New Netherland Council Fort Orange Settlement Administrative Records

Chronological by date.

The Dutch West India Company established the jurisdiction of Fort Orange and the village of Beverwijck on April 10, 1652. A local governing body, the inferior bench of justice, was established with executive, legislative, and judicial responsibilities within the jurisdiction. The court kept minutes of its proceedings along with records of various transactions and interactions of members of the community. The transactions were written in the form of contracts requiring signatures of the parties involved and the attestation of the local secretary. The community that evolved in and around Fort Orange eventually became Albany, New York.

The records in this series document the Dutch community that eventually became Albany, New York. The majority of the records document real estate transactions, such as conveyances of property from one individual to another, conditions of sale, conditions of auction, and surrenders of claims; records also include acknowledgments of debt, inventories of estates, warrants, powers of attorney, and pledges of security. Such documents carried authentic signatures and could be submitted as legal instruments in court proceedings.

Officials who appear as signatories in the series are as follows: Joannes Dijckman, vice director and commissary at Fort Orange from April 10, 1652 to June 1655; Johan de Deckere, provisional vice director at Fort Orange from July 1655 to July 1656; Johannes La Montagne, vice director and commissary at Fort Orange from September 28, 1656 to October 24, 1664; and Dirck van Schelluyne, who served as notary public in Beverwijck beginning in 1660 and town clerk of Albany from September 10, 1665 to August 9, 1668.

This series originally constituted parts two and three of volume 16 of the New York Historical Manuscripts in the New York State Library. The original records are in the Dutch language.

Item list: E.B. O'Callaghan's Calendar of Historical Manuscripts in the Office of the Secretary of State (1866).

Folder list available at the repository.

Prior to transfer to the State Archives, these records comprised New York Colonial Manuscripts, Volume 16, Parts 2 and 3.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.