came with his wife in the afternoon to visit us, both being under
concern of mind. We addressed to them what we thought necessary. He
stated he had agreed with his nephew to go in partnership with him,
and could not withdraw therefrom, unless God did something special.
They both hoped that God would have pity upon them.
We spoke of the remnant of our little stock, and of the time advancing
when we must be rid of it, so as to be prepared to leave the country.
He said as soon as the boat, which he had chartered, returned from the
South River, in which he had some peltries, we would see what we could
do with each other.
_8th, Monday._ Van Kleif came to examine the goods again. He had the
disposition, but not the means to buy, and wished to bring still
another person to make the purchase, whom he named, and who was one of
the most miserly persons in the city, which was not agreeable to us.
We, therefore, told him we had already spoken to M. de La Grange.
_10th, Wednesday._ The boat of de La Grange arrived from the South
River, bringing a letter for us from Ephraim, in which he informed us
of his intention to come and visit us the last of April or the first
of May, which we much desired.
A certain governor from Harford [Hartford], a place situated to the
north, arrived in the city from the West Indies.[316] Our governor
entertained him nobly, and parted with him with great civility.
[Footnote 316: William Leete was governor of Connecticut at this time,
but there seems to be no evidence of his leaving his colony to go to
the West Indies.]
Two vessels sailed for Boston, where we much desired to go, but we
were not prepared. The governor investigated whether either of them
had taken anything on board below the city.
We left a small piece of brown serge, which stood us in rather dear,
but was very fine and strong, and which on account of its high price,
we had not been able to dispose of, to be cut up for a coat,
waistcoat, and breeches for both of us, with fur in front, so that
almost the whole piece was used, De la Grange taking the remnant, with
which he was much pleased, for a coat, because he did not know where
to obtain such goods in this country. Meanwhile, the barter of our few
goods was going on with him at the rate of fifty per cent. profit on
the invoices, upon which condition he took almost all of them.
_13th, Saturday._ We called upon the governor, and requested
permission to leave. He spoke to us kindly, and asked us to come the
next day after preaching, thus preventing our request.
_14th, Sunday._ About five o'clock in the afternoon, we went to the
lord governor, who was still engaged, at our arrival, in the Common
Prayer; but as soon as it was finished, he came and spoke to us, even
before we had spoken to him, and said of a person who was with him,
"This is Captain Deyer,[317] to whom I have given directions to write
a permit or passport for you to go to Albany." He again asked us where
we came from, and where we lived, which we told him. He also inquired
something about the prince of Friesland, and the princess, and also
about the differences of the people of Friesland and His Royal
Highness and Their High Mightinesses, which we told him.[318] We then
thanked him for his favor, and said the object of our visit was not
only to ask permission to go up the river, but also to leave the
country. He thereupon stated that there would be no boat going to
Boston for two or three weeks, but he intended to send one himself
soon to Pennequicq,[319] which was at our service, and we could easily
get to Boston from there by a fishing boat or some other vessel. We
thanked him for the honor and kindness he had shown us, and further
inquired of him whether it would be necessary to have a passport at
our departure. He replied no. We inquired also whether it would be
necessary to post up our names, as there is an established regulation
that it should be done six weeks before leaving. To this he replied,
if we were merchants, and owed anybody, it would be proper to do so,
and then asked if such was the case with either of us. We answered no;
then, he continued, it is not necessary. For all which we thanked his
Excellency, and took our leave.
[Footnote 317: William Dyer had been commissioned by the Duke of York
in 1674 as collector of the port of New York, and was still acting as
such. The next year, 1680-1681, he was mayor of the city.]
[Footnote 318: Since the revolution of 1672 in Holland, William III.,
Prince of Orange, afterward king of Great Britain, had been stadholder
(governor) of that province, and of four others of the seven provinces
of which the Dutch federal republic, the United Provinces, consisted.
