CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS New York from Brooklyn Heights NEW YORK FROM BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, 1679 From the original drawing by Jasper Danckaerts in the possession of the Long Island Historical Society [Enlarge]...

The present translation is substantially that of Mr. Henry C. Murphy, as presented in his edition of 1867 (see the Introduction , post ). Mr. Murphy was an excellent Dutch scholar. Careful comparisons have been made, at various points, between his translation and the original manuscript, of which the Long Island Historical Society, its present possessor, kindly permitted an examination to be made. These comparisons, made partly by the general editor of the series and partly by Mr. S. G. Nissense

In the year 1864 Mr. Henry C. Murphy, then corresponding secretary of the Long Island Historical Society, had the good fortune to find in an old book-store in Amsterdam a manuscript whose bearings upon the history of the middle group of American colonies made it, when translated and made accessible as a publication in the Memoirs of the Long Island Historical Society, [5] an historical document of much interest and value. The Journal of two members of the Labadist sect who came over to this coun

Since Dr. James's introduction was written, I have come upon some facts of interest respecting the two Labadist travellers which were not known to Mr. Murphy, who indeed had practically nothing to say regarding their previous life. Jasper Danckaerts was born at Flushing in Zeeland May 7, 1639, the son of Pieter Danckaerts and Janneke Schilders—which explains his using Schilders as a pseudonym during his American expedition. He became a cooper in the service of the East India Company at Middelbur

Begun in the Name of the Lord and for his Glory, the 8th of June, 1679, and undertaken in the small Flute-ship, the Charles of New York, of which Thomas Singelton was Master; but the superior Authority over both Ship and Cargo was in Margriete Flips, [31] who was the Owner of both, and with whom we agreed for our Passage from Amsterdam to New York, in New Netherland, at seventy-five Guilders for each Person, payable in Holland. We had ourselves registered, to wit: I, J. Schilders, and my good fr

Having then fortunately arrived, by the blessing of the Lord, before the city of New York, on Saturday, the 23d day of September, we stepped ashore about four o'clock in the afternoon, in company with Gerrit, our fellow passenger, who would conduct us in this strange place. He had lived here a long time and had married his wife here, although she and his children were living at present at Zwol. [96] We went along with him, but as he met many of his old acquaintances on the way, we were constantl

14th, Tuesday. Having taken leave of all our acquaintances, we set off at ten o'clock, this morning, in company with Ephraim, his wife, his wife's mother, two of her sisters, and a young brother, who were to accompany her as far as Pescatteway. [187] We stepped into the boat, where we found three horses, two Quakers, and another Englishman. We were not long in starting. The wind was from the west, which is a head wind for sailing to Achter Kol. The sky began to be heavily overcast, and the wind

4th, Thursday. It was now Christmas, according to the old style. It had frozen very hard during the night. We went to church, in order to hear Do. Niewenhuise preach, but more to give no offense to the people, than either on his or our own account. 5th, Thursday [Friday]. We began writing. 6th, Friday [Saturday]. It continued to freeze hard, though during the day the weather was more moderate. The ice was strong and mixed with snow. 13th, Saturday. It felt like a change of weather. In all this t

1680, June 19th, Wednesday. We embarked at noon in the yacht of Mr. Padechal, supercargo and captain, residing in Boston. The anchor was weighed at last; but as we had to wait a long time for the governor's yacht, the tide was nearly all spent. The wind was from the northwest. The crew consisted of three men and a boy, besides the captain; but there was another sailor on board who was a passenger. Many persons came to escort the captain, and also a woman, who was going with us; and as soon as th