He is first mentioned in the records as a servant or soldier in the Dutch West India Company's service, in 1632, and as such was one of those who erected the arms of the States General at Kievits Hoek [Saybrook], at the mouth of the Connecticut river. (109-5)
In 1648, on the occasion of Governor Stuyvesant's visit to Fort Orange, he was there, and was employed to clean the Heer Patroon's cannons and fire the salute. (109-6)
After a long service he retired to Schenectady soon after it was settled and in his old age, was cared for by the church, to whom he left his property for the poor of the village. He died in 1683, leaving no heirs.
His farm consisted of 18 morgens of river flats lying in the third ward, bounded by the Mohawk on the north, Front street on the south, the Hansen, or Simon Groot's kil [College brook] on the east, and the Fonda place on the west. After holding this land 180 years, it was sold by the church in 1863, for about $10,000. It was generally used as a cow pasture, and as it was given for the maintenance of the poor, was called the arme wey, or "poor pasture." (110-1)
Notes
(109-5) Col. Hist., I, 287. — O'Callaghan's Hist. N. N., I, 149.
(109-6) O'Callaghan's Hist. N. N., II, 71.
(110-1) Church Papers.