger Hendricxsz and my other men are not very ready with the pen” and asked Duyster to help them a little.[10]

Occupation

Rutger Henricksz van Soest operated a farm for Kiliaen van Rensselaer in the latter’s patroonship of Rensselaerswijck. Van Rensselaer entered into a four-year contract with Rutger, then 32 years old, shortly before 16 January 1630. Rutger’s service would start upon arrival in New Netherland. His annual salary was set at 120 guilders, with an advance payment of 50 guilders plus 5 guilders as a present.[11] Rutger served the agreed-upon four years, operating the farm until 1634.[12]

In 1630, Rutger took over the farm previously operated by the late Evert Focken. The farm had been established a short time before and was not yet fully cultivated.[13] It was located on Manhattan and was later sold to Thomas Sanders.[14] Van Rensselaer instructed Rutger Henricksz and Wolfert Gerritsz, another employee, to relocate the farm’s livestock and equipment closer to Fort Orange. They were to appear before the commander and council of New Netherland to confirm their responsibility to maintain and improve the land, in accordance with the rules the West India Company had set for farmers. The company had provided the farm with four horses, four cows, two heifers, six sheep, six hogs, wagons, and plows, in return for a repayment of 600 guilders plus the offspring of the livestock within six years, which Van Rensselaer committed to paying.[15]

By 27 June 1632, Rutger Hendrixsen van Soest was operating the Rensselaersburg farm on West Island, which had a comfortable house and barn. He had planted twelve morgens with winter wheat and four morgens with winter rye and had enough horses to plant at least eight to ten morgens more.[16] On 1 July 1632, Kiliaen van Rensselaer specified  the farm was located in Bylaersdal [Bylaer’s valley] on West Island.[17] Other workers on his farm were Cornelis Jacopsen van Martensdijck, Seger Jansen van Nieukerck, and Pieter Hendrixsen van Soest.[18] 

Rutger was responsible for an increasing number of livestock. In 1631, one heifer calf was born on the farm, which Rutger Hendrixsen raised. In 1632, his farm also had four yearling bulls and oxen. One colt was born on Rutger’s farm in 1631, and a mare died in 1632.[19] On 14 April 1633, the farm had six horses, including two mares with a foal, five head of cattle, including two with calves, six hogs, and sixteen sheep. The farm produced winter wheat, rye, summer seed, oats, and peas.[20] 

Van Rensselaer appointed Rutger as officer or overseer of farms in 1632.[21] In 1640, Van Rensselaer referred to Rutger Hendricksz as a “faithful foreman” who had brought him great profit,[22] and as an “honest servant”[23]—indicating that Van Rensselaer was pleased with Rutger’s performance.

Rutger Hendricksz probably worked in Rensselaerswijck until 1634.[24] Van Rensselaer had paid his final account by 3 October 1636, when Van Rensselaer expressed his displeasure that Rutger’s successor, Jacob Alberts Planck, had given Rutger his final account without providing information about goods delivered to the West India Company.[25] 

E.B. O’Callaghan referred to Rutger as “superintendent of the brewery” in his History of New Netherland.[26] However, the translation of the documents O’Callaghan consulted contains no such reference, and no beer was produced at Rutger’s farm.[27] A plausible explanation for the reference to brewery is that the original records mentioned Rutger as superintendent of the bouwerij [farm] rather than brouwerij [brewery].

Offices

Kiliaen van Rensselaer sent instructions to appoint Rutger Hendricksz as his officer and schout [sheriff].[28] However, it is doubtful that Rutger Hendricksz ever fulfilled the latter position. No known records show Rutger Hendricksz serving as schout, consistent with him having refused the post.[29]

In 1632, Kiliaen van Rensselaer exercised his right as patroon to establish the court of Rensselaerswijck. On 1 July 1632 he instructed New Netherland director-general Wouter van Twiller to appoint Rutger Hendricksz van Soest as the first schout of the court, and as Van Rensselaer’s officer or overseer of farms. Van Rensselaer sent a “silver-plated rapier with baldric and a black hat with plume” to represent Rutger’s position as schout.[30] He instructed Rutger to administer the oath of schepen (alderman) to Roelof Jansz van Masterland, Gerrit Theusz de Reux, Marinus Adriaensz van der Veere, Brant Peelen van Nijkerck, and Laurens Laurensz van Coppenhagen.[31] Rutger was to summon the prospective aldermen to his residence, administer the oath, and present each of them with a black hat with silver band.[32]

