VOL. XXII SEPTEMBER, 1889 No. 3 HISTORIC HOMES AND LANDMARKS THEIR SIGNIFICANCE AND PRESENT CONDITION D CHAPTER III. URING the half century that New York was a walled city, with two great gates opening into the outer world at Broadway and Pearl street, a picturesque farm occupied the space between the Wall and Maiden Lane, extending from river to river, that portion of it on the west of Broadway reaching what is now Fulton street. This tract or plantation was granted by Governor William Kieft to Jan Jansen Damen by patent dated April 25, 1644. It was during the same year that the brush fence was built across the island on the present line of Wall street, for the purpose of a fortification, to keep the domestic animals from straying into the woods and to obstruct the too frequent incursions into the little town of savages and wild beasts. Jan Jansen Damen, or Dam as he was frequently named in the records, was a notable character of his time. He came to New York as a trader in 1631, young, adventurous, and energetic. He first went to the little post at Albany, but the attractions of Manhattan island were so much greater, that he returned and made New York his permanent home. He soon after married Mrs. Vinjé, a widow considerably older than himself with several children. He lived for several years in a house quite near the fort and was on, intimate and familiar terms with the governor and the secretary of the province. The latter, Cornelis Van Tienhoven, a sharp-witted but unscrupulous man, courted and married Rachel Vinjé, one of Mrs. Damen's daughters. The ability of Jan Jansen Damen early brought him into prominence, and he figured in all public affairs. He was one of the consistory appointed to superintend the building of the first Dutch church in the fort, and he was one of the "Twelve Men" elected to assist the governor in quelling Indian outrages, when that fussy, selfopinionated little potentate, Governor Kieft, found himself so hedged in by difficulties in 1641, that he called a popular meeting for consultation, VOL. XXII.-No. 3.-13 178 17. The Roosevelt Farm. 18. The Janeway Estate. 19, 20 and 21. The Fresh Water Pond. 22. The John Kingston Estate. 23. The Doyer Estate. 24. 34, 35. De Lancey Estate. 25. The Dominie's Bouwery or Annetje Jans Estate. 26. Lispenard Meadows. 27. Rutgers Farm. 28. Romaine Estate. Gouverneur Estate. which proceeded to elect the first representative body in New York; but the "Twelve Men" were not long in power, for the majority opposed the governor's fierce war policy, and Kieft dismissed them from service. Damen was also one of the elect " Eight Men" in 1643, for a similar purpose, and one of the "Nine Men" chosen at a public meeting called by Governor Stuyvesant in 1647. One notable incident in the career of Damen was when in February, 1643, he gave a Shrovetide dinner-party at his house. The governor and all the great men of the colony were present, and nearly every person in the company became merry with wine. The chief topic of conversation at the table was some recent Indian murders. Kieft was loud in favor of retaliation. A few agreed with him, while many others thought the colony was too weak to attempt war with such a vague, uncertain, and treacherous foe. Finally, at the suggestion of Damen, Verplanck, and one or two others, Secretary Van Tienhoven drew up a petition asking the governor, in the name of the "Twelve Men," to order an immediate attack upon a party of friendly Indians who had fled from the hostile Mohawks to the Dutch for protection, and were now at Pavonia, the object being chiefly-as represented-to display power and awe the enemy into decent behavior. The governor read the petition, then rose from the table and announced approaching hostilities—to the dismay of Dominie Bogardus, De la Montagne, Captain De Vries, and many others, who immediately tried to dissuade him from such a danger ous course. They assured him the petition did not represent the voice of the "Twelve Men," only three of whom had signed it; they pictured the disasters that would certainly follow, and begged him to wait awhile, at least until help should come from Europe. But Kieft obstinately gave the order, and Van Tienhoven led the soldiery that same night in one of the most brutal massacres of defenseless Indians that ever disgraced a civilized community. The consequences were terrible. The savages fell upon every little outside settlement and tomahawked and tortured every white person they could find. The summer that followed was emphatically a summer of blood. Those who escaped with their lives huddled about the fort, and farmers on Manhattan island planted their June corn in constant fear of death. The swamps and thickets swarmed with vindictive red men. The war-whoop resounded in every direction. If a benighted traveler between Long Island ferry and the town halloed in the woods, it created a panic, the people fearing the Indians were torturing some captive. It was in September that the "Eight Men" were chosen to help govern the governor, and their first official act was to eject Jan Jansen Damen from the board because of his sympathy with Kieft, whose recall to Holland |