Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER XIII.

THE SCHOOLS OF OTHER DUTCH VILLAGES AFTER 1664.1

The accounts already given of the Harlem and Flatbush schools have shown in some detail how typical Dutch villages managed their school affairs. It appears more or less certain that Albany, Bergen, Bushwyck, Brooklyn, Flatlands, Kingston, New Utrecht, Schenectady, and probably many other villages more or less exclusively Dutch in stock and language kept up schools similar to the two already studied. It is quite possible that wherever was found a village predominantly Dutch in language and of sufficient size to maintain a church (but not necessarily a pastor), there had we the data-one would find almost invariably a school, public in some sense, controlled more or less by the consistory and taught by the voorlezer of the Dutch church.

In 1664 Jans Jurians Becker had, as we saw in Chapter VIII, a "Graunt to keep y° Dutch school at Albany for ye teaching of youth to read and to write." This was "allowed and confirmed to him" by the first English governor, who remained in charge until 1668. In 1670 (May 16) it was brought to the attention of Gov. Lovelace that "several others not so capable do undertake ye like some particular tymes and seasons of ye yeare when they have no other Imployment." The result of this irregular competition proved to be that "Y scholars removing from schoole to another not only give a great discouragement to ye maister who makes it his business all ye yeare but also are hindred and become ye more backwards in their learning." "For the reasons aforesaid," Gov. Lovelace "thought fitt that ye said Jan Jurians Beecker who is esteemed very capable that way shall be allowed schoolmaster for ye instructing of y youth at Albany and partes adjacent he following y° said Imployment constantly and diligently." It was besides further allowed to Beecker that "no other be admitted to interrupt him it being to be presumed that ye said Beecker for ye youth and Jacob Joosten who is allowed of for the teaching of y° younger children are sufficient for that place." 2

1 The records of the Dutch villages have been made available only in a most fragmentary manner. In greater part these records have either been lost or remain as yet hid in the original Dutch MSS. Where fairly complete records exist in translation they have not as yet been printed. So that the adequate treatment of the schools of the many Dutch villages during the English period is at present impossible. * Munsell's Annals of Albany, iv, 15f.

Here then we see two teachers at Albany, one for "y younger children" and the other for "y youth." Whether they taught in one school does not appear; quite possibly they did. They charged tuition we know, not only from the general customs, but also from the permission granted (1665) to John Shutte to "bee the only English schoolmaster at Albany upon condition that the said John Shutte shall not demand any more wages than is given by the Dutch to their schoolmasters." Probably Becker received a salary from the municipality for serving as voorlezer and schoolmaster, since we find that, during his term of office, "the Charge yearly of y Towne of Albany" included the item: "To ye Reader 400 guildTM Zeawt "2

Becker and two others were chosen in 1676 to be the only schoolmasters at Albany. How long thereafter he continued to teach is not certain; until 1686 according to Pearson. He died about 1697.3 Jacob Joosten was, as we saw, at Flatbush on November 1, 1670. So that he used the permission here granted for only about six months. He had probably come to Albany upon leaving Wiltwyck in 1665.

Gerrit Swart and Adrian Janse Appel are named by Pearson as the other masters appointed along with Becker in 1676. In spite of the permission for these three to be the only schoolmasters, there was appointed during the same year a baker, Luykas Gerritse (Wingaard), "because he was impotent in his hand."

The following council meeting explains itself. Its old English style perhaps makes worth while its full reproduction:

Att a meeting of ye Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council held in ye City Hall of Albany, Ye 23d of January 1988.

The request of Cornelis Bogardus by ye mouth of Mr. Will de Meyer to be admitted a schoolmaster for ye City is taken into consideration and unanimously doe graunt ye same, as also a freeman of this Citty upon his arrivall." This teacher was the son of D: Bogardus, the second minister of New Amsterdam. He stayed at Albany, it is said, only a short while. In 1703 "Evert Ridder of the City of Albany" made an "humble application to the Mayor, Aldermen and Assistance to be permitted to teach school in the City aforesaid," which was granted.

