40 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



on both sides of it, excellent good Land, and good convenience 

 for the setling of several Towns ; there grows black Walnut and 

 Locust as their doth in Virginia, with mighty tall straight Timber, 

 as good as any in the North of America ; It produceth any Com- 

 moditie Long Island doth." 



Daniel Denton was the son of Rev. Richard Denton who moved 

 to Hempstead, L. I., in 1644, build a Presbyterian Church, and 

 was first minister on Long Island. Daniel Denton was a man of 

 influence in the colony. He was one of the first settlers of Ja- 

 maica and became the magistrate of the town. He bought large 

 tracts of land in New Jersey. Denton and another represented 

 Long Island in the General Assembly which promulgated the 

 Dukes Laws. In 1666 Denton became Justice of Long Island. 

 The same description is found also in Ogilby 180. 



66. 1671. " Order to Capf". Jacques Cortilleau for laying out y^ 

 Souldiers Lotts on Staten Island," June 14th, 1671. 



"y^ Old Towne & y^ New Plantacon next unto it" are re- 

 ferred to therein. Francis Lovelace (N. Y. Executive Council 

 Minutes 1668-1673 2 : 489. Albany 1910.) 



67. 1674. " Whereas, some of the inhabitants of Staten Island have 

 complained to me of and against Peter Biljouw, the Schout of the 

 aforesaid Island, I have therefore hereby resolved to commission 

 and empower Mr. Cornells van Ruyven and Capt°. Carel Epe- 

 steyn to repair by the first opportunity to the village on the afore- 

 said Island, and there to convene a meeting of the town ; to exam- 

 ine the charges which will be brought against said Schout, to hear 

 the debates on both sides, and if possible to compose the differ- 

 ences between them or else to report their conclusion. Done Fort 

 Willem Hendrick this 22'^ January, 1674." (Col. Doc. 2: 681.) 



68. 1679. nth Oct. 1679. "We went on to the little creek to sit 

 down and rest ourselves there, and to cool our feet, and then 

 proceeded to the houses which constituted the Oude Dorp. It was 

 now about 2 o'clock. There were seven houses, but only three 

 in which anybody lived. The others were abandoned, and their 

 owners had gone to live on better places on the island, because the 

 ground around this village was worn out and barren, and also too 

 limited for their use." . . . After leaving * Oude Dorp ' and 

 ' Nieuwe Dorp ' " We had now no more villages to go to, but 

 went from one plantation to another." (Jour. Danckaerts y2.) 



