River. In 1657 it was named New Amstel, and
the colony there was taken over by the city of Amsterdam.

The 11th of October, Governor Rijsingh and Factor Elswijck, with some
Swedes, came on board, whom we carried with us to Menades. We ran out to
sea for the Menades on the 12th, and on the 17th happily arrived within
Sandy Hook. On the 21st we sailed for the North River, from Staten
Island, by the watering-place, and saw that all the houses there, and
about Molyn's house,(1) were burned up by the Indians; and we learned
here that Johannes van Beeck, with his wife and some other people, and
the captain of a slave-trader which was lying here at anchor with
a vessel, having gone on a pleasure excursion, were attacked by the
Indians, who murdered Van Beeck and the captain, and took captive his
wife and sister. We found Van Beeck dead in a canoe, and buried him. His
wife has got back. The general is doing all that lies in his power
to redeem the captives and to make peace. Commending your Honor, with
hearty salutations, to the protection of the Most High, that he will
bless you and keep you in continued Health, I remain your Honor's

Obedient servant,

JOHANNES BOGAERT, Clerk.

Laus Deo, Ship De Waegh (The Balance),
The 31st October, 1655.
Hon. Mr. Schepen Bontemantel,
Director of the Chartered West India Company,
at Amsterdam.

(1) The house of Cornelis Melyn, on Staten Island.

LETTERS OF THE DUTCH MINISTERS TO THE CLASSIS OF AMSTERDAM, 1655-1664

Reference material and sources.

Johannes Megapolensis, Samuel Drisius, and Henricus Selyns,
Letters of the Dutch Ministers to the Classis of Amsterdam,
1655-1664. In J. Franklin Jameson, ed., Narratives of New
Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives of Early American
History). NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909.

INTRODUCTION

THE Dutch clergy of the Reformed Church, as has already been mentioned
in a previous introduction, were men whose observations we must value
because of their intelligence and their acquirements; and they also had
a point of view which was to a large extent independent of the Director
General and other civil officials. Hence the series of their reports to
the Classis of Amsterdam is worthy of much attention. In the absence
of a continuous narrative of high importance for the years from 1655 to
1664 it has been deemed best to make use for those years of certain