1 Munsell's Annals of Albany, p. 16.

2 Executive Council Minutes, i, 82. (See p. 122, where this matter is discussed.) It appears that this public support of the voorlezer (and possibly the schoolmaster) continued into the eighteenth century. In 1695, "Hend. Roseboom, sen., voorlezer in ye church of ye citty of Albany" appeared before the mayor's court asking for the payment of his salary (Munsell, op. cit., iii, 9). The support of Roseboom was divided equally between city and county in 1709, when it was noted in the minutes of the court of sessions that "yo County (excepting ye citty and Colony Rensselaerswyck) must be credited for two hundred and fifty Gilders wampum value, being half of Roseboom's sallary and Repairing ye church yard, which was charged in ye General County acct" (ibid., iv, 124; see also ibid., pp. 161, 187).

Pratt, op. cit., p. 62.

4 Ibid., pp. 62-3.

Munsell, op. cit., iv, 106.

Ibid., p. 177.

The spirit of religious proselyting was prevalent throughout the period under consideration. The missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel at Albany writes, in 1710, that his "weak endeavors" have been so blessed that "a great many Dutch children" who at his coming were "altogether ignorant of the English tongue, were now able to distinctly say our catechism and make the responses at prayers." "I have used," he writes, "all possible methods to engage the children to their duty by giving small presents to the most forward and diligent, and by frequently visiting their schools; and for encouraging the schoolmasters I give them what charity is collected in our churches, obliging them to bring their scholars to public prayers." We pass with a smile the partial notion of the children's "duty" and the unusual direction of the "charity" collection; but it is interesting to note the continued use of Dutch and the existence of several schools.

1

When the Albany church was chartered, in 1720, it was expressly stipulated that "it shall and may be lawful to and for the consistory of the said church to nominate and appoint a clerk or precentor, schoolmaster, sexton, bellringer, and such and so many other officers and servants of the same church as they shall think convenient and necessary." The natural interpretation of this stipulation is, of course, that in it an old custom is given the sanction of law. It were to be desired that we had more data of the relation of the church and city in Albany school matters. Everything we have that is very definite is on the side of the city's interest.

The common council in 1721 in consideration of the fact that it was "very requisite and necessary that a fit and able schoolmaster settle in this city for teaching and instructing of the youth in spelling, reading, writeing, and cyffering," and in consideration of the further fact that Mr. Johannis Glandorf had "offered his services to settle here and keep a school if reasonably encouraged by the corporation, it is therefore Resolved by this commonalty, and they do hereby oblige themselves and successors, to give and procure unto ye said Johannis Glandorf free house rent for the term of seaven years next ensueing."3 That this man was Dutch and the school was Dutch may be accepted as practically certain from the fact that the Dutch were so largely in the majority at this time. His name furnishes some corroboration. It is interesting to note that no salary other than house rent is suggested, and also that the church has nothing to do with the matter.

Hamilton, in his trip of 1744, says of Albany: "I went to see the school in this city, in which are about 200 scholars, boys and girls. This number is surprising, far exceeding that of any other school

1 Doc. Hist. of N. Y., iii, 540.

2 Eccl. Rec., p. 2165.

3 Weiser, Hist. of Albany, p. 287.

4 Itinerarium, p. 78.

known to us among the American Dutch. The coeducation is an interesting corroboration of the opinion elsewhere discussed. That these 200 pupils were Dutch is altogether probable. For example, Hamilton elsewhere says of his same trip to Albany: "At ten o'clock we went to the English church, where was the meanest congregation ever I beheld, there not being above fifteen or twenty in church, besides the soldiers of the fort who sat in a gallery." The size of this congregation may be taken as a fair idea of the relative number of English in the city.

With this ends the specific information so far collected that certainly concerns Dutch education at Albany, except that in 1789 it was stated that some seven or eight years previously "a competent English teacher was scarcely to be found in Albany." We infer from this that the Dutch language, until about the time of the Revolution, retained its hold so strongly as to prevent the earlier establishment of vigorous or well patronized English schools. It is stated that the first English preaching in the Dutch church was in 1776 and the first regularly settled English pastor was some six years later."

