Jan Fort Orange

Name

Jan Fort Orange was a Black man in New Netherland. His name was also spelled “van ’t Fort Orangien” (from the Fort Orange).[1]

Origin

Jan’s origins are unclear. In New Netherland, Fort Orange was the fort near modern-day Albany. It is unlikely he was born in Fort Orange, New Netherland, since he had a child baptized in 1640[2] and would have been born before the first enslaved people were brought to New Netherland in 1627.[3] He may have lived there after his arrival, which could explain how this became part of his identification.

However, there were other forts by that name elsewhere in Dutch colonies or trade posts. Apart from the one near Albany, forts named Fort Oranje or Fort Orange could be found in Cape Verde, Guyana, Itamaracá (Brazil), St. Eustatius, Sekondi (Ghana), and Ternate (Moluccas, Indonesia).[4] It is possible he lived in one of these places before being brought to New Netherland.

Migration

Jan Fort Orange 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.[5] 

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.[6] The captured ship was leaky. The Dutch took twenty-two of the healthiest people, and let the ship continue with the rest.[7] They transferred the captives to the Bruijnvisch, which sailed via Hispaniola and the Florida coast to New Netherland. They arrived on 29 August 1627.[8]

Settlement

Jan Fort Orange’s name suggests he may have lived in Fort Orange after his arrival. By 1640, he probably lived in New Amsterdam, where he had a child baptized, married, and owned land.[9] 

Biographical Details

Jan Fort Orange 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. He died after 22 August 1649 (baptismal witness).[10]

Marriage and Children

Jan Fort Orangien first married Magdalena van Angola.

Child of Jan Fort Orangien and Magdalena van Angola:

1. Maria, daughter of Jan van ’t Fort Orangien, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church at New Amsterdam on 22 July 1640. Witnesses: Simon Congoij and Isabel d’Angola, “negers” [literally: negroes; Black people].[11]

They may have had other children, born before the start of the baptismal register in 1639.

On 24 November 1641, Jan Fort-Orangien, widower of Magdalena van Angola, and Marie Grande, widow of Jan Premier, registered their intentions to marry at the Dutch Reformed Church of New Amsterdam.[12] Maria was the widow of the man Jan admitted to killing (see Additional Details).[13] Jan Fort Orange and Maria Grande did not have any known children.

Enslavement

In 1644, eleven Black men, including Jan Fort Orange, 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.[14] 

Occupation

The West India Company exploited Jan’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.[15] 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.[16] 

Holdings and Estate

Jan Fort Orange owned land on Manhattan. His patent has not been preserved, but his land is mentioned in the confirmation of a patent originally granted by Director-General Kieft to Paulo Dangola on 30 December 1644. Paulo Dangola received land on Manhattan between the land “then belonging to Jan de Fort Orange & Pieter Santomee.”[17] 

According to I.N. Phelps Stokes, the land originally belonging to Jan de Fort Orange was granted to Anthony Portuguese on 5 September 1645.[18] Since that grant did not mention Paulo Dangola as a neighbor, it is unclear why Phelps Stokes thought this was Jan de Fort Orange’s property.[19]

Church Membership

Jan Fort Orange witnessed the baptism of one child:

• Evert, son of Andries de Neger, baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church at New Amsterdam on 22 August 1649. Witnesses: Jan van ’t Fort Orangien, Susanna Negrinne.[20]

Associations

Jan Fort Orange was part of a group of Black men that appear in several records together. Jan Fort Orange was accused of Jan Premero’s murder along with Paulo d’Angola, Gracia Dangola, Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, Anthonij de Portugees, Manuel Minuit, Simon Congo and Groote Manuel.[21] Most of these men were among those that requested manumission in 1644 alongside Jan Fort Orange: Paulo Angolo, Groot [Big] Manuel, Cleijn [Small] Manuel, Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, Sijmon Congo, Antonij Portugis, Piter Santomee, Jan Francisco, Cleijn [Small] Antonij, Gracia d’Angola.[22] 

Additional Details

On 17 January 1641, Jan Fort Orange 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. Jan Fort Orange and the other seven men were acquitted.[23]

Literature

Christoph, Peter R. “The Freedmen of New Amsterdam.” In A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected Rensselaerswijck Seminar Papers, edited by Nancy Anne McClure Zeller, 157–70. New Netherland Publishing, 1991.

Jacobs, Jaap. “The First Arrival of Enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam.” New York History 104 (Summer 2023): 96–114. https://doi.org/10.1353/nyh.2023.a902905. Although the article does not name the twenty-two enslaved Africans, it provides valuable insights into the likely circumstances of Jan’s arrival in New Netherland.

_____.  “Van Angola Naar Manhattan: Slavernij in Nieuw-Nederland in de Zeventiende Eeuw.” In Daalder, Remmert, Dirk J. Tang, and Leo Balai, eds. Slaven En Schepen in Het Atlantisch Gebied, 75–80. Leiden, Netherlands: Primavera, 2013.

