Name
Sansewanouwe or Sansewanou was named in one 1661 transaction, which was recorded twice: in the Fort Orange records and in the New Netherland colonial council minutes.[1]
Origin
Sansewanouwe probably belonged to the Mahican tribe, like the witnesses to the 1661 deed.[2]
Settlement
Sansewanouwe owned part of Pachonakellick island near Bethlehem (in the Hudson River) until 8 February 1661. He probably lived in that area.[3]
Biographical Details
On 8 February 1661 Sansewanouwe appeared before the vice director of the West India Company in Fort Orange or Beverwijck to record the transaction. Considered of age to act at law by the Dutch, he was probably at least twenty-five years old. It is unlikely he was elderly, or he would not have come in person. This tentatively puts his birth date between say 1601 and 1636. He died at an unknown date after 8 February 1661.
Education
Sansewanouwe signed the original record in the margin, with a mark. The record was later bound, cutting off the mark.[4]
Offices
Sansewanouwe was probably a sachem or chieftain, though the known records do not mention him in that role. His ownership of the island and appearance as seller in the 1661 deed suggests a leadership position.
Holdings and Estate
Sansewanouwe was one of the joint owners of an island called Pachonakellick. On 8 February 1661, three Native American men called Maghsapeet alias Machackniemanauw, Sansewanouwe, and Paneenseen, and a Native American woman called Nipapoa sold their jointly owned island of Pachonakellick to Andries Herbertsen and Rutger Jacobsen, inhabitants of Beverwijck [modern-day Albany]. The island was located in the Hudson River, obliquely across from Betlehem, and was called Long or Mahikanders Island by the Dutch. The transaction took place in the presence of Aepjen and Nietamorit, and was witnessed by Gerrit Bancker and Johannes Provoost.[5]
The deed originally only included Nipapoa’s name as the seller. The three Native American men were added in a note in the margin.[6]
In return for the island, Sansewanouwe and other owners received:
- 6 “koubeerse” [perhaps: cows][7]
- 10 duffel overcoats
- 30 pound “ketels” [kettles]
- 60 “vaem” [measure of about six feet] of sewant
- 10 axes
- 8 adzes
- 2 guns
- 12 pounds of gunpowder
- 30 pounds of lead
- 3 dozen knives
- 12 cans of brandy
- 1 half barrel of beer
- 10 pounds of tobacco.[8]
The New Netherland colonial council confirmed the transaction on 10 March 1661.[9]
The transaction was recorded according to Dutch law, and described the sale in terms of a transfer of personally owned property. How the four Native Americans interpreted the transaction has not been documented.
Associations
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Sansewanouwe jointly owned the island with Maghsapeet alias Machackniemanauw, Nipapoa, and Paneenseen. He also knew Aepjen and Nietamorit, who were present when the transaction was recorded.[10] It is unknown whether Sansewanouwe was related to these men. Sansewanouwe would also have met the buyers of the island, Andries Herbertsen and Rutger Jacobsen, and Gerrit Bancker and Johannes Provoost who witnessed the signing of the deed.
Literature
Dunn, Shirley W. The Mohicans and Their Land, 1609–1730. Bovina, New York: Purple Mountain Press, 1994. Discusses Sansewanouwe’s role in the land transaction (p. 328).
Huey, Paul R. “The Mahicans, the Dutch, and the Schodack Islands in the 17th and 18th Centuries.” Northeast Historical Archaeology 22, no. 1 (1993): 96–118. https://doi.org/10.22191/neha/vol22/iss1/7. This discusses transactions involving islands in the Hudson River, including the 1661 sale of Pachonakellick.
Source Editions
Fernow, B., ed. and transl. Documents Relating to the History and Settlements of the Towns along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers (with the Exception of Albany) from 1630 to 1684. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York. Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1881. Vol. 13:193 has a translation of the Indian deed in the Dutch colonial council minutes and note about the goods received in exchange for the island.
Gehring, Charles T., ed. Land Papers, Volumes GG, HH & II, 1630–1664. Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1980. HH 122 (p. 101) has a translation of the patent to Andries Herpertsz and Rutger Jacobsen.
Gehring, Charles T. and Janny Venema, eds. Fort Orange Records, 1654–1679. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2009. Pages 179–80 has the translation of the “Conveyance of an island from its Indian owners to Anderies Herbertsen and Rutger Jacobsen.”
Pearson, Jonathan, and Arnold J. F. (Arnold Johan Ferdinand) Van Laer, eds. Early Records of the City and County of Albany, and Colony of Rensselaerswyck, Deeds 1656-1675. 4 vols. Albany: The University of the State of New York, 1869. Vol. 1:291–92 has the translation of the 1661 deed.
Citations
[1] Conveyance of Pachonakellick island, 8 February 1661, in Fort Orange and Beverwijck, deeds and wills, vol. 2, 1654–1680, p. 285; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99W7-LR78), image group no. 007121132, image 151 of 459; citing County Albany, New York. A copy was recorded in the Dutch colonial council minutes. Indian deed of Pachonakellick island to Andries Herpertsen and Rutger Jacobsen, 8 February 1661, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial council minutes, vol. 9, 1660–1661, pp. 553–54; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/53722), identifier NYSA_A1809-78_V09_0553; citing series A1809, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.
[2] Conveyance of Pachonakellick island, 8 February 1661.
[3] Conveyance of Pachonakellick island, 8 February 1661.
[4] Conveyance of Pachonakellick island, 8 February 1661.
[5] Conveyance of Pachonakellick island, 8 February 1661.
[6] Conveyance of Pachonakellick island, 8 February 1661.
[7] The original says “koubeerse” which resembles the Dutch “koebeeste,” or cows. Fernow translated the term as “rugs.” B. Fernow, ed. and transl., Documents Relating to the History and Settlements of the Towns along the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers (with the Exception of Albany) from 1630 to 1684, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York 13 (Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1881), 193.
[8] Indian deed of Pachonakellick island to Andries Herpertsen and Rutger Jacobsen, 8 February 1661.
[9] Patent to Andries Herpertsen and Rutger Jacobsen for island Packonakellick, 10 March 1661, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial patents and deeds, 1630–1664, volume HH, p. 122; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/51522), identifier NYSA_A1880-78_VHHpt2_0122; citing series A1880, New York State Archives.
[10] Resolution to grant Andries Herperts a small island in Hudson’s river, 10 March 1661, in in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial council minutes, vol. 9, 1660–1661, p. 552; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/53721), identifier NYSA_A1809-78_V09_0552; citing series A1809, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.