Jonas Bronck
Encyclopedia
Jonas Bronck was a Danish
immigrant to the Dutch colony of New Netherland
after whom the Bronx River
, Bronx county, and the New York City
borough of The Bronx
are named. He married his Dutch wife, Teuntje Joriaens, on July 6, 1638, in the Nieuwe Kerk
('New Church'), Amsterdam
.
Following spectacular collapse of the Tulip Mania bubble in 1637, Holland’s government bruited the idea of taking control of New Netherland from the Company and using the colony for resettlement of individuals impoverished by failed tulip bulb speculations. There was also vexation over the West India Company’s failure to develop New Netherland much beyond its original function, facilitating the fur trade. By contrast, English enclaves in the region were rapidly expanding in territory, population, and viability.
New Amsterdam’s inhabitants then numbered only about four hundred, a count that hardly had increased during the previous decade. Company properties in the colony showed signs of physical neglect and conditions of law and order were less than ideal. Faced with possible government expropriation, the company appointed Willem Kieft as New Netherland’s director with a mandate to increase the territory’s population and vitality.
Arriving in 1638, Kieft promptly purchased additional Lenape Indian lands in the environs of Manhattan and encouraged private settlement by enterprising colonists of diverse backgrounds. Settlers no longer were encumbered with excessive responsibilities to the West India Company. Previously, most real estate and commercial activity in New Netherlands had been under direct Company control. These vicissitudes not escape Bronck’s notice. He was among the first to recognize promising opportunities and crossed the Atlantic to settle in New Amsterdam’s hinterlands.
In June 1639, Bronck navigated up the East River
in a ship, De Brant Van Troyen (The Fire of Troy), and made home on a piece of land he had acquired from the Indians, across the Harlem River
from the village of Harlem
.
His farm (known as Emaus, Bronck's Land, and then just Broncksland, or simply Bronck's), covered roughly the area south of today's 150th Street in the Bronx. The land was within the territory of the Siwanoy
and Wecquaesgeek groups of Lenape
who inhabited it at the time of colonialization.
Saturday May 6, 1643, not long after Jonas Bronck’s death, his widow Feuntje Jeuriaens together with Peter Bronck conducted a formal inventory of the Bronck farm which was then known as Emaus. This procedure was done in the presence of the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, pastor of the First Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam and Bronck’s old friend Jochim Pietersen Kuyter. According to official records of the State of New York, the latter two were identified as guardians of Bronck’s widow.
The inventory lists contents of the farm Bronck and his family had built in the wilderness during the period of less than four years following his arrival in America. Buildings on the property were a stone house with a tile roof, a barn, two barracks for farm employees, and a tobacco house. The tally of Bronck’s livestock was 25 animals of various kinds, plus an uncounted number of hogs, said to be running in nearby woods.
During the early 1640’s it was not uncommon for Bronck’s New Amsterdam contemporaries to identify themselves on legal documents with graphic marks that were also symbols of illiteracy. By contrast, Jonas Bronck’s personal library provides evidence he was literate in four languages, suggesting his education might have been as high as university level. His library was an impressive archive for its place and time, and is regarded as the earliest for which there is a detailed account in the colonial records of New York.
The following materials were listed in the inventory of Bronck's library: one Bible, folio; Calvin's Institutes, folio; Bullingeri, Schultetus Dominicalia, (Medical); Moleneri Praxis, (Moral and Practical Discourses), quarto; one German Bible, quarto; Mirror of the Sea (Seespiegel), folio; one Luther's Psalter; Sledani, (History of the Reformation), folio; Danish chronicle, quarto; Danish law book, quarto; Luther's Complete Catechism; The Praise of Christ, quarto; Petri Apiani; Danish child's book; a book called Forty Pictures of Death, by Symon Golaert; Biblical stories; Danish calendar; Survey (or View) of the Great Navigation; a parcel of eighteen Dutch and Danish pamphlets by divers authors; seventeen books in manuscript, which are old; eleven pictures, large and small.
Following Bronck's death, and the dispersion of the few settlers, the tract passed through the hands of successive Dutch traders until 1664, when it came into the possession of Samuel Edsall, (who had also acquired large tract on the North River known as the English Neighborhood
) who held it until 1670, when he sold it to Captain Richard Morris
and Colonel Lewis Morris
, at the time merchants of Barbadoes. Four years later, Colonel Morris obtained a royal patent to Bronck's Land, which afterward became the Manor of Morrisania, the second Lewis (son of Captain Richard), exercising proprietory right.
The area was known as "Broncksland" only through the end of the 17th century - so the modern name of the borough does not come directly from that farmland. However, the river which runs north to south through the area, and which his farm butted against, kept the name Bronck's River, eventually being abbreviated or misspelled Bronx River. This name stuck, and it was this river (which splits the modern borough in two) after which the Bronx was named.
. The American poet William Bronk
reported that he was a descendant of Pieter Bronck. At the same time, the middle name, the patronymic
"Jonasson" indicates he was indeed the son of a man named Jonas. At that time, custom in Sweden was that the father's first name defined the -son name of his children. In other words, Jonas Jonasson Bronck was the son of a Jonas Bronck; Pieter Jonasson Bronck was the also the son of a Jonas Bronck. Consequently, if Pieter had a son he would be (first name) followed by "Pietersson Bronck" or Pettersson Bronck, or some variation of "Peter's son".
