Early History Of Staten Island

Author : Staten Island Antiquarian Society
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332140053
Total Pages : 38 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (4 download)

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Download or read book History Story Legend of the Old King's Highway written by Staten Island Antiquarian Society and published by . This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from History Story Legend of the Old King's Highway: Now the Richmond Road, Staten Island Staten Island, lying as it does opposite the entrance of New York Harbor, was naturally visited by the early explorers and, as its convenience and fertility were great, it was soon apportioned among the first settlers. Verrazano discovered the Island in 1524; Henry Hudson, on September 2, 1609, when he called it "Staaten Eylandt" in honor of the States General of the Netherlands, in whose interests his expedition was sent out. The Indians were quickly evicted and few, if any, of their traditions remain, though evidences of their former occupancy are found at many points. Without any idea of private ownership in land - or probably much understanding of what they were doing - they sold the Island as often as a purchaser could be found who would pay a few copper kettles or bright colored blankets: First to Michael Pauw, in 1630, the Island having been included in a grant to Pauw by the Dutch proprietors. He called his possessions "Pavonia." Other proprietors were David Petersen de Vries, 1639; Cornelis Melyn, 1641. There was trouble with the Indians during these early days, due largely to harsh treatment at the hands of the white man. In 1641 and again in 1655 the Indians swept the Island of white settlers, killing those who were not fortunate enough to escape. It has been claimed that the first settlement on Staten Island was "Oude Dorp," but this is now disputed. "Oude Dorp" apparently resulted from orders given to Stuyvesant by the West India Company to fortify points on either side of the Narrows, and the village was not built until 1662-63, as in 1661 he informed the Company that all the houses on Staten Island had been destroyed during the Indian wars. Some time after he wrote that the village had been built about a half hours walk from the Narrows. The transfer from Dutch to English rule - 1664 - was peaceable so far as Staten Island was concerned, and the Dutch and English settlers appear to have mingled without an undue amount of friction. French and Germans were also early settlers on the Island, and all of these nationalities intermarried freely. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.