But the other two provinces, Friesland and Groningen, kept as their
chief executive Count Henry Kasimir II. of Nassau-Dietz, a third
cousin of the Prince of Orange. The stadholder of Friesland was not on
good terms with his great relative, and under his lead Friesland stood
somewhat aloof from the policies of the latter and of Their High
Mightinesses the States-General of the United Provinces. The title His
Royal Highness would be given to the Prince of Orange by Andros
because of his recent marriage (1677) to the Princess Mary, daughter
of the Duke of York and niece of Charles II.]
[Footnote 319: Pemaquid.]
Reflecting upon this matter, we thought whether it would not be more
respectful to make the voyage to Albany, than to leave, since we had
several times requested permission to do so, and he had now granted
it. Should we not go, it would perhaps not be well received by him,
the more so as there would not be any vessel going to Boston for some
weeks. Nevertheless, it was not bad that we had shown his Excellency
it was not so important to us that we could not let it pass.
_15th, Monday._ We went in search of a boat to go to Albany, and found
one ready to leave immediately. The name of the skipper was Meus[320]
Hooghboom, to whom we agreed to pay, for the passage up and down, one
beaver, that is, twenty-five guilders in _zeewant_, for each of us,
and find ourselves. We gave him our names, to have them inserted in
the passport.
[Footnote 320: _Meus_ for Bartholomaeus, Bartholomew.]
Meanwhile we disposed of all our goods to M. de La Grange, upon the
terms before mentioned, and received in pay peltries of every
description. But, as we were not experienced in merchandise, and much
less in peltries, we deemed it proper to have what we received,
examined and valued against the goods sold, by Van Kleif, before
named. He valued some of the peltries much less than they had been
charged to us. But as there are few merchants who do not _hatchel_
each other a little, so standing near this merchant you could see he
was not free from this feeling, and you would believe, if he had owned
our goods and been free to receive payment for them, in such kind of
pay, he would have valued them much higher. However, there were three
beavers among them which were not current; these De la Grange
cheerfully took back, as they were not his, but had been borrowed by
him of his nephew, in consequence of his not having enough of his own.
He was about to return to the South River, in order to bring on more
goods, which he had there. His wife was going with him, to see if she
would live there; for she seemed to take the subject to heart of
separating herself from the sinful attachments of the world, giving up
trade, and going to live upon the land and out of the land. His nephew
was also going with them, for a pleasure trip, and to see the country,
and especially to learn the way of trading. They were to leave this
evening, having already dispatched the boat on Monday last.
_16th, Tuesday._ Before we proceed any further, I must here insert a
very remarkable circumstance, for the comfort and joy of God's
children, who rejoice with the holy and blessed angels over the
repentance of one poor great sinner, more than over ninety and nine
just men, who need no repentance. The old man and his wife with whom
we lodged had several children, the husband and wife each three by
former marriages, and one between themselves. The husband's children
by his former wife were two daughters and one son. One of the
daughters was married to Gerrit, the wheelwright, who had married her
in New Netherland, but upon the first change in the government[321]
she left for Holland, and he followed her there after a little time,
and kept house at Swol [Zwolle]; but not being able, after several
years, to succeed very well in the Netherlands, he came back in the
same ship with us, leaving his wife and children behind at Zwolle.
Finding matters go on here to his wishes, he sent for his family by
Captain Jacob, of the ship _Beaver_. This is Gerrit the wheelwright,
or carpenter, whom we have mentioned several times in our
journal.[322] Another daughter lived still at Amsterdam, for whom he
has given us several messages and a letter to take when we leave. His
son is a carpenter in the East Indies. The children of the old woman
were a daughter named Geesie, married here in New York to one Peter
Denis, weighmaster; another daughter, named Rebecca, was also married
here with one Arie, who gained his livelihood by cultivating land and
raising cattle, but kept a tavern, or drinking house, having a
situation therefor, and living upon a delightful spot at the Vers
Water (Fresh Water), a little out of town; and a son, named Theunis,
who was married and had six children, and who supported himself by
farming at Sapokanike. The old couple had one child between them,
named Willem, now about twenty-three years old, a carpenter by trade,
a little rough and coarse, but otherwise not an unjust kind of a
person, according to the world. He lived at home with his parents,
where we lodged.[323] He was somewhat wronged in his inheritance, as
the old people acknowledged, and we reproved them for it. They
promised amendment.
