| New Netherland series |
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| Exploration |
| Fortifications: |
| Settlements: |
| The Patroon System |
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| People of New Netherland |
| Flushing Remonstrance |
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Voorleser was the title given to a highly responsible citizen in New Netherland and later Dutch colonies, who had semi-official duties in local law, education and religion.
The word voorleser as used in English texts is a variant of the Dutch word voorlezer, which means "one who reads (to others)". However, both spellings are used interchangeably when referring to the collective official title used by colonial Dutch Americans. [1] It has several different translations or interpretations, such as "lay reader", [2] "public reader", [3] "fore-reader", [4] and "church reader". [5] The title was predominantly used from the mid-17th century [6] [7] to the late 18th century; [8] in the small colonial villages of this era, [9] one person could maintain many tasks.
After the English took over the Dutch settlements of New Netherland, [10] the existing Dutch settlers continued relying on the voorleser for maintaining village records and documentation. The last person given the title of voorleser resigned in 1789, where his successor was given the title of "clerk". [11] Documentation in the Dutch settlers' native language, however, lasted until 1809. [8] The title and tasks of the voorleser disseminated after the populations grew beyond the ability of one person to maintain, and the majority of settlers began speaking and keeping records in English.
The voorleser had numerous local duties and was considered a highly important member of the community [9] by the early settlers. [12] Each voorleser had jurisdiction over virtually all legal and religious actions and ceremonies in their community. [8] Voorlesers required scholarly qualities, [7] as they acted as the village clerk and schoolmaster, [9] typically educating the youth in the same building where religious services were held. [6]
As a de facto minister, occasionally reading the scriptures, [4] the voorleser would also be responsible for baptisms, communicants and marriages. [8] When a death occurred in the community, voorlesers were given full charge of funerary tasks, serving as an undertaker, grave-digger, or sexton, and attending the burial of the dead. [9] The voorleser would also lead the congregation in singing during church services, [9] and in the absence of a proper pastor, the voorleser would perform the ceremonies on Sabbath, which consisted of prayers and typically, a prepared sermon by a highly regarded theologian from the Netherlands. [6] They also would read the law and creed, as well as portions of the Psalms. [9]
Other prominent members in the community of New Amsterdam (which included all the settlements around the Upper New York Bay) were part of councils that advised the Director of New Netherland. Called upon at various times during the colony's existence, they were known as the Twelve Men, the Eight Men and the Nine Men.
Peter Stuyvesant was a Dutch colonial officer who served as the last Dutch director-general of the colony of New Netherland from 1647 until it was ceded provisionally to the English in 1664, after which it was split into New York and New Jersey with lesser territory becoming parts of other colonies, and later, states. He was a major figure in the early history of New York City and his name has been given to various landmarks and points of interest throughout the city.
New Netherland was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva Peninsula to southwestern Cape Cod, while limited settlements were in parts of the U.S. states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Massachusetts and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.
Fort Orange was the first permanent Dutch settlement in New Netherland; the present-day city of Albany, New York developed at 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.
Dutch Americans are Americans of Dutch and Flemish descent whose ancestors came from the Low Countries in the distant past, or from the Netherlands as from 1830 when the Flemish became independent from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands by creating the kingdom of Belgium. Dutch settlement in the Americas started in 1613 with New Amsterdam, which was exchanged with the English for Suriname at the Treaty of Breda (1667) and renamed New York City. The English split the Dutch colony of New Netherland into two pieces and named them New York and New Jersey. Further waves of immigration occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Acquackanonk Township was a township that existed in New Jersey, United States, from 1693 until 1917, first in Essex County and then in Passaic County.
European colonization of New Jersey started soon after the 1609 exploration of its coast and bays by Henry Hudson. Dutch and Swedish colonists settled parts of the present-day state as New Netherland and New Sweden.
Union Hill was a town that existed in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, from 1864 to June 1, 1925, when it merged with West Hoboken to form Union City.
Bergen Square, at the intersection of Bergen Avenue and Academy Street in Jersey City, is in the southwestern part of the much larger Journal Square district. A commercial residential area, it contains an eclectic array of architectural styles including 19th-century row houses, Art Deco retail and office buildings, and is the site of the longest continually-used school site in the United States. Nearby are the Van Wagenen House and Old Bergen Church, two structures from the colonial period. St. George & St. Shenouda Coptic Orthodox Church founded by early Egyptian immigrants was one of the original Coptic congregations in New Jersey.
Pavonia was the first European settlement on the west bank of the North River that was part of the seventeenth-century province of New Netherland in what would become the present Hudson County, New Jersey.
Achter Kol was the name given to the region around the Newark Bay and Hackensack River in northeastern New Jersey by the first European settlers to it and was part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, originally administered by the Dutch West India Company. At the time of their arrival, the area was inhabited by the Hackensack and Raritan groups of Lenape.
Bergen was a part of the 17th century province of New Netherland, in the area in northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack Rivers that would become contemporary Hudson and Bergen Counties. Though it only officially existed as an independent municipality from 1661, with the founding of a village at Bergen Square, Bergen began as a factory at Communipaw circa 1615 and was first settled in 1630 as Pavonia. These early settlements were along the banks of the North River across from New Amsterdam, under whose jurisdiction they fell.
Hackensack was the exonym given by the Dutch colonists to a band of the Lenape, or Lenni-Lenape, a Native American tribe. The name is a Dutch derivation of the Lenape word for what is now the region of northeastern New Jersey along the Hudson and Hackensack rivers. While the Lenape people occupied much of the mid-Atlantic area, Europeans referred to small groups of native people by the names associated with the places where they lived.
The Old Bergen Church is a historic church congregation in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Established in 1660 in what was then the Dutch colony of New Netherland, it is the oldest continuous religious congregation in what is today the State of New Jersey. The congregation is jointly affiliated with the Reformed Church in America and the Presbyterian Church (USA). The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 14, 1973. The original church building was constructed in 1680 and the current edifice was built in 1841.
The Acquackanonk were a Lenape group whose territory was on the Passaic River in northern New Jersey. They spoke the same dialect (Unami) and shared the same totem (turtle) as the neighboring Hackensack, Tappan and Rumachenanck . It may mean a place in a rapid stream where fishing is done with a net. Alternatively, at the lamprey stream from contemporary axkwaakahnung Lastly it may mean where gum blocks were made for pounding corn. Ackquekenon was spelling used by European explorer Jasper Danckaerts in 1679.
New Netherland was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory was the land from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. The settled areas are now part of the Mid-Atlantic states of New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, with small outposts in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Its capital of New Amsterdam was located at the southern tip of the island of Manhattan on the Upper New York Bay.
New Netherlanders were residents of New Netherland, the seventeenth-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the northeastern coast of North America, centered on the Hudson River and New York Bay, and in the Delaware Valley.
Edward Hart was an early settler of the American Colonies who, as town clerk, wrote the Flushing Remonstrance, a precursor to the United States Constitution's provision on freedom of religion in the Bill of Rights.
The Flatbush African Burial Ground or FABG is the site of a historic African-American cemetery dating to the 17th century at Church and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, on land formerly owned by the adjacent Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church.