22 STATEN ISLAND INSTITUTE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 
I: 201.) Kieft, however, became jealous of his prerogatives and 
on February 8, 1642, ordered the twelve men to hold no further 
meetings on pain of being punished “as the same tends to dan- 
SetOns Comsaqhiencs, (C, ID, us Ao, ) 
DeVries was a patroon and founded several colonies beside the 
plantation on Staten Island. He was a good churchman and did 
much toward building the church in the fort. (N. N. N. 212.) 
He appears to have made his home in New Amsterdam when not 
away on exploring or trading expeditions, and it is improbable 
that he lived on Staten Island at any time or had any other than a 
commercial interest in the place. In the fall of 1643 the bouweries 
where DeVries had attempted to establish colonies all lay in ashes 
as the result of the Indian War of 1643 (C. D. 1: 151, 185, 190), 
and DeVries, on account of his losses, decided to return to Holland 
for good. The suffering province, says Brodhead, lost one of its 
best citizens, (B.12)370>) 
DeVries relates that on the 8th of October 1643, “in taking 
leave of William Kieft, I told him that this murder which he had 
committed on so much innocent blood'* would yet be avenged upon 
him and thus I left him.” (N. N. N. 234.) 
DeVries the same day sailed for Virginia on his way to Holland, 
where in 1655 he published his notes. Nothing further is re- 
corded, so far as known, in reference to his claims on Staten 
Island, which we may infer lapsed or were acquired by Cornelis 
Melyn, who commenced his colony August 20, 1641, since Melyn 
about 1661 wrote that Staten Island has not been occupied by 
anybody else but himself and those who received his permission. 
(ML, 1, 122, ) 
14 Slaughter of the Indians on the night of the 24th and 25th of Feb- 
ruary 1643, when with the approval of Kieft some 80 were killed, while 
not suspecting danger, after having fled to the Dutch for protection from 
other Indians. This massacre was the principal cause of the Indian War 
Or Woe CC, ID, #3 Ui). 