An effort was made by the writer to ascertain the degree of illiteracy of the early Albany inhabitants, somewhat after the manner followed at Flatbush. On account of the lack of similar census rolls, the study at Albany could not be so satisfactorily done. The procedure accordingly was slightly different. Pearson's "Early Records of the City and County of Albany and Colony of Rensselaersyck (1656-1675)" was used as a basis of study. All the names of those whose manner of signing was given were utilized. Three hundred and sixty such names were listed, of which 77 or 21 per cent made their marks. The corresponding result at Flatbush we found to be 19 per cent. Effort was also made to separate the names according as the school period had been passed in Holland or in America, but with less satisfactory results than were obtained in the case of Flatbush. One-fourth of the whole number could not be assigned even probably to one place rather than to the other. As far as the ascertainable records go, the results are similar to those got in the previous study. Of the 231 assigned, certainly or probably to Holland, 50, or 22 per cent, made their marks; while of the 35 assigned similarly to America, only 4, or 11 per cent made their marks. The corresponding per cents at Flatbush were 26 and 13, respectively. The same tendencies then that were seen at Flatbush appear here independently and with striking agreement. The results at each place give additional weight to those of the other, although the Flatbush figures appear on the whole to be much more reliable.

1 See p. 217.

2 Itinerarium, p. 82.

3 Weiser, op. cit., p. 405. The quotation is from Morse's Gazetteer.
Munsell, op. cit., i, 121.

In the village of Bergen at the close of the Dutch period Engelbert Steenhuysen was serving as schoolmaster. His successor appears to have been Reynier Bastiaensen van Giesen, whom he saw at Flatbush from 1660 to 1663. At any rate Bastiaensen took the oath of allegiance at Bergen in 16651 and began teaching about that time. His term of service is unique among the American Dutch, as the Bergen church records show: "Reynier Bastiaensen van Giesen buried May 15, 1707, after having filled the office of voorlezer for about 42 years at Bergen." 2

That service as voorlezer implies service as schoolmaster hardly needs proof in the case of so small a village as Bergen. But if any were needed there is available fairly satisfactory evidence. In 1673, as we see in the law case given just below, "precentor and schoolmaster" and "schoolmaster" are used interchangeably as referring to one and the same person then serving at Bergen. Moreover, the records of the New York City Reformed Dutch Church show that "Mr. Reynier van Giesen" was witness at baptisms in 1673, 1691, and 1694.3 The title "Mr." considered in the light of the Dutch custom, of Van Giesen's Flatbush school service and of his known connection with the Bergen school in 1673 can hardly be interpreted otherwise than as meaning that voorlezer Van Giesen was acting also as schoolmaster Van Giesen certainly as late as 1691 and 1694; and if he were schoolmaster so late as this we may easily suppose that he continued to teach as long as he acted as voorlezer.

In 1668 a new charter was given the town. In this "all freeholders" were "deemed and accompted Free men" with "a free voice in elections." They were to "choose their own magistrates" and "their own minister for the preaching of the word of God." "All persons, as well the freeholders as the inhabitants" were to "contribute according to their estates and proportion of lands for his maintenance, or lay out such a proportion of land for the ministry, and the keeping of a Free school for the education of Youth, as they shall think fit."4

Evidently the town chose to levy the vote rather than "lay out" the necessary land; for on the "18th Xber, 1672," the "Magistrates of the town of Bergen" by resolution decreed that "all the said inhabitants, without any exception" shall pay "their share towards the support of the Precentor and Schoolmaster." This action of the magistrates was deemed by the inhabitants of certain dependent villages to bear hardly on them, particularly as it appears that some of them were of a different "religious persuasion." In the meanwhile

1 Winfield, History of Hudson County, p. 103.

2 The writer is indebted to Mr. Daniel van Winkle, of Jersey City, for this and the two other quotations from the Bergen church records used below.

N. Y. Gen. and Biog. Soc. Coll., ii, 120, 204, 222.

♦ Winfield, op. cit., pp. 107-8.

N. Y. Col. Doc., ii, 672,

« AnteriorContinuar »