On 20 July 1632 Kiliaen van Rensselaer sent instructions to Rutger Hendricksz van Soest and the selected councilmen of Rensselaerswijck about their duties. After taking the oath, Rutger was to go to the commissioner of Fort Orange to foster a good relationship with him. Council meetings would be held at Rutger’s house. The council had to come together every Sunday and holiday to read from the bible. Rutger was to select a suitable person to record the council’s resolutions. As officer, Rutger had to oversee trade and agricultural production. Van Rensselaer forbade his employees to barter any peltries with Native Americans. Any pelts received in exchange for food or drink had to be delivered to the officer, who would turn them over to the commissioner at Fort Orange. All inhabitants had to notify the officer of any discoveries of precious metals or pearls. The officer had to get four farms in working order: the existing farms Rensselaersburgh (where he lived) and Laetsburgh, plus two new farms: Welysburgh and Blommaertsburgh. The officer and council were to keep Van Rensselaer informed of the state of the farms, including the animals and crops. They could sell farm produce to Christians or Native Americans, or send it over to the Netherlands if there was space on the ships.[33]

Various authors have expressed doubts as to whether Rutger ever served as schout, starting with A. F. J. van Laer, who stated in his 1908 translation of the Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts that “it is doubtful whether the first schout and schepens appointed by the patroon ever qualified.”[34] Other authors similarly concluded that Rutger never fulfilled the post.[35] In his introduction to the translation of the court minutes of Rensselaerswijck, Van Laer explained that ongoing disputes between Van Rensselaer and the West India Company about labor and supplies for Rensselaerswijck made it difficult to grow the colony and establish a court. Van Laer argued that as Rutger’s four-year contract was about to expire, Rutger had probably already determined to leave Rensselaerswijck by the time of Van Twiller’s arrival and refused the appointment as schout. Van Twiller proposed to give the position to Brant Aertsz van Slichtenhorst, unaware that Van Rensselaer had already appointed another candidate.[36] 

Since Van Rensselaer later remembered Rutger Hendicksz as his “faithful foreman,” [37] he probably did serve as officer, probably from 1632 and 1634. On 27 April 1634 Van Rensselaer instructed Jacob Albertsz Planck to go to New Netherland and present letters to director Wouter van Twiller. Van Twiller would then have Planck swear an oath of fidelity to Van Rensselaer as schout and officer. The schout’s rapier and hat were with Wouter van Twiller at the time.[38] The schout was to select at least three schepens and hold court.[39] Three candidates that Van Rensselaer had originally selected (Roelof Jansz van Masterland, Marinus Adriaensz van der Veere, and Laurens Laurensz van Coppenhagen) apparently left the colony around 1634,[40] explaining the need to select new schepens.

Church Membership

Rutger Hendricksz must have belonged to the Dutch Reformed Church. His patroon, Kiliaen van Rensselaer, was a religious man who instructed his council to organize bible study every Sunday, and sent over a bible and a theological work for this purpose.[41] In the Dutch Republic, membership of the Dutch Reformed Church was mandatory for holding public office, and it is unlikely Van Rensselaer would have selected a dissenter as his schout.[42] 

Associations

Rutger Hendricksz worked for Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the patroon of Rensselaerswijck.[43] He also would have known Wolfert Gerritsen, the superintendent of farms in 1630, who sailed on the same ship as Rutger.[44] On the farm, Rutger worked with Cornelis Jacopsen van Martensdijck, Seger Jansen van Nieukerck, and Pieter Hendrixsen van Soest.[45] The shared surname and place of origin raises the possibility that Pieter Hendrixsen van Soest was a brother of Rutger, though Pieter was more than fourteen years younger.

Rutger Hendricks was instructed to administer the aldermen’s oath to Roelof Jansz van Masterland, Gerrit Theusz de Reux, Marinus Adriaensz van der Veere, Brant Peelen van Nijkerck, and Laurens Laurensz van Coppenhagen.[46] These men worked on other farms in Rensselaerswijck and would have been known to Rutger even if he did not become schout and never administered them the oath.

Literature

Bielinski, Stefan. “The Schout in Rensselaerswijck: A Conflict of Interests.” In A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected Rensselaerswijck Seminar Papers, edited by Nancy Anne McClure Zeller, 3–12. New Netherland Publishing, 1991. Claims (p. 4) that Rutger Hendricksz refused the appointment of sheriff.

De Roever, N. “Kiliaen van Rensselaer en Zijne Kolonie Rensselaerswijck.” Oud Holland 8 (1890): 29–74, 241–95. Discusses Rutger Hendriksz’s work on the farms (p. 44).