[Footnote 321: When the English conquered New Netherland, in 1664.
Zwolle is in the province of Overyssel. The old man was Jacob
Hellekers, his daughter's husband Gerrit van Duyn. See p. 36, note 2.
In fact, however, Gerrit had not gone back to Holland till 1670, nor
his wife till 1671.]
[Footnote 322: See pp. 36, 43, 49, 68, 169, 171, 228.]
[Footnote 323: Jacob Hellekers's wife was Theuntje Theunis. She was
thrice married: to Ide ----, to Jacob Hellekers, to Jan Strijker.
Peter Denys of Emmerich was farmer of the weigh-house; for Arie or
Adriaen Corneliszen, see p. 47, note 1; Theunis Idenszen, a man of
forty-one at this time, was assessor of the out ward in 1687, was
married to Jannetje Thyssen, and had six children; Willem Hellekers
was constable of the east ward in 1691.]
Now the before named Theunis had led a very godless life, and had
been wild and reckless, extraordinarily covetous, addicted to cursing
and swearing, and despising all religious things; but he was not a
drunkard, nor was he unchaste, though he previously had taken
something that did not belong to him. In a word, he was ignorant of
the truth and a godless man, yet his evil and wickedness were more in
the spirit than in the flesh. Nevertheless, it appears that God had
purposes of grace in regard to him, and the time was approaching when
God would touch him and draw him to Him. He had long since felt his
conscience gnawing him for his godless life, and that with a strength
which very much increased his chagrin. He became meagre in body, his
eyes were sunken in his head, he was sombre of speech, he sought
solitude in order to fly from the evil, but found it was augmented
manifold; and gradually began to long for deliverance and a better
life. The devil had been assailing him for six years past, and he was
therefore in a miserable state, of both soul and body. Thus he was
when, by God's providence, we arrived in the country, and went to
lodge at his mother's house, as we have related. We had been at the
house only two or three days, when he also came there. I was writing
in the front room, and my comrade was with me. He heard us talking
together about God, and the Christian life in general, which so
affected him that he said to himself, "O God! what men are these?
Where did they come from? Are there such people still in the world?"
This he told us afterwards. However, it took such hold of his heart,
that he more earnestly resolved to reform his life, while the devil,
being more displeased, assailed him the more violently. His wife was a
very ill-natured woman, scolding, growling, cursing and swearing at
him, as well as at their children, and constantly finding fault with
him, through her avarice, because he did not do more work, although he
wrought continually, and as much as three other men. Their children,
collectively, were very bad and saucy, and cursed and swore at each
other, except the oldest, a daughter, who appeared to be the best of
them. This man being in such a state was pressed on all sides. He
sometimes, but not often, came to our house, and as we knew nothing of
his condition, we only addressed to him occasionally a general remark.
However, his time and that of the Lord were approaching. He heard a
sermon upon the requisites of communicants of the Lord's supper, which
he had never as yet enjoyed; and was thrown very much aback, abhorring
himself and many others, who went to it, yet pursued as wicked lives
as he did. For himself, he saw no probability of his ever being able
to partake of it, conscious as he was of his being wicked and
unworthy. He saw no means of release, and found no help or consolation
wherever he went or came. To go to his minister would, he thought,
render him little good, as he knew by several examples. He kept his
condition concealed from us, and did not dare speak to us, so that he
was in distress for himself, his family, and his entire state, and
often wishing to die. This caused him to live in continual variance
and quarrelling with his neighbors. He lost several cows and other
cattle, by which he suffered great damage. A little daughter, about
fourteen years old, who lived with her grandmother, was so badly
ruptured, that there was no probability of her being cured, or ever
being fit to be married. He had bought a piece of land, in common with
Arie, his brother-in-law, to make tillable land out of the rough
woods. It was to him like dead fruit. He worked on it three times as
much as the other did, in felling and chopping trees, and making the
best of it into timber, which was carried to the city with little or
no profit to him, but to the people to whom Arie was indebted.