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
immigrant to the Dutch colony of New Netherland
New Netherland
New Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th-century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on the East Coast of North America. The claimed territories were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to extreme southwestern Cape Cod...
after whom the Bronx River
Bronx River
The Bronx River, approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States. It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. The Bronx River is the only fresh water river in New York City....
, Bronx county, and the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough of The Bronx
The Bronx
The Bronx is the northernmost of the five boroughs of New York City. It is also known as Bronx County, the last of the 62 counties of New York State to be incorporated...
are named. He married his Dutch wife, Teuntje Joriaens, on July 6, 1638, in the Nieuwe Kerk
Nieuwe Kerk (Amsterdam)
The Nieuwe Kerk is a 15th-century church in Amsterdam, located on Dam Square, next to the Royal Palace.-History:The bishop of Utrecht gave the city of Amsterdam permission to use a second the parish church in 1408 because the Oude Kerk had grown too small for the growing population of the city....
('New Church'), Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
Bronck's Land
Jonas Bronck’s decision to relocate from Europe was prompted by a number of factors. During the late 1630’s events in both Holland and America induced significant changes in the governance of New Netherland, territory controlled by the Dutch West India Company between the Delaware and Connecticut rivers and north along tidewaters of the Hudson. At its heart was the trading facility of New Amsterdam on the southern tip of Manhattan Island.Following spectacular collapse of the Tulip Mania bubble in 1637, Holland’s government bruited the idea of taking control of New Netherland from the Company and using the colony for resettlement of individuals impoverished by failed tulip bulb speculations. There was also vexation over the West India Company’s failure to develop New Netherland much beyond its original function, facilitating the fur trade. By contrast, English enclaves in the region were rapidly expanding in territory, population, and viability.
New Amsterdam’s inhabitants then numbered only about four hundred, a count that hardly had increased during the previous decade. Company properties in the colony showed signs of physical neglect and conditions of law and order were less than ideal. Faced with possible government expropriation, the company appointed Willem Kieft as New Netherland’s director with a mandate to increase the territory’s population and vitality.
Arriving in 1638, Kieft promptly purchased additional Lenape Indian lands in the environs of Manhattan and encouraged private settlement by enterprising colonists of diverse backgrounds. Settlers no longer were encumbered with excessive responsibilities to the West India Company. Previously, most real estate and commercial activity in New Netherlands had been under direct Company control. These vicissitudes not escape Bronck’s notice. He was among the first to recognize promising opportunities and crossed the Atlantic to settle in New Amsterdam’s hinterlands.
In June 1639, Bronck navigated up the East River
East River
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland...
in a ship, De Brant Van Troyen (The Fire of Troy), and made home on a piece of land he had acquired from the Indians, across the Harlem River
Harlem River
The Harlem River is a navigable tidal strait in New York City, USA that flows 8 miles between the Hudson River and the East River, separating the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx...
from the village of Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
.
His farm (known as Emaus, Bronck's Land, and then just Broncksland, or simply Bronck's), covered roughly the area south of today's 150th Street in the Bronx. The land was within the territory of the Siwanoy
Siwanoy
The Native American Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a band of Algonquian-speaking people, the Wappinger, in what is now the New York City area. By the mid-17th century, when their territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, the Siwanoy were settled along the East River...
and Wecquaesgeek groups of Lenape
Lenape
The Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
who inhabited it at the time of colonialization.
Saturday May 6, 1643, not long after Jonas Bronck’s death, his widow Feuntje Jeuriaens together with Peter Bronck conducted a formal inventory of the Bronck farm which was then known as Emaus. This procedure was done in the presence of the Rev. Everardus Bogardus, pastor of the First Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam and Bronck’s old friend Jochim Pietersen Kuyter. According to official records of the State of New York, the latter two were identified as guardians of Bronck’s widow.
The inventory lists contents of the farm Bronck and his family had built in the wilderness during the period of less than four years following his arrival in America. Buildings on the property were a stone house with a tile roof, a barn, two barracks for farm employees, and a tobacco house. The tally of Bronck’s livestock was 25 animals of various kinds, plus an uncounted number of hogs, said to be running in nearby woods.
During the early 1640’s it was not uncommon for Bronck’s New Amsterdam contemporaries to identify themselves on legal documents with graphic marks that were also symbols of illiteracy. By contrast, Jonas Bronck’s personal library provides evidence he was literate in four languages, suggesting his education might have been as high as university level. His library was an impressive archive for its place and time, and is regarded as the earliest for which there is a detailed account in the colonial records of New York.
