Arent van Curler, later van Corlaer, (1619 or 1620 - 1667) was the grandnephew of Kiliaen van Rensselaer. [1] In 1637 Rensselaer commissioned him as his secretary and accountant at Rensselaer's patroonship Rensselaerswyck in the Dutch colony of New Netherland.
As time went on, Rensselaer began to suspect that Van Curler was neglecting his management duties to engage in the fur trade. Dominie Johannes Megapolensis reported that van Curler had built a fine house and was drinking more than occasionally. In the summer of 1642, Van Curler began to develop a large farm, located on the west side of the Hudson, four miles above Fort Orange, in an area called "de Vlackte".
In August 1642, French Jesuit missionary Isaac Jogues was captured by the Mohawk and brought to their village of Ossernenon. Hearing of this, Van Curler visited the "first castle" and attempted to ransom Jogues, but without success as the Mohawk were not inclined to release him at that time. In the autumn of 1643, the Mohawk were persuaded to bring the priest with them when they came to Beverwijck to trade. Once there, van Curler helped Jogues to escape, hiding him his barn until a deal could be reached and the Frenchman put on a ship to take him downriver to New Amsterdam. In 2011 the Colonie Historical Society and the town historian were working on an interpretive sign for Schuyler Flatts Park to commemorate this. [2]
The ransoming of Jogues brought a change in how the Mohawk treated captives. The following year Jesuit missionary François-Joseph Bressani was brought to Fort Orange to be ransomed for a substantial price in trade goods, for which the Dutch later sought reimbursement from the French. [3]
Also in 1643, Van Curler married the widow of Jonas Bronck, Teuntie Joriaens, also known as Antonia Slaaghboom, and the couple settled in Beverwijck, near Fort Orange. [4] In 1663 he had a son by Anneke Schaets, daughter of Gideon Schaets, the dominie of Beverwijck. [5]
In 1662, he founded the city of Schenectady on land he purchased from the Mohawks. He was known for his fair dealings with the Indians, negotiating disputes and arranging for captives to be freed. He also fathered a child with a Mohawk woman, [6] possibly before his marriage to Teuntie Joriaens. For many years the Mohawks called the governors of New York "Corlaer", using his name as a title, because of the high regard in which they held him. [7]
In 1666 he aided De Courcelle, governor of New France, who ran into difficulties while on an expedition to the Mohawk Valley, supplying the French with provisions. In 1667, on a trip to Quebec at the invitation of Governor de Tracy he drowned in Lake Champlain when his boat overturned in Perou Bay during a storm. [8]
The Hotel Van Curler in Schenectady, built in 1925 – now Elston Hall of Schenectady County Community College – was named after Arent van Curler. Van Corlaer Elementary School, built in 1914 on Guilderland Avenue in Schenectady, is also named after him. In the birthplace of van Curler, Nijkerk, two districts and two schools named after him.
New Netherland was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the East Coast of what is now the United States of America. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to Cape Cod. Settlements were established in what became the states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Nijkerk is a municipality and a city located in the middle of the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland.
Isaac Jogues was a French missionary and martyr who traveled and worked among the Iroquois, Huron, and other Native populations in North America. He was the first European to name Lake George, calling it Lac du Saint Sacrement. In 1646, Jogues was martyred by the Mohawk at their village of Ossernenon, near the Mohawk River.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer was a Dutch diamond and pearl merchant from Amsterdam who was one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company, being instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland.
Fort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city and state capital Albany, New York developed near this site. It was built in 1624 as a replacement for Fort Nassau, which had been built on nearby Castle Island and served as a trading post until 1617 or 1618, when it was abandoned due to frequent flooding. Both forts were named in honor of the Dutch House of Orange-Nassau. Due to a dispute between the Director-General of New Netherland and the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck regarding jurisdiction over the fort and the surrounding community, the fort and community became an independent municipality, paving the way for the future city of Albany. After the English reconquered the region they soon abandoned Fort Orange in favor of a new fort: Fort Frederick, constructed in 1676.
Wouter van Twiller was an employee of the Dutch West India Company and the fourth Director of New Netherland. He governed from 1632 until 1638, succeeding Peter Minuit, who was recalled by the Dutch West India authorities in Amsterdam for unknown reasons.
Beverwijck, often written using the pre-reform orthography Beverwyck, was a fur-trading community north of Fort Orange on the Hudson River within Rensselaerwyck in New Netherland that was renamed and developed as Albany, New York, after the English took control of the colony in 1664.
Rensselaerswyck was a Dutch colonial patroonship and later an English manor owned by the van Rensselaer family located in the present-day Capital District of New York in the United States.
Jeremias van Rensselaer was the third son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, one of the founders and directors of the Dutch West India Company who was instrumental in the establishment of New Netherland and was the first patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. Jeremias van Rensselaer was the acting patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, and the first of his family to establish himself permanently in America.
Robert Van Rensselaer was Brigadier General during the American Revolutionary War, a member of the New York Provincial Congress from 1775 to 1777 and later a member of the New York State Assembly in the 1st, 2nd and 4th New York State Legislatures.
Johan van Rensselaer also Johannes van Rensselaer, second patroon of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, was the eldest son of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, and his only son by his first wife, Hillegonda van Bylaer.
Hendrick van Rensselaer was director of the Eastern patent of the Rensselaerswyck manor. The estate was composed of land in Columbia County, New York, and land opposite Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, named Greenbush.
Arent Philipse Schuyler was a member of the influential Schuyler family. He was a surveyor, Native American trader, miner, merchant, and land speculator.
The history of Albany, New York prior to 1664 begins with the native inhabitants of the area and ends in 1664, with the English takeover of New Netherland. The area was originally inhabited by Algonquian Indian tribes and was given different names by the various peoples. The Mohican called it Pempotowwuthut-Muhhcanneuw, meaning "the fireplace of the Mohican nation", while the Iroquois called it Sche-negh-ta-da, or "through the pine woods". Albany's first European structure was a primitive fort on Castle Island built by French traders in 1540. It was destroyed by flooding soon after construction.
Colonel Philip Pieterse Schuyler or Philip Pieterse was a Dutch-born colonist landowner who was the progenitor of the American Schuyler family.
Nicholas van Rensselaer was a Reformed Dutch Church clergyman, and one time director of the Manor of Rensselaerwyck.
Johannes Pieterse van Brugh (1624–1697) was one of the early settlers of New Netherland and is the progenitor of the Van Brugh family in the United States. He was prominently connected with the Dutch West India Company as a fur and timber trader in both Rensselaerswyck and New Amsterdam.
Johannes Megapolensis (1603–1670) was a dominie (pastor) of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Dutch colony of New Netherland, beginning in 1642. Serving for several years at Fort Orange on the upper Hudson River, he is credited with being the first Protestant missionary to the Indians in North America. He later served as a minister in Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island, staying through the takeover by the English in 1664.
Myndert Schuyler was a colonial trader and merchant with extensive real estate holdings who served as Mayor of Albany, New York, twice between 1719 and 1725.
David Davidse Schuyler was a colonial fur trader who was mayor of Albany, New York, from 1706 to 1707.
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