Differences arose between them as to the land and labor, and it was
therefore proposed to divide it, and separate; but, as has been before
mentioned, they had begun to clear off a part of it, and they could
not agree which should have the cleared land, where he had bestowed so
much labor. Great bitterness sprang out of it, when the mother and
friends interposed, and settled the difficulty as well as they could.
Theunis obtained the cleared land on condition he should make some
indemnity to the other; and a part of the land, where he had worked
like a mole, and bought and paid for, should be given up by him. He
had a very large and beautiful canoe, which was worth much to him, and
had been very serviceable to him; this was entirely dashed to pieces
by a northwest storm, as Sapocanikke, where he resided and the canoe
lay, makes with this wind a flat lee shore. Although his neighbors
could have prevented the breaking of the canoe, if they had done as
they ought to have done, they had not at least attempted to prevent
it. He had a fine large negro, a slave, whom he had long possessed,
and taught to work and speak good Dutch; who had done him great
service, and he had much love for him. The negro was riding on
horseback, when the horse ran away with him, and he fell and was
injured internally in the breast. He became sick, supposing it was a
cold, and died in a few days. This event caused great sorrow to him,
his wife, and his whole family, as also to all his friends; for it was
a severe blow and damage to him. He was once working in the field, and
his wife was called to help one of the cows which was sick and in a
bad condition. This happened eight or ten times at night as well as in
the day, whereby he and his wife had no rest night or day. He was on
one occasion attending her, when word came to them that one of their
little daughters had fallen dead in the barn, and indeed they knew no
better, for she lay in a swoon as if dead; at which they were all much
frightened and out of their senses. Thus he had one blow after
another. The child, who was about nine or ten years old, came to, when
they thought her arm was broken, or at least her shoulder out of
joint, for she had fallen from a great height. She was brought in that
condition to her grandmother's, at our lodgings, to be cured, which
was effected after some time. He has also had several mishaps in the
woods in chopping and felling trees; and had about this time an
accident which broke him down. Having felled a tree, it remained
hanging with its branches in the limbs of another one, and in
endeavoring to pull it out his whole hand was crushed so that all his
fingers festered. This happened shortly after the others. All these
misfortunes depressed this poor man very much, and daily increased his
anguish. He could not sleep, and found rest nowhere. He did nothing
but sigh and complain of inward trouble. When we heard all these
things, we said several times to each other, the Lord has certainly
some intention in regard to this man and this household: the Lord
visits this man; although we did not doubt there was something of the
evil one.
About this time he came to our house, and we embraced the opportunity
to speak to him, which we did with great earnestness and affection, by
which he was strengthened, and went home contented. But it did not
continue long. He became very much disturbed and troubled. He went in
the fields to plough, and the horses began to neigh and bellow, and
would not stand still an instant, springing and jumping, entangling
themselves together, foaming and fuming so that he did not know what
course to pursue. As to himself, he became so frightened and
perplexed, so confused that he did not knew what he did or where he
was; he was bewildered, and his whole understanding lost; he was like
one blind; he wanted to go to the house, and ran hither and thither,
through water and everywhere, his hat off his head, and across the
fields, and thus reached home. His wife and children were frightened
because he looked so horrible and disfigured. He demanded a rope and
wanted to harm himself, for he said he could live no longer. The wife
and children cried; neighbors were sent for; one of the children
brought the grandmother and Rebecca, his sister, from the city. This
was on Tuesday, the 16th of April, in the afternoon. My comrade was in
the front room when the news came, though there were no particulars.