Dunn, Shirley. “Settlement Patterns in Rensselaerswijck: Farms and Farmers on Castle Island.” Halve Maen 70 (Spring 1997): 7–18.

Folkerts, Jan. “The Failure of West India Company Farming on the Island of Manhattan.” Halve Maen 69 (Fall 1996): 47–52.

Jacobs, Jaap. New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America. Leiden, Netherlands and Boston, Massachusetts: Brill, 2005. Claims (pp. 116–17) that Rutger Hendricksz refused the appointment of sheriff.

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. Vol. 6. New York City, New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1928. Discusses Bouwery no. 7, the farm initially assigned to Evert Focken and then to Rutger Hendrickssz van Soest.

Riker, David M. Genealogical and Biographical Directory to Persons in New Netherland, from 1613 to 1674. 4 vols. Higginson Book Company, 1999. Vol. 2. Entry for Rutger Hendrickszen.

VanVeghten, Rudy. “Greenbush: A Name Lost in the Pine Woods.” Halve Maen 83 (Winter 2010): 63–72.

Venema, Janny. Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586–1643): Designing a New World. Hilversum, Netherlands: Verloren, 2010.

Source Editions

Van Laer, A. J. F., ed. Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts: Being the Letters of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, 1630–1643, and Other Documents Relating to the Colony of Rensselaerswyck. Albany, New York: University of the State of New York, 1908.

Citations

[1] A. J. F. Van Laer, ed., Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts: Being the Letters of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, 1630–1643, and Other Documents Relating to the Colony of Rensselaerswyck (Albany, New York: University of the State of New York, 1908), 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[2] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[3] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 805.

[4] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[5] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 323–24; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 82b.

[6] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[7] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 196–99; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, Letter Book, fol. 12b. A morgen was a Dutch measure, the amount of land a farmer could be plowed in one morning.

[8] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[9] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 292; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 70b, extracted in mss. 36.

[10] A. J. F. Van Laer, ed., Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts: Being the Letters of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, 1630–1643, and Other Documents Relating to the Colony of Rensselaerswyck (Albany, New York: University of the State of New York, 1908), 215–16; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 22.

[11] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[12] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 292; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 70b, extracted in mss. 36. Also, Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 280; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 55–70.

[13] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[14] 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), 74. The original record has not been preserved.

[15] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 161–62; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 37.

[16] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 196–99; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, Letter Book, fol. 12b. A morgen was a Dutch measure, the amount of land a farmer could be plowed in one morning.

[17] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 200–201; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 13.

[18] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 222; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 26.

[19] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 220–21; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 26.

[20] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 308–09; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 77–79b, account of the jurisdictions, management and condition of the territories named Rensselaerswyck.

[21] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 204; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 14.

[22] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 497; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 126b.

[23] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 512; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 129b.

[24] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 292; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 70b, extracted in mss. 36.

[25] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 323–24; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 82b.

[26] E. B O’Callaghan, History of New Netherland; or, New York Under the Dutch (New York City, New York: D. Appleton & Company, 1846), 433.

[27] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts.

[28] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 204; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 14.

[29] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts.

[30] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 204; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 14.

[31] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 201–202; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 13b.

[32] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 204; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 14.

[33] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 208–12; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 17, extracted in mss. 36.

[34] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 63 (footnote 42).

[35] Stefan Bielinski, “The Schout in Rensselaerswijck: A Conflict of Interests,” in A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected Rensselaerswijck Seminar Papers, edited by Nancy Anne McClure Zeller (New Netherland Publishing, 1991) 3–12 (p. 4). Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America (Leiden, Netherlands and Boston, Massachusetts: Brill, 2005), 117.

[36] A. J. F. Van Laer, ed., Minutes of the Court of Rensselaerswyck, 1648–1652 (Albany, New York: University of the State of New York, 1922), 7–9.

[37] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 497; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 126b.

[38] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 292; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 70b, extracted in mss. 36.

[39] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 281; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 55–70.

[40] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 805–07.

[41] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 208; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 17.

[42] For a discussion of religious policies in the Dutch Republic, see Jo Spaans, “Religious Policies in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic,” in Ronnie Po-chia Hsia and Henk van Nierop, eds., Calvinism and Religious Toleration in the Dutch Golden Age (Cambridge, United Kingdon: 2002), 72–86.

[43] For Van Rensselaer, see Janny Venema, Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586-1643): Designing a New World (Hilversum, Netherlands: Verloren, 2010).

[44] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 805.

[45] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 222; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 26.

[46] Van Laer, Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, 201–202; citing Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, letter book, fol. 13b.

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