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, 40–41, 43.

Pearson, Jonathan. Contributions for the Genealogies of the First Settlers of the Ancient County of Albany, from 1630–1800. New York City, New York: J. Munsell, 1872. Page 50 mentions Jan Fort Orangien’s marriage to Maria Grande.

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. New York City, New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1928. Vol 6:105 lists the patent to Anthony Portuguese, which Phelps Stokes thought first belonged to Jan de Fort Orange.

Riker, David M. Genealogical and Biographical Directory to Persons in New Netherland, from 1613 to 1674. Vol. 1. Higginson Book Company, 1999. Has an entry for Jan de Fort Orangien (DeFort Orange).

Romney, Susanah Shaw. New Netherland Connections: Intimate Networks and Atlantic Ties in Seventeenth-Century America. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2014. Page 191.

Swan, Robert J. “First Africans into New Netherland, 1625 or 1626?” Halve Maen 66 (Winter 1993): 75–82. Swan notes (p. 78) that Jan, “appears to have acquired his surname from the fort established south of the . . . colony of Renssaelerswyck, the present Albany,” correctly remarking that since Jan had a child born in 1640, he could not have been born at Fort Orange in New Netherland, which was only constructed in 1624. But his consideration of Jan comes to the problematic conclusion: “The surname Van Fort Orangien introduces implausibility to an assertion that Jan Fort Orange was one of the first Africans in . . . New Amsterdam in 1625 or 1626. . . . It is more likely that he was imported as one of a parcel of slaves from Angola or Portugal into New Amsterdam, as a boy or teenager without a name.” It is not clear why Swan discounts the possibility that Jan could have acquired his surname from some association with the fort other than having been born there. One of his own examples (p. 77) is a man enslaved by Gerrit de Reus who was known as Manuel de Gerrit de Reus, a formulation that cannot have been Manuel’s original name.

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. IV. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1974. Pages 97–100, 212–13.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. Jan Fort Orange is mentioned on pages 5 (baptism of child), 45 (baptismal witness), and 472 (marriage intentions).

Citations

[1] Baptism of Maria van ’t Fort Orangien, 22 July 1640, in Dutch Reformed Church (New Amsterdam), Liber A, baptismal register, 1639–1697, p. 250; 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 150 of 1410; citing The Archives of the Reformed Church in America, New Brunswick, New Jersey.

[2] Baptism of Maria van ’t Fort Orangien, 22 July 1640.

[3] 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.

[4] Atlas of Mutual Heritage (https://www.atlasofmutualheritage.nl), search filtered for “Forten,” alphabetically arranged.

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

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

[7] 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.

[8] De Laet, Historie often iaerlyck verhael, 119.

[9] Baptism of Maria van ’t Fort Orangien, 22 July 1640. Marriage intentions of Jan Fort Orangien and Marie Grande, 24 November 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. Confirmation of patent to Paulo Dangola, 30 December 1664 [sic], confirmed 18 October 1667, in Richard Nicolls, governor (New York), letters patent, vol. 2, p. 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; citing series 12943-78, Department of State, Bureau of Miscellaneous Records, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[10] 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; image 176 of 1410.

[11] Baptism of Maria van ’t Fort Orangien, 22 July 1640.

[12] Marriage intentions of Jan Fort Orangien and Marie Grande, 24 November 1641.

[13] Fiscal vs. Cleijn Antonio and others, 17 January 1641. Sentence of Cleijn Antonio and others, 24 January 1641, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial council minutes, vol. 4, 1638–1649, p. 84; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/11481), identifier NYSA_A1809-78_V04_p083; citing series A1809, New York State Archives.

[14] 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.

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

[16] “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.

[17] Confirmation of patent to Paulo Dangola, 30 December 1664 [sic], confirmed 18 October 1667. The patent cites 30 December 1664 as the issue date of the original patent, however Willem Kieft was a director from 1638 to 1647. The most likely date is 30 December 1644, around the same time Kieft issued other patents to Black people.

[18] Isaac Newton 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, 6 vols. (New York City, New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1928), 6:105.

[19] Patent to Anthony Portuguese, 5 September 1645, in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial patents and deeds, 1630–1664, volume GG, p. 117 of modern penciled numbering; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/51214), identifier NYSA_A1880-78_VGG_0117; citing series A1880, New York State Archives, Albany, New York.

[20] Baptism of Evert, son of Andries de Neger, 22 August 1649.

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

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

[23] Fiscal vs. Cleijn Antonio and others, 17 January 1641. Sentence of Cleijn Antonio and others, 24 January 1641. For Manuel de Gerrit de Reus’s pardon, see description of Manuel de Gerrit de Reus’s execution and pardon, 24 January 1641 in New Netherland Council, Dutch colonial council minutes, vol. 4, 1638–1649, p. 85; imaged, “Digital Collections,” New York State Archives (https://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov/index.php/Detail/objects/11482), identifier NYSA_A1809-78_V04_p085.

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