He came to me in the back room sorrowful, and said to me, "_Vous ne
savez que le malin a eu possession sur nostre pauvre homme_."[324]
"What man?" I asked. "Our Theunis," he replied, "word came that he had
hanged himself, and afterwards that they did not know whether he was
alive." We were alarmed; the old woman, his mother, had gone to him;
and after waiting a little time, we also determined to go, and as we
were a little quicker on foot we reached Sapocanike almost as soon as
she did. As we approached the house we heard the lamentations of the
women and children; and on entering we found there no one except the
mother, the sister Rebecca, and a female neighbor who was a _faus
pieuse_.[325] As soon as we came in, he stood up and came to meet us,
holding out his hand, and calling out: "Friends, is there still grace
with God, is there still grace for me with God?" We grasped his hand
and said: "Yes, there is grace for you with God, and for all repentant
sinners." He exclaimed, "What wickedness have I committed! how have I
sinned! how have I stolen God's honor, His name profaned with vile
oaths, his sabbaths violated, his word despised! how godless have I
lived, and run from Him! But He has overtaken me. How has the devil
troubled and tempted me, how has he for six years assailed me, seeing
that I no longer wished to serve him! And now when God comes to touch
me and draw me, he seeks to devour me; but he shall not have me. God
who protects me is stronger than he," and much more of similar import.
We then spoke to him according to his state and condition, which did
him much good. This _pieuse_ prated also after her manner, but we
tempered her down a little. She had urged him very strongly to go and
sit down and read I know not what kind of a book; for, she said, she
had also been in such a state, and that reading had done her much
good. She was much astonished at our saying he should not read, which
could be done afterwards, and would benefit him when he should be well
and quiet, and felt a desire and longing for it; that he should now,
if he could, go to work at what had to be done or he had an
inclination to do, whether in the barn among the grain or in the
stalls among the cattle, or any other necessary work. We exhorted him
to put his trust in God, to pray to Him and cleave to Him; the devil
would then have no more power over him, as this perhaps was his last
attack. He said, "I fear him no more, God will protect me; I feel more
tranquil, I will not yield." We told him what he must do in future. He
answered, "I hope and trust it will go well." He thanked us very much
and added, "Friends, you are the cause that I still live and of my
preservation." We told him it was God to whom he must give the honor
and thank for His grace and mercy; and that we would perhaps call the
next day, if we did not leave, at which he was glad. We wanted to give
a strong admonition to his wife and children, for they had great need
of it, and in order that a greater impression might be made upon them
by this circumstance. Returning home, we were affected by the grace of
God towards a poor sinner, who truly told us things from the bottom of
his heart which were from God and His Spirit, according to His word
and our experience. In leaving we told his wife how she must keep her
eye on him, and conduct herself towards him.
[Footnote 324: "You do not know that the devil has taken possession of
our poor man."]
[Footnote 325: "Woman of pretended piety."]
_17th, Wednesday._ We went to inquire whether the boat was going up
the river to-day, but it could not be got ready. In the afternoon we
went to visit Theunis again, whom we found at home quiet and calm. He
received us kindly, and we asked him how he was. "Very well," he said,
"I am as much relieved as if I had a great burden taken from my
shoulders." He had rested well during the night. We praised God, and
exhorted him to perseverance, and to trust in Him. "Trust in Him," he
said. "I know as well that I am a child of God as that I stand here,
and I have no fear of the devil any more. I know he can trouble me,
but he shall no longer have power over me." We told him he must take
care of his affairs, and work when he felt inclined. "Work," he said,
"I have no more work. It is as if it were Sunday. I know that the
cattle must be taken care of and other things must be done, but that
concerns me not. I have no work, and will not work again as I have
done before. God will take care of me." We admonished him that he
himself and his whole family ought to go learn and be reformed. "That
I will do," he replied, "if it please God, and if she will only listen
and learn; but if she will not I cannot help it." We read to him some
portions of scripture, as Matt. v. 6, John xvi. 17, Matt. vii. 8, of
the carefulness of the world, by which he found himself comforted, and
promised he would avoid the world as much as he could, and wished he
could fulfill his inclination and go and live alone in the woods, away
from wicked men, for it was impossible to live near them and not sin
as they do. "Could I only go up the river," said he, "with you and
everywhere you go! Oh, that I were a young man; I would not leave
you." You could see that he spoke with earnestness and from the
uprightness of his soul.