Under the Dutch 2j 



taken up his residence in Amsterdam, Holland, where he 

 married Antonia Slagboom. Hearing of the fertility of the 

 soil of Nieuw Nederlandt, and filled with the spirit of adven- 

 ture which permeated all classes during that age, he embarked 

 with his family, servants, cattle, and other property and ar- 

 rived in New Amsterdam in July, 1639. That the Company 

 had in view the Keskeskeck purchase of August 3, 1639, and 

 that Bronk had determined to avail himself of the newly to 

 be acquired land are shown by records in Albany among the 

 ancient archives of the State, One of them is a lease made on 

 July 21, 1639, by Jonas Bronck to Peter Andriessen and Lourent 

 Dayts, by which the former agrees to "show" to the lessees a 

 certain lot, 



"in which lot aforesaid they may cultivate tobacco and 

 maize, upon the express condition that they shall clear and 

 cultivate every two years a fresh spot for the raising their 

 tobacco and maize, and then the spot which they cultivated 

 before shall return again to Mr. Bronck aforesaid, to dispose 

 of according to pleasure." 



They had the use of each field they cleared for three 

 years, but at the end of that time it became once more 

 at the disposal of the proprietor. The lease was made 

 by Secretary Van Tienhoven. It was a case of what we 

 should call to-day "working on shares," by which the 

 owner of the land gradually got it cleared without expense 

 to himself, while the lessees were entitled to the usufruct. 

 On the fifteenth of August of the same year, Bronk also leased 

 land on similar terms to Cornelius Jacobsen Stoll and John 

 Jacobsen. Bronk bought his land from two Indian sachems, 

 Ranaque and Tackamuck. He erected a stone house covered 

 with tiles, barns, barracks, and a tobacco house; and, being 

 of a religious nature, named his house Emmans. His house 



