The Return of the Dutch

_{Sign up to receive Surface Area or follow me on Linkedin or Twitter. Book a meeting here to talk about ghostwriting from my agency, Principals Media}.

The Dutch first settled the island of Manhattan in 1624.

A group returned last Saturday for Climate Week and I met a number of them at a party hosted by my friend Adriaan Kolff.

Adriaan invited a few dozen, including the Dutch Consul General, to his apartment in Chelsea, which abuts the High Line.

He and his wife have turned their living room into a digital art gallery visible to tourists strolling the elevated park. 

It's a very Dutch thing to do in a city that abounds with Dutch heritage. 

Sietze Vermeulen, who works in cultural affairs in the consulate, told me that everywhere you look from Harlem to Brooklyn there are Dutch names and cultural markers. Peter Stuyvesant, the last governor of the colony, is entombed in the east wall of St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery.

We lamented that Americans learn so little about the Dutch in the New World and so much about the Pilgrims. “The British wrote the history books,” Sietze said. 

Sietze was excited to learn that I can trace my roots to two of the first Dutch settlers in America, Joris Jansen Rapelje and his wife Catalyntje Jeromimus Trico.

Joris and Catalyntje were married in the Walloon Church in Amsterdam o Jan. 21, 1624. Rapelje was an illiterate 19-year-old textile worker; his bride was just 18. 

Four days later they boarded the Eendracht (called Unity in English), the first Dutch ship with settlers to arrive in the New World. 

Joris became influential and prosperous. He was a member of the Council of Twelve Men of the Dutch West Indies company and acquired 330 acres in Brooklyn. He died in 1662, two years before the colony was ceded to England

They are mentioned in Russell Shorto’s definitive biography of the city under Dutch rule, Island at the Center of the World. There is also a new book out about Catalyntje called A Life in New Amsterdam by Lana Holden. 

Joris and Catalyntje had 11 surviving children which led to more than a million descendants. Catalyntje also gave two formal interviews about life in the early days of the colony. She died on Sept. 11, 1689 on Long Island aged 84.

I’ve visited their graves in the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church Cemetery. It’s a strange experience to see their tombstones and realize they were buried in a bucolic setting that has been engulfed by the city. 

Another fascinating thing I hadn’t thought much about: The Rapelje children were born Dutch and died British. The next two generations were born and died British citizens. The following generation was born British and died American. After that they were all American, of course. 

In one of arguably the worst real estate decisions ever, Joris’ granddaughter left Brooklyn and moved to Montville, New Jersey where my family stayed for another two hundred years. 

We remained in New Jersey until I moved to New York City in the 1990s. 

It had taken us almost 300 years to return. 

BRIEF OBSERVATIONS

KIMMEL & FALLON: I know they are different but cannot remember who is who.

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD: The internet is full of good advice.

FINDING OUT: Internet math boiled down to a simple correlation.

COFFEE SHOPS: I work out of a lot of coffee shops and have found this to be true.

DOG MEMES: Generally I find Internet dog memes better than cat memes.