The following materials were listed in the inventory of Bronck's library: one Bible, folio; Calvin's Institutes, folio; Bullingeri, Schultetus Dominicalia, (Medical); Moleneri Praxis, (Moral and Practical Discourses), quarto; one German Bible, quarto; Mirror of the Sea (Seespiegel), folio; one Luther's Psalter; Sledani, (History of the Reformation), folio; Danish chronicle, quarto; Danish law book, quarto; Luther's Complete Catechism; The Praise of Christ, quarto; Petri Apiani; Danish child's book; a book called Forty Pictures of Death, by Symon Golaert; Biblical stories; Danish calendar; Survey (or View) of the Great Navigation; a parcel of eighteen Dutch and Danish pamphlets by divers authors; seventeen books in manuscript, which are old; eleven pictures, large and small.
Following Bronck's death, and the dispersion of the few settlers, the tract passed through the hands of successive Dutch traders until 1664, when it came into the possession of Samuel Edsall, (who had also acquired large tract on the North River known as the English Neighborhood
English Neighborhood
The English Neighborhood was the colonial-era name for the towns in eastern Bergen County, New Jersey, along the Hudson Palisades between the North River and the Hackensack River, particularly around its main tributary, Overpeck Creek. The region had been part of the Dutch New Netherland colony of...
) who held it until 1670, when he sold it to Captain Richard Morris
Richard Morris
Richard Morris may refer to:* Richard Morris * Richard Morris * Richard Morris Welsh international footballer who played for Plymouth Argyle...
and Colonel Lewis Morris
Lewis Morris
Lewis Morris was an American landowner and developer from Morrisania, New York. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress for New York....
, at the time merchants of Barbadoes. Four years later, Colonel Morris obtained a royal patent to Bronck's Land, which afterward became the Manor of Morrisania, the second Lewis (son of Captain Richard), exercising proprietory right.
The area was known as "Broncksland" only through the end of the 17th century - so the modern name of the borough does not come directly from that farmland. However, the river which runs north to south through the area, and which his farm butted against, kept the name Bronck's River, eventually being abbreviated or misspelled Bronx River. This name stuck, and it was this river (which splits the modern borough in two) after which the Bronx was named.
Pieter Bronck
Pieter Bronck was also known as Pieter Jonasson Bronck. Given the relative closeness in age and same father's name indicated by the patronym (Jonas was born about 1600, Pieter, born in 1616) it has been claimed that Pieter was a brother or cousin to Jonas Bronck, and not a son as had been surmised. Pieter Bronck House is a registered historic place in Coxsackie, New YorkCoxsackie (town), New York
Coxsackie is a town in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 8,918 at the 2010 census. The name of the town is said to derived from a Native American term, but it has various translations ....
. The American poet William Bronk
William Bronk
William Bronk was an American poet. He won the National Book Award in 1982.-Life and work:William Bronk was born in a house on Lower Main Street in Fort Edward, New York. He had an older brother Sherman who died young and two older sisters, Jane and Betty...
reported that he was a descendant of Pieter Bronck. At the same time, the middle name, the patronymic
Patronymic
A patronym, or patronymic, is a component of a personal name based on the name of one's father, grandfather or an even earlier male ancestor. A component of a name based on the name of one's mother or a female ancestor is a matronymic. Each is a means of conveying lineage.In many areas patronyms...
"Jonasson" indicates he was indeed the son of a man named Jonas. At that time, custom in Sweden was that the father's first name defined the -son name of his children. In other words, Jonas Jonasson Bronck was the son of a Jonas Bronck; Pieter Jonasson Bronck was the also the son of a Jonas Bronck. Consequently, if Pieter had a son he would be (first name) followed by "Pietersson Bronck" or Pettersson Bronck, or some variation of "Peter's son".
Trivia
- There is a street in TórshavnTórshavnTórshavn is the capital and largest town of the Faroe Islands. It is located in the southern part on the east coast of Streymoy. To the north west of the town lies the high mountain Húsareyn, and to the southwest, the high Kirkjubøreyn...
in the Faroe Islands that is named "Jónas Broncksgøta." - There is a public school named after him.
See also
- SiwanoySiwanoyThe Native American Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a band of Algonquian-speaking people, the Wappinger, in what is now the New York City area. By the mid-17th century, when their territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, the Siwanoy were settled along the East River...
- New Netherland settlementsNew Netherland settlementsNew Netherland, or Nieuw-Nederland in Dutch, was the 17th century colonial province of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands on northeastern coast of North America. The claimed territory were the lands from the Delmarva Peninsula to southern Cape Cod. Settled areas are now part of...
- Kieft's WarKieft's WarKieft's War, also known as the Wappinger War, was a conflict between settlers of the nascent colony of New Netherland and the native Lenape population in what would later become the New York metropolitan area of the United States...
- Colen DonckColen DonckColen Donck was the title of a large Dutch-American owned estate of 24,000 acres originally owned by Adriaen van der Donck in New Netherland, along what was then known as the North River ....
- Anne HutchinsonAnne HutchinsonAnne Hutchinson was one of the most prominent women in colonial America, noted for her strong religious convictions, and for her stand against the staunch religious orthodoxy of 17th century Massachusetts...
Other sources
- Benson, Adolph B. and Naboth Hedin, eds. Swedes in America, 1638-1938 (The Swedish American Tercentenary Association. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 1938) ISBN 978-0838303269