33 
It is on record that Pieter Andriessen and one Laurens Duytts 
were hired by Jonas Bronck to clear portions of the tract of land 
which he had purchased, and the agreement between them in 
1639 is still extant. One hundred and twenty-one florins were 
to be paid for their board on the ship and the two were to have 
the privilege of planting tobacco and maize on Bronck’s land on 
condition that they should break up a certain portion of the wild 
land every year, as payment for their use of it, and then sur- 
render it to the owner for the planting of grain. 
f the personality of Jonas Bronck comparatively little is 
known, but he must have been a man of means and consider- 
able education as is attested by the inventory of his effects. He 
died in or about 1643 and his property passed into other hands. 
If not a Dane by birth, he must at least have been one by adop- 
tion as it is recorded that he had served the King of Denmark 
as commander in the East Indies. 
The inventory of his effects was made on May 6, 1643, and is 
a most interesting document relating to the property holdings of 
the earlier Dutch Colonists. It is a list of the goods and effects 
found at the house of Fenntije Jeuriaens, widow of Jonas Bronck, 
and the entire property is enumerated. We read of 1 stone 
house, covered with tiles, 1 barn, 1 tobacco-house, a few panes 
of window-glass, and among the household articles are 2 beds 
and 6 pairs of sheets, 31 pewter dishes, 1 silver cup, 7 silver 
spoons, 1 silver salt-cellar, 1 ditto little bowl, 4 tankards with 
silver chains, iron pots, 2 mirrors, 4 little alabaster dishes, car- 
penter tools and a goodly quantity of clothes, such as a black 
satin suit, an old quilted satin doublet, a blue damask woolen 
shirt, two hats, a black cloth mantle, an old mantle of colored 
cloth, six old shirts and other items of a like nature. 
His library was mainly of a religious character, and contained 
among other books, a Bible (folio), another in German (quarto), 
Luther’s Psalms and Catechism, several doctrinal treatises and 
histories, a Danish child’s book, a Danish chronicle, a Danish 
law book and calendar, some books on sea-travel and navigation, 
18 old printed books and 17 manuscripts of which the titles are 
not given; these, with 11 pictures, big and little